Naruko Namikaze allowed her gaze to flow throughout the crowd in the arena. The Chunin Exam Finals were about to begin; Sasuke would be up first, against Neji. Naruko internally smirked at the memory of completely spanking the Hyuuga prodigy several weeks ago. It felt really good to pull that stick out of his ass, ttebayo!
Her eyes finally found what they sought; Kakashi was sitting near the front row on the opposite side of the arena from where the contestants would be watching the other fights from. Kakashi's lone eye gazed right back at her, and he shook his head sadly. Naruko frowned.
Kane was supposed to be seated right beside their sensei, only he apparently wasn't here.
Naruko hadn't seen Kane in over two weeks. She was almost positive he was avoiding her; Kakashi, too. Kakashi had gone to Kane's house to check up on him several times at her behest, and he was never able to find the boy. Kakashi assured her that he hadn't gone missing; he found a steadily increasing amount of empty cup ramens scattered around the apartment.
Still, she hadn't seen him since right before her fight with Neji.
It was frustrating. She knew he was avoiding her and she had absolutely no clue why. She didn't like the idea of Kane not wanting to see her.
Naruko glanced towards the top of the stadium; her dad was sitting next to the current Kazekage in plain sight for everyone to see. The two powerful leaders would be watching the match.
'I'll make him proud ttebayo!'
Naruko stood beside Sasuke as the seven Chunin hopefuls listened to Genma, the proctor, drone on and on about this and that. Naruko wasn't really listening. The only part she'd caught was Kiba asking where Hayate was, and Genma said that he would be filling in for the man as he had come down with 'a serious case of stage fright'.
"Would everyone besides Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Neji please head up to the viewing platform."
As the five Genin began making their way up to the area, Naruko glanced one more time behind her where Kakashi was at.
Her heart soared when she saw Kane in the process of taking his seat, Kakashi immediately engaging the boy in small talk.
'I knew he'd come!' She thought with a huge, relieved grin.
Naruko felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulder. She really wanted Kane to watch her fight, even if he was upset with her for whatever reason.
She wanted to show him how strong she'd gotten.
Kane hadn't been pleased when he found out she was fighting against Gaara, but then again she had specifically avoided telling him for that reason. She knew she would've been the same way if it were Kane that was matched against the redhead. She couldn't stand the thought of Kane getting hurt; she nearly went ballistic when Kiba knocked the boy out.
She glared at the aforementioned Inuzuka. After she beat Gaara, she was going to teach him a lesson, too.
Nobody touched her Kane.
Uchiha Sasuke smirked at his opponent. There was something different about the Hyuuga, he wasn't the same person Sasuke saw fight in the preliminaries. Sasuke had a fairly good guess as to why that was.
"Begin!" Genma announced as he jumped away.
The two noble clan members continued to stare at each other.
"So, I heard you took quite the pounding from my teammate a while back." Sasuke taunted the white eyed boy.
Neji said nothing as he continued to watch Sasuke curiously.
"Maybe you should give up. The idiot can barely keep up with me, if you lost to her you don't stand a chance against me." Sasuke taunted.
That was a lie; Naruko currently held the title in their sparring contests by two victories. Not that the Hyuuga needed to know that.
"Are you quite finished?" The Hyuuga prodigy finally spoke up in a low drawl.
"Yeah, I am. And so are you." Sasuke smirked as he got into position. Neji responded by doing the same, only instead of the Uchiha Clan taijutsu form he stood in the Hyuuga Clan form.
'I'd have to be an idiot to try my hand at taijutsu against this guy. I'll take him out with Ninjutsu.' Sasuke thought to himself as he activated his Sharingan.
Neji activated his Byakugan, and charged.
'Fast!' Sasuke thought in surprise as he dodged a swift palm strike from the Hyuuga.
Sasuke jumped away and Neji was quick to follow.
Sasuke smirked as he dodged another blow from Neji.
And another.
And another.
And another.
A frustrated look crossed Neji's face as Sasuke put some distance between the two, smirk still in place.
Neji was fast, but he would never catch Sasuke.
'Sasuke, I want you to watch Lee closely with your Sharingan. You could learn a few tricks from the boy.' Kakashi had spoken to Sasuke immediately before Rock Lee fought Sabaku no Gaara.
And he had been right. Sasuke picked up the natural flow of Lee's movements instantly thanks to his Sharingan. Kakashi then put Sasuke through speed training.
'Neji's fast, but he'll never hit me.' Sasuke thought with a smirk.
Still, it would be safer to keep his distance.
Sasuke performed several quick hand signs before shouting, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" and launching several small fireballs towards the Hyuuga.
