Review reply:
Daemon452: Yeah it might be in a couple, after the invasion is over and Gaara is defeated. But I'm glad you liked it, and I hope you continue reviewing my updates!
Grapefruit.ninja: Well I can get them out fast because I just sit down and write, if it's something I like and I'm in the mood to write I can like 20 pages or so in a day!
Perverted-Hokage: Oh I don't plan on stopping, just keep reviewing and I'll keep writing faster!!!
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto
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All across the stadium people were talking about Naruto's victory against the Hyuuga prodigy. Mainly by the Hyuugas themselves, the majority of the conversations were how on Kami's green earth had that boy defeated Neji. But a few of them were praising Hinata for being on the team of the boy who avenged her loss at his hands a month earlier. At hearing this Hiashi smiled when he returned from his emotional talk with Neji. He hoped that maybe he could actually attempt to mend the relationships between the two houses of the Hyuuga, but now he wanted to focus on the next match.
The buzz of this tournament was the upcoming match; the finest Shinobi Suna had to offer against the last Uchiha. Most of the people who came to the finals were there to watch this fight, there was only one problem…the Uchiha wasn't there.
"Hokage-sama, Sasuke Uchiha still has not arrived at the arena yet. What should we do?" Raido, Sandaime's bodyguard asked in concern.
Sarutobi sighed, knowing how everyone was wanting to see Sasuke's match. "Well, if you don't mind Kazekage-sama I would like to move Sasuke and Gaara's match to the end of the matches."
The younger man in the same garb as Sarutobi but with blue instead of red said. "Of course Hokage-sama, after all it would be a shame to not see our Gaara at his best."
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Raido appeared next to Genma and told him the Hokage's decision. Nodding Genma turned to the audience. "Since Sasuke Uchiha is still not present, so we will be postponing his battle and jump ahead to the next one. Will Kankuro and Shino Aburame please come down to the arena."
Kankuro was panicking, his fight wasn't necessary for their plan to work. Also it would give away some of what he could do! "I-I forfeit Proctor!" He yelled.
Shino sighed; he had wanted to show what he could do. Now that he had 'won' his match he had nothing to do. It was quite irritating. "Uh, okay. Then we'll move on still, Temari and Shikamaru Nara. Get down here." Genma said irritated as well, something was up Kankuro didn't look to be someone who would give up easily. Something fishy was going on.
Temari was very excited to fight, unlike her brother. With a gust of wind she jumped out of the waiting area and floated down gracefully on her fan, riding it like some sort of sled. When she got to the ground she turned to Genma and gave him a sly smile. It was returned with an odd look from the senbon chewing Chunin. "What? I'm here for my match!"
"Well you're sure an eager one." He replied, then turning his head he looked directly at the lazy Nara still in the waiting area. "Well we might as well get started, Shikamaru get down here."
Now Shikamaru had many thoughts racing through his super powered brain. The pressing matter was the pros and cons of giving up. 'This is so troublesome, I don't want to have to fight a girl again! I should just give up…but then again. It's not right for a man to lose against a woman, not to mention Ino!'
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"Shikamaru Nara!! What are you planning on doing for your match? It is tomorrow!"
The shadow used simply ignored her and continued doing his favorite thing. The only reaction he seemed to give was a small shrug. All of a sudden a female fist connected with his gut, knocking the wind out of him. "Ino what was that for? You can be so troublesome; I don't see how Chouji can put up with you."
Being a genius and all you would think that he would refrain from saying these sorts of things. But then you would be thinking wrong, she continued to pummel him until her boyfriend managed to pull her off him for a little bit. "I swear to Kami-sama that if you give up tomorrow I'm so going to KILL you!!!"
Shikamaru then looked at Chouji who just gave him a look that said 'I think she's serious!' This caused him to shudder at the thoughts of what she would do to him. It was then that Asuma chimed in as well. "Shikamaru, this is too important for you to do as you normally do. I'm going to back Ino on this one, you give up and Ino will be the last of your worries!" His sensei said as he continues sharpening his trench knives, sending a shiver of impending death down Shikamaru's spine.
"Fine! You guys win, I promise I won't give up. But I'm not promising I'm going to win. That crazy Suna chick destroyed TenTen! Now let me get back to my clouds." ' I just know this is going to be troublesome…'
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Shikamaru sighed loudly and made his way down the stairs, opting to take the long route down. It also allowed him to come up with a strategy for this particular opponent. When he passed the door and came out into the arena he heard the very loud cheers of his father and his friends along with a very loud cheering section made up of the rest of his team along with Gai and Lee. "How troublesome." He said as he meandered over and leaned up against the wall under the waiting box.
Genma knew of the boy's lazy tendencies but this was ridiculous. Temari also was offended at his attitude and what looked like disrespect for his opponent. It was then that the majority of the crowd began throwing various things at Shikamaru and booing him. 'Look at this; they don't even care about my match! I'm just the warm up for the main event. All they care about is watching Sasuke…those jerks!' He sighed heavily.
Now Temari had enough of Shikamaru's dawdling. "So what are you going to give up?" Shikamaru only lazily looked down from his cloud gazing pose to look at her. There was some one she reminded him of but he just couldn't put his finger on it.
