Author's note: Due to reviews concerning about the conversation between Naruto and Neji, I will clear a few things up. The reason why I put the conversation is because there will be a change in personality for Neji compared to what happens to him after the fight in Canon.
To show this change I had to change what Naruto said to get the change in Neji. I am sorry that it might have seemed like filler to get the next chapter but it was necessary.
Also concerning the fight, Naruto still has very little experience which is why Neji was able to catch him off guard. Also, the way in which he did it that time was much harder for Naruto to get out of compared to the situation in the manga.
Everyone in attendance who had just watched the match were cheering their hearts out and it didn't even matter that Naruto was the person who reminded them of so much that they had lost thirteen years ago during the attack of the Kyubi no Kitsune.
They had just watched one of the most impressive matches ever seen at a chunin exam and to the civilian kids in attendance, all they could think about was how cool both Naruto and Neji were during their fight. The parents of said kids didn't even bother to curb the enthusiasm that their progeny had as they too were engrossed with how well the fight had gone.
Just from that fight alone they believed that they had gotten their money's worth in terms of the prices to get into the stadium and have a seat. If this was what the kid who graduated from his class with the lowest grades was could produce, then their optimistic thoughts ventured to the fact that the next fight which was going to be one between the rookie of the year from the same year as the competitor who just put on one hell of a show and the son of the fourth Kazekage. This was not even including the fact that the boy was the heir of not only the Uchiha clan but also he was the only loyal descendant of Madara Uchiha who was one of the people who helped create Konoha.
If all that wasn't enough, then for overkill said descendant of Madara Uchiha was going to go up against the youngest son of the current Kazekage who was said to be apart from the Sandaime Kazekage, the only Kazekage in history able to subdue the Ichibi no Shukaku. This wasn't even countering in the fact of just how good of a shinobi the boy was.
Up until his match in the preliminary rounds against a genin from Konoha called Rock Lee, he hadn't even been hurt in a fight before and his mission record was impeccable with him not even having received a scratch on his body even though he had completed 9 missions with one of them being B-ranked. If the fight between Naruto and Neji was good, which it was, then there the hope that the fight between Sasuke and Gaara was going to be even better.
To Sakura who was watching the match from her vantage point sitting next to her number one rival for the affections of Sasuke, she was impressed with what she had seen. Although it was nowhere near the standard that her Sasuke-kun was capable of producing, it was still pretty good considering the fact that it was Naruto who was the dead last of her graduating class whilst she was the person that got the highest scores in not only her graduating year but also in the recent history.
Whatever that red chakra that Naruto had access to and used liberally during his fight with Neji was something that she was afraid of. It looked as if a monster was trying to come out of Naruto and rip everything in sight to shreds. What was that strange power that Naruto was using? And how evil was it because it gave off that same feeling of when Naruto used that jutsu to knock Shikamaru unconscious in a mere matter of seconds.
Then there was the fact that Naruto had managed to get his hands on a sword and paraded around as if he was the best damn swordsmen in Konoha. He was so confident in his damn abilities with the sword that he didn't even bother to use any ninjutsu. It seemed that the moment that Naruto got strong he became incredibly cocky in that he would think of others beneath him, just like what he did with her when he told her that he didn't care about her, Sasuke-kun, Kakashi-sensei and the team as a whole.
The funny thing was that this was what Sakura had interpreted from what Naruto had said but it wasn't what he actually stated. What he said was that she did not care one bit about him and neither did Sasuke by the look that he was giving Naruto at the time. It was this, which made Naruto think that why should you bother caring for people who don't care about you back?
This new Naruto wasn't one that she liked at all because he wasn't the same Naruto that would always act as her rebound when Sasuke did not want to go out with her. Sakura's confidence right at the moment was substantially lowering as there was no Naruto in her life to boost her confidence by asking her on dates.
That and during their month long set of missions, Naruto hadn't been following Sasuke like he normally used to do where he would eventually subside and follow Sasuke thanks to her fists. No he was distancing himself from the two of them and that could affect the team's chances of getting another C-rank mission. She personally didn't necessarily mind this fact but because her Sasuke-kun always wanted to prove himself as a shinobi, she knew that this was just not acceptable. When these exams finished, she was going to have to have a chat with Naruto and tempt him with the offer if he went back to how he used to act, she would highly consider going out on a date with him as long as he stayed that way at least until Sasuke and her got their promotions so that they could leave their team.
Hinata
Sakura was not the only female from her graduating class who was reshaping the way that they viewed Naruto Uzumaki. Hinata Hyuga. As she was sitting with her teammates Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata admitted to herself that the Naruto she once knew and loved had definitely changed and did not look as if he was ever going to go back to the happy go lucky idiot that she loved and admired.
This new Naruto was one that she didn't like that well since he had caused serious harm to her cousin. He had stabbed Neji straight through the leg with his sword. This was definitely not the Naruto that she knew; the Naruto she knew would give Neji a few punches and then win through some unpredictable strategy.
The raw brutality that was on show was not something that Hinata Hyuga was used to as apart from the kidnapping incident, she had practically lived her whole life wrapped in bubble wrap to prevent any kind of damage to her whether it be mentally or physically. Sure Hiashi Hyuga could be very emotionless and cruel, but when it came to his daughters, there was not a more protective man who did what he felt best to prepare his girls for the future.
