The Many Minds of Namikaze Naruto
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other shows, books, movies (Etc. Etc.) that you may or may not associate with this fan fiction. If I did, I wouldn't be here writing fan fictions, now would I?
Kyuubi's thought-speech
Ichigo's thought-speech
Thoughts
(Author/Narrator Commentary)
Jiraiya face-vaulted again. "You little brat! I'm being serious here and you just want food?" He chuckled… "Deal. As to making up for my absence…I've got a few tricks to teach you. By the time the last exam comes around in three weeks…you'll be ready to take on the examiners, much less the applicants." He grinned as Naruto's face lit up.
"All of you will fight in one-on-one matches this round. Your opponents are shown on this chart." The exam proctor held up a sheet of paper and let each of the twelve standing there view it. Naruto nodded. His match was last…which gave him time to analyze his potential opponents' skills.
Kataki Meitaki Vs. Temari of the Sand
Acura Kai Vs. Shino Aburame
Gaara of the Sand Vs Tenten
Shikamaru Nara Vs. Rock Lee
Neji Hyuuga Vs. Hinata Hyuuga
Naruto Uzumaki Vs. Kiba Inuzuka
"The first match will be Kataki Meitaki versus Temari of the Sand."
Naruto looked up at the stands. Sakura waved down to him from the stands, and he recognized a few other faces: Iruka, Kakashi…Ino and Chouji…Jiraiya was even there.
"Will everyone but the two fighters please leave the arena."
Naruto turned to walk away, shooting Kataki a final look of encouragement. The demon shape-shifter just grinned.
Don't go overboard.
I won't, kid. Might not need to. That girl is terrified of me.
It was true. Temari was glancing nervously between Kataki and her brother, Gaara. It made sense. Temari had seen Kataki's real form…but apparently was smart enough not to say anything and risk angering the demon, probably due to years of self-preservation with Gaara.
Good Luck.
Kataki dropped into a stance unfamiliar to everyone but her own team as Temari put her fan in front of her.
As soon as everyone was clear, the fight started. Temari seemed to have accepted her fate as the loser, but didn't let that stop her from fighting. She cut straight to the point, opening her fan and releasing a storm of wind across the arena. Kataki growled and quickly summoning a number of shadow clones that formed up in front of her. The clones were blown back as the wind sliced into them, dispelling them quickly, but letting Kataki herself stick to the ground with her chakra and only suffer minor cuts from the wind. As she made her next move, the slices were already starting to heal. She raised an arm and a red bow began forming on it, the arrow manifesting as she drew back her other arm. Temari drew back her fan for another attack, and both released the attacks at the same moment. The speed difference was astounding. Kataki's arrow screamed through the air, striking the handle of Temari's fan as Kataki herself put a hand to the ground and summoning a half dome of earth well before the wind reached her. When the half-dome collapsed, Kataki was unharmed, and Temari's fan was ruined. The Sand Kunoichi paled. "I'm done…I surrender."
The exam proctor stepped in quickly. "Winner…Kataki Meitaki."
It was a ridiculously short match. Temari could have certainly done more, but…she hadn't even really tried.
Both Kunoichi left the arena, and Kataki headed straight over to Naruto with a grin. "I told you that wouldn't last long."
Gaara, in the corner, was silent, though his expression was growing increasingly angrier. Some of the Konoha shinobi were less quiet. Tenten smiled broadly. "Way to go, Kataki! First win for Konoha!" The supposedly older kunoichi gave Kataki a hive five as Kiba slapped her on the back. "Awesome job. At least someone from your team will make it into the next round." He smirked at Naruto.
Naruto grinned back, not rising to the veiled strike at his skill. He'd show what he could do in the match, no need to brag about it ahead of time.
"Acura Kai, Shino Aburame, please come to the arena."
The white clothed boy in the corner moved suddenly. Most of them didn't even notice, until they saw him in the center of the arena a moment later. Shino walked down slowly.
Naruto looked at the sleepless one-tail jinchuuriki nervously. The look in his eyes was one of pure bloodlust, directed at the brown haired weapon's mistress beside Kataki.
Naruto put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Tenten…I need to talk to you before your match, please." Tenten noticed how serious Naruto looked and nodded. "Alright…"
Naruto and Tenten walked off to the side away from the rest of the group. "You're fighting Gaara next…You need to be careful."
