Naruto and Pokemon: Power of Partnership

by Mhyrloc

Upon graduation, new ninja are presented with a Pokemon. Chosen by Arceus itself, the pokemon support their partners, just as the ninja protect their pokemon. This is the story of a boy as he struggles for acceptance, and the Pokemon who guides his way.

14. Getting the Brawl Rolling

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

---

As soon as the coughing ninja finished explaining the decidedly simple rules of their newest challenge, a panel opened in the wall behind the Hokage's congregation.

Framed, from the genin's perspective, by the outstretched wings of the bird pokemon statue, was a huge screen, the largest most of the genin present had ever seen actually.

"The con-cough-testants for each round will be decided at random, -coughcough- and displayed on this monitor," Hayate explained with some effort. "All -cough- combatants except the first to compete should move into the balcony areas,-cough- which I advise all competitors to avoid damaging, on threat of disqual-cough-ification."

Immediately, one of the Naka contingent brought his hands together, intent on readying his signature jutsu before having to fight anyone.

"First match... Rock Lee and Tyrogue of Konoha, versus Shugorei of Naka... I must also warn you all, attempts to prepare jutsu for use against opponents prior to the start of the match is severely frowned upon," Hayate said, glaring mightily at the foreign ninja... before letting loose with a wracking cough, made worse by his efforts to hold them in during his announcement and stern admonishment.

"Well... shit." Shugorei responded emphatically.

Ao laughed enthusiastically, and a bit cruelly at his teammate's misfortune, before clapping the boy on the back and offering Kaeru a guiding arm to the viewing area, where their temporary teacher was cackling himself.

Despite his protests when they interfered with his fun, Benge never really had a problem with other people getting the unfair end of a rule, especially one of his snot-nosed supposed-students.

"Good luck!" Kaeru called kindly to Shu as Ao escorted her away.

"You could have slipped me something..." Shugorei muttered darkly, after a quick search revealed that Ao hadn't snuck one of his ever-present blades to him.

"So what. Doesn't matter." He said boldly, psyching himself up. "I can take this, I can handle anything these br-YAH!"

Shugorei yelped in surprise as his vision was suddenly filled by a wall of green, black, and weird.

"I am Rock Lee, the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha!" His apparent opponent declared, holding his hand out invitingly. "It is truly our greatest luck to have the first match, and I hope it shall be a youthful display so magnificent that it inspires all those that follow to match it's brilliant flames!"

"Um... okay. Brilliance, fire, youth... I think I got it... Rock Lee, right?" Shugorei repeated in obvious confusion as he accepted the offered handshake.

He then was occupied with trying not to wince, or be yanked off his feet, by the overly enthusiastic arm pumping the green boy with the funny eyebrows responded with.

"Yosh! I just knew you would agree!" Lee practically yelled. "I hope to truly demonstrate the value of hard work and honest effort against you!"

"You tell him Lee!" A not-so-anonymous voice called from their audience.

"I just did Gai-sensei!" Lee replied exuberantly, mercifully releasing Shugorei's hand. "Should I do so again?"

"No!" Hayate interrupted forcefully, sending him into a fresh spasm of coughing. "Dear Arceus, no..." He muttered with what little breath he had while recovering.

"Unless one of you plans to forfeit?" He continued aloud, when he could stand straight again.

"And not even try?" Lee asked in horror. "That is the very height of unyouthfulness! Never would I even consider such a thing!"

"Then take your place so we can begin," Hayate replied with a sigh, and longing look towards his Weezing on the dais, floating next to a cat-masked Anbu, and her Liepard.

Lee was back in his starting place in a blink, bouncing on the balls of his feet and grinning like a loon.

"Then... Begin!" Hayate shouted, chopping his hand down between the two and leaping away to the safety and comfort of the dais, with his girlfriend and their pokemon.

Hayate was no slouch in the realm of speed, no swordsman could afford to be slow, but even he was surprised at the burst of speed demonstrated by Gai's genin.

Shugorei on the otherhand, wasn't all that impressed.

Really, why would he be, it was a pretty boring ceiling, and the cots here were too hard to be comfortable...

And for some strange reason, his face really hurt!

Lee's opening attack had literally knocked all thought of fighting out of the boy's head.

Thankfully, the airborne appearance of Tyrogue served quite well as a reminder, and the little fighter's falling axe kick missed the Naka genin's rolling form.

Shugorei gained his feet and twisted away from another punch from the now serious looking green boy, as well as another two similar blows.

He got confident enough to attempt a counter, but his weak jab missed by a mile when Lee spun around the attack and slammed a kick into Shugorei's side.

This time, Tyrogue was ready for his opponent's flight, and he leapt up to catch the boy with a spinning kick of his own, firing the dazed Naka-nin back at Lee.

Rather than continue the back-and-forth bashing, Lee actually caught Shugorei, setting him back on his feet, and shaking him frustratedly.

"This is not a youthful battle!" Lee scolded sternly. "We were supposed to have a most youthful contest of strength, remember? I cannot be satisfied with a competition this weak!"

"What the heck are you- Stop shaking me!" Shugorei protested, pushing away from his eager assailant with ease, stumbling back to sway unsteadily, both from the beating and the shaking.

"What's the problem? You're winning right?" Shugorei continued, squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to make the room stop spinning.

"But I cannot accept such a victory! It is unyouthful to battle against one who cannot defend himself properly, and you cannot even dodge my attacks, even at my slowest!" Lee crossed his arms petulantly and drew his oversized eyebrows down in a comic glare.

"You promised me a most youthful battle, and I demand satisfaction!" Lee stated firmly.

Shugorei opened one eye to peek at the boy and was surprised at the seriousness in his expression, though not quite as much as his team was by the demand.

Gai was certain he'd explained to the boy that victory superseded most other concerns in this exam, and an easy win was still a win... But a youthful challenge was it's own reward... Perhaps the flames of Lee's youth burned more brightly than he'd believed.

"Alright, I admit. I'm... not really good at fighting like this," Shugorei said, gesturing at himself. "But it takes a while to prepare, and it's not really likely that you'll let me, right?"

"If it will make for a more youthful battle, then ready yourself properly!" Lee replied excitedly, waving at his opponent to hurry up.

Gai wasn't the only one in the audience to slap his hand to his face at this offer.

"Is this kid some sort of idiot?" Ao asked scornfully. He had really expected Shu to be beaten by now.

Would serve the one-trick-Ponyta right.

Shu looked over his shoulder at the Tyrogue, which hurriedly waved it's arms to imply that it hadn't planned to attack, before scurrying it's way over to Lee's side, where it stood patiently.

"Okay..." Shu muttered. "Far be it from me to look a gifthorse in the mouth..."

Shugorei removed his cloak and tossed it aside, before bringing his hands together and running though a long string of seals.

At nine seals, the inherent chakra restrictors in his body loosened, flooding his body with energy.

At fifteen, the chakra began expelling visibly from his tenketsu in a barely controlled rush.

At thirty-seven, his chakra darkened, shifting alignment from the natural neutrality of most human chakra towards the purer form used by pokemon.

At fifty-three, the chakra coated him in a shell of writhing energy, and Shugorei began guiding it into the form he felt he would need for a proper battle.

Strength, Speed, Armor, Endurance...

A fist to fist fight was the least he could do, after the boy had been so generous, right? It was the... youthful ting to do, he supposed.

When he finished, nearly a hundred seals in just over a minute, he was coated in a sleek layer of dark energy, which shimmered in the light like smoked glass.

Shugorei looked at Lee, his eyes sparking with new confidence, though they were barely visible behind the dark mask of his new guise.

"I thank you for your generosity," Shu said, his voice once more altered by the armor. "And I offer you information in exchange: Defeat this armor, break it, smash it, if you can... and I will bow to your superiority."

"Then so I shall!" Lee replied enthusiastically, leaping into a repeat of his opening attack, Tyrogue once more following behind and to the side, holding himself in Shu's blind spot, ready to intercept any dodge.

But with the Armor's enhanced reflexes, Shugorei was easily a match for the straightforward attack, and he caught the probing fist, yanking Lee off his feet and spinning the boy into an attack against his partner.

Lee spun one foot into the ground before he would have hit his precious partner, deflecting his momentum just high enough that his like-minded pokemon's own sliding attack was unimpeded. (Low Kick)

Shugorei was caught fully by the weak pokemon's Fighting type attack, forcing him to release Lee and fall back with a hiss of pain, as the fractures in the leg of his elemental cloak mended themselves slowly.

"Better?" Shu asked with a confident grin, despite the failure of his first attack, darting in aggressively.

"Indeed it is," Lee agreed, falling into a defensive stance, slapping away one flashing set of claws and spinning away as the second swept in, driving one leg out in a sweeping kick of his own.

