Puppets of the Leaf
Chapter 10
The members of Team 7 stood in a column, with Sasuke in the front. Naruto was standing behind Sakura, not really paying attention to the speech the Hokage was giving them about the true purpose of the exams, and surveying the remaining teams. It seemed that Neji's team had been eliminated, and Naruto had to suppress a chuckle. The sound team however, had actually made it through the second exam it seemed. 'So they either found an earth scroll somewhere, unlikely given the condition they're in, or they were lying to me when they said that they only had the Heaven.'
On the other side of where his team was standing, was Kabuto and his team. The three of them looked in pretty good condition, except Kabuto, who was just really dirty, so it surprised him that he started to quit when the new proctor asked if anyone couldn't continue.
'Ohh no, you don't…'
Naruto discreetly cast out a couple of near invisible chakra strings, and latched them onto Kabuto's arms, pinning them to his sides. The proctor stared at him for a moment before announcing the next part of the exam would be a short preliminary tournament, to see who advances to the final round.
When Naruto released his strings, Kabuto looked around at everyone, and met the blondes eyes. At the white haired genins unspoken question Naruto simply mouthed. 'You're welcome.'
The teams split off and went up to the spectators area, it was interesting to Naruto to note that Kabuto's team chose to go to the side with the other foreign teams rather than his fellow Leaf Ninja.
On the way up to the waiting area, he overheard a bit of conversation going on between Hinata and Kiba.
"Hey I thought that your cousin was taking the exam? Did he get eliminated?"
Hinata scanned the other side of the room for any sign of Neji's team.
"I..I don't know…"
Naruto couldn't help himself. He started laughing and when the two turned to look at him, he waved them off. "Sorry I was just remembering something that happened during the last test."
Kiba scoffed at him and turned to face forward, while Hinata merely blushed and avoided eye contact.
At this point their attention was drawn to the screen above the Kage and Jonin, as it announced the first match.
Uchiha Sasuke VS Kinuta Dosu.
Sasuke calmly walked down the stairs, as Dosu looked on with fear in his eyes. "N..no way, I'm not going to fight that psycho…" He felt a heavy hand on his shoulder and stiffened as he realized who was standing behind him. He met the cold yellow eyes of his 'Sensei' and resigned himself to his fate.
Once both competitors were in position, The proctor, a sickly Jounin named Hayate, began the match.
Dosu began by running strait at Sasuke, who had activated his Sharringan, As the bandaged boy took a swipe at him the Uchiha leapt into the air, before Dosu could even bring his arm around, and began a short series of hand seals. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"
The large fireball hit the ground where the Sound nin had been standing, as he rolled away and came to his feet again. 'Shit! I can't fight from long range!'
Sasuke threw a few Shuriken at his as he landed, the boy ducked as they thudded down behind him, and Sasuke preformed another Grand Fireball. Dosu tried to roll away again, but was stuck firmly in place. He turned to see a couple of the throwing stars anchoring the fur he wore to the ground.
The Fire ball hit him and he threw his arms up to try and protect his head and body. The heat from the flames actually melted off the Melody arm, and the resulting burns left him twitching on the ground, but alive. The proctor announced Sasuke as the winner while medical teams rushed in to help the burned ninja.
Sasuke returned to the stands to cheers and congratulations, mostly from Sakura and Ino, while the next round was announced.
Haruno Sakura Vs. Nara Shikamaru
Sakura was visibly relieved by the match up, and even proclaimed loudly that she wouldn't have any trouble against someone as lazy as Shikamaru. Ino shook her head. "You'd better not underestimate him Forehead."
"Ohh? And why is that Pig? Is he going to Yawn on me or bore me to death?"
Rather than answer, the blonde wheeled on her teammate. "Don't you even think of quitting Shikamaru!"
For his part the laziest student in the academy, simple walked down the stairs to the floor, muttering about how troublesome fan girls were.
When they were set up the proctor began the match, and Sakura wasted no time in throwing several Kunai at Him, only to miss as he bent over backwards at the waist to avoid them.
"Troublesome…"
Sakura took two steps and leapt up into the air to come down on his still prone form. The Nara simple watched her come and twisted away at the last minute, to wind up standing behind her.
"sigh I guess, as a man, I can't lose to you."
A Vein popped out of her head and she spun around with a Kunai in her hand to try to capture him at the neck, but found only air.
