Roar of the Dragon: Well, now we're almost out of the Forest of Death and soon the next part of the Chunin Exam will begin. Also, please refrain from simply sending single word reviews; give me feedback so I can improve any mistakes I make.
Side note: If Naruto is aired on Toonami, it will be aimed at little kids. This means all the good stuff that we love like the blood and possibly Sexy no Jutsu will be removed. To prevent this go to http : www (dot) thepetitionsite (dot) com / takeaction / 105379428 and sign the petition to get it put on Adult swim.
Review Responses
Fan of all Fics: Thank you for the generous compliments, I'm glad I could give you such enjoyment. Unfortuneatly, college and real life are going to force me to slow down my update schedule by a week.
Patch5129: Yep, Sasuke knows only a nude Hinata will make Naruto vulnerable to Sexy no Jutsu. Glad you liked the arm breaking and phoenix tears.
RedLotusNin and IceHunterNin: Glad you liked it. I'm getting some reviews saying that I didn't do a good job and your comments on Hinata's confidence are appreciated.
Tombadgerlock: I realize I could have done better with Hinata, but I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter even though I might not have done my best.Ranma Hibiki: Let me put it this way: Naruto and Sasuke have a rule that nobody messes with Hinata. That said, they pretty much know what the other is going to say, and Sasuke's Sharingan allowed him to mimic Naruto's movements.
unknown reader: I'm sorry you feel I'm unoriginal, I know I'm sticking pretty much to the story, but that's because I love it so much. I'm changing the prelims a lot, though some of the things, like the Shishi Rendan and Uzumaki Naruto Rendan will still occur because I like them. And I have plans for after the Rescue Sasuke arc, I'll be crossing this story with my first one, A Dream is a Wish. And on Neji using Lee's move, I figure he's seen the initial kick so many times and done it before that he can do it and combine it with his Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou for a midair combo.
Dragon and Sword Master: Orochimaru is not a Jounin, he's a Senin, a ninja that has the power level of a Hokage or can become one, but maybe slightly less powerful, I'm not exactly sure how they compare. Glad you like Hinotama, he'll be playing a big role in helping Hinata grow stronger later.
Story Weaver1: Glad you liked the Hinata action. I've revised her parts and given her some more so re read the chapter.
Shadow-Sensei: Glad you liked it. Naruto and Sasuke won't let anyone get away with hurting Hinata, they've been beating up kids who bullied her since they were little kids.
God in a Box: Glad you liked both chapter, I realize I kind of messed up on Hinata's part in the Sound fight, but I've fixed Tail 9 up and I think it's a bit better.
Joecool4: You're right, Naruto will get that seal removed after the prelims. I plan to have Hinotama eventually get Hinata to sign a summoning contract with the phoenixes and he'll be helping Hinata with some fire attacks.
xAkix: Glad you liked the revisions, hopefully betaing for each other will make us both better writers.
Crazyhanyoued: My secret? Lots of fluff, humor, and using a plot that works.
Scorpio V1.2: I totally understand what you're saying. Naruto knows he isn't unbeatable, he wanted Sasuke and Hinata to escape while he did his best to hold off Orochimaru with something big so someone strong enough would arrive. Naruto is currently at about half strength since he can't use his youki, so his prelim fight will be difficult.
Aloi-chan: AU means Alternate Universe, in other words a story that deviates from the original story at some point. For this one it's that Kyuubi didn't attack Konoha and married Ken.
Timeshifter: You don't have to wait, they start this chapter.
Wganas: You're in luck, I'm going to rewrite Trials of Kimiko to be a merging of this story and my first one, A Dream is a Wish, after I finish with this story, so after the Rescue Sasuke arc.
Draconous: Let's say Kyuubi was delayed just long enough that the fight would be over before she got there. As long as Hinata is within Naruto's sight, there isn't much chance of him taking off so the foxes didn't jump in or were keeping the wild animals away from the team. I've revised the last chapter to give Gishou a role in the fight and improved Hinata's involvement.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did it would be more like this story! Aki is the property of xAkix, used here with her permission.
Note: Naruto's sword is named Nenshousaiga, Burning Fang, and most of his moves with it are inspired by the game Ninja Gaiden for Xbox. Instead of calling Akemi's new weapon a cabled kunai, I'm calling it Tetsugen, Iron String.
Extra special note of happiness: I've revised the last chapter to change the fight against the Sound trio and Orochimaru, so please re-read the chapter and tell me what you think of the changes.
Extra note of sadness: due to college work and real life, I'm going to have to change my update schedule from every week on Saturday to every two weeks to give me more time to work on each chapter and still get all my school work done.
After Neji had recovered all of his chakra thanks to a day of rest, the three teams split up. Neji, Tenten, and Lee left first since they still had to get their second scroll. Lee was constantly stroking the back of his new squirrel friend and when the little animal showed no desire to leave, Lee found himself naming the squirrel Kasshoku (Brown). Team Seven and Team Kunoichi took it easy and relaxed to let Naruto and Sasuke recover completely. During this time, Naruto told everyone everything he knew about Orochimaru. Hinata kept a constant watch on both her team mates with her Byakugan and was disappointed that her favorite furry appendages were not coming back even though Naruto's youki was increasing. Orochimaru's seal was apparently designed to paralyze a youkai and allow a person to finish it off without having to worry about a counter attack. In Naruto's case, his youki was there, he just couldn't access enough to transform or use his foxfire. His senses had returned to normal, though his hearing was not quite as good over long distances. Sasuke appeared to be fine and there were no signs of the strange black marks appearing again. Both teams agreed to travel to the tower together, figuring there was safety in numbers.
(0o0o0)
On the afternoon of the fourth day of the exam, Team Seven and Team Kunoichi left their shelter and headed towards the tower. They had been lucky, no teams found them and they were able to fully heal and recharge. Naruto still couldn't regain his ears and tails, much to both Hinata's and his dismay. Naruto almost felt naked without them and half deaf. "I really hope Oka-san can figure out what's wrong with me and how to fix it," he said.
"I'm sure she can help get you back to normal Naruto-kun. We just need to get to the tower and we can get you a checkup right away," said Hinata.
Naruto nodded, not letting himself be distracted from keeping alert for an enemy ambush. The two teams didn't encounter anyone for a while until they happened to stumble across Kabuto by the river. The silver haired genin glanced up as he heard Naruto, Sasuke, and Akemi land on the ground while Hinata, Aki, and Haku stayed in the trees with Hinotama and Gishou.
"You're Kabuto, right? What are you doing here without your team?" asked Naruto.
Kabuto waved his hands in front of his chest as he said, "Hold it, it's not like I'm after your scrolls. I've already got both of the ones my team needs, we just got separated! Sheesh, this exam has made you paranoid. But I'll forgive you and tell you the path you guys should be taking to get to the tower quickly."
"Why should we trust you?" asked Akemi.
Kabuto adjusted his glasses before showing them that he did indeed have both scrolls and saying, "Why would I need your scrolls if I have my own. Besides, you've obviously decided there is safety in numbers and we're all Konoha shinobi. I know I could reach the tower on my own, but there are bound to be enemies on the way and I have no inclination to fight three opponents at once."
The group nodded and with Kabuto leading the way started leaping through the trees. "Are there really enemies left?" asked Haku.
"Yes, no doubt about it. Just think about it, do you know the smartest tactic for fighting in a large jungle like this?"
"Set up ambushes where prey is likely to go," said Akemi.
Naruto nodded and said, "And the goal to this test is the tower so the best place to have an ambush with only one day left is…"
"Near the tower," said Aki.
"So if we still needed a scroll we would go after a team that has both scrolls and is heading towards the tower," said Haku.
"You're one third right," said Kabuto, "You guys aren't the only ones thinking like that. There are other teams that could need a scroll that would be delighted to have six scrolls drop right into their laps."
"So the area around the tower is likely filled with enemies with traps set already," said Hinata.
"And they're just waiting to ambush us! Heh, bring 'em on, I could use the exercise!" exclaimed Naruto.
"Kabuto-san, what's the remaining one third?" asked Aki.
