14. Sarutobi's Concern/The Preliminaries Part One
"Well now, I'm impressed Naruto. It only took you two days to get to the tower and it's not even lunch time yet."
Naruto grinned as he dispelled his clones and said "Yeah, well we would have been here sooner but we had a few difficulties."
The smoke from the summoning scrolls finally dispersed completely and gave Naruto and Sakura a view of their smirking academy teacher and two other Chunin before they noticed the unconscious Uchiha on the floor.
"What's wrong with the Uchiha?" One of the Chunin asked as he moved over to check him.
Naruto shrugged and said "The mark that the Snake Faced Pedophile Orochimaru gave him made him a bit battle happy when he had finally woke up from it. When he attacked me, I had to knock him out."
All three Chunin frowned at this before Iruka realized that he still had a job to do and cleared his throat before saying "I see, well anyway, I'm sure your wondering what we're doing here. It was actually supposed to just be me here to explain this but since you collected so many scrolls-"
Naruto shrugged at the questioning look of the three Chunin and said "I had clones go into the forest to thin down the competition a bit."
The other two Chunin made 'oh' faces while Iruka merely smirked again and thought 'Why am I not surprised he did something like that? Looks like Kakashi was right, prankster from hell turned true shinobi indeed.' Iruka shook his head and said "Right, anyway take a look at this poem here."
Iruka pointed to the poem on the wall and said "Part of the reason why we Chunnin were to be summoned is to make sure each person understands the message on the scroll. This poem was put here by the Hokage and is the directive set down by the Third Lord Hokage for all Chunin ninja."
Naruto rose an eyebrow and thought 'That's why I thought I had heard this poem before. I had read it once in the library when it talked about what's required for Chunin."
Iruka noticing the eyebrow said "Something wrong Naruto?"
Naruto shook his head and said "No Iruka-sensei, I had just remembered why the poem sounded so familiar to me. I had read it once in a book that talked about the different levels of being a ninja. But it wasn't very clear on what the poem meant."
Iruka nodded and went into lecture mode as he said "Well, in the text, the word 'Heaven' refers to the human mind and 'Earth' refers to the human body. 'If qualities of Heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom and knowledge to take your mind higher.' In other words, if you have a problem with academic knowledge or just knowledge in general, then you need to study hard and learn the principles that will help you on missions.
"And, 'If Earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body in the fields and prepare to attack.' If your weak point is with your lack of strength and power, you need to train hard and find the riches of physical stamina and skill.
"And once you access the qualities of both Heaven and Earth, no mission, however dangerous, will be a wrong path for you. You'll be walking a safe path, even in the midst of the most perilous mission. Well, that's it!"
"Wait Iruka sensei," Sakura said pointing to the scroll. "What's about that blank space? What goes there?"
Iruka smiled at them before picking up one of the summoning scrolls and said "The word that goes there is a description of what a Chunin should be. The single character that belongs in the blank space is the one from the interior of the scrolls. It's "Jin," meaning one person or all people.
"The challenge of seeing who survived this period of five days is a part of the exam designed to test the applicants' basic Chunin abilities. Chunin are the unit commander class… Responsible for leading their teams. They can only do so by a combination of intelligence and strength. I can't emphasize it enough. Learn it… live it. Believe it from the bottom of your heart! Keep the Chunin directive foremost in your mind as you move on to the next exam. That's it, that's the entire message. Now do you understand you two?"
Sakura nodded as Naruto saluted and said "Aye Captain!"
Iruka smirked at Naruto's antics before he frowned as he looked at his three former students.
Naruto frowned in confusion and said "Hey sensei, is something wrong?"
Iruka was silent for a minute before he said "Naruto, Sakura, about the third exam. Don't overdo things. You two and Sasuke already have what it takes to possibly be a Chunnin, but these exams are dangerous. So do me a favor and keep a level head when you take it alright?"
Naruto and Sakura both nodded and Naruto said "Don't worry Iruka-sensei, we will." Gesturing to Sasuke, he said "Is that it? I need to take Sasuke to the infirmary that I'm sure this place has and then the Old Man told a clone of mine he wants me to see him as soon as possible."
Everyone looked at Sasuke and the three Chunin frowned as they were once again reminded of the mark on the Uchiha's neck but Iruka pushed thoughts of the mark and what it implied and simply nodded before telling them where the infirmary was as well as where their rooms for the rest of the test and the cafeteria was.
After that, one of the Chunin, a man with goggle style sunglasses stepped forward and said "Uzumaki, do you mind if my partner here takes Sasuke to the infirmary while I show you where the Lord Hokage is? We shouldn't keep him waiting if he wants to see you."
Naruto nodded and the man's partner bent down from where he was standing next to Sasuke and picked him up in a fireman's lift before Shunshining away. The other Chunin made a follow me motion before jumping up to the balcony that ran along one side of the room and went through the door that was connected to it with Naruto right behind him.
Once they were gone, Iruka turned to Sakura and said "How about I show you where your team's room is Sakura? You look like you could use some sleep."
Sakura nodded and followed Iruka as he went through the door that was on the ground floor as he led one of his more book smart students to the room that would be her team's for the next few days.
Scene Change: Lounge, Seventh Floor of the Tower
A knocking at the door was heard by the occupants of the lounge and Sarutobi called out "Enter!"
As Naruto and his Chunin escort entered the room, he saw the Hokage with his exam proctor as well as four Anbu and the seven clones that had survived the encounter with Orochimaru. The clones gave brief salutes before dispelling one at a time giving Naruto their memories. Naruto quickly sorted them before Sarutobi began speaking.
"Naruto, I would like you to tell us what exactly happened in the forest."
Naruto nodded and began explaining what had happened in the forest starting with how he had been away from his team when they were attacked, how he knew they were attacked and then how he transformed into the fastest Flying type he could in order to get there as quickly as possible since he didn't think it would be a good idea to Teleport there.
He then went on to explain his encounter with Orochimaru showing the Pokemon that he and his clones turned into with the help of Dex and then told the Old Man about his decision to send a clone to him and a small squad to Anko when one of his clones realized that Orochimaru was headed her way.
After that he talked about how his team was attacked by the Sound team that morning and how his partners handled them before he Teleported his team and teams 9 and 10 to the top of the tower where they met up with the clones that had gone after the other teams. Naruto explained the orders he had given to the clones before he and Sakura went to the base of the tower and opened their scrolls once inside.
