chapter 10: A battle of brothers and invasion

It was another peaceful day in the hidden leaf village and everyone in it was excitedly preparing for the final round of the Chunin Exam, citizens cheered, ninja prepared and everyone was anxious to see which of the Genin would beocme Chunin today.

Each examinee was preparing in their own way. Shikamaru was busy watching the clouds, his thoughts turning envious of the white shapes that dotted the sky. Naruto was off being...well Naruto again, making himself late as usual. Each of the participating ninja were all anxious about the battles that lay ahead, but two ninja in particular were feeling different from the others.

Namito was on his way to the arena, his thoughts turning to his eventual fight, worried about whether or not he will pass. The other ninja who feeling different was none other than Ryouske, whose thoughts werent on the final exam simply because...he was still asleep.

Walking through the streets of the village, Karina passed by the building within which Ryouske lived and stopped in her tracks as a thought occured to her. Nodding to herself she walked up into the building and knocked on Ryouske's door to see if he was awake or not, after hearing movement from behind the door, she decided to let herself in.

"Ryouske?, are you home?" she asked as she walked into his bedroom slowly, eyes ready to close if she saw anything that she should not see, only to once again stop in her tracks...the little punk was still asleep. He lay in his bed, one foot out of the covers and hanging off the bed, while the rest of him was sprawled out on the bed in a less-than-glorious pose.

Karina smiled at how cute he looked sleeping and leaned forward to shake him awake, stopping only when she heard him mumbiling. Leaning close she tried to hear what he said "mmmm...Karina-chan...i couldn't eat another bowl...well maybe just one if you insist on feeding me," he sleepily said. As a result of his sleeptalking, Karina's face instantly grew as red as the hair of the Uzumaki clan and with a vein popping in her head, and steam coming from her ears, she drew her fist back and then thrust it forward, "eat this you lazy idiot!" she called out as her fist impacted with his face, causing him to yell out in pain and sit up rubbing his face.

Half of an hour later, Ryouske and Karina were on their way their way to the arena where the final round of the chunin exams was taking place. Ryouske was walking with his hands in his pockets and a pout, and a bright red fist mark. on his face as he stared at the back of the pissed off Karina walking ahead of him. She growled over her shoulder at him, "eyes forward mister," making him look ahead up the street as he bored let out a reply, "why did you have to go an hit me for?"

Karina just looked at him over her shoulder again and gave him a red faced look, "because you are a pervert, that's why," she said then looking back at the street. Ryouske sighed once more and hopped forward until he was side by side with her and looked at the sky, "hey Karina, did you find out what the match-ups were for this round?" he asked only to recieve a shake of her head in response.

"i wasn't in the tower so i wouldn't know but i hear that apparantly the match ups are going to be good," she stated making Ryouske hope that he was pitted again'st Gaara, sometHing about him just seemed so soon came to the arena to see the gates still open so they stopped and stood there looking at them.

Karina smiled and looked at him, well this is it. Do your best alright?" she said supportingly making Ryouske nod and grin at her" any chance of getting a kiss for luck?" he cockily asked, once again making Karian blush bright and bonk him hard on the head making a lump rise. Just as he was about to complain, she leaned forward and moved his headband up, his eyes widened as she planted a soft kiss onto his forehead and straightened smiling down at him.

She grinned down at him and held up a peace sign, "good luck in there runt" she said making her way to the spectator stands as Ryouske walked into the arena grinning like an idiot as he lowered his headband back down. Namito waved at him and frowned when Ryosuke came over to stand in the middle of the arena with the other Genin that had qualified, "what are you grinning so widely about bro?" he asked his still grinning friend who just put his hands behind his head and just looked at the stands, "that's my secret" he replied.

The procter for the third exam, Genma Shiranui, looked at the Genin. He was a Leaf Jonin that wore the usual clothing consisting of a Leaf Jounin jacket, a navy blue shinobi shirt, trousers and sandals and the Leaf headband which he wore backwards with the symbol at the back of his head. He looked at the Genin, past the senbon needle that hung out of his mouth, and withdrew a piece of paper from his pocket and held it out to them.

