Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece. If I did this chapter wouldn't be out as quickly as it did.
Cedric: Oh shut up!
Ikō: Awww someone cranky that he looks like Sakura now?
Cedric: Shut your trap before I slice you to pieces.
Skillet: Please don't fight you two. Your subplot is almost over so the readers won't see you till next arc. Do you really want them to remember you like this?
Cedric: You know I could care less about what mortals think about me. Especially since their the main reason my story got canned after this one rose to popularity.
Ikō: Well I for one, will miss making chapterly appearances in this story. So I guess I'll see you all in Arc 2!
Cedric: Kissass.
Ikō: You wanna go Pinkie?!
Skillet: Cut to the next chapter before these two imbeciles kill each other
Arc 1: Tests of Honor
Chapter 13: The Poison of a Vengeful Snake
"You see something happened…when you were gone Naruto-kun." Hinata nervously stuttered, incredibly worried about the bad news she was about to tell the man she loved.
"What, what happened? Did that Sasuke-teme pull anything?"
Kotetsu stood up and nodded to Hinata "Don't worry Hinata, you shouldn't trouble yourself by telling him this. I was there, so I should bear that burden."
"What are you people talking about? Can you just explain what happened to Iruka-Sensei already?"
"Naruto-San, I'm so sorry to tell you this. Last night Iruka was attacked by someone about your age. He was stabbed multiple times in the abdomen, and had his left leg completely severed."
It was at this point Kiba stepped up "Ok we got that, but is he okay?"
"He's going to live if that's what your saying. But the Civillian Council cut the treatment from the schedule, until this morning. But it was too late. I know this is hard for you all to hear, but Iruka's days as a shinobi are over."
Everything went dead silent after that. Though it was clear that everyone on the team was heartbroken, sans Jiraiya who just saddened for the loss, all eyes were on Naruto. He dropped to his knees, and soundly choking up.
Seeing this Hinata came close, but before she could Naruto looked up to the sky, with a look of rage on his tear soaked face "I refuse to accept this! You told me I could surpass you damn it! That's what you wanted. That was your dream, right? Why are you giving up so easily! I can't surpass you if your not a shinobi anymore!"
"Naruto, please calm down!" Shino tried to console his distraught comrade.
"You can't those bastards who did this to you win! Damnit Iruka-Sensei!"
"My eternal rival, I'm sorry"
By this point Naruto could only cry out in misery towards the sky.
"DDDDAAAAAAAMMMMMMNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT"
Kakashi ran down the staircases of Kûmén Temple. He didn't care how dare he had to run, or how tired he got. The Tobetsku Jonnin had a one track mind on getting to the finals before it was too late. But he stopped dead in his tracks when he made it to the first level of torture.
It was a giant boiling pool, with several mines floating on top of the water. The tormentors of the prisoners their wore skin tight body covering swimsuits and thick goggles, and held red hot tridents.
"So Copycat Ninja, you've finally escaped Danzō's clutches. It's a good thing Konoha has no other political prisoners right now, otherwise we wouldn't be able to play with you!"
"I don't have time for this. Fighting all of these guys at once would take to much time. I hope that this works"
Kakashi focused his anger and energy throughout his body hoping it would cause his devil fruit to react. He managed to turn completely into the same red lightning as before, and dived into the pool, electrocuting everyone in it. Besides him of course.
He reappeared on the other side of the pool and began running down the staircase again. But was incredibly surprised when he was sliced in half by a large blast of wind. However he survived due to his newfound logia powers.
The copycat ninja looked down to a powerful wind lacrima at the bottom. He focused more energy into is body, attempting to transport himself to the other side of the room once again. But this time he was knocked away about midway.
"Welcome to the second level of the Kûmèn Temple Hatake. You've done well to make it this far, but I'm afraid that you won't get past me!" The assaulter who wore a jumpsuit with bat like wings sewn in, said as he glided around the room.
