Chapter Ninth
The arena was swarmed with people.
The Hokage, with his blond spikey hair, stood in the Kage's box. The representatives from both Kumo and Kiri, sat in their respective seats, since neither of the Kages had decided to participate. The one from Kiri busy with some...internal problems, and the one from Kumo had smartly decided to send someone else and better suited.
Next to them, their bodyguards stood in wait. Obviously enough, Minato had chosen Genma Shiranui and Raido Namiashi, the only two, other than him, that knew of the Hiraishin technique. On a seat next to the Hokage stood his wife, Kushina Namikaze, holding her hands tightly clenched onto her robe. Her eyes, darting the arena, looked around with a vivid, and worried, expression. On her lap, the five years old Katsumi was looking with her clear blue eyes at the Kiri ambassador, who seemed to be a bulking brute with his mouth covered in bandages, and who had a giant broadsword on his back, covered in wrappings.
The red-haired girl was sure the man was hiding female-like lips under those wraps: just like she was sure Kakashi's mask hid a horrid witch-like nose.
The Kumo representative on the other hand was a bulky and tanned man with shades, who seemed to be scribbling down notes on his small book, muttering strange rap-songs that were giving her headaches. He had a kanji for Iron on his right shoulder, and, much to her surprise, her father was eying it pretty intensively, with a frown.
On the right side of the Kage's box, stood the Hyuga's family, both main and branch, since not coming would be seen as an offence, and furthermore, Hiashi did want to see how strong the only three Konoha's Genins were.
Next to the Hyuga clan stood the Akimichi clan.
It wasn't a casual position, instead, it simply was because the Akimichi, completely uncaring about gazes coming from the white-eyes next to them, would simply eat and watch the show, without starting ferocious battles on the *You've got something to say to me, huh!?*
The noise of chip packs bustling up and being shared around, some even going as far as bringing barbeque and sandwiches, was more than enough to actually cover the cheering of the Nara clan. Since the only cheering person in the clan right next to the Akimichi one was Yoshino Nara, the wife of the clan's leader, as she held her baby boy on her lap.
Right next to the Nara clan was the Yamanaka one, where Inoichi was currently debating killing or not a boy who was shamelessly flirting with his baby girl. Albeit his girl was already five years old, and there was no way another five years old could be flirting with her, he still was debating the use of mind-raping jutsus never the less.
On the other side of the Kage's box, the Uchiha clan stood composed. Many, secretly, had their sharingans activated but hidden under a Genjutsu…they would steal whatever they could in jutsus from the competitors, though *stealing* was a bad word, and *taking in loan* was better. Mikoto, the wife of Fugaku, was pointing at Itachi from her seat, with Sasuke in her lap, who was in his best *Oniisan!* exclamations-mode.
"Oniisan is going to win, right Kaa-san?" the raven-haired boy queried, his dark eyes looking straight down at the arena's ground.
"Well Sasuke-chan, we will have to see, he does have a really strong team," Mikoto replied.
"But he's so cool! He's got the sharingan already!" Sasuke replied, pouting afterwards, "Why isn't mine activated yet?"
"Just give it time, Sasuke-chan," Mikoto replied, hugging the five-year old, "Just give it time."
Right next to the Uchiha stood the Aburame clan, the only one who could keep up with the normal seriousness of the Uchiha, and, at the same time, feign ignorance to their next-door neighbors on the arena's rows: the Inuzuka.
The Dog-lovers weren't just cheering: they were howling, clapping hands and effectively making up for half of the noise in the arena…just by simply being there.
Among their numbers, Tsume Inuzuka, the clan's matriarch, was grinning widely, while looking at the scowling face of her first-born, Hana.
"Come on pup, one day it's going to be you down there too," she teased, as she held on her lap her five year old son, Kiba, who was doing his best to simply free himself and go running around.
"Kaa-san! It's just not fair! I mean, he's my same age…and he's already gone on S-rank missions!" as Hana whined that, Tsume simply grinned.
"Then you should train more, right, puppy?"
"Kaa-san! Do you think Aniki is going to win?" Kiba exclaimed, as Hana narrowed her eyes on her younger brother.
"Since when is he *Aniki*?" she asked, earning herself a loud laughter from her mother.
"Well pup, you did say you didn't want to babysit any longer, did you?" as she said that, she ruffled Kiba's hair, "So I hired the fixer's team to keep an eye out on this little rascal here," pointing that out, Hana's face suddenly turned a shade of red.
"Wait, you mean…he's been in our compound, in our house…and I didn't know it!?" as she basically screeched that, Tsume roared once more.
"My! Maybe I should give you a talk about dog's and bitches soon enough," the matriarch grinned, as another deep layer of red covered her daughter's face.
"What's this about?" Kiba asked, curious.
"Nothing *you* should know, for a while, got it pup?" as Tsume turned her gaze to Kiba, the boy whined.
"But you're going to tell Hana-Oneesan!"
"She's older than you!" Tsume retorted.
"But…"
"No buts! Now hush, they're about to start!" as the matriarch of the Inuzuka said that, to the side of her clan stood the seats for the civilians, and, actually, those for the Senju clan too.
Meaning that a group of people was there, sporting flags with Naruto's face or the Senju's symbol on, all cheering happily for the first match to begin. Neji was among them too, having previously asked permission, and being sure nobody would mind him missing from the Hyuga's side. This side at least was cheering for his sensei, so why bother staying with the rest of the family? He was sure the other branch family members had been jealous of his *freedom*, but he was a kid, and it would have looked bad if the entire branch family had moved seats just to be able to cheer.
Tsunade herself was waving a giant flag with Naruto's face, and the Senju's clan symbol, while Shizune, next to her, was half embarrassed by such a display and half envious…since her sensei *was* drunk, having drank from the happiness of her Naru-chan passing to the finals.
Next to the Senju clan, stood the Sarutobi clan, where Hiruzen, in first row, was silently smoking his pipe, right next to him was his second son, Asuma, smoking cigarettes, and right next to Asuma was Kurenai, frowning. Sure, she had been invited there for first seats, but she *was* under the impression that everyone in the Sarutobi clan smoked only to annoy her.
But to see Naru-chan down there from the front rows, kicking ass, it was worth it, a bit of passive smoke.
Strangely, Danzo Shimura was sitting on the other side of Hiruzen, as the two old comrades in arms were looking forward to such display of strength, one because he valued Naruto as a grandson, the other because he valued the future of Konoha and the strength of its future shinobis. Unknown to Kurenai, being a Wind affinity user, he could control a light breeze that sent the smoke away from him…and straight to the side where the red-eyed woman was.
"Kakashi! Begin this already you damn idiot!" the voice came from Ibiki Morino, who was standing in the civilian sector, not belonging to any famous clan, and not wanting to meddle with some of the shinobis, who he simply didn't like much.
His eyes darted for a brief second to the empty seat next to him, before a sigh escaped his lips.
"Idate…you know holding a grudge won't work with me," the man whispered, recalling the events of the previous week.
Ibiki narrowed his eyes, before yelling out loud.
"All those that remain in the room…YOU FAIL!"
The startled Genins were shocked, and scared, of having lost. Soon, yells and exclamations of impossible roared into the room, as the examiners did their best to act tough, Ibiki clapped his hands together, strongly, while letting a louder yell escape his throat.
"SHUT UP YOU MAGGOTS!" as his murderous gaze reached the entire classroom, enveloping it like a snake crushing his prey, the Genins stood silent, looking at the examiner, to at least understand why.
"Those who abandon their mission are trash," Ibiki snarled, "but those who abandon their teammates are worse than trash!"
"But the shinobi rules are there to be followed!" a voice exclaimed in the room, only to be on the receiving end of a chalkboard eraser.
"You pathetic fool! All of you would have delivered information to your village, while leaving behind your teammate, but what guarantees he won't be tortured for that very same information!? What guarantees that they won't try and pry from him the weak point of the village, its location, its patrols, its weaknesses!? By leaving your teammate behind, you deliver to your enemy tenfold the information you have scavenged for your own village! You bunch of pathetic losers are not only worse than trash, but also stupid!"
Silence had quietly reached the entire classroom, as realization had dawned on them that, indeed, there was truth in the man's words.
"You may leave, and know that none of you has what it takes to be a ninja, so I hope you enjoy staying a Genin forever, these are the permission papers from each of your villages, by the way…all your Kages accepted my question as valid," and with a last, sadistic grin, Ibiki unfolded scrolls with the symbols of the Hidden villages whose Ninjas had participated in the exams…sorrow and grief soon clouded the Genins…all of them.
As Tsunade, from her spot, make one last yell to Kakashi to begin, just like that, everyone turned their gazes to the eight people in the arena's center, where a smiling silver-haired Jounin, who was the examiner for the third part, stood as their judge right in front of them.
Kakashi cleared his throat, looking with his only eye at the eight Genins, keeping his emotions hidden when his gaze lingered for more than a brief second on Naruto's face.
This was going to be difficult for the grey-haired boy.
The arena held a center with sand and dirt, with a bunch of trees and overgrowth on one side, while tall green walls prevented Jutsus from flying away and hitting the village's houses that had been built nearby.
