First off, I own nothing except my version of Naruto (I wish) and maybe a jutsu or two.
Next up is my cruising for reviewing. Reviews tell me what is right, wrong, liked, and disliked. I love knowing people care about the story enough to say something, even if the review is simply "good job" or any other two word combination. friaku, if you're reading this, know I appreciate the time you took to review. Since I noticed you commented about how you liked when I emphasized the character interactions I'll make sure the next few chapters have plenty of that.
Exam 2 and Prelims
The Forest of Death was truly a dangerous place. Predators existed in the birds, lions, spiders, centipedes, apes, and snakes. Threats existed in the poisonous flora and fauna. Food was also plentiful, but many poisonous organisms appeared very similar to their safe for consumption relatives. It truly was a hard place to survive for genin and even chunin. That being said, team seven was having trouble. Not with the forest, no, that was easy. They had been here for training and scouted it out with their mission in mind. The Forest was a playground for them.
The difficulty had not been in accomplishing the needed objective to pass, either. Finding fifteen points worth of scrolls had been ridiculously easy, especially with the judicious use of shadow clones. They had so far gotten scrolls 3, 7, and 10 from jounin and had stolen scrolls 2, 6, and 8 from other teams. That left them with a total 36 points worth of scrolls and three days left. It had been true that the tasks would be difficult for genin and some chunin. The task to receive the 10 point scroll was literally to defeat the special jounin who was passing them out in combat as a team. The team they had taken the 8 point and 2 point scroll had just received the 8 point scroll and was so tired from their challenge, whatever it may have been, that they had not put up much of a fight. But these tests were meant for genin who bordered on chunin, and even Hinata was much stronger than that fine line. No, the hard part was not living or passing, but in getting their leaf allies to do the same.
There had been twenty-three teams that entered the Forest of Death, and now thee were significantly less. The Suna team made of the Kazekage's children had taken out three teams before passing on the first day. Team seven had also crippled two teams – not to the point of permanent damage, but to the point in which they could not pass this exam. Ame had been taken out as had Tani and Taki, eliminating the most brutal feuds that could exist between villages in this exam. Still, there was significant threat to their wards.
Team Gai, despite being undeniably one of the best combat teams in the exams did not have the survival skills they truly should. There had been several times so far when an animal had run off with their food. They would curse and rage that a mere animal was able to do so, but if they knew that it had really just been Naruto protecting them from poisonous food while under a henge, they would have been even more annoyed at being protected by a "Rookie" genin.
The other teams, at least, had no such problem. Kiba and Akamaru's nose as well as the Nara knowledge of medicines and herbs kept team ten safe as did Chouji's clan knowledge of foods and Shino's insects for team nine. Those squads, on the other hand, had been protected by team seven several times so far. In fact, the siblings from Suna would have crossed, and likely killed, both teams had team seven not managed to change the course of the Suna team. Kiba had almost caused his team to be annihilated by going to where he smelled fresh blood, either hoping for that night's dinner or a weakened team to fight. His team had seen the tail end of what highly compressed sand did to the human body. If Naruto hadn't gone overtime and released a monumental burst of killing intent at Gaara while Sasuke used a suggestive genjutsu on the other siblings to move forward, quite the ugly fight could have broken out.
Also, there was one very strong team from Kumo. Naruto didn't know the other two, but he did recognize Darui and knew that if they had him in this squad, it was most likely because he was a ringer. This squad was likely over normal chunin strength, made to look Kumo look good.
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Kumo's team four had been jumping through the forest, looking for either jounin to earn scrolls from or genin to take scrolls from, when Darui raised a closed fist in the air. Both he and his partners stopped on a huge branch that stuck up into the canopy. Less than a second later, team seven had appeared.
They simply stared at each other for a while in a standoff that was none too comfortable before both Sasuke and Darui shot forward, fists cocked back, before colliding, fists first. To an outsider, it would seem like a power struggle. At least until Darui smiled and Sasuke simply said, "Nice bro-fist."
Both fists lowered and the other four nin came in closer, an obvious truce being called. "Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata!" Darui called, having become good friends with the boys when they did the cross village training program and having met the Hyuga heiress during the same. "Finally getting promoted?"
"Yeah, trying to," Naruto responded. "Do me a favor and tell Yugito that just because she's ahead now means nothing. I'll be sure to catch up."
Darui chuckled at that. "She said you'd say that. She also said that, even if you do catch up, she'll still be the senior nin." Naruto fumed a little at that, but had to concede the point. "Anyhow, meet my team." He stepped back and pointed at a boy, then a girl. "This is Omoi," the boy was white-haired and brown-skinned, not unlike Darui in looks, "and Karui." The girl was also dark-skinned with golden eyes and had vibrant purple-tinged red hair. They both nodded and gave a hello in turn before Darui continued. "So how can we help you on such a fine day?"
"Well," Hinata started, "it's not so much about helping us as it is not hurting our friends."
The boy nodded, understanding. "I get what you're saying, and, no, we won't go after Konoha specifically. We never intended to. But if you don't want us to go after them at all, even if we see them, we'll need a better reason." It was a fair enough request.
"How many points do you have?" the blonde asked.
"Nine," spoke up Karui.
"Then how about we give you a six point scroll and simply ask you to leave them alone?" asked Sasuke.
After a moment or two of nonverbal communication, the Kumo team reached an agreement. "Done." And simple as that, another big threat was out of the way. The scrolls were handed over, general bantering ensued, and a few minutes later both teams were gone.
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The team had been traveling to the center of the training ground when they heard something. It was a loud noise that sounded not unlike a large gust of wind sweeping a thousand leaves across the forest floor. Neji barely called out "Duck!" in time for his teammates to react and dodge the dangerous hail of steel coming towards them. Tenten was the first to drop from some black blur, and Lee only managed a second more against their foe before he too was taken out of the fight.