"Come on Shikamaru, you going to get going sometime this YEAR!?!?!" Arashi yelled, trying to prod the Nara a little bit.
Now Temari was pissed for the lack of a better word. "Well if you're not going to start this…I WILL!!" She then ran off towards Shikamaru fan drawn.
"I didn't start the match." Genma tried to say but she just ignored him. "Oh well, begin."
Shikamaru gazed at the girl running at him. "Oh yeah, I forgot…this girls a spunky on. I hate spunky." He said as he pulled out two kunai just as Temari leapt up high. Quickly she came down with her fan, using it more like a hammer than a fan.
When the dust cleared it revealed only Temari standing where Shikamaru had been. She looked up to see him standing on the kunai that he had pulled out. By sticking them into the wall he made a step he could get on to avoid her attack. "You know I really don't care if I become a Chunin, but I guess I shouldn't let myself be beaten by a female." Temari only glared at his sexist remarks. "So let's get going!"
Quickly Temari wiped out her fan and with a powerful swing blasted the spot Shikamaru was with a powerful shot of wind. But once again when the dust cleared he wasn't there. 'Ok, he's not there again. I know he uses shadows, so where did he run off to?' She scanned the arena and found a collection of trees with lots of shadows under them. She smirked when she figured it out.
Meanwhile in the trees Shikamaru was carefully watching his opponent. 'I know it isn't exactly classy to clobber a girl…but who ever said I was classy?' She then moved her fan into a defensive stance by covering most of her body with it. 'Now either she is really stupid and is going to come over here, or she's smart like I think and is going to avoid the shadows and attack from long range.'
"GO FOR IT SHIKAMARU!! USE YOUR SUPER AWESOME JUTSU ON HER AND TAKE HER DOWN!!" Ino screamed while doing various poses that disturbed everyone around her except Chouji.
"Uh Chouji-san, what happened to her?" Sakura quietly asked the muscle bound Akamichi.
Chouji just laughed. "You don't remember how she acted during the preliminaries when Shikamaru was up?" Everyone around remembered her outburst there as well and shuddered at the memory. "Well she does this because Shikamaru has no motivation so she thinks that by having enough enthusiasm for two then he'll get motivated somehow." Ino then caught what they were talking about. "But I find it incredibly thoughtful and cute." He said with a smile, making her 'awww' and cuddle close to him as they continued to watch the standoff below them. Chouji had a look of escaping death on his face and Hinata could understand.
But back down in the arena Shikamaru wasn't even paying attention. He was currently day dreaming what it would be like to actually be a cloud. 'Ah, it would be so nice to be a cloud no worries or work. Just my style, not like this it's just too troublesome. The only reason I became a Shinobi was so I could do whatever I wanted, I didn't know there was going to be so much…work.' Despite his thoughts he was actually coming up with a plan, he was looking over the battle field while he was still hearing Naruto and Arashi yelling to him to get started already. He then came up with his plan and stood up with a smile. 'Oh well a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do.'
Temari was getting more frustrated with every passing second, but it really got her when he stood up and started smiling. 'What's he thinking behind that smile? Is he mocking me!?!' "Wind Scythe Jutsu!!" She yelled as the wind blown by her fan shot at Shikamaru's position and proceeded to leave several deep gashes in the trees and cut a few branches.
She was confident she got him that time, but with all the dust in the air it made confirmation difficult. Suddenly she saw a shadow streak across the ground in front of her attempting to grab onto her. Jumping back at a fast speed she managed to escape the shadow as it slowed down and stopped going forward. It then retracted as Temari marked where it had gotten to, marking the distance that his shadow could go.
"Now I get it…almost got me! How clever you are, with that Shadow Possession Jutsu of yours you can manipulate any shadow your in. The wall's shadow for instance! But there's a limit isn't there, no matter how thin you stretch it, it will only reach so far. Isn't that right?"
Shikamaru was breathing heavily from the attack earlier. "You got me."
'Good, now that I know his limit I can stay out of it and hit him hard. If I stay out of his range…he can't touch me. 15 meters and 32 centimeters, I'll stay outside of that distance and destroy him!' She thought as she watched him carefully for something new.
Up in the waiting area Kankuro was watching his sister do what she did best, win. 'Looks like she's measured her distance, this match is as good as over!'
Back down in the arena Shikamaru was once again watching the clouds; he then lowered his gaze to the blonde girl standing 15 meters 32 centimeters and 74 millimeters away. He then squatted down, closed his eyes, and brought his hands together in the shape of an open box. He then began to think ahead and formulate a plan of perfection.
Up in the stands Kurenai was perplexed as to what Shikamaru was doing, she turned to Asuma who just 'happened' to be sitting next to her and asked him to explain what he's doing. Asuma gladly tells her about Shikamaru's amazing intelligence and his ability to strategize so far ahead of what his opponent is doing that given the right information on the enemy and motivation…Shikamaru is unbeatable.
Shikamaru's eyes snapped open and quickly focused them on his opponent. 'He's done thinking, now it begins.' Thought his sensei as he watched his favorite student actually apply himself.