Shu hopped the leg, swinging a backhand smack to knock away Tyrogue, who leapt in to attack while he was off balance.

The pokemon flipped backwards in the air, landing in a three point slide, and darting again once more.

Lee and Tyrogue closed simultaneously, firing punches and kicks from wildly divergent angles, keeping Shugorei off balance, though the attacks had little effect when they connected.

Shugorei punched and slashed at the two a few times, eventually connecting with Lee, more through luck than skill, but the blow was solid enough to send the boy tumbling.

With the time that bought, Shu grabbed at Tyrogue, though the diminutive fighter slipped away unhindered.

Shugorei retreated, moving to keep both of his opponents in sight, cursing his lack of a pokemon partner for the first time.

"There's more than one way to even the odds," He thought as he brought his hands together in a twisting seal. "Elemental Surge: Speed!"

A shimmer of energy swept through his form, consuming almost a quarter of his Armor's mass, but leaving it sleeker and more reactive, just in time to intercept Lee and Tyrogue's opportunistic charges.

Taking advantage of his newly enhanced speed, Shu spun around Lee, slipping under the leaping kick, and slamming a kick of his own into the green genin's back, turning the controlled jump into a reckless fall.

Tyrogue spun the instant Lee was struck, stopping his momentum by slamming one palm into the ground beneath himself, and leaping towards Shugorei with tthe opposite fist cocked for a punch, now glowing bright white. (Mach Punch)

Shugorei grinned once more, dodging the dangerous Fighting-type move and snatching Tyrogue by the leg, before spinning and launching the pokemon at Lee.

Lee rotated in midair, taking command of his fall, slapping first one hand, then both feet to the ground, back and battle ready in time to catch Tyrogue by his leading arm and the seat of his shorts, and twisting to send his partner back, still-glowing fist forward at the charging Naka-nin.

Shugorei, expecting that his opponents would be too tangled to mount an effective counter in such a short time, was caught fully in the chest by Tyrogue's attack, and his Dark Armor screeched painfully, as the artificially accelerated Fighting type attack punched through.

Tyrogue, no novice to battle, and willing to grab for whatever openings he could find, threw himself down, but not before grabbing a double fistful of the strange shell his odd opponent was coated with.

Already weakened, two large chunks tore free, beginning to fade into chakra smoke as they disconnected from the person sustaining them, and Tyrogue darted between Shugorei's legs before the larger boy could catch him.

Shu's attempts to pursue and retrieve the chunks of solidified chakra were destroyed when Lee, having rushed in after his pokemon bullet, took advantage of the obvious opening in Shugorei's defenses, pounding in at the boy's chest and face with punches too quick to even see.

Tyrogue cheered his side's advantage and spun back to the battle, launching the two shards away as he did, leaving them to hit, shatter, and dissipate unnoticed.

Easily making the connection between the Dark energy and the obvious efficacy of his Low Kick and Mach Punch, Tyrogue went on the offensive, using the only two Fighting moves in his arsenal with brutal efficiency.

Between Lee's rapid attacks and Tyrogue's type advantage, Shugorei was kept reeling, and his armor could not repair itself fast enough to compensate.

While Shugorei was now fast enough to match Lee's pure speed, the two taijutsu terrors had one advantage he couldn't have prepared for: They had an exceptional amount of experience fighting against an opponent who could see their every move, no matter the angle... And that was a trick the Naka genin couldn't match.

As a result, the attacks made by Lee and Tyrogue, complimentary combinations intended to minimize Neji's ability to dodge or counter, were long leaps above a non-byakugan wielder's ability to even perceive.

Shugorei's calculated counterattacks, or so he would later claim them to be, when Ao accurately accused him of flailing like a beached Magikarp, actually bore fruit when he managed to catch Rock Lee's retreating arm with the clawed hand he put up in a belated block.

The claws slipped over the tough training suit without catching, but the rough bandages were another matter, and Shugorei was quick to take advantage of the chance he found when his claws snagged them.

Shugorei grabbed tight and yanked Lee forward, accepting yet another painfully cracking blow from Tyrogue as he did so, but delivering a right cross full of frustration in recompense.

Lee flew away in a daze, his head and body spinning as the still stuck bandage unraveled from his arm, and Shu turned to the much slower Tyrogue, vengefully kicking the small pokemon across the room.

"Enough of this!" Shugorei declared, slapping his hands together in a series of seals. "Elemental Surge: Armor!"

The Dark chakra swirled around him, reverting to it's natural state and reforming as a skin-tight sheath of pitch black, a dark so deep that it seemed to drink in the color around it.

And devoid of the damage it had previously sustained.

"I know the strength you and your pokemon possess," Shugorei taunted. "Neither you nor your little fighter will be able to pierce this protective barrier. Your loss is now guaranteed!"

He had successfully hidden his concern at just how much of his chakra store the two had managed to pound through in the short time he'd been at their mercy.

Barely more than a tenth of his energy remained, and if they found a way through, he was as good as finished.

Regaining his feet, Lee began re-wrapping his loosened bandage, eyes once more serious, he stared boldly into the blank sheet that covered his opponent's face.

"I have been hearing such things my entire life," Lee admitted with a wry smirk as he finished. "It is my goal to prove those people wrong! I will forge ahead, follow my path to the end, and become the ninja I know I can be!"

Declaration made, he and Tyrogue charged from opposite sides, aiming a pair of perfect punches at their opponent... who didn't even try to dodge.

Not that he'd have had much luck if he had, with his first Elemental Surge's speed now replaced by the increased defense.

But his prediction was proven, and neither blow elicited more than an unpleasant ache, rather than the cracks and fractures that Mach Punch had caused before.

Lee fired off a savage kick, hoping to launch his opponent into the air, as he had so early in the fight, but somehow the attempt failed, Shugorei barely lifting from the impact.

The Naka ninja stepped forward and swung a powerful chop towards the boy, who slipped back from it with a lightning fast dodge, darting back in behind the blow and hammering in with a number of quick jabs before retreating again from Shu's returning backswing.

In the other direction, Tyrogue hammered against Shugorei's legs and back relentlessly, trying to chip away at the enhanced coating futilely, until his target spun a low kick, sending the pokemon flying once again.

Lee dashed over to intercept the pokemon's course, grabbing it from the air and hastily backing away from the charge Shu began immediately after Lee ran off.

The green genin evaded the relatively slow attack, dropping his partner to it's feet and circling back around to attack once more.

This pattern held for a fair while, with Lee and Tyrogue hitting against the Dark Armor uselessly, and Shugorei's slow blows connecting only rarely.

"Lee!" The boy's boisterous sensei called down from above, his expression and tone both stern. "Is this the extent of your youthfulness? Your opponent is fighting with his full might and still you hold back? You shame me with this meager flame! Are you a candle, or a roaring bonfire!?"

Lee actually looked hurt by this accusation, and he took a step towards his teacher, water welling in his eyes as a match to the manly tears flowing down Gai's own face.

"Oh, Gai-sensei!" Lee howled painfully. "I am so, so, sorry! I am doing the best I can without breaking the oaths-"

"I release you from them!" Gai interrupted forcefully, chopping one arm through the air to his side savagely, and bringing his hand back up before him in a fist. "But only for this match! You and your most youthful opponent agreed on a battle of grand magnificence, so how can you possibly live up to that promise with such stringent restrictions!? Now go, my Beautiful Green Beast! Fight, my Precious Genin! And reveal to the world the genius of your hard work!"

"Oh... Gai-sensei, I surely shall!" Lee cried back, joyful that his sensei would be pleased by such a simple, and enjoyable task.

To use his most powerful abilities, in front of everyone no less!

"Attack him you moron!" Ao yelled down angrily from the balcony, a sentiment echoed by their temporary sensei.

"Fair is fair, he's still got thirty-seven seconds," Shugorei called back calmly, willing to allow Lee just as much time to prepare as Lee had permitted him.

"Then I shall not keep you waiting!" Lee replied energetically, dropping to his knees and removing his exceptionally heavy weights, dropping them to the ground, where they hit with a loud crack, breaking the hefty stone floor with their weight.

"Twenty-nine seconds, and I hope that's not all you have..." Shu remarked blandly.

"That was just preparation," Lee replied grimly, crossing his forearms in front of himself. "And this... is my true power!"

"First Gate: Gate of Opening... Release!" Lee intoned powerfully.

"Second Gate: Gate of Healing... Release!" Chakra filled Lee's coils, filling them until the excess bled from his underused tenketsu like wispy tendrils.

"Third Gate: Gate of Life... Release!" Lee's skin turned red, as the blood blowing through his veins increased, and the excessive amounts of chakra flowed more freely, shattering the stones near him simply through the force of his chakra.

"Well... shit," Shu reiterated from earlier, willing to wager he knew how things were about to turn out.