She looked down to see him crouched in front of her with his hands folded into a seal. She tried to get away, but her body refused to move.
"Kagemane; success."
Shikamaru hopped backward, with Sakura mimicking his action.
"W…what the hell is going on!" Between them she could see that there was a dark shadow connecting them.
"This is my clan's technique. Our shadows have bonded, and now I can control you through my actions."
To demonstrate he brought up his hand in a fist and held it right next to his own throat. True to his words, she did the same, only in her hand was the Kunai she had been holding.
"Now, just surrender so we can get this troublesome thing over with."
Sakura hesitated. 'He…he's controlling my body like it was one of Naruto's puppets…'
For some reason she couldn't quite understand, that thought made her seem like she had been violated in some perverse way. A tick began to form in her temple, and she felt white hot rage boiling up in her. 'CHAA!... Who does this guy think he is?!'
Slowly she willed her hand away from her throat, and along with it Shikamaru's also lowered, much to his surprise.
"Troublesome. She has a strong will."
He released the technique and at the sudden lack of resistance she nearly stumbled forward, but recovered and ran at him again. She crossed her fingers in a seal and two other Sakura's appeared next to her.
Shikamaru looked at the three of them and again shot out his Shadow, this time however it split into three and tried to attach to all three of them. this caught her off guard and halted her in her tracks, catching all three. When the two on the left vanished Shikamaru wasted no time in causing her to toss him her Kunai and placing it at her neck, holding her at knife point once again. She also held her hand at his neck, but now it was empty.
'Dammit, even if I can break out again he can still cut me.'
The Proctor seemed to mirror her thoughts because he called the fight off and announced Shikamaru the winner.
Akado Youroi V.S. Sabaku no Temari
"Finally." The girl lightly hopped down over the railing, and stood waiting as her opponent arrogantly walked down the stairs at a leisurely pace. "Hey c'mon can't you just hurry up already?!"
The masked Leaf ninja simple adjusted his glasses. "Why? You in a hurry to lose?"
Temari gritted her teeth and Hayate began the match. The man ran through some seals before a blue aura appeared around his right hand. Seeing this Temari smirked. 'ohhh a close-range fighter…sucks to be him.'
Oblivious to the girls thoughts, he ran at her tossing a spread of Kunai before him. To his surprise, she didn't even try to get out of the way. She just took a hold of the large metal object on her back and swung it at the weapons. 'Too soon to block them' he thought.
About midway through her swing, she flicked her wrist and the fan she was holding opened, releasing a large gust of wind that not only stopped the Kunai in their tracks, but
Actually sent them spinning end over end back the purple clad nin.
He also found himself caught in the gale, and was thrown back into a wall, followed by his own Kunai, one of which stabbed right into his thigh. He clutched at his leg and fell forward to the ground in pain.
Hayate shook his head at the short duration of the fight and ended it. Akado was in no position to defeat a long range specialist.
Yamanaka Ino Vs Tushi Kin.
The two Kunoichi made their way down to the floor, and faced off against each other.
Kin took one look at the girl and laughed. "Is every Kunoichi in the village more worried about their looks than their skills?"
"Don't underestimate me because you're jealous."
Kin's confidence was all for show, they could both see it. Her arm was wrapped in a splint, and her breathing was labored, she was also covered from head to toe in bruises and scrapes.
'Broken wrist, probably some broken ribs, just what the hell happened to her out there…ohh well easy win for me.'
Hayate began the match, and they each reached into their hip pouches and threw weapons at one another. Ino's Shuriken collided with Kins senbon in mid air, however the two other senbon few past the blonde girl and hit the ground behind her.
The girls began running around the ring trading throws, as soon as Kin began to run Ino could hear ringing coming from the bells hanging on her belt. "You know those bells can't be good for your stealth." She mocked her hoping to make her angry enough to close for close range combat.
Ino tried to run at her, but the dark haired girl hopped away, refusing to get into the kind of fight that would cost her the match. Ino then took two Kunai and threw them to either side of the girl to stop her movement, she formed a hand seal, looking at the girl through the square she formed with her fingers and preformed her families signature Jutsu.
Up in the stands her team was groaning in frustration at her poor choice of tactics.
"She should know better than that, she can't hit her with that technique without one of us holding her." The large boy Shikamaru was addressing didn't reply.
