Imminent Change
By: Botan-kun
Naruto looked around the room he was in and he was clearly confused. "I don't see any snakes." He said to Kyuubi. "But you can smell it." Kyuubi said. Naruto took a sniff of the air and sure enough he could smell a snake somewhere in the room. He tried to pinpoint the smell from where he was standing, but wasn't as skilled as he needed to be in order to smell out something from standing in one place and getting the exact point. "It kind of smells like that one guy I fought in the forest." Naruto thought. "You know you can train your nose to be able to find where scents are coming from. That's how the animals that hunt do it." Kyuubi said. Naruto put that information into his head for reference. Naruto started to pay attention to what was going on in the room a little too late as everyone was heading to the stairs to the balconies. He looked around a second and saw a TV screen with two names on it. Hyuuga Hinata vs. Haruno Sakura.
To say Hinata was shocked was an understatement. Not only would she be the first to fight, but she had to fight Sakura. Hinata was having internal disputes about the whole thing. "I have to fight Sakura. What if Naruto gets mad at me for hurting Sakura? But what if I do beat her will Naruto like me more?" Hinata thought as she glanced at Naruto who was now heading to the balcony with all the other leaf ninjas. Hinata had no idea what she was going to do. On one hand she could fight and try to win and Naruto would admire her strength. On the other hand Naruto could get mad at her and he would never like her. Sakura was thinking about Sasuke and what he would think about the outcome of this fight. Naruto was trying to come up with what he was going to do about his fight. He couldn't use chakra without damaging himself and he didn't know if he could beat anyone with just pure taijutsu. Naruto drew his attention to the ground to see that the match had just started.
Sakura was the first to move figuring she would try to knock Hinata out as fast as possible. Hinata had not expected Sakura to attack so soon, so she had no time to activate her Byakugan so she dodged instead. Up in the stands Neji was just shaking his head detested at Hinata's inability to fight as a Hyuuga should. After Hinata dodged Sakura's initial attack, Sakura kicked Hinata in the gut and then followed through with a kick to the chin. Hinata flew back three feet. Sakura gave Hinata the chance to recover and Hinata used that time to activate her Byakugan. Hinata's world went weird for a second as she got used to the sight of her Byakugan. After the vertigo was gone Hinata was ready to fight. Sakura reeled back as she saw Hinata's eyes bulge and veins pop out at the side of her eyes. It was Hinata's turn to rush in and attack. Hinata struck her hand out open palm at Sakura's chest so she could disrupt the flow of chakra and claim a quick victory. Sakura watched as the attack came closer, "She can't be serious. That attack won't do anything to hurt me. I'll just take the hit and counter when she's open." Sakura thought as she stood prepared for Hinata's attack. Everyone who knew Hinata's attacks just smirked at the non moving genin. Hinata struck Sakura in the chest with a chakra enhanced open-palm attack and Sakura hit Hinata with her knee into the gut. Hinata fell down and Sakura flew five feet before landing with a wicked thud. Everyone looked surprised. Sakura wasn't moving and Hinata was struggling to get up. Hinata's team was overjoyed that she had won. While Sasuke was just annoyed for being on the same team as someone weak enough to get knocked out with one hit. Naruto looked indifferent. Sure he should be upset that Sakura had lost that fast but she was up against someone that was most likely on a higher level than her. Neji had an indifferent look as well but thought on a different wavelength, "Humph she got lucky she was against someone so weak she wouldn't last in a fight against anyone else." Neji thought as he looked down on Hinata Ino was shocked that her, once upon a time, friend had been beaten down so fast. "If Sakura was beaten so fast how long will I last?" Ino thought with concern written all over her face. Shikamaru saw this but had no way to help Ino. Hayate announced Hinata the victor as Medic-nins came to heal Sakura. Victory had barely caught up to Hinata as she just stood there shocked. She was easily the most surprised person there. As she looked around she saw that in fact she had won and she wasn't imagining it. She looked to see an indifferent expression on Naruto. She shrunk into her more shy self as she slowly walked over to the stairs twiddling her thumbs. The medic nins finished looking at Sakura and took her away on a stretcher.
Hinata made it up to her team and was praised for her victory. She looked over in Naruto's direction to see what he thought of her match. When she looked towards Naruto she saw her cousin glaring back at her and she quickly turned her head and looked at the arena. Naruto had saw this nonetheless and was annoyed. "He must be a real jerk like someone else I know." Hayate started the Scoreboard to start the next match. The Scoreboard flashed all the names before stopping on the next two competitors. Nara Shikamaru vs. Kin Tsuchi. Kin was a bit impatient and just jumped down from the balcony while Shikamaru being the lazy person he was took it nice and slow as he walked down the steps to face his opponent. Ino was still reeling over Sakura's quick loss that she didn't even notice Shikamaru leave. As Shikamaru got across from his opponent he took his bored stance.
"This is troublesome fighting a girl." Shikamaru said as he looked at his opponent. Ino snapped out of her daze and noticed that Shikamaru was on the ground about ready to fight. Kin eyed Shikamaru before she looked up at Naruto.
