* Review response:
Xtremo3000, Aaron Leach, god of all, Lycan91, xfighter4, Trooper0007, animelover88888888, EDelta88, Irishfighter, Elemental Dragon Swordman, dsvjr18, the blueberry king, drdeth2000, bumike99, Antimatterannihilation, Kwisatz Haderach, Libra'sAngel27, thank you!
Orange-Fuzz-Ball, for the next few chapters Sasuke will be a lot like he was in canon, but true, he will be a little more power hungry and all...
PhantomDeath, (!!! spoiler !!!) true, Kyuubi will be one hell of a *bad* horny girl. But even she understands that right now now Naruto is too young for THAT, so right now 'payment' is just a make out session. ^_^
RogueNya, unfortunately, Naruto will fight Neji in the finals - I need Neji to be good in the story and Naruto is the only one who can show him *right* way to live
bladerunner89, Naruto fought twice 'cause there were 21 genins in the preliminaries - someone had to fight twice. =)
the shadow overlord279, sorry, my bad to write pairings like THAT. main pairings will be: Yugito/ Naruto, Yugito/Naruto/Fuu, Naruto/Fuu/Deidara, Fuu/Deidara. Deidara is a guy like he is in canon!
Cre A. Tor00x, don't be. The only problem I have with such reviews - they still have no effect on my grammar, despite everything I try. And what makes me really angry is not the reviews I get, but the fact that there are stories with much worse grammar and NO ONE even leaves a single review about that there.
waterblade, are you review'ing THAT story? but, OK, the name Tamaki never appeared on manga pages, but (I suppose, as all reliable web site name her this way) it (name) was given in one of the databooks. And... nymph - nature deity appearing as a beautiful maiden (Mythology); beautiful young woman;
* Jutsu list:
Gyaku kuchiyose - (unknown rank) reverse summoning - acts in an opposite way to the normal summoning. Gyaku kuchiyose allows animal to summon human to its location. the only know species to perform this jutsu are toads.
Doton: iwate - (B-rank) Earth style: stone hands - ninjutsu I created. After performing needed handseals user will place his hands on the ground or concrete and it will form hard-to-destroy gauntlets around user's hands. Unfortunately, this jutsu constanty drains user's chakra, while it is active.
Doton: dai-dochuu bakuha - (B-rank) Earth style: grand underground explosion - another jutsu I created. The jutsu creates an explosion underground in certain zone. Used mostly to throw enemies into the air, where they have a lot les chances to evade next attack
Ookuya - (D-rank) Multiple arrows - one more jutsu I created. Shoots several spears from the gauntlet, formed by Doton: iwate jutsu
Fuuton: reppushou - (C-rank) Wind style: gale wind palm - strong gust of wind sent towards his target. When acting in conjunction with another thrown weapon, the wind can increase its power and deadliness.
Hakkeshou kaiten - (clan jutsu) Eight divination palms of the hand, Heavenly spin - If an attack is near, the clan member will release a large of amount of chakra from their tenketsu. The member then begins to spin like a top, creating a whirling vortex that can nullify almost any attack.
Hakke hasangeki - (clan jutsu) Eight divination signs, Destructive mountain fist - this is a taijutsu technique utilized by Hyuuga Neji. Extending chakra from his body, Neji will thrust his palm into his target. This will send out a wave of chakra that will knock his opponent backwards
Hageshii genko - (D-rank) Strong fist - just a strong punch with Doton: iwate -formed gauntlet. Another jutsu of my creation.
Fuuton: daitoppa - (C-rank) Wind style: great breakthrough - This jutsu creates a large blast of wind capable of leveling almost anything in its way.
Doton: yomi numa - (A-rank) Earth style: swamp of the underworld - This jutsu creates vast swamp. If someone happens to be where the swamp is created, he will sink and, if swamp is deep enough, may be killed.
Doton: kamiriyu no hitoya - (B-rank) Earth style: rising dragon prison - and yet another jutsu I created. This ninjutsu created a dragon head that captures and immobilizes target from below. Can be cut with chidori or raikiri, but other than this, it is almost unbreakable from inside.
Katon: goukakyuu - (C-rank) Fire style: great fireball - user exhales fire from his mouth.
Suna busin - (unknown rank) Sand clone - The clone functions like a normal solid Bunshin, except it is made out of sand.
Daisan no me - (unknown rank) The third eye - this is a Ninjutsu technique unique to the Sand ninja Gaara. Created out of sand, the Eye allows Gaara to view an opponent when he is either encased in his Suna no Muya or when he needs to be able to see his opponent's actions when he has no clear line of sight with his own eyes.
(Raiton) Chidori - (A-rank) (Lightning style) Thousand birds - this is an assasination jutsu utilizing lightning element, using which one can cut almost through anything. Due to the high speed of attack, the jutsu emits a sound like a thousand birds chirping which gave the technique its name. Because of the great amount of chakra needed to utilize the technique, the technique can only be used so many times during the day. Downside of this jutsu is that while user is attacking, he has troubles with dodging enemy's counterattack because of his tunnel vision. So this jutsu is most effective to kill immobilized opponent.
