Story: Konoha's Beautiful Red Beast…

Author: Soul Teller!

Disclaimer: No disclaimer...

Speech index: "Talking""Thinking/Mindscape/Flashback"
"Kyubi/Biju/Monster Naruto"

Summary: Chased out of the village at the age of 5 a boy must survive in the wild as an animal but will he survive, and return as a human, or a monster?

A/N: Nothing to say... except that I want a review... just one... PLEASE! SOMEBODY!? ANYBODY!?

Chapter 18
Genin Battle Exams
Part 2

Naruto sat on a branch his eye's scanning the dark forest in front of him. He sniffed the air then he breathed deeply inhaling the moist cool air. He preferred the forest instead of sitting inside that box. There was just so much more room and the air was cleaner, he really didn't understand why people put themselves in such small boxes. He turned to look at the tower where Sakura, Sasuke, Rejura's team, Johuga's team, the guy with big eyebrows team, and The Sand shinobi were currently boxed in. Today was the last day for the teams to meet up at the tower, Naruto thought to the teams that weren't in the tower already. That girl Ino's team... Johuga's sister, and her teammates, Kiba and his team, those sound guys, the team from rain, and... quite a few other teams. Naruto leaned back then he looked at his vest it was very heavy with all the weights hidden inside the fabric of the vest. He was tempted to take it off but thought better of it especially considering where he was it might break the branch and send him tumbling into the darkness. He sighed and stood up then he leaned back again then snapped forward his fists clenched as they shot forward punching the air.

His foot then came up fast and nearly invisible then his other foot as he leaped into the air his foot coming again and again then he landed denting the wood but taking no care in that as he spun round to do high, low, middle, high kick all in rapid succession. Then he back fisted the and spun round. He stopped to take a deep breath then he resumed his martial training unaware that he was being watched.

Neji stared down at the window at Naruto who leaped to and fro fists flying, feet kicking at invisible opponents. He had to admit the boy was flexible and versatile in h is combat. He watched as Naruto fell back his feet kicking out both left and right then using his hands to spin on the spot then he released his grip on the ground spinning on his back his feet flying through the air. "His taijutsu is highly commendable." An excited voice said. Neji didn't even glance at Lee his eye's focusing purely on Naruto. "His taijutsu might even be better than mine!" Lee to which Neji frowned saying.

"That's impossible, he's just a loser through and through. Though I would say that he's not alone in that department." Neji said turning his gaze to Lee at the last sentence. Lee frowned, scratching his head.

"You know Neji one day you might be wrong about your whole destiny idea." At this Neji flashed his Byakugan at Lee.

"Destiny is never wrong, if he is destined to be a loser like you then that is all he will be. Nothing more and nothing less." Lee glared at Neji who scoffed at him then he walked away, Lee watched him go then he turned his eye's to Naruto.

'No... Naruto is far greater than that... I cannot explain how... all I do know is that he is meant to be far greater than what Fate dictates.' Lee thought, he watched Naruto fighting with the air then he turned and walked away.

Kurodo lay pinned onto a tree trunk a glowing white sword in his shoulder staring at the man whose face was half peeled away. Kurodo's own clothes were a mess, it was torn up in many places and the collar was gone revealing his face. His black glasses were also destroyed in the battle and his purple eyes narrowed as he focused on the man in front of him. "Interesting you were able to take my full power as if it was nothing. Clearly you aren't an ordinary shinobi... Perhaps you're a Jounin in disguise.... or something far worse." Orochimaru had to give credit to the boy, he was quick on the uptake and he was strong... perhaps even stronger than Sasuke. Orochimaru looked at him.

"You are indeed quick and powerful you could one day become a powerful Shinobi... Join me... and I can help you reach that goal and show you the path to immortality!" Orochimaru said his hand held out to Kurodo. Kurodo looked at the hand then he started laughing. "HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! I'm sorry but I've been a part of any group, not even with my current group. I prefer to work alone... which means I'll get my power and I'll become a great shinobi alone..." Kurodo said, then he smirked. "However your offer will not be forgotten... I'll pass the message on... to Sasuke Uchiha I believe." Orochimaru smirked as well.

"You are dangerous aren't you?" He asked casually.

"And so are you..." Kurodo said and he dissovled into a puddle of blood. Orochimaru stared at the puddle then he turned his head to find Dosu staring at him watching the day long battle.

