Written by Comfy Cushion and betaed by Juicy Phoenician and Dr. Fabulous.
"WE WILL NOW START THE MAIN TOURNAMENT MATCHES, BETWEEN THE 9 PARTICIPANTS WHO MADE IT THROUGH THE PRELIMINARIES. PLEASE STAY… AND WATCH UNTIL THE END!" Hiruzen Sarutobi yelled out to the crowd. The coliseum type arena had raised stands keeping a safe distance from the battlefield. The battlefield itself had patchy grass with major crevices along the ground. There was the occasional tree around the battlefield. Standing in the middle were the 9 participants of the Final Chuunin Exam Round, Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Chouji, Shino, Neji, Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, as well as the referee for their matches. The referee was a Jounin level ninja who wore the standard Jounin outfit. His forehead protector acted as a backwards bandana which covered the top of his shoulder length brown hair. In his mouth was his trademark extra-long toothpick.
Genma walked towards the waiting Genin holding up a piece of paper. "This is the setup for the final matches. There have been no changes to what you were shown back after the Preliminaries. This is the final test. The arena is different but the rules are the same as in the preliminaries." All the Genin silently acknowledged the fact that Genma just said that he decided who the victor is. "The first match, Shikamaru Nara and Naruto Uzumaki. This is a match to even the numbers, so those two stay here while the rest of you go to the waiting room.
Naruto and Shikamaru stood facing each other with Genma standing in between. A smile came to Naruto's face. "I don't plan on losing here Shikamaru."
Shikamaru kept his hands in his pockets as he walked forward. "Can I say something first? This is fairly important." Shikamaru was now next to Naruto. He knew that the crowd could hear everything that they talked about so he whispered at his lowest volume. "There is something I want to check…"
X In the month before the final exam X
Shikamaru jumped to the side avoiding a shadow that almost reached his feet. Quickly hiding behind a tree he pulled out a kunai and threw it at an unusually high angle. He quickly dived to the left expecting the shadow to come from the right. He was wrong; the shadow appeared behind him and caught him in place.
"You guessed three possible moves that I could have made and reacted accordingly, you also predicted my double bluffs. Always keep your eyes on the surroundings and use trees to your advantage. Our shadows work well with them." Without control of his body Shikamaru walked out of the trees and into his backyard. An older looking version of Shikamaru stood at the other side of the shadow. The man had a goatee and wears a mesh shirt under his flak jacket, as well as a deer skin sleeveless coat. The right side of his face had two scars which shows his experience in battle. "You did well."
"It isn't over yet dad." The man who Shikamaru spoke to is Shikaku the Nara clan head. As soon as Shikamaru said this a kunai came rocketing down from the sky straight for Shikaku's feet.
"Oooh… interesting." Shikaku said as he stepped back just enough to avoid the kunai. But as soon as he did that he realised his mistake. Attached to that kuani was an explosive tag that looked eager to explode. However, contrary to Shikamaru's expectations the tag didn't explode.
"Wha…" Shikamaru looked confused. That tag should have exploded causing his father to recoil to a large enough distance to break his shadow. Seeing the confused look on Shikamaru's face Shikaku just laughed as he pointed up. Shikamaru looked up to see a few unusually low clouds that hung around the tree leaves. "How troublesome. What did you do, dad?"
"During our earlier encounter I continued to throw water balloons up so that they would rest on the leaves. The tree leaves are low enough that anything thrown up will have to go through them. I know about all of your equipment so I came prepared. And nothing is as useless as a wet explosive tag. It both negates the explosion and makes the ink all runny. But for you not to notice clouds, something must be on your mind. Actually, you are taking these matches much more seriously than you use to. Want to tell me what is on your mind?"
"How troublesome. I wanted a little bit more proof before I asked you but I guess I don't have a choice." Shikamaru sighed as he was released from his father's jutsu. "It has to do with my first opponent, Naruto Uzumaki." This wasn't the first time they had spoken about Naruto so Shikaku wasn't surprised, that was until he continued speaking. "I've been doing research on him because there is something that has been bothering me. That power that he used wasn't normal, and a lot of Naruto's details are classified. Stuff like his family registry, even his blood type and birthdate are classified. That got me thinking why would someone's birthday be classified, so when I ran into him the other day I asked him. October the 10th, twelve years ago. You know what else happened on that day, the Nine Tail's attacked the village. It was defeated by the Fourth Hokage but it was never mentioned how. Now this is why I ask a question. Was it sealed inside Naruto?"
