Chapter 11 – Become a Chunin! Part 3.2 (A Battlefield)
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
"Normal speech"
'Inner speech/thoughts'
'Kyuubi/Tailed beast speech'
xxx
The Tsuchikage's grumpy expression brightened just a little bit when he heard a small commotion behind him and saw the bored face of his granddaughter slowly approaching him. When the kunoichi realized she was already in the vicinity of other villages' leaders, she swallowed the boredom and forced a pleasant smile.
"Kurotsuchi, what took you so long?"
The Hokage and the Kazekage turned their heads to the left to see a young kunoichi with short hair rolling her eyes at her grandfather. Before she could utter a single word, the Tsuchikage smirked.
"Oh, don't tell me you were fawning over the Uzumaki kid again."
"What?! The Uzumaki? What are you talking about old man?" Kurotsuchi exclaimed with a scandalized expression, her forced smile gone. When she heard a small chuckle and turned to her left to see it belonged to the Hokage, she closed her opened mouth and tried to ignore her burning face.
"…I told you it's not like that…" She muttered in quiet voice and refused to meet anyone's eyes. Truthfully, she seemed more angry than embarrassed.
"So, I take it this young lady is your granddaughter, Tsuchikage?" Sarutobi asked, a wide smile playing on his lips.
"Yeah, Kurotsuchi. She's a bit rude but-"
"Well, she is your granddaughter." The Kazekage interrupted him, absolutely not hiding the mild amusement in his voice and causing the Tsuchikage to glare at him. Behind Sarutobi, Genma masked his chuckle with a cough.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kurotsuchi-san." Sarutobi politely greeted her. The young kunoichi raised her head and, the color red already disappearing from her cheeks, gratefully nodded. In her eyes, the Hokage just gained a small plus point for treating her as an adult.
"It's my pleasure too, Hokage-sama, Kazekage-sama." She included the Kazekage in her greetings too and so the man respectfully nodded to her.
"So… you fancy Naruto-kun?" The Hokage innocently asked the girl after a short silence. Behind him, not only Genma, but all three of his bodyguards had to stifle their chuckles. Her cheeks puffing up, Kurotsuchi had to hold back her ire.
"No. I mean, I just… find him interesting, that's all. Anything else is just a product of this old man's delusions." She sighed and stared at the Tsuchikage, who nonchalantly shrugged.
"Then where were you?" He asked. The kunoichi pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I was a bit disappointed with his match so I just took a short stroll around the arena. I mean, he could have completely destroyed the Hyuga girl. I get that what he did was good for her but such a compassion could cost you a mission on a field."
"…and she still claims he's just 'interesting'…" The Tsuchikage muttered quietly. Trying to prevent another bickering, Sarutobi jumped in.
"Naruto-kun is still young. Don't worry about it."
"You suddenly call him 'Naruto-kun', should we be worried about you trying to push the promotion on him no matter what?" The Kazekage asked, his gaze pinned on the spectator's stands.
The Hokage rapidly blinked.
"Don't worry, Kazekage. This is us talking out of the record so it should be acceptable for me to call my Genin like this."
The Kazekage nodded and then pointed his finger at the spectator's stand.
"Well, it seems Kurotsuchi-san isn't the only one who finds the brat interesting."
All of them turned their stares in the direction of the Kazekage's finger to see Naruto chatting up Temari, while Kankurō nervously tried to talk with Gaara.
"It's the first time I see my daughter talking so calmly and easily with a boy around her age. Perhaps it has something to do with him being the only boy of her age who has ever defeated her in a direct confrontation."
"Perhaps."
Seeing the twitch in his granddaughter's eyebrows, the Tsuchikage shook his head in amusement. He had to admit, the brat seemed to be interesting, just as Kurotsuchi had claimed all those weeks ago. The girl really had a knack for seeing the true value in people; he thought. Of course, he was just teasing her with the fawning thing. He didn't really think Kurotsuchi would look for anything more than just a rival in the boy younger than her. While he had learned to forget the animosity between Konoha and Iwa, he was still not ready to accept his own granddaughter getting a boyfriend from this village. He blinked and, with narrowed eyes, rubbed his beard.
Or maybe, just maybe, in case the rivalry would develop into something else, it could prove beneficial for Iwagakure. He was an argute man like that.
…
After Temari had left, Naruto turned his attention to the arena with a frown and a shudder. For a past while he had been feeling a chill in his bones, as if somebody was staring at him hard. Well, it did not matter at the moment; he thought. The problem was the group of skilled shinobi down at the arena, who had been using the short break in the exams to repair the arena back to its original look.
That had caused some of his plans to crumble. He had been relying on the heavily damaged ground to work in his favor but now, he had to rethink his strategy. With a grimace, he sighed. What were they actually thinking, repairing the arena like that? Wasn't it better to just leave it like that, to see if the Genin could adapt to the ever-changing conditions of a battlefield, just like in real life? But he had to admit one thing, though.
While the destroyed ground had held some possibilities of making surprising moves, the scale of destruction was too extensive. It could have made some Genin lose their hopes of winning the exams.
'…whatever. This'll take some adapting too, I guess.'
He took a short glance at the remaining Genin in the booth for participants. Sasuke was sitting on the ground with his back leaned on the wall, his eyes closed and his features hardened. He had been like that for quite a while and Naruto had given up hope of making any kind of small talk. Lee was back from the room for injured but he was still visibly drained from his match. Naruto didn't think he could win against Sasuke. Not in that condition. Gaara was standing a bit further away from him, his arms crossed and still. There wasn't a slight hint of emotion on his face. Which was actually an improvement from the grimace he had had several minutes ago. He was no longer appearing to be so bloodthirsty. It seemed that despite his remarks about killing either of his siblings when they had approached him their presence had calmed him a little. The last Genin in the booth, his next opponent, was cleaning her equipment and seemed mildly cheerful. Naruto pouted.
