Chapter 11: Like Toy Shinobi

And now we move onward through the Chūnin exam. The matches come to a close and the invasion begins. I know I wanted this chapter out like two days ago but midterms can be a real pain in the ass. Seriously. Anyways hope you like this chapter everyone and expect another soon since this is what begins a new story for our heroes.

Also I would like you all to know that if you do not know already, I am reposting and continuing the story Key Through the Heart the original. I am basically keeping it the same except for changing a few things or adding things that will be beneficial to how I am continuing it. You can find it named Key Through the Heart: Rebirth. Let me know your thoughts on it and if you ever wanted to see a chapter redone, now's the time to tell me.

Also I would like to thank the DragonBard. You have been a great help in giving ideas on the future of this story and also helping me get this Chūnin exam arc pushed to a close. I couldn't have done it without you.

Intro Music ON: STFU by Girugamesh

Cover: Naruto standing on toad and pointing a Spirit Gun forward. Leaning on the toad is Shikamaru looking into the sky with his hand rubbing his neck. His shadow on the toad is actually holding its hands in a seal. Suki stands in front of the two with her Sharingan activated and gazing forward. Around her sand floats ominously.


"The First round of the Chūnin exams are complete. Winner is Uzumaki Naruto, the Mimic!" The crowd roared and clapped with approval at the amazing battle. Naruto looked up at Genma oddly who shrugged his shoulders.

"Congrats kid. You've gotten yourself a nickname courtesy of me." Naruto continued to stare at Genma oddly before shrugging and walking forward. He smiled and raised his arms into the sky.

"I did it!"


The crowd roared in frenzy as Naruto continued to wave and smile. He turned around and slipped off the gloves then clipped them back to his pants. Locating the stairs, he gave one last look at the medics that were carting away Neji before running towards the steps. As he walked up towards the contestant's box he noticed how a lot of the crowd continued to clap for him causing the boy to blush in embarrassment and laugh.

"Hehe I knew I was awesome," Naruto said as he reached the contestant box. Once he walked in he immediately felt a hand on his shoulder causing him to look around.

"Nice work out there Naruto," Shikamaru said as he got off the wall he was leaning on, "though now that you set the bar it's going to be hard to beat that performance. Man now I'm going to have to try, so troublesome," Shikamaru sighed. Naruto laughed and punched the other boy's arm jokingly.

"Better make it a good match man. I hear that your mom can be real crazy when you don't try," Shikamaru only sighed once more and the two walked towards the other competitors.

Back towards the Kage booth Sarutobi was holding his head in deep thought.

'What in the world have you been doing over this past month Naruto-kun?' the Sandaime thought. 'You are extremely lucky I didn't sic the Anbu on you for using the Kyūbi's chakra. Thank Kami you were able to keep yourself under control.' Unbeknownst to the aged Kage, the disguised Orochimaru was also having thoughts about the young blonde.

'Those moves are very interesting. With the boy's outrageous reserves and the power of the Fox, Naruto could be S-class easily with the proper training,' Orochimaru thought warily. 'If I bring Suki to me I may have a chance to bring the boy too. However if not Naruto will no doubt scour the nations to find the girl.' The Snake Sannin leaned back and folded his hands on his lap. 'That transformation needs to be studied. If the Kyūbi weren't in you Naruto you may have been a good body to take over. At the very least you would make a good underling.'

While the two powerful ninjas were left to their thoughts Naruto plopped himself down on a chair and let out a deep sigh of contentment. That last match really took a lot out of the boy. Shikamaru was leaning back on the chair next to the boy and glanced at Naruto. The match was strange. There were too many things that Naruto did that didn't make sense. Shikamaru had never heard of a ninja that could fly but there is a huge world out there, maybe there was a jutsu that allowed one to fly. But the odd thing about what Naruto did was that chakra he used. What was that orange and red chakra? Where did it come from? Where did that bloodlust come from and where did it go after? Those were the questions that flew through the young genius's mind.

Shikamaru had always seen how the villagers treated Naruto. The cold stares, the lack of acknowledgment, and the constant whispering was pretty hard to miss. Was it because of that chakra? The boy needed answers and Shikamaru always figured out what he wanted. If only he had the time to truly think about what was going on. Luckily his match wasn't till Suki got here so he had some time to-.

"Because Uchiha Suki is not present still we will be delaying her and Sabaku no Gaara's match. Will Aburame Shino and Sabaku no Kankuro please come down."

"I forfeit proctor!" Kankuro yelled loudly receiving a chorus of booing and an unseen glare from Shino.

'Forfeit? Why would the guy forfeit? He looks perfectly fine to me,' Shikamaru thought with a frown. 'Hmm if that match is done and Gaara and Suki's match is delayed that means-,'

"Nara Shikamaru and Sabaku no Temari please come down to the floor!" Genma yelled.