Neji took a debilitating punch to his gut, and found himself unable to breathe, barely able to move at all. But he could see. It was a genin from Kusa that had done this all on her own. She didn't look exceptional, just a lanky girl in her late teens with long, dark hair. But, as she knelt down next to him bit him on the juncture of his neck and shoulder, Neji couldn't help but see the cruelty in her eyes. He felt a burning pain go through him, worse than he ever expected could exist. It quickly drove all thought of the girl from his mind as he struggled to not succumb to this torture. Team seven arrived thirty seconds later and the only sign of a fight were three bodies, crumpled on the ground.
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"We should go in now!" a masculine voice said.
"No!" a feminine voice replied. "We do not fucking go in. Our cock sucking target is there, but he will also be there during the final damn stage. More important is the team guarding him. He told us to retreat if we saw them. He said that if we came up against them that it wouldn't be a fight, it would be a fucking slaughter."
"Well damn what he says!" the first voice returned. "He's always underestimated us and once, just this once, I want to prove him –"
"Shut up." This third voice was masculine, but also much deeper. "If our master told us to take the boy out, but to avoid this team, then we will simply have to wait until the tournament, no ways around it."
The first boy growled. "Fine. But if he gets angry, I'm not taking the blame."
With that, they all faded away from sight, a technique that was decidedly not genin level.
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Team seven stood guard over the downed team Gai. "Who do you think did it?" Hinata asked, some of her nerves returning.
Neither of the boys answered for a few minutes before Sasuke finally spoke up. "I'm not sure. But they weren't genin. Not even chunin. There's almost no sign of resistance and between Neji and Lee especially, that's odd. If Naruto and I were to attempt something like this, it wouldn't have looked much different in the end. Whoever did this was a monster."
They had been guarding the team's bodies for a half-hour before Tenten woke up. At first the girl had been startled and hadn't trusted them, but, seeing Naruto and Hinata healing them and realizing that they could have hurt them when they were knocked out if they had wanted too, had relaxed some. When they asked, even she didn't know who had attacked them. At Hinata's request, she had eaten some of the food team seven had found before going back to sleep. All three would need some good, healing sleep. The only permanent sign of the attack had been a seal that had appeared on Neji's shoulder next to two small puncture holes, but Naruto had undone the seal on the boy. It had been acting unfavorably with a seal on the boy's forehead and in order to save Neji's life, both seals needed to be undone.
The next day, two days left in the game, all three of them had woken up. After a short chat revealing the assailant to be from Kusa, team seven left. Naruto's shadow clones met up with them and delivered several more scrolls that the clones had found. Apparently the booby traps their team had set around a few areas in the training ground had been successful. If anything, they had been far too successful and had to free an irate Ino from a wire trap. They could only be thankful that she hadn't found the pitfall or trip line triggered explosive note trap nearby. In any case, team eight had already made it into the tower and team Gai was heading there now, having been given their needed scrolls by team seven.
It was a fairly simple process to place a few scrolls in the forest such that a nearby Suna team would accidentally "stumble" across them and an equally easy task for Sasuke to subtly direct the Suna team towards team ten. With the Suna team still a little disoriented from the genjutsu Sasuke used, it wasn't that difficult for team ten to defeat them and gain all the points they needed. By moonrise that night, teams seven, eight, ten, Gai, Darui, Oto, and Suna were already at the tower in the middle of the Forest, waiting for any teams that would come in tomorrow, the last day of the exam.
Despite being nearly as tired as the other teams, team seven couldn't sleep just yet. Instead, they entered a supply closet on the third floor of the building, moving five mops and brooms to specific places in the room, only for the back wall to pull to the side and allow them through into a short tunnel that let out into one of several secret chambers in the tower. This one rested above a huge gymnasium area that could be seen through one way glass that, to those in the gym, appeared as rock.
Only three other people were waiting for them, each sitting in a small lounge area while peering at television monitors that showed various positions in the Forest. "Team seven reporting!" Naruto crisply said.
One of the individuals simply directed them to a couple of chairs in the lounge area. This man was Danzo Shimura, head of Anbu and of a special Anbu division known as root. Across from him was Anko, the proctor for this section who was obviously enjoying watching the test take place. The third person was, of course, the Yondaime. "It's good to see you all made it!" he greeted his children. "And I mean all of you! I fully expected all of the teams to be safe, but at least one to fail. You three, however, surpassed my expectations and for that you can fully expect your promotion after the exams." His smile was quite infectious to the genin team, but Sasuke did remember they had some bad news.
"Thank you, otou-san," he started sincerely, "but there is some odd news."
Minato looked puzzled, as he had not yet heard of the odd incident involving team Gai. "What is it?" he asked.
Naruto spoke up this time. "It was team Gai. They were attacked and lost a terribly one sided battle. Only Neji was able to see their opponent, a single female Kusa genin. She destroyed their team, and merely left them unconscious without even taking their scrolls." Naruto stopped, puzzled by his own story. "Hinata and I healed the worst of their injuries, but I also found a seal on Neji and removed it. I had to remove the Hyuga branch seal as well as they were interacting strangely." At seeing his father's face, he quickly continued. "Not the seal you made to protect the Hyuga bloodline, but a seal on his shoulder and the pain seal the Hyuga main branch used to use." Neji was likely one of the last to have the pain seal attached, really, after Minato had made a replacement seal used by all Hyugas to protect their bloodline upon death. "I transferred the seal from his neck to a scroll so you could examine it, but I really didn't like the seal at all."