Neji didn't even blink as he began dodging and weaving around the fireballs, quickly closing the gap between the two once more before striking out. Sasuke barely managed to sidestep the blow.
'tch! Ok, I was wrong; he's definitely fast enough to hit me!'
Sasuke whipped out several kunai and launched them at Neji as he jumped away. Neji dodged the first few before catching the final kunai with two fingers, throwing it right back towards Sasuke.
Sasuke ducked, letting the kunai fly over his head before leaping into the air towards the wall of the arena. He began running up the wall as Neji stared at him in confusion.
Sasuke smirked. 'Let's see you handle this, Hyuuga.'
He hoped his father was watching; this was for him!
'Sasuke, when you fight the Hyuuga boy, I want you to show everyone in attendance the prowess that is the Uchiha Clan. I want you to show them the beauty and terror that the Uchiha Clan is capable of, with this one jutsu.' His fathers words echoed in his mind as he launched himself away from the walls, flying over the center of the arena and staring Neji down.
Sasuke performed a series of hand signs 'Boar, horse, tiger...'
"Fire Style: Greatest Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke roared out as a giant inferno of a fireball appeared, covering the entire fields in a blaze of glory. The jutsu was even larger than the Uchiha Clan's famed Great Fireball Jutsu!
As Sasuke finally finished pumped out Chakra from his mouth, he stared in awe as he could see blue Chakra swirling in the center of the fiery inferno that had overtaken the entire field.
Neji stood in the center of it all, as he finished twirling, and glared at Sasuke.
'So that's the Rotation technique?! How the hell does this guy know it?!'
As Sasuke found himself falling straight towards Neji, he prepared himself for a serious blow.
Nejis palm connected with Sasukes stomach, sending the boy flying. Thankfully, the direction he flew towards was one in which the flames had already dissipated.
Sasuke stood up slowly as he held his stomach, Neji staring at him with his hands on his hips.
"Is that all? So much for all your boasting, Uchiha." Neji smirked.
Sasuke grit his teeth in annoyance.
"I'm ending this." Neji said before stepping into a gentle fist stance.
'Shit!'
"You're in my range, Uchiha." Neji smirked before immediately dashing towards Sasuke.
"Two Palm!" Neji shouted as he blocked the first of Sasuke's tenketsu.
"Four Palm!" Neji shouted blocking the next two.
'This is bad!' Sasuke thought with panic.
"Eight Palm!"
"Sixteen Palm!"
"Thirty Two Palm!"
Neji had him completely disabled! He couldn't channel any Chakra throughout his body!
Except, that is, his left arm, which Neji had yet to strike.
'It's my only shot!'
Sasuke quickly grabbed Neji's right shoulder with his left arm as Neji went in for the final blow.
Sasuke envisioned he was using his most recent challenge. Sasuke has been trying to learn a new lightning jutsu, based off of Kakashi's Chidori, for the passed several weeks, however he had yet to master it.
That didn't mean he'd learned nothing, however.
Sasuke channeled lightning through his entire left arm, and the connection between the two boys caused the lightning to jump straight onto Neji.
Neji howled in pain as the lightning coursed through his body, stopping his assault dead in its tracks.
As Sasuke found himself unable to channel anymore Chakra, the two boys stood there, grappled onto each other tightly and breathing heavily.
Finally, Neji collapsed to the ground with a twitch.
Genma appeared next to them, having been on the wall of the arena following Sasuke's fire attack.
He stared for several seconds at the downed Hyuuga and the frozen, but still standing, Uchiha.
"The winner is Uchiha, Sasuke!" Genma announced as the crowd roared its approval.
"Way to go, bastard!" Naruko cheered.
"Oh man I'm next, what a drag..." Shikamaru mumbled.
"Heh, not bad Uchiha!" Kiba yelled out.
"He's pretty strong, huh Gaara?" Kankuro asked.
Gaara said nothing.
'Heh, I may not have mastered the Chidori Nagashi in time for the exams, but it looks like my effort wasn't wasted.' Sasuke thought, pleased with himself as he slowly made his way back to the waiting area.
"Oh man, let me guess... You're going to fight even harder than usual to get revenge on me for beating your sister. Man what a drag..." Shikamaru Nara groaned as Kankuro just continued smirking at him.
"Nah, I don't care about that. You knocked her down a few pegs. If anything I should be thanking you."
"Are the two of you ready?" Genma asked the boys.
Kankuro nodded as Shikamaru groaned.
"Begin!" and Genma jumped away.
Kankura whipped out Karasu as he smirked at the other Genin.
