Author Note
Hello there and welcome to another chapter of Meshii.
First of all, I like to comment about the small pool placed last chapter. Indeed my concern was shared by a lot of reviewers about Naruto's set of mind, at least his current one that is. This Naruto is cold, calculative and gets his power from pain and suffering. Because of this, his pairing, if there was one, would be a woman who at least had a similar set of mind. On top of my head, I could think of Anko, Guren and Tayuya. The reason I placed Kurenai in the poll is because I was aiming for a more mature relationship with a local kunoichi. After courting the votes in the reviews page, I'm proud to announce the results as I was actually hoping to place her with Naruto:
Anko: 22 votes (winner)
Kurenai: 9 votes
Neither: 1 vote
Now I know what you're thinking. Early I said that the reviewers shared my concern about Naruto having difficulty in relating to someone because of his personality. That being said, why only one voted for neither? While some of the readers voted for either Kurenai or Anko, they also stated that his personality didn't allow others to interact in a romantic level. I happen to agree one hundred percent. That's why it will take some time before they even consider a relationship together. And even when they do, it won't be that fluffy relationship. Anko is a badass kunoichi and she will be like this in her personal life as well. So if people were expecting that Naruto will suddenly develop a soft side, he won't.
Now, moving on to the story, last chapter marked the second part of the chunnin exams as well as the preliminary battles. At the end, though, something unexpected happened in Hinata's fight against Neji. Hinata had awakened Hiton (Light Release). Now, a situation arose in team eight as Naruto no longer can be a part of it, considering that Hinata's mere presence weakens him. So repercussions are in order. Before starting the chapter, though, I'd like to spend some time and answers some of the reviewer's questions.
Lydia-Hood – I do not intend on mass producing dark and light users. Hinata is the last one. Naruto's weakness is not the mere presence of a light user, but the effect use of the ability. Upon using it, it stops the fuel of Naruto's chakra, negative emotions. About a weakness to light release, while there won't be an occasion to explore it, consists of a lack of fuel like Naruto has. It just doesn't pack the same punch as dark release, being easily overcome by other attacks. In order to increase a light release technique, one must practice constantly and use more chakra for the technique. It just wouldn't realistic if light release were powered by good emotions.
Traviswj - As I said before, I agree with you. The way he is now isn't suitable for a fluffy romance. Anko isn't the typical romantic type, though.
Bibliophile1521 –While I would be interesting, it would diverge from the concept of the story. I've read a similar story of Naruto's entire jutsu skill revolving around darkness and only darkness. I merely wish for him to use the element in jutsu as well as merge it with lighting for powerful attacks. I'm not interested in practically turning him into an antichrist. I appreciate it, though.
ArmyWife22079 – I'll admit that Tenten doesn't interest me like the others. I respect Tenten fans, but I wouldn't pick her for a pairing. I have nothing against her, since there are a couple of nice stories with her as Naruto's pair.
Impstar – Yes, she lost.
Well, with that out of the way, let's proceed.
Please enjoy.
Chapter 14 – Training and Tournament Initiation
Beta: Kyuubi123
After the final match between Hinata and Neji was finished, the shinobi were all lined up for the final steps of the second part of the chunnin Exams.
The events surrounding Hinata's fight against Neji, more specifically, the light release's awakening, was unknown by most in the room, except for both Naruto and the Hokage. Both knew it was an issue that needed their utmost attention, but they couldn't deal with this right now in front of shinobi from other villages. The concept behind meiton and hiton residing in Konoha was still considered a secret as far as Hiruzen was concerned and he intended to keep it that way. He had enough experience in his life to know what enemy villages would do once they heard of shinobi with rare abilities. Naruto had enough animosity in his own home to deal with and now he would have to worry about Hinata as well. Standing in front of the chunnin hopefuls and with his jounin proctors flanking his position, Hiruzen realized it was time to address those who managed to qualify for the third and last phase of the chunnin exams.
"I applaud those who have reached thus far in the exams. Nevertheless, there is still one more phase necessary for a genin to become a chunnin. In exactly one month from now, those who qualified will participate in a one-on-one tournament. The skills displayed thus far will be taken into consideration for promotion, but it will be the skills displayed one month from now that will decide whether or not a genin is to be promoted to chunnin. You may ask the reason behind such a difference in time frame." Sarutobi waited a bit, before continuing. "There are exactly two reasons for that. First, because of the preliminaries, everyone here already knows or at least has an idea of what your opponent is capable of. The time frame is meant for training and hopefully, acquiring new set of skills or at least decrease the strength of your weaknesses."
Hiruzen could swear that he heard Shikaku's son Shikamaru saying thank you for that, but ignored it.
"The second reason is that the tournament will be held in the main arena and thus a great number of dignitaries from all over the elemental nations will be attending. It takes a bit of time for us to send the necessary invitations. Let it be known that a genin doesn't necessarily have to win the tournament in order to become a chunnin. The judges will take into account every bit of skill displayed and will decide according to what they see. This also means that there is a possibility that none of you are promoted to chunnin. We'll now see who will face whom. Each one of you will pick a number that is inside this box." Hiruzen said, pointing to the black box that was being held by Anko. "Anko, if you would…" The woman in question nodded and slowly passed the box to each of the genin. She was surprised to see that the Hokage's grandson grabbed his number without even looking at it. It was only later that she realized that the brat was like her old friend Tonbo.
After returning to the Hokage's side, she ordered the genins to announce their names followed by the chosen number. One by one, the genins announced, starting with Aburame Shino.
