Toguro Sakura

by Moonraker One

A/N: My life's been sooooo hectic lately, I'm lucky I got this one up at all! Thanx for reading

CHAPTER TEN - Konoha's New Lord Hokage (conclusion)

BRIINNG!

Anko almost leapt from her seat on the couch after hearing her personal watch alarm go off, signaling that it was high time for her to get back to the second part of the test. Feverishly, she shook her head left and right to clear away the sleepiness that she'd accumulated from her late night party the previous evening. She made a mental note of all the applicants for the position of lord or lady Hokage, and it amazed her the level of improvement shown by some of them since she first came in contact with them. Naruto, quite possibly the most intriguing of all, had shown a level of betterment that no other shinobi had displayed in more than a hundred years, according to records. Regardless, she had seen his talent for surprising everyone in the past and thus knew he would be a contender that few would be able to step into the ring with. He may not have been the brightest crayon in the box, but by God, if he said something, he did it. Holy crap! she thought. It's been his time already!

Tearing down the hall, she yanked the door open and stared at the models on the table; all three scenarios had been answered. Being one of the highest jounin in the village, she hastily examined his answer, making sure that the field had been fully utilized, all the details and obstacles taken into account, and the answer given to the fullest possible extent. Something about the board didn't seem right, so she re-analyzed it several times, even consulted the manual. Kakashi's bewilderment told her something had to be incorrect, so she was prepared to give him low points for being wrong, and then it hit her like a ton of bricks.

His answers, were actually better than the ones set forth in the manual by Lady Hokage!

She stared with wide eyes at his solution, cleared her throat, and wrote down "Hooollllyy SHIT" as his test score.

"Is everything ok?" Naruto inquired, grinning as he was sure of himself and his conclusion. "Can I go now?"

"Umm...ahem...yeah...go..." she said, hesitatingly. "It's obvious that you're...done with part two."

Naruto cleared his throat and stood up, politely pushing in his chair and saying his goodbyes to Anko and Kakashi, closing the door behind him as he left the room. Outside, he began to dance in a celebratory fashion as high tempo music played in his head. He expected that he would do good, because he was confident in his training, but he never thought the questions would be so rekmarkably easy since he took Kakashi's advice after all these years and finally studied war tactics. Thinking about his training brought back some memories of the past; none of his allies would accept his methods of training. Kyuubi was his way of gaining all the power that he never thought he would have. Sure, the nine-tailed fox demon was the enemy of many of the villagers of Konoha, but he had ways of getting through to the demon. Kind of an alliance was formed, even if most would consider it to be unholy: he would grant Kyuubi's dying wish in exchange for being part of the harshest training programs in the underworld.

From down the hall, Sasuke had been staring at the floor pondering his progress thus far, and noticed Naruto smiling. "Naruto!" he increased his pace as he shouted for his friend and ally in arms. His secondary concern to his own performance was his best friend's. "How'd you do?"

The answer should have been semi-obvious from the large grin on the face of Uzumaki Naruto, but in the remote case that it wasn't, he replied, "Oh, I think I did better than most."

Sasuke smiled initially, bacause it was good news that his friend passed, but the look on his face gave away the fact that he had another concern on his mind. "Naruto," he stammered, gathering his words. He really didn't want to have to fight against his friend, because he knew that he was really no match for him. Unfortunately, he really didn't want to admit the truth again. His frown turned to a smile, because he didn't want to spoil the mood.

"Is something wrong?"

Shaking his head, he lied, "I'm doing fine; don't worry about me." He walked away, headed for the main section of the complex, preparing himself as good as he could for the final part of the exam. Naruto looked confused, but somehow he unmistakably knew the reason for his friend's confusion.

Gai approached Naruto from the room he was examining students. "Uzumaki Naruto!" after greeting his fellow jounin, he extended his hand in congratulations. "You are one of the five remaining jounin left for the position of Hokage! You are indeed one of the best!"

"Well, I've been training," he admitted, feeling flattered.

"You're to meet in the main gym area for the final contest."