Kakashi gave him a look of irritation, before throwing a Lightuning bolt of his own at the flying Root member, knocking him out of the sky and into the wind lacrima below, shattering it completely,
There was barely anytime for Kakashi to zap himself up to the ledge, and pull up to the exit before the loss of wind momentum sent him crashing to the ground. Kakashi ran further down, and stopped when he saw a giant cannon labeled Cerberus in front of him.
"Crap, how could I have forgotten about the Cerberus cannon!?" He thought to himself as the chakra weapon fired upon him with jumbo sized cannon balls. He could tell from their presence that they were laced with Armor Haki, so one blow would be the end of him.
So naturally, he was caught completly off guard when something grabbed him from behind. That soemthing of course was a metal claw, that was also laced with Haki.
Though he tried to break free from the claw with brute strength alone, the claw wouldn't budge as it put him right in front of the mouth of the cannon. After a few minutes of horrible anxiety, the cannon fired out a massive laser, which shot a hole straight through Kakashi's chest, before setting down what the claw thought was his corpse.
Luckliy for Kakashi his Devil Fruit power completely prevented him from getting hurt. With the time he had left Kakashi ran to the mouth of the cannon, and held it open. He could only manage to hold it open for a few seconds, but that was all he needed to sneak in as a lightning bolt, and release a large amount of electricity to completely destroy the cannon from the inside.
"This is starting to get on my nerves. If I keep having to waste my time and energy on this I'll never make it to the finals in time!" Kakashi then entered the massive hole left behind, hoping he could make it through the torture levels of the tower with more ease then before.
Iruka laid down in his dark hospital room, staring at the stump that used to be his leg. All he could think about was how he fell for such a simple trick. He was ashamed of himself, and was very confused. Being a shinobi was so intertwined with his life, he didn't know what he was going to do now that he could no longer pursue that goal.
He was distracted from his thoughts when he heard the door to his room open "Daddy are you ok" Did the bad guy hurt you bad."
"Of course I am Naifū. I just need a new leg is all."
"Well don't worry daddy cause I'll find the bad guy who beat you up, and I'm gonna beat the crap out of him, cause I'm gonna be an awesome ninja like you and mommy!"
Anko then put her daughter up on her shoulder and reassured her "Sorry kiddo. But I've got dibs on the brat who did this. But don't worry he will go down. Just as soon as an old friend of me and your father shows up."
"You wanted to see men Anko?" Naruto asked as he walked in.
"Simple, I'm guessing you and the rest of your buddies want to get back it whoever did this as much as I do. So I say we work together to find the bastard and kill him, before he tries something like this again! With my knowledge of interrogation, your incredible fighting prowess, and both of our sexy bods, there's no way he'll be able to get the jump on us!"
Naruto stared at her for a moment, as she held her hand out. He gave her a nod before shaking her hand "We better get this done tonight Anko. Don't forget I have the finals tomorrow."
The two vengeful shinobi shook hands as the bystanders looked on. While Naifū looked curious at what was going on, Iruka just looked flat out terrified.
'I hope Hokage-Sama is ready cause two of the craziest shinobi in Konoha are pissed off and ready to cause a whole lot of trouble'
"Um daddy. Who's the weirdo that's talking to mommy?"
"He's an old student I taught six years ago and a very close friend of mine. The Cinderface, Roronoa Naruto! He's going to help your mother track down the bad guy!"
Naifū looked at Naruto for a couple seconds before pointing at him "So he's Batman!"
"Well done you figured it out." Naruto said while clapping sarcastically.
"Well if we're done here we've got work to do gaki. Let's move out!"
For their first course of action Naruto and Anko began searching around the transponder snail booth where he was attacked "Alright gaki, your good at tracking people can you find anything around here that might hint towards our mystery man's identity!"
Naruto unsheathed Kurama around the crime scene as if doing a scan for DNA "There's nothing here that we could actually use to find him, just ink. Whoever he is, this guy is really good at covering his tracks. Sounds like a Root member to me."
"We don't know. It could have easily been one of the Akatsuki."