"Man, this is so lame. You know the crowd doesn't even care about this match, right? They're all just here to watch the villages special little princess fight."
Kankuro laughed, "Well I guess we better give them a good show then, huh?"
Shikamaru sighed as he prepared for the worst.
"Let's go, Karasu!" Kankuro yelled as the puppet took flight and charged Shikamaru.
Shikamaru quickly jumped away as the puppet followed after him.
'Shit, Sasuke just had to burn the arena, didn't he?' Shikamaru groaned internally as the only life left in the field were several dead, burned trees with no leaves.
Karasu suddenly opened his left arm and shot a single, purple pellet towards the Nara.
'Shit!'
The pellet exploded into purple smoke around Shikamaru, however the genin suddenly 'poofed' into a log.
'Substitution!' Kankuro realized as he turned around, finding Shikamaru near the wall of the arena that was closest to his person.
And a shadow flying across the ground towards him.
Kankura quickly jumped far away from the shadow as just before reaching him, the shadow seemed to struggle before coming to a halt.
Kankuro smirked at the annoyed looking Shikamaru.
"Hah! Your jutsu has a maximum range, huh?! Well don't worry, brat, I don't plan on letting you lock me down with that shadow jutsu of yours like you did to my sister!"
Karasu began its assault anew, and Shikamaru quickly launched several kunai at the puppet.
And was shocked when the puppet used a substitution, too.
'Aw crap.' Shikamaru thought in dismay as he found Karasu nearly on top of him, his mouth opened revealing a small, elongated, sharp needle flying right towards him.
Shikamaru jumped away as the needle grazed him ever so slightly.
He threw several kunai at Kankuro, forcing the boy to jump closer towards his location. He launched his shadow at the puppet user, and Kankuro merely smirked as the shadow was just short of being able to reach him.
Shikamaru smiled as another shadow appeared on the ground.
"What?!" Kankuro gased in shock as the new circular shadow connected with Shikamarus own, allowing him to reengage Kankuro with his shadow possession jutsu.
And he hit!
"What!? I... I can't move!" Kankuro grit out as he struggled against the possession.
Shikamaru smirked as he slowly walked closer to Kankuro, the boy imitating his every move.
"How?! How did you do that?!"
Shikamaru said nothing as he turned his head skywards, allowing Kankuro to see a small kunai floating in the sky, tied to Shikamaru's jacket.
"What?! When did you-"
"Before our match even started. I was wearing a jacket when we were watching Sasuke's fight, didn't you notice? I planned this out well before our match." Shikamaru smirked as the two boys continued to walk closer, finally standing at arms length.
Kankuro glared at the Nara as Shikamaru sighed.
"This fight is finished."
Kankuro smirked.
Before Shikamaru could react, Kankuro suddenly reached out and grasped the other boy in a tight hold, as if sharing a hug.
"W-what?!"
Shikamaru looked over to see he was no longer looking at Kankuro, but rather he was staring at Karasu.
The other Karasu opened its mouth, and the real Kankuro jumped out.
"Heh, you're not the only one who planned ahead!" Kankuro boasted as Karasus grip on Shikamaru tightened.
And tightened.
And tightened.
Shikamaru smirked.
Kankuros eyes widened.
"Come on, you're too obvious..." Shikamaru drawled as he 'poofed' into a log yet again.
'Another damned substitution!' Kankuro screamed internally as he suddenly found he was unable to move.
"Checkmate." Shikamaru said as he stood several feet from Kankuro.
The crowd was completely silent.
Shikamaru sighed.
"For me, that is..."
Kankuros eyes widened in confusion.
"I don't have enough Chakra to finish you off, and your little blade earlier was tipped with poison, I noticed... I figure I've got about five more minutes before I lose consciousness."
Shikamaru raised his hand into the air.
"I forfeit."
And the crowd went nuts in confusion and shock.
"Would the next two contestants please-" Genma began before there was a 'poof' of smoke in the center of the field. The smoke cleared to reveal Naruko Namikaze on one knee.
The girl quickly stood up and posed for the crowd.
"Naruko Namikaze is here!" The girl screamed as the crowd roared in excitement.
Genma shook his head at the girl, "Will Sabaku no Gaara please come down?"
Gaara calmly began making his way out into the arena.
This was the fight everyone was waiting for.
As Minato Namikaze smiled at his daughters antics, he glanced at the 'Kazekage' seated beside him.
He wondered when, exactly, the man planned to reveal who he truly was.
He wondered what happened to the real Kazekage.
Minato sighed. He would deal with Orochimaru when the time came.
He wanted to watch his daughters match.
End of Chapter 21.