I adopted this from heavenhawk

Disclaminer: I do not own Naruto or Ruronin Kenshin

"Hey, who are..." Normal talking

Kasumi/kyubbi talking

Inner thoughts

Normal thoughts

Ch. 12

Preliminaries to the Third Exam and Plans

Six teams were lined up in front of the Hokage and he could only looked down and make a quick observation. Out of all the genin to enter, some of the youngest and the rawest have passed on. The Hokage stepped forward and addressed the genin. "I am proud to address all of you who have passed the Second Exam." He cleared his throat. "But these exams serve another purpose other than the promotion of genin." Most of the genin wore faces of confusion and looked back at the Hokage for further answers.

"I congratulate all that have passed the second part of the Chunnin Exams. Before we start the next part of the exams, I would like to explain the reason for these Exams. I'm sure many of you believe that this is just a test to pass on to the rank of Chunnin, but there is another reason which you may not be aware of." Most of the genin had looks of confusion on their faces when they heard that statement.

"The Chunnin exams in short could be said as a miniature war. As you have all saw, other ninja villages have sent their own ninja to compete in these not to give a chance to promote their ninja but also as a way to gauge the strength of other hidden villages. These exams attract the attention of potential employers and lords of the lands. So without further ado, I will-"

A blur appeared in front of the Hokage. "Excuse me, Hokage-sama, but would you allow me, Gekkou Hayate, proctor of the Third Exam to present the rules." The Hokage gave a nod and Hayate appeared on the floor with the genin. He had a coughing fit but recovered but continued to cough every several words. "Before we start this exam, is there anyone that would like to drop out now?"

There was a wave of silence before Kabuto raised his hand. "Yakushi Kabuto, right? You are cleared to leave." He left the room with one pair of eyes that glared at him suspiciously.

"If everyone else is staying, I am here to state that we need to have preliminaries before we start with the Third Exam."

Ino gave a shout of disbelief. "Are you kidding me? We just got through the forest and now you expect us to fight each other to see if we can get into the next round?"

Hayate gave a short cough. "If you disagree, you are free to leave." Ino quickly became quirt after that statement. "As I was saying, we will be having one vs. one match. You are allowed to use any jutsu to disable you opponent. The match is over either when I call it or when the opponent is unable to fight. The names of the first fighters will appear on the screen behind me and will those fighters please remain on the floor while everyone else go up on the balcony above.

A screen appeared behind the statue of the ram seal and the names were: Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akadou Yoroi. (This battle proceeds as normal in canon.)

The screen flashed again and the two names that appeared were: Nara Shikamaru vs. TenTen.

Shikamaru muttered something that sounded like troublesome while Tenten had her own cheer squad with Lee and Gai, spouting something about the 'Power of Youth'.

Both combatants walked down to the bottom and squared off against each other. Shikamaru had a face and posture that cleared showed he didn't want to be there at the moment and muttering something about having to fight a girl while Tenten was getting annoyed at the boy's clear lack of enthusiasm. Hayate raised his hand and brought it down. "Hajime!!"

Tenten jumped back immediately and Shikamaru analyzed the distance that she had jumped. About four paces away; a good distance to attack and defend from. He was broken from his thoughts when various weapons were thrown in his direction and he had to jump to the side to avoid them.

After about two minutes, Shikamaru was covered in cuts and several areas on his body where weapons had hit. He was breathing heavily while Tenten had not even broken a sweat yet. She gave a small smirk and confidently spoke, "Ready to give up yet?"

"As if I would ever choose to lose to a girl." Shikamaru coolly replied.

These words made a rather large tick mark to appear on Tenten's forehead. "You're going to play for saying those words." She jumped several more places and places two scrolls several feet from each other. She stood in the middle and went through several hand signs before jumping into the air with scrolls following her. "Dual Rising Dragon!!"

She started to unsummon the weapons in the scrolls and spin around; releasing a never ending wave of weapons which Shikamaru had an extremely difficult time evading. He came out with more scratches than he would have liked but was still standing.

Tenten growled under her breath and confidently spoke out. "You may have been able to avoid my first wave of attacks but you won't be able to dodge this." She flipped her hands and a wave of wire shone in the light, connecting her hands to the weapons that were littered on the ground.