This was the first time that the heiress to the Hyuga clan had seen blood on such a large scale and it nearly made her physically ill. It was also shocking to Hinata that Naruto didn't seem anywhere near as concerned about this fact as she did. If Naruto wasn't horrified by this than it meant that he had seen stuff like this before and there was a high possibility that her beloved Naruto-kun had actually killed someone.
Immediately, Hinata dismissed the thought of that because that was just something that the spiky haired knucklehead ninja would not do as he would always try and find a way to end things with a peaceful outcome. It was one of the things that she loved about him.
The moment that this tournament was over she was going to go to her sensei Kurenai and ask for some advice on what she should do about her crush on Naruto. The boy was changing too much far too quickly for her liking and it was not the Naruto that she fell in love with.
Hiruzen Sarutobi
For Hiruzen Sarutobi who was sitting in arguably one of the best vantage points in the whole stadium to watch Naruto vs Neji, things weren't looking good for the professor of Konoha as he was almost about to have a heart attack as it was if he was watching a younger Orochimaru fight in the body of Naruto.
Naruto was carrying himself in the exact same way that Orochimaru did, he used the same sword movements, the same clothing that he wore as a teenager and the scary part was that Orochimaru and both Naruto had the same elemental affinity. What this meant was that the former Konoha ninja could teach Naruto all of his deadly jutsus involving the Fuuton element. It was not stated as the deadliest elements for nothing as there were no real other uses to wind except for killing people.
How had he failed to not notice all of the similarities between Orochimaru and Naruto? He had been blinded by the fact that Naruto was such an overly happy person in life that he forgot about all of the not so positive emotions stored inside of the sun kissed blonde.
It looked as if that Naruto had already been converted into a believer of his former student and that was just not acceptable. This was because there was no chance in hell that Anko would ever bother to teach somebody what she learnt under her sensei through the apprenticeship. There was a snowflake's chance in hell that she would teach it to a mere genin, so that was out of the question.
The only other logical explanation was that Orochimaru had someone inside of the village that befriended Naruto and offered to give him shinobi training when no one else would as that was one thing that the boy desperately wanted more than anything else. No doubt during these training sessions this person taught Naruto how to use the hebi kenjutsu style.
The fact was that the style of swordsmanship that Naruto used was one that nobody knew of as Izuna who was always viewed in the shadow of his elder brother as he preferred to use long range attacks rather than close range attacks. The same could be said for the Nidaime Kazekage who preferred to use his Fuuton jutsus since they were so deadly.
What this meant was that a lot of people were led to believe that the kenjutsu style was one solely developed from the ground up by Orochimaru rather than the hebi clan where it actually originated from.
Even Hiruzen was one to go with this thought as he watched the slow progression of Orochimaru with the style and with him constantly reading books on swordplay. Had his prized student learnt it at a much quicker rate compared to everything else that he had learnt, Hiruzen might have thought that he was getting training from some outside source. That was not the case however as whilst Orochimaru was touted as a genius, this was only in the area of ninjutsu and not widespread across the ninja arts as many liked to think. Instead it meant that the black haired teenager had to learn how to use a sword all through hard work instead of just learning it the first go which was how he normally did these things.
From what skills Anko-chan had, it was clear that his former student didn't even bother to teach her how to use a sword. What this meant that if Orochimaru had taught Naruto it, then he valued him very highly and would be expecting for him to change the team in which he played for and join the snake traitor fairly soon.
To Hiruzen this was just unacceptable as Naruto was Konoha's greatest asset if the village ever went to war as he had the potential to be the strongest shinobi in the world thanks to the fact that he had the Kyubi no Kitsune sealed inside of him. If Naruto could control it to the same level in which the younger brother of the current Raikage, then he would instantly become arguably the strongest shinobi that Konoha had at its disposal.
This was why the world could fall into so much chaos and tyranny if Orochimaru ever managed to gain control over Naruto, there was just too much at stake.
This was not even counting the fact of who his biological parents were and what would happen if he ever got his hands on their techniques and combined the rasengan and the Hiraishin with the power of the Kyubi, well Naruto could become the closest thing that anyone would ever get to equalling the sage of the six paths who managed to create the moon all by himself.
Though the worst thing about this situation was not the fact that Orochimaru had gotten his fangs into Naruto, it was the fact that Hiruzen had allowed for Naruto to become that easily manipulable. Had he done what Jiraiya had wanted which was to raise Naruto outside of Konoha, then the blonde haired son of Minato Namikaze would certainly have been a loyal shinobi of the hidden leaf village.
It filled the aging man with a deep sense of regret and self-loathing as he knew that whilst he did a lot of things for Naruto, there was a whole lot more that he could have done to prevent the life of the orphaned son of the Hokage a better life, one that his parents sacrificed many things for Naruto to have with the end result being that they gave their lives.
And despite all of this, how did he repay their faith in that Naruto would have a normal life? He allowed for Naruto to become socially ostracized which led to a whole host of psychological problems for the boy.
Even though he had done nothing to deserve the trust of Naruto, the boy still believed in every single word that came out of his mouth to the point where if Hiruzen asked for him to commit suicide, then the boy would do it, just to please the people that he loved.
