DISCLAIMER: I do not own Negima or Naruto. Negima is the property of Ken Akamatsu, and Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.
Ackdam's story "Naruto One Man Team" has inspired portions of this story. If you haven't read it, I strongly advise you to do so.
Checked by Lazruth.
Italics text = character thinking to themselves.
Underline+Italics = character communicating with telepathy
Bold text = shouting
Bold+Italcs = Casting Spell/Ability
Chapter Twenty
Preliminaries
It was the end of the fifth day in the Forest of Death, and it felt good to be Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze Fuhen. And for good reason, too!
After over 48 hours of headaches, Naruto could claim that he was among the knowledgeable ninja in regard of ninjutsu in the Elemental Nations.
Flashback
The ritual had been a success. It was rather easy for Naruto to perform it, since it was mostly a combination of the two Anko went through. He first extracted the Curse Seal which was physically manifested as a large root from a plant, though in this case was made entirely from a solidified form of Naruto' blood. Before he completely separated it from Sasuke he had to implant part of it in his body, so he chose to place it on his chest so he could see what he was doing and still have his arms free. After that the parasite completely let go of Sasuke and tried to attack Naruto, but the six chains that erupted from the ritual circle caught it and forced it into Naruto' chest.
After that, he had to go into his mindscape before the soul fragment began to screw with his mind like it did when gaining a host.
"Kyu-chan, any sign of out slithery friend yet?" Naruto inquired as he appeared next to her on a terrace.
"Yeah, he got here a minute ago and tried bullshiting me with promises of power." Kyubi replied in a bored tone.
"Did he now?" Naruto smirked.
"Yep. And since he was so misguided, I decided to show him the meaning of the word." Kyubi returned the smirk and pointed at something behind Naruto.
There stood Orochimaru of the Legendary Sannin, S-rank missing nin and leader of Otogakure, imbedded into a wall with his face caved in and his arms ripped from his shoulders and laying on the ground a few feet from him.
"Nice. Though I hope Negi was right when he said that form didn't mater in here. I would hate to lose any information he has." Naruto said thoughtfully as he approached an awakening Orochimaru.
"Who… are… you…?" the Sannin managed to ask before Naruto grabbed him by the throat.
"Oh, just the owner of the body you are now in. It was relatively easy to remove you from the Uchiha." Naruto said as he dropped his next to his hands as a circle appeared beneath them
It looked like a pactio circle without the star in the circle, but a big kanji that read Darkness. Also, the circle was in the middle of a Hakke no Fūin Shiki.
"You know, I'm surprised that you didn't see this flaw in the seal." Naruto said as he placed Orochimaru's arms where they should have been connected.
"…Flaw…?" that Sannin managed to say.
"Yeah. I mean, sure, the seal was meant to give the user a power boost, but with part of your soul here you also give all the memories you have at the time. And to make maters worse, you are immediately brought to the user's mindscape once the seal is applied, so if he or she has any common sense they would realize that whatever they want to happen, will while in the mindscape." Naruto explained as he made a few handsigns.
"…Who… are … you…?" Orochimaru repeated his first question in horror.
"I'm the son of the guy that took the Hokage position from your grasp." Naruto said. The Sannin's eyes widened in realization, but it was far too late to do anything "Fuin!" Naruto called out.
With a yell of pain and horror, Orochimaru sank into the dark matter that appeared under him. When he was completely gone the Hakke no Fūin Shiki glowed red before it shattered along with the floor it was on into black dust. Outside in the physical world the Hokage and the others saw the runes of the Magia Erebea expanding from the seal and covering the Cursed Seal before it shattered leaving three bloody tomoe shaped holes in Naruto' skin. Holes that healed in mere seconds, before the runes retracted and the panic they started among the observers died down.
Inside the mindscape Naruto and Kyubi watched with interest as the dust converged in eight separate places taking the form of large bookcases. There was one for Ninjutsu, one for Genjutsu, one for Taijutsu, one for Kenjutsu, one for Fuinjutsu, one for medical jutsu, one for successful experiments and one for memories. The Ninjutsu and experiments bookcases were by far among the largest ones, and together they covered more then half of the memories bookcase, which was obviously the largest since it contained all of the others and more.
"Congratulations Naruto-kun, you are now a walking library." Kyubi joked but didn't get a reply as Naruto crumbled to the floor unconscious. She quickly got to his side and did a quick checkup on him, and found something similar to his first training with Kage Bunshin: information overload. In fact, had this not happened before, admittedly on a lower scale, he could have fried his brain. "Eva, can you hear me?" Kyubi called out.
"Yes, what is it? Is Naruto-kun okay?" Eva asked a little worried.
"He had another information overload from the soul fragment of Orochimaru. Apparently, while the information did take the shape of books, it was also added directly to Naruto-kun' memory. Right now, I'm blocking any of the Snake' memories that go back more then a month ago as well as all of the experiments. The last thing he needs right now is to be scarred for life." Kyubi explained.
"Good call. Activate the time dilation while you do that. It might take days or more and the Second Exam ends in four days. I'll let the old man know." Eva replied a little relieved before cutting the connection.
It took an entire week in the mindscape to absorb all of the information besides the blocked one, and when Naruto woke up both him and Kyubi were so exhausted that they slept two more days before Naruto finally left the mindscape and let Sarutobi know what had happened.
The Hokage and the ninja council decided that a copy of everything he had obtained should be materialized and placed in the Forbidden Scroll that Sarutobi 'just happened to have with him' until a time when they could be sorted out. Six hours after that were spent discussing the invasion of Suna and Oto and everything Naruto had found out from the month worth of memories he had absorbed.
Flashback end
Now, he stood in line with the other genin as they listened to the Hokage talking about the purpose of the Exams with an evil grin on his face, one that was scaring the hell out of the Jonin behind Sarutobi and that Anko was somewhat returning.
As he tuned out the useless blabber of the old man that was part of the protocol, Naruto glanced around at the other teams that had reached this stage. All the other Konoha rookie teams had made it, as well as Team 9, the Suna team, the Oto team, Kabuto' team and an Ame team.
