=Chapter 23-The First Round=

After Kabuto got his ears to quit ringing he announced, "Ladies and gentlemen our referee, Hayate Gecko!" Gecko appeared in front of the competitors and after the crowd applauded he turned to them, his voice suddenly loud enough to carry to the crowd even though he was addressing the candidates, "Okay everybody, rules are the same as they were in the preliminaries. Anything goes, and the fight doesn't stop until one candidate concedes defeat, or is rendered incapable of continuing. Of course if I determine that a fight is hopeless I can step in and stop the match. First match is Naruto Uzumaki against Kankuro Shiroihebi. Will everyone else please go up to the waiting area?" There were ten bursts of smoke as Naruto and Kankuro set up with each other.

Gecko stuck a hand between them and then sprang as far back as he could, "BEGIN!" Then he sprang the rest of the way out of the ring to watch from the sidelines as Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke to dodge Kankuro's wind imbued chakra wires, which shredded the ground and sliced the tree behind where Naruto had been standing clean in two. Naruto reappeared to Kankuro's left, his hand on his stomach as he twisted open the Nine-Tails seal.

Kankuro turned and struck again, the razor sharp chakra wire whipping through the smoke where Naruto had been standing. Then Naruto appeared behind Kankuro and sprang at him only to pull his punch a meter from Kankuro's head as his eyes picked out the cloud of thin razor sharp chakra threads surrounding Kankuro. Kankuro looked over his shoulder and flexed his fingers. The cloud of chakra threads suddenly exploded away from him, spiraling out like a cyclone of knives. He cast his eyes about for the real Naruto as the shadow clone broke.

Then Kankuro felt something pat him on the head. He spun and saw Naruto springing away, his whole body glowing with the chakra of the Nine-Tails. Naruto called over his shoulder, "You sneakin' pest, you copied our seal!" Kankuro grinned and a small hatch flipped open on his shoulder plate, blood flowing from one of the many tubes that ran through the armor onto the seal beneath the hatch. As a large metal cylinder popped from the seal and mounted to his armor Kankuro grinned, "Yep, and one that absorbs kinetic energy from physical attacks too! You forgot," His shoulder cannon suddenly fired a cylinder covered in paper bombs aimed perfectly to intercept Naruto, "I fight Temari and Gaara all the time!"

Naruto skidded to a halt and sprang backwards just in time to dodge the massive explosion only for Kankuro to nail him with another one. Kankuro didn't bother waiting to see if Naruto was down. Another seal popped open and Kankuro lobbed what looked like a smoke bomb into the dust cloud around the point of impact. No smoke came out, but Naruto staggered out of the dust cloud a moment later coughing, "Kankuro you ass! That hurts!"

Kankuro smiled at him behind his mask, "The poison should slow down your healing abilities enough for me to win. Don't worry, I've tested this on Gaara a million times, it won't kill you. But this might." He made a hand sign and a huge wooden stake suddenly erupted out of the ground and slammed not just into, but clean through Naruto's torso. As the crowd surged to its feet the stake split and grew to coil around Naruto's arms, holding them still so that Naruto couldn't make any hand signs or get free.

Kankuro looked up at Gecko, "Hey ref I think he's-" He was cut off by a sound that made his blood run cold and his hair stand on end. Naruto was chuckling. Kankuro turned and immediately lashed out with his chakra wires again, lashing furiously at Naruto's disturbingly still form as that blood curdling chuckle just kept coming. He opened up with shuriken, storms of needles, more poison, pepper bombs, every explosive he had, Sand Coffin's, Desert Meteor Storms and Cutting Sprigs, the laughter just. Wouldn't. STOP.

Finally Kankuro bent over clutching his knees panting as he stared at the massive pile of sand and wood and weapons he had buried Naruto under as the dust and smoke and toxic gases cleared in the chill breeze and the laughter finally stopped. Just as Gecko was jumping down to the field to declare Kankuro the winner, Naruto's voice echoed around the arena like a cold wind, coming from seemingly everywhere and nowhere at once, "Is that all you've got?"