AN: This chapter finishes first quarter of the story (if you count by chapters), but the real plot hasn't started yet - it will, if I estimated correctly, in chapter 22-24; Yugito, if (again) my estimations are correct, will appear in chapter 13 (personally, not through message scrolls), but won't play active role in the plot until 22-24th chapter; Fuu will be there in the next chapter, but after that she won't appear for a long time (until 30th chapters, I think)
Disclaimer: still don't own 'Naruto' or any of it's characters...
"speaking"
'thinking'
"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus / Iruka's 'demon head' speaking"
'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'
Konoha's young sage
chapter 8: chuunin exams: finals
"Gyaku kuchiyose!" Fukasaku hit the ground with his paw and in a poof of smoke one Uzumaki Naruto appeared in the small clearing, located in the jungles not far from toad village at Mebokuzan mountain. For a moment blond was disoriented from the space-jump.
"Thank you, sensei." Young jinchuuriki said to elder sage toad. "What'll my training be for this time?"
"Oh... Straight to business, are we? Let's at least find more comfortable place for that." Naruto nodded. The two walked through the jungles towards sage training ground and toad oil fountain. When they finally were there, Fukasaku leaped on the rock there to be on one level with his ward and student. "Naruto-kun, we both know that you are rather strong for your age and that you are the youngest sage in the history of Meboku, but we both know that you still need to improve."
"That's true, sensei." Naruto said as he nodded in agreement with Fukasaku.
"And in these twenty five days we will mostly improve your body. Your normal body. I personally think that you rely on your sage mode too much and while it is not necessary a bad thing, you need time to activate it. And during this time you are more vulnerable than a civilian." Toad said. "During your month break we will train your body so that you won't need sage powers that much. But this will also give you another edge: the stronger your original body is, the stronger your sage body will be. But of course, we won't completely forget about your sage training, Naruto-kun."
"I understand, sensei." Young jinchuuriki said. Even if he didn't exactly liked what his sensei proposed, he knew that toad elder sage was right.
"Good. While it is still morning, today we won't have training. You need some time to get used to climate there once again, so you can relax today... Your room is still there, so don't worry about where you will live during your training. You may go now, Naruto-kun." Fukasaku said. "But no slacking off tomorrow!" He added then.
"Hai." Naruto replied.
***
It was twentieth day of one month brake before chuunin exams finals. Konohagakure no Sato was basking in the warm evening... One Tsuchi Kin of the Hidden Sound village was retuning to her room in the hotel, when she heard two men speaking behind the door; one of the two was her master Orochimaru-sama. Normally Kin would just pass by, but she heard her master saying name of one of her teammates and this picked girl's interest. She arguted her hearing to its limit and listened...
"...Yes, Orochimaru-sama, Dosu Kinuta is dead. He was foolish enough to challenge our trump card a fight and lost." The other man, her master's right hand said.
"That's a bad news to me. One of my precious sacrifices is now dead and useless..." Orochimaru replied. "But I still have two more. They should be enough for my plan to work. Konoha will fall no matter what..." Kin didn't listen further. Her gut feeling was telling her that she knew who were the other two sacrifices. And being shinobi of the Hidden Sound, she didn't value her team that much, especially with the way they treat her, so she just walked silenly back to the ladder and then she ran away. Outside the hotel, crazy idea entered her mind: the very same village that her master, ex-master, she quickly corrected herself, wanted to destroy may protect her. Of course, that meant that she would be betraying Hidden Sound, but right now she valued her own life more... So she headed for the Hokage tower. While running, she drew kunai from her holster and slashed a scratch across musical note sign on her hitae-ate...
Kin entered the Hokage tower, surprised that it is still open even this late in the evening. But as soon as she stepped through the doors, two ANBU warriors appeared by her side and blocked her way.
"Please, let me see Hokage-sama. I have very important information!" Girl almost cried.
"Business hours of Hokage-sama are over, please come back tomorrow to make an appointment." One of the masked warriors said emotionlessly. "Plus you are not Konohagakure shinobi, you'll need to pass through special procedures before you can see Hokage-sama."
"But... This is very important!.." Kin cried. ANBU turned her around and pushed out of the doors.
"Business hours are over. Come back tomorrow."
"Lion, Tiger, let her in. Someone who ran from Orochimaru may really have something important to tell. I'll listen to what Tsuchi Kin have to say." Aged Hokage said as he appeared in the lobby of the Hokage tower.
"Hokage-sama?" Both ANBU said in unison, surprised by Sarutobi's wish.
"But I suppose, you'll have to be there too, just in case." Sandaime added then.
"Yes, Hokage-sama!" Lion ANBU replied to his leader. Then he turned to Kin. "You may enter then. Please, give us all the weapons you carry." Ex-Sound kunoichi complied.
"So, what is the information you wanted to tell us?" Aged Hokage asked, again sitting behind his table in his office. Across the table there was Kin, sitting in the 'guest' chair. Two ANBU warriors from before were standing right behind her back.
"Orochimaru-sa... Orochimaru is planning something awful! He wants Konoha to fall!" Girl replied.
"Well this exactly is not a new information for us..." Sarutobi began.
"But this involves sacrificing humans lives!.. And it will happen soon!.." Kin cried. Then it hit her, what she did right now in front of the leader of the strongest ninja village in Elemtal countries. "...Please, forgive me my rudeness, Hokage-sama." Old man nodded.