Kin saw the girl lining up a jutsu of some kind, and tried to jump aside. When she leapt up however, her foot caught on a thin wire attached to the shuriken that the blonde had thrown before. She fell heavily on her injured arm and, cried out in pain.
Ino smirked and redirected her technique at the fallen girl. At the last minute though, she heard bells ringing behind her, and suddenly her vision began to blur, Kin split into three Kin's, and the blondes aim was thrown off as she fired her Jutsu.
Ino slumped to the ground, and there was a tense silence in the air as all waited for the result. Kin was looking around her to try to find what had happened. She struggled to her feet and took out a senbon, thinking the prone girl was playing possum. She threw the needle at the girl and it hit her in the leg, to no visible effect.
To her further confusion, she could here two boys, the blonde's teammates, groan and curse the girls overconfidence. 'I don't know what the hell just happened but I'm not going to complain.' She took out a Kunai in her good hand and made her way over to the girl as quick as she could. Just after placing it at the immobile girl's neck, she began to stir. She opened her eyes groggily, and looked at the position she was in as Kin was declared the winner.
Kin let her up. "Just what the hell was that supposed to do?"
Ino groaned. "One of my families techniques, It transfers my mind into yours. I was going to force you to quit, but I missed."
Kin just stared at her. 'What the hell good is that technique? Any other opponent should be able to dodge that and kill her easily.'
The two girls walked back up the stands, and Ino met with a lecture about when to use certain techniques, and underestimating an opponent, while Kin was teased by Zaku about her opponent beating herself for the sound Kunoichi. Had the girl not been so injured, she might have hit him.
Hyuga Hinata V.S. Zaku Abumi
Hinata's eyes widened at the sight of her name on the screen. She nervously began to make her way over to the stares, when someone called out to her from behind.
"Oy Hinata…"
She knew that voice, every time she heard it, be began to blush and became short of breath. "N…Naruto-k…kun…"
She turned and he was still looking over at the Genin, as he walked down the stairs on the opposite side. "Watch yourself, he's a long range specialist."
'H…he's trying to h…help me…'
"A…arrigato, Naruto-Kun."
After she made her way to where her opponent was standing, he scoffed at her apparent shyness and stood casually with an glint in his eye that she was suddenly a little afraid of.
Zaku lifted his arm to point it at her with his hand in a tight fist. "This is the only chance you'll get from me. Surrender now."
Hinata was visibly shaking, and could feel the eyes of everyone in the room focus on her. 'E…everyone is wa…watching me. Every…one…and so is He…Naruto-kun.'
She could hear his warning in her mind about the sound ninjas abilities. 'N…Naruto-kun was trying to help me…I…I cannot l…let him down…'
The small girl steeled what little resolve she had inside her, and focused chakra to her eyes, causing the veins around them to bulge as she whispered the name of her bloodline.
"Heh, don't say I didn't warn you."
With her clans eyes active she could see a large amount of chakra being stored with the arm he held pointing in her direction. 'a…a long range specialist…'
"cough Begin."
Zaku wasted no time in opening his hand and releasing the maelstrom contained within. The chakra exploded out of a small hole in his palm in a fury of sound and air.
Hinata was expecting something like this but the intensity of the attack caught her off guard and made her hesitate for a second before she threw herself to the side in a wild attempt to avoid the onslaught.
The attack collided with one of the supports holding up the stands were everyone else was watching, causing it to buckle.
Hinata watched eyes wide in horror as her friends all grabbed onto the railing to keep from being thrown off. She could see Naruto glaring down at the boy who was only laughing at their plight.
The boy preformed a few hand seals and pointed both arms at the girl. She watched as the chakra rapidly built up in both of his arms.
"KICK HIS ASS HINATA!!"
The shout from her crush caused her heart to skip a beat and broke her out of her stupor. She jumped high over the attack as it sent floor tiles shattering in different directions.
Hinata knew the best way to fight a long range opponent was to engage them in close range if possible or to get out of their effective range, but in this arena that was out of the question. As soon as she landed she began to run at the boy, and had to dodge as he shifted the attack to try to hit her again.
The young Hyuga heiress came up right in front of him and almost on instinct, drove her fingers into the boy's arms cutting off the attack, and causing him to yelp in pain. He tried to throw a wild kick at her, which she could easily see coming, and she tapped a few locations on his leg as well.