Shikaku had to put on his game face. Shikamaru still doesn't know for sure since no one has told him, which means that he was still not allowed to talk about it. "Shikamaru, if what you said is true. Then wouldn't that be a high level secret in the village?" Shikaki never actually said that it was true but he practically confirmed it for Shikamaru.
"Which is why I wanted more evidence. Oh well, it's too much trouble. I'm gonna go for a walk." Shikamaru had begun walking away from his father when he looked over his shoulder. "Thanks."
"How troublesome." Shikaku said before he made his way to the Hokage's office. He just heard something to report.
XXX
"…are you the Nine Tail's jinchuriki?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto just looked at him in shock. How did he know? Who told him? What will happen now? "Okay then… That's all I wanted to know. This may sound like a selfish request but please don't use it against me. I don't want to be completely destroyed like you were going to do to Neji. If that happens, then my mother will completely destroy me again when I get home. Please Naruto." Naruto couldn't remove the shocked look from his face, but now it was for a different reason. Shikamaru was less afraid of the Nine Tails then he was his mother. A laugh escaped from Naruto's lips.
"Don't worry. I need to save Kurama's chakra for later fights anyways." Naruto was now grinning at Shikamaru. There was no way he could ever take Shikamaru as a serious person. Maybe when they fight it will be different, but he seems like a nice enough guy to not worry about a monster inside of Naruto. That or he was too lazy to care about it.
"Thanks." He said as he walked back away from Naruto. "Okay. I'm ready."
Genma watched the interaction with great interest. He was the only other person in the arena who could hear that conversation. He was one of the Hokage's personal bodyguards, and was there when Shikaku came in telling them about his son's revelation. He shared a quick glance with the Hokage who was giving Genma a look. 'You WILL be telling me what they just said.'
The crowd was ready for the match to start but there wasn't any hype. The two lowest ranked rookies of this year's batch of Leaf Genin wasn't much to get excited about. The fact that one of those Genin was Naruto didn't help the excitement levels.
"NOW, THE FIRST FIGHT! BEGIN!" Genma said before he walked backwards to give the Genin enough room to fight.
'LET'S DO THIS! KURAMA!'
'Yeah. Stick to the plan, and listen to whatever I say.'
Naruto quickly pulled out two kunai and threw them at Shikamaru who did the exact same thing in return causing them to clash halfway between the two of them. Before the kunai hit the ground, Naruto was already running towards his opponent. Shikamaru simply leapt backwards avoiding any close contact with Naruto. Over the few years he knew Naruto, it was obvious that he was a close combat fighter so Shikamaru had to avoid that at all costs. But Naruto needed to get closer so he continued his charge.
'Watch your feet.' Kurama's warning saved Naruto from a black shadow that was creeping up to him. Shikamaru had made a seal and sent this shadow out the second he landed. Naruto rolled to the side but the shadow continued its pursuit. Naruto decided to run away from Shikamaru in order to get out of his range.
"It looks like this is going to be a long battle." Naruto said as Shikamaru's shadow stopped just short of Naruto.
XXX
Sasuke, Chouji and Shino stood in the waiting area just above the battlefield but below the stands. Chouji was standing awkwardly in between the two. The three of them were intensely watching the match at hand. They all had seen Naruto's power a month ago against Neji and realised that he would be saving it for a later fight, that meant that they would have to face it eventually, assuming he won.
"Naruto isn't going to use THAT is he?" Shino voiced what they were all thinking. He was curious about what that power was but decided to drop the topic after a few more conversations with his father.
"He won't need it against Shikamaru." Sasuke spoke next. He had been sparring with Naruto and his clones for the first three weeks and knew that Naruto was one of the strongest in this competition. "Shikamaru is too lazy to even fight properly. I don't think he can win against Naruto." He watched as Naruto ran forward again to be blocked by Shikamaru's shadow forcing him to retreat.
"I wouldn't be so sure. I've never seen Shikamaru this determined." Shino and Sasuke looked at Shikamaru who had replaced his hands in his pocket. His lazy looking face had never left throughout the whole battle. "I think he has something to prove." Sasuke and Shino just remained silent. Chouji knew Shikamaru best and if that's what he said then who are they to argue.
"Naruto. Uzumaki." A voice rang out behind them. Gaara seemed to be more on edge then Naruto. "You will validate my existence." Chouji just gulped. He was supposed to fight that bloodthirsty maniac. He was getting more and more nervous the longer he had to wait.