'Dammit.' Shikamaru moaned loudly and rubbed his forehead. Why oh why did that Uchiha have to be late. Now his pondering will have to be put on hold.

"Alright Shika ya hear that? You get to go earlier!" Naruto grinned from beside the boy. Shikamaru sighed and pushed himself off his seat towards the rail where he leaned over it. Temari had already flew down using her fan to catch the air currents down to the floor.

"Maybe I can just forfeit. That puppet guy did so, so why can't I," Shikamaru drawled. The pineapple headed boy heard a cry of outrage from behind and watched as Naruto rushed forward. How did he have energy already? Man how troublesome.

"Don't even think about it lazy-ass. If Ino hears that you forfeit and I didn't stop you, she won't just beat your ass she'll beat mine!" Naruto cried. The Nara closed his eyes and sighed again.

"Meh it's fine. This is too troublesome anyways. I don't want to be Chūnin ya know?" silence greeted Shikamaru. "Naruto?" he opened his eyes and noticed the blonde was no longer by his side. Looking over his shoulder he saw Naruto behind him in a crouched position with his fingers in a tiger seal. "Naruto what the fu-!"

"Konoha Taijutsu no Ougi: Sennin Goroshi!" Naruto shot his fingers forward and then all Shikamaru saw was the sky spinning.


Temari stood in the arena floor annoyed. Why did she have to fight this lazy boy. He had no motivation what so ever. She was about to yell for the Genin to get down when a scream of pain and rage cut her off. The scream attracted the attention of the restless crowd and they all turned to the competitor's box to see Shikamaru fly from the ledge to the floor. The boy landed in a heap blowing up a cloud of dirt and lay there for a moment groaning in pain. Temari blinked in confusion and wondered what happened. Her answer came when she saw Naruto poke his head out and wave.

"You're welcome Shika! Go get her!" Naruto yelled grinning. The blonde grinned and looked to his side seeing Shino and Kankuro giving him strange looks. "What? It's a very easy technique. My sensei was a jerk and taught it to me through experience. I can teach you two if you want."

Kankuro shook his head vehemently while Shino shook his head once. "No thank you Naruto." Shino said quietly but if you really knew the boy you could hear the slight tremble in his voice. The Sennin Goroshi is indeed a disturbing technique.

Naruto shrugged and looked back down towards the arena where Shikamaru was getting up. No offense to Shino but Naruto wanted to go find Sakura and ask her how good he did. Plus he wanted to find Emi and Takuma. Besides he didn't know that puppet user guy and it looked like Shino was glaring at the boy. Not something Naruto wanted to get into. So with a quick wave and an explanation of where he was going Naruto bound off.

Shikamaru pulled himself off the ground while Naruto left to find his friends so he missed the chance to glare at his blonde haired friend. 'Oh don't you worry Naruto. Even a lazy guy like me revels in revenge,' Shikamaru thought as he dusted his clothes off. The boy walked towards the center of the floor where Genma and Temari were waiting. Stretching a bit he stopped in front of the Suna kunoichi who smirked at him.

"Ready to lose you lazy excuse for a ninja?"

"How troublesome, let's just get this over with."

"Round 2 of the Chūnin Exams, begin!" Shikamaru instantly pulled out a few kunai from his pouch and launched them at Temari. The girl scoffed and opened her fan a little so she could blow them off course. Her eyes widened when she saw a shadow moving towards her while her attention was focused on the kunai.

"Shit a distraction!" Temari jumped high into the air to avoid the shadow and opened her fan all the way. She glided above Shikamaru and then jumped off while snapping her fan close. With a mighty yell she fell down upon the boy wielding the fan like a club. Shikamaru cursed and canceled his jutsu so he could jump away. Luckily he did because the impact made by Temari's fan caused a small crater that made cracks appear on the ground.

"That thing can knock my head off my shoulders," pulling a handful of shuriken he lobbed them at the Suna princess and watched as she dodged them. Temari then shot a stream of wind with her opened fan at him making him jump out of the way again. Hiding in the trees, Shikamaru took a few deep breathes and contemplated the situation. 'Okay so she seems to be smart and knows my moves. If I can catch her off guard then I can take her down with my Kage Mane. If not then I can surprise her with my new move.' Judging the time of the day Shikamaru calculated the length of the shadow the trees gave and how far his shadow would extend. Making his handsign he let his shadow go and it crept across the ground towards Temari.

Temari narrowed her eyes at the trees and was about to attack when she saw Shikamaru's shadow head for her again. Jumping back, she bit back a curse as it meandered back and forth like a snake trying to snag its prey. Finally the black line stopped and Temari smirked before using her fan to carve a line signifying the limit.