"That third is actually more like you guys. People I call collectors appear at this time in the test," replied Kabuto.
"Collectors?" asked Akemi, barely missing a tree branch that Naruto had pushed back as it whipped forward towards her face.
"Even though the tower is right in front of them, the difficult test in this forest of death, that special situation gives birth to them. Basically, collectors gather extra scrolls in case they run into a strong enemy and need a gift to ensure their escape," said Kabuto. His words struck a chord in Hinata's memory.
'Orochimaru said prey could only escape by offering the predator a different meal. Looks like some of the others taking this test have the same idea,' she thought.
Kabuto continued, "There are those who try to receive favors and information by delivering an extra scroll to a team from their village. For example, if your two groups met up and one group had three scrolls and the other only one, if the extra scroll could complete the set then you gained a valuable ally for the rest of the exam."
"That makes sense, I know all the rookie teams agreed not to fight each other and help each other out if necessary," said Haku.
Kabuto nodded before saying, "Then there are the teams that desire to pick off more teams while at an advantage to ensure an easier time in the third test."
"Those would be the worst ones to meet when you're exhausted," said Aki. "They'd be strong and confident in their abilities. Do you think we'll run into any of them?"
Akemi had an evil looking smirk on her face as she said, "I'm hoping we do, I want to kick some butt! We've only fought one team besides those sound weirdoes and I want action!"
"That explains why you suggested we join up, you're scared," said Sasuke.
(0o0o0)
The seven genin took a short break once they were able to see the top of the tower through the trees against the dark night sky. "Now, we can see the tower. But we must be extra careful from here on out," said Kabuto.
All the other genin nodded, but Akemi, Naruto, and Haku suddenly stiffened and spun around to each hurl a kunai behind them. All three blades hit and pinned a giant centipede to the tree trunk behind them. All seven genin stared for a moment before Hinata's eye twitched and she turned away muttering something about Neji and pranks scarring her for life.
"Is that a youkai centipede?" asked Sasuke. His parents had told him that youkai came in all sorts of shapes and forms, and even the most harmless animals could be a youkai hiding its true strength.
Akemi sniffed the centipede and backed away waving her hand in front of her nose. "Yep, and it stinks. Must have eaten something rotten," she said.
"That's nasty, look at all the legs," muttered Aki.
"From here on we have to avoid unnecessary actions and noises," said Kabuto. "Moving through the forest like an elephant will only tip off our enemies and they do not have a fun welcome party planned for us."
"Right, from this point on we move as swiftly and silently as time allows," said Haku. Everyone nodded and the group set out.
(0o0o0)
"How long have we been walking?" Naruto asked Gishou softly in the kitsune tongue.
"I'm not sure, but I'm beginning to pick up our own scents," replied Gishou.
"This is crazy, we aren't getting any closer to the tower," said Sasuke.
"But it seems to be right in front of us, this is weird," said Hinata.
"Seems like we've already arrived at our welcoming party," said Kabuto.
"You're right, even I can smell it now," said Haku before she pointed to a nearby tree. All the humans looked up to see the centipede youkai from earlier.
"Genjutsu?" suggested Aki.
"Looks like it, we have fallen totally into their trap," said Kabuto.
"They took advantage of our worries and made us walk in circles," Said Akemi.
"They're watching us," whispered Hinata, Byakugan active.
"They planned to tire us out and use that opportunity to attack," muttered Naruto, wishing he had his fox ears to catch all the sounds that could indicate where their enemies were.
"Then its going just as they planned," said Sasuke as he grabbed one of his Fuuma Shuriken.
"So they should be getting ready to attack," said Kabuto as he adjusted his glasses.
All the genin took on their combat stances as a bunch of Hidden Rain shinobi appeared surrounding them. The sheer number of enemies indicated that their opponents were using some form of Genjutsu or Bushin.
"So they've appeared," said Sasuke as he flicked the Fuuma Shuriken open.
"Bah, this is going to be fun!" said Naruto as he cracked his hands in preparation for using his claws.
"He he, you're trapped rats!" said one of the Rain shinobi.
"Shut up!" growled Naruto as he charged the shinobi and punched him in the gut.
"Great job Naruto-ni-san, they're weak!" cheered Akemi.
Everyone gasped as Naruto suddenly tore through his opponent like the guy was made out of semi solid water. Part of the shinobi formed into the upper torso of the same man, perched on the back of the original and holding a kunai with points on both ends.
"I'll uncover it, Sharingan!' thought Sasuke as he activated his bloodline and saw the half shinobi about to attack Naruto. "Naruto!" yelled Sasuke as he hurled some shuriken at the attacker. Naruto spun around in time to see the shuriken hit his attacker's arm, only to see the arm allow the shuriken through and reform. The reformed arm changed targets and hurled its weapon at Sasuke. The Uchiha boy ducked, receiving only a slight scratch from the kunai, and one of Akemi's tails shot out to grab the kunai in mid air.
'It's real, not an illusion,' she thought.
"Give us your scroll," said all the Rain shinobi clones.
"Does the fact that Sasuke got hurt mean they're Kage Bushin? Kage Bushin disappear after receiving a direct hit, but these don't, so is it Genjutsu? Which is it?" demanded Naruto as he grabbed a kunai.
Naruto was about to charge a mass of the Rain shinobi when Sasuke yelled, "Don't it's useless!" Seeing everyone turn to him, the Uchiha boy said, "They are illusions, this is enemy Genjutsu."
"But Sasuke-kun's injury is real," said Haku.
"No, Sasuke-kun is correct. The enemy is hiding and matching their attacks to the movements to the fake shinobi, so that it will seem like the illusions are the ones attacking and damaging us," said Kabuto. "They're planning to wear us out fighting the illusions then move in for the kill. These kinds of guys aren't good at taijutsu or close range fighting."
"Alright, if that's their plan," said Naruto with a smirk, "I'll just match them Bushin for Bushin!"
"Hold it Naruto, this is an illusion, not simple Bushin. Let me take a crack at this!" said Haku. The dragon hanyou girl quickly formed the one handed seals Sasuke had seen on the bridge. "Hi Jutsu, Makyou HyouShou (Secret Skill, Demonic Ice Mirrors)!" said Haku as she formed the water molecules in the air into her mirrors to surround the whole clearing. Haku then stepped into one mirror and her image appeared in all the mirrors. Haku began her attack, her strikes so swift the enemy shinobi in hiding couldn't see her. Training with her friends had increased Haku's already formidable speed to the point she seemed to be everywhere at once when she used her mirrors. However, even after she hit all the fake shinobi, more appeared to take their place. "Damn, there's no end to them!" growled Haku.
"Time for some tag teaming!" yelled Naruto as he leapt into the middle of the clearing while making his favorite seal. "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" the fake shinobi were each suddenly confronted with a Naruto each. Naruto and Haku attacked together, tearing through all their targets with ease. While this was going on, Hinata used her Byakugan to search for the enemy shinobi.
'There they are, now how to sneak up on them,' she thought as she saw the three Hidden Rain shinobi hidden nearby. She was surprised to see one of them was the one who had tried to impersonate Naruto earlier and figured his team mates must have found and revived him somehow. Hinata suddenly grinned and inched over to Akemi to whisper in her ear. The fox girl's face soon had a huge grin and the two girls quickly informed Kabuto, Aki, and Sasuke of the plan. Gishou snuck into the battle zone and informed Naruto and Haku. Once everyone was informed, Haku dropped her jutsu and Naruto made his move.
"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" roared Naruto as the clearing and everyone in it were surrounded in smoke. The hordes of Naruto clones charged the fake shinobi with his friends joining the attack. Everyone fought hard, but eventually Naruto was drained and sent skidding backwards into his friends as his clones disappeared in clouds of smoke. All of them were panting from using so much chakra and that's when the enemy shinobi made their move.
The fake shinobi suddenly faded away in the morning light and revealed three genin from Hidden Rain. Naruto growled and yelled, "You're that bastard that ambushed me when I was taking a leak!"
"You're the brat who got me with his fancy move before. Now I get to repay you for all the pain you put me through!" said the shinobi they had seen before.