Especially once he saw Tyrogue scurrying for safety near the walls.

"Ready or not... Here I come!" Declared Lee, before the boy simply vanished.

The next he saw of Lee, the boy was crouched in front of him, and he was flying, propelled by the horrendously powerful foot Lee delivered to his chest.

And Shugorei wasn't sure which hurt worse: The blow to his chest, or the shrieks of pain from the armor as it tried to respond to the perfectly sandal-shaped void in it's chestplate.

Tyrogue watched in wonder as his partner slammed the pseudo-Dark-type around through the air, each blow from his mighty fists and feet, coated in his own nearly pure Fighting-type chakra, blasting pieces of armor off the foreign ninja.

Truly Lee was as close to a proper Fighting pokemon as it was possible for a human to become, a state enhanced by the opening of the two mental gates, and the first of the physical, releasing some of the ridiculous limits of Self all humans adhered to.

The beating only went on for a few seconds, but it felt like much longer to the recipient, as the pain from his own injuries and the pain from his mental link to the systematically shattering armor melded together.

By the time the pain faded enough for him to see and feel normally, he was flying through the air, trapped in the surprisingly long length of bandages that Lee wore.

"This is the end," Lee said confidently, but quietly. "I do not wish to harm you more than I have, so I offer you one chance to surrender, if you refuse, then I will have no choice but to complete this attack."

Lee did his best to hide the strain, and pain, that opening the Gates put upon him, with somewhat limited success, but the outcome was a forgone conclusion.

"Then curse me to a fate of unyouthfulness," Shugorei muttered sarcastically. "I forfeit!"

"Winner, Rock Lee!" Hayate announced immediately, as Gai leapt into the arena to catch the plummeting pair safely.

"What a marvelous fight!" Gai exclaimed loudly, whipping off the wrapped bandages and sending the two spiraling back towards the roof.

Lee flipped through the air gracefully, landing on his feet and catching the far less agile Shugorei before the boy fell into a potentially severe injury.

Harming ones opponent after the fight was over would be most unyouthful.

Lee set his opponent back on his feet, where Shugorei swayed dangerously, staggering in three different directions as his much abused balance protested the vicious spinning he'd been sent through.

The green genin then rushed to his mentor, saluting with a wide smile.

"Did you see, Gai-sensei? Did you? Did you?" He asked rapidly.

"Hahaha! Of course I saw, my wonderful student! How could I not see your flames burning so brightly!?" Gai roared, dropping a hand to Lee's shoulder and leaning in. "But do not think you had me fooled, I know you were still holding back!" He added somewhat quietly.

Halfway across the arena, Shugorei stiffened and shot the pair a shocked look, earning a scolding from the medic inspecting him.

That guy could get even stronger!?

"I'm sorry, Gai-sensei!" Lee wailed, crying not so manly tears.

"Do not be!" Gai replied, shaking Lee vigorously. "This battle was but the first of many! There will be ample opportunity to display the full heights of your strength at the finals!"

"And I will do you proud! I will prove to the world that you are the best sensei ever!" Lee declared boldly.

"And give me one more victory over Kakashi..." Gai smirked, sending a look towards his ever-hip rival, who was predictably ignoring them in favor of his book.

"I'm sure you will!" Gai replied. "But for now, you should join your most youthful opponent in the clinic, before the strain of opening so many gates results in more damage than it has already."

"What? I'm fine, really!" Lee objected. "I want to watch the rest of the matches! Neji-kun and the others will be fighting soon, and I must measure my flames against theirs!"

"I understand your enthusiasm," Gai replied seriously. "But you know the strain that even the first gate puts on a body, and you opened three! Trust me my most attentive of students, it is for the best!"

"But... but..."

"Lee... You're coming quite close to acting foolish," Gai replied, tightening his free hand into a fist meaningfully.

"Yes, Gai-sensei," Lee finally surrendered, hanging his head and trudging over to join the medics.

"Sometimes going last is beneficial," Gai said comfortingly, waving his student away. "But rest assured, I will tell you of all the youthful battles to come! So go! Go and get treated, so you will be ready for the intensely youthful month of training to come!"

Shugorei limped ahead of them, escorted by the medic, who had identified a massive number of small fractures in his bones, as well as a fair amount of organ bruising.

He was fairly certain they were more bruise than organ at the moment, but he wasn't about to say that where Ao could hear.

Pride alone was keeping the Naka ninja on his feet, rather than riding a stretcher.

Lee, less injured overall, caught up with him easily, and the two walked together out of the room and into the medical bay built into the side of the former shelter.

"Next time we fight... I wanna see what you can really do," Shugorei said firmly as they separated to enter their treatment rooms. "And you better bet I'll be ready for that trick with the Gates... Damn Fighting types... As bad as Bugs..."

Lee looked after the boy in surprise for a long moment before a wide grim crept across his face.

"He wants to fight again?" Lee said in wonder... Neji never wanted rematches! That must mean...

"Yosh! I have a new rival!"

Gai, back on the balcony, smiled widely, at the marvels of true youth.

Most of the other attendants followed Neji's example of palming their faces.

"Can we just get on with this," Anko asked sourly. "I can feel my brain melting from all this mushy gushy man-child creepiness.

"While not exactly the phrasing I would use, Anko-chan has a point," Sarutobi agreed, smiling slightly at the mild glare he earned from the woman for using that suffix in public. "There are quite a few more fights to go, so it would be prudent to proceed with all due haste."

"Of course, Hokage-sama," Hayate responded quickly, coughing a few times as he left the mint-blue miasma of lung soothing mist constantly surrounding his Weezing. (Pain Split coupled with Haze, and Weezing mixing chemicals inside itself with a medicinal aim rather than extreme toxicity.)

Yugao's hand brushed his as he walked back onto the arena, an apparent accident, but intentionally comforting for the former Anbu teammates.

Almost immediately upon leaving his partner's effect, the heavy weight in his chest returned, an supposedly terminal affliction that had cost him his position in the secretive ninja force.

It was difficult to live without the support of his pokemon, and the medicinal mist it had learned to produce for his benefit, but it would have been impossible to survive on the missions favored by Anbu while being so easily identifiable.

"Second match... Temari of Suna, versus Chouji Akimichi of Konoha!" Hayate announced strongly, his voice much recovered from the few minutes of rest.

---

"Winner: Temari, by a mile," Kankuro muttered approvingly, remembering the rotund boy easily.

"If he can even run that far," Temari smirked in agreement.

Leaving her brothers, one snickering, the other staring blankly into the center of the arena, Temari hopped onto the rail and sprang lightly from it, her huge fan dangling loosely from her hand as Vibrava set it's wings humming merrily on her back, guiding them down to a graceful landing.

---

"Oh man, oh man, what am I gonna do!?" Chouji grumbled, munching chips at an impressive pace as his nerves threatened to get the better of him.

"You're going to go down there and give it your best shot," Asuma replied confidently. "And if you win, I'll spring for barbecue for the team. All you can eat even."

"Yeah, we can make it our last meal," Ino added shakily. "I bet that creepy redhead will kill us if you beat her!"

"Not very likely," Shikamaru shot back. "Remember what he said in the cafeteria? I doubt he even cares if either of them passes the exam... and you can be thankful that you got the best of the three."

"How do you mean," Asuma prompted curiously.

"Well, she seems to be the least likely to kill her opponent out of hand," Shikamaru reasoned. "Plus, it's pretty easy to tell what element she favors, and most importantly: I know how she plays shougi,"

"She's a thinker, like me. She'll want time to strategize, so don't give it to her. Hit her hard and fast, and keep her on her heels and you can win."

"You... you really think so?" Chouji asked, still nervous, but bolstered by his best friend's faith.

"I know so, now get down there before you get disqualified," Shikamaru ordered.

"R-right! C'mon Aron, we got a fight to win!" Chouji said loudly, and his pokemon hopped into his arms with a happy call, as the boy jogged down the staircase.

"That was uncharacteristically... motivational of you," Asuma remarked slyly once Chouji was out of earshot.

"Tell me about it," Shikamaru replied drily, crossing his arms on the railing and leaning against it lazily. "Almost too troublesome to do, but it had to be done..."

Asuma cocked an eyebrow at the boy, who's large yawn didn't fool their sensei.

The shrewd look in Shikamaru's eyes was something he'd hoped these tests would inspire.

---

"About time you got here. I had started wondering if you were just going to quit and hide behind your teammates again," Temari taunted once Chouji had finally arrived, planting her fan upright defensively before her.

"You wish," Chouji replied, setting Aron on the ground and rotating his arms to loosen the muscles up. "You ain't gonna get a free pass out of this guy."

"If both contestants are ready... Begin!" Hayate announced, chopping his hand down and leaping away.