Shikamaru's eyes lit up at his chance to strike and instantly went through hand seals. Tenten was about to whip the weapons at Shikamaru when she suddenly lost all control of movement in her body and she landed back on the ground. "What the heck did you do to me?"

"Kagemane no Jutsu, a success." A long thin shadow had extended from Shikamaru and had connected to Tenten. "Well, it seems that we are at a stalemate until I run out of charka, but fortunately that isn't in my plans." He stooped down and picked a weapon from off the ground that were littered all around the floor and Tenten followed suit.

He pulled his arm back that had the weapon and Tenten's eyes widened. "You can't be serious? If I am copying your movements and you are throwing that, we are both going to hurt ourselves seriously." Shikamaru ignored her warning and released the weapon, making Tenten release her own. The weapons was several inches from their faces when Shikamaru suddenly bent over from his waist while releasing his Kage Mane jutsu just in time for Tenten to look at the incoming wall and having her face crash into, rendering her unconscious.

Shikamaru flipped around and landed on his feet. "A smart shinobi pays attention to their surrounding.

"Winner of the first match, Nara Shikamaru."

The screen flashed again and it showed: Uzumaki Himura Naruto vs. Inuzaka Kiba.

Kiba gave a jubilant whoop as he announced that this would be an easy fight while Naruto only jumped down onto the floor, passively staring at Kiba was celebrating at his preemptive victory.

"Aren't you the confident one?" Naruto calmly said.

"I've grown stronger since we have graduated from the Academy and I not even going to use Akamaru to defeat you." He knelt down and pushed Akamaru off to the side. Akamaru gave a few small whimpers saying not to underestimate Naruto but Kiba ignored his warnings.

Naruto's response was to nock an arrow onto his bow and readied it to fire.

"Pfft, you are going to use a bow and arrow against me? You are never going to hit me with that." Kiba taunted arrogantly. Kurenai was shaking her head at his arrogance and received what she perceived to be a sympathetic look from Kakashi when she glanced to see his reaction to the battle.

"Hajime!!" Kiba immediately dashed forward, surprising Naruto with his quick movement and slammed his shoulder into Naruto's gut, slamming him into the opposite wall. A large dent was made into the wall and Kiba arrogantly told the proctor to call the match. Kiba whirled around when he heard rubble moving and saw Naruto was dusting himself off. In one hand held a bow that had been broken in half and he placed it on the ground.

"Was that all you had, Kiba? Because if it was, you don't have much of a chance to defeat me."

Kiba gritted his teeth. "Come on, Akamaru. Let's go beat Naruto." Akamaru gave few small yips and jumped next to Kiba. "Get ready to lose, teme." Kiba threw a smoke bomb at Naruto's feet which exploded and he sent Akamaru to attack Naruto. Unfortunately, before Akamaru could dart into the smoke, he was pushed by a sharp gust of air and the smoke dissipated leaving Naruto in the middle wielding his sakabato.

"That piece of crap that can't even cut?" Naruto's eyes narrowed in irritation but kept a calm demeanor. Kiba fed a soldier pill to Akamaru turning his fur red and allowed him to turn in change into a replica of Kiba. "Let's go Akamaru! Getsuga!" Both Kiba and Akamaru turned into swirling vortexes of claws and charged into Naruto's direction.

Naruto could only barely dodge the claws made a wrong step which gave Kiba an opening to hit Naruto straight in the chest, which threw Naruto back and made him land in a heap several feet away. "Ha ha, loser. After this match, Hinata is going to see how much of a loser you are and forget all about you. She will come to me and become my girlfriend."

Naruto got off the ground and glared at Kiba with red eyes. "You are going to regret ever saying those words."

"Big words coming from the person who is currently losing." Naruto dashed at Kiba who stood his ground thinking he could take any attack that he threw at him. Naruto suddenly disappeared from his line of sight and looked down just in time to see him under him and a foot connecting with his stomach knocking him up into the air and jumping up after him.

Kiba growled angrily at Naruto and twisted his body in the air to kick at him only to have his foot go right through. "Seems you hit my afterimage, Kiba." He looked up to see Naruto above him and sword swinging down. Kiba came crashing down to the ground and didn't get up from the ground. Akamaru rushed over and tried to assist but was grabbed by the scruff of his neck and lifted off the ground by Naruto.