"Begin!" Hayate said. Shikamaru not one to deny something given to him charged Kin before she even knew the match started. Shikamaru knocked Kin a good ways back, about a foot away from the wall. As Kin got up she was about to attack Shikamaru with senbon needles if only she could move. Shikamaru put his hands into his pockets and Kin did the same thing.
"What is this!" Kin exclaimed. Shikamaru put on a smirk.
"This is my family jutsu, KageMane No Jutsu. Look at your feet." Shikamaru said. Kin looked at her feet and saw that her shadow was connected to a longer shadow that was connected to Shikamaru. "You see now. We will do the same things as long as we are connected." Shikamaru stated.
"How will that help you? If we do the same things it'll just end up as a stalemate." Kin said unsure of herself. Shikamaru frowned.
"You can't have a stalemate in Shogi, you either win or lose. We have different body types so one of us should be able to withstand weapon assaults longer." Shikamaru said as he reached down into his weapon pouch and pulled out a shuriken Kin mimicked his movement.
"You're crazy you'll only hurt yourself." Kin said sounding worried. Shikamaru just threw his shuriken at kin and kin did the same. As the shuriken flew through the air everyone was watching intently on what would happen. As the projectiles came closer Shikamaru started to dodge by leaning back. "Ha! I knew he was bluffing." Kin thought with a smirk until her head rammed into the wall with enough force to knock her out. Shikamaru turned his backbend into a back handspring and landed on is feet. Hayate checked to see if Kin was out.
"Winner, Nara Shikamaru!" Hayate announced as a medical team came out and took Kin away. Shikamaru lazily walked to the rest of his team. The monitor started to do it's thing again as Shikamaru made it back to his team. The screen stopped to reveal the next set of competitors. Tenten vs. Aburame Shino.
Tenten hopped down to the arena getting the spot that she wants to start off with. Shino merely turned and started to walk down the stairs.
"Good luck Shino-kun." Hinata said shyly barely audible. Shino gave a nod before he went down and stood across from Tenten. Tenten was anxious for a good fight and she was glad that it was her turn this early on. Shino was indifferent about when he was going to fight. So he didn't care if it was his turn this early or not.
"Begin!" Hayate said. Tenten jumped a step back in order to get a little distance for attack and defense purposes. Gai and Lee were overly excited for Tenten. Kurenai was getting a little fed up and butted in.
"You know my Shino will beat your Tenten?" Kurenai said. Gai and Lee stopped their shouting and looked at Kurenai.
"Ah. You seem sure of yourself. How about we make a deal then?" Gai exclaimed putting on his good guy pose. Kurenai was interested, but she wasn't the only one.
"Oh a game is it?" Asuma said lighting a cigarette. "I know a good one." The Jounins were intrigued.
"And what did you have in mind?" Kakashi asked.
"The Jounin who has the most team members pass wins." Asuma said. Gai and Lee looked ecstatic, Kurenai looked a bit suspicious, and Kakashi looked displeased.
"That means I'm already losing, Gai is on his first pupil, and you and Kurenai are leading." Kakashi said. Asuma smirked and Kurenai full out smiled.
"I agree." Kurenai said.
"I too agree, because the flame of youth is strong within my students." Gai exclaimed giving his good guy pose. They all looked at Kakashi Who in return sighed.
"Fine, I agree." Kakashi said. "What are the stakes?" Kakashi asked worriedly. Kurenai thought for a second and came up with a devilish idea.
"Whatever the victor asks for." Kurenai said with a smile. Asuma nodded in agreement as did Gai, leaving Kakashi little choice but to agree.
"And what if there is tie?" Gai asked.
"Same applies the losing teams or team just has more to do." Asuma said. They all nodded and turned their attention to the arena. They were surprised to see a massive amount of both: weapons and bugs. No one except Naruto was paying attention to the match, so they did not understand why Tenten was cowering against a wall surrounded by bugs, pointing accusingly at Shino with a look that would say she had been to hell and back many times.
"This will all be over if you forfeit." Shino said. Tenten looked at the bugs then Shino then the bugs again and then she raised her hand.
"I forfeit." Tenten said. Kurenai would have been jumping for joy if she wasn't as refined as she was. Gai on the other hand just fell down. Kakashi laughed and then spoke.
"Now Kurenai is winning with two, while myself and Gai are in last place." Kakashi said. Shino disbanded his bugs and began to walk up the stairs after Hayate announced him victor. Tenten however went nowhere near Shino as she jumped back up to join her team.
"What happened Tenten?" Lee asked. Tenten started to shiver and she slowly looked at Lee with a pale white face.
"I don't 'ever' want to talk about it as long as I live." Tenten said ending the discussion completely. The score board started to mix up the names and the next competitors were chosen. Yamanaka Ino vs. Kankuro.
Both combatants walked down to the arena ready for a fight. Ino was still worried about losing as quickly as Sakura did but Ino had a plan that would hopefully succeed.
"Begin!" Hayate said. Ino looked at Kankuro a moment and Kankuro removed the thing from his back and set it on the ground.