"Not really. I've fought them before, and the only ones strong enough to do this kind of damage to Iruka are the chairman, and most of them are in their mid 20's. If the guy who did this was my age, then they'd be in their late teens. So it's either a Root ANBU or the Uchiha-teme, in which case the Council will just cover his ass."
"As much as I want to pin it on that little bastard, he doesn't match the description Iruka gave us. But then again he could have used a transformation jutsu!"
"Either way we'll need some more evidence to actually get a good lead on him. I think we should get some eyewitness reports." Naruto regretted that statement when he realized that there was only one store that was open this late. One of the one's that always kicked him out.
The pair of maelstrom bringing shinobi walked into the shop, albeit reluctantly, while the shopkeeper glared at the swordsman intensely "I thought I told you your kind didn't belong here demon!"
"I'm not here to buy anything dumbass. Me and Anko are investigating the attempted murder of ex-shinobi and Academy teacher Iruka Umino that took place last night, and your the only one who's shop is open long to have actually seen the attack. So tell me everything you know about this guy. What kind of jutsu he used, what was his weapon of choice. Don't bother telling me what he looked like though. Iruka already gave us that description."
"I think it's clear that there's only one person in this village who'd stoop that low. You! So stop playing innocent demon, we all know you tried to murder that man so stop playing innocent and fess up!" The shopkeeper slandered the swordsman in front of him.
Killing intent leaked out at first, but Naruto regained his cool, and argued back "I'd hate to disappoint you idiot, but I have an alibi. I was on a mission to a town called Īsuki Pīku, so I couldn't have committed the murder since I wasn't even town!"
"Well, maybe I did see something, but I can't really remember anything about it. Maybe the Snake-Whore showing me a bit more of her chest will refresh my memory!"
Directly after he said that, the man's expression turned from perverse to scared senseless when he found his sleeve pinned to the counter by the Yamakawa-ō. But it wasn't Naruto's doing as you might expect but Anko.
"How dare you act so disgraceful towards a married woman you bastard. We were going to just ask you what you saw and move on with that information. But since you've decided to give us trouble we'll do it the fun way!"
"You can't do anything to me Snake-Whore. I have the information you need remember!"
"We can work around it if we need to. Now this is the least dangerous of my friend's swords. The Shodai Kitetsu he has at his side is cursed to kill. And his third one Kurama has the spirit and chakra of the Kyuubi no Kitsune sealed inside it's blade."
Anko then let a snake come from her snake and then began explaining the interegation again "This is Kanchome. She'll be watching your movements to tell if your lying to me. For every question you don't answer honestly another sword goes in before the Kyuubi gets to feed on your soul!"
"ALRIGHT! I'LL TALK! I'LL TALK! BEFORE IRUKA SHOWED UP THERE WAS DARK HAIRED GAKI IN AN ANBU UNIFORM WHO DREW A COPY OF HIMSELF. THEN WHEN IRUKA SHOWED UP HE AND THE COPY HID UNTIL HE WAS INSIDE THE BOOTH TO SEND THE COPY OUT AND HIDE BEHIND THE PHONE BOOTH! ONCE IRUKA HAD KILLED THE COPY HE CAME AND ATTACKED HIM WITH A TANTO! THAT'S WHEN KOTETSU AND IZUMO CHASED HIM OFF!"
"Anything else teme?"
"THAT'S ALL I KNOW I SWEAR! PLEASE JUST LET ME GO!"
Naruto pulled the Yamakawa-ō from his shirt and turned to his partner "Well if that's all we know, the next we should do is go to Jiji-Sama and find someone that fits his profile."
Naruto then turned to a crimson red jacket on one of the racks, that was similar to the blue one that Jiraiya had destroyed "I like this jacket, I'm taking it."
Both stepped out of the store and began heading toward the capital building but not before Anko gave something she very rarely gave. A compliment.
"Nice job of making that pervert piss himself back there! Maybe after you beat the shit out of Neji tomorrow you could become the head of the interregation unit with me. I'm sure Ibiki would be happy about that legacy!"
