Boiling Ice: Of Fire and Wind

Everything is Set

Previously on Boiling Ice: Of Fire and Wind,

With yet another good match finished and another heavy speech to hit our hearts, it was that moment when the board was switching the remaining names once more. Sakura had already rejoined Naruto and Hinata the stands, now that they each had their own match, they can finally stay together and watch the remainder of the Preliminaries. After a while of terrible suspense, the pair of names have been decided;

Tenten Higurash vs Temari

"Um...Guy-sensei?" Lee asked in much quieter tone that had little to none of the excitement as usual and the Jonin in question saw that too. "You did teach Tenten a backup plan? In case that her style doesn't work?"

Guy was silent and looked down in shame that his team picked up; Lee was pale while Tenten in question was just irritated that her team was 'overthinking things'. Everyone else could only imagine of what caused such an eccentric and loud pair to grow silent over something like this.

"Aww, I wanted to fight at least one member of Team Seven~! I so want revenge for what happened in the forest." Temari whined until a single glare from her brother silenced her and a scolding from her team leader got her on the field facing Tenten who is waiting with eagerness.

'Neji lost and to a rookie no less! I will surely regain my team's honor by winning my battle!' That was what was going through Tenten's head, not even on the fight that was just about to happen.

Hayate was neutral to it all and just did his job, "Are both fighters ready?" They all said yes once they were out of their stupor. "Then Hajime!"

Once the proctor has spoken and moved out of the way, Tenten acted first and took out a scroll to reveal kanji writings inside. She then used Chakra to activate them which caused a storm of various weapons to rocket towards Temari. Axes, swords, spears, anything sharp was headed right at the Sand girl but she didn't bat an eye until she took out what looked like an over-sized fan. "Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" A huge gust of wind came next after those words were spoken and blew the shower of sharp steel in various directions away from Temari, not one got close.

While Tenten was shocked, her team sighed in the stands; they thought something like this will happen, Tenten's dependence on weapons was more oblivious than how eccentric Lee was about the "Flames of Youth". Also in the stands, Naruto made a look that spoke on how he understood why Team Nine was nervous about this matchup.

"I can see it now." Naruto said and it got the attention of everyone around him, "It is clear that Tenten uses weapons only for long-ranged attacks. The sand girl can just blow them away until Tenten has no weapons left." With that being said, the audience around Naruto also understood the situation is bad news for a ninja like Tenten.

Back in the battle field, Tenten overcome her shock as she took out two more scrolls but they seemed to be different ones. When she opened them, Tenten jumped and started signing in the center. "Sōshōryū!" It was like a twister was born in the center of the field and soon, hand held weapons like before started to shoot out in all directions. Tenten hoped this will throw her opponent off guard. She was wrong.

Temari smiled at the display, "So you are shooting your weapons from a twister? Impressive but..." Temari paused as she readied her fan and wind started to move around her, "Nothing has changed!" The battle fan started to glow with the wind acting on it. "Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" The same wind that Temari commanded not long ago returned and like she said, it deflected the rain of weapons away from her. Unfortunately for Tenten herself, she was still in midair and the wind jutsu had destroyed her concentration; she was going to fall hard onto the field!

However, Tenten soon wished she did when she instead landed back first onto Temari's folded fan! The impact almost broke Tenten's back but the Proctor wasn't going to stay around and wait for that to happen.

"Halt! *cough* Tenten cannot continue so the winner is Temari no Subaku!" Hayate announced hoping it was going to end it all; he was wrong. A loud crack was heard and when the proctor looked around, he saw Temari still beating on an unconscious Tenten! "Stop! I said the match is...over?" Hayate stopped in his tracks in surprise when Temari did halt in her attacks but obliviously not from Hayate's words. No, it was Naruto Uzumaki holding Temari by her blond hair and her giant battle fan.

"You know? I was glad to meet someone with blond hair as the only one with such hair color in Konoha entirely." Naruto spoke in a calm tone that got everyone wondering what his game was as well as wondering while Temari was shaking in her position. "I will hate to change that and make you bald in front of everyone including your team." Now it was clear; Naruto was placing Temari in a corner and he was taunting about it! All that started to change when Baki, leader of the Suna Team, jumped down from his place in the stands and glared at Naruto.

