Chapter 29: My Reason to Fight

Hello World! Yes Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida remains the Champion, but at the same time Sogun did a lot better than everyone else who fought Machida. I would seriously want to see a rematch between these two.

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* Konoha Stadium *

The three taijutsu masters ran to the center about to collide with each other. Once Lee got close enough he yelled out, "Leaf Whirlwind!" Lee jumped in the air doing a spinning kick. Quick to evade Neji ducked under and Naruto jumped high over Lee to avoid it. Once Neji evaded Lee he did a straight up palm thrust trying to hit Lee in his leg.

Naruto acts quick while in air he was able to grab Lee's hair and pulled him down as he was falling to evade Neji's attack. Naruto slammed Lee's head into the ground then reached over to grab his arm and threw him across the arena.

Neji takes this moment to strike Naruto while his back is turned, Naruto counters by gathering chakra to that area and blocks it. Immediately afterward he jumps away to put some distance between himself and Neji.

Lee stands up after being thrown and stares Neji down. Lee was a bit astonished since Neji didn't activate his byakugan yet and so to get him to do just that, Lee charged Neji. Neji knew that he couldn't do a direct stand up against Lee with out his byakugan so he shouted, "Byakugan!" Once activated Neji also charged at Lee. Both boys began sending a fury of punches and palm thrusts. Lee was desperate to avoid being hit as it would cause his demise. With his byakugan Neji was evading Lee's attacks easily, but because of Lee's training he wasn't able to get a hit on him.

Naruto was standing back watching as Neji blocked and tried to counter Lee's punches and watch as Lee attacked and evaded (not block) Neji's counters. Naruto decided to get in on the action.

Neji tried to hit the chakra points in Lee's leg, but because of his byakugan he saw Naruto coming in on his right. Neji took a step back to evade. Lee saw Naruto jump in front of him and then punched out at Naruto.

Naruto smiled and then engaged Lee. Neji jumped in as well and from what the entire stadium could see was what seemed to be just ordinary taijutsu at work, but to the ninja with well trained eyes and ears. The could actually see from the speed at which their punches and kicks were going they were making a small sonic boom sounds and could see a faint wind pattern following.

Lee was evading Neji's attacks while blocking Naruto's. Every time Naruto blocked Neji's attack he'd have to send chakra to the limb he was blocking with to make sure his chakra points remained safe. Neji on the other hand was a bit worried, he knew how hard both could hit, so he had to be careful about blocking their hits as it could cause him pain.

Finally Lee placed both hands to the ground keeping both feet in the air he began to try and do a series of kicks to Naruto who blocked with his forearms. Naruto began to think while blocking, 'Lee is going all out with this. He's determined to win.... But then again. So am I!' Naruto knocked away his last kick and tried to knee Lee in his stomach. Lee jumped off his hands over Neji.

Neji ignored Lee and ran after Naruto. Naruto charged chakra to his hands and the two engaged each other again. After touching the ground Lee leapt at Neji's back and tried to hit him, but he had a close call when Neji turned around immediately and grabbed him by the shoulder preparing to go on the offensive. Lee quickly broke Neji's firm hold on him and tried to put distance between himself and Neji. Neji smiled at Lee and vice versa and this time Neji charged Lee again.

From the stands Gai laughed saying, "Man 'o man this is one good taijutsu battle." Asuma was smoking a cigarette and said, "Yeah, but this is just a taijutsu battle. Why don't they use any ninjutsu or genjutsu?"

Gai said, "Well I don't know about Naruto but, Lee has no talent for genjutsu or ninjutsu, in fact you could say he can never use either." Sakura asked, "That can't be, you mean that he can't even make an attempt?"

Kiba said, "I've never something like that."

Ten-Ten answered, "That's right. Lee can't do anything like that." Gai said, "So instead I focused Lee's attention on the one thing he could make his own. Taijutsu. At first it was awful, he could barely do any, but then after time he began to improve greatly. He watched as in the academy how Neji's rise using only taijutsu inspired him. Lee's reason for fighting is purely to prove that you can be a great ninja without ninjutsu or genjutsus." Everyone who was listening was amazed that there was such a ninja and that he is actually this strong without those two types.

