Chapter Twenty-Six

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Note: For those of you who were confused, the two would-be bribers were the two that confronted Gaara and tried to make him throw his match with Sasuke in canon. Gaara, of course, killed them but most people would react a little less extremely, I think. Why were they confronting Temari instead of Gaara? Since circumstances are vastly different this time around, there's no need to keep the bets the same (and the match is Hokage's son versus Kazekage's daughter which is pretty high-profile) and it would be cruel to tempt poor Gaara like that when he's SO close to the end of his requisite 'no killing whoever gets in your way' period. :p

"I'm just going to warn you now," Temari said conversationally. "If you give me a match that even vaguely resembles my previous one we are going to have problems."

"I wasn't actually here for your previous match so perhaps you could tell me what happened?" Naruto suggested.

"I'd rather not," Temari said shortly. "But suffice to say, if you drag this on for hours or surrender right when it's obvious you're seconds away from winning then so help me…"

"Don't worry; I don't have the patience for anything like that," Naruto assured her. "I didn't even have the patience to watch Shikamaru's match."

"And the no ridiculous surrendering?" Temari prompted.

"Weren't you paying attention during that last match?" Naruto asked. "I have a match with my epic rival coming up!"

Temari rolled her eyes. "That's assuming he doesn't lose to Gaara."

"Or Sakura," Naruto said, hoping at least mentioning the possibility that Sasuke wouldn't wipe the floor with her would keep him off her bad side.

"Now that you guys have settled that," Obito said, "let the second match of the second round of the Chuunin Exam Finals commence!"

"I still can't believe you're counting Gaara coming down here as a match," Naruto said, shaking his head ruefully.

"I can't believe you can't believe it," Obito returned. "We went over this earlier: there are no free rides! Gaara's just lucky his opponent was such a lightweight."

"Out of curiosity, how did you manage to pass your MSR?" Temari asked politely.

Obito shrugged. "Well, I did get promoted during wartime and the need for more fighters did tend to lower the standards. Why?"

"No reason," Temari said innocently. She turned to Naruto. "Are you ready?"

"Would it matter if I said I weren't?" Naruto shot back.

Temari shook her head. "Not really, but it never hurts to be polite."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Even when you're about to try and beat the crap out of someone?"

"Especially then," Temari confirmed. She raised her fan. "Ninpou Kamaitachi!"

"That's not good," Naruto said as he quickly ducked behind one of the trees that were in the arena for no real reason he could think of. Maybe to provide cover? He really hoped Temari wouldn't decide to outright do away with it.

The mini twisters that had erupted from Temari's fan were everywhere and the people sitting in the first half of the stadium felt the effects just as keenly as Naruto did, ensconced behind his tree. Unless he wanted to see if any of his wind techniques could match hers – bolstered as they were by her fan – and turn the match into a battle to see who had more control over the wind (which he suspected would be hers as that was her main attack plan and his basics were found in shadow clones), Naruto had little choice but to sit back and wait for it to pass.

Once the wind had dissipated, Naruto stepped out from behind the tree. "Impressive," he said.

"I would say the same," Temari said dryly, "but hiding behind a tree is a little lame for my tastes."

"There's nothing wrong about avoiding a powerful and stadium-affecting jutsu," Naruto defended. "Sure, I could have just let it hit me or try and counterattack but waiting for it to pass before making my move is ever so much more sensible and – dare I say it – Chuunin-like."

"You're fishing for a promotion!" Temari accused.

Naruto shrugged. "Aren't we all? Think fast." With that, he hurled a kunai at her.

Temari raised her fan and almost lazily blew it away. "Did you honestly think that would work on me?"

"Not really, no," Naruto admitted. "And even if you weren't so proficient with wind, a single kunai probably wouldn't have hit you once you'd seen me throw it but it never hurts to try."

"Well, you had your chance to counter and you wasted it on a kunai throw that you up and warned me about and so now it's my turn: Kamaitachi no Jutsu!"

Naruto decided that it was quite fortunate indeed that he'd only just stepped out from behind his trusty tree protector and quickly sidestepped the attack by moving once more behind it. He crouched to the ground to give her winds less of a target. Besides, he knew that attack. If he let himself get caught in it, it would carve up his body like hundreds of invisible blades.

"Will you quit running away?" Temari demanded.

"Hey, I haven't moved," Naruto defended. "You're the one who can't be bothered moving so as to force me to move if I don't want to get hit."

Temari sighed. "Excuses, excuses…"

"Since we seem to be operating under a turn-based combat system at present, allow me to go next," Naruto said. "Kage Bunshin!"

Temari eyed the three clones that suddenly appeared behind her opponent curiously. "What could you possibly use those for? I know when you fought Lee earlier you attacked him while he was trying to find the real you, but all I need to do is send some wind your way and see which ones dispel. That tree isn't big enough to fit four of you, after all."