"Bring it on, I beat you once and I can do it again! But how did you get out of that hole we left you in?" asked Naruto.
"Heh, like I'm going to tell you!" snorted the Rain shinobi as he lifted his kunai.
A wire suddenly wrapped itself around the neck of one of the three rain shinobi, while the one Team Seven had encountered before found the blade of a Fuuma Shuriken pressed against his throat, and the last member of the Hidden Rain team felt the point of a kunai against the back of his head while a senbon was pressed against his throat.
"Good job Naruto!" said Aki as her shadow hand shot out grab the Rain nin Sasuke had the blade of his Fuuma shuriken resting against the neck of. Naruto smirked and the group of his friends behind him were covered in smoke for a minute before they were revealed to be Kage Bushins of Naruto.
"The Kage Bushin was just a trick, a diversion while I transformed into the whole team!" said Naruto.
"The moment Naruto released his jutsu, we all hid. You Genjutsu users got a taste of your own medicine," said Sasuke.
Naruto's clones suddenly disappeared as he fell to his knees. "Dang, I used too much chakra," he muttered.
"Don't worry Naruto-kun, we'll handle this part," said Hinata with a smile as she prepared to deliver a Jyuken strike to the Hidden Rain Shinobi Kabuto and Haku were holding captive. She was not prepared for the man to suddenly kick back and knock Haku and Kabuto off balance before charging her with a kunai. Before she could move, an orange blur slammed into the Rain shinobi and sent him crashing into his team mates. Everyone stared at Naruto in shock, amazed that he was still able to move.
'Wow, what chakra stamina, a Jounin level technique like Kage Bushin plus transforming into six people. (Hinotama and Gishou had stayed with the fakes in case Naruto needed help, which he didn't) All that and he can still move, and this is the fifth day. If this kid masters his chakra use, he'll become a monster,' thought Kabuto.
"You're pretty good," said the first Rain shinobi they had encountered, "But we aren't unlucky just yet! There's little time left, now we'll show you our Ninjutsu!" All three Hidden Rain shinobi made the same set of hand seals and yelled, "Ninpou: Oboro Bushin (Mist clone) no jutsu!" Instantly, half a dozen clones of each Rain shinobi appeared facing the seven Konoha genin.
"Let me handle this," said Akemi as she raised the arm that held her Tetsugen. With a surge of chakra to activate the device, a kunai on a thin wire cable shot out and hit the closest target. The kunai passed right through the target, causing Akemi to growl, "Damn, a clone!" The kunai shot towards and through several more targets before Akemi reeled it back in.
Sasuke scowled and formed half the ram seal to help focus his chakra. 'This is the last of my chakra, Sharingan!' Sasuke's Sharingan eyes spun as he stared at the mass of Rain shinobi in front of him. Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw all of them turn into chakra flames, meaning none of them were the real enemy. Just then Sasuke felt a pain in his neck and collapsed to the ground screaming. Haku was by his side instantly and gasped when she saw the strange black markings from before appear again.
"Sasuke-kun, stop using Sharingan!" cried Haku. Naruto looked towards Sasuke for a second. That was all it took for a Rain shinobi to leap forward and attempt to ram a kunai through Naruto's head. Luckily, Kabuto tackled Naruto out of the way in time and suffered another nasty shoulder wound for his trouble.
"Kabuto-san!" yelled Naruto as he stared at the fallen grey haired genin. "Damn it," growled Naruto as he turned towards the mass of Rain shinobi.
"Stop Naruto! You won't find the real ones, no matter how many you punch!" yelled Sasuke.
"Then were will the enemies attack from? Normal clones can't attack," yelled Naruto.
Akemi kept her eyes on the clones and noticed one of each Rain Shinobi charging towards Naruto. Suddenly, the fox girl yelled, "They're attacking from the clones' shadows!"
Naruto whirled around to face Akemi in time to see Kabuto get slashed across the face by one of the rain shinobi and sent flying. Akemi, Haku, and Aki leapt forward, each kunoichi aiming for a different Rain shinobi. The three Kunoichi delivered a trio of perfectly timed kicks to the Rain shinobi's' backs and sent them face first into the ground. Hinata ran forward and delivered several rapid Jyuken strikes to each Rain shinobi's back that would leave them paralyzed for the rest of the day. Naruto rummaged through the bodies and found a heaven scroll, which he grabbed as spoils of victory.
"You're all very good, considering this is your first time taking this exam," said Kabuto as he put back on his glasses.
Sasuke noticed that the cut Kabuto had received across his face seemed to have stopped bleeding already, almost as quickly as Sasuke's own minor injuries did thanks to the blood bond he had made with Naruto. 'There's something strange about him, maybe he had youkai blood in him but less than Haku, Naruto, and Rin-sensei?' thought Sasuke. The Uchiha boy gladly accepted a shoulder from Haku to help him walk, wearily leaning on the shoulder of the girl he constantly found inhabiting his thoughts.
The group of seven genin headed towards the tower where they found Kabuto's two team mates waiting. "You're late, Kabuto," said one, who wore Shino like sunglasses over his eyes.
"We ran into some trouble, sorry," said Kabuto as he scratched the back of his head.
"But it was thanks to you that we were aware of those ambushes and were able to anticipate them!" said Haku.
"No, it was all thanks to you six that we got through those so easily. You and Sasuke were really great at the end, Naruto," said Kabuto. "We are going through this door," said Kabuto, "Good luck to all of you!" The three teams separated, each one choosing a different door to enter. Hinata took Sasuke from Haku, making sure to show she had no intentions of keeping him and would give him back as soon as they met up again.
(0o0o0)
"How was the harvest?" asked a voice once the door had closed behind Kabuto's team. The three walked up to a man leaning against the wall of the room.
"It was above expectations," said Kabuto, "I've written down all their data from the second test. You want this right?" The silver haired genin held up six of his info cards.
"Heheh, so you're that interested," said the man as he took the cards, which were for Team Seven and Team Kunoichi. "So how did it go?" he asked.
"Orochimaru-sama," said Kabuto, not quite sure what the former Konoha senin wanted from him.
"I want to know your opinion as our spy," said Orochimaru.
"That's unnecessary," said Kabuto as he passed his hand over his face, "Since everything will be decided by you." As Kabuto lowered his hand, the wound he had across his face was gone, with no sign it had ever existed.
Orochimaru disappeared in a puff of smoke, though his voice lingered to say, "Heh, I like that intelligence of yours, good work."
(0o0o0)
"There's no one here…" said Sasuke. Team Seven stared at the empty hall that greeted them after they opened their door. The only thing in the room was a large message on the wall. The three genin walked up to the wall, Sasuke managing to stand on his own without Hinata's help now that they had stopped moving.
"Without Heaven, what the hell does that mean?" asked Naruto.
"It looks like its missing words there," said Hinata as she looked at some gaps in the message.
"This is probably about the scrolls, I think they're telling us to open the scrolls," said Sasuke. Naruto and Hinata pulled out the scrolls they had, one heaven and one earth, and each took one.
"Alright, let's open them up!" said Naruto.
Both Naruto and Hinata opened their scroll, revealing a large character in the center of a circle of words. "Hito? Jin?" asked Hinata. "Why would they write person in these circles?"
All three genins' eyes widened as a bulge formed in the scroll as smoke rose up from it. "Summoning scroll, throw it away!" yelled Naruto as he tossed the scroll he was holding away. Hinata did the same and the two scrolls were obscured by a large cloud of smoke. All three genin assumed a battle stance in preparation for a fight. The smoke slowly cleared to reveal…
"IRUKA-SENSEI!" yelled Naruto.
"Hey, long time no see," said Iruka as he smiled at his former students.
"What's going on?" asked Hinata.
"I'd say you guys ran into some trouble," said Iruka as he took in Naruto's lack of fox ears and tails, Hinata's cuts and bruises, and Sasuke's hidden exhaustion from using almost all his chakra.
"Why were you summoned Iruka-sensei?" asked Sasuke.