"Uzumaki! I demand you will let go of my student so I can hand her punishment!" To a civilian's ear that sounded like a threat but a real ninja like Naruto knew better and as a result the blond smirked instead.

"I don't think you, half-face." Baki was in gawk that a 'dobe' was able to not be affected by his 'threat' and that the blond will insult him instead. "You are actually going to give your student a slap on the wrist and scold her for not acting a daughter of a Kage she is." That was it, now the crowds, ninja or civilian, were in uproar that a child of a Kage was fighting in the exams; they just don't know if they should boo at Naruto for threatening such royalty or at the Suna princess for not making a good example. On the field, Temari and Baki were shocked at the statement.

"How did you know that!? That info is only known to our village!" Baki yelled in outrage at which only boiled when Naruto grinned,

"Easy. If Temari was any Suna ninja, you would have gone down and threatened to kick her out of the team but you didn't. You only reacted when I stopped her and that told me that she was some important enough to threaten me instead of her for breaking the rules. I have seen it before." Naruto explained and it got everyone in awe about how observant Naruto has shown at the moment.

"Whatever, just hand over my sister you dobe!" Now that wasn't Baki's voice at all and everyone turned to see Kankuro standing next to his team leader and not knowing that he caused another uproar by admitting he is also a child of a Kage. He got in the end or should I say, in the front when Naruto response with knocking Kankuro down with Temari's fan and at the same time, throwing the Suna girl into Baki, knocking him down.

"Fine but you better make sure your sister doesn't see you with that fan or you are really in trouble. I am out of here and with Tenten." Naruto said and true to his word, he picked up the weapons girl and disappeared in a swirl of ice. He reappeared where Team Ten was and handed over their teammate before joining his team. Naruto was really crossed about getting scolded for both protecting his comrade and for spilling a secret they did instead.

XXXXX

Now that the incident is done and over with, the board started to sort names once more and the silence ended when it stopped at two names once again;

Rock Lee vs Mizusame

"ALRIGHT!" Not a second later did the stadium get filled with a shout like this one and to those who knew well enough, it meant only one thing; "NOW I CAN WIN THIS MATCH AND REGAIN MY TEAM'S FLAMES OF YOUTH!" It came from Rock Lee himself of Team Nine; the boy who went to lengths to match his idol in ways that creped everyone out.

Elsewhere in the stands, the Kiri Team recognized the second name as it belongs to one of their teammates. They turned to Mizusame who was focused on fighting the match against a boy whole has shown the potential to be a future Taijutsu master. "Reminder our second and real reason to be here, Mizusame. We need you to win." They teacher who seemed to be a mummy from clothes rather than bandages and spoke in a stuffy tone.

"I understand Sensei and I worked hard for anyone I should face. Besides, can we really trust the blonde with this?" Mizusame said in response,

"I may not have met him myself but your teammates and you yourself have got a good impression of him to share. Besides, if Zabuza-senpai and Mizukage-sama wish for us to do this then we should not let them down." That was the mummy's answer and Mizusame nodded and headed for the arena where Lee was standing with an impatient impression on his face.

"Are both fighters ready?" Hayate asked the sentence of the day, he got a "Yes" and a "YOSH!" for an answer so he announced the match to begin. He left the field and for a good reason because Lee ran towards Mizusame with a leg readied for a kick as soon as the match begun. The Kiri boy managed to dodge by a spit second, leaving Lee embedded in the wall behind with his leg first. Mizusame took the time that Lee used to loosen himself from the wall in order to gain some distance.

"Starting things off with a physical attack? Why not?" Mizusame then took out kunai stringed to a wire, each with a piece of paper attached at the circle handle. He then threw them in Lee's direction who moved to dodge but for that few seconds, the kunai glowed and changed direction to face Lee once more and successfully blinded Lee's legs. The Konoha boy was shocked that his opponent had a clean shot despite his attempt to move out of the way. All he saw that Mizusame had a smirk on his face and his hands were in the Ram Seal.

