Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Star Wars

Chapter Nine: Opening Battles

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were now entering the tower; it had taken them seven hours to get to the tower, a battle with a giant snake, and an encounter with a deranged woman to get here. Sakura was shaken but who wouldn't be, Sasuke was being strong and trying to help Sakura, and Naruto was deep in thought.

"We have to tell the Hokage about this" said Sakura quietly.

"And we will; what I saw in that things head was disturbing" said Naruto.

"What did you see" asked Sasuke.

"Visions of death and chaos, his mind is so dark that I didn't even need to try to read his mind" said Naruto.

"Come on then lets hurry" said Sasuke.

Naruto and Sasuke had dropped Sakura off at the healers wing of the tower and it was by the will of the force that they ran into Kakashi, Kenji, and to there surprise there old teacher Umino Iruka. Iruka had told Naruto they were supposed to open the scroll and summon him but Naruto wasn't really paying attention.

"So boys where's Sakura" asked Kakashi.

"In the healers wing" said Naruto as he turned to look at Kenji, "Kenji could you go see her, I'm sure seeing a friendly face would help her".

"Alright Naruto-sensei" said Kenji as he left to go see his friend.

Kakashi turned to Iruka pulled him aside, "Look Iruka I have to talk to the boys and the Hokage; if you wouldn't mind I have to go".

"I understand" said Iruka as he headed off on his own.

"Alright come on" said Kakashi as he began to walk away.

Naruto and Sasuke followed there sensei to the very top of the tower they were silent; something Kakashi wasn't used to. Kakashi knew that what ever they were going to say to the Hokage was of very high importance but also very distracting.

They had finally reached the top and the room the Hokage was using as his office; Kakashi being Kakashi didn't knock and just entered. The Hokage was sitting at his desk and it seemed that he was waiting for the three of them.

"I can assume that you've encountered something that is related to the discovery I made" said the Hokage calmly.

"What do you mean lord Hokage" asked Kakashi.

"A few hours ago we found three bodies; they were genin from the grass village, they were dead and there faces were surgically removed" said the Hokage.

"That's disgusting" said Sasuke as he turned away from the Hokage.

"I fear that an enemy of the village has infiltrated the exams but what he wants is still a mystery" said the Hokage.

"That's why were here we faced the one responsible and he wants …………

-Break

Three days had come and gone rather quickly; Naruto and his team were the first to arrive, after that it was the sand team, Neji and Hinata's team arrived at the same time, then came Ino's team, Kabuto and his team mates weren't to far behind them, the sound team arrived a few hours after, and the final team was a team from the mist village.

Out all the teams that entered the forest there were only eight; Naruto had heard whispers of what had happened to the other teams: They were killed off, either by the snake that attacked Naruto or the red head boy from sand. It was difficult to believe but in this world the cruelest of things are very possible.

The few teams that made were now before the Hokage and to everyone's surprise the Mizukage, the leader of the mist village. Like the Hokage of the leaf village the Mizukage was an elderly man; he wore similar robes to the Hokage's except they were blue and not red.

The teams were in a large arena room; most of the genin could already for see the upcoming exams.

"Why do you think the Mizukage is here" asked Sakura calmly.

"I believe that he is related to the members of the mist team" said Naruto.

"Why didn't the Hokage tell us that he would be here" asked Sasuke rather loudly through the force.

"I'll tell you later for now lets pay attention" said Sakura.

"First of all, I would like to congratulate all of you for making it this far" said the Hokage as he looked upon all the teams, "Now, before I describe the third exam, I would like to make something clear. Do not be confused when we say that this exam is to promote healthy relationships between the allied nations; there is a greater purpose to them".

"What's the Hokage talking about" asked Sakura.

"These exams were devised as a way to solve conflicts with other Nations" said Sasuke, "All villages use there genin as pawns to gain victory, power, land, more money, or to actually test them"

"That's terrible" said Sakura.

The Hokage continued shortly after seeing many confused looks from the genin, "The Chunin exams are a replacement for war between the allied nations. At first, the neighboring villages would constantly attack each other, creating a waste of military power. Then the nations decided to put a stop to that by determining a set place and time to fight one another. That is the beginning of the first Chunin exam".

