Chapter 14: The Chunin Exams Proceed

Shikamaru vs. Temari went the exact same way as cannon, except Shikamaru held out a bit longer and won the match. The fight was boring and uneventful to say the least. Now it was time for a more exciting match to uphold.

Shino and Sakura had made it down to the center of the arena, and were awaiting the okay from Genma to start their fight.

"Okay," Genma asked, "You guys ready?"

"Yeah," Sakura nodded seriously, "I've been waiting for this."

"I am also ready." Shino told Genma.

"Alright then. Haruno Sakura vs. Aburame Shino, begin!"

"Sakura has this, sorry Kurenai." Kakashi commented.

"No way!" Kurenai disagreed, "Kiba and Hinata may have lost, but they were up against a strategist or chakra abundant people."

"Sakura can't lose to Shino." Ino smiled, "Because Shino knows when to quit… and Sakura hardly quits nowadays."

Back down in the fighting arena, Sakura and Shino were staring off, Genma had moved off to the side.

"Are you going to give up Shino-san?" Sakura offered.

"No, I don't think I will, Sakura-san." Shino politely declined, "I suppose I will offer you the same chance?"

"Not a chance." Sakura replied calmly, "This is gonna be a good fight. But I know all about your kikachu bugs. All I have to do is stop them from touching me."

"Hmm." Shino pushed up his glasses, and then got in a stance, "Lets start this battle, shall we?"

Sakura got in her own stance, looking at Shino's strange posture, "Your stance is different, I can point out many flaws."

"Yes." Shino agreed, "It would seem like that, let me introduce you to Aburame taijutsu."

Shino was pretty fast, faster than she had thought he was. Definitely faster than her, but nowhere near the speed of Naruto or Sasuke. Sakura found that out quickly, as the boy descended upon him with his fist stretched outward. However, Sakura easily blocked it, and the kick that followed, pushing Shino away without much effort.

"My turn," Sakura announced, "Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Fireball Technique)!"

The flame roared over to Shino, and he did a Kawarimi, replacing himself with a log. Sakura whipped around to see bugs coming towards her. She then noticed the bugs were behind her as well. The kunoichi did one of her prized earth Jutsu.

"Doton: Doryūheki (Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall)!" The jutsu blocked the kikachu bugs, and gave Sakura enough time to escape freely.

Sakura grabbed a kunai in her right hand and he charged towards the Aburame prodigy.

Since the academy, the two ninjas barely interacted with one another, only as a means of an assignment of some sort. They don't know eachother's skill sets so they won't know eachother's weaknesses.

Sakura swung her kunai in an attempt to finish her opponent by slicing his neck but everyone knew that Shino would avoid it. Shino backed up and then sent a wave of bugs at Sakura. The kunoichi realized the kikaichu group heading her way and jumped in the air, launching a few shuriken at her opponent. Shino blocked them by throwing his own set of shurikens, creating sparks in the air.

Sakura landed on her feet and surveyed the situation analytically. 'So Shino likes to use his bugs as a distraction for himself or the bugs as a distraction of him. What if I can confuse the bugs by transforming into a copy of him.'

With that thought in mind, the pinkette sprinted towards her adversary.

Shino blocked a fist aimed at his face. The bug user quickly grabbed Sakura's wrist with both hands and threw her away from him. Sakura knew what Shino was doing in an instant. The Aburame clan, though capable in fighting in hand-to-hand combat, were much more adept to long range battle with their bugs.

Shino quickly sends two more wave of bugs from his sleeve, all heading straight for Sakura. The kunoichi started running back but the bugs were quick. Just as the bugs were about to reach her, Sakura quickly jumped into the air and threw a kunai with an explosive tag on it. The explosion destroyed the wave of bugs in their path. However, the kunoichi forgot about Shino himself.

Shino was right behind the girl and delivered a hard kick to Sakura's ribs. The pinkette grunted in pain and quickly backed away from Shino but the Aburame would not allow it. He continued to pressure Sakura, delivering fists left and right. Sakura, having trained a bit with Sasuke, was able to avoid and block all of his attacks. Sakura knew she had to stop Shino's attacks before he connected with her. When Shino tried to hit Sakura in the face, the female ducked and threw a smoke bomb to the ground, covering the area.

This gave all the time Sakura needed to get away from Shino and hide behind a tree to plan her next move. Sakura had her back on the tree and looking at Shino from the corner of the tree. Shino seemed to not care that he lost sight of his opponent. He seemed rather calm actually.

"It's no use hiding, Sakura-san," Shino said confidently, looking at the tree where Sakura is hiding currently. "My bugs have already memorized your scent."

"Damnit. Well that throws the henge idea out the window." Sakura muttered.

She quickly jumped out of her hiding spot and on time actually as the tree was destroyed to pieces. Shino must have thrown a kunai with the exploding tag. Sakura landed on her feet right in front of Shino with just a few metres keeping them apart.

Shino raises both of his hands, ready to summon more bugs from his sleeve. Sakura quickly formed seals, five seals for her technique.

"Katon: Rendan Boshide Qiuti (Fire Release: Barrage Destructive Spheres)!"

