Chapter 28: First Preliminary Round

Naruto surveyed the room. It was a large arena with a viewing balcony. There were doors at both the end of the room they had entered and on the opposite side. Next to the far door was a statue of a pair of hands in the ram seal that reached all the way up to the ceiling, splitting the balcony into two sections, the slightly larger one containing a more ornate seating area where his father currently resided.

Noticing his team, Naruto's father gave them a nod and a wave. At the ceiling on the other side of the hokage was a large scoreboard with a timer that was counting down the last few minutes until the examination was finished.

Stationed at various points around the room were the various teams that had passed. Tenten's team and their Taki associates were in one group. Sasuke and Shikamaru's teams were each on their own. Kabuto's team was with a Kumo team and a Kiri team. Another leaf team that Naruto did not recognize was with an Ame team.

When the countdown finished, Kurenai entered and handed a scroll to Hummingbird, whispering something in his ear. He nodded, then stood to address the crowd. Of genin and their instructors.

Congratulations to all of you who have made it this far. I am known as Hummingbird, and I am the Hokage of Konoha and will be the proctor for the third exam, but, first, it will be my duty to tell you the truth about this exam.

"Some of you probably think that the purpose of the exams is to determine who deserves to be chunin. That is false. For every genin promoted to chunin due to the exam, there are five who were given field promotions. This is not just a test of who can toss a kunai, THIS IS WAR!" Half the genin recoiled in shock at this loud and sudden declaration. "It is a battlefield that tests the strength and will of each village. The final exam will be individual battles in front of an audience of some of the most influential men and women in the elemental nations. It will show them which village is worthy to gain their patronage, and which are too weak to deserve it. A strong showing at the chunin exams means many clients and a lot of funds for that village. A weak showing will result is fewer missions and lower funds, resulting in weakness that invites destruction. You are not fighting for your own sakes, you are fighting for the right of your village to exist.

"That being said, you may choose to forfeit your matches if you feel you can not win at any time. Your sensei or myself may also call the matches at any time if you are incapacitated or there is no chance of winning. Unfortunately, due to the format of the exams there are a larger number of participants left at this time, though we feel that you have received a much fairer judgment of your skills because of the format we used which will reflect on your chances of becoming chunin in the final round. Before then, however, we must reduce the numbers. Team twenty-one only acquired one point, that is not sufficient for a team that wants to become chunin and we don't want to waste the time of the dignitaries who will be coming to watch the final tournament."

The team of Konoha nin that Naruto didn't recognize looked dejected while the Ame team began loudly complaining.

"SILENCE!" the hokage shouted, ending the complaints with powerful burst of killing intent, "My judgments are final. You will accept them willingly, or by deadly force.

The team with the most points was team ten with three-hundred-and-ninety-three points, almost one-hundred times the next leading team." This created an eruption of gasps and unbelieving comments which took a few moments to settle. "As a reward for this, each team that makes up team ten may choose one member to automatically pass on to the finals."

"We choose Shino Aburame and Sabaku no Gaara!" Naruto replied immediately. A group of medic-nin immediately led Shino away to treat his wounds.

"Why did you choose me?" Gaara asked curiously, with an edge of danger that told Naruto that his answer had better be a good one.

"First, because you still need to train to get your control back to where it was before we fixed your seal. Second, because I promised to protect you. And, finally, because you are the one who is important to Orochimaru's invasion plan, this makes it seem like you are assuring success."

Gaara grunted in acquiescence, but did not look very happy about her loss of a chance to battle.

"Now, We will need to cut the remaining participants by about three quarters, so you will each have to participate in at least two preliminary matches. Does anyone want to forfeit now? The remainder of the exam will be testing individual skills, so your choice will not affect the rest of your group in any way."

"I'll forfeit now. As a medical specialist, my skills aren't suited to individual fights and I am almost out of chakra."