"Aburame Shino…number 7"
"Hyuuga Neji…number 1"
"Sabaku no Gaara…number 4"
"Huh…troublesome…Nara Shikamaru…number 5"
"Kinuta Dosu…number 6"
"Uchiha Sasuke…number 3"
"Yosh…Rock Lee…number 8"
Naruto quickly elbowed Sasuke and gave him the number for him to read, before announcing. "Sarutobi Naruto…number 2"
While Anko was busy sorting the competitor's position in the tournament chart, some of the genin were looking at Naruto in question, aside from Shino and Sasuke. Shikamaru was aware of Naruto's inability to see, being from the same classroom. However, seeing how the boy moved, it was rather unclear if he really was blind. Dosu, Gaara, Neji and Lee didn't know about it and were surprised at the fact that like Shikamaru, they all saw Naruto's movements. Rock Lee was looking at Naruto with a new light as he too has a disadvantage in battle. Anko then showed everyone the chart with the following battles. First one will be Sarutobi Naruto against Hyuuga Neji followed by Uchiha Sasuke against Sabaku no Gaara. The third battle will be between Nara Shikamaru and Kinuta Dosu and the forth one will be between Aburame Shino and Rock Lee. The results brought a great range of different thoughts.
Neji couldn't help but smirk at how fate worked. Despite being a member of the Sarutobi Clan, Naruto was blind. Neji, though, not only could see but also his eyes were a weapon themselves.
Sasuke was looking at Gaara with extreme focus as he saw what the sand genin did in the preliminaries. He needed an edge against him. Shikamaru only had one word in his mind, so he kept repeating it while Dosu was studying the shadow user. Aburame Shino pretty much stood there unmoving, but he was debating his odds against Rock Lee, a close-ranged fighter. There was no secret that the Aburame Clan member preferred maintaining a distance from the enemy. He also knew that Kurenai-sensei wouldn't be able to provide him much help in this regard as she too is a long-range fighter. He needed to consult his father about his training agenda. Perhaps he could teach Shino a new taijutsu style or even a weapon for him to use. Another fact that showed Lee's favoritism is the fact that his physical skills didn't require much chakra. Even if he sucked him dry, he would just keep on coming. Lastly, Naruto eyed everyone and smirked. People no doubt must be underestimating him because of his blindness. He could hear Neji's heart beat beat constantly without much alteration.
He must be confident in believing his battle was already decided. Oh if I received money for each one that thought that my lack of sight is a disadvantage.
"Once again, I congratulate everyone who managed to reach this far. Everyone is dismissed." One by one, the genins went to their respective jounin sensei in order to leave the training ground in which they were still located. Naruto, though, remained as he knew that his grandfather would want to talk to him about what happened with Hinata. As he expected, his sensei Kurenai appeared and whispered that they were to leave the area with the Hokage as he wanted to talk. Naruto nodded and stood waiting for the call to leave together with Kurenai. He saw Shino looking at him briefly, before Kakashi appeared beside the bug user and spoke something to him. Shino quickly nodded and left with the scarecrow jounin.
"I noticed you didn't use much against the kunoichi from Sand. Although it ended being effective."
Kurenai commented, while waiting for everyone to leave. Naruto knew the woman wanted to use another adjective regarding how he treated the Sand Kunoichi and smirked.
"I had the feeling that the exams weren't over even before the preliminaries, so I didn't want to show more than necessary. I also wanted to test my new technique in the field. The results were above my first expectations." Kurenai didn't need to see the smile on the boy's face as she already knew him enough to know that her sick in the head genin enjoyed every moment of torturing the Suna kunoichi. Sometimes, she wondered if Naruto was secretly training with a friend of hers. Kurenai wanted to comment further, but was stopped once Mitarashi Anko appeared and ushered both jounin and student to follow them towards the Hokage's Tower.
The tower located in the middle of the training ground was deserted save from Kurenai, Anko and Naruto. Everyone else had already left.
Anko vanished using a shunshin, while Kurenai did as well, but not after placing her hand on Naruto's shoulder to take him along.
===At the Hokage's Office===
The Hokage was already in his office going through the invitations for the final part of the chunnin exams. When Anko arrived followed by Kurenai with Naruto, he left the invitations for later before looking at them. It somewhat pained the old man that the recent events forced him to make a decision against his grandson's genin team. Preacher of the will of fire and the value of teamwork in his shinobi, Sandaime was completely against separating teams, especially when said team displays splendid results in the field. Above all, he wished his grandson to socialize with others. Fate, though, decided to take that away from the old Saurobi.
"First of all, Kurenai-san, I'd like to extend my congratulations to your team for the results displayed at the Chunnin Exams. No doubt, their skills are a testament to your fine teachings." Kurenai couldn't help but blush at the Hokage's praise, however something inside her told that the reason she was called here wasn't a mere congratulations. "However, it pains me to tell you that in light of recent events, Team 8 can no longer function." Kurenai's eyes widened immediately. The young jounin looked at the elder Hokage for a while, trying to interpret something from his words, but she couldn't. What the hell happened recently that ruined her team.
"I beg your pardon, Hokage-sama, I don't understand why my team cannot function anymore?"
"I believe my grandson can explain it better than I can as what happened affected him the most." Kurenai did wonder why Naruto was called here as well. She turned to him and as usual, could see nothing from him.