Kankuro stepped back away from the pile and began searching frantically for the source of the voice as Naruto continued, "Oh I'm still right here Kankuro. A clone would've broken a long time before you ran out of ammunition, you know that." Kankuro stared at the pile and took another step back. Then the pile started shaking as Naruto started laughing. Just as Kankuro was about to run for cover the pile exploded in a whirlwind of flames. Naruto laughed from inside the flames and a new voice, massive and deep spoke, "Assuming I am the same as Shukaku is a fatal mistake, and you just made that mistake."

The flames suddenly exploded apart and Kankuro saw Naruto standing in the center of an immense fiery cloud of chakra shaped like a fox with nine tails, completely unscathed as the massive fox spoke again, "And now, you're almost out of chakra." Then the huge thing sprang and as Kankuro cringed and covered himself, it was sucked away into his armor. Kankuro blinked and straightened up, looking around in confusion. Then his armor collapsed into dust. He didn't even have time to cry out in indignant surprise before Naruto spun and knocked him cold with his tail.

Naruto nodded to Gecko, "Call it ref, he's done." Gecko nodded and raised a hand, "The winner is, Naruto Uzu, eh, Namikaze!" Naruto grinned and then started coughing as the medics rushed out to tend to him and Kankuro. He took his hand away from his mouth and a cracked grin twitched its way across his face as he saw blood, "Oh that's nice..." He started coughing again, "Quit bein' stingy Kurama, that poison was no joke." Fiery chakra bubbled in his gut and he immediately started breathing easier, then his eyes shifted to the side like someone was talking to him, "Well why didn't you say so?"

He walked away from the medic trying to get his attention and strode over to the nearest tree. He laid his hand on it and an instant later it crumbled away to ash as crimson chakra flowed out of Naruto and enveloped it before fading back into his hand. Naruto put a hand over his mouth as his stomach rumbled and then he spat out a stream of pure poison as the fox's power finished purging it from his system. He walked off the field waving the medics off as Kabuto announced, "And now a brief intermission while we clean up the field. While we wait for our next fight, let's have some commentary from our last two competitors' Jonin instructors."

Up in the commentator's box, Kabuto turned to Kakashi, "So the question on everyone's mind, Kakashi, was that the Nine Tailed Fox we saw just now?" Kakashi smiled, "Yes and no. That was about two of the fox's nine tails. You see Naruto can access the fox's power by loosening the seal that traps it within him. That manifests the fox's tails as more of its power is freed from within him. He must've been taking Kankuro very seriously to have unleashed that much power, Naruto's not one to show off."

Kabuto smiled, "Well he was certainly right to take Kankuro seriously. Sasori, how did Kankuro withstand a Rasengan to the head like it didn't happen? And what was the deal with that armor? Kankuro's profile said he was a puppeteer, but he didn't use a single puppet in that fight!" Sasori looked at him, "Kankuro has fought Naruto before and knows that sending puppets against him would just be a waste of puppets and more importantly time, something that he didn't have against an opponent as fast as Naruto. So instead he used his more direct jutsu and weapons, cutting out the middle man as it were. As to the Rasengan to the head, Kankuro devised a seal that converts impact into chakra to power his weapons, and he stole one from Naruto and Hinata Hyuga that absorbs any chakra based attack. I'm not sure why his armor crumbled to dust when he absorbed that chakra construct though."

Kakashi nodded, "Well I've talked to Naruto about that seal, and it doesn't change the nature of the chakra it absorbs. Since the Nine Tails' chakra can convert anything it touches into more chakra, absorbing it into the seal must've disintegrated the material the seal was drawn on. I'm guessing the seal was connected to every part of Kankuro's armor?" Sasori nodded, "That's right. If the Nine Tails chakra maintained its ability to burn anything to ash then the seal would've destroyed the armor almost immediately on contact with it. Do you suppose Naruto planned that?" Kakashi smiled, "I'm sure he did. Naruto's not one to strike first think second."