Zaku couldn't figure out what had happened. The girl seemed so weak, but now she'd just done something that made his left arm hurt like hell, and he could barely move his left leg. "…bitch…" He growled out, and gathered a small amount of chakra into this right arm and fired off a small blast directly at the ground between them.
He let the concussive force of the blast carry him back and put some distance between them. He began to rub the numbing pain out of his damaged arm and prepared another Double Zankuha. Hinata saw this and her eyes widened as she focused on the arm she had hit with Juken.
Zaku noticed that it was taking slightly longer to gather the necessary chakra to his left arm, and forced more to the appendage.
Hinata could see it clearly. Her eyes were not as finely attuned as those of her father and cousin, so she could not accurately see the tenketsu, that was fine though because she hadn't been aiming for them, however she could now see the spike of chakra she had driven into his arm lodged into one, just behind his elbow. The chakra he was gathering was having difficulty bypassing it.
"NO…Wait…"
Too late. Zaku opened the holes in his hand to let out the building pressure, and cried aloud as the pressure in his left arm violently tore it's way out of his Tenketsus, nearly severing his arm at the elbow.
The pressure being released from his other arm, caused him to spin around in place as he lost the will to hold it steady, the spin cause several droplets of blood to spray onto Hinata's coat.
The girl stood stock still, the only sounds in the room, were the sobs of her opponent writhing on the floor while trying desperately to hold his arm together. The medics rushed in and took him to the ER.
"Winner Hinata Hyuga."
Both Kiba and Kurennai leapt down from the stands, rushed to the girls side. She was just staring blankly at the blood on her coat, and didn't even react to them as they led her back up to the stands.
As they reached the stairs the board announced the next fight.
"Inuzuka Kiba Vs Uzumaki Naruto."
Shocked Kiba turned to look at the board then at his opponent who was currently jumping down from the balcony. He smirked then turned back to his teammate.
Don't worry Hinata, this won't take long I'll be right back.
Kurennai continued to lead her student up to the rest of the leaf Gennin, however rather than let her rest up against the wall, she supported the girl as they stood near the railing. She knew that Hinata had a crush on the loud boisterous blonde, and thought that watching him fight might help her to snap out of it.
As both fighters met in the center of the ring, Naruto indicated the Hyuga Heiress.
"Hey, mutt, is Hinata ok?"
Kiba looked back over his shoulder, ignoring for the moment the insult. "Yea she'll be ok. But that's not your problem right now." The dog ninja's grin turned absolutely feral.
"I'm going to make this quick." Akamaru barked in agreement from his position at his masters feet.
Naruto had his repaired Kyu hop down from his shoulder and take up a similar position.
Again Kiba smirked. "Wanna let them have a go first? See whose partner will measure up first?"
Naruto had to choke back a laugh. 'He still thinks Kyu is real…ohhh this will be good.'
"Yea why not. But I'd bet a weeks worth of Ramen that Akamaru won't last long."
"You're on."
Hayate, taking that as a sign to begin the match, did just that, and the two small 'animals' began to circle each other, looking for an opening. Without warning Akamaru leapt at the fox in a tackling lunge. Naruto merely smiled as Kyu's mouth opened and a senbon needle shot out, catching the puppy in his right shoulder.
With a yelp, Akamaru landed just short of the fox sniffing at the needle, and after a few halfhearted, groggy attempts to pull out the offending piece of wood, fell to the ground.
"AKAMARU!!" Kiba rushed forward as Kyu jumped up onto Naruto's shoulder.
The boy cradled his partner in is arms. He was beginning to panic, when he noticed that the dog was breathing comfortably.
"He'll be fine. He's just taking a nap." Kiba looked up sharply at the blonde.
"That needle had a sleeping agent on it. Nothing lethal."
Kiba looked from his partner to the fox. His eyes narrowed in suspicion, then widened in realization as the pieces clicked together in his head.
"Th…that's a puppet?!"
Naruto smiled in pride. "Yep. I designed him to help us hunt the Fire Lord's cat, but he's come in handy a lot since then." Naruto gave the fox a pat on it's head, and if they didn't know better those watching would have sworn that the fox nuzzled back into his hand.
Kakashi shook his head. 'He's getting so used to using that particular puppet that he's controlling it's actions on a subconscious level, and given it a personality as a result. It practically is alive now.'