"I'm leaving my options open. By the way how'd you know I sealed the Kyuubi into the Kurama, or how the Shodai Kitetsu was cursed? I don't that recall telling you that?"
"Oh you mean back there? I was just bluffing!"
Up in the capital building of Konoha, Sarutobi was in his office, once again battling his arch enemy. Paperwork. Though he kept a stoic expression, he was secretly begging inside for soemthing to break the boredom, at least till the Chunin Exams began the next day.
The old man got his wish, when the door to his office was blown off of its hinges for the third time in a month, flying out the window, where it flew into the stands of a nearby salesman.
"My cabbages!"
It didn't surprise him in the slightest to see that Naruto and Anko were on the other side of the carnage "Honestly Naruto, how am I supposed to get this village into a better state, if I have to blow part of the fund on a new door everytime you come to visit me?"
"I don't know, maybe grow a pair and don't let those pricks on the Council push you around."
"I'm well aware of how corrupt the Civilian Council is Naruto. Needless to say there will be a day when the Will of Fire will ignite again, and the Hokage will no longer be a figurehead. I just hope I'll live to see that day. Now let's cut to the chase, why are you two here?"
"We think we have a solid amount of info on the guy who killed my hubby. All we need is a profile on him and we'll have everything we need to bring him down!" Anko explained the situation.
"Alright then. I'll need the information you've gathered and I can find his profile."
Naruto began recalling once he got the cue "He's about my age, with short straight blac hair, pale skin in a black and red ANBU uniform. He uses a tantō as a weapon, and uses chakra paper and fuinjutsu to bring his drawings to life."
"If that's all the information you have on him, just give a moment to find a file that matches." The old man walked up to the sole cabinet, and focused chakra into his hand.
"Cabinet no Jutsu! Open to the file I'm thinking of!"
The filing cabinet slingshot open along with its contents, but it wasn't the file containing the matching information as the perpetrator. But multiple volumes of the famed Icha Icha series, much to Naruto's shock, Anko's amusement, and to the embaressment of the Sandaime.
"Wrong Cabinet!"
The Sandaime tried again but this time when it shot open, it revealed a single file that read on the tab and inside the folder.
Sai Tesaki
Rank: ANBU
Hair: Black
Eye: Onyx
Height: 172 cm
Weight: 53 kg
Blood Type: A
Fighting Style: Ink
Weapon: Tantō
"Well it looks like we've found our man! Now all you have to do is figure just how your going to find him. ANBU are typically very hard to track." Sarutobi said when he handed them the file.
As they walked out Naruto read through the file, before snapping it shut at its spine "So he's one of Danzō's lackeys. I really shouldn't be surprised."
"Well look at this way gaki, now we can easily catch him and send him to hell. Or Heaven depending on if Bandages turned him into a vegetable or not."
"Tell me. How are we going to catch him when we have no idea of his whereabouts?" Naruto asked.
"Simple. We both know what a persistent mule Danzō is. How else do you think he keeps such a grip on this hole's government? So when he realizes that Sai didn't finish the job he'll send him back. That's when we take him out! All you have to do, is use that big brain of yours to come up with a plan!"
Naruto nodded as he scratched his head, developing a plan to draw Sai into their trap.
Kakashi had kept running for hours. So far the levels after the skirmish with the Cerberus cannon, ranged from large crevices of muck, large crushing weights, an even larger sea of sharks and torturers, blazing tombs, a stereotypical medical torture room, and even being frozen in ice.
But eventually he had used his new powers to make it to the tournament room, where the preliminaries took place "Alright your almost there Kakashi. Just a little more and you'll be there in no time!"
"So you made it this far. Impressive, but that's why I've been sent here to stop you before you reach Fū."
He turned around to see that a man with messy black hair, a jet black jumpsuit and small lenses that made his eyes invisible.
"Torune Aburame. From what I can tell you were one of the strongest, from a young age, until Danzō incorporated you into his program, Root. But unlike your parter Fū, you wouldn't cooperate with what he planned, so he had your personality wiped clean to become a human weapon."
