Declaimer: I own nothing in this fanfic, but my created characters they abilities and Jutsu and that is about all I own "Goes to corner and starts crying"
Writing: Italic: thought, Bold: Bijuu or summoning speaking.
A/N: Okay guys I have two bits of info for you. First they is a part in this chapter that might make you flinch or cringe at the stupid of it, but just remember this is all part of my grand scheme. Second is my chapter updates in order to make sure I don't get ripped apart by stress once again I will be writing one or two pages per day that way I can get myself some rest, but what this also means is that I won't be able to update as quickly I might make once a week, but don't quote me on that. With that said let the fun commence!
"Life is a dream of madman.
Why are you scared of this madman?
It's only you." - Unknown
Naruto moved out of the way from the air blast, but still received a cut to the side of his face. "It would appear that he controls air pressure with those pipes on his hands." Naruto created four Kage Bunshin. "I need to find a way to plug those holes up." Naruto sent the clones in to try and get close to Zaku to allow Naruto to make his long range abilities ineffective. Zaku saw this and jumped backwards, blasting Naruto's clones away.
"You can't beat me like that!" Zaku smiled as he took aim at Naruto who smiled. "What does he have to smile about?" Zaku decided it didn't matter and blasted Naruto, but the Naruto he hit turned into smoke. Zaku turned around and saw Naruto smiling at him. Zaku turned around, already charging his air pressure, but Naruto grabbed his wrist. Zaku fired, hoping to blow Naruto away, and it started to work, but before Naruto flew away, he reached up and wrapped his hand on Zaku's neck. Naruto flew into the wall leaving behind an imprint of himself in the wall. "I told you, you fucking weakling, that you can't win against me!" When the smoke cleared, everyone watched as Naruto began to… laugh?
"But the problem is, I already won." Naruto held up his hand to make a tiger seal. Zaku started to try and walk forward, but found himself unable to move. He looked down and saw black lines all over his body. "You're probably wondering what's happening. Well this was one of the very first seals I ever made. It paralyzes my opponent, leaving him vulnerable." To prove his point, two clones jumped from behind Zaku and punched him in the face, sending him to the ground in a heap. "You've lost." Naruto approached Zaku and pulled out a kunai and held it to his throat.
"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki," Hayate announced as everyone else got a good look at what Naruto could do.
"Damn, he used a kinjutsu with such ease, and he can use fuinjutsu!" Baki was watching Naruto walking up the stairs with his hands in his pockets. "Just what is Konoha teaching their ninja?" Baki looked down and saw Gaara watching Naruto's every move. "Looks like Gaara just found his prey for this thing." Baki just hoped Gaara wouldn't do anything until it was time. The teams looked and saw the screen beginning to go through names until it ended on Shikamaru vs. Kin Tsuchi.
"What a drag," Shikamaru muttered as he slowly walked down to the floor with no hint of excitement in his steps. "Let's just get this over with."
"What's wrong? Afraid to get beaten by a girl?" Kin sneered at Shikamaru, who just yawned.
"Begin!" Hayate swung his arm and watched as Kin threw some senbon at Shikamaru, who lazily dodged to the left, but still got stuck with a senbon in his shoulder.
"So your doing something similarly to the Kage Shuriken no Jutsu (Shadow Shuriken Technique)," Shikamru stated as he pulled the senbon out of his shoulder. "But instead of shuriken, you use senbon." This brought a frown to kin's face.
"So you figured it out." Kin just reached into her pack and pulled out three senbon. "But that won't save you from the sound." Shikamaru was confused by what she meant until he heard a bell ringing. Shikamaru covered his ears, but saw Kin shaking her head. "That won't help you. It's already inside your head." Shikamaru watched as Kin split into three. "Now you can't beat me." Kin went to throw her senbon, but stopped.
"Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique) success." Shikamaru looked up with a smile. He got up and moved his right arm and watched as Kin did the exact same thing. "Good, now time to end this troublesome game." Shikamaru reached into his pack and grabbed a shuriken, but Kin did the exact same thing. "Game, set…" Shikamaru threw his shuriken and Kin did the same thing. Shikamaru leaned his head back as hard as he could, and Kin followed, but instead of hitting nothing, she hit a wall. Shikamaru let his shadow slide back to him as Kin slid off the wall, out cold. "Match." Shikamaru began to walk up the stairs as Hayate called him as the winner.
Naruto patted Shikamaru on the back as he walked by. "Good job, Shikamaru." Shikamaru just yawned. Naruto turned back and saw the names of Sasuke and Yoroi on the board. Naruto turned and gave Sasuke a smile. "Good luck, Sasuke." Sasuke turned and looked at Naruto for the briefest of seconds, then began his descent to the arena.