Choji was eating some chips and said, "What about Neji? How come he doesn't use 'em?" Hinata answered, "Because even though we could use them, we chose not to. Just like there are habits for some people, it's a habit for a Hyuga to use our taijutsu as it's something were used to doing and it comes naturally. Neji might know some ninjutsu, but since this is a fight between taijutsu masters, they won't use them."

Gai said, "That is true. Even if Lee knew some, he'd refuse to use them. Right now those three down there are using the weapons kami gave them, arms, legs, and chakra. This may seem boring or not as flashy as most would want to see, but to these three it isn't about that."

Ino asked, "Then what is it about?"

Gai smiled and Asuma caught on and said, "It's about proving that they can survive like this. In other words this is a fight between 'men'." Kurenai smiled and gave a grunt, "Men..."

From the battlefield Naruto jumped over a kick that Lee did and punched out at Lee's face. Lee bent backwards and did some backflips to create a gap. Neji jumped in between both of them smiling. Naruto's eyes widened in horror as he knew what was coming. Neji began to rotate yelling, "Eight Trigams Heavenly Spin!" Once he started to rotate the dome was so big it hit both Naruto and Lee and sent both of them falling back a couple feet before the two recovered.

Neji's attack had shredded a their clothes a little and cut them, but they ignored the pain and continued. Lee saw that he was at a disadvantages to both Naruto and Neji, so he did the only thing he could. Lee whispered, "Please, forgive me you two." Lee jumped high onto the wall and stared down at them. Naruto and Neji ignored him and continued their all out battle. Gai eyes widened and he looked to Ten-Ten.

Ten-Ten had a look of worry and she heard Gai say, "It's come down to this...." Kurenai caught what he said and asked, "What do you mean?" Gai sighed and said, "This fight is nearing the end. Lee's about to drop some weight."

Some of the crowd had their eyes on Naruto and Neji while some ninja's had their eyes on Lee. Lee took a sitting position on top of the wall and took off the leg warmers that were covering his shins. Once taken off he had weights wrapped around both shins. Lee removes them and lets out a big sigh of relief, "Ah, that is much better."

Neji sees this with his byakugan and does a double handed palm thrust to Naruto. Naruto blocks and both of them jump away from each other. Naruto notices Neji looking at Lee so he looks and then shows a look of worry when he sees that Lee has taken off his weights.

Sakura asks, "Why does Naruto and Neji seem worried?" Asuma looked to Gai, "Those are training weights right? Basic training equipment."

Everyone looks a Gai, "Yes they are. Everyday training weights you could get at any ninja store, but when Lee takes these off. His speed increases dramatically."

Kiba asked Gai, "How fast does he get?" Gai looks at Kiba and says, "Try and keep up."

From the gennin's box, They were watching with confusion, Shikamaru says, "Training weights are old fashioned." Shino says to him, "Yeah, but there must be more to it than just as it appears. Otherwise Naruto and Neji wouldn't look so worried."

Lee was looking at Naruto and Neji with a satisfied look, "Here I come!" yelled Lee. Lee then dropped the weights and the stadium watched as they hit the ground and caused the ground to tremble and the create a large craters in the ground. Needless to say everyone was shocked and amazed at the amount of weights this boy had on.

Lee crouched down and in an instant he moved so fast he disappeared. Neji eyes widened and he jumped to the right dodging Lee's punch. 'Damn Lee, moves almost to fast for me to react.' though Neji. As soon as Lee's feet touched the ground he disappeared again, but this time he went for Naruto.

Naruto felt an intense pain to his side and had looked down to see that Lee had punched him in his ribs. Naruto was lifted of the ground for an instant before getting kicked in his chest by Lee causing him to fly back. Lee turned his attention to Neji again and made a dash for him. Neji could see Lee, but not clearly and he dodged some of his punches and kicks, but some were getting through.

As soon as Lee would be done he would try and dash around Neji.

Naruto got up steadily and looked up and could see Lee devastate Neji. Naruto then notices something. He could make Lee out clearly, he could see him as if he was going at a speed he could follow.

Every time Lee dashed around Neji he could see it clearly. 'Ah Naruto-kun, looks like you've discovered your families ability to take in the speed of others.'