XXX
After his third attempt to get close to Shikamaru failed, Naruto was getting rather agitated. "How am I meant to get to him?" Naruto then realised something he should have done straight away. "Shadow Clone Jutsu." Ten more Naruto's appeared around the original. "LET'S DO THIS!" They all yelled as they began their charge. As they ran they continually shuffled so that Shikamaru would lose who the real one is.
"Heh…" Shikamaru smiled as he saw this. He was waiting for this. Naruto's signature jutsu. He knew about its one fatal flaw. Shikamaru pulled out two smoke bombs and threw them at his feet just as the eleven Naruto's were upon him. The competitors were completely out of view. The crowd watched as the smoke cleared to reveal a group of Naruto's standing awkwardly. They were looking around the field to find where Shikamaru had disappeared to.
"Where did he go?" One of them asked.
"I don't know. Didn't we have him? Where could he go?" Another replied.
"How troublesome. How did he get away from us?"
"Wait. Something's wrong." A Naruto on the outskirts asked. "How many clones did we make?" That Naruto held his fingers up trying to count how many there were.
"Hey! He's right! We only made 10 clones. Why are there 12 of us?"
"Damn that Shikamaru. He Henged(Transformed) ."
"Then who is the fake. Well I guess most of us are fakes, but who is the fake fake."
"Are we really fakes though? We are pretty much exact copies."
"You know I never thought of that."
The entire crowd just watched in amazement as all of the Naruto's were having a conversation among themselves. I don't think anyone expected a battle to turn out this way. What was even more unusual was the fact that all 12 of the Naruto's managed to keep the pace.
XXX
"WHAT IS THAT IDIOT DOING!?" Sakura yelled as she watched her teammate ruin the atmosphere of the fight in an instant. Ino who was sitting next to her was laughing really hard. She knew Naruto was an idiot, but to think he was this bad. "DON'T LAUGH INO-PIG."
With that Ino also got angry with those words. "WHAT WAS THAT FOREHEAD GIRL?! SHOULDN'T YOU BE EMBARRASED THAT YOUR TEAMMATE IS HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH HIMSELF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BATTLE!?"
"DON'T FORGET YOUR TEAMMATE IS IN THERE AS WELL, INO-PIG! YOUR TEAMMATE IS ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH NARUTO'S IDIOCY." Sakura and Ino were both standing up and glaring at each other.
"Hey that's enough girls." Kakashi was to the isle side of Sakura and was close enough to wonder whether he would have permanent ear damage or not. "Oooh. Look who's finally out of the hospital." Sakura and Ino stopped their arguing to see who it was.
"Lee-san" Sakura said delighted. She had visited him fairly often while he was in the hospital. Lee was still wearing his hospital gown while he walked on crutches. Gai was standing behind his Genin as he waved to Kakashi. Kakashi got up to let Lee take his seat, while he walked up to stand next to Gai.
"Hey Sakura-chan. What have I missed?" Lee said as he sat down. He was still in a bit of pain but he wanted to watch these matches. He watched as one Naruto punched another causing it to dispel. Supposedly the dispelled clone called the other one ugly making him get angry. Although that really makes no sense when you think about it.
"Nothing really. This is the first match and absolutely nothing has happened." Sakura said that with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Shikamaru has Henged into a Naruto, but all Naruto has been doing is talking to himself."
Lee thought for a second. "I don't think it's that simple. It's the same with me. It's not easy to keep up with my youthful conversation."
XXX
"Hey hey." One of the clones decided to speak louder than the rest. "What if, the original Naruto who made us became the fake, and the clones that he made became the real one?" The other Naruto's just looked at the one as if he was high or something.
"I think that's enough messing around." One of the Naruto's did a roundhouse kick on another sending him flying across the field. That one smashed into the ground causing a dust cloud to rise. "Nice try Shikamaru." The dust cloud settled to reveal Shikamaru sitting on a crack in the ground.
"Ow…" Shikamaru stood up and unhealthily cracked his back. "So… how did you know? I thought I did a pretty good job pretending to be you."
"You did. I couldn't actually tell who you were, until one of my clones came up with a good idea." The other Naruto's aside from the one speaking looked proud at that. "When a Shadow Clone bursts, its memories are given to the original as well as every other clone there is. So he created a sign that we could use to identify one another and caused himself to get burst in a unsuspicious way." The crowd made a sound in understanding. The conversation was a way to figure out who Shikamaru was, but then the clone who called another one ugly thought of a good idea, and using that he figured out which one Shikamaru was.