The spectators' rows had been protected with barriers, so that no stray kunai or explosion could reach the civilians, or the Daimyo's representatives.
There was only one problem: there was no water surface.
That meant, for the Suiton users, that water had to be created on the spot, making their techniques far more chakra consuming and difficult.
It was also a nice clear day, with the sun glaring its heat downwards with his fiery rays.
"The first match will be between Omoi of Kumogakure and Naruto of Konoha, the others may wait in the contestants box, over to the side," as Kakashi spoke quietly, six Genins moved toward the side of the arena, leaving the dark skinned and white haired Kumogakure ninja behind, together with the examiner and the grey-haired boy.
"Defeat him Naru-chan!" Anko winked at the grey-haired boy, before heading towards the bench, just as Itachi gave Naruto a simple nod and a wave of the hand…they'd see each other soon: at the top.
"Now, I may call in a defeat or a win if the match gets too much one-sided, and I will call you to stop if I can avoid a death," Kakashi explained, slowly, once the arena was empty of all but the contestants and him, "but you will not be considered punishable if you mistakenly kill your opponent, so…go all out," and with his usual eye-smile, he jumped backwards, before raising his hand.
"In position!" the copy-cat ninja exclaimed, just as the Kumogakure ninja grabbed his sword with his right hand, holding it in a soft, fluid way.
Naruto, on the other hand, moved his right fist to a Kunai's handle.
"Begin!" and just as Kakashi's hand lowered, the battle began.
*Omoi Vs Naruto*
The Kumogakure ninja charged forward, his katana's reach more than enough, coupled with his speed, to close the distance with the grey-haired boy.
He stopped midway his charge, suddenly jerking his all body in a twist, to roll on the ground to the left side, seemingly without reason from the crowd, until an explosion rocked the very same place where Naruto had been seconds before.
"Damn you and explosive tags!" Omoi cursed, actually, as he had seen the boy's Henge for what it was, no longer casting a shadow, and thus realizing it was probably a bait to trap him in.
Now, the Kumogakure shinobi looked around, the dust from the explosion settling in to reveal nothing around him. The boy had effectively hidden himself very well.
Omoi's katana began sparkling with electricity, as the white-haired boy drove his sword forward on the ground, exclaiming.
"Raiton: Electromagnetic murder!" the voltage and the current dashing towards the trees, cracking open the very same ground of the arena, as what seemed like a shadow, a blur of speed, jumped out of them, to reach with his feet on the green wall of the arena.
"I know your tricks," Omoi muttered, as the grey-haired boy's eyes settled on the shinobi from Kumo, "You won't defeat me," he added, charging, once more, straight in.
At that moment Naruto himself jumped from the wall, letting gravity do its trick, as a salvo of kunais appeared from within a scroll, taken out from his right sleeve, being summoned in puffs of smokes and being thrown by the paper itself towards the assailer.
Omoi's katana moved, fluidly, deflecting the barrage of weapons that otherwise would have wounded or crippled him.
As the boy was about to touch the ground, Omoi was already on him, hoping he'd reach him fast enough.
He had seen it, obviously, he had seen the boy go through a flutter of signs as gravity was about to claim him on the ground, he had hoped to reach him in time to wound him, to stop his attack, but just as his katana was about to pierce through the boy's stomach, the jutsu unleashed itself.
"Kaze no Yaiba!" as both of Naruto's palms thrust forward, the wind blades soared through the Katana's blade, and straight into the white haired boy's chest. Blood splattered and sprayed on the ground, as the Kumogakure ninja was thrown backwards by the wind's pressure and cutting edge.
"It's still incomplete," Naruto muttered, thankful that he hadn't hurt himself falling from that height, "that's why you're still alive," he added.
Omoi couldn't help but nod, even as the blood gushing out from him was no longer as fast as before, he muttered, a dribble of the crimson liquid coming out from his lips.
"I forfeit…" and with that, the boy fell to the ground, just as Kakashi called the medic-nins to carry him to the med-bay.
"Winner: Naruto Senju!" as Kakashi's words escaped from his mouth with pride clearly recognizable in his tone, cheers erupted through the arena, as up in the crowd's rows, Asuma let his cigarette fall from his mouth.
"That's a high-rank wind technique…and he's not a natural affinity user?" as the Jounin carefully questioned that, Kurenai, next to him, smiled while brightly clapping her hands.
"Yes, Naru-chan's a Suiton user, but he has some tricks on his sleeve, doesn't he?" Asuma couldn't help but nod at the statement, letting his eyes dart for a brief second to the woman's forms, before turning to look at where his father was.
Hiruzen, standing in his seat with a small smile on his face, was mulling a thought over Danzo's suddenly spoken words.
"He would make a fine Anbu," the words of the Yami of shinobi rested silently into Hiruzen's head, as, exhaling a light puff of smoke, he replied.
"He has seen death before…he doesn't even appear shocked over the blood on his face," at that, Danzo couldn't help but slightly twitch his face up in amusement.
"His wind blade needs refining, normally, such an attack, if executed correctly, would have carved straight through the enemy's chest, killing in one shot," Danzo spoke quietly, conscious that he was the best wind element user in all of Konoha, and that Hiruzen's son was the second best.
"I suppose so, still I doubt he'd easily accept," the ex Hokage said, taking a long breath of smoke in his lungs, before letting it out with a low wheeze.
"I didn't say anything, Hiruzen," the Yami of shinobis replied.
"You weren't about to say how you'd like to train him? I must have read your mind too soon," the Sarutobi clan's leader replied with a small grin.
In the Senju's rows, Tsunade was waving her flag with loud cheers.
"Naru-chan! Naru-chan! Go my boy! Beat the crap out of them all!"
"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune exclaimed, slightly embarrassed, "Please stop it!"
"Sensei! You're great!" Neji actually yelled, cheering too. This actually made Hiashi, from his position on the other side of the arena, wince. A subtle use of the Byakugan to see at that distance, and lip-reading, gave him that knowledge without having to actually move from his seat. The boy was happily yelling like any kid his age would be, and he was happy.
That was something that, instead, his eldest daughter clearly wasn't, standing right next to him, squirming in her seat, a mixture of fear and uncertainty on her face. Hinata was having conflicted emotions: on one side, she wanted to cheer, on the other, she couldn't because her father would clap only at the end of the tournament, meaning that nobody else in the Hyuga clan would be able to clap until he did.
Cheering was technically fine, as she could see her cousin, Neji, on the other side of the arena, the only Hyuga in the Senju's rows, happily waving at his sensei. But while she wouldn't have minded cheering, she certainly couldn't with her father, right next to her, looking at her with a serious gaze. So she stood completely silent, albeit, in her mind, she was glad Naruto had won.
Still on the other side of the arena, next to Neji, was actually a civilian girl wearing a pretty sunflower dress. Her father had given her permission to watch Naruto's fight, since anyway the shop *would* be deserted, or nearly so, so Ayame was there, clapping her hands as Naruto left the arena, having won that fight.
Up above, in the Kage's box, Killer B, the Kumo's representative, sported a smile.
"Well, the boy did good,
Though not to brood,
Against the Nine-tails,
Even the best would see fails," as he rapped that, the Kiri representative scoffed.
"I say the brat's got good eyes, and I heard he's got the Kirigakure Jutsu too: might as well have been born in Kiri, he would have made an excellent shinobi of the Mist," Zabuza pointed that out, his eyes not stopping for a second to gaze at the grey-haired boy cleaning his face from the sprayed blood, with the back of the hand.
"But he makes an excellent Ninja of Konoha, doesn't he?" Minato replied, trying to keep a neutral tone.
"Maybe," Zabuza pointed out, "But we will see how he fares against Mangetsu."
"Ohi, what makes you believe,
That he'd be relieve,
To survive the cat,
That all day raps?" as B rapped that, Kushina's forehead sported a nervous tick-mark.
"That doesn't even make sense, 'ttebane," she muttered, her voice murderous.
"Kaa-san? Did he hit his head?" Katsumi queried, looking worriedly at the tanned man, who lowered his head with a loud sigh.
"I'm sure Yugito-chan will swipe the floor both of your Kunoichi and of your Jinchuuriki, she can fully control her form after all," Killer B deadpanned, as he smirked, looking at the shocked gazes that stood on the face of the red-haired woman and, for a brief second, of the Hokage and of Zabuza.
"Kaa-san, what's a Jinchuuriki?" Katsumi asked, curious.
"It's…It's someone who harbors a Bijuu, or a tailed beast, within themselves," Kushina replied, looking down below, as the match was about to start.
If the Bijuu won, without troubles…then would she defeat Naruto too? Or would she…kill him?
*Anko Vs Yugito*
Kakashi looked with an eye-smile at his student, who, with a wide smile, was teasing the Kumogakure kunoichi with innuendos.
"Tell me Nii-chan: are you frigid also outside your clothes? Do you like bathing in milk? Do you spit hair-balls?"
"Can we start the match?" Yugito muttered, locking her dark gaze on the copy-cat ninja, who, with a nod, raised his hand.
"Ready…begin!"