Team 9 interested Naruto for more then one reason. They were trained by Maito Gai, Konoha's most powerful Taijutsu specialist, so their physical training had to be murder. Also, the genin were very talented as well. Lee, despite not being able to use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, seemed to be born to use the Goken Taijutsu style. Tenten was a weapons mistress above any other he had heard of so far, as well as the daughter of the owner of the Higurashi Weapons shop. Neji on the other hand... was troublesome. He was Hinata' cousin from Hiashi' side and hated the entire Main House of his clan with passion, and Hinata even more. Reason? His father died because of Kumo' kidnap attempt on Hinata all those years ago and blamed it on the girl. Apparently Hiashi had tried to get on his good side in the past by offering the boy some private training, but apparently those discussions ended with the activation of the Caged Bird seal. The fact that Neji had taken every chance to hurt and humiliate Hinata put him near the top of Naruto' shit list.
He knew more than enough about 7, 8 and 10 even before he had gained Orochimaru's memories. Now that he knew most of the techniques the clan heirs could use, the only ones he had to watch out for were Oshizu and her weapon as well as Ino and Hinata who he had been trained by him, Anko, Haku and Nodoka.
Kabuto and his team had to die. It was as simple as that. He would not allow Orochimaru' right hand man to move freely through the village his master aimed to destroy during the Third Exam.
The Ame team was there just because they got lucky, and would be easily dealt with.
The Suna team was dangerous. Kankuro was a puppet user that owned puppets designed by Akasuna no Sasori, the best in the business besides Eva. Temari was a very talented wind user that specialized in deadly mid to long range attacks. Gaara was the Ichibi' container and that alone was enough to make him dangerous, never mind his skills.
As Geko Hayate took over for the Hokage and explained the preliminaries, Naruto glanced at the Oto team and felt like killing a few dozen people. As they were positioned, both Naruto and the Oto kunoichi were at the back of the row their team formed. So he could clearly see the bruises on her that he knew weren't there a day before. The Oto team had arrived in near perfect health, since their fight with Sasuke got interrupted right after the Uchiha dislocated Zaku's arms. And by the scared looks the girl was giving her two teammates, it wasn't hard to realize where those bruises came from. With a last pissed off glance at Dosu and Zaku, Naruto looked Sarutobi in the eye just like he did with Ibiki during the Written Exam.
"Tsukuyomi!"
"Hey, old man." Naruto smirked as he and Sarutobi stood at a table on top of the Hokage Tower, each with a cup of tea in front of them.
"Hello, Naruto-kun. I take it we're in the Tsukuyomi?" Sarutobi inquired.
"Yep. I guess you talked with Ibiki, huh?" Naruto replied and took a sip of tea.
"Yes, I did. So, what do you want to talk about so urgently?" Sarutobi asked.
"The Oto team. From the month of memories I got from the snake, we both know what will happen with them during the Third Exam." Naruto said.
"I take it you want to save them?" Sarutobi asked, trying the tea.
"Just Kin, the girl. She initially didn't want to be here at all, but Orochimaru blackmailed her with her friend' life. And, from the looks of it, her teammates tend to take their anger on her." Naruto explained, his eyes narrowed in silent fury.
"I see." Sarutobi frowned. "But won't Orochimaru make good on his threat to her?"
"Not a chance. You see, ironically, her friend is Tayuya, one of the Sound Five, which is Orochimaru's personal guard. There's no way in hell Orochimaru would kill her off like that while he still needs her. Actually, he intends to tell Tayuya that Kin got killed by us and have her channel that anger in the invasion." Naruto elaborated.
"Hm, so you want to use Kin to get to Tayuya? That doesn't sound like you, Naruto-kun." Sarutobi raised an eyebrow.
"Well, you know as well as I do that I don't need to do this to get what I want." Naruto glared at the old man. "But I do want to help these two. I took a look at some of the memories involving the Sound Five. Among them, only Tayuya was relatively forced by Orochimaru to join his ranks, since he secretly destroyed her village. And then he showed up in front of the few that survived and made them an offer they couldn't afford to refuse."
"I see." Sarutobi nodded in understanding. "Very well, you have my permission to bring them both to Konoha's side. I take it you want to adopt them in your clan as well?"
"Yes. That way, they'll be protected against most of the village's initial animosity." Naruto confirmed.
"Alright. Anything else?" the old Kage inquired.
"Yeah. Announce that we have an hour until the Preliminaries start. I want to convince her before that and heal the injuries she got form her teammates as well. Plus, I feel that Orochimaru is disguised as the Oto Jonin sensei. I want to have a little fun scaring him off." Naruto grinned.
"Hm, yes, even if we tried to capture him now the invasion could continue. And we don't want him to see any new jutsu." Sarutobi frowned. "You have a go." He said, and a moment later the two found themselves back in the tower with the genin teams and their sensei.
"So, if any one of you *cough* doesn't feel *cough* ready to compete, cough you may withdraw now. It won't *cough* affect your teams." Hayate announced.
"Proctor, I withdraw." Kabuto said.
"Very *cough* well. Kabuto Yakushi, right?" Hayate asked as he glanced at his list.
"Yes." Kabuto confirmed.
"You may *cough* leave." Hayate said and crossed a name on his list. "Anyone else?"
As nobody answered, Sarutobi took charge.
"Very well, since you know who your would-be opponents might be, you have one hour to think of possible strategies. However, none of the genin may leave this room." the old Kage declared to Hayate's surprise.
As the genin split into teams and met up with their sensei, Naruto sent a mental message to Anko, Ino, Hinata, Haku and Eva about his intentions and advised them to enjoy the show.
"Hey, Kin Tsuchi. Hold on a sec." Naruto said loudly as he approached the three Oto nin and the disguised Orochimaru.
"It's you." Dosu said, his eyes widening in terror.
"You know this young man?" Orochimaru asked giving Dosu a curious look while Zaku and Kin did the same.
"Yes… He… interrupted our fight with the Uchiha and convinced me to take Zaku and Kin out of there." Dosu said hesitantly.
"Ah, so he's the one who helped you." Orochimaru narrowed his eyes at Naruto.
"You could say that." Naruto smirked.
"And what do you need from Kin-kun? Ask her for a date?" Orochimaru asked with a fake smile.
