He who will change the Shinobi

by mlickko

During the battle on the bridge in Wave, when Naruto used Kyuubi's power, Nine-Tails felt something he detested: Sasuke's new Sharingan. Discovering that something was preventing his host from reaching his full potential, he did the math. Results? He will give a small helping hand to his host so that he could surpass the Uchiha. /SmartishNaruto, rating may go up. ON HIATUS

10. Chapter 10 : Become a Chunin! Part 3,1

Chapter 10 – Become a Chūnin! Part 3.1 (Beat the opponents)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

"Normal speech"

'Inner speech/thoughts'

'Kyuubi/Tailed beast speech'

xxx

In the Hokage's office, three powerful men met to exchange various stares as each one positioned himself in a different side of the room. From behind the table, the Hokage kneaded his hands, looking apprehensive; leaning on the wall near the painting of the Fourth Hokage, Jiraiya the Sage folded his hands with a grim expression and the last one, Copy Ninja Kakashi, sat on a small chair and his one visible eye tried to look optimistic.

"So you did manage to turn her back." The Hokage stated and glanced at the Legendary Sannin with a thankful gaze.

"I did but I had to completely shut off her ability to use chakra. Even after I did that, it took some time for her to regain her mind." He nodded.

"Is it safe to assume she's stable when in this state?" Kakashi inquired.

"It is but though it pains me to say this, I think she's done as a kunoichi." Jiraiya replied, causing Kakashi's eye to close in sadness.

"Is it that bad?"

Jiraiya sighed and began to pace around the room, formulating an easy and straightforward explanation.

"In her current state, she's almost like a civilian. The only chakra that's flowing inside her is the amount necessary for the proper function of her body. You both, of course, know how it works."

And both of them knew. They were after all an Elite Jōnin and the Hokage. The knowledge about chakra was the most basic thing a ninja had to know before actually becoming one.

Chakra, an essential form of energy for a shinobi, was a resulting form of energy when two other forms of energy are mixed together. All of ninja scrolls and books referred to these two energies as a 'physical energy' and 'spiritual energy'. Physical energy was collected from the body's cells and could be increased through training, stimulants and exercise. Spiritual energy was derived from the mind's consciousness and could be increased through studying, meditation and experience. Having these two energies become more powerful would in-turn make the created chakra more powerful. Chakra was contained within chakra coils that mainly surrounded and connected to each chakra-producing organ, which was why at least some amount of chakra was required for living. Keeping that in mind, the Hokage and Kakashi listened to Jiraiya's further explanation.

"As it stands, I have to control Sakura's chakra with a seal. Right now, she's too weak and will definitely not be able to continue her kunoichi path. However… there is one way. One method. She'll have it tough, probably even tougher than Naruto has it with the Kyuubi, though."

Kakashi piped up. The thought of telling his team it was impossible to ever work together was more than just uncomfortable.

"So there is a way."

Jiraiya nodded without a smile.

"Yes. As per my conversation with Anko, it seems Sakura is able to build up at least some amount of chakra before the curse mark manages to penetrate the seals surrounding it and reacts to it. Right now, she's barely able to do a basic Henge, before turning into a… well… into a damaged person."

"That is a strange reaction to Orochimaru's curse mark." The Hokage noted.

"Not really, sensei." Jiraiya disagreed and continued.

"You have to understand that the curse mark is a sort of a parasite. It feeds on your mind's deepest fears, strongest negative emotions and amplifies all of them. It projects them into you and manipulates your actions towards anybody you hold these emotions for. I am almost certain that Sakura must have gone through severe psychological and emotional trauma during her time in coma. The curse mark, despite being contained within Kakashi's seal, must have forced her mind to go through some hellish nightmares. Only after I placed additional seal, even that residual influence disappeared from her mind. Though I have to admit, it is incredible she woke up as much normal as she did. I know what Orochimaru is capable of. Her nightmares were surely cruel and she indirectly confirmed it herself."

Cutting through the silence that fell upon them, the Hokage said in a grim voice.

"And now imagine something like that happening to Sasuke Uchiha. The kid's mind is already barely stable thanks to whatever happened to him during that night four years ago. Living through mental torture again would definitely crack him."

Kakashi and Jiraiya glanced at each other and exchanged worried looks.

"And he was on his way to heal himself. Even though this happened to Sakura, he was still a bit shaken. It's only thanks to his newly-built bonds with his teammates that he's probably still sane." Kakashi stated.

"How do you know he's shaken? The brat rarely speaks about anything from what I've heard." Jiraiya snorted but the laughter did not reflect in his eyes. Surprisingly, Kakashi cracked a small smile.

"Well, while you've been busy training Naruto, I did practically spend a whole month with Sasuke. During that time, we made a teeny-tiny progress and he shared his thoughts and feelings about the whole Orochimaru case with me a little. It was not much but it was also sufficient for me to spot the truth behind that mask of indifference. He's worried about her, he just doesn't want to acknowledge it because he fears these feelings he holds towards his teammates may sway him from his path of an avenger."

"That's… good. Nevertheless, this isn't about Sasuke. We were talking about Sakura. I understand what you're saying but how does that connect with her state?" The Hokage shifted the conversation back to the original topic. Jiraiya sat on the couch.

"Simple. When she builds up enough chakra for the curse mark to sense it, the emotional trauma she went through returns and breaks her down."

"…"

"That's cruel."

"That's Orochimaru."

The Hokage took out his pipe.

"Wouldn't such repeated trauma cause her to permanently turn catatonic?"

Jiraiya showed him an uncharacteristic and sadistic smile, worthy of Orochimaru.

"She forgets everything of the trauma after she turns normal. Only on unconscious level, her mind and body remembers the torture. Though, as I said earlier, it takes time for her to turn back. I'd have to speculate but I think the more chakra she uses before the mark reacts, the longer she stays catatonic. This way, the trauma wears her down at much slower pace. It wouldn't be fun if she broke down permanently in one turn now, would it?"

"…and yet you claim there is a way for her to recover?" The Hokage choked on his pipe after hearing what Jiraiya said. Kakashi stayed silent.

"I do. The trauma forces her to break down because her body and mind is weak and therefore, her chakra is far too weak to withstand curse mark's influence. She has to rigorously train and increase the power of her Physical and Spiritual energy, thus resulting in a more powerful chakra, capable of withstanding the curse mark. Not completely, but she could at least function as a proper kunoichi. That's why I agree that giving her Anko as a sensei for the time being is a good strategy. She went through this kind of torture. It doesn't matter that she, as a kid when she got the curse mark, was stronger than Sakura ever was. Important thing is, she knows what it takes to get strong enough to live with it." Jiraiya said in a more optimistic tone.

"I see." The Hokage sighed.

"However, until we can find a way how to get rid of her curse mark, that is if we ever do, she has a long way before she gets back on her previous level, not to mention to being a Chūnin." Kakashi said, disheartened. The news were good and encouraging but still, he couldn't shake the bad taste in his mouth. He wasn't so sure Sakura had the guts and will to overcome such hardships.

"Never underestimate a maiden in love, Kakashi." The Hokage said with a reassuring smile. As a certain… special… Jōnin would say, you just have to believe in the flames of the Konoha youth.

…

It was not long after the Sannin and the Copy Ninja left to give their students final advices before the final part of the Chūnin Exams began that the door to the Hokage's office opened again. This time, though, the Hokage's face didn't crack a smile. Instead, he welcomed the newcomer with a nod of acknowledgment.

"What brings you here, Danzō?" The Hokage asked in a controlled, pleasant tone the mildly limping man with the appearance of a sharp-looking hawk.

Danzō Shimura was the third and final advisor for the leader of Konoha, a man who spent most of his time in shadows, doing deeds that would cause weaker men to throw up. Despite the fact that Hiruzen no longer trusted him, he still believed the man to protect Konoha. He knew the man's policy. Danzō's first and foremost loyalty belonged to Konohagakure no Sato. He would do anything and everything in his power to keep the village from getting destroyed. For Danzō, the interests of the village should be placed above all else, even ethics and morals. This kind of approach also meant the Hokage since long ago stopped liking the man and only tolerated him now. He was a man with dark secrets, a man with underhanded ways of dealing with different situations, a man who did not much believe in diplomacy and negotiation when assassination and execution could be used and a man who would annihilate one of the strongest clan of Konoha on a whim.

"I came across a messenger carrying a report. This report." Danzō replied and, after he walked closer, he handed the Hokage a sealed scroll. The Hokage scrutinized the man who had half of his face hidden, covered with multiple bandages. He took the report and briefly examined the seal. Intact.

"Hmm, I'm guessing you didn't come here just for this." Konoha leader muttered and eyed Danzō before unsealing the scroll and thoroughly reading it. The elder didn't bat an eye.

"But I did. I was just on my way here to visit you and the messenger almost bumped into me."

When the Hokage stopped reading and glanced at him from behind the scroll with a raised eyebrow, Danzō mirrored the action.

"Can't I visit my former teammate once in a while?"

"I suppose." The Hokage said with a shrug and returned to the scroll but on the inside, he was still suspicious. He sighed, maybe the old age was making him too paranoid.

He sighed again after finishing the scroll. Putting it down on the table, he took down his hat.

"Something happened?" Danzō inquired with narrowed eye. The Hokage took out his pipe and, after checking the contents in it, lighted it up. He took a few intakes and blew the smoke from his mouth.

"It seems that an unnatural haze formed about a mile from Konoha's east entrance. It unsettles the ANBU covering that part."

Danzō stared at the Third for a long minute, the latter unable to read the emotions of the former.

"What is unnatural about a simple haze? And why is ANBU watching Konoha entrances? Should I know something?"

The Hokage motioned Danzō to sit down.

"I see, you did not attend the Shinobi Council meeting." He stated and explained Danzō what they found out about the possible aggression towards Konoha.

"That is some rather unpleasant news. I will do some preparations on my own." He said in a rather calm tone.

The Hokage nodded.

"Please do, we still don't know for sure what's going on. To answer your other question, well, in the past few decades, no haze has formed around Konoha. Ever. Maybe it's the changing climate but we cannot underestimate anything."

"I agree. How about you let me take care of that? I will personally assign my finest men to guard the East entrance and the ANBU can do something more useful." Danzō stated in a firm tone.

"I think ANBU can take care of it…"

"I insist." Danzō unblinkingly stared at the Third who remembered this kind of a stare from the man and unconsciously, he nodded.

"In that case, I leave it in your care, Danzō."

…

It was the monotonous, yet somehow soothing sound of the raindrops falling from heavens and hitting the ground that woke up people in Konoha the day of the Final round of Chūnin Exams. No ray of sun could make it through the thick layer of dark clouds which, so ominously, covered the sky in a warning of the storm, yet to come.