"Sensei, did you remember my report of what happened at the bridge in Wave Country. How that fake hunter-nin Haku managed to awaken a power that repelled my own meiton abilities." Kurenai thought for a while, before remembering Naruto saying something in that regard. That ability is called Hiton (Light Release), which as far as I know, has the ability to completely repel dark release techniques, my techniques." The woman nodded, still not seeing where he was going with this.
"And what does that have to do with our team not being functional anymore?" Naruto could sense anger in her voice and he could hear her heart rate increasing.
Kurenai wanted nothing more than to help her team become one of the best in Konoha. Suddenly seeing that dream falling apart was setting her on edge.
"A few seconds before Neji moved to deliver the finishing blow on Hinata, she awakened Hiton as well. Therefore, whenever she uses her new skills close to me, my own power is hindered." There was little everyone knew about light and dark chakra manipulation and Kurenai happened to be a part of the population who knew nothing about it. She couldn't understand how or why this has happened to her team. With a defeated sigh, she looked at the Hokage regarding her team or rather what will happen to them now that two members cannot be together anymore. Hiruzen smiled at the woman. He could see that losing her team affected her deeply.
"Should Naruto be promoted to Chunnin, there won't be a need to worry about team replacements. However, should he not, then I'll have to rearrange the teams accordingly."
"I understand Hokage-sama." Kurenai said before bowing slightly not agreeing with the decision, but respecting it nonetheless. She then turned to her blind genin. "Well, until the Chunnin Exams is finished, you are still a part of Team 8. Seeing as Shino will be training with his clan, I will be training you for this month. We have a short time frame, but I wish to pass to you all there is to the art of illusions as I know you fancy the art as well." Naruto nodded, wanting nothing else than to improve on his genjutsu theory in order to incorporate new genjutsu techniques to his arsenal. However, his match turned out to be a great disadvantage at least as far as genjutsu was concerned.
"I appreciate it Kurenai-sensei, however illusions won't work against Neji's byakugan. Besides illusions, I was hoping to focus more in close combat skills, both offensive and defensive." Kurenai nodded.
Kurenai was aware of her student's matches and smirked at him.
"Oh I know of someone perfect to aid in that regard, don't you worry. She will be helping me train you for the month. And if you can defend yourself against her, you can defend yourself against anyone. Meet me tomorrow at the same place we always train." Hiruzen had to shiver, since he knew just who Kurenai was talking about. He felt for his grandson. This woman, if he was certain, was most deadly. The ignorant boy just nodded at what her sensei said, unaware of the impending doom that would soon reach him. Kurenai, then, turned to the Hokage. "Is there anything else, Hokage-sama?" Hiruzen nodded, before Kurenai and Naruto left his office. If Naruto managed to survive against whom he was thinking, than he was ready for the life of a chunnin. Hell, he would be hard pressed not to recommend his grandson to the Anbu forces if he survived an entire month.
===Training Ground===
The next day, Naruto and Kurenai were at the training ground where Team 8 always trained.
"Okay Naruto, one month may not be enough for the theory we need to cover about genjutsu, but I'll try to cover at least the most important aspects, so that you can cover the rest on your own free time. I firmly believe that you have the skills to become a genjutsu master in the future as it was my intention to pass to you all my knowledge in time. Shino and Hinata are adequate at the art, but none of them uses genjutsu much. Unfortunately, fate forced us to speed up the process. I'll also teach you my strongest genjutsu." Naruto nodded when suddenly he held his breath while unleashing his sword quickly and parried a couple of senbon that were heading straight to his neck.
Kurenai was prepared because she knew that the attack would be coming before Naruto even arrived at the training ground.
"You're right, Kurenai. He's quite fast, but his perception still needs improvement." Mitarashi Anko appeared in a shunshin next to Naruto's sensei. The boy thanked the heavens that no one could figure his line of sight. He was getting used to seeing little clothing that blocked that woman's body. Still, something rang deeply within him. The woman was right. His perception of the surroundings only resonated when the senbon were close. Had he realized it sooner, he wouldn't have evaded the projectiles so poorly. The senbon were aimed at specific points meant to disable the opponent. He now realized just what Kurenai was talking about yesterday.
"Dodging those senbon means chunnin type ability, at least. You owe me lunch next time, Anko." Kurenai smirked, showing the confidence she had in her finest student's evasion skills. "Naruto, I'm sure you have met Mitarashi Anko as she was the proctor of the second part of the Chunnin Exams." The blond merely nodded, reminding Anko of Tonbo slightly. "She will be aiding me in tutoring you for the month." Kurenai ushered the woman to speak.
"Nice to meet ya kid. Kurenai-chan here asked me to take good care of you for this month and I very well intend to. Those senbon were only to see how fast you were, expect multiple amounts throughout our training. Say kid, do you perhaps know one jounin named Tonbo. Looking how you move, you remind me of him." Naruto nodded, briefly reminiscing his training days under Tonbo-sensei. One of his fondest memories was racing his sensei throughout rooftops, stairs, pipes and pretty much anything that allowed them to hang or stand.
"He trained me when I was a kid. Hokage-jiji assigned him to tutor me how to overcome my blindness." Anko smirked deviously and Naruto couldn't help but smirk as well. Kurenai was right in comparing them.
"Huh….you don't say. Well, that man is pretty agile despite it all and he was able to sense my senbon much faster than you did. You believe you can survive my training throughout the month with little old me?"
Naruto had to snort at that.