"Heh. I'm impressed. This is going to be more troublesome than I thought." Shikamaru dusted himself off. "I would move if I were you." Shikamaru made a seal to the confusion of Naruto until he heard a sizzling sound beneath him.
"Oh shit." Looking down Naruto saw an explosive tag ready to detonate. The original Naruto was thrown high into the air by the two closest clones. All the clones on the ground saluted their flying original as the tag went off. All the clones burst into smoke as Naruto landed a safe distance away.
"I'm not done yet." Shikamaru once again made the seal with his hands causing Naruto to look down in panic. He had landed exactly where another tag was placed. Naruto quickly made twenty clones who all jumped on the tag while the original ran away. The explosion was partially supressed giving the original enough time to escape the shortened radius.
"Can you stop blowing up my clones? They have feelings too." Naruto was replied with another seal being made. Naruto wasted no time in running towards Shikamaru at top speed, rather than wasting time looking at the tag. He figured there wouldn't be any tags close to Shikamaru.
'THAT WAS A BLUFF. JUMP BACKWARDS.' Listening to his partner, Narutojumped back barely avoiding a shadow that approached the front. He landed exactly where he was a second ago with no explosion.
"Why are you using so many explosive tags?" Naruto asked. It wasn't unusual to have them, but to use two in the space of seconds in a fight is rather wasteful.
"I know how durable you are. This would be the only way to keep you down." Naruto saw a glimmer in Shikamaru's eye. He had a reason to be trying so hard against Naruto, but he had no idea why.
'Any better plans Kurama. He won't let me get close to him.'
'You haven't tried getting close to him with an all-out assault. Last time he used smoke bombs to cover his tracks but his plan failed. If you keep attacking him with clones then he should eventually run out of equipment or slip up and take a hit.'
'Got it' Naruto once again made ten clones and charged at Shikamaru. However, this time Shikamaru knew that his trick wouldn't work so instead of pulling out two smoke bombs he pulled out two kunai and threw them at the clones. Two of Naruto's clones burst leaving nine charging towards him. Jumping backwards, Shikamaru pulled out three shuriken with each hand throwing them at the clones. The clones pulled out their own throwing them to intercept Shikamaru's. They clashed in midair as the clones ran past them almost upon Shikamaru.
"Got you." Naruto said as the first clone reached Shikamaru. Shikamaru smiled as that clone suddenly fell on his head and burst. He ran into the wire strings Shikamaru had set up using his previous shuriken. However these ones had chakra coursing through them making them stronger than normal. Quickly pulling on the strings, Shikamaru burst another six clones from behind. The real Naruto launched a punch at Shikamaru, who caught it easily.
"Shadow Imitation Technique. Success." Shikamaru said as he jumped away from Naruto causing him to do the same. The dark shadow finally caught Naruto and connected the two of them, forcing Naruto to do whatever Shikamaru does.
"What can you possibly do with this? You can't hurt me like this or else you will get hurt as well." Naruto said as he tried to bluff his way out. This was Shikamaru's justu, he knew how to use it.
"That's not entirely true. Only the actions we take remain the same. Damage does not. You can get cut but I won't. I'll feel it but I won't get hurt. It's the same thing that happened with you and Dosu during the preliminaries." Naruto nodded as he understood. He felt disorientated from Dosu attacking his clones but it never actually hurt him.
"Well this isn't good." Shikamaru reached down into his leg weapons pouch and pulled out a kunai. Naruto did the same motion except his pouch was a little bit higher than Shikamaru's forcing him to put pressure on this pouch but in the end grabbed nothing. Shikamaru casually threw his kunai at Naruto. Naruto had no means to block, except he didn't need to. A puff of smoke appeared around him leaving him with a massive grin. The kunai landed straight on Naruto's chest, but rather than blood spurting out, he turned into a puff of smoke.
"Kawarimi (Substitution)." Naruto said as he sent a kick into Shikamaru's side sending him crashing into a nearby tree. Naruto had one last clone that hid from the very beginning. Shikamaru pulled himself up.
"Dammit. That hurt more than I thought." Shikamaru made a seal causing Naruto to panic. Another explosive tag was set underneath him but he didn't have time to completely dodge. So he jumped back while crossing his arms across his face to soften the blow. The explosion was enough to send him into the opposite wall.
