The Waterfall's Best Moment: Finals of the Competition

Hyuuga Neji looked out over the masses that had gathered around the arena. Many people from the five elemental nations, including the Kage's of Sand and Cloud, were in attendance. The finals were upon them, and he, Hyuuga Neji, had to say that he was nervous. Naruto had looked at the woman in sympathy too many times for his comfort, and when he tried to confront his friend, all Naruto would say was that Neji wouldn't understand.

It wasn't really a surprise to find him and the woman talking one day, both gesturing to a seal on their stomachs. It did surprise him to see the woman hug him and whisper something in his ear, before the genin made a subtle exit. He had told Genma-san, but as nothing had yet come of it, he figured that the woman was alright.

He saw the two sand siblings were discussing something and both were smirking, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the woman standing beside him. He wanted to see that seal again, let her too, know that he was a caged bird, and that he understood pain, but the woman would not meet his eyes.

As the referee for the day came out, Neji put on his resolve face and looked at the woman, hoping to scare her with his Byakugan eyes. What happened was far worse. He was the one scared! Something in that gaze, something he had often seen in Naruto's gaze and it was then he realized the woman had something in common with this year "dead-last".

The man called out "Temari and Kankurou of the Sand, it is time for your match".

As Kankurou walked out, Temari sighed. "I respectfully forfeit. I have no wish to fight my brother over something as mundane as what we are fighting for."

The Kazekage smirked and looked at the Raikage, as if telling her, "well, you could have had better."

The woman glared, and after meeting eyes with Yugito, looked at the man.

Neji turned to meet his opponent and said, "I have no wish to hurt you, so please forfeit while there is a chance."

The woman smirked and said, "You've already made the connection to Naruto, you know that the gaki and I are alike. I can tell you in what ways, Hyuuga."

The genin's eyes lit up and turned to Naruto. The boy was his friend, he admitted that, but he had so wanted to know Naruto's secret. "We're..." and that was all he heard before she hit him in the face. Neji flew backwards and hit the wall.

He stood up and glared. The woman had no idea who she was messing with. Getting into the now familiar stance of the Jyuuken, Neji watched as she flew at him again, but Neji turned and hit her full force with a Kaiten. She flew backwards and too hit the wall. After that it was war. She stood up and made seals faster than his byakugan could see and called out a familiar jutsu, only to be hit with a lightning attack. She smiled and said, "Raizou ikazuchi wo utte!"

"That was my thunderbolt strike, and unless you want another taste of it, I suggest you forfeit, Genin. I am a special Jounin for the Hidden Cloud village, and I will kill you if necessary."

Genma stood up at that point but Naruto shook his head. The man looked at his genin in confusion, as did Nushi, who wondered just how Naruto knew the girl. He smiled and looked at the match, just catching as Neji caught her in three tenketsu, blocking off her left arm.

He sighed and looked at Yugito in dispassionate fury. The girl stood up again and sighed. Just as the referee went to count her out, for the inability to use a limb, a purple chakra surrounded her. Genma looked at Naruto, who was watching the match in something close to abandon. As she latched onto Neji, she twisted his arm and shattered two bones. The crunch resounded through the arena.

Neji yelled in pain, as she asked him again to give up. He tried to reiterate his case but Genma had seen enough. He walked down to the floor and said, "That's enough. He forfeits."

The referee nodded and looked at the woman. She hadn't been defeated since the beginning, and was not afraid of Sabaku no Gaara. If he in fact, missed his guess, she was going to attack him the first time, but her teammates stopped her, and paid the price for that.

He smiled and looked at the Sand Genin, who had barely tried to watch the match. He was cocky, and if nothing else, had a huge disadvantage, but what was he to say, "You're disqualified?" No, that wasn't his place.

"Final match will be Sabaku no Kankurou, and Raigakure no Yugito. Hajime!"

Kankurou stood there cockily as he saw the female jinchuuriki breathe in several times. As she stood straight up, he flicker three fingers, causing tendrils of coils to surround her body. She stood there as the boy then used his other hand to cause a puppet of all things to fight her. She sighed, "Baka".

With a bit of chakra, she burst the strings and walked out, disposing of the puppet with ease. As she neared the puppet master, tendons entered her back.

The boy smirked and said, "Bet you want to give up now, eh?"

She snorted and, again, the purple chakra surrounded her, the senbon needles left her back, and the wounds closed. She glared at him and, with surprising speed, went over, and jabbed two fingers into his windpipe.