The devastating fire jutsu's ravaged the bugs, frying them into crisp then ashes in an instant. Shino jumped in the air and recalled the bugs that survived the onslaught.

Sakura used her advantage and jumped to Shino, delivering a few blows. Or at least she tried to. Just as Sakura thought, Shino's Taijutsu level is quite impressive for a ninja that specializes in long-range combat. The kunoichi used her chakra control and involuntarily without even realizing it, gathered chakra in her right fist and smashed through Shino's guard, punching him hard in the chest.

Shino landed hard on the ground but recovered from his shock, backflipping away to plan his next move. Sakura also decided to stop her onslaught, knowing that the Aburame are good in planning their defense or attack. It would be reckless of the kunoichi to charge headstrong against the Aburame when Sakura has no plan to counter any attack that Shino might have in his head.

"Come on Sakura!" Naruto yelled, trying to support his friend. "You can beat that guy!"

"Stop being so noisy…" Shikamaru muttered, standing next to Naruto.

"Shikamaru's right ya know. You could distract her during her match dobe." Sasuke stated, looking intently at the match.

"Whatever teme..." Naruto snickered.

Everyone in the waiting room for the Chunin exams are all watching quietly, the only one making noise is Naruto.

Shikamaru can tell that Shino did not expect a change in Sakura's attacks. Shikamaru is quite impressed that Shino was quickly able to see how Sakura attacks and quickly uses that knowledge for his defense.

'That Naruto is being too noisy for me to concentrate,' Sakura thought angrily but then smiled weakly. 'But that is all the support I need.'

Shino was back to his relaxed pose. Although he did not do any research on Sakura in the one month time that was given by the Hokage, Shino thought he already knew everything he needed to know about Sakura by just watching him fight in the preliminaries. He already knew Sakura used fire and earth techniques and knew a few Genjutsu.

"You seem to be very confident." Sakura stated, indicating Shino's current pose.

"Ninjas have to be calm when faced in a difficult situation." Shino replied, which was actually true.

"Well then, let's continue. I'll give it everything I've got!" Sakura said, and immediately charged forward.

Shino, not moving an inch, summoned bugs not from his sleeve but from the bottom of his pants, coming out of his ninja sandals. Sakura was surprised to say the least, she always thought that the bugs can only come from the hands as that's where they came from the whole match thus far. It looks like he learned something new about the Aburame clan.

"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!"

Shino was waiting for that as he watched Sakura destroy to of his wave of bugs. Sacrifices have to be made to gain an advantage in the battle. With Sakura now concentrating on Shino, Shino used his index and middle finger to call back the first wave of bugs that Sakura avoided earlier. Sakura had a confused look on what Shino was doing and looked behind him in curiosity.

Sakura was too late to react as the wave of bugs smashed right on Sakura's back. The kunoichi never expected bugs to be so painful. Sakura fell to the dirt face-first, and she landed so hard that she actually bounced on the hard ground once, blood seeping out on the corner of her mouth. Shino did not hold any sympathy for Sakura. Even though Sakura is a comrade and a fellow ninja of Konoha, they were enemies at the time.

Shino commands the same wave of bugs to attack Sakura. With Sakura still struggling to get back to her feet, Shino knew that this was the perfect time to attack. The wave of bugs crashed into Sakura's chest, throwing her backwards. Sakura coughed out more blood and landed on her back, groaning in pain. Shino commanded the wave of bugs to continue to attack Sakure, giving Shino enough time to leak out a little chakra.

The bug that Shino is trying to summon out of his body is a female bug, and requires quite a large amount of chakra to summon it. When the one female bug is finally summoned, Shino looked at his opponent. The girl is finally back on her feet, running left and right whilst throwing projectiles at the wave of bugs. All her attempts however, were useless. The only way to stop the bugs are either to destroy them, or if Shino commands it back to him.

Sakura quickly threw a kunai wrapped with an exploding tag to the wave of bugs, successfully destroying them. The Haruno then concentrates on Shino, whom is just standing there and not doing anything.

Sakura felt a chakra substance and found a bug on her left palm. She then remembered that Shino beat his opponents with bugs and she also read somewhere that the Aburame clan has bugs that sucks out chakra. Sakura quickly picked the bug out of his left palm and crushed the bug, killing it gruesomely.

Shino's eyes twitched. Those female bugs are hard to find and Sakura just killed one of them. He only has about four of them left in his body and it's not everyday you can find that specific female bug. To Shino, this match is now personal.

Sakura can definitely feel the effects now. A decent chunk of her chakra has been sucked out, about 1/6 of it.

"You should give it up…" Shino said softly, hoping that the kunoichi will take his advice.

"Not a chance!" Sakura said defiantly, weaving through handseals.

"Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu (Demonic illusion: False surroundings technique)!"

Shino, thinking it was an offensive jutsu, called back his bugs. The last of the bugs came back to him but they did something unexpected. Instead of bugs, they were really senbon with a small dose of poison and they caught Shino off guard, hitting him.

Shino staggered back and Sakura took out a smoke bomb, throwing it at the ground near the bug tamer. With Shino blinded, Sakura decided to go in for the kill.