"Looks like that's all you can do punk!" No answer came from Shikamaru as he continued to analyze the situation. His thoughts were cut short as another blast of wind from the Suna ninja was sent hurtling at him. Four more blasts of wind flew through the trees making the lazy genius jump around frantically.

'I need to catch her off guard again but how?' Thinking quickly, Shikamaru pulled off his vest and tied a kunai to it making it into a make-shift parachute. Waiting for another wind blast, Shikamaru threw the parachute in the air just as the wind picked up making his idea fly high above. Quickly using Kage Mane he sent his shadow towards Temari hoping to catch her before his chakra ran out.

Temari watched as the shadow came curving at her again and shook her head. Why was the boy trying again? She had already found the length that the shadow could reach so what was the point? Her instincts primed through ninja training made her jump back quickly saving her from being caught in the now longer than she thought shadow. "What the hell?" Looking around, she spotted a part of the shadow that was thicker and looked up. Above the jutsu was Shikamaru's kunai and parachute combo which gave him the extra shadows to lengthen his.

"That boy is smart I'll give him that. However I'm not done yet," Temari whispered as she dodged to the side and spun in the air. "Kamaitachi no jutsu!" A torrent of wind swept over the arena causing a cloud of dust to be picked up. Shikamaru jumped from the trees and away from the devastation that riddled the forested area. He looked at the damage with frown and looked back to the girl.

"Troublesome blondes, all of you I swear," Shikamaru said rubbing his neck. Slowly but grudgingly, the boy went into his back pouch and pulled out a lone kunai. On the handle was a piece of paper with writing on it. "Can't believe I have to use this, man so troublesome."


Up in the stands, Naruto decided to go see if he could find some people he knew. As he walked through the seats he heard his name being called over the loud talking from the crowd.

"Naruto-kun! Hey Naruto-kun over here!" Naruto turned his head to see Emi and Takuma smiling and waving at him to come over. Grinning, Naruto bound over to the siblings. Emi gave Naruto a quick hug and Takuma patted his back after making the boy blush in embarrassment. He still wasn't used to this kind of positive attention.

"That was a great match Naruto. I couldn't believe you could use those gloves to such an amazing extent," Takuma said with a smile.

"Well yeah. Haha I got the idea from a character named Tsuna." Takuma nodded but then looked serious for a moment.

"But is it ok to be using ITs power?" Naruto nodded confidently.

"As long as I stay in control I will be fine. If I can do that then I can keep Hyper Form up. Using my own chakra is a different story since I will be using my own energy."

"Well you have to admit that those techniques are amazing," Emi stated. Naruto smiled and rubbed the back of his head.

"Haha thanks Emi-chan. Well I am going to try to find my teammate so I'll talk to you guys later." Naruto waved good bye and started to run down the stairs trying to find any sign of Sakura. She had pink hair how hard could it be? Seeing a flash of that exact color, Naruto rushed down the stairs and found Sakura sitting next to Ino with Kiba and Hinata beside them.

"Hey look, it's Naruto." Kiba pointed at the smiling blonde and stood up to pat the other boy's back. "Man that was a great match. I still can't believe you beat Neji!"

"G-good job N-Naruto-kun," Hinata said blushing.

"You did really good out there Naruto. You pulled some crazy stuff out there," stated Ino.

"Yeah how did you do all that Naruto? The new moves, that strange form, and heck you even flew!" Sakura wondered.

"Haha ninja secret Sakura-chan!"

"Naruto..."

Naruto gulped and scratched his cheek. Giving a brief explanation wouldn't hurt and if he didn't he might get hurt for teasing the pink haired girl. As long as he strayed away from the Kyūbi he would be fine. "Well some of those moves were based off of heavy chakra usage like my speed and Shottogan. Especially the Sōkatsui. Other than that it was just my Henge."

Sakura looked at the boy amazed at his progress. Naruto was getting so much stronger. What about her? Seeing Naruto push himself to get stronger was really making her feel like she needed to push forward. 'If Naruto is strong and Suki is too then I need to push myself even more. For my team.'

"I still don't get how your Henge works." Kiba said. "It almost reminds me of my Juujin bunshin where Akamaru turns into me, right buddy." Akamaru barked in agreement in Kiba's jacket and tilted his head curiosity.

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know enough about your family techniques to compare 'em Kiba. In simple terms let's just say my Henge transforms the reality of chakra and transforms the reality of my physical body...to a certain point at the moment," Naruto said the last part quietly. He was still having trouble with changing his body, or physiology as Ero-Sennin put it, and just couldn't get his whole body completely different yet. Hyper Naruto was the closest he has gotten to changing his whole body since unlike the illusion to reality henge the body henge didn't need a continuous amount of chakra to keep up and Hyper Form didn't have a lot of difference to a normal body. All it needed was the amount of chakra needed to transform and he was set. Like his rubber moves. Once the arm was rubber he found that a constant stream of chakra was no longer needed. Although even though he didn't need to keep using chakra to keep the Henge, Hyper Form was a special case due to him needing to constantly use chakra to attack. Though both types of transformation did take concentration to keep up.