Naruto's eyes widened and he said, 'What do you mean Rikudou-jii?' Rikudou chuckled from inside Naruto's mind and said, 'Come on now, the Namikaze were granted the names Flash, because of their speed, but most of all you can break down your opponent's speed and counter accordingly.'

Naruto asked, 'So I have a kekkei genkai?' Rikudou laughed and said, 'Who told you that? Surely it wasn't me, I told you 'abilities'. The Namikaze have this ability much like how the Nara's can use shadow possessions, or how the Yamanaka's can use their minds, or even how the Uchiha can use fire so good, and so on. This is just an ability and if you don't figure out how to control it, you will lose.'

Neji had some bruises on his body from Lee's hits, he couldn't get a good rotation going and was left to defend like this. Naruto continued to examine Lee's speed and was trying to figure out what to do.

Lee saw that Naruto was watching him and decided to attack. Lee rushed at Naruto doing a roundhouse kick, Naruto saw this and decided the best thing to do, so he ducked under.

Neji and Lee were stunned at how quick Naruto evaded the attack. Naruto's speed increased as he reached out to grab Lee who was still in the air. Lee's left foot touched the ground and he moved away from Naruto. Lee was thinking, 'What was that? He moved as fast as I did...'

Lee attacked Naruto again by dashing trying to do a straight punch to Naruto. Naruto seen Lee coming in at him and moved his head to the side away from Lee's punch but this time Naruto used his left hand to grab Lee's right shoulder and he used his right arm to grab Lee's left shoulder. Lee was then brought off balance and then Naruto pulled him forward to knee Lee in his stomach.

Afterward Naruto pushed him back causing Lee to stumble back a little before getting punched in his jaw. Neji watched the whole encounter and couldn't believe that Naruto was fast enough to counter Lee's attacks to that degree. Lee was lying on the ground and tried to move.

Lee finally stood up, but then he felt a sharp pain in his leg. Neji looked at Lee and could see him grabbing his leg, 'His time is up.' thought Neji. Lee was cursing under his breath about how he just needed a few more minutes.

Hinata asked, "Gai-sensei, what happened?" Gai looked worried and said, "Despite Lee's speed when he takes off his weights there is a draw back. Since Lee is moving at a high speed his muscles are going through a lot of strain, so right now he pulled his leg muscles."

Ino said, "I get it, but will that happen to Naruto? Since he's also moving as fast as Lee." Asuma said easily, "Nope."

Choji and Kiba asked, "Why not? If he moves that fast he should be able to have the same drawback." Kurenai said to Asuma, "That is true."

Asuma took a good puff of his cigarette, "Yeah, but remember he's a Namikaze." Kurenai asked, "What does that have to do with anything?"

Gai said, "I'm as fast as a normal Namikaze at the most, but what made the Namikaze clan stand out was that they were called, Flashes, and other names based off speed, because of the fact that they could handle any type of speed imaginable with out the consequences of muscle strain."

Hinata said, "Is that a trait or a Kekkei Genkai?" Asuma said, "Not sure. From what my father told me a long time ago was that the Namikaze denied anything that said their speed abilities were bloodline traits. So it could be just how their bodies are."

Sakura said, "This is unreal."

Naruto saw as Lee was desperately trying to stand back up and how Neji was making his way to Lee slowly. Naruto did nothing he just watched as Neji was about to end the fight with Lee.

Lee stood up and tried to move fast again, but Neji saw it coming and grabbed Lee's fist as it was inches away from his face, "Sorry Lee..." said Neji, "Eight Trigams!" Lee's eyes widened in horror, "Two palms, four palms, eight palms, sixteen palms!" Lee was being hit causing him to spit up some blood, "Thirty-two palms, Eight Trigams Sixty-Four palms!!!" The final hit sent Lee flying into the stadium wall.

Naruto watched as Lee hit the wall and fall to the ground, then he turned his attention to Neji. Neji stood up straight to look at Naruto. Neji started to run at Naruto which took him by surprise since most of the time Neji would let his opponent come to him.

Neji jumped at Naruto spinning in the air smiling, Naruto was waiting for him to attack, but Neji yelled out, "Eight Trigams Heavenly Spin Absolute!" From the stands most of the Hyuga who heard him yell this eyes widened in complete shock. Hiashi stood up from his seat and said, "Im-possi-ble..." Kana was also surprised and had her hands covering her mouth.