Naruto nodded. "You have a point, but then again, there is more than one tree available. And who's to say that I would even bother protecting them when I could just summon more? All of that is moot, though."

"Really? How do you figure that?" Temari asked.

"My clones have their own way of protecting themselves," Naruto informed her as the three Kage Bunshin disappeared in a whirl of leaves and reappeared a few feet behind her and to each of her sides.

"What-?" Temari began.

Naruto didn't give her a chance to finish, though, as he and his clones quickly formed a Rasengan – just the unfinished version because God knows he didn't want to risk killing her – and sent it her way. "I'm actually not sure if you could redirect one of those," he confessed, "but good luck redirecting four of them." Since just getting hit with one Rasengan was almost guaranteed to cause serious injuries, Naruto put less chakra into it than usual and hoped Temari would dodge at least one of them.

Temari raised her hands – possibly to attempt a Shunshin of her own, possibly to try and stop herself from getting hit by all four of them – when a cloud of dust blown up by the attacks blocked his vision.

When the dust cleared, Temari was still standing but it was clear that she'd been hit, although how many times Naruto didn't know. What he did know was that her clothes were torn and she was bleeding, leaning on her fan, and was panting heavily.

"Are you going to give up?" Naruto asked her.

Temari shook her head vehemently. "It's the semi-finals; how can I possibly give up?"

Naruto took out a shuriken this time and lobbed it at his battered opponent. Again her fan came up to blow it away but a lot slower than before and she staggered a bit once it was no longer supporting her. "How can you not? I've lost some chakra, sure, but other than that I'm good to keep going. You, on the other hand, are pretty clearly injured and appear to be having some difficulty wielding that thing. If this were a real battle then yes, giving up might not be an option but if this were a mission than a tactical retreat would be a far more Chuunin thing to do than persisting in attacking when it would only get yourself and your team killed."

"You're saying that if I surrender I'll make Chuunin?" Temari asked skeptically.

"I'm saying that if you don't then you definitely won't," Naruto replied.

"You're just trying to get out of having to fight me," Temari charged.

"At this point, I could probably beat you anyway," Naruto pointed out. "And while I may not have a fan, I'm a wind elemental, too."

Temari closed her eyes as she considered it. After a long moment, she opened them again and – looking very much like she hated herself – reluctantly ground out, "I forfeit."

"I can't believe he used four Rasengan on her!" Minato exclaimed. "That girl could have been killed! I know that that's a risk in the Exam and everyone signed the waiver, but it's still overkill. I mean, FOUR Rasengan…"

"At least he had the sense to just use the initial form," Kakashi consoled him.

"Initial form?" the Kazekage asked, trying not to sound too curious.

"Alterations to jutsu are made all the time," Kakashi answered, wondering what the best way to avoid having to answer without ignoring the question or outright telling the foreign leader to mind his own business, which was sure to go over poorly. "Size, shape, color…"

Itachi blinked. "Color?"

"Ah, yes. It's actually Sasuke's fault that Naruto's been experimenting with that," Kakashi replied.

"How so?" Itachi asked.

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto thinks it's cheating to be able to determine the attack range of a jutsu through the color, which Sasuke can do. I don't think Naruto really needs to bother because it's not like the two don't spar often enough that they don't know practically all of each other's moves and unless things go horribly wrong they won't ever have a serious life-or-death fight against each other, but what can I say? Naruto has a lot of free time and with his Kage Bunshin he has even more."

"My son seems to have an extremely well-developed sense of fair play," Minato noted. "Although whether this will prove to be a boon or a burden in his quest to become Hokage remains to be seen."

"Your son wishes to succeed you?" the Kazekage asked, surprised.

Minato nodded. "I was surprised when I found out as most people his age aren't interested in the position and he knows that it involves a lot of long hours, but he's quite determined to become either the Godaime or Rokudaime. Are any of your children interested in taking over after you step down?"

Dying was a far more likely outcome, Kakashi knew, but it wouldn't be very diplomatic to outright say that, now would it?

The Kazekage considered the question. "Would you believe that I honestly don't know? I've never asked them. Temari has shown an interest in the workings of the government and I've often thought she would do well as a diplomat but I haven't really seen any great interest from Kankuro and Gaara hasn't really seemed to be interested in anything. Then again, they're still young, so who knows where they'll end up?"

"Naruto seems to be getting on quite well with all of your children, even if he and Kankuro did get off to a rough start," Minato noted. "So if one of them became Kazekage someday and Naruto become Hokage that should strengthen the alliance between our two villages."

"That would be quite the change from the current state of affairs," the Kazekage mused. "The Tsuchikage has been in office since before any of the rest of us were born and Kiri's so secretive we barely know anything about the new Mizukage or what happened to the old one."

"That's no way to keep alliances," Minato agreed. "Speaking of our children, though…"

"Yes?" the Kazekage asked.