Despite how he cared for the boy immensely, if the talk between the two that they were definitely going to have after once the chunin exams were over, the Sandaime Hokage knew that he was going to do what he should have done to Orochimaru all of those years back, if Naruto didn't give him the answers that he wanted, then the necessary actions would have to be made to ensure that the power of the Kyubi not Kitsune did not fall into the wrong hands.
If that meant that he had to sanction for the Kyubi to be taken out of Naruto resulting in the orphan's death just so that it could be put into a new host to ensure that Konoha had control over the strongest of all of the Bijuu's then so be it. The needs of the many outweigh those of the few.
Orochimaru
As these thoughts were running through the mind of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage that Konoha had had, the person who was sitting right beside of him who was impersonating the Kazekage had a completely different set of thoughts running through his mind. How does that Kyubi gaki know my kenjutsu style…? I made absolutely sure not to teach it to Anko-chan and even if I did, there would be no way that she would want to teach anyone anything that I taught her after what I did for her.
This is something that I certainly haven't taught anyone, not even Kabuto so that must mean that there is only one available conclusion. That is that the hebi-clan must have taught him. This was something that Orochimaru was highly concerned about as it meant that they had found a successor to him.
He knew that he had always been treading on this ice ever since he started conducting his experiments on humans. They had told him that they wouldn't support him if anyone went found out about it. From there on the relationship between himself and the clan that had trained him in how to use kenjutsu were slowly drifting apart as he was becoming more and more determined to unlock the secrets of immortality. To anyone else looking on, this was descent of Orochimaru into madness.
Then it came to the point where Orochimaru decided that what he wanted, no needed was to have the same powers of the sharingan so that he could copy every single jutsu to help him in his quest for immortality and knowing every single jutsu.
Because the snake clan had a very deep sense of loyalty to their summoners, they did not want anyone desecrating the memories and families of their clan members, not even people from within the clan itself. That was why when Orochimaru started doing tests on the corpse of Izuna Uchiha to see if there was some way that he could inject the DNA of the man into himself so that he could obtain the sharingan, shit hit the fan and there was a major fight between Orochimaru and the rest of the snake clan.
The resulting argument resulted in a fight where practically the head of every sub branch fought against Orochimaru at the same time but they could not hand a killing blow thanks to the fact that their summoner was just too good of a shinobi. Talk about hindsight in that they could have prevented this from happening, had they not trained him to be as good. It was their pride in wanting to make Orochimaru better than Jiraiya so that they could brag about it with the toad clan.
All in all what this boiled down to was that the snake Sannin had come to the conclusion that they had chosen the boy who had the nine tailed Kitsune sealed inside of him as the one who would succeed him. It came without a shadow of a doubt in the mind of Orochimaru that there would come a time where they would order dear little Naruto-kun to come and kill him so that they could get their hands back in the possession of the legendary Kusanagi blade.
It would probably be a good idea if he used the confusion of the upcoming war to send someone to go and kill the boy and make it look like an accident to save himself the trouble. With that in mind Orochimaru had to go over and revise the plans of the invasion inside of his mind because he knew that to kill the gaki, he would have to deal a lot of damage thanks to the Kyubi sealed inside of him as he knew a lot about the regenerative powers after having discretely studied the previous jinchuuriki.
Sasuke
Thanks to the fact that his sensei had felt decided to leave for the stadium just that little bit earlier than what he had originally planned, it meant that the last remaining loyal member of the Uchiha clan that Konoha had was able to watch the ending to the fight of his teammate and the only other person from Konoha that might be worthy of him testing his capabilities on.
What this meant was that Sasuke Uchiha was able to watch how Naruto moved with his sword although he was too far away from the action to be able to copy the movements with his sharingan. Not that he wanted to learn whatever crappy kenjutsu style the dobe was using because it was bound to be shit.
What he was able to see though was the fact that Naruto himself had some hidden power that made him special. Not as special as himself now that he had the power which that strange man gave to him as a gift who, was then identified as Orochimaru of the Densetsu no Sannin.
To think that the kid who graduated with the lowest marks in recent history was able to improve this much in such a short amount of time, well it both scared and motivated Sasuke to train that much harder so that the gap between him and Naruto at least stayed the same if not widened rather than how it was gradually closing with their being nothing that he could do about it.
How was he ever going to be able to go up against his brother who was the pride and joy of the Uchiha clan when he couldn't even get stronger than the dead last who was catching up on him? This was a question that put a lot of doubts inside the mind of Sasuke as Naruto was his testing block and if it was taking him longer and longer to defeat Naruto, then he wasn't improving as fast as he could be. If that was the case, then there had to be something for the Uchiha boy that he could in which he would get much stronger, quicker.
It was times like these that that offer from Orochimaru to get proper training from one of the Densetsu no Sannin didn't sound that bad at all. He was an S-ranked shinobi on the same level of his brother, if there was someone who could train him better, then he did not know that they even existed.