Within a moment, Anko brought both her arm forward, as snakes, their jaws opening up to reveal the glittering metal of Tantos, literally jumped forward to wound the Nibi Jinchuuriki, to bite her, to poison her.
The next moment, an armor made of chakra covered the Nibi, a single tail of worth appearing on her back, casting a pale blue flicker of flames. Her eyes turned to little golden slits, as her nails prolonged themselves slightly, her face turning feral.
"I'm going to play with you a bit," the Jinchuuriki purred, jumping with unparalleled speed at Anko, who couldn't believe her Sen'eijashu was having no effect.
The snakes were torn apart and their weapons melted, under the advance of the Nibi's container, whose right hand, elongated into feral-like claws, closed quarters.
The nails of the Kumogakure Kunoichi met with the soft flesh of the purple-haired girl from Konoha, and just as blood, fresh crimson liquid that was about to spill out, Yugito realized she was hitting an empty trench-coat.
The wooden log, that now replaced Anko Mitarashi, was turned to splinters in mere seconds.
"That was a fast replacement," Itachi whispered, from the sidelines, his sharingan in full view to see the movements.
"I'm going to die next round," Naruto whispered back, his breath a bit ragged. He hadn't shown it, but using the chakra for the A-rank wind Jutsu was something consuming.
The Nibi Jinchuuriki got on all fours, sniffing around, until, with a wide smile, she punched the ground beneath her, letting cracks widen up enough to reveal her enemy, who, without flinching, finished the hand-signs.
"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!" the fire sphere encircled and surrounded completely the form of the Kumogakure Kunoichi, just as Anko jumped out of the crevice, trying to get on the defensive with a kunai in her right hand.
That's when the fire dispersed, and Yugito Nii emerged unscathed, two tails of chakra on her back, a wide smirk on her face.
"Really? Katons on the fire cat?" she purred, and in a moment, she opened her mouth, "This is how you do Katons: Nezumi Kedama!"
From the Jinchuuriki's mouth, hairballs spat outside, assuming the form of mice that literally took fire, while flying directly against Anko.
The Kunoichi tried to jump backward, to fling kunais and even an explosive tag, but in the end, a set of fiery explosions brought her on the ground, her body covered in charred pieces of hair, her fishnet shirt torn in pieces.
Yet…Yet she stood up once more, cracking a smile.
"Is this…the best you've got?" she muttered, a dribble of blood coming down the side of her mouth, just as her shoulder seemed to be flaring with small flame-like motifs of a pale blue hue.
"No, but you're not worthy of that…" the blond haired girl replied, her right hand, covered in chakra, extending until it grabbed the Kunoichi from Konoha, like she was nothing more than a doll into her hands.
The spinning nines suddenly grinded to a halt, the flame motif retracting back into the seal, like something was stopping them, preventing them from doing their job.
Then, like a cat playing with a mouse, she crashed her body on the ground, once. Even though Anko screamed, and coughed, from the pain, she still kept that haughty and damnable grin.
Yugito was about to go for another round, of crashing the girl's body against the ground, when Kakashi yelled, bringing both of his hands in a *cross* like position.
"Mitarashi Anko is clearly unable to fight any longer! Stop your attacks!"
"She should have forfeited," Yugito pointed out, exiting her chakra armor form, and slightly cracking her neck, "and also, she shouldn't have teased me that much," she added, as she looked at the examiner, who, with a silent nod, declared.
"Winner: Yugito Nii!"
Just like that, the Nibi Jinchuuriki moved to the bench to the sidelines, sitting down next to Karui, who instead stood up, being her the next one.
She didn't realize it yet, but both Itachi and Naruto had stared at each other briefly, for barely a second, before nodding.
The mental message had been clear, and easy to understand even to the most naïf of shinobis: she would pay for that, for the way she had belittled their friend, their teammate. Jinchuuriki or not, they'd face her with everything they had. Not right there, because they couldn't, but once on the field, they'd show her. Both didn't rush to the medic-nins or next to Anko, they knew that firstly, they'd be just fussing over things they wouldn't be able to help in, secondly, Tsunade herself was moving out of her seat, probably to check on Anko, and thirdly, the Kunoichi would hate their guts if both ended up disqualified by following her to the medical bay.
Up above, in the Kage's box, Katsumi looked with wide eyes at the scene.
"Was that a Jin…Jinchuu…Jinchuuriki's power?" Katsumi asked, looking star-eyed at such strength displayed, while her mother, slightly pale, turned to look at Killer B.
"Why didn't she take the exam in Kumogakure, if that is her strength?" the red-haired woman asked, slowly.
"Bro thought it would be best,
To put her strength to test,
So the nine tails she will fight,
And she will best him with her might!" the rap actually had rhymes, probably meaning he had prepared the lines beforehand.
"Basically a slaughter of other village's Genins…nice," Zabuza replied with a grin, visible even under his mouth wrappings.
"Though she didn't kill that girl," he added, looking at the medic-nins carrying the purple-haired Kunoichi out of the arena.
"She did well, considering her opponent," Minato pointed out, "Didn't appear scared at all."
"She trained under that Orochimaru, right?" Zabuza replied with a scoff, "I kind of wanted to see if his Kusanagi or my Kubikiribōchō."
"He probably wouldn't have fought fair," Kushina pointed out, her face showing a small frown at the mention of the now Missing-Nin of S-rank.
"Neither would I," Zabuza replied, chuckling, "We're Ninjas, not samurais."
With those words, the gaze returned down below, where another match was about to start.
*Mangetsu Vs Karui*
The Kiri shinobi brought his sword out in full view firstly, his shark-like grin appearing on his face a second later. Karui, instead, spat to the side before taking out her own katana.
Kakashi, mentally musing how this would turn out into a Kenjutsu match, simply raised his right hand.
"Begin!" and as he lowered it, sparks flew…for a second.
Mangetsu's sword, suddenly spitting out chakra, assumed the form of a giant hammer, that, with unspeakable strength and force hit straight through the girl's parry, throwing her off her footing and sending her flying backwards, to crash on the ground, repeatedly.
Mangetsu didn't give her time to rest: he was already there, ready to finish the deal quickly before the Kunoichi from Kumo could counter with anything else.
Just as he was about to drop the hammer straight on the kunoichi's back, the girl's katana flickered for a second, before the Kumogakure's ninja yelled.
"Kumo-Ryū Omotegiri!" from her prone position, that wasn't a small feat at all, to swipe the area in front of her with her blade, describing a crescent moon arc while at the same time cutting through the ground, to avoid resistance in finishing the motion.
It had been so sudden Mangetsu actually got hit, and slashed, straight through the center.
For a split second, Kakashi thought the boy had died…until no blood oozed out, but water, like it was melting, slowly reformed itself around the boy.
The slash, no matter the fact that it was imbued with Raiton chakra to increase its lethality, did little, as the Kiri shinobi reformed himself.
"That would have hurt," Mangetsu snarled, "A pity my clan can become liquid water, to avoid such trifle damage," he added, with a smirk.
With a swift lateral swipe, the red-haired Kumo shinobi was once more flung against the ground, rolling to the side and agonizing, for the probably broken ribs.
There was no mercy, no kiddie gloves: no control in his strength. Mangetsu simply hit, and he hit hard…like he should.
"I think he's going to win this, he's just toying with her, you know," Zabuza pointed out, from the Kage's box, where Killer B was simply tapping on his right leg, looking at the fight reaching its probable end.
"Boy is fast,
I'm aghast!" the tanned man replied, in a sing-song voice, before assuming a more serious frown.
"But with one of the swords of the seven swordman of the mist in his hands…I doubt he's a light weight…why put him in the Genins exams too?"
"For the same reason you put your Jinchuuriki there…to slaughter the competition," Minato replied, his face slightly darker.
"We have a Jinchuuriki too, right Otou-san?" as Katsumi asked that, worriedly, Kushina made an awry smile.
"Yes, and he's the one who won the first round: Senju-san," the red-haired woman felt her tongue nearly rasp, at the last word coming out from her throat. Senju-san was her Naru-chan, the one she could no longer call like that, the one who was called that by Tsunade now, who was in the Senju's rows down below, with that giant flag…or at least she was, till the purple-haired Kunoichi had been badly wounded, and the woman had dropped it all to go look at her wounds, probably.
"Is he strong? Can he do the cool things like the blond girl? Like smash-smash and such?" at those questions, Minato felt the need to bit his tongue, before replying.
"He is unpredictable, Katsumi-chan…trust me when I say that he won't need to rely on all of his strength to win," but both Zabuza and Killer B saw the dark look on the Hokage's face, barely hidden by his hat.
Down below, finally, Kakashi raised his hand, seeing how there was no way the Kumogakure Kunoichi could fight on.
"Stop attacking!" The silver-haired Jounin's orders came just in time, as Mangetsu's sword had transformed once more, from a hammer to a broad-sword, and would have probably sliced in two the red-haired Kunoichi had he kept the motion he was going through.
Instead he stopped, licking his shark-like teeth, before turning around to the examiner.
"So, I won?" Mangetsu asked with a sort of delighted tone.