As Naruto finished speaking, Sarutobi was frowning while looking like he was in deep thought about something. Finally, he looked up at the blond and said "Thank you Naruto. You have done well in this exam and given us much to think about. Why don't you go to the cafeteria and get something to eat. I'm sure you must be hungry."
Naruto nodded at the clear dismissal before bowing to his leader and left the lounge with his Chunin escort following.
As the door closed, one of the Anbu said "Sir, is it wise to continue these exams while Orochimaru is here?"
Sarutobi frowned and said "Wise? No, but until we know what Orochimaru is planning, we cannot risk an attack on the village. Still the fact that he marked Sasuke and tried to mark Naruto is very concerning. I want all Anbu to be on the lookout for Orochimaru. Don't engage him if you see him though, report immediately to me instead. That goes for you as well Anko."
Everyone in the room nodded and Sarutobi dismissed his Anbu so that they could spread the word.
Scene Change: Tower Battle Room, Fifth Day Of Exam
It had been three days since Naruto and the others had Teleported to the tower. And although his clones never did spot Orochimaru in the area close to the tower, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was still here somewhere. He could tell the Old Man felt the same as he asked Naruto to report to him immediately if his clones up on the tower's top saw anything unusual.
He had seemed even more preoccupied with the mark on Sasuke's neck though. When Naruto had seen Kakashi later that night, he had been told that the mark had been taken care of with a seal. Naruto didn't know all the details though and just hoped he wouldn't have to knock out his teammate again even if it had felt good to do so back in the forest.
Now Team 7 and the rest of the teams that made the deadline were all standing in rows with their Jounin teachers as well as the Hokage, their second exam proctor and the Chunin that had explained the scrolls to the various teams in front of them inside a large room that was obviously designed to hold matches in it with a balcony going along two of the walls and a large statue showing two arms in the ram seal.
Glancing around at the teams that had made the deadline, Naruto was not surprised that all three rookie teams as well as Team 9 was here since he had escorted most of them himself and his clones had seen Team 8 enter the tower. The same was true for the Sand team. He was surprised however that the Sound Team had managed to get both scrolls. He also noticed that Kabuto's team had made the cut as well.
'Hm, mostly leaf teams and all those had been formed either this year or last year. Gotta wonder what that says about the older generations.' Naruto mused to himself before Anko began speaking.
"Congratulations to all of you on passing the second exam, now listen up! Lord Hokage himself will explain about the third exam. Listen well and take every word he says to heart! They're all yours my lord."
Sarutobi nodded and said "Very well. The third examination is about to commence. But before I go into the specifics of how it will be conducted, let me make one thing perfectly clear! It pertains to the underlying purpose of the exam."
All of the Gennin each looked confused as they thought 'Purpose?'
Lowering his hat to shadow his eyes, Sarutobi continued his speech.
"Why do you suppose an examination of this nature is being jointly conducted by all of the nations in our mutual alliance? "To promote the friendship among allied nations and raise the level and standards in the art of the shinobi…" Be very clear about what those fine-sounding phrases actually means!
"This series of so-called examinations is in fact…" Sarutobi sighed and took his pipe out for a moment to exhale the smoke in his lungs before putting it back in his mouth. Looking up at the Gennin with a dead serious look that Naruto had rarely seen on his face before, Sarutobi said "A war in miniature between all of our allied lands."
All of the Gennin's eyes widened at this and the TenTen asked "Wh-what do you mean?"
Sarutobi's eyes met each Gennin before he said "If you were to study our recent history and consult a map it would swiftly become apparent that our alliance is in fact a temporary and mutually beneficial agreement between a group of geographically contiguous lands."
Naruto frowned and asked "So are we nothing more than pawns in a glorified war game? What ever happened to using the exams to select Chunnin?"
Sarutobi focused solely on Naruto and said "Make no mistake. When this exam is done, it will have had the side effect of winnowing out any applicants unfit to ascend to the level of Chunin. But even more importantly, it serves as an arena wherein, for the honor of their respective homelands you shinobi may fight, to the death if need be!"
"Honor of their lands?" Ino asked confused.
"This third examination will be conducted under the watchful eyes of a number of distinguished guests including the rulers and nobility of the various lands you all aspire to serve. And among their number will be those who rule over each country's own hidden ninja villages. They will be watching you.
"If any one nation's applicants demonstrate outstanding skill and superiority, the noblemen from every land will be quick to commission work from those that trained in that superior nation. Conversely, if a particular country's applicants are shown to be incompetent of feeble, commissions to agents of that country will dwindle.
"And when one land is strong in battle, and the village coffers overflow with the fruits of the many outside commissions this begets, then that village may say to its neighbors "Beware, for we possess prowess and riches and the influence of political power"!"
"SO?" Kiba asked loudly "Why is it necessary to stake our lives and fight?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Naruto asked quietly from his spot with his team earning everyone's attention as he continued speaking. "The villages' leaders want us to risk our lives because it is only when we are truly pushed to the limits do we show what we are truly capable of. Isn't that right Old Man?"
Sarutobi nodded and said "Naruto is right Kiba. The strength of a country is derived from the strength of its village. And the village draws strength from the shinobi who live there. And the greatest strength of those shinobi only emerges in the midst of a desperate life-and-death battle!
"These exams provide a public arena for each country to show off and boast of the strength of its warriors, and hence the strength of the country itself! This test has meaning and great consequence. As you struggle for the sake of your lives and your people, you help to fulfill the dream that was envision by our ancestors."
"But you've always emphasized the concept of "Friendship"…Why?" TenTen asked.
Sarutobi's eyes took an even harder glint in them reminding Naruto why he was called the God of Shinobi as he said "Though my meaning is subtle, I chose my words with care. To preserve the balance of power at the risk of lives is the essence of friendship in the world of shinobi. Let me reiterate before the third exam begins, you are taking no ordinary test! You risk not only your own futures and your dreams, but the dignity and prestige of your home village as well."
'I see.' Naruto thought. 'No wonder the Old Man was always so interested in who made it to the finals whenever I visited him while the Chunin exams were going on.'
"Whatever. Could you wrap up the philosophical talk and get down to the life-and death stuff any time soon?" Gaara asked.