==Down in the Infirmary==

THWACK! Kankuro rubbed his head as Tsunade glowered at him, "Using poison that strong should've gotten you disqualified immediately! Do you have any idea how hardy Jinchuriki are?! Enough poison to slow one down is enough to kill a room full of ordinary people! That bomb you used on Naruto would've dropped an entire platoon into an early grave in minutes! I may be treating spectators soon because of your recklessness!"

Then she spun and whacked Naruto so hard he fell off his cot, "And you hitting Kankuro in the head with a Rasengan! If Kankuro hadn't had that seal in his armor a Rasengan could've blown a hole straight through his skull and scrambled his brain like an egg!" Naruto peeked over the edge of his cot, "Sorry Grandma Tsunade." "Don't either one of you ever aim one of those at an ally again!" Tsunade barked. She pointed at the door, "Now go watch Hinata's fight!" Naruto bolted for the door, Kankuro hot on his heels until Tsunade reached out and caught him by the back of the shirt, "Not you. I've got some questions Kankuro, and you're going to answer." Kankuro gulped, uh-oh...

==A Minute Later==

Naruto dashed up the stairs over to Hinata and promptly got slapped. Then Hinata wrapped him in a hug, with tears welling in her eyes, "Don't you ever scare me like that again Naruto!" Naruto blinked and then hugged her back with a smile, "Okay, I'll try to win faster next time." Hinata pulled him into a fierce kiss, "You better!" Tenten looked at Lee, "That looks like a good idea." Before Lee could process what she had said she caught him by the front of the jumpsuit and pulled him into a kiss too. As Kabuto announced the next fight, "Next up! Hinata Hyuga and Tenten Shimura!" Tenten let Lee breathe and winked at him, "Wish me luck!" Then she and Hinata were gone. Lee and Naruto stared vacantly at the spots where they had been with smiles on their faces for a moment, then they ran up the stairs to the competitors box. Lee laughed to Naruto, "We must surely be the luckiest men in the Leaf Village!" Naruto agreed laughing and they skidded to a halt in the competitors box just as Gecko sprang back and declared, "BEGIN!"

Hinata and Tenten had appeared on the field the same way they had for their introduction, they hadn't even changed out of their fancy clothes, but now they exploded out of them, somehow changing them to their usual combat gear in an instant. Hinata aimed for a distance strike immediately with her Live Wire in an attempt to keep Tenten off balance while she closed the gap to use her Gentle Fist, but Tenten was lightning quick too. Even as Hinata's cord of lightning chakra snapped out like a whip, Tenten was drawing her sword and slashing open a rent in the air with one hand while the other reached for one of the scrolls in her belt.

As Hinata's Live Wire connected with the rent in the air it split in two, the end snapping out through an identical rent that had opened up behind Tenten. Then Tenten sprang to the side and the scroll in her hand flew open, unleashing a line of smoke and a volley of kunai with paper bombs wrapped around the hilts. Hinata stopped mid stride and swept her hands downward in an X, eight glowing lines of lightning streaming out behind her fingertips and launching forward to force the bombs to detonate prematurely. Even as they did Tenten was springing back and slapping a seal on her shoulder, quickly pulling the breast plate of her armor into position.

Tenten managed to summon and don the rest of her armor as she back flipped away from the lines of lightning Hinata sent flashing through the smoke the paper bombs had left in their wake. Then Tenten spun and opened another rent in the air before leaping through, "Steel Leaf Hurricane!" She reappeared behind Hinata, blade ready to strike only for Hinata to spin, catch Tenten's wrist, and sling her away. Tenten stumbled but opened another glowing rent in the air before she fell, allowing her to roll through the glowing rent on the ground and reappear above Hinata, the full force of her fall going into her tremendous overhead slash.