"Something like that." Naruto smirked even more as he activated his Sharingan to Orochimaru' surprise "You don't mind, do you…" he shocked the rogue Sannin even more by revealing the Mangekyo "…Uke-kun?"
Now Orochimaru was feeling something very familiar and unpleasant. This child was mocking him. HIM, Orochimaru! But that was just a part of what he felt. Those eyes… they were what he had dreamt for years, ever since he failed to capture Itachi. But what was worse was what he had called him. 'Uke-kun' was the insult Itachi had used for him a few times when mocking him. How could this child know that? What was his connection with Itachi? And most of all, HOW did he realize his identity? For the first time in years Orochimaru felt a trace of fear.
"Hey, you still there?" Naruto snapped his fingers in front of his eyes a few times.
"…Do as you please, Kin. I just remembered I have something to take care of." Orochimaru said and left via Shunshin.
"Follow me." Naruto instructed a surprised and scared Kin, who had no choice but obey.
He led her behind the large statue at the end of the room and motioned her to have a seat.
"W-What do you want from me?" Kin asked. She saw his eyes and heard from Dosu what had happened in the forest.
"It's not what I want from you, but what I want to offer you, Kin." Naruto said warmly, much to the girl's surprise. She had expected an interrogation.
"Offer me?" Kin asked.
"Yes. To you and your friend Tayuya." Naruto nodded.
"How do you know about Tayuya?" Kin asked, suddenly on guard and reaching for a kunai.
"I know that Orochimaru is blackmailing you with Tayuya's life." Naruto said, surprising her. "And that Tayuya is loyal to the snake because he's blackmailing her with your life."
"H-How…?" Kin asked shocked.
"I have my sources." Naruto said dismissively. "That's irrelevant. What matters now is my offer."
"And what offer is that?" Kin asked.
"I can help you two leave Oto and join Konoha after the invasion is over. Furthermore, I'm offering to adopt you two into the Fuhen clan, to protect you from any of the villagers that may have grudges for you." Naruto explained.
"What's the catch? You want us as slaves or something? And how do you know about the invasion?" Kin asked, suspicious.
"No, nothing of the sort. I just want to give you two a second chance. You never had one after Orochimaru destroyed your village all those years ago." Naruto shook his head.
"It was him?" Kin asked in horror.
"Yes. One of his experiments." Naruto said in disgust.
"How do you know all this?" Kin asked.
"Let's just say that Orochimaru messed up when making the Curse Seal." Naruto said evasively. "Do you accept my offer?"
"It's tempting." Kin admitted. "But I don't know if Tayuya can accept. She has a…"
"Curse Seal, yes, I know." Naruto nodded. "I guarantee I can remove it, or at least cut Orochimaru's influence over her."
"Is that even possible?" Kin asked with wide eyes.
"I removed it from the Uchiha, and it was the newest and most powerful version. I doubt an older version like hers would pose a problem." Naruto assured.
"So you removed it." Kin said shocked. "Orochimaru thought that it had a new inhibitor seal placed over it."
"I'm sure he did. Despite creating the Curse Seal, he isn't nearly as knowledgeable in Fuinjutsu as he is in Ninjutsu." Naruto said amused.
"How do I know I can trust you? How do I know you won't turn us in to the Interrogation Department?" Kin asked, suspicious.
"Because neither you nor Tayuya have any information I want or need. And I would never do something like that anyway; take Haku-chan for example. She had been Zabuza Momochi's associate for years. When I revealed to her how Zabuza had betrayed her, I didn't kill her or take her hostage. No, after Zabuza was dealt with, I offered her a place in my clan and she obviously accepted." Naruto explained.
"Alright, I'll trust you. You could easily capture or kill me anyway, so I have nothing to lose. Just promise me you'll help Tayuya." Kin pleaded after a few minutes of deep thought.
"I promise. Now stand still a few minutes while I heal your wounds." Naruto smiled as his hands began to glow.
A few minutes later the two headed for Team 11 that was talking with a few others that weren't in the room earlier.
"Naruto-kun, thank you again for looking after my niece!" the Raikage grinned as he placed an arm on Yugito' shoulder.
"Once again I must apologize for not discovering their intentions." Samui bowed.
"No problem. How are you feeling, Yugito-chan?" Naruto inquired.
"I'm okay, Naruto-kun." Yugito blushed a little. Over the few days that she had spent in the tower, Naruto and Ino spent most of the time at her side, helping her get over her ordeal.
"Good job in the Exams so far, Naruto-kun." Asuna grinned.
"I heard about the Uchiha business." Negi added as he played in his mind the beating Sasuke got from the blond.
"I'm glnd nobody got seriously wounded." Konoka smiled.
"I expect to see some swordsmanship during these preliminaries, Naruto-kun." Setsuna added with a small grin that said 'Cleave some bastard in half.'
"Well, it depends on my opponent." Naruto said sheepishly. "By the way, allow me to introduce to you Tsuchi Kin. She and a friend of hers will be joining the Fuhen clan after the Exams are over." he added, as everyone realized that he was talking about the invasion.
After the hour was over, Hayate revealed how the fighters in the preliminary matches were chosen.
"Random opponents?" Naruto asked a little disappointed. "Damn. And here I wanted to kill the Uchiha myself." he added as the first match was announced 'Sasuke Uchiha vs Yoroi Akado'.
The match was rather short and boring to watch. Sasuke's opponent was under orders from Orochimaru to drain the Uchiha's chakra thus forcing him to rely on the Mark. It was a good plan, but it had two major problems. First of all, Sasuke had neither the mark, nor was Orochimaru still there to observe the fight. And second, the Uchiha tried to use only some Taijutsu moves he had copied from Lee and got almost all his chakra sucked before he realized what had happened and ended the fight with a close range Gokakyu that burned him as well. Still, he advanced and that was all that mattered.
The next fight however brought a wide smile to Naruto and his friends. The fact that the entire Konoha council showed up made him even happier, though he wasn't sure what Inoichi's reaction would be: 'Sakura Haruno vs Ino Yamanaka'.
Sakura started off by yelling, as predicted.
"After I beat you Ino-pig, Sasuke-kun will see what a loser you are and he'll marry me!" the banshee declared.