Naruto was in range and Neji's rotation created a giant dome of the original Heavenly spin only much more larger. Naruto was hit with the full force and was being grinned into the ground. Once Neji stopped spinning he fell to the ground and was desperately trying to stand up, "Forgive me Naruto... But I couldn't risk going in at you all out... At least I got my wish, to fight you."

Genma was smiling and watched as he desperately tried to get up, he looked over to see that Lee wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, and he finally looked at Naruto who was lying on the ground trying to get up.

Genma saw that Neji was now completely standing watching as he walked closer to Naruto and felt it was time to end this. From the kage's box both of the kage's knew that the match would end soon since only Neji was standing.

Out of nowhere Jiraiya and Tsunade jumped into the box and said, "Hey what did I miss?" Sarutobi said, "Where were you?" Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry, got tied up."

Tsunade said, "More like I had to drag him away from the women's bath." The Kazekage chuckled saying, "An honor to meet two of the sannin, but I think that since the Hokage has two more konoha ninja here that I should have two more as well."

Both Tsunade and Jiraiya took seats next to the Hokage and two more Suna nins came up to sit next to the Kazekage. Jiraiya said out loud, "Looks like Naruto's done for."

Sarutobi said, "Yes, but he put up a good fight though."

Naruto was trying to get up and thought, 'Rikudou-jii, can I use that jutsu you taught me?' Rikudou replied, 'I taught that jutsu to you for your purpose of using it. You don't need my permission.'

Naruto smiled and watched as Neji got closer and closer. Neji stood over Naruto and said, "Looks like this is over."

Naruto said, "Yeah I guess so. Sorry I got to end this aniki." Neji looked at Naruto as if he was crazy. Naruto held his arms up aimed at Neji and yelled, "Shinra Tensei!" Neji was then shot back with a great amount of force. Neji didn't see it coming and impacted with the ground hard. Naruto then focused and thought, 'Kyuubi-sempai, I need you to heal me now.'

Kyuubi immediately replied, 'ALRIGHT!' Kyuubi then shot his chakra in a thin layer around Naruto healing him at a slow pace, but it helped him stand.

Some of the ninja didn't know what to say of that move Naruto just did. None have seen anything like it.

Naruto stood up and said, "Like I said, sorry I got to end this." Naruto then started to run at Neji. Neji thought to himself, 'I can only pull off one rotation. I have to put all my chakra in this final attack.'

Neji began to spin fast. Naruto saw this and thought to himself, 'Looks like I will have to use that jutsu. I swore not use it unless absolute necessary.' As he was running Naruto held his hand out and from his hand a sphere was starting to form in the palm of his hand.

Hiashi, Hana, and Kana saw this and immediately knew what this was. Tsunade got up from her seat and said, "That's Minato's jutsu!" Gai and Asuma watched in amazement as the sphere in Naruto's hand turned blue and began to spin and rotate.

Sakura and Ino said in unison, "What is that?" Hinata said, "I'm not sure, I've never seen it."

Kurenai answered, "I've only heard about it, I've never seen it."

Naruto got closer and closer and he could see that Neji's Heavenly Spin was done and he yelled out while pushing the sphere at the dome, "RASENGAN!" The blue sphere hit the dome and caused an irregular disturbance and the dome exploded out away from Naruto shooting Neji out of the dome and he was viciously knocked on the ground and into the wall. Naruto was standing with his arm extended pointed at where Neji was.

* Flashback *

Naruto had a quick flashback to when he was in his mindscape when he was talking with Rikudou. "Tell me Naruto. What's your reason for fighting?" Naruto was seated and said to him, "My reason for fighting..." Naruto had a quick flash of Hinata in his mind which Rikudou caught and said, "I see. That is a good reason. But it's not only for her, it's to protect everyone."

Naruto said, "But if you live inside me, you should know this." Rikudou smiled and said, "Yes, but it's not in my nature to invade to deep into my families minds. Why don't I teach you a move so that you can protect your precious girl and everyone else important to you." Naruto eyes beam and he yells, "Alright! What's it called?"

Rikudou smiled and said, "Shinra Tensei..."