"Anko-san, ever since I was little, genin and chunnin tried to kill me. They underestimated me and paid the price." A small smile appeared on Naruto's face at the screams, before continuing. "I don't just back off at the first sign of trouble." Anko had read the boy's file before coming here and was delighted at seeing that instead of simply defending himself throughout his life, the kid attacked and even better, almost killed the attackers when the Anbu came. Being tutored by Tonbo alone had already picked her interest. Now that she had met the boy personally, the woman was eager to see what he was capable of. She turned to Kurenai who was content in letting the talk to one another.
"I like him Kurenai, what do you have in mind for him?" Kurenai smiled at her friend and explained her plan.
"Basically, we'll begin with genjutsu theory in the morning until lunch time. After lunch, you can have your way with him, going from projectile throwing, evasion, taijutsu, anything." Naruto was able to see how eager Anko was in having her way with him as Kurenai-sensei put it. "After physical training, I'll be teaching Naruto my most powerful illusions." Anko nodded, before Kurenai turned to Naruto. "I trust you can train ninjutsu on your own?" Naruto nodded. He learned meiton from another entity. Said entity opted to speak now since they were discussing his host's training regimen. When it was turn to train its host, he was all ears. No bijuu desired a weak host after all.
"It's high time you learned other uses for Meiton. Once you finish with your training with the females, come inside and I'll teach you a technique called Meiton Seishou Douka (Dark Release: Energy Absorption Technique)." (Author Note – This technique appeared in Naruto Shippuden Movie #3 when Hiruko captures a shinobi with the meiton bloodline and uses the ability by landing his hand on the opponent's forehead)
"Yes, I got ninjutsu covered. Since Kakashi will be training Sasuke, my lightning affinity training will be put on hold for the time being."
Anko remembered something and thought about giving a little contribution to the plan.
"Kurenai-chan, seeing as the kid here fancies a sword, perhaps Yuugao could come here and give him some pointers?" Naruto remained silent as the jounin started discussing his training.
"I considered that, but wouldn't it be too much to cover in one month. He has already shown adequate skills with the sword. Yuugao has a tight schedule, thus it would only be once a week." Anko nodded.
"I'll talk to her, surely she won't mind. She has been begging to find a suitable student for kenjutsu; at least to give him some pointers for future reference." Anko vanished without waiting for Kurenai's approval.
Kurenai sighed in dismay, before turning to her student with her arms crossed. "Ok Naruto, please take a seat so that we can begin the course genjutsu mastery 101". The boy eagerly complied while at the same time looking forward to this one month being trained not by one but three powerful shinobi in the respective field. Kurenai was a genjutsu master, Anko's ability with projectiles and swift evasion was uncanny and this Yuugao person was considered a kenjutsu specialist. Plus, he had a teacher for dark release ninjutsu that far exceeded anyone's expectations. Of course, he needed to convince said teacher to teach him sometimes, but it was worth it, especially since the fox wasted little effort in complaining about anything these days. The boy smirked upon hearing the fox growling at him for his remarks. It was quite amusing indeed.
===Three weeks later===
Naruto woke up and was surprised to see that he was in his room.
The last thing he remembered was the incredible headache he felt while dealing with Kurenai, Yuugao, Anko and Kyuubi's teachings. The boy had been quite busy these last few weeks as he absorbed pretty much anything that came out of his four sensei's mouths. Every day, Kurenai began by testing every single brain cell with advanced genjutsu theory. His mistake was showing the eager woman that he was able to understand most of what she was saying, allowing her to move the subject much faster. After Kurenai, Anko appeared and literally turned him into both a pin cushion and a punching bag. When it was proven that the woman alone couldn't reach him, she resorted to some help from her summoning clan, the snakes. Naruto at the time wished he would ask to sign the monkey clan so that they could keep those annoying reptiles from biting him all over the place.
Like Anko and Kurenai promised, Uzuki Yuugao, whom Naruto learned was one of his grandfather's personal Anbu guard, appeared once a week. In order to keep her identity a secret, she didn't show up wearing her Anbu armor. The Anbu stylized pants remained, but instead of the armor, she wore a sleeveless shirt covered by a jounin vest. She had long purple hair and a reserved expression on her face as if any minute someone was about to jump on her. Naruto later learned that the woman was a strict teacher and she wasn't satisfied until Naruto learned every single movement of many styles she was teaching him. Naruto even had to resort to Anko's teaching on quick evasion when he missed one of Yuugao's moves. Using a shunshin to appear behind him, Yuugao aimed a strong swing at his side stomach. After that, Naruto received more beatings from Kurenai as she began to teach him one of her advanced genjutsu techniques, the Magen Jubaku Satsu (Demonic Illusion Tree Binding Death Technique).
If that wasn't enough, Naruto still had late night training under Kyuubi inside of him, learning how to increase his meiton manipulation until he could absorb the energy of others.
All this training was simply too much for his brain to assimilate so fast. The fox even had to use some of his chakra so Naruto wouldn't lose his mind. The simple reason he was in his room right now was because he passed out yesterday. He found a note next to his bed left by Kurenai, written in Braille, saying that he needed to rest for the day in order to assimilate everything that was being taught to him. For the first time in his life, Naruto preferred resting instead of training. His head was still in pain but was steadily getting better. Releasing a long and tired sigh, Naruto returned to the comfort of his pillow and slept once more. Never in his life was he this tired.
===At the Hokage's Office===
At the Hokage's Office, Hiruzen was smirking while hearing the reports of Anko and Kurenai about his grandson.
