The month went by too quickly for all three of the genin.
Sakura had made leaps and bounds with trying to replicate Tsunade's techniques without injuring herself in the process.
Sasuke had learned the chidori and increased his speed and stamina exponentially. His body could now keep up with the moves his sharingan could predict.
Naruto had smoothed all of his basics, well rounding himself with more critical thinking. And, unlike a convenient reveal when a jutsu needed to be learned faster than possible, Kakashi had taught Naruto the obvious advantage to shadow clones. That is, retaining the clones' memories and using them in battle to get an edge on your opponent.
And Naruto could make a shit ton of shadow clones.
Team 7 stood slightly apart as the announcer went over the rules for the 3rd stage of the chunin exams. The stadium was packed, from the rather rowdy civilians to the more subdued and alert shinobi. Kakashi's eye scanned the arena, taking note of just a few too many ANBU he didn't immediately recognize and the air that smelled like molten skin of a snake.
He sat next to his longtime friend, Gai, who it sometimes pained him to see. The once emotionally driven shinobi with a heart of gold, that had at one point, lifted Kakashi out of his slightly chronic depression.
Gai still maintained some of his old personality traits, talking about the springtime of youth and what it means to be a man. He, like Kakashi and a few other jounin, preached the value of teamwork and stressed that as a priority over other rules of the shinobi.
Kakashi knew the old Gai was still buried deep down in there, probably the most out of all his old friends. The man was always a fighter, a product of grit and hard work. There was no way a man like that would let a pill control him so completely. Kakashi admired his strength of will, but still felt a little sad that even Gai could be contained by the infamous drug.
"Fine day for a fight between youths, my cool and hip rival," Gai said offhandedly.
Kakashi feigned deafness, "Sorry, did you say something?"
"I know you heard me, Kakashi. Why do you play these games when the result is the same every time?"
Kakashi sighed and looked away, "Because at one time, it would get the best rise out of you. And I miss you, Gai."
"But Kakashi, I'm right here!" Gai announced.
Kakashi decided not to respond to the obvious, No, you're not. Not anymore. He slid his eyes back to the arena.
The first few matches went by quickly.
Kankuro took out Tenten without a question. He didn't come into sight of the arena until she had passed out.
Lee vs. Shikamaru was an interesting battle between brute and intelligence. Lee obviously had the physical advantage, much faster and strong than Shikamaru. But Shikamaru was uncharacteristically resilient in the fight, and outsmarted the taijutsu specialist, leading him to the shadows of the trees in the arena. However, Shikamaru was exhausted and took a fair amount of hits. Caught in the shadow, Lee was at his mercy, and yet Shikamaru forfeited.
Everyone thought that Ino and Sakura's match would just be a glorified cat fight. It actually turned out to be interesting! The hits were harder than anyone had ever given them credit for. Especially Sakura. In fact, in the middle of the fight, Kakashi had pushed up his eye cover to use his sharingan. Inspecting her fist, he saw them covered in highly concentrated chakra, much like Tsunade. Although unrefined and delivering some damage to herself, Sakura's fists were power moves, smashing the ground and creating a smoke screen of dust that allowed her to get the upper hand. Essentially, she just had to avoid the Yamanaka clan technique and end it before Ino could try. And that she did.
Garaa vs. Choji was a little sad to be honest. While Choji had given his best, he was not even a close match for Garaa. His human boulder ground against Garaa's impenetrable sand, literally acting like sandpaper. Choji ended the match covered in the light layer of his own blood from how much of his top two layers of skin had been scratched. Garaa never moved from his spot.
Sasuke vs Temari had, well, ended in the majority of the crowd's eyebrows burnt off. Gai's were just reduced to a normal size. While Temari was determined, and very very skilled, her wind only fueled Sasuke's flames to the point where the oxygen dropped so low, she passed out. Sasuke scoffed at her easy demise, and brushed the soot off his shoulder.
When Naruto went up against Neji, the crowd wasn't expecting such an exciting fight. Neji used the Hyuuga taijutsu against Naruto's numerous shadow clones. Naruto had seamlessly substituted out for his clones when Neji had gotten too close. The battle was long and drawn out.
Honestly, if Neji's opponent had been anyone else except Naruto, the Uzumaki stamina freak with an ancient chakra monster in his belly, he would have won. But Naruto was determined, and used the newfound knowledge that he could have a 360 view from his shadow clones. And with that knowledge he learned that the Byakugan had a weakness. Midline behind the shinobi's head was a blind spot, a particularly bad one. The blow that Naruto delivered there was short and quick, disrupting Neji's flow of blood to his brain for long enough for him to flutter his eyes shut. Naruto took advantage of this by using a shadow clone to upper cut Neji so hard that it dispersed.
So Naruto won, panting and sweating, but standing victorious over the unconscious body of Neji Hyuuga.
"Congratulations, rival," Gai said without looking at Kakashi, who hummed in acknowledgement. "The loss will be good for him."
Kakashi turned to look at Gai in interest, and then turned back to the arena where he saw Naruto fight the smile creeping under his mask, "The win will be good for him."
Gai hummed in acknowledgement.
"Sasuke Uchiha vs. Naruto Uzumaki"
"What?" Kakashi blurted out after the announcement was made.
Gai looked over to see a side of Kakashi he can't remember ever seeing. "Interesting."
Kakashi looked at Gai, recognizing his mistake. Very calmly he stated, "That's out of order."
"It is," Gai confirmed, "a test of their springtime of youth."