"So you have some fighting spirit after all!" She said as she wiped her fan out to attack. Quickly she brought the large fan around and let loose a large blast of slicing wind. Shikamaru quickly dashed behind the tree next to him and slid off his jacket. "There's no use in hiding!" The tree he was behind was getting slashed up pretty badly.
"Come on Shikamaru!!" Ino yelled trying to motivate her team mate.
"Don't 'munch' waste your breath Ino-chan." Chouji said while eating his one bag of chips for the week. "He's going to 'munch' give up soon enough anyway; 'munch' this is too troublesome for him."
"He won't give up! Not after what I threatened to do…at least I don't think he'll give up." She said when she realized her love was right about his friend like he always had been. No one knew Shikamaru as well as Chouji did, not even his parents.
The wind then slowly died down and every one could see the Nara boy still behind the tree in hiding. "You can't hide forever!" Temari said loosing her patience. "Come out coward!!" She yelled as she launched another wind blast in the general direction of the trees. Then suddenly out of the dust came a single kunai, Temari jumped back startled as it came and stuck in the exact spot of her marking line. When she landed she had to quickly turn to the side to focus on another incoming kunai, she blocked it with her fan. But she then looked where she thought her opponent was to see a shadow a couple feet away from her.
She was confident that it wouldn't get her because of the range, but she then began to panic when it passed beyond the line only a few feet. She quickly jumped back to avoid it as it stopped and stayed at its limit. "You're pretty quick on your toes."
"Now I see what you've been up to, you weren't just hiding…you were killing time so that the Sun would get lower and give you more shadow to work with." She stated.
Shikamaru was still standing there in only his mesh shirt and he began smirking. Something was off to Temari, had she missed something? But Temari was thinking about how she could calculate her distance in retrospect to the leverage of the Sun so she didn't give that thought her entire attention. Suddenly Kankuro called out to her. "TEMARI, OVER YOUR HEAD!!!"
She looked up to see the jacket that Shikamaru had been wearing earlier flying in the air with a kunai tied to it like a parachute. She then looked down to see that shadow that it was making appear right in front of where Shikamaru's had stopped. "Oh no!!!" She then dumped back desperately as the shadow weaved to the right, almost as if it was leading her somewhere.
"I've got you now!!" Shikamaru yelled as he watched her dodge his shadow.
She was thinking about how she would now have to worry about the parachute now and any other thing that he could throw in the air. She dodged back again and again, until she and the shadow came to a stop. She had managed to avoid it by jumping far enough away and moving closer to the spot where Naruto had burst from the ground at the beginning of his match. As Shikamaru's shadow retracted back to him she gave him a proud smile for avoiding his shadow. Wiping out her fan once again she stood there in an aggressive stance while she thought of what to do next. "You learn fast, I'll give you that."
'The longer this match takes the lower the Sun gets, I have to end this fast!' She then slammed her fan into the ground effectively making a barrier for her to think behind so his shadow couldn't get her. 'Time to finish this! I'll make a Bunshin and send it out, he'll think it's me and attach to it with his shadow, and then I'd be able to hit him hard with my fan and win the match.' She then put her hands up to make a Bunshin when suddenly she couldn't move. "No!!"
Slowly she was forced to stand, mirroring Shikamaru's moves. "Shadow Possession Jutsu is a success!" There were actual cheers from the crowd more or less in shock that he actually pulled his jutsu.
"How did he do that!?!" Kankuro said in disbelief. Meanwhile everyone else was thinking pretty much the same thing.
'How did he get me with his shadow?? I couldn't reach this far!' She thought wide-eyed knowing she had been caught.
"Look behind you, I'll let you." Shikamaru said as he turned to let her see how he captured her. She turned as he did and saw his shadow coming up out of the ground from the hole Naruto burst from. "Don't you recognize that hole? It's how Naruto surprised Neji to start off his match. The hole in front of you is where he went into the ground…the two are connected."
"Now I see, I never thought of the shadows underground." She said knowing she had lost.
"That was your mistake." Up in the stands Asuma had a proud smile on his face.
Temari was still in shock at being caught by the Nara. 'I don't believe it, the whole time I thought I was keeping away from his shadow attack. But I was really walking right into it! Amazing this slacker clown outsmarted me!' She then looked at Shikamaru knowing it would soon be over.
Slowly Shikamaru walked towards her, making her walk to him as well. A couple of the Chunin watching the watch were reflecting on how earlier the people were throwing things at Shikamaru, but now they were totally captivated by him. Back on the field Shikamaru raised his hand as did Temari, who was cowering in the fact that she was helpless. "Okay that's it, I give up." This made half the people in the audience fall over in disbelief.
"WHAT!?!?!?!" Ino yelled, as did Arashi and Naruto.
"What, what did you say??" Temari finally snapped out.
"I used up all my chakra on that last Shadow Jutsu, I'm good for about another ten seconds…but that's it. Bummer, cuz I'd already planned out the next 200 moves in my head, but my chakra is running low. Anyway, if I was to win this it would only mean more work."