With Naruto
The walk up the stairs to the competitor's arena was one that allowed the blonde Uzumaki time to reflect back on all of the changes that he had made to himself in the past six months from his graduation of the Konoha academy into a fully-fledged shinobi. The main thought that was going through the mind of Naruto was that the boy did not believe that he would have been able to earn the respect of the Konoha populace as well as what he had just received just then, had he not changed into a more mature person.
If he was running around still with the hyperactive streak in his body whilst wearing an ensemble consisting of practically only orange, then he didn't think that people would be as impressed with his display as a shinobi. They would probably think that the fight was a fluke and he just got lucky. If that was the case then Naruto would be even angrier as it seemed that in the eyes of the public, all of his hard work and dedication to improving himself as a shinobi had been for nothing in terms of gaining the recognition as a Konoha person that he so desperately craved.
Taking a look up into the competitor's box, Naruto saw a slightly insane look on the face of the only other jinchuuriki in the nearby vicinity. It was at that instant that Naruto knew that what happened to Rock Lee was only a small taste of what was to come for Sasuke. Oh well, that's not my problem, Sasuke's attitude needs a serious kick in the nuts so to hopefully get him down from the clouds and on the normal ground.
That was what Naruto was thinking until he realised that Sasuke was the last of the Uchiha clan which were a powerful clan, powerful enough that if given time, they could seriously help Konoha into a land of prosperity that had not been seen since the start of the third great shinobi war.
Because of the fact that there was only one left in that being his teammate who he didn't care one bit about anymore after what had happened inside the forest of death, Naruto begrudgingly decided that he had to tell someone higher up to warn them about what Gaara was planning on doing to the Uchiha heir.
On his way up the stairs he noticed that there was two people in front of him with their backs turned against him, wondering what the hell this was all about as there was a rule that only shinobi competing were allowed in the halls, Naruto waited by to see what their motive was.
"Stop!" they shouted in unison although Naruto knew that they did not know he was there as their attention was on someone else, just the way Naruto liked it as he liked it when people underestimated him just so that he could prove them wrong.
"These low level tournament fights such as this, the chunin exams are great for the rich people to bet on and that is why many of the ministers are here, to win some money. That is why you have to lose this fight your just about to enter." At the end of their speech Naruto instantly deduced that whoever they were talking too was either Gaara or Sasuke although he assumed it was Gaara as Sasuke would rather go for the flashy entrance rather than the sedated one which the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Shukaku chose.
Not even bothering to reply to their question, the cork on top of Gaara's gourd burst open and hit the face of the unsuspecting chunin who was over confident that he and his friend would be able to stop Gaara from entering the fight. This didn't even bother the son of the current Kazekage at all as sand started flowing outside of his gourd at a fast rate rushing towards the two Kusagakure ninjas. They could not do anything as because Gaara was getting more and more irritable, the amount of demonic chakra running through his pathways was getting larger and larger as time went by allowing the boy to have greater control over the sand surrounding him.
Horrific screams was what Naruto heard next as the sand encased the two chunin ninjas who had no time to escape given where they were situated. What this meant was that Naruto had front row seats to watch Sasuke's opponent murder the two ninjas in cold blood as blood went flying around as if it was water underneath a ninja with a Suiton affinity testing out jutsus.
Admittedly after that brutal display in front of him, Naruto was a bit unnerved even though his beginner lessons in controlling his facial expressions from the snake clan allowed for him to mask this emotion. Gaining reassurance that whatever happened, the demon sealed inside of his stomach would be able to help him out, Naruto walked forward towards Gaara. This was done with his body tensed as he prepared himself for a possible confrontation with Gaara. As he was walking closer to Gaara, Naruto could feel the effects of the Kyubi's chakra trying to make its way to the surface and forcibly enter itself into the boy's chakra pathways as it wanted to fight the Shukaku right there and then.
The moment that they met each other side by side, Gaara uttered some whispered words that only Naruto could have heard, even if there were other people around to listen in to their conversation. "After I have killed your teammate, I will kill you next as mother is calling out for your blood Uzumaki Naruto."
Not being one to be intimidated as he clearly remembered from Manda-sama that the mental side of being a shinobi was just as important as the physical side or the chakra side of it. "If you were saying that to someone else, then they would be scared of you, even some Jonin would be. Unfortunately for you, you entered the jungle of the sleeping king cobra and awoke it which means shortly, you will have to face its full wrath and fury." Naruto said with a straight face as he was pleased with himself as if there was one thing that he was new to in the shinobi world, that was that he was new to smartly insulting someone rather than the crass way that he found normal.
Not even bothering to stop and confront Gaara, Naruto continued on walking as he went to the stands where he could meet his sensei and tell him about the impending annihilation which was about to come.
As Naruto was taking his time walking up the stairs to where his sensei and future former teammate were, the blonde haired boy heard the crowd go wild which Naruto deduced as them not wasting any time at all when it came to getting the match between two genin who had a lot of potential. From what he could hear, it was fairly clear to Naruto that Sasuke was the shinobi who had the upper hand right at that moment. This meant nothing to the son of the fourth Hokage though as he knew that Gaara obviously not going at full speed or otherwise there would be screams of terror filtering into his ears as the civilians and lower level shinobi came face to face with one of the Bijuu.