"I understand your emotions. May I ask, do you know any details about what exactly Orochimaru is planning?" Hokage asked then.
"I was just genin under Orochimaru and had no access to this kind of information. The only other thing I know, I am one of the sacrifices. Those two genins that were my team are two other. And Orochimaru plans to act during finals." Kin replied. Sarutobi sighed, but nodded.
"While it doesn't provide us with a lot of information, this is still useful." Hokage looked and Kin and at her scratched forehead protector. "Unfortunately, I can't completely be sure that this is not a kind of trap set by Orochimaru or that you are telling us the truth, you'll have to see Ibiki-san tomorrow." Konoha's 'professor' saw how poor girl paled when he mentioned interrogation specialist. "Don't worry though. He will treat you as a potential ally, not as a captured enemy." Kin allowed herself to let out a sigh relief.
"I understand, Hokage-sama."
"I'm sorry, but this will be the only place for you to stay this night." Kin nodded. "Good." Aged Hokage turned his eyes to one of the ANBU. "Lion, please, escort this young lady to the room 404 at I&T department of ANBU." Lion laid his heavy hand on girls shoulder.
"Yes, Hokage-sama." And two of them disappeared via shunshin.
***
Three days before Konohagakure no Sato would hold finals of chuunin exams, early in the morning people in the village not far from 'Great Naruto bridge' saw big gray toad with someone, hidden by the morning mist, on its back approach the coast of the island. Toad leaped on the top of water surface past the village towards a bit isolated house where Tazuna the bridge builder and his family lived. The toad leaped around small forest and then emerged from the water at the beach just right in front of Tazuna's house. Man that up to now sat on the toad's back jumped onto the ground.
"Thank you, Gamaryo." Man said to the toad.
"You better be, Naruto." Gamaryo croaked back. "You know how much we don't like salty water."
"Yeah, I know. If you want, there is lake not far from here." Naruto replied.
"That'd be most helpful now... I suppose, I can go now." Toad croaked and, after blond jinchuuriki nodded to it, leaped away.
"To business now, I guess." Naruto muttered under his breath. Suddenly he felt something scaly touch his leg. Looking down, he saw brown lizard with a message scroll on its back. "Oh, Yugito-kun sent me a message? Let's see..." Naruto took the scroll and opened it. "I'm becoming famous." Young jinchuuriki mused aloud: Yugito was congratulating him on passing first two tests of chuunin exams. Naruto quickly composed the reply to his Kumo friend and gave it to the lizard. Reptile nodded and ran away. "OK..." Sighing, Naruto walked to the door of Tazuna's house and knocked on the door, hoping that someone was awake. He hears swearing from that side of the door. Yeah, someone was awake.
"...wants something this fuc..." Bridge builder opened the door and stopped in the middle of the sentence. "Oh, Naruto-kun, you decided to pay us a visit?"
"Yeah, something like this." Young jinchuuriki replied. "Can I come in?" Old man nodded.
"Of course. Do you want something to eat? Tsunami-chan should be finishing the breakfast by now." He said. Naruto shook his head.
"No, thank you. But I'd like to have some tea."
"OK, I go tell Tsunami-chan to make some for you." Tazuna said, before walking to the kitchen. Naruto entered the house. And he could already see Nami no Kuni returning to prosperity in this house, even if it wasn't much time since Gato's death...
"Oh, Naruto-kun, good morning." Tsunami peeped out of the kitchen. "What brings you here?"
"Morning..." Blond shinobi entered the kitchen and sat in the empty chair there. "Sorry, but can I trust your hospitality for some more time?" He asked.
"But, Naruto-kun, you are the hero of the Wave! Of course you can!" Tazuna exclaimed.
"Thank you. I just have a feeling that something awful will happen soon in Konoha and old sage, the seer, from Meboku mountain had a similar vision. I wanted to set a beacon seal here, in the Wave, just in case I or my friend will need to escape from Leaf. Can I do this? Just for one person." Naruto explained his reason for coming to the Nami no Kuni. Well, the other reason then to see, how the country was doing after being freed by his team not a long time ago... "Plus I wanted to see how you all are doing."
"Thank you, Naruto-kun, after Gato's death our country is prospering once again." Bridge builder replied. "Where do you want to place your seal?"
"I saw a good rock not far from you house on the beach. I think, that will be the place." Tazuna nodded.
"Then I see no problem, go ahead." Blond jinchuuriki stood up and bowed.
"Thank you."
Sun was setting down when Naruto finally finished drawing and readying the transportation beacon seal and protective seal over it, so that the main seal won't be damaged by rains or anything like that. Blond shinobi looked over his work to make sure he did no mistakes.
"I finally did this." He said to himself with a sigh... It was already late in the evening, so he decided to spend the night here. But he didn't want to cause any problems to Tazuna's family, so he opted for sleeping under the stars. And a really good place to spend night at just popped into his mind. So young jinchuuriki walked to the hill where graves of Zabuza and Haku were. The graves themselves were the Kubikiri Houchou in stone crust for the swordsman and three stone crossed 'senbons' with stone garland lying on them where they connected. Naruto bowed to both graves and then summoned sleeping bag from one of his scrolls. "Zabuza, Haku, goodnight."