"So Naruto has being doing well, I see." All three women in the room, two visible and one hidden in the shadows, found Hiruzen's question to be a small understatement. If he was considered a high level genin, now they considered him easily mid to high chunnin material by the end of three weeks. They made a special training regimen that anyone would have quitted by now. Hell, even they were reluctant to admit that doing a similar training was almost impossible. In Anko's opinion, the gaki pretty much asked for it. Still, the boy's resilience and chakra capacity was completely off the charts. To believe that he managed to hold his ground for three whole weeks was impressive. Aside from that, Anko didn't remember one time when she had this much fun torturing someone. Also, when it was time to rest, she and the gaki began to talk on occasions. His perception of the world was quite impressive for someone so young.
Being the boy's sensei until the end of the chunnin exams, Kurenai took one step forward and reported.
"Hokage-sama, Naruto's training got out of hand. At first, we planned to go through the material slowly for him to adapt. However, it didn't take him long to learn and he didn't want time to rest. In fact, if he had slept at all during the training, I would be surprised. In the end, all three of us saw it as a challenge to see how far he would go before succumbing to defeat." All of the women present could have sworn that they heard someone else laughing inside the office, but ignored it. "We ended up training a genin to become a jounin, instead of a mere chunnin." The Hokage could hear truth in such exasperated words. He knew Naruto to be a bit extreme when it came to training. Tonbo had already alerted him of this when the boy was but an infant. His grandson wouldn't be satisfied until he fully grasped every single opportunity given to him. In truth, this was the main reason of Hiruzen's respect for the boy, aside from the parental love.
"Alright, calm down Kurenai. Naruto was always a handful. I remember my daughter and my son-in-law chasing the boy throughout the Sarutobi Manor. Imagine if he wasn't blind."
Both Anko and Kurenai's eyes widened while imagining how Naruto would be. They couldn't help but shiver. Once more, a new voice giggled. Sarutobi, this time, had to intervene.
"What do you have in mind for this last week, Kurenai?"
"Well, I was hoping to let him rest. Anko here wanted to give the Snake Contract to him, but I believe that he would be signing the Monkey Contract, am I right Hokage-sama?"
The old man nodded. He was considering talking to the monkey boss Enma about both Naruto and Konohamaru signing the contract.
"Letting him rest is a splendid idea. And yes, I intend for him to sign with the Monkey Summoning Contract. It's his right as a member of the Sarutobi Clan. I appreciate your report Kurenai-san; dismissed."
Both Anko and Kurenai left the office, leaving Sarutobi presumably alone.
"I take it you've been checking on him as well, Jiraiya." As if on cue, a tall man with long white hair suddenly appeared out of nowhere hanging by the office's opposing wall. He smirked at the old man, at least older than him. You have arrived in the village two weeks ago and didn't bother to pay your old sensei a visit. I trust that you were busy with some side projects." This time Jiraiya showed his teeth while smiling. He needed his research for his book after all.
"At first, when I saw the brat, I thought your letters were exaggerating. He is indeed quite skilled for someone so young. He is more than ready for the promotion." Hiruzen nodded.
"He still needs to appease the judges, but I believe he'll do just fine. Now, do you have anything for me to work on?" Jiraiya snorted at the question.
"You expected anything less from me, sensei. Orochimaru is on the move again." Hiruzen became serious all of a sudden as Jiraiya expected. "He has been quite busy near Rice and Wind Country these days, meeting high officials and daimyos. I heard rumors about Suna not enjoying the fact that the Wind Daimyo is passing most of their missions to us." Hiruzen nodded. He already had his suspicions when the Wind Daimyo came to him for missions. "One of my sources managed to uncover a secret meeting between the Kazekage and Orochimaru. I wouldn't put it past me to see a threat lingering in the air. Perhaps it would be wise to increase the village security during the exams."
Hiruzen turned to think out loud.
"Considering that Suna is angry with us for taking their missions, Orochimaru wouldn't think twice in taking advantage. I will be talking with the Anbu commander and place a couple of teams disguised in the audience. If something happens, it will certainly be at the arena where the exams will occur. In that event, I would enjoy your company beside me at the exams. If anything, your presence there may very well convince the enemy not to strike." Jiraiya nodded. If Orochimaru is planning something, he must be counting on the absence of either Jiraiya because of his position as spy master and Tsunade because of her never wanting to return to the village.
"Well, I can take the time and update my research. Any chance I can pass on the toad contract to the brat?" Hiruzen was expecting Jiraiya to ask that of him since his biological father signed as well.
"I know that Minato would have wanted him to sign the toads, but he is a Sarutobi now. All members of the family sign it when they are ready." Jiraiya nodded, not much interested in convincing him. It was because of the Sarutobi Clan, that Naruto had learned the concept of a family. They had all the rights as his adoptive family. Seeing as neither had anything else to talk about, Jiraiya left the office through the window, leaving Sarutobi alone to go over the security details for the exams. Hiruzen knew he couldn't place too many Anbu operatives hidden. Orochimaru would spot them instantly. Thus placing the elite of the elite in key places next to the officials was the best way to go. If something happened to them inside the village, Konoha would bear the responsibility, not mattering if the attack was caused by an enemy.
===At night===
Few people knew, but Anko, Kurenai and Yuugao were actually the best of friends. They would go out for drinks on occasions but since Yuugao managed to join the Anbu, they only went out when she was free and neither Anko nor Kurenai had a mission, of course. This was one of the days that all three of them managed time for drinks. So here they were at a more isolated pub. They don't enjoy crowded places and it was relatively quiet enough for them to maintain a nice conversation. Plus, Anko had a thing for dango and this place happens to make the best dango in Konoha. Immediately after arriving, Anko ordered a bottle of hot sake and three sets of dango.