Tenten laughed. "I can take care of myself, don't worry ab…"
Naruto shook his head and interrupted. "You don't understand…this guy…he's not normal. My team fought him during the second test…If not for a secret technique I can't tell you about, he'd have killed my whole team. He's way past anything you've probably seen and he's unstable, he'll kill you if he gets the chance. He's the one that put Sakura in the hospital. I'm not going to tell you to quit now…I know you probably wouldn't listen anyway…but just…be careful…If he gets you in a situation you know you can't win, don't hesitate, just quit before he goes after you to kill. If you still want to fight him…He uses Sand as a weapon and as a shield, he stores it in that gourd. He'll try to crush you with it if he can."
Tenten looked at Naruto with amazement. This was nothing like the prankster she'd heard about Naruto being. "Why are you telling me this? You hardly know me."
"I consider all my comrades friends until they show they aren't worth that friendship. And I don't want to let any of my friends to die."
Tenten nodded. "Well…thank you, Naruto…I'll keep it in mind."
Naruto turned back to watch the fight. Shino had arrived, and the other boy, Acura Kai, was waiting. Neither of them took an obvious battle stance, but each merely nodded politely toward their opponent before the battle began. Kai silently went into several hand signs as Shino raised his hands and released a swarm of bugs into the air. Kai merely smirked at the notably older Genin. He didn't move, and the crowd seemed puzzled as the insects surrounded and closed in around him. Disappointed shouts broke the silence, and Naruto himself raised an eyebrow.
He didn't know much about Shino's abilities, just that he was an Aburame and that that clan used insects to fight, but he knew that if Shino attacked with the swarm, they were probably dangerous in some way, so for the Mist nin to simply stand there as they engulfed him…either he had a defense he was supremely confident in, or…he knew something Naruto didn't about Shino, or about the insects.
The cloud of insects compressed, forming a very human shape where Kai had been, but a moment later they began falling to the ground in droves. "It is…unwise…to continue having your insects absorb my chakra, Aburame."
Shino raised an eyebrow behind his glasses and the insects began to pull back, surrounding the area over Shino's head
Kai grinned…and then practically vanished from sight for all but the few ninja present with the best perception. Naruto hardly saw him move, and suddenly Shino was flying from a kick to the jaw, and then driven into the ground by an elbow to the stomach. Most of the Genin were wide-eyed at the display of speed. Gaara of course, was more or less ignoring the spectacle, but otherwise, only Rock Lee's reaction was different than the rest. He looked at Kai with a mixture of amazement and…was it disappointment?
The final blow came in the form of Kai drawing a kunai and driving it into the ground beside Shino's head, then putting his foot against the Aburame's throat. "If you don't want me to kill him, I'd call this fight."
The proctor raised an eyebrow and looked at Shino on the ground. The boy's sunglasses were cracked, but somehow still in place, so he couldn't see his reaction or even if he was still conscious, but…he didn't seem to be moving. "Winner…" He paused, giving Shino a chance to react if he was in fact still in the fight. "Acura Kai!"
Kai was back in the waiting area a few seconds later, having run straight up the wall in a flash. This time Naruto was able to follow his movement…albeit barely. The boy leaned against the wall opposite Gaara.
He's dangerous…we should keep an eye on him…He hardly even tried in that fight…
I agree…his chakra is strange…I can't tell quite how, but…whatever it is, it's the reason those insects collapsed.
Shino stood back up and cracked his neck, walking calmly out of the arena and up to the stands without a word.
Gaara turned toward the exit quietly, shooting a bloodthirsty look at Naruto and Kataki as he passed to walk slowly down to the arena. Tenten followed him after a moment's hesitation.
I think you made her nervous.
Good, maybe she'll be more careful. It's one thing to risk your life in a war, or on a mission…but such a huge risk for such a small chance of reward is foolish. Gaara…he's in a whole different league.
You beat him.
Because of you. No one else at this level would have been able to fight that thing head on without your power, and without your chakra I couldn't have summoned enough rain to make a difference.
Point taken, kid…but look. They are about to start.
Naruto glanced toward the arena and saw Kataki was right. Tenten opened with a barrage of weapons, and Gaara didn't so much as flinch as his sand effortlessly blocked every last blade and weapon.
Tentens next barrage went no better, and the third, which included numerous explosives, created a cloud of smoke around the sand jinchuuriki. When it cleared, he still stood there, unharmed. Naruto scowled.
Doesn't she have any other attacks?
It seemed nothing she had could pierce the sand shielding Gaara.
I knew this would happen.
Naruto looked around. The proctor was watching the match with a look of boredom.
Gaara seemed calm compared to how he'd been when fighting Naruto. Perhaps because Tenten had been unable to touch him…Then Naruto saw the sand start to move again.
It reached out to wrap around Tenten, who barely evaded the attack, but then swung back around, slamming into her like a fist, throwing her like a ragdoll across the arena's dirt floor.