Naruto was a little shook up from the look Sasuke gave him. "What was that about?" Naruto looked and saw Sasuke take up a fighting stance.
XXX
Denpa and Ishiki were looking at the old man who seemed to be shivering from some unseen cold. The old man gave a wave to the two of them, and they politely walked forward. "We need to find them," he said in an uneven voice.
"Find who?" Denpa leaned in close with sad look on his face. The old man leaned forward and whispered into Denpa's ear. Ishiki looked and saw his brother's eyes widen in shock. When Denpa looked at the old man, he had a look of hesitation.
"Are you sure about that?" Denpa watched as the old man nodded his head before closing his eyes and falling asleep.
"What did he want?" Ishiki called out, only for his brother to look at him with a small smile.
"We need to go to Nami no Kuni." This was all Ishiki needed to know.
"Well if that's the case then, we'd better get a move on." Ishiki threw his brother a cloak while he put his on. "Let's go." With that, the two of them left the cabin and headed towards their destination.
XXX
Kakashi decided to take Sasuke away to the hospital after his match to tend to him. The next match after that was Sakura vs. Ino, which ended with neither of them winning. Then came Kiba vs. Shino, and right off the bat, Kiba charged, which only got him trapped amongst Shino's bugs. After a while of the bugs draining his and Akamaru's chakra, they gave up. Temari and Tenten were up next, and it ended in one of the most twisted things Naruto has seen. After blasting away Tenten's weapons and slicing her up, Temari placed her fan right underneath Tenten and let her fall on her fan. The result was Tenten bending over Temari's fan backwards, then to add insult to injury, Temari threw the incapacitated girl towards the wall, only for Tenten to be caught by Rock Lee.
"That was most unyouthful!" Rock Lee, for the first time looked severely pissed off, but before he could do anything, Guy stepped in and restrained his student. Temari walked up the steps with a smile on her face, but as she was walking past Team 7, she turned to look at Naruto, who stared back at her, and for just a split second, Temari thought she saw his eyes turn red, and a giant fox towered behind him with a hungry look in its eyes.
Kankuro looked at his sister, who suddenly looked white as a sheet. "What happened?" Kankuro watched as Temari turned to him.
"I get the feeling that he's just like Gaara," Temari said as she looked back at the arena screen to see that Kankuro was fighting a man by the name of Misumi. The fight didn't last very long. Misumi wrapped himself around Kankuro and snapped his neck, only for Kankuro to be revealed as a puppet. The real Kankuro was hiding in the bandages. Kankuro made a fist as his chakra strings were attached to the puppet. The puppet wrapped around Misumi and broke every bone in his body except for his neck. The next match made Hinata nervous, because she was up against her cousin, Neji.
Naruto walked up and patted Hinata on the shoulder, giving her an encouraging smile. Hinata walked down to the arena with Neji scowling at her. "What are you doing.?" Hinata looked at Neji who shook his head. "You can't be serious about fighting me." Hinata looked up and saw Naruto give her the thumbs up, and she nodded at him. She took a fighting stance while activating her Byakugan. "Her eyes... She's not the same as before." Neji looked at Naruto, who smiled at him. "Did he do something to help her?" Neji didn't worry about it, and took up his own stance.
"Alright, begin!" Neji and Hinata charged at each other. Neji threw a palm forward, but Hinata swiped it away with her own. Hinata did the exact same, but Neji deflected her attack. This went on for a good couple of minutes before Neji, instead of deflecting Hinata's attack, grabbed her arm and swung her to the ground.
"I told you; I'm destined to win this fight." Neji looked into Hinata's eyes, but dodged her chakra laced hand. Neji's grip on Hinata's arm loosened, and she was able to get back to her feet.
"I don't care. I'll still fight." Hinata charged, but Neji jumped over her and landed on his feet. Hinata didn't need to turn her head to see Neji already throwing his hand forward. Hinata spun around on her heel and grabbed Neji's arm. She palm-thrust at him, but he caught her as well. The two of them pushed with added chakra and were thrown backwards. Neji stopped and ran at Hinata, but instead of charging Hinata stood her ground. As Neji neared her, Hinata threw her hand forward, but when Neji went to catch it, he felt his hand get sliced open. He jumped back and looked at his hand to see something that looked like a chain-link fence sliced into his palm. Neji took a closer look at Hinata's arm and found that her entire right arm was dancing with sharpened chakra.