Hinata swayed to the side and blasted Tenten in the side with a Rasengan. That knocked Tenten spinning away through the air, but all it did was give her another opportunity to slash open another Space-Time technique and come spiraling out of the ground like a windmill of death under Hinata. Hinata leapt out of the way just in time to avoid being maimed and got her hand up in time to catch the dirt Tenten flung in her eye with tip of her katana.

Then Tenten reversed her spin and brought down her katana toward Hinata again. This time it connected. Instead of the splash of blood and scream of pain Tenten had been expecting though, Hinata exploded. Tenten was sent flying backwards by the blast and landed hard on her back. Then as she started to pull herself back to her feet, the grass started clinging to her, growing wildly and dragging her down like ropes binding her to the ground. Before Tenten could release the genjutsu though, she saw a bright light above her and knew the fight was over.

Hinata pulled the Rasengan an inch from Tenten's face, "I win." Gecko nodded and raised a hand, "The winner is Hinata Hyuga!" Hinata snuffed out the Rasengan and released the genjutsu before stepping back and helping Tenten up, only for Tenten to see a dozen of Hinata's shadow clones poised to spring with Rasengans at the ready if she tried to fight back. Then the Hinata helping her up disappeared along with all the other clones as the real Hinata walked out of the tree line and the crowd exploded with applause.

Kabuto's voice blazed over the speakers, "What a fight! I don't know about you down there in the audience but if the rest of the fights in this tournament are as heated as these first two have been I think this may be one of the strongest generations we've ever had through this tournament! At least while I've been here!" He smiled as Hinata and Tenten walked off the field, "And now while we wait for the next fight, here are the Jonin Instructors of the two lovely kunoichi we just watched, Kurenai Yuhi and Might Guy, tell us what are your thoughts on this outcome?"

"I'M SO PROUD OF YOU TENTEN!" Guy bawled over the loud speaker, "YOU HAVE TRULY COME A LONG WAY AND I COULDN'T BE MORE PROUD IF I tried!" His volume was suddenly cut in half as Kabuto snatched the microphone away from him and held it as far away as he could to keep Guy from blasting apart the arena's sound system, "Ah, Kurenai, any thoughts? That was some very impressive chakra control Hinata was showing down there. Although I suppose it's to be expected from a Hyuga." Kurenai smiled as Guy deflated at having his microphone taken away from him, "Yes most Hyuga do have exceptional chakra control, but Hinata's control is razor sharp even in comparison to other Hyuga I've worked with. You saw what she did."

Kabuto snorted, "I had almost convinced myself that it was just illusions she had conjured, thirteen Rasengans in the hands of thirteen shadow clones while she stood back and executed a genjutsu from across the arena. You may wind up being the most coveted instructor in the Hidden Leaf Miss Kurenai." Kurenai smiled, "Oh I can't take nearly all the credit for Hinata's strength. All I taught her was the genjutsu. Lord Jiraiya of the Sannin taught her the Rasengan, and she learned all the rest herself with the possible exception of that bomb clone technique. I think that was one of Naruto's tricks."

Nobody in the VIP box was listening as Kabuto warily returned Guy's microphone to him, because Tsunade had just manifested a shadow clone with a smile so cheerful that Jiraiya was sidling away from her as subtly as he could looking like he wanted to run away as fast as he could while the clone walked off, probably heading for the infirmary. A bead of sweat ran down the back of Orochimaru's neck as Tsunade stood up and smiled winningly at Prince Koga, "Your highness, would you mind if I borrowed Orochimaru for a moment?" Koga hmmmed, "Are you going to bring him back in one piece?" Tsunade waved his concern aside with a smile as she reached out and caught Orochimaru's tail as he turned into a snake and tried to get away, "Oh don't worry your highness, I promise I'll stick anything I rip off him back on good as new. It's just going to really really hurt."