Minato held his hand out for the seal and unrolled the scroll once it was handed over. Danzo examined it with them and even the leader of Anbu shivered at the implications while Minato simply seemed to lose all of his warmth. "This is an evil seal, Naruto. Do you know what it does?"
The boy shook his head no. "I was only able to understand a little about it. It seems to store chakra for later use as a steroid and also seems to have a remote activated punishment seal in it, but I could make out no more."
"Then you still have much to work on in sealing," Danzo sighed. "You are a prodigy, no doubt, though, for noticing as much. I had trouble understanding it until you pointed out the punishment seal, but now I agree. It is an evil seal."
Minato decided to end the suspense and explain it. "This is a slave seal Naruto. It can seal chakra as a punishment, or gift empowering and mind altering stored chakra as both a steroid and an addictive stimulant for reward. It can also cause pain directly to one's nervous system. But the worst part is that only one person is able to activate the seal, and in order to do so, they must directly split part of their soul into the seal." The man shuddered once more. "This is a very evil seal."
Both the genin and Anko looked shocked at this. It seemed that someone had wanted Hyuga genetics and wasn't above slave seals to do so. Even amongst ninja the soul was precious. Only a few seals and jutsu dealt with the soul. There was a medical technique that could literally heal the soul, but it was by far one of the most difficult ever made. There were seals that allowed partners to partially meld their souls as a sign of trust. But for every positive and good use of the soul, there were twenty abominations. If a technique involved the soul itself, then ninety-nine times out of a hundred it was bound to be a kinjutsu. A whole religion had been wiped out by a shinobi coalition as the religion, Jashinism, slowly deteriorated the immortal souls of its followers, only allowing their souls to restore when they killed others in strange rituals, also gifting them a form of immortality. Even in the days of the warring clans ninja had managed to set aside their differences long enough to wipe out Jashinism.
"Anko, Danzo," Minato started suddenly, "immediately have protection sent to guard Neji Hyuga and to search for and detain any remaining Kusa genin from their squad that made it into the Forest of Death."
"Hai, Hokage-sama," they stated together before leaving to do as asked.
"Is there any more information you have for me?" he asked, halfway between being the strong commander and the loving father.
After thinking for a while, Hinata remembered his wound. "Nii-san had a wound near the seal, two small puncture marks."
Minato nodded his head as, although a small detail, it could mean something. He sighed deeply. "Very good. You have all accomplished your most important mission yet, and have done so with flying colors." Despite being tired and worried, he still gave a small, kind smile. "So go rest up. The test will end tomorrow and all the teams still in will meet up then, around three in the room you can see through the windows here. Good job guys." With that said, they all walked out through the closet. He hugged his boys and gave Hinata a small kiss on top of her head before walking off. A Hokage's work was never done.
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The amount of fighting that had gone on in the forest was quite pitiful. There were conflicts, but most were far too one-sided to call fights. Still, the team numbers were cut down significantly. There had been twenty-three teams to enter the forest, and now they were down to seven teams. The only team to arrive between last night and now was one battered and bruised Konoha team who, despite passing the second test, were in much too bad of a shape to continue and were currently having their injuries treated. Apparently when two teams, each comparable to yours in skill, attack you together, this is a best case scenario.
In any case, that meant that there were twenty-four contestants. And that was just too many. All seven teams were lined up in the large gymnasium that team seven had seen before, the Hokage and several examiners in an elevated booth in front of them, two balconies of equal height lining the side of the room but currently empty. Minato stepped forward, tired as hell. They had found the Kusa, team, but they had been torn to shreds by something or other so any information they could have received at this point was rendered null. An autopsy was still being performed on what was left, however, just in case something could be found. But despite how tired he was, he had gone a week without sleep in the last war once and he could certainly go one night without sleep now.
"Congratulations to all of you! You have made good shows for your countries, and they can all be counted among the strongest. Many don't know why we have these exams, and that is the reason. They make your country look good if you win. They attract business, turn others off from other villages if they look weak, and settle it all with a minimum of bloodshed. In summary, this is our substitute for war." He paused to let it sink in. "Unfortunately, there are over twenty of you, when we expected around only three or four team to pass. For that reason, you will have to go through a preliminary round as we cannot have too many make it through to the final tournament or it would be too long and boring for the spectators and clients who will watch it." He motioned over to an attractive woman with dark skin and light hair and she stepped forward.
"My name is Mabui, and I will be the proctor for the preliminary tests," she said in a pleasant voice. She had been a last minute proctor as, although there were a few other choices, most of them had been up late chasing dead Kusa nin through the forest. Since he couldn't choose one of the teams' sensei, she was here, and was a jounin, she was offered the position. "They will be a series of one on one fights randomly chosen by the electronic board on the wall. With twenty-one people, one of those who previously lost a match will get a second chance in the last round to make it eleven fights and eleven contestants. Although an advantage, it is also a disadvantage as you will be tired during the second match. There are no holds barred, but killing is not encouraged and what I say goes. If I stop a match, you will not get one last punch in, you will stop. If not, you will be disqualified and any extraneous damage will be repeated upon your person," she said pleasantly, but damn if the killing intent behind those words didn't scare some of the genin. And a few jounin too.
The board started spinning through names until, eventually, it settled on two allied countries, Omoi of the Cloud vs Kankuro of the Sand. The two both stayed on the battlefield while the others went up to upper levels. The two stared each other down, Omoi just feeling too lazy to say anything and Kankuro confident in his victory. "Who do you think will win, Naruto-kun?" asked Ino who, even now, was still hanging off of him.
Naruto thought about it for a second. "Hmmm. Not really sure. Omoi's got that sword on his back and probably knows lightning jutsu because he's from Kumo, but Kankuro has that thing on his back and, really, who knows what that is."