"That is correct Kakashi Hatake. And I am afraid that while I personally have nothing against you, it is my mission to completley eliminate you in order to keep the secrecy of the Santatsu Foundation in check." Torune explained to his new opponent.
In immediate response, Kakashi did multiple handsigns and unleashed a massive ball of fire on the Aburame who swiftly evaded and unleashed a massive wave of poisonous gas in response.
"Poison Sphere Jutsu"
"Wind Style: Gale Palm"
The poison sphere that flowed out of his enemy's sleeved. Torune let his kikachū out in order to fight for him. Kakashi threw a hound shaped lighting bolt out from his palm, though from a jutsu not from his Devil Fruit.
"Lightning Style: Tracking Fang Beast"
Both Torune and the bugs instinctivly avoided the attack before Torune cloned himself and the bugs, creating multiple swarms of bugs for Kakashi to fight. Exhausted and irritated by this point, Kakashi decided to end the fight quickly by charging up one of his most powerful attacks.
"Lightning Cutter"
He swung the attach around the room, which either killed or scared away the bugs surrounding him. Once there was a big enough space open, Kakashi charged at Torune with his Lightning Cutter ready and stabbed him through the heart.
Or at least he thought it was his heart.
To Kakashi's suprise the clone merely blackened and disintegrate into another swarm of bugs "Shit, a bug clone! And I walked right into it!"
The insects ensnared him almost immediately after they had revealed themselves, and began covering his entire body and lifting him off of the ground. It was then that Torune revealed himself.
"It appears I have outwitted you Hatake-San. I expected more from an ex-ANBU captain like yourself."
Kakashi glowered at his opponent, as the bugs covered more and more of his body. With very little time left before he suffocated to death, Kakashi decide to use his last resort.
"Laxus: Discharge"
Like a human bug zapper, Kakashi released a large quantity of red electricity from his body, killing all of the surrounding him. Now free and on the ground Kakashi fired one final attack, before Torune had time to counter.
"Water Style: Shark Bullet"
Kakashi fired the fish shaped wall of water at his opponent, knocking him back into the tile behind. Sure he had won, Kakashi gave a small sigh of relief. But to his surprise Torune still stood when the dust cleared, albeit incredibly injured.
"I have to admit, your much stronger then I expected you to be. But I will complete the mission Danzō-Sama has placed upon-"
"Hirashin"
In less than a second Torune was dead with an ANBU tantō through his head and Cat, the current captain of the ANBU Black Ops behind him.
"The Root are loyal to Danzō. But the ANBU Black Ops, are loyal to you Kakashi-san." Cat told his old friend stoicly.
"Wait! How do you now the Hirashin? There's only one man who should be able to use it, and he died 18 years ago!"
The ANBU gave a chuckle as he took off his mask revealing his true face. One that in no way Kakashi could prepare for seeing.
"Minato-Sensei?"
"I'm not really surprised that you picked up on that hint Kakashi. While Obito was my favorite student, you were always the sharpest. I only have this to ask of you Kakashi. Please don't tell Naruto." With that Minato dissapeared in a flash of yellow light one again.
Though the shock of the revelation had made him unable to move for a few moments Kakashi quickly regained focus and continued with his quest.
Breaking down the doors, Kakashi ran out of Kûmén Temple, free for the first time in years. Not stopping for a second, Kakashi sped off into the darkness with only one goal in mind. Frying every member of The Santatsu Foundation into a crisp.
In the Land of Fire National Hospital a shadow holding a pad and tantō walked through it's halls. He stopped once he came up to the room with the number 808.
Sai creeped in while arming himself with his tantō. When he saw the lump under the covers move, the Root member quickly ducked under the bed. Once he was sure Iruka had fallen back asleep, Sai slowly creeped back up from under the bed, like a monster from a children's book, and prepared to stab him through the heart.
"I bet you weren't expecting me to come back."