"I am a gentleman so I will give the first attack to you." Kankuro said. Temari nearly laughed, it took all her will to stop herself. "This is perfect I'll win this in one move and hang it over Sakura." Ino thought confidence back.
"Why thank you." Ino said as she did the seals for her family jutsu. "Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Ino said as her body went limp. Kankuro didn't move at all to dodge. Ino's team looked happy for a moment before Kankuro walked towards Ino picked her up and put a kunai to her neck. Everyone was surprised to say the least. A little trickle of blood came from Ino's neck as Kankuro pushed the kunai into it.
"That's enough! Kankuro is the winner!" Hayate said as he grabbed Ino from Kankuro. Kankuro put on a weird look as he grabbed his bandaged thing and walked up the stairs. Ino regained consciousness to see her opponent walking away from her and the test examiner was holding her. "I'm sorry but you have lost." Hayate said as he let Ino stand on her own. Ino was still a little disoriented but she still walked up to her group wondering what had happened. She was mildly disappointed in herself that she let that weird looking guy beat her and she didn't even do anything to him. Her head hung low as she reached her team. Asuma feeling a little upset he decided to lighten things up.
"Well at least she wasn't taken to the infirmary." Asuma said with a kind smile.
"Yeah only one team is missing someone." Kurenai said lightly as she looked over in Kakashi's direction. Kakashi had his head hung low, but he was the only one to have both the Uchiha and a ninja being taught by the greatest youkai. He was sure that he would get two and at least he would get two points. He glanced up at the scoreboard for the next two competitors. Dosu Kinuta vs. Uzumaki Naruto. Kakashi looked down at Naruto.
"Well Kakashi I guess we'll see if you still have a chance to win your little competition." Naruto said as he jumped over the railing onto the ground. Everyone was intrigued to see if Naruto would be able to beat this guy. "Oh Naruto-kun I hope that you will be ok. How are you going to deal with your chakra system being screwed up?" Hinata thought with her hands up to her chest. On the other side of the arena a conversation was being held.
"I don't want Uzumaki Naruto to come out of this fight alive. Do you understand?" Orochimaru said. Dosu nodded. "You better not disappoint me again." Orochimaru concluded. Dosu hopped down onto the arena floor and stepped up to the fight. Naruto looked indifferent about his fight but wanted to get a few things out.
"You know I have excellent hearing." Naruto said. Dosu's eyes widened. "And I told you in the forest you wouldn't live to regret it. So Since your orders are to kill me and I promised to kill you, we should be agreed that this match will be life and death." Everyone heard Naruto's cold words but what interested them the most is that there was no killer intent, no feelings of hate, nor any vileness towards Dosu it was as if he was stating a fact. It was a shock that Naruto had said them it was almost scary. The genin didn't believe that Naruto could be serious, the Jounin however were unsure. Hayate looked at the Hokage with a look that asked if he should start. The Hokage looked at all the shocked faces to see if he could get assistance in his decision when he found no help he chose. With the nod of the Hokage's head Hayate began the match.
"Begin!" Hayate said and stepped back. Dosu rushed in to get a good advantage by hitting Naruto with vibrations. He watched Naruto's hands carefully so he didn't get caught by one of the blades. Naruto stood unmoving as Dosu came at him. As Dosu swung a punch at Naruto, Naruto lifted his left arm and blocked his punch. Dosu smiled and released the vibrations and directed them to Naruto's ear.
"I can make the wave travel were ever I want." Dosu said with a hint of arrogance. Naruto struck Dosu in the gut with his right hand. While Dosu leaned over due to the pain Naruto did a back flip connecting a kick as he did so, making Dosu rise into the air. During Naruto's flip he grabbed Dosu's legs and pulled him under him so he could land on Dosu instead of the ground. As Naruto landed he did a back handspring off of Dosu. Everyone was surprised that Naruto performed such a complicated combo so easily. Dosu stood up and everyone could see blood leaking through his bandages around his mouth. His visible eye was wide with shock. Naruto stood indifferent as if nothing important had happened. "How was he not affected by my amplifier?" Dosu thought to himself. Naruto's body felt like it was on fire. He knew he couldn't use chakra, but he just found out that even though he can do anything physical without harming his chakra system, it still hurt like hell. "Damn this fight will get complicated." Naruto thought. "Well kit what did you expect a tea party? Your fighting without chakra and you will be hit with backlash with every attack. This will prove how good of a fighter you are. And this guy isn't a pushover, these kind of handicaps prove who is better than the rest." Kyuubi said as he went back into the recesses of Naruto's mind for the rest of the fight. Naruto knew this was going to be hard but he couldn't help but feel proud of himself. Dosu was trying his hardest to figure out what he was going to do. He was told by Orochimaru all the things Naruto could do so he was going through every possibility in his head. The sidelines were all silent due to the fact that this fight was proclaimed to be a fight to the death. No one wanted to know what was going to happen but they needed to. They didn't want to break any concentration and not many had a reason to cheer. Only one could say she wanted to cheer but was too scared to do so. Even the Hokage was wondering what was going to happen he was worried for Naruto. If he loses he dies, If he wins there's a chance that it could be devastating to the boy.