After making sure that the crowd was out of the way, Mabui lowered her hand and jumped back, "Go!"
Omoi instantly hopped into action and started performing handseals. To stop him, Kankuro threw a brace of shuriken at and around him, making dodging into a rather hard time. However, the jutsu only had a few hand signs and lightning started sparking from his palms, bouncing out to and deflecting the shuriken before the boy ran in, hands still sparking while yelling, "Raiton: Sandāboruto!" And it truly was a thunderbolt attached to his hands. He clasped one hand on his sword, ready to draw, while the other was held out front to deflect any projectiles. He was rather fast for a genin and managed to get in on Kankuro, before pulling out his sword and declaring "Kumo-Ryū Mikazukigiri!"
The sword, charged with raiton chakra was swung so fast that all could be seen before it was sheathed was a slight blue blur. The boy turned his back to the enemy who he saw to be sliced in half before turning and walking up to the upper level. He was, however, stopped by a voice, Mabui's voice. "Where are you going?"
"What do you mean? Oh, do you want to reward me for winning? Or did I do something wrong? Or is this all even real? Oh, man." He really was an odd one.
"No," she started before wooden arms wrapped around the boy. "You only hit his puppet, not him."
And sure enough, Kankuro had hidden himself in a wrapped up package on his puppet's back. The puppet had thrown him away to avoid the sword slice before being cut itself, but no good puppet is useless until it is broken into pieces so small as to be useless to the puppeteer. Karasu, was no exception and had only been cut in half, merely a minor setback for a good puppet. While Omoi was distracted, Kankuro had gotten up and come after the boy from behind. Soon, the puppet arms were wrapped around Omoi's body. "And now I'm back," Kankuro said. "Thought you should know, kid, I use poison. You give up in less than five seconds and I won't have to kill you."
'Maybe I should give up. No, then Bee'll get mad at me. I could just get cut, nah…' "I give up!" he told the proctor. 'NO! I should have just used kawarimi!'
The puppeteer let Omoi go and Mabui announced Kankuro as the winner in a relatively short match that showed that having advanced techniques like Omoi did not always triumph over a strategy like Kankuro's.
Mabui waited as the board above rattled off two more names. "Gaara of the Sand vs Kiba of the Leaf."
Kiba easily, though excitedly, strolled to his position to fight, only for Gaara to instantly appear in his own spot. "We'll wipe the floor with this freak, right, Akamaru?" asked the dog boy, only to realize that Akamaru was not, in fact, with him. The dog was shivering on the edge of the balcony and gave a nervous yip. He would not join his partner in this madness.
"It seems your dog has the right idea," Gaara coldly intoned. "Now, give me your blood."
"Go!" Mabui started the match once it was obvious both boys were ready. And it was over in an instant. If Kiba had gotten to start his jutsu, Gaara may have had to actually try. He had improved some since Hinata had beaten him so harshly the week before the exams. But he got no such chance. Sand instantly poured from the gourd on Gaara's back before rushing towards Kiba who, despite his best attempt, was unable to dodge the massive wave of sand. It caught his hand before working up his arm, then down his torso until his whole body was covered.
The normally cocky boy was in trouble, and he knew it. He'd like to use kawarimi, but there was no target on the battlefield for use. "As much as I want blood, yours won't sate my thirst anyways. Give up so I don't piss off Namikaze by killing you." The boy stared at Kiba with cold, dead eyes and, despite the Inuzuka's pride, it was inevitable.
"Proctor, I forfeit!" Kiba called. The sand quickly released him and was drawn back into the gourd on Gaara's back before the redhead simply turned around and went back to his squad while Kiba did the same, though Kiba's steps were noticeably melancholy. First Hinata could beat him, now this Gaara kid. And Gaara did it just as fast as Hinata! Had he really improved at all?
"Tough luck," Sasuke called as Kiba reached the top. "There are a lot of strong guys here, but he looked like one of the strongest." Sasuke wasn't alone in consoling the boy as Naruto, Hinata, Akamaru, and his team were there too. "I'm not sure how I would beat him myself, but it wouldn't be easy." At least, Kiba figured, that losing against such a monster wasn't too much of a sting on his pride.
The next fight would be the first fair fight of the preliminary tournament. "Chouji of the Leaf vs Shikimaru of the Leaf!" Mabui called. The boys were good friends but where one was strong and had a lot of chakra, the other was smart as hell. Both were reluctant to hurt the other and both only really knew a few jutsu. In short, they appeared equally matched. Until one takes into consideration exactly how smart Shikimaru is.
Once the two boys reached the floor of the arena and the battle started, they both rushed through handseals, something that Naruto scoffed at. "What wrong Naruto?" Ino asked.
"Baika no Jutsu!" shouted Chouji as he grew to a large ball that was at least ten feet in diameter.
"Kagemane no Jutsu," Shikimaru whispered a mere fraction of a second after, immediately sending his shadow at Chouji while the heavier boy began spinning at a rapid pace to get away from Shikimaru's shadow.
Naruto explained to Ino. "In the time it took the two to do the seals for their jutsu they were sitting ducks. A kunai or shuriken would have interrupted or hurt either. The distance between them was small enough that one could engage in taijutsu before the seals ended. And they obviously aren't used to doing the seals if it took them that long to do. Starting off a match that way was not a smart Idea."
And it was true. The boys were at a standstill as Chouji attempted to outrun a shadow and run over Shikimaru while Shikimaru tried to catch Chouji's shadow. If one had taken the early initiative and wounded the other, the fight could have already been over.
After a particularly close dodge on Shikimaru's part, he finally caught Chouji, stopping the human wrecking ball in place. Shikimaru had seen Chouji use the technique enough to know how to cancel it, thankfully he had paid attention to his friend's training, and did so. He then brought his left hand down to his kunai pouch, Chouji copying him due to the shadow imitation technique.