That was why the illusion to reality transformations was both easier and harder at the same time Naruto thought. Easier in a sense that with his shadow clones the sky was limit to what he could do with them since they were made of pure chakra. For him, he needed to be perfect in how the illusion over him was created. His bird transformation was the perfect example. The chakra covering him had to be done perfectly. Fake wings, fake hollow bones, everything fake was made of chakra and needed to be constantly supplied with it. Being a freaking shuriken was easy compared to animals.

Kiba, with his extra sensitive hearing heard the last part but didn't comment. It was true that his family's jutsu weren't a huge secret but they were pretty well guarded so it was no wonder Naruto had any information on them. But still what was up with that crazy evil feeling red chakra had for a while. There was no way he was imagining that. Saving that thought for later Kiba turned his thoughts to what Naruto had looked like during the final part of the match. He knew where it came from but the answer was just out of his reach.

"Hey Naruto what was that thing you did at the end?" Naruto grinned broadly and crossed his arms.

"That was my Hyper Form. I've been working on that forever. It allows me to fl-."

"That's it! Now I know where you got that from," Kiba exclaimed. Naruto laughed and scratched his head.

"So you figured it out huh? Well you could say that in that form I'm 'Reborn' yeah?" Kiba shook his head and chuckled. He knew he would figure it out.

"It l-looked very g-good N-Naruto-kun," Hinata said with a large blush starting to appear on her face. 'I can't believe I said that! What if he thinks I'm weird for saying that?' Naruto laughed and patted Hinata's back and pulling the girl into a friendly hug making the girl turn bright red.

"Thanks Hinata. I hope you enjoyed the match and I hope Neji and you get along now since you guys.. Hinata? Oi what happened? Hinata are you okay?" Hinata had passed out with a smile due to the contact of Naruto touching her. "Uh is she sick?"

"No Naruto she is fine," Sakura sighed. 'So dense.' "Shouldn't you head back to the competitor's box?"

"Oh yeah I got to go! I can see Shika's match way better from there anyways. Oh looks like he is starting to do something big so I better go. See ya!" and with that Naruto ran back.


Outside of the trees Temari stood with her fan out and tried to spot the Nara. Not seeing any sign she growled and stuck her fan in the dirt.

Shikamaru was closing his eyes finalizing his plan. 'I only have one shot at this so I need to maneuver her into the right spot then capture her. If this works then I will only need three minutes.' Shikamaru readied his arm and narrowed his eyes. "Starting now."

"If you won't come out then I'm going to flush you out!" Temari yelled getting ready to bite her thumb. The sound of an object flying through the air made her jump forward so that she could dodge a kunai that lodged itself into the ground.

Temari's eyes widened when she saw a tag on the kunai and she rolled to the side thinking it was an explosive tag. When nothing happened she stood up quickly and readied her fan. "A dud? Then it was a distraction. Where is he then?" a salvo of shuriken made the girl open her fan to blow them back but she cursed and jumped away as she saw a shadow heading towards her. The shuriken stuck beside her and she stood with her fan out growling. This boy was annoying her with his tricks and making her look like a fool.

Settling down Temari stuck her fan in the ground and bit her thumb once more, readying her finishing technique. However, a hissing sound made her stop and she looked over her fan at the kunai that was still in the ground. 'It wasn't a dud it was a hand seal activated tag! But the explosion shouldn't hurt me too much when I'm behind the fan, why would he set it off now?' Suddenly, and much to her surprise, a flash of light blinded her and much of the crowd. When the light died down Temari felt a kunai against her back and she froze in shock. Turning around she was astonished to see the lazy ninja with his knife pointed at her back and half his body sticking up out of a shadow next to her like he was in water.

"H-how?"

"Well it was troublesome to do, but all my attacks were leading you to the exact spot I wanted you to," Shikamaru said as he slowly rose from the shadow till he was completely out of the ground. Temari chanced a look over her fan and saw a shadow leading from the shadows of the forest that connected into a line that went from the shadows of the kunai with the tag to the shuriken and curved to a shadow behind her. Looking up slowly she gasped as she saw the make-shift parachute that he had thrown earlier. The shadow line started to recede towards the Nara as he looked down at the Suna ninja with his kunai pointed at her throat now that he was standing.

"But how did you get behind me? A new form of Shunshin?" Shikamaru scoffed at that.

"Moves like that are such a drag to use for me. I used the Kage Sanpo (Shadow Walk). I can move through my shadow from one point to another without having to rush. Plus I'm sucked into it so I won't be seen." Shikamaru looked into the sky at the clouds and sighed. If only he was like a cloud he wouldn't have to deal with the exams. "I got you in 2 minutes and 42 seconds once I initiated my plan. You lose, checkmate."