The little baka fell to his knees and she kicked him in the nose. She felt the blood gush over her knee at that moment and looked up to her Kage. The female Kage smiled and nodded as she was handed a bottle of the Hero Water.

With a final wave to Naruto, she smiled and walked out of the building. Naruto rubbed a finger under his eye, too, as he left the building. "Bye Yugito-chan!"

"Bye Naruto-kun" she whispered, not knowing that it would be the last time for some time that she saw the boy jinchuuriki.

Two days later, the group was traveling back to Konoha. They had just passed the border to Fire Country, and were encountered by a group of traveling Genin. It was Kakashi-sensei!"

"No time to stop now, but you're expected back in Konoha tomorrow Genma. We're on a C-ranked mission, ourselves. Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba, this is Shurenai Genma, Hyuuga Neji, Inuzuka Nushi and Uzumaki Naruto. I believe you know each other, Kiba, Nushi?"

The two nodded to each other. "Genma, this is Tazuna, if we are not back in three weeks, I want you to come to Wave Country and find us, he's been lying about our pay, and we were attacked by the Mist Brothers on back."

Genma glared at the man and said, "Hai, I will come find you if you are not back in three weeks. Look at the time, alright team, we're heading out!"

Naruto smiled at Kakashi and thanked him for returning the Hero's Water to Konoha for him, and ran to catch up with his team.

They hadn't practiced any jutsu, though Naruto did tell them that he had learned the Lightning Jutsu from that girl Yugito, and had taught her some jutsu as well, in return. The Lightning Jutsu were wanted because they were so hard to obtain, and only a Kage, or the future Kage could release that information, for Naruto as a Genin, to be trusted with that information was impressive.

The gates of Konoha stood mightily in the east as sunset hit the country. As they passed the gates, all three were hit with a since of homesickness that had long since been forgotten. Genma smiled at his one guest student, and his other, female, student before saying, "alright, your clans are probably worried about the two of you, get on home. Naruto, Hokage-sama will want to speak with you, for a report of the actions you took in regards to Sabaku no Gaara.

Have a nice day; I'm giving you three off tomorrow. Naruto, you'll come with me for the time being."

Naruto nodded and the man smiled. People through Naruto glances, some of hatred, others fear, and the rest went to Genma, pride.

They reached the Hokage's Tower a few minutes later, and were let through.

"EH! HENTAI! SARUTOBI-SENSEI!"... Naruto.

The man smiled. "Oops, sorry Naruto, I didn't expect you two. So, how was your trip?"

Genma smiled, "Shiranui Genma reporting that all is well, Hokage-sama. We left two days ago from the Hidden Village of the Waterfall, after the final match of their competition was over. I was sad to see that Hyuuga Neji did not, in fact, win another vial of the Hero Water, but in retrospect, we gained something a lot better. Uzumaki Naruto will explain better."

The man looked at Naruto and said, "alright, Naruto, explain?"

Naruto shifted his feet. "As you know, Hokage-sama, it has been long held an interest to Konoha to gain knowledge of the Lightning Jutsu, including one Lightning Dragon Tornado Jutsu, the Rairyu Ikazuchi wo Utte. During our visit, I met another demon container, a Raigakure no Yugito, who is in line to become the Raikage. She and I developed a friendship, because of our past with the demons we contain.

I have obtained knowledge of the six hidden rai-jutsu and how to correctly summon them. All I had to do was show her the Ku Bakufuu. Since it was not on the restricted list of jutsu in a cultural exchange, I took the oppurtunity, without Genma-sensei's permission."

The man smiled and said, "I will of course have to dock you a small amount of pay for that indiscretion, but with what you will make for learning those jutsu, it will more than cancel out what I take off. In fact, the rates for three alone were at five million ryuu, while the docking of pay will only cost a million. So, with all six of those going into the training schedule, I will be happy to compensate."

Naruto smiled, "she did request I not teach anyone the Raikiri rendan, a technique that is mostly taijutsu. I did agree to that, because the other five far outweigh that, Hokage-sama."

"Of course, that is acceptable. You were of course, acting as an ambassador when you did such, and while I am a bit disappointed, I am sure that you were right to persue what you did. Now, about the Hero Water, it is far too dangerous for you to keep, Naruto. The council does know about it, and ordered me to give it to Uchiha Sasuke, because of a security risk that surrounds him, but I refused. I told them that as Hokage, I should not give something so full of risk to someone if I were not willing to use it myself.