Entering the main area of the gymnasium added onto the building a few years ago, Naruto saw that, among the dozens of jounin proctoring the exam, the five remaining members of the original thirty-something group of applicants were all within his age group. Furthermore, all of them were from either his year of graduating the jounin exam, or the year prior. Many of the older jounin, such as Kakashi, were either too old to be a long leader or eliminated during the strategy tests. It surprised Naruto that very few of the older ones had even tried out. Up in the stands, was his old master Kakashi and his wife Anko, and both had declined to participate as an applicant. It struck him as bizarre; he believed the aging master would make a very good Lord Hokage, but then again, no one was standing in his way of reaching the position.

"Welcome, young jounin of Konohagakure village!" Tsunade announced. "Five of you have made it to the final part of the test. By the end of this next few fights, there will be a new Hokage. The matches will have a five minute time limit, and the only win is by K.O. or by the judges. Match one is Yamanaka Ino against Hyuuga Neji. BEGIN!"

The very instant that the match began, Neji whirled his body around for a roundhouse kick, then instead of landing the kick brought it downward in an axe motion. Ino did a splitz and blocked the kick by forming a X with her arms, stopping Neji's attack in the center and thrusting upward to send him sailing. Neji used the upward momentum to change his trajectory into a backflip to land on his feet, but the instant before he landed safely on his feet, Ino propelled herself towards him, extending her right foot outward like a joust. A downward thrust by the Hyuuga boy's right forearm knocked the flying kick off pattern, forcing Ino to realign herself and land on her feet, opening her for a reverse roundhouse to the chest, which she blocked with her left elbow. He attempted the same thing with his other leg, only for her right forearm to stop it mid-flight and push it aside. She used the moment's recovery time after stopping his attack to drive her elbow into his gut, throwing his face forward. Unfortunately for him, his forehead came into the path of a powerful side kick with her left foot that threw him backwards. After that, he made the mistake of landing on his hands to push himself upwards to land on his feet, because while he was right-side up, she launched herself via a powerful double foot thrust directly at him. A second after seeing her jump, her left knee slammed into his face, pushing his torso back for her to crash him into the ground with a downward elbow strike. A jump put them exactly four feet apart.

"Damn, you're good," he admitted. He knew he couldn't seem to predict her strategy because of her huge amount of developed skill in taijutsu. If he brought out the big guns-basically, his trademark jutsus-she'd be done for.

"Only because I tried," she joked. She knew she'd been training hard. She also knew that she landed a majority of her attack because he didn't calculate her attacks properly. "But I can't keep up with you much longer."

Lady Hokage took notice. "Is this an admission of defeat?"

Ino nodded, and left the ring. Tsunade, seated above the audience, crossed Ino's name off of the list of competitors, and drew up the names for the next match. "Match two," she shouted loud enough for everyone to hear, "is between Uchiha Sasuke," the crowd went silent, despite the fact that they knew who would be involved, "and Rock Lee." Naruto felt a bit disenfranchised, as he had been hoping he would be the one to fight Sasuke in the opening round. Regardless, he knew that regardless of the outcome, he'd have to perform to his best. It was just that his best performance would come from someone who's fighting style he knew inside and out, and Lee's was somewhat unpredictable. "BEGIN!"

Sasuke took up his stance at once; he knew he'd never stand a chance if he didn't put himself on guard immediately. Lee had to be, without a doubt, one of the fastest shinobi that Konohagakure had to offer. More than nine hundred missions he'd gone on since becoming a jounin, and he'd seldom come home with a wound that a band-aid and a little bit of hydrogen peroxide couldn't take care of. Sasuke had been on just as many missions, but relied more on stealth than speed. His style prepared him little for this fight.

The first strike of the battle came from Lee, as he ducked beneath a kung-fu type open hand punch and, resting his body's weight on his hands, drove his right foot directly upward into his opponent's chest. Not the moment later, the thick eyebrowed fighter flipped himself over onto his feet, and used the momentum of the position shift to throw his left foot into Sasuke's gut, forcing him backward into position for a roundhouse kick. The roundhouse did not connect, as Sasuke had enough of a warning to pull himself below it and in the correct stance in front of his foe so that he could initiate a flurry of attacks via a two-part attack. The first part was an elbow to the chest of Lee, and the second wsa the opposing arm's elbow to the face. A well-placed kick to the chest and a rapid-fire storm of punches and kicks pummeled Lee until he was weary a second long enough for Sasuke to blast a double-fist strike directly to the chest. Lee hit the ground seven feet away from Sasuke, and literally bounced off the ground to flip over and land on his feet.