"She's coating her arm in sharpened chakra to cut into me," Neji muttered to himself. "That could be a problem if she hits me with it." Neji ran at her, but this time, zigzagged towards her. Hinata followed Neji as he came closer and closer, but just as she threw her arm, Neji jumped. Hinata turned to face him, but Neji slammed his chakra infused hand into Hinata's back, forcing her forward into a wall. Neji walked towards her until he noticed two pictures on the ground. Neji picked them up and looked at the first one to see Hinata standing with Hiashi, her mother, and Hanabi. He looked at the other and slightly glared and smiled at the sight. "So this is why you're so brave," Neji said showing Hinata the picture of Naruto and her at Ichiraku's at night, but the one difference is Naruto giving Hinata a kiss on the cheek, making her blush.
Hinata's eyes widened as Naruto cursed. Hinata felt around her jacket and found nothing. "Give that back!" Hinata looked at Neji with a slight glare.
"I wonder if Hiashi knows about your little love affair with the village's pariah?" Neji jumped backwards as Hinata slammed her hand on the ground right where Neji was.
"I said, give it back." This time there was danger in her words.
"If you want it, come and get it." Neji said this as he put the picture into his shirt with a smile. Hinata charged doing the one thing Neji wanted: get angry. Neji dodged Hinata's thrusts and jabs, wanting to get her just a tad bit more angry. Hinata thrust forward with both hands, and that was when Neji took his chance. He ducked under Hinata's attack and threw his arms forward, nailing her in the stomach. Hinata coughed up a small amount of blood and was sent backwards. "You're doing the very thing I want you to, Hinata; getting anger. The more angry you become, the more reckless you get. I just took my time and waited for you to make a mistake Too bad." Hinata just looked at Neji and smiled. "What do you have to be happy about?"
"I may have lost and you may have hurt me, but I still love you, Niisan," Hinata said with a smile, but this seemed to only make Neji angry. "I don't know what I've done to anger you, but I still care about you. That's why I pity you, because you live your life full of anger." Neji saw red and charged, even with Hayate telling him the match was over. Neji came closer and threw his arm, but it never connected, as a purple hexagonal barrier appeared between him and Hinata. Neji looked up and saw Naruto already jumping down with his hands together in a tiger seal.
"I think that's enough," Naruto stated as he walked towards Hinata. Neji charged at Naruto, who turned and ducked Neji's thrust, and he continued towards Hinata. Neji turned and went to attack, but found himself unable to move. He looked down and saw the same black lines as before. Naruto turned around and with some labored breathing. He walked over to Neji and took back the picture and gave it back to Hinata, who was picking up her family picture.
"I'm sorry," Hinata said with some tears. "I was supposed to keep the picture safe and not let anyone see it." Naruto just patted her shoulder and picked her up as some medics came by to take a look at her.
"It's not your fault. I knew someone was bound to find out." Naruto smiled at Hinata. "But I guess we'll just deal with the problem when it comes." Hinata nodded her head and walked out with Kurenai right behind her.
"You know, you two were made for each other," Neji said as he applied some chakra and broke out of Naruto's seal. "You're both weaklings. I mean look at you! You can barely use a Fuinjutsu without it consuming a great deal of your chakra."
Naruto just chuckled and looked at Neji. "It's funny how you're calling us weak, when Hinata nearly beat you," Naruto said as he watched Neji prickle up in anger. "And how I managed to dodge and then place a seal on you to paralyze you." Neji was about to charge, but calmed himself down and looked at Naruto with his calm and calculated eyes.
"Sorry, but you're going to have to do a lot better then that to lure me in." Neji watched as Naruto shrugged and began to walk up the steps, but gave Hinata one last smile before she disappeared.
"Naruto!" Kakashi yelled out with a wave. "I just made it to see the last few seconds of Hinata's fight. I didn't know you two were going out."
"That was the point." Naruto looked up at Kakashi. "What do you believe would happen if the village found out about Hinata and me?" Kakashi just nodded his head.
"Not that it's any of my business, but how long have you two been together?" Kakashi watched as Naruto began to think back.
"About one day before the team placements." Naruto said, leaning against the wall. "She was the only one besides Sarutobi and a few others who actually tried to help me through Iruka's death. She managed to keep me from just curling up and dying. So I guess that's what got us together." Naruto watched as Choji and Dosu's names came up, and after Asuma bribed Choji with barbecue pork, Choji jumped down to the arena ready, to fight.
"Alright, mummy man, I'm going to beat you and eat all the pork I can fit in my stomach!" Choji yelled with fire in in his eyes.
"We'll see about that." Dosu lifted up his gauntlet arm and smiled under his bandages. Hayate gave the go ahead and that was when Choji put his hands together.
"Baika no Jutsu (Expansion Jutsu)!" Choji called out as he inflated like a balloon. Choji then sucked his head, arms, and legs into his inflated body and shouted, "Nikudan Sensha!" He quickly began to roll at Dosu at a high speed. Dosu jumped out of Choji's way and watched as he smashed into a wall, making a hole, but Choji turned and came rolling back at Dosu. Dosu jumped out of the way again and watched Choji jam himself into the wall. Dosu jumped right next to him and punched his inflated body, but with no effect.