So, until further notice, I will be keeping the Hero's Water. Is that understood?"

Naruto smiled and said, "Of course, Sarutobi-sensei! I wanted you to keep it safe anyway. In case we need it!"

The man laughed.

"Now, what can you tell me of Sabaku no Gaara?"

Naruto sighed, "I'm not too sure, but I think the problem came about with his seal, at least the Kyuubi believes that to be so. It's like he has an obsession with seeing blood, I think that his demon is telling him blood is precious, and that he needs it to survive. Or something. He's weird; I hate to think that I could have been like that if I hadn't been acknowledged. Seeing that, it scares me."

The man sighed. "Yes, it's true that the village ran the risk of turning you into that, when you discovered the Kyuubi, and asked for my help all those years ago, you were on that path. It's ironic, they would have found a reason to hate you, and even though it was stupid, especially because of who your father was we diverted a disaster."

Naruto nodded, he had agreed with that statement, it was true. If anything had happened differently, Naruto would be dead, and Kyuubi would be free. Not that Kyuubi was untrustworthy.

"Alright, I take it you ran into Kakashi? I noticed you're not too excited about being back in Konoha?"

Naruto smiled. "It's not that, Sarutobi-sensei, of course I'm excited. I'm just worried about Kakashi-san. He's a good friend, and something about that mission is bothering me. May I be excused, Genma-sensei, I need to get home and get some sleep."

The man smiled. "Of course, Naruto. I'll just be a few more minutes, and I'll walk with you there, I need to stop by the store before I go home anyway, and I can go to the store from there."

Naruto nodded and walked outside. Genma turned back to Sarutobi and said, "How is Kimourii doing with Gai?"

The man sighed. "She has not made much improvement, though her taijutsu is superbly different from the last time you were here. She is disgusted with young Lee-san, and has complained many times to Tenten about the fact that they have so many missions. Her mission success rate though is almost perfect, and she comes back without a scratch. Her teamwork is horrendous, and though she is doing all of her things correctly, I cannot in good conscious contemplate her succeeding much longer as a shinobi."

The man sighed. "What happened, when we started training, she was a great student, all of the sudden, her disposition changed."

The man sighed. "She learned the value of her skills, and decided that she didn't want to try anymore. This problem is common among the kunoichi, they are taught to be beautiful, not to work in manual labor, and not to let a man see that about themselves. She realized too late that the person she liked," and he glanced at the door Naruto had just went out of, "wasn't going to notice her until and unless she changed. Her entire ideals went out of the door and now she doesn't know what to do. I've scheduled three days of extensive training for your team, starting the day after tomorrow. I want to see their teamwork after a year of training.

Genma, I also need you to do me a favor. If I should not make it past the year, find Naruto a good person to look after him. I've already made plans for the next Hokage and plan to announce it after the end of the Chuunin Exam. Are you going to enter them?"

The man nodded. "I do plan on it, Hokage-sama. It all depends really on whether or not their teamwork has diminished. Also, what is the plan this year on team arrangements?"

The man sighed. "It depends. If there are enough people to start a new team, I will make a Chuunin team, but if there are not, I will not. I am thinking that more than likely; there will not be, as most of the people taking the exams are not going to be prepared."

'Well, goodnight, Hokage-sama."

"Goodnight, Genma, may you have pleasant dreams."

The man smiled and left the room. He smiled as Naruto stood on the outside of the door, slumped against the wall asleep.

The young man always found a way to do something weird, but who was he to argue. "Naruto, let's get going."

He woke instantly and said, "Hai, Genma-sensei!"

"You have the day off tomorrow, and the day after we have a team mission to perform. So, Naruto, do you think you are ready for the Chuunin Exams?"

Naruto nodded, he was sure he was ready. To be a Chuunin meant that he'd be a team leader, and respected in the village. "Ano, sensei, what do you think of my becoming a Chuunin?"

The man smiled, "well, I think that if you can become a Chuunin, then you will deserve it. You've proven to me that you are a Chuunin in your decisions, and that is the most important thing."

Naruto nodded and thanked his leader as they approached the last length to his home. "Genma-sensei, thank you for allowing me onto your team these last few months."

The man smiled. "No problem Naruto. I'll see you tomorrow."