But what Sai wasn't expecting was for a fist to slam itself straight into his gut and into the wall of the hospital. Iruka stood up, with a leg that shouldn't still be there, before in a flash of smoke he reverted back into Naruto.
"That's odd. Iruka-kun was supposed to be in this room. But there's no evidence that he was ever here" Sai said confused.
"Allow me to explain. We figured you'd use the hospital records to find Iruka's room and try to finish the job. So all we had to do is switch Iruka's room number with a vacant room, and wait here for to show up. Right now Iruka's in his room sleeping like a baby with Chouji and Lee guarding him! While your going down!" Naruto explained while holding up a screwdriver.
"Interesting strategy Roronoa-kun. Are you sure your not Batman-kun?" Sai lightly teased him before he used his tantō to deflect a blow from the Yamakawa-ō.
With the small window of time he had Sai shushined away, hoping to escape the wrathful swordsman. Naruto put his new red hood up, like his brother's bandanna and began chasing after him, sensing him up on the roof.
Naruto swung out the window and ran up the side of the roof. When he made it up to the top, he had to defend against multiple hawk drawings Sai had sent after him. This proved to be even more difficult as the birds had exploding tags on their tails.
After he had gotten away from the explosions that the birds had created, Naruto was face to face with Sai. But Sai had prepared for this confrontation and while Naruto was occupied had drawn a giant katana from the ink.
The swordsman clenched his teeth together from the unnerving sight of the sword, and jumped out of the way as Sai swung down, leaving a large slice mark in the gravel roof. Naruto ended up on the defensive with all three swords blocking Sai's large weapon.
Eventually Naruto managed to sweep it away and prepared to go on the offensive with his own attack, preparing a position of an Onigiri attack, but this time a phantom like entity appeared behind him.
"Enbima Yonezu Onigiri"
The large ghost swooped down into Sai, hitting the Shotatsu directly. When the dust from the rubble blew away, the large sword he was using for combat had completley evaporated, but he used the cover to fire several shuriken at Naruto, easily deflecting them.
That's when a large tiger grabbed Naruto from behind and began pulling at him down at a rapid pace.
"Sealing Art: Staring Tiger Bullet Vision"
Sai then stepped out of the smoke smirking slightly, but it was still notable that there was no emotion coming out of him "If your wondering what' showing on, while you were distracted deflecting those shuriken, I took the liberty of sliding a scroll where you were standing. That specific scroll contains a tiger that I drew previously, that will drag you down into the scroll with it. I have to say it's been fun Roronoa-kun."
As he struggled to break free from the tiger's grasp, Naruto could only think to himself 'Shit! How could I have been so foolish?'
But Naruto then felt everything ease up around him as he could move again. The tiger had completely vanished. Naruto looked up to see that Kanchome had sprung to bite Sai in the neck from Anko's sleeve.
"Gaki, quickly! Finish the bastard off."
When he got his focus back Naruto immediately charged for Sai with his swords pointing towards him, drawing them back and stabbing them with great impact trough the chest and heart, as well as slicing through his chest, defeating the emotionless artist.
"Cattle Demon: Brave Hoof"
Now with the fatal wound, Sai fell back breathing heavily and bleeding from the mouth with multiple holes in his choice. Naruto stood over him with a look of victory on his face, while Anko praised Kanchome for a job well done.
As his breathing grew fainter and fainter more emotion came to Sai's face he rasped the his final words "Thank you for freeing me from this curse. If you ever find Shin, tell him Sai will look forward to seeing him again, once the Asura falls into good hands."
"Wait. Shin? Asura? What the hell was he talking about?" Naruto asked to himself as Anko patted him on the back.
"Well, we do know that Danzō had him under that emotional sealing jutsu. Guess he was just talking about his life before he got turned into a vegetable."
"I guess that in a way, he was just another victim of Danzō-teme's greedy ass. Well I make a vow that I won't stop until everything that bastard has been planning crumbles under my heel!"
"Nice idea, gaki. But you might want to put that on hold for a while. Cause you've got big things coming tommorow!"