"What did I tell" said Sasuke angrily.

At this point, Ino spoke up, "Why do we fight here if we could lose our lives!" she gathered the approval of many of here fellow genin by asking such a question.

It was at this time that the Mizukage stood up next to the Hokage and spoke, "A shinobi's true power comes from a life-or-death struggle; the shinobi before you have participated in this exam to maintain the pride of your respective countries so you must also battle to maintain your country's honor and glory".

At these words the mist team held there heads up with pride and saluted there village leader.

"But, why do you say it is to maintain good relations with the allied countries?" asked Chouji.

"I said not be confused about that. Fighting in life-or-death battles and eliminating life to maintain balance is the very core of good relations in the shinobi world" said the Hokage calmly.

"Keep in mind young ones that today you fight not only for your lives but for the balance of the world we live in" said the Mizukage calmly.

The genin had there questions answered and were ready to begin; they had cleared the arena floor and were now in the rafters that surrounded the arena. Team seven and the others waited patiently and now they paid close attention to a man that walked to the center of the arena.

The man was pale and sickly looking, "I am Gekko Hayate; I have the honor of explaining the next round" said the shinobi while coughing heavily.

"He's hiding something" said Sasuke

"Deception: the way of any shinobi, Sasuke" said Naruto as he paid attention to Hayate.

"Now, before we proceed to the third phase of the exam, I need you guys to do something" said Hayate, "Those who wish to quit after this explanation can exit the room; we will be starting the preliminaries immediately and there is no point to fighting if you are incapable"

"What about our teams; if we leave are we eliminated" said Kabuto while drawing a glare from his teammates.

"As of now, you are able to make your own individual decisions" said Hayate calmly, "Your team will not be affected by your departure."

To everyone's surprise Kiba and his dog voluntary left; it seemed that his left leg was injured and he was unable to compete. His team wished him well and the young genin left. Kabuto smiled as he left his teammates and as he began to leave him left he and Naruto locked eyes for a moment.

'You can't protect him forever' thought Kabuto while smiling.

"You won't have him" said Naruto causing Kabuto to stop in his tracks and stare at Naruto in shock.

"Is there something wrong, Kabuto-san" asked Naruto while looking at Kabuto.

"No, just my mind playing tricks on me" said Kabuto as he walked away.

Kabuto was gone and Hayate had everyone's attention again.

"Since nobody else is quitting, I'll proceed" said Hayate as he looked at the remaining genin, "There will be twenty-one one-on-one battles and the victors will proceed forward to the final round".

"Well, this is gonna take a while" said Sasuke.

"I hope I get to fight first, that way I can get it over with" said Sakura.

"There are virtually no rules, the fight will progress until one of the contenders die, is knocked out, or admits defeat" said Hayate calmly.

At this some of the more dangerous opponents began to unleash a small level of killing intent, that didn't go unnoticed by Hayate.

Hayate cleared his throat and spoke, "Also, since we don't want to have unnecessary dead bodies, I will step in when a victor is decided. My ruling is absolute so when I say it's over, it's over" at this Hayate glared at all the genin.

Hayate coughed violently a few times before going into a large coughing fit, "The matches will be chosen randomly with this electronic scoreboard".

An electronic board was then revealed and it activated; most of the genin tensed wondering whose names will be revealed and who would begin the battles of the Chunin Exams.

-Break

The battles had already begun and so far they were mostly uneventful.

Sakura was the first to win her battle against Ino, using the force to shield herself from Ino's unique family jutsu gave Sakura an advantage; without the use of her families mind jutsu Ino was defenseless and Sakura forced her to use only taijutsu. Ino having barely any skill in hand to hand combat had lost to Sakura who was trained by Kakashi in a simple form of taijutsu that proved too great for Ino to overcome.

Shikamaru was the second victor of the tournament; he had used his great intellect to defeat Kin Tsuchi, the girl from the sound team. Chouji the third to fight had lost to Dosu Kinuta of the sound team; Chouji had lost to Dosu on a one-hit K.O.: hurting not only his body but his pride.