Naruto nodded and walked in his house, falling asleep on the couch and not making it upstairs.

The Next Day

The city was festive this time of year as the Genin teams made their way in from various missions to take part of the Chuunin Exam. Team Gai, as it was called, were all standing outside of the Ninja's Stash, as on sale were some new weights that Lee was hoping to buy. He smiled as his friends looked over at him, Tenten, who he hadn't seen in a few weeks, was looking relieved. "Ohayo Tenten!"

"Hey Naruto! What are you doing here?"

Naruto laughed. "Looking for my team, actually. But, since I'm here, I need to get some new weights for my body suit."

She nodded and said, "Alright, are you looking for any new jutsu, we just got in a new jutsu scroll on the Earth jutsu, Earth rising wall. It is one of the Thirds favorite techniques. We're selling it for three hundred ryuu."

Naruto nodded and said, "Hai! And, I need some new Genjutsu too!"

Tenten laughed. "Alright. Well, we don't have any jutsu, but we do have information on a couple forbidden genjutsu that a ninja needs to know about. This is the on about Tsukuyomi, the final stage of the Sharingan. It is said to be impossible to break, as it attacks the mind directly. The only bloodline capable of defeating it is the Haruno bloodline, the Split of the Minds Eye, Hekiomome."

"I'll take it!" Naruto said, "And more weights please. Also, I saw a new ankle weight system. I'll take one of those for my legs."

She smiled, "want the matching wrist weights too?"

Naruto nodded. "Hai, arigato!"

After Naruto got his purchases, he placed the new weights in his suit, adding a hundred pounds altogether. He wasn't going to use the other system just yet, but judging by the new weights, it was worth it. He felt a little strain moving, but walked otherwise just the same. "Naruto, good job on the mission. Neji told us that it was you that won the Hero's Water from the Waterfall."

He smiled and rubbed his forehead. "It was nothing. I need to find my team now, everyone. Ja ne!"

"Ja ne Naruto!"

He left the room, seeing a girl that was clearly Hyuuga in nature, Shino, and a boy that looked like he had nothing better too do than glare at the girl. "But sensei!" he heard, "it's all Hinata-Hime's fault! She was the stuttering fool!"

When the teacher turned, Naruto gasped and ran over, yelling, "Kurenai-Chan!"

She turned just at the last moment and smiled as Naruto ran over to her! "Ohayo Kurenai-chan!"

"Naruto-kun. Hello. I heard about your successful mission. Congratulations. This is my genin team. Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino and Sarutobi Seika."

Naruto smiled at them. "Arigato, Kurenai-chan. Hello Hinata-chan, Shino-teme and Seika!"

Shino chuckled and said, "Naruto-teme. It is good to see you again."

Naruto smiled, "how are your kikai bugs?"

"Arigato, Naruto. They are good, they still shiver when you are around, but that is okay. That just means they are doing their job."

Naruto smiled, "well, I have to find my team; it is good to see all of you!"

Kurenai just chuckled as well and, as Naruto walked off, said, "didn't know you knew Naruto, Shino."

Shino shrugged, "I was supposed to graduate last year second in class, but because of just getting my kikai bugs the night before my examination, I failed. Naruto was tied with Rock Lee as the last in the class. How do you know them, Kurenai-sensei?"

She smiled, "I taught them genjutsu as a Chuunin. Naruto was a good student for the time I knew him, seemed to hold back a lot. When I asked about it, Hokage-sama stated that Naruto had a difficult childhood. I'm sorry to say that I haven't spent as much time with him as I would have liked, but it's alright, considering he's been on C-class missions already. It's impressive how much that kid takes after the Hokage, and his own sensei, Genma.

"Ano, Shino-kun, why did Naruto-san call you Shino-teme, you have been nothing b-b-but honorable since we became a team?" Hinata asked. The boy grinned and said, "Naruto and I were rivals in class, like Lee and Neji were. We would have discussions all the time, but after what happened with my kikai bugs, Naruto gave me his apologies and we became good friends. In fact, had situations been different, I would think that I'd have been his friend too."

Hinata smiled and said, "Ano, Kurenai-sensei, why did call you Kurenai-chan?"

The woman blushed lightly and nipped Hinata behind the ears. "That's enough questions."

On the other side of the building, Naruto grinned too as he remembered that day...