"Alright listen up because i will only be saying this once. These will be match-ups for the final round, memorise them and prepare yourself," he said, recieving nods from the Genin, looks of shock from Ryouske and Namito, who then looked at each other with shock...they were scheduled to fight before Gaara VS Sasuke. Ryouske looked at the others and his eyebrow raised as he counted the number of Genin that were here and then turned to shikamaru. "Yo, where is the kunoichi's wet dream?" he sarcastically asked the lazy ninja who just shrugged looking around, "i'm scheduled to fight Dosu from the Hidden Sound village, but he isn't here either."

Ryouske looked at the stands and saw Karina sat there so with a cheesy grin he waved at her, his grin widening when she waved back. Soon they were told to move up into the balconies so that the first fight could start, it was Naruto VS Neji Hyuuga. Up in the balcony, Ryouske stood next to Namito where an awkward scilence was between them, it was Ryouske who broke the silence by smiling and looking at Namito, "listen, we may have to fight each other but it ain't gonna be a bother right? he asked.

Namito just looked at him and grinned patting his back, "do you honestly think it is gonna get to me? We are bros through and through, nothing will change that," he reassured his worried friend who breathed a sigh of relief and stared down at Naruto and Neji who began to fight. It already looked like it was going bad for Naruto, who kept using his clones to try and get close to Neji, only to have them struck away without any of them even getting close.

It didn't help things that Naruto was getting more and more frustrated due to Neji's talk about how people can't change their fate. Naruto tried again with his clones, but this time Neji spun on the spot making a spinning ball of chakra form around him which flung back the clones making them dissapear. Ryouske sighed and leaned his arms on the railing and leaned his head on his arms, "well that didn't work, that Neji kid really is a genius" he said to Namito who nodded and grinned, "yea, but Naruto isn't gonna give up that easily."

Things took a surprising turn when Naruto charged up some chakra out of nowhere and both he and Neji clashed sending them both onto their asses. Neji was the first to get up and walked over to Naruto who was unconscious in his own mini crater, Genma was about to call the match in favor of Neji, when all of a sudden Naruto burst out of the ground and gave Neji a vicious uppercut that sent him onto his ass unable to move.

Naruto stood over Neji and began to tell him how he was wrong about fate and that they could be changed, one sentence in particular made Ryouske and Namito smile in pride at their friend. Naruto looked down at Neji and smiled, "you can change too because unlike me you aren't a failure...you're a genius," this sentence caused mixed reactions from the spectators, but one reaction was the same all around, the sound of applause for the dead last.

When Naruto came up to the balcony to stand next to Ryouske and Namito, both of his friend fist bumped him and grinned widely saying how proud they were of him, "that was awesome Naruto, i always knew you had it in ya," Namito said making Ryouske nod in agreement, "yea, now no-one can doubt how hard you worked." Naruto rubbed the back of his head and grinned widely in response.

Next was Sasuke VS Gaara, but the only problem was that Sasuke had yet to arrive so, to the disappointment of the spectators, the fight was delayed to give Sasuke time so instead next was Shino Aburame VS Kankuro. Ryouske looked over at Kankuro and Termari and raised an eyebrow as they began to worry and his eyes widened as Kankuro raised his hand and declared that he forfeited. This, of course, made Ryouske suspicious,with Shikamaru feeling the same, Namito and Naruto however were pissed.

"How the hell can that guy come so far just to give up? What a wimp" Namito said expressing his anger with Naruto agreeing. So instead of Shino against Kankuro, the next match was Shikamaru VS Temari, excited at the chance to kick the lazy bastard around, Temari floated to the arena floor on her giant fan, while Shikamaru's entrance was not as impressive, he simply went over the railing and landed on the arena floor on his back looking up at the balcony with a pissed off look...right at a grinning Ryouske with his foot stuck out.

With a defeated sigh Shikamaru stood up and looked at his opponent, sighing once more, "Why do i always have to fight the girls? It's such a drag," he said, bored out of his mind. Naruto, Namiito and Ryouske cheered for him as they continued to watch Shikamaru's match, which was going just as slowly as they thought it would, with Shikamaru just sat against the wall of the arena just lazily watching the clouds.

From the stands they heard Ino, Shikamaru's teammate, tell him to get his ass in the fight. When Shikamaru formed a handsign in the shape of an O and closed his eyes, Ryouske knew this fight was just getting good. Looking at the confusion on his friends he then explained, "Despite his laziness, Shikamaru is no idiot. It turns out his IQ is over 200, the guy is a strategic genius and when he does that handsign, you know he is thinking of a plan." Namito and Naruto nodded understanding what Ryouske was talking about, their eyes widened, however, when Shikamaru's eyes opened and he stopped the handsign, meaning that he had a plan.