"At the end of the second test it's set up so we Chunin meet up with the exam takers, and I was allowed to be the one to greet you," said Iruka as he pulled a large pocket watch out of his vest and opened it. "Phew, made it just in time," he said with a smile before closing the watch. "The second test, all three of you pass, congratulations! To celebrate your successful completion of the second test, I'd like to buy you a round of ramen but…" here Iruka realized all three genin were being very quiet and opened his eyes, "Huh?"
"WE DID IT!" yelled Naruto as he tackled Iruka in a hug. Hinata giggled as Sasuke mumbled about stamina freaks. "We did it, we did it! I'm so happy!" cheered the blond as he danced around.
"Looks like you still have a hard time relaxing," said Iruka with a smile.
"Iruka-sensei, what would you have done if we had opened the scrolls during the test?" asked Hinata. Her question managed to quiet Naruto and stop him from jumping around.
"As you have probably heard, this test's rules are set up to test your ability to perform missions correctly, so if you were to break the rules and open the scrolls, those exam takers would be put into a state of unconsciousness for the remaining period of the test. Those were my orders," said Iruka.
"Good thing we didn't have an urge to open the scrolls," muttered Sasuke, causing both Naruto and Hinata to nod vigorously.
"Iruka-sensei, what's the meaning of the writing on the wall? It seems like a word is missing, we can't figure it out," asked Hinata.
"I'm also here to explain that," said Iruka with a smile. "This is the motto of the Chunin written by Hokage-sama. The 'heaven' in this paragraph refers to the human mind, and the 'earth' refers to the human body. 'If you lack heaven, seek wisdom, be prepared,' that's basically, for example, if Naruto's weakness is his brain, 'Gain knowledge and prepare yourself for the missions,' 'If you lack earth, fun in the field and seek advantages.' So if Hinata's weakness is stamina, then it's saying you must continue to train hard. And if you have both heaven and earth, you can succeed in even the most dangerous mission. So basically all missions become safe and easy."
"Then the part with the missing word?" asked Hinata.
Iruka chuckled and held up the earth scroll saying, "So, if the words that represent a Chunin, the 'person' word from the scrolls goes there. The last sentence is 'These rules will guide a person's extremes'. These five days of survival were to test the exam taker's basic abilities to become a Chunin, and you guys successfully pass that. Chunin are at the rank of military captain, you have the responsibility of guiding a team. Knowledge, stamina, and inner wisdom, are all needed for your duties. I want you guys to challenge the next step with this Chunin motto in mind. That is all I have to pass on to you."
"Roger!" said Naruto as he saluted his sensei. Iruka's expression slowly became slightly worried, a look Naruto had seen plenty of times when Iruka was about to tell the class something important.
"But this third and final test, don't push yourselves to hard. Especially you Naruto, you don't look your best right no-"
"From the moment I received this Leaf Hitai-ate, I was no longer an academy student! There is no need to worry! And this is a symbol that I'm all grown up, right? The part about me never relaxing may not have changed, but I'm not a kid anymore! Now, I'm a proud shinobi of Konoha!" exclaimed Naruto. Sasuke and Hinata grinned at their team mate, Hinata's eyes had little hearts in them as she heard her Naruto-kun give such a passion filled statement.
"I see, I'm sorry Naruto. I had my doubts but you've crushed them completely. I wish all three of you the best of luck in the third part of the exam," said Iruka. Team Seven then walked into a large area with a giant statue of hands forming the ram seal where the other teams who had passed the second test waited. Kabuto's team, Team Kunoichi, Team 8, 10, and Neji's team were all there from Konoha. The Sound team was also there and gave some dirty glares to Team Seven and Team Kunoichi. The last team to make it to this part of the test was the team from Hidden Sand consisting of Gaara and his siblings. Each team's Jounin-sensei was in the room as well as Sarutobi, Ken, Kyuubi, Ibiki, several Jounins that only Naruto recognized, and Anko.
Anko stepped forward and said, "Congratulations on passing the second round!" 'heh, there's more here than I thought. We started out with 78 and now there are 24 that made it this far. I said I'd cut them in half, but I was expecting single digits.'
"Your team looks like they had a hard time," Gai whispered to Kakashi. Kakashi nodded, having noticed right away that Naruto and Sasuke were not at their best. Naruto always kept his fox ears and tails visible to intimidate opponents and not seeing them was a good sign he had run into trouble in the forest.
Lee looked around the genin gathered in the room and grinned as he thought, 'Yosh, Neji-kun, Naruto-kun, and Sasuke-kun are all here! I hope I get to fight one of them!'
'You were right Ken, these rookies are the best we've had in a long time,' thought Sarutobi as he stared at the number of Konoha Rookie teams present.
"Hokage-sama will now explain the third test. Listen carefully," said Anko. Ken stepped forward and started to explain the true purpose of the Chunin exam.
Naruto yawned, he had heard this speech before when he was little and first asked his father about the Chunin Exam. The explanation was in his note book, 'HOW TO BE HOKAGE', and he didn't feel like listening to the speech again. (I'm sorry if any of you wanted to hear this, but it's really boring and dull to me so I'm not going to write it) Ken was just about to explain the third test when a cough interrupted him.
"Excuse me Hokage-sama," said a Jounin that appeared in the middle of the arena, "From here on, as the referee, will you allow me, Gekkou Hayate, to explain?"
"By all means," said Ken as he gestured for the Jounin to address the gathered Genin.
"Hello everyone, I'm Hayate," said the man as he turned around to reveal a sickly looking face, "umm, before the third test, there's something I'd like you to do. Umm, it's a preliminary for the third test, to decide who gets to participate in the main event."
"Preliminary?" asked Hinata.
"Why do we need a preliminary? We all risked our lives to get here!" exclaimed Naruto.
"Umm, because the first and second tests may have been too easy this year, we have a bit too many people remaining," said Hayate. "According to Chunin Exam rules, we must have a preliminary round reduce the number of participants for the third test. As Hokage-sama said, there will be many guests at the third test, so the fights could take too long and we're limited in time." There were murmurs running through the small crowd of Genin at this announcement, everyone was suddenly realizing they wouldn't get a chance to go to the third round. "umm, so anyway, those who are not feeling well and those who feel like quitting after hearing these explanations, please come forward now, since we will be starting the preliminary immediately."
"Umm, I'm going to quit!" said Kabuto as he raised his hand.
"Kabuto-san?" asked Naruto.
"umm, you're Yakushi Kabuto from Konoha, right?" asked Hayate as he looked through a pile of papers, presumably one each per genin in the room. "You may leave now. Oh, umm, I forgot to tell you that from here on it will be individual battling. You may raise your hand based on your own judgment."
"Kabuto-san, why are you quitting?" asked Naruto.
"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but my body is all beat up. Actually, I haven't been able to hear out of my left ear from the time I got attacked by the Sound shinobi from the first round, and now that we'll have to risk our lives, I just…" Naruto looked at the ground disappointment clear on his face.
(0o0o0)
"I've seen him before, didn't he quit during the final round last year? What's he thinking?" asked Ken.
Anko looked through her folder containing the history of each participant in the third round and said, "Yakushi Kabuto's data, he's failed six straight times."
"What kind of record is that?" asked Ken as he raised one eyebrow.
"He's an average shinobi since his academy days, 14 D-rank and two C-rank missions, but it's his record from before the academy that is interesting," said Anko.
"I remember now, that young boy who was brought back from the battle at Bellflower pass," said Kyuubi, "A Jounin from the medical team brought back a child of the enemy who survived the battle, I treated him myself. So he's that child…"
(0o0o0)
'You sure are devoted, let me handle everything, is what I'd like to say but,' thought Kabuto as he stared at the only Hidden Sound Jounin present, 'Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, I would have liked to play with you a little longer but, anymore and the old blood will start boiling. I am a spy after all, I can't reveal my true face here.' The Sound Jounin gave a barely noticeable nod of his head. 'Perfect, if you will be watching them my job of gathering information is done, Orochimaru-sama.'
'You've been a spy, hiding in your fake self since you were a child, look like you are trying your best to hold down that boiling blood,' thought Orochimaru. Disguised as the Sound Jounin and using special soaps to mask his scent from Kyuubi's nose, the Snake Senin grinned inside his head at the way his spy had played his role.