Drainpipes were getting full of water, spilling it everywhere but people of Konoha were too excited to do something about it. The nature's melody of raindrops hitting windows, tin porch roofs, already wet soil and the wooden structures made it clear that the conditions of today's tournament will not be so simple. One Naruto Uzumaki yawned, stretched across his bed and indulged himself in what he considered to be a symphony before finally waking up. Sasuke Uchiha was already awake and busy preparing himself for the finals, sporting a grin at the sight of the rain washing the dirt from the stairs in front of his home away. Sakura Haruno, for the first time in a month, awoke at her home, her whole body, aside from her head, covered with blankets. By this time, she was well aware of what she had to do in order to feel the warmth of her team working together again, yet she did not waver, she did not surrender. Kakashi Hatake, the leader of Team 7, was standing in front of the memorial once again, his whole body soaked from the rain that had been falling on him for quite some time. He knew this day could change many things and so he had to prepare his mind for it.

The Hokage was in his office, swamped with hand-shakings, bowings and more of diplomatic banter as he and the three elders welcomed the numerous important guests; the Fire Daimyō, the Fourth Kazekage and the Third Tsuchikage. ANBU were stationed all over the village, keeping a lookout in case of danger along with the rest of shinobi who didn't get the free pass to watch and enjoy the finals.

The amount of spectators hurrying towards the arena, in which the finals were to be hold, was seemingly overwhelming. Many young and aspiring students of the Academy ran in joy, completely ignoring the ever present rain, trailing behind them were other shinobi, Genin, Chūnin and even Jōnin, simple civilians, shopkeepers, shoemakers, weapons producers, librarians… it was a mass of bodies carrying their tickets. It looked like the arena was going to be packed, no seat unfilled and free.

Time slowly passed and the arena gradually began to fill itself with all those eager spectators as the guards at the entrance allowed them to enter the large circular construct. The stage for the finals was quite a spectacular building, with main stands for the regular spectators located above the protective wall surrounding the whole arena in a slightly more than twenty meters height. Above that, special seats were located in separate stands, designed for the use of high officials, such as elders of Konoha, Fire Daimyo and other important personnel. The stand in the center belonged to all Kage and each of them had a small booth separated only by a small concrete protrusion from a wall that allowed them to converse and look at each other, only concealing their bodyguards, hidden in the shadows of their chairs. The arena for actual fights was spacious, nearing fifty meters in radius. Plenty of room for any Genin.

Amid the racket of people chatting, finding their seats, demanding the start of the final round and yells of excitement, three of the most powerful shinobi in the world slowly entered their booths while at the same time, eleven figures walked into the center of the arena. Ten participants and one proctor.

The proctor for this final round, Hayate Gekkō, still as sickly looking as ever, turned to the ten of Genin with a small grin, which actively stopped any chatter between them.

"Uhm, stand proud with your heads up and your resolve burning. This is it. You are the stars of this act."

…

Up in the Kage's stand, Sarutobi Hiruzen, along with the rest of Kage, watched as most of the Genin one by one left the fighting area until only three shinobi, two Genin and one proctor, remained.

"I was under the impression that there would be eleven Genin participating in the final round." Tsuchikage muttered in a grumpy voice, still a bit peeved at the fact that there was only one person from his village who advanced into the finals. He had expected better from the Kamizuru clan.

The Hokage apologetically shook his head.

"I apologize for that, Tsuchikage. There had been an accident which made the last Genin unable to continue in these exams." He said with a strained smile. No need for the others to know that the last participant, Misumi Tsurugi, had been found dead only a few days ago, his corpse clearly showing signs of tampering with. According to the initial report, the pattern of his injuries was consistent with the use of a medical scalpel, perturbing the Hokage. He, along with his Jōnin, had no idea of who the suspect was.

"Hmph, the security in Konoha must be lax to allow a participant to come into such a serious harm." The Tsuchikage said provocatively, causing the Hokage's bodyguards, Genma Shiranui, Raidō Namiashi and Iwashi Tatami to stiffen but Hiruzen only smiled apologetically at the other Kage.

"I would not concern myself with such a trivial matter if I were you, Tsuchikage. Your Genin is the first one to fight, isn't he?" The Kazekage stated in an even voice, not even bothering turning his head to the smaller and older Kage, who grimaced.

"Why is it that despite your tone, I still hear a slight provocation? You too, Kazekage, have only one Genin remaining in these exams, have you not?"

The Kazekage closed his eyes as he thought about the boy with a demon sealed within him. His son.

"Unlike in your words directed towards the Hokage, there is no provocation in mine, Tsuchikage. I'm merely stating the fact. Indeed I do have only one Genin still in the exams and that's why I'm going to watch his fight closely. You should focus on the fight of your Genin too." He replied calmly.

"Hmph, isn't that because he is your son?"

The Kazekage opened his eyes and, this time, he turned to the Tsuchikage with a neutral expression.

"Your point, Tsuchikage?"

Seeing the blank face with barely any emotion on it, the Tsuchikage sighed, feeling all bones in his body creak in protest, and sighed. He was getting too old for such a meaningless banter.

"…nothing."

The Hokage raised an eyebrow when one of his bodyguards, Genma, leaned forward.

"Sir, I have such a good reply for the Kazekage-sama…"

The leader of the Konoha sweatdropped and, to Genma's disappointment, quickly shook his head. The tokubetsu Jōnin was quite known for his inappropriate wisecracking and the Hokage didn't think he really wanted him to say anything to Kazekage or the old Tsuchikage.

At all.

Though he allowed himself a mental chuckle at Tsuchikage's account. He had been familiar with the old man for decades and knew about his love for bickering. It was something of a fuel for his old spirit. However, it seemed his old age was slowly getting to him. As it was also getting to the Hokage himself; he thought and massaged his sore shoulder.

'I really should look for a successor.' He sighed, a trio of his former students, along with a certain lazy man, coming up in his mind.

…

"Uhm, first match: Tenten versus Kamizuru Kurobachi! Begin!" Hayate Gekkō announced and jumped a good distance backwards, allowing the two eager looking Genin to start the match.

…

Immediately after the voice of the proctor officially opened the final stage of the Chūnin Exams and the first match, Tenten warily gripped kunai in both her hands in a reverse grip, waiting for the older looking Genin from Iwagakure to initiate the fight. She had enough Intel on her opponent to know how the member of the Kamizuru clan was going to fight. Opposed to her fellow Konoha shinobi from Aburame clan, who used all sorts of bugs and insects, the shinobi from Kamizuru clan specialized in using bees as their primary force. Tenten narrowed her eyes when the Iwa Genin clapped his hands together and a part of his torso glimmered.

She had a fairly good idea of what was rushing towards her in a swarm of tiny bombs. In a rush, she unrolled a part of her scroll and formed a Ram seal. In the next instant, the kunai she had been previously holding were replaced by a set of senbon needles that she proceeded to expertly throw forward. Each and every one of them stroke the swarm of bees, causing them to release a good amount of honey-like substance at their surroundings.

'Nasty.' Tenten grimaced at the sight as the continuous rain swiftly wiped the substance from the already wet soil. The water pouring from heavens slowly soaked her clothes and she suppressed the urge to take them off.

'This weather greatly foils my plans, damn it. I don't have water resistant exploding tags so using them on the ground as a trap is a no-no.' She almost pouted but then, through the shower of raindrops and in the last moment, she noticed tiny flashes of light flying towards her and she hastily jumped backwards.

The swarm of bees she had slain was once again in the air but it was not the same. These bees had their abdomens pointed towards the Konoha kunoichi, trying to shoot her down with their poisonous stingers. It was them that appeared to her as tiny flashes of light.

'Again… nasty.' Tenten repeated her grimace. She was not a person who particularly liked insects.

However, she was first and foremost a kunoichi and something like this would never make her attention loose. While she repeatedly backed away, she stored her senbon needles back into the scroll and instead took out manriki-gusari that she swiftly began to spin. When the chain was spinning fast enough she stopped backing away and after landing on a barely solid ground, she proudly intercepted the attack, knocking all the stingers away.

She thought she saw her opponent's body flicker but when he started to sprint towards her, she soon forgot about it. Keeping the chain rotating, she redirected its end and threw it against the oncoming shinobi, who barely twisted his abdomen and dodged it, though he had to jump few times in order to land on his legs. Tenten did not relent and her second attempt caused her chain to successfully wrap around her opponent's legs, binding him in place.

'Got you!' She allowed herself a small smirk and, using her right leg lightly wrapped around the chain, she kept the Genin in place as she unfolded her scroll, sending a small barrage of kunai and shuriken at him. It was obvious Kurobachi was not in a mood for yielding and while the chain around his ankles greatly disturbed his sense of balance, he managed to block most of the projectiles with a single kunai in his hand. Although, he did not escape completely unharmed as there were multiple gashes all over his body, his clothes a bit torn. Tenten raised one of her eyebrows. He was tenacious. Yanking on the chain she caused his body to fly a bit in the air before she used her strength and slammed him into the ground, causing his body to sink into the mud and the water to splash around.

Through the cheers and yells of the crows in the stands, Tenten heard her own squelching footsteps as she cautiously neared her opponent. As she walked closer, her barely hidden grin grew larger. It seemed Kurobachi had lost his consciousness.

"Heh." She smiled and almost wanted to celebrate her victory when from the corner of her eye, she noticed the body in the ground dissolve in some sort of a wax.

'A clone! B-but when?!' She mentally cursed and, hearing screams from the stands, she turned around.

*BOOM*

An explosion rocketed the area as a swarm of summoned bees with explosive tags attached to them got close enough to the Konoha kunoichi and burst into flames.

From a nearby spot, a figure of Kurobachi Kamizuru flickered into existence, his face covered with a large smirk.

"Do not underestimate a shinobi from Kamizuru clan. Our mastery of a Chameleon jutsu is close to the likes of the Second Tsuchikage, the Non-Person!" He exclaimed but then he loudly cursed as a single kunai flew towards him, aiming at the center of his forehead. Leaning back, he narrowly dodged it but then he noticed an explosive tag wrapped around it.

"Shit."

"Dynamic entry!"

Through the smoke of the explosion, a figure of a young kunoichi burst forward, with her right leg outstretched as her foot connected with Kurobachi's head, sending him flying a short distance away. With loud yelling, the audience cheered her on.

Under different circumstances, Tenten would have been mortified, embarrassed as hell as she vowed never to use the, in her opinion, flashy entrance that Might Gai taught all of his students with only Lee actively using it. But this was not the time nor the place for such a childish antic. And anybody who could see her was able to tell.

Tenten was bleeding from a wound at the side of her head, her clothes at her left side singed, burnt and a bit tattered and a bit of smoke was emanating from one of her buns. She was breathing heavily, her sweat mixing with the blood as she stared at her opponent, twitching and groaning on the ground nearby. It took him a while to shake off the impact and stand back up. Meanwhile, Tenten took a short breather.

"You… don't underestimate a shinobi from Konoha… damn." She growled and glanced back, at the place where the smoke was slowly disappearing and saw her summoning, a coiled dome, not unlike the shell of a snail, crumbling away. It managed to absorb most of the damage from the explosion but in the end, she still suffered mild injuries. She frowned.

