Kasek: Over 300 reviews! w00t!
To Gogolu (and others who may have been confused)- Lee does have the ability to manipulate chakra, he just can't use nin or genjutsu. When he stops Sasuke and... Kotetsu (?) from hitting each other with his bare hands, Sasuke notes that he has chakra in his hands (and there's even a picture of a thin layer of chakra covering his hands), as the feat was supposedly inhuman.
I also apologize in advance for... well, stuff. My creative juices got used up by the battle between Naruto and Lee.
EDIT: Changed the end. I thought I was missing something...
Disclaimer: I own nothing, zip, nada.
Chapter 28: The Arrival of the Raven
"Actually... I think I'm just beginning." Lee reached deep inside of himself, into the core of his being... specifically, the right side of his brain. Second Gate, Kyumon... Open! With a burst of energy, he disappeared from his little crater, and appeared behind Naruto, leg already sweeping to kick at him in the sides. Naruto, however, immediately jumped up and forwards, and twisted around to see where Lee was. He scrunched up his legs, and propelled himself through the air back towards Lee, fist raised. Lee jumped backwards as the punch connected with the ground, throwing dirt up everywhere.
Lee put his hands in front of his face to protect his eyes from stray dirt, and noticed Naruto in front of him just in time to duck under a kick. He lashed out at Naruto with his own leg, knocking Naruto back quite a distance.
Kiba leaned forward in his seat. "Hey! What's with that recovery?! I thought he was down for the count!"
Kyuumaru shrugged his shoulders as he watched lazily. "I dunno. I only know Naruto's secrets, not everybody else's."
Tenten frowned. That sudden recovery... he's using the Eight Gates.. end this quickly, Lee!
As Naruto landed, he quickly took a fighting stance and evaluated his opponent. "Heh, you sure have a big bag of tricks... I don't know what's with that sudden recovery, but... you're going down!"
Lee shook his head. "I wish I could say I was going all out, but... if I go any farther down this path, I may end up damaging myself too much to fight in the next round, so I will be fighting at this strength level for the rest of the match."
Naruto frowned. "Really? I guess that's too bad, then... I still have a ways to go, myself. But... I guess I'll end this match with a bang." He placed his hands together in the familiar cross-fingered seal, and in an instant, an army of clones appeared at his side. The shinobi in the audience were shocked.
Kotetsu glanced at his partner. "Kage Bunshin... that's a Jonin-level technique. Wonder where he picked it up..."
Izumo shrugged. "Probably the same place he learned how to fly. I'm surprised at how many he's got down there, considering that this is pretty far into the match."
Naruto smirked. "Hey, Lee... I just want to let you know... I came up with this technique in this past month, so... you'll get to be the first opponent I beat with it. Alright guys, let's do this: Geppou Tengai!" All of the clones began circling Lee, and many even began flying through the air using Geppou. Lee looked frantically around himself as he found himself surrounded by Narutos in every direction but down, all of them constantly moving, up, down, left, right, forming a large dome around him. He saw one coming from his left and up, and kicked it as it reached him, dispersing it. He heard another cry out as it charged at him from behind, and Lee jumped and did a spin kick, dispersing that one as well. He constantly moved about, moving left and right erratically, making sure Naruto couldn't take advantage of any openings he may leave open. This time, a Naruto charged at him from right in front of him on the ground, and Lee met him head-on. As the clone dispersed, Lee was surprised to see a fist come from the smoke. He couldn't react in time, and was decked in the face.
Kotetsu smirked. "Using the smoke from one clone to attack with another... that's a good strategy, that."
Kiba had to agree with him. He had never seen anything on the scale of this 'Geppou Tengai'... it allowed Naruto to surround his opponent completely, not giving them any way to escape, and allowed him to attack from any angle he wanted. It was certainly a powerful technique, to say the least. "If he were using weapons, Lee wouldn't stand a chance... speaking of, Naruto doesn't carry shuriken. I wonder why that is..."
Kyuumaru shrugged his shoulders again. "He thinks the shuriken holster is too uncomfortable while he's wearing shorts, so he doesn't wear one."
Kiba gave him a blank stare. "He doesn't use shuriken for a stupid reason like that? Why doesn't he just wear pants, then?"
Kyuumaru sighed. "Look, do I look like I know everything about him?" Kiba nodded, causing Kyuumaru to sigh again. "...Hinata told him that he looked good in shorts once, and he hasn't stopped wearing them since."
Kiba snickered mentally. Geez, Naruto... I guess you really do like Hinata, huh? "How long have they known each other?"
Kyuumaru wanted to glare at Kiba, but refrained from doing so. "...since they were three."
Kiba's eyes widened. He turned back to the arena, watching Naruto. They've known each other for so long? And here I thought he was some new guy in her life... huh. I wonder what Hinata thinks of him...
Naruto's thoughts were far from what Hinata thought of him as another two Narutos attacked Lee, one from directly in front and one from directly behind. Lee was distracted by the one in front of him, and as he knocked that one out of existence, the one behind him looped his arms under Lee's and grabbed him. Lee nearly growled. "Let go of me!"