Taking out a long thread of ninja wire from her back pouch, Sakura threw it around Shino's waist and started running around Shino in circles. Shino felt something tying him up but since he could not see his surroundings, Shino didn't know what to do. The dust lasted for ten seconds when it finally settled down. Everyone was silent from the sight.

Shino was tied up tightly by the ninja wire that Sakura used and had about four explosive tags sticking his body courtesy of chakra. Sakura used up her remaining explosive tags to do this. But that is not all. With what was left of the ninja wire, Sakura moved a few meters away from Shino and had the end of the ninja wire in her mouth, and her hands in a seal.

"I have already completed the seals for a fire technique. Surrender or I'll fry you…" Sakura claimed.

Shino was silent at first, looking at Sakura in the eyes. The Aburame prodigy tried to release the wires but to no avail. Shino called back his bugs and then looked at the referee. Genma was looking at Shino, expecting his answer. Shino nodded, signifying his defeat.

Genma raised his right hand, "Winner, Haruno Sakura!"

The stadium was filled with cheers for the young kunoichi. Sakura sighed in relief, falling back on her butt and looking up into the stands. She saw Naruto smiling at her and giving her thumbs up while Sasuke just smirked while mock clapping.

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"So.." Started Natsume. "What do you think about this match?"

"I'd say she's a good candidate for promotion. She out smarted her opponent and tricked him with a Genjutsu. It was a very good maneuver, however she wasted all of her resources in the process. If there was another ninja, she would most likely die. We'll know for sure in her next match." Koketsu said with clarity.

"I agree. I don't know her full capabilities yet, so we'll have to see." Izumo commented.

"Indeed we shall." Natsume voiced.

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Unaware of the argument between the teachers, Lee and Naruto faced each other, both looking determined and ready. Naruto knew Lee was faster than he was still so he immediately took a portion of his hosts power, making his nails sharpen, his pupils slit, and his fangs elongate. Both were failures in their years, both were ninjas that were dubbed to have no talent.

"You two ready?" Genma asked, and they both nodded. Genma smiled, this was going to be a good match. "Alright then, Uzumaki Naruto vs. Rock Lee, begin!"

There were disinterested mutters at first; the crowd wasn't really excited about this fight. There were no Uchiha or Hyuuga in it for one; also Uzumaki Naruto and Rock Lee were relative unknowns. A good portion of the audience were feudal lords, foreign nin, and wealthy merchants, they didn't know who Uzumaki Naruto was or what he held. Both ninja below were listed in the programs as bottom of their respective academy classes, nothing that special.

Naruto grinned at Lee, "I know better than to ask if you want to give up, Lee."

Lee nodded, eyes burning. "I have anticipated this match, Naruto-san! I will fight you with all I have!"

Naruto smoothly entered his current fist Taijutsu stance, a defensive one that could switch into attacks easily if he chose. Lee watched his stance while entering his own preferred starting stance.

'His form is impeccable.' Lee admired, 'And his confidence… most certainly a worthy opponent!'

"Come Naruto-san! Let us display our burning flames of youth!"

With those words, Lee blurred and rushed at the blond who had been expecting as much. Naruto pumped chakra through his veins, filling himself up with energy. Lee was faster than himself with weights on, even if it wasn't by much. Sasuke was nearly as fast as Lee with seals on, making him a bit faster than Naruto.

But this was where his training against Jiraiya really helped. Jiraiya was a Sannin; he moved at least three or four times as fast as Lee or Sasuke every time they fought. Naruto's body had no hope of keeping up yet. But his eyes… his eyes had learned to watch and keep pace with Jiraiya. They had watched the miniscule twitches of his muscles, shifts in posture, strained to see the blurs of red and white when the hermit moved…

The fist that was launched at Naruto's face was knocked away by the blond's elbow, and his own punch met the stomach of the very surprised Lee.

"Oof!" Lee cried, and he was sent stumbling backwards, but to his credit he recovered quickly, flipping back into a defensive position, albeit clutching his stomach.

"Very nice, Naruto-san." Lee admitted. "You are a most interesting person, Naruto!"

"I'm okay." Naruto replied modestly.

Lee's face became curious, "You are much more serious now; I have noticed that your usual attitude is loud and brash, yet now you are calm, calculating… not to mention your taijutsu style is flawless to my eyes, and I do not even recognize what style it is. Kabuto's earlier assessment of you was clearly flawed."

"Kabuto looked with his eyes," Naruto nodded. "But being ninja, we have to learn to look beyond the surface. We have to look underneath the underneath."

Genma stiffened, and his eyes quickly flashed to Naruto's face. That absolute calm, the blue eyes, the blonde hair…

Civilians look on the surface, while ninja see reasons underneath. But to be the best of ninja, we must look beyond even the Underneath...

One of the Yondaime Hokage's favorite sayings. Something that had rung true in Genma the first and only time he had heard it. In that moment, it was like looking through a window to the past… it was not the whiskered Uzumaki Naruto standing there … it was the Yondaime Hokage in his long white cloak with red flames adorning the bottom, flickering behind him in the breeze.

That same steely look of absolute calm and certainty… it was the same, Genma knew that much. The idiotic act Naruto always put on… how much of that was a front? Genma had to wonder in his mind.

