I wanna start by saying that I will indeed be skipping over many of the preliminary battles, as I plan for them to generally follow the Canon. I'll just be doing Naruko's fight really, as I generally get writer's block over battles and I don't want to keep you guys waiting longer. Just for the people who haven't read my stories before, writing fighting scenes isn't exactly my fortay, and I'm surprised I was even able to write the one about Naruko and Kiba earlier in this story so well. I'm just not good at them. Sorry, I guess.
For the people who have been waiting for updates, I'm extremely sorry. I've had a crazy freshman year, and in the past couple of weeks, I've had MCAS, 6 projects, my birthday, birthday party, I went camping, father's day, and Finals are this week for me, so I haven't had anytime to myself. I will be updating MUCH more regularly now that it is summer. I hope you all enjoy!
~narutoobsessedgurl
The battles seem to last forever to Naruko, as all she wants is for her turn to be next. Alas, it is always one of those Leaf ninja who gets called up before her. The obnoxious ticking of the clock taunts her as more and more battle go by, people she doesn't care about losing and other people she doesn't care about winning. The only thing that is rather interesting is that two of the cousins from the Hyuga family are pitted against each other, and the boy holds a grudge on the girl and wounds her badly.
Matsuki is called up about halfway through the fights and is pitted against a weapons mistress. She ends up winning, using some of her newly learned wind jutsu to knock away the weapons and beat the Leaf girl.
Naruko is staring at the screen, her eyes glazed over as the names roll through once again. It's not like it's going to be her, after all, it's been this long without her getting picked!
She feels a nudge and looks to Gaara who nods to the screen. She refocuses her eyes and is surprised and shocked at the pairing.
Naruko Hatake
vs.
Kiba Inuzuka
She stands all the way up and hears the boy cheer from across the arena.
"Yes! Time to get my sweet, sweet revenge!" He jumps down and lands in the main battle area, smirking up at her. "Don't think you'll win twice in a row sweetheart!"
Naruko glares at him. "You'll regret that comment when you end up in the ICU!" She says, and then jumps down into the arena herself.
She takes in a deep breath as she walks forward to shake his hand. Despite her smug comment, she's not so sure how she'll do. He nearly did beat her last time after all. What if she messes up the plan for the war? Her whole team is supposed to be in the finals, and she can't be the reason that that doesn't happen.
They jump back as the proctor yells for a start, and Naruko immediately slips her sword out of its sheath. She watches as Kiba throws that mutt of his a soldier pill, and the dog turns red.
"Akamaru!" He calls out, and the little dog arfs and jumps on top of him. "Man Beast Clone!"
They both look the same now and Naruko's eyes widen. These clans in Konoha certainly do have tricks up their sleeves.
They both run at her faster than she expected, and it's just enough time for her to flip over them. They skid to a stop and turn around quickly, running back towards her.
She's not fast enough this time, and is hit square in the chest by Kiba. She flies back a few yards, but gets up quickly, and starts to think up a quick strategy.
'It seems as if they both have the attributes of dogs while having the body of a human. That means they would rely on their sight, smell, and hearing the most, and generally don't try to think up strategies and just plain attack on instincts. If I'm able to knock out their senses, I might have a shot at winning quickly!' She thinks.
This time, when they run at her, she jumps into the air in a split, letting them pass under her. But as they do this, she swipes her sword through the ground, kicking up pieces of the ground and creating dust. Naruko lands behind them and runs straight towards the wall, jumping on it and sticking to it with her feet.
The two clones both growled and clawed at their eyes, that were clearly bothered by the kick of dust.
'Sight, check.' Naruko thought. 'Now what will I do to impair their smell?'
As the two clones yelled loudly, they charged at her. They spun around quickly. "Fang over Fang!"
She dodged as best as she could, and tried to think of something to bother their enhanced noses. But what could she do? She didn't carry around scented smoke bombs or poison or anything! What could make a bad smell?
Her eyes widened and her head snapped up. 'That's it!'
Naruko lifted a hand to her tight bun as she ran around, and with one quick yank, let it fall freely to her waist. Sure, she would definitely miss her luscious, long hair. But she was a shinobi. You did what you had to do to win a fight.
She swiped out her sword and held her long, red hair in one hand, before chopping it off to just past her shoulders. She heard gasps from the stands, but she couldn't think about them now. She had to focus on this fight.
She dropped her hair to the ground and let her Sabre crackle with lightning chakra, before she held it to her hair. The hair quickly singed, letting out the smell of burned hair right into the noses of the charging Kiba and Akamaru.
They both stopped and held their noses, falling onto the ground at the intense, horrible smell. Naruko pulled her sword out of the hair and sheathed it as the clones stood up.
Time for the last sense: Hearing.
She closed her eyes, held out her hand, and braced it for a technique her father had taught her just a week before she left – just in case she needed an Ace in the Hole. She gathered her pure, lightning chakra in her hand and felt power as it crackled and sizzled loudly in her hand.
It sounded as if a thousand chirping birds had filled the arena, and the clones both gripped their heads, their senses overwhelmed. She opened her eyes, letting the blue orbs shine brightly against the white light of her technique.