Was she actually happy to go against him because she was underestimating him? That was an irritating thought that had been on his mind for a while and caused him to unconsciously emit a vexatious aura around him. He studied her for a while and then shook his head.
Nah, she wouldn't underestimate him. Not after everything she had seen him do. She was just probably trying to get on his nerves, to cause him distress and then slip up in his match. Yeah, that made sense.
Unbeknown to him, he was completely right.
…
"Uhm, ladies and gentleman, I'd like your attention once again. Due to the break ending, we will now resume the final part of Chunin Exams. The second, uhm, round begins now." Hayate announced after walking to the center of the arena. He turned his gaze to the participants' booth and nodded to Naruto and Tenten.
"The next match is Naruto Uzumaki versus Tenten. Come down, you two."
Deciding it was finally time to show off some of his abilities and to rile up his kunoichi opponent, Naruto used Shunshin to land next to the proctor and defiantly stared at Tenten. The girl raised her eyebrow and seemingly snorted to herself before joining him down at the arena. Hayate put his hand between them.
"Begin!"
…
All bets were now off and Naruto was very much aware of it. In this match he had to show off his skills, his strength and power. He had displayed a certain amount of planning ahead in his first fight. Now, he had to demonstrate raw power in order to convince the Kage that he was a material worthy of a Chunin promotion. He quickly assessed the situation at hands but it was Tenten who acted first. Leaping to the air in a single jump, she took out her two large scrolls and when they started to emit smoke, Naruto reacted. He knew what was coming at him. He still remembered what had happened during the preliminaries. As soon as the girl started to spin around and the many projectiles shot towards him, Naruto threw a smoke bomb below his feet, to obscure Tenten's vision of him.
He wasn't stupid and knew this wouldn't even slow her down. Just because she couldn't see him didn't mean she couldn't hit him. No, he did it for a different reason. Before anything could hit him, he flashed through hand-seals and slapped the ground beneath him.
'Earth Release: Earth Dome Jutsu.'
Inside the dome protecting him from Tenten's attack, Naruto made further preparations and waited.
Not long after that, Tenten landed on the ground. Her technique had ended and she was cautiously waiting for its results. She knew she couldn't have won just with that but hoped she had done at least some injuries. Her hopes decayed as soon as the heavy rain cleared the smoke from the bomb and revealed a sturdy looking dome with all of her projectiles either embed in it or lying on the wet ground next to it.
"Damn." As soon as she uttered the word, she hastily leaned backwards, her instincts honed during long hours of sparing with her teammates screaming at her. And she mentally thanked to herself that she did it when two copies of Naruto leaped from the ground in front of her and sent a pair of punches at her. Accepting the challenge, she engaged them in a hand-to-hand battle. She dispatched them fairly easily and so she had a feeling something was wrong.
She was proven right when another Naruto came at her from behind. Preparing to deal with him, she received a mild shock when that Naruto exploded just after closing the distance between them. In that instant, her mind froze.
'H-he killed…' But then the small shockwave and pain came and her mind rebooted itself. Trying to avoid further injuries, she let herself get carried through the air and rolled before finally landing in a puddle. The water splashing on her body and her face instantly cooled down her singed skin but it was not over.
She had landed exactly where Naruto had wanted her to land. The young Uzumaki took a deep breath.
'Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!'
The ball of fire that emerged from his mouth after blowing through a ring made by the thumb and index finger shot forward and travelled through the air towards Tenten at moderate speed. Naruto noticed the distressed expression on the young kunoichi's face and, for an instant, thought he may had overdone it. But Tenten stubbornly pushed herself of the ground, throwing something on the ground where she was about to land and successfully evaded the fire technique. She did receive additional burns on her skin but she appeared to be ready for more fighting.
A swooshing sound vibrated through the air as a single kunai flew at high speed towards Naruto. When the projectile was about to hit him, the Genin smiled and waved at Tenten, causing her distressed expression to return. Naruto was hit in his forehead and, for the first time, the audience gasped. But then he popped out of existence, leaving only a small cloud of smoke behind. It had been a Shadow Clone all along.
The real Naruto, just like his other two clones did before, leaped from the ground behind Tenten, his both palms hitting her. However, when he landed on the ground, he found himself unable to move his legs. He blinked.
"When?" He asked when he realized he was caught in a trap.
Tenten, with a tired smile, pointed at the several kunai with small tags attached to the rings on their pommels that were protruding from the ground all around her.
"After your clone blew up, and I saw you in the distance I had a feeling you were trying to push me in some sort of a trap so, while you were performing the fire jutsu, I threw my tagged kunai all around me, just in case you'd pop up just like your clones did moments before. You clearly managed to catch me off-guard with them the first time so I was sure you would try it again." She tried to smirk but, with confused expression, fell on one of her knees. Naruto smiled.
"I'm impressed. You almost got me." He said. Reaching into his pocket, he took out a kunai and pointed it at her.
"However, I think you know what this means. But, in case you're wondering why you feel so weak, I suggest you look down."
When she did just that, Tenten noticed a small tag plastered on her right ankle. It had some kind of a seal, which she didn't quite understand, written all over it.
"It's a seal similar to one I have used in the second part of the exams, though I think you didn't hear about it. Thanks to further study of seals I was able to modify it so it wouldn't cause the victim to instantly lose his consciousness. What it does is that it basically cuts off most of the chakra circulating within your chakra pathway, rendering you quite useless in a fight until you take it off."
He raised the kunai higher and shook his head when Tenten moved her hand towards it.
"What I suggest you don't do, seeing as I'm pointing a kunai at your head. Unless you think you can take the tag off and roll away faster than I can simply throw the kunai."