Naruto became tired of waiting and charged his opponent. Dosu broke his thoughts and went defensive. Naruto went for a punch at Dosu's face, Dosu dodged and countered with a kick to Naruto's side. Naruto saw this and Naruto dropped and did a sweep completely dodging Dosu's kick and attempting to trip him. Dosu jumped over Naruto's leg and went to punch Naruto as he landed. Naruto rolled over a little to avoid the attack and while still on the ground went for a high kick towards Dosu's head. Dosu grabbed Naruto's leg and picked him up and twirled around, then threw Naruto towards the closest wall. Naruto twisted his body so he hit the wall feet first. Dosu's throw was so strong that as Naruto hit the wall he created a crater with his feet. As Naruto hit the wall he pushed off to get enough force so he could add to his punching power and speed. While Naruto was in midair ready for the strike Dosu did a front flip and connected his heel with the back of Naruto's skull. Naruto was sent to the ground face first with tremendous force. Everyone heard probably the most sickening thud and breaking of something they had ever heard. Dosu picked Naruto up by his hair revealing Naruto's battered face. He was bleeding from his forehead, next to his right eye, both nostrils, and his mouth. You could easily tell Naruto's nose was broken just by the look of it. The sight of Naruto's face made Ino, Hinata, The Hokage, Kurenai, and surprisingly Anko turn their heads. Kakashi, Gai, and Asuma were all half tempted to stop this match right then and there. Orochimaru, Zaku and Gaara had the most sinister smile on their faces.
Dosu took a look at his work momentarily before he struck Naruto in the gut and sending vibrations throughout his entire body. Naruto coughed up a massive amount of blood. Dosu released Naruto from his hold and kicked him in his right arm with as much strength as he could manage. Everyone heard a loud snap as Naruto was flung helplessly into a wall creating a huge crater and a lot of dust. Everyone was completely surprised at what happened to Naruto that no one even blinked as they watched intently as Naruto was being killed right before their eyes. They all knew they're was nothing that could be done the match was declared a death match and if anyone intervened there could be many problems. Dosu started walking over to Naruto but stopped abruptly as the dust cleared. Naruto stood there as the dust cleared. His right eye was closed most likely sealed shut due to blood loss. He was cradling his right arm with his left. His pants were all torn up and the bandages on his legs fell off. His weapons pouch was dangling on his leg and his hip pouch was in the rubble with his bandages. Surprisingly enough his vest was unscathed and so were the bandages on his abdomen. His pants were torn up to his knees and you could see blood trickling down his left leg from a spot where a bone was sticking out. Both his arms were bleeding profusely, but his right arm had a bone sticking out of it right above his elbow. The way Naruto looked made everyone in the room nauseated. Even the sand team and Orochimaru had trouble looking at Naruto. No one could believe that Naruto was even standing in that kind of condition. What shocked them more was that Naruto still looked ready to fight. Dosu couldn't believe that Naruto was still willing to go at it in the condition he was in.
Naruto looked down at his arm and tried to move it. His body felt like it was squashed by a building, thrown through miles of walls, and burned by the Sun. The pain was so excruciating that he was surprised that he was still alive. Naruto used his left arm and pushed his bone back into his arm and repositioned it to where it belonged. He winced in pain, but on the inside he was ready to finish himself off to relieve himself from the pain. Everyone looked at him wide eyed, they could not for the life of them believe that Naruto had just repositioned a bone in his own body and just flinched and looked away. No one wanted to watch as Naruto reached down and repositioned the loose bone in his leg. Naruto was in so much pain it was unbearable. He would have passed out if he wasn't so bent on finishing this match. He was still bleeding but he could move his arm and leg again granted it was excruciatingly painful. "Hey Kyuubi I thought you said my healing abilities increased." Naruto said to Kyuubi. "Have you seen yourself? You shouldn't even be conscious and your complaining your not being healed fast enough. Damn you are crazy! It will take about a day for all those injuries to heal completely without outside help." Kyuubi said. "That long! Damn! I'll just have to endure it." Naruto said mentally laughing. Naruto knew good and well he couldn't run. He was extremely low on throwing knives, and he couldn't use the blades on the back of his hand because he needs chakra to activate them. Although if he used enough force to activate them it would work, but he wouldn't be able to use them that well because he's too hurt. He could try to move quickly so he can utilize his weapons better. Of course the problem being the pain would be so strong that he didn't know how long he could last.
Dosu had a hard time comprehending the fact that he was fighting someone who stood up even though he was beaten to a bloody pulp. He was just staring at an inhuman being that would not die. Orochimaru was getting really pissed that Naruto would not die. Naruto was done trying to figure out what to do and take the risk of pain, it wouldn't be too bad just adding to what was already there. He took off his vest revealing the start of a toned body all the girls blushed at the sight of Naruto's chest. He then took off both his gloves revealing a weird looking thing on each of his hands. Naruto looked into his weapons pouch to see his last two throwing knives which were of course the only two that needed his blood to take out of the pouch. He let some of the blood fall into his pouch and then he pulled out one of his remaining throwing knives which was glowing an eerie red color.