"You're not upset that my son beat your daughter, are you?" Minato asked with a grin.

"…No," the Kazekage lied.

Naruto waited with Temari while she got examined and patched up by the medic standing by. Granted that medic was only supposed to get involved in the case of a life-threatening injury that needed to be treated immediately or couldn't be moved and Temari really should have gone to Tsunade, but she didn't want to miss the rest of the matches. After giving up arguing with her, the medic healed what he could and released her back to the balcony.

"So why did you wait?" Temari inquired as the pair began the long trek back to where the others were waiting. "I mean, it was thoughtful but I thought you were worried that your friends were going to be fighting?"

"Oh, no, I got that taken care of," Naruto replied cryptically. "And I'll confess I had possibly slightly less-than-altruistic motives for waiting."

Temari raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"I may need a human shield," Naruto told her sheepishly.

Temari crossed her arms. "I just finished one match; I'm not going to take a hit for you because you pissed someone off."

"Oh, they wouldn't attack you," Naruto assured her. "They'd just try and get me out from behind you."

Temari was about to ask who he'd managed to piss off badly enough he'd rely on a still-injured person as a means of protection when she reached the balcony and saw Sasuke, Sakura, and Kiba floating a few feet apart in sand cocoons. That answered that question.

"Thanks Gaara," Naruto said gratefully. "You're a lifesaver."

Gaara cocked his head. "I do not believe I have ever been called that before."

"Well you've officially earned the title today," Naruto assured him. "After all, if they got into a fight and jeopardized their chances of becoming a Chuunin and consequentially my chances of avoiding intense youth training for a year with Gai then I very well might have killed them." He paused. "Which would be a bad things as they are my best friends. And Hinata-chan would probably be upset if anything were to happen to Kiba."

"It would be troublesome," Shikamaru agreed.

"Hey!" Kiba objected. "Are you saying you don't think of me as a close friend?"

Naruto elected to answer his question with a question of his own. "Do you still think I'm in love with Sasuke?"

Kiba snorted. "That's not going to change anytime soon."

"Well, there you have it." Naruto turned his attention back to Gaara. "Did they give you any trouble?"

Gaara shook his head. "No but they did plan out some very creative ways to kill you so I would watch out for them. Especially that one." He pointed at Sakura.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked, confused. He would have thought Sasuke would be the most experienced in planning out how to kill people since he'd been doing it for over ten years now.

"What can I say?" Sakura asked. "Medics have a far greater knowledge of the human body than most people and that does come in handy. I mean, just look at Kabuto."

"Kabuto?" Shino inquired. "The genin that gave up before the preliminary round?"

Sakura nodded.

Kiba burst out laughing. "That guy's pathetic! He tried to give up after we first met Anko! Not that I can blame him, mind you, but still!"

"Pathetic people can still be evil," Sasuke pointed out. "And can you let us down? The match between Sakura and I is going to take place in a minute and I don't think it will be very riveting if neither of us can move."

Gaara looked to Naruto.

Naruto nodded. "Go ahead."

With that, all of the sand that had been holding the three genin hostage dispersed and went back into Gaara's gourd.

"I still can't believe that he did that for the entire match," Sakura said, bemused, as she landed.

"What can I say?" Naruto said smugly. "Gaara clearly likes me more than all three of you put together."

"He does not!" Sakura insisted.

"There is no way he likes you more than Sakura and I," Sasuke agreed. "I mean, Kiba, sure but- "

"Wait," Kiba interrupted. "Why is it 'Kiba, sure'? He likes me just fine!"

"He barely knows you," Sakura reminded him.

"Sakura and I have spent just as much time with him as you did," Sasuke told Naruto.

"If he doesn't like me better than why would he do what I wanted as opposed to what you guys would want?" Naruto challenged.

"This is so surreal," Temari remarked as she and Gaara watched the four bicker about who Gaara liked better. "I honestly never thought I'd live to see the day someone was having this kind of conversation."

"Me neither," Gaara agreed. "Konoha is…strange. But it's a good strange. I don't think I want anything to happen to it."

Temari's breath caught. "Gaara-"

"Why would something happen to Konoha?" Shikamaru asked sharply.

"It wouldn't," Temari said quickly. "He's just saying that for future reference, like how I don't want anything to happen to Suna or you wouldn't want anything to happen to Konoha."

"I see," Shikamaru said, looking thoroughly unconvinced.

"The third match is between Sakura and Sasuke," Obito announced. "Will you two please get down here?"

That halted the argument.

"Try not to kill each other, alright?" Naruto implored. "If nothing else, I wouldn't put it past Kakashi to use one of your deaths count as not all of us making Chuunin and making us go through with…it."

Sasuke smirked. "Don't worry; I'll be back in ten minutes. If that."

Sakura's eye twitched. "I make no promises."

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