Just as got up to the top of the stairs, Naruto saw that Sasuke was moving at an incredibly fast pace, one that Naruto knew that he would not be able to keep up with without tapping into the demonic chakra running through his body. What did surprise Naruto though was that his sensei was not the only sensei standing with some of his genin comrades. There was the sensei of his most recent enemy Might Gai.
The thing that made Naruto smirk and let out a small chuckle though was the fact that Gai was not wearing his trademark green shinobi spandex suit. This filled Naruto with pride as he remembered the bet that his sensei had with the guy where Kakashi had a lot of pride in his skills as a shinobi. This was what reminded Naruto of the fact that since he won the bet, his sensei promised him that he could allow Naruto more chances to see Karin-chan once again.
Instead of the green spandex which constantly made women make judgements concerning the sexuality of the elite Jonin, Gai was now wearing only his chunin flak jacket which was not zipped up. What this meant was, was that Gai was giving a free show to all of the women in the nearby vicinity a free show on his stomach. Judging by the looks on their faces as they could not take their eyes of his incredibly toned body, they definitely liked what they saw, some even deciding that after this was over, that they might go and ask the man out, just so that they could feel his muscles.
It was then that Naruto saw the painful reminder of just how bad the life of a shinobi could unfortunately be as the blonde haired boy saw the depressed state of mind that the student of his sensei's rival's student just by his posture and the way he was leaning on the crutch. He didn't have to see the facial expression on the face of Rock Lee to know what was going through the mind of the boy.
It made Naruto realise that life wasn't as permanent as he thought that it was as it made him realise that the people he cared about could suffer just as bad if not worse. The only thing that made it not as bad in the eyes of Naruto was that thankfully he did not know Rock Lee on a personal level.
Unfortunately there was a spot inside of Naruto that didn't want to see Sasuke get so seriously damaged mainly because of the fact that the boy had lived an incredibly hard life already through the death of his parents at the hands of his brother. If something like what happened to Lee happened to Sasuke, the last Uchiha would probably just become a walking husk of a person.
"If you want Sasuke to have to live, then you are going to have to end this match right now Kakashi-sensei." The blonde haired boy stated as he made his presence known which meant that everyone in the nearby vicinity chose this moment to stare at the boy who had just beaten the prodigy of the Hyuga clan.
To say the least, Rock Lee did not know what to think as he knew the person who he had been striving so hard to beat for as long as he had been in the academy had been beaten by someone else, it was a severe blow to the boy's pride as he wanted it so that it was he who was the one who beat Neji. What made it worse was that Naruto was the student of Kakashi who was the eternal rival of his sensei.
What this meant in the eyes of the green spandex wearing boy was that team Kakashi had yet another one up on team Gai as Kakashi won the last bet between the two sensei's which in the end meant that Gai-sensei had to get rid of the beloved youthful green spandex.
It was a real kick in the teeth and a blow to the pride of Lee. It wasn't bad enough that he was crippled enough that he couldn't be a shinobi anymore, but the people around him were flaunting the fact that they had completed what he had set out to do, which was to beat Neji.
Seeing what had been made of Lee and the subsequent painful state that had left Gai in, Naruto decided that it was probably the best time for him to do what he had initially come up the stairs which was for him to tell what was going to happen to Sasuke. The reason behind this wasn't necessarily because he wanted Sasuke to live, it was actually because he looked up to Kakashi-sensei and he knew that he cared about all three of his students
"Kakashi-sensei, if you want Sasuke to reach his fourteenth birthday, then you will want to end this match right now." Naruto stated to his sensei who was surprised that Naruto was here; admittedly he thought that Naruto would be recovering from his fight with the Hyuga prodigy. "Hmm Naruto-kun, it seems that whatever it was that you did during the one month certainly paid off as you have definitely have improved as a shinobi.
I am sure that since you improved so much in such a short space of time, then you must be easily able to realise that other people could improve just as much, just as quickly. Just keep watching and you will find out why we were so late." Kakashi stated with a lot of confidence and pride in his teaching ability as the amount of improvement that Sasuke had done was outstanding for a genin.
This was a statement that made the blonde haired boy scoff because he knew that no matter how much his hopefully former teammate had improved, Naruto knew that Sasuke would not be able to defeat Gaara. That was why Naruto let out a small scoff.
Unfortunately for Naruto, the son of the fourth Hokage, Naruto did not know that Kakashi had near impeccable hearing what his blonde haired student. "What was that Naruto hmm?" Kakashi stated with a questioning eyebrow directed at Naruto as he was now not staring at his Icha Icha book in his hand.
"There is only one possible way for Sasuke win and that has nothing to do with whatever it was you taught him. Whilst what you taught him will allow him to live a lot longer in the fight, If Gaara gets absolutely serious, then Sasuke will die, no matter what." This was definitely not what Sasuke's biggest fan girl Sakura who was in attendance wanted to hear.
Whilst she did know that Naruto had greatly improved as a shinobi over the past six months, Sakura believed that Naruto was still a class below her pride and joy Sasuke as the boy who could do nothing wrong. This still did not mean that Sakura had total confidence in the fact that her crush was going to win her match after the display that Gaara had given when he fought Lee and crushed his arm and leg.