'If I was late just an instant, it could have been pretty bad. Even then my barrier barely held against such a small explosion. I need something sturdier.' She gave herself a mental note to the future.

"Shit… what is wrong with that kick...?" Kurobachi groaned and shakily stood up. His nose was busted and a nasty bruise was already forming right under his left eye, making his cheek swollen. He knew he would feel this tomorrow.

But he had no time to ponder about this injury when a right hook almost caught his jaw and created even more painful wound. He took a quick step back, avoiding the punch but the roundhouse kick immediately after that caught him in the side and he was sent sailing through the air once again. With a grimace, Tenten took a deep breath.

"My Taijutsu is definitely not on Lee or Neji's level but at the same time, I'm quite proficient at it. My goal is to become a legendary kunoichi like Lady Tsunade and so I've been trying to emulate her style. Despite failing at so, my raw strength is not something an ordinary Genin can easily shrug off." She exclaimed. Not too confidently. Not arrogantly. Proudly. She wanted all of the spectators, civilians, Chūnin, Jōnin, even the Hokage, to know of her dream. Nodding to herself, satisfied with her own words, she stared at the place where her opponent landed and took out her scroll once again. She had to relocate to a small area with lots of trees and bushes, perfect for a trap.

Or, did she really have to relocate? She grinned. Deviously. If the Iwa Genin thought he could trap her, he was going to receive a rude awakening.

And it seemed Kurobachi truly was waiting for her to come looking for him. Nothing happened for a while, allowing Tenten to prepare herself for the next fighting sequence at a leisure pace. Once she was ready though, a rain of kunai and shuriken assaulted the small forest with the power of a mini-brigade. Systematically, Tenten shifted her aim until she heard somebody curse and jump high into the air.

At that moment, she hastily stopped her bombarding and unfolded an fūma shuriken which she quickly threw at the descending Kurobachi. The older Genin cursed again and flashed through a set of hand seals before the weapon hit him. However, it was not over as the fūma shuriken embed into Kurobachi fell on the ground, covered with wax after the body of the Iwa shinobi turned into such. The real Kurobachi landed on the ground soon after that, slightly winded but grinning.

But then he felt something small hitting him in the abdomen and he glanced downwards. A metal dart was sticking out of his stomach, causing him to bleed a little. It wasn't a life-threatening injury, it wasn't really even a serious injury; the dart penetrated only his skin and a layer of muscles. But the implications were worse. What hit him was a jōhyō. With a pull, Tenten yanked on a handle, attached to a rope connecting it with the metal dart in Kurobachi and reeled the Genin forward. Then she stopped. Anxiously and with his head spinning a little, Kurobachi looked around, trying to find any sign of a trap and then he noticed them. Four kunai plunged into the ground, creating a small, square area with him in the center. Tenten formed a hand seal.

"Four Corner Immobilize Trap! Fūin!"

With a gulp, Kurobachi felt all of his limbs forcibly go stiff and numb, causing him to stand still, rooted in the ground, like a flagpole. He could only watch as Tenten neared him with a dangerous grin.

"Now, you can either surrender or I'll drill you full of holes like a fishing net. The choice is yours."

With a one-hand seal, she loosened the trap but kept a kunai in the other hand pressed against her opponent's jugular. Trying not to glance at the Tsuchikage up in the stands, Kurobachi's shoulders slumped.

"I surrender."

"Winner: Tenten!"

…

In the small part of the stands, solely reserved for Genin participating in the final round, Naruto had closely watched the whole match, a small chuckle escaping his mouth at the end. His eyes followed Tenten's movements as she slowly returned and he welcomed her with a chuckle.

"I have no real talent in Fūinjutsu, you said. Smooth, real smooth." He said with a good-natured grin before Lee instantly jumped towards his teammate in an attempt to hug her. Luckily, she dodged and lightly slapped him on his head.

"Down Lee but thanks." She said to the boy in green spandex who immediately saluted her and, yelling something about Flames of youth, walked back to his other teammate, who was busy staring at Hinata. Tenten turned to Naruto and flashed him a grin.

"Like I would tell the truth to somebody who could potentially fight me later." She snorted and narrowed her eyes for a short moment.

"Tell you what. Win your match so we can fight and if you impress me, maybe I'll show you some things."

Naruto, inwardly glad he was not feeling as nervous talking to Tenten as he had been the first time, managed to crack a smirk.

"Deal, don't regret it later, though." He replied, keeping the fact that with Jiraiya's help he was most likely far ahead of her in seals, to himself.

"Rude kid." She chuckled and walked to her team.

"Second match: Naruto Uzumaki versus Hinata Hyūga."

'Well, that's my cue.' Naruto thought and jumped at the railing, glancing at the gulping Hinata in the back. He sighed and after that, took a deep breath. It seemed there was no other way to do this than what he had planned beforehand. It was not going to be nice or kind but Jiraiya agreed with his plan so there must have been a speck of truth in it.

'Sorry, Hinata. If you do like me and I think you do, this may hurt you. I pray you'll come out of this stronger.'

…

Both combatants were down at the arena, where its soil was soaked with the never-ending rain so much it transformed the battleground into a muddy hell. With a deep breath, Naruto calmly smelled the petrichor, relaxing his body and mind for what was coming. Before the proctor officially started the match, the blond closed his eyes and tuned out the whole audience. He didn't need to hear their taunts, their mocking yells, their murmurs at seeing the boy they hated fighting in the final round of such an important event. In the same notion, he didn't want to hear anything they could say about Hinata, a girl from one of the strongest clans currently in Konoha and a girl they considered to be a failure.

Just like they considered him to be one.

He grinned. Finally, the time to prove them all wrong has come. To prove them that he deserved some respect. He opened his eyes and erased the smile from his face and replaced it with a neutral and calm expression. Just as Hayate opened his mouth, his eyes met with Hinata's. The veins around her eyes bulged as she activated her Byakugan.

"Begin!"

A barrage of kunai shot from Naruto's position, rapidly closing in on Hinata, who looked a bit surprised and hastily jumped back just as a small explosion engulfed the area.

'I see, just as Jiraiya said. She can see even the minute chakra in the exploding tags just as I'm about to detonate them. Hmm.' The blond thought to himself but he had to quickly correct his attention when Hinata shot through the smoke and ran straight at him. A single hand seal later and three copies of Naruto popped into existence, momentarily catching the Byakugan user off-guard.

'The equal amount of chakra in clones and the original can be useful.' Naruto mentally muttered and threw three shuriken at the backs of his clones. As soon as the projectiles hit, the clones dispelled in a puff of smoke through which the shuriken continued flying at Hinata. This time the Hyūga heiress didn't let herself get surprised and simply jumped over the attack, still persistently trying to close the distance between her and the blond.

'Well, at least she possesses the resolve to attack me. Wind Release: Gale Palm jutsu!' Naruto clapped his hands together and, pumping his chakra into the technique, a powerful gale of compressed wind shot towards Hinata, with a number of kunai added to the mix. Seemingly gulping, Hinata was forced to stop running and braced herself against the attack with her body assuming a stance, her hands raised. In a blurry series of quick movements, she knocked the kunai with her bare hands but had to take a step backwards when the force of gale hit her body and almost blew her away.

Another single kunai flew towards her at a slower pace and she prepared to catch it mid-air, when in a puff of smoke Naruto appeared in front of her and sent a palm strike to her chest, causing her body to sail through the air. She barely corrected herself in mid-air and landed on her legs, but she was crouching with a painful grimace. The punch, despite being blunt, was quite potent and Hinata felt like it knocked the wind out of her lungs. She raised her head at Naruto who noticed the hurt look of betrayal and had to grit his teeth. He would not surrender to such tactic.

"Come on, Hinata. Is this all you wanted to show me? You're better than this… or do you think your father is right?" The hurt in her eyes intensified and Naruto had to suppress the urge to hate himself at the moment. But he knew what he was doing.

"Naruto… kun?" Hinata asked in an uncertain voice, her eyes darting along the audience, subconsciously looking for her father. A frown embedded in his face, Naruto created a dozen clones and send them to engage the girl in a Taijutsu battle. It forced her to stand back and defend herself but she still looked too timid for Naruto's liking.

"Tell me, Hinata! Are you a failure?" He asked, in a louder voice and, through the chaos of clones battling, noticed the girl flinching from his words as if bitten by a venomous snake.

"They told me I was a failure but now, I'm here to prove them wrong. What are you doing?"

She flinched again, a small tear almost visible in the corner of her eyes. She managed to dispose half of the clones but received a punch to the stomach, causing her to skid along the muddy surface, cough and barely remain able to continue defending herself.

"What is it that you're looking for? What is it that you're waiting for? Why are you even fighting?"

Another punch hit her in the side. She yelped and kicked the clone responsible for the hit in the head, dispelling him instantly. Five clones remained as she tried to feel her side with one hand. Her expression was changing further, mixing other emotions she must have been bottling up for a long time.

"You were prepared to fight me but just a few words and you're already faltering. Is your resolve that weak? Or is it simply because I'm the one who's saying them?" Naruto inquired through gritted teeth. Playing the bad guy was seriously going against his very core. He squinted his eyes and focused on Hinata's face, her Byakugan eyes reflecting her anxiety. She needed one more push.

"Right now I'm not your former classmate, not a fellow Konoha shinobi and certainly not your friend. Right now, Hinata, I'm your enemy, a person who could kill you. What if this was a mission? Would you let them die just because of your fears, insecurities and weaknesses? Tell me… do you agree with what your father thinks of you? Are you that weak?"

A clone hit Hinata's shoulder, forcing her to spin around and almost land on the ground. She was forced on one knee, water trickling down her face, making it impossible to determine if it was because of the rain or the water belonged to her tears. At that moment, she looked pathetic, like a bag of depressed flesh and Naruto almost thought he might have gone too far. But then another clone threw another punch at her. It popped out of existence in the next instant, obscuring the girl with the tiny puff of smoke.

"…yes…"

Hinata slowly stood up and glanced at Naruto. Despite everything the blond said, there was no hint of anger on her face. Only a sad smile.

"I'm weak."

Naruto's brow creased in a frown.

"Then why are you here?"

"Because… I believe. I believe in a certain nindō. I'm not going to run away and I never go back on my word." The sad smile on girl's face changed into an honest one. Naruto blinked.

That was his nindō. One he had been living by for as long as he could remember. One that helped him cope with anything life had thrown under his feet in an attempt to trip him.

"I… there… used to be a boy w-who told this to anybody who doubted him. He… never surrendered to his fate, he… never gave up and always tried his h-hardest. I… want to be like him." She stammered out, gulping at her own words. However, she regained a bit of her strength and in a short series of hits, disposed of more clones. Only two remained.

"…then do it!" Naruto finally exclaimed and threw a single kunai high in the sky just as Hinata popped the last two clones out of existence and closed on the original with renewed resolve. With a single hand-seal, the blond activated a seal on the kunai flying above them and a shower of shuriken assaulted Hinata's positon, forcing her to jump around if she didn't want to become a pin cushion. Both of them flashed through a series of hand-seals.