***
Naruto jumped down onto the road from the trees. Gates of Konohagakure no Sato were not even three hundred meters from him. After dusting himself from the long run, he clamly walked towards gates guards' booth.
"Halt! State your name and business in Konoha." Izumo called, following the protocol.
"Naruto Uzumaki, genin of Konohagakure no Sato, returning from training outside village walls." Chuunin laughed.
"Good. You can pass, Naruto-kun." Blond jinchuuriki nodded and walked into the village. "Oh, wait!" Izumo suddenly called. "Hokage-sama wanted to see you as soon as you return to the village. He said, it is something very important." Naruto nodded.
"Thank you." Then he jumped to the rooftops and ran towards Hokage tower. Soon, Blond shinobi entered Sarutobi's office through the window: Naruto knew for sure that old man had no visitors at this time and would be glad for some distraction from that 'damned paperwork'...
"Oh, Naruto-kun, I take it that Izumo passed my message to you." Sandaime Hokage said from behind of paper piles as young jinchuuriki entered his office.
"True. So, old man, what is that important thing you wanted to talk with me about?" Blond asked. Hokage sighed and moved pile of documents aside.
"Well, Naruto-kun, while you were training with Fukasaku-dono, several important things happened here, one of them being ex-sound ninja asking for a refugee..." Blond jinchuuriki looked at old man curiously. "You know her, Tsuchi Kin, ex-genin of Otogakure no Sato. The reason she is the runaway ninja right now is that she overheard Orochimaru's plans. I won't go into the details as they are mostly not the for a genin's ears... Anyway, Orochimaru plans to attack Konoha some time during the finals of chuunin exams. What I want you is to house Kin until I can find a better place for her."
"But I live the unsecured apartment house!" Almost yelled Naruto.
"Exactly." Hokage said. "This would be the last place one would look for something really important. If you know that your enemy has something extremely important you need to retrieve, where would you look for it in the first place? Of course at the places that you think are the most secure." Naruto nodded, now understanding old man's logic.
"I see. So it's in a way like hiding something in the plain sight." He mused. Sarutobi nodded.
"Yeah, in a way. So, what do you think about the plan?" Young jinchuuriki smiled.
"Not like I have many choices. Let's go with it." Hokage nodded again and called single ANBU with a flash of chakra.
"What do you want, Hokage-sama?" Badger-masked ANBU asked.
"Can you bring Tsuchi Kin from room 108 at T&I department of ANBU here?" Old man said.
"Right away." And with a small bow ANBU left the office in the whirl of wind and leaves. Just a little more than a minute later Badger returned via shunshin with Kin. Girl change a lot since Naruto saw her last time: her knee-long hair were now made into single braid; instead of ninja gear she was wearing simple black T-shirt and blue skirt. Kin was carrying a bag with, as Naruto assumed, her personal belongings.
"Good evening, Hokage-sama, Uzumaki-san." Girl said almost emotionlessly.
"Evening, Kin-kun." Old man greeted in return. Then he turned to the ANBU in the room. "You are dismissed, Badger." Man nodded and left Hokage's office. Sarutobi turned his attention back to Kin. "I asked to bring you here because you are finally moving into your temporary housing. You will be living with Naruto-kun over there until Orochiaru is dealt with. Do you have any objections?" Old man asked. Kin shook her head.
"No, Hokage-sama."
"Then you two are dismissed... Oh, just a piece of advise, Kin-kun. No matter how much you do want to see the finals, please, stay indoors. We don't want Orochimaru hunting you down, do we?" Girl nodded again.
"Hai, Hokage-sama." Sarutobi nodded and turned to Naruto.
"Would you mind showing Kin-kun where you live?" Blond jinchuuriki nodded.
"Follow me, Kin-chan." He said to the girl and started walking out of the office. Kin flushed pink from the friendly way he addressed to her and followed him.
"Yes, Uzumaki-san." Naruto gave her a smile.
"You don't have to call me like that. Naruto or Naruto-kun are OK."
***
It was ten in the morning, two hours until finals of the chuunin exams start. And one Uzumaki Naruto was walking to the stadium at a leisure pace. And why wouldn't he: the morning was great and he wanted to enjoy it for as long as he could. After all soon he will have to go through brutal fights with other exam participants and, if old man Hokage was right, forces of snake-sannin Orochimaru as well. Plus he was now living together with Kin and to tell the truth, they didn't trust each other that much, which made it not that easy to get along...
'Number seven... They are here.' Young jinchuuriki suddenly heard Kyuubi talking to him.
'huh?' He concentrated a bit and felt that too. Fuu and Shichibi were somewhere not far from him. 'Yeah, you're right, Kyuubi-chan, they're here.' Blond replied with his thoughts. Suddenly he felt a fast movement behind his back. Naruto spun around only to...
"There you are, Naru-kun." ...Only find himself in a friendly hug from tanned kunoichi of the Hidden Waterfall. Well, because Naruto was still shifting into fighting stance, hug went a bit past 'friendly' as blond's head found its place at the crook of Fuu's neck, one of his palms landed on her waist and their chests were pressed together. "Aren't you a little young for this, Naru-kun?" Teal-haired girl whispered in his ear, trying with all her might to suppress her blush and to sound even one bit serious.