Everyone looked at Naruto's new weapons with confusion and interest. Orochimaru wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to Zaku. Zaku read it and destroyed it as soon as he was finished reading. Naruto noticed that just holding the throwing knife was so painful because it was burning his hand. "God damn using your chakra for these two throwing knives was probably a bad idea." Naruto said to Kyuubi. "But the wield of the explosion will be bigger than the ones that you used your chakra for." Kyuubi said. Naruto couldn't disagree with that but it still burned when he held them. He had wished that he had some of his other ones but Sasuke took his last one. Well he made sure everything was set for his last attack because no matter what happened to Dosu, Naruto knew he couldn't go on after his attack. He circled Dosu until he was next to the wall that had the entrance. Dosu never took his eyes off of Naruto he knew what ever Naruto was planning it was over. Naruto threw the throwing knife as hard as he could towards Dosu, in doing so the bone in his right arm dislocated from it's fixed position.
Naruto hit the wall with the back of his left hand creating a small crater, but in doing so the blade popped out into it's battle position. Dosu saw the knife fly towards him with tremendous speed. He knew from what Orochimaru said that they exploded, so not only did he dodge it he jumped forward so he wouldn't get caught in the blast. Naruto ran towards Dosu as quickly as he possibly could. The knife hit the Statue of hands and blew up. Everyone was surprised that the knife blew up, but that didn't last long as they had to shield their eyes as the whole room burst into light and the explosion covered half of the room. The Jounin teachers shielded their students on reflex from the actual explosion. The light had temporarily blinded everyone so no one saw what had happened.
As everyone started to get their sight back they saw that there was still smoke all over the room. No matter where you looked you could only see smoke you couldn't even see the people closest to them. Everyone was in total shock at the force of the blast that came from such a little thing. Kakashi did some hand seals and a gust of wind blew all the smoke away. After the smoke was cleared everyone was surprised to see that the statue was gone. There was a crater in the floor, three of the four walls, and the ceiling. Both balconies were missing a section of space. Anko and Asuma had taken a bit more damage than the rest since they were the closest to the explosion. They were ok however just some burns. Hayate was unlucky since he was the examiner. He had been thrown towards the doors leading out of the room because of the strength of the explosion. He broke through the doors and was now laying unconscious outside.
The most unlucky however were Naruto and Dosu. They were both standing, however they both were stabbed by their opponents weapon. Dosu had pulled out a kunai before the explosion so when the blast sent him flying towards Naruto the kunai stabbed him. The same effect happened to Dosu, the blast sent Dosu right into Naruto's blade. Everyone was surprised to see a kunai embedded into the right side of Naruto's chest, and Naruto's blade protruding out of Dosu's back. They all looked at the blade and at it's position and could tell that it went right through Dosu's heart. There were pieces of stone embedded into Dosu's back and some in Naruto's left arm. A large amount of blood was flowing through the wound on Dosu's chest and through the bandages around his mouth. And Naruto was just a bloody mess. Everyone watched the unmoving forms of Naruto and Dosu. They all thought that they had ended up killing each other.
Everyone was shocked when they saw Naruto unceremoniously pull his blade out of Dosu. Blood splatter on Naruto's already bloody face and Dosu fell to the ground lifelessly. Naruto turned and started walking to the unconscious form of Hayate. No one knew what to say Naruto looked like he was ready to die and he was still able to move without help. He was covered from head to toe with blood, he had a kunai protruding out of his chest, and he looked like he didn't care about any of it. When he got to Hayate he looked him over checking to see if there was any life threatening wounds. There were a couple of medic nins standing there just looking at Naruto not moving, they were to terrified to go near Naruto.
No one dared move. They couldn't find it in themselves to even speak they were too surprised at Naruto's fight. Gaara was the only one who wasn't afraid to speak.
"Well, he won. Can we finish this up?" everyone looked at Gaara incredulously. "Have none of you seen someone kill before? And they call you ninjas." Gaara said as he leaned against the wall. Naruto was finished looking at Hayate and he stepped away so the medics could treat him. Naruto staggered back into the room and went over to where Dosu threw him and he picked up his vest. When he went to pick up his pouch he realized that his arm was broken again. He put his vest down and then he put his bone back into place. Naruto was on the verge of tears, he was so badly injured he couldn't even tell which pain came from which wound. After he was sure his bone was set he put on his vest, and then he noticed there was a kunai in his chest, he pulled it out and tossed it on the ground, then he grabbed his pouch and started walking slowly to the balcony. The entire room was so tense as Naruto walked up the stairs, as he got to the top of the stairs he took a seat against the wall. He leaned his head back and closed his one open eye and it looked as if he was sleeping or dead. Hayate walked into the room holding his head. He looked around and saw that only Dosu's body was in the arena, he looked and saw that Naruto was sitting up in the balcony. Hayate walked over to Dosu and checked for a pulse when he found none he signaled for the medics to take him away. Hayate then jumped up to meet with the Hokage.