Kabuto exchanged a few words with his dark spectacled team mate before waving to Naruto and his team and walking out of the arena. 'I'll save the fun for some other time, Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun,' thought Kabuto as soon as no one could see the evil smirk on his face.
Sasuke's eyes followed Kabuto out of the room until a sudden jolt of pain hit him from the mark on his shoulder. 'The waves of pain are becoming more frequent,' he thought as he placed his hand on the mark.
"Hey Sasuke, you all right?" asked Naruto. Hinata and Haku leaned over, they also figured out what was wrong since Sasuke hadn't suffered any wounds since the fight with the Rain shinobi.
"Heh, I'm fine, just quivering with excitement is all," said Sasuke with a smirk as he willed himself to ignore the pain.
"Alright, but as soon as your fight is done you're going to see Oka-san!" growled Naruto.
(0o0o0)
"I thought so," murmured Kyuubi as she saw Sasuke clutch his shoulder.
"What should we do?" asked Ibiki.
"We should remove him from the exam and have the ANBU watching over and protecting him," said Anko.
"No, he won't agree to that easily," said Ken with a small smile. "Sasuke wants to prove himself worthy of calling himself our son and he won't give up any more than Naruto will."
"Hokage-sama, please reconsider! By just releasing chakra the curse becomes active and forcibly pulls out chakra. It's a forbidden jutsu which eats at the user's body. It's amazing that Sasuke has held on for so long, he should be dead!" exclaimed Anko.
"Anko-san, I know full well what the effects of the curse seal are," said Kyuubi. "My mate is right in saying that Sasuke will refuse to quit. Also, Orochimaru threatened to destroy Konoha if the exam is cancelled. No doubt he wants to see what Sasuke can do. We'll let Sasuke continue and monitor the situation."
"If the curse begins opening and releasing power, then jump in and stop him," said Ken. All the Jounin nodded.
"Um, now let's begin the preliminary. This preliminary consists of one on one fighting. You will basically be fighting as if your life is on the line in a real life confrontation. Since we now have 23 contenders, one lucky person will receive a free pass to the next round with the winners of the other twelve matches. There are basically no rules. The fight continues until one of you is knocked out or admits your defeat. Umm, if you don't want to die, admit your defeat quickly. But when I decide a winner has clearly been established, umm, since we're trying to decrease the amount of corpses, I'll jump right in and stop things. And the object that controls your destiny is.."
"Open it," said Anko into her microphone headset. A panel in the wall moved up to reveal an electronic scoreboard.
"Is this electronic scoreboard which will show the matches for each fight," said Hayate. "Now, this is sudden but let's announce the names of the first two contestants."
Everyone watched the scoreboard while wondering if they would have to go first. The board suddenly revealed two names: Uchiha Sasuke and Tenten.
"Well, this should be interesting," said Sasuke. He knew very little about Tenten, only that she was supposed to be one of the strongest Kunoichi of her generation.
"Will everyone but the participants please move to the observation balconies?" asked Hayate. Everyone did as the sickly Jounin asked. Ken and Kyuubi joined Hinata and Naruto while the other Jounins stood by their teams. Kakashi however had stopped to talk to Sasuke.
(0o0o0)
"Don't use the Sharingan," said Kakashi quietly.
"So you know," said Sasuke.
"If that curse on your neck becomes active, you could lose your life."
"Probably."
"Well, if that happens I'll jump in and stop the fight, go that?"
Sasuke nodded, but inwardly he seethed that he wouldn't be allowed to continue.
(0o0o0)
As Kakashi reached his team, Kyuubi placed one hand on Naruto's head and he instantly felt a trickle of chakra flowing into him from her. It wasn't enough to fill him up, but enough that he could manage a few seconds of foxfire before he had to stop using the blue flame. "Thanks Oka-san," he whispered. "But Sasuke has this weird seal on his shoulder, you need to look at it as soon as the match is over."
"I know," said Kyuubi, "I'm going to grab him as soon as he's done." A yell of Hajime (Begin) from Hayate brought everyone's attention back to the combatants.
"Good luck Tenten, youth power!" yelled Lee, causing Tenten to sweat drop at how lame he sounded as Gai told him to cheer harder.
(0o0o0)
"Sasuke, I must say that it is an honor to fight you," said Tenten.
Sasuke smiled, Tenten had never been one of the girls to chase after him. "I'm glad if I have to fight a girl it's you, not one of the annoying ones like Sakura or Ino," he said. Up in the observation walkways, Ino and Sakura had fallen to their knees with tears running down their faces.
"Well, let's get this started!" said Tenten as she pulled a bunch of kunai from her supply pouch and hurled them at Sasuke. The Uchiha boy easily dodged the kunai before grabbing one of his Fuuma Shuriken and hurling it at Tenten. Tenten easily leapt over the weapon and back flipped away from Sasuke. To Sasuke's surprise, she landed beside the Fuuma Shuriken as it fell to the ground after hitting the wall and grabbed the weapon. "Oh, now this is a nice piece of work. Balance is excellent and the angle of the blades is perfect for making it return if it has enough room and doesn't hit anything," said Tenten as she examined the shuriken from all sides. Quicker than Sasuke could believe, Tenten threw the shuriken back at him and he was forced to slide under it to avoid the fast moving blade of death. This time, when the shuriken hit the wall it dug into it and stayed in it.
'She puts chakra into her weapons to make them faster and more accurate,' thought Sasuke. He charged Tenten before she could pull out any more weapons and the two of them engaged in a brief Taijutsu match before leaping apart. "You're very good, you've obviously put a lot of effort into your training," said Sasuke with a grin at fighting such a skilled opponent.
"So have you," said Tenten, "Now I'll show you my deadliest technique!" Tenten pulled two scrolls from her supply pouch and placed them on the ground standing up right with her an equal distance in between them. Sasuke watched, not sure what she was about to do. Tenten crossed her hands after forming a series of hand seals and a large smoke cloud appeared around her. The two scrolls suddenly released two dragons made of smoke that ascended into the air before becoming unrolled scrolls. Tenten yelled, "Soushouryu (Rising Twin Dragons)!" before she leapt up in between the two scrolls and started touching the symbols on them. Each symbol became a different weapon, ranging from kunai, scythes, daggers, flails, maces, and other bladed weapons. Each of these was hurled at Sasuke, who quickly activated his Sharingan to help him avoid them. Sasuke rolled clear of the attack, only to feel pain from the curse seal again.
'Shit, I forgot the curse! I can't use my Sharingan or any ninjutsu! Now what do I do!' thought Sasuke. The Uchiha was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of many pointy objects headed his way. Sasuke looked up to see all of the weapons Tenten had thrown coming at him again. 'Chakra strings!' thought Sasuke as he frantically ran for his life. Weapons were hitting the ground at his heels and he barely managed to stay ahead of them. Suddenly the attack stopped and Sasuke heard a gasp from Tenten. Looking up, he saw her arms appeared to be pinned to her sides. Looking in front of him, he saw he had run an almost complete circle around Tenten and it appeared that her chakra strings had apparently tied her up. Tenten started to fall down, but Sasuke could see she would be loose and able to continue the fight before she hit the ground.
"Hurry Sasuke!" yelled Naruto. Glancing at Naruto in irritation, Sasuke saw Rock Lee standing next to the blond.
'No chakra, that's it!' thought Sasuke. He charged towards Tenten, his mind replaying Lee's move from their short fight before the first round.
Lee gasped as he saw Sasuke drop to the ground beneath Tenten and kick upwards, hitting the kunoichi in the chest and propelling her into the air. "That's my!" he gasped.
"Lee's Initial lotus!" Tenten gasped before she felt Sasuke beneath her.