The fight continued, despite Genma's private musings, and Lee nodded furiously at the wisdom his opponent's words, "This is very true, Naruto-san! Truly there is more to you than meets the eye!"

Lee's eyes burned even brighter as he clenched his fist. "But the same can be said for me!"

The green clad ninja rushed at Naruto again, moving at his max speed and met the blond haired genin head on. Naruto blinked at this increase in speed, but blocked the blow that came easily enough. They continued to trade blows, and Naruto quickly fell into a rhythm of blocking and countering.

Naruto had spent part of the month sparring with Jiraiya, but Lee fought completely different than Jiraiya. Jiraiya reacted to what Naruto did. Lee attacked almost eagerly, he didn't wait for Naruto, he initiated the attacks and looked for ways to break through Naruto's guard, not get around it.

They both took blows, but they fought evenly, neither giving up ground or letting the other score a hit that was too crippling. Lee was slightly faster than Naruto, but with Naruto in his kyuubified state, he could easily parry and keep up with Lee, fighting on equal ground.

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The audience watched in stunned silence as both boys reached speeds they had only previously seen in the fights between the Hyuuga and Uchiha geniuses and the Jinchuriki fight. Not to mention that both Lee and Naruto didn't stop to speak to each other again, fighting furiously without taunts or jutsu, something the other two fights had done constantly.

Hinata watched the fight in awe, and Sasuke smirked knowingly, Naruto wasn't holding back using Taijutsu at all… that would make him easier for Sasuke to beat in the finals. No matter who won this match, they would be worn out from it, and would have to face Sasuke in the final match, since there was a 90% he would get bye Sakura and Shikamaru.

The other genin and teachers were paying attention to the fight as well.

"N-Naruto-kun…" Hinata whispered in awe.

She wasn't the only one, Ino knew Naruto could keep up with Lee, but watching him actually fight the older boy was something completely different. The way they fought… extraordinarily, but without the malice and taunts of Neji and Sasuke. They fought hard and to win, but showed complete respect for each other.

"Son of a bitch!" Kiba swore, and no one scolded him.

"My dead last is better than your dead last." Kakashi playfully taunted Gai, as Naruto scored a blow to Lee's shoulder.

However, Gai didn't sob this time; instead he stood up unexpectedly, grinning like a loon.

"LEE!" He bellowed, making everyone in the crowd that was watching in silence turn to him. Lee and Naruto slowed and stopped down below to stare up at the Jounin.

Gai's grin increased even more. He gave his student a nice guy pose, complete with a pinging smile.

"TAKE THEM OFF!"

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Orochimaru watched the fight between dead lasts with distaste. The Kazekage robe he had purloined from its now dead owner was stifling in the heat.

Instead, he was stuck watching two idiots try and outfight each other using only Taijutsu. Talented idiots, even the Snake Sannin couldn't deny that.

The fact that Uzumaki Naruto had improved so much in under a year and a few months was worrisome, he made a note to kill the boy. If the child could tap into the power of the tailed beast within… Orochimaru might not get another chance to end the child before he became too much even for him.

Next to the hidden Orochimaru sat the elder Hokage, who watched with veiled admiration as the boy he had come to think as a very loud and annoying grandson battled with Gai's prodigious hard worker. The only sign that he gave was a small smile, Naruto had developed beyond anything he could have expected, and despite the praises that had been sung from both Kakashi and Jiraiya, it was different actually watching for himself.

'Naruto,' The Hokage thought fondly, 'You are growing up. You will be Hokage yet, of that I have no doubt.'

The Hokage's eyes flicked for a moment to his veiled guest, his old student in disguise. Orochimaru didn't notice, his own eyes were fixed on the fight as well.

'Unfortunately, I may not be there to hand you this hat.'

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"But Gai-sensei…!" Lee shouted back, confused, "I thought that was only if-"

"IT'S OKAY!" Gai's shiny smile could be seen even from the floor, "I WILL MAKE AN EXCEPTION!"

Lee's eyes shined furiously, and Naruto began to get a very, very, very, bad feeling. Take them off? What could that mean other than-?

Lee leaped up into the air, flipped and pulled out from underneath his leg warmers the source of Naruto's growing worry. Weights. Lee dropped the weights to the ground, they fell and created large craters. Heavy weights.

The Gai clone landed across from him, his smile even wider than before.

"Kai! Shit-!" Naruto had time to mutter that one word before Lee had crossed the gap between them in less than a second and buried his fist into Naruto's face.

The blond didn't cry out, but that was more from surprise and shock than anything else… he went flying backwards into the nearby stadium wall, actually breaking through it. While he was sent flying, he glowed bright white and felt much lighter once more.

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"Uh… Kotetsu?" Izumo asked, gaping.

"Yeah?"

"Can you move that fast?"

"No…"

"At least Jounin level speed!" Natsume whispered in awe.

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"Examiner." Lee announced confidently, "Naruto-san will not be-"

Lee was cut off by the sound of crashing movement; Naruto flew out from the rubble, flipped, and landed in front of his surprised opponent.

Naruto rubbed his jaw, "That really hurt, Lee." He chuckled, "You punch harder than even Sakura-chan when she's angry!"

Lee's gaping mouth closed, and he smiled as well. "Naruto-san, I should have known… such resilience! As expected from one of my rivals!"