"Winner Nara Shikamaru!" Genma yelled and the crowd erupted in applause. 'The kid is smart just like all Nara's. But to be able to use the Kage Sanpo no jutsu at such a young age. How amazing.' Genma looked over to the box where the Chūnin examiners were and nodded.

Izumo and Kotetsu saw the nod and wrote on their clipboards.

"Looks like we might have two new Chūnins eh Izumo?" Kotetsu grinned.

"That Nara kid is smart that's for sure. Plus he manipulated his opponent in exactly the way he wanted while also doing it in a time frame he seemed to want. Quite amazing."


Shikamaru walked up slowly towards the competitor's box where Naruto was waiting with a grin. The blonde quickly ran to the boy and grabbed him by the neck and rubbed Shikamaru's head.

"That was awesome Shika! I didn't know you knew such a cool move like that! Man I wish could move through the shadows like you," Shikamaru grunted and pushed Naruto off. "Too bad it is a bloodline or I would totally like to learn it!" Shikamaru looked at Naruto oddly before chuckling.

"Naruto you can fly already and move at amazing speeds. I can't see you using the Kage Sanpo seeing as how it requires patience and planning." Naruto pouted and crossed his arms.

"Still would be fun to learn." Naruto gestured for them to head more inside where they stood next to Shino. Temari had walked back up the other way and was now standing by her brother glaring holes into the pineapple haired boy. If looks could kill Shikamaru would be in the 9th level of Hell.

"It's fine Temari. Just focus on the plan," Kankuro whispered.

"Whatever. I just can't believe I lost to him," Temari growled. She then looked at her youngest brother and shivered. Gaara was getting antsy. The Uchiha still wasn't here and she could tell that the Jinchuuriki was looking for blood.

Naruto was also thinking on the whereabouts of Suki. They pushed her match back already, going back two matches in fact. Naruto didn't think they could go anymore. Just then Genma called for Gaara and Suki to the floor and Naruto saw his fellow demon container Shunshin to ground in a swirl of sand. He hoped the girl would come soon or she would be really disqualified.

Genma looked at his wrist regarding the watch with a frown. He would give the Uchiha five more minutes. If she wasn't here then he couldn't do anything else but disqualify her. Looking at the small Sand ninja, Genma sighed and looked once back to the crowd.

"Due to Uchiha Suki still not being here I have no choice but to-," a gust of wind stopped the examiner mid-sentence and he turned his head to the source of the wind. A whirlwind of leaves blocked Genma's vision but once they settled there standing tall was Uchiha Suki and Hatake Kakashi.

"We're not late, are we?" Kakashi said sheepishly. Genma sighed and shook his head.

"Just made it in time, took you long enough."

Kakashi scratched the back of his head and eye smiled. "Well looks like we just made it in time then, eh Suki?" Suki's eye twitched and she glared up at her teacher through her bangs.

"Proctor-san how late are we?" Suki grit out without looking away from Kakashi.

"We pushed your match back…twice." Suki almost screeched at her silver haired sensei but kept her calm. Though her eye continued to twitch dangerously. "But you're here now so let's get this match started. Kakashi-san if you would," Kakashi nodded and left the ground in a puff of smoke and leaves. Suki looked up and noticed a flash of blonde in her vision. It was Naruto waving his hands and arms trying to get her attention. She smirked slightly and gave him a nod.

Naruto noticed that his teammate finally spotted him and grinned. He was glad she was finally here and wasn't disqualified. He also noticed that she looked so much different with her new wardrobe. She now had on black collared sleeveless top that showed more of her stomach than the last shirt, which was still covered in mesh. Both her arms sported fingerless arm gloves that clung to her skin and went to her elbows. Her left arm had an elbow guard above the glove for extra protection. Suki's old shorts were replaced by a skirt that stopped at the thighs and were cut on the sides to allow more movement. From her thighs down she had white stockings that were tucked into black ninja sandals. All in all, for Naruto, Suki looked much more feminine and let her growing curves show. She actually looked a lot cuter, not that he would ever say that. Like hell he would. Ever.

Suki rolled her shoulders a bit and stared at her opponent. The red haired boy looked the same as he did a month ago, those same cold eyes staring at her, dead looking above all else. Genma held his hand in front of the two and looked back to his Kage. With a nod from the aged leader he lifted his arm.

"BEGIN!" Suki immediately pulled out a round of kunai and lobbed them at Gaara. Just as she expected sand poured from the gourd on his back and shot in front of him to block the kunai. Rushing forward she started to try and hit the boy with taijutsu, but the sand kept blocking her.