(With Jiraiya before he became a gennin)

"Jii-san, what are you going to teach me?" asked Naruto.

Jiraiya and Naruto were outside the village in the forest, Jiraiya looked at Naruto and said, "Well I'm going to teach you an awesome jutsu." Naruto said cheerfully, "Cool! What's it called?"

Jiraiya stopped smiling and said, "Listen Naruto. This jutsu is not to be used lightly, it's strong and deadly. If used correctly it can and will be devastating. Promise me you won't use this jutsu unless you have no other alternative or you absolutely need to."

Naruto made a serious face, "I promise jii-san."

Jiraiya smiled and held out his hand, "It's called Rasengan."

*Flashback End *

Naruto mumbles, "Now I have the strength I need."

Tsunade looked behind her towards Jiraiya and Sarutobi, "How long has he known that jutsu for?" Neither men said a thing and continued to watch.

Ten-Ten asked Gai, "Gai-sensei, what jutsu was that?" Gai smiled and said, "That was the Yondaime Hokage's signature jutsu along with his Hiraishin. It's called Rasengan."

Itachi was surprised that Naruto knew a jutsu like that. Shisui asked, "I wonder how long he's known that jutsu?" Itachi smiled and said, "Don't know, but I'll find out."

Naruto stood up straight and awaited Genma.

Genma wasn't as surprised since he's seen so many surprises today. Genma raised his hand to Naruto and said, "Both Neji Hyuga and Rock Lee are unable to continue, the winner is Naruto Namikaze!"

The audience erupted in a loud roar of cheer. Some of the clan members kept their cool and merely smiled while some others didn't do anything as they thought that Neji would win in this battle. While Fugaku showed a hint of annoyance at how strong Naruto was.

Gaara was smiling and was fidgeting in anticipation. The only way he could contain his thirst to fight Naruto was his battle against Sasuke.

Immediately after Naruto was named the winner he was about to collapse, but then he never felt the ground, he looked up to see both Shikamaru and Shino holding him up. Shikamaru said, "Man you are troublesome, but your fun to be around."

Shino spoke saying, "That was an awesome battle Naruto." Naruto replied, "Thanks guys, you think you could help me up to the gennin's box?"

Shikamaru jokingly said, "It would be troublesome, but I think I could manage." Naruto joked back saying, "Oh forgive me for straining you." Shino and Shikamaru helped Naruto to the box and set him against the wall.

The Kazekage said, "Well, well that was most interesting. Today was a surprise." Sarutobi said, "Yeah it really is."

Genma looked at the arena's ground and could see it devastated. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the medics pick up Neji and Lee taking them to the medic wing of the stadium. Both Neji and Lee were out cold after their long and painful battle.

Kana stood up from her seat and was making her way out saying, "I'm going to go check on Neji. I'll be back." Hiashi said, "You don't need my permission to check on you son. Tell him I said that he did excellent."

Kana smiled and walked off to see her son.

Genma waited for five minutes as per the Hokage's orders after a fight. Once the time limit was up Genma announced, "Round 2 is about to begin, so will the finalists please come down to the arena ground."

Shikamaru groaned and said, "Damn, I guess it's that time." Shino put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Good luck."

Naruto from the floor said, "Your gonna need it."

Shikamaru jumped down to the ground and stood next to Genma. Temari on the other hand walked over to Naruto and said, "I hope you watch my match closely. In a way I'm like my brother Gaara, once I find something interesting, I have to have it." Temari gives him a wink then jumps down to the arena floor to fight.

Shino said, "Good thing Hinata didn't see that..." Naruto grabbed his shoulders as if he was freezing and said, "I wouldn't be so sure about that..."

From a distance Hinata had her byakugan activated and was letting some of her chakra out and direct it toward Naruto.

Shikamaru was standing to Genma's left while Temari was opposite Shikamaru.

Genma announced, "Alright to my left is the future Nara clan head, Shikamaru Nara of Konohagakure!" Everyone in the village knew of the Nara's famed intelligence, but sadly that was dwarfed to the Nara's famed Laziness. Still it didn't stop everyone from cheering for the young boy. Shikamaru sighed and said, "This is a drag."