It was at this point that Naruto realized that the finals to the Chuni Exams took place in 10 hours. And he was wide awake in the middle of the night, on the other end of town from where he lived. With a look on his face that said "Oh shit" Naruto charged of to his apartment as fast as he could, under the light of the moon.
Once he was out of sight Anko grinned to herself and said "I've got a good feeling about that kid, He better kick Nej's ass tommorow, or Danzō will be the least of his worries"
It has about 11:00 am in Konaha Shinobi Fighting Arena, which had a large gray plastic flood.. In the middle of the stadium stood Genma Shiranui, who looked highly uninterested at the moment. On the two sides of the arena were two steel doors, one red and one blue. Over the doors and spectators hung giant transponder snail jumbo-trons.
Sitting inside of the stands were multiple nobles, barons, and even a few high ranking shinobi from other lands. Up in the leader's box sat the Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Mizukage, Mei Terumi, the Tsuchikage, Onoki, the Raikage, A, the "Kazekage", Orochimaru, and marine Vice Admiral Momonga.
Nearly all of the rookies that didn't make it to this phase were giving their commentary. Kiba, Hinata, Ino, Chouji, Tenten, Lee, and last but definetly least Sakura, for the most part in different places
"This is going to so exciting! I can't wait to see Shikamaru-San and Naruto-San teach their opponents a lesson!" Ino voiced her opinion.
"Please Ino-pig, you don't honestly think Naruto-Baka actually stands a chance against Neji do you. He's a genius just like Sasuke-kun. He'll totally kill him. Everything about Zoro has just been a lie by Naruto-baka to make himself look cooler than Sasuke-kun."
"Oh really Forehead. Then explain the wanted posters!"
Unable to come up with a reasonable arguement, Sakura just sat back down and pouted, muttering soemthing about "how her Sasuke-kun is the greatest and Naruto is just a Baka".
Further up into the stands Lee and Guy were rooting for Naruto rather vocally by wearing traditional kimono, banging on a paper drum and preaching of the power of youth, much to Tenten's extreme embaressment.
Hinata, who was sitting close by with Kiba whispered into her flustered friend's ear "Don't be ashamed Tenten-San. They may be doing it a bit overzealously but their hearts in the right place."
"Well if you ask me, I don't think their being overzealous enough!" Kiba said, standing up from his seat revealing himself to be wearing a t-shirt with Naruto's wanted poster on it.
"Um Kiba, where did you get that shirt?"
"That's nothing wait till you see what I got in the back!" He turned around to show an enlarged picture of Neji with a large red X over it.
Before his out of character behavior could be referenced any further, the stands went silent as Genma began taking "As you all likely now from the pamphlets you've been given, the remaining genin include, Sasuke Uchiha, Shino Aburame, Kankuro Sabaku, Shikamaru Nara, Gaara Sabaku, Roronoa Naruto, and Temari Sabaku. About an hour ago we privately interviewed each contestant, with the exception of Sasuke Uchiha, due to his late arrival."
'Special treatment as always'
"We will know play the tapes of these interviews." Genma said as he pulled out a remote and pressed a button towards the jumbotron.
Roronoa Naruto:
"Who I'd want to fight the least? Tough one, but probably Shikamaru or Shino. Their smarts could prove to be a large pain in the neck. Who I'd want to fight the most? That's easy, Sasuke-teme and Neji-teme. I'd love to take them down a few pegs."
Shikamaru Nara:
"I'd want to fight that puppet guy, Kankuro. His attacks look the easiest to work around; everyone else would be way to troublesome. Especially Naruto."
Shino Aburame:
"I would want to fight Roronoa Naruto the most. I think it would be an interesting fight. I definetly don't want to fight Gaara. He's way to strong for me."
Kankuro Sabaku:
"It would be pretty great for my rep back home in Suna to fight Cinderface or Sasuke. But you can keep Gaara as far away from me as possible"
Gaara Sabaku:
"Mother wants the blood of Uchiha and Roronoa. But she doesn't want the blood of Kankuro or Temari."