Naruto laughed, "Heh, well you know, I was hoping to fight you with only Taijutsu, so we'd be on even ground… but you're a bit too strong to fight that way now."

"You honor me with your praise." Lee replied modestly.

"You deserve it." Naruto confirmed, and then grinned feral like. "Now let's see how fast you can really move! Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

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In the stands, the Jounin and their students watched in awe as Naruto summoned over a hundred clones, which engaged Konoha's second Green Beast in earnest.

"This is just unreal!" Kiba muttered, "How the hell are they so strong?"

"So Kakashi." Gai grinned, "What were you saying about Lee and Naruto?"

Kakashi inwardly cursed his big mouth, now Gai would never let him forget this… best to ignore for now, "Hmm? What are you talking about, Gai?"

One of Gai's massive eyebrows twitched, and he turned and muttered to himself while clenching his fist furiously, "Damn you Kakashi and your hip responses!"

Sakura couldn't believe the level the two below were fighting at. She had assumed that she had become one of the stronger genin, after all she beat Ino and Shino, the latter of whom could fight Sasuke on equal groundfor awhile… yet Naruto and Lee seemed eons beyond that now.

Lee was so fast that she couldn't see even a green blur dashing through the field of Naruto's, destroying them without ever stopping or slowing.

Naruto wasn't faster than Lee, but his bunshin allowed him to hide and plan while they kept the boy busy with traps, wind attacks, and their well structured Taijutsu. And the blonde himself was no slouch either. He wasn't as fast as Lee or Sasuke for that matter, but he could keep up.

Right now it seemed to be a stalemate, Naruto continued to make clones while hidden, and Lee continued to blow through them. It looked like it would come down to who ran out of energy first.

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Down below, Naruto was having very similar thoughts; he was wracking his brain on how he could defeat the seemingly indomitable Lee. He felt like he was fighting Jiraiya again, unbelievably fast and able to break through anything he sent at him. It was like trying to fight a force of nature, you just couldn't do it without being one yourself.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa!" Several clones yelled, attacking Lee with bullets of pressurized air, Lee actually smacked the attacks away with well placed kicks and punches. Naruto had seen the same bullets rip large chunks of out trees, he couldn't help but be amazed by the amount of chakra Lee seemed to have, now that it wasn't focused at all on keeping his weights from weighing him down.

Once again, he thanked the gods for amazing reserves, that was the only reason Lee hadn't turned him into a bloody pulp. Naruto had to thank Jiraiya as well, he hated fighting the Sannin and getting destroyed each and every time, but the man's speedy Taijutsu was still faster than Lee's, even though he had been holding back and it wasn't by that much. Naruto's eyes could still track Lee, if barely. The green blur was much too fast for his body to keep up though, and he realized how Sasuke must feel when Kakashi knocked him around despite his Sharingan being active. It was frustrating to say the least.

Yet watching Lee destroy his Bunshin, and prodding them to think as well, he had noticed several things. Lee was fast, and probably would remain so for quite awhile. But unlike Jiraiya, Lee obviously wasn't used to moving at this kind of speed, the Taijutsu that had been immaculately perfect only minutes before was sloppy in comparison; it lacked the precise elegance that had been held by his opponent.

"Fuuton: Renkuudan!"

A mass of clones attacked Lee with Naruto's most powerful wind jutsu while the boy was still breaking out of a wire trap another group of clones had set up. The gale force winds slammed into Lee, forcing him into a gray wall. Lee calmly shoved off the wall and pushed through the attack to fight off the clones, he had slowed considerably while doing so, but it didn't seem like anything could stop him.

Naruto shook his head in disbelief. Lee was nigh unstoppable at the moment, it seemed he might have to go all out.

Lee sped up again, and quickly punched through a multitude of clones, making them disappear, but didn't seem very surprised that it wasn't the real Naruto. The destruction of clones continued, and Naruto knew he had to come up with something soon, or Lee would beat him.

He saw only one route open. Naruto would have to damage him, badly.

Naruto waited for his moment, watching quietly as Lee decimated another attack squad of Bunshin, then leaping over another clone- that was his moment. The blonde haired Genin jumped out of the crowd of yellow, black and orange. Naruto then sped to his airborne and relatively immobile opponent.

If Lee's Taijutsu had grown clumsy on the ground it was worse in midair, much as Naruto expected. Lee tried an awkward chopping kick, and Naruto twisted to reduce damage and take it in the shoulder, he didn't disappear to Lee's increased dismay, this was his real opponent.

"Fuuton: Kuki no Uzu." A vortex of air sucked in the green clad Taijutsu Specialist, drawing him closer.

Naruto's hidden kunai flashed, and he grimaced as Lee cried out in pain, the blonde pushed away from Lee as the other boy tumbled to the ground landing on all fours, then moved to grasp his injured calf.

Naruto watched stonily as Lee checked the wound, it was deep, Naruto had made sure of it.

"I'm sorry." Naruto sighed, "I didn't know what else to do."

Lee grimaced as he held his palm tightly against the bleeding wound, "We do what we must, for we are ninja."