Her teammates reactions couldn't have been more opposite. Neji looked on with stoic silence, while Rock Lee looked ready to jump into the fight in defense of the Kunoichi Weapon's mistress.
As the sand began to close in around her, the proctor interrupted. "Enough! This fight is over. Winner…Gaara of the Sand."
The sand didn't stop its advance, but someone else interfered…Or actually several someone's at once.
In total three people moved to intercept the moving sands…Two of them weren't much of a surprise. Gai himself had picked Tenten up and pulled her away from the sand. Rock Lee moved just a split second behind his Sensei. The third though, caught everyone in the stadium by surprise, as they hadn't even seen him move at first. It wasn't until the sand rushing toward the two green spandex-wearing nin suddenly collapsed to the ground that everyone saw the white, now dirty, jumpsuit of Acura Kai. He didn't seem to have done anything but stand in the path of the sand. As he began to walk away, he shot a look to Gaara. "That was unnecessary, Sabaku no Gaara. You have already won."
As he left the arena, Gaara looked at him in fury, but his sand wasn't moving. Neji narrowed his eyes at the white-clad Genin, his Byakugan active.
Naruto frowned. "What did he do?"
"N…Naruto-kun."
Naruto turned to see Hinata had also seen the ending of the fight with her Byakugan. "Hinata? Did you see what just happened?"
She nodded silently. "I haven't seen anything like this before…His chakra appears like pure blackness…my Byakugan can't see through it. I don't know what happened, really, but there was a cloud of his chakra that filled the sand, and then it just vanished…" She looked down.
Neji scowled. "He nullified the Suna Nin's chakra, Hinata-sama."
"What? How is that even possible?" Kiba growled.
"His chakra is unique. He appears to be able to create chakra that cancels out normal chakra on contact. The Aburame's insects met a similar fate." Neji went silent again.
Shikamaru was the only one to stay out of the conversation, merely watching the arena with lazy disinterest.
As Tenten was carried away, everyone but the proctor cleared the arena, except for Rock Lee. "The next match is Shikamaru Nara versus Rock Lee."
Shikamaru mumbled something about this being troublesome before heading down to the arena.
The fight started with Rock Lee doing stretches as Shikamaru merely watched. A second later Lee posed with his thumb up, shouted something about youth and how if he couldn't win, he would carry a boulder around Konoha some ungodly number of times, then vanished in a flash of speed. He wasn't as fast as Kai had been, but most of the Genin still had trouble following his movements. Shikamaru never had a chance to react. A spinning kick knocked him to the ground, and he landed hard, scowling. Rock Lee knocked the lazy Chuunin hopeful all around the arena for a few seconds, before suddenly something happened. Just before one of his kicks landed, Lee suddenly froze and then stood straight directly in front of Shikamaru. The other Genin had his hands clasped into a seal, but only a few people present knew what had actually happened…most of them being Shikamaru's teammates in the stands.
Rock Lee took a step forward as Shikamaru did and the two stood face to face for a second before Shikamaru reached down and drew a kunai from his hip. Lee mimicked the action, but his hands clasped at empty air. Shikamaru raised the kunai and pressed it lightly against Lee's neck, and again, the action was mimicked, but without an actual blade present. The implication was obvious, but Lee seemed determined. His face was stony compared to usual, and the two seemed locked in a stalemate a moment. To the audience, it seemed Lee was deciding whether to surrender.
Shikamaru's hand wavered along with Lee's as Lee slowly began to pull back, gritting his teeth as Lee tried to physically overpower his Shadow. Nothing else happened for several seconds as Shikamaru's arm tried to move back closer to its target. This struggle continued for a short while before Shikamaru broke the silent standoff. "I give up."
A roar of confusion went through the crowd.
"I can't overpower him in time; I'd just exhaust myself and run out of chakra."
The proctor raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Well…Winner, Rock Lee! The next fight will be…Hinata Hyuuga versus Neji Hyuuga!"
Neji turned to walk away with a scowl as the previous combatants cleared the arena.
Hinata started to follow, but Kiba put a hand on her shoulder. "Hinata…Please don't fight him."
Hinata was silent. She pulled gently away and walked toward the arena.
"Begin the match!"
"Before we begin, Hinata-sama, I'd like to say something." Neji was stony-faced as he looked at his slightly younger cousin. "You make a poor shinobi. You should quit now."
Naruto gaped.
What the hell?
His confusion turned first to relief, and then to anger as Neji kept going, talking about Hinata being too kindhearted for a Shinobi's life, but then belittling her when she denied his claims that she'd only entered to help her teammates.