Shikamaru then did his usual handsign and his shadow stretched towards Temari, "Shadow Poession Jutsu" he called as the shadow continued towards Temari, only for her to jump back and the shadow to stop right in front of her, making her smirk. "It seems your shadow has a limit to how far you can stretch it," she called, making a line in the dirt with her fan. Shikamaru glared at her smirking face as she then blew razor wind at him by swinging her fan, only for him to jump into the trees for cover.

He then stayed in the tree for a while, seeming like he was wasting time, when all of a sudden he jumped down and tried his jutsu again, this time, due to the sun rising some more and enlarging the shadow of the arena wall, his shadow stretched even futher this time. Temari jumped back some more, smirking once again when the shadow stopped dead in it's tracks due to having reached it's maximum length, that is until Kankuro called for her to look up.

She did so and saw a kunai tied to Shikamaru's jacket which he had used as a makeshift parachute, the shadow of this parachute made his shadow stretch once again, making Temari jump back even further once again getting out of range of the shadow and this time she stuck her fan into the ground with it open to block him from view. A few moments passed and Temari was just about to make a clone, jump out and trick him into attacking, when all of a sudden her body froze.

Shikamaru lowered his hands and stood up smirking at her surirpsed face, "How the hell did you catch me in your jutsu?," she asked making Shikamaru smirk wider and let her turn her head to the side where her eyes widened. His shadow had gone down the hole Naruto had made when he went into the ground, and came out of the hole he came out of to uppercut Neji, thus forming a tunnel and allowing her to be trapped. Everyone was soon cheering for the lazy guy, until he raise dhis hand and declared, "That's it. I give up."

The whole arena was stunned by his forfeit, none more so than Temari who looked confused and pissed, "Why the fuck would you give up? You had me beaten" she demanded only for Shikamaru to sigh and respond in his usual bored tone, "The truth is i had already planned the enxt 200 moves of the fight, i'm just out of chakra so i am unable to continue, so there is no point in me trying to go on."

With a smirk at Shikamaru's tactical surrender, Genma delcared Temari to be the winner, leaving Shikamaru to receive boos and uproars from the crowd. Namito and Naruto demanded to know what the hell he was thinking, while Ryouske just smirked and patted Shikamaru on his shoulder, "nice going buddy, good strategy and you knew your limit. That is Chunin right there pal," he said making Shikamaru groan at the thought of more responsibility.

Genma then called out the next pair that were to fight and the whole crowd began to talked headtedly amongst themselves while the Hokage looked down at the two competitors with a frown on his face "i wish those two the best, i just hope their friendship will remain intact aftwards" he thought to himself. Shikamaru and Naruto, both with worried looks on their faces, turned both looked at their friends as Genma's anouncment of the next pair still rang in their minds...Ryouske VS Namito.

Ryouske and Namito looked at each other and both jumped over the railings and landed in the middle of the arean floor, staring at each other. The Kazekage, who had come to the Chunin exams to watch his children, Gaara, Temari and Kankuro, was sat next to the Hokage in his own chair, wearing his Kage robes that were the same as Hiruzen's but instead of white and red, the Kazekage's were white and green and the hat was white and green with the kanji for wind on the front. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at the pair and then turned to the Hokage, "Ryouske? as in Ryouske Tenno, the heir to the fabled Sky Style?" he said.

Hiruzen puffed on his pipe and nodded at the Kazekage's question, "yes, that boy is the sole heir to that Kekkei Tota. The Sky style was thought to be lost in the Third Great Shinboi War, but it seems he is the last holder of that bloodline." Hiruzen looked back down into the arena, but out of the corner of his eye, he ramined looking at the Kazekage, suspicions arising in his mind, "From what Ryouske told us, he went missing from the Hidden Sand Village, Shouldn't the Kazekage know him?"

Down in the arena Namito gave Ryouske a look of determination and got into a fighting pose and smiled at his best friend, "Sorry Ryo, friends or not, i am not gonna go easy," he said. Ryouske just smirked and nodded his head, "you better, if not i'll kick your ass," he stated getting into his Taijutsu pose, making Namito raise an eyebrow at the unfamiliar style and in the stands Karina smiled at it and cheered Ryouske on.