"Oh yeah!" the pink haired girl shouted in defence of Sasuke as she wanted everyone to know that her Sasuke was better than Naruto. "Sasuke could easily kill you Naruto-baka, just you wait until Sasuke-kun defeats this Gaara schmuck, then, the whole crowd will get to watch how Sasuke is rightfully the rookie of the year whilst you are still the dead last orphan who won't amount to anything."
Now the only female apart of team seven would never normally be anywhere near this harsh but there were some factors to her outburst against Naruto. On the one hand, she was nervous in that Sasuke could eventually be not as good of a shinobi as Naruto. This was because her blonde haired teammate was rapidly and I mean rapidly progressing as a shinobi and, if given enough time could become stronger than her love. The other reason as to why the pink haired girl was so harsh to Naruto was that, she believed that he had betrayed the team during the forest of death when Naruto mentioned to Iruka-sensei that Sasuke-kun had that weird seal placed on him by Orochimaru.
The response to this from everyone in the crowd was for them to start laughing as it had been a past time for the village to laugh at the son of the previous Kyubi jinchuuriki just because he had stigma unwillingly put on him at birth. For Naruto, this was more painful for him compared to what Sakura probably intended to as it brought up memories of the past which he certainly did not wish to think about.
It also brought up a painful conclusion for Naruto in that despite the fact that he had greatly changed as a shinobi, the people of Konoha still had not yet warmed up to him and would probably not do it for a long time yet.
The moment that Kakashi had heard the statement from Sakura, he immediately came to the conclusion that team seven was never meant to be a cohesive unit for the village of Konoha. Despite first glances at team seven which heavily linked them with the team that the Yondaime Hokage taught along with the team that turned into the Densetsu no Sanin, there was a difference between the two.
That was the fact that the dead last was actually catching up to the kid who had been hailed as a prodigy so fast that it drove the team dynamics apart. This was in conjunction with the fact that the "knucklehead" was not afraid to voice his opinion and since he was getting stronger really fast, they had to value his opinion.
Not really knowing how exactly the blonde haired son of his sensei would handle that comment as it was one that affected Naruto much more than what it would, had it been directed at someone else, Kakashi hoped nothing bad happened. He was wrong though.
There was a flash of anger and also betrayal in the eyes of Naruto Uzumaki as he stared directly at Sakura as she announced that she did not like him at all. This was something that both Gai and Kakashi noticed as they were the only Jonin in the area and immediately got prepared without anyone seeing in case that had to intervene during the commotion going on between the two members of team seven.
That anger and betrayal was shortly hidden by a mask of neutrality as he walked down the steps to where Sakura was seated at a civilian pace, stopping once he got within kissing distance of the girl. "Did you know one thing that hasn't changed about my personality Sakura, which is that I love to insult people who I don't like and you have now just entered that list. Originally thought you were just a nuisance in the forest of death, but now I have come to realise that you are just a pathetic piece of trash." Naruto spoke loud enough for everyone in the nearby vicinity to hear although not loud enough to detract attention from the fight going on down in the arena between Sasuke and Gaara.
This was a statement scared Sakura as she had never seen Naruto fight back and she definitely did not know what to do. The same could be said for all of the people in the crowd who had not made Naruto have a healthy life as they had never seen the "demon boy" fight back. It made them hesitant to think what he might do in the future.
Continuing on from where he left off, Naruto started his tirade into Sakura. "The difference between now and then though Sakura is that my vocabulary has drastically evolved over the past few months which means that I can attack you easier and deal much more damage.
No wonder your parents had a divorce, what kind of respectable father would be proud to have a daughter whose sole goal in life is to drop everything and become a foetus factory for a boy who wouldn't even love you as his only goal apart from killing his remaining family is to produce as many kids as possible to recreate the Uchiha clan.
Have you seriously thought that through? Do you know how much this village depends on the sharingan Dojutsu? Your perfect little fantasy where you marry Sasuke and have one or possibly even two kids will never happen! The Hokage will eventually force Sasuke to impregnate as many women as possible if you somehow manage to convince him to not which would never happen in the first place.
That doesn't even begin to count in the fact that no strong male shinobi who wants to have a family and also has enemies, would want to get in a relationship, let alone marry you." It was at this point into the destruction of all of Sakura's beliefs that a lone tear ran down her eyes as the water works were just about to start it seemed.
"How would he ever feel content knowing that the moment that he leaves Konoha, there could be an assassin sent to kill his children? If he was married to someone who could not only defend themselves but also others as well, then he would rather go for them than the pathetic excuse for a kunoichi in front of me.
I mean seriously! You say that you have the best chakra control in the village but what good does that do when you don't even have any offensive jutsus to make your opponents weary of facing you?
You say that you know a medical jutsu which can heal injuries but all that says is that you are only a help once all of the damage has been done. How would your husband look at you if one of the kids suffered a fatal injury which could not be healed by my medical ninjutsu? The only thing running through his mind would be why shouldn't I have married someone who would be able to prevent my kids from seeing the harshness that life could provide just like I had to see?
Another thing though is that why would Sasuke choose you to be his wife if he constantly has to worry about hurting you because you are so frail from your lack of shinobi training? Do you know what other conclusions that this can lead to?