Chouji charged immediately, leaving his pokemon behind and sweeping a series of heavy punches at the girl, who dodged with contemptuous ease, before spinning into a sidelong chop with her hefty fan.

Chouji moved into the attack and caught the blow on his shoulder, reducing it's effect substantially, and slid forward along it's length, launching a low jab underneath his bracing arm.

Temari spun her fan away in the opposite direction, stabbing it into the ground and pivoting up on top of it, where she stood confidently out of easy reach, back turned, revealing Vibrava in all it's glory.

Chouji stumbled when the pressure disappeared from his blocking arm, and hesitated for a moment when he realized Temari's relatively defenseless stance.

This was more than enough for Vibrava to capitalize on, focusing it's eyes on the tubby boy and igniting a bright glow within them.

As if by magic, a spinning vortex of sand appeared around him, quickly settling around him into a waist-high sand dune, trapping his legs in the heavy dirt. (Sand Tomb)

"Too easy!" Temari declared, slapping her hand onto her fan and spinning into a flip, ripping it from the ground and swinging it along with her into a heavy chop.

Chouji's eyes widened in fear and he crossed his arms above him, knowing that it wouldn't be nearly enough protection.

A familiar and comforting weight appeared as Aron ran up the dune, and Chouji's backside, bouncing off his partner's head and onto those crossed arms, lines of bright blue crawling across the lines of it's body, before flaring bright white as they completed. (Iron Defense)

The fan slammed into Aron and stopped with a bell-like peal.

Temari withdrew her weapon again and swung in from another angle, which Chouji reacted to by grabbing his pokemon in his large hands and using the impervious pokemon as a living shield.

A decision that Aron seemed perfectly happy with, as it simply stared at the swinging fan in fascination, each ringing impact only increasing it's desire.

A few of these useless exchanges passed before Temari hopped away, grimacing in frustration.

"I didn't think I would need to, but it looks like you'll actually get to see the designs on my fan," she said, not sounding particularly displeased by this fact. "Once you see all three, this match will be over."

"Then I guess I won't look at them," Chouji decided, setting his pokemon down on the sand, where it slid to the bottom, staring at the delicious sounding fan and licking it's lips.

"Ninja Art: Expansion jutsu! Human Bounder!" Chouji declared, bringing his palms together, causing his torso to explode into a sphere, his head, arms and legs seeming little more than stubs, which immediately retracted into the mass, which began to spin wildly, scattering the trapping sand behind him as he charged Temari.

"Whether you want to see them or not, it's still the end!" Temari shouted, whipping the fan forward to reveal the first moon and sending a blast of air at the rotund boy.

Chouji blasted through the weakest attack, barely noticing the momentary resistance, but Temari was older and more experienced than the rookie genin, and leapt into the air, hovering fairy-like thanks to Vibrava as the Akimichi rolled beneath.

He hit the far wall hard, but rather than stop or even be particularly hindered by the impact, he rebounded into the air, on a renewed collision course with the girl's new position.

Smirking, the Suna kunoichi murmuered quietly to her partner, which ceased it's efforts, dropping them lightly to the ground.

"Two!" Temari taunted, revealing the second moon and launching a proportionately stronger wind attack straight up, timing it to intercept her opponent squarely.

His rapid rotation spilled most of the wind away harmlessly, but it connected solidly enough to alter his trajectory, which was the brilliant girl's goal in the first place.

Chouji hit the wall above the heads of Kabuto's team, low enough that his taller teammates ducked with a shared curse, though the medic himself watched intently as the boy bounced up to ricochet off the ceiling and return his aim towards Temari.

"And that's three," Temari said smugly, opening her fan to it's full extension and stepping just out of range from Aron's loping charge in the middle of her swing.

Wind Scythe jutsu!" Temari called boldly, confidently.

Aron's motion barely shifted in response, as it ignored the girl and pokemon it was supposed to be fighting in favor of it's much more satisfying target.

Just as the fan came around, Temari's intention of blasting both pokemon and genin in one powerful Wind Scythe jutsu, Aron chomped onto the lower edge of the delicious sounding chakra conductive metal in it's implacable jaws.

The oblivious and surprisingly heavy pokemon threw off Temari's attack as it's inertia twisted the fan from the girl's grasp, hitting the ground hard and sliding happily away with it's newest treat.

Temari blinked at the pokemon in surprise, a momentary distraction that cost her.

When she returned her attention to the giant ball that was Chouji, bringing her hands together to blast him with a true jutsu as she tried dodge away, Vibrava's wings beating wildly to help pull her from danger, she couldn't see him in the cloud of chakra smoke he'd become.

The only sign of him was the shout that sealed her doom.

"Partial Expansion jutsu: Arm!"

A fist wider than her arm was long flew from the smoke, his extended reach negating her attempted avoidance, as it slammed into her torso, blasting the air from her lungs and launching her backwards.

Wind whistled over Vibrava's frantically flapping wings as it tried futilely to regain control over their unwanted flight until the duo from Suna slammed into the merciless stone of the wall.

Chouji landed on his feet, though he didn't remain there long, stumbling to his knees from a combination of inertia and dizziness.

Gathering his wits, Chouji looked in wonder towards where the girl hung from the wall.

"I... I did it?" He said, more than a little surprised by that fact.

The only argument was from the chips of stone crumbling to the floor around Temari.

"Yeah? Yeah! Chubbies rule!" Chouji shouted elatedly, drinking in the congratulatory cheers from his teammates and friends.

Only Asuma heard the silent weeping of his wallet, but even that couldn't match his pride for his least confident student.

Chouji's celebration ended with a fearful yelp when Temari moved, but it was just the girl falling to the ground with a painful groan.

A sound she repeated when Vibrava twitched free of the deeply fractured stone to land on her, looking seriously battered by it's accidental sandwiching.

Chouji stared at the fallen kunoichi and her twitching partner, suddenly feeling horrible for the harm he had inflicted to her.

He barely heard the announcer declare his victory, only turning to trudge his way up the stairs once the medics arrived to treat the Suna team.

As he moved, he caught sight of Aron, still gnawing happily on the pilfered weapon, a circumstance Chiuji decided he could not allow to continue.

Pulling the fan away with some difficulty, he replaced it with one of the horrendously expensive chakra-metal chewing bars he'd bought Aron with money from his first C-rank, before rushing back over to the medics.

Getting an unpleasant earful of the pair's injuries in the process, before the team noticed him and fell silent.

"Um... can you... see that she gets his back when she wakes up?" Chouji asked nervously, holding out the now-closed fan.

"I could..." The nearest medic admitted after a quick conversation of glances between the identically, and pristinely, garbed healers. "But you do realize that it isn't unusual to invoke a policy of 'To the victor go the spoils', right?"

"No rules against it," another added. "Your pokemon did steal it fair and square."

"Really? ...No! No..." Chouji replied, frugality getting the better of him for the barest moment before his better nature once more rose to the forefront.

"I couldn't take this and her chance to be a chunin both, it wouldn't be right," Chouji said quickly, before he allowed himself too much time to think about how long the metal-cased weapon would feed Aron. "Just... see that she gets it back, okay?"

"You are a more generous man than I, Chouji Akimichi," the spokesman said seriously. "But you have my word."

"Thanks," Chouji said in relief, before rushing off to where his team waited, scooping up his hundred and thirty pound pokemon partner and tucking it securely under one arm easily.

As he jogged his way back to where his team waited, he wondered how he got strong enough to punch someone as hard as he did, eventually deciding he must have been going a lot faster than he thought.

That he'd been carrying Aron around every time his team needed to run over rooftops or on tree branches just wasn't something that occurred to him.

Hayate stood in the center of the arena, coughing occasionally as he waited for Chouji's exit, sharing a speculating look with the Hokage as he did.

Such a gesture as the boy had made in returning the defeated girl's weapon meant little in the competition itself, but it was something that could be turned to the villages benefit, even if the boy didn't make chunin.

It was people like Chouji Akimichi, sent on select missions, that kept the popular opinion of Konoha so much higher than the other villages, and in turn kept profitable mission requests rolling in from the four corners of the Elemental Kingdoms.

---

"Match Three: Tenten of Konoha versus Kankuro of Suna!" Hayate announced unnecessarily as soon as Chouji was back up top.

The two competitors had already taken their positions during the wait, Tenten stretching to limber herself up as Kankuro stood silently, staring at the girl with one eye closed, his Golett partner peeking out fearfully from behind the wrapped bundle Kankuro carried.

"Ready?" Hayate asked, looking between the two briefly to assure that neither intended to forfeit. "Begin!"

"Shoulda given up," Kankuro advised, lowering his burden to the ground with a firm thump. "Now I gotta beat you up, or Temari'll never forgi-"

He cut his comment short as Tenten, in a move that many experienced chunin would have had trouble following, whipped out a brace of kunai from her pouch and into the air.