Tenten's shoulders slumped down.
"Fine. You win."
Hearing her words, Hayate landed next to them and raised his hand.
"Winner: Naruto Uzumaki!"
Naruto spewed a tiny fireball at the kunai immobilizing him and, after he could walk again, crouched next to Tenten and took his seal down. While she was obviously feeling down, Tenten did not appear to be angry at him. On the contrary, she immediately turned to him with a confused expression, lightly flexing her limbs.
"I don't understand. There are people who aren't using almost any chakra and can move just fine. But that seal of yours made me completely lose all of my strength. I mean, I felt my body but I couldn't muster any strength to move it. Now, all of it came back to me at the instant you took this seal off."
Helping her on her feet, Naruto chuckled.
"It's because we have been raised as ninja from our small age. Now, we are so dependent on chakra that suddenly having close to none running through our system causes our bodies to undergo a small shock. After a few days of having my seal on you, you would adapt and be able to move just fine."
While the medics tried to push her towards the room for injured, Tenten stared at Naruto with an unreadable expression. But when the effect of the adrenaline in her veins wore down and she began to feel the pain in her burnt skin, she sighed and shook her head with a pained smile.
"You were right. I do regret making that deal now… but you can cheer me up by showing me some of your skills in seals when you're free."
…
Up in the Kage stand, Tsuchikage, along with Kurotsuchi stared at the arena with an outrage written all over their faces. Sarutobi was unsure what was going on and wanted to ask but, thankfully, Tsuchikage recovered soon enough.
"That jutsu!"
"…yeah, that jutsu!" Kurotsuchi repeated after him.
"Uhm… a little help here?" The Hokage inquired with a hesitant smile. The Iwagakure duo turned to him with grimaces on their faces.
"The Earth Dome technique… it's one of our, Iwagakure's, prized jutsu. Where in the heavens did he learn it?"
Before Sarutobi could answer, the old Iwagakure's leader continued while glancing at his granddaughter.
"Now that I think, I remember you telling me he has used another jutsu that is originally from our village. Earth Shore Return technique, if I recall correctly."
"…uhm… yeah, something like that."
When Tsuchikage stared at him for a long, but heavy, minute, Sarutobi sighed. He didn't want to remind them the scars from the previous scrimmages but now it seemed unavoidable.
"Yes, it is most likely due to our… past discrepancies during the last war that we have come to a possession of some jutsu from several villages. They should have been stored in a section of a library ordinarily inaccessible to young shinobi but I can hardly blame Naruto-kun. It is not his transgression. Those two jutsu most likely belong to those techniques and he somehow found them."
The Tsuchikage continued to stare at him with a sour expression. It was obvious that he didn't like such an explanation, no matter how logical it was.
"I see no problems there. Most of the five major hidden villages have come into possession of various jutsu. Even we have some that originally did not belong to us. And I know for a fact that some of our jutsu have been taken too. It's a price one has to pay for the foolishness of his predecessors." The Kazekage stated coolly. There was no anger in his voice but the tone stopped any further quarrels.
"…hide yo scrolls, hide yo jutsu, cuz' we gonna steal them, ye-" In the background, Genma quietly rhymed until one of his fellow bodyguards elbowed him in the side. Hard. He rubbed the sore place and only then he realized he was under fire of a group of glares.
'…it was good! I can die in peace!' He mentally exclaimed and tears flew out of his closed eyes.
The Hokage rubbed his forehead. Why were most of shinobi such idiots? And since when could Naruto use a fire element?
…
'That jutsu!' In the competitors' booth Sasuke mentally yelled and jumped on his feet. He had been watching the match with one eye but when Naruto used the fire technique, his second eye snapped open.
'When… how? This is the Uchiha's jutsu, the one 'he' favors. And Naruto knows it too?'
He recalled what had been said before the exams had begun, when Kabuto had read the information on his cards.
'…so this is the third element he can use. I saw him use Wind and now Earth and Fire.' Sasuke felt his jaw tightening up.
'…amazing.' He involuntarily admitted but then, his fists clenched. He angrily punched the railing and stared at his feet.
'When did he get so strong? He's gaining on me so fast!' He growled. This wasn't right. Naruto had changed, that was undeniable. But Naruto was still Naruto. He couldn't have turned into a prodigy overnight. And nothing sort of a genius would have come so far after such a short period of time.
'He managed to learn this since coming from Wave. I know it. And that is barely more than three months. Three months! What have I learned during that time?'
A face of an older-looking Uchiha came to his mind and he bit his lip, almost drawing blood.
'How can I take on 'him', when even Naruto gets stronger than me?' His fists trembled. Then they stopped. Another thing came into his mind.
He remembered the mission that went so wrong when he subconsciously clamed Sakura down when she couldn't take the sight of so much gore. Naruto was there and he understood him with a single glance.
When he had let Sakura behind during the mission in Waterfall village, because he had thought it was better for her not to take a part in fighting; when he had made a bad decision. Naruto was there and saved Sakura and never said a word about it. It was also a mission during which they helped each other and fluently cooperated for the first time; the mission in Wave not counting. When they coordinated their attacks together without any words.
Previous parts of these exams. Both of them had realized Kabuto was suspicious. Both of them had gotten angry for Sakura's sake after Orochimaru's had attacked her. It was the time when they spent some time together, alone. Naruto was the first person he had told about Itachi. About his reason for wanting him dead. And unlike others, Naruto had listened to him and did not try to act like he knew what kind of pain he, Sasuke, had to undergo. It was a time when he had come to appreciate the new bond he had created with the blond. From that point onwards, they shared laughs, they teased each other, they taunted each other, they mocked each other and they awkwardly supported each other. Almost like…
'…like brothers…' Sasuke swallowed, suddenly feeling his throat was dry.