Sarutobi hmphed but before he could say anything, everybody suddenly felt like they were in the presence of some kind of massive dragon. Everyone's eyes widened as they traced the source back to Naruto who was staring at Gaara coldly for disrespecting the person who he considered to be like a grandfather to him.
Naruto somehow made the presence he had unintentionally given off even stronger as he said "Listen Gaara, I don't care what you can or can't do back in the Sand village. But disrespect the Old Man like that again and I'll send you packing."
Naruto's Pokeballs vibrated showing his partners' agreement with that statement although only those who had seen them had any idea what that meant. Gaara stared at him impassively before Sarutobi chuckled bringing everyone's attention back to him.
"Thank you Naruto, but Gaara is right in a way. It is time to explain the third exam."
Right after he finished speaking, a Jounin appeared in front of him in an impressive display of speed already in the bowing position as he said "Forgive my interruption, Lord Hokage, but if you don't mind handing the rest of the proceedings over to me, Gekko Hayate, proctor of the third exam."
Sarutobi nodded and the man stood up and turned around showing everyone a face that looked very sick as he said "Okay, good to meet you everyone, I'm Hayate. Uhhh, before we start the exam, I must ask you all to do something for me. Koff koff."
'Is he really our proctor? Guy looks like he should be in a bed instead.' were the general thoughts that ran through the Gennin's heads.
"Umm, you see, there are some preliminaries to the exam proper. And whether you proceed to the main exam is contingent on how well you manage those."
"Preliminaries? Like what?" Shikamaru yelled not wanting to more work than he had to.
"Master Hayate, I don't understand what you meant by preliminaries. Why can't all of the remaining applicants just proceed directly to the next exam?" Sakura asked.
"Weell" Hayate drawled, "I don't want to say that the first two exams weren't demanding enough, but the truth is, koff, we still have too many applicants. Under the traditional rules of the exam, we have to have a preliminary test to reduce the number of applicants to proceed to the third exam. This is because as Lord Hokage mentioned, a number of honored guests will be observing you during the third exam so we must make the exam intense, tight, and fast-moving.
"Hmmm, so anyway, now that you know something of what it's really all about, anyone who doesn't feel up to the challenge, either physically or mentally, can walk away. Just take one step forward, Koff, Koff, because the preliminaries start…right now!"
"Now?" Kiba shouted.
Naruto's eyes swept over all of the other Gennin as various plans on how to fight each one ran through his head based off of what he knew about them.
He was brought of his thoughts though when Kabuto rose his hand and said "Well, I'm outta here."
Hayate coughed as he said "Ummm, Aren't you Yakushi Kabuto of the Leaf? Okay, you can go."
As Kabuto walked away, Naruto narrowed his eyes and thought 'Why would he quit? Isn't this the seventh time taking it? Surely he isn't that tired from doing the forest run.'
All three of the Pokeballs suddenly vibrated from his partners telling him that they were getting bad vibes from the nin and Naruto tapped out an agreement.
Hayate meanwhile coughed again and said "Uhhh, in case I forgot to mention it, from here on in, you fight as individuals not as members of teams. So you can make the decision that's right for you without worrying about anyone else. So, anyone else want out? Show of hands?"
When no one else rose their hands, Hayate said "So no one else is bailing out huh? Ahh, well then, we'll now begin the preliminaries which will consist of individual combat matches, as though this were part of a tournament. As there are a total of 20 combatants remaining, we will hold a total of 10 bouts. Umm, and the victors of those bouts will advance to the third exam.
"This is no-holds-barred combat. Each pair of combatants will fight until one of them is dead or unconscious, or admits defeat. As soon as you sense that your opponent is overpowering you, immediately concede your loss, if you value your life. Koff, uhhh, since we don't want a total bloodbath on our hands, there may be cases where we ascertain that there is an undisputed winner and step in to end the match. But don't count on that. From here on out the key to your fate is held in…"
Anko spoke into a headset and a rumbling was heard as one of the panels behind the right arm of the stature lifted to reveal a score board.
"This electronic score board. At the start of every round, we will display the names of the two combatants competing in that match. Koff. So, ummm, not to hurry you all to the slaughter, but let's begin. We'll now announce the first two names."
The board lit up and began running through all of the names until it stopped on two: Sasuke Uchiha VS Yoroi Akado
Sasuke smirked at being chosen right off the bat while light glinted off of Kabuto's teammate.
"Will the individuals whose names are listed on the board come forward now?" Hayate asked prompting the two to break out of formation and walk over in front of the proctor before turning to face each other.
"Yoroi Akado, Sasuke Uchiha, you two have been selected to compete in the first bout. Any objections?"
When both fighters shook their head no, Hayate coughed before gesturing to the balconies and said "Uhhh, it's time for the first round to commence, all right? Everyone other than the two combatants should move to the upper gallery now."
Everyone else quickly made their way to the balconies with the Leaf nin going to the right side of the room and the foreign shinobi heading to the right. The adults quickly joined them until only Hayate, Sasuke, and Yoroi were left on the floor.
The two combatants stared at each other as Hayate said "The first match of the preliminaries: Sasuke Uchiha vs. Yoroi Akado. Begin!"
As soon as Hayate's hand chopped down, Yoroi rushed Sasuke with his hand glowing. Sasuke having seen Naruto's own hand glow once when he was fighting Kakashi as a Lucario instantly backpedaled while throwing three shuriken not wanting to take any chances that Yoroi's jutsu would have the same effect Naruto's did.
Yoroi however easily dodged the thrown weapons and quickly closed the distance and launched a punch at Sasuke that he was forced to block. However, Sasuke soon realized that the punch was a feint of sorts as just before Yoroi's fist connected with Sasuke's arm, it opened and grabbed hold of Sasuke.
Sasuke suddenly felt something pulling on his chakra and immediately kicked Yoroi off of him. Glaring at the smug Leaf nin in front of him, Sasuke said "You stole my chakra."
Yoroi smirked and said "That's right. And there's nothing you can do about it brat."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed in anger as they turned into two tomoe Sharingan before he ran through hand signs and shouted "Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!"
Breathing out the large fireball, Sasuke smirked thinking that his target was toast only to stare in surprise as the fireball died down upon impacting a Yoroi whose entire body glowed taking the chakra out of the fireball as it hit him rendering it to a few embers that failed to catch any part of him on fire.