"Looks like you are as deaf as you are dumb." Ino yawned. "I don't want the gay bastard. I'm going out with Naruto-kun. So you can take the Uchiha and make as many shrieking emo thieves as you like."
At these words, a lot of people turned to look at Naruto, who was glancing nervously at a shocked Inoichi.
"How dare you insult Sasuke-kun, you bitch?!" Sakura yelled at Ino before she took out a kunai and charged at the blonde.
With a sigh of exasperation, Ino ducked under the horizontal slash and punched the banshee a few times before knocking her away with a round-house kick.
"Sakura, I'll be blunt about my opinion of you." Ino said as her opponent began to get up. "You're pathetic. You're not even worthy of dirtying my kunai with your blood."
At this insult Sakura began throwing shuriken at Ino, though considering the fact that she never did any real physical training since she graduated the Academy, other then chasing after the Uchiha of course, her shuriken fell to the ground several feet in front of Ino.
The blonde gave her 'opponent' one more pitying look before she attempted to charge at her and knock her out, but she was interrupted by a shout from the audience.
"Hey Ino, she looks like she's about to go suicidal." Naruto called out with a mischievous grin.
"You think so, love?" Ino asked with a similar grin, but making both Naruto and Inoichi flinch from the appellative she used.
"Oh, yeah." Naruto nodded seriously. "Why don't you… push her over the edge?" he suggested with an evil smirk.
"Oh, goody, I get a live subject for that technique." Ino said in a child-like voice that made a lot of the spectators back away as a precaution. In the ninja world, 'experiment' and 'live subject' ALWAYS meant trouble.
Without another word, Ino brought out her pactio card and held it in front of her, back towards Sakura.
"What's that supposed to be, an explosive tag?" Sakura muttered as she managed to her on her feet and stand relatively straight.
"Oh no, this is more then some mere seal." Ino chuckled. "Much more." she added and flipped the card to show the image to her opponent.
"Oh, a picture of you." Sakura said sarcastically. "It even has your name on it. What, you want me to keep it as a memento after I kill you?"
"No, I just wanted to show you the instrument of your defeat." Ino said with a grin. "Adeat!" she called out and was enveloped in a white flash of light.
When the light died out, most of the audience looked at her curiously, trying to see what the flash of light did.
"I don't see any difference." a voice was herd from behind Naruto' group and when they turned around they saw the remaining members of teams 7 and 10, as well as teams 8 and 9 approaching the most likely source of information.
"So much for your Sharingan then." Naruto snickered.
"How do YOU know I unlocked my Sharingan, dobe?" Sasuke asked with a growl. He was hoping to surprise the blond and put him in his place.
"Why shouldn't I know? It was because I made you piss yourself with my killing intent that you unlocked it in the first place." Naruto smirked.
Sasuke was about to retort, but in a rare moment of self preservation granted by the memory, he chose to change the subject.
"I still don't see any difference in the blond." Sasuke said as he looked down at the match.
"I do." Neji arrogantly, not missing a chance to get one over the Uchiha. "She now has a ring on each hand."
"And? What else do you see?" Naruto pushed forward.
"Chakra." Kakashi answered a little shocked. "Foreign chakra is coursing through her system."
"Not just any chakra." Kurenai narrowed her eyes. "If my senses haven't dulled, I would say that it's Naruto's chakra."
"Bingo! Give the sexy lady a prize!" a voice was heard. When Kurenai turned around to see who spoke, she saw a white ermine on Negi' shoulder.
"Was that you?" Kurenai asked Negi.
"It was me, sugar.' Chamo said as he pulled out a cigar. "Hey, Beardy, do ya have a light?" he asked Asuma, who was looking at the ermine a little surprised.
"Um… sure." the Jonin replied and lit the cigar in Chamo' mouth.
"You were saying about Naruto's chakra?" Kakashi inquired.
"Well, to put it simply, one of the abilities of that card is to draw power from the person it was made with. In this case, Ino-jouchan is drawing power from Naruto here." Chamo explained.
"Isn't that a little unfair?" Kurenai asked.
"Wouldn't the same apply for Gaara or me as well?" Yugito asked rhetorically. "Besides, we're ninja; secret trump cards should be our specialty."
"True." the female Jonin admitted.
"Quiet, Ino's done trash talking and is about to get to business." Eva said.
"Okay, Forehead, it's time I showed you one of my original techniques." Ino announced as she clasped her palm, with the fingers pointing downwards.
"Ino created some techniques?" Kakashi asked Asuma.
"Beats me." Asuma shrugged.
"Jisatsu Yuurei Bunshin no jutsu!" Ino called out and a ghostly Ino separated from her body and, after everyone had the chance to gawk at it, it sank into the ground, disappearing from view.
Sakura was now on alert. She was looking around her cautiously, trying to figure out where the ghostly Ino had gone. A few seconds later the Bunshin emerged right under the banshee and entered her body.
For a moment Sakura' body froze and her eyes stared blankly, before an evil grin spread on both hers in Ino' faces.
"It seems like the experiment was a success." Ino declared as 'Sakura' took her kunai to her left shoulder and stabbed.
"What's the stupid bitch doing? Is she out of her mind?" Kiba asked as he stared at his teammate.
"That's not Sakura, is it?" Kakashi asked grimly.
"Nope. That's Ino's Bunshin in Sakura's body. Sakura is currently unavailable. Don't bother leave a message." Asuna chuckled as she watched the banshee sit down on the stone floor and stab each of her legs at the base.
"Okay, you can dispel after I hit her with this senbon" Ino said as she took out a senbon with a violet liquid dripping from the tip. The then hit Sakura in the chest wit hit, causing the eyes of the banshee to blink in confusion before falling unconscious.
"Winner, Ino Yamanaka." Hayate declared and the medic nin went to the fallen girl. They put her on a stretcher and carried her away, with an angry Haruno head. After a closer look, one would notice one of Sarutobi's silencing seals placed on he back, out of her reach.
"Anko, was that one of your poisons?" Kakashi asked curiously.
"Nope, it was one me and Naruto-kun developed especially for my Jisatsu Yuurei Bunshin." Ino said as she arrived at the group. "It forces the target to experience pain in the area the senbon strikes equal to the total of all wounds in the body."