Genma looked at the Nara with a smile. 'This guy is something else.' "The winner is Temari." About 5 seconds later the shadow that was connecting the two genin vanished and Temari had control of her body once more.
"AAAHHH!! What a waste!! What is he thinking, doesn't he want to be a Chunin!?!?!" Ino yelled as she shook Chouji.
He was laughing though. "What can you say, it's Shikamaru."
"Do you think he's motivated enough to be a Chunin?" Kurenai asked Asuma who chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. '"Still his tactics and ingenuity is far beyond that of a typical genin. If that had been a real mission and he had been leading a squad, they would have succeeded. The battle was won the moment he caught her with his jutsu, you could say he won the battle but not the match."
Asuma then spoke up as well "His lack of motivation could be frustrating, but still not having a killer instinct can be a good thing; it means he never lets his emotions cloud his judgment, he never panics, he's able to calmly asses his tactical situation and determine the wisest course of action. He even had the wisdom to retreat if need be, he has something that most of the others lack…clarity, and that's a vital trait in a Chunin and a leader." Elsewhere several other Shinobi were reflecting on how Shikamaru had really won and that he truly had what it took to become a Chunin.
Naruto was fuming up in the waiting area; Arashi had been trying to explain Shikamaru's decision. But he was getting no where fast, Naruto finally had enough and jumped out to give Shikamaru a piece of his mind. When he got down there he started railing off on Shikamaru about giving up when he had won and being lazy. "Geeze, did you forget there are other matches??" Naruto spaced out for a second and then realized his best friend and another friend who he desperately wanted to show up still had matches.
"Come on we need to get up there fast!" Naruto said as he and Shikamaru went back up the stairs. Naruto quickly went in and wished Arashi luck with his match, and then hurried up to the stands to see someone he had been meaning to see and introduce to people.
Genma was still sort of caught up in the results for the next match, so when he heard a very deep voice next to him he was startled a bit. "So how long are we going to wait around before I fight the Himura?" A bandaged boy with a large fur on his back said in an unnaturally deep voice for a genin.
"Oh Dosu, you startled me there for a second. Well we will begin your match with Arashi when he gets down here." He then looked up to see Naruto saying something rushed to the boy. He then called up to him when Naruto had dragger Shikamaru up the stairs to the stands.
"Come on Shikamaru, let's go see everyone. Then after Arashi's match I want to introduce you all to someone." Naruto said with a grin as he pulled Shikamaru along. When they got to the top of the stairs and walked out, they quickly saw the group of their friends with the addition of Sakura and Lee.
Running over Naruto was welcomed with many congrats and two new seats for him and Shikamaru when Gai launched two more people out of the stadium to make way for the 'Youthful Champions'. They both sat down and Shikamaru was almost instantly lost in thought. But Naruto turned at started to talk with Hinata. "Hey Hinata, I have someone really important I want you to meet after Arashi's match."
"Who are y-you talking about Naruto-kun?" She asked inquisitively.
"I want to introduce you all to her after his match so be patient Hinata-chan." He said with a foxy grin.
She smiled at him but then saw that Arashi had finally made his way down to the arena. "Now that you're here we can start." Genma said motioning for the two genin to prepare themselves. "The fourth match, Dosu Kinuta vs. Arashi Himura…Begin!"
Back in the stands many people were talking about this match like they had been for Sasuke's, the Himura were a very powerful clan like the Uchiha and Arashi was the last of them like Sasuke was the last of his people. No one cared about his opponent, but they all wanted to see if he would live up to his family name. There had been a lot of rumors about him concerning his performance in his missions, they were beyond excellent. He had been second at the Academy, and had been trained by a Sannin before the finals. The fact that Naruto had been there as well was known too but not many people cared for the Kyuubi brat, but after watching his fight they were beginning to change their tune. All eyes were on Arashi, waiting for him to make a move. They wanted a good match but little was known about Dosu so an estimate couldn't be made.
After watching Shikamaru's match they were excited, despite him quitting Shikamaru had shown several Chunin qualities that were going to be used as an evaluator against Arashi. The whole stadium was on the edge of their seats as Arashi smiled widely and waved into the stands. About half of the girls that were present swooned and began screaming things to him along the lines of 'I love you', 'let me help you restore your clan', 'I want to have your babies', and many more. But then an intense killing intent radiated from a certain Hyuuga that scared all the girls to almost wetting themselves.
Naruto was laughing loudly when he saw that it was Hinata that it was coming from, and rightfully so. She looked down to see Arashi waving directly at her; shyly she waved back with a blush. This action didn't go unnoticed by the dozens of fan girls who had just found a common enemy.
Dosu just stood there watching his opponent. 'Orochimaru said to attempt to draw out his power, make him reveal just what he can do. He said he was intrigued by him and wanted to know the extent of his powers in comparison to Sasuke's. This should be fun; no one can stop my sound waves!' A maniacal grin appearing under the bandages that covered the majority of his face.