Kiba set the small white puppy down on the side of the ring, and got into a ready stance. "Ok then, I'll admit you had me fooled, but it's going to take more than a stuffed animal to beat me, Dead last."
Naruto allowed Kyu to join Akamaru and took the white scroll from it's holder on his thigh. "Bring it on Mutt!"
Before Naruto could act on his challenge Kiba had tossed two small spheres at the ground near his feet. They exploded, and Naruto was caught in a thick purple smoke.
His eyes widened and he held his breath. 'Shit! Poison? No it's odorless, just a smoke screen then.' Naruto took his scroll in hand and bit his thumb.
From outside of the smoke, Kiba was busy performing Justus. His first cause him to take on a more bestial appearance, and the second cause him to shoot forward at the smoke, while spinning rapidly in fury of claws and fangs. However his attack was cut off as a second explosion, from within, caused the smoke to get blown away.
Before him now stood two tall cloaked figures, and a bit further back, a smirking Naruto. The blonde threw out both hands and the two cloaked figures rushed into two separate directions, The closer of the two jumped up into the air and Kiba had to dodge a swipe from the second as a wide flat blade appeared from under it's cloak.
As Kiba hopped backward again to dodge a follow up swipe, a hail of Senbon came flying at him from above, and he was again forced to retreat, putting distance between himself and Naruto.
Thus far the match was generating quite a stir among the Leaf Gennin, as nobody, other than his won team, had expected the match to go so far into the blonds favor. However they weren't they only ones who was interested in the match. On the other side of the room the large Sand Ninja, Kankuro, was also paying rapt attention.
'Huh. Ok, I admit, he's not bad, even I have trouble controlling more than one at once. But to remain out in the open like that. He's just asking to be targeted, and since he's not hiding, why bother making his strings so thin? I mean if I didn't know better I'd say that one puppet didn't even have……ohh…ok, he's not bad.'
Behind him His sensei, Baki, was mirroring his sentiment. 'But where did he learn that technique. Is there a spy in Suna?'
Down on the floor the two boys had gotten into a steady rhythm of attack and dodge, and Naruto had to admit, to himself anyway, that Kiba was doing a good job of keeping away from his attacks.
Then, in an impressive display of agility, Kiba planted both of his hands and feet onto the chest of the closer of the two and launched himself into a low ark over the arena, The puppets followed as they had been doing thus far, one through the air and one along the ground.
When the bestial Gennin began his decent, he twisted around to face the orange clad boy controlling the puppets, and called out one of his signature Jutsu's. "GATSUGA!!"
He was once again engulfed in a twisting maelstrom of fangs and claws, aimed right at his opponent. The move had caught Naruto so off guard that he hesitated before dodging, and it cost him in the form of a deep slash across his chest and midsection from one of Kiba's elongated claws.
Both boys came to rest on the ground in a crouch next to each other. In a clatter of noise a puppet came to rest at the dog nins feet, as it's controller had lost his concentration and let drop the strings while he was clutching his wound.
Kiba, rather than press his advantage, just looked at him with a confused expression. While he had been making his attack, just for a split second, he saw Naruto smirk.
POOF
The boy before him exploded in a puff of smoke, and realization dawned on him.
'A clone…they were controlled a clone?! Then where…uggg…'
The rush of air and the whisper of fabric was all that alerted him to the presence that had come up behind him, that and the cold touch of metal at his neck told him that he had been indeed caught. He glanced over his shoulder into the hooded gaze of lifeless wooden eyes.
For a brief second he almost expected Akamaru to come barreling into his assailent, but remembered that the puppy was already out of commission. His shoulders sagged in defeat and the announcer called the match.
"Winner; Uzumaki Naruto."
Kiba continued to examine the blank stare of the puppet, when it's eyes suddenly moved to return his gaze, and then winked at him. Kiba nearly screamed in shock until the puppet disappeared in a puff of smoke to reveal his opponent triumphantly twirling a Kunai.
Sudden realization settled in on him and he jabbed an accusing finger at the boy. "That puppet was you this whole time?!"
In response Naruto just smiled wider, collected his puppets and walked back towards the stands.
Kakashi, who had actually paid attention to the match, was impressed with the boys strategy. It had even fooled him for a brief time. As the blonde returned to their team, Kyu following along behind, He was met by a barrage of questions from the other Gennin about his puppets. Kiba had also rejoined his team, while cradling Akamaru lovingly in his arms. The dog nin was looking slightly depressed, so Naruto approached him with a hand extended.