"What are we going to do now?" Hayate asked. The Hokage took a glance at Naruto, and then the destruction that was once called an arena.
"We will continue the next four matches. We will use a drawing method to see who fights who." The Hokage said. Hayate nodded and took out eight small pieces and wrote the remaining names on it.
"And the mess?" Hayate asked as he finished up the names. The Hokage looked around and gave his answer.
"The terrain on the battlefield is never always nice and neat." The Hokage said. Hayate nodded and jumped down and put the names in his pocket.
"What about Uzumaki Naruto?" Anko asked.
"There isn't much we can do about that right now. And anything that we say now he can hear." The Hokage said. Naruto didn't even move.
Hayate was in the middle of the arena admiring the destruction. "He caused quite a mess." Hayate thought as he pulled out two slips of paper. "Akimichi Chouji vs. Temari. Please come to the center." Temari hopped down while Chouji walked down the stairs minding Naruto. Chouji reached his position on the ground then Hayate began the match.
Temari wasn't in much of a mood to fight anymore, she was disgusted after seeing Naruto fight, so she wanted to end this fight quickly. She grabbed her fan from behind her and swung it. "Kamaitachi!" Temari yelled as a large gust of wind flew at Chouji. Chouji had no time to dodge as the gust hit him head on. Chouji was lifted up into the air by the now formed tornado. He was propelled in air and was being sliced by the massive wind. Shikamaru looked on as his teammate and only friend was being assaulted and there was nothing he cold do. Naruto was watching the entire room so he saw Shikamaru look on helpless as his friend was being assaulted. Chouji fell out of the tornado and onto Temari's fan making a sickening thud. Thankfully due to Chouji's size the fan didn't break anything just knocked him out.
"Winner Temari!" Hayate said. Temari had an evil glint in her eye as she lifted her fan and threw Chouji off of it. Shikamaru was worried and scared that the fan had broken something or caused damage that if he landed it could possibly cause the second death of the prelims, and he did not want his friend to die. He was about to jump and help if he wasn't beat to the punch by Naruto. Naruto jumped down and caught Chouji. He flinched as pain enveloped his body. "I should not have done that." He would have let Shikamaru do it, but it would be more of an impact on Temari if Naruto did it. After what better way to say 'leave my friends alone' than scare them. And Temari was scared especially when Naruto glared at her with evil, menacing eyes. The only person that could scare her like that was her brother and even then it wasn't directed at her like this, it paralyzed her. She was looking into bright, blue, slit, demon-like eyes that were from someone who had blood running free all over him. No one could handle that sight for long. Temari was broke out of her fear when Naruto turned his attention to Chouji to make sure he was alright. He saw that the medics were hesitating to walk over there so he set Chouji down and stepped away. Shikamaru jumped down to see how Chouji was doing and to thank Naruto. The medics checked Chouji and placed him on a stretcher and carried him away before Shikamaru could see him. Shikamaru walked over to Naruto.
"How is he?" Shikamaru asked.
"He'll be fine he was just knocked unconscious. If he didn't have the extra mass he would have been in a worse condition." Naruto said staying away from the word fat. Shikamaru looked a little distraught.
"Thanks." Shikamaru said. Naruto looked at him once and started heading for the stairs.
"Come on we're in the way of the next fight." Naruto said. Shikamaru started to follow behind Naruto. They both took a seat near the stairs and were going to watch the next match. Meanwhile on the other side of the balcony Asuma tries to lighten the tenseness.
"Well I guess I automatically lose the bet, huh?" Asuma said as he lit a cigarette. The rest of the Jounin briefly look at Asuma before turning back towards Hayate to see who was the next competitors.
Hayate pulled out two more slips and announced who were on the slips. "Rock Lee vs. Uchiha Sasuke." He said. Gai and Kakashi looked at each other and then at their students. Lee and Sasuke also looked at each other. Naruto started to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto looked at Shikamaru and told him through laughter.
"Sasuke is going to lose. And that means Kakashi loses just like Asuma." Naruto said as his laughter died down.
"How do you know that Sasuke is going to lose?" Shikamaru asked.
"Sasuke lost to this guy before." Naruto said off-handedly. Shikamaru looked back at the ring and then back at Naruto.
"Maybe he's stronger than when they last fought." Shikamaru said tiredly.
"In five days?" Naruto asked. Naruto's statement shut Shikamaru up immediately. They both looked back at the ring where Sasuke and Lee were getting ready to fight.
Sasuke and Lee were facing each other ready for the fight that was about to happen. "Heh I'll show that dobe how to fight." Sasuke thought in his head as Hayate started the match. Sasuke automatically activated his Sharingan. Lee Charged Sasuke And performed his Konoha Senpuu. "Too predictable." Sasuke thought as he ducked down and attempted to sweep Lee's feet as he landed. However when Lee landed he saw Sasuke's attempt at a sweep so he did a back flip thoroughly kicking Sasuke in the chin doing so. Sasuke was hit back and when Lee landed he rushed Sasuke again. Sasuke was a bit woozy after the hit so when he stood up he failed to notice that Lee was attacking until he was kicked up in the air. "He fell for the same exact move as last time." Naruto thought. Lee then used his Kage Konoha Buyou and appeared behind the disorientated, flying Sasuke. "Hard work does prevail over genius!" Lee thought excitedly as his bandages started to unravel and encircle Sasuke.