"Not attacking while my back is turned, very admirable. But you should have taken me out when you had the chance, fool." Arashi said as his eyes flashed silver for mere milliseconds, and then a strange grey aura seemed to envelope his body and recede into him leaving an even stranger film than surrounded Arashi a centimeter away from his skin. Sandaime raised an eyebrow to this, so did the Jonin present; they all knew what it was. Normally it was used for rooms and such, they had never seen it condensed to this degree, the judges for the finals jotted this information down quickly so as not to miss anything.
"What did you just do?" Dosu asked slightly hesitant to find out.
Arashi just laughed when he saw Dosu take a tiny step back. "Now…" Suddenly a black and green blur was seen colliding with the stationary Dosu, sending him flying back. Luckily Dosu flipped over in midair and managed to land on a shaky knee. "…the fun begins." He said with a wolf grin.
The judges were once again furiously scribbling his speed down; he had been faster than Naruto had been when he powered up earlier! He was barely visible as a blur to the Shinobi, but he had absolutely disappeared to most of the spectators. In the stands Naruto was smirking. "Show-off." He said under his breath, but most of those around him heard it anyway. At least Lee and Gai did, making sure to pay more attention to him now. His speeds were at the level of Lee's without his leg weights; Naruto saw their looks of awe and wondered what they would think if they knew he was still wearing 400 pounds of extra weight!
Dosu got up and chuckled himself. "It looks like I have no chance keeping up with you, you're just too fast." He then raised his arm device. "But my sound is still faster!" He flicked it and it began to ring in an odd sound, using his chakra Dosu maneuvered the sound waves straight towards Arashi's ears. He knew the match was his when his sound waves hit Arashi, but then the most unexpected thing to Dosu happened.
When he saw his chakra and sound smash into Arashi's head it simply bounced off harmlessly. It had been completely ineffective!! "H-How did it not work!?! That's not possible!!"
"Huh? Oh sorry I forgot to tell you about that little thing I did earlier. I can't hear you right now or anything for that matter. What I did was a Sound Barrier Jutsu; I constructed it to form around my body and to repel any sound coming to me. So basically I can only hear whatever is inside my barrier, thus making all your silly sound attacks useless!" A wide smile crossing his face as he reached up and bit his thumb just enough to draw blood.
Everyone was still reeling from Arashi's proclamation that he had made Dosu useless. The Chunin around were very impressed, getting information on your enemy and using it to formulate a plan that makes the enemy useless is a very hard thing to do. To turn an enemy's strength against them and make it easier to take them down. But now from the action he did it looked like he was about to do a summoning, a skill that should be far beyond a Genin even most Chunin depending on the summon.
Arashi then decided to do the hand signs this time, not wanting to flaunt his kekkei genkai or to even alert people to it. He already thought that when he used it for the Sound Barrier Jutsu that he shouldn't have, but it looked too cool not to. He then concentrated on the right amount of chakra needed to summon who he needed. "Summoning Jutsu!!" He said as he slammed his hand onto the ground. As the smoke cleared it revealed a full grown silver wolf standing in ready attack position, Ragna was ready to fight.
Sandaime nearly choked on his pipe when he saw that it was a wolf that Arashi summoned. 'How is it possible that he can summon them!? Jiraiya told me he though he would be able to do it, but I had my doubts! Arashi, you never cease to amaze us.'
Any of the Shinobi who had learned anything about summoning all had heard of the Wolf summons. They were the hardest summons to gain, they were very picky on who they allowed to summon them. To believe that this genin had been viewed as worthy to summon them was basically verification that he was Chunin material, the judges pencils were flying once again.
"HOW THE HELL CAN HE SUMMON WOLVES!!??!?! HE'S ONLY A GENIN!!!!" Kotetsu Hagane yelled, unable to hold his surprise in.
Probably the most surprised was the Kazekage, he also had heard of the wolf summons and knew everything that was required to be able to attain their acceptance. His eyes widened in anticipation to see how well he would work with the wolf, summoning is one thing but to be able to fight well with one truly would be an amazing feat.
The stands were a ruckus with yells of astonishment, questions, and awe. For those who didn't know the information behind the Wolf summons they were filled in very quickly. Meanwhile in the arena Dosu was wondering what the commotion was all about in the stands, but he was also worrying about this battle. He already knew he would lose, there was no way he could keep up with Arashi and his sound attacks were useless against him. But possible he could use the sound against the wolf and get Arashi to surrender.
After a minute or so Arashi walked over to Ragna and patter his head. "Alright Ragna, you know that plan." Arashi then did a hand sign and touched Ragna, the same film then appeared around Ragna. Dosu's plans had been crushed, now he just needed to maybe land a strong hit against one of them. "You ready for this Dosu!? I'm going to show you an improvement on a jutsu I saw once!"
Everyone in the stands was wondering what he was talking about except for one person who still held a small resentment for the Himura. Kiba's eyes widened when he first saw the wolf, being an Inuzuka his clan probably knew the most about them without actually signing the contract. In fact many Inuzuka had tried to sign it but were all rejected, but now that he saw Arashi had been accepted a secret rage started to build up inside him. Also if he was correct in his assumption then he would be even madder at the boy. But on the other hand, if he had been able to learn that move by just watching it even Kiba couldn't deny his skills. But after all Kiba didn't know that Arashi had control of the Sharingan so to copy his move during his match with Naruto was a piece of cake for him.