The major difference was that Shikimaru's pouch was on his left side while Chouji's was on the boy's right. Shikimaru usually had his pouch on the right, but had put it there upon observing where Chouji's pouch was. In short, he drew a kunai while Chouji grasped at air. Shikimaru simply walked towards the other boy and put the knife up to his throat. Everyone held their breath as it seemed that Shikimaru would hurt his friend, but the lazy boy then called out to Mabui. "Can you call the match already? It's troublesome enough already."
Mabui snapped out of her observer mode. "Ah, yes. Winner, Shikimaru Nara of the Leaf." Shikimaru released his jutsu and both boys, tired and scratched up but not truly harmed, walked up to the stands together. It seems the loss hadn't really affected their relationship as friends afterall.
As they reached the top of the steps Mabui called out the next match. "Tayuya of the Sound vs Kidomarou of the Sound." The genin in question started to head down until Kidomarou froze in place. He felt an icy grip on his heart and turned to his sensei, taking in the look in the jounin's eyes.
"I forfeit," Kidomarou stated, winning Tayuya the match and ending it before it began.
"That's weird," Sakura said aloud. "Why would he give up before even fighting? To get this far and then quit seems bizarre."
"Hmm," Sasuke pondered. "Actually, it would make more sense than you think. Even you could probably figure it out if you tried."
"Sasuke!" Hinata chided. "Don't be so rude to Sakura-san!" She turned to Sakura before explaining. "Well imagine you know who's likely to win between teammates. You want your country to look best and that's by how the fights are in the final tournament. So if you know you're likely to lose but someone from your country is going to go to the final tournament, why not throw the match? Not only does it save you time and energy, but it also gives them the advantage of surprise if nobody can see how they fight in the prelims." Sakura thought on it and Hinata did have a point. Still, if Tayuya was that much stronger than her teammate, it would have been an amusing fight.
"Sakura of the Leaf vs Shino of the Leaf!" called out Mabui's voice and Shino walked down but Sakura stood still in the stands for a minute.
'I can't beat him,' she pondered. 'I rely on traps that his bugs can find for him. His bugs will suck me dry really quickly because I don't have too much chakra. And he's just too strong for me to fight in taijutsu.' She sighed, really not liking what she was about to do but now truly understanding why the Oto genin had given up. "Proctor, I too forfeit." She was downcast about it but soon felt two hands, one on each of her shoulders. She looked up only to see Kakashi and Naruto.
Naruto gave her a reassuring smile while Kakashi just gave a one-eyed smile. "It sucks, Sakura," Naruto started, "but I think that part of being a chunin is knowing when to fight and looking at things from all angles."
Kakashi continued where the handsome blonde stopped. "If anything, it truly shows that you are chunin level in your maturity, just that you need to work on your strength and skills now. If anything, you've done the hard part first." Kakashi's smile almost turned sad for a second. "Believe me when I say the best leader is not the strongest in a fight, but the one who keeps a level head and can think things through both rationally and from the heart. Plus, by the time the next exams come up we'll have you strong enough to take on anyone who tells you otherwise."
Sakura gave a small smile towards her encouragers. This test had been meant as a wakeup call and it had certainly worked. Never again would Sakura Haruno have to forfeit because of her weakness. No, she'd train up so that, next time, it would be her to pass. Shino gave her a head nod and, oddly expressive for an Aburame, a small smile when he returned to their spot on the stands. "Thank you, Sakura," he simply stated. The girl nodded her head back to him and they waited for the next match.
"Lee of the Leaf vs Tenten of the Leaf!" Mabui called. Now she wasn't exactly bloodthirsty, but had been looking forward to proctoring some good fights and, so far, had been disappointed. Sure, Omoi's match had started well and the match between the two Leaf boys wasn't bad, but nothing that good had happened yet. Which was why she was happy to see a muscular youth wearing a green jumpsuit and his teammate, a bright-eyed yet serious kunoichi, leap down to fight.
Although some would argue that Lee should give up as Tenten was amazing with her projectiles and Lee was only a close range fighter, they both knew something different. Lee knew that Tenten had been training in secret, hiding something from the team though he didn't know what. And Tenten knew that Lee was much stronger than he let on. There was no clear winner, despite what those who had heard of them might say. And so they fought.
Looking from boy to girl and back, Mabui made sure they were ready before calling out "Go!" and quickly jumping back. Tenten jumped back just as quickly, throwing several braces of kunai at Lee who was trying to close the gap. The boy was slowed by these projectiles, but not unable to get past them. Soon Lee was in Tenten's face and went for a punch to the jaw in an attempt to daze the girl, but had to pull his punch as Tenten pulled out something unexpected. A ninjato.
Tenten knew she had to learn more than just weapons at one point to become truly strong, but even so learning some kenjutsu was a huge asset to the girl who was otherwise only a long-range fighter. Now, there's no question that she was still a novice. She had barely picked up the sword for light training a month back and had only focused on it after the beat down from team seven. However, even if she was new to the sword and slower than Lee, the point remained that Lee did not even use kunai. Lee had no good way to block those swords and that made it much harder for him and much easier for her.
Still Lee's endurance knows no bounds and he didn't relent, making Tenten truly fight for it until it appeared a tragic accident would occur. Tenten swung the ninjato towards a kick that Lee had overextended and both suddenly feared for the damage she could do to him. Then the sword struck his weights. The sword quite literally shattered and, although both were shocked as Lee had forgotten the weights and Tenten had never expected them to provide so much defense, Tenten recovered before Lee and responded by jumping back into the air and reaching for two scrolls she kept on her person.