"Hey, good match Mutt."
Kiba looked at him for a second, looking for an insult or gloat somewhere in the gesture, but took the offered hand firmly.
"Yea, but I'll get you next time we fight. In the meantime however…" He turned to his female teammate who was still standing near her sensei, but seemed as if she was able to stand on her own again, and was at least conscious of her surroundings. "…hey Hinata…kick his ass for me in the next round ok?"
When she realized just what Kiba had said and not only that were both she and her crush progressing to the next round, but they might have to… well Kurennai, once again had to support the poor girl as the blood rushed to her head.
"Next round; Sabaku no Kankouro vs. Aburame Shino."
The call from the sickly examiner drew the attention of everyone in the room. Naruto in particular had a bad feeling from the large boy. He leaned over the railing and watched closely as the two competitors entered the ring. And the match was begun.
It started simply enough, Kankouro ran at Shino and the leaf nin leapt back, releasing a few Shuriken in the process. What surprised Naruto was that when Kankouro dodged them one of the throwing stars hit him in the leg, and he appeared not to notice it at all. He didn't even flinch, nor was his movement inhibited in anyway.
The match continued like that as Kankouro came within range to throw a few punches at his opponent. All of which were deftly blocked. It was obvious that both boys were holding something back, not wiling to show their opponent until it became necessary.
Naruto was quickly getting bored and was about to turn to his teammates for conversation when he heard Hinata gasp. He looked back at the match to see Kankouro with a Kunai plunged into the chest of their fellow Leaf Gennin. Shino staggered back a few steps and fell forward.
Before he hit the ground however he dissolved into a swarm of bugs. All of which began to crawl up Kankouro arms. The nin began to wave his limbs around trying to dislodge them as Shino stepped out from behind a pillar under the stands. "Kaki Bunshin. My bugs will drain all of your chakra until you lose consciousness. I suggest you surrender now."
Several people in the arena were slightly disturbed to see insects crawling out of the boys skin, but soon focused on the Suna ninja as he stopped flailing around. The bugs had now covered both arms up to his shoulders and were beginning to move over the rest of his body. He smiled and collapsed in a heap. Shino not wanting to kill the boy, called his bugs to a halt. They flew off him and hovered above the body.
Hayate, seeing no signs of movement raised his hand to call the match, until a Kunai shot out of the mass of black clothing, and missed Shino by a small hair. The kikai began to descend on him again, and the white bundle on the boys back started to bulge. Something tore free of the wrapped bundle and was revealed to be Kankouro as he landed on the other side of the ring, in a crouch.
To everyone's shock, the first Kankouro began to get to it's feet and lunged at Shino with both arms, despite the swarm of kikai bugs on it. Shino caught both arms by their wrists and drove them over both of their heads. Using the momentum from the upward motion he stepped in and threw his knee up into the bodies stomach, only for it to be blocked by a third arm, this one not human at all, that had burst from it's side.
A fourth appeared out of the other side, with a thin blade sticking out of it's palm and tried to stab Shino in the stomach. The bug user pushed off 'Kankouro' with his free leg and avoided the attack.
Naruto watched the interaction from his place in the stands, with growing trepidation. After the sand ninja had revealed himself, Naruto realized that he, too, was a puppet user. All of the warnings given to him by Chiyo Ba-sensei were flooding his memory. He couldn't be sure what would happen now that they knew without a doubt that he used one of their techniques. On impulse he looked around for the teams sensei…and found him near the Hokage. His face was half covered with a white cloth and he was talking heatedly with the Third. Every few seconds the two men would look up at him.
Naruto was instantly pulled out of his thoughts when a hand landed on his shoulder. Kakashi bent low over him, as if in answer to some unasked question. "You use a technique that is unique to their village. That Jounin is probably trying to find out where you learned it."
Naruto nodded. "He thinks we stole it." Kakashi's eye smiled. "Or that we have a spy in their village."
He patted the boys shoulder and they turned back to the match that was still going on.
Shino had the Suna Genin backed into a corner. Kankouro had spent the last few minutes trying to avoid the swarm of insects that was flying around them, to only the most limited success. It was becoming more difficult to control his puppet too, which was now fully revealed for what it was.