"Wha?!" Naruto immediately jumped back, blushing crimson. He, being rather cognizant about what boy and girl can do together - Jiraya, Kakashi and Kyuubi-chan to blame, of course, knew what she was implying... But he also understood that Fuu was joking. "Don't sneak at me from behind like that!" Girl pouted.
"And not even one 'Hello'?" She smiled then. "Well, it's really my fault, I guess."
"You came to the Konoha to see the finals?" Naruto asked her. "Oh, and nice to see you again." He added then with a smile.
"Yeah." Fuu replied. Then her face darkened as she continued. "Try to fight your best: I don't want the money I paid for the ticket to be wasted." Blond shinobi gulped and nodded.
"I plan on winning the tournament!" He exclaimed.
"That's good to hear." Fuu smiled friendly. "I knew I could rely on you." She then looked up at the sun. "We still have about hour and fifty minutes before your exam starts. Why don't you show me around the Konoha then? I have never been here before." Naruto nodded.
"Really, why not? Let's go, then, Fuu-kun."
***
Midday... Seven genins were standing in the middle of he arena of the Konohagakure no Sato stadium, ready to show everyone gathered there what they can do. The proctor of the third test of chuunin exams, Shiranui Genma shunshin'ed in front of them, facing tribunes.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the final battles of chuunin selection exam that are held here, in Konohagakure no Sato, this year." Jounin announced with jutsu-amplified voice. "Before we start, I'd like to make an important announcement. As Dosu Kinuta from Hidden Sound village was found dead several days ago, there are some changes in the fights. The first match will be between Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji, both from Hidden Leaf. It will be followed by the fight between Uchiha Sasuke of the Konohagakure no Sato and Sabaku no Gaara of the Sunagakure no Sato. Third match will be between Sabaku no Kankuro from Hidden Sand and Inuzuka Kiba from Hidden Leaf. The final fight of the first round will be between Nara Shikamaru of the Konohagakure no Sato and Sabaku no Temari of the Sunagakure no Sato." Genma said.
"Hey, loser, where is Uchiha prick anyway?" Kiba asked Naruto. Blond jinchuuriki looked at him with unreadable expression on his face for several seconds before replying.
"Like I know, Dog-breath." Kiba glared at him.
"Make sure to defeat Hyuuga, so that I will be able to crush you personally, loser." Naruto said nothing.
"Now, everyone, please, listen." Genma addressed to genins. "The arena may be different, but the rules are the same as in prelims: there are none. The fights will go on until one of you dies, acknowledges defeat or I stop the match. Is that clear?" All seven genins nodded. "Now, the first fight, Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji, those two stay here; the rest of you go to the waiting room." As five participants of the exam walked away, Neji looked at his opponent.
"You want to say me something, don't you, Uzumaki?" He asked.
"Like I said during preliminaries, you're going to pay for your cruelty to Hinata." Jounin again performed the jutsu to amplify his voice.
"The first match between Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji will start now. Hajime!" He announced and then shunshin'ed to the border of the arena.
"I'd like to see how you will make me 'pay'. From what I observed, you have just chuunin-level taijutsu, two types of useless clones and that weird shuriken of yours. You can't possible win against me with that." Neji said confidently.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but my specialization is ninjutsu." Naruto replied and Hyuuga genius suddenly was not that confident in his easy victory... But the fate was saying that he will win, so he didn't let it bother him.
"I have heard a lot about Hyuuga clan and this genin is certainly a promising one, but I never heard about anyone named 'Uzumaki Naruto', Hokage-dono." Man in white and blue Kazekage robes, complete with hat and white facial mask, covering most of his face, asked.
"Oh, this is rookie genin, who returned to Konoha just a little more than a year ago. No wonder you never heard anything about him, Kazekage-dono." Sarutobi replied. "You should watch this fight carefully: this boy may surprise you." 'Are you Orochimaru in disguise, Kazekage? You aren't exactly the way I remember you. I must stay on alert...' Hokage sighed. 'I wish I were decade or two younger... I'm getting too old for this job...'
"I will, Hokage-dono. After all, for me this boy is an unknown quantity."
"Fate has decided that I will win this match. Forfeit if you don't want to be hurt, Uzumaki." Neji said, still confident in his victory.
"Let me tell you one thing. I spent eleven year living next door with the seer and learnt one important thing: the only fate everyone does share nor can run away for eternity is death. The rest depends on one's own actions." Naruto said. "And I also don't feel like giving up. We will fight!"
"So be it. Come at me with all you have and see that your fate is to lose to me." Hyuuga boy replied, getting into his juuken stance and activating byakugan.
"As you wish." Naruto replied, sitting on his hunkers and placing his palms on the ground. "This is the jutsu friend of mine taught me not a long ago. Doton: Iwate [Earth style: Stone Hands]" Rocks, sand, soil and dust enveloped his hands up to the elbows and then melted into rock-hard gauntlet with big claws on fingertips... Somewhere on the tribunes Fuu smiled: Naruto had the jutsu she showed him on a good level already... Neji looked at the blond jinchuuriki skeptically.
"Even after seeing firsthand what my taijutsu can do, you still want a close-ranged fight?"