In the stands, Naruto was smiling and chuckling that his girlfriends picked up and before they can comment on it, Naruto spoke his. "Could have fooled me if I wasn't an Uzumaki and it is a good thing I am."

"What do you mean Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked and Sakura nodded along,

"I mean that the seals on those Kunai are not the Explosive Notes we usually us. They are seals that allow projectiles to hone in on moving objects while still in motion." Naruto said and that got everyone attention, "I am tempted to learn the matrix formula but I will leave that boy's village to their own secrets. Still, I need to talk to them about their Fuinjutsu skills." Whatever he noticed it or not, the audience around him or at least the good ones nodded at Naruto's statements while others thought that he was skipping on a 'once-in-a-lifetime-chance' to learn about their 'future enemies'.

Back to the fight, Lee is trying to free himself when he noticed something burning and saw that the kunai with the seals attached at burning up; he saw this happen before when his teacher and idol used exploding notes on target practice. Lee turned to his smirking opponent with an expression of disapproval.

"Hey! Killing is allowed and besides, I am giving you a chance to escape that you are throwing away." Mizusame pointed out and Lee widened his eyes and actually got the wire off but when he tried to throw it away, he was caught in the blast; he landed a good distance away with some broken bones, still he got up to fight. "Alright, if you are going to drill a hole in my head with that attitude then I will spill the beans. It is too late to keep them a secret anyways." Mizusame said that last statement while turning to Naruto in the stands who just smirked.

"What you saw firsthand was my Senrosame Fuin no Jutsu, a personal creation of mine from when I started out as a genin." Lee was still in the dark as he tried to bare the pain in every part of his body, "It acts like a shark when it catches the scent of blood, it can sense my targets from even ten miles away and won't stop until it hits and will move around anything that gets in its way to do it." Mizusame finished his explanation and by now everyone caught on, including Lee who is now smirking,

"It is clear that I dropped my Flames of Youth in a mud pile but I am planning on picking it up and cleaning it by defeating you!" Despite how his body hurts, Lee raced once more but changed into a handstand as soon he reached Mizusame. Lee then used the strength in his arms to jump over Mizusame too fast for the Kiri boy to catch up; Lee is trying to make sure that the same jutsu works twice. "Konoha Senpū!" Lee then landed a rough kick to his opponent's back but because of the previous injury and pain, the kick didn't do much damage so Mizusame was able to recover before any real damage was done.

"I see, you have real devolution to keep fighting even with your body breaking apart. Where I come from, your kind are welcome the best." Mizusame said and Lee wasn't feeling like taking it while clutching the leg he injured while trying to land a hit. "But you are only half way in based on what you have been doing ever since you couldn't escape my explosive notes going off and..." The Kiri boy disappeared and reappeared in front of Lee's pained face, "IS THIS!" Lee only saw that Mizusame's arm bulged inhumanly before landing a mean punch to the chest and knocked him out.

Silence soon came and was interrupted when Hayate appeared in a blur and checked Lee's vitals, "Shousha: Mizusame!" Cheers for such a good show appeared for some but others were not so sure about the humiliating defeat of a boy with such bravery and devolution.

XXXXX

When the match was over, they had to brace their ears for when the leader and teacher of Team 9, Mighty Guy, ranted about his team failing their fights completely. He also said that he was going to train his team harder for next year so all of them were going to make it to Chunin. Guy did all that until his was only an inch from losing his voice and everyone wished it would have happened anyways.

Their attention was to the board for the next matchups, and it stopped at two words again;

Dosu vs Gaara

In the stands where the Suna Team was stationed, Gaara grinned that he had his match after waiting so long. He disappeared in a swirl of sand and appeared on the field where his opponent, a man covered in bandages with his left eye showing and garments on each of his arms that had holes in them. Hayate was also there in the middle of them as his role of the proctor.

"Are both fighters ready?" His answer was a gruff 'yes' from Dosu and a raspy 'whatever' from Gaara and those were good enough for him. "Hajime!" Hayate announced and used his Shunshin to move out of the way which was the wisest choice since Dosu raced towards Gaara with his gloves with holes,

"Kyōmeisen!" The air ripped around the metal device and it seemed to affect the ground below as the dirt and stone started to shake and break apart. However, Dosu's target which happens to be Gaara was not hurt has Dosu hit nothing but sand that seemly came out of nowhere. "What! I can't get free!" Dosu panicked as he couldn't move his arm out of the wall of sand that absorbed his attack and captured him.