'Wind Release: Gale Palm jutsu.' Naruto thought, using the same wind technique for the second time during this match. This time, however, he only sent forward the gale of wind, no kunai added. Hinata jumped in the air and rolled through the wind with her fist enveloped in a chakra glow cutting straight through the technique.

The blond prepared to jump away when all of a sudden, he felt his whole body go stiff and incapable of any movement. His eyes darted all around the place, trying to find out the source.

'Crap.'

Hinata landed in a splash of mud and water only a few meters in front of him and with a resolute cry took a step forward, her palm aiming to strike his chest.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. Gentle Fist!"

The signature Taijutsu style of the Hyūga clan which inflicts internal damage through attacking the body's chakra pathway system. The user surgically injects a certain amount of their own chakra into the opponent's chakra pathway system, causing damage to surrounding organs due to their proximity to the chakra circulatory system. Even the slightest tap can cause severe internal damage, hence the name "gentle" fist. Such was the feared technique of one of the strongest and most prestigious clan in Konoha. And at that moment, such strike, capable of turning the tides of a whole fight, flew towards the blond.

Then it happened.

*CLAP*

Her eyes almost bulging out of their sockets at the ridiculous thing happening in front of her very eyes, Hinata couldn't believe what she was seeing when her outstretched palm hit the outstretched palm of her opponent, resulting in a simple clap of their hands and a small burst of chakra with the epicenter within the clap. A mild hiss sounded when the tiny amount of chakra vanished into thin air and when multiple cuts appeared all over her hand, Hinata pulled it back with a yelp.

It was almost comical if not absurd that even the whole audience, shinobi and civilians alike, went deadly silent, unable to comprehend what just happened.

"Yo-you… blocked my Gentle Fist?" Hinata asked in disbelief.

Naruto slowly lowered his palm, ignoring the pain within it and rubbed it. He almost didn't make it, his poor ability to sense the use of the immobilizing Genjutsu be damned.

"I did. You're wide open, Hinata." He replied in a quiet voice and took a step forward, just as Hinata did moments ago. His punch hit the girl's stomach with devastating force and she sailed through the air, landing on her back a few seconds later. Where Naruto's strike hit her, her clothes were torn to shreds and her bare skin was visible, covered with multiple gashes that started to bleed a bit. She coughed and flinched from the pain.

Naruto walked towards her. He knew he was winner. But there was one more thing he needed to do.

"Hinata. Stop being a kunoichi."

The Hyūga heiress felt her blood freeze when she heard those words, so eerily similar to those which her father once said.

"No, maybe I said it wrong. Stop trying to be a kunoichi your father wants you to be."

When he stopped barely a meter from her and looked down at her face, she gulped.

"I-I don't understand…"

Naruto stared at her for a moment before raising his head and looking up at the stands. After a moment, his eyes found Hiashi Hyūga, Hinata's father, and he glared at the surprised man.

"You're trying hard to be something that is not suited for you."

"…"

"…a-are you telling me I… I don't have what it… takes to be a k-kunoichi?" Hinata whimpered, her tears at the corners of her eyes. Naruto quickly defused the situation with a shake of his head.

"No. You do have it. You can be a great kunoichi, Hinata. Just… don't blindly follow your father. You can't and never will be a shinobi for the front lines. You are far too kind and soft for mindless killing." He trailed off and looked at the proctor who meanwhile got close to them and after taking a look at Hinata's state, raised his hands.

"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto."

What followed that announcement was a constrained and only slowly built up applause with an occasional cry of acknowledgement or a cheer but mainly from the younger part of the audience. But Naruto Uzumaki only barely heard it, his attention still focused on his defeated opponent. He watched as the medics put the girl on the stretcher.

"Coming from somebody like me, this might have been and probably was conceited and arrogant but I wanted you to know this, Hinata. You had to realize there was no future for you if you continued like this. I… despite us being only former classmates, I don't want to see you get killed just because your father thinks he knows what is best for you even he's clearly wrong. My… sensei agrees with me and that's why I have a suggestion for you." He stated and Hinata whispered the medics to wait a moment.

"O-okay." She replied anxiously. She decided not to react before thinking the whole thing over at least one time.

"Become a medical-nin. Your Byakugan, coupled with your amazing chakra control, use of Gentle Fist and your reflexes will make you into one maybe even better than the legendary Sannin, Tsunade. Your team specializes in tracking and locating the enemy that's why I think what your father pushes you into is dumb. Being a medical-nin would only be beneficial to you… though… all of this is just my suggestion, so you can forget about it if you want." Naruto added.

"I… I'll t-think about it, Naruto-kun." Hinata mumbled and allowed the medics to finally escort her to the room for injured. Before they left the arena, Naruto called out after her.

"And Hinata… I'm sorry if this will make your life home worse."

She shook her head and half-smiled.

"Mm, i-it's okay. You're right… I… I do need to stand up against f-father."

…

Amid the audience, Ino and Sakura, seated next to each other, watched the match with their eyes wide open. They, along with most of the people around them, were quite surprised, even shocked, by the speech Naruto had given to Hinata. It was not that it was that surprising, Naruto had a knack for motivating people, whether they wanted it or not. No. It was the amount of seriousness in his tone when he talked, close to be completely out of his old character.

Then, they realized another thing that had occurred during the match and they turned to Kakashi, who was watching the match with a barely hidden smile. Next to him, Might Guy tried to rile him up with quite a lot of cool speeches of his own only to get comically depressed when Kakashi completely ignored him.

"Kakashi-sensei! H-How did Naruto block that last hit? I thought the Gentle fist of Hyūga couldn't be stopped once you let it touch you… I read about it in free time…" She added when Chōji, now healed, and Kiba, both of them sitting next to her, looked at her with odd expressions.

"Good point, Sakura." Kakashi said in a mildly amused tone and then added a chuckle, confusing the Genin.

"Well, I don't blame you for not noticing it." He continued with an eye-smile.

"Uhm… what are you talking about, sensei?" Ino inquired with a frown. Instead of answering, Kakashi raised his opened palm first.

"See, Gentle Fist is quite the opposite style of fighting to the one Guy here, uses." He pointed to the man sitting on the stairs, still moping about Kakashi ignoring him, causing the Genin to sweatdrop.

"It consists of the user pushing his own chakra into his opponent's body. What Naruto did, is that he simply covered his palm with his own chakra, which cancelled out the strike."

'Well, it was not a simple chakra he used but they don't need to know that.' He added mentally.

Ino and Sakura glanced at each other with a frown.

"But sensei, isn't that a little bit… too easy?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi shook his head.

"It sounds easy but it is not, I can assure you of that. First you need to have perfect chakra control to be able to continuously push your chakra around your palm. Second, you have to know the exact amount of chakra the Gentle Fist user is using to calculate the amount necessary for cancelling it out. The first part is quite easy for a Jōnin maybe even a Chūnin, but the second part is not. That's why only the Hyūga or people with Sharingan, can do even that."

"But Naruto…" Ino protested, causing Kakashi to chuckle again.

"Did neither of that. He actually cheated. He has huge chakra reserves, so he doesn't need perfect chakra control, he only needs to push a large amount of chakra around his hand. Additionally, he simply overpowered Hinata's strike." He raised his hand to stop Sakura and Ino from asking and continued.

"Yes, that is doable for Jōnin even without a Dōjutsu. The thing is, you sacrifice your hand when acting like that. By using more chakra than Gentle Fist user, the backlash is violent and messes with tenketsu points all over your hand up to the elbow. Didn't you see Naruto furiously shaking his hand after he stopped the strike? He even had to use his other hand to attack her. It's only to his… unique regeneration ability that he didn't need medical attention."

…

A man, sitting on the top of the Hokage monument chuckled and put the binoculars down from his eyes and on the ground next to him. He leisurely leaned backwards and supported himself on his hands. Feeling the light breeze cooling his face and blowing his ponytail full of silver hair, Jiraiya the Sannin grinned.

"You did well, kid."

He was proud of his godson. The plan he came up with to somehow force the Hyūga heiress to see the reality that was coming towards her as a full-loaded truck was crude and a bit immature but Jiraiya fully supported him. Despite being so long from Konoha, he knew barely anything in the behavior of its clans had changed and because of that, he knew exactly what parts of the truth to tell his young student; to carefully explain to him what kind of man Hiashi Hyūga was. The kind that was not inherently bad, but the kind that was forced to change under the circumstances pressing on him from every corner of his vast clan. The kind heavily hit by the death of his brother and death of his wife. Though that was no excuse to treat his older daughter such as he did.

"Well," Jiraiya scratched his nose, "it could have been better but still, this was your plan. If I were to change it to my liking, you would no longer be able to play it like this."

And sometimes, even the act of a twelve-year old could change somebody's fate.

He put the binoculars back to his eyes and focused on the Hokage's stand. Quite clearly, he saw his former teacher nonchalantly, yet proudly, talk with others. Jiraiya couldn't hear what he said but he imagined it was about Naruto's match and how he handled the whole matter. The fight and the speech he gave the young heiress. The Sage moved his hands and narrowed his eyes when the visage of the Tsuchikage came into his sight. He had dealt with the man on a few occasions and there was only one word with which he could describe the leader of the Iwagakure.

Grumpy.

Nevertheless, under that grouchy character, Jiraiya was able to recognize a man with years of experience on how to lead a village. He was not a Tsuchikage just because he liked and knew how to bicker with anybody. It was clear to the Sannin that, despite his old age, proud and headstrong personality, Ōnoki was not somebody to screw with. Jiraiya had witnessed the man's Ninjutsu skills only once but seeing three elements used together in a brand new sub-element was, well, an eye-opener.

Even he would have troubles fighting Ōnoki one on one.

Changing his focus again, he sighed at the sight of the Kazekage, a man hidden behind a veil of thin fabric. At first, he was suspicious of such a thing; it was quite rude to hide your face in front of other Kage. However, Hiruzen had explained to him that because of the assassination attempt three months ago, which the Kazekage had survived only by a straw of hair, his face was still not yet healed and he simply didn't enjoy being stared at like some figurine in a clothing shop. Jiraiya was not fully satisfied with such explanation but decided not to pursue the matter further. Leaders of Hidden Villages were almost all famous for their occasional quirks. And just like with the Tsuchikage, Jiraiya could describe even the Kazekage with one word.

Ruthless.

Yes, the man was ruthless in his way of leading the village. He had been willing to order his subordinates to take drastic measures in dealing with certain situations, to put the well-being of the village above the well-being of an individual and from the heard, he even ordered the assassination of his only son, Gaara. Although, there was probably some deeper meaning, a reasoning he didn't understand, behind such an action; the Sage mused with a frown. The Yondaime Kazekage was a strong shinobi, as all the Kage obviously were, possessing a unique Kekkei Genkai, a bloodline limit called Magnet Release, which allowed him to convert chakra into magnetic forces and magnetize an object as well as allowing him to summon and use a special Gold Dust.