Genma said again, "And to my left we have the Kazekage's oldest child the Wind Mistress, Temari no Sabaku of Sunagakure!" (I don't know last name so I just gave her that.)

Temari happily waved and the only ones who really clapped for her were ninjas and citizens of Suna, she then turned to Shikamaru and said, "Let's get our fight over quickly so I can fight a real man."

Shikamaru said, "I'd be more than happy to do that, but you see that over there." Shikamaru points over his shoulder and Temari looks to see an older man that looks like Shikamaru and next to him was who she assumed was his wife. The woman had brown hair that she kept tied back in a low ponytail and was wearing regular everyday clothes, but she had a kind of angry look.

Shikamaru said, "That's my mother, even though it doesn't look it she can be a real banshee. So if I don't want all hell to be unleashed upon me then I have to give it my best or that troublesome woman will go all out."

Temari didn't really care and said, "I doesn't matter to me. Your going to lose all the same." Genma heard their small talk and thought it'd be best to get this over with, "Alright, you two ready?"

Temari smiles and nods, while Shikamaru shrugs his shoulders. Genma says, "Okay and Begin!"

(The fight will go the same, but during it Temari gets a strange feeling from fighting Shikamaru that she's unsure of.)

Naruto from the gennin's box says, "Well at least he tried." Shino replied, "Yeah, we could at least give him that."

Shikaku looked to his wife, "Well that was troublesome. What are you gonna do to him?" Yoshino looked at her husband and dropped her angry look to a happy look, "I guess I'll congratulate him. After all he did fight better than I thought."

Shikaku smiled and said, "How long you gonna smile like that?" Yoshino said, "The answers no. Every time you ask me how long I'll keep this smile you always ask me to stay like this. So don't get used to it."

Shikaku frowns and says, "Well it was worth a shot."

Ino from the stands yells, "What the hell was that!?" Asuma chuckled, "That laziness is gonna be the death of him." Choji said, "Yeah, but if he wasn't lazy, then he wouldn't be the Shikamaru we know."

Ino said, "Yeah I guess that makes sense."

Shikamaru made his way to the door that lead to the gennin's box. He passed up Temari and she quickly asked, "Why did you give up so easily?"

Shikamaru stopped and both of their backs were facing each other, "I gave up because I had no chakra left, I'm not good at hand to hand and I don't know any other jutsu, so I had to give up. I'm not like my friend Naruto up there who has an inhuman amount of chakra and endurance, I'm only human."

Shikamaru continued to walk and Temari followed after him wondering about this feeling she got from him.

Once they got in the room Naruto yelled to Shikamaru, "Well you did your best." Shikamaru lazily said, "Yeah, yeah."

From the arena floor they heard, "Will the next contestants make their way to the arena."

Shino turned around and was about to jump down. Naruto stopped him and said, "Hey good luck man!" Shino turned to look at Naruto and said, "I promise you that I'll win." Naruto raised his right arm up and Shino rose his left arm up and then they hit their forearms together.

Kankuro already jumped down eager to get his chance to fight. Shino soon followed after and took his place on Genma's right.

Genma made the announcement, "To my left we have the Kazekage's second child the Puppeteer, Kankuro no Sabaku of Sunagakure!" Like Temari only a few people clapped except for a few Suna citizens/ninjas. Kankuro was grinning and waving with one hand.

Genma turned to Shino and said, "To my right we have the Aburame clan's future clan head, Shino Aburame of Konohakagure!" A lot of the Konoha ninja and citizens cheered and applauded him. Shino kept his sight on Kankuro and made no attention to the crowd.

Genma said, "Alright! Ready and.... Begin!"

Kankuro immediately pulled his puppet that was strapped to his back and began. Shino took his hands out of his pockets and held them out. Kankuro was cocky and decided to taught him, "You might as well forfeit, there is no way your gonna win."

Shino kept his cool and waited for him to make his move. Kankuro moved his hands accordingly and his puppet called 'Karasu'. The puppet opened it's mouth and shot out a purple ball.

Shino waited for it to get closer and the ball exploded making a dark purple cloud. Shino immediately knew it was poison, so he held his breath and jumped out. Once out he looked ahead and saw the puppet's arm open up shooting senbon needles at him.