"Well, it's nice to see you two again here. It's nice of you to join us Yuugao-chan." The swordswoman nodded as she took a zip of sake while savoring the taste of alcohol. It was quite relaxing and it helped her forget.
"Yeah, Anbu has taken all the time I had these days. I was lucky to have tonight off. Plus Hayate is out doing a patrol mission around the village."
(AN: For those wondering about Hayate, his fate is the same as canon)
"Well, his loss is our gain." Kurenai said as the women made a toast, before taking another zip. Anko had already finished one dango stick by now. She then turned to Kurenai with a smirk on her face.
"So Kurenai-chan, how is Asuma doing these days?" The direct question made Kurenai choke on her sake, before looking at the snake mistress. "It's no mystery that you guys are seeing each other, right Yuugao?"
"Yeah, I heard some in Anbu HQ commenting about it. It's weird to believe how much gossip runs within those walls. I remember one kunoichi saying that she saw you two making out in an alley." Kurenai blushed immediately while Anko was laughing her ass off. Kurenai even remembered using genjutsu around them so that no one would spot it. The Anbu must have thought it was a threat and dispelled it before leaving. She had to tell Asuma not to make a fool of himself trying to hide it.
"Well, there is no use hiding I guess. Yes, we've been seeing each other for two months now. One time he came at the training ground to take Naruto away to some meeting with the Hokage and asked me out. We went to a sushi place that night. We turned to talk a bit and hit it off. And before anyone asks, I'm not about to tell details of my love life." She laughed when Anko protested like a child. She really wanted to hear the details.
"You're no fun. You always keep ruining my entertainment, just like you stopped me from playing with the gaki yesterday."
Kurenai and Yuugao looked incredulously at the woman. Yuugao was the one who inquired the snake mistress.
"Anko, Naruto was on the verge of unconsciousness when you set a twenty foot purple snake after him. He had zero chakra left and he could barely stand because of his training. His only source of strength was his will to never back off from a fight. Even so, Kurenai had to place a genjutsu on the snake, since you weren't about to order your summons to stop the attack." Anko smirked at the memory. The brat managed to put one hell of a fight against her pets. And even when he was about to faint, he still stood there facing the opponent.
"He can take the heat, of that I assure you. In fact, I believe he would be more pissed at Kurenai for stopping the fight than me. That meiton ability of his is quite impressive, isn't it?" Kurenai sighed in dismay at the woman. Leave it to her to be impressed by an ability that is fueled by negative emotions. Anko, though, continued. "I mean, every time he got angry, his chakra became more potent. That black dragon of his scared even me and that's not an easy feat." Yuugao had to agree, though. When that black monster roared, Yuugao couldn't help but be intimidated. Dark chakra manipulation was considered a legend amongst the high level shinobi, even if it was theoretically possible. She ended up agreeing with Anko.
"Naruto is indeed chunnin material if not tokubetsu in ninjutsu and genjutsu. He once used a technique against me that incorporated both his meiton and raiton chakra."
Kurenai couldn't help but sigh in dismay at the thought of possibly losing him to another jounin sensei. He had an amazing amount of potential and he barely scratched the surface of it. She wanted to take him further. Now, regardless of his results in the chunnin exams, he would no longer be working with Team 8. They would only work together if Hinata is in another place. Yuugao and Anko were discussing some of Naruto's abilities, before they both saw the downed look on Kurenai's face. They both knew how proud the woman was of her team. Said feeling diminished by training the boy, but it didn't go away. Her only solace was in Naruto's desire to become a genjutsu master. Even if he wasn't in her team anymore, he certainly could and would come to her for guidance in the art of illusions.
"Cheer up Kurenai-chan. He will be promoted to chunnin easily. There won't be a need to worry about him being in another genin team. A toast for the gaki's future promotion." Anko shouted, followed by Yuugao.
The genjutsu master didn't join the toast for a while, before joining her best friends. She couldn't do anything less than cheer for her genins' promotion at the chunnin exams.
The girls kept chatting for a long time, before going home. Yuugao had a smile on her face as she enjoyed meeting the girls. She was deeply unaware of the fact that her boyfriend wouldn't come home anymore.
===Tournament Day===
Fireworks were sent in the sky, showing the opening of such an illustrious and prestigious event.
The Third Phase of the Chunnin Exams represented a chance for a genin to truly test his skills against others. It was a chance for them to also see whether or not they deserved the rank of chunnin and thus participate in harder missions for the benefit of the village. For the village, the Chunnin Exams was a twisted sense of a 'showroom' where they could show their shinobi to future clients. Most of the missions given to Konoha were either because of its tradition as the strongest hidden village or a result of the skills displayed by the members of Konoha's many shinobi clans. Such is the importance of these exams for a village's financial income that the five hidden villages decided that each semester, the exams would be held in a different hidden village. It was decided at the pact of neutrality signed by the Five Great Ninja Villages after the third great ninja war.
The hidden village in the leaves was filled with locals and foreigners, civilian, shinobi, merchants, dignitaries and even daimyos and their respective guards.
Pretty much everyone in the village was forming a beaming line towards the arena where the final exams will be held. The bets were already made as this exam happened to be quite special. Members from the Hyuuga, Nara and Sarutobi Clan were attending as well as the main attraction, Uchiha Sasuke, the last Uchiha. The Kazekage's son was also participating. There were no clear winner, but it didn't mean that the gamblers cared to study the genin info as thoroughly. Pretty much most gamblers placed their bets on Hyuuga Neji and Uchiha Sasuke to win. Neji was fighting against a member of the Sarutobi Clan and Sasuke was fighting against the Kazekage's son.