The Taijutsu pose that Ryouske was in, had him crouched low with his right hand in front of him open and pointing down with his fingers splayed just like claws, while the left hand was next to his head in the same position that his right was. Silence deafened as everybody waited for the match to start, so silent that you could of heard a drip of sweat hitting the ground.

As soon as Genma told them to begin, Namito rushed forward with speed that Ryouske had not known he possessed and struck at Ryouske's head with a punch, only for Ryouske to bring his right hand up and slap away the leg and respond with an open palmed strike at Namitos back, maaking his friend recoil. Taking advantage of the recoil, Ryouske thrust himself forward, aiming clawed open palmed strikes at Namito's body, each strike not doing an impressive amount of power, but effective with multiple strikes.

They traded blows like this for a while, each one getting knocked away and countered, until it looked like the two friends were partners in a high-speed Taijutsu dance. The "dance" ended, however, when both ninja jumped away and grinned at each other, "you have definetly gotten better at Taijutsu bro," Ryouske said impressed, which made Namito laugh and nod, "As have you. What is up with that style of yours though?"

Ryouske smiled and tilted his head, "I call it Okami Fist. Like a wolf pack i strike multiple times for accumilated damage," he explained to the confused Namito. Namito nodded in understand and then began to weave handsigns, deciding to try a different approach. Ryouske smiled at this and rushed forward, drawing his katana just as Namito released a deep breath and blew flames out of his mouth that flew at Ryouske in the shape of a dragon, "Fire style: Soaring Dragon Jutsu" he called out.

Needless to say Ryouske was surprised that Namito knew a jutsu like that and immediatly began to weave the same hand signs, sheathing his katana to do so, as his Sharingan appeared. Ryouske then breathed in a deep breath and did the same jutsu as Ryouske with both dragons colliding and snuffing each other out. Ryouske then drew his sword once more and began to slash at Namito who used a kunai to block the attacks and lock the weapons in place.

Sharing smirks at each other, both combatants then started to eschange physical blows once more, this time with their weapons, with some attacks even getting through with Ryouske getting cuts on his arms and Namito on his face. They then jumped away again and Ryouske sheathed his sword to weave handsigns and then crossed his arms as static electricity from his body became visible and began to crackle around them, making Namito raise an eyebrow, and with a smirk Ryouske waved his arms wide, "Lightning Style: Static Shockwave Jutsu" he called, sending out a wave of electricity in an arc towards Namito .

Namito's eyes widened at the new jutsu and he tried to duck underneath it, only for the shock wave to hit his kunai due to his hand being in the air still and Namito yelled as the electricity ran through his body and then dissipated, leaving him panting slightly. "Damn, that was a new one. You surprised me for a minute there bro," he said making Ryouske shrug and grin. Namito then got up and began to form hand signs, once more firing out the dragon fire at Ryouske, who prepared to dodge but was shocked when Namito did some more hand signs and shot his air bullets at the dragon, increasing it's speed.

Having no time to dodge, Ryouske got hit by the dragon and was knocked back from the force as his jacket began to burn. Thankfully he rolled on the ground and put the fire out, landing in a crouch and threw off his now burnt to a crisp jacket, "Bro c'mon, that was my best jacket," he called to Namito who waved a hand in apology. Both combatants were panting now because of the chakra they had used for their jutsu and the physical energy they had to use for they physical clashes.

Deciding to try out a new jutsu, despite the exhaustion it would leave Ryouske in, he made 4 more clones of him and each drew their katana, they then all ran at Namito and surrounded him in a star formation. Namito looked at Ryouske confused and Ryouske shrugged smiling, "sorry bro, but i aint going easy either," he said as he and his clones each weaved the same handsigns and stabbed their katana into the ground. "Sky Style: North Star Jutsu" they called as lightning surged from their katana, along the ground and around Namito in a star formation, then converged on him, shocking him from five directions as a bright star shape could be seen from the spectator stands. Then within the center of the star where Namito was, a whirlwind soon picked up due to the velocity of the lightning and soon rose Namito into the air, where he was dropped to the ground after the whirlwind disappeared and the jutsu ended, leaving him on the ground in pain and exhaustion until he shakily rose to his feet.

Ryouske's clones disappeared and he panted with equal exhaustion as Namito and locked eyes with Namito as Namito spoke, "d..damn bro, i'm almost out. Lets finish this with...one more clash sound...good?" he asked making Ryouske tiredly nod his head, "Yea...let's finish...this." Using the last strength they had, both Genin ran at each other, fists drawn back with all their strength and both swung at the other yelling the other's name.