What it means is that without your physical training, you wouldn't be able to keep up with your husband in more ways than one. I know personally that I would rather have a girl who could last longer in bed than some girl who would be asleep from exhaustion before I even get an erection." This was something that both Kakashi and guy nodded at as that had had their fair share of civilian women over their sexual life and kunoichi were definitely better in the sack in their mind.
"Your just a pathetic piece of trash who should just give up on being a shinobi because you added no value whatsoever to team seven as it was always me and Sasuke who completed the mission whilst you just provided emotional support for a third of the team. I know for certain that if I was a parent I wouldn't want my child to go into the shinobi world inadequate to handle how hard it is, then I would be disappointed in her.
I guess that's why your parents divorced, you didn't live up to their expectations and they wanted to detach themselves from you before you went out and got yourself killed on the battlefield so that they didn't have to deal with as much pain." As this was said Naruto narrowed his eyes into a very familiar look that Kakashi had seen as recently as a month ago when he was facing off against the snake Sannin Orochimaru.
It was this that made Kakashi pale in realisation as to how similar this Naruto was from the previous one compared to the blonde, orange tracksuit wearing Naruto compared to a young Orochimaru. He was definitely going to have a chat with his student when the chunin exams were over.
Combined with what would become a patent glare in the future, Naruto released some killing intent directed mostly at Sakura. Because he was so close to her, it felt as if she was facing down a giant red python which was about to swallow her whole and slowly kill her via stomach acids. It was this which was why the genin ninja promptly fainted.
"That was taking things too far Naruto, you didn't have to go into that much detail about Sakura, especially about her parents, which I know for a fact is not the way in which they broke up." Kakashi stated as he did not like what Naruto had just done as it was taking things too far.
Because of the fact that he had been dealt a whole lot of punishment from Sakura over the years, Naruto did not have any regrets for what he had just done. "All I did was just give Sakura back all of what she gave me throughout the academy and during my time as a genin. The only differences in being that I dealt it out in one go rather than over a few years and that I chose a mental attack rather than a physical one like she used to constantly dish out." Naruto stated to which his sensei still did not approve of what he had just done but nonetheless subsided his questioning.
With his curiosity though piqued by his sensei's son who had just recently stated that Sasuke was going to die in this battle, Kakashi wanted to know why Naruto thought that way. That was why he subsequently asked Naruto to deliver his opinion.
Happy to indulge his sensei, Naruto spoke up, "it's because Gaara is not a genin level shinobi; he is an upper chunin who could possibly get a promotion to special Jonin if he wanted to. The only reason why he hasn't been promoted is because his father wants to show off how strong Sunagakure are as a nation and he is going to do that through Gaara.
If Gaara was given the proper time to prepare for his ultimate technique, then I am fairly confident that not even you would be able to defeat him Kakashi-sensei.
Unless Sasuke Uchiha is the true heir of Madara Uchiha, he will die tonight." Naruto stated as he let the last sentence hang in the air for all to hear and no one liked what Naruto had said at all.
This was mostly because of the fact that the fear of Madara Uchiha heavily rang through even until this very day and no one liked to mention the leaf village's greatest traitor. It was essentially like he was he-who-must-not-be-named. Hearing the fact that Naruto was comparing said man to the boy who the village had been pinning all of their hopes on to deliver them into a wealth of prosperity which no village in any timeline had seen before was something that they did not like one bit.
What only Gai and Kakashi got out of that statement though was that Naruto was referring to Madara Uchiha's ability to control the tailed beasts through his evolved form of sharingan. It was this that made Kakashi widen his eyes in realisation the moment that this information was processed he remembered one of the very few conversations that he had had with his deceased father about Sunagakure.
That was that the Ichibi no Shukaku had implanted the ability to control sand bestowed upon his jinchuuriki so that it could protect itself from any danger. The comparison to these abilities was uncanny with what the boy fighting Sasuke had to offer and it made Kakashi realise that Gaara was a Jinchuuriki. This startling realisation was one that the silver haired man did not like at all. He certainly did not want Sasuke to suffer the same fate as Rock Lee as he knew that the end result would be even more disastrous. At least mini Gai had his naïve optimism and exuberance to keep him going through this tough ordeal. If Sasuke was in the same situation, after having suffered everything at the hands of his elder brother, well here was a very high chance that Sasuke might kill himself.
Knowing what was about to come as he knew that Kakashi-sensei would try and get the match called off and an official inquiry done into why a jinchuuriki was allowed to compete in the exams, Naruto tried his best to placate his sensei. "You don't have to worry, Kakashi-sensei, that guy Genma down there will stop the fight before anything serious happens and then it will be my turn to fight Gaara." As the words came out of the mouth of Naruto, the blonde haired boy watched how Sasuke let off his trademarked Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu).
"During my training in the month off, I never once trained in the hopes of defeating Neji." This was a statement that definitely brought the attention of both of the members of team 9 as they had initially thought that that was what Naruto had done due to his fighting style shown during his match with Neji.
"All the time during my training I had the one goal in mind, that was to learn everything and anything that would help me in not only defeating Gaara but also subduing him to the point where he could not harm anyone else." The blonde haired boy stated to which reaffirmed in the mind of Kakashi that Gaara was Sunagakure prized jinchuuriki.