Yoroi smirked as the glow retreated back to just his right hand and said "Gee, I think I felt a warm breeze just now."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed in anger as he wondered what he should do before remembering Lee kicking a transformed Naruto into the air. Smirking, he rushed with chakra in his legs enhancing his speed towards Yoroi who had just enough time to wonder what the rookie was doing before Sasuke went low to the ground and kicked Yoroi in the chin sending him up high in the air. Sasuke hopped from his position and appeared behind Yoroi with his right pointer finger poking Yoroi's back.
Yoroi looked back and said "Oh, Shadow of the Dancing Leaf?"
"That's right. But everything from here on out is all me." Sasuke said pushing Yoroi a little higher and tried to kick him only to be blocked by Yoroi. But instead of that just being it, Sasuke used the block to spin around Yoroi's back and began laying into Yoroi on his other side until finally kicking him into the concrete floor with a cry of "Lion's Barrage!"
Landing on the ground panting, Sasuke looked up to where Lee was looking down at him and thought 'Thank you Lee. If it hadn't been for you, I would have been in trouble.'
Hayate knelt down and thought 'I can tell even without checking.' Standing back up, he said "Winner by knockout: Sasuke Uchiha!"
Sasuke smirked and began making his way while Sakura and Ino cheered for him saying that they knew he could do it. However, three other people weren't so enthusiastic about Sasuke's win.
'I see. He only saw my Taijutsu once but was able to mimic it near perfectly. The mirror copy wheel eye is truly a fierce tool. I'm slightly afraid.' Lee thought as he glanced towards Sasuke before looking down.
'Like teacher like student eh Kakashi? At least you never stole from your comrades though.' Gai thought.
'That damn thief! He stole Bushy Brow's Taijutsu move when he fought me.' Naruto thought scowling at Sasuke as he made his way up the stairs. When his teammate finally made it to them he said while looking down into the arena purposely not looking at the Uchiha "You just can't help it can you Sasuke?"
Sasuke grunted and said "What are you talking about Dead Last?"
Naruto looked over at Sasuke and suddenly Sasuke felt like he was back in that ice dome facing Haku again as he said "Let me make one thing clear Sasuke. I may be a Dead Last to you. But to me, you're nothing but a thief that doesn't deserve to be called a shinobi."
Sasuke glared at Naruto and Sakura opened her mouth to yell at Naruto before he shifted his gaze at her and she wisely closed it when she saw the look in his eyes before he turned his eyes to the board to see who would be fighting next. Behind his three students Kakashi sighed and thought 'This team is really falling apart.'
The board began running through the next names before stopping on the next match and Hayate glanced back and said "Will Zaku Abumi and Shino Aburame please come down for their match?"
Shino and Zaku both walked down and Naruto rose an eyebrow when he saw that both Zaku's arms were wrapped up and in slings.
'Damn. Charmeleon wasn't messing around when he fought him was he? How is that guy planning on fighting without his arms though?'
On the arena floor, Shino said "Walk away…while you can. If you go through with this you'll get hurt so badly you'll never be the same."
Zaku scoffed and slowly brought out his left arm out of his sling saying "Hah, looks likes this arm still has some life left in it."
Up in the balconies, Naruto rose an eyebrow again before tapping out a question on Charmeleon's Pokeball which vibrated in the positive in response.
Back on the floor, Zaku swung his arm forward and shouted "And I'm betting I can take you with one hand tied. So to speak!"
Seeing that both boys were ready, Hayate said "Begin!" and jumped out of the way as Zaku launched himself at Shino who calmly blocked Zaku's attempted arm strike.
"It'll take more than one arm to beat me." Shino said in his monotone voice.
"Shut up!" Zaku screamed as a Fwuuming sound could be heard before the pipe in Zaku's hand let loose a fierce wind that blew Shino a few feet away drawing shouts of concern from his teammates.
"On your feet Loser!" Zaku shouted.
Shino slowly stood up and everyone who wasn't on his team or knew about the Aburames got the surprise of their lives as they saw beetles of some kind crawling along his skin from under his coat.
Zaku shivered and thought 'Wh-what the? Where are those bugs coming from? It's almost as if they're coming from inside him.'
"Do you like my beetles?" Shino asked. Holding up a finger, a beetle crawled from under his sleeve and stood on it as he continued "They're my family's Kikaichu Parasitic Destruction Beetles. They attack in swarms and devour the chakra of their prey. There's no way you'll survive an onslaught of this magnitude so if you value your life, you'd better surrender. It's your only way out. Use your left-hand strike on me again and they'll instantly be all over your unprotected back."
"What are you talking about?" Zaku asked.
Shino pointed and Zaku turned his head and shouted in surprise as he saw the beetle swarm marching towards him.
Shino adjusted his glasses as he said "Use your left hand to strike against the kikaichu swarm and your front will be open for my attack. You're finished either way. Unless of course you had the foresight to prepare a backup plan."
Zaku growled as he remembered being found on the streets by Orochimaru. Growling, he shouted "Who do you think you're talking to?"
Then to everyone's surprise, Zaku pulled out his right arm out of his sleeve as he shouted out "How's this for a backup plan?"
'Smooth Zaku. Acting like your arm is still paralyzed when in actuality it's really ready to be used. A true ace in the hole.' Dosu thought.
Zaku grinned at Shino and said "It's really you who should have given up, but it's too late now! Decapitating Waves!"
But instead of the expected blasts of air coming out of the pipes, Zaku's arms began to bulge before holes burst all over and his right arm exploded off over the shoulder. As the arm landed, the shattered bones under the shoulder began to fall out making everyone who had barely been holding in the contents of their stomachs lose the battle.
As Zaku fell on his back in pain, Shino walked forward adjusting his sunglasses. Looking up at the bug user, he asked "How?"
Shino looked down at the now one armed nin and said "Simple. You were only concerned with the highly visible beetles. It was easy to sneak individuals into the pipes in your hands. When you next used your attack, the pressure built and had to go somewhere. The sides of your arms were merely the path of least resistance."
"Uh, winner Shino Aburame." Hayate said.
As Shino walked towards the balcony and Zaku was carted off on a stretcher with his arm and bone fragments on top of him, Naruto took a moment to shudder and thought 'I know I can be brutal when I have to be, but I don't know if I could have done that in his place. I think I would have just killed him, it would have been kinder.'
