The Clueless Ninja
14 - Ch 14 The Second Test Continued By ChaosDriver
Story id: 3106405
Previous
Chapter Index
Next
ChaosDriver Presents
Your favorite fox
NARUTO
In cooperation with
Thozmp Corris' Awesome Beta Skills
In a Naruto story
The Clueless Ninja
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto… or do I?
Part14: The Second Test Continued
or
Naruto's Power Revealed!
The aged Hokage sighed heavily as he made his way inside. With the sudden and inopportune reemergence of his former student gone rogue he really didn't have the time for this right now.
But at his age, what he wanted and what he needed were two completely different things. Appearances had to be kept and things had to go on like planned, if only to make sure that he and his village didn't appear as weak as they apparently really were.
Crisis or not, being the figurehead of a hidden villages meant showing your face when it was expected.
"Congratulations to those of you here, you have passed this part of the exam." Sarutobi waited patiently for the slightly exuberant murmurs to die down, he guessed he should be glad that each member of the group in front of them was a shinobi, because unlike civilians they knew that it simply wasn't done to cheer for something like that, "Each of you has done your Hidden Village proud. It is through tests and battles like these that the genin represent their country and show others their strength."
"What?" a genin from, he briefly glanced at her head band, Sand interrupted him. "How do we do that?"
Sometimes he wondered just what the genin were really taught in the academy, and if perhaps it wasn't time to bring the curriculum more up to date. Chuunin exams, the way they were today, had been in practice since the before the last Great Shinobi War, as a tool to prevent any further wars from happening. Ultimately it didn't work out quite like people were expecting, if the coming and going of the Third Great Shinobi War was any indication, but it certainly has been in practice for long enough to be taught about in the academies.
He made a mental note to spend some serious time revising the curriculum just after the current crisis was averted, solved, or at least better understood.
"The Chuunin Exam has been brought to life to try and advert anymore war from raging across the Elemental Countries," Sarutobi began to explain. "Through these exams each of the Hidden Villages tries to show their own strength in a mostly bloodless way and show any potential customers their future assets."
"Bloodless?" a whisper from one of his own genin caught the attention of Sarutobi and most of the rest of the room.
The venerable Hokage considered ignoring it but decided it might be just the thing he needed to push a lesson on his and the other countries' genin, especially with the unexpected infiltration of his former student during a period that the whole of Konoha was in a heightened state of alert.
An attack during one of the most popular events a Hidden Village could organize was just the kind of thing that could ruin a village's reputation.
"Mostly bloodless," Sarutobi corrected. "A shinobi's job is mostly bloody and dangerous but a war waged by shinobi is the most dangerous and chaotic thing in existence," his eyes gained a rather far of look. "Whole cities could be laid to waste in a fight between one shinobi and another, while not even a leaf could be disturbed while a whole army of shinobi fight against another army. That's why these exams have been made and are held every six months, the host changing with every one so villages can show off to potential customers in a mostly bloodless way."
The Hokage kept his silence for a few minutes. Some, he could see, took his words rather hard. One of those who stood out the most was the female Leaf genin that had whispered the one word question in the first place. Others, a red haired genin of Sand one of the more noticeable, took his words like yesterdays news. They barely reacted, if at all.
One particular group of genin, from sound he noticed idly, even had the nerve to scoff, a sure sign that the trio had no idea whatsoever at what a war between shinobi was actually about.
'Why in my day shinobi actually…' he trailed his thoughts off with a silent sigh. 'I am really getting old if I'm starting to reminiscence about 'the good old days'. I really need to think about appointing a successor.'
Immediately his general overview of the genin before him changed to home in on one genin in particular 'In a few more years you would be the perfect successor, just as your father was. Kind, brave…' he grinned as he watched one of the Sand kunoichi practically hang of off the genin's arm, much too the glaring protest of a few other kunoichi scattered in the room. '…and getting under peoples skin and in their hearts without meaning to. The Will of Fire burns so strong and brightly in you, Naruto,' a brief image of Orochimaru flashed before his closed eyes. 'But will my student give me the time to watch that fire encompass the hearts of all of Konoha.'
His view left Naruto as Sarutobi resumed his prepared speech "Before we begin with the third part of the exam…"
"Excuse me, Hokage-sama," a coughed apology interrupted the Hokage's words. "If you would allow me, the referee Gekkou Hayate, to explain."
A smile turned his lips at the interruption, as much as people often praised him for his heartfelt speeches, Sarutobi never quite liked that part of his job, "By all means."