He also took a look at the bodyguards of each visiting village. There was something about one bodyguard of the Kazekage that was quite…

He put the binoculars down and glanced at the southern entrance to the Konoha. It seemed there was some commotion and, despite the Sage not able to clearly tell what was actually happening there, he had a bad feeling in his gut.

Something was wrong.

Jiraiya stood up. He needed to check things out.

…

Back in the arena, the audience was slowly getting over the confusion created by Naruto's match and began to cheer and shout when the second match of the Chūnin exams was announced.

"Third match: Sasuke Uchiha versus Shino Aburame!"

When the two opponents, fellow Konoha shinobi, landed on the muddy ground and stared at each other through the increasingly thicker rainfall, the ruckus reached a new height. It was not just the people of Konoha who wanted to see what the last Uchiha could show. There wasn't barely anybody who was not standing and animatedly clapping.

Hayate, who closely watched both Genin, allowed himself a small smile. Damn brats never even moved a muscle and completely ignored the audience. Although, it was hard to tell with the Aburame kid, seeing as the only skin Hayate could see was the upper part of his face. With his hand, he cut the air between them.

"Begin!"

Immediately after that, Sasuke raised his left foot and slammed it back on the ground, splashing the mud and water so much, it almost covered the quiet buzzing sound and a light from a small spark running from the tip of his foot towards his opponent, who noticed it too late. For a moment, he felt a surge of electricity, which shocked his body and caused him to receive a few cuts when he couldn't completely evade a set of kunai flying towards him because of it.

When he felt his limbs were listening to him again, Shino had to block a fast series of punches and kicks. The scion of the Aburame clan was calm and collected most of the time, but he couldn't help himself but to raise one eyebrow when he realized the movements of his Uchiha opponent were slowly, but surely, getting faster and faster with each attack he managed to block.

'I need to create some distance between us.' He thought and crouching under a heavy kick, he rolled to the side and hastily jumped backwards, sending a group of shuriken at the other boy, buying himself some time.

Though this didn't last for long as Sasuke rushed towards him once the last shuriken missed him and Shino prepared to block the oncoming right hook. He was momentarily caught off-guard when the Uchiha stopped at the last moment with his fist only inches from Shino's face covered with a block and vanished from his sight. Only thanks to his insects, he sensed the boy reappear behind him but even then, after he swiftly turned around, he received a punch to the guts and felt his feet leave the barely solid ground. He involuntarily gritted his teeth from the pain and landed behind a large bush in a heap.

After blasting his opponent backwards, Sasuke calmly exhaled the air from his lungs and retracted his fist. His insides were getting all giddy from the sensation of fighting after all that month-long training. A light grin fell on his lips. He could feel the power within him, the power with which he could demolish his old self, would the laws of physics allow it. Ignoring his pride for a moment, he mentally thanked Kakashi. Sasuke had been now for a long time in denial. He had thought that no matter how hard he would try, creating bond within his team would only slow down his progress, hold back his potential and ultimately, would result in him not being able to kill his 'dear' older brother. Yet apparently, putting his trust in the hands of his Jōnin instructor had been a better option all along. Thanks to him, Sasuke had been able to wring out some of his potential already.

The spark of electricity at the tip of his fingers only made his grin widen. Indeed, thanks to Kakashi he had found out about his second elemental affinity. Lightning. The spark died out and his grin faded away.

He could reminiscent about all this later. Right now he had a match to win. His thoughts so far took only a short moment but Sasuke already felt movement from the place where his opponent landed. He built up his chakra and took out the second set of shuriken.

'I'll try to stick to D-rank techniques. No need to waste too much chakra. I'll need it for the second round. Fire Release: Blazing Shuriken Dance jutsu!' He thought and spit a miniscule amount of fire at each shuriken before throwing them out in a wide range at where he thought Shino would be and activating his Sharingan.

With a somersault, the Aburame scion shot out of the bush his hands outstretched forward and a swarm of kikaichū bugs flew straight towards Sasuke in spinning motion, making it hard to evade them. Not one to be outdone, Sasuke took a breath and moving his head in a circle motion, exhaled and shot out several small orbs of fire. It somewhat stopped most of the bugs but he still had to take evasive maneuvers to not get hit by them.

He landed on his knees and breathed out, feeling something not quite right with his own body. Though he didn't get the chance to figure it out when Shino surprisingly went on the offense by throwing a kunai at the other boy and attempting a thrusting kick to his mid-section shortly after that.

As Sasuke blinked, getting water from the downpour from his eyes, he narrowed his eyes and in a rapid series of quick jabs, retaliated and forced his opponent to stumble backwards. Immediately after that, he jumped over the boy and pushed a kunai halfway into Shino's head. He ignored the shocked screams from the stands and calmly exclaimed.

"Get out Shino. I know this is only your clone."

At that moment, the Shino in front of him crumbled into a myriad of kikaichū bugs with another Shino popping out of a bush on Sasuke's left.

"The Sharingan is indeed a powerful dōjutsu. Why, you ask? Because it seems even the incomplete version of it can reliably distinguish between a clone and the original." Shino replied in a same calm tone before trying to evade a set of orbs of fire heading towards him, though it barely represented a problem, since he was standing in a several meters' distance and the heavy rain weakened the jutsu enough.

Sasuke frowned.

'He should have known I would be able to see through his clones. One of his teammates possesses the Byakugan… in that case…' His face showed a sudden realization as he felt his breath go heavier.

Noticing the expression on his opponent's face, Shino raised his hand and pointed at Sasuke's left leg. The boy followed the direction of the outstretched finger and cursed when he noticed a dozen of bugs firmly stuck to his left leg, no matter how hard he shook it.

"I planted a female bug on your leg when I first backed away from. She gives out a scent which my kikaichū sense even through such a thick rain. Using my clone to engage you in battle, I was able to send some of them to you. Kikaichū are a versatile species that can suck out my opponent's chakra. Which is what is happening to you."

Even through the rain, Sasuke felt a first bead of sweat forming on his forehead.

"Hmph, and I thought you were one of the cleverer Genin. Now that I know what's going on, it's easy to fight back." He smirked with a bravado. Shino put his hands in his coat, clearly not amused.

"My kikaichū will hold onto you no matter how hard you struggle. And the longer you fight, the more chakra you lose. I told you all this so you'll know how you lost this match. It should prove useful in the after-match analysis." He said in a neutral tone, wordlessly creating an Insect Clone next to him as they arranged themselves in a position. The clone being behind Sasuke while the original stood in front of him. Both of them began to spurt towards Sasuke, who angrily narrowed his eyes.

"You weren't paying enough attention." He said through grimace as he concentrated on his chakra.

Before Shino could finish his crushing Taijutsu move, his opponent stiffened for an instant, before jumping out of his way in the last moment. Shino raised his eyebrow for the second time during this match but said nothing.

Landing a bit further, Sasuke took a series of fast breaths.

"It's not just fire that I can use." He muttered for himself and recalling his training, shot forward in a speed far ahead of what he had shown so far.

Shino raised both of his eyebrows but was unable to react in time as his opponent closed on him and began a new, incredibly fast Taijutsu attack. He lasted for a few seconds, occasionally blocking a punch or a jab but before he could call his clone to come help him, his concentration broke off from the pain and he felt his body sailing through the air.

The next time he opened his eyes, he still felt the irritating rain falling on his face but there was another person crouching next to him, blocking some of the water. Seeing him regain consciousness, Hayate patted him on the shoulder.

"Uhm… you can no longer continue in the match." He said and straightened his back.

"Winner: Sasuke Uchiha!"

…

Having been on the receiving end of a tight stare from a certain Neji Hyūga for the last several minutes, since he won his match against Hinata, Naruto gladly turned around to ignore him and the sense of unease he could feel in his stomach and greeted his teammate with a good-natured smirk.

"You sure you're not too out of breath to continue in the finals?"

Sasuke, his Sharingan already deactivated, exaggeratedly rolled his eyes and scoffed but there was a definite hint of his own smirk hidden somewhere behind it. Even after a month of not seeing each other, the Uchiha was still getting more and more attuned to Naruto's new personality. Surprisingly, he found the blond not irritating despite the provocations and teasing. Their relationship was something he was sure he should have already been able to name but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"It's still enough to kick your ass." He replied snidely, but with a grin. Stretching his legs, he briefly glanced at the other Genin in the stand before leaning on the railing.

"I assume you're aware of the Hyūga trying to kill you with his stare. Not that I care." He muttered quietly, looking forward, at the wall.

"Yep."

"Right."

Naruto sighed and raised his head higher to look at the audience.

"Ah, Kakashi-sensei and Sakura are here too. I almost thought she wouldn't come." He stated with a frown. Sasuke looked too and sighed just like Naruto did a moment before.

"Yeah and she's with Ino."

"Don't you think they changed too much? Both of them."

Sasuke shrugged.

"I'm just content with the fact they are no longer trying to jump me."

"Like you didn't enjoy that."

"Right." The Uchiha boy scoffed.

Seeing Kakashi, Naruto remembered another thing.

"Ah, yeah, I almost thought you'd get infected with Kakashi-sensei's tardiness and come late to the finals." He raised one eyebrow when Sasuke's hands slipped from the railing and he almost fell over. The raven-haired boy looked elsewhere and cleared his throat.

"Don't tell me…" Naruto started with a sweatdrop, causing Sasuke to put a hand over his face.

"He tried to persuade me to Shunshin in the arena at the last possible moment before my match. Said it would be 'epic'." He begrudgingly admitted with a heavy sigh. Both boys raised their heads to look at Kakashi again and, seeing him standing next to Might Guy with a cool expression, facepalmed.

"Fourth match: Rock Lee versus Neji Hyūga!"

The announcement brought their attention back at the arena where two Genin from the same team landed.

"I think he really didn't like you trying to run some sense into his cousin." Sasuke noted when Neji sent a last stare in Naruto's direction. The blond pressed his lips together before taking a breath.

"So you understood what I was doing."

"Of course."

Naruto smiled a little for himself.

"Good. I don't care what Neji Hyūga thinks of me. He's going to receive a similar beating and after that, he'll understand."

At that Sasuke glanced at his teammate.

"You think he'll lose to Rock Lee?"

Naruto shook his head.

"I don't think. I know."

…

It happened instantly after the proctor announced the start of the fourth match. He barely even had the time to get out of the way when a green blur shot from his position, creating a huge splash and actually denting the solid ground beneath all the mud that had accumulated because of the rain so far. It seemed that Rock Lee was in no mood for beating around the bush and sped towards his opponent at maximum speed. His fist outstretched forward, a devastating punch flew towards the boy with the Byakugan, which was already activated. Using his immense reflexes, Neji raised his hand but opted to redirect, rather than attempt to block the strike when he realized the strength the bandaged fist held.

Following the fluent motions of his body, he tried to decide the match as fast as he could and flung his Palm Bottom attack towards Lee's torso. Without any luck.