Half an hour later, the arena was trembling under the pressure of people filling the seats. The noise was deafening and Naruto had to reduce the flow of chakra so as not to be disoriented by the loud noise.
The genins were lined up in the center of the arena and in front of a jounin wearing a bandana and chewing a toothpick. They were only waiting for the Hokage's appearing to start the first match between Naruto and Neji. The Hyuuga was eyeing Naruto with confidence while Naruto just seemed to stare at nothing in particular. The memory of his talk with Hinata was still fresh in his mind. She was saddened by what happened and even blamed herself for ruining the team. Naruto surmised saying that it was no one's fault and that they would need to go on different paths from now on. As Naruto was about to return to his house, Hinata tried to convince him not to use his meiton against her cousin. She knew firsthand what happened to people who tried fighting against it. Naruto told her not to worry about it, since he only killed villagers who attacked him for no reason and enemies of Konoha.
The jounin of Konoha were gathered in a special part of the audience as they saw the genins lined up. Kurenai and Anko were eager to see how Naruto faired against Neji, but they knew it wouldn't be much of a challenge, after training the blind shinobi for the month. Naruto knew his theory, thus he knew about the village's doujutsu and how they operate. Of course, Neji had his own people cheering for him, being his teammate Tenten and his jounin sensei Maito Gai. Five minutes later, both the Sandaime Hokage and the Kazekage appeared at the Kage Booth. The Kazekage was flanked by two jounin while the Sandaime was flanked by none other than one of the sannin Jiraiya. They all saw the brief nod given by Sarutobi to Genma, before he addressed the genin.
"Alright, it's time for the first match. Everyone besides Sarutobi Naruto and Hyuuga Neji, please leave the arena."
As instructed, only Naruto and Neji remained facing each other.
"Fate has already decided that I will win this match. There is nothing you can do that will change that." Naruto though just remained silent as he observed the Hyuuga.
"I can feel great anger and resentment coming from you, Neji. You try to maintain a focused expression, but I can see you're trying to control yourself and badly at that. This match won't take long." Naruto even crossed his arms to back up his statement. He saw Neji's eyebrows bending slightly and smirked. He was a walking bomb just waiting for the right push. "The angrier you become, the more you increase your chances of defeat at my hands." Genma looked at the blond kid, wondering if what he heard of him was real. He was friends with Tonbo as well and they talked about the blond on a couple occasions. Genma admitted being interested in seeing someone manipulating dark chakra.
When Genma authorized the battle, Neji's byakugan was already active as he threw a great load of projectile at Naruto.
The blind shinobi quickly grabbed a kunai and deflected the shuriken, while preparing his stance as Neji took the opportunity and shortened the distance for a close-range fight. For a cool and calculating genin, Neji was acting a little too rashly. Naruto could see Neji's fingers glowing with chakra and knew he was meaning to quickly close his tenketsu. Naruto quickly performed a couple of hand seals, before vanishing from his current position, at least to Neji he did. The byakugan was quick to see the genjutsu, but Naruto was counting on it lasting just enough time for him to appear by Neji's side and land a fierce kick on his stomach. He saw Neji trying to close the tenketsu on his leg, despite the pain, and performed a couple back flips.
Immediately going though hand seals, Naruto slammed both hands on the ground.
Meiton Gaikotsu Bunshin (Dark Release: Skeleton Bunshin Technique)
Like the preliminaries, Neji saw the bone structures emerging from the ground. He was prepared for this as he used his agility to go around the bone clones and attack the real one. However, as he was about to land the finishing strike, Neji had to dodge an incoming blow from one of the bunshin. He believed himself to be fast, but he couldn't escape a clone which had less chakra than the original. When Naruto fought Temari at the preliminaries, the bunshin weren't this fast. The three bunshin managed to circle Neji like they did with Kurenai, forcing him to increase his taijutsu. The bunshin were attacking him flawlessly and Neji couldn't see the real one. His byakugan, though, could see Naruto molding chakra for a technique.
Meiton Kuro Senbon (Dark Release: Dark Needle Technique)
Neji cursed his position and started spinning while releasing chakra from all his tenketsu, shocking the members of the Hyuuga Clan's main branch. Neji, a branch member, just performed one of their techniques. The needles passed by the clones, but were stopped by the Hyuuga's defense. The kaiten managed to strike the bunshin as well, before he stopped spinning, while looking at the blond with a smug look on his face, despite wiping the blood from his mouth because of a nasty bone punch. Naruto, though, remained unchanged as he just focused a single hand seal as tendrils from below ground trapped the Hyuuga. Neji snarled and tried to break free of the tendrils. Much to his dismay, though, the tendrils began to squeeze his body even more. He could see the smirk on Naruto's face.
"While you're dealing with the bunshin, I hid those tendrils below you. I just waited for you to finish your technique before controlling it once more."
Neji snarled in pain as he could feel his ribs crack under the pressure. He released chakra through every tenketsu on his body and managed to release the tendrils' pressure, but not fully.