It was also the word "subdue" and Naruto saying that Sasuke needed to be the true heir of Madara that made Gai realise just what exactly his prized student Lee had to deal with during the preliminary exams. This set an even higher amount of pride that Gai felt for his student as he knew that if he was at the same age and tried to defeat a jinchuuriki, things would not have been as kind to him as they were to Lee.
What Naruto had just said did alleviate some of the pressure that Kakashi was feeling although he did not calm down and relax as he even lifted his headband up to make sure that he saw everything happening in this fight. That was because he wanted to make sure that what happened to Rock Lee was not a reoccurring event.
Seeing that his eternal rival had his sharingan visible meant that he should probably put all of his focus onto the match that he had admittedly had his attention on the boy who had beaten his genius of a student which he had thought of as incredibly unlikely.
Turning around to watch the fight, the elite Jonin was definitely shocked when he saw that Sasuke was standing on a wall preparing a certain, specific jutsu which was definitely not one that a regular chunin let alone a rookie genin should know. With this in mind, Gai had a frown on his face as his attention was solely on Kakashi as Gaara, down in the middle had encased himself in a sphere of sand which protected him from every direction. As this was happening, he had his third eye on the outside so he could see what his opponent was planning on doing.
"Despite who he is battling in this fight, it was still irresponsible for you to teach him the chidori." Gai said as he knew just how much pain it could cause to the user had they not perfected the technique as watching Kakashi himself come up with the technique.
Ino, who was sitting right next to the formerly conscious form of her former best friend was curious to high as to what technique Sasuke-kun was using and with her gossip genes running high, she asked, hoping to find out the answers. "What's that move that Sasuke-kun is using? You can even see the raw chakra coming off of his hand!"
It wasn't Kakashi who answered though as it was his eternal rival who was uncharacteristically serious at the moment. "A single stab.
But it is… the leaf village's number one ninjutsu master's sole original technique." This was something that made Naruto frown as he wished that his sensei would have taught him something unique to him but he knew that there were circumstances that could not be met during the month for Naruto to learn something like that.
Not knowing what was going on inside the mind of Naruto, the elite Jonin who normally wore spandex clothing continued on from where he left off. "It's a technique that is solely meant for assassination, the speed of the thrust and the great amount of chakra heightens the flesh so that it can pierce through literally anything.
Because of the noise it makes which sounds like a thousand birds coming directly at you, it was given the name Chidori!" Gai said with seriousness as he wanted to portray just how deadly this technique was.
Knowing the other meaning for the word chidori, Ino spoke up in a questioning tone of voice. "Lightening edge?" this was a question that made Gai nod as he decided that he should tell them a little bit about Kakashi's backstory.
"Yes, the chidori or as it is also known, the lightning edge was a nickname that it was given when Kakashi managed to cut a bolt of lightning falling from the sky with this technique that Sasuke is using right now.
The true name is the chidori as it is known for its stabbing speed that pushes the limits of the human body and the huge amount of chakra that is focused into the arm. That arm then becomes a blade which is capable of cutting through anything." Unable to leave a dig at Kakashi out of it, Gai said one last thing before stopping. That was "What a truly ridiculous technique it is though."
Being someone who was able to insult others easily, Kakashi bent down and whispered into Lee's ear, "Like he should talk… right Lee."
With Gaara
Inside the sphere of sand, Gaara felt a warm sensation running down his left shoulder. This was a feeling that he did not like at all. That was why he asked the only source of information that did not lie to him about what it was. "What's this warm stuff… AHHHH! BLOOD! MY BLOOD!" Gaara shouted out as he had never had felt the feeling of being in pain before. The sight of his own blood only compounded onto the emotional stress that he was going through right at that very moment.
For Sasuke, who still had his hand in the sphere, he felt something pulling on his arm and he had no idea what it was. Knowing that it was better to be safe rather than sorry, he pulled his arm out. What he did not expect though was for there to be something on the inside that gave a resistance in trying to rip his arm clean off his shoulder.
Recharging the jutsu that had inflicted so much pain onto Gaara, Sasuke dealt even more damage as the hand was still lodged into the pectoral muscle of Gaara as he channelled the lightning chakra through it.
As he was pulling his arm out, he did not expect to drag something else along with it. That was one of the arms of the Ichibi no Shukaku although Sasuke had no idea what the hell it was.
As this was happening, Gai and Kakashi had their hearts in their mouths as they wished that it was not the transformation into the Ichibi right in the middle of the stadium although they did not have high hopes. Thankfully though the injury that Gaara had sustained at the hands of the sharingan user, was enough to make it so that the incomplete transformation was cancelled.
It was right at this time though that there were feathers falling in front of everyone who was in the arena. This was targeted at all of the civilians so that they did not interfere with the intricate plan that Kabuto and Orochimaru had set out to complete.
Gai and Kakashi were easily able to detect the presence of the genjutsu and subsequently released it from their personage. What was surprising though to Kakashi though was that Naruto was just as ready and was already in the process of removing the genjutsu from himself.
The moment that this happened, there was a massive explosion on the outskirts of the village wall. It was the signal to the fact that the invasion of Konoha by Sunagakure and Otogakure had just begun. It was a place where heroes would be made and where heroes would die.