"You're right." Naruto started, silently making a Kaze Kage Bunshin clone. Said clone started swirling Chakra tendrils on the real blondes outstretched palm. "I'll do what it takes to get to the finale as well. I'm about to use my ultimate killer Jutsu! But seriously, this jutsu, though not perfected, could seriously harm you or kill you. Give up Lee, now's your last chance." Naruto threatened.

To Naruto's surprise and shock, Lee began to stand, although he was very shaky. The boy's wound now bled freely, and Lee made no attempt to ebb the flow.

"Like you, Naruto." Lee continued, squeezing his eyes shut, "I will do as I must to win!"

"You can't keep fighting like tha-" Naruto started, but was interrupted by the massive wave of chakra that Lee let off suddenly. Naruto watched in morbid fascination as the genin started expel huge excesses of chakra, at least close to as much as Naruto ever had released at once before.

"Kaimon…" Lee muttered, "Open!"

But it didn't stop there, Lee continued, and Naruto realized that this was far from over.

"Kyumon…" Lee's voice still fierce, "Open!"

"Oh shit! Rasengan!" Naruto ran at full speed thrusting his palm forward at great speeds. To his shock though, Lee simply grabbed his wrist and flanked the blonde to his left. Said blonde flipped over, crouching on all fours.

"Damn he's strong. I'll have to go all out!" Naruto growled in a fox like manner, his foxy features growing more apparent as well as a tail formed completely out of Chakra forming around his crimson Chakra shroud.

The audience was captivated as well; sitting at the edge of their seats. Genma was covering his face as the chakra rolled over him, only growing stronger. What the hell were these kids? On one hand there was a Jinchuriki using a portion of its hosts power and on the other is a user of the Celestial or known as the Hachimon gates.

"Seimon...! OPEN!" Lee's voice grew deeper, bulging veins appearing on his forehead, his eyes glowing eerily white.

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"Gai…" Kakashi was growing worried about his student now, "How many can he open! Why would you teach him something like this?"

Gai was silent. His face was serious, and his eyes never moving from the fight. "You're a hypocrite, Kakashi. I know what you've been teaching Sasuke. I can see the ability to use the Hachimon gates in his posture, build and speed when he dominated Neji."

Kakashi chose not the respond, knowing Gai was 100% correct.

"Shomon…!" Lee was screaming now, his face turning earth red, eyes completely white. "OPEN!"

Naruto knew he only had one option now. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A multitude of clones joined him, all equally mesmerized by Lee's transformation.

Lee roared, the Chakra pulsed and he strained to speak now, "Tomon!" His voice was guttural, deep, and furious with power, "OPEN…!"

The chakra had exceeded palpable, it was suffocating. Naruto wasn't scared, because it wasn't Lee's intent to scare him. But every instinct and every fiber of his being told him there was only one option open to him.

Fight from the shadows like a ninja, or in other words, run and hide.

"NAR-U-TO!"

Lee stared out into the scores of frozen bunshin, his face tensed and then he vanished. The clones blinked, the merchants and feudal lords blinked, the Genin in the crowd blinked, as did the Chuunin, and the most of the Jounin blinked too.

Only the Hokage, Kakashi, Gai and his 'guest' followed Lee's movements to his next location, in the center of Naruto's clones with difficulty. Before the copies could even start to turn, Lee let out another roar, drawing everyone's attention and simply seemed to vanish again, and the clones began to vanish as well.

Lee decimated them all, there were no carefully laid traps, no Jutsu sent at the boy… there wasn't time. Most of the clones didn't have a chance to blink again before Lee was on top of them, and they were no more. There seemed to be no stopping the rampaging Genin from defeating his opponent. He had far exceeded anything that Naruto's eyes could follow.

Yet Naruto wasn't beaten. Clones kept appearing for Lee to destroy, every ten that went, twenty took their place. Over and over, cycling, and through the haze of power Lee realized he had made a very foolish mistake.

Naruto wasn't an idiot. He had seen the result of this trick in the Forest of Death, he had spoken with Kakashi and Jiraiya about it, what it could do… for a short amount of time. He hadn't known it could extend to this level, but the technique for fighting it was the same. Buy time, stay hidden, keep forming Kage Bunshin.

Yes, Naruto liked fair fights; he loved to fight toe to toe with his opponents, testing his burgeoning skills against their own. But Naruto knew when he was beat, and Lee had him more than beat… the boy had him crushed. But it wasn't always the fastest or strongest that won, a lot of times it was the smartest. However, even Naruto had a finite amount of chakra and his chakra tail slowly but surely started to wan.

The Jinchuriki then completely lost his chakra tail, and reverted back to his kyuubified state prior. Lee wasn't finished, and jabbed Naruto in seconds, knocking him the air. The green ninja then prodded to knock Naruto around for a minute. Luckily for Naruto, his healing factor allowed him to sustain the blows. Though the blonde was battered, he wasn't too battered.

Naruto was smart. So he won.

Lee slowed, his power faded, his wound began to ache again. The second Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha collapsed to his knees, panting heavily, pained greatly from his efforts. Naruto approached his downed opponent, who strained to lift his head to look up at him. Naruto kneeled down to his new friend's level and quietly asked him something.

"Are you okay?"

"I…" Lee coughed, "I am fine, Naruto."