Lee's reaction time was even faster than of his stern teammate and he swiftly leaned backwards, using Neji's hand as a support, evading the dangerous palm filled with chakra and continued to fall backwards as his hands touched the ground and his feet kicked up. Not wanting his teeth to get kicked out, Neji followed the trajectory of the feet and jumped along with them, avoiding the strike within a strand of hair. In the air, he flipped backwards and landed on the ground in a low stance while Lee made a few somersaults before landing in a similar fashion.

As both combatants took a second breath, the audience gripped their seats, their eyes glued to the arena, with only the shinobi part able to follow the Genin movements. The rest of them saw only blurs and that was just the beginning of a fight that promised a showcase of great power.

Spurting towards each other, Lee and Neji found themselves in a blurry and rapid exchange of a Taijutsu battle so intense, even the rain droplets began to get blown away from their position, unable to penetrate the sheer air pressure of their blows. Punch, hook, jab, kick, another punch and a roundhouse kick got cancelled when a fast moving hands of Gentle fist blocked each attempt at touching the body of the Hyūga prodigy. Turning the tides of the battle, any fist and palm prepared to infuse the other with a certain amount of chakra and intent on hurting internally was dodged, evaded, side-stepped or jumped over.

It was a never-ending flow of fast movements, neither of them hitting the target. And the speed was gradually began to increase even further, making it completely impossible for any civilian, even the ones gifted with unnatural sight, at least for a normal human, to see more than just blurs.

Feigning a kick at his opponent's midsection, Lee suddenly disappeared in a similar way Sasuke did in his fight with Shino. The only difference was the speed in which he disappeared and then reappeared behind Neji, finishing his kick lower, at Neji's outer thigh. But the kick never connected when, without turning around, Neji's palm flew downwards and hit Lee's shin, causing it to embed into the mud. This created a tiny opening within Lee's defense and he received a few hits to his body before he recovered and hastily jumped backwards, breathing a bit heavily.

Neji stopped his onslaught and grinned derisively.

"That was a good display of abilities, Lee. However, I managed to close your major tenketsu points. Even you, who uses little to none chakra will have it hard to continue fighting."

Lee didn't answer and instead raised his head to stare at the audience. In an instant, his eyes found his teacher, Might Guy, who grinned and nodded to him. Mirroring the grin, Lee hopped backwards until he was a good distance away from Neji, who narrowed his eyes.

"I can finally fight on full power of youth, thank you Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed with tears in his eyes as he folded up his pants, revealing a set of weights stuck to his legs, above his ankles. He took them down, still keeping them in his hands. Cocking his arms back he threw the weights straight at Neji whose narrowed eyes easily saw them and so he effortlessly side-stepped the attack. He almost wanted to say something but then the whole arena shook, causing him to turn around and stare in surprise.

The wall, which the weights hit dead-on, was heavily damaged as spider cracks ran from the point of impact, part of the wall crumbling down. Such was the heaviness of Lee's ankle weights. Neji frowned. He knew about the weights however, he never actually saw just how much was stuck to them. Now that he knew, it caught him off-guard for a moment.

"Prepare, Neji. I've been honing my youthful skills all those years just for this match to prove that hard work can prevail in a face of a genius." Lee stated, his eyes brimming with fire.

He sped towards his teammate and a long-time rival in one person and what followed after him was a pure shockwave of air pressure. He blitzed through the arena, the water momentarily leaving the ground and closed on Neji in a moment so short it felt like an instant. Neji narrowed his eyes and grimaced. This was beyond what he had predicted and even his Byakugan was having great deal of trouble following Lee's movements.

Just barely, he managed to alter the path of a powerful jab but the second strike to his abdomen finally hit its mark and Neji's body left his original position as he sailed through the air. In the last moment, before he could violently crash into the concrete wall, he flipped himself and landed on his feet. But the punch was so strong, its energy forced him to actually sink a bit into the concrete and he felt his bones and muscles creaking.

'A weaker shinobi would have had his muscles torn.' He thought grimly and for the first time he actually had to admit it. Lee's Taijutsu prowess was incredible. Still, the boy was a fool. He could never run away from his fate. And his fate was to lose this match. It was predetermined when he got Neji as his opponent. The Hyūga from the branch house crouched a little before jumping from the wall and landing in front of Lee, his palms already moving.

However, he was too slow and none of his attacks actually connected with Lee. The boy in green spandex moved zigzagged, raising the mud and tearing t ground beneath it with his pure, raw speed. One punch flew at his opponent's shoulder, then it flew at his stomach but it was just a feint and it actually flew at his other shoulder, before he jumped over and tried to kick him in the back of his head but even that attack stopped inches before it could hit and he vanished again and reappeared in front of Neji with one of his legs already performing a low-kick to swipe him down. It seemed this attack was final and Neji tried to evade it but then the boy disappeared again and Neji felt an intense pain in his back as his face faced the air pressure from his body moving fast.

'Damn it. It seems I'll have to use that.' He thought as after a multitude of flips he landed on his feet but he still skidded along the muddy ground until he finally halted his momentum. When he saw Lee closing in on him again, he concentrated on his chakra.

'Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!'

A huge amount of chakra was released from all the chakra points on Neji's body as he started to furiously spin around, creating a rotating shield of chakra so dense, it was even visible to the naked eye. He was almost certain he could see the shocked face of his uncle and the scandalized expressions on faces of members of the Hyūga main house but he could not dwell on it as Lee's fist connected with his shield.

The boy in green spandex was violently tossed backwards, the power of his own punch reflecting towards his body and he sailed through the air before crashing into a row of trees.

"This is my ultimate defense. Nothing can get past it. Give up, Lee. Your effort was admirable, even incredible but this ends now. You can't fight your own fate, your own destiny! People must live within their own unchangeable flow… and only one, the only one destiny that all of us share, is death!" He loudly exclaimed for everybody to hear, his face twisted in a sneer as he touched his Hitai-ate, feeling a cursed seal underneath it.

From the bushes, a panting Lee walked out, wiping his brow with the back of his hand.

"Most unyouthful thing to say, my dear teammate. We both know I'm not as gifted as you are… but I work hard and I never give up. That is my gift and my fate will never change it! I will become the greatest Taijutsu expert and make Gai-sensei proud!" He stated and sped towards Neji in a renewed vigor, only to get blown away again when Neji spun around. He landed in a heap and Neji walked up to him.

"Stand down, Lee. I told you, I commend you for your efforts but having your dreams come true through hard work alone… is nothing but an illusion created by the ones unable to accept the truth."

Lee panted and slowly stood up again, keeping his head down. He shook his head.

"Neji… before this match Gai-sensei told me all about you… and about your family."

Neji's face twisted into anger as he glared at the audience, where Might Guy stood.

"I know about your past, about the seal and about the pain and suffering you must have gone through."

"Then you also know that my destiny and the destiny of my father was decided just like that! This fight is similar. Your destiny was decided the moment I became your opponent."

Lee shook his head again.

"No, Neji. My destiny is my own as I create it myself. You are not the only one who had it bad… but, so what? My flames of youth cannot be extinguished just because somebody thinks my fate is written in the stone. I fight back, I preserve and I will win." He said in a surprisingly serious voice. It sounded almost unnatural to anybody who knew him as an extremely energetic, single-minded, and hot-blooded boy. He got into the stance, forcing Neji to do the same.

Kicking the ground, Lee shot out but decided not to punch immediately and just ran around Neji, who followed his movements with his Byakugan, barely. With a deep scowl, Neji snapped.

"Why do you try so much, Lee? Do you want me to kill you in such a meaningless fight?!"

Almost as if hitting a brick wall, Lee stopped and stared at his opponent with eyes full of resolve.

"Because you told me I'm a failure."

In that moment, Lee lowered himself a bit and crossed his arms in front of him and his veins started to bulge a bit. Seeing the process in his body with his Byakugan, Neji raised both of his eyebrows, stunned by the sight. The color of his skin becoming red, Lee gritted his teeth as the mud around his started to violently splash.

"Third gate, Gate of Life, open!"

His back arched forward as a scream escaped his mouth, the audience getting almost hypnotized with the whole situation.

'Fourth gate, Gate of Pain, open!'

Faster than an eye could blink, Lee shot out from his position, the ground getting decimated under his feet and closed on Neji who preventively started to spin moments before the boy even moved.

'It's okay, it doesn't matter how much chakra he gathers or how much strength his punch possesses. My rotation will turn the power on him.' Neji thought, for the first time in his life getting a bit unnerved by his opponent.

Like a flash, Lee just circled around his opponent, in the opposite direction as the rotating shield, gathering more and more speed as he ran. If Neji thought he was safe and that Lee was preparing for a devastating punch, he was horribly mistaken.

Lee ran for a few more moments when a terrible realization dawned upon the Hyūga genius.

His shield's rotation was slowing down because of the extreme air pressure forced by Lee's incredible speed. Anymore and…

Just like that, his rotation stopped and for a moment, left him defenseless. And that tiny moment was all it took for Lee to change direction of his movements and kick Neji up in the air, causing the boy to almost lose consciousness for the single strike alone. His nose broken, blood poured out of it before he felt additional punched to his body, each strike creating a strong shockwave.

On the brink of consciousness, he saw Lee stop for an instant.

'Fifth gate, Gate of Limit, open!'

And then, a devastating punch along with a kick hit him in the abdomen, instantly breaking two ribs on both sides of his torso and almost tearing up his internal organs. The shockwave from this final attack forced the audience to cover themselves and Neji plummeted towards the ground in great speed. He lost consciousness long before his body hit the ground.

A huge splash blew all of the water and the mud away from the point of impact, allowing it only to cushion the fall a bit before leaving the motionless body of Neji Hyūga in a small crater.

In the distance, Lee painfully landed on the ground, barely able to stand anymore. The proctor, until now hiding up on the wall, jumped down and only raised his hands.

"Winner: Rock Lee."

…

Within the room for the injured, the sound of rain echoed like a pleasant, healing melody and entered ears of two boys lying on their respective beds at opposite sides as they were the only ones in there. The sound woke up the boy with white eyes, causing him to stir and then stiffen when he felt the distant pain from his injuries. With opened eyes, he settled for motionless lying and heavily sighed.

"You awake, Lee?"

His voice was carried through the room, untouched by the still present sound of rain, to the other boy in green spandex on different bed who raised his hand and showed him thumbs up.

"Indeed I am, Neji."

Neji stared at the ceiling, scarcely blinking, and sighed for the second time.

"I apologize, Lee."

Unbeknownst to him, the boy with bushy eyebrows clenched his fists and gulped, but did not reply. After a brief pause, Neji continued.

"I've never believed you could become this strong, that you could ever defeat me. Your hard work won this time. I admit my defeat." He closed his eyes, feeling not humiliated but humbled. He truly didn't think much of Lee ever since they met for the first time as a team. He thought of him as a loser, a dreamer, a naïve kid with no future and grim fate.

"…thank you, Neji. From now on, I will train even harder to show you the outcome of this match was not a fluke!" Lee raised his voice a little at the end but not enough to be yelling.

Neji mildly shook his head. It seemed his teammate would never change. And maybe, it was for the best.