Kakashi refused to nod at Gai's comment and turned his head back to the panting Uzumaki who didn't get a chance to leave the arena, and the Uchiha who just entered the ring.
The proctor leaned down to Sasuke's ear, whispered something that even Kakashi couldn't hear, who narrowed his eye at the exchange. Sasuke looked up to Danzo-sama and locked eyes with the man, who nodded.
Naruto had stopped panting, but still looked worse for wear. He was confused at the turn of events but he knew he couldn't act like anything was wrong. But something felt so wrong, and something about Sasuke felt off, too.
When the proctor yelled 'begin,' Naruto jumped back and took in his surroundings. Not much to work with, not a lot of places to hide. Naruto's greatest strength was his stamina, which was already low now from his battle with Neji. Nonetheless, his strategy was to outlast Sasuke, and force him to use his ninjutsu.
Sasuke didn't hesitate to move when the proctor yelled 'begin.' With his speed enhanced from his training, he easily caught up to Naruto. A quick jab to the chest and a puff smoke made a "tch" fall out of his lips. Shadow clone.
He scanned the arena with his sharingan only to see Naruto on Naruto on Naruto that had spawned all over the playing field. Each clone had the same amount of chakra split in half (in this case 20ths), so it was impossible to tell them apart from the original.
After Sasuke had popped about five shadow clones, they began to attack. One came in hard to his left ribs, which he had been subtly nursing after receiving a blow from Temari there. Nothing broken, but definitely bruised, and it hurt like hell.
His breath was knocked out of him at the blow, loosening his posture and sending him slightly forward and hunched over. Another clone took advantage of this moment of weakness, coming from below with that annoying cheeky smile and an uppercut to his chin.
Sasuke bit his tongue, causing him to swallow blood. He had to get out of this or he'd be done for. A leg was flying towards his chest. With his red eyes blaring, he caught the leg by the ankle and threw it into nearby clones waiting to strike. They poofed out of existence with a faint "ah."
But the attacks didn't stop. One thing that Kakashi had taught Naruto, never give your opponent mercy. Never let them have time to recover. Get them down, and keep them there.
While the Uchiha admired his own handiwork killing the clones, he missed another clone sending an elbow between his shoulder blades. He coughed, sending the blood from his mouth flying. The civilians in the crowd gasped at the sight, although the blood was just from his tongue.
Sasuke was quick to lash out with his fireball technique as he spun in a 360 circle, taking out all the clones that touched his fire.
Now the fight was 4 on 1. Easy enough.
A few quick hand signs, and lightening crackled beneath his left hand, with his right supporting his wrist. "Chidori."
Kakashi's eye widened. "No."
"Sasuke, this is an original move I created. I call it 'Chidori.' You must never use this jutsu on a comrade. Never use this on a Konoha shinobi or citizen. Do you understand my order?"
"Yes, sensei."
Then why? Why? He was disobeying a direct order! Unless...
Kakashi turned ever so slightly to glance in Danzo-sama's direction. The satisfied smirk on the man's face was enough to tell him he had been overruled. Clearly the proctor had relied Danzo-sama's authorization for Sasuke's use of the Chidori against Naruto.
"Fuck."
Poof. Poof. Poof...
Sasuke's speed enhanced with the sharingan was no match for Naruto and his clones. He swiftly cut through the first three clones without missing a step. The original tried to dodge, and successfully avoided a blow through the heart, but still couldn't avoid it completely.
Sasuke's eyes showed nothing as he forced his lightening screaming hand through the bones of Naruto's right chest. The crunching sounds intermingled with the chirping and all went silent as Sasuke's bloody hand came out through Naruto's back.
The shock jolted through Naruto's body, causing him to involuntary seize around Sasuke's still hand. The movement only further aggravated the hole in his chest. Wide blue eyes searched Sasuke's face for anything, anything remotely human. No. Nothing. That's why- that's why he'll save-
Sasuke quickly pulled his hand back through Naruto's body and watched as the blue eyes rolled back closed and his body fell into a bloody heap onto the ground.
He stared. The Procter stared. Danzo-sama smiled. The crowd remained silent until the clapping from Danzo-sama and a "well done" broke them from their thoughts. They nervously cheered for the Uchiha's win.
Sasuke walked away from the body of his once best friend, no, teammate without a second thought. He was about to reach the steps to the balcony when a malicious raw evil chakra pushed him off balance.
He turned around to see Naruto engulfed in an orange blazing chakra. The skin had grown over the hole in his chest, and he was now standing? No, he was hunched, on all fours like an animal waiting to strike his prey. His hair grew spiky and his whiskers were dark and jagged. His nails grew to claws and his eyes were almost chilling enough to make Sasuke shudder. Blood red like his sharingan, but pupil slits so feral he could guess at the killing intent behind those eyes.
If Sasuke could feel, he would have certainly froze in fear. But he couldn't, and so he looked his teammate square in the eye and said, "You're not dead."
"I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!" Naruto screamed while his voice mixed in with the Kyuubi's.
Danzo-sama's smirk was gone, a growing frown plastered on his face.
Orochimaru left Danzo-sama's side, signally for the "extra" ANBU to take position.
Garaa felt the nine-tailed beast's chakra and his "mother" got excited. The one-tailed raccoon was ready to get into the action, feeling the bloodlust from his older brother.
Temari and Kankuro took several steps back when Garaa started acting strange, saw Orochimaru's signal, and cursed.
Kakashi saw that Naruto's cover was blown, but this was an opportunity, and started planning away.
And then everything went to hell.