Both eyes wide open now, Kankuro spit out a curse and leapt away, leaving his bundle, his pokemon, and a good bit of his dignity behind.

Make it rain, Skar!" Tenten shouted triumphantly, raising her left hand to the sky, as her right retrieved yet more sharp and shiny things for throwing.

Skarmory appeared with a bolt of silver lightning, wings wrapped tight around itself for a brief moment, before it whipped it's plumage out, spreading it's wings majestically and revealing the bright orb of energy glowing in it's mouth.

In a flash, the orb exploded, sending brilliant bits of energy spinning towards Kankuro and the arena floor like tiny shuriken, causing Golett to scoop up the odd bundle and rush around the arena in a panic, attempting futilely to escape the pursuing attack and inadvertently drawing even more towards itself. (Swift)

It didn't seem to realize that the stars that did connect simply burst uselessly against it's spectrally enhanced stone skin. (Attack fails because it's a Ground/Ghost type, but Golett is paranoid because of it's Ability: No Guard which 'Ensures attacks by or against the Pokémon land.' ...From a story perspective, this means it will be an attack magnet of sorts.)

While the Suna ninja was focused on defending himself from that attack, Tenten sent a singe kunai knifing in underneath his defenses.

But the attack, aimed to strike a painfully debilitating blow to the kidneys, took a turn for the worst as Kankuro twisted to avoid a portion of the Swift attack and accidentally lined himself up for a much more severe injury.

The kunai hit his chest dead center with a solid thunk, burying itself halfway to the hilt and dragging out a breathless cry of pain from the painted genin.

Tenten stepped back, hand still extended from what should have been the match-ending attack, and Skarmory's efforts ceased in tandem with the girl's own inclination.

Kankuro hit the ground hard on his side, rolling to his back and opposite side before frantically stopping his motion.

The boy held himself up on one trembling arm, the slightest failure in his ability to do so poised to end his life as the weight of his own body bisected his heart with her kunai.

Golett stopped it's flight, moving a few steps towards his injured partner worriedly, before stopping, shifting from foot to foot and keening mournfully.

Kankuro, lifted his free hand, using it to pull weakly at the weapon embedded in himself, determination alone allowing him to continue.

'I missed! I killed him! I missed and I killed him!" Tenten's mind berated her, as she moved towards the fallen boy, drawing more kunai as she went.

Just because her opponent was apparently down, it didn't mean she would let herself be caught unprepared.

But, while it was hardly her first kill, far from, it was the first time where her skills had failed her, and might cost an ally his life.

Kankuro's pulling hand dropped limply to the floor, and he turned glassy eyes in her direction.

"I... I..." He began weakly, dark liquid leaking from his lips, easily visible to Tenten from her proximity. "Win!"

In a burst of speed impossible for a person on the verge of death, Kankuro launched himself forward, eerily silent after how loud his pain-filled breathing had rang in the girl's ears.

Tenten threw herself backwards, launching the weapons, which the boy twisted around bonelessly, avoiding all but one, which caught on his hood and ripped it down, revealing a massive mop of bristly brown hair.

She gaped in disgust as the Suna-nin's mouth opened impossibly wide, ejecting a cloud of glistening needles at her from nearly point blank range.

Tenten tried to cover her face with her arms, but it proved unnecessary as Skar dove between her and her assailant, ignoring the toxic needles as they bounced off her shining carapace.

"Skaa! Ri, ri, ri!" The steel bird cried, jabbing in with it's beak repeatedly at the still disguised puppet. (Fury Attack)

'Kankuro' slipped back silently, dodging the potentially devastating stabs with an eerie grin on his painted face.

"I ever tell you you're the best?" Tenten asked breathlessly, as she scrambled to the safety of Skarmory's back, protected by her partner's wings.

"Raa!" Skar shrieked proudly.

"Good, but it's worth repeating," Tenten replied, crouching on the pokemon's back and holding tight with chakra using both feet and one hand. "Now let's grab some air!"

Skarmory jumped, sweeping it's wings into a strong down stroke, leaving Tenten apparently vulnerable to another vomited volley of needles.

Tenten smirked at the attack, trusting fully in her partner, who proved that faith well placed, shimmering out of existence right before the attack would have connected, reappearing much higher than before in a blink. (Agility)

Skarmory ascended until Tenten could almost touch the ceiling before the girl rose to her feet, confident that her pokemon could easily react to any ranged attack that Kankuro or his pokemon could possibly launch.

Tenten looked down on them, noting once more the strange bundle that the ninja seemed in no hurry to collect, wondering if it was some sort of weapon the boy planned to save unless absolutely necessary.

If so, it would be so much more convenient to keep it sealed in a scroll, she was rather fond of those herself.

"What's wrong, girlie? Too scared to come down and fight me?" The boy called up, making a few taunting gestures to illustrate his opinion.

"Why should I?" Tenten called back, noting the jerkiness of the boy's movements, believing the kunai must have done something, nerve damage maybe, and that the guy was just too darn stubborn to surrender.

She idly wondered why it was that so many boys seemed to think that it was better than kill themselves rather than admit they might be outclassed by a girl.

"I can just pelt you from here until you give up," she added smugly. "And you can't do a thing about it!"

Well, he could probably run up the wall, but she'd bet Skar was faster in flight than he was on his feet.

"Girl, you do not want me to come up there!" Kankuro shouted back angrily.

"I'd like to see you try!" Tenten taunted, flipping a scroll out of her pouch and unwinding it with a grand gesture, spinning it into the air where it unraveled, suspended in the air around her.

"I've got something for ya! Catch this!" Tenten called cockily, all but vanishing into a loud of chakra smoke as she released and launched weapon after weapon towards the ground, accompanied once more by Skarmory's Swift.

With another yelp of fear, Golett took off running, the bundle bouncing overhead as it scurried away from the weapons that curved towards it without any extra effort from Tenten herself.

Kankuro dodged like a hunting spider, shifting and jumping with the same jerky movements Tenten had observed before.

As her metal rain ended, the boy leapt backwards, landing in an awkward looking crouch right next to his Golett, surrounded by wasted weaponry.

"Is it my turn?" He asked, grinning up at her.

"Not yet... Try dodging this!" Tenten fired back, crossing her arms before her, fingers spread wide, glowing lines that the Suna-nin easily recognized trailing to the scattered steel.

"Oh crud... Golett, do it!" Kankuro shouted.

Golett looked from the bundle it carried, to it's puppet-partner, to the blades and bludgeons lifting into the air, geometric shaped eyes igniting with the force of it's inner energy.

This yellow light built to a crescendo, bursting out through the seams around it's arms and legs, until with a loud cry of it's name, the energy flashed outward, passing by the trio before suddenly recoiling, surrounding them with a solid, shimmering sphere of energy. (Protect)

Tenten's whipped her arms out wide the instant all the weapons were ready, and the attack hammered in almost faster than the shield could be established, but weapon after weapon slammed uselessly against the barrier, the recoil proving sufficient to snap her crudely devised chakra strings.

"If that's all you got... Then here I come!" Kankuro declared, leaping away from his exhausted partner, knowing that his ace in the hole would be out of commission for days while Golett recovered.

Tenten was mildly impressed that the boy was willing to even attempt a jump that high, but her annoyance at his pokemon crushed that admiration.

Besides, Lee could do it easily, or keep trying until he managed, after pausing to do a few hundred jump-rope sessions using barbed wire to make it a challenge.

Skarmory back-winged suddenly with a screech of feigned surprise, before belatedly jabbing in to spear it's beak at the airborne genin. (Peck)

"Gotcha!" Tenten howled, revealing the four foot long Kanabo she'd unsealed from another of her many scrolls.

She swung it in a mighty chop, the iron-studded wood whistling through the air as she brought it down firmly on the boy's shoulder, heralding a sickening crack, like a board snapping.

The blow rattled the boy's frame entirely, the kunai in his chest shaking loose to fall to the floor so far below.

The blade was completely devoid of blood, Tenten realized with a start.

Crow slipped downward in the air a few feet as Kankuro's chakra strings flared, transferring extra support and reinforcing to the puppet for this final exchange.

"Gotcha," Kankuro's voice said through Crow's mouth, pieces of the false face shattering to fall off grotesquely.

Tenten pulled back for another swing, hoping to break the damn thing completely, as Skarmory stopped flapping, dropping like a stone to evade the too-close enemy.

But Crow was too close, and Kankuro too capable, and the puppet's arms darted in lightning quick, two dove towards her arms, wrapping in opposite directions before latching onto her wrists, twisting them painfully until she released the weapon involuntarily.

Another pair of arms ripped through the cloth of Kankuro's outfit, wrapping her middle and winding down her legs, binding them together despite her struggling.