"Neji… if your words are indeed honest, does it mean you no longer think fate cannot be changed?"

Before Neji could answer, Lee spoke again.

"Because I think destiny can be changed. In your case, it can be definitely changed since… unlike me, you're a genius and not a loser."

"You sell yourself too short, Rock Lee."

A different voice entered the room, causing the both Genin to quickly sit. One on them tried not to be nervous while the other one gritted his teeth and averted his eyes.

"What do you want…?"

Hiashi Hyūga ignored the tone in Neji's voice and walked further into the room. His attention was still on Lee, who politely bowed his head.

"You are a genius on your own, Rock Lee. Aside from your sensei, Might Guy, I have never seen anyone so young capable of opening that many Celestial Gates. You should be proud of your accomplishments and skills." Hiashi stated, causing Lee to accept his words with another bow of head. The head of the Hyūga clan turned to Neji, who was still looking elsewhere.

"I just missed my daughter, Hinata. It seems she has taken Uzumaki's words to heart and was the one who helped tending to your injuries, Neji."

A slight twitch of eyebrows meant that the Genin clearly heard him.

"Yosh! Remembering Naruto-san's speech made my energy overflow with energy again!" Lee exclaimed with a smile.

"Yes, yes… Uzumaki's words were inspiring and maybe, just maybe they will prove helpful. Troublesome fella, indiscriminately meddling in the affairs of others. I guess it is in his genes, though." Hiashi shook his head, recalling a certain pair of shinobi.

"I ask again, why are you here?" Neji asked. His clan-head sighed.

"I came here, because I think that now, you should be able to believe the truth I'm going to tell you. The truth about the night when I fully intended to die, only for my brother to do it in my stead."

Neji's head almost snapped as he turned it to glare at the man.

"What?! What are trying to say… after all these years?!"

Hiashi closed his eyes. From the side, Lee tried to stand up.

"Uhm, my flames of youth tells me I should leave you two alone." He said, trying to sound jubilant, only for Neji to stop him.

"No, Lee. Stay. If what this man says is truth, I want you to hear it too."

…

"Uhm, Ladies and Gentlemen! Since, uhm, contestant Mitsumi Tsurugi is unable to continue in the exams, he is disqualified. Hence, uhm… the last match of the first round of the finals is: Gaara versus Shikamaru Nara! Come down!" Hayate loudly announced, causing Shikamaru, standing near Naruto and Sasuke, to 'not-so-quietly' whine.

"Oh man… and I hoped I could get out of this in my match with that Tsurugi guy. I don't want to fight this psycho…" He muttered and eyed the Suna Genin as the boy used his original version of Shunshin to get down to the arena. Rubbing his head, he almost jumped when Naruto leaned over to him.

"Hey, Shikamaru… be careful. Something's wrong with this guy." He whispered. Shikamaru lazily sighed.

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Well, in that case, look at him more closely. If he looked crazy before, he looks positively psychotic now." The blond nodded towards Gaara, whose bloodshot stare was pointed at the Kage's stand and his mouth rapidly moved in a quiet quarrel with himself. Shikamaru felt his throat go dry a little.

"Troublesome…" He muttered, a tiny droplet of sweat forming on his forehead. Naruto patted him on a shoulder, before slapping him harder and causing him to fell over the railing. In the short moment before Shikamaru realized his body was beginning to fall, he heard Naruto's voice.

"And drop the laziness else you're dead!"

…

On the muddy ground at the arena, near the wall, Shikamaru lay with his eyes opened, inwardly cursing at the blond who gave him a small grin. He knew Naruto was only trying to help him but boy were his methods annoying.

He gazed upon the dark clouds and sighed. What would he give for being a part of the sky, just lazily sailing through the air, having no troubles, no worries and no responsibilities? He could do it without the rain though, that was irritating. On the other hand, these conditions, the downpour with dark clouds only played into his cards and he actually had a way how to fight the weird Suna Genin for at least some time.

He heard a yell. The voice was familiar to him. Ino. He inwardly groaned. Since some time ago, she had been steadily growing more and more obnoxious, bugging him to do more training and sparring sessions than ever. Well, it was better than her fawning over Sasuke. He sighed. No point in trying to look dead before the match even began.

He could at least show them something. In any case, trying for a while was certainly better than enduring the hellish punishment Ino would prepare for him if he just forfeited the match like that. And she would certainly yell at him for hours.

'Nope, not a fan of that… troublesome blonde.'

He chuckled. What was it with the blond people and them unnecessary interfering with the lives of others? Hinata could talk.

"Uhm, begin!"

Shikamaru gulped and quickly jumped and rolled away, his guts telling him to move.

'Oi, oi, starting the match when I'm still on my back? What's with the hurry, geez…?' He mentally grumbled and watched as a portion of sand withdrew from his previous position.

Gaara was standing in the center of the arena, his hair slowly getting wet from the rain but he completely ignored it and just turned his attention towards his opponent. Shikamaru groaned. Why did he always had to deal with crazy ones? First that Kabuto who clearly just toyed with him in the preliminaries like he was an interesting toy before forfeiting even though he was clearly capable of winning and now a Suna Genin with eyes of a psychopath and the thirst for violence like a murderer.

'All in all, it sucks being me…' Shikamaru summarized and jumped all over the place when something akin to a sand tentacles tried to hit him from afar.

'Man, this sucks. Why do I have to move so much… oh, where are the good old days of-' A blob of wet sand hit him in the gut, sending him flying in the part of the arena where a few trees and bushes grew. He rubbed his abdomen.

'Okay, Naruto was right. I'm in big trouble here. My opponent has seemingly perfect defense mechanism, which quite possibly reacts automatically on any threat to his body. He is violent and more than likely capable of killing me with a happy smile. Uh, scratch that happy smile. I'd estimate his chakra reserves high above mine own so I can't just outlast him. He can easily wipe off every single thing I can use for hiding and then finish me off.'

He rolled over to the side when the attacks from Gaara grew stronger and the small tree he had been hiding behind snapped in half.

'However, his primary ability seems to be the use of sand. It's heavily raining so in time, his sand will turn into a mud, making it near impossible to manipulate. Although, I still have to be careful in case his sand has some special properties, making it immune to water. The sky is full of clouds, creating one large shadow over the whole land so that is good. My Shadow techniques will be more powerful. Still… I have only about five minutes before I deplete most of my chakra when using them, leaving me unable to continue fighting.'

Shikamaru remained hidden, dodging and evading attacks while behind trees while he tried to formulate a battle plan along with observing the attack pattern of his opponent. After a dozen or so minutes, he reached a critical point where half of the small forest was no longer standing.

'…damn. I see no way of winning this one if he's strong enough to resist my Shadow technique. Still, I don't really have to win this match and I never intended to in the first place. I guess I'll try my best for a while and then concede. No Chūnin in his right mind would go for his certain death.' He wanted to smirk but realized it was a waste of energy and just mildly raised the corners of his mouth. Using that saved energy, he jumped from his hiding place and formed a Rat hand seal.

'Shadow Imitation jutsu!'

In the moment his feet touched the ground, a thick black shadow shot from his position and towards Gaara who, despite noticing it coming, didn't budge an inch. In mere seconds, the stretchy shadow connected with the Suna Genin's own shadow and joined it in one. Gaara simply narrowed his eyes and let his stare to fall onto Shikamaru.

"Is this it?"

Shikamaru swallowed, feeling the outrageous amount of chakra within the boy for the very first time and almost wanted to dryly laugh.

'He's not even fazed…geez, this kid's chakra is insane. I can barely make him twitch, moving him is completely out of question.'

But even so, he showed his opponent a cocky grin.

"Not completely."

Adding a Dragon and Tiger hand seal to the Rat one, he caused the shadow connecting him and Gaara, stretched into a thin line, to gain some thickness as a shadowy hand formed at Gaara's left foot.

'Shadow-Neck Binding jutsu!'

Gaara's eye, above which a small tattoo was located, twitched a little and he glanced downwards, feeling something rather unpleasant crawling across his leg. He noticed the hand slowly moving up his leg and raised his head to stare at Shikamaru again.

"Is this your strongest technique?" He asked in a strained voice while Shikamaru walked closer to him. He was feeling some restrictions in his muscles.

"Maybe." Shikamaru replied, more beady of sweat appearing on his forehead as he used more of his chakra to push the hand of shadow higher. He knew the technique was stronger the closer he was to his opponent but on the other hand, he did not feel like getting that close to the kid that gave him the creeps. He stopped walking when he was about ten meters from him, a distance, at which he believed his reflexes would allow him to dodge anything sudden.

Gaara continued to stare at Shikamaru and Shikamaru returned the stare with a strained expression. He was already beginning to feel his chakra reserves getting smaller. With a grimace, he pushed more.

Gaara just stared, still barely any emotion on his face.

Shikamaru's brow creased in a tight frown.

The hand of shadow moved higher, now just above the boy's abdomen.

Gaara's eye twitched again.

Shikamaru gritted his teeth.

Not one of them moved and even the audience collectively held their breaths feeling the battle was now just a fight of wills.

The hand managed to crawl to Gaara's neck when the boy decided it was enough and, with some troubles overcoming the restraint, clapped his hands together.

Shikamaru kept his eyes glued on the boy, trying to anticipate his next move and keeping an eye for an attack. He suppressed the urge to wipe off all the sweat from his forehead.

Before Shikamaru's very eyes, Gaara flared his chakra and shot upwards when a pillar of earth rose from the ground, stretching the shadow binding him. The Konoha Genin desperately tried to sustain the technique.

In the next moment, the pillar collapsed into a heap of wet soil but Gaara did not fall on the ground, causing Shikamaru to glance upwards and stare in disbelief.

In maybe, five meter height, Gaara floated on a small cloud of sand, looking at him with a contemplative stare.

'All this time, I really had no chance, he was just toying with me… troublesome.' Shikamaru mentally groaned and outwardly sighed. There was only one thing he wanted to try left. Putting his hands together in a hand seal, he concentrated on his shadow. This was the first time he was about to use this in an actual fight.

The shadow around his body moved in a circle and, after a short pause, suddenly rose from the ground and pointed upwards, like a set of small arrows.

On his cloud of sand, Gaara narrowed his eyes, the shadow no longer appeared to be immaterial.

With more sweat pouring out of his glands, Shikamaru pushed his chakra for the last time.

'Shadow Arrows jutsu!'

The black matter pointing to the skies shot from the ground and flew towards Gaara who finally cracked a smile, even though quite scary one. His sand automatically rose in front of him in an attempt to shield his body.

A few moments later, a few tiny droplets of blood fell on the ground and the audience gulped when a blood-curling scream echoed within the arena.

Shikamaru, really exhausted, just smiled.

"It's no use trying to hide from a shadow projectiles behind a shield that throws another shadow. Simply put, where there's a shadow, my arrows can travel across it and hit the victim. Unless you get rid of its shadow, a barrier is useless. Though… those arrows were only the size of needles…"

He then turned towards the proctor with his hand raised.