Shino had fought Zaku Abumi from sound; the arrogant sound Nin had lost, Shino had used his families bug allies to defeat the Zaku and in the end Zaku will never be able of using his arms: twice the pride double the fall, a fitting way to describe Zaku's demise.

The team from sand had all won there battles; the red haired boy was Sabaku no Gaara, and he had viciously crushed

Kabuto's teammate, Misumi Tsurugi. Gaara's brother a boy called Kankuro had followed in his brother's footsteps and defeated Kabuto's other teammate, Yoroi Akado. Temari, Gaara's sister had just easily defeated Ten-Ten; the girl from Neji's team.

The only competitors left were Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, Neji's teammate a boy named Rock lee, Hinata, and the three members of the mist team.

"I think I'm going insane" said Sasuke as he watched Ten-Ten be carried away by some medical nin.

"I'm sorry my teammate's misfortune isn't entertaining for you" said Rock Lee as looked at Sasuke with anger.

Naruto seeing that the two might come to blows decide to intervene, "Calm yourself, there are already enough enemies to fight, and we leaf nin needn't fight each other if avoidable".

"You are right Uzumaki-san; I just want to finally fight, I want to prove that I belong" said Rock Lee.

"Let's see if you get your chance" said Naruto as he looked at the electronic board.

The board read: Uzumaki Naruto vs. Momochi Haku.

"Well looks like good things come to those who wait" said Naruto as he smiled at both Sasuke and Lee and walked down to the arena; his opponent already waiting for him.

Naruto studied this Haku person; you couldn't tell by looking but the person was a girl. She has straight, long and flowing, black hair that is just about to the length of her shoulder blades, pale skin and brown eyes; she is also quite short for her age.

"I'm sorry to say but you're going to loose" said Haku calmly.

"Overconfidence can lead to defeat" said Naruto as pulled out a scroll from within his robes.

Naruto quickly pushed his chakra into the scroll and with a poof of smoke the scroll was gone and a sheath katana was in his hand. Most of the genin and jounin watched with interest wondering how this battle would differ from the others; after all the mist nin are a complete mystery.

"I took notice of your name, Momochi, which means you are related to Momochi Zabuza" said Naruto calmly.

"Yes I am related to him; Momochi Zabuza is my father" said the girl.

Up in the rafters Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi watched with interest as Naruto talked to the girl.

"So that's Zabuza's kid" said Kakashi.

"You know this Zabuza guy?" asked Sakura interested.

"Know each other, Zabuza and Kakashi are bitter rivals" said a sweet feminine voice. Kakashi looked at the new comer and smiled underneath his mask; it was his old friend Yūhi Kurenai.

"Well let's see how Naruto does against her" said Kakashi as he looked at his student.

"Begin" said Hayate officially starting the fight.

Naruto simply unsheathed his katana and took a battle stance, waiting for his opponent to attack; Haku didn't disappoint, she attacked Naruto from a distance. Kunai and shuriken came flying at Naruto; he used his katana to deflect them; Naruto made it look as if he wasn't really trying.

Haku kept her distance but for a few seconds she stopped attacking and moved to back to the edge of the arena; Naruto seeing an opening began to move forward.

'What is she thinking' thought Naruto

Naruto saw more kunai come towards him but these were covered with explosive tags. The Kunai flew past Naruto and as he expected they went off; but they didn't cause a simply explosion, the kunai exploded and Naruto was dosed with water. Naruto was knocked off his feet because of the attack; Haku attacked with senbon needles but Naruto managed to evade all of them.

"What was that" said Naruto as he faced off against Haku.

"It doesn't matter; the real fight starts here" said Haku as she pulled out a scroll from behind her.

"I don't like were this going" said Naruto.

"You should try to finish this; it's never a good thing when some pulls out a scroll" said Sasuke as he watched Naruto take a stance.

"Come on Naruto; it took me twelve minutes to win my match" Sakura.

Before Naruto could reply and answer Sakura through the force the scroll Haku had revealed began to glow blue; as Naruto watched he was amazed at what he saw …………

-End Chapter

I hope you like this chapter there's more to come.