Prisoner secured, the puppet pulled away, and Tenten saw the bundle's wraps exploding outward to reveal the real Kankuro, one hand holding the obviously chakra-infused bandages, the other extended towards her.

Skar shrieked in indignation, arresting her flight and swirling towards the puppet, golden eyes filled with rage, biting at the automaton with her beak, catching it's legs and ripping them clean off with the sound of splintering wood.

Any hope Tenten held for a quick turn in her current fortune was squashed when the legs, just like the puppet's lithe arms encircled the pokemon's head, wrapping the beak multiple times before tying themselves into a knot.

By this point, Tenten was fully reeled in, and she was livid, thrashing as much as her constraints would allow and glaring daggers at the puppeteer.

"Call 'er off," Kankuro ordered when Skarmory tried to attack, swinging Tenten in between himself and the angry metal bird as a living shield.

"And why the hell should I?" Tenten growled, spitting towards her opponent, hoping to at least smudge the cocky bastard's makeup.

"Cause you're beat, and you know it," He replied bluntly, stepping away from the crude projectile. "Pokemon or not, you can't escape, and all it'd take for me to finish this would be a twitch."

He illustrated with a finger motion almost too tiny for even her sharp eyes to catch, but the touch of cold, serrated steel against her stomach was a pointed threat, literally.

Tenten glared at him, tugging on her arms a few more times futilely as her mind raced to find another option, growling in frustration when she couldn't find one.

"Fine... I'm done," she finally announced, sounding more angry than defeated, and Kankuro looked to the proctor for confirmation.

"Winner: Kankuro of Suna!" Hayate declared, appearing between the two via shunshin.

Kankuro released the girl, making certain that the proctor remained between himself and the possibly vengeful girl the entire time, and stalked back to his team.

As he walked, Kankuro called his puppet back to himself, unwinding the legs from their knot the same way he had tied them, with Golett limping alongside, tired but unwilling to leave his friend without protection.

He had just given Baki a proud grin when a wooden foot bounced off the back of his head.

"That's for making me miss, you jerk!" Tenten yelled after him, before hopping to her pokemon's back and flapping back up to their sensei, where Skarmory perched, looking around curiously.

It didn't get to stay with Tenten in the city too often, or around people either. She felt it was too dangerous when a careless bump could lead to lethal lacerations from the razor-winged pokemon.

"You just gonna let that slide?" Kankuro demanded to know of the proctor, sounding more than a little accusatory.

"She asked if she could return it," Hayate replied with a sheepish shrug.

"Sore loser!" Kankuro taunted the girl, who was pointedly not looking at him.

Muttering under his breath about how ungrateful Leaf ninja were, Kankuro collected the fallen piece of his puppet and set about stowing his battered creation for transport.

Had he been more attentive, he might have noticed Gaara's slight smile, but whether it was inspired by the girl's actions or the upcoming match, he wouldn't have known or wondered.

"Fourth match: Naruto Uzumaki Versus Shino Aburame, Both of Konoha!" Hayate announced.

This was a match he was certainly interested in, since it was the first time he would see the Yondaime's supposed heir in action, outside of the boy's many pranks anyway.

It was hard to believe, especially seeing the bright-eyed boy grab his pokemon and leap into the arena with a whoop of excitement. Minato would have never acted so... outlandishly, but Kakashi was the absolute last person who would make up a story like that without being absolutely certain.

By contrast, the boy's opponent was exactly as expected, and the Aburame made his way down the stairs and into position with neither haste nor hesitation.

"Combatant's ready? ...Begin!" Hayate said firmly, vanishing from the arena and appearing next to his girlfriend once again, to find the woman watching the blond with startling intensity.

"Shadowclone jutsu!" Naruto called out, making his most well known handsign and creating a large number of clones, which immediately moved to surround Shino, who simply adjusted his dark glasses and looked around in interest.

"A moment, if I may, Uzumaki-san?" The stoic boy asked in a quiet voice that still managed to travel quite easily.

The Naruto beside Kirlia narrowed his eyes, his face scrunching up into the nearly comical expression he often wore when thinking, as he tried to remember if he'd ever seen Shino try to actually trick someone, the rest of the horde, clone or not Shino couldn't tell, deferred to that one.

"You aren't gonna quit on me, are ya?" Naruto asked cautiously.

Win or not, it wouldn't be nearly awesome enough to pass because his opponent just gave up after seeing one cool jutsu.

"Assuredly not," Shino replied, his nearly flat voice laced with a mild reproof. "I simply have an inquiry... a question, for Kirlia-san."

"I know what 'Inquiry' means," Naruto shot back, grumpily.

"I didn't," one of the clones remarked curiously.

"Me neither," another added.

"I know what it means now!" A third put in.

"Aw, he's just tryin' to look cool,"

"But if he looks cool, so do we, right?"

"Shut up all of you!" The Naruto that Shino had been addressing ordered, his face red from embarrassment at being caught in his, admittedly minor, falsehood.

He did technically know what the word meant when he said it afterall...

Kirlia's giggling certainly wasn't helping matters, at least not anymore than the muttered insults and accusations from his clone army were.

Shino waited a bit for the chatter to fall before clearing his throat pointedly, drawing the group's attention once more.

"My apologies for the misunderstanding," he said with a slight nod, mere formality, but it was habit. "Do I have your permission to ask my question?"

"Ask her," Naruto replied with a carefree shrug. "if she wants to answer, she will. She makes her own decisions you know."

"And I decided that I want poffins when we get home!" Kirlia announced, looking forward to the delicious baked treats.

"And ramen," Naruto agreed with a firm nod.

Decision making was a snap when they could easily do both.

"I see," Shino murmured, aware of the exchange only because Kirlia had broadcast it, allowing everyone within range to hear it, just as if she had spoken aloud.

A few members of the audience were surprised by the clear statement, but not overly so, since Telepathy wasn't extraordinarily rare among pokemon.

"Very well, Kirlia-san," Shino continued. "I merely wondered if you would be willing to assist me in testing a hypothesis... How, you ask? Simple..."

Shino locked eyes with the smiling child-like pokemon, confident that his assumption was accurate.

"Tell me what I am feeling."

Kirlia's smile vanished in a blink, and Shino decided that yes, as usual, he was correct.

"Is it as I suspected?" Shino asked with a sly smirk. "Can you not distinguish my own emotions from the hundreds, thousands, of individual beings within this body?"

Kirlia winced as she tried to puzzle through the emotional static within Shino, as the boy cloaked his own presence with a cascading series of orders to his colony.

Hunger, anger, desire, fear, elation, and a dozen other simplified sensations roiled within the boy's tunnel bored epidermis, hiding himself, and his insect's more dangerous intentions.

"That's not true! I can tell. I can tell everything!" Kirlia bluffed, dropping herself into a stance not dissimilar to Naruto's and forming a whip of electricity in one hand.

"That is hardly necessary," Shino said quickly, knowing that if the pokemon attacked, Naruto would quickly follow. "It is essential to understand one's limitations, as well as one's strengths, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yeah, well how likely is it that we're gonna be fighting another Aburame, huh?" Naruto replied angrily. "Seems to me that you're just trying to reveal a flaw so someone else can try taking advantage of it after we kick your ass!"

"The victor is far from certain yet," Shino countered, warily watching the now aggressive clones around him. "But your point has merit... shall I reciprocate by revealing a bit about my own talents?"

A glance to Kirlia revealed that she was concentrating intensely on the heavily clothed boy, trying to pierce the veil of distracting emotions.

"What sorta talents?" Naruto asked, against his better judgment, but willing to buy Kirlia the time she needed, and learn something new in the process.

"We Aburame are experts in understanding the synergistic qualities of pokemon when paired with Humans," Shino explained. "When properly utilized, a ninja and pokemon can become much stronger than their constituent parts, but of course, you of all people would be aware of this, as your chosen jutsu demonstrates well the potential of such multiplicative enhancements to one's inherent strength."

"What you may not be aware of, is that over time, and the passing of many generations, those beings who associate most often with pokemon tend to inherit a degree of their pokemon's qualities. This is most evident in the form of the ninja clans, who are almost universally ninja, and equally often accepted as partners on their first attempts."

"Inuzuka, Hyuuga, Uchiha, Yamanaka, Nara, Akimichi, Aburame... These represent the most prestigious and persistent ninja clans within Konoha since the village was founded, and over a century of successful partnering has brought their potential up to levels that the original clan's founders could scarcely imagine."

"But we Aburame have another advantage, one rarely spoken of, though many know it... Our own internal allies gain these same benefits, at a proportionately similar rate..." Shino continued with a smirk. "But of course, an insect's generation is much, much, shorter than a human's"

"Oh yeah, and how does that work out for ya?" Naruto asked, when it became obvious that Shino was waiting for a prompt of some sort.

"Perfectly," Shino replied simply.