The crowd roared with excitement. They hadn't expected such a flashy battle. It was filled with explosions, and who doesn't like mindless explosions. Shikamaru had crouched down and placed his hands together in a circle of sorts, while he closed his eyes. Only three ninja in the whole arena knew what he was doing. Shikamaru was seriously thinking.
Naruto stood up with light burns on his face and jacket. He was mostly fine, but he had to stop his ears ringing first.
'You know this kid is smarter than I thought. He's predicted most of your moves; actually I think he has forced you to move in certain ways. This guy will make a good leader one day, actually, he probably is already.'
'Kurama. Should I keep charging straight on or do I use my arm? I think I'll need to use it earlier than expected.'
'You'd rather use the arm than me? They know about my power, but they don't know about the arm. You should save that for a later fight.'
'I said I wouldn't use your power, so I will not.' As Naruto said this he finally was in good enough condition to move, so he went down onto his all-fours stance and charged.
Shikamaru finally opened his eyes just as Naruto was upon him. Not wanting to get hit by the oncoming Naruto head-butt, he jumped up onto the tree behind him and stuck to it using the tree walking exercise.
"That's a rather good fighting style. What do you call it?" Shikamaru asked as he knelt on the tree.
"I never really thought of a name. It doesn't matter though." Naruto had never tried climbing up a tree with this stance and the tree walking exercise, but now it was as good a time as any. Naruto ran up the tree successfully to see Shikamaru jump away. However his leg was caught by Naruto who threw him to the ground beneath him. Before he hit the ground, Shikamaru once again made a seal.
"THESE FUCKING EXPLOSIVE TAGS!" Naruto yelled as he jumped away. The tree shook with the shock of the explosion. Fortunately the tree was old enough for only bark and leaves to be sent everywhere. As the leaves slowly drifted to the ground Naruto jumped away from the shadow that tried to catch him.
"You'll never get me with that short range…" Naruto said as he reached the distance he kept away from Shikamaru before.
"Shadow Imitation Technique. Success… again." Shikamaru said as his shadow reached Naruto. The crowd boomed with excitement. It looked like the end was nearing.
"Whaa…? How?" Those were the only words Naruto could stammer out. He should have known the length of Shikamaru's jutsu from the previous encounters. It never reached past the same length.
"I didn't know how smart you are so I kept something secret. I can't hide it anymore though." Shikamaru walked forward causing Naruto to do the same. "The length of my shadow depends on the shadows that it passes through. The more shadow it goes through, the longer the range." At that Shikamaru picked up a leaf. The entire crowd sat forward with anticipation. Shikamaru had shown an incredible strategic ability which interested anyone who was worth mentioning. This was how ninja fought, with their mind as well as their bodies.
'Wait. Does that mean the explosion on the tree wasn't for me, but to knock down enough leaves?'
'This kid is a freaken genius. How many moves could he possibly be planning ahead? Did he catch you the first time as a bluff, I don't think someone of his calibre would forget about a clone. Actually, he threw a kunai at you rather than the tags he's been using. And he planned on taking your hit which sent him towards the tree. Either he has the best of luck, or you are predictable, or he is one of the best strategists I have seen in a long time. You're screwed Naruto. It looks like your Final Exam will be very short lived. That is unless you use my chakra to break out.'
'I'm not using it.' Naruto said. He told Shikamaru that he wouldn't so he will not go back on his word. Shikamaru is one of the few people who Naruto can't hate. During the Academy, and even sometimes before, Shikamaru would play with Naruto and treat him like he'd treat the other kids. Shikamaru's attitude had never been condescending towards Naruto and is one of the few people who never had any problems with Naruto. Chouji was another person who was like that. He could never hate these few people who he legitimately cared about. "So… what now?"
Shikamaru continued to walk forward as he pulled out another explosive tag. "It will take one of these to take you down. I suggest you surrender or this will hurt."
"Sorry. I'm not surrendering." Naruto said as he unwillingly walked towards Shikamaru.
"I don't want to do this Naruto." Shikamaru planted the tag on Naruto and started walking away. "Don't leave me with no choice. Surrender."
"Nope." Naruto was thinking of every possible way to get out of this scenario.
'He has to release you before he blows up the tag, or else he will also be sent flying.'
"I'm sorry Naruto. Please survive." With that he released his shadow binding but started the countdown on the tag. He was far enough away that Naruto couldn't get to him in time.
"Shunshin (Body Flicker)" Or so he thought. Naruto had undone his jacket zipper while speeding with no control. Shikamaru quickly turned around to see where Naruto was. He was directly behind Shikamaru with his black shirt revealed. His jacket had flown off and was right next to both of them.