"But from here I'm going original," said the Uchiha boy. "Sorry about this, Kage Buyou!" Sasuke connected himself to Tenten's shadow, then let out a cough of blood as the curse seal activated. 'Shit not now!' he thought. The markings started to spread and all the Jounin prepared to leap in and stop the match. 'I won't let this thing control me!' shouted Sasuke in his mind. The curse seal marking retreated, not very quickly, but everyone who knew about how the seal worked was amazed. Sasuke grinned as he said, "Sorry to keep you waiting Tenten, but this ends now!" Sasuke kicked at Tenten's rib with his left leg as he pushed off her back slightly. Tenten barely managed to block the blow, grunting from the impact. Sasuke then did a 360 degree flip in midair and Tenten thought he was about to kick her with his right leg. Instead, Sasuke drove his left hand into her face, sending her towards the ground. This was followed by a left handed blow to Tenten's stomach. Tenten's arms snapped up on reflex and Sasuke did a forward flip to bring his left foot down on her arms with a cry of "Shishi Rendan (Lion Combo)!" just before they slammed into the ground. Sasuke used his left arm to brace himself and tried to back flip into a ready stance in case Tenten was able to keep going only to fall flat on his face. Tenten groaned as she lay on the ground.
"You held back!" she gasped.
"I didn't want Lee and Neji to be out for blood," muttered Sasuke. "Besides, I didn't expect your arms to block that last kick. Good reflexes."
"Thanks, good luck in the next round," said Tenten before she closed her eyes and raised her hand to say, "I resign, there's no way I'm standing up!"
"Winner, Uchiha Sasuke!" said Hayate.
Kyuubi was instantly at Tenten's side and scanning her body with a medical jutsu. "Well, you're a very lucky girl Tenten-chan. A few days of rest and I'll have you able to go home," she said with a smile. Two medic nin rushed up with a stretcher and carefully eased Tenten onto it. Sasuke meanwhile managed to regain his feet and stood up to Naruto's excited cheers while Haku, Sakura, and Ino all sighed as they gazed at him before engaging in a three way glare at each other.
Sasuke suddenly felt two pairs of glares directed at his back and turned to see Neji and Lee staring at him. 'Kuso, I held back and they still want to kill me!' he thought as a huge sweat drop appeared on the back of his head.
"Sasuke, good fight!" said Tenten. Sasuke grinned at her in reply, his hand unconsciously going to his shoulder as Kyuubi walked over.
"Sasuke, you are going with Kakashi right now and no buts!" she said. Sasuke nodded as Kakashi appeared beside him and prepared to lead him away.
"Naruto, Hinata, you two be sure to win your fights!" said Sasuke. The two nodded and Sasuke reluctantly allowed Kakashi to take him away. No one besides the Sound trio noticed their Jounin sensei disappear.
As soon as the arena was clear, everyone looked to the electronic scoreboard for the next match. Hayate coughed and said, "The next two fighters are Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Akemi! Will both fighters please enter the arena?"
Akemi cheered and leapt down to the arena floor, while Shikamaru sighed, "Troublesome." The lazy boy started to walk down the stairs only to be tripped by one of Gishou's tails as it suddenly shot out into his path. Shikamaru fell down the steps, ending up face down on the ground and spat a bit of dirt out of his mouth.
"Oops," was all the Gishou could say, though the grin on his face made it hard to believe.
'Note to self, make Naruto kiss something nasty, like Sasuke, real soon for letting his pet trip me!' thought Shikamaru as he picked himself up.
"Go Shikamaru! You'd better not lose!" yelled Ino.
"You're a Nara, distantly related to the Tamahashi clan, right?" asked Akemi. Shikamaru nodded, his hands in his pockets.
"Ready?" asked Hayate. When both genin nodded, he yelled "Hajime!" and leapt back out of the way.
Akemi immediately fired off her Tetsugen. The kunai shot towards Shikamaru, who simply ducked under it. Akemi frowned and sent the kunai downwards. Shikamaru rolled to the side, always moving as little as possible. Akemi retracted the kunai and charged Shikamaru. The Nara boy leaned out of the way of the multiple punches Akemi threw, his hands still in his pockets. When Akemi suddenly spun around and grabbed Shikamaru with her tails, everyone gasped in surprise. Shikamaru's eyes widened for a second before he took a kunai and held it to the base of Akemi's tail. "Drop me or I cut them off!" he said. Akemi froze, any kitsune who had their tail cut off was disgraced and ridiculed. The kitsune girl slowly lowered Shikamaru to the ground before leaping clear of him.
"Very good, I won't make the mistake of letting you get near my tails again!" she growled. "Foxfire!" the blue flames sprang up in Akemi's hands and she hurled the flame at Shikamaru. Shikamaru tossed something on the ground and a cloud of smoke surrounded him. The blue flames shot right through the smoke, indicating Shikamaru had ducked. Akemi grinned and shot her Tetsugen towards Shikamaru as the smoke was blasted away by her flame. The lazy boy ducked to the side and grabbed the kunai before Akemi could react. Akemi grunted and prepared to charge forward again, only to find her momentum halted. "Why can't I move?" she yelled.
"Kagemane (Shadow mimicry) no jutsu complete!" said Shikamaru.
"How did you?" asked Akemi before her eyes widened and focused on the cable connected to the kunai in Shikamaru's grasp. "You used the shadow of the wire to perform you Kagemane, right?" she asked. Shikamaru nodded lazily before he started side stepping and Akemi was forced to follow his actions. When Shikamaru had Akemi where he wanted her, he grabbed a shuriken from his holster, while Akemi did the same.
"What are you doing? We'll both be hit!" said Akemi.
Shikamaru didn't say anything as they both threw their shuriken. At the last second, Shikamaru bent over backwards. Akemi's eyes widened as she saw the wall the back of her head was about to hit. 'Kuso, this is going to hurt!' Akemi thought before her mind descended into blackness as her head hit the arena wall.
"Winner, Nara Shikamaru!" said Hayate.
"Yay, now can I get some rest?" asked Shikamaru with a yawn as he walked towards the upper level to rejoin Ino and Chouji. Kyuubi checked Akemi over and decided she would be fine resting on the upper level and would awaken soon.
Hayate glanced at the scoreboard and said, "Would Abumi Zaku and Haku please come down to the arena?"
Haku disappeared in a swirl of leaves, only to reappear on one side of Hayate. Zaku took his time and walked down the stairs. Haku noted a slight twitching in his arms, which told her trained eyes that both his arms were working perfectly fine. She had heard the sound of the arms breaking when Sasuke and Naruto took their revenge on him for harming Hinata, and the breaks had been clean ones, something that was easily fixed in the three days after the fight by any medic nin.
Once both shinobi were facing each other, Hayate yelled, "Hajime!" before leaping out of the way.
Haku grinned as she pulled a blue scroll from her supply pouch and nicked her finger on one of her teeth before pressing the bloody digit to the seal on the scroll. Zaku stared at the girl like she was crazy before she whipped the scroll open. The Sound boy had a moment to stare at the beautiful picture of a series of waves drawn along the scroll before the images became real and water poured out of the scroll. "Much better, now I can get serious," said Haku with a predatory grin. "You hurt one of my best friends and now it's payback time!"
"You mean that blue haired bitch? Feh, she's lucky I didn't get serious or she wouldn't be alive!" snarled Zaku.
An immense killing intent suddenly filled the room and everyone looked at Naruto, whose gaze was focused on Zaku. "Haku-chan, kick his ass!" roared the kitsune boy.
"I plan to!" exclaimed Haku, who had never taken her eyes off Zaku.
"Oh yeah? Have a taste of my Zankuuha!" The boy suddenly raised his arms, revealing that they were perfectly fine, and fired an air blast at Haku, who turned into water as the attack hit her. "Mizu Bushin?"
All the watching members of Team Kunoichi grinned as Haku rose up from the wet ground behind Zaku and formed her one handed seals in a sequence Sasuke would have recognized if he had been there. 'Hijutsu, Sensatsu Suisho (Secret Skill: Flying water needles)!' Haku thought as the water she had released earlier formed many icy needles. Zaku stared in surprise for a second, he hadn't heard Haku appear behind him and the sight of the needles appearing suddenly had startled him. Thus he barely had time to cover his head as the needles zeroed in on him. Haku grinned once she had finished her attack, especially when Zaku seemed to survive. "Please, any medic nin worth their position could tell that your arms had been healed by now, even if you only arrived half an hour ago, especially with Kyuubi-sama here. I knew you were faking having your injured arms and ready to use them!" said Haku cheerfully.