"You're stronger than me, Lee," Naruto admitted. "I can't beat you in a straight fight yet, I'm sorry I had to beat you like this."

Lee grinned weakly, "Thank you… for the… compli…ment…"

The boy's eyelids won the fight against him, and he slipped into unconsciousness. Naruto paused for a moment, checked to see that Lee was still breathing, then stood and turned to face Genma.

"I win." Naruto said simply.

"Yeah." Genma agreed, still staring at Lee in amazement, "You did. Winner of this match: Naruto Uzumaki!"

The medics carried the sleeping Lee away, and Naruto wandered off silently to the stairs, a roughed up quite a bit, but relatively uninjured against his fight with the Green Beast at his best.

The audience was stone silent, it was the Chuunin Exams… this was the first time many of them had ever seen a ninja use his power the way Lee did, Jounin exams were kept in the village and out of the public eye. Ninja at this level simply never had the capacity to fight the way Lee did, Naruto either for that matter, with his hordes of clones and Ninjutsu attacks. Or Sasuke, or even Gaara for that matter. It was a special crop of Genin indeed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The three Chuunin judges were equally speechless; finally Izumo broke the silence, "Holy shit!"

"Izumo!" Natsume automatically scolded. "Watch your language."

"I have to agree." Kotetsu shook his head, "Wow… just wow."

"…Thoughts?" Izumo asked.

"…Holy shit?" Natsume offered.

"Okay," Kotetsu sighed. "That Lee kid is insane. Are we sure Gai didn't just clone himself?"

"Cloned himself then got the clone genetically enhanced is more likely." Natsume responded, "Five gates… a Genin."

"So promote to Chuunin?" Izumo wondered.

Kotetsu frowned, "He didn't win."

"Uzumaki fought like a fox, cunning and fighting from the shadows." Natsume pointed out, "Lee would have won if Naruto didn't do so."

"No doubt about it, Rock Lee has the strength to maybe become a Jounin… even without Ninjutsu or Genjutsu." Izumo said, "But he doesn't know how to use that power yet. Why did he open all of those gates? It was an all or nothing shot that he didn't need to take."

"Uzumaki had him injured." Kotetsu shrugged, "Maybe he thought it was his only choice."

"It wasn't," Natsume said, normal brain function returning. "Even with one injured leg, he could have tied it up in bandages and kept fighting, even injured."

"Maybe that's too much credit to his fighting abilities while wounded." Kotetsu shrugged, "But either way, Rock Lee lost to Uzumaki Naruto, and Naruto walked away a winner in a fight against a guy fighting at speeds higher than most Jounin can even track."

"He walked away," Natsume chuckled weakly, "He didn't even look that injured."

"He's smart, resourceful, calm in battle, with Taijutsu that's easily Chuunin level, Chakra reserves that I can't even rank which is beyond Hokage-sama, Ninjutsu that may be higher than Chuunin level, and the Yondaime's prized jutsu, the Rasengan." Kotetsu listed, "I'm immediately recommending Uzumaki Naruto for promotion."

"Agreed." Izumo nodded, making the mark on his clipboard, as did the others.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Up in the stands, Gai was crying, "Lee lost!"

"Naruto… won?" Kiba shook his head. "Against that?"

Kakashi was smiling in relief, he was extremely proud of his Genin.

That loud idiot in orange clothes was still loud, but now in a proper ninja styled black and orange outfit, and definitely anything but an idiot. He fought Lee and won, and every time the boy had been faced with more of Lee's strength, he simply found a new way to match it. He fought like a fox, or per say a ninja. Cunning, tactical, calm, collected and brilliant.

'How much of it is an act?' Kakashi simply didn't know where the false façade Naruto put up ended and his real student began. Gai had left to follow Lee to the infirmary, leaving the other Jounin and Genin, as well as the rest of the audience still silent, but beginning to speak in hushed murmurs.

"He… beat… Lee…" Tenten had never seen Lee reach this kind of power, she hadn't even seen him ever take off his weights, and she wondered why Gai made Lee keep them on while fighting Neji, the boy could easily blow past his rival if he simply took them off without even touching the gates.

Five gates… she had only ever seen him open two. Did Lee even realize how much stronger he was than Neji? All this time, going around and shouting that even though he was strong, he had never beaten his greatest rival Neji. It always completely diverted attention away from the green clad boy, making him look every bit of an idiot that his outfit encouraged.

People dismissed Lee, hell, she dismissed Lee. Remembering the loud blond idiot that had entered her family shop, laughing like a fool… Naruto hadn't seemed different than Lee, only even weaker and a rookie to boot. Tenten remembered feeling sorry for the kid, as every eye turned to him and his equally noisy teammates and friends.

Naruto had been brash, loud, and stupid all the way through the exams.

The other Genin were having similar thoughts. Even Sakura and Hinata, who had probably seen more of Naruto's skill than anyone else present, hadn't known the true extent of his stamina… really they still didn't, Lee was the one out cold in a bed while Naruto walked away, albeit breathing heavily. Plus the crimson bubbling chakra surrounding Naruto, it had piked their interests as well. It only didn't phase Sakura and Sasuke because they already knew. Shikamaru also wasn't fazed, as he had already figured it out.