"Ouch!" Asuma shivered. "That's a nasty combination."
"It most certainly is." Inoichi said as he appeared behind Ino and put a hand on her shoulder. "But that's not I'm here for." he turned towards Naruto. "How long have you two been seeing each other?" he asked.
"About a month, give or take a few days." Naruto replied.
"I see." Inoichi said thoughtfully. "Tell me, Naruto-kun, how much did you tell Ino about yourself?"
"Everything." was the blond's reply, shocking Inoichi and the Jonin sensei.
"Well, if that's the case, then you have my blessing." Inoichi smiled.
"Huh? You're not going to put me to the test or something?" Naruto asked surprised.
"Oh no, that would just be a waste of both our times." Inoichi chuckled. "Still…" he released some killing intent at the blond "If you hurt her, I WILL kill you."
"Yes sir." Naruto smirked and the Yamanaka Head.
"So, can I move in?" Ino smiled.
"Sure." Naruto returned the smiled and gave her a brief kiss.
The next match was between Temari and Tenten. It was rather one-sided, with Temari dominating the field with her wind attack, repelling all of Tenten' projectiles. In the end, Temari sent a barrage of weapons back at a mid-air Tenten, making some of the kunai and shuriken pierce the weapon user.
Temari was about to let an unconscious Tenten fall on the edge of her metal fan, when she noticed that a kunai was imbedded at the impact point. She quickly opened her fan and released a weak burst of wind, slowing down Tenten' fall and turning her over, so that the kunai wouldn't be pushed further in when she hit the ground.
This earned the Suna nin a round of applause from Naruto for sportsmanship, many of the others following her example. Naruto then told Gai to bring Tenten up to the group so he could heal her, the eccentric Jonin reluctantly agreeing after Kakashi's nod of assurance. He was pleasantly surprised when Naruto healed the couple of wounds in less then a minute.
The following match was rather short as well, Kin being knocked out by Shikamaru by making her hit her head against the wall. Naruto healed that bruise as well, and Kin woke up soon afterwards, as well as Tenten.
The match between Kankuro and Misumi Tsurugi was pathetic. Kankuro tricked the poor bastard into entangling his stretchy body around his puppet before revealing the trap and crushing most of the bones in the guy's body. Still, Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at what Orochimaru would say when he found out that one of his Suna allies crushed one of his spies.
The match between Zaku Abumi and Shino Aburame was rather entertaining. The way Shino outwitted and out powered Zaku at every move was quite funny. Zaku sends a blast of wind at Shino. The Konoha nin easily dodges and sends a cloud of bugs after the Oto nin, making him retreat. Zaku tries to blast Shino away with both hands, Shino reveals that he had plugged the holes in Zaku's hands with bugs, rendering the attack useless and rupturing Zaku' left arm. Zaku tries to throw a kunai at Shino who was leaving the arena, Shino activates the explosive tag on Zaku' back and knocks the Oto nin unconscious. It was an interesting match, to say the least.
The next two matches were identical, much to Haku and Eva's annoyance. Each of them got to fight one of the Ame nin. The Ame nin started of by using some weird Genjutsu to make illusionary copies of themselves.
Eva and Haku decided to start the match by casting Crystallizatio Tellustris at their opponents. And that was it. Both matches ended with large glaciers in the middle of the arena, though it took a while to convince Eva to defrost the poor guy and ignore the insult of such a weakling daring to fight her.
In the next match, Naruto' curiosity was piqued by Oshizu's weapon. Apparently, it was able to channel chakra into the crystal blade and unleash it for techniques. That way, Oshizu decimated the last Ame nin with a wave of fire before he had the chance to sink into the ground, like the other two were frozen trying. But there was more then that to the blade.
"Impressive." Naruto gave the girl and intrigued look. "I've never seen such a quick-working conversion seal. Though I can tell that you were not using it to its full potential yet." he told the girl quietly.
"Thanks. I just thought it would be better to hold back my better moves for the Finals." Oshizu replied.
"Good point." Naruto nodded and turned to see the names for the next match before breaking out into evil laughter.
'Kiba Inuzuka vs Hinata Fuhen'
"Hinata-chan, don't hold back anything you need to make the mutt suffer." Naruto instructed the pale-eyed girl.
"I didn't intend to, anyway." Hinata smirked evilly as she leaped to the center of the floor.
"Fuhen-san, I can't shake the feeling that you have deeply corrupted my student." Kurenai said calmly.
"You would be correct, Yuhi-san." Naruto nodded solemnly.
"And the worst part is that I can't decide whether to thank you or kill you." Kurenai said, her eyebrow twitching.
"Well, you should settle for thanking him, since the killing part is pretty much impossible for you." Kakashi suggested.
"I'll take your word on it." Kurenai sighed as Hayate started the match.
"Hinata, after this match is over I'll claim you as my mate!" Kiba declared smugly.
"After this match is over, a mate would be useless for you." Hinata said calmly with a disturbing smile on her face that made Akamaru back away slowly before breaking in a full run and jumped in Tsume' hands trembling.
"Akamaru!" Kiba yelled in shock and confusion. "Bah, doesn't matter anyway." he dismissed it and lowered himself in a four-legged stance as his fangs and claws lengthened. "Tsuga!" he called out jumped towards Hinata spinning like a tornado.
Hinata looked at him calmly before thrusting a chakra-charged palm straight in the center of the tornado, effectively stopping the attack and disorientating the Inuzuka. As the mutt tried to regain his bearings, she struck again, this time at his shoulders. However, this wasn't a palm thrust that Hyuga use. The strikes Hinata gave to Kiba's shoulders looked more like karate chops. And with her hands completely coated in a thick layer of chakra, she practically slashed through his flesh as if using swords. And to make Kiba's screams of agony even louder, she added a chakra coated kick to the family jewels, making a soprano come out of the loud mutt.
Hinata then headed for her friends as Hayate was about to proclaim her the winner when Kiba spoke up.
" Don't you dare run away from me, you stupid bitch! I'll put you in your place at my feet right now!" Kiba growled as he tried to stand up straight.
Hinata glanced at Hayate who shrugged as if saying 'His funereal' before smiling and taking out her pactio card.