Shino was standing in the middle of the room, He only had to dodge the rare kunai, that was lobbed at him on impulse. The Suna ninja was too busy trying to stay away from his Kikai. It might take awhile, but the Aburame were nothing if not patient. It would be over soon.
Finally in a last desperate gambit Kankouro stopped moving after putting a little distance between him self and the bugs. In a exaggerated gesture he brought both hands up into the air and his puppet followed suit. The four-armed, shaggy wooden construct halted ten feet above Shino's position. Said Leaf nin was simply looking up at it as it began to spin like a top, it's arms spread out wide. All watchers looked on in confusion until a thick purple gas was ejected from various points on the puppets body. The gas quickly filled the arena while Kankouro was overtaken by the bugs.
The thick smoke seemed to settle well below the level of the spectators, leaving them all unaffected. Likewise, the Hokage and all those with him were also safe, due to a minor wind jutsu, courtesy of one of the Jounin.
Once it cleared, Shino was seen on his knees emptying the contents of his stomach violently on the ground, while Kankouro was sitting in the same spot, covered with the kikai bugs.
Hayate couldn't quite tell who had the upper hand in this fight so decided to let it continue to see what was going to happen next.
Kankuro could feel the insects draining off his remaining chakra, so he dropped his control of the puppet and began to lazily squash them as he watched his opponent struggle with the poison he had introduced to him.
"You know, unless you get the antidote, you'll probably be dead within a few minutes."
The Sand Puppeteer was rather proud of himself for not allowing any of the strain and fatigue he was feeling, enter his voice. The Aburame prodigy weakly turned his head to look at him.
"I suppose… you have this… 'antidote'?"
Kankuro smiled. "One way to find out…" He let the suggestion hang for a moment as the two watched each other.
Shino, after a moments thought, hung his head, and all of the kikai bugs, that had been attacking Kankuro, flew off and returned to their host.
"I forfeit."
"Winner Sabaku no Kankouro." It was an outcome that stunned almost everyone in the room. Said ninja made his way back up to the stands to rejoin his siblings, dropping a small vial of clear liquid in front of the now shivering Leaf Gennin. Medics rushed in and administered the vaccine. The effects were mostly immediate, as the convulsions stopped.
The medics carried him to the infirmary just to be sure he would recover fully.
"Next match…Akamichi Choji vs Misumi Tsurugi"
Naruto barely paid attention to most of this round beyond wishing Choji luck. He was contemplating the puppet that the Sand Puppet user possessed.
In a lot of ways it resembled his own Blade. At least as far as basics were concerned. However there were a lot of things about the boy's control of it that bothered him to no end. He couldn't quite place it, it just looked too…artificial.
Naruto had practiced with all three of his puppets so much that they were all an extension of him. He almost didn't even have to think about controlling them, well at least that was the case before that new seal was placed over THE seal. It was, still, interfering with his control. He hoped that Kakashi came through with finding someone to fix it. He wanted to be at his best of he had to face that other puppeteer in the next round.
He came out of his thoughts in time to see Choji flailing around the room waving enlarged limbs around with Kabuto's teammate, literally, wrapped around his body.
'Huh…'
Naruto got a fiendish smile on his face as be began to pay careful attention to his friends opponent, committing his style to memory as best as he could. After this, he promised himself, he'd start carrying around a notebook or something, just so he could keep better track of his ideas for new puppets.
Choji, after a few minutes of their antics, finally expanded to the size of a large ball and began to roll around the room, with his opponent still wrapped around him.
The crashed headlong into a wall and when the smoke cleared, both could be seen lying on the ground, back in their normal shapes and clearly unconscious.
Hayate just shook his head, mirroring the actions of Asuma. "Both fighters are eliminated. Neither advance."
The medics took them away and everyone looked up to the board for the final match.
It barely took Kabuto a few second to realize who he was set to fight. He looked to his right and saw the red-haired Gennin from Suna walking towards the stairs. He quickly took another look at the information card on this Sabaku no Garra, and it looked, to Naruto at least, like he was going to forfeit…again.
Kabuto knew that fighting anyone with this many Leaf ninja, not to mention the Hokage, watching so closely, would be bad for him. Especially when fighting this particular individual. Against anyone else he might have just purposely lost, but against Garra, he would be hard pressed to just survive.
He cast a quick glance at the Sound team, and met the eyes of their 'Sensei' for barely a second. The message in those eyes were clear.