"I didn't want to use this against you, Lee," she said as she landed on the ground, snapping her teammate out of his stupor, "but I need to prove to you, to myself, that I'm not weak."
Lee just gave her a thumbs-up with a goofy grin on his face. "Yes! Pour out your youth, Tenten!" It was an odd statement but it roughly translated to "show me what you've got!"
The girl jumped in the air once more before releasing the scrolls from her hands and yelling out "Sōshōryū!" And just as the name inferred, the scrolls burst open to reveal numerous kanji on the side facing Tenten and the long drawing of a dragon on the other side. She quickly touched various kanji, releasing a multitude of weapons – kunai, shuriken, sickles, maces, swords, hatchets, and more – and throwing them all at Lee in a concentrated scattershot that was nearly impossible for a genin, even the average chunin, to evade. Lee, however, was not average and using his new use for his weights in addition to his natural great speed, he managed to make it through with only a few scrapes.
The boy realized, though, that he couldn't keep up with this if she had any other tricks up her sleeve and so, with much haste he stripped off his weights. Tenten landed, only to pull her hands back and reveal that each weapon was connected to her via chakra string. She pulled them back and sent them forward at Lee again. The weapons came closer and closer and, when they were mere inches from the boy, he managed to release his last weight. He then disappeared, grabbed one of Tenten's kunai, and reappeared with it at the base of her spine, one arm around her neck in a rather tight lock.
Although it took most of the genin a second to realize what happened, the jounin were faster and Mabui quickly called for a winner. "Winner, Rock Lee!" The jounin, as well as Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata, had all noticed the dents in the floor beneath Lee's weights, wondering just how heavy they truly were. The genin, however, were still trying to figure it out and, despite Gai's want to brag about Lee's sheer speed, he also knew that giving anything away to a potential enemy was not a good idea. Instead he simply embraced his students in a group hug while crying about the power of youth. Although creepier, much safer for Lee.
"Sasuke of the Leaf vs Darui of the Cloud!" Sparks flew, literally, as both boys' faces lit up instantly and their eyes connected. This would be a fight that both had been looking forward to, but Darui's sensei clasped his shoulder before the boy could go down to the floor of the arena.
"Don't show him new jutsu. Just stick to the three and kenjutsu." Darui nodded in response before using a basic teleport to appear across from Sasuke, ready to fight.
The two kept eye contact until Mabui lowered her hand and jumped back to start the match. And honestly, it was brutal. Sasuke was only using kenjutsu, a front that Darui also specialized in. Swords would clash, raiton chakra flowing through the swords and jumping to their opponent's hands, numbing and shocking them. Still, neither boy gave up and the strikes came faster and harder as time went on, only for Darui to finally knock the sword from Sasuke's hand and stand with the tip of his sword to Sasuke's neck. The Uchiha looked stunned before looking up to Darui and smirking, his mature sharingan spinning all the while.
Darui woke up on the sidelines of the stands, his head hurting him something fierce. "Oh, what just happened?" he asked to whoever would answer him.
Omoi just rolled his eyes. "He went down to the field while you just kept staring at him until you passed out all of a sudden. You got caught in a genjutsu before the fight even began and when they ran out of time to wait for you they said Sasuke was the winner."
Darui just groaned in response while his sensei chuckled a little. "Sorry sensei," he started, "that was just so dull." The jounin nodded once or twice, but it was in the past and there was nothing that could be done now, so he didn't worry too much about it.
Shi, the Kumo jounin spoke up. "Don't worry too much about it. Omoi lost because he was a moron, but you lost because you were just plain outmatched. That genjutsu was mean and, because it's a solo test, we couldn't get rid of it for you." Omoi just mumbled in the background sad about how he had lost. "Besides, it looks like we'll be united soon," Shi mused as Hinata delivered a stunning palm strike to Karui.
The two had been called down to fight next and, although not as bad as the fight against Sasuke, the Kumo genin had just been outmatched. Karui used some genjutsu and a lot of kenjutsu. Genjutsu didn't work very well against Hinata's byakugan, and Hinata was used to fighting against kenjutsu. She often sparred with Sasuke and he was much faster with a sword than Karui, even if Hinata didn't know Karui's style.
The match had lasted for a few minutes in which Hinata simply dodged, redirected, and countered while Karui grew increasingly angry until, finally, Hinata ended it with a simple touch to Karui's forehead that knocked the girl out. "Winner, Hinata Hyuga!" Mabui called out as a Hyuga medic was called to undo the tenketsu, chakra points, that Hinata had sealed on Karui. Soon enough both kunoichi were back with their teams and Karui was pouting, both over her loss and over how she lost her temper.
"Neji of the Leaf vs Kimimarou of the Sound!" was called out on the speakers and Karui changed her disappointment to petty insults as she harassed this new Hyuga, hoping the sound bastard would avenge her. Both, however, simply ignored her. Neji may have lead a good life with a supportive family, but he still was slightly bitter that they weren't main branch and that his parents still held the pain seal of the branch family. It lead to him being an okay guy, but a little cold to strangers. Kimimarou, on the other hand, didn't give two shits about the random Kumo girl. He was here to make his village look good and that's what he was going to do.
Mabui quickly started the match and jumped back but, unlike the earlier matches, this one did not start off with jutsu or fighting, but with a stare down. Finally Kimimarou spoke. "I can tell that you are strong. But I am stronger. Surrender or die."
Neji just smirked. "Funny, I was about to say the same thing." And with that done, all talking came to an end. Both jumped forward and engaged in a taijutsu match. It was easy to tell these were close combat specialists as both were streamlined, yet muscular. Kimimarou was a little bulkier and, uniquely, an albino while Neji was a little shorter. However, even if Kimimarou had the reach advantage, Neji didn't care. It just meant that the first time Kimimarou overextended Neji was able to use his gentle fist to its full advantage. He struck five tenketsu on the arm before the larger boy could pull back.