Arashi and Ragna spread out and were a little while away from the Sound Ninja. They then began charging at him, throwing his arms to the side Arashi confirmed Kiba's suspicions. "Okami Gatsuuga!!" He yelled as he spun his body at an incredible rate, making a black vortex with hints of green. While Ragna made a glimmering silver vortex, they both shot at Dosu with a speed that vastly surpassed Kiba's Gatsuuga. As Kiba watched the only thing he could think about was 'So this is the power of the Wolves.'
Dosu somehow managed to dodge Ragna as he shot past him in a flash of silver, but when he saw Arashi coming at him he knew he couldn't move out of the way fast enough, she he tried to defend against it. He raise up his metallic arm device to attempt to block his incoming attack, what happened next shocked everyone. When Arashi made contact with Dosu's arm, the device shattered on impact. Spraying metal everywhere as Arashi drilled into Dosu's actual arm, he then was quickly hit hard in the back by Ragna as he circled around. Screaming in pain he fell to the ground when the two vortexes shot back and dispersed, revealing Arashi glimmering in the sunlight with a large smile on his face.
Genma raced over to Dosu to see that he was bleeding profusely from his arm and was suffering from many broken ribs from where Ragna hit him. Also it looked like the bones in his arms had been shattered several times from the force of Arashi's Okami Gatsuuga. "The winner is Arashi Himura!"
The stands erupted in cheers, everyone was applauding for him. Arashi then undid his Sound Barrier and welcomed the cheers with smiles. He looked over to see Ragna taking it in as well. "He you're not the one they're cheering for!" Ragna looked over and Arashi could have sworn he heard a laugh come from his newest friend. He then made a bow and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"That was some show you put on Arashi, you think they bought it? You held back enough but do you think they saw enough to make you Chunin?"
'Did you hear them when they saw Ragna? Yeah, I put enough planning and strategy to show them what I'm capable of. I showed off enough speed and power to do the same as well. Plus I showed teamwork when I worked with Ragna as well. But whatever, you and I need to have a talk later concerning Naruto!' Arashi then felt Yondaime cut the connection, so he decided to go up and see everyone and watch Sasuke's match. Plus that Gaara guy interested him for some reason.
Arashi made his way quickly up the stairs but a bout half way up he smelled something funny. When he took the time to smell, he knew the smell all too well…blood. He turned to look down a dark hallway, and then Gaara emerged from out of the darkness with the same bloodlust on his face that Arashi had seen in his fight with Lee. After Gaara had passes the shocked Arashi and had gone out into the arena, Arashi went in to see what had happened. He was shocked to find two grass ninja dead and crushed with sand and blood all over the place. 'H-How could just kill like that and be unfazed!?!?!'
"Hmmm, it's like I thought. He's like you and Naruto." This quickly caught Arashi's attention. "Seeing how he has control over sand, I would bet that he had Shukaku the Sand spirit sealed inside of him. Shukaku is the one-tailed Biju, a Tanuki that was sealed inside a tea kettle. This could get very dangerous."
Arashi was startled to have found another person just like Naruto and him, but he also wanted to go see his friends. So he tried to push what had just happened to the back of his mind, he then rushed off to see his friends and try to forget what he just saw.
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"Sasuke, come on we're going to be late!" Kakashi said annoyingly at the boy sitting in front of him who was currently struggling to get the ridiculous wrappings on his left arm and legs.
"Shut up Kakashi, this is something that has to be perfect. I need to look like a badass! My last outfit was just a little too weird with those white things on my arms, I mean what where those anyway? I have no idea!" He said as he was frantically getting the black straps 'just right'.
"Well hurry up, if we're not there soon you could get disqualified. Plus, you wouldn't want Naruto to become a Chunin and not you I bet." Sasuke's face light up at the suggestion that Naruto would have rank over him.
"No! That dobe won't ever be better than me, I'll show him who the better out of us is!" He said letting go of the wraps, making them fall off of his arm. "DAMN!! Now I have to do it again!"
Kakashi simply shook his head at the boy. 'This boy is an idiot! Plus his new outfit looks just as bad as his old one if not worse! It looks like something Anko might wear on my birthday.' The silver haired ninja thought as a blush washed over his face and he let a small perverted giggle escape his lips.
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"Hokage-sama, we can't wait any longer for Sasuke and Kakashi-san. He should be disqualified so we can move on with the matches." Raido said into the Hokage's ear.
Sandaime sighed. "I guess you're right, we've kept these good people waiting long enough."
"Hokage-sama, I suggest that you give them 10 more minutes." The Kazekage said calmly. "Surely we can give them another 10 minutes, after all this is what the crowd has been waiting for. After waiting this long already then what is another 10 minutes to them?"
Sarutobi thought about the Kazekage's words for a minute then told Raido that he agreed with him, and to tell Genma about the change again. With a bow Raido zipped away and next to Genma, after explaining the decision he zipped away once more. The Proctor then cleared his throat and spoke to the people. "Everyone, Hokage-sama has decided to allow Sasuke 10 more minutes in order for him to show up. If he has not by that time, we will move on with the matches!" Everyone murmured at this news but otherwise accepted it.