Koga nodded, "As long as I don't have to explain to my father why we have to find a new Kazekage." Tsunade bowed still smiling, "Not to worry your Highness, I'm only going to kill him a little." "Help!" Orochimaru squeaked in a very small voice as Tsunade dragged him away by the feet. A few moments later even the silence barrier Tsunade erected around herself and Orochimaru down the hall couldn't contain the ferocity of her shouting or the impact of her smashing Orochimaru's head into the wall.

When Tsunade stalked back up the stairs a few minutes later there was quite a deal of blood on her hands and Lord Third and Jiraiya both flinched as she pointed at them, "And if I find out either of you knew where he got the blood to reverse engineer Wood Release and didn't tell me I'll do the same thing to you two!" She sat down and crossed her arms with a huff. Orochimaru didn't manage to drag himself back up the stairs until Kabuto was announcing the next fight, pushing himself along the ground on his stomach like an inch worm and looking very sorry indeed.

The next fight was Sokushi and Sakura. Sokushi didn't summon the large toad she had made her first entrance with, instead she let Gamakichi perch on her shoulder. As Gekko called, "Begin!" Sokushi and Gamakichi casually blew out a Toad Oil Fire Stream that Sakura only narrowly managed to avoid getting caught in. Even as she was using her jutsu Sokushi's clothes were transforming into a suit of armor Sakura hadn't seen before. Sakura's clothes changed too as she landed, but that was all she had time for as Sokushi sprang over the flames, her umbrella snapping closed and coming down at Sakura's head wrapped in whirling wind chakra.

Sakura sprang back again and hurriedly started backpedaling as Sokushi came after her, she can use wind release too?! Sakura turned and sprang away, leaping all the way to the edge of the arena as she flashed her hands through an activation sequence. She landed on the wall and then sprang back at Sokushi, "Squad Seven Special! Firestorm Jutsu!" She suddenly multiplied into a dozen and all of them blew out Sasuke's Fireball Jutsu, forcing Sokushi to stop and change direction to avoid the massive wave of flames.

Sakura couldn't keep it up long though and after a moment the flames petered out, just in time for Sakura to see Sokushi's hair seem to float. Sakura slammed a hand to the ground and raised an earthen wall as Sokushi unleashed her Needle Hell. The wall held for a moment and then suddenly the needles started punching through it completely unchecked. The original Sakura managed to flatten herself just in time and saw that the needles were now wrapped in wind chakra as they blew apart her shadow clones. As her shadow clones broke Sakura became acutely aware that even one of those needles would hurt like hell, and catching the pain from eleven shadow clones getting perforated by them was much worse.

She took a deep breath and tried to focus through the pain, carefully forming the hand signs for her Burning Blossom Storm. An instant later she appeared to dissolve into a pile of pink petals that drifted away, seemingly of their own accord. Sokushi's eyes followed the petals and she turned her Needle Hell on them as they drifted out from behind the wall. Then Gamakichi shouted, "She's under us!" Sokushi sprang and narrowly avoided Sakura's grip as she burst out of the ground. Then Sakura grinned and made a handsign.

All the petals she had made suddenly shot at Sokushi in a barrage just as furious as her Needle Hell, except on fire. Sokushi suddenly flew upward and there was a sound like a miniaturized thunderclap, then another and another as she went bouncing through the air, Sakura's Burning Blossoms chasing after her. Then just as Sokushi found herself surrounded, she wrapped her umbrella in wind chakra and threw it at Sakura like a javelin. Sakura flinched aside as the deadly umbrella slammed into the ground, missing her by a hairs breadth and her concentration broke. Just as she was gathering her focus to make the quickly fading storm of flowers explode, Sokushi pulled a substitution.

Suddenly Sokushi was next to Sakura instead of her umbrella and Sakura had just enough time to realize she was there before Sokushi's palm slammed into her forehead, cracking open a pepper bomb right in her face. Sakura was sent reeling backwards in pain as Sokushi blew away the cloud of vicious looking red powder and pulled another umbrella from her seal. Sakura tried desperately to get the caustic powder off her face, in too much pain to even scream, then Sokushi's heel connected with her jaw and her umbrella slammed into Sakura's temple. Sakura was driven to the ground, her hemorrhaging lungs settling back to level as she fell out of the screaming pain and into unconsciousness.