They both clashed hard, sending a wave of air along the ground from the impact, the sound of which everyone could hear clearly, both combatants receiving the other's fists against their face and both were sent back onto their ass, panting and sweating profusely. Silence was all around as the spectators waited to see who would win as both fighters began to stand on their feet, slowly and weakly.

Both managed to get onto their feet, looking ready to collapse, and Ryouske smiled weakly at his friend, "you did good bro, i'm proud," he said to Namito he returned his smile with an equally weak one and nodded, "yea, you too bro." Silence hung on the air as the spectators watched in awe to see if they were to continue fighting, that is until both combatants began to fall forward. The audience gasped at the sight, thinking it was to be a draw, when all of a sudden, their gasp was intensified as one of the fighters landed on his knee, while the other landed flat on his front, unconscious.

With his body screaming at him, he looked at his fallen opponent and friend and smiled weakly, proud of how far he had come. He then smiled at the crowd who had to cheer and roar in applause at the spectacular fight. Karina smirked from the stands and shook her head, proud of how hard the winner had worked and his victory, while next to her Anko and Lukyo applauded and cheered for their teammate, also feeling sad for the loser. Hiruzen also clapped for the victor, knowing just how hard it was to face your friend, while the Kazekage applauded but not with much enthusiasm and with a smile, Genma raised his arm and announced nice and loud to be heard over the cheering.

"The winner is...Ryouske Tenno"

Ryouske grinned weakly at his victory, but then looked sad at the unconscious Namito, but felt pride for his friend's efforts. He weakly made his way to the stands, refusing the aid of the medics and insisting that Namito be taken care of, and sat between Karina and Anko, the latter of which pulled his head into her generous cleavage in a tight hug, with Ryouske blushing madly and his nose spurting out blood like a river, "i'm proud of ya, runt. It neve rgets any easier fighting your best friend but you did it."

Lukyo nodded in agreement and and smiled,"I'm just glad you guys will remain friends after all of this," he sated making Ryouske weakly shrug and then look at Karina who just grinned. "Guess that lucky kiss i gave you helped eh?" she asked making Ryouske grin rubbing the back of his head, this, however, did not go unnoticed by Anko who then glared at Karina, "You better not have been messing with my student, you half mummy" she threatened, making Karina glare with a vein in her head, "No i havent, so back off snake-whore."

Lukyo and Ryouske just shrugged their shoulders and looked down into the arena where Gaara was waiting for Sasuke who, thankfully for him, was able to make it with a few seconds to spare, appearing in the arena with Kakashi. They then began to fight, with Sasuke trying to get close to Gaara but being smacked aside by the sand, landing a hit on the side of his head after some failed attempts.

Gaara then encased himself in a ball of sand that Sasuke could not penetrate, so in an attempt to do so he jumped up onto one of the arena walls and began to charge lightning in his left hand. This was met with shocked looks, mostly from team 7 and Might Guy, due to the fact that the jutsu Sasuske was using was the very same jutsu that Kakashi had created himself. "Chidori" Sasuke called out as he began to run down the wall and across the ground towards Gaara, thrusting his hand out and piercing the ball of sand that protected him.

A piercing scream of pain was heard from inside, which made Sasuke quickly jump away as out of the hole he had made with his Chidori, a huge clawed arm of sand reached out to try and grab him. seeing this made Ryouske's head hurt as memories of a little red haired boy swam through his head, along with the memories of a creature of sand and bloodlust, swam through his head, thus making Ryouske finally understand the reason why Gaara was so familar to him.

Before the fight could progress any further, a large cloud of smoke appeared around the Kage spectator box and a loud sound was heard. As everyone began to look around for the source, feathers appeared from the sky, making everyone fall asleep. Anko,Karina, Ryouske, the Jounin, the Chunin and team 7 all quickly released the obvious genjutsu and looked around as ninja from the Hidden sound village swarmed into the arena and began to attack.

The invasion had begun...

aaaaaaand OVER

Okay this was a BITCH to write, but it is one of my more favoured chapters, i hope you guys like it.

What will happen during the invasion?

What is the connection between Ryosuke and Gaara?

Find out in the next chapter of The Chronicles of Heaven

this is HaremKing666 signing off, stay pervy everyone XD