Naruto looked towards the board as it ran through the next two names and glanced back towards the arena floor as Hayate said "Will Misumi Tsurugi and Kankuro please come down for their fight."
As the two contestants made their way down, Naruto saw the briefest shift in the bundle that was wrapped on Kankoru's back. Narrowing his eyes in thought, he glanced over to Kabuto's other teammate who was also making his way down and wondered what would set him apart from those in the room.
Once the two were in front of him, Hayate coughed and said "Are you two ready?"
Once the two nodded, Hayate chopped his hand down and called out "Begin" before jumping back.
Misumi stared at Kankuro and said "Even though you're just a little brat I'm not letting down my guard like Yoroi did. In fact, let me make one thing perfectly clear. You'd be better off forfeiting the match before you get hurt. This won't take long at all."
"I agree." Kankuro said as he slipped the bundle off his back and said "I'll be finished with you in no time."
Misumi's eyes narrowed and he launched himself at Kankuro with his left arm drew back over his right shoulder ready for a strike as he said "Don't try any tricks. I'm going to win this with the first strike!"
Misumi's strike was easily blocked though and everyone in the bleachers was wondering what the guy was on and where they could get some until the guy's arm began wrapping around Kankuro's arm soon joined by his other limbs until Misumi had his entire body wrapped around Kankuro's with his arm around Kankuro's neck.
Up in the balconies, Naruto frowned and looked over to Sarutobi wondering if he had made the same connection to how this guy had moved and Orochimaru did. When Sarutobi sensed Naruto's gaze and gave a small nod, Naruto's frown grew.
Kakashi noticing this said "What is it Naruto?"
Naruto looked to his Sensei and said "I read in a couple of books that Orochimaru was supposed to be able to move around like a snake. What that kid did just now seems to be pretty similar."
Sakura gasped and said "You're right. It's almost exactly like how that snake freak moved up the trees when he attacked."
Kakashi "Hmmed." and looked back to the floor where Misumi had just given his ultimatum to Kankuro of give up or I snap your neck. Kankuro refused and Misumi went through with it causing Kankuro's head to slump forward much to most of the Leaf Gennin's shock.
"He actually did it." Sakura gasped with her hands to her mouth.
"Big mistake." Naruto said just as the face spun around scaring the crap out of Misumi and pretty much everyone else who was unaware of just what exactly Kankuro did for a living as pieces of wood broke off of 'Kankuro's' face revealing more wood underneath as the revealed puppet said "Time to return the favor."
The puppet's clothes' ripped as four more arms shot out and joined the first two as they gave Misumi the ultimate bear hug while the wrapped up bundle suddenly had a hand appear pulling a strap pulling the wrappings away revealing Kankuro in a crouch as he said "Game Over."
Kankuro made a motion with his hand and the puppet began squeezing until everyone heard a series of crunching sounds and most of them flinched as Misumi slumped over unconscious.
As the puppet let go and returned to Kankuro's side, Hayate stepped over and thought 'Talk about a turn around.' "Winner: Kankuro."
Kankuro looked up to the Leaf side balcony and thought "Might as well gather some intelligence while I can.'
As the medics hauled Misumi off, Kankuro began walking up the stairs toward the Leaf teams who were watching him wearily until he reached team 7's position and said "Mind if I watch the rest of the matches here?"
Sasuke gave his universal grunt while Sakura gave a nervous shake of her head. Naruto and Kakashi meanwhile hadn't taken their collective three eyes off of the board as it once again shuffled through names. Kankuro was beginning to think that they weren't going to answer him so was surprised when Naruto said "You really shouldn't have moved so much on your way down. If your opponent had noticed like I did then you could have lost your match instead of winning it."
Kankuro blinked in surprise, but before he could reply, Hayate coughed again and said "Will Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka please come down for their matches."
The two girls stiffened and both walked down for their matches. As they did, Kankuro looked back to Naruto and said "So how did you know that I was in the bundle? Just seeing the twitch that came from me replacing myself with crow wouldn't have been enough."
Sasuke and Kakashi listened in with Sasuke wondering with jealousy and Kakashi wondering at his student's skills of observation.
Naruto though just shrugged and said "My partners had fought another team that had a puppet user during the second exam. After seeing one in action before it wasn't too hard too guess what was on your back. And I doubt you would have that thing twitch like that when it was still wrapped up like it was."
Kankuro gave an "Ah." as Kakashi eye-smiled at his student and Sasuke fumed. Meanwhile down on the floor, Ino had caught Sakura with a chakra string hidden in her hair when she had apparently flipped and had her in the sights of her jutsu.
As the two girls slumped over, Naruto rose an eyebrow and said "What just happened?"
Kakashi looked on and said "The Yamanakas have a jutsu that allows them to take over the bodies of their opponents by suppressing the minds of their opponents."
Naruto said "Ah." He then cupped his hands as 'Sakura' was beginning to raise her hand to forfeit and shouted "Hey Sakura! What the hell do you think your doing? Don't tell me you're actually thinking of letting Ino win like that are you?"
'Sakura' glared at Naruto and shouted "Shut up Naruto! She can't hear yo-"
However, before she could finish the sentence, she began clenching her forehead as if she was having the mother of all migraines before finally making a release sign. As Ino groaned and picked her body off the floor, she looked at Sakura and said "How can there be two of you in there?"
Sakura grinned and said "Wouldn't you like to know?" Turning her head to look at Naruto, she said "Thanks Naruto!"
Naruto gave her a brief salute before turning to Kankuro and said in a voice that neither kunoichi could hear "I've got ten bucks that say they wind up knocking each other out."
Kankuro looked confused and said "Why did you do that if you didn't think either could win then?"
Naruto shrugged and said "Sakura's not from a clan so Ino winning through a clan technique feels like cheating to me."
Kankuro looked at him funny and said "You do know that as shinobi we don't care about that right?"
Naruto nodded and said "Well yeah, but can you honestly call those two shinobi right now? If either one passed the prelims, they would be slaughtered in the finals."
Kankuro looked down to where Naruto jerked his head just as the two girls decked each other which in the end resulted with both of them out cold and found he had to agree.
As Kakashi and Asuma brought their two students back to the balcony and laid them down against the wall next to each other, the board began to once again cycle through names.