Kiba got groggily off the ground when he heard a whimper from Akamaru. He looked up and saw Naruto holding the underside of his sakabato close up to Akamaru's neck. "Hey, let him go."

Naruto gave him a hard stare. "Take back what you said about Hinata."

Kiba gritted his teeth. "Never, loser." Naruto pressed his sword up against Akamaru's throat. Kiba gulped and brashly spoke. "Why the hell do you care so much about Hianta, she just a girl."

"Just a girl, huh? Is that what Hinata is to you? Well to me, Hinata is much more than just a girl. She is my best friend-and possible girlfriend- and I not going to let someone like you even get close to her." He let Akamru go and Akamaru dashed over to Kiba's side. "I suggest you surrender now."

Kiba tried to get up but his body wouldn't allow it. "Proctor, I surrender."

"The winner of this match is Uzumaki Himura Naruto." Several medics came out with a stretcher and escorted Kiba to the medical wing. Naruto walked up the stairs and stopped when Hinata had walked up to him.

Hinata stuttered out. "Congratulations on your victory, Naruto."

Naruto gave a small smile from under his mask. "Thanks, Hinata." They stood for several seconds before Hayate's voice announced the next competitors. "Will Kankuro and Tsurugi Misumi, please come down to the floor."

The next fight ended with Kankuro leaving his opponent in a mangled heap of broken bones. The fight after was with Gaara and Lee, which left Lee with a broken body after using Omote Renge, Ura Renge and the Celestial Gates and Gaara taken aback by Gai's declaration about Lee. The sixth battle was between Sakura and Ino, who had both battled their hearts out and refused to give in to each other, but defeat grasped them both and were knocked out of the exams. Shino and Choji fought in the seventh and even though Chouji was able to pressure Shino with Meatball Tank, he just wasn't able to keep up with Shino and his Kikaichuu bugs which were found to be living inside his body when he was examined by Neji with his Byakugan.

The screen flashed it caught the attention of all the Konoha ninja in the arena. Hinata Hyugga vs. Neji Hyugga.

Both participants walked down to the floor and stood there for several seconds, looking at each other. Neji was the first to speak with a forced smirk on his face. "Hinata-sama, I wish you no harm. I suggest you resign before I am forced to harm you. Fate has already deemed me as the winner of this match" Neji expected his words to scare Hinata into a submission but instead Hinata stared back at him with determined eyes. "I suggest you keep your words to yourself, Neji-oniisan."

Neji's face quickly turned into a frown. "So be it, then." Both put their hands into a seal. "Byakugan!!" Veins bulged around both of their eyes and they both slid into the juuken stance.

"Hajime!" They both dashed at each other and started to trade blows, with whips of charka shooting out from their fingers.

Sakura, who had woken from her battle with Ino, was watching the battle with curiosity. "Kakashi-sensei, what kind of fighting stance is that?

"Though, I am not totally clear about it, I believe it to be the strongest style's of taijutsu in the Leaf Village, the Hyugga style, Juuken."

Gai who had been listening decided to add more information. "The Hyugga had utilized their bloodline, which allows them to see the charka points in a human body, into their own juuken stance, targeting the charka points in the body to disable their opponents and defeat them. A grazing hit by a Hyugga could spell for dangerous results and all of their attacks involve charka."

Hinata and Neji were still battling for dominance when Hinata saw a small opening. She kicked Neji in the gut and sent him skidding several feet back. "Well, it seems you have learned some new tricks but that won't be enough to defeat me." He charged again and Hianta charged with her palm ready to strike when it was grabbed by Neji. He pulled back her sleeve and several red dots could be seen on her arm. "Ah, you can see Hinata-sama, your fate was sealed when you were chosen to fight me." He struck her in the chest and pushed her away with a double charka palm strike to her stomach. She crumpled to the ground, grasping her stomach and coughing up some blood.

"Proctor, I suggest you call this match. I will not be responsible fro anything that will happen if this continues." Neji turned away from Hinata and started to walk.

"Running away from me, Neji? Running away from your so-called fate that you are meant to defeat me?" Neji whirled around and gave a fierce growl. Hinata was back in a fighting stance but it was the juuken. Instead, her hands were at her side, legs slightly apart and she looked back with a calm demeanor.

Neji gave a confident smirk. "You think you can defeat me? You can't even use charka now." (AN: Neji is saying she can't use charka because the stomach, I assume, is where charka is drawn from and he attacked with a double charka palm."