He wanted to punch the railing again but this time, not because of anger towards Naruto. Because of anger towards himself. He had been so stupid, so blind. So damaged from what Itachi had done to him. He glanced down at the arena.
He still felt anger whenever he looked at Naruto and realized just how strong he had become. But it was just anger, fleeting and shallow. There was no true hate. He didn't hate Naruto. He didn't like Naruto.
He was just there. As his teammate and comrade. A brother in arms. Somebody who would help him no matter what.
Now he finally understood the anger. Naruto was a competition, a rival, somebody who could push him further, to get strong. He could rely on him. Sasuke snorted bitterly.
All of it did not bode well with the 'old Sasuke'. It was one thing to realize it, it was a completely different matter to act upon such a realization. His feelings could not change just like that. Those dark emotions swelling deep within his mind and his heart couldn't vanish with a flick of a magic wand. It was just not how the world functioned. Anyhow, he could sort these conflicting emotions later. He lightly slapped his cheeks.
He had a match to win.
…
"Next match, Sasuke Uchiha vs Rock Lee."
…
Sasuke landed on the wet soil with a determined expression on his face. He was no longer angry, he was not irritated and he was not anxious. Just determined. Determined to prove his own value, just like Naruto did moments ago. Determined to show everybody that the Uchiha clan was not hailed as one of the strongest in the world for nothing. Determined to put his own skills to a test, to see for himself just how far he had gone since that nightmarish night all those years ago. A bit of annoyance briefly flickered across his face, however, when he saw the condition his opponent was in.
Rock Lee was in no state to fight at full power. Hell, he barely looked to be able to fight at all. That was not how Sasuke had pictured his fight with the Taijutsu expert to go. He swallowed the redundant emotion down his throat. It was irrelevant. It didn't really matter how well would his opponent fight. What was important was how he, Sasuke, was going to fight.
He glanced at Hayate and once the proctor started the match, he activated his Sharingan. He wasn't going to take any shortcuts to victory and he certainly wasn't about to underestimate Rock Lee, no matter how tired he looked. The boy was too dangerous.
With a vigor, Sasuke reached into his pockets and threw a barrage of shuriken at the other Genin. Moving fast, he crossed the distance between them and aimed a series of punches at him.
But Rock Lee, despite being exhausted and having some serious muscle problems, was still fast as a lightning and managed to avoid not only the shuriken but also almost every blow Sasuke threw at him. Only one of them came close to hitting him and even that one just lightly touched his stomach before he noticed it and hastily pulled back.
Sasuke saw it on his face then. Lee realized just how much trouble his body was giving him but it seemed it only further steeled his own determination. The boy grimaced but, with gritted teeth, pushed himself and went on the offensive.
The Uchiha prodigy quickly withdrew from his reach using a series of sommer-saults and threw a fūma-shuriken at him while in mid-air. It forced the other boy to direct his attention towards avoiding it and with that, his eyes missed Sasuke throwing a pair of kunai at trees on both of their sides. The second fūma-shuriken followed soon after that and along with it, two other kunai. But those kunai did not flew directly at Lee as Sasuke threw them sideways, to fly in a sort of a half-circle.
Lee felt some sort of a trap but was caught unprepared when Sasuke pulled at something, which caused the two kunai to change direction and make a circle around Lee's torso.
"Huh?" Lee stared at his body in surprise when he felt something forcing his arms together.
It was a ninja wire, wrapped around him. It prevented him from moving and he spotted the kunai embed in the trees on either side connected to it. Hearing a fast approaching steps, he raised his head to see Sasuke running towards him.
Sasuke didn't think just this much could win him the match but if it could, he would take the chance. Before his fist could connect with the Genin's jaw, he recognized the concentrated expression on Lee's face.
'He's opening those gates.' He thought in alarm but it was too late to stop his arm.
Fortunately, his fist managed to hit the jaw he intended to hit but the force behind it, along with Lee opening some gates, allowed the other boy to slip from the wire restricting him.
With a loud yell, Lee rolled in the air and, ricocheting from a tree trunk, shot towards Sasuke who mentally cursed.
'Damn. I didn't think he could open them again. But still, I can still fight him.'
He was straining his eyes and the Sharingan in them to see Lee's movements. It was blurry, but he could still see him. He didn't know how many gates Lee opened but it was certainly less than in his fight with Neji. Else he was sure he would have been seeing just a complete blur.
Still, the speed with which Lee was moving was making it hard to defend even after the rigorous training he had done for the past month. Sasuke felt a few hits connect and suppressed the groan trying to escape his lips. He wasn't going to last long if he continued to trade blows with this opponent.
Slamming his foot on the wet ground, he discharged a surge of electricity from his body and forced Lee to stop moving for an instant. He quickly used short amount of time to back off and prepare his next technique. A smirk came to his face as he glanced at the stand from where Naruto was watching his match.
'This is how you use it.' He thought and took a deep breath.
'Fire Release: Great Fireball jutsu!'
The orb of fire shot from his mouth at a higher speed than the one Naruto had used and almost managed to directly hit its target. But it did not matter. This was not the end as Sasuke built up his chakra again. He was itching to use the new technique Kakashi had taught him during the last month but his logical side reminded him not to do it. That was a powerful jutsu, A-ranked and Sasuke could only use it so much till he would exhaust all of his chakra reserves. Moreover, Lee was too fast and there was a possibility he could avoid it.
No, he would use a different one. The last new jutsu he had learned as a side effect of trying to master the stronger one.
He shot from his position and ran towards Lee to meet him again in an exchange of blows. But this time, he kept his right hand a bit behind him. He was still charging the technique and Lee, having no way of sensing chakra, was unaware of it. Because of that, the boy allowed Sasuke to get closer and began his Taijutsu dance around him. But it lacked its usual finesse, the exhaustion and injuries from his previous match finally hitting him.