Shino put his hands together and did some hand signs. The needles hit him, but then they bounced off. Kankuro rose his eyebrow in confusion when he noticed that his skin was a darker color. Shino adjusted his glasses and said, "This is a new jutsu of mine, it's called Stone Skin." Kankuro was gritting his teeth in annoyance.

Shino said, "I've been studying up about puppets for a long time. I know how you all use poisons, whether it's coating weapons or using gases. It's all the same. So my defense against your coated weapons is my rock hard skin and my defense against your gas.... would have to be my bugs."

Kankuro didn't want to hear anymore and decided to attack again. Sending as many weapon coated kunai, shuriken and senbons at Shino. Shino shrugged and did some more hand signs and darkened his skin watching as the weapons cut his clothes but did not penetrate his skin.

Shino adjusted his glasses again and sent his bugs out from his body, "Time to eat my friends..." The bugs swarmed out of his body heading toward Kankuro. Kankuro had Karasu swipe and swat at the bugs.

Some of the bugs were hit and some died, but Shino sent a signal to them. Kankuro tried to move it's top right arm, but then it failed. Kankuo's eyes widened in surprise and said, "What the hell?" Karasu began to shake and break apart slowly, "What the hell is wrong with Karasu?" Kankuro got his answer when out of the puppet's openings bugs began to creep out.

Shino calmly said, "It's over. When my swarm attacked, some of them got into your puppets joints and began to break it down. Among my beetles are some rare insects that have the ability to spit acid, this takes some time, unless I give them a little more chakra in which case the acid becomes more potent."

Kankuro then looked at his fingers and saw some bugs making their way to him. Kankuro thought they were flying at him, but what he didn't know was that they were traveling on his chakra thread that was connected from his fingertips to his puppet.

Shino aimed his hands at Kankuro, "It's over." The swarm left Karasu and attacked Kankuro who was quickly engulfed by the insects. After about a minute the bugs left leaving an unconscious Kankuro on the ground.

Genma walked up to Kankuro and checked his pulse, then stood up, "The winner is Shino Aburame!" Everyone cheered for Shino's victory. Shino slowly made his way to where Naruto and the others were waiting.

Shisui looked to Itachi, "That's an interesting boy you got there Itachi." Itachi smiled saying, "Yeah, he's something else."

Once Shino was close to Naruto and Shino he then slowly fell to his knees. Shikamaru and Naruto ran to him quickly, "What happened Shino?" asked a worried Naruto.

Shino said, "It's alright. I thought I held my breath in time when I was engulfed by that poison mist, my insects are trying their best to eliminate the threat from my body right now. I'll be fine." Naruto let out a sigh of relief and said, "Alright if you say so." Shikamaru and Naruto helped Shino to lean up against the wall so he could rest.

Temari was watching as her brother was carried off for treatment. She was worried as the older sister and hoped that he was okay. Gaara shook his head in disappointment and at the same time the Kazekage was showing his disappointment in his second born.

The Kazekage then asked, "By the way Hokage-sama. Where is the Uchiha boy? Don't tell me he's still training." Sarutobi looked at him and said, "His sensei is Kakashi Hatake, so his tardiness is to great. I suggest we move on."

The Kazekage made eye contact with the Hokage, "Now, now let's not be to hasty. After all, this is the son of Fugaku Uchiha and younger brother of Itachi Uchiha. Let's give him some time."

Sarutobi asked, "Why Satetsu-san?" The Kazekage knew at this point the Hokage was serious. Satetsu then replied, "Well Sarutobi-sama. This is an Uchiha and should my son Gaara defeat him in battle, then that will give our village more of chance for more missions. Even if he doesn't fight him, most likely he'll fight the Namikaze boy. Gaara needs as much fame as he can get, the more attention he gets from the Daimyos, then the more attention Suna gets. So I ask you, let's give him ten minutes."

Tsunade was watching with careful eyes as to figure him out, but she concluded he was right. He had to put his villages best interest first and with Gaara fighting Sasuke then they would get what they needed.

Sarutobi let out a sigh, "Raido." Raido walked up to the Hokages side bowing down, "Alert Genma. Tell him we give Sasuke ten minutes, that's all. Anytime after that then he's disqualified." Raido nodded and jumped down to where Genma is.