"It's quite impressive, Neji. There is a reason they call you a genius after all. However, you are wasting your chakra by the second. I give you one more minute." The level of control needed to constantly release chakra from all tenketsu was too much for his chakra coils, so he had to let go. The tendrils came back full force and even broke two ribs. His scream echoed throughout the clearing. Neji's eyes landed on a piece of rock that was behind him and used a simple kawarimi to escape. Once more, Naruto was surprised. No one managed to escape the tendrils before and Neji did it twice. His will to fight must mean more to him than the pain of ribs breaking. The Hyuuga was holding his stomach in pain, while spitting blood to the ground. The genin was having trouble breathing because of his ribs. Despite it all, he still maintained his fate speech, much to the blond's amusement.
"I can't lose. Fate has already decided I would win." Genma had already seen enough of the battle.
"Your resilience to pain is admirable, Neji. However, it appear that fate isn't on your side. You wasted too much chakra and you can barely stand, much less defend yourself. You're finished."
The Hyuuga prodigy snarled at the proclamation as he held his stomach in a desperate attempt to ease the pain he was feeling. To this day, Neji never faced an opponent that caused such an effect to him. Naruto had owned the battle from the start. The blind shinobi could have finished with Neji at the beginning of the battle, but chose not to. Naruto was toying with him. To someone who prided himself of always being the best and praised as such, the part of him that was hurting the most was his ego. Neji's shock was indeed shared by most in the audience, save a few in the names of Kurenai and Anko, who were discreetly smirking at each other. The famous byakugan lost against a shinobi who was blind. Who would ever imagine that to be true if they didn't see it with their own two eyes. Neji's team sensei and teammate were at disbelief at how easily Neji was beaten by this Sarutobi Naruto. Despite training him for a short while, Kakashi was surprised at the level of speed that Naruto and his clones moved.
He was at a loss of what happened throughout the month that showed such radical changing. Asuma just smirked at this. His adopted nephew was something else, indeed. At the genin booth, everyone looked at Naruto's back in focus as they would undoubtedly be his adversary next. Uchiha Sasuke, though, only smirked as he saw his rival win the fight with extreme ease. If he didn't perceive a rival as stronger than him, then what would be the point of comparing himself to the blind ninja? Sasuke had one goal in life and that was to become stronger. Gaara just maintained his vicious smile upon seeing someone that could validate his existence. At the Kage's booth, both Hokage and Kazekage were in agreement regarding the boy.
"I wasn't aware of such potential in your village, Hokage-dono. Surely, you must be proud both as Hokage and as clan head." Hiruzen smirked at this.
"Naruto-kun is indeed full of potential, Kazekage-dono. There is no doubt in my mind that he'll receive the promotion." Jiraiya chose not to comment, but he didn't like what he saw in Naruto. There was something about his moves, his way of thinking that threw Jiraiya off track for a moment. He had not expected the boy to behave as vicious as someone he knew more than most in the past, his teammate Orochimaru. Somehow, Jiraiya thought that Naruto would incorporate either his biological father's geniuses or his mother's impulsive behavior. He couldn't see either one of them in the boy and it saddened him greatly. He heard from his sensei what happened to the boy throughout his life and in a way, it justified Naruto's actions today.
Naruto saw that Neji wasn't going to quit the battle, despite being thoroughly humiliated. He saw Genma approaching the center and crossed his arms waiting for the announcement.
"Winner of the first match is Sarutobi Naruto."
If Naruto was anyone else, the crowd surely would be erupting into cheers right now for his display. Even if Naruto impressed the chunnin judges, most of the audience was consisted of Konoha's population. Even if Naruto was adopted into a prestigious clan like the Sarutobi, they didn't look at him as anything more than a demon. In their minds, his actions towards others only solidified their first notions. Hiruzen Sarutobi caught on this immediately and began to understand Naruto's actions after awakening his bloodline, meiton. It saddened him greatly. No matter what the boy did or will do in the future, he will never receive the proper appreciation for his efforts. Sarutobi's concern though wasn't shared by the actual victim of the praise, or lack thereof. Naruto just wasn't seeking for the village's acceptance. Hell, if it weren't for the Anbu around, he would have killed the majority of those who attacked him in the past.
The boy was content with fulfilling his assignments and becoming stronger. He only wanted acknowledgement that came out of fear, not from empty praises.
Neji was taken to the infirmary while Naruto went back to the genin booth, while the jounin proctor called up the next fight.
"Now let's proceed with the second fight of the day between Sabaku no Gaara and Uchiha Sasuke."
As if this was the first battle of the tournament, the crowd erupted like a volcano upon hearing that the Uchiha nobility would be next. In the audience, Kurenai was looking at Anko from the corner of her eye. The usually vicious and exuberant woman was dead silent as she stared at Naruto's back as he left the arena. Seeing how little the population's opinion of him is, she couldn't help but remember having the same treatment in the past. Both of them received the village hatred because of the actions of another person or entity. Orochimaru was to Anko as Kyuubi was to Naruto. Back at the arena, Sabaku no Gaara and Uchiha Sasuke stood in front of each other, while waiting for Genma to authorize the battle. The audience was eager as some even placed a great load of money for Sasuke to win. However no one was more eager as the Kazekage as he looked at Sasuke with a vicious smirk on his face.
'Show me what you can do, Sasuke-kun. You'll be mine eventually. It's just a matter of time'.
Author Note
Well, that's it for now.
Please tell me what you think about it.
Next chapter will cover the rest of the exams and the invasion as well. Also, I have another poll for as I'm in doubt regarding what to do with the Sandaime Hokage. The presence of Jiraiya by his side changes things, but it will be enough to prevent Orochimaru from killing the old man? The poll is the following. Sarutobi lives or dies? One way or another, Tsunade will return to the village, but her position in the village will depend on the poll's results.
See ya.