Christ, he is good, Lee thought as he analyzed his opponent's style from the blows he took. He knew the best thing he could do, based on the moves he'd already taken, was to implement his quickness and make use of Sasuke's power, which was greater than Lee's, and turn it against him.

I need to be careful, Sasuke knew. If I'm not careful, he'll use my strength against me! He was no idiot; he knew his greater physical strength would bring him down if he couldn't keep up with his faster opponent. The Uchiha prodigy's greater strength came from the fact that his style utilized the power more in the quick strike than Lee's, and it would be extremely useful against anyone with lesser speed.

Sasuke decided to get a proper analysis of Lee's strategy by assuming a defensive role in the second part of the battle, letting his opponent strike at him and he would defend until he saw an open point. His first chance came from a spinning kick aimed at his head, which he carefully dodged by jerking his head backwards. Lee lunged forward quickly, throwing his elbow out like the point of a joust, hoping to catch Sasuke off guard, but caught only air as a quick dodge to the left allowed the thick eyebrowed warrior to sail aside. Using his left leg as a pivot point allowed for Lee to make use of his powerful standing side kick, that almost landed had his opponent not been completely on guard and ready to bend concavely to avoid it by a hair. Immediately afterward, an elbow rocketed Sasuke's way, and he had a very short microsecond to convexly tilt for it to sail just above his head. His open opportunity came the instant Lee retracted his right arm from the elbow strike; Sasuke tore a slight opportunity wide open with a violent headbutt.

Almost every one of the older jounin knew the battle was over and Lee just didn't know it yet; Sasuke did not wait for his foe to recover from the head strike. His close proximity torrent of punches, kicks and other strikes allowed him to utilize his power-loaded quick attacks to their fullest extent. The shinobi with the chili bowl haircut looked like a storm-tossed sail in a hurricane under the sheer unrelenting fury of the Uchiha's attacks. After landing a direct punch to Lee's face, Sasuke enclosed the sharp end of a steel kunai inside his clenched fist for extra punch power, then drove his right hand into Lee's chest with all the power he could possibly muster. Being used to pain, Sasuke cringed as he felt the sharp kunai's blade dig into his flesh, but the might of the attack, which had sent Lee flying across the room like a bounced rock, was more than worth it.

"Rock Lee is unconsicous!" Tsunade announced. "Uchiha Sasuke wins!"

Naruto grinned; he hoped his friend would win, he just didn't know because the two were so close. Sasuke approached his best friend. "Tell me something, Naruto," he inquired. "How did I win?" Anyone else would not have understood the nature of the inquiry, but being such an expert on strategy, the question made perfect sense to him.

He thought a minute and responded, "You took him by surprise, and analyzed his plan perfectly. I'm surprised." He had seldom seen such fury and skill from his comrade in arms; it was a shock to Naruto just how well Sasuke had adapted to a faster opponent who had the same amount of experience."

Sasuke's grin matched that of his friend and ally in arms. "Yeah, I thought so. But I still can't beat you, right?"

Naruto shook his head. "Yup. Here's a little gift, though." With that said he took the bleeding hand of Sasuke, and with a mild release of his chakra, healed the wound.

All three remaining applicants turned to their Lady Hokage for advice; Tsunade herself had never imagined there'd be three remaining jounin. She wanted the test to be over with the next fight, thus she knew there'd be only one option left.

"The final matchup of this exam will be a three way fight between Hyuuga Neji, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto!" The audience gasped at the prospect; never before had there been such a matchup between shinobi. Nevertheless, the three ninja in question approached the ring.

Naruto looked at Neji, and then at Sasuke, and he knew that the most likely occurence would be that both of his opponents would double team on him. He had fought powerful opponents, and he had even fought multiple opponents at the same time, but to face two powerhouse upper-level shinobi such as his two opponents currently in the ring with him, was a prospect that excited him like few battles had. They all stood at a triangle's vector points in the ring, and waited for the signal.

"BEGIN!"