In the stands, most of the people stare in awe, but one man who wears a green jumpsuit and orange leg and arm warmers would know that move in his sleep. His eyes bulge and he thinks 'Wait a minute! That move! That's-'
"Chidori!" She yelled, and she felt her bloodline activate, letting her run faster than lightning.
She slammed her hand straight into the clone that was on the right, and she heard a yelp of pain as the clone poofed away and the small dog was left in place.
He flew across the arena, his skin and fur singed and his whole body shaken with tremors from the chakra. He hit the ground and flipped over time after time until he came to a stop.
Naruko stood in the same space, breathing heavily as her hand twitched due to the burn from the pure chakra. She let her hand drop to her side as Kiba ran straight over to Akamaru, letting the jutsu drop as he checked on the poor dog.
She felt rather bad, as it was simply an dog, but she really didn't know which was which, so how could she have known she was hitting the dog? Besides, it was what she needed to do.
Kiba looked up with anger burning in his eyes. "You bitch!" He yelled. "Do you see how badly you hurt Akamaru! He could die! My best friend!"
"You should have thought of the risks to him before entering battle." Naruko says in a plain voice, forcing herself into the classic Suna nonchalance. "You were the one that let this happen to him. Besides, battle is battle. You came at me with your all, so I came at you with mine."
"You cold-hearted Suna bitch!" Kiba screamed out, before running at her. "Fang over Fang!"
He charged at her, and due to his anger clouding his judgment and fighting, he could not land a hit, as he did not try to track her movements or form a plan.
At one point, he jumped at her as she was standing on the wall, and Naruko simply pushed off the wall, flipped over in midair, and slammed her foot down of the top of his head.
Kiba slammed face-first into the ground, and coughed up blood as Naruko landed, her back to him.
"If you're not ready to watch loved ones get hurt, you're not ready for the shinobi world." Naruko finished off, but she could feel her own heart go out to him as she thought of having to see someone like Matsuki or her sensei die. Or god forbid Gaara or her family.
"Winner! Naruko Hatake!" The proctor called out.
As Naruko walked back up to the stands, some of Kiba's teammates had come down to check on him. She felt the pink fangirl's eyes on her and heard her say:
"Those Sand kids are ruthless. I'm glad I didn't have to fight one of them."
After all the fights have concluded, the winners of the matches stand in front of the proctor. The Hokage explains that there will be a one month waiting period before the finals, to allow foreigners to show up to watch the matches and also to allow the participants to come up with new strategies and techniques. He explains what the Chunin Exams are truly for and why they chose that way to help avoid wars, and then, he explains all will be picking out numbers to determine the matches.
"Please read out your number." Hayate says, then coughs.
"1." Gaara says.
"2." Sasuke claims.
"3!" Naruko says.
"4." Neji says.
"5." Matsuki says.
"6." Shikamaru says.
"7." Shino says.
"8." Dosu says.
"Then the matches will be:"
Match 1
Gaara Sabaku
vs.
Sasuke Uchiha
Match 2
Naruko Hatake
vs.
Neji Hyuga
Match 3
Matsuki Nadaho
vs.
Shikamaru Nara
Match 4
Shino Aburame
vs.
Dosu
"You are now, dismissed." The Hokage says.
(Later That Night)
A young boy shifts through the bookcase in his father's old study quietly, overlooking the many scrolls that line it. He is searching for it – it – the perfect technique that will secure him a win in the finals. He will certainly need a good one if he wants to beat that Sand kid.
He pulls out one and opens it; briefly reading over the contents. He closes it and shoves it back in the bookcase. Not good enough.
He pulls out another and when it comes out, another scroll falls out. He goes to pick it up and put it back when the title catches his eye.
'Marriage Contract?' He thinks. 'But tou-chan and kaa-chan chose to get married on their own. Who could this be for?'
He slides it open and his eyes bulge as he reads over the context.
This document here by states that Minato Namikaze and Fugaku Uchiha have agreed upon the terms that the former's daughter and the latter's son shall marry. The date will be set by the son, Sasuke Uchiha who will choose when he wishes to wed his bride Naruko Namikaze.
This contract was created upon the date of October 10 and will only be invalid should both parties wish to break the contract or one or both parties has already married. Without these conditions, the marriage will go on.
Should one of the parties die prior to the marriage, this document will still be valid, and the party shall be listed as the first spouse. Should one of the parties move to a foreign country, this document will still be valid. Should one of the parties defect and go rogue, this document will still be valid. Should one of the parties cheat on the other, this document will still be valid.
Signed:
Minato Namikaze and Uchiha Fugaku
Sasuke stares at the paper for a good few minutes before he realizes that he had learned of the Hokage's wife running away with their young daughter to Suna shortly after her birth and the Kyuubi attack, on October 10. This couldn't be a coincidence the Naruko he had met at these exams and fallen for was the Naruko that was apparently arranged to be married to him.
Sasuke grinned.
That Gaara kid didn't know what was coming for him.