"This is sad," Dosu said as he brought his hand up with a tiger seal. "Goodbye." Suddenly, the entire arena was filled with a high-pitched screech. Everyone looked and saw Choji laying on the ground, completely disorientated. Hayate named Dosu the winner as the mummified man walked up the steps. Rock Lee, at this point, was bouncing off of his feet in excitement as he knew his turn had come. His name and Gaara's appeared on the monitor. Gaara vanished in a swirl of sand and reappeared on the arena floor, looking at Rock Lee.
"Come on, let's get this over with," Gaara said with no emotion.
"Yes! I can now show my springtime of youth!" Rock Lee jumped into the air with excitement. Gaara kept an emotionless face as he watched the excitable ninja jump and land in front of him. Gaara looked from Lee to Naruto with a murderous glint in his eyes. Hayate looked at both of the participants and raised his arm upwards.
"Begin!" He said, and watched as Lee went right at Gaara. Lee threw a punch at Gaara's face, but a wall of sand erupted in between them. Lee turned on his feet and tried to deliver a swift kick to Gaara, but that was also blocked by the sand. Gaara looked at Lee and the sand lurched at him, trying to ensnare him. Lee began to jump backwards, trying to avoid the sand, but the sand was faster. It slithered underneath Lee and made him slip. When Lee looked up, he saw a wave of sand falling towards him. The sand hit the ground and exploded, but when the sand moved, Lee was nowhere to be seen. Gaara looked around until he saw his sand rise behind him to protect him. Gaara turned and saw that Lee had tried to punch him. Gaara watched as his sand swung Lee at the wall, but Lee spun around and landed on his feet. Lee pushed off the wall, leaving behind a small crater as he launched himself towards Gaara. Lee stopped as a wall of sand came at him, and he was forced to evade.
Lee jumped onto the giant pair of hands on one side of he arena and looked at Gaara, who stared right back. "How can I hit an opponent who is protected from attacks from any direction?" Lee looked at Guy, who nodded his head, making Lee smile. "Alright!" Lee jumped and took off his orange leg warmers, revealing weights on his legs.
"Does he think that by removing a little weight he'll be able to get past Gaara's sand?" Temari chuckled at the thought. Lee removed the weights and sighed. "Now I can move much more easily." Lee dropped the weights as everyone watched them plummet towards the ground, but when they hit the ground, everyone got the shock of a lifetime. As soon as the weights touched the ground, they made a pair of craters and caused the ground to shake a little. Gaara kept his eyes on Lee until he vanished. Gaara looked around for Lee, but the only thing he saw was Lee's fist moving faster than his sand could keep up. He looked around and saw his sand rise and fall with fist-sized holes punched through it in various places. Suddenly, the sand stopped moving, and Gaara looked around for Lee until he saw a shadow above him. When he looked up, he saw Lee spinning like a top, but before Gaara or his sand could react, Lee delivered an ax kick to the top of his head. Gaara was sent skidding backwards with some blood dripping from his head.
"That's not possible!" Kankuro thought. "Gaara's been hurt!" The group watched as Lee smiled and looked up at Guy, who nodded his head once again. Lee began to unravel his bandages until they touched the ground. Lee then ran at Gaara and began to run circles around him. Gaara looked at the blurred images of Lee until he was kicked in the jaw. Gaara was sent skyward, but only a few inches. Lee glared a little and began to kick in rapid succession, but right when Gaara was at the right altitude for the move Lee was about to perform, pain shot through Lee's body, causing him to wince. Gaara saw this and began to spill out some sand, but before he could do anything with it, Lee wrapped him up in his bandages and began to spin towards the ground with great speed.
"Omote Renge (Forward Lotus)!" Lee shouted just before the two of them hit the ground. When the two of them did hit the ground, a giant explosion sounded out, and a giant cloud of dust and rock shot upwards.
"Gaara..." Temari thought to herself, feeling little worried for her little brother.
"Such power." Naruto looked as the smoke began to clear to reveal Lee, who was slowly crawling out of the crater, and Gaara, who was sticking straight up with his head in the ground.
"I did it." Lee was about to lay back, when he heard chuckling coming from behind him. Lee turned around and saw Gaara rising out of the ground with sand pouring off of him, while wearing a very disturbing smile.
"Is that all you've got?" Gaara sounded disappointed. "I was hoping to play with you a little bit more." Gaara licked his lips. Lee just looked on as a wave of sand went straight at him...
Just so you all know this is the end of the prelims it happens basically the same until the finals. Until next time Read, Review, and Enjoy.