It was then that Arashi showed up to where his friends were. "Hey Hina-chan!" He said as he plopped down in the seat next to her, then he noticed that Naruto was missing for some reason. "Hey guys, how's it going?" They all looked at him like he was on fire; they were all still amazed at how he had done in his match. "What? Do I have something on my face??" He said trying to snap them out of their stupor.
Hinata was the first one to speak up. "Y-You did w-wonderfully Arashi-kun! I didn't know you could d-do the Gatsuuga." Arashi simply pointed to his eyes telling Hinata how he had done it. "Oh, c-congratulations on w-winning. I h-hope you become a Chunin."
"Thanks Hina-chan, that means a lot coming from you!" He said as he placed his hand on her shoulder. She blushed heavily, Ino and Sakura simple awwwed at them and he could have sworn he heard a low growl. "But it really isn't just a Gatsuuga, it's an Okami Gatsuuga there is a big difference in speed and power. Anou, where is Naruto?"
"He said he had to get someone for us to meet, someone important." Chouji said while Ino sat cozy and snug against him with his arm around her.
Arashi was then basically ambushed by the two Green Beasts of Konoha. "Yosh! Arashi-kun, Gai-sensei and I would be honored if your youthful self would train with us after the finals are over!" Lee said as he and his Sensei were practically begging him to come and train with them.
Arashi knew that after seeing him move the way he did in his match that Lee wanted to test himself against him. But he was a little hesitant at the idea that he might actually spar against Gai. "It would be my honor Lee-san, actually after seeing your fight against Gaara I have wanted to spar with you myself!"
"YOSH! The power of youth brings our minds to the same conclusion!!!" Now Arashi for one had no idea why Lee always kept blabbering on about the power of youth but to say that it affected him was a bold move indeed.
"Yes Arashi-san, I would love to see whose student is truly better. Mine or Kakashi's!" Gai said with a 'ping' of his teeth. Arashi always shuddered when he did that, it just creped him out for some reason.
They had been sitting there trying to tell Sakura that Sasuke would make in on time and wouldn't be disqualified. 'He has about five minutes so he better hurry up.' Thought Ino while comforting her friend.
It was then that Naruto showed up with a gigantic smile on his face. Everyone turned to see him in very high spirits, even for Naruto. It was then that they saw a girl their age with red hair and a nice outfit standing behind Naruto sort of shyly. "He guys! I want you to meet someone, this is Sasame Fuma…" She slid out from behind Naruto and gave them all a small wave with one had, then everyone noticed that her other hand was wrapped around Naruto's. "…My girlfriend!"
Everyone's jaw fell to the floor, Naruto have a girlfriend!?!?! "So this is who you wouldn't tell Ero-sennin and I about that night huh?" Arashi asked, getting a nod from the blonde. "Well hello Sasame-san, I'm..."
"Arashi Himura, I know. And you're Hinata Hyuuga, and Ino Yamanaka, Chouji Akamichi, and Shikamaru Nara. Naruto-kun tells me all about you when we actually get time together. I'm sorry; I don't know the rest of you." She said a little shyly, she absolutly was no Hinata in the shyness department. Only at first, she apparently warms up rather quickly to new people.
"Oh, this is Lee-san, Gai-sensei, and that's Sakura-chan." Naruto said, with another wide grin.
Ino was light up like a light, a new couple to her was standing in front of her and she wanted to know everything. "So Naruto, tell us about how you guys got together!" Sakura seemed to want to know as well, as did Hinata. She had been wondering who it was that Naruto had refused to talk about that one night, she figured she wasn't from Konoha and wanted to know about her as well.
"Well…" Naruto started off.
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(Almost 3 years ago)
It was the festival celebrating the defeat of the Kyuubi by Yondaime and many people were there from neighboring countries and villages. Naruto had decided that he wanted to try and go to it. Naruto had left Arashi to whatever it was that he did on that day, they both tended to do their own thing that day. So Naruto was walking down the road to go to the festival when he saw a rather large family go walking by, in it there were several children around his age who were playing together as they walked. But there was a girl his age that would get pushed out whenever she tried to play with them.
Naruto was curious about this so he followed them for a little bit, eventually the girl was pushed down and the kids left her where she was, she looked really sad. A look Naruto knew all to well, so he went over to her. "Those kids were being pretty mean to you, do you want to go play with me? My name is Naruto Uzumaki!"
She got up and looked into his blue eyes as he looked into her brown ones. Both of them blushed slightly from it. "I'm Sasame Fuma, those kids are my cousins. They don't really like me because I'm from the side of the family that left our clan to go to a new village." Before they knew it they were both sitting on a secluded bench on the outside of the festival.
"So you're from the Land of Rice Fields?" Naruto asked after they had talked for a bit.
"Yes, we're pretty much the only Shinobi clan in the country so we try to keep relations with Konoha so if we needed help we could get it."