While a small part of his mind was kept on the referee as the jounin began to explain the need for preliminary rounds to the twenty-one genin, the rest was busy calculating and scheming, trying to find out just what purpose, beside the Uchiha boy, Orochimaru could have in Konoha.
The timing was just a touch off.
Of all times…
…why now?
Naruto looked around himself with an air of excitement; his mind was barely paying attention to the explanation of the referee about the rules of the preliminary matches.
A small part of it was worrying about his two teammates. Despite the day of rest he, Sasuke and Sakura had, not all was well.
Sakura was still smarting from the various superficial, but still painful wounds around her body. Scabs were already forming but as per the rules of the Chuunin Exam outside help was strictly forbidden at this point in the exam, so the scab wounds were still slightly painful reminders of their encounter with the snake freak instead of fully healed flesh courtesy of a simple healing jutsu.
Unfortunately that also meant that the freaky hickey the freak had given his male teammate, Sasuke, was still causing the Uchiha problems. The always stubborn prick simply wouldn't even consider quitting and without a very good reason no one could really force him.
Still even that was but a small part of what was going on in Naruto's mind.
'This is so cool!' the current only wielder of the Kiyin bloodline thought with adrenaline pumping through his veins. 'All these strong people to fight!' his eyes shined in glee as he looked at the twenty people surrounding him, all of them giving off an aura of danger and confidence.
Even a few aura's of barely repressed glee, like he himself was giving off, 'Oooohhh! I wanna fight him, that gourd on his back makes him look so though! I wanna fight him al the more because he's Temari's brother, he must be strong! Or him. Those freaky looking blind eyes may make him look like a weirdo, not at all like those same eyes on Hinata, but his stance is so confident and powerful.' In his exited state he couldn't quite remember the guy's name even though he knew it was Tenten's teammate, 'or him or him or him or her or…' His thoughts trailed off with pondering eyes, '…aaahh, who am I kidding, I want to fight them ALL!'
"Come on, Naruto," a whispered voice and tug on the sleeve of his jacket snapped Naruto out of his thoughts.
"Wha…?" Naruto mumbled before looking into the emerald green eyes of his female teammate.
"You must be really pumped not to have heard, huh Naruto," Sakura sighed as she gave him a look Naruto couldn't quite comprehend, a look others would recognize as resignation. "The referee told us to clear the floor for the first match," she bit her lip in slight agitation and worry. "Sasuke's match is first," she finished while pointing to a message board that had until then gone unnoticed to the blonde.
Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yorio
Big bold letters proclaimed the first match and Naruto could only be relieved that his teammate's match was first. If Sasuke finished it fast he would finally get the medical attention the Uchiha really needed as fast as possible.
Naruto nodded to Sakura in understanding and followed after her up the stairs to a plateau overlooking the arena below.
It wasn't long before familiar faces began to crowd around them.
Tenten was the first to greet him. She, her team and what he guessed was her sensei resting directly next to him, his team and his sensei.
Hinata was a more silent second, as she and her team were following behind him and Sakura up the stairs. Despite the year of fighting Naruto and Hinata had done to together as the BanditBuster and his Lovely Assistant (both names they themselves hadn't chosen) the girl was still a bit shy all around. Especially when so many people were around and the stakes were as high as this exam was.
Seemingly from out of nowhere Temari suddenly made her presence known by glomping Naruto around his neck.
It produced two death glares of epic proportions, and one slightly weaker, as well as a few more highly amused looks from those around the room. All of which Naruto was completely oblivious to as he greeted his friend just as enthusiastically.
Which ironically made those glares all the more vicious.
By the time Naruto finally concentrated on the match Sasuke was already all but done. A yell and an enormously hard kick blasted Yorio hard into the ground and into lala-land. Hayate proclaimed the match in the Uchiha's favor a second later.
Abumi Zaku vs. Aburame Shino
Naruto never really got to know the weird bug boy that had been in his class. He knew that the boy was Hinata's teammate but quite frankly the girl hardly talked about anything at all, let alone her teammates.
The cool and aloof way the user of bugs dispatched his opponent, however, had Naruto suddenly a lot more interested. It was as much a fight of tricks then anything. Shino appeared outclassed at the start, even though his opponent seemed heavenly injured with a broken arm, but after each narrow miss it became rather obvious that not all was as it seemed to be.
Glee sprang from his face, even where unmasked horror had been in position seconds earlier, when in a surprising move the fight ended with the Zaku's arms being all but blown off.
Naruto subconsciously rubbed his own arms down even as he loudly yelled his congratulations over the triumph of one of his fellow Konoha nin.