"You'll see." Naruto replied, forming a sequence of handseals. "Doton: dai-dochuu bakuha!" He slammed his hands onto the ground and entire arena shook, good part of it turned into barely passable for normal human rocky wasteland. Neji was thrown into the air by the jutsu.
"And how are you going to 'make me pay' if hadn't even tried to attack me yet?" Hyuuga genius asked.
"You want to know? So be it." Naruto replied with a smirk, pointing his left hand at him. "Ookuya!" About half a dozen stone needles were shot at Neji. "Fuuton: reppushou!" Blond thrust his right hand forward, sending wind jutsu to both directly attack Neji and speed up stone arrows. Seeing this combo actually made Neji less sure in his easy victory: he really underestimated his opponent. But the fate was still on his side, he thought, so he had nothing to worry about.
"Hakkeshou kaiten!" Neji spun around, expelling chakra from his body and creating a shield around himself, deflecting both attacks, even if barely. "That was a good combo, Uzumaki." Hyuuga boy commented when he landed on his feet. "But not good enough to even wound me." And then Neji darted towards Naruto. "Hakke hasangeki!" He delivered chakra hit to the blond jinchuuriki's stomach.
"Hageshii genko!" Naruto called at the same time, thrusing his fist into his opponent's upper chest. As the result of this, they both were sent flying in the opposite directions... Naruto, thanks to his unparalleled stamina and helpful demoness sealed in him, was the first one to stand up. "This is damn painful attack." He mused aloud. His stone gauntlets were destroyed as he did lost the focus needed to keep them, so he summoned a packs of shurikens from the seals near his wrists...
"Oh shit!" Neji was lucky to be ready to fight before shurikens pinned him to the ground and made him unable to move. "Hakkeshou kaiten!" He deflected projectiles, leaving a circular hole in the ground. Oh, how he regretted performing this jutsu with at least seven of his ribs broken. But he had to show his opponent that if fate said he, Neji Hyuuga, will win the match, than he will no matter what...
"Tell you what, Neji, Hyuuga clan branch family aren't the only people in the world that have accursed seals. I may not know much, but there are at least eight, or nine, if Yondaime Mizukage is still alive, that had it in one way or another worse than you." Naruto said, reading himself to continue fighting.
"What do you know?!" Neji yelled angrily.
"Believe me, I know. We, eight or nine, all know. We may have it different: some are loathed, other looked at like they are nothing more than a soulless war machines in peoples' eyes." ...Somewhere on the tribunes certain teal-haired kunoichi shivered from the truth in Naruto's words; right now it may become better for her, but in the beginning... "Or some have to constantly fight for every bit of their sanity." Now Neji was looking at Naruto with slight interest. "Before you ask me, where do I know all this from, let me show you." Blond jinchuuriki lifted his jacket and T-shirt, showing his stomach to Neji. Then he channeled some chakra and one very complex seal appeared there. "What I wanted to say is that despite what was thrown at us, we fight against it to be what real us can be..." Naruto fixed his clothes back and got into toad taijutsu stance. "...You, on the other hand, are going adrift with all the crap that life give you, saying that this is your fate. Do you understand me?" Judging by the face of Hyuuga genius, which was showing great mental work, Neji understood. "But we still have a fight to do, don't we?"
"Yes we do." White-eyed boy replied before darting towards is opponents. This time Naruto, knowing how much damage Hyuuga's hit can deal, opted for catching both Neji's hands. But he still did the very same mistake Neji did in the beginning of the fight: he underestimated his opponent, which resulted in him being kneed to his stomach. While the hit was strong, it was nowhere strong enough to give Neji significant advantage in the fight: Naruto was back on his feet and ready to fight before Hyuuga genius could attack him again.
"And here I thought that juuken users don't attack with their legs..." Naruto muttered under his breath. Still, Neji heard him.
"As you said, one should fight against what life throws at him. So if you thought that I can attack you with my hands only, than I just have to use something else to gain upper hand in the fight." Neji said with a smirk.
"Good, looks like you are finally using your head in a right direction." Blond jinchuuriki replied with a smile. "Now, let see for real, who of us two is stronger." Hyuuga nodded.
"Fuuton: daitoppa!" Naruto fired his attack from almost point blank.
"Hakkeshou kaiten!" Neji again protected himself with his family jutsu. Both of them were send skidding back from the backlash of the jutsu colliding. Hyuuga boy threw three shuriken at his opponent, but Naruto easily evaded them, flashing through handseals for his next jutsu at the same time.
"Doton: yomi numa!" As blond jinchuuriki slammed his hands onto the ground, part of the arena turned into muddy swamp with stones and one caught off guard Neji Hyuuga sinking in it. Dark-haired boy pushed a lot of chakra into his feet to free himself from the swamp. "Hageshii genko!" The fact that he was trying to free himself, however, didn't mean that Naruto would wait until he is done to attack again. As Neji, that was sent flying into the rock, blond shinobi canceled his 'Swamp of the Underworld' jutsu and started running through handseals for another. "Doton: kamiriyu no hitoya!" As soon as Naruto finished his jutsu, Neji found himself caught and completely immobilized by the jaws of stone dragon head. He tried to destroy the stone by expelling his chakra, but failed as the dragon was powered by Naruto's chakra and seemed to be indestructible for him. After waiting for thirty seconds, Genma appeared in front of Naruto and Neji.