Hayate looked over his shoulder and then looked back forward saying "Will Tenten and Temari come down for their match."
"Two kunoichi vs kunoichi matches back to back? And Sakura and Ino aren't even awake yet to see this. That board has a sick sense of humor." Naruto said as he watched the two kunoichi make their way down.
Kakashi chuckled while Tenten who had heard Naruto as she walked down grinned and thought 'Oh I agree blondie. It really is too bad that those two won't be able to see how a true kunoichi fights.'
Once the two kunoichi were in front of each other, Hayate asked "Are you two ready?"
When the two girls both nodded, Hayate coughed and said "Then let the Fifth match begin!" before slashing down his hand and jumping out of the way.
Temari smirked as she stared at Tenten and said "I hope you're able to put up a better fight than those two fan girls were able to."
Tenten matched her smirk as she reached into her kunai pouch and said "Oh don't worry. Unlike those two, I actually take my training seriously."
Meanwhile, back up in the balconies, Naruto was frowning as something clicked in his mind. Naruto opened his mouth to shout to Tenten before he found a hand on his shoulder.
Following the hand over to her sensei who shook his head, he said "Gai-sensei, Tenten's a long range weapon user isn't she? She needs to be warned to go close range."Gai shook his head again and said "Tenten is a very youthful student Naruto. But she needs to learn not to rely on her weapons so much. This will be that lesson."
"Are you nuts? Do you see the size of that fan Temari is using? She could kill Tenten if she lets her open it all the way." Naruto said remembering the facts that he had read about the wind mistresses of the Land of Wind that he had found in a book about the Land of Wind and its residents.
As Naruto and Gai were talking, Kankuro was watching and thought 'For a supposed rookie, he sure knows a lot. Maybe too much.'
Meanwhile down on the floor, the battle had gone from bad to worse for Tenten. She was currently up in the air trying to hit Temari with her Twin Rising Dragons attack but Temari just blew the weapons away.
"Is that the best you've got?" Temari asked.
Tenten gritted her teeth and shouted out "It's not over yet!"
Pulling on the wires attached to all the weapons that were scattered all over the floor, Tenten pulled them all into the air around her before swinging her arms towards Temari who merely smirked and said "Not bad. For a weakling!"
Opening her fan all the way, drawing Naruto's attention as he saw the three moons, she called out "Wind Style: Whirling Cyclone Jutsu!"
A huge blast of wind stronger than anything the wind mistress had used yet blasted out of her fan and blew the weapons away before continuing on to Tenten whose eyes widened before it hit her and began spinning around her.
Tenten screamed as the winds began tearing into her before dieing down after half a minute and she began falling towards Temari who was smirking as she positioned her fan to 'catch' Tenten.
However, her smirk was wiped off her face and everyone's eyes widened as a smoke cloud appeared over the fan which Tenten dropped into before it cleared revealing an Infernape standing on the fan holding the kunoichi bridal style.
Everyone except for the members of Team 7 glanced over at Sarutobi thinking that the semi flaming ape was a summons of his. However, the Hokage looked just as confused as they did until they heard Kakashi say "That enough to prove Naruto's point Gai, or should he have not made a clone and let Tenten hit that girl's fan, probably breaking her back and permanently ending her career in the process?"
Almost everyone's eyes widened as they thought 'That's a clone?'
Hayate shook his head free of his thoughts and said "Due to interference, this match's winner is Temari."
The clone meanwhile had already hopped off of Temari's fan and set Tenten down and was now tearing into the wind mistress after it had dropped its transformation.
"What the hell is your problem lady? She was beaten already, there was no reason to go and try to break her back over something like a preliminary fight that YOU won!"
Temari uncaring shrugged as she began walking away and said "Tell it to someone who cares blondie.""I care." The clone growled out before moving faster than Sasuke and Sakura had ever seen Naruto ever move untransformed and grabbed the girls fan off her back and then out of range much to her protest.
"Hey! Give that back!" Temari shouted before the clone glared at her and the whole room shivered as they suddenly felt like they were in the middle of a roaring volcano.
As most of the shinobi began wondering just how the hell they could even identify the sensation they were feeling, Naruto's clone said in a low tone of voice that somehow still matched the presence it was giving off. "Tenten fought with honor and gave it her all. To me, for you to spit on that and just walk away is unforgivable. So now, I'm going to do something that will hopefully forever be burned into your mind. Literally! Transform!"
The clone was covered in smoke before everyone suddenly felt the temperature in the room begin to drastically climb. When the smoke cleared to reveal the clone, everyone was surprised to see a four foot three creature of sorts that seemed to be on fire at its tail and two horns on its head with a flame theme on its body. There was a black collar around its neck and legs and its red arms seemed to be made out of rocks with red spikes coming out of its back.
"What the hell is that thing?" Kiba shouted.
"Magmar: the Spitfire Pokemon. This Fire type dislikes cold places, so it blows scorching flames to make their environment suitable for itself. The fiery surface of its body gives off a wavering, rippling glare that is similar to the sun."
Everyone glanced over to where the voice came from to see the original Naruto holding Dex in his hand as he looked down at his clone with a frown who now that everyone looked closely could see was actually beginning to naturally build up the glare that the strange device had talked about.
That wasn't the only thing happening though. As the temperature in the clone's body continued to naturally rise, Temari's fan that was still in its hands began to melt and parts of the paper inside began to catch on fire.
Temari's eyes widened and she shouted out "No! What are you doing?"
The clone glared at her and said "You almost took away Tenten's ability to be a shinobi. So now, I'm going to take away yours. Even if it is only temporary until you get a new fan, you can use that time to think about how your actions have consequences."
The clone stoked its inner fire even more causing everyone to feel like they really were in a volcano as the glare around it got too intense to look at directly. Temari spun around to the proctor and said "Aren't you going to stop him?"
The proctor looked at her and said "My job is only to stop matches young lady."
Temari's eyes widened before she turned to the Hokage who word said was a kind leader only to see said old man shaking his head at her. She then looked up to the original pleading with her eyes.
The original frowned and said "Why are you looking at me with those eyes like that? Weren't you going to end Tenten's career? It's not like he's going to burn you alive or anything. Just your fan. You can buy a new one can't you? Besides, I think you've begun to rely on that thing a little bit too much if your acting this way over it."
Temari's eyes began to tear up before they widened even further than before as the same voice came from behind her causing her to spin back around.