Neji Hyuga:
"The one I would want to fight the most would be Sasuke Uchiha. The ones who I don't want to fight are Roronoa Naruto and Shikamaru Nara. Their both just failures who aren't worth my time.Unfortunately though it appears I don't have a choice."
Temari Sabaku:
"I want to fight Shikamaru Naru. He's a really good strategist and actually kind of cute. But I definetly don't want to fight Gaara, for reasons I'd rather not say."
The jumbotron then went completly static, as everyone then turned their attention back to Genma who was currently clearing his throat. Up in the contestants box, Kankuro was laughing is ass off, while Shikamaru and Temari backed as far away from each other as possible, incredibly embarrassed
'Stupid proctor. I thought that interview was completley confidential.'
Finally, Genma finished clearing his throat and to the shock of pretty much everybody, began speaking in a booming western voice "Now let's get this started! I am Genmdowna Shiranui, and will be the proctor and announcer for the final lever of the Chunin Exams!"
The audience broke into a loud and excited applause, while Hayate pointed towards the blue side of the stadium.
"In the blue corner, we have a super ballsy swordsman who's sure to slice you into pieces if you talk smack to him. Gathering a 50,000,000 beri bounty by allying himself with the Straw Hat Pirates, and trained with Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro himself! He's big! He's bad! He'll kick you while your down and dance on your grave! Presenting the Cinderface, Roronoa Naruto!"
The large steel doors opened up to reveal Naruto walking out looking determined as all hell, despite the fact that a majority from Konoha was booing him and throwing garbage, including Sakura.
"And in the red corner, he's a Hyuga clan prodigy, who's bound by fate and will do anything to win, even beat the crap out of his cousin! With his spectacular Byakugan he palmed his way through th exams, but will he be able to take on his rival in the biggest grudge match of the Chunin Exams? Presenting, Neji Hyuga."
From the doors of the red corner Neji walked out to a massive applause, looking as smug as ever, some spectators even saying soemthing along the lines of "slay the demon Hyuga!"
Once both of them were in the center Naruto placed his hood up and armed himself, while Neji simply said "I don't know why you bothered to show up. You cannot fight me or fate."
"Now before we begin there's soemthing you should now. After each round of matches the landscape changes randomly as the matches go on. Now we'll pick the landscape for yours."
Genma pressed the button on the remote to reveal a circle with all five elements on them as a light flashed around each one before on wind. The landscape around him then began changing as grass grew around them and a bright sun appeared in the sky.
"This is the wind arena? I was expecting something a bit more hectic to be perfectly honest." Naruto said aloud before staring Neji in the eyes.
"I will give you one more chance to surrender before we begin. This match is foolish as we all know who the victor will be."
"Don't try to avoid the beating that's coming to you Neji-teme! I'm going to make you pay for what you did to Hinata!"
Neji grinded his teeth together from annoyance at Naruto's annoyance as the gentle breeze blew around them. When he was sure both contestants were ready, Genma finally called.
"Round one of the Chunin Exam Finals: Roronoa Naruto vs. Neji Hyuga. Begin!"
(A/N): And thus we enter the climax of the arc! For those of you wondering how the hell Minato is still alive or why he didn't watch over Naruto to begin with, that will be explained in the next arc after this one. By the way, now that Cedric and Ikō are done for the arc, I'm going to have small omakes at the end of each chapter. If you want to submit an idea for one, do so in a review. And more small announcement, now that Sai's subplot has come and gone it's time for the Devil Fruit contest! I'm pretty sure most have forgotten by this point but the details are back in "The Madness of Sasuke Uchiha". The contest is over now, and the winners will be announced next chapter. However I didn't get as many as I'd hoped so the poll will be a bit smaller. Now that the fight between Naruto and Neji has begun what will happen? Well you'll have to read next time to find out. By the way don't expect all chapters to come out as soon as this one. The only reason it did is because of all the snow days my school got.
Next Chapter: 180Vision: Find the Blind Spot
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