Although tenketsu can be called "chakra points," a closed point was much worse than simply not being able to use jutsu. No, chakra allows for speed, power, and movement itself. With closed off tenketsu, the arm was as good as useless. Which was what surprised Neji. Kimimarou didn't seem to notice and was using his arm just as effectively as before. Next was a kick and three points in the leg. Kimimarou tanked on. Neji eventually even closed a few points on the boy's abdomen from the stomach to the chest, but nothing was fazing the albino.
Kimimarou started to smirk while Neji fumed, and the albino started laughing when Neji's eyes widened. He could see it now. A plate of bone covered each of the boy's tenketsu, truly a bizarre anatomy. Neji couldn't close what was blocked off by bone and started to panic until he realized that there was one point that couldn't be covered by bone. The optic nerve.
The battle continued on for several more minutes, Kimimarou now using a katana that he had unsealed, Neji acting frightened and worried, until Neji finally got what he wanted. The opening was tiny, but it was enough. Kimimarou sliced downwards and Neji, letting go of his frightened act, pushed it to the side with one hand while his other reached for Kimimarou's pink pupils. Contact was made and Neji surged his chakra forward only for the other boy to go stiff and, as Neji stepped back, fall forward to the ground, unconscious. "Winner, Neji Hyuga!"
The Hyuga medic as well as a full team of other medics were called out this time as chakra to the brain could be quite damaging, but the Oto jounin simply called them off and hauled his student back up to the balcony. Despite the medics' insistence that he needed treatment, it was the jounin's decision at the end of the day and it was chosen to not receive treatment. After the last of the medics had cleared the floor the names rolled for the penultimate fight until it stopped on "Naruto of the Leaf vs Temari of the Sand."
Both blondes leapt to the ground and Naruto gave Temari a bright smile, causing the girl to blush just a little. They might have been fighting each other, but he was literally godly handsome due to his beastly chakra reshaping him to perfection. "Ah, a beautiful desert rose," he flirted, laying it on admittedly heavy. "If you're anything like your brothers, you are sure to be strong as well."
"You're such a flatterer. But you're not so bad looking yourself, Namikaze," she returned with a slightly cocky grin. "And you're bound to be strong as well."
Karui just hit a revelation. This was the yondaime Hokage's son! Sure, she knew that he was friends with Darui and had even received a partial education in Kumo, but she hadn't equated it to be this boy as she had only really met him in the forest, not being in the academy when he was. This boy was said to be as strong as Yugito or even stronger, and Yugito could fight jounin without her beast. What was a monster doing in a genin exam?
"Ah, well, thank you," he said while rubbing the back of his head in light embarrassment. What can I say? Temari was obviously going to be a looker in a few years. "Not to give away your secrets, but I'm fairly certain that you're a specialist in futon ninjutsu, hmm?" He asked and she nodded with a curious look on her face that was sated when he explained how he knew. "The fan gave it away you see. I was wondering, as I too have that element, if you would like to restrict our fight to futon, just for fun?"
She thought about it for a second before smirking. She probably would have mainly just used futon jutsu anyway. "Sounds good, cutie. And if I win, you'll have to take me out on a date."
He had no qualms about it. In fact he was happy. "And if I win, you'll have to let me take you on a date." He hadn't had so much fun bantering in a while, but why not live it up?
"Go!" Mabui shouted, tired of the flirting, before jumping back and watching Temari pull out and fully unfurl her giant battle fan, nearly as long as she was tall while Naruto simply sat back on the ground with crossed legs.
Temari jumped back and waited for him to move, but he just stayed there, even yawning once while waiting for her to move. She growled in the back of her throat. This douchebag was underestimating her! "Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" she called out while swinging her fan. Now, a large whirlwind should have come out, thrown him in the air, and cut him up while (hopefully) cutting his Anbu like clothing away. Instead a small breeze happened.
She growled once more, losing her patience as he looked at her expectantly. She quickly calmed down, brought the fan back once more, gathered even more chakra, and tried again. "Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" This time the breeze was actually strong enough to rustle Naruto's hair.
The boy smirked. "As nice as the breeze is, do you have anything else?" And that's when she caught on. He was doing this. She didn't know what he was doing or how, but he was doing this.
"Yeah. Try and stop this!" Gathering even more chakra and changing her stance slightly, she was ready. "Daikamaitachi no Jutsu!" she called wall repeatedly swinging her fan and, this time, causing the tornado she wanted. This technique was mainly a big brother to her last jutsu, but she had guessed that with more wind, a continuous source from her fan, and more chakra, it would be harder to deflect like he had been. And all had been going alright until the jutsu changed direction and headed towards her!
She couldn't do anything to steer it and even stopping the jutsu did nothing for her as she proceeded to run away from the tornado until she hit an invisible wall of wind that bounced her back into the warpath. The technique did damage and shredded her clothing, but it wasn't too bad and hurt her pride more than anything, though Naruto was kind enough to have the clothing preserve her modesty. She fell to the ground from the tornado, only to be caught by her fellow blonde. "Winner, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze!"
"Very good jutsu, Temari-chan. I've never seen them before." Despite being angry at him, his smile was infectious and soon she too was grinning. "I'll make sure I find you in the next few days about our date." She just nodded as he carried her up to the stands and dropped her off with her team before going back to his friends.
"Show-off," was all that Sasuke had to say while Hinata nodded in agreement and Ino seemed to turn red with jealousy. She had never gotten an actual date with Naruto-kun.