"Interesting. Your use of sound waves to attack your opponents." Gaara spoke in a tone with no emotion whatsoever. "But do you know for a fact that sand is like a buffer? Sound can never get through and is muted instead. Bad news for you." Gaara finished while commanding his sand to cover Dosu entirely, creating a cocoon shaped prison that Dosu couldn't do anything other than struggle and scream through the thick sand. "Sabaku Kyū!" The screams of pain and fear were the only things heard before the sound of crushing bones and fresh arrived in everyone's ears as the sand bundle that held Dosu of Otogakure started to leak blood.

"Enough. *Cough*" Hayate spoke as he appeared on the arena. Gaara didn't pay any attention and just dumped the mess of blood and bones while retracting his sand into the gourd on his back. The proctor didn't even need to check it out, "Winner by *cough* death, Gaara no Subaku!" No cheers were heard or any 'boo's, just silence as ANBU agents cleaned up the mess along with the blood that was molding into the ground that made up the arena.

XXXXX

After the dreadful match, Gaara used a sand Shunshin to reappear at his team in the stands; they were only nervous that their teammate and brother was still inset on killing his opponents. Everyone else were given ten minutes to throw up in private and get their bearings back together; fortunately, there was to be one last match before the Preliminaries were over. The board then started to choose the matchups until it stopped once more at two names;

Choji vs Akanami

"Alright! It is about time I had my match! I have been waiting too long!" For someone who seen more than deaths for anyone's lifetime, Choji Akimichi sure is excited that his name has been decided for this last match since there was an odd number of genin at the start; after this, there will only be one left!

Elsewhere in the stands, the Kiri team were a lot more focused about this then Choji is showing. "Akanami, remember. We don't want any bloodshed after that Suna kid did without remorse back there. We want this match to be as clean as it can be and much better for the wellbeing of the others in the stand." The mummy leader of Kiri spoke brief and to the point. The girl nodded and went towards her place on the field.

"Are both fighters ready?" Hayate asked and Choji yelled a big yes while Akanami just nodded so. "Then Hajime!" Hayate then moved out of the way just in time to dodge some kunai with explosive notes attached that were already burning.

"That again? I may be big boned but I am not stupid!" Choji proclaimed while preforming hand seals. "Nikudan Sensha!" Choji expanded to resemble a ball and rolled over the notes, smothering them against the ground below and thus successfully extinguished them before the notes can explode.

"Now I am impressed..." Akanami said while her opponent was still rolling around like a giant bowling ball, "But your rollout fun won't protect you from this!" The Kiri girl ran towards Choji and while only centimeters from each other, Akanami managed to shift her entire body to her left and brushed her right arm, glowing in a blue aura, on Choji's unprotected side, "Tsuuka Same no Hada!" In that next second, the image of a fierce shark passed right through Choji who was still in ball form and the Akimichi heir dropped to the ground while covered in blood and cuts.

Hayate dropped to see Choji's vitals and saw that the boy was only in deep pain that couldn't get up from the floor. Hayate stood up and cleared his throat, "Shousha: Akanami!" Cheers soon rang in the ears of those on the field and in the stands as the last match of the painfully long Preliminaries has been announced over.

XXXXX

After the mess was cleaned up and repairs were made, every remaining genin were called to the field. The Hokage was standing in front of them like at the start of the Preliminaries only the amount of fighters were successfully cut down to half, a more suitable number of participates for the Finals. "Now that the Preliminaries are finished, it is time to prepare for the finals." Hiruzen, the Hokage, announced and silence followed instead of protests like at the start of the day. "Now, we are going to decide the match ups by random once more but by a different method..." As soon as that was said, a Jonin appeared with a box that had an opening in the top, big enough for even a grownup's hand to fit in. "Instead of this box are twelve sheets each with a number from one to twelve written on. Each of you will reach in and take out a number sheet but do not reveal your number yet."