"You bitch, you're going to pay for that! Zankuukyokuha!" yelled Zaku. To everyone's surprise, his arms exploded at the elbow, throwing Zaku back into the far arena wall while his hands fell at Haku's feet.
"Idiot, you didn't even notice when a senbon went into each hole on your hand before melting and forming an airtight seal inside your arms. If I had wanted to, my first attack would have killed you. It was all a diversion to allow me to take out your arms," said Haku.
Up in the spectators' area, Ino and Sakura's faces had turned pale as Haku calmly described how she rid Zaku of his arms. 'No wonder Sasuke-kun likes her, she's a true kunoichi, able to keep her cool in battle and very skilled,' thought Ino.
Down below, a Medic nin had rushed over to get Zaku stabilized. Strangely, Kyuubi didn't make a move to help them. When Ken gave her a questioning glance, the fox woman sighed and said, "I'm afraid I would cut off something else very important to him if I was alone with him after what he said about Hinata." Ken winced, the last thing he needed was a genin being castrated by his wife during the Chunin Exam.
"Winner, Haku!" said Hayate, to cheers from the Konoha genin that knew Haku. Haku grinned and bowed to her audience before walking back up the stairs.
Everyone's eyes turned to the scoreboard, eager to see who would be fighting the fourth match. The board quickly revealed the names Inuzuka Kiba vs. Temari.
"Yahoo, we're up Akamaru!" yelled Kiba as he leapt down to the arena floor with Akamaru inside the front of his jacket. The nin dog jumped out of his resting place and landed by his friend's side. Temari's entrance was not as exciting, she simply walked down the stairs.
"Combatants ready?" asked Hayate. When he received a nod from each, he yelled, "Hajime!" and leapt out of the way.
"Ninpou: Shijayaju no Tenketsu Jutsu!" exclaimed Kiba as his hands transformed to look like Naruto's normally did. Naruto grinned, Kiba had mastered this particular jutsu in the hope of being able to finally beat Naruto at taijutsu. Both boys could use their claws to devastating effect and when working together had reduced a training log to splinters in a few seconds. Temari blinked in surprise at Kiba's transformation, and that moment of surprise was all Kiba needed. The dog boy was in Temari's face in a second and shoulder tackled her, sending her through the air. Temari managed to land on her feet and skidded back a bit before managing to bring herself to a stop.
'He's pretty fast, but what's with that dog?' thought Temari before she saw Kiba palm something. 'Smoke bomb?' thought the sand kunoichi.
"Let's go Akamaru!" exclaimed Kiba. The little dog let out a bark and the duo charged Temari, who raised her fan in preparation to open it and blast the duo away. Temari's eyes narrowed as Kiba hurled the smoke bomb and she swung her fan like a bat, hitting the smoke bomb right back to Kiba, who got hit in the chest. The cloud of smoke obscured everyone's view of Kiba and Akamaru.
Everyone waited for Kiba or Akamaru to appear, but the only sound they heard from the smoke cloud was the sound of something being chewed. The smoke disappeared to reveal a changed Akamaru beside Kiba. The little dog's fur was now red and he looked a little bigger. "What the hell did you do to him?" asked Temari.
Kiba smirked as he popped a pill into his mouth and said, "That's why he's called Akamaru! The soldier pill I gave him increased his power and turned his fur red." Akamaru then leapt onto Kiba's back as the dog boy formed the tiger seal. "Here we go Akamaru!" Akamaru let out a few barks, which Naruto, Kyuubi, and Gishou were able to understand as "Juuijuin Bushin (Beast/Human clone)!" Kiba yelled the same thing and suddenly Akamaru turned into a clone of Kiba.
(0o0o0)
"Heh, so he finally mastered it? Looks like we'll have to have a sparring session with them soon Gishou," said Naruto.
"What do you mean Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata.
"That jutsu allows Kiba to release his body's chakra and attack like a wild beast, plus the pills boosted both his own chakra and Akamaru's. I tried to do the same thing with Gishou, but my kitsune blood became stronger when we did it and we had to abandon the idea of using the Juuiuin Bushin because there was a chance I could go out of control," said Naruto as one of his arms wrapped around Hinata and the other scratched Gishou's ear.
(0o0o0)
Down below, both of the Kiba clones leapt into the air and would have slammed Temari into the ground if she had stayed still. Instead, the fan wielding girl leapt backwards and used her fan to shield herself from the resulting rubble tossed up by the impact. 'He's faster now, I doubt I can easily get away,' thought Temari. 'Time to stop holding back… oh shit!'
Temari frantically dove to the side as Kiba yelled, "Gatsuuga (Piercing fang)!" Both Kiba and Aka-kiba became mini tornadoes that sped towards Temari.
Temari quickly opened and swung her fan and yelled, "Ninpou Kamaitachi (Ninja art: Slashing Wind) no jutsu!" the wind generated by Temari's fan slammed into Kiba and Akamaru, knocking them out of their attack and into the arena wall.
Hayate stepped forward and examined Kiba, who said, "Ow!" before collapsing into unconsciousness.
"Winner, Temari!" said Hayate. The sand kunoichi snorted and stalked back up the stairs to her place beside her brothers while medic nin carefully pried Kiba and Akamaru out of the wall. The two were going to be out for a while, but they would wake up in a few hours.
Akemi woke up just before the medics could carry Kiba and Akamaru to a quiet room to rest and ran down the stairs to stare at Kiba's face. The boy's nose twitched and his head tilted towards Akemi a bit and he muttered something before falling back into a deep sleep. Akemi blushed; her ears had caught what Kiba said. He had said, "Smells nice, must be Akemi." Akemi knew Kiba had developed a crush on her after spending a few days with him and found she enjoyed spending time with him and Akamaru. To hear he thought she smelled good was a good sign that he liked her back.
Akemi bent over and kissed Kiba on the cheek gently as she whispered, "I'll be there to see you soon Kiba-kun, just wait until all the matches are over."
Up above, Naruto and Haku were staring at Akemi's actions and resolved to pay Kiba a visit and impress upon him what would happen if the dog user made their little sister sad.
Everyone's eyes turned to the board, which displayed the names Hyuga Neji vs. Yamanaka Ino. Ino's face paled a bit, she knew she was in for a rough fight against the previous year's number one rookie. 'Shit, and a Hyuga to boot! This is not good. I'm pretty sure I couldn't win against Hinata in close range combat and Neji is supposed to be even better. I'm going to have to hope I connect with my Shintenshin (Mind body switch) no jutsu on the first shot or I'm dead!'
Neji on the other hand was smirking as he mentally estimated how long this match would take. 'She may be stronger than that pink haired girl after the Uchiha, but she's no where near Hinata's level. I think I heard about her clan, they use some kind of mind control jutsu, so I'll have to be ready for anything,'
Neji easily leapt down to the arena floor Ino took a bit longer, walking down, her mind racing as she tried to figure out a way to distract Neji long enough for her to use her Shintenshin no jutsu. Her eyes widened as she suddenly came up with an idea. 'That just might work!' she thought.
Both genin faced each other and Hayate looked from one to the other. "Ready?" he asked. Both Ino and Neji nodded and Hayate yelled, "Hajime!" before leaping out of the way.
Ino immediately began a string of seals as Neji activated his Byakugan. What happened next surprised everyone. Ino finished her seal sequence and it wasn't one anybody recognized, even Kakashi. "Kaben (Flower Petal) Shuriken!" said Ino as a bunch of large flower petals appeared around her before turning hard as steel and shooting towards Neji.
"Impressive, but not good enough! Hakke Shou Kaiten!" yelled Neji before he executed the heavenly spin. To everyone's surprise, the giant flower petals disappeared when they hit the wall of chakra like they were never there. Neji finished his spin just in time to see a ghost version of Ino shooting towards him. 'Shit, a Genjutsu to distract me and leave me open, I thought there wasn't enough chakra going into those hand seals to do anything so big!' Neji thought just before Ino's Shintenshin hit him.