"Where does that wonderful boy come from?" Orochimaru asked, Dosu blinked.

"From the Hidden Village of Soul I believe my lord." Orochimaru stared at him then he turned back to the puddle. He pulled out the scroll that was hidden in his robes and threw it to Dosu who caught it. Dosu looked at the scroll then he knelt down.

"Go to the tower and wait there for further to instructions... Don't do anything serious without my consent." Orochimaru said then he leaped into the air. Dosu looked at where his master was then he turned and began leaping forward to find Kin and Zaku.

Naruto lay on the tree branch holes and dents surrounding his body, panting, then he sat up and looked at his vest. "This thing is so heavy. If I could just..." He reached for the vest and pulled at it then he released it as he felt the full weight of the vest pulling him down. "I'll ask Kakashi sensei to give me something lighter."

"Have problems Naruto?" A cool voice said Naruto looked around to see Sasuke leaning against a tree his eye's never leaving Naruto's.

"Sasuke? What're you doing here?" Naruto hadn't sensed Sasuke at all a fact that worried Naruto slightly. "Never mind that could you help me with this?" Naruto asked. Sasuke nodded and walked to Naruto then he knelt down grabbing the vest with both hands and pulling, to his surprise he found resistance. Digging his heels in he gave a great pull and the vest slipped off of Naruto, Sasuke staggered back then he gave a groan as the vest landed on his chest. He could feel it's weight pressing down on him, it was tremendous, had Naruto been wearing this vest since day one? He staggered then he managed to push the vest onto tree branch where it landed onto the branch cracking it and creating a small hole. Naruto sighed then he suddenly leaped up. "Ah that's much better!" He began hopping on the spot then he crouched low then sprang up high into the air shooting past the tree branches and ending up flying high into the blue sky where he looked around. "Wow! I can see everything up here!" he said as he began to fall down. He sailed down like a rock and landed powerfully onto the tree branch where it cracked then broke.

"Naruto!" Sasuke called as he crawled to where the broken branch had fallen. He was answered by a hand grasping the rest of the branch and a head popping up.

"Whew that was close." Naruto said, sweat glistening from his body. He sighed and wiped his head, then he turned to Sasuke. "I went really high up! I could see Konoha it's real beautiful!" Naruto said then he grabbed his vest then he shouldered it and jumped down to the ground. "I'm hungry!" He declared and he walked to the tower hoping to find some food in there. Sasuke stared at Naruto then he looked at his hand. He then clenched his fist and began punching the tree branch.

"DAMMIT! How is he so strong! And yet I'm so weak! HOW!?" Sasuke roared. He growled then he leaped down and headed for the tower dark thoughts brewing in his mind.

A few hours later

Naruto stood along with 29 others in a large room with raised platforms on the side and a giant hand in the tiger sign. Naruto stared ahead at the elite shinobi in front of them Anko also stood there a microphone attached to her head. "First off! The second test congratulations on passing!" She shouted. Naruto blinked and cocked his head to the side then he turned his head to his vest which weighed him down slightly as Kakashi had given him a new vest with heavier weights. 'It's good for training' Kakashi had said but Naruto wondered if he was doing this to torture him.

"You're team I heard were one of the first one's that made it" Guy said to Kakashi. "Maybe they were lucky. However their luck is now gonna run dry, since now it's all about skill." Guy said. Kakashi turned his head to Guy a minute later.

"You say something? Guy?" Guy bristled at this and he turned raising a fist.

'Damn that Kakashi always acting cool!' Guy thought angrily, while Kakashi stared at him confused.

Rejura stared at Naruto who stood slightly hunched as if a weight was weighing him down. Then he turned his eye's to the other two soul teams. Dislike instantly etched itself onto his face as he stared at Nakuma and Kurodo. 'So they made it too... not like I expected them not to...' he thought angrily and he turned his head back to see his sensei staring at him. His sensei was an unusually tall man with a bright red mohawk spike sideways, and a bandage on his nose. He wore the typical vest blue colored vest that Soul Jounin wore. His pants were unusually large and billowed out sideways. He then stared at Nahati's sensei. A short man with long arms and wearing a straw hat on his head at all times. He also wore straw shoes, and carried an extremely large scroll on his back. Then he looked at Johuga's sensei, a man of average height with green, wiry, spiky hair that shot in all directions and a large scar on his face extending from one cheek and onto the other. He had a large tattoo on his right arm in the form of a dragon and he held a staff in his left. All in all they were impressive to look at and in battle. He smirked slightly, this next test better be good.