"She has one too?" Kurenai asked surprised.
"Yep, all of my clan members do." Naruto said. "And no, teme, I wouldn't give you one even if you were to join my clan." he added as the Uchiha opened his mouth.
Ignoring the growling avenger, they all focused on Hinata.
"Adeat!" Hinata called out and after a flash of light she had a ring on each hand and her eyes closed.
But when she opened her eyes most of the observers gasped in shock. There was a thin black line surrounding her silver-like iris, separating it from an equally silver sclera.
"Tell me, how do you like my Gokei Byakugan?" Hinata smirked.
"What in the world happened with her eyes?" Kurenai asked shocked.
"Her eyes bloodline evolved to the next level." Chamo said. "Like I said, drawing power from someone is only part of the pactio's abilities."
"Unbelievable." Kakashi whispered.
In the area where the council was watching the fights from, everyone was slowly edging away from Hiashi who was almost foaming at the mouth with rage.
"How is this possible? The Byakugan HAS NO advanced form! It has been that way since our clan was founded! And even it did exist and was hard to achieve, how could this failure get it? I must get her back under the clan's control as quick as possible! Or even better, eliminate her before word gets out! But with all this attention the Fuhen are getting and that interrogation method the fox brat displayed…" Hiashi though bitterly.
"What that hell happened to your eyes?" Kiba asked dumbfolded.
"Oh, I just took them to the next level. You see, unlike the normal Byakugan, the Gokei Byakugan doesn't have that one degree blind spot." Hinata grinned. "Also, it does more then see chakra systems and the tenketsu in the human body. The Gokei Byakugan allows me to see the blood system as well as damaged areas in my opponent's body. And to make things even better, I can either see them all at once or one at a time in order to focus better. But I won't be using that now since one strike will knock you out. I'll just use my rings instead." she brought her hands forward.
"Use her rings? What does she mean by that? Now that I thing about it, what did Ino's rings do?" Kurenai asked.
"Now, now, Kurenai-chan! You can't expect us to tell you our clan secrets, right?" Anko asked as she appeared behind the Jonin. In her left hand she had her pactio card.
"You too?" Asuma asked surprised.
"She IS a Fuhen, now that I think about it." Kurenai sighed.
"If you want a hint on what Hinata-chan's rings do, I suggest you pay attention to the match." Asuna said.
"You look like you need a bath, Kiba. Allow me." Hinata said before calling out "Mizu Parusu!"
An enormous quantity of water emerged from the rings on Hinata's hands and converged in a thick stream that struck Kiba in the stomach and blasted him into the wall, creating spider-web cracks around him. Needless to say, the fight was over.
"Winner, cough Hinata Fuhen!" Hayate announced.
"Great fight, Hinata-chan." Naruto congratulated the pale-eyed girl with a kiss.
"Well, considering who my opponent was, it was expected." Hinata sighed and glanced at the competitors for the next fight.
'Lee Rock vs Choji Akimichi'
"Well, this will be unfortunately short." Naruto sighed. "At least Lee wont have to resort to something EXTREMELY DANGEROUS." he added as he gave a shocked Gai a smirk.
"How do you know about that?" Gai asked surprisingly serious.
"Know what exactly?" Kakashi interfered.
"That Lee can open about half of the Chakra Gates." Hinata smiled. "Like I said earlier, Gai-san, my Gokei Byakugan can see damaged parts in the bodies of others. There are several strained muscles in Lee-san's body that could have been damaged in very few ways, and with his inability for Ninjutsu, that would only leave Taijutsu techniques, hence the Chakra gates." she explained.
"Gai…" Kakashi began slowly "You taught a thirteen year old how to use the Gates?"
"Yes, in order for his to achieve his dreams and become a splendid shinobi, I decided to do so." Gai replied solemnly. "However, he won't use them unless faced with life or death situations against shinobi much more powerful then him."
"And with his current speed and power, that would be rather rare to find." Naruto added amused. "Don't worry though; I can heal him even if he strains every non-vital muscle in his body. I'll heal those remaining damaged muscles he has after the preliminaries are over."
While Naruto was saying this, Lee repelled Choji' Nikuman Sensha with his Konoha Senpu, knocking the big-boned boy unconscious.
"See what I meant?" Naruto chuckled as Lee leaped and landed on the railing in front of them. "Great job, Lee, you got a perfect win. What's more, you didn't reveal any of you more powerful moves, nor injured your opponent too much." he added as Asuma brought Choji up to the group and Naruto quickly healed the nasty bruise on his chest.
"Only four contestants left. Naruto, Neji, Dosu and Gaara." Kakashi mussed.
"I would hate to fight Gaara right now." Naruto sighed.
"Oh? Is the mighty Fuhen scared of a mere genin?" Neji mocked.
"Who said anything about being scared? I just said that I don't to fight him now, or more precisely while we're in a closed space. The collateral would be a bit too much for my tastes." Naruto said with a raised eyebrow.
"How much damage are we talking about here?" Kakashi asked casually.
"The tower might collapse on top of us." Naruto deadpanned.
"Oh joy." Kakashi groaned.
"Next match" Hayate announced drawing everyone's attention. "Gaara Sabaku vs Dosu Kinuta."
"May his soul rest in peace." Naruto bowed slightly towards Dosu as he took his position in front of Gaara, making the others quite curious.
After the match started, Dosu attempted to attack Gaara with his sound waves, but before he could use his melody arm, it was covered in a thick layer of sand that had emerged from Gaara' gourd.
"Sabaku Kyu!" Gaara called out as even more sand came out of his gourd and covered every inch of Dosu' body.
"The End." Naruto whispered.
"Sabaku Soso!" Gaara called out as the crushed the captured Oto nin, causing blood to flow on the floor, though it was quickly collected by the retreating sand, leaving behind a slightly dried up mangled corpse of Dosu.
"That was very unyouthful." Lee said as he tried to keep his lunch.
"That guy is one cold killer." Asuma observed.
"He's one to watch out for, alright." Kakashi confirmed.
"Think I can crush someone like that using my shadows?" Anko asked.
"Maybe. I'm more interested in making a technique that leaves the opponent's body without blood." Haku said thoughtfully.