The audience watched as he walked over to Genma and whisper something in his ear. Raido then jumped away. Genma looked at the Hokage for reassurance then announced, "Attention. The participant Sasuke Uchiha is running late, but we will give him ten minutes to show himself, should he fail to appear within the time frame he will be disqualified."

The audience then erupted into a shout of boos and some began to stand up and shout their detest. Genma knew this would happen.

Sakura was worried since none of them had seen Sasuke for awhile. Kiba was fidgeting in his seat wondering why Sasuke was late for his match.

From the gennin's box, Naruto didn't care anymore what Sasuke did on his own time. Shikamaru was napping on the railing and Temari and Gaara were patiently waiting for Sasuke to appear.

After about nine minutes of no show Genma decided to call it, "He's only got less than a minute. Time to call it." Genma switched the mic on and said, "Okay everyone, I'm sorry to say, but-"

From in front of Genma a swirl of leaves started in front of him and two figures appeared from them. Genma made them out and said, "What took you so long Kakashi?"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head and said, "Well we got a little caught up. Are we too late?" Genma told Kakashi, "In a sense. Your match Sasuke was a long time ago, but the Hokage and Kazekage decided to switch your match with Naruto, Neji, and Lee's match."

Sasuke's eye widened and asked, "And who won that fight?" Genma smiled and said, "Naruto won. Neji defeated Lee and then Naruto defeated Neji. It was an awesome fight. It would be a great disappointment if he didn't become chunnin."

Sasuke showed a hint of jealousy, 'What? Lee, the guy who beat me was defeated and the guy who beat him was Naruto! He just keeps getting stronger."

Kakashi noticed this and asked Genma, "Who else won?" Genma said, "Temari beat Shikamaru and Shino beat Kankuro, but enough updates. Sasuke you stay here. Gaara no Sabaku! Please make your way to the arena!"

Gaara put his fingers together and he disappeared in a sand swirl to the arena floor. Kakashi looked and saw the spot where Gai and the others were seated and made his way to them.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness Sasuke made it in time." Kiba smiled saying, "I knew he'd make it. There's no way he'd miss this." Sakura asked Kiba, "If I wasn't so sure I'd say your happy that he'd make it."

Kiba grunted, "Yeah right. The only reason I'm happy is so I can see that sand guy rip Sasuke a new one." Sakura said, "Yeah, yeah."

Naruto said to Shino and Shikamaru, "Hey guys he made it." Shikamaru didn't respond, but Shino said, "Huh, I lost that bet."

The Kazekage said, "Oh, looks like Gaara will get his fight afterall."

Sarutobi said, "Yes he made it. Kakashi needs to stop this being late."

Fugaku said, "Good he made it just in time." Itachi and Shisui were happy as well that Sasuke wasn't going to be disqualified.

Genma wanted to get this over with and announced, "Alright to my right, we have the Kazekage's youngest child competing, the Demon of Suna Gaara no Sabaku!" Some of the people booed while others didn't cheer or anything. Gaara showed no interest in what others thought of him.

"And to my left we have from the Uchiha clan, Sasuke Uchiha of Konohagakure!" Immediately the stadium erupted in applause and praise. Sasuke was payed them no attention but he let out a smile.

Sasuke said to Gaara, "You ready for this?" Gaara said, "Your not strong enough. Your merely a wall blocking my path to my true prize."

Sasuke said, "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'll be the one to defeat him." Gaara smirked and said, "You, defeat him. That's a joke on it's own. The reason I fight is to prove my existence and that guy, Naruto is the only one who could do that and I've heard a lot about you Uchiha and your nothing special. You copy and take other ninja's hard work that they put into making jutsu, nothing more than imitators. "

With that last part said Sasuke lifted up his eye patch revealing his sharingan, "I'll make you eat those words!"

Genma rose his hand and yelled, "Ready! Set! Go!"

(Hey guess what guys... Another Cliff Hanger! Yea!)

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Well I hope you guys liked this chapter. The next chapter is called, "Show me your Monster!" I will 'Try' and upload it this weekend, if not then Monday. Thank you for your patience and for reading. Remember if you find real noticeable problems to PM me and not leave it in the review. Well R&R, Stay Gold, and Goodbye World!!!