In an explosion that shocked the crowd, both Naruto and Shikamaru were sent flying in the same direction and crumbled on the floor right next to each other.
XXX
"Hey hey. Are they both alright?" Kiba barked at what happened. There were two almost lifeless bodies lying on the battlefield. Akamaru whined in agreement. They were both concerned. His muscles had completely recovered from their tears that Shikamaru gave him.
"Um…" Hinata poked both of her fingers together. She was seriously concerned about what just transpired. "I hope they're okay." The crowd started cheering for whoever they wanted to win to stand up.
"Meh who am I kidding? Naruto will just stand back up. It takes more than that to keep him down" Kiba laughed as he saw Hinata's concerned face. It wasn't hard to see where her affections lied. Hinata wasn't in the best condition, every now and then she went through a coughing fit which set her in a bad condition, but like Lee, she couldn't miss out on these fights. Especially the ones with Naruto in them. She was also curious about the Sasuke and Neji fight, Naruto had visited her a few times in the hospital, much to her embarrassment, but one time in particularly he mentioned something about Neji.
"Neji has some serious issues, but if the thinks he has the right to go around complaining about every god damn thing then he has another thing coming. Sasuke is about as mad at him as I am. No matter what happens during the Final Exam Neji is definitely coming out a different person than who he was going in."
What had he meant by different person? No matter how Hinata asked him he refused to say. She just hoped that Sasuke would try to help Neji rather than break him. But now wasn't the time to think about that. Oh what she would give to be able to use her Byakugan in order to see Naruto's condition.
XXX
"Urgh… You awake Shikamaru?" Naruto was face down on the dirt trying to speak with the person barely a foot away.
"Yeah… I'm awake." Shikamaru was lying face up with his eyes closed. He knew he had to get up but he really didn't feel like it.
"Can I ask you something?" Naruto asked as he heard footsteps approach the two of them. Genma must want to check on both of their conditions. "This is the hardest I've even seen you try, why is that?"
Shikamaru just sighed as a response. "Do you know about the bets our Jounin's have going?" With that Naruto's face dropped.
XXX
"Hey Shikamaru, Chouji." Asuma pulled his two competing Genin in close. "I need you to make sure you win your fights at all costs."
"Why Asuma-sensei? I don't even want to fight." Chouji said.
"Well… you see here. There is a bet going on with us Jounin as to whose Genin will become Chuunin… and I'm really short on cash right now."
"How troublesome. If you just stopped smoking then you won't need to worry about that. It's killing you anyway." Shikamaru just stayed disinterested. "Besides, there is no way Chouji can win against that Gaara. You saw what he did to Lee."
"Well then you need to win Shikamaru. Don't you have an extra round?" Asuma clapped his hands as if he got a good idea. "If you win then Chouji won't have to fight Gaara. Does that sound fair?"
""No"" Both Genin said simultaneously.
"That's my boys."
XXX
Naruto was resisting the urge to beat his head against the dirt so his brain can be cleansed of that stupidity. "They're betting on us. Here we are trying to get promoted and they are betting on us. This is ridiculous."
'Actually it's fairly normal.'
"Shut up Kurama."
"Kurama?" Shikamaru questioned Naruto's sudden outburst.
"Oh… that's the Nine Tails' name."
"Huh…" Shikamaru was more surprised that Naruto knew its name than the fact that it had a name.
"Anyway. You should probably stand up. If you do then Chouji won't have to fight." Genma was waiting for one of them to move. He was listening to their conversation but had no right to join in.
"Yeah, but I'm pretty much beat." Shikamaru admitted. "You've pushed me to my limit while you were holding back. I can't believe how strong you've become Naruto. What happened to dead last?"
"Hehehe… I haven't been training for nothing."
"Yeah no kidding. It'd be unfair to you if I don't let you go further."
""I SURRENDER"" Both of them yelled at the same time. Genma just looked up at the Hokage with no idea what to do. He figured there would be only one way of doing this.
"You both can't surrender. Only one of you can lose." Genma said loud enough for everyone to hear. Then he crouched closer so that only the two of them could hear their next words. "You don't need to win to become Chuunin. I know a lot of people are impressed with your fight. Don't let it end just yet." Upon hearing that Naruto used his arms to pick himself up. He felt terrible after being blasted by a close explosion twice, but his body still moved like he wanted it to. He could easily heal up with Kurama's chakra later.