"Ability Activate: Flame Body!"
There was a fwooshing sound as the clone's entire skin was engulfed in white hot flames which reached towards the ceiling forcing everyone to block their eyes with an arm. As it did, the few embers that was in the paper of the fan turned into a full blaze and the metal began running off in streams pooling on the floor steaming.
After ten seconds of this, there was nothing left to indicate that the pool of liquid metal on the floor that was actually beginning to evaporate was ever a weapon used by the wind mistress and the clone cut off its form's ability.
As it did, Temari sunk to her knees as tears begin to fall freely from her eyes and said "M-my mother's fan. It's gone."
The clone turned away from the girl and said "That's right. Maybe now you'll learn to be more considerate of your opponents."
There was then a popping sound as the clone disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The room's temperature instantly began dropping back to closer to normal now that a living miniature volcano wasn't in the room.
Kankuro looked over at Naruto with a hard look and said "That was the only thing my sister had to remind her of her mother."
Naruto looked at Kankuro and the puppet user shivered as he was reminded of his brother because of the look in the blonde's eyes. They held a look that said "If you get in my way, I'll kill you." Kankuro knew the blond was down right pissed since from what he could tell the blond normally had a far more cheerful outlook.
"That girl just tried to cripple another, taking away her hopes and dreams forever. I did not know who that fan had belonged to before she had used it nor do I care now that I do. What my clone just did was the very least I myself would have done." Having said his peace, Naruto glanced back up to the board as everyone shivered telling themselves never to get on the blonde's bad side.
Back on the floor, Tenten glanced at the still crying Temari and then up to Naruto and frowned as she thought 'The destruction of a weapon that you have bonded with is never easy. I can't imagine how it must feel if one of my weapons was destroyed and it belonged to my mother.'
Walking over to Temari, she put a gentle hand on her shoulder. When Temari looked up at her in surprise, she gave a soft smile and said "Come by the Wolf Claw shop when this is done. I'll see what I can do to get you a new fan for the finals."
Temari looked stunned before she nodded her head and whispered "Thank you."
Tenten nodded and began walking to the balconies as Temari took another moment to collect herself and then followed.
Over with the Chunin, Sarutobi smiled and thought 'This is what I wish the exams were truly about. The building of friendship. Still, I wish it did not have to come from the actions that Naruto's clone had taken even if they were justified.'
Meanwhile, the board had gone through its next set of names uncaring of what was going on down on the arena under it and was patiently waiting for its selection to be called out.
Hayate glanced over his shoulder and said "Will Shikamaru Nara and Kin Tsuchi please come down for their matches?"
As the two made their way down, Naruto suddenly stiffened before glancing out the doors.
"What is it Naruto?" Kakashi asked recognizing the signs of a shadow clone dispelling somewhere out of sight and the original getting the memories.
Naruto glanced back at Kakashi but shook his head and said "Nothing sensei, don't worry about it.'
Looking forward, he thought 'I had told my clone to tell the other clone that was still on the top of the tower to try and track down Kabuto since that guy was rubbing me the wrong way. But I never would have expected him to have been that good. I wonder what his hurry had been though.'
Kakashi narrowed his eye slightly and thought 'What are you up to Naruto?'
Meanwhile down on the arena, Shikamaru had Kin trapped with his Shadow Possession Jutsu and the two reached into their shuriken holsters before both let one fly at each other. However before either of the two shinobi could be impaled, Shikamaru bent backward slamming Kin's head into the concrete knocking her unconscious and probably giving her a concussion to boot.
Naruto smirked as Shikamaru found the need to lecture his unconscious opponent and thought 'It's always the quiet ones you have to look out for.'
After Hayate had declared Shikamaru the winner due to knockout, the board shifted through names again and he said "Will Uzumaki Naruto and Kiba Akamaru come down now."
"Yahoo! Alright Akamaru. We got this one in the bag!" Kiba said having brushed Naruto's previous actions off as a rare thing due to his anger since he knew Naruto looked after his pack. As Kiba rushed across the balcony and down the stairs, Naruto allowed a small smile to cross his lips at the antics of one of his partners for the pranks he use to pull before taking a deep breath.
Then turning away from the railing of the balcony, he began to walk calmly towards the stairs ready for his match. As he walked, he felt the eyes of everyone on him but paid them no mind as he tapped out a question on one of his Pokeballs and gave a small smirk at the enthusiastic response he received in reply.
As Naruto walked down towards the arena floor, Kurenai looked towards Kakashi and said "I hate to say this Kakashi, but even after that show he just put on, against Kiba and his partner Akamaru, your student has no chance winning this match."
Kakashi looked over at Kurenai and shook his head as he said "Oh Kurenai, you have no idea what your student has just gotten himself into."
Once Naruto was in front of him, Kiba said "I don't know what that weird transformation of yours was Naruto, but you are going down! I'm not even going to have to have Akamaru's help on this one!"
Akamaru whined before Naruto laughed and said "I had actually hoped to try and keep that a bit of a secret from your team and the other teams that hadn't met up with my own Kiba. But I still have one secret that makes this match perfect to reveal. So I would use Akamaru if I were you, because I plan on using a partner as well." As Naruto finished speaking, he unclipped a Pokeball from his belt earning confused looks from everyone else but Team 7.
"What are you talking about?" Kiba asked earning a smirk from Naruto.
"This." Naruto said pushing the button on the ball causing it to expand earning widened eyes before throwing it up in the air in a overhand pitcher's throw and shouted out "Go Wartortle!"
The ball flew up towards the ceiling before stopping over ten feet in the air and opened up on its hinges and a red light shot out that landed in front of Naruto that formed into the blue turtle with long ears as the ball closed and shot back to Naruto's hand reverting back to its regular size on the way.
Kiba and the most of the others in the room stared at the strange creature before their attention was brought back to Naruto as he said "I can't tell you how long I've been looking forward to having a match with an Inuzuka Kiba. A chance to have a true no-holds-barred two-on-two match. This is going to be awesome. Transform!"
Naruto made the required hand sign and was covered in smoke before walking out of it looking the exact same as his partner as he stood side by side with Wartortle. The two grinned at their opponents as Naruto said "Ladies and gentlemen, llllets get ready to rummmble!"
Kiba smirked as he tossed a food pill to Akamaru and swallowed one as well and said "Took the words right out of my mouth Naruto!"