"No wonder you nominated your teams..." The 3rd Hokage said to Asuma, Kurenai, and Kakashi they smiled slightly.

"Hokage-sama will now explain the next test!" Anko shouted, then she turned to the 3rd. "Hokage-sama please."

"Yes..." The old man took a step forward grabbing his pipe and lowering it. "For the coming 3rd test... but before I explain that there is something I'd like for you to know. It concerns the true reason of the exam." Naruto who had been staring at the floor raised his and he clenched his fists the fingers cracking slightly. "Why do we have the allied countries take an exam together? 'To promote friendship among the countries' 'To raise the level of shinobi' I don't want you to be confused with the true meaning. This exam is... A replacement for the war between the other countries." Naruto unclenched his fists and cracked his neck the cracking echoing across the room audibly.

"I don't believe that!" Naruto said, the 3rd closed his eye's.

"I'm not telling you to believe it... I'm just telling you what the true purpose of this test is..." Naruto just shook his head but listened as the old man began to explain the circumstances of the test and of the country, it's people, it's leaders it's clients, it's shinobi and finally the true power of a shinobi. Naruto stood up slightly straighter but he stared at the old man in the eye's and the old man stared at him their eye's locking onto each other. "Now the third test."

"Excuse me... cough! If you wouldn't mind me as referee explaining the test." A voice said as a man appeared in front of the hokage kneeling.

"By all mans Hayate." The man called Hayate nodded and stood up and turned to face the young shinobi. "Hello everyone I am Hayate" Naruto noted the rather sickly look in his eye and his voice.

"Are you... All right?" He asked. Hayate turned an eye to him then give a wry smile it looked rather spooky on his face.

"Don't you worry about me... very soon you'll be worrying more about yourselves instead of anybody else. Anyways... this test is not the actual test... it's a preliminary for the third test. To decide who gets chosen for the main event." Mutterings soon rose up among the genin ninja.

"Preliminary!? What do you mean?" Shikamaru shouted.

"Sensei I don't understand this preliminary. Why can't the people who are here just take the third exam?" Sakura asked. Hayate turned his eye to her.

"Perhaps the 1st and 2nd test were a bit too easy this year. We simply have too many remaining members and according the rules of the Chunin exams we must have a preliminary to reduce the numbers. As Hokage-sama indicated earlier there will be guests from other countries coming... with this many people the fights take way too long... we are on borrowed time." Rejura snorted.

'Not with the Reikage they aren't... though maybe the other guests don't want to watch an actual fight.' Rejura thought savagely. Then he realized something, the Reikage hadn't shown up yet. Where was he?

"All right so those not feeling well to fight please step forward now and say so." There was silence then someone stepped forward, this someone was tall, wore glasses, had light silver hair and had several bandages on his nose.

"I quit!" He said Naruto looked at him in surprise he seriously did not think anybody would quit. Hayate looked at Anko who gave him a clipboard and he looked at the one who had spoken up. "You're Yakushi Kabuto from the leaf right? You may leave." Kabuto gave a nod and turned Naruto watched him go then he saw it... a smirk of pure malice. He shuddered then he turned back to the Jounin up front.

"Anybody else?" When nobody answered Hayate looked at the clipboard. Then he looked up, "Now the preliminary will consist of one on one fighting... and since we have now... 29 people one person will be lucky enough to either fight twice... or not at all." Naruto gulped at this. Fighting once would be hard enough but twice? That person better be super good at fighting. "Cough! The winners shall advance to the third tests... it's as simple as that, and as for rules... there are no rules... fight as if your life depended on it... since it more or less does. Cough! You will fight until one of you dies, is knocked out, or admits defeat. If you don't want to die then acknowledge that you lose. But if I know that someone has won I'll jump in since we don't want a mountain of corpses." Hayate said.

"Open it." Anko said into her microphone and a panel began to move upward revealing an electric board underneath.

"This electric scoreboard will show the match-ups for the battle. Now I know this is sudden but let's announce the battle." Hayate said. Instantly names began flicking on the screens far too fast for any normal person to perceive. Naruto looked at the boards lamely and yawned.

"I hope it's not me." He said and the names stopped at...

Cliffy... I need votes for the first fight after that I'll choose the pairings for the rest of the fights.