Arrogant jackass…Belittling his own cousin like that?
Get used to it Kid. You're a ninja, Psychological warfare is just another tool.
Bullshit. You know as well as I do that he's not using psychological warfare or even just trash talk. He's an ass. Hinata's a fellow leaf shinobi and she already has confidence issues…More than that, they're related. This isn't the same kind of stakes as a real mission, so don't give me that "whatever gets the job done" crap. It's not going to help him in the fight, it's just hurting her outside of it.
I don't know about that kid. She's about to break down and he'll win easily if she won't even fight.
Naruto scowled. Sure, she wasn't very competent as a ninja right now because of her confidence issues, but so what? Sakura'd been worse, and she turned around…and honestly, he'd been pathetic before that night too…people could change.
"You cannot change your…" Neji's speech about destiny and fate was interrupted by a loud shout from the stands.
"Bullshit!" Naruto was fuming.
Neji didn't turn around. He could see who it was with his Byakugan. He did scowl and stopped talking for a moment. Naruto took advantage of that. "Kick this smug, arrogant jerk's ass for me, Hinata. Show him that people can change for the better!"
Hinata looked at Naruto with an unrecognizable expression. "Naruto-kun…"
Then suddenly, her expression changed, and grew harder…more determined.
Neji scowled. "So…you won't forfeit? Then I'm not responsible for what happens next…"
Hinata's eyes closed briefly before they opened, her Byakugan active, and a second later the fight began.
The crowds watched with rapt attention as they exchanged blows. Naruto grinned. Hinata was winning!
At least he thought so. When Neji drove a palm into her chest and she began coughing up blood, he thought differently. "What happened? She's been landing her hits perfectly, hasn't she? Why isn't he hurt?"
Neji stuck again as Hinata tried to retaliate, and then grabbed her arm, shoving up the sleeve to reveal dark marks all around her arm. Rock Lee explained the basics of Neji's abilities to the onlookers in the contestants box, and the fight continued with Neji striking Hinata hard enough to knock her down.
Naruto grimaced as the two exchanged words again, and Hinata struggled back to her feet. It didn't last long as she stumbled forward again, coughing.
The rest of the fight was just postponing the inevitable, as Hinata stood again and again to strike at her older cousin.
As Hinata stood back up again, she looked at Neji as he made some claim about destiny and suffering. Hinata said one line in return, and the match effectively ended right then.
"The one truly lost and suffering here is you."
Neji rushed Hinata in anger, and four people stepped in to stop him, ending the match. Gai, Kakashi, Kurenai, and the exam proctor were suddenly all there restraining him. "That's enough." The proctor looked at Neji.
Hinata lurched and collapsed. The medics were already rushing into the arena. Naruto swore. Neji simply turned to walk away. Naruto glared at him as he entered the contestants' waiting area. "You were aiming to kill with that last shot." Naruto's eyes narrowed.
Neji didn't answer. Kiba growled. Both he and Naruto looked ready to jump him.
"I'm going to kick your ass, you smug bastard." Naruto threatened.
Neji seemed unworried, even as Kiba made a similar threat. Both moved toward him…but someone blocked their way. Rock Lee's green spandex quickly made it obvious who had moved into the way. "Naruto-kun, Kiba-kun, I understand, but the fighting should occur in the matches." He continued. "Whether a loser can defeat a genius through the power of hard work will be something to look forward to in the next round…but his opponent might be me. Even if it's one of you though, there will be no hard feelings."
Naruto's growl almost matched Kiba's own. "Alright…fine." He looked from rock lee to Neji. "I'll just have to kick your ass later."
"First you have to beat me, and that's not going to happen. But don't worry, I'll beat him for you." Kiba snarled, but then seemed to calm. "Or he could be up against that Sand kid…" He got quiet. "…and that's a fate I wouldn't even wish on him."
"The next match will be Uzumaki Naruto versus Inuzuka Kiba. Please come to the arena."
Kiba's face became a grin. "It's like we've already won this match, eh, Akamaru?"
Naruto smirked. "Don't get too overconfident…we'll see who wins when the match is over…"
The two walked down to the arena and faced off. "Ready….Begin!"
No excuses, I'm sorry, I'm just having less free-time than I used to and when I do have it I don't always want to spend it writing.
Next chapter will include Naruto's first match as well as some other events that occur between rounds that I think will prove to be interesting. I MIGHT start the second round next chapter, but at the very least it will start in the chapter after that. Chapter 16 should include the whole second round and then Chapter 17 will start the third round before moving on to the rest of the storyline.
As always, Read and Review.