There were delays in the delivers of his kicks, twitches in his arm muscles before throwing a punch and thanks to that, Sasuke was able to prepare his attack in a relative peace. He still received a punch to the thigh but it was over.
'Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!' He thought as he put out his hands in front of him once Lee came directly into his view.
A wave of electricity rippled through the air between them and hit the other boy directly into his chest, causing his face to twist in agony and his smoking body to sail through the air like a bullet shot out of a pistol.
Sasuke took a heavy breath, along with the rest of the audience as they all watched the outcome. The Uchiha also felt a drop in his reserves. He had put too much power into that one. He felt a chill in his body when his opponent remained still on the wet ground and the proctor, who landed next to him, quickly yelled out.
"Medics! Hurry up!"
Sasuke gulped as Hayate stood up.
"This match is over. Winner: Sasuke Uchiha."
…
"What's wrong with him?" Sasuke asked once he limped close to medics surrounding lee.
"Due to the strong electric discharge, his heart has stopped beating." Hayate answered him, letting the medical ninja to do their job. When he saw the conflicted look on Sasuke's face, he shook his head.
"It's not, uhm, your fault. You were supposed to fight till the very end. Things like these happen but, uhm, don't worry. He'll be alright."
They waited for a long while, the rain that was still pouring down washing over their faces and, after a moment, two other men landed next to them. Kakashi and Might Guy.
"You did well, Sasuke." Kakashi stated with a serious face. Might Guy stared at his own student with an unreadable expression. It took some time but, finally, one medic stood up and turned to him.
"We managed to start his heart again but he's got a long recovery ahead of him. Using the Celestial Gates repeatedly and to this extent in such a short amount of time took its toll on him. He probably didn't use it much in the past, am I correct?" Might Guy gulped.
"Yes, I ordered Lee not to use it lightly and labeled it forbidden for him unless he's in a serious fight. It is a dangerous technique… is he going to be okay?" His tone changed into one full of worry but the medic smiled.
"Don't worry. Thanks to the strict training he underwent, his body is extremely durable. He will recover, it'll just take more time than usual. He has tissue fissures all over his body and some of his muscles are seriously torn but that's something we can repair."
…
Amidst the loud cheering for Sasuke's victory, much louder than the one Naruto had received, Hayate walked into the center of the arena and raised his arm, trying to get the audience's attention.
"Due to the odd amount of participants, Gaara will advance to the next round by default. We will now have a truly short break and after that, the last round will begin. It'll be an all-out fight between three remaining participants, Uzumaki Naruto, Sasuke Uchiha and Gaara." The audience accepted the news with an occasional shout but most of the noise came from loud cheers, aimed at the young Uchiha.
…
In the Kage stand, Sarutobi squirmed under the gaze of the Tsuchikage who was extremely annoyed by the decision of letting Gaara advance to the final round just like that. As expected, the Kazekage allowed it quite easily which only further increased the old leader's ire.
"How nice it must be, having the Hokage on your side." Tsuchikage grumbled with a scowl. Nobody knew what to say to him, so they simply ignored the remark.
"Well, for now, I think we should review the two matches we have witnessed." Sarutobi said after clearing his throat.
"First one Uzumaki Naruto and Tenten. My opinion is that while Tenten performed nicely and managed to catch her opponent, there's still something missing in her overall skill that would push her into a Chunin promotion."
The Kazekage rubbed his chin.
"Well, she obviously performed better in her first match. In her second, she foolishly used her strongest technique at the beginning, which robbed her of a chance of using it as a finishing blow. I'm not sure. I still see her as a skilled weapon user with a more than satisfying Taijutsu. She also knows a bit of Fūinjutsu. I say promote her."
"I say no." Tsuchikage said shortly. Kurotsuchi, standing behind him, rolled her eyes but said nothing.
"Well, I will consult with her Jonin instructor and make a decision after that. Next is Uzumaki Naruto. I think we can all agree that the boy is strong and quick-witted. His use of clones is amazing for a Genin and I see no reason not to promote him." Sarutobi said with closed eyes. In reality, he didn't really want to promote Naruto, he wanted him to stay a Genin for a bit longer. But those were his personal feelings created from the years of taking care of the boy. He knew his own mind. Even if he waited years, he still wouldn't want to promote him only if to spare him the missions he knew the boy would have to take. But as the leader of Konoha, he had to promote him. He couldn't afford such a waste of potential.
"Yes, I agree. Uzumaki is obviously a Ninjutsu specialist and we have already seen him use an earth element, fire element and if I recall correctly, even a wind element. That makes three elements which is rare for a Chunin not to mention a Genin. As you said, his use of clones is very coordinated and preplanned which makes him a terrible opponent for many shinobi. Additionally, it seems he has gained some knowledge on Fūinjutsu too. He even managed to dispel a Genjutsu cast by Hyuga in his previous match. There is no doubt in my mind he will be a perfect Chunin." The Kazekage nodded in acknowledgement.
"I say n-"
"Oh come on, gramps! He's clearly too good for a Genin. You can't refute that!" Kurotsuchi exclaimed theatrically before the Tsuchikage could finish his sentence. The old leader snorted.
"Are you sure you're not interested in him too much?"
"You're changing the subject!"
"Am not you stupid granddaughter!"
"You totally are old man!"
Hokage watched the two of them bicker with a sigh. Meanwhile, behind him, a bowl of popcorn suddenly appeared in Genma's hands and he started to eat them while watching the row with excited eyes as if he was watching a sport event.
Gracefully ignoring them, Kazekage glanced at Sarutobi with a ghost smile.
"I think we can count that as a yes."
Sarutobi barely suppressed his own amused smile. The leader of Sunagakure was mostly an emotionless man but sometimes, he certainly had that mischievous bit in him.