"And that's it. I give up. I have no chakra left." He stated and almost fell on his butt, tired as hell.

He was blown away and painfully hit the wall of the arena when another scream reverberated through the whole place and a blast of sand shot to all sides from the Suna Genin. The boy howled once more before finally calming down only to Hayate, Anko and Ibiki appear next to him, prepared to subdue him, in case he would attempt to fight.

Gaara panted and his sand quickly covered his blood-stained hands, gently wiping it off and almost making him fall on his knees. With one hand, he gripped his head and sent a glare at Shikamaru, who was only slowly getting back up.

"Heh…he-he… that was a good technique, you almost awakened Mother…" Gaara muttered quietly, causing the trio of Tokubetsu Jōnin to exchange tense looks.

Shikamaru shuddered and watched as the proctors told something to the Suna Genin before allowing him to return to the participants' stand with a grimace.

'I think my reluctance to fight and my small chakra reserves just saved me from big trouble. Yeah, laziness rules…' He thought when he realized his hands were shaking a little and gratefully allowed the medics to take him to the room for the injured.

…

"Uhm… Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like your attention, please." Hayate loudly exclaimed towards the audience and waited until there was at least a bearable noise.

"The first five matches, thus the first round, of the final part of the Chūnin Exams have now ended. Until we continue with the second round, there will be a short break to let the winners catch their breaths and for you to freshen yourselves. The second round begins in forty minutes!"

…

The Hokage, Tsuchikage and the Kazekage were currently in the middle of a heated conversation about the matches they had witnessed. The Konoha leader took the pipe out of his mouth.

"I think we agree then, neither Tenten nor Kurobachi Kamizuru are suited for a Chūnin. In Tenten's case she clearly showed some good skills but she needs to show more in her next match." He expectantly glanced at the other two Kage. Albeit looking a bit peeved at what his Genin showed, Tsuchikage nodded in agreement. On the other hand, Kazekage stared at them without blinking.

"Am I really the only one who thinks the girl clearly handled the match as a Chūnin? She showed great skill at handling multiple kinds of weapon, some of them really hard to expertly utilize. Though she displayed only few Taijutsu skills, they were definitely not something an ordinary Genin could withstand as the strength of her blows were quite high. Moreover, her quick thinking saved her from losing the match, hence her quick reflexes, and the strategy she used at the end was simple but perfectly effective. I vote for her promotion." He stated in a surprised tone, obviously disagreeing with the other two Kage. It made the Hokage to rethink his statement and, after a minute of silence, he nodded to the man.

"Point taken, Kazekage. You are right. When you say it like that, it appears I have downplayed her match a little. I want to see her next match first before making a final decision but she's getting there." He replied and cleared his throat.

"Hinata Hyūga is clearly not suited for the Chūnin title. Naruto Uzumaki…he seemed to defeat her quite effortlessly so we need him to show more of his skills. But I think he possesses some of the qualities needed in Chūnin. Well, at least his speech was moving and rather convincing. Something a good Chūnin needs to able to do." He continued and was once again met with a nod from the Tsuchikage as the man added another emotion to the mix. This time, it was a curious glance in the blond's direction. And once again, Kazekage had more to say.

"If I may, I agree with Hinata Hyuga. It is obvious the girl needs to rethink her goals. Uzumaki Naruto is right. It took me only a minute to see it. She is clearly not meant to be a fighter but a support. Becoming a medical nin is, without a doubt, the best direction her kunoichi career can go towards. About Uzumaki Naruto, I too, want to see more of his skills, mainly his ability to think on foot because this match had been obviously planned days before. That, however, doesn't make it less clever. It was a crude plan, but an effective one. He easily dismantled her fighting spirit, only to put it back a moment later. I find myself curious at the fact he stopped the Gentle Fist without seemingly no repercussions, too. All in all, he's an interesting brat and if he does in his second match well, I see no problem with promoting him."

The Hokage had to blink to get over his surprise. In the span of a few minutes, he had heard the Kazekage utter more words than the man did since coming to Konoha. He silently acknowledged his words and shifted the conversation to the rest of the matches.

"Shino Aburame and Sasuke Uchiha both showed some calm strategies and good planning, Shino Aburame maybe even more so. On the other hand, Sasuke Uchiha showed better skills. I will hold out on promoting Shino Aburame for now but if he shows potential I will appoint him Chūnin myself. In Sasuke Uchiha's case, we will wait how he'll present himself in his next match." This time, both Kage nodded without any odd reaction, which, in turn, surprisingly came from the Kazekage's bodyguards. They stiffened a bit at Sasuke's name but otherwise remained stationary.

"Neji Hyūga and Rock Lee. Both of them incredibly strong for a Genin. I think Neji Hyūga would be suited for a Chūnin, however, he needs to show a different outlook on life. Right now, he wouldn't be a good team leader. Rock Lee is… eccentric, just like his teacher. I… for now, I vote no for his promotion."

Behind the veil, the Kazekage rubbed his chin.

"I will wait till the next match with Rock Lee, as I want to see what he'll do about the after effects of using the Celestial Gates, but in Neji Hyūga's case… I vote for his promotion. He seems to be very mature for a kid his age. His outlook on life can be overlooked. Most shinobi have their quirks."

The Hokage nodded.

"Very well, I'll think it over and may reconsider my opinion. Tsuchikage?"

The short Kage shrugged.

"Eh, I don't want to see Konoha getting stronger so I say no for both of them."

From behind the Hokage Genma leaned forward again but this time the Hokage stopped him from even opening his mouth. He smiled at the Tsuchikage instead.

"I take it as a compliment. Now, the last match, Gaara versus Shikamaru Nara. Shikamaru Nara is just as lazy but also just as ingenious as his father. I think he would make a good Chūnin. He showed us his skills, which are satisfactory and most of all, he thinks mature. He doesn't fight to win no matter the cost and rather forfeits the match when he knows he has no chance. That is admirable. About your son, Kazekage, he is very strong but I have some… doubts about his mental stability, if you pardon my rude words"

The Kazekage stared at him, perplexed.

"Really, sometimes I think I have watched different fights than you did. In my opinion, Shikamaru Nara did nothing out of the ordinary. While he appears to be responsible, level-headed and smart, his lazy attitude and unwillingness to participate makes me wonder what this brat is doing in these exams. I agree that not many Genin his age would rather simply forfeit the match than trying to win at all costs and the outlook on the fight, using all strategies available to him, is mature. However, I think he lacks… something to be a proper Chūnin. About my son. There is no need to apologize. He has a… unique set of circumstances which caused his mind to become clouded with anger and violence. Despite that, I don't think his thirst for blood is a bad thing for a job of shinobi, where you are sometimes forced to do rather… necessary things for a successful mission. I do not mind making him a Chūnin for now, but I vote for the opposite. I am still his father and I do hope he can change. It is, after all, thanks to him I'm still alive."

...

As the break slowly drew to a close, two men appeared above the Hokage's monument, where Jiraiya had been barely an hour before, their gazes directed towards the arena.

"This will be rough." The first man scratched the pale-green skin on his face and turned to the other one.

"We both have our own personal objectives here so the one from 'him' can be overlooked for now. Either way, it would be foolish to try that with Jiraiya-san around him. Remember that well and if you can, avoid confronting him. He is not a Sannin just for the show." The second man said in calm tone.

Their cloaks fluttered in a cold breeze blowing around them as their words scattered in the air.

Their long, dark cloaks with red clouds.

End of Chapter 10.

Dumdumduuuum... yep, an evil cliffhanger is the best cliffhanger. Things are getting heated up, finally!
I hope I got the Kage's reaction good. Hokage should be a bit fatherly, Tsuchikage grumpy old man and Kazekage a strict leader. Moreover, I did the Kazekage to be something of a straight man during the final conversation.

Naruto was a bit cruel to Hinata and it pained him to do it but it would pain him more to see her die for nothing. So he forced her to see the truth. He'll show more of his skills in next match. Sasuke is using Lightning element, Shikamaru has a new technique, Gaara is as crazy as ever...or is he? Sakura has a tough road to recovery in front of herself but with Anko on her case, she'll be forced to either get over her weakness or die tryin! :D

*Kurama_Thunderstorm - thanks, I was worried whether the readers would like Jiraiya's speech. I'm not trying to be deep, I'm too stupid for that but, seeing as Jiraiya is a Sage, he won't be just a pervert. There is some wisdom in him.

*Battle_neurosis - Anko will drill some new techniques in her...over time. Danzo...heh. That's my whole reaction to him. You'll see the reason in the future.

*619 - Sakura may learn some medical jutsu in the future, but not while she has the curse mark. So... not for quite a long time.

*Musubi_Kazesaru - and it isn't Sannin?

*kirallie - Sakura is explained in this chapter. About Naruto, you'll see in the next few chapters.

*zolydck - I actually would be interested in immortality, however, Naruto is not. I think he's too young for thoughts like that.

*chickenidk23 - eventually, he'll uncover the secrets of the Fourth's techniques. What makes you think there will be Sasuke vs Naruto? (Now, am I messing with you or am I serious? :D). Timeskip... we will get to older Naruto but I actually want to cover the time until then with stories.

*an1m3fan - my plan for Sakura is to be a valuable member of Team 7. In time. Hm... I'll think about it. I have quite an idea what I want to do with pairing of Sasuke but I'll see how the story writes itself.

*somilmish - thanks and her dream was more of a hallucination/nightmare from the influence of Oro's curse mark. She saw the scenes because of Oro's chakra and Oro knows.

*Wheatly - well, obviously, girls are part of a boy's maturing so he will be involved with girls. But I won't be taking any extra detours from the story because of it. Only if it somehow benefits the plot. (Maybe I'll allow myself a lemon or two... maybe...)

*Guest - I'll take the bait. Naruto seems underpowered because he fought Kurotsuchi (a highly skilled Chunin) and Suien (Jonin doped on hero water). Yes, Naruto bitches, moans but that's what makes him human. He can't just go "oh okay" to everything. He has emotions, you know and he's twelve. It has to show itself. Kakashi actually tries, talks with Naruto, talks with Sasuke, trains Sasuke, offers to train Naruto... Hokage is old. He admitted it even in canon. He's strong and a good leader but his best years are in the past. He makes bad decisions just as he does the good ones. Uhm, Naruto has an arsenal of jutsu, learned to use one Genjutsu, develops his own Taijutsu, learns seals at a fast pace, reads stuff in his free time... I think that's quite enough. No, Kyuubi won't give him a bloodline, what makes you say that? That would be just plain stupid. Even canon Kyuubi learns to respect Naruto so I don't see problem there either.

*bao-earthdragon - nice of you to defend me, thanks. It wasn't rape per say, though.

To others, your support is greatly appreciated. I know my chapter are bit long right now but I can't split them... just can't. Should be shorter in the future. No, this won't be Naru/Hina. They are indeed cute together but the flow of this story is against this pairing. Hinata needs a loudmouth and this Naruto isn't like that very much. Naruto, on the other hand, needs somebody strong at his side.

Till next time!
R&R.