"You did. Winner of the match: Mangetsu Hozuki!" as Kakashi exclaimed that, the blue haired boy simply moved back to the bench, while the medic-nin, obviously, came to pick up the wounded Kunoichi.
Just as Chojuro stood up, followed by Itachi, there were two short exchanges of words, from both sides.
"Itachi, be careful out there," the grey-haired boy whispered.
"Don't worry for me, you're going to have the tough fight," the Uchiha replied, eying silently towards Yugito. The blond haired girl hadn't even showed worry over the terrible beating her teammates had sustained, instead keeping her gaze steeled and her body calm and collected. There wasn't fear or anger, just…control.
"Win this Chojuro, or if you can't weaken him for me," Mangetsu muttered murderously in his teammate's ear, while the other blue-haired boy simply nodded, extremely pale in his face...he knew how bad it would turn out, were he to fail.
*Itachi Vs Chojuro*
The two boys faced each other in the center of the arena, and already, Chojuro had done the first mistake.
He had stared straight in the eyes of Itachi, from the very moment the referee had given the start signal, which meant that, in that precise instant, he had lost. He just didn't know it, yet, but as the sharingan's Genjutsu hit straight ahead Chojuro, the boy couldn't help but think he'd have an easy time.
To Chojuro's eyes, he was dashing extremely fast in a flurry of his Kenjutsu moves, and the Uchiha was just slowing down every now and then, getting his clothes ripped slightly by the tip of his blade. The problem was that what the rest of the crowd, and Itachi's eyes too were seeing, was the boy standing still, as Itachi moved closer to him with a Kunai in his hand.
"THIS IS BULLSHIT!" Mangetsu basically yelled from the sides, pointing at his teammate, "I'm murdering him!"
"Itachi's Genjutsus are top stuff," Naruto replied, locking eyes with blue haired boy, "Only *I* have chances to break through them…and only if he doesn't actually do the hand signs."
"Still bullshit, bullshit, damn fucking bullshit," Mangetsu muttered, punching the wall near them, not wanting to look at how Chojuro embarrassed himself in front of the entire damn crowd of the arena, embarrassed their sensei, who would be murderous, by now, and embarrassed Kiri to finish it all.
Itachi's Kunai was now resting delicately right next to Chojuro's neck, as he eyed Kakashi, the silver-haired Jounin couldn't help but sigh at such a display, before turning his gaze upwards, to the Kage's box.
Minato was in the process of barely repressing a grin, a really big grin, as Zabuza's face was actually scowling, dense murderous intentions visible clearly behind his eyes.
Killer B on the other hand was outright laughing.
"Oh boy that was fast!
This ended up without even a blast!
More than a bloody fight,
This came out as a sleepwalk outright!" as he rapped that, Katsumi actually pouted.
"This was boring!" she whined, as Kushina, on the other hand, explained.
"Itachi is really apt at Genjutsus, even more than normal, and he does train with Senju-san, who's also a proficient user of the art…"
"Boring! Why couldn't they use Ninjutsus!?" Katsumi exclaimed, interrupting.
"Not every battle is won with flashy techniques, Katsumi-chan," Minato replied, as Zabuza, for once in his scowling, nodded slightly.
"Precisely, silent killing is one of Kirigakure's most prized ways of defeating an opponent. There is no need for flash, when it gets the job done."
In the Uchiha's rows, Fugaku was watching with an annoyed expression the fight, while Mikoto, simply taking on a small smile, was trying to console a betrayed Sasuke.
"But Oniisan won like that!?" the five year old boy was utterly shocked, that wasn't a way to win. Using strong fire jutsus, over the top blade battles, something! Anything was better than a Begin-standstill-win match of barely two minutes length.
"Now Sasuke-chan, you know your brother is conserving his strength," Mikoto replied, as Fugaku actually smirked at that.
"I doubt the Senju, for all his worth, will be able to beat the Kumogakure's Jinchuuriki," just as he said that, a loud yell echoed through the arena.
"Want to bet on that Fugaku-Teme!?" the voice came straight from Tsunade Senju, just then returned from tending to Anko's wounds, albeit the girl was still knocked out cold.
A nervous tick mark appeared on the man's forehead, as his gaze obviously went to the rows where the blond woman stood, her flag obviously back in her hand.
"Tsunade-san," Fugaku replied, standing up, "I say he won't last more than five minutes!"
"I say he's going to trash that Kumo Jinchuuriki to the ground!" Tsunade replied, and just like that, a set of heated discussions took ground, so loudly that they were heard even down, in the arena, where Naruto, and Yugito, were slowly heading to the center of it.
Kakashi stood silent, waiting for the betting pool to be completed, before smiling with his eye and saying.
"Well, seems like your mother just jinxed you Naruto-kun," as the silver-haired Jounin said that, Yugito raised an eyebrow.
"You have a mother?" the blond Jinchuuriki was actually curious, and for once, surprised.
"I do…you don't?" Naruto asked back at the woman, whose gaze turned stern in a second, at the question.
"I was chosen from the recently born in Kumogakure, my family is the village, and, loosely, the Raikage," the Nibi's Jinchuuriki said no more, her eyes cold, as she got into position.
*Naruto Vs Yugito*
"Begin!" as always, Kakashi jumped backwards, but this time, to be sure, he actually got as far back as he could. There was something in Naruto's eyes that warranted taking some measure of distance from the boy, and from the fight itself.
Suddenly, mist condensed itself around the two, much to the surprise of Kakashi himself.
He was sure the Kirigakure no Jutsu was a weapon in Naruto's arsenal, but he had thought that without water, it would become far more difficult to use it.
"The boy's smart," Zabuza muttered, "And I'm not saying this because he's using one of Kiri's favorite jutsu for silent assassination," he pointed out, as he was gazing at the thick pearly white mist that seemed to surround the arena's ground.
"He's still going to get burned,
And then grilled and turned,
Cause our cat's on the prowl,
And she has yet to howl!" B rapped straight back, as Kushina, silently, was clenching both of her hands tightly, till her knuckles turned white.
"I am sure he will pull through…unpredictable, remember?" Minato muttered, but for once, he actually hoped it would be enough.
Yugito didn't take a second to decide her course of action. The mist was impairing her vision, but also her scent. This was probably because the mist itself smelled like the boy in question, and thus, she didn't at all want to waste time.
"Let's trash him, Nibi."
Aw…he even gave us some private time for some session making! Couldn't we…you know…give him a good grind?
"No."
You really *are* frigid, the smelling like snakes woman was right!
"NIBI!"
Just in time, the chakra armor coated Yugito's neck barely in time to avoid a Tanto aiming directly at the woman's throat.
As swiftly as it started, it disappeared, as the woman got on all fours, the second tail appearing slowly in a bubbling of flaming dark blue chakra.
The mist, however, seemed but to thicken, instead of diminishing.
"Where are you?" Yugito muttered, and just like that, a voice resounded all over the place.
"Eight choices," the voice spoke quietly, but grimly, "Liver, Kidneys, Lungs, Heart, Spine, Clavical vein, Neck Vein, Brain," strangely, the voice was carried also in the first rows, and the subtle hearing of the Hokage and of the Kiri and Kumo representatives obviously managed to pick it up too.
"You think this is going to scare me?" Yugito muttered. Her tails were lashing around madly, hoping maybe to catch the boy before he could strike.
"No…but this is," the reply came abruptly, as what seemed like barely flickers of shadows suddenly dashed at her with uncanny speed, seemingly ghosts with no face, tattered black robes swaying in the mist that reached for her.
"Katon: Endan!" as soon as Yugito roared that, letting a giant sphere of fire literally engulf the mist and the surrounding areas, the people in the first rows scampered, in fright.
Luckily for them, the barriers set up for protection did their work, and the sphere impacted harmlessly against them, small sparks of electricity flying around, as the light purple hue of a wall deflected the jutsu.
The problem was that the mist, except at the very beginning of the fire technique, in which it evaporated, simply reformed.
"You made one mistake, today," the voice said, grimly, "And for that, you are going to pay," it was a moment, and then a strong push to the side flung Yugito straight against the arena's very own walls, the mist not only following her, but expanding.
In the rows, the crowd was actually sweating, but not from the heat. It seemed a sort of eerily scary confrontation: on one side, power, strong fiery power, but on the other…the unknown.
It was making a lot people feel their hair rising in the back of their necks, especially when they could, squinting their eyes, see flutters of black robes and things that seemed truly to resemble ghosts…or worse.
Yugito, however, wasn't amused.
"I know you're there!" and with a deafening roar, she outright opened her mouth, to release a fiery stream of fire that crashed straight through the mist, dispersing it, leaving behind a smoldering crater, but no trace of the boy.
"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe
Catch a Nibi by the toe
If he roars let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe."
This time, however, the voice came straight from behind Yugito's head, forcing her to turn around, to stare at what looked like a shinigami, his face hidden behind a mask of darkness and…bones.
"I…I should be immune to Genjutsus, the Nibi…" she muttered, as the shrouded figure simply stood there, eying her.
It was a moment, and then Yugito simply widened her eyes, as the figure all but disappeared in a fine dust.