"How troublesome." Shikamaru who had only taken one explosion was nowhere near as durable as Naruto, so even if he won't win this match he wouldn't be able to fight in the next one. But as Genma said he didn't need to win, but he didn't know for sure that he could become a Chuunin while losing in the first round. As annoying as it was the only thing that he could do was to fight for the crowd. He hated these stupid pissing contests. Shikamaru rolled over and picked himself up in a similar manner to Naruto. Now the two of them were standing a short distance away from each other.
"THE MATCH CONTINUES!" Genma yelled over the roar of the crowd. They didn't expect much from this match but now most of them are on the edge of their seats in anticipation. Who would win this battle? Naruto and Shikamaru both threw a punch at the same time. The two of them blocked each other's attack. They continued to attack one another with no solid hit for a good two minutes.
"JUST GO DOWN ALREADY!" Naruto yelled as he once again tried to punch Shikamaru in the face.
"How troublesome." Shikamaru sighed as he avoided Naruto's attack. His brain wasn't working properly. 'I must have used too much chakra catching that chakra monster, and he hadn't even used the Nine Tail's power. Naruto's body seemed to be his problem but he would heal long before the next time he would have to fight. Damn jinchuriki's. It doesn't feel like I can fight the next match anyway. Maybe I should just surrender.'
It was clear that both of them were barely standing, it would take one punch to send either of them down. Naruto once again tried to hit Shikamaru, but this time he used his whole bodyweight. Shikamaru stepped to the side making Naruto overstep his attack.
'An opening!'Shikamaru thought. 'This is my win.' Shikamaru begun his attack, but suddenly he stopped and smiled. 'Maybe not.' Shikamaru decided not to attack and missed his chance. Once Naruto regained his balance he attacked again. This time Shikamaru's dodge was too slow giving him a punch in the face. With that attack Shikamaru fell to the ground. For a few seconds the entire crowd was silent as they watched Naruto stand over the fallen Shikamaru.
"WINNER! NARUTO UZUMAKI!" Genma yelled which was soon followed by an incredible roar of applause by the crowd. Naruto lifted both of his arms in victory.
'Heh. Well done but…'
'Yeah I know.' Naruto leaned down and picked up Shikamaru. "You didn't attack. Why not?" He let Shikamaru lean on him as he started walking to the stairs up to the waiting area.
"I would have no chance in the next fight. I would probably surrender before it starts anyway." Shikamaru chuckled. "Besides, fighting a woman is troublesome. I'll let you do that."
XXX
"HE DID IT!" Sakura punched the air while Ino grumbled beside her.
"WELL DONE NARUTO-KUN! SHOW THEM THE POWER OF YOUTH!" Lee also cheered for Naruto's victory. "It was a good show of youthfulness from both of them."
"Shikamaru let him win. You saw him stop his attack." Ino protested to Sakura's loud victory shout. A few ninja members of the crowd around them agreed with Ino's words.
"It doesn't matter if Shikamaru didn't attack. Maybe he expected a counterattack or something so he stopped. It was his mistake. Stop trying to make excuses Ino-pig."
"What was that Forehead?" The nearby crowd was torn between whether it should have been Shikamaru's win or not.
"I don't think it was that Sakura-chan." Lee decided to state his honest opinion. "I think Shikamaru gave Naruto the win." This earned him a glare from Sakura. "But I think that Naruto was holding back the whole time." This earned him a glare from Ino. Lee had just dug his own grave.
Before Lee could have his ears yelled off, Kakashi tapped Lee's shoulder and agreed with him. "You are probably right there Lee. Naruto has a power that he didn't use at all during that fight, and he says he's got a few more tricks on top of that. He probably decided to fight Shikamaru on even terms either for the sake of entertainment, or so he could use the element of surprise later. Considering his next opponent is a Sand ninja he would have more tricks against them then a Leaf ninja. I'm not saying Shikamaru didn't do well, to be honest if Shikamaru fought like that against most other competitors in the competition he would have won. It was just bad luck." With that Ino and Sakura quietened down.
"It was obvious why Naruto-kun won." Gai had joined Kakashi talking to the Genin. "His strength of youth was stronger than Shikamaru-kuns." With that his teeth sparkled. Kakashi rubbed his temple at Gai's stupid input.
XXX
"Naruto-kun won" Hinata smiled while she looked down awkwardly. Kiba next to her just smiled.
"Of course he won. What did I tell you? He doesn't know how to stay down."