"As with Tenten, I'll make the final decision after talking with her Jonin instructor. Moving on to the second match. First, Rock Lee." The Hokage trailed off with a thoughtful expression.
"I think he should remain a Genin for a bit longer." He continued briefly.
"For now, I agree. His Taijutsu is exceptional and coupled with his ability to use Celestial Gates he could most likely take on any Chunin but that's all he has. Once the after-effects from using the gates kick in, he's in trouble. But it's not that much of a disadvantage. Keep him a Genin for a few more months and once he's accustomed to using the gates, promote him." The Kazekage said and then turned to the last Kage in the booth.
"Tsuchikage? Your opinion?"
The grumpy leader of Iwagakure was no longer bickering with his granddaughter but still appeared to be disgruntled. With a sharp nod of his head, he answered.
"What you two said."
"Alright. That takes us to Sasuke Uchiha. With this match I think he managed to convince me that, indeed, he should be promoted. He is probably the best well-rounded Genin from all the ones that have managed to pass into finals." Sarutobi continued. Both the Kazekage and Tsuchikage nodded without any further words.
It seemed the final round of the Chunin exams was going to happen without any complications after all.
Such a false, naïve feeling. Funnily enough, not one person in the Kage's booth noticed the slight shift in the behavior of the Kazekage's bodyguards, despite all of them being elite shinobi.
Not even the Kazekage himself, who remained the same.
…
It was finally time for the last match to take place and three Genin landed in the middle of the arena, each ready to do what was necessary. Their concentration was at maximum, not even the heavy downpour could make them lose it for even a moment. Stakes were too high. Hayate, the proctor, raised his arms.
"Begin!"
Each Genin quickly jumped backwards to create a space between them. It was foolish to just rush forward without a plan. It was time to form a strategy.
Even though the break before this last match lasted for more than five minutes and, logically, one would think that being from the same village Naruto and Sasuke would have formed some sort of a plan on how to deal with Gaara, the truth lied elsewhere. The two of them neither looked at each other nor spoke to each other. They completely refused any sort of communication. It was not because of some grudge or some childish antic. It was just because they wanted to fully enjoy the thrill of fighting in such a match.
But that kind of thrill never came.
Just when Sasuke finished formulating his plan and was preparing to start it, thanks to his activated Sharingan, he noticed something odd within the audience and stopped in mid-step.
In the next instant, a heavy mist filled the whole arena, suffocating the three Genin with its deadly thickness.
"Sasuke, tell me it's your doing!" Naruto loudly stated. He felt a chill creeping on his spine and it reminded him of something that had happened a few months ago.
"It's not me!" Sasuke replied, no longer even remotely sure where his teammate was.
"Death is coming." Gaara stated in an odd tone that made Naruto's and Sasuke's blood curl.
It took him a short while, but the Uchiha understood the situation and the familiar sensation of dangerous breath creeping on his neck fairly quickly. When he did, he cursed.
"Damn it... I think this mist is similar to one we came across in Wave."
…
Sitting above the wall surrounding the village, Konoha shinobi led by Ibiki Morino carefully watched over the east entrance, their minds uneasy and restless. Even Ibiki, a man with more experience than all the others next to him put together, had a bad feeling in his gut. Maybe it was the heavy rain that had started in the morning and was still getting thicker or maybe it was his instinct telling him there was something wrong. He felt like being watched. He felt like an unaware prey getting stalked by its predator.
Or maybe he was just paranoid. What the Hokage had told them at the last shinobi meeting had unsettled his mind.
'Bullshit.' He mentally refused such a thing. Ibiki was far too good to be fooled by his own fear. No, there was definitely something going on.
Seeing Jiraiya the Sannin rushing towards the south entrance with a hardened expression on his face only further cemented his bad feeling. The man had told him nothing alarming was yet happening but Ibiki couldn't shake that coldness in his stomach. The chill in his blood.
Then it happened.
The earth itself shook.
It was just a small tremor and he was the only one who noticed it. But when the second, a bit stronger, tremor followed, his men noticed it too and exchanged worried glances. Before the ground below the wall exploded, he felt the foreign chakra.
"Everybody, spread out!"
His yell warned the men in the last moment and when the large snakes erupted from the soil, splashing mud and wet clay all around them, they were able to react to the threat in time.
"Warn the others. It finally begins!" Ibiki ducked under a vicious swipe of the snake's tail and yelled towards the ANBU, hidden somewhere near.
That was all he could do before he was forced to take cover.
'These are not normal snakes, I can feel chakra from them. They must be summons. And who uses snake summon? Orochimaru. Damn it, that inhuman traitor is really doing it.' He cursed and involuntarily trembled. Orochimaru was one of the few men that could invoke a fear this great in him.
He glanced at his men battling the snakes and gritted his teeth.
'You've made a great mistake, Orochimaru. Even you can't take down Konoha.'
But then, a mist that had been perpetually seen in the distance quickly moved towards them as if guided by a machine. Ibiki grabbed his kunai. He understood the implications.
'Shit. It really is them.'
…
Once the mist descended upon the arena, the atmosphere within the Kage's booth took a drastic turn. No longer was the Hokage smiling. His expression hardened and he finally looked like a leader of a shinobi village. Behind him, his bodyguards tensed, ready to spring into action at any moment. Though even they were powerless when a smoke bomb stealthily exploded right in the center of the booth.
The swishing sound of rapid movements was a clear sign that something was happening but it was only after the smoke dissipated that the situation became obvious.
With a hand under the Hokage's neck, one of the Kazekage's bodyguards calmly stood a bit away from the rest of the shinobi, his smirk jumping from one face to another.
"What is the meaning of this, Kazekage?" The Tsuchikage asked in a mildly alarmed tone. All eyed turned to the leader of Sunagakure who, despite being visibly angered, managed to remain fairly calm.