And that's when her name came up. "The remaining fighter is Ino of the Leaf and she will be fighting the randomly chosen Darui of the Cloud!" Mabui called loud and clear.
She was about to go down when Naruto grabbed her arm gently to get her attention. "Tell you what, Ino," he said as he noticed her jealousy, "beat this guy our put up a good enough showing and you'll get a date too."
He hardly noticed her move as she blurred down to the floor below, ready to fight Darui. The Kumo genin was just happy he'd get a chance at redemption after Sasuke took him out so easily. He was about to taunt Ino a little before the fight started, but she opened her mouth first, go figure. "Don't even think you can win! Nothing will stand in the way of true love!" Although some of the ninja present face palmed, Asuma was just happy that she was so passionate about being a ninja for once. It was hard to get her this motivated.
Mabui, upon seeing that neither had more to say, started the match. It started with Ino using two Kunai to match Darui's katana, but soon enough he added raiton chakra that cut through her kunai and only the use of a replacement with one of Lee's weights saved her. If anything it saved her doubly as it seriously dulled the sword's edge. Sheathing his sword Darui sighed. "I hadn't wanted to hurt any of you Konoha ninja, but that was the most peaceful method I knew of."
He charged forward, black lightning coating his hands as he fought with Ino once more, only for the girl to disappear when hit. Realizing he had been fighting a standard bunshin, he turned around to look for Ino only to find her hanging from the bottom of the balconies. She was finishing a jutsu's handseals and dropped to the ground, landing safely before releasing the jutsu. "Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Her sitting body slumped to the side and Darui, unfamiliar with the technique, assumed the jutsu had failed. He found himself to be wrong when, all of a sudden, he was kicked from his own mind and Ino took control of his body!
It was to be short lived, however, as the black lightning on his hands required conscious control and with Ino in control it released through his body, electrocuting both of them. The technique released due to pain and Ino returned to her body. Darui was more used to the lightning than Ino and was able to recover, but Ino's body kept spasming on the ground as her body experienced everything that the body she possessed did. "Winner, Darui!" Mabui called out and medics rushed to the scene but, before they could reach her, Naruto was there, bringing her up to the stands with him. His natural healing was fixing her faster than what the medics could do anyway.
As she regained control of her body she curled into his arms and asked, "Did I do a good job, Naruto-kun?"
He chuckled a little at her question before smiling at her. "Yeah, you did so well I might just have to take you on a date." He smile widened as her eyes widened with remembrance of the bet. "But for now, you need to sleep." He set her down with her sensei.
"Okay," she yawned out. "G'night, 'Ruto-kun."
With that, the victors, Darui included, were called down to the floor of the arena. The Yondaime walked up to the group with a smile on his face. "It's good to see so many strong young people. If you stand up for what's right, there is no doubt our future will be bright. But for now we need to talk about the third stage of the exams." A chart was wheeled over and the man stood in front of it. "Due to the odd amount of winners, we'll have a slightly different tournament set up. Just like in our prelims, each match will be randomly chosen at the tournament, though there will be a half before each set of matches for fighters to rest and bets to be placed. The first round will be five one on one fights with one bye. The second round will be three one on one fights and the final match will be three way. As I'm sure you've figured out, there will be only one winner. But winning is not your only goal."
That was the statement that threw people off. "Wining makes you country look good, but is not how you become chunin. Your promotion relies solely on showing us three things: strength, strategy, and a solid emotional state. Someone who loses in round one could be a chunin if they exhibit these traits while the winner may not be promoted if they simply use rage induced strength to win. The randomness requires you to be prepared for anything while you have already seen some of your opponents' techniques to prepare against. Also the stadium will only be maintained if it sustains massive damage as damaged terrain is something that you will come across in the real world."
Minato waited for questions about the tournament, but none were asked so he finished quickly. "The tournament will be held in one month. That give the audience one month to arrive and you all one month to train. Any victors may stay, as may their teams and senseis, if they wish to do so and each foreign team that does so will be given a private training ground and very discounted prices on accommodations, about the cost of a few D-rank missions for the whole team. Any housing arrangements can be made with the chunin, Iruka Umino, as can any concern about the training grounds. He will be at the Hokage tower for the next twelve hours.
"A last concern, however, is that we are a ninja village. Do not antagonize the anbu, our ninja, or our civilians. If they give you a problem, come see me and I will deal with them. Likewise," he continued with a hint of steel in his voice, "if any of them or of the other competitors come to me with problems about any of you, I will deal with the reports quickly and efficiently." His smile was terrifying. "Dismissed."
The ninja filed out, some to go home and some to find local housing. There was a month left until the big day, the day that would change everything about a genin's life. It would mean new missions, new treatment, and a new legacy. The promotion to chunin was coming and several genin couldn't wait. Though a few would have to.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Author's Note
Would you believe if I said I had the matches randomly determined by numbers out of a hat? I did select the victors, obviously, and had to redirect two matches to make sure certain people won, but overall this is as random as it gets. The matchups for the finals have been likewise determined. Anyways, writing this took so long because I hate writing tournaments that have little plot significance. It just gets so tedious. In any case, expect this to be updated more now that the prelims are out of the way and expect some better fights during the finals (likely in two to three chapters) rather than these short match ups. Also, I haven't really edited this chapter yet so it may have some bad spelling and grammar. That will be fixed in time.
Anyways, reviews are highly appreciated. While C2's, favs, and follows are always nice, I like getting your feedback. If you don't want to review for some reason, PM me. Just give me feedback.
Uncommon Jutsu
Omoi's Jutsu -
Kumo-Ryū Mikazukigiri= Lightning style, thunderbolt
Kumo-Ryū Mikazukigiri= Cloud-style Crescent Moon Beheading