"Where am I…Who am I…I think I've got it, don't I?" And then, again, a strong push, like it was an enormous rock being hurled straight at her sides, sent her crashing against the barrier, the one placed for the crowd's protection.
She hit it hard, before falling on the ground, her chakra armor could deflect hit and absorb blows, but, whatever this was…it was different: it had been mere concussive force, plus sparks generated by the barrier.
And the mist, slowly, began creeping in once more, emerging from the very ground like a might river of white, that suddenly raised itself, covering the entire area in thick fog.
"You don't know, do you?" at the question, directly whispered into her ear, Yugito screamed, for the first time in her life her lungs filled with air let out a giant, horrific scream, as the only safety she could muster wasn't even to forfeit. Her brain had long since forgotten that option, instead deciding to go all out, to transform, fully.
Just as the flames covered her entire body, and she increased in size, to assume the form of the two tails completely, the mist around her began evaporating, under the intense heat, the barriers protecting the crowd glittering with purple hues.
Minato winced at the scene of a small scale Bijuu trudging around the arena, in the middle of Konoha, and his eyes went to Killer B, who was looking at the scene with interest.
"To scare off Yugito like that, you have one hell of a boy…but she's still fine, otherwise she would have already gone on a rampage," B pointed out, "and if she does, I'll calm her down immediately," he added.
"You know…a shinobi exchange program wouldn't be that bad…" Zabuza said, his eyes not leaving the arena's ground, "You see that, kid? No flashy, but the Jinchuuriki is so damn scared she's losing control…that's real power, real shinobi strength."
Katsumi didn't reply, instead holding tightly her mother's arms around her. The scene down below *was* scary, because what seemed like a full-fledged mist monster was twirling in the middle of the arena, gesturing at the Nibi to attack.
"I never heard of any jutsu like that: might be one of the second Hokage's secret jutsus?" Kushina whispered, as Minato, wincing, replied.
"No Kushina-hime, that's just the Kirigakure no Jutsu…but he is shaping it in such a form that it appears something else entirely."
"Wait…he's doing all this only with a D-rank Suiton Jutsu?" the red-haired woman turned her gaze to her husband, who shook his head.
"No, if you look really well, you can see the theatrics, in place. The Nibi is just too scared to see them too," as he pointed that out, Zabuza nodded.
"Really, couldn't the boy have been born in Kiri? That's nothing a Jinchuuriki can do, it's just pure brain matter and cunningness," the swordsman from the Mist actually didn't give praise easily, but even he would have problems with the Nibi Jinchuuriki, no, more than certainly, he would clearly have difficulties, alone.
Instead the boy was seemingly getting through it without a scratch. Probably because even a single scratch would result in him dead on the arena's floor. The question however remained…where was the boy to begin with? The trained eyes of the Jounins, and of the Kage, were more than enough to pinpoint his location, but many were completely under the assumption that the boy could actually summon ghosts, hit from nowhere, and control a mist monster as tall as a Bijuu.
Furthermore, the Uchihas were baffled at the lack of Jutsus to copy.
So…where was the boy?
"Where are you!?" The small Nibi roared through the arena, looking around, and, just as she did that, jumping against the mist monster, while in mid-air, two, not one, no, but two, deafening roars echoed in the arena.
"Suiton: Bakusui Shōha!"
"Suiton: Teppodama!"
From one side, an enormous torrent of water struck the enflamed demon with unparalleled strength, flinging her tightly against the wall, the mass of water evaporating quickly, but just as quickly being replaced. On the other side, a giant water bullet dashed forward, hitting the Nibi straight in the face, after the torrent of water pinned her down.
Then, in a moment, the flames extinguished themselves, and Yugito Nii, the Nibi Jinchuuriki, fell on the ground, from a two floor's high height, minimum.
As she crashed on the ground, the mist dispersed, letting the sun, finally, to blare his rays once more, but the heat wasn't the first thing the people around them felt, no, it was relief.
The match was over, and Naruto Senju walked out of the disappearing mist, his dark blue and light blue attire on, with a pale face and his bright blue eyes eying Kakashi, but he walked out…and he walked out fine, and without a scratch.
Next to him, for a brief moment, flickers of scales showed themselves, before disappearing into two giant puffs of smokes.
Kakashi was the first to regain his cool, and, raising a hand, he yelled out loud.
"Winner: Naruto Senju!" Just like that, that exclamation broke the silence that had plagued the arena till then and the claps that soared throughout the rows weren't stopped for as long as Naruto kept standing there; embarrassed at all the attention, sheepishly scratching the back of his grey-hair.
"A Suiton User, a Senju…he's got all the cards to become a Tobirama's second, right?" Hiruzen mulled the thought, as Danzo, on the other hand, sported a small grin.
"Even down to the part of summoning the dead, I might say…though those *ghosts* of his…mere blankets tied to ninja wire, but it served the purpose, didn't it?"
"I think we can both agree that this was far more flawlessly executed, and held no need for the sacrifice the Second Hokage required…if he summons these *dead* then there should be no problem," the Sarutobi clan's leader replied, with a smirk.
"Hey now, get to the bench and rest, you're a bit on the falling from chakra exhaustion side, Naru-chan," Kakashi said with a small eye-smile, before receiving a nod from the grey-haired boy, who wobbled to the bench to the sidelines, just as Mangetsu, and Itachi, got back into the arena.
But Mangetsu did stop for a moment, eying Naruto, just to ask a simple question.
"How did you conjure the mist?" and, with a simple movement of his hand, Naruto took out from within his jacket two small water bottles.
"With enough control, it was enough to coat the arena," and that was all, no need to add that, with the starting mist, he had summoned Tokage and Kozue, using them both to obtain the necessary water, and hiding spots, to perform his plan.
To hide his smell he had been flung from one chameleon to the other, in the deep mist, at high speed, plus their scales were able to reflect the scenery behind them, making them act like *capes* of invisibility.
Up above, in the Kage's box, Minato was making a wide smile at the Kumogakure representative.
"Well, she did get into the semi-final rounds, didn't she? But against Senju-san, she should have been more prepared, maybe?" as the teasing tone didn't go unnoticed, Zabuza began chuckling softly.
"Damn, this seems taken out of a history book," as Killer B stood silent, not replying to the Hokage's taunt, it was Kushina's turn to speak.
"What is?" the red-haired woman from Uzu queried, perplexed at the Kiri's representative.
"I have no doubt Mangetsu's good, but there's a reason he's still not a swordsman of the Mist: he's rash and he acts without thinking. He's probably going down, in this round…and the next one will hold a Senju against Uchiha battle…"
"Something fated, it would seem," Minato mused, before shaking his head, "But Itachi is not Madara Uchiha, and Naruto is not Hashirama Senju," as he carefully said that, Kushina nodded vehemently.
"Yeah, they're both good kids, 'ttebane."
"Strange, coming from someone who disowned the boy," those words escaped the lips of the Kumogakure representative before he could keep them close.
Katsumi frowned, for a moment, as both her mother and father had stood still for a second, before resuming the conversation with colder tones.
"He improved, good thing, because otherwise he would have kept being a brat," Minato muttered, his tone and his face stern, as he added venom to his words.
"He improved so much he was adopted into the Senju clan, and became the heir, effectively, of the noblest clan of Konoha? I should notify the Mizukage, if disowning boys works miracles, it should be done as a standard," Zabuza muttered, before his attention finally went back to the battle that was just about to start.
*Mangetsu Vs Itachi*
"We'll see if your tricks will take me down, now," Mangetsu said, his Jaw-like grin extending widely, as he got into position, ensuring that his eyes stood on the ground, and not on the Uchiha.
Itachi, on the other hand, flared his sharingan, a Ninjato carefully in his right hand.
"Oh, want to use your puny sword, huh?" Mangetsu simply grinned at that. He wasn't a fool: he knew the boy would probably go with a dodging preference in his attacks, trying to be nimble. A pity the arena had been so thoroughly trashed around by the previous fights, filling it with uneven footing, debris, holes, even small water basins, scattered all around.
"The size doesn't matter…know nothing about compensating with big swords the lack of something else?" as Itachi actually taunted that, from the Uchiha's row, Mikoto turned red…with anger.
"ITACHI!" she roared, "That's not appropriate! Just WHO taught…"
"Mikoto," Fugaku snapped, "Silence, he's taunting an opponent, it's a perfectly useable tactic," he replied.
Kakashi had to keep himself from chuckling: Itachi had actually begun taunting people? That had to be Anko rubbing off him, clearly.
"Ready?" The silver-haired Jounin raised his arm, "Begin!"
With that, Mangetsu, once more, like he had previously fought, charged forward.
"Katon: Endan!" was the first thing that met him, and his sword, head on. This forced the Kiri shinobi to parry the jutsu with his sword, as smoke and dust settled through. He clenched his teeth, realizing that Itachi had disappeared from view.
"Oh now you did it," Mangetsu snarled, closing his eyes, he was a user of silent Killing techniques too, and there was but a core basic to that move: understanding how to pinpoint an enemy's location by sound. The better one was in that, the better the killing technique went. If one could hear the heartbeat of the enemy, then one was already plunging his sword through the heart in question.