"I see, so this is how you planned to do this, Orochimaru." The Kazekage stated, shocking everyone present with his words. Sarutobi, so far trying to be quiet and calm, carelessly turned his head a bit, to glance at the person that was holding him.
"Kukuku, so you noticed, huh, Kazekage?"
The man holding Sarutobi laughed and pressed his free palm onto his face. In the next moment, the face of the Kazekage's bodyguard dissolved to show a completely different man.
Orochimaru of the Sannin.
Nobody moved a single muscle, the danger of the madman accidentally killing the Hokage was too much. But the leader of Konoha had questions. Not for Orochimaru, they knew he had been planning something. He had questions for Kazekage.
"Kazekage, if you could explain…"
"I admire your bravado, sensei, but try not to move your head too much. I might… hurt you sooner than I wanted to." Orochimaru laughed and glanced at the Kazekage. With a sharp nod of his head, he allowed him to talk.
He wasn't exactly in a hurry. The situation was far too entertaining to just go any kill everybody. He was confident he could amuse them for a while, to let them know what was going on and why. Seeing the realization dawning upon them was going to be pretty entertaining for him.
The Kazekage narrowed his eyes. From the corner of his eye, he saw the Hokage's bodyguards glaring at him. He needed to convince them he was on their side or things were going to get ugly.
"I'll give you short version. About three months ago, I was approached by Orochimaru with a proposition of joining forces in invading Konoha." He began explaining without any preface. On a side, he saw Tsuchikage frowning.
"I'll be honest, it was a tempting offer. Due to the economic decline brought about by the Land of Wind's Daimyō using the shinobi of Konoha, the situation in Suna was bad. I almost agreed but realized in time it was a foolish plan with lots of holes. The whole thing smelled of a trap. Orochimaru is a famous traitor and I had worries of him betraying us. So I backed away. That was when he tried to kill me."
At that part, Orochimaru laughed again, letting his long tongue to slither around his mouth in a hungry fashion.
"He almost got me but in the neck of the time, my son, Gaara, interfered with the fight. Don't ask me why as I don't know either. The important thing is, I survived. But during the battle, this man poisoned me. It took me two whole months to recover even with the help of our most renewed medics. I still have a throbbing scar on my face because of it."
"So that's why you insisted on the delay of the Chunin exams?" The Hokage asked confused. Something was amiss.
"Partially, yes. I knew that Orochimaru wouldn't back down from the plan even with me knowing it. He is far too confident. And because of it, I now possessed a way to save my village. I insisted on delaying the Chunin exams, because I wanted to be here at all costs, because I wanted to intervene in this invasion and because by helping saving Konoha I would gain a powerful ally in the process. An ally that could help Sunagakure."
"Hmm, a plan worthy of Kazekage." The Tsuchikage muttered with a nod.
"But why you didn't inform Konoha?" Genma could stop himself from raising a question to Kazekage.
"I couldn't. I feared traitors within Konoha, within Suna... nobody beside me knew about this. Not even my men. That is why I came here in full health." The Kazekage resolutely answered.
"Clever, Kazekage, very clever. Seeing sensei squirming under my arm is making me very happy so I'll tell you one thing. You were right about the traitors in Konoha. Kukuku." Orochimaru laughed but his words sounded everything but cheerful.
On the contrary, they brought anxiety and anger in the hearts of Sarutobi and his bodyguards.
'Traitors? In Konoha?'
When a sound of explosions coming from afar reached the arena, Orochimaru stopped laughing and settled for a grin.
"Well, it seems the plan is in full motion so if you'll excuse us, me and sensei have a thing to settle." He tightened his grip on the Hokage, causing his bodyguards to stiffen and glanced at the Kazekage.
"I believe you're eager to stop me but I think you'll find yourself unable to do so."
Another smoke bomb later, Orochimaru jumped high above the booth and, along with four other shinobi, landed atop the roof.
"Damn it!" One of Hokage's bodyguards cursed loudly and hurried to go after them.
"Wait, this doesn't make any sense. Even Orochimaru wouldn't try to invade Konoha all by himself. If Suna or Iwa isn't helping him, then…?" Genma stopped his comrade and bit on the senbon needle he had been chewing for the last few hours. Even the Kazekage became alert after the tokubetsu Jōnin stated the obvious aloud.
The answer came shortly when a large man in a dark cloak with clouds on it roughly landed in the booth and with one swipe of an enormous sword forced the Hokage's bodyguards to jump away as he faced Kazekage. The eyes of the Suna leader squirmed in contempt as soon as he realized the identity of the newcomer.
"Kisame Hoshigaki, the Monster of the Kirigakure."
The man with shark-like appearance grinned widely.
"Pleasure to meet you, Kazekage." He gripped the odd-looking sword held in his hands tightly and jumped in the air.
In the next moment, an explosion rocketed the Kage's booth.
…
"Ino, I want you to take Sakura and go hide somewhere."
"Kakashi, more of them coming!"
Kakashi leaned backwards and, with a swipe of kunai held in both of his hands, instantly took out two enemies closing up on him from behind. He ignored the droplets of blood falling on the skin of his face and turned back to the wide-eyed blonde, who was supporting unconscious Sakura.
"Listen, you can't do anything here. I can't break the Genjutsu on Sakura because of reasons right now and I want her safe. Do you understand, Ino?"
"Y-Yes." The girl gulped but the trust Kakashi was putting into her made her nod confidently. But there were more worries hidden in her nervous eyes.
"What about Sasuke-kun… and Naruto?"
Kakashi blocked the incoming shuriken and briefly glanced at the arena, covered in a thick and impenetrable mist.