As each fight progressed Naruto became louder and more excited. He had fought many people over the years, trained his body to the breaking point and over. Beat renowned bandits almost daily and trained harder still with the few friends he had managed to win over in the years.
His very being yearned to test itself. His muscles screamed in desperation for the fight to come even as his mind filtered through the days of training all for this moment. To show his strength to the village. To show his strength to the Hokage. To show that he was capable of protecting those he cared about.
Where the fight in the forest had been a fight to protect himself and his teammates and where the written test had been a though situation he had to work himself out off. This was the real deal.
His first shot to show what he was made off.
Finally, after what felt like forever, his name came to a stop on the board.
Rock Lee vs. Uzumaki Naruto
Jubilation hollered from the lungs of two people in almost eerie symmetry.
The first, a rather strange looking boy dressed in a green spandex suit of all things, was silenced and berated almost immediately after the cry.
Naruto looked strangely at his training partner even as Tenten tried to hide the fact that she'd just whacked his opponent. The blond smirked however as he saw his opponent to be perfectly fine.
The two opponents made brief eye contact before both launched off towards the ground. Lee with a simple high jump; while Naruto launched himself of the railing to the arena bellow.
A heavy silence descended upon the two even as the looked each other over. Sizing each other up in a way only two hard working and experienced fighters can do.
Assessment done Naruto let his eyes flicker back to the railing where he could see encouraging smiles send his way from his female teammate, Hinata and Tenten while Temari was casting some rather strange looks his opponent's way. He was rather excited when he saw his sensei watching him with heightened interest even as a seemingly older copy of his opponent kept talking to the man.
Naruto let out a strangely calming sigh. His muscles tensed in preparation. His mind became strangely clear even as everything seemed to suddenly happen in slow motion.
His feet left the ground as soon as the referee's hand finished it's downwards descent.
Tenten tensed as she watched the two names roll on screen.
She had become increasingly annoyed with Lee as her teammate began to holler and shout continuously during the fights. His insistent complaints about not getting his turn yet weren't helping much. She could really only bite her lips and try and keep her composure as her sensei decided to join in every now and again.
It really was only her slight immunity to the two's antics and the worry over what Naruto would think of her that kept her from taking the time to sharpen her throwing skills to further perfection.
Doubt and worry nagged on her as she watched her friend and sparring partner take his place among her teammate. She liked Naruto, she really really did. She had trained with him often and even lightly sparred with him a few times.
She knew her teammate however. His training left her in awe more then once, even though it often looked foolish and unorthodox.
She swallowed heavily even as she showed her encouragement to Naruto through her eyes. She slightly feared for the blond as she witnessed the fiery passion burning in those blue eyes of his.
Even with the show of strength the blond gave after her other teammate's match she didn't give him much of a chance against the powerhouse that was Lee.
It really was unstoppable will meeting irremovable object.
She only hoped the blond wouldn't be pulverized in the aftermath.
"Hajime!"
Explosive was really the only way the start of the match could be called. Both fighters rushed each other with speeds easily rivaling the fastest of genin in the room.
Naruto's arm and Lee's leg knocked in a very light crack, before both fighters pulled back. To both it was merely a test shot, a way to measure the other's strength.
Like a gunshot the two flung back to each other.
A kick from Naruto was countered by a straight jab from Lee. With the blow falling short Naruto quickly retaliated with a quick back kick to give him some breathing room away from his opponent.
Lee would have none of it as the spandex wearing fighter quickly went on the offensive with lightning fast jabs.
It became somewhat of a routine that Naruto had no trouble of reflecting. While Lee's arms were exceptionally long it was rather easy for the blond to simply stay out of their range. This slight complacency almost cost him as Lee suddenly snapped out with a swift quick that threatened to take his feet out from under him.
Naruto smirked very slightly at the sudden chance of tactics even as he suddenly had to twist and turn to stay out of reach of his opponent's kicks.
The match switched tempo and aggressor as Naruto swiftly deflected a kick with his arm and went in for the kill. Speedy punches grabbed towards Lee as the blonde got up close and personal.
It signaled the first hit with Lee being blasted away by the sudden change of pace, a glancing blow of the blonde's fist against the right side of the stomach pushing him back.
Naruto huffed slightly as he stretched from the slight relieve the match had taken. His eyes watching carefully as the relatively unharmed Lee twisted and gracefully landed back on his feet.
A slight tightening of Lee's leg muscles was all the warning Naruto had before he was suddenly blasted back by a rather strong hit to his own stomach. He grumbled at being caught off guard like that even as he grinned at the increase of speed.