He parried the block that came to his side, and then, instead of using the sword, he went for kicking the Uchiha's stomach, sending him tumbling backwards, losing his footing and rolling down the smoldering crater where the Nibi fire had previously struck.
This was different from the previous Kiri ninja. This one seemed to be actually trained, and fast. The previous one *was* a Genin-level, but Itachi's eyes, now focused on Mangetsu, could clearly see that there was a neat difference in level.
"You are strong," he pointed out, and soon, he went through a flurry of hand signs, "But you fight alone," he added, as his sharingan spun, the Jutsu completed.
"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!" and just like that, the water that had been collected from the previous fight, in the craters that had been created in the fights even prior to that, suddenly jolted to life, assuming the form of a menacing water dragon.
"Obviously he had to get it down before me," Naruto muttered from his position on the bench, "And obviously he had to show-off his B-rank technique…he's too good," the grey-haired boy added, looking with a small smile at the water dragon, avoiding straight ahead the parry of Mangetsu, to simply crash against him and fling the Kiri shinobi straight on the barrier: the only thing that let out jolts of current when struck. The only thing that could repel jutsus, like the one that Mangetsu seemed so apt at using to make himself the consistency of water, the one that Itachi's sharingan had picked up.
Mangetsu actually howled in pain, as the pressure from the water kept him there, pinned against the barrier, but still, in his pain he did not let go of the sword.
Then, the dragon came loose, dispersing into smaller droplets of water as a panting Mangetsu got back on his feet, recomposing himself from the puddle he had become.
"I…I hate you!" he snarled, his eyes fully open in anger at the Uchiha.
His eyes open.
The next moment, Mangetsu Hozuki stood still, as Itachi whipped out a kunai and pressed it to the boy's throat, looking at Kakashi for confirmation.
The silver-haired Jounin chuckled a moment, before turning to the Kage's box, where Minato was repressing the urge to grin. Two out of two defeated by the same technique? The same style? In the same way?
"I'm drilling them into dispelling Genjutsus…tough luck for your Kyuubi-brat: he's never going to make it pass those eyes," Zabuza muttered, as Killer B couldn't help but smirk.
"I'm sure the last fight is going to be interesting, a pity Yugi-chan got knocked out and won't see it," the tanned man said, looking at how the grey-haired boy was now limping back to the stage.
"Though he seems low on chakra, you know? Even the Uchiha is…one would think they planned it to have a fair fight," Zabuza just so casually pointed that out, as Minato's eyes actually narrowed, looking at the scene.
Could they really plan that much ahead?
*Naruto Vs Itachi*
"Naruto-kun," Itachi whispered, barely making a nod, as his Ninjato stood straight ahead of him, held carefully in his hand.
"Itachi-kun," Naruto replied, his Tanto in his own hand, a smile on his lips.
"Boys," Kakashi added in, before raising his hand.
"Give the people a show they can remember! Begin!" and with that, the two clashed.
There was no need for eye Genjutsus, Itachi could use them, but Naruto would remove them. There was no need for flashy jutsus, they would nullify each other. There was no need for Taijutsu, one would escape the holds and the other would hit the air. There was only a spar, a spar that in their eyes was nothing more than another test at their strength: a spar with a victor and a defeated, but nothing more than a spar.
The Tanto and the Ninjato met repeatedly, crossing the air and cutting through motions that seemed more to showcase the various styles used, rather than to actually maim or kill the opponent.
Subtly, Itachi's eyes began spinning, just as a Genjutsu was placed into Naruto's mind. The boy stood still, long enough for Itachi to disarm him of the Tanto and place his Ninjato at the boy's neck, or at least, tried to: swiftly, Naruto's right hand hit in a punch-like form the right arm of Itachi, who had thought to have at least a small nick of time, thus catching him by surprise, and disarming the Uchiha.
The left hand of Itachi moved to throw a low jab at Naruto's stomach, only to have the boy slightly sidestep to the side, raising his left leg to counter with a kick. The kick was immediately blocked by the returning right hand of Itachi, and just like that, a flurry of blows followed the two opponents.
Itachi didn't need to try again: he knew he would fail to apply another Genjutsu. As much as he had done to level the field, for a fair fight, the only result was that he still would need to win this with a Ninjutsu. Sure, he could use *that* technique. Kakashi had taught him that.
But he would never use an assassination technique on a comrade, a teammate, a friend.
Naruto too knew that, that was the principal reason he too wasn't resorting to Jutsus to end the fight.
The fight was eerily silent, the only noise audible was the quick speed and fast attacks, the hits being parried or deflected, the breathing of the two boys fighting in a nearly destroyed terrain, under a scorching sun that was starting to lower.
Then, finally, the slip: Naruto couldn't hold the chakra depletion's pain in his chakra coils any longer: he winced. Itachi grabbed the occasion, and with an all-out right punch flung the boy to the side of the arena, where he fell down on the ground, breathing heavily.
"Exhaustion, the enemy of all shinobis," Zabuza muttered, from his spot, "I doubt he'll get up after that, it was good enough he got to this stage," he added.
"Mah, that's a strange thought,
All the Jinchuurikis I fought,
They all acted real tough,
And never were ragged that thorough!" B rapped, his eyes, hidden behind his shades, actually narrowing in perplexity.
You sure that's a Jinchuuriki, B? I mean…Just look at him! He's wheezing from fatigue!
"He went against Nibi-chan, Hachibi! It was no small feat!"
It was at that moment that Naruto actually got back up on his feet.
The way he got back up seemed to be scary, to say the slightest: he simply stood back up, like an invisible hand had actually lifted him on his feet.
Then, just as Itachi was staring at the scene worried, Naruto's right hand slowly lifted itself in front of him, and Itachi felt pain.
Something, as strong as a rock boulder, hit him in the guts, sending him to crash on the ground, and then bringing him soaring in the air, straight towards Naruto's right hand, curled into a punch.
The impact sent the Uchiha on the ground, but, just like that, so too did Naruto fall.
Everyone stood silent, in the arena, and around them.
Just *what* had happened?
"You know…Chameleons are pretty loyal," Zabuza pointed out, "That one though…I didn't think he'd trick the arena and the boy itself," his eyes were accustomed to seeing the fluttering of camouflage jutsus, especially Suiton ones, but that chameleon…He was good at it.
Kozue slowly smiled, before dispersing, this time truthfully, in smoke.
Who did the raven haired boy think he was, to bully their summoner like that?
Kakashi, coughing slightly, moved to where the two boys were laying, both knocked out cold, both wounded, both completely exhausted.
"Winner…No-one, it's a draw!" as Kakashi exclaimed that, loud whines echoed the arena, especially in the Uchiha area, albeit the Inuzuka simply howled: no matter what, it had been a good fight.
"Aniki didn't win!" Kiba whined, as his mother simply laughed.
"You can't win all your fights, pup!" just as Tsume roared that, Hana found the moment to butt in the conversation.
"Just what was that last attack, Kaa-san? It seemed like Itachi was winning, and then Naruto simply got back up!"
"Oh well, you didn't smell it well, but there were actually two hidden reptiles in the arena, that the boy summoned. One of them actually disappeared after the match, but the other kept itself hidden on the arena's walls," Tsume replied.
"But wouldn't that be cheating?" Hana asked, in a lower tone.
"No: it's no different than leaving a thrown kunai on the ground, summons are useable like that, albeit it depends on the summon's goodwill."
The Hyuga clapped silently, while the Aburame buzzed.
Tsunade, biting her lip, was being reprimanded by Shizune.
"That's why you shouldn't have betted he'd win the tournament, Tsunade-Shishou! Look what you did! This is entirely your fault!"
"Sensei fought very well, didn't he?" Neji said, looking at his right, where Ayame was standing, a worried look on her face, "If someone were to be there for him, when he'd wake up…I'm sure he'd be really grateful," he added, in a really smooth way. At least, to him it sounded smooth.
That got Ayame's eyes to lighten up, as she decided to follow Tsunade herself, who would probably be in the medic area, to tend to the wounded…especially to her son.
*Mindscape*
There it was: the fox, sleeping as usual on the bed that his mind seemed to create every single time. The choker tightly closed around her neck in such a way that it was actively making the Kyuubi bleed, but instead of blood, small filaments of blue chakra seemed to be seeping out of it, disappearing into the air.
Naruto had promised not to loosen the seal, hadn't he? But the seal had never been that tight! He could see it, the pain, the suffering: the ragged breathing of the sleeping fox.
So, carefully, he repeated to himself he wasn't doing anything wrong: he was just…putting it back to normal.
He began slowly moving the chains of the choker back, little by little, until the strange blue whiz of air stopped leaking, and the Kyuubi looked more comfortable, and sleeping better.
Feeling woozy, he decided to grab a quick nap too: it wasn't like he had anything better to do, he was sure he had lost against Itachi. Damn exhaustion.