"They'll be fine. It's not their first time fighting in such conditions and both of them are strong. Don't worry about them." He gave her an eye-smile, which prompted her to go but in reality, he was a bit worried about his two favorite students.
"...most unyouthful thing from Kirigakure." Gai, fighting not so far away from him, muttered bitterly as he threw a decimating blow into his opponent's solar plexus. The punch immediately knocked his enemy out but the force behind it continued further and created a gaping hole in the wall behind the, now, unconscious man.
This was an exception, but Kakashi agreed with his Jonin friend. The Village Hidden in the Mist, Kirigakure, truly did it. They joined forces with Orochimaru. There was no other explanation for what was happening all around them.
'Naruto, Sasuke, remember how you fought in Wave and, please, survive this.'
"Kakashi!"
The yell from Gai sounded a bit different from the previous ones and Kakashi instantly turned to the man. Gai was pointing at the roof above the Kage's booth, where a considerable purple barrier erected itself. Kakashi narrowed his eyes, both of them, to try and see what was inside and felt something akin to anxiety rising within him when he saw it.
"ANBU needs to hurry up."
"You don't have time to stop and stare, Konoha shinobi." A sly voice came from behind them and both Kakashi and Gai spun around to find a young shinobi from Kirigakure with white hair watching them closely. Next to Kakashi, Gai momentarily stiffened.
"What is it?" Kakashi quietly asked the other Jonin. Gai shook his head.
"I have a feeling I met this guy a long time ago."
…
Kurotsuchi cursed as she sailed through the air, the shockwave from the explosion in the Kage's booth pushing her away. There was no ground beneath her feet, the only place to land was the arena covered with dense haze. She was in no way worried about her grandfather. He was the Tsuchikage, after all.
For a moment after she landed, she was overwhelmed by the lack of her senses caused by the mist and reacted reflexively when something touched her. Her fist collided with something soft and she heard a cough.
"Ow, is that you, Kurotsuchi?"
"Uzumaki?!" Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes. Of all the places she could have landed, the fate caused her to land next to the blond Genin.
"Why can you tell it's me just because of a punch?"
"No idea."
"Quiet! Both of you!"
Sasuke's voice, coming from somewhere on the duo's right, came as a hiss. Before Kurotsuchi could say anything, Naruto opened his mouth first.
"What is it, do you see something?"
Because of the heavy mist, Naruto knew his only chance to find out what was going on on the outside was to rely on Sasuke's Sharingan. But just like in the Wave country when Kakashi used his own, even Sasuke's Sharingan couldn't see well through the chakra-filled haze.
"I don't know but I think something is coming."
As soon as the Uchiha said that, a strong pressure of wind shot from the center of the arena; it seemed something landed there. The sudden gale forced the mist to tear and, after long minutes, Naruto and the others were finally able to see something.
The mist was still covering the corners of the arena so their sights were limited. But it was enough to see what landed in the middle of the arena. And what was in the middle of the arena was enough to draw all of their attention to itself. Even Gaara's.
Next to Naruto, Kurotsuchi felt large beads of sweat forming on her forehead.
"Are you kidding me… that's Yagura."
Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other and then at the young-looking person in front of them.
It was the Mizukage, the current leader of Kirigakure. And he was staring at the four of them with clear intention to fight.
"We're dead."
End of chapter 11.
I'm back with a new chapter. Most of it had been written about two weeks ago, I've just been struggling really hard with the last 2 or 3k words. Words just didn't want to come to me so I hope the chapter doesn't feel forced. However, with this chapter out, we're finally moving onto some interesting stuff.
Kirigakure... bet you didn't see that one coming did you? Although, if you have been paying attention to details, you could have seen it. I was careful enough to put some things in earlier chapters that could have warned you of this development.
Why I decided to go this way? Because I have something in mind with this, it allows me to continue the story in a direction different from canon and most of all... I always thought Orochimaru decieving and killing Kazekage so easily was nonsense. Next few chapters will deal with the invasion and explain some things.
So I hope you'll be patient enough with me and wait for the future development before you say harsh things to me.
On to reviews (for which I am eternally grateful to you, guys and girls)
*plums - i understand what you mean. However, if i focused solely on Naruto, I'd still recieve complains. BUT... it's mostly because of this arc. Chunin Exams and Invasion involves many characters and I want readers to know what happens to them too. In the future, after the invasion, I will focus more on Naruto and less on others.
*Krazyfanfiction1 - they will be the core of his own Taijutsu style...more or less.
*chickenidk23 - I don't plan on leaving Sasuke weak, don't worry. Sage mode for Naruto? Far in the future. Inavsion? I hope I can write it as epic as it sounds in my head.
*NinjaFang1331 - as the story writes itself, it seems this pairing has some serious potential.
*Kamen_Rider_Extreme - she will reappear. She'll help Jiraiya and Naruto with taking down Orochimaru (her role in that is for now not definite however)
*Musubi_Kazesaru - if those encounters involves Naruto then good. I want him to feel somewhat awkward. His speech too, should feel odd as he's a bit different from his canon self. Neji and Lee... Lee went all out which cost him in this new chapter. In a sense, Neji won. Corected Sannin at least in this ch.
*Vallavarayan - and she will be quite strong. (but still a gentle medic)
*zolydck - about the fuinjutsu... eventually, I want to see Naruto do that too.
*Cerulean_Knight - eh, I don't know. We'll see.
*monstar315 - good observation. Can you find other instance where he used it? (it was not shown directly).
*Kurama_Thunderstorm - it's okay, I always like to read about people's opinion on canon. Karin, huh? She will appear and not just briefly ;)
*SSJ3_Kyuubi_Gohan - that's what's written on
...I can't really answer to all reviews, hope you understand that as well as the fact that I appreciate them all. My beta went AWOL so I apologize for the sudden drop in grammar. That's all for now!
See ya!