"Ho, Lee is going to be punished thoroughly." Gai said in a low tone so only Kakashi and the ever listening Naruto could hear. "Well my rival looks like you will lose alongside Asuma." Gai said proudly. After Lee's bandages surrounded Sasuke Lee pulled him down towards the ground and started spinning wildly. As they grew near the ground Lee let up and Sasuke hit the ground with tremendous force while Lee just jumped aside as to not get hurt. Everyone looked at the crater left behind by Lee's attack to see an unconscious Sasuke laying in the center.
Hayate walked over and checked Sasuke. When he was sure of the outcome he stood and stated, "Uchiha Sasuke is unable to continue. Rock Lee wins!" Kakashi looked a little disappointed while Naruto looked indifferent.
"He has a long way to go." Naruto said to no one in particular. Shikamaru looked at him briefly before looking back to the arena.
"What happened to you?" Shikamaru asked a little concern evident from the lazy genin. Naruto let out a small sigh but didn't look away from the still form of Sasuke being carried away by medics.
"I grew up. No one cared about me so why should I care about them." Naruto said softly. Shikamaru didn't want to believe what Naruto had said.
"If that were true then you wouldn't have done anything when Chouji was thrown by that Sand girl." Shikamaru said fixing his gaze on Hayate as he pulled out another two pieces of paper.
"I was actually thinking I could set things as right as they should be. I don't want anyone to think I'm immoral and when I saw your worry I just did what I should have." Naruto said. Shikamaru turned his gaze over to Naruto who had a downtrodden look on his face. Shikamaru let a sigh pass through his lips as he looked back at the ring to see Akamaru and Kiba getting in attack positions while Neji stood there nonchalantly.
"Naruto, when I was younger I was just as lazy as I am now. I didn't have any friends I didn't really want any. I was fine by myself and I probably would have had a messed up life had I been as alone as I wanted to." Shikamaru said not even looking at Naruto. Naruto however was looking right at Shikamaru while the lazy ninja was giving his words of wisdom. "One day some of the kids were playing ninja like they usually did. I was just wandering by, but when I saw the numbers it looked uneven. I usually saw them playing while I was just lying around and always saw one kid who no one liked playing with. So when I was passing by that day I knew they wouldn't let him play because of the numbers so I joined so he could play as well." Shikamaru said and would have continued if Naruto didn't interrupt him.
"When they picked teams they didn't pick the boy that you had wanted to play. Saying that no matter who's team he was on he would be a disadvantage, right?" Naruto asked. Shikamaru was confused, he was looking at nothing but Naruto at that moment.
"How did you know?" Shikamaru asked disbelief apparent.
"Chouji was usually too slow and when he went to hide he was usually caught and so would the person Chouji was trying to catch up with. So they didn't like playing with him. Then the day that you were talking about a large group was there and they didn't want their big game ruined. After the game started you didn't want to play since the only reason you started had been denied. You do know no one realized you left the game so it ended in a draw?" Naruto said with a small smirk.
"You were watching it then?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto gave a small nod with a saddened look on his face.
"I was like Chouji except the parents didn't want me playing so they would always push me away." Naruto said saddened immensely. "So what were you getting at before I interrupted?" Naruto asked.
"After I left I found Chouji. We sat on a bench eating his snacks while watching the clouds. It was the first time I had been happy in the longest time. Chouji and I have been friends since and no matter what happens we will be happy just because we each have at least one friend waiting somewhere." Shikamaru finished and looked back in the ring just in time to see two Kibas hit by Neji with an open palm strike to their chest. Naruto thought very clearly on what was just said to him.
"Thank you Shikamaru. That made me feel a lot better. I could only wish for a friendship like you and Chouji have." Naruto said. Shikamaru let himself smile before he talked some more.
"You know I'm sure Chouji wouldn't mind having another friend especially one that had saved him from being slammed into the ground." Shikamaru said. Naruto smiled.
"Yeah, thanks that would be great." Naruto said. Of course neither of them had noticed that they were being listened to by someone. "I wish I could have talked to Naruto-kun like Shikamaru-san did." Little Hinata thought. On the other side of the Balcony there was a conversation going on between the Jounins.
"I have beaten my eternal rival once again!" Gai exclaimed. Lee pumped a fist into the air to acknowledge his teachers statement.
"Yeah yeah so how does this work you each can have Asuma and I do anything you want?" Kakashi asked. Kurenai gave a nod and had a very wicked gleam in her eye that was completely scary. Asuma and Kakashi sweat dropped and wondered what they had gotten themselves into.
"Ok then it's settled Asuma you're going to take me out to dinner." Kurenai said.
"So is this your normal way for getting dates." Asuma said with a chuckle as he put a cigarette in his mouth. Kurenai however didn't even consider it a date until Asuma said something.