*Outside*
The medic bay held a total of twenty beds: all separated by a set of paper thin privacy curtains, with a central empty area, to guarantee the medics' passage. There wasn't much of a sound, albeit a blond pig-tailed woman with a large rack was in the process of looking over a boy, while on the bed next to him, the curtain moved to the side, was a slightly worried Anko Mitarashi. The Kunoichi had seen Naruto enter the room in a medical tray, but hadn't pried much, as he didn't seem in too bad of a condition. Until he had been attached to the hospital's machines.
The machine that normally would have taken a count of the heartbeats of the subject suddenly beeped, as Naruto's body went unearthly pale. Tsunade herself had been trying to find the reason for it, but couldn't, for all of her expertise, realize what was wrong with the boy. It was just like if his chakra was disappearing from his very own coils, going Kami knew where.
What was worse was that the now wide awake Mitarashi Anko, right next to her, was worriedly exclaiming.
"He's going to be fine, right!? Tsunade-san!?" the reason she was actually worried was because, not knowing *how* it had gone, but seeing Itachi knocked out cold, and arriving afterwards, right in front of her, she could, at the very least, come to a theory.
The Nibi had basically hit hard both Naruto and Itachi, just for spite.
She had cracked ribs, ragged breathing, and felt her entire body sore, but with the painkillers coming in through her Iv drip, she wasn't that much in pain. The shock over Naruto's condition, especially the infamous beeping sound of the machinery, that usually meant a cardiac arrest, wasn't making her calmer, at all.
"Oh come on Naru-chan! You defeated the Nibi, you can't die now!" as Tsunade exclaimed that, starting a direct chakra-pulse heart massage, she was muttering vile curses to the gods.
"Tsunade-shishou, the coils are nearly empty! This looks far worse than the normal chakra exhaustion! Something is…" Shizune had barely said that, that Anko was already standing up, or at least trying, her breath ragged.
"Get back to bed you!" Tsunade's assistant snapped, only to hear the girl's voice.
"He…He gets better if he bites people…He sucks chakra by biting them," she muttered, only to be brought back to bed with a firm grasp.
"Tsunade-san, you heard?" Shizune asked, as the pig-tailed woman, with the strength of desperation, did the only thing she could come to terms with: she brought her forearm to the side of the boy's arm and forcefully had him bite on her until he drew blood.
It was instantaneous.
Suddenly, Tsunade felt her feet getting wobbly, as her Yin seal activated, pushing her stored chakra into the boy's form.
The chakra simply flew, like there was nothing to stop it, into the boy's body, to be absorbed. The machine began giving the rhythm of his heartbeat once more, the wounds, the scrapes, the bruises disappearing from his very body as the boy suddenly opened his eyes.
His light blue eyes, so clear blue it could even hurt to look at them directly, looked around for a brief second, in fright. A moment later, Tsunade removed her forearm, the bite wound closing up, as her Yin seal receded.
"You alright, Naru-chan?" Tsunade asked in a low murmur, her amber eyes looking at the pupils of her son, letting a finger move sideways in front of them, to be sure everything was fine.
"I think…I'm hungry," the grey-haired boy spoke quietly.
"Typical, now he's going to ask for ramen, isn't he?" Anko snorted, from her bed, resuming her normal tomboyish attitude, no matter the fact that she had been on the verge of a nervous breakdown. One thing was to lose someone like Orochimaru, because of being betrayed and used like an object. Another was to lose someone like Naruto, to wounds inflicted by the Two-tails, probably trying to avenge her, and right next to her, in the same damn room!
"Anko-chan, I defeated…" but he was cut short of replying, as, in that moment, Minato Namikaze chose that moment to enter the medical bay. His Kage's clothes fluttered briefly because of his movement, but his hat was down, held within his hands.
"Well, if it isn't the Hokage," Tsunade muttered, gritting her teeth, "To what do we owe the visit?"
"I thought I should mention it now, to give the boy more time to think about it, but I have already received at least twenty recommendations to put Naruto Senju in Anbu," Minato spoke quietly, eying the grey-haired boy, whose eyes closed for a brief moment, probably in wait for the rest of the Hokage's words.
"No," Tsunade's reply was firm, "You are not putting him in Anbu, and that's final."
"The decision is not yours, Tsunade-san, but of your son. Also," the Hokage turned to look at where Itachi's form lay, in his own bed, "the offer was already proposed to Fugaku, and he said his son would accept it, wholeheartedly…"
Minato took a step backwards, as Tsunade simply moved closer to the Hokage, her single right hand index moving in a sort of accusing tone.
"You. Will. Not. Bring. My. Son. In. Anbu. Or I will find a way to make you suffer from chronic gastric flu for the rest of your life. Now out of here, I've got patients to see!" and with that, Minato Namikaze was actually pushed out of the medic bay.
"I won't be joining Anbu, Kaa-san," Naruto muttered meekly.
"You know it's a prestigious achievement, to be in Anbu?" Anko retorted, coughing just so slightly, a hand in front of her mouth.
"I don't want it," Naruto replied, looking at his teammate, "And, by the way, I beat up the Nibi," he added.
"Spoilsports," Anko replied, sticking her tongue out, "Now how can I give her payback with you acting chivalrous?"
"Shush it you, you got lucky," Tsunade replied, moving closer to the purple-haired girl. Discussing with her son about his seemingly leech-powers related to chakra could wait for when they'd be back home. Right now, she had to make sure the girl was fine.
"You say I made it to Chuunin?" Naruto queried.
"You and Itachi-kun probably did it, the Kumogakure Jinchuuriki too, and maybe, maybe also the guy with blue hair wielding that strange sword," Shizune replied, moving closer to Naruto, to check on his pulse.
"Shizune-neechan, why is Itachi here?" Naruto asked, perplexed, "Didn't he defeat me?"
"Well, no Naruto-kun. You suddenly got back up and landed some strange hits on him without moving," Shizune replied, perplexed, "It ended in a draw between you two."
"Oh, Kami be damned, so, not only does he defeat the Nibi, he also ends in a draw with Itachi? Naruto, are you on steroids?" Anko asked, with a smile cracking her lips.
"Nonsense," Tsunade replied, "I saw it clearly: chameleon summon, though I didn't see when you actually summoned him," as soon as she finished speaking, Fugaku Uchiha entered the room, together with Mikoto and a fussing Sasuke in tow.
"That would explain why Itachi lost, and no technique was visible to the Sharingan," Fugaku mused out loud, as Mikoto moved next to Itachi's bed, "I should have made Itachi sign the Hawk summoning scroll, but I didn't think Naruto-kun would have signed one, or the chakra to conjure a summon to begin with," he pointed out.
"You didn't see it?" Tsunade asked, with a small smile, "Are you telling me that whatever my son summoned you couldn't actually see it?"
"I didn't…I deactivated the sharingan when the fight was over, or at least, when I thought it was," Fugaku replied bitterly, having let the slip of the tongue already go, he couldn't do much. He knew however that Tsunade would never see the end of teasing him for not seeing it, where she, instead, did.
"You just got lucky Senju!" Sasuke exclaimed, after a moment, pointing his finger straight at Naruto, "My Oniisan is far stronger than you! You just didn't fight fair!"
With a disgruntled gurgle, Itachi slowly opened his eyes, stopping anyone, even Mikoto, from actually replying.
"Sasuke…" Itachi whispered, as his brother was relatively near, "Stop yelling near my ears," he added.
"Oniisan, but he cheated! He used…"
"Sasuke, Ninjas do that: they cheat, they lie, they play dirty, that's why we're ninjas," Fugaku replied, narrowing his gaze on his youngest son.
"Naruto…chameleon summons, huh?" Itachi whispered, "I doubt you actually wanted him to stick around, right?"
"Got me…I didn't know, you know I promised you we'd fight it fair," Naruto replied, a small smile escaping his lips, "I'm going to have a talk with Tokane or Kozue, one of the two will know enough," he added.
"Why would my brother trust you? You broke your word!" Sasuke exclaimed, not at all pacified by the gazes that Fugaku and Mikoto were giving him.
"Sasuke…" Itachi sighed, beckoning his brother closer, before giving him a light tap with his index on the younger boy's forehead, "Be quiet," he muttered with a smirk, before addressing the issue, "Trust me when I tell you this, if Naruto gives you his word, then he will carry it through, that's why I believe him, as you should too. So, apologize for being an overreacting boy," he added.
"But…Fine! I'm sorry!" Sasuke pouted, looking at Naruto who smiled.
"Apologies accepted," with that, Mikoto returned to the matter at hand…of teaching her eldest about what words should be mentioned, and what shouldn't be mentioned to a swordsman.
Anko stood silent, watching as Itachi's family and Naruto's family fussed over them…even though she was happy for her friends, she still felt…something, in her heart.
A slight tinge of pain.
Wasn't there anyone there who would come see her? Well, she was an orphan, her friends abandoned her when Orochimaru became her sensei, and then abandoned her again after he betrayed Konoha. Her sensei abandoned her, and she had no-one who would actually come through the door with the sole purpose of seeing her battered form and her weak self.
She knew it…yet she actually hoped someone would.
That's when someone actually walked in, Kurenai Yuhi and Morino Ibiki strolled in, followed closely by Hiruzen Sarutobi and Asuma Sarutobi.