Ino looked around, Neji's mind was a lot bigger than she had expected. Her family had found that everyone's mind reflected their personality. For her it was a large version of her family flower shop that made her feel she was a little kid again and safe under her parent's presences. Shikamaru's was a giant Shoji board with all his friends as the pieces, while Chouji's was a giant restaurant. Neji's was not that surprisingly a training dojo. Pictures of his family and friends lined the walls and a training dummy with the curse seal of the branch family on it represented Neji's hate to the old Hyuga customs. Ino suddenly felt a presence behind her and spun around to see Neji glaring at her.
"You know, messing around with people's minds isn't very nice," growled Neji before he charged Ino. Ino instantly knew she was in trouble, Neji had his Byakugan active and was pissed. "Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou!" yelled Neji as he rapidly closed Ino's Tenketsu. Ino slumped to the ground and coughed before forming the seal to return her to her own body. Neji smirked as Ino faded from view and he regained control of his body.
To everyone who had been watching, Neji had done his attack on an invisible opponent and Ino's body had reacted, making an interesting sight. Ino fell to her knees and coughed up a bit of blood before she fainted. "Winner, Hyuga Neji!" said Hayate. Medic nin rushed Ino to the recovery room while Neji walked back upstairs and leaned against the rail beside Naruto and Hinata.
All eyes turned to the board, eager to see who the next fight would be. Naruto was practically bouncing up and down as he willed the board to show his name. Lee was doing pretty much the same thing and also begging the board to let him fight Naruto. When the names appeared, Naruto let out a cheer while Lee slumped over in despair. "Will Uzumaki Naruto and Akadou Yoroi please come down here?" asked Hayate.
Naruto reluctantly removed his arm from Hinata's shoulder and gave her a smile before turning towards the stairs, only to have Hinata grab the back of his jacket, spin him around, and kiss him hard on the lips. Naruto's eyes widened and if his tails had been visible they would have all been stiff as a board with surprise. Haku, Aki, and Akemi all sighed as Naruto leaned into the kiss, while Lee was ranting about the passion of youth. Neji was surprised at first before he started glaring at Naruto. As the two came up for air, Naruto immediately felt Neji's stare and sweat dropped. "Good luck Naruto-kun," said Hinata with a smile that reminded Naruto of the sun shining through the clouds.
"Thanks Hinata-chan, I plan to kick this guy's ass!" said Naruto with his usual foxy grin. Naruto easily flipped down to the arena floor where his opponent was waiting.
'Looks like he hasn't gotten the seal Orochimaru-sama placed on him removed yet, this will be easy,' thought the man as he took in Naruto's lack of fox ears and tails.
Meanwhile Orochimaru, in his disguise as the Sound Jounin, was observing Naruto. No one had noticed his brief departure to check up on Sasuke and finding Kakashi sealing the curse seal. 'It appears that fox brat has realized he has only a small fraction of his youki available thanks to my seal. This should be interesting. Sasuke-kun is my first choice but Naruto-kun would make a fine second,' he thought
"Ready?" asked Hayate. Both Naruto and Yoroi nodded. "Hajime!" yelled Hayate as he leapt out of the way. The Jounin had learned the hard way not to get between Naruto and his target when he had taken his turn to baby sit the hanyou. Hayate made the mistake of getting between Naruto and his ramen dinner and woke up to find himself face down on the floor with Naruto sitting on his back eating the delicious noodles. Hayate's cough was said to have come from Naruto's weight crushing his lungs, though Hayate said he had been born with the cough.
"Are you ready?" asked Yoroi as he formed the tiger seal. His only reply was a very Sasuke like smirk on Naruto's face. Yoroi's right hand was suddenly glowing with blue chakra that for one minute had Naruto thinking he was using fox fire. The older genin reached into his supply pouch and quickly withdrew and threw three shuriken, only to see Naruto deflect them back towards their thrower with Nenshousaiga. The kitsune boy dashed forward and attempted to slash Yoroi as he used the shuriken as cover. Yoroi ducked under the shuriken and swept Naruto off his feet. The blond genin rolled away from his opponent, only to see Yoroi's blue shrouded fist heading towards his head. Naruto kicked the older man's feet out from under him and leapt back, waiting for Yoroi to make the next move.
Yoroi charged in, his fist cocked back to slug Naruto. Only he wasn't aiming for Naruto, but Nenshousaiga. Naruto was caught with his grip loose by this unusual tactic and Nenshousaiga went flying into the air to land blade down in the arena floor. Yoroi's blue flame covered hand now shot forward as he grabbed Naruto's shirt. Naruto suddenly felt his chakra diminishing. 'What's going on? My strength…is fading?' Naruto quickly kicked Yoroi in the chest, but his strength wasn't enough to get the older genin to let go. 'Damn, no chakra, no strength, and no youki, what the hell is going on here?' Naruto's eyes suddenly widened and he stared at Yoroi's hand. "You…you're draining my chakra!" he gasped.
"So you finally noticed? My bloodline allows me to suck my opponent's physical and spiritual energy right out of them by touching them with my palm. You're the first hanyou I've tried this on, so I hope you last a little bit longer!" said Yoroi.
Naruto tried to spit in the man's face but let out a scream of pain as his chakra level dropped rapidly. Thinking rapidly, Naruto did what many would say would be a desperate maneuver at best. "Henge!" yelled Naruto, drawing on his remaining chakra. The cloud of smoke caused Yoroi to cough and let Naruto go. When the smoke cleared, all the boys had to fight a massive nosebleed as Naruto's Sexy no Jutsu form was revealed. Naruto quickly back flipped away from Yoroi, making all the guys eyes widen as the smoke wisps weren't quick enough to block everything. Naruto landed and dispelled the transformation and allowing all the guys to refocus their attention on the fight. "Sorry about that everyone, it was the easiest jutsu I could think of to startle him," said Naruto as he felt the killing glares all the guys were sending him. "Okay, you can all beat me up later after I kick this guy's ass if it makes you feel better!" he yelled. Seeing Yoroi was preparing to attack again, Naruto quickly tried to figure out a way to beat the older genin at Taijutsu. An idea came to him as he replayed Sasuke's fight with Tenten in his head. 'That just might work, I have enough Youki for a single foxfire burst. I'll have to time it just right…'
Yoroi charged at Naruto, who formed the Tiger seal before yelling, "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" four clones appeared, two on each side of Naruto. As Yoroi went for the center Naruto, the clone stepped forward and poured all of its chakra into his right fist. Naruto's fist met Yoroi's face as the boy yelled, "U" Three of the clones had darted around behind him before skidding underneath him and kicking him, the first one saying, "ZU" the second "MA" and the third "KI" as their kicks connected. The real Naruto had leapt off the first clone's back and was spinning in mid air at this point as Yoroi was propelled upward by the three kicks. As Naruto came down he stuck out his foot with fox fire covering it and drove it into Yoroi's back and yelling, "Naruto Ranran Rendan (Uzumaki Naruto Flaming Combo)!" Yoroi hit the ground face first and then Naruto crashed down on his back. What little breath was left in Yoroi's lungs was driven out and his head slammed into the ground hard enough to knock him out.
Hayate walked over and checked Yoroi, the man was out cold and wouldn't be getting up for a while. "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!"
Naruto punched the air, then teetered and would have fallen if Ken hadn't appeared beside him and caught him. "You are going to rest now and let Hinata pamper you until you recover, understood?" he said to his son. Naruto nodded, a happy grin on his face as his father carried him back up the steps and leaned him against the wall. Hinata immediately snuggled up to Naruto and wished that his ears and tails were out so she could pet them. Kyuubi gave her son a hug for a job well done.
'Why is everyone ripping off my move?' Lee asked himself as he yelled, "Naruto-kun, the burning passion of youth you exhibit is a wondrous example to us all! Now I will face you in the final round or I will run around Konoha 500 times. And if I can't do that I'll punch and kick the log 1000 times!"
"Oh Lee, your burning youth is an example to all of just how strong we can be!" sobbed Gai.
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
Everyone else ignored the spandex clad duo and focused their attention on the board as they awaited the next match.
And that another chapter done. Once again, I revised Tail 9, so re-read it and enjoy, hopefully I made it better. Next Tail we'll finish the preliminary round and show the training Naruto goes through in the month between the preliminary and the final round.