Sokushi knelt over Sakura's unconscious form and blew the powder off her face, "Remind me to thank Teibo for that one," she told Gamakichi as Gekko declared her the winner. She winced a little as she saw how red and burned Sakura's face was even without the powder, then she remembered how much her own hand was stinging and waved it a little as the medics came to get Sakura. She followed them off the field after a bow to the crowd and as soon as she got in the door to the infirmary Tsunade was demanding to know what had been in the pepper bomb. Sokushi flinched away, "Um, I'm not really sure. It wasn't one of mine, Teibo gave it to me!" "And where's Teibo?" Tsunade asked, clearly trying very hard to be patient.

"Right here!" Teibo called as he sprinted down the steps. Without introducing himself he leapt past Sasuke onto the cot next to Sakura, "Got the cure right here." He quickly scooped some blue green salve out of the jar in his hand and dabbed it onto Sakura's forehead, "Sorry sorry, forgot to tell Sokushi how strong this stuff is." "Ya think?!" Tsunade snapped, "And make sure you don't use it all on Sakura, Sokushi got a lot on her hand too."

Teibo pulled out another jar of the salve and handed it to Sasuke, "Put this on everything that's red and swelly. Keep it out of her eyes and mouth as best you can and hurry up about it," He hopped down and hurried over to Sokushi, "Sokushi those pepper bombs are my special code reds! They're not meant for close quarters!"

"Those were your special code reds?!" Sokushi exclaimed in horror as he took her hand, "Why didn't you tell me?!" "They're color coded! And I told you not to use them unless you had to! Was hoping you wouldn't need em until the final match," Teibo grumped as he quickly slathered the salve over her swelling hand. "Well she's too strong for close quarters combat and she almost torched me!" Sokushi protested as the burning in her hand abated, "You still should've warned me." Teibo sighed, "Sokushi, you know I'd never give you anything less than my best!"

Sokushi smiled, "Yeah, but maybe something a little less potent for the next match?" Tsunade cleared her throat and Teibo flinched, "Ah, I'll have to bounce it off your new mom first." "You still haven't told me what was in that," Tsunade said sharply. Teibo was a little nervous as he told her, and he immediately hid behind Sokushi from her reaction. "YOU PUT WHAT IN A PEPPER BOMB?!" "Someone should probably work on flushing out her respiratory system," Teibo answered, "She didn't have time to inhale much before Sokushi blew it away, but even a little of that can be nasty."

"A LITTLE NASTY?!" Tsunade bellowed at him as she rushed to shove Sasuke aside and start purging the toxin from Sakura's system, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW DEADLY ONIKASAI AND HORNETWORT ARE ALONE? AND YOU MIXED THEM?!" "Of course I know!" Teibo snapped back, "That's why I only used trace amounts! Most of it was just ordinary chili pepper! You and I both know she'd be dead already if a pepper bomb load of just that went off in her face!" Sokushi looked over her shoulder at him, "What was in them?" "Two of the deadliest plants in the north of the Empire!" Tsunade snapped, "Burning even one leaf can kill a grown man if he inhales the smoke! Powdered isn't as bad but inhaling a big cloud of it is still enough to kill anybody!"

"Hey guys," Kankuro called from where he was sitting in the corner with an ice pack on his head, "Can we stop talking about it? I think you're freaking Sasuke out." Sasuke was even paler than usual, his fists were clenched and he was shaking slightly with his Sharingan active. Shizune's hand suddenly snapped out and Sasuke slumped into her arms, "There we go," Shizune smiled, "And by the time he wakes up Sakura should be stabilized."

Tsunade nodded, "Good."