It was definitely time to take it up a notch.
With a slight grin he unzipped his jacket and pulled up the sleeves of the thing. Normally he was never one to really take notice of the thing. It was rather natural for him to keep the thing zipped up as it was rather sturdy all in all and it gave him that extra layer of protection.
Now, however, it seemed that for the first time in a long time he needed the extra mobility the jacket normally deprived him of.
He slightly flexed his arm muscles before joining back into the fray.
Tenten mouth opened wider and wider in astonishment as the match went on.
She had known the blonde had been good, she had trained with him often after all, but she had never quite thought Naruto could have been that good. He was keeping up with Lee and almost making it look easy.
She knew her teammate wasn't going all out by far at this point in time but she still couldn't really get over the fact just how good the blond was doing.
She idly noted that she wasn't the only one surprised by that fact. Quite a few spectators were watching the match with various amounts of awe or surprise.
All such thoughts halted when the blonde suddenly decided to unzip that baggy jacket of his he was always wearing. She never really thought about what he could have been hiding there, but now she wished she had been a bit more curious.
Shinobi by nature were rather buff, if rather sleekly so, but the blonde's arm was ripped. And the tight muscle shirt the blonde wore under his way too heavy jacket, in her now humble opinion, really left little to the imagination.
Her eyes glazed slightly as she continued watching the rest of the match. Suddenly she didn't mind at all that the blonde had been matched against her teammate. Sweat did so many good things to certain parts of the body after all.
Was it suddenly getting hot in here or was that simply her imagination.
A rather strange urge compelled her to look a little to the side of her. The unconscious Hinata there made her suddenly decide that maybe she wasn't the only one noticing the sudden increase heat after all. Nor did the glazed look in a certain Sand kunoichi's eyes change her opinion all that much.
Naruto grinned as he hit his opponent for the second time in the match, a powerful jab that could have done nothing less then push the air out of Lee's lungs.
Unnoticed by either combatant the audience winced all but audibly when Lee firmly contacted against one of the walls of the makeshift arena.
Naruto waited patiently for Lee to get back on his feet, part wary that his opponent was nowhere near taken out for the count and part happy to take a little break to get his thoughts back together. Nothing could quite put his mind on a back burner then a really good fight, doing nothing but let his instincts take over.
It was the core of his fighting style after all.
When Lee got back on his feet Naruto wanted, no needed to speak up. His pride and his respect for his opponent demanded no less.
"Lee," the name traveled through the air in a tone so quiet that only the boy in question could hear it. "I see that you are a fellow hand-to-hand combat specialist, someone who thrives in the face of combat and hardship. Your sure strikes say it all." Power flowed behind the blonde's words as Lee straitened his posture and tightened his fighting stance, fire could be seen burning in spandex wearer's eyes, "Let's make a deal. If I win I will teach you some of what I know to help you improve. If you win you teach me and help me improve."
Lee's eyes narrowed a tiny bit, "Why?"
Naruto smirked as his eyes took on a far away quality, thoughts of battles and fights yet to come firing through his mind, "The way you fight, the way you move and the way you look when you do so. This can never be the first and last time we fight against each other. We are brothers, fellow fighters. We are the same. You are worthy of my respect and win or lose, we will fight again. The both of us stronger then before."
A flicker of moisture stubbornly refused to leave Lee's eyes as Naruto's acknowledgement reached the boy's spirit, "Yosh! Your Flame Of Youth Burns Brightly, Naruto-kun! I accept your terms!"
Battlelust returned back on the field as both combatants tensed. Naruto watched as Lee jumped back and did something that confused the blonde momentarily. An action that left Lee's three teammates slightly baffled, as none of them had ever thought the boy would act such without his sensei's direct approval.
Two large bangs sounded throughout the small arena as the weight hidden in Lee's orange legwarmers dropped on the ground in a rather spectacular fashion. The two left rather deep impressions in the tiled arena ground.
"This is one challenge I will never lose, Naruto-kun," Lee yelled as he blasted towards Naruto at speeds way above those preformed before.
Naruto's eyes widened as his body simply wasn't quick enough to respond even if his eyes could easily see the straightforward right kick aimed towards his head. Naruto could do nothing as he was blasted towards one of the arena walls while Lee decided to get in another hit by coming up behind the blonde with an elbow thrust making Naruto eat the arena floor.