'…Crap…'
Resigned to his fate he followed the boy to the floor.
No sooner had the match begun then Kabuto was struck in the face by a small object, causing his nose to bleed and his glasses to break. Uttering a few discreet obscenities, most aimed at the blonde boy that had forced him into this match, he examined what had hit him. When he saw that it was a simple cork, she looked at his opponent in confusion only to see that sand was pouring out of the large gourd on his back and coming at him in waves.
What followed was the most satisfying few minutes of Naruto's young life, as he watched the suspicious Gennin, dodge, flip and just plain run away from the sand. He couldn't help but laugh.
When Kabuto was as far away as he could get from Garra, he launched himself as high as he could and threw two handfuls of shuriken at the boy, only for all of the small throwing stars to be intercepted by the sand.
He cursed again when he saw that a large bed of sand spikes waited for him where he was about to land. Before he was anywhere near them he used a replacement technique to retreat behind one of the pillars behind his opponent.
Kabuto was looking around him for something he could use to at least put up a show before giving up, and again caught the gaze of the Sound Jounin through a crack in the floorboards above him.
…sigh…
He straitened what was left of his glasses and took out a strange curved Kunai. Kabuto launched himself out of the shadows and at the red-heads back, when the knife was almost at his skin it was halted by the sand that had wrapped around the arm holding it. Kabuto began to panic. Garra half turned to face him and sand began to crawl up his body, covering his legs now as well as both his arms.
Curious Garra reached up and took the curved knife from him and examined it. "A medic nin's field knife…As a Medic your hands must be precious to you…"
Kabuto's eyes grew wide and he felt the sand tighten around his arms. He began to struggle and scream for the proctor to end the match.
Hayate would never have the chance. With a sickening crunch the sand compacted heavily, crushing his trapped arms from the elbow down.
"That's it! This match is over! Release him immediately!" The sickly Jounin was advancing on the scene.
Garra shrugged and the sand retreated back into his gourd, taking with it, not only a large amount of blood, but Kabuto's right arm as well.
Naruto cringed at the sight. He had wanted to mess with the person who had apparently stolen classified information from the Hokage, but this was beyond even what he had intended. With an amputation like that it looked as though he had ended his career.
Naruto edged he way closer to Kakashi. "Sensei…did you find out anything about him?"
Kakashi hadn't even taken his eyes from the book he was reading during that match.
"Yes, apparently he was the only survivor of a village that was involved in a war with Kumo."
"Kumo…"
"He was found by one of the Medic Units and brought back to the village. The medic who found him, raised him like his son."
Naruto sighed, "Well that explains why he's a medic nin, but what about everything else?"
"There was nothing in his records that appeared suspicious."
He thought about that for a second. "Which record?"
"His personal ninja profile."
"Like the ones that have the same information as his info cards?"
"…"
"Sensei?"
Naruto turned to find that his sensei was no longer behind him, but standing next to the Hokage.
Down on the floor the medics were in the process of taking Kabuto away to the infirmary. When the floor was cleared, Hayate called all of those who had made it past the preliminary round to the center of the floor.
The Hokage stepped up next to Hayate to give a speech.
"Congratulations to all of you who've successfully completed this stage of the Chunnin selection exams. The Final test will begin in precisely one month. A lot has happened over the course of the last week. Your skills have been tested time and time again. Now you will have the next month to refine them, and perhaps come up with some new ones as well."
Two Chunnin, the two from before the first test, carried in a small box and a large board with a tournament bracket laid out on it.
At the Hokage's direction all of the finalists proceeded, one by one, to take a numbered ball from the box. Afterward their numbers and names were recorded onto the board.
"The matches for the next and final round will be as follows. Uzumaki Naruto Vs Sabaku no Kankouro…Uchiha Sasuke Vs Sabaku No Tamari…Sabaku No Garra Vs. Hyuga Hinata… Nara Shikamaru Vs. Tushi Kin. I wish all of you good luck in the final round."
And with that they were dismissed. The teams all reunited with their sensei's and went their separate ways.
AN: OMG this was a long chapter. I'm sorry about the long wait, but I wanted to make sure that I had the preliminaries were over with by the time I finished. I hope everyone is happy with not only my match ups in this round but the finals as well.
As for the next chapter…I'll probably stretch the month break out into two chapters only so I can get them out faster. You might think you know what I've got planned for the month…but you're probably wrong.