The twelve genin did as told and soon, they each had a number in their hands. Anko then stepped forward with Ibiki by her side with a chart similar to the shape of tree roots; circles paired up all the way to only one on the top.

'Is that what the Finals are?'

'This looks more like a simple tournament compared to the last exams.'

'There has got to be a secret meaning to this like the rest of the Chunin Exam.'

"Okay maggots." Anko announced, breaking everyone out of their thoughts like those above. "One at a time, you will open your sheet and speak your number. Ibiki will write your names down according to the numbers you say."

The Genin then opened their sheets at the same time and it went as followed,

"Three."

"One."

"Seven."

"Five."

"Two."

"Ten."

"Four."

"Twelve"

"Nine."

"Six."

"Eight."

"Eleven"

Ibiki finished writing down everyone's names in the order they spoke their number. "Thank you maggots and now read it and weep." The sadist Jonin spoke and revealed the chart in which he filled out. The matches went as followed:

(Hinata vs Sakura) The two girls looked at each other, not with the look of taking the other down but one to do the best they can. "A fight between loves is very fitting isn't it?" Hinata asked and Sakura smirked, "Let's show how strong we are when we fight." "Agreed."

(Haku vs Kankuro) "Prepare yourself make-up bod or I will freeze all that powder off your face." Haku threatened in a sweet voice that got everyone else on edge, especially Kankuro who was a little worried about the plan as soon as he saw Naruto in action moments earlier.

(Naruto vs Akanami) Naruto turned to find his opponent and found her, "Let's fight with everything we have during the finals." Akanami had a good idea that something like this will come so she just nodded. "Of course and beware, I am not a pushover." "And I am not looking forward if you are." Naruto responded. "Right."

(Shikamaru vs Temari) "I have to fight another girl? Now that I have to train, I can't watch the clouds at all. How Troublesome." Shikamaru complained like a pure Nara he is and Temari was not happier the least, "I have to fight a Nara? They are the laziest people in the world and I don't care if he won his match, this one will be a waste of time!"

(Gaara vs Mizusame) 'I am not interested in your tricks or magic but your blood so it better be good enough for Mother.' Gaara thought darkly in his head while his opponent was also in his thoughts, 'I better train so I can at least put on a good show before we have to move on with our plan."

(Shino vs Chojuro) Shino looked at the boy who had a duel handled sword covered in wrappings on his back and glasses on his face. "Let's do our best and learn from each other to understand another better." An Aburame maybe creepy with their fetish with bugs but they are polite and respective to even strangers and outsiders. The boy nodded, "T-thank y-you. L-let us b-battle a-at our g-greatest in t-the F-finals." Chojuro response in a similar manner to Hinata during the academy yet this boy scream power off its presence to an Aburame like Shino.

"Now that you all had the chance to meet your adversary for the Finals, you are all dismissed to start training until the finals start again over a month's time. May you do your best and not forget what the real meaning to a ninja is!" Hiruzen announced off the genin who went their separate ways. What they don't know if that there was evil plotting the shadows with the info they gathered from the matches and figuring out what to expect when the finals start. One thing is certain is that the finals are something not to forget even they wanted to.

End of Chapter 11

*Hello everyone! That was it, the Preliminaries are over and of course, Naruto still needs to train for his match in the finals so I am going to have his first meeting with Jiraiya to be something exciting. All I ask that you still be patient with me as I try to balance my school work until I am in the clear again.

Another thing is that i have decided to move around the selections to better move the story line along. I hope it doesn't bother you as i have now have to think of an entire match before Gaara's that will set the Invasion in motion. Have a nice day!*

Translations:

Kamaitachi no Jutsu – Sickle Weasel Technique

Senrosame Fuin no Jutsu – Tracking Shark Seal Technique (Personal Creation)

Konoha Senpū – Leaf Whirlwind

Kyōmeisen - Resonating Echo Drill

Sabaku Kyū - Sand Binding Coffin

Nikudan Sensha - Human Bullet Tank

Tsuuka Same no Hada – Skin of the Passing Shark (Personal Creation)