Naruto stuck his tongue out, not that Lee could see. "Make me! DOGPILE!"
There was a cheer from all of the Narutos as they all changed direction, and landed right on top of Lee. As the pressure began to crush Lee, he spoke to Naruto. "Naruto... would you consider yourself a genius? Or a hard worker?"
The real Naruto, who had been the one to grab him from behind, raised an eyebrow. "Genius, you say? I'd... have to say I'm not. It's taken me a lot of hard work get where I am... you should've seen the training Jiraiya-sensei put me through this past month."
Lee smiled. "I see... then, I have no qualms about losing to you..."
Naruto's eyes widened. "Eh?!? But, can't you go even farther than you have?"
Lee nodded, though it was hard with all of the Naruto's on top of him. "Yes, but... the conditions to use that... cannot be met in a battle with a fellow hard-worker like yourself. I am happy to have met you... may we fight again someday!"
Naruto nodded, and dispelled all of his clones. Lee collapsed to the ground, and lay on his back, panting. "Referee! I submit my defeat!"
Hayate nodded, coughing before he could make the announcement. "The winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"
There was loud cheering to be heard as Naruto offered a hand to Lee to help him off of the ground. Lee gladly took it, and soon found himself standing again, though barely- the repercussions of having used two of the Eight Gates was affecting him. He would've fallen over again had Naruto not caught him, and they stood waiting for the medics, who came with a stretcher and insisted that they carry Lee to the infirmary.
Hinata smiled as she watched Naruto wave to the crowd as he made his way back to the competitor's box. Naruto... you did great... I don't think you'll have any problems with becoming a Chunin...Tenten was smiling, as well. You did good, Lee... you did good.Kiba was grinning. "Alright! Looks like the money I bet on Naruto isn't going to waste after all!"
Kyuumaru yawned as he seemed to recline even further into his seat. "Yeah, yeah... wake me up if there's actually any blood in the next match..."
Hiruzen looked towards his counterpart. "What did you think? I thought it was a rather powerful showing..."
The Kazekage shook his head. "...as Jiraiya said earlier, the boy's not ruthless enough. There were several opportunities for him to end the match, and he didn't."
Hiruzen nodded as he took a puff of his pipe. "I guess I have to agree with you... the only explanation I can think of is that... he wanted Lee to show off everything he had to the judges, instead of making him look like a loser for getting beaten so quickly."
The Kazekage shook his head again. "Even so.. he is supposed to treat this as a real combat situation, and not as a competition. He doesn't get my pass... not this time."
Hiruzen sighed. "Well, if that's how you honestly feel, I can't really change your mind..."
Naruto grinned as he walked back into the box. "So, how did I do?"
Most ignored him, but Hinata spoke up. "I... thought you did great, Naruto..."
Naruto's grin widened a bit. "Thanks, Hinata! Though, I guess I should've ended the fight a lot earlier... but I was enjoying it too much, and I didn't want Lee to feel like he was weak or anything, cause he's not."
Dosu snorted. "Being a Chunin is about intelligence, not brute strength... if it was, you both would make it in no problem."
Naruto ignored him. "Alright, then, so it's... Sakura VS Temari next, right?"
Temari nodded as she took out her fan, and looked at Sakura. "See you in the arena, pinky." She jumped into the air, and actually rode her fan down to where Hayate was. Sakura snorted and began walking the long way down to the arena.
Naruto thought that the match was rather... uninspiring. Right off the bat, Sakura seemed to go straight for a genjutsu, until Temari waved her fan and sent a whirlwind after her. It had seemed Sakura was beaten, until the Sakura Temari had been facing turned out to be a genjutsu when Sakura came out from the ground behind her, kunai in hand- a trick she had apparently copied from the Ame nin. Temari had promptly turned around, folded her fan, and nearly smashed Sakura's skull in- nearly, as Sakura had jumped to her left to avoid. Temari unfolded the fan again, and gave it a big wave, which caused Sakura to be caught in a whirlwind- for real, this time. She was badly cut up by the end, and had to forfeit. You could tell she was depressed when the medics came by to take her to the infirmary.
Naruto sighed. "Aw, man... I was hoping for something more... epic, you know? Like my match!"
Hinata giggled. "Naruto... I don't think anyone else here really wants to fight a prolonged battle... I think you and Lee are the only ones with the stamina for it..."
Naruto sighed again. "I guess you're right... I am a bit of a stamina freak..."
Ino smirked at the sight of Sakura leaving. "Serves her right, the little..." She sighed. "I miss the old Sakura..." Shikamaru didn't say anything- when Ino showed signs of mood swinging, it was not a good idea to get on any side of her, good or bad.
Hayate coughed. "Would Aburame Shino and Mubi come down to the arena?" The two shinobi did as asked, Mubi looking very nervous. Aoi looked agitated from his seat in the crowd, between Oboro and Kagari. His thoughts were not on how his pupil would win... but on how badly he would lose. If he managed to put up a decent fight, good for him. If he got KO'd rather quickly, though... there would be consequences when they got back to Amegakure.