"As Hyuuga Neji is unable to continue fighting, winner of the first match is Uzumaki Naruto." Senbon-chewing jounin announced and tribunes exploded into applause. Naruto released both 'Doton: Kamiriyu no Hitoya' and 'Doton: Iwate' and walked up to Hyuuga boy.
"You should go see the doctor. I certainly did quiet a damage on you, especially your ribs." Neji nodded, fully agreeing with the blond. "Do you need my help?"
"I can walk on my own." Was Neji's reply. 'Now I can finally understand what you meant, Uzumaki. I hated not what I had a reason to hate, but the one who was just closest to me. I'm sorry, Hinata-sama. I will try to make it up for you for what I did.'
"As you wish." Blond jinchuuriki said back and then started walking towards the waiting rooms. "And to think, I used almost half of my chakra in this fight. I need to be a lot more economic..." he mused aloud.
"Hokage-sama, Sasuke Uchiha hadn't shown up yet. Should we declare a technical defeat for him?" Asked a chuunin as he shunishin'ed into Kage booth.
"I think this would be..." Sarutobi began, but was interrupted by Kazekage's cough.
"Hokage-dono, I want to ask you a personal favor. I, like many other people here are to see the fight of the last Uchiha, so I don't think it would be wise to kick him out of the tournament right now. Please, postpone the match." Leader of the Hidden Sand said. Sandaime Hokage sighed tiredly.
"Though this goes again the exam rule 'everyone is equal', I think you are right, Kazekage-dono. We should postpone this match. But if Sasuke Uchiha doesn't show up when the first round of fights is over, he will get technical defeat." Old man said.
"I think this would be fair, Hokage-dono." Kazekage said with a nod. Hokage turned to the chuunin.
"Tell Genma-san that match of Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Gaara is postponed." Chuunin nodded and left the Kage booth in swirl of wind and leaves.
"Since the match between Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Gaara is postponed, the next match will be between Sabaku no Kankuro and Inuzuka Kiba." Genma announced. "Will these two come down to the arena?" He asked. Then he heard Suna-nin shouting.
"Proctor, I forfeit." Whistles, hootings and shoutings were heard from the tribunes.
"As Sabaku no Kankuro forfeited, winner of the match is Inuzuka Kiba. Next match will be between Sabaku no Temari and Nara Shikamaru. Will these two come down?" Genma announced.
Temari readily walked down, but Shikamaru seemed to be too lazy.
"What a drag... Maybe I too should forfeit?" Nara boy mused aloud, leaning onto the railing. Too bad for him, Naruto was near...
"Oh, Shikamaru, be a man! Don't run away!" Blond jinchuuriki said palming lazy boy to his shoulder. Somehow, this was enough for Shikamaru to lose his balance and fall into the arena.
"Damn Naruto... Troublesome blonds..." He muttered under his breath as he stood up from his fall.
"Finally decided to come here and fight me, pineapple-head?" Sand kunoichi asked mockingly.
"As troublesome as it is, it seems that I'll have to fight you..." Shikamaru said.
"Are you two ready?" Genma asked. Both genins nodded. "Hajime!" And then he shunshin'ed to the border of the arena. Temari immediately drew her fan from her back and opened it. Remembering what she could do with this thing, lazy genius immediately hid behind one of the rocks that were still there after Naruto's match. For next fifteen on so minutes Temari was trying to find her opponent by destroying rock after rock with wind jutsus. Finally, it seemed that Shikamaru had enough and decided to counterattack. He used his family jutsu and tried to catch Temari with his shadow, but Suna kunoichi just stayed out of his range, Or she thought so.
"What the fuck?!" She curse as her body suddenly became paralyzed, even though shadow in front of her couldn't reach her.
"Kage Mane, success." Shikamaru said as he stood up from one knee. "Let me show you." He turned his head like he wanted to see what was behind him, Temari mirrored his actions. And she saw shadow, coming from behind.
"How?" She asked. Nara boy sighed: it was just too troublesome to explain this.
"Simple. As you had already known, my family has control over shadows. That means I can morph my shadow anyway I want, including splitting it in two separate 'streams'... Troublesome..." Shikamaru walked forward and Temari, mirroring him, walked towards him. Genma shunshin'ed between them, ready to end this match. Lazy genius raised his hand, his opponent doing the same.
"I, Nara Shikamaru,.. forfeit."
"WHAT?!" Temari shouted. "Why?"
"I almost ran out of chakra fighting you... I have... dunno... enough to hold the jutsu for twenty seconds at most now... Yes, it was the real fight, you'd be defeated and, maybe, killed by now. But this is exam and I just have to show how I can fight. Plus one match is troublesome enough for me." Shikamaru said, releasing his shadow jutsu. Proctor sighed.
"As Nara Shikamaru forfeited, winner of the match is Sabaku no Temari."
Like before, chuunin of the Hidden Leaf shunshin'ed into the Kage booth.
"Hokage-sama, Uchiha Sasuke hadn't shown up yet. Should we count this as his technical defeat?" He asked.
"I think we..." Old man Hokage started, but again was somewhat interrupted by Kazekage.