"Hey, I'm going to be a Shinobi myself! I'm already in the Academy and I'll be a genin in about 2 years! But after that I'm going to be the Hokage!!"
Sasame was in awe of Naruto, normally when someone makes a radical dream like that most people laugh at them. But for some reason Sasame saw in his eyes that he just might become the Hokage. "I bet you will be, Naruto…kun" She said with a blush on her face.
"Thanks Sasame-chan!" She nearly fainted when she heard him call her that. "Anou, I really don't want to but it's getting kind of late. Maybe we should look for your family?"
Even though Sasame wanted to stay thee with Naruto she knew they would be worried as she gave in and went off to look for them. After a little bit they saw her guardian Hanzaki and she knew she had to go. "N-Naruto-kun, I have a great time with you today. This is the best festival I've been to yet! Anou…if you can do you think we could do it again next year?"
"Of course!! I'd love to Sasame-chan!" He said with a huge grin that she though made him look adorable. "But is there any other time you come to Konoha?"
She thought about it and realized that they go to the Chunin exams twice a year when they are held. "Yeah we come here to watch the Chunin Exams twice a year; we come the day before the final competition. It's held each August and February, I'm sure you'll hear about when the actual day is. Is there any where we should meet at?"
Naruto thought for a moment. "Ah! Yeah back at the bench! Do you remember where it was?" Sasame nodded then said good bye until they saw each other again.
When she ran up to Hanzaki he questioned her as to where she had been, she said. "I made a new friend and I like him a lot!" She said with a smile, something Hanzaki hadn't seen on her face in quite some time.
(2 1/2years later)
Their friendship had grown tremendously over the two years. Whenever Sasame was in town they would meet at the bench then go up on top of the Hokage Monument and chat and stuff. They talked about their lives, what they liked, their friends, and they would occasionally spar a little. Naruto was a month away from the genin exam and was telling Sasame all about school and his friends, especially Arashi and Hinata. But the entire time they were talking it seemed like Naruto had something on his mind.
They had gotten to know each other so well that they could easily tell certain things about one another. "Naruto-kun, I know you have something on your mind. Do you want to talk about it?"
He gulped loudly; usually Naruto had an easy time talking about his feelings. But the thing he wanted to ask just wouldn't come out. He had tried the last time she was here but failed, but he was determined to do it this time. "Yeah…actually it's kind of important Sasame-chan." Sasame moved a little closer to her friend to make it easier to hear him. "We've know each other for over 2 years and we have such a great time with each other. I like you, a lot and I didn't get to ask this last time you were here because I chickened out, but I need to do it now. I promised myself I'd do it."
'He couldn't possibly…no, that only happens in my dreams back home when I miss him!' She though while clinging to every word her secret crush said.
"Well what I guess I'm trying to say is that I really like you…and…'gulp' I was wondering…if you'd…be my girlfriend?" She asked very nervously and un-Naruto like.
When he asked her she sort of went into shock, her dreams had come true. Maybe not the exact words of 'I love you Sasame-chan' but it was in the right direction. She could feel tears of joy welling up in her eyes. He jumped onto Naruto in a big hug. "Of course I will Naruto-kun; I've wanted you to ask me that for a year now!"
For Naruto who had been rejected most of his life except by his close friends hadn't expected this, maybe an 'I'll think about it' but not this. He could feel his own tears of joy rolling down his cheeks. Sasame felt a couple land on her head and looked up at him. "Why are you crying Naruto-kun?"
He didn't answer at first; he just leaned his head down slowly and gently touched his lips to her's. After a second or two he pulled back and said. "I've never been happier in my entire life Sasame-chan, that's why." She then pulled him in closer for another kiss; they had taken their first steps down their own road of happiness.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"And then she had to go the next day. I knew I would be a Shinobi the next time she was here; I never dreamed she would be watching my own match!" He said rubbing his neck with a grin. Sasame reached over and gave him a small kiss on the cheek after he finished his story. The were all listening intently because they thought it was just so sweet and romantic. But Arashi was also listening mainly because it was his best friend, but also for anything he might do when he tells Hinata.
It was then that Sakura remembered the 10 minutes till Sasuke would be disqualified. "On no! Sasuke-kun only has 30 seconds before he's disqualified!!" Naruto and Arashi then thought that is they could distract Genma for a minute or two that he could get there.
Quickly they dashed over and jumped out of the stands, landing next to Genma. "Sorry boys, but you're not stopping me if you think that's what you're doing." He then looked down at his watch. "It's time." He raised his voice so everyone could hear. "The time limit has expired; I am calling this match…"
It was then that Naruto and Arashi noticed several leaves floating gracefully down to a spot next to them making both of them smile. Then in a flash of leaves and wind Kakashi and Sasuke materialized in front of them. "Yo." Kakashi said as he say his two students.
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Yeah, once again I think I went over board with the chapter, I was thinking all the matches but I wrote more than I expected.
I hope you all liked what I did with Sasame and with Arashi's fight. As always, I would love many reviews!! Next chapter should be out in a day or two, less if you review!!
So review or I'll hot you with an Okami Gatsuuga!!!