As soon as the fight started, Mubi went into a genjutsu, as Sakura had. However, the swarm of insects came out all the same, and no matter where he went, they followed. Shino sighed. "Even if you put me into a genjutsu... you cannot hope to fool my insects. This match is a disappointment..."
Mubi gulped as the bugs came ever closer. "I forfeit, I forfeit!"
Hayate coughed into his hand, before announcing the end of the match to the audience. There were groans of disappointment throughout, but there was still some clapping to be heard. One of the biggest groans came from Naruto. "Geez, you guys could've fought for a bit longer, give Sasuke some time to show up."
Hinata scanned the audience with her Byakugan. "He's not in the crowd... I don't see anyone that really looks like him."
Naruto sighed. "Man, where could he be?"
Hayate coughed into his hand again. Sasuke's time was just about up... "Due to the absence of one Uchiha Sasuke, the winner of the fourth match is..." Before he could finish his statement, he was interrupted by a kunai that came from straight above him that planted itself in the ground. He was shocked- it had come from straight above him... when he was in the middle of the arena. Looking up, he saw what looked like a giant crow- no, a raven (not much difference in his mind, but still)- flying straight down at him. He reached for his sword, and noted that the creature had wings, arms and legs, not to mention clothes- it was some sort of tengu, if he had to give a name to it. The tengu dived, and with a great flap of its wings, stopped before it touched the ground. When its feet had touched the ground, it began shrinking, the feathers receding, the claws and the beak retracting, and the wings disappearing.
Naruto was shocked at the end result- there stood Sasuke, in a very... different attire than he was used to seeing Sasuke wear. He was wearing what appeared to be a halter-top, as the majority of the material of the shirt was in the front, with his entire upper-back exposed. A lone loop of cloth went around his neck, holding it up. He was also wearing black shorts, and he was wearing an open-heel variant of the standard shinobi sandal boot. His hitai-ate was in the same place around his forehead, though his hair looked quite a bit longer, at least in the front.
Sasuke smirked. "Sorry I'm late... Kakashi insisted I have the right clothes for the occasion."
Many whispers were heard through the crowd as Hayate stared at the boy before him. Naruto, too, was stunned. "W-was that... an Akuma no Mi?"
Hinata turned on her Byakugan. She, too, was stunned. "H-he has a blackish blue chakra along his normal yellow chakra... I guess he does have one..."
Dosu narrowed his lone eye. There's no such Akuma no Mi as a raven fruit... Orochimaru, you keep making this harder for me...
Hayate coughed again. "Would Gaara report to the arena, please?"
Temari looked at her younger brother. She recognized the look in his eyes- he wanted to murder somebody, soon. If she were to even try to remind him of their plan right now, she'd be killed.
As Gaara began to walk out of the room, Naruto put his hand on Gaara's shoulder. Gaara qhipped his head around and glared at Naruto full-force. "Do you have a death wish, Uzumaki?"
Naruto merely stared into Gaara's eyes. After a moment, Gaara's eyes fluttered to Temari, and then back to Naruto. Then, he seemed to calm down. He nodded to Naruto, and walked out of the room. Temari was stunned, to say the very least. "H-how did you do that?"
Naruto tilted his head quizically. "Do what?"
Temari motioned her hand towards the door. "That! If I had done that, he would've killed me!"
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Really? Are you absolutely sure about that?"
Temari narrowed her eyes at him. What was he up to? More importantly... who was he, really, to be able to communicate with Gaara on such a level, that they didn't even really need to speak?
--
As Gaara walked down the long, dark hallway, his progress was impeded by two Kusa nin. The one without sunglasses stepped forward. "Hey, kid... low-level tournaments like the Chunin Exams are great for betting... lots of ministers come here for it..."
The sunglasses-wearing one smirked. "So, we want to ask you... to lose for us."
Gaara glared at them. Naruto had somehow made him to want to be something other than a monster, so he was going to start... with not killing these two. "Not. Interested."
As he walked past them, the one without sunglasses smirked. "You know, that sister of yours is kinda cute... it'd be something awful if something were to happen to her..."
Gaara stopped walking. Well... killing in righteous fury had nothing to do with being a monster, now, did it?
No one heard their screams.
Kasek: Short chapter is short...
I feel miserable about what I did to Sakura... I built her up, only to tear her down... maybe I'll come back someday and make the match more... worthwhile. And yes, I fully intended on Mubi having a pathetic showing. It's actually a bit of plot fuel... I think.
And I really need to go back and make Dosu give his inner monologue where he loses all respect for Orochimaru... I forgot about it completely.
Tell me what you think of Sasuke's new outfit. A halter-top was the only thing I could think of that would be practical for a guy who grew wings from his back, even though it's supposed to be for girls...
I like what I did with Gaara. :3 For those of you who don't get it: Temari treated him like he was something other than a monster, and he's very glad for it. So, when someone threatened her... well, you already saw. I have at least one other scene planned to elaborate on Gaara's want to protect her.
Geppou Tengai: Moon-step dome. I thought that this was a great way for Naruto to make full use of his Kage Bunshin and Geppou at the same time. I hope this looks as epic in your mind's eye as it did in mine.