As Akamaru began turning red, Hayate quickly slashed his hand down and shouted "Fifth match between Naruto Uzumaki and Kiba Inuzuka Begin!" before he got the hell out of there.
Just in time too as Naruto and Wartortle withdrew into their shells and Rapid Spinned towards Kiba and Akamaru who had just barely been able to transform into feral looking versions of Kiba before they had to split up to avoid being taken out in the first few seconds of the match.
As Wartortle and Naruto went spinning past them, Kiba absentmindedly thought 'Looks similar to our Fang Over Fang, only on the ground and horizontal.' He and Akamaru then rushed the two turtles as they were standing up with a Ninja Art: Beast Mimicry: Down On All Fours using the added speed to get in close.
Seeing the two transformed canines coming, the two turtles began back flipping away at speeds faster than what most of the people in the room would have thought they could manage before cart wheeling away to opposite sides once they reached the walls. Kiba and Akamaru both skid to a stop barely stopping before they bashed their heads into the wall like Kin had in the previous fight before they heard one turtle give an incomprehensible cry and another shout out "Water Gun!"
Both turtles opened their mouths and shot out a stream of water which slammed into the two canines pushing them up against the walls they had just avoided. The two turtles used the time that the canines took to get up to Rapid Spin a short distance towards the other wall and regroup.
As Kiba and Akamaru shakily got up from being slammed into the wall, Naruto looked over to Wartortle and said "So any particular way you want to do this?"
Wartortle looked around the arena and hmmed before saying "Well, so long as this is all dry land, they have the advantage since they're bigger than us. So unless you want to change shapes or we can change this place to an ocean then we're just going to have to wear them out with dodging them."
Naruto glanced toward the double doors and got a thoughtful look and nudged Wartortle as a prankster smile made its way across his face as an idea began forming. Wartortle noticed where Naruto was looking and soon had the same grin on his face.
Back with Kiba and Akamaru, they were just getting ready with their own attack when they noticed the grins on the two turtles' faces.
"What are they up to?" Kiba wondered.
Akamaru gave a soft whine in confusion as well before Kiba shrugged it off and said "Well whatever it is, knowing Naruto and how he thinks, it can't be anything good. We're going to have to take things up a notch boy and get serious now. You ready for this?"
Akamaru nodded and the two rushed towards the turtles. Naruto seeing this said "Here they come Wartortle." Wartortle scoffed and said "Let them come. Soon it'll all be over."
Naruto frowned and said "Don't get cocky."
Right as he said that, Kiba threw a couple of smoke bombs right at the two turtles and the two canines started spinning at the two becoming a pair of spinning drills before tearing into the smoke cloud with cries of "Fang Over Fang!"
Up in the balconies, Kurenai smirked at Kakashi and said "It's over Kakashi. That's Kiba's finisher combination."
Kakashi merely eye smiled and said "Oh I wouldn't be so sure Kurenai. After all, one of Naruto's other partners likes to use smokescreens also so he has lots of practice fighting in them."
True to Kakashi's word, Naruto and Wartortle were currently dodging the drills thanks to the sensory input that their long ears were giving them. As they were rolling around and doing cartwheels, Wartortle shouted out "She calls this a finisher combination? Charmeleon used his Smokescreen way better than this!" Naruto just laughed as he dodged another drill by rolling backwards and pushing off of with a handstand before cart wheeling in another direction.
Finally after five minutes, the smokescreen cleared out and Kiba and Akamaru stopped their spinning returning to the ground panting staring in shock at the two turtles who were grinning at them.
Kakashi eye smiled at Kurenai who was looking down at the floor in shock and said "See?"
Kiba got an angry look on his face and said "How the hell did you guys manage to avoid us for so long?"
Naruto and Wartortle wiggled their long ears as the transformed blond said "Lots of hours of practice using these buddies while another partner of mine practiced using his own Smokescreen attack and a few other of his attacks. Now then time for our own plan."
Right after Naruto finished speaking, he and Wartortle withdrew into their shells and began Rapid Spinning. But instead of spinning towards Kiba and Akamaru, it was away towards the double doors. Kiba and everyone else looked on in confusion as they reached it and pulled it shut before Naruto turned around and said "Sorry Kiba, but this is the beginning of the end for the two of you, Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
The transformed blond crossed his fingers and over thirty turtles joined the group spread out between the combatants. The clones than all jumped in the air and withdrew in their shells as they shouted out "Hydro Pump!"
Then to everyone's shock, water began pouring out of their shells that rapidly began filling up the arena. Within ten seconds it was already past Kiba's ankles and it didn't look like it was stopping.
Desperate to stop the water, Kiba and Akamaru launched themselves towards a turtle each in a Fang Over Fang Attack but were pushed back by the force of the water from the spinning turtles that were kept in the air by their attacks.
Meanwhile as this was going on, Wartortle had frozen the two doors shut with an Ice Beam attack and he and Naruto were watching as the Chunin and the Hokage were beginning to apply the water walking exercise while Kiba and Akamaru splashed into the water.
Coming up for air in the now up to his neck water, Kiba saw the original Naruto and his partner were floating with their arms and heads above the water and he shouted "What the hell are you doing?"
Naruto shrugged and said "Changing the playing field."
By that time the water had reached to just under the balconies and Kiba and Akamaru were treading water. The clones stopped spinning as the water died down to a trickle and they all dived into the water while the original and Wartortle also dived.
Kiba getting nervous looked around before suddenly he and Akamaru felt something grab their feet and both went under the water. Everyone in the balconies watched as bubbles appeared in the water before the area around where Kiba and Akamaru was exploded.
He, He. Cliffy. I AM EVIL! BWAHAHAHA.
Well Kiba survive? Has Naruto finally lost it and committed the ultimate crime by killing Akamaru? Find out next time on To Be A Mater!
AN:11,000 words. I AM ON A ROLL BABY! Still, don't expect too many chapters like that in the future.
Full Chunin Motto as written by the Third Hokage:
If qualities of Heaven are your desire, Acquire wisdom and knowledge to take your mind higher.
If Earthly qualities are what you lack, Train your body in the fields and prepare to attack.
When both Heaven and Earth are opened together, The path of peril will revert to the righteous path forever.
This 'person' is the secret way that guides us on from this place today.