"Yeah but he didn't win by his own power. He was given the win." A little voice rang out over Kiba's words.
"Hanabi-chan?" Hinata was surprised by her little sister suddenly appearing. "Why aren't you sitting with father?"
Hanabi just shrugged as she took the only free seat in the area next to Kiba. It was originally saved for Kurenai but she was probably with Asuma so it didn't concern them much. "Father just watches the matches and doesn't speak at all. It gets rather boring, so I came to sit with you. Father didn't have a problem with it." Hinata felt even more uncomfortable now that her little sister sat nearby.
"It doesn't matter that he was given the win. He still won without showing his full power. Watch the later matches Hanabi-chan, I think you'll be impressed when Sasuke and Neji fight." Kiba wanted to make sure that Hanabi knew that he was here. Akamaru yapped for the same reason.
XXX
"Damn brat." Asuma sat back in a rather sour mood. "He could have won that, even after I told him what was at stake."
"You told him about the bet?" Kurenai asked. She was rather impressed with the fight, but she still wasn't sure about Naruto Uzumaki, especially after that episode in the hospital.
"Well… Um…"
"How bad of an example could you be? You smoke in front of your students, and you tell them about a bet you made with the rest of us." A cold aura started to emit from Kurenai. "You should start setting a better example." Asuma gulped.
"I'm sorry." He slightly bowed. "But anyway, I'm impressed with that fight. I wasn't expecting him to be so strong without ITS power." His attempt to dodge the conversation failed as Kurenai begun telling him off for not being a good example.
XXX
Shikamaru and Naruto had finally arrived at the waiting section. Sasuke, Chouji and Shino were waiting at the stairway for them to arrive.
"I'd say well done, but you honestly lost that one idiot." Sasuke was the first one to speak. "Although I guess Shikamaru made the right choice, you can't fight anymore can you?"
"No, I'm beat." Shikamaru said. "I'm going to need to rest. Chouji, do you have anything to eat on you?" Chouji just nodded as he pulled out a pack of chips from his belt pack and gave it to Shikamaru.
After a quick glance at the Sand ninja who were on the other side of the waiting area Naruto made a seal. "Time to heal up." Kurama's chakra quickly flooded his system instantly healing most of his minor wounds. The deeper wounds took longer to heal. After two minutes or so all of the wounds were completely healed.
"How the…?" Shikamaru asked as Naruto now looked as though he didn't even fight, albeit the jacket he started with. Also now that he was looking, the line tattoo on Naruto's arm looked very unusual.
"Oh…" Naruto wondered what to say considering two people around him had no idea about Kurama. "It's a unique ability I have." 'And by I, I mean Kurama.'
"Does it have to do with that cloak you used against Neji?" Shino couldn't help but ask, and then he changed his mind. "Never mind, keep your trump card to yourself for now."
'Hey brat. Something you need to hear…'
"THE NEXT MATCH IS KANKURO VS SHINO ABURAME! WILL BOTH OF YOU COME DOWN!"
'Are you serious? That's not good.'
'Wait a bit before you mention it. It won't be good if you say anything.'
"I forfeit." Kankuro spoke out. "I slipped up while training a few days ago. My arm is in poor condition. There is no point in me fighting when I can't us my puppet properly. I'm sorry for wasting your time." He bowed down apologetically, but Naruto couldn't help but shake the feeling it was rehearsed. That thought was quickly brushed aside when he heard Genma's next words.
"KANKURO FORFEITS DUE TO INJURY GIVING SHINO THE VICTORY!" A whisper spread among the crowd, they weren't happy with one less match to watch. "THE NEXT MATCH IS SASUKE UCHIHA VS NEJI HYUUGA!" But as soon as Genma said this the whispering stopped and the cheering started. The rookie of this year and last year was a fight that most of them were waiting for. Neji and Sasuke began walking down in complete silence, no words needed to be said between the two opponents. Everything will be brought forward on the battlefield.
A/N
And done. These chapters are writing themselves so that's why they're coming out faster.
On a completely unrelated note, I CAN'T FIND A JOB! I am currently a NEET who will be educating himself next year so I'm looking for a bloody job but no one wants me *cries to find sympathy*. Looking for a job is like sitting on a bed of nails and waiting for someone to tell you to get off. Eventually they will give you what you want, but for now they enjoy watching you squirm in pain.
So while I sit here with nails up my ass, please review. And while you wait for the next chapter you can join in laughing at my misfortune.
So until next time.
Signing out Comfy Cushion