Flashback

He was standing outside of the local bathhouse when the young genin walked past him. He was only six, and was so used to the shouts of, "Kawaii!" that he never noticed the right hook that was sent his way. The genin had hit him and said, "Hentai, don't you know it's not right to look in the bathhouse!"

Naruto stood up and glared at the girl. It was his time off from training that the oyaji-san said he could do whatever he wanted. He looked down though, because she was blushing from his stare. He smiled as he looked at her red eyes and mean stature, thinking that with a tail she'd be a Kawaii neko.

"Arigato, I come here on my time off. The oyaji said it was a good place for me to stay away from the other villagers."

She glared at him and said, "fine, but don't you dare look on me when I'm in the bath, you hentai!"

Naruto's face crunched as he thought the word "hentai" over in his brain. He knew the Bunshin now, but couldn't do a good one yet, but as soon as he thought of a good jutsu, he'd learn to do it.

He sat back down until he heard a giggling come from a man dressed in all black with dark sunglasses covering his face. He was crouched low and looking through a hole in the side of the building. Naruto remembered the punch to the face and glared, thinking, "if I get hit, why shouldn't he?"

"HENTAI! QUIT THAT! YOU HENTAI!"

The boy twisted so violently that Naruto was sure his sunglasses would fall off soon, but the boy stopped as three girls, dressed in only a towel started to beat him up. Naruto had turned around, not wanting to get another hit from the girl before, the Kawaii neko girl.

As he started to walk off, the girl from before called him. Naruto turned and she blushed before kissing him on the cheek. "Arigato, gomen-nasai for hitting you."

Naruto shrugged and said, "Don't worry Kawaii neko-san!"

She blushed and said, "The name is Kurenai, and you?"

He smiled, "I'm Naruto, Kurenai-chan! Ja ne!"

"Ja ne Naruto-kun."

End Flashback

'To this day, we still talk so much that it's pathetic. I wonder if that fool of the Hokage's son will ever tell her how he feels. Oh well... OHAYO Kimourii-chan!"

The girl smiled as Naruto ran over to her, before quickly schooling her features. "How did your mission go, Naruto-san?"

Naruto smiled. "It went great! I met Sabaku no Gaara, and he's a bastard, I'm gonna call him Gaara-teme when I see him next! And you, how did yours go, Kimourii-chan?"

She sighed and said, "Well, Gai-sensei took us on a C-rank mission that lasted two days, but after that, we had nothing else to do so we did a lot of D-ranked missions that we got little pay for. But, it was a good learning exercise, and we became called upon because of our good teamwork too. But, I have to admit that I am glad to see my team back now, working with Tenten and the baka was too strenuous. I do admit that I enjoyed learning the Lotus style that Gai taught Lee though."

Naruto smiled. "Really? Well, do you want to go see Nushi? And we can get reacquainted and run a few practice runs before tomorrow?"

The girl nodded and they went to the Inuzuka compound. Nushi and Sutermaru were outside working on a new move, and were so in tuned that Naruto didn't notice anything wrong with what they were doing till Nushi said, "No Sutermaru, you have to spin the other way than I do. It's called the reverse drilling drives for a reason!"

Sutermaru just nipped in acknowledgement and was about to jump when they turned and said, "Hi" or barked.

"Nushi-chan! It's good to have you back! Naruto-san said that we should run a team practice before tomorrow!"

Nushi nodded and said, "Hai, come on Sutermaru. Maybe if we show the team, they can help with our timing?"

Sutermaru nodded she said, "so, Kimourii-chan, what are you here for?"

The girl smiled and said, "Nothing, just getting ready for a practice run through the obstacle course they just installed on Training Field fifteen. We can go there now because we've been active genin for a year. So, come on!"

And, in the bushes where they were unnoticed, two Jounin instructors watched three genin go off as if they hadn't been separated for more than three months. "I see what you mean, Genma. Maybe my team can learn from yours, it seems that Shikamaru and Chouji need to learn something, other than being lazy. And, Ino, god knows I love her like a daughter, but she needs to learn I'm the leader. So, you want them involved in this years challenge?"

Genma nodded, "hai, Naruto was the genin to pass the challenge last year, and it's been said that your Shikamaru could pass it easily, Asuma, so why not?'

The man laughed. "Alright, we'll play it your way, just don't cry when Shikamaru passes faster than your Naruto did."

The jounin laughed and said, "Hai, I won't."

End Chapter