All at once the ground around the Aburame boy exploded upwards, as his insects escaped from tunnels burrowed since the very start of the match, the very reason the tactically minded boy delayed the actual combat for as long as he had.

The tiny insects, more a nuisance than threat if taken one by one, swarmed the clones, biting and slashing with the strong burrowing claws they had developed due to Nincada's influence, and for once, Naruto was outnumbered and overwhelmed.

The tiny wounds inflicted by the kikaichu weren't an immediate threat, even to the clones, amounting to little more than a papercut individually, but the sheer number of them that attacked each clone left the Narutos vanishing one after the other, simply increasing the pressure on those remaining.

Shino gestured towards the Naruto he'd been speaking with, and the bulk of the insects split away, circling towards their assigned target hungrily.

Naruto saw blue from the corner of his eye, and looked to Kirlia, who vanished in a blink, teleporting away just as the swarm descended, destroying the clone in moments.

"Kirlia-chan! What the hell!?" The real one shouted, buying himself some bug-free breathing room by blasting a quick Double Gale Palm towards the floor at his feet.

The rapid updraft blew the kikaichu away, and he spent that time creating more clones around himself, all of which fired Gale palms of their own, aiming their winds to create a cyclonic clear spot in the room, encompassing themselves and the original.

Seeking out his adored pokemon, he found her, teleporting from one side of the room to the other, lashing out with whip-like Thunder Waves, and explosive Psyshocks, none of which were all that effective against her oh-so small targets.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for their own attacks against Kirlia, a fact that sparked Naruto's anger intensely.

He didn't realize that the pain from her wounds and her sharp fear in the face of these innumerable odds were radiating across to him though their empathetic connection, pushing him further towards a the righteous rage of a Big Brother standing up for his little sister.

"Is it not obvious, Uzumaki-san?" Shino asked, having not bothered moving from his original position. "Kirlia-san is scared, and with good reason, I must admit. It is common knowledge that Psychic such as herself are rather vulnerable to Bugs."

"Yeah, Poke-bugs!" Naruto fired back, launching a batch of Gale-powered shuriken at the boy, who dissolved into yet more insects upon impact.

"An irrelevant distinction," Shino countered, from immediately behind Naruto, grabbing the boy and launching him from the safety of his wind walls and back into the not so tender affections of his swarm.

Ever efficient, Shino sent the boy careening through one of the clones maintaining the defense, shattering it and leaving the rest vulnerable.

"These insects survive by consuming chakra, in it's pure state, and as they grow it becomes concentrated within themselves, infusing them to such a degree that they match the elemental type of the one to whom they are beholden," Shino explained. "Would you care to guess what my natural affinity is?"

"You are really starting to bug me," Naruto growled, rising to his feet, ignoring the insects swarming all over him and stomping whatever happened to be on the ground between him and Shino as he raced after the boy.

The Aburame's eyebrows lifted in surprise, knowing that the kikaichu perched on his opponent must be biting, and therefore must be draining chakra at a considerable rate... But if Naruto noticed, it wasn't apparent.

Naruto attacked, snarling fiercely as he tried to smash Shino right in his damn sunglasses, but the Aburame was skilled in avoiding such direct combat, and shifted, dodged and blocked as necessary, planning to wait out the boy's dwindling chakra supply.

But even ever patient Shino would have liked to see some hint that the Uzumaki was even bothered by the bugs plastered all over him.

There was a massively bright burst of light as Kirlia finally found a weapon to use against her insect enemies, Flash, the only move in her arsenal that didn't require aiming, though one that did very little to harm in most cases.

But it bought her time, and when she teleported this time, a move that left the kikaichu on her behind, the temporarily blind bugs zeroed in on the one target they could still find via smell: Naruto.

Seeing this, Kirlia smiled once more, Teleporting and Flashing many times in quick succession, trusting her partner to be able to handle things.

Shino was confused, Naruto was annoyed, but when he tried to Gale Palm the damn pests away, Kirlia shouted into his mind to stop, and just give her a little more time.

By this point, Shino could barely recognize Naruto for himself, as so many bugs were crawling and biting him, and every step the blond took crushed more of his precious hive into oblivion.

Only the knowledge that they could not continue for much longer kept him from forfeiting solely to protect his colony as he continued to defend himself in a pure taijutsu exchange.

He was just glad that neither Uzumaki nor Kirlia had access to the wide area devastation abilities that the Uchiha, or his pokemon possessed.

"Stand still!" Kirlia said into Naruto's mind, achieving instant obedience, while Shino continued backing away suspiciously.

Kirlia teleported right next to Naruto, close enough that the bugs renewed their attacks against her, but she endured, and would endure long enough.

For Naruto's dreams, she had to.

She crossed her arms before her, calling on a power similar to what she used against that vile snake-man in the forest, and when she threw her arms wide, eyes alight, five glowing walls spun into existence around them, forming a box around the pair, trapping them with the insects. (Light Screen)

And trapping the insects with them.

"Gale Palm, and make it big!" Kirlia ordered, wincing as she received bite after bite from the aggressively attacking insects.

"No! Don't!" Shino cried, as close to panicked as anyone had ever seen him, charging forward, hoping to shatter the ninjutsu oriented defense but it was too late, even forfeiture wouldn't have ended the blond's actions this close to the mark.

"Gale Palm!" Naruto shouted, thrusting his hands out blindly, grabbing the wind and sending it whirling around like a caged tornado.

Kirlia gasped at the power and clenched her tiny fists, dedicating all her effort into maintaining the integrity of her Light Screen.

The winds raged within the small box, ripping the kikaichu off of their targets and battering them against the walls, each other, and those very targets themselves, and setting the floor of the arena singing as the swirling air escaped through the only exit available: the bug's own tunnels, injuring yet more as the were blasted from that haven to erupt like geysers from an Entomophobic's nightmares.

Shino connected, his fist easily breaking through the wall he struck, and the Gale Palm was quick to capitalize on this newer, easier route of escape, carrying it's airborne cargo along for the ride, pummeling Shino with the very creatures he had hoped to protect.

The Aburame stumbled back, his ever calm heart freezing as he felt the carapace of one of his allies crack beneath his sandal, and he looked around, shielding his eyes from the continuing wind to see the arena liberally coated with his kikaichu.

"Well, that was fun," Naruto declared, rubbing Kirlia's already more than mussed hair fondly.

The two looked exactly as roughed up as he would have expected, cuts and bites marring their flesh and clothes equally, but with the largest threat handled, they looked more than ready to continue in Shino's objective opinion.

Naruto shifted into a fighting stance, crushing yet more kikaichu carelessly underfoot, and this time, with his insect army so decimated, Kirlia could easily sense the dismay within the stoic boy as the sound seemed to echo in his ears.

"Wait," She broadcast openly, laying a hand on Naruto's arm. "Don't move unless you have to..."

Shino looked at the pokemon, who gazed back calmly.

"...She is correct, Uzumaki-san. I capitulate, you are the victor," Shino said, bowing as formally as he could without moving his feet.

"What? Why? We were just getting to the good part!" Naruto protested, but he too remained still at Kirlia's insistence.

"He wishes to protect his... precious partners," Kirlia answered for Shino. "If we continue fighting, many more of his insects will die, without good cause, since we have proven capable of defeating them, yes?"

"Again, you are correct," Shino agreed with the slightest hint of gratitude in his voice, though he fairly swelled with the emotion behind his impassive appearance, earning a smile of honest appreciation from the little pokemon.

"Winner: Naruto Uzumaki!" Hayate called from the dais. "...There will be a small delay while the contestant gathers his... artillery."

He would have done the same for Tenten, but ever exuberant Gai had collected her weapons while she calmed her pokemon.

After giving himself a ridiculously short time limit of course.

"You wanna hand?" Naruto asked, looking around curiously as he wondered how exactly he would follow through on the offer without squashing more.

"The offer is appreciated, but unnecessary," Shino replied, sending out a wave of winged kikaichu from his now reduced hive.

The winged female beetles, which he held in reserve as often as possible, worked quickly and efficiently, clearing the immediate vicinity and working their way outwards, collecting any intact beetles and returning them to their biologically bound hive.

The survivors would be fed and restored as much as possible, while those who could not endure would be... recycled.

"Hey, I gotta ask," Naruto said quietly while he watched the bugs do their thing. "Why didn't ya let your pokemon come out and fight? I was really looking forward to seeing what a ninja bug could do!"

Shino grimaced slightly, and looked down, to where Nincada peeked out of his jacket, also wondering at the answer.

"Truthfully, I could not bring myself to do so," Shino began. "Nincada, while much more capable than he was when we were paired, is ill suited to a battle in these circumstances. In soft earth where he can move quickly, his capacity for ambush attacks is considerable, but in this hard stone, where he would be forced to dig tunnels much larger than those used by the kikaichu, he would be sorely restricted..."