"Why don't you come forth and try, oniisan?" Neji gave a shout and dove at her intent at shutting her up for good when her arms lashed out and grabbed him. She used his forward momentum to trip him and he skidded on the ground. He recovered in mid-skid and rushed forward with one hand forward and aimed for Hinata's face. She blocked his hand at his wrist and immediately followed up with a kick square to his chin and quickly spinning on one foot and kicked him in the side.

Neji angrily got up off the ground. "Enough of this foolishness. Hinata, you are in the range of my divination." Hinata's eyes could only widen in shock before Neji attacked.

"2 palms! 4 Palms! 8 palms! 16 palms! 32 palms! 64 palms! Hakke Rokujuuyonshou!"

Hinata flew back and crumpled on the ground, coughing up more blood from before. "Now time to finish this once and for all!" Neji jumped up and aimed for Hinata's heart. There were several bodies that moved in an instant. Neji soon found him self held on the arm by Gai and fingertips on his hitate by Hayate. "I see this is favoritism for the Main House of the Hyugga."

"Actually, this is for your own protection." Hayte said.

Neji caught sight of the blade that was dangerously close to his throat and looked to his right to see Naruto being restrained by Kakashi and Kurenai. Naruto's eyes had turned a deep crimson and seemed to wish for the death of Neji right at that moment. Several medics rushed out and immediately placed her on a stretcher and rushed her to the medic ward. The jounin left of their captives and each sent each other a glare that dropped the temperature in the arena several degrees. Naruto bent down and swiped his fingers on floor, swiping up some of Hinata's blood. He grasped it around his sword and pointed it at Neji. "On Hinata's blood, I promise to defeat you." He sheathed his sword and stalked back up the stairs.

Neji just gave a scoff and muttered to himself. "A loser making a promise to a loser. How pathetic."

After the tension had died down, Hayate had announced that Temari would automatically move on to the next round dude to a lack of competitors. The eight finalists lined up on the floor. "Now, we will be drawing lots for the finals to determine your opponents." Each competitor reached into the box that had the lots.

Sasuke: 8

Shikamaru: 6

Naruto: 1

Gaara: 7

Kankuro: 3

Shino: 4

Neji: 2

Temari: 5

"The matches have been decided. Naruto will face Neji, Kankuro will face Shino, Temari will face Shikamaru and Gaara will face Sasuke. The finals will occur a month and a half from now. Use that time to train yourself for the finals. And remember, many nobles and lords will be coming from all over the lands so uphold the strength and honor of your village."

-Later that day-

Kenshin had come home to the apartment to have a strange girl sitting in his living room, petting what seemed to be a large fox. He quickly explained her position and why she was sent here and Kenshin accepted it. He made her some tea and waited for the arrival of Naruto.

Naruto arrived later due to the exams and sat down at the table. "Kenshin, so did you like proctoring for the exams?"

Kenshin placed his tea cup down. "It was certainly interesting. Met and interesting woman, too."

Naruto got a crafty grin under his mask. "Hmm, did you already get a girlfriend?" Kenshin gave him a glare and Naruto couldn't help but smile as if he was right.

Naruto, stop trying to pry into Kenshin's private life. It's none of your business.

Fine, whatever you say, Mother.

"Actually, it's more like an acquaintance. Her name is Anko. The one wearing the fishnet shirt with the overcoat and skirt."

Kin burst out. "That crazy lady!! She gives me the creeps."

"I believe there is a reason why she acts that why and I believe I know the reason why. But aside from that, Naruto, I think it is time that I started training you in the style of Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu. Along with that, I have asked the village's leading swordsman to help in this training. This training is in preparation for the Finals coming in a month and a half. Are you up for the challenge?"

Naruto gave a small nod. "Good, now for you Kin. It seems that Orochimaru is planning something, do you know what?"

"He is planning to destroy the Leaf Village. He secretly made an alliance with the Sand Village and is expecting their help in the destruction. I heard Gaara was going to be a major component but I never heard what his actually purpose would be."

Kenshin looked down deep in concentration. "We will need to share this information with the Hokage. Tomorrow, we will go to the Hokage's office to tell him and we will figure out what to do from there."

"Sounds like a plan, Kenshin."