"Can we give him some more time, Hokage-dono? I'm positive, people wouldn't be happy if the last Uchiha, whose match against ...my son they came to see, will be just disqualified." Wind Shadow said. Sarutobi sighed.
"All right, I will give him five more minutes. But if he doesn't show up during this time, he will be disqualified; he already receives too much of special treatment, Kazekage-dono."
"Five minutes it is then, Hokage-dono." Old man nodded.
"Tell Genma-san that Sasuke's match was postponed by five minutes." He said to the chuunin, who bowed and left the booth via shunshin.
Genma glanced at his clock. Ten more seconds. Seven... Suddenly a whirl of wind and leaves appeared in the middle of the arena and moment later Kakashi stepped out of it, accompanied by the one and only Sasuke Uchiha.
"Are we late?" Silver-haired jounin asked casually. Genma only sighed: no wonder Sasuke was late if was with this man.
"No, not yet. You had six more seconds..."
"Good." Kakashi said and then looked at young Uchiha. "I'll leave you now. Show Gaara what you learned in this month." Sasuke only made 'Hn' sound as his sensei left the arena via shunshin.
"As Uchiha Sasuke arrived, we will now continue with the postponed match." Genma announced with jutsu-enhanced voice. "Will Sabaku no Gaara come to the arena?" Moments later Suna-nin appeared near the proctor in a swirl of sand.
"Mother wants your blood, Uchiha." He hissed.
"Your 'mother' will only taste your own blood today." Sasuke said confidently.
"Are you two ready?" Genma asked. Uchiha boy nodded and activated his Sharingan while Gaara remover the cork from his gourd and smiled maniacally. "Hajime!" Senbon-chewing jounin said and then shunshin'ed to the border of the arena. Sasuke immediately jumped back and threw four shuriken at his opponent, trying his defense. Gaara's sand, of course, rose to protect its master, stopping all projectiles.
"Katon: goukakyuu!" Sasuke called, launching big fireball at Gaara. But Suna-nin's sand again acted as a shield, protecting Ichibi jinchuuriki from being harmed. But this was all dark-haired boy needed. He dashed with incredible speed around Gaara to where there was no sand shield and did roundhouse kick on his red-haired opponent, succeeding in penetrating sand shield that rose to stop him, but failing to do more than sending Gaara on the ground and creating crack on his sand armor. Suna ninja thrust his hand forward and sand, obeying his wish, wrapped itself around Sasuke's leg. Deciding that this prey was too interesting to fight against to kill it right away, Gaara's sand just threw Uchiha across arena.
"Suna bunshin!" Suna-nin summoned single sand clone and sent it to 'play' with Sasuke, who already regained his footing and was ready to counterattack. Using his advantage in speed, young Uchiha ran towards real Gaara, performing handseals for 'Katon: Gouryuuka' jutsu. Deciding, that his current defense wasn't good enough to let him go through the jutsu of this level unharmed, jinchuuriki of one-tailed demon started creating a dome of sand around himself. "Daisan no me!" He called, creating an sand eye outside his dome.
"Shit!" Sasuke hissed from pain as his fist connected with the sand dome. Who could have thought that sand can be as hard as granite? "Oh, fuck!" Only his Sharingan saved him from being impaled by the spikes that protruded out of the Gaara's dome. Sasuke ran around the dome, trying to find any weakness in it with his eyes, but found none. "Looks like the time to use this jutsu came..." Uchiha boy muttered under his breath. He ran to the wall of the stadium and up to the top of it. There he concentrated to gather needed chakra and then did three handseals. "Chidori!" He called as lightning lit up in his left hand. As soon as jutsu reached its peak power, Sasuke ran towards Gaara's dome faster that anyone ever saw him, leaving a trench, created by chidori, after him. As he came near the dome, sand spikes again tried to impale him, but he dodged them all and finally thrust his jutsu into the dome, successfully penetrating Gaara's ultimate defense and managing to wound Suna ninja. There was blood-freezing yowl coming from inside the dome... Fearing whatever was inside sand semi-sphere, Sasuke tried to pull his hand out, but found out that sand was holding it. Uchiha reactivated chidori and freed himself, immediately forced to jump back as far as possible to dodge enormous sand-gray monsterhand coming from inside the sphere, that tried to catch him. As it failed to do so, it retracted back into the dome, which shattered and fell apart, revealing completely crazy Gaara, thankfully barely standing, with deep wound on his left shoulder.
'Time to start our little show.' Certain snake sannin thought, giving soundless the signal to Sound as well as Sand forces to start the invasion. Smoke grenade exploded in the Kage booth and at the same time everyone on the tribunes saw white feathers falling, forcing them to fell asleep. Though most if not all shinobi were able to break the illusion, this took some time from them and gave attacking forces small advantage...
...Seeing their brother and the ace of the operation hurt, Temari and Kankuro jumped down onto the ground of the arena and ran towards Gaara. No one even attempted to stop them as everyone down there was already busy fighting.
"We should take him away from here for some time. He needs to regain his strength to be useful." Suna kunoichi said and puppeteer nodded, picking Gaara up and placing him on his shoulder. Then trio of sand siblings dashed away from the stadium...
Read and Review!!!
AN: I have some troubles at university, so for the time being there will be no updates. Though I'll try to finish third chapter for "Pyro" ASAP.