"And... I suppose I could not bear it if he were to be trod upon, even accidentally," Shino added quietly.

"Ah... I think I get'cha," Naruto replied sheepishly. With his clones and all, and considering how small the little guy was, that was probably a considerable risk.

"Well, just don't coddle the lil guy too much, you want him to get strong and kick ass with ya, and that won't happen if you don't let 'em fight!" Naruto advised, earning a lifted eyebrow from Shino.

As if he would do something like that... well, intentionally.

"It would probably be wise to leave the arena floor, so that the next match may proceed," Shino replied tonelessly, shelving that worry for the moment.

"Yeah yeah. First stop, my teammates!" Naruto said, as Kirlia latched onto him and Shino and teleported them right up to the balcony.

Hayate looked to Yugao, shrugging slightly. The boy certainly didn't fight like his father, but then why would he, having never met the man.

She returned the shrug, then nodded her head for him to get on with things, and Hayate strode out onto the floor of the arena.

"Is there something about Naruto-kun that bothers you two?" Sarutobi asked pointedly, his voice grandfatherly, but with steel apparent beneath the comforting tone.

"Of course not, Hokage-sama," Yugao replied calmly. "We find the boy to be interesting is all. As you know, Anbu have had a number of run ins with him over the years, and expect him to go far."

All of that was true, she knew better than to even attempt to tell a falsehood to her illustrious leader, and Naruto was notorious among Anbu, who had a rather avaricious eye on the boy, watching to see if his skills were going to improve with time.

"Hmm, so long as that is the extent of it," Sarutobi replied warningly. "It will be a number of years yet, before he is eligible for the kinds of missions you might be thinking of sending him on..."

"Such thoughts hadn't even crossed my mind, Hokage-sama," Yugao answered honestly.

The Yondaime's heir was far too valuable to risk on such missions anyway.

---

AN:

End Chapter 14, a fair bit shorter than usual, but a large part of that is my desire to reorient my updates to occurring on the first of the month (approximately). Hopefully I can stick with it this time, hehe.

I intend to finish off the last eight fights in the next chapter, but we'll see if I can hold to that plan or if my tendency to run long rears its head once more.

A few things to note about this chapter:

First, I've changed the way the gates work, in accordance with the origin of Chakra and ninjutsu. A ninja who opens the gates becomes more and more 'pure' from a pokemon's standpoint, and less themselves from a human's, as they progress. At the third gate, they begin to express chakra that is aligned with their natures, which for Gai would be Fighting/Fire. Those are the only two who this is a real factor for at the moment, and possibly long-term too.

However, one major alteration is the Eighth Gate, which in Cannon kills it's user. In this, the Eighth Gate triggers an evolution, turning them into a pokemon of some sort and erasing almost all of who they were before. In a sense, it is still death, but the person can still identify allies, even if they don't remember the person specifically. Not an issue for a long time, but I think it's an interesting bit of potential, and may point it's direction at some point, so you know where I'm coming from.

Second, Shino's refusal to use Nincada as an actual fighter. Shino in cannon has been shown to be protective to a serious degree towards his Kikaichu, and I expect that would only increase in the case of his Larval partner, add to that who his opponent was and the fact that Nincada has almost nil in the way of ranged attacks at the moment, and I see it as almost the only option, though it's not going to remain that way for much longer.

Third, my outline got altered again, since my plan was for Temari and Tenten to win their matches, Chouji surprised me when that punch made it's way into the story and I couldn't think of a way for Temari to recover in a realistic manner. Kankuro just kind of flowed from there, since he had to be less willing to hold back after her loss. By the by, does anyone know if Temari is actually ever even hit in the series, I thought about it for days and cannot remember a single time.

Fourth, Tyrogue knows only two Fighting moves at the moment, because his moveset is very limited by nature. I decided to expand it a bit by giving him a move from each of his Evolution's breeding moves, so he has Rapid Spin, Mach Punch, and Low Kick from Hitmontop, Hitmonchan, and Hitmonlee respectively. Regardless of what he evolves into, he will keep these in his moveset.

And Lastly, I am putting up a poll, which I wanted to do last chapter but forgot. It's basically a 'What Element should Naruto learn as restitution from Sasuke' (referring to his theft of Gale Palm) The options will include all the pokemon elements except Normal, Fire, Wind(Flying), and Dragon. I'm turning this into an actual poll because I can work with anything on this item, but if anyone feels like suggesting jutsu ideas via review or PM as well, I'll be happy to check 'em out.

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Review Response:

I'm always thankful for whatever reviews I receive, but there's one reviewer that I must admit I feel the need to address directly right now.

...I think I've gone into a bit of a rant, just a heads up. Skip it if you dislike such things.

Noshadowone:I'll be honest, prior to posting, I had a fairly long response to your first review typed up, which I discarded as a probably futile effort. The tone of your first review struck me as more flame than criticism, since the two factors you pointed to are length, which is a matter of opinion, and Naruto's partner, which is as well. That your account disallows PM's which is my preferred method of discourse just supports that theory, in my perception.

I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I received a second review from you, carrying the same fiery tone and highly opinionated 'criticism'. News for ya: Just because I don't like the taste of peppermint, doesn't mean I'm going to start telling people why their tastebuds are wrong.

On the subject of length, I tend to prefer longer stories, and a person's creations tend to match with their tastes. I bake what i enjoy eating, I write what I enjoy reading. That I have a number of reviewers who also enjoy long chapters is a wonderful windfall, and I assure you that there are a thousand other stories at least that have no qualms rushing around to get where they're going. I for one intend to enjoy the journey.

In regards to Ralts, Yes according to the numbers she is weak. Let me reiterate: Ralts is weak if one judges by her numerical statistics. At a baste stat total of 198, she is the weakest of the pokemon paired, with even Tyrogue, an official 'Baby Pokemon' rating a 210. However, upon evolution to Gardevoir, she jumps to 518, a gain of 320 points. By comparison, Charmander jumps from 309 to 534 (225 points) and Beldum from 300 to 600 (300 points).

By the numbers, she's weaker overall, but much like Naruto himself, her growth potential is enormous, rather than starting off at the top (Sasuke) or a closet champion (Shikamaru). Plus, as I've said before, Kirlia has a ton of utility, and I like what she brings as a character. If all I wanted was to hand Naruto upgrades, I wouldn't be writing this, because there are a ton of stories like that already, and generally I find them boring.

If you still don't like what I'm doing, feel free to use this as a base and write your own, or issue a challenge for someone to do so. I hold no objections or grudges against to those who don't like the story, everyone has their own tastes, and I learned a long time ago that sometimes mine are weird. Doesn't mean I'll stop putting mustard on my french fries though, so accept it or not, I really don't care.

As to your second review, Yes I could make the forest longer, I could go back and illustrate Karin's time within the forest, or Team Gai's more fully, or Team 8's, or what have you. I used the last chapter to touch on the characters who were making it to the prelims, that the Naka team did was largely because I have plans with them and outlines until the end of the invasion when they will be exiting stage right.

At times I regretted writing them in at all, but it was a earning experience, and dammit it's my first solo story, be glad they're not fricking Sues (May I burn if ever I write one) I'm still trying to balance things and build a whole bloody world around Kishimoto's, forgive me if some things take a bit more work than others, but I'm not just going to say 'these guys go here because I say so' without having a valid explanation as to how they got there.

And lastly, A: I'm not going to pick a pairing based on how many reviews it would net me, I may enjoy them, and may actively request feedback or inspiration, but something like that is not going to be poll fodder. The pairing, when it happens, will fit in the story.

B: Don't accuse me of setting a pairing just because I'm treating the character (Hinata) according to her actual motivation. Naruto is essentially the sun around which her world revolves, and so a lot of her perspective stuff will reference that. If Naruto suddenly starts following her around like a lost puppy, then you can give me shit. Thus far Naruto has been civil to Hinata, bordering on friendly, towards a person he has no reason to dislike and whom he knows he makes uncomfortable (though not quite why). If him smiling at her once in a while, makes this automatically Naru/Hina, then you have a pretty lax definition of the pairing. Keep in mind that Naruto thinks she's afraid of him, and her looking away every time he meets her eyes can't be helping that theory.

...Yes, I realize this response carries more of an angry tone than I generally prefer to use, but rereading your assumptive comments incited it. For anyone else who read this, I apologize to you for posting this in such a public manner, but the option for a private conversation that might actually have proven valuable from a meaningful standpoint was taken off the table.

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To everyone who read and enjoyed, I thank you. TO everyone who read and didn't, feel free to tell me what was wrong. Despite what the above may imply, I have no issues with civil conversation, aside from the occasional delay in response caused by life in general.

-Mhyrloc