Just as he had expected, the fight kicked off with both Neji and Sasuke charging him at once. Throwing off his weighted clothing, he had just a brief instant to analyze both fighters' attack styles and prepare his defensive stance. A furious left hook from Neji came in perfect synchronization with one of Sasuke's deadly sideways kicks, and he had to utilize an X-shaped defense with both forearms to stop both at the same time. After that, it was a matter of dodging attack after attack with all the speed he could gather. He had no problem with predicting attacks from his friend, as he had fought with him on more occasions than he could imagine. Neji, however, posed a problem because he had such a spastic fight style that it almost seemed random to an untrained eye. Naruto knew if he hadn't had the Kyuubi's experience with his own, he'd have more trouble than he could handle. He saw the shortest of opportunities ever when he saw Neji preparing his chakra for a powerful jutsu, and landed a straight kick to the gut, forcing his opponent backwards. A joust of an elbow strike to the chin of Sasuke threw the dark-haired Uchiha backwards, and it gave Naruto the chance he needed to alternate between one foe and the other with powerful attacks.

Neji shot a quick glance at Sasuke; they knew they had one shot, and it involved a distraction followed by a very powerful last ditch effort in the form of a jutsu. Neji gathered an offensive stance together and leapt at Naruto, hoping to catch him off guard and distract him long enough for Sasuke to launch a powerful fireball jutsu at him to knock him out of the match. Unfortunately for the plan, Naruto had such skill at reading his opponents' moves, he saw the strategem a mile away.

From his position in the audience, Kakashi smiled at his brightest former student's progression since the last exam. Damn, he thought as he saw Naruto expertly parry one mighty strike after another without flinching a moment. I never expected THIS. Surely, he believed, the next Hokage would probably be the one who's wanted it for so long.

Sweat rolled down Sasuke's face as he made hand signs in rapid sucession; he knew that Neji would buy him all the time he could get, but he didn't know if his fireball would have the needed fury to knock out one of the most powerful allies he had.

Naruto began to grow aggravated as Neji matched him blow for blow. He had never expected someone usually so predictable to have such skill when sober. Sure, Neji was tough, but how few days off the bottle allow his mind to clear up enough to go toe to toe with one of Hidden Leaf Village's finest?

An opening finally revealed itself when Neji slipped up and missed an otherwise certain kick. Sensing his chance, Naruto tripped him up with a sweep kick and sent him across the ring with a forceful standing side kick to the chest. He barely had time to turn around as the dark haired Uchiha finished the necessary hand signs.

Sasuke marked his target with his chakra, and clenched his teeth. "FIREBALL NO JUTSU!"

Naruto's gut reaction screamed for him to move out of the way; his experience, however, told him to stand his ground and counter the attack. The heat in the room skyrocketed as Naruto forced out his chakra to his palms as fast as he could as his opponent's fireball stormed towards him at hundreds of miles per hour.

"NOW!" Naruto screamed, throwing both palms outward and thrusting his chakra out of him like a tropical storm, matching the fireball a little at a time. The two forces of power suddenly exploded as they cancelled each other out. Naruto could see clearly due to his demonic senses, but Sasuke threw up both hands to shield his eyes from the light.

BANG.

The sound of a final strike echoed through the building as Naruto charged straight through the blinding light of the fireball's explosion and landed an unbelievably vicious kick to the chest. The match was over as Sasuke crashed into the back wall like a cannon shot, leaving a visible series of cracks in the wall. A breathless audience took in a gasp of air as both opponents of Naruto fell to the ground, barely conscious from the attack.

Tsunade raised a clenched fist. "It is decided!" To this statement the entire audience, as well as the proctors who watched over the exam, all began to cheer and clap. Naruto could scarcely believe he had come this far, and that for years of training he'd stood in similar rings hoping his talents would be noticed. "Well then, I have come to the conclusion of who it is that shall replace me!" The audience stood, barely able to take in the whole scene as Lady Hokage prepared to name the future Lord Hokage.

"It shall be...Uchiha Sasuke!"

Naruto as well as his dark haired friend turned to Tsunade, along with the rest of a confused audience, and the one word everyone said in unison vibrated through the building. "WHAT!"