In the stands, Kakashi appeared on the stairs next to the row Sakura was sitting in. The pinkette yelped at the sudden entrance of her sensei before glaring at him.

"Kakashi-sensei where have you been?"

"Maa sorry Sakura but we had some last minute business to deal with," Kakashi said while eye smiling.

"Your tardiness is a cloud over the shining youth of your students Kakashi!" Kakashi sighed inaudibly and turned around.

"Hmm you say something Gai?"

"Gah curse you Kakashi and your hip attitude!" Gai cried out. Sakura looked over to the eccentric sensei and saw Lee standing next to him leaning on a crutch.

"Lee," Lee looked over to the girl and smiled slightly, a complete contrast to his usual exuberant self.

"Hello Sakura-san. We were hoping to get here earlier to see Naruto and Neji's fight but I guess we missed it."

"Oh man you guys missed it!" Ino said leaning over Sakura so she could talk to the three new arrivals. "Naruto was awesome out there! He beat Neji and showed some awesome moves!"

"Yeah!" Kiba joined in while laughing. "Who would have known that the dead last could fly?"

'Fly?' Kakashi thought.

"You missed Naruto's fight sensei," Sakura said disappointedly. "I bet he would have liked it if you and Suki were here." Kakashi chuckled nervously and rubbed his neck. He knew he should have been here sooner but it was a pretty long trek to get here from those cliffs. Kakashi could feel Sakura's eyes still on him and he held his hands up in placating motion.

"Now, now Sakura I'm sure he did fine without me. Besides I'll make it up to you two later for now let's just watch Suki's fight." Sakura stared at her sensei for a moment longer before looking back. Even if Suki wasn't Sasuke, Sakura still cared for the other girl. Sakura clenched her hands in worry. Gaara was a monster. What he did to Lee was inexcusable. What if he did that to Suki? What if it wasn't just an arm or leg?

Kakashi saw the girl's worry and patter her shoulder. "Don't worry Sakura, Suki will be fine."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Just watch."


Suki, who had been smashing away at Gaara's shield of sand smirked as she decided to take the fight up a notch. Back flipping from a tendril of sand the girl rushed forward once more and lashed out with a punch. Just as her fist was about to hit the sand her form blurred from view and she appeared behind Gaara.

"What?" Gaara whispered. His sand barely made it in time to block before Suki blurred away again and attacked from the side. This back and forth lasted a few minutes before the girl was finally able to beat the sand and she smashed a foot into Gaara's face sending him tumbling across the ground.

"Hmph is that all you have," Suki said mockingly as she got into a fighting stance.


"T-that is my Gouken!" Lee said shocked. "How?"

"What better fighting style to teach her than the one that first injured Gaara," Kakashi stated still looking down. "Don't get me wrong, you are still far ahead of her due to her having to use chakra to augment her muscles so she can move that fast, but with this fighting style she has a chance to win."

Lee looked down at the arena from Kakashi and felt a sense of melancholy. 'Suki you truly are a genius. To even get this far with Gouken in just a month. And Naruto... The one who defeated my rival.' Lee sighed. 'Will I ever be able to fight again?'


Naruto was standing with his arms over a ledge watching the beginning of the fight so far. He was quite surprised to see Suki able to move at high speeds, but he guessed Kakashi had to give her something to get past the sand. Shikamaru and Shino stood next to him both looking at the fight with differing levels of interest. Shikamaru was casting glances at the two Suna ninjas and frowning.

"They are up to something," he whispered quietly.

"Who?" Shikamaru looked down to Naruto surprised that the blonde heard him but waved it off. He must have been louder than he thought.

"Those Suna ninja. They keep whispering and looking around. Almost like they are expecting something..."

"I agree," Shino put in. "They are too wound up. My bugs sense unease in their behaviors."

"We'll have to keep an eye on them. Don't drop your guard." Naruto blinked and nodded before looking back to Suki's fight. What could be going on?


Suki cartwheeled out the way of a wave of sand and blurred forward once more striking Gaara in the stomach and following up with a kick to the side that was interrupted by sand. Backing off once more Suki closed her eyes for a moment and gathered her chakra.

'Sharingan!' Opening her eyes once more Suki revealed the red orbs of her family's doujutsu, both eyes now with two spinning tomoes. With renewed vigor she rushed forth and elegantly dodged the sand tendrils that went for her.

Gaara growled lowly and held his hand in front of him. Sand gathered and formed making a copy of the Jinchuuriki. The Suna bunshin swung a sand arm at Suki who ducked under it and started for the original. However she had jump out he way as the clone brought a sandy leg up towards the girl's chin. With a growl Suki placed her palms on the leg and vaulted herself up. Sticking to the leg with chakra she spun on her hand while throwing her legs into a split. Her foot smashed into the fake Gaara's face and the sand head blew apart. Suki finished her spin and pushed off the sand to land in crouch before the clone could reform itself. Not letting herself stay still for long Suki blurred again and appeared in front of Gaara.