The blonde barely dodged the third hit aimed towards the back of his head by rolling back on his feet. Light bruises covered his body and more kept adding up with the blonde breaking out in heavy sweat as combo after combo was at best dodged at the narrowest of margins. One rather hard and fast jab made the blonde lightly bite his own tongue, making him bleed for the first time in the match.
All in all it was the best damn time the blonde had ever had.
Slowly his mind overrode his instincts as the thought popped up that he was actually losing. The smallest of thoughts flickered inside his brain as higher brain functions came back online. After taking at least a dozen more light hits he finally realized something that had been slowly nagging him.
The boy had taken off the weights on his legs.
That meant something important. He knew that. It took only a few dozen extra hits before he finally remembered.
That meant he was allowed to take of his own.
With a smirk Naruto released the chakra contained in the weights on his legs. The temporary distraction cost him slightly, as a hard punch blasted him back a good few meters. It certainly helped in taking Lee off guard when Naruto recovered much more quickly from the hit.
Naruto grinned as his counter attack caught Lee on the shoulder; the boy had been able to dodge so it only clipped him instead of taking the hit right on the face.
Naruto all but flew after the boy. It was rare that he took off his weights and then only to get accustomed to fighting without them, making sure he wouldn't lose his edge. The manual that taught him had clearly stated that you had to fight your opponent fairly, which to him meant that he couldn't take off his weights until his opponent had done so as well.
Strangely in all the fights he had had Lee was the first one to ever do so.
With Naruto's weights released the fight quickly turned back in favor of Naruto as Lee was kicked around like a pinball. Hard smacks could be heard in the arena as all of the genin lost sight of the two while even the more veteran of the jounin began to have trouble keeping up.
Finally Naruto finished with kicking Lee against a wall, hard. The thing barely managed to keep intact as the whole building shook from the impact. Coughing was the only sound heard from the area Lee had hit as dust had sprung up as a smokescreen to keep the spandex wearing genin covered from view.
Naruto waited patiently for his opponent to come out, even when he felt something spike. Energy gathered where Lee was still hidden by the cloud. It distracted the blonde slightly, it just felt…off, somehow.
Eyes widened in surprise as a glob of blood passed Naruto's lips. The unbelievably fast speed in which Lee had punched him thundered the blond backwards.
Lee onslaught continued relentless even as Naruto started to power himself, lessening the hold on his Ki and strengthening his body slowly but surely with the distraction Lee's hard punches provided him. It became easier and easier to take the impacts as his body worked overtime to heal the internal bleeding Lee's punches and kicks were causing.
Finally he found just what had made the energy feel so off, even as the previously devastating punches against him were reduced to the impact of mere mosquito bites. Lee's body was killing itself. Lee was using the energy his body naturally gave off in a way so totally against how Naruto had learned that it actually managed to anger the blond.
Naruto's hair flickered briefly to black before returning to its natural color. It was time to end it before Lee did something that would have made him crippled for life, or worse.
The end was as anti-climatic as the overall progress of the match had been climatic.
The devastating punch from Naruto directly to the temple of Lee overloaded the spandex wearing boy's brain in such a way that he went unconscious. It happened so fast it left many of the spectators wondering just what had happened.
Naruto sighed slightly, letting his anger bleed away. Perhaps he had overdone it a bit but seeing an opponent he respected wilt away under his very eyes had simply pissed him off.
Naruto was already halfway back to the stands when the match was finally called and the medics arrived to take Lee away. He simply hoped that the boy hadn't caused himself any irreversible damage.
It would suck to have such a perfect future sparring partner be taken away from him because of something as simple and annoying as a permanent injury. Besides, he still had to keep his promise. He was sure he could get Lee to stop using that harmful technique after he taught him a few tricks.
Author's Notes:
I have taken some liberties with the way the matches went, mostly because it came out better this way.
A lot of people had complained at my slow update rate (has been more then a year now since I updated this story) but to be honest you'll simply have to accept it. I write when I feel like it. I don't write when I don't feel like it. In the time since I last updated any of my stories (about five months or so) I've written multiple stories that will probably never be published anywhere for various different reasons, mostly because I want to finish my current works first. Simply put it's not that I don't write at all in the periods between updates (the next DemonMage has been 75 percent completed for about four months now) it's just that I write whatever strikes my fancy at the time. Asking for updates usually won't help (although sometimes they do as my sudden inspiration for writing shows) but it is always nice to feel appreciated. So thanks for all the shows of support I've received over the years.
Well that's about it.
ChaosDriver signing off…
Ja Ne!
Previous
Chapter Index
Next
Review!This template, html, and stylesheet (not including the actual text of the fanfic above, which may be under a different license) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License.