"Actually this is how I get an expensive meal for free." Kurenai said with a wicked smile. Asuma's jaw went slack and his cigarette fell out of his mouth. Hayate had chosen that time to pull the last pieces of paper out of his pocket and announced the competitors.
"Gaara vs. Zaku Abumi!" Hayate said. Gaara let his sand swirl around him and he disappeared and reappeared on the ground. Zaku jumped down and stood in front of Gaara. "Begin!" Hayate yelled as he backed away. Zaku took no time to thrust his arms in front of him ready to activate his technique.
"Zankuuha!" Zaku yelled as a burst of wind shot out of his hands towards Gaara. Temari looked on and was trying her hardest not to laugh at Zaku's attempt at hurting her brother. After the dust cleared Zaku saw Gaara in the exact same spot unmoved. Zaku was a little pissed and decided to kick it up a notch. "Zankuukyokuha!" And a huge blast was shot out of Zaku's hands. The leaf ninjas had to jump away again as the blast destroyed the rest of their balcony. When the dust cleared once more Gaara still stood in the same place unmoved and the leaf ninjas were now on the arena level standing in various places against the wall.
"Your attacks are too weak." Gaara said. Zaku was enraged so he attacked head on, which was the stupidest thing to do. When he went to punch Gaara, sand swirled around him and caught Zaku in a vice grip. Zaku was stunned as the sand started to encase him.
"What are you doing? Release me!" Zaku yelled. It was too late Gaara completely encased Zaku.
"Sabaku Kyuu!" Gaara exclaimed as Zaku was completely engulfed. Gaara looked at Orochimaru as he announced his next attack. "Sabaku Sousou!" The sand caved in on Zaku with huge amounts of pressure. Zaku screamed for just a second before blood flew out of the sand tomb of Zaku. Everyone looked astonished at how easy it was for Gaara to kill Zaku, but nonetheless Hayate announced the victor.
"Winner Gaara!" Hayate said. The Hokage and Anko hopped down from their spots on the semi destroyed balcony and stood where the statue used to be.
"Well now this was a very interesting preliminary match and I hope that it will be just as exciting in the main matches." The Hokage said mainly looking at the kneeling form of Naruto and the still form of Gaara. "You have no idea old man." Orochimaru thought as he left the arena with a fake scowl. Naruto's sense of smell kicked in as Orochimaru was leaving. "He's the snake!" Naruto thought to Kyuubi. "You should do something." Kyuubi said. Naruto not so casually pulled out his remaining throwing knife and threw it at Orochimaru. Everyone in the room was shocked at Naruto's actions. Orochimaru was not one to be caught off guard so he whirled around and caught the blade by the handle.
"I'm guessing that it blows up when the blade touches something." Orochimaru said with a slight chuckle. His hand then started to burn and he winced. He looked down at the blade then back at Naruto. "You're a smart one aren't you? You were the only to figure out who I was." Orochimaru said as he pulled off his current face showing that he was in fact Orochimaru. Naruto was worried. Orochimaru had a Kyuubi enhanced weapon and could take out everyone in the room if he aimed it correctly. "Well now the prelims were quite entertaining but I must go. I thank you Naruto-kun, now I don't have to go through all the trouble in stealing this from you." Orochimaru said with a huge chuckle as he melted in the ground before anyone in the room could act. Everyone cursed for not noticing that it was Orochimaru. Naruto was the most pissed. Not for losing his weapon but for not being strong enough to stop Orochimaru.
"Anko, Kakashi, and Gai go try and stop him before he escapes." The Hokage ordered. He then looked at Naruto. "Can he replicate that weapon?" He asked Naruto.
"No. It is designed to destroy itself if anyone attempts to search for it's secrets. And even if he does figure it out it would only be as strong as a kunai with an explosive note attached." Naruto said not lifting his gaze from where Orochimaru left from. Tenten trying to figure out was going on and being the weapons expert noticed a very big difference to what Naruto said.
"This crater couldn't be made by a normal explosive note." Tenten said pointing at the crater made by Naruto's Kyuubified knife.
"Those were an experiment and the process can only be replicated by someone of my 'unique' blood." Naruto said making sure The Hokage got the hint. He did and The Hokage cleared his throat to get the genins attention.
"Ok. The Orochimaru problem is being handled now as for the main matches they will be in one month and in order to know who will be fighting who, you all will draw lots. So will the winners please stand in a line so we can see who will fight who." The Hokage announced. Everyone did as they were told and all drew lots and The Hokage announced who would fight who. (They're in order so the first name would be the person who picked one and so on, just in case you were wondering.) "Aburame Shino vs. Kankuro, Temari vs. Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Hinata vs. Hyuuga Neji," This last match made Neji smile and made Hinata cringe. Naruto noticed both responses and took note of them. "Rock Lee vs. Gaara, and Naruto you will face the winner of that match." Naruto nodded as The Hokage finished, "Now I suggest everyone train for the finals, and it would be wise to make sure that you are well healed for the exam." He said the last part mainly towards Naruto. "You are dismissed." And everyone started to leave in their own directions. It was at that time that Naruto fell unconscious from blood loss and pain.
To Be Continued?