"I think I have one like that in my library. And if I don't, we have plenty of time to come up with one." Eva said.
"One that freezes the blood while still in the body and makes it come out through the skin like spikes would be awesome." Haku said with a faraway look in her eyes and a bloodlusty grin.
"I'm surrounded by maniacs." Negi deadpanned, crying anime tears.
"Don't be like that, Negi-kun." Konoka said with a smile "It will just encourage them to do worse."
"Kono-chan, that's not helping." Setsuna deadpanned.
"Looks like it's just you and me left, Neji. Do try to not waste my time." Naruto smirked as he jumped over the railing and landed near Hayate.
"You seem quite confident, Fuhen. It will be your undoing as I make you bow to the might of the Hyuga clan." Neji declared as he got in a Juken stance.
"You're not the first Hyuga I fought." Naruto said as he stretched a bit.
"I am not like the other Hyuga you fought, especially that failure whore. Besides, Fate has decided that I shall be victorious today." Neji said with a tone of finality.
"Just for that comment, I am going to make you suffer." Naruto said coldly.
As Hayate started the match, Neji charged at the blond and hit him several times with his chakra-covered palms, trying to cause as much damage as possible before jumping back to his starting point.
"Hm, I think a mosquito bit me." Naruto said as he scratched the places Neji had hit.
"Let's try this then!" Neji said as he appeared in front of the blond "Hakke Sanjūni Shō!" he called out and hit 32 of Naruto's tenketsu.
"Is that all you can do?" Naruto asked unaffected.
"Danm you!" Neji lost his temper and called out his next technique. "Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!"
After hitting 64 of Naruto's tenketsu, Neji leaped backwards for good measure.
"I'll ask again, is this all you can do?" Naruto said as he began to slowly approach Neji, like a predator approaching his cornered prey. As Neji was too shocked to answer, Naruto took his silence as a 'yes'. "Too bad, I wanted to play with you a bit." the blond sighed in disappointment.
In one swift movement, Naruto drew his pactio card from his pocket and summoned his Tessaiga in its expanded form, youki surging through it.
The few in the audience that recognized the energy in use, but had no previous knowledge of the sword, suddenly became interested or in some cases panicked.
"Hokage-sama! The boy is using ITS chakra! We must do something about this!" a fat civilian said.
"I am perfectly aware of what's going on before my very eyes, Denbe." Sarutobi said. "And I don't see the problem."
"Are you out of your mind, Sarutobi?" Koharu asked loudly. "What if the Seal is weakening?"
"The seal is in perfect condition, both I and Naruto do maintenance on it at least once a month." Sarutobi announced as he watched Neji dodge and run away from the huge sword.
"You're letting the demon mess with the Seal? Now I know you've lost it!" Homura said in horror.
"That's the last straw." Sarutobi said coldly as he turned towards his former teammates. "Former teammates or not, you've crossed the line way too many times to simply let slide. You're fired from your position as council advisers." he told the dumbstruck duo. "Furthermore, because you continuously ignored my laws, you will be detained in the ANBU prison until I decide a proper punishment for you two. ANBU!" he called out and four masked nin appeared kneeling before him. "Take them to your cells. They no longer have any privileges, all are revoked until I personally say otherwise. Also, send investigative units at their houses. I believe there is some incriminating evidence there. Oh, one last thing." he paused and knocked out one of the four that turned out to be a ROOT agent under a Henge "If necessary, you are allowed to use any force you deem fit." With that, the two shocked former advisers were taken away by the ANBU, as one of them took the body of the ROOT agent along.
Back in the match, Neji had been dodging Naruto' strikes, but his body was covered in cuts, especially his chest. It was as if the blond was intentionally causing him only superficial wounds. This theory was proven correct when his shirt became too shredded to wear and he had to remove it, now being bare-chested.
After the audience saw him, they burst into laughter. Annoyed and curious about what was so damn funny, he looked downwards at his chest and saw red. Or rather red letters carved in his body: "Fate's bitch".
"Nothing hurts more then the truth, right Neji?" Naruto smirked as he dismissed his sword, as its job was done.
Before the Hyuga could do more then look at him with rage in his eyes, Naruto had put his card away and had adopted his most bloodthirsty grin yet.
"Actus Noctis Erebeae!"
Like it happened in the Forest of Death, darkness surged out of Naruto before wrapping around him, covering him like a second skin and making him black and white, with a golden seven-pointed star in each eye.
"That's the jutsu he used against me in the forest!" Sasuke exclaimed.
"What is that thing?" Kurenai asked, affected by the killing intent even though it wasn't aimed in their direction.
"That is my personal creation and without a doubt the most dangerous technique you'll ever see." Eva said with glee.
"Well, I admit it looks pretty powerful, but the strongest? That's surely an exaggeration." Kakashi said.
"Hmph! Shows how much you know! Tell me, o wise one, how many techniques do you know that can produce this amount of threat without even being fully activated?" Eva smirked.
"You mean that he's not fighting Neji seriously?" Lee asked.
"In case you haven't noticed, none of us are. The more we hold back now, the more we can surprise our opponents in the Finals." Ino pointed out.
"Tell me, young lady, how powerful could this technique make a regular person?" Gai asked curiously.
"Well, to be perfectly honest, this technique would make a regular person dead." Eva said bluntly. "In order for someone to be able to even activate this technique, they would need to be rather 'special'. And by that I mean that Naruto-kun is the fourth to even learn it."
"Well, considering that you are so young, that's not much to go by." Asuma chuckled.
In response, Eva transformed into her older form and sliced the cigar in Asuma' mouth with her Ensis Exsequens.
"Don't judge my age by my appearance, you little brat. I am older then you and your team combined." Eva declared coldly before she took her twelve year old form again.
"Just to let you know, it would be rather rude to ask a lady her age, and in this case quite lethal." Negi added as Asuma opened his mouth.
"Let me rephrase my earlier question." Gai intervened "How powerful would this technique make a suited person?"
"Well, it would depend on how suited that person is to the technique. But if someone that was genin level would learn it, they could easily take on a special Jonin." Negi explained.
"Incredible! It's almost like opening the Gates!" Lee exclaimed.