Kurenai did wave at Anko, before moving close to Naruto, but it was Ibiki, who actually moved to the side of Anko.
"So, how're you doing?" he asked, carefully.
To say she was surprised, was an understatement: of all the people…Morino? Ibiki? The recently made T&I Jounin?
"Fine, if by fine you mean cracked ribs and broken bones," she replied, "But the painkillers are a blast, let me tell you this," she added, with a small smile.
While they went on with pointless small chatter, albeit Anko did her best to put some teasing in, the anesthetic's effects actually making it even more difficult, on the other side, Naruto was literally being fussed over.
"Second affinity with Wind element, huh?" Asuma, in one of his rare moments away from cigarettes, was actually holding onto his willpower from lighting one up in that moment.
The reason he didn't was that he knew better than offend Tsunade, the legendary Sannin.
Same with Hiruzen, who did all *but* dare to cross Tsunade, especially on smoking tobacco: considering he shouldn't, for health reasons.
"No," Naruto replied, "Only Water affinity…I trained from scratch with the Kaze no Yaiba, since Jiraiya-sannin showed it to me…did he watch the fight?"
At the question, Hiruzen nodded briefly, before replying.
"I'm sure he did," he pointed out, "Wherever he was hiding, that is."
"Well, if you keep this up you're going to have a bounty on your head soon: you defeated their Jinchuuriki," Asuma joked, "Maybe you'll reach mine, one day," he added, only to see a murderous gaze, a set of murderous gazes to be more precise, settle on him.
"Poor son of mine…You should have learned to bit your tongue," Hiruzen thought, as he slowly got his pipe in his mouth. Only to stop on his motion when another pair of murderous eyes went to him.
"Crap…I have this bad habit of smoking when things get bad…Kami be Damned, I'm the Third Hokage, I'm the Kami of shinobis, I will…"
"I'm going outside," Hiruzen hastily retreated, "Good fight in the arena Naruto-kun," he added, before running for his very life.
"I'll be going too," Asuma replied, moving away, swiftly followed by Kurenai, who had, however, managed to get a couple of pictures of a hospitalized Naruto…they'd sell well within the fan club.
"Anyway, I'll be off too, even if you didn't make it to chuunin today, you'll do fine next time," Ibiki pointed out, "And you *are* starting T&I internship nevertheless, understood? Good, see you," and with those final words, the man actually left the room.
"He doesn't even let you say *no* to him…I like that," Anko pointed out.
"Tsunade-san…when will Itachi be ready to leave?" Fugaku asked, neutrally.
"He's got some heavy bruises in his stomach, but no internal bleeding or organ rupture…but some ribs are cracked, a cast to the torso, a couple of weeks, and then he'll be as good as new."
"Sorry Itachi," Naruto whispered, "I'm sorry I didn't double check they had dismissed themselves truthfully."
"Not your fault…it just means I'll have to take it slowly," Itachi replied, and maybe…maybe he could actually manage to convince Shishui to hand over one of those orange covered books? And with the wounded body, could he ask for tea more than three times a day?
*A couple of days later*
Naruto Senju, Chuunin of Konohagakure, adopted son of Tsunade Senju, Disowned son of the Yellow Flash, Yondaime of Konoha and of Kushina Uzumaki, of Uzushiogakure, Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, is a B-rank shinobi of incredible potential, even at his young age of eleven.
His chakra affinity is Water, his secondary element is Wind.
He possesses no particular Kekkei Genkai, though he might yet have to unlock it.
Worthy of notice are his summoning contract with Chameleons and his mastery of Henges.
The Jutsus seen by him are: Kirigakure No Jutsu, Kaze no Yaiba, Kuchiyose No Jutsu, Henge.
Mission completed: 431 D-ranks, 33 C-rank, 0 B-rank, 0 A-rank, 1 S-rank.
Enemies defeated worthy of notice: Yugito Nii, Kumogakure's Jinchuuriki.
He is known as the Ghost Lance.
The Bounty on his head is of 50000 Ryos.
"I've got a bounty on my head!" Naruto exclaimed, waving the bingo book Kakashi had so kindly deposited on his desk around, where other Chuunins, albeit older than him, looked slightly annoyed, but understanding...they had done the same at their time too.
As a recently made Chuunin, his duties were wide and varied.
Firstly however was apprenticeship: to learn to lead, one must learn to obey.
Naruto Senju was thus asked to submit his preferences for a career path, as Chuunins were pretty rare material, and many jobs were simply assigned to Genins, elder Genins, or flocks of Genins.
For every chuunin, there were at least fifty Genins of various age, going from the recently failed ones, like Anko was, to those who were twenty-two or twenty-three years old. There was also a special case of one older than Tsunade herself, but he was special.
Teams usually would stick together until the bitter end, meaning that their Jounin-sensei *would* claim them for team missions when needed, but with two Chuunins in group, they were now eligible for the B-rank ones. The Jounin would cover for the Genin's weakness, and the two Chuunins could stand their ground.
Or they could go solo. Chuunins *could* go on solo missions of D and C rank, or on assassination missions of B-rank…because everyone was able to throw an explosive tag at an enemy civilian, bypassing thug guards.
A-rank assassinations involved shinobis, S-rank assassinations involved High level shinobis, and those were only for Jounins.
So, with a wide variety of options to choose from, subjects to pick, specialization to decide, Naruto Senju chose the only thing that would land him behind a desk surrounded by other chuunins half of the time.
He chose the rode of the Jounin-sensei.
Meaning that, as of that precise moment, he could undertake solo missions on his own, team missions with Team Kakashi of B-rank that weren't assassinations, train in the chuunin training grounds, and mostly get a nice flak jacket that he had managed to convince the quartermaster to dye a dark blue with the Senju symbol sued on the back.
That wasn't everything, however.
To become a Jounin sensei one had to be exceptionally skilled, above the line of normal, like Kakashi, which was also a rule exception, or go through the process of apprenticeship.
So he was behind a desk, surrounded by other chuunins…chuunin-senseis, on his first day at the Ninja academy of Konoha, assigned to Chuunin Iruka Umino…and he was waving the Bingo book with him on it.
Unpredictable, to say the least.
The scene was also viewed by a recently appointed Anbu, who was standing on a tree, perched outside of the academy. Had Naruto turned the pages of the Bing Book, he would have found out that he wasn't alone in there.
Itachi Uchiha, Chuunin of Konohagakure, son of Mikoto Uchiha and of Fugaku Uchiha, is a B-rank shinobi of incredible potential, even at his young age of eleven.
His chakra affinity is Fire, his secondary element is Water.
He possesses the sharingan Doujutsu.
Worthy of notice are his Eye-Genjutsu abilities and his mastery over the Doujutsu of his clan.
The Jutsus seen by him are: unnamed Genjutsus, Katon Endan, Suiton Suiryūdan no Jutsu.
Mission completed: 431 D-ranks, 33 C-rank, 0 B-rank, 0 A-rank, 1 S-rank.
Enemies defeated worthy of notice: Mangetsu Hozuki, of the Hozuki clan.
He is known as the Incubus.
The Bounty on his head is of 75000 Ryos, preferably he is to be captured alive.
Obviously Itachi wouldn't say it was because of his Doujutsu that he was on a capture-alive notice. Although the bounty on their heads would rise, with the coming of years, he couldn't help but childishly remark, in his head, that his bounty was bigger than that of Naruto.
With a single sign from his squad-leader, he left, following on his assigned mission. Naruto would become Hokage, walking through the light, and he'd guard him by the shadows, then the Uchiha would no longer be shoved into a corner, and the very foundation of Konoha, the friendship between the Senju and the Uchiha, would be born anew.
At least, that was the raven haired boy's thoughts, hidden behind the Anbu-mask of a crow, his face covered by the wide white trench coat, that had to be worn to hide one owns features within the village, and that easily disappeared in a backpack the moment they were in enemy territory.
Author's notes
There, exams done.
I remain rooted in my ideals that I will never excel in writing battle scenes. Jutsus/describing what happens always seems to break the continuum, for me.
It seems strange that on one side I get reviews claiming I write well, and then reviews in which I write badly.
I don't think I'm an excellent writer, but I *have* seen some stuff around that made me itch to burn my eyes with bleach, so…let's just say I'm average?
Before someone complains: yes, Itachi and Naruto *will* still do mission together, but they are now following two different paths.
Why is he going through some Chuunin-sensei stuff? Because I always wanted to write about a Teacher-Naruto. So I've got the ball, and I'm using it.
Concerning the Sword of the Thunder God, remember that it was stolen a bit after the exams…so…*next chapter* *Grins*.
As for why Anko's seal didn't activate in the Nibi fight, that's for me to know and for you to find out.
Concerning the Bingo Book notice, the bounty is unnamed, because obviously no village would be as stupid as claim that, in a frail peace-like period, they placed bounties on someone's head. That's what black market brokers are there for.
And…does Ibiki have a crush on Anko? Might be. Might not be. There's no pairing because something horrible is going to happen a good chapters away.
…and I'm afraid of how it will develop…
*chuckles*