Gaara was expecting another taijutsu attack but his pale green eyes widened in shock as Suki went through a chain of handseals at an amazing pace.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no jutsu!" Suki yelled before shooting a large fireball down at pointblank range. The fire jutsu consumed the boy and Suki landed gracefully. "Heh let's see you survive that." When the fired died down a glass statue of Gaara was left standing there. The glass shattered and fell to pieces and Suki recoiled in shock. A sound behind the girl made her spin to see that the clone she had taken care of was now replaced by the crazed form of Gaara.

"Yes, yes! Mother will have your blood!" Gaara screamed as he lifted his arms. A wall of sand rose up to surround Suki and when she looked up she was appalled to see a large spike of sand form above her.

"Shit! There's no way for me to run out!" Suki looked around frantically but saw no way out of the sand wall. She had to break through. 'Hopefully this will get me through!' Suki thought as she hurriedly went through seals.

"Die for Mother!" The sand spike completed and shot down at Suki who completed her seals and looked up with her Sharingan spinning.


"Suki!" Naruto screamed out as the sand spike fell upon his teammate. The boy gripped the rail causing it to groan and leave indents in the metal. Naruto's whole body was tense and his eyes were wide with fear.

Shikamaru gripped his friend's shoulder tightly to reel the boy back in. "Naruto calm down this is Suki we are talking about. The Uchiha Suki, I'm sure she has a plan," Shikamaru said through clenched teeth. Though even he was worried, that last attack looked too hard escape through just speed. He could have used Shadow Walk to escape, but Suki… he didn't know if Suki had a move like that.

Like Naruto, Sakura was also screaming for her teammate. Her screaming was stopped as she felt a hand pat her lightly on the head. Looking up, she saw Kakashi smiling down at her.

"Don't worry she is fine. She prepared for this." Just then the wall of sand that once surrounded Suki melted into glass as fire erupted around the spike just as it was about to pierce inside of the circle of glass.


The spike that was raised high to kill Suki turned to glass also and it and the wall shattered into pieces. As the pieces fell they reflected a shining light coming from Suki. Circling the girl was a long bodied dragon made of red hot flames its eyes shined white with power. It spun around the girl protectively, its whole body going from Suki's feet to the top of her head. The dragon stopped spinning for a moment and lifted its head high to stare at the shocked Gaara. It roared and then continued to spin but at a much slower pace.

"Katon: Karyū Engo (Fire Style: Fire Dragon Protection)," Suki said as she looked at her opponent with her head held high. "You're finished now." Gaara stared at Suki before he slowly broke out into maniac grin.

"Yes, yes this is what Mother wants. You are strong, Mother wants your strong blood…Mother wants you!" Gaara threw his arms out and let out waves of sand towards Suki. Suki scoffed and dodged to the side, her Sharingan allowing her to predict the movements of the sand. Suddenly a whip of sand from behind made her look back in alarm. However the fiery dragon around her roared and lashed out at the sand in an explosion of fire, easily turning the grains into glass. Suki smirked and then ran forward. Using her speed, Suki got close to the green eyed boy and started to rain down on him with vicious taijutsu attacks. Whenever she threw a punch a part of the fire that surrounded her body would fly with her fist and either melt the sand or burn the boy it was trying to protect.

A brutal uppercut laced with fire sent Gaara flying into the air where a pillow of sand caught him. He got up quickly and made the sand cloud shoot down pellets of sand at Suki. Suki growled in frustration as she dodged as much as she could and let her Karyū Engo take care of what she couldn't. Though even with her fire defense some shots of sand still impacted her body causing her to yelp in pain. There were just too many. Hoping to get the boy down, Suki used Kage Buyō to get behind Gaara who blinked in surprise.

"Katon: Shishi Rendan (Fire Style: Lion Barrage)!" Suki yelled as she delivered her taijutsu combo accompanied with fire to Gaara sending him to the ground. The boy fell to the ground with a grunt and Suki landed gracefully. She pulled a shuriken from her pouch and quickly attached ninja wire to it. Spinning it around quickly, she zeroed in on the recovering Gaara.

"I want to end this now so if you don't mind I'm going to finish this." Suki spun the wire attached shuriken quickly before launching it towards Gaara. "Karyū Engo Tama (Fire Dragon Protection Shot)!" As Suki yelled the name of her technique; the fire dragon that was circling her sprang onto the wire and followed down to the shuriken till its head encompassed the ninja star. The dragon grew to a great size and it roared showing the spinning, white hot shuriken in its mouth.

Gaara looked on as the great construct of fire bore down at him and after years of killing others he felt an emotion he thought he would never feel again. Terror.