"Oh, it's beyond opening the Gates in both effectiveness and danger." Eva said casually as she watched Naruto beat the stuffing out of Neji.
"What do you mean?" Gai asked.
"Well, in a way, it's like the Gates, since it puts a lot of pressure on the user's body. On the other hand, you won't just die if you overuse it." Eva said mysteriously.
"And what happens in that case?" Kakashi asked.
"The user either turns into a demon or dies and then is reborn as a demon." Negi answered.
"What kind of technique is this?" Kurenai asked loudly.
"It's the ultimate darkness technique. Only those that have darkness within them may use the Magia Erebea." Negi replied.
"You mean to tell me that you taught Naruto a technique that will ultimately kill him?" Kakashi asked angrily.
"Heavens no! Naruto-kun is among the few that can use it without any side-effects." Eva smiled widely.
"To put it simply, the technique gradually absorbs energy from the surroundings and converts it into a type of energy that is poisonous to the human body. But since Naruto already had that kind of energy within him since the day he was born, it would only make him stronger." Negi explained.
"I see. And that energy would either transform a normal person into a demon or kill him and bring him back as a demon." Kakashi mussed.
"Yes, though if the person only partially transforms into a demon, it can be reversed and they keep all their memories and sanity. If the person dies first, chances are he'll become a bloodthirsty monster." Asuna said as she glanced at Negi.
"But what about a person like Naruto-kun?" Yugito asked, reminding everyone that the Raikage had been there the whole time.
"Well, someone like Naruto-kun could do a lot more then a regular person using this technique. That's all I'm willing to reveal here." Eva said as she looked at Sasuke, who had been staring at her.
"Teach me this technique!" the Uchiha demanded.
"Sure." Eva shrugged, to everyone's surprise. "Just one condition."
"Name it." Sasuke said excitedly.
"Write an official declaration that you are aware of the risks and are not holding anyone responsible for when you die right after I teach it to you." Eva grinned.
"What makes you think that I can't handle it?" Sasuke glared at her.
"You are a weak bodied and weak willed fool. Negi here was and still is one of the most strong willed people I've ever known, and even he almost failed. What makes you think that an arrogant brat that blows his top all the time will be able to control the most dangerous technique ever?" Eva asked as Sasuke backed away from her as she poked him in the chest with each argument. "It would consume you completely."
"Yep, that's duck-head alright." Haku nodded in agreement.
"If you guys are done talking, Naruto is about to put Neji out of his misery." Shikamaru announced.
Down in the fight, Naruto was facing a beaten and bloody Neji. Every muscle in his body hurt, and it was for a good reason, as Naruto had hit them all. He didn't attack in a way that would disable the Hyuga. No, the attacks were made in a way that would allow Negi to remain standing, but in more pain then someone who had opened six of the Gates. Naruto had made sure to make it slow and painful, and Neji knew why. Before he had begun pounding the Hyuga, Naruto had told him that it was payback for all the pain he had inflicted on Hinata over the years.
"It's time to end this fight." Naruto said and held his hand upwards. "Iaculatio Fulgoris!" he called out as several spears of lightning appeared floating above his hand before they shot towards Neji, impaling him into the wall behind him and knocking him unconscious.
"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki Fuhen!" Hayate announced as the medics hurried towards Neji who had fell to the ground when the spears holding him there disappeared.
"Did you have to be so brutal, Naruto-san?" Lee asked, a little angry that his teammate was in such a state.
"Yes. I did. And I will do the same to anyone else who harms those precious to me." Naruto answered coldly. Lee was surprised when Gai nodded in agreement.
A few minutes later, the genin that won their matches in the preliminaries were lined up in front of the Hokage and Jonin. From the right to the left, they were Sasuke Uchiha, Ino Yamanaka, Temari Sabaku, Shikamaru Nara, Kankuro Sabaku, Shino Aburame, Haku Yuki Fuhen, Evangeline A.K. McDowell Fuhen, Oshizu Hiroko, Hinata Fuhen, Lee Rock, Gaara Sabaku and Naruto Uzumaki Fuhen.
"Congratulations to those who have passed!" Sarutobi began with a wide smile. "The final part of the Chunin Exams will take place one month from now. You will be fighting in a tournament, however winning the tournament does not guaranty you Chunin rank, nor does losing. A group of judges will observe your performances and decide if you are worthy of advancing in rank. Of course, the farther you advance in the tournament, the more you can show off your skills and impress the judges." he finished with a chuckle.
"You'll draw lots right now to decide who your opponent will be, so you can prepare accordingly." Anko said and passed a box from Sasuke to Naruto. "Now tell us your number."
"13." Sasuke grunted.
"5." Ino said.
"7." Temari answered.
"8." Shikamaru yawned.
"3." Kankuro said, praying that he wouldn't be paired up with his brother.
"4." Shino said.
"2." Haku smiled.
"1." Eva smirked.
"9." Oshizu answered.
"6." Hinata said.
"11." Lee said.
"10." Gaara grunted.
"12." Naruto smirked.
"Alright maggots, these are the first matches." Anko said and showed them a chart.
Match 1: 'Evangeline A.K. McDowell Fuhen vs Haku Yuki Fuhen'
Match 2: 'Kankuro Sabaku vs Shino Aburame'
Match 3: 'Ino Yamanaka vs Hinata Fuhen'
Match 4: 'Temari Sabaku vs Shikamaru Nara'
Match 5: 'Oshizu Hiroko vs Gaara Sabaku'
Match 6: 'Lee Rock vs Naruto Uzumaki Fuhen'
'Match 7: Winner of Match 6 vs Sasuke Uchiha'
"Since there are an odd number of participants, Sasuke' opponent in the first round will be the winner of Match 6. So the winner of Match 1 will face winner of Match 2, winner of Match 3 will face winner of Match 4 and the winner of Match 5 will face the winner of Match 7." Sarutobi explained.
"What about the final match? There would be three of us left." Shikamaru pointed out.
"It will depend on the state those three will be in. If one of them is considered too injured to fight, he would be disqualified. So be careful what you do in your previous matches. If all three are able to fight, they'll have a tree-way fight." Sarutobi replied.
"Okay, we're done here. Dismissed!" Anko grinned.
Next time: Perverts, Jutsu and Seals