"Kiba would like everyone to know that he's glad he's out. I know I wouldn't last against either one of them, or Sauske or Gaara, or even Neji." Kiba joked weakly, and no one responded, not even Akamaru.

Hinata… was extremely proud of Naruto, who had exceeded everything even she thought he could be. The fight had shell shocked her, now knowing that Naruto was high Chunin level material already on his own.

Naruto climbed the stairwell slowly, more out of shock from the previous fight than anything else. Naruto knew that he had a lot of chakra, yet the chakra Lee had pulled out seemed to be on par with even his monster reserves. Naruto knew Lee suffered great physical damage because of it, but that didn't take away from the feeling of being absolutely dominated. It didn't take away the fact that if he had tried to fight Lee head on, he would have gotten his face bashed in, and could have easily died. He was lucky that Lee ran out of steam before he could finish beating Naruto into a pulp. Lee didn't exactly seem stable in that state, and Naruto wasn't sure what would happen if Lee had struck him in the head as hard as he could've… could Kyuubi heal brain damage?

He had won, losing an abundance chakra, having one third of his chakra drained. He still had a good amount of Chakra left through, enough to still be ahead of everyone in the village in terms of chakra by a good margin.

Naruto had been dominated in fights before, Jiraiya had made him grown accustomed to the fact that he couldn't win by charging an opponent who was stronger than him head on. It just never ended up well for him, and he had stopped after the third harsh beating. The difference was that Jiraiya was one of the Sannin… Lee was a genin. But Lee had moved faster than Jiraiya had in their fights. Jiraiya wasn't moving his fastest, Naruto was sure of that… but still, it was just unreal.

It made Naruto doubt himself. Lee had a year of experience over him true… but he didn't have the Kyuubi healing him every time he trained, making him ready to go the very next day. Naruto knew how it felt to train hard without near instant healing, it hurt… a lot. Lee did that everyday, and it seemed like he trained even harder than Naruto. Even with above Kage level Chakra reserves, and above average on nearly all other skills, Lee would have destroyed him with pure Taijutsu. The boy could have died, just to beat Naruto.

That kind of dedication… Naruto thought he was dedicated, that he trained hard… but Lee… a kid who had so much against him, holding him back, keeping him down… he excelled. More than that, he wasn't cocky like Neji, Sasuke, or even Naruto himself. He didn't think highly of himself, he praised others, and lived and fought with honor.

Naruto didn't fight with honor, he fought to win.

Run and fight from the Shadows.

No, he didn't even fight him head on, that was too much praise. He let Lee wear himself out and run himself down until Naruto's chakra started depleting. Then Naruto started getting beaten but Lee's fatigue caught up to him, making him lose. Naruto stepped out, hardly injured and the winner. It really shouldn't make him feel bad, he was a ninja, it wasn't about being the strongest. The Chuunin Exams were just another mission. Proving his worth as a ninja, not as a powerful fighter, would advance him.

The next fight was rather uneventful to say the least. Shikamaru knew he was beaten so after running out of Chakra, he forfeited the match, leaving Sasuke and Sakura to fight. The Uchiha was kept on his toes during the match with the Kunoichi. In the end though, they both knew who was going to win the bout. The Uchiha out maneuvered most of Sakura's moves, only being caught by the ones that took him off guard. The kunoichi even forced Sasuke to use his Sharingan and unseal his resistance. In the end though, Sasuke conserved his chakra, only letting out two fire jutsu's. He also made Sakura use up her chakra, therefore dubbing him the victor. As Sasuke had promised, since Sakura gave him a decent fight, he would take her on a date.

Now came the Grand Finale, Naruto vs. Sasuke. It had taken an hour and forty five minutes to get to the final event, and bets were already being made from the stands. The two rivals jumped into the arena, prepared to give it their all to see who was truly the better. They gave a heated stare at one another, releasing killer intent while smirking. The proctor gave a smile, he knew it would be quite the match. He had absolutely no clue who would win.

"Now, onto the finale. We have Naruto Uzumaki vs. Sasuke Uchiha!" Genma shouted.

"Just so you know teme, I'm gonna win this for sure!" Naruto claimed, kyuubifying his features and gaining crimson chakra.

"We'll see about that, dobe." Sasuke counterclaimed, his matured Sharingan coming to the surface.

"Ready?" Genma asked, getting firm nods from the two Genin. "You may begin!"

A/N: Sorry the update took much longer, my PC had thousands of issues that I had to get rid of. Now that its at a stable condition, updates will be more frequent. And since my PC kept losing the work on this chapter I've already made, I didn't feel like writing the Sasuke, Sakura and Shikamaru or Shikamaru and Temari fight as they weren't all that important. One you've already seen in Canon and the other you'd know the winner easily.

Fuuton: Daitoppa= Wind Release: Great Breakthrough

Fuuton: Renkuudan= Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet

Fuuton: Kuki no Uzu= Wind Release: Air Vortex

Kaimon= Gate of Opening

Kyumon= Gate of Healing

Seimon= Gate of Life

Shomon= Gate of Pain

Tomon= Gate of Limit

Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu= Multi-Shadow Clone Technique

Rasengan= Spiraling Sphere