"MOTHER!" An explosion shook the floor as Suki's jutsu connected and black smoke covered the area where Gaara once stood. Suki smirked and turned around thinking she won when a gasp from the crowd made her spin around. In the wake of the destruction she caused stood an orb of sand, a good portion of it melted into glass. However the glass was shattered off and replaced with more sand to make the orb perfect. Suki looked in shock at the globe and narrowed her eyes.

'How did he block that? How the hell did he block that?' Suki yelled in her mind. She ran forward at a cautious pace but had to jump backwards to avoid being impaled by a spike of sand that shot from the orb. That defense was incredibly strong. It looked like Kakashi was right, she had to use it. Suki back flipped on to the wall and continued to till she was high above the floor. Flipping through hand seals she threw her left hand down to the wall and grasped her wrist. Chakra burst forth around her hand as lightning erupted from her fingers. A ring electricity revolved around her feet, feeding the lightning chakra around the girl's hand as the sound of birds chirping echoed across the arena.


"Really Kakashi? To have taught the girl that jutsu," Gai said as he looked at Suki. Everyone's attention was focused on the eccentric Jounin as he stroked his chin.

"What jutsu are you talking about Gai-sensei?" Sakura asked as she shifted her eyes back and forth between Suki and Gai.

"Kakashi's original technique, it is used as an assassination jutsu. Even though it may sound loud the jutsu is extremely powerful. Essentially it is basically a strong chakra encased thrust of lightning chakra, but what truly makes this move dangerous is its piercing power. To use the jutsu effectively you need to be able to move at incredible speeds, but the speed you must move at is a liability thanks to the tunnel vision that is suffered. That is why you need to be able to predict how the enemy moves."

"But if it has such a dangerous drawback then what is the use?" Ino asked.

"You must have the predicting capabilities of the Sharingan." The Genin nodded as they realized why Kakashi would teach it to Suki.

"What a powerful jutsu…"

"Yes it is," Gai said. "With the power to even cut lightning itself and giving a death accompanied by the sound of birds chirping. Thus rightly named…"


Suki grinned as the jutsu came to full power and she pulled her arm back, while also ripping apart the wall she stood on, and bolted down the wall. Her speed picked up steadily as she ran down to the ground and continued to grow as she flew across it towards the sphere of sand. Her left hand gave off a trail of lightning as Suki held it behind her, the sound of birds chirping screeching out. Suki's Sharingan spun as she got closer to Gaara's defense and she dodged the sand spikes that came out to stab her. With a mighty scream she thrust her arm forward and pierced right through the compacted sand like a hot knife through butter.

"CHIDORI (One Thousand Birds)!" Silence met Suki's scream of her jutsu as the crowd stared in awe at the amazing spectacle. That silence was broken by a scream filled with pain and madness that Suki recoiled.

"BLOOD! MY BLOOD!" Gaara screamed from inside the ball. Suki pulled her arm out of the sand with a pained grunt and watched as the sand fell away leaving a screaming Gaara who clutched his shoulder. An ominous pressure fell upon the stadium as Gaara's screams escalated.

Naruto flinched at the feel of the chakra that washed over the stadium and shouted in alarm.

"Shit something's happening!" He turned to the side to see a horrified expression on both Temari and Kankuro. This was not good.

Up in the Kage booth, Sarutobi slowly turned to side and his eyes met with the only other person sitting down. The two guards of the "Kazekage" that were wrapped in a cloak shifted and two figures burst from each cloak and jumped to the roof of a separate building. An explosion occurred and knocked the body guards of the Hokage off their feet while Orochimaru threw off his disguise and grabbed Sarutobi from behind and put a kunai to his throat. The Snake Sannin brought the aged Hokage with him to the building where he stood in the middle of his four Sound ninja.

"Do it!"

"Yes sir! Fuuin: Shishienjin (Sealing art: Four Violet Flame Encampment)!" The Sound Four said simultaneously. A purple box appeared around Orochimaru and Sarutobi who kicked his old student off of him.

"Oh ho looks like the old man still has some fight in him." Sarutobi growled and threw off his Kage robes revealing his battle armor underneath.

"I had a feeling this would happen my former student. To think that you would sink this low as to attack the village of your roots." Orochimaru cackled in response.

"By the time I'm done there will be no village left!"

Naruto panicked as he saw the explosion in the Kage box. He turned quickly to see siblings of Gaara jump down to the arena and he growled as he got ready to jump after them while transforming his arm.

"I'm not letting you guys get away!" Naruto yelled not noticing as glowing feathers started to fall around him. "Gomu Gomu…no…" The blonde's eyes started to droop as he swayed and fell back. 'What's happening? I'm getting…sleepy…' Naruto couldn't keep his eyes open any longer and he let the blissful touch of sleep consume him, unaware of the destruction that started to breakout around him. Konoha began to fall in chaos.