AN: For those wondering, Tsunade had every right to be pissed. Kankuro's gas bombs were chlorine. Hellishly nasty stuff but as stated only enough to keep a Jinchuriki's regenerative powers at bay. Teibo's Special Code Reds are every bit as bad. Onikasai and Hornetwort are made up (as far as I know) and are like Poison Ivy's infinitely nastier cousins. Brushing up against either plant will leave a stinging painful and swelling rash, not too dissimilar to a second degree burn (Onikasai) or a hornet sting (Hornetwort). The symptoms last anywhere from days to weeks. If they get into the blood stream, the area around the entry point is pretty much toast and you're lucky to live. Teibo's Code Reds are 0.25% a mixture of these two plants. A full 1% would probably have hospitalized Sakura for days even with Tsunade's immediate attention. Even with 2 Tails out, which makes him almost a quarter as hard to kill as the 9 Tails, Naruto would probably be hospitalized from exposure to a full 100%, which is way, WAY more than enough to kill anybody but a Jinchuriki in minutes, and scar them for life if it doesn't. Teibo is only allowed to handle these plants with clones, and even then only with proper protection and because he's largely or totally immune to most poisons.

Yes it was Tsunade's blood that Orochimaru used to reverse engineer Wood Release. Jiraiya and Sarutobi suspected but didn't know. Yes this was the first Tsunade had learned of Orochimaru's DNA altering techniques as only a very small handful of people have been exposed to them. The only reason Orochimaru was able to crawl back to the VIP box as quickly as he did is because he had an extremely good reason for creating the technique. More on what that reason was in later chapters.

Q&A:

Q: How did Naruto get Gaara to stop being crazy? How did they meet?

A: By being a friend and having Kurama give Shukaku an earful. Also Gaara hasn't had nearly as much shit happen to him because of his father being Orochimaru instead of Rasa (sounds weird, I know). As to how they met, Jiraiya took Naruto to Suna when he was a kid to meet the children of Jiraiya's best friend (Orochimaru).

Q: When did Naruto find time to train Hinata? You said he's been doing missions pretty much nonstop!

A: Hinata had most of the basics of her training, including the Rasengan, down before she graduated the Academy. The other stuff she's got she learned in her spare time and during joint training sessions. Yes they have been doing missions pretty non-stop, but they still have time to train. Also please don't forget that they are older in VT, so they've had longer in the Academy and before joining genin teams to be trained.

Q: Why did Hiashi kick Hinata out of the line of succession? You said "kindness" but how is that a reason?

A: Good question. It's one that most of the Hyuga Clan haven't been able to figure out either. Don't worry though, like everything else you've asked anon, I've got an answer for this one too, and it comes out in Chapter 25.

Q: Why are you moving so fast?! You've been dropping important plot information and super OP shit for everyone you like, without explaining anything!

A: Well anon, when you stop halfway through Chapter 12 and give up, it kind of ruins the possibility of seeing the answers revealed later down the road in dramatic fashion. If you've come back and read the rest of the way in and are reading this, congratulations. I would've PM'ed you all this, but you're an anon so I can't. The truth is I plan several chapters in advance, so if I bring something up in one chapter that needs explaining, if I can explain it without spoilers for some epic surprise down the road, then it'll be explained, and if I don't then assume it's set up for something BIG. As to why I'm moving so fast, I'm eager to get past all this shaken up rehash and get to the good stuff after the Chunin Exams which is where things are going to get even more exciting and original, and I'd like to remind you that canon moved pretty damn fast too. On the topic of them being OP, no, they're really not for the world they live in. Powerful yes, overpowered? Nope. Trust me, I know how to do overpowered, this isn't it. They'll still have more than their fair share of trouble when they get out into the rest of the world.

Q: Hey Ghost, can anyone leave questions in the reviews and get them answered?

A: Why of course you can! If it's spoilers I won't tell you directly, I'll just hint at it, but if I can tell you without spoiling something I will! And for all the other anons who I can't PM, your questions will be addressed in a Q&A like this.