"Very well, Kabuto Yakushi is hereby withdrawn from the exams. Does anyone else want to forfeit?" Naruto's father asked. He waited for a while before he continued. "The scoreboard will choose random pairings of the remaining participants, though you will be paired against someone from other groups if there are any remaining. The two fighters will move to the arena, and will begin fighting when I say start. You are allowed to use any means necessary to defeat your opponent as long as it does not endanger the audience. If I or either combatants sensei stops the match, both combatants will immediately cease hostilities or be disqualified. If a participant is killed before the match starts or after it concludes or during a match they were not a participant in, the killer will be charged with murder, and if necessary executed. Any interference with the matches will result in both the interferer and the one being interfered on behalf of to be immediately disqualified. Any questions?" No one had any questions. "Then let's begin the first match."

Names began to flash on the scoreboard until they settled on Lee and Raiun.

"YOSH!" Li shouted, "MY FLAMES OF YOUTH HAVE TRIUMPHED IN ALLOWING ME TO BE THE FIRST TO FIGHT! LET US HAVE A YOUTHFUL BATTLE!" He leapt acrobatically into the arena, landing with a thumbs up and bright smile for the crowd. Many shuddered at his fashion sense.

His opponent was not much better. Like many from Kumo, he was dark skinned and fair haired. He was of average height and well muscled. He wore and open blue vest and a pair of baggy harem pants. On his hands were a pair of leather gloves with large, studded, dark metal knuckle-guards. He smirked confidently, then slammed his fists together to create an electrifying flash. "This match will end in a single punch." He stated, taking a defensive stance.

"I accept your challenge!" Lee said, "Let our flames of youth dazzle out fellow competitors!" He took his own stance.

"You may begin!" The hokage announced.

Raiun dashed forward and swung a fist glowing with raiton energy at Rock Lee's head. Then, his target disappeared.

"Gouken!" In the blink of an eye, Raiun slammed into the opposite wall and remained stuck, but unconscious, in the impact crater.

"Winner, Rock Lee!"

"Did you see his speed?" Naruto asked excitedly, "Even with those weights, he's almost as fast as I am! I hope I get to fight him."

"He was wearing weights?" Kiba asked, coming over to talk with them, "There's no way someone can move that fast while wearing weights."

"Lee's flames of youth do burn brightly!" Maito Gai responded proudly, "He wears two hundred pounds on each arm and leg."

"Gai-sensei!" Lee yelled, tears streaming from his eyes as he caught his teacher in a flying hug.

"Lee!" Gai responded.

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!

As if two men hugging in green spandex was not bad enough, a sunset genjutsu appeared behind them.

"My eyes!" Kiba cried out, then started whimpering.

Several of the present shinobi tried to dispel the genjutsu, but were unable to. Those who knew Gai well had turned away before the danger had occurred. Some of the foreign teams looked faintly sick.

"Now, moving right along," the hokage said as the medics dragged Raiun from the room, "Let's begin the next battle."

The scoreboard once again began randomizing names.

"Will Ino Yamanaka and Misumi Tsurugi please enter the arena," Hummingbird waited for the two competitors to descend, "You may begin whenever you're ready."

"You should just forfeit right now. A weak girl like you wouldn't stand a chance against a shinobi like me."

"I don't give up that easily. I'm not as weak as forehead-girl!" Ino scoffed, taking a relaxed stance.

You can't say I didn't warn you," Misumi began to laugh. A moment later, Ino was sent flying from a punch that seemed to stretch Misumi's arm half way across the arena. She hit the ground and rolled with a pained grunt.

"What was that?" Ino moaned rising up to a crouched position. She dodged Misumi's next punch only for it to curve around and grab her arm. She was pulled towards her opponent, hastily trying to perform hand seals as Misumi coiled around her like a snake.

"Surrender, or I'll squeeze until your bones are crushed." As if to demonstrate the point, his arm snaked down and he grabbed her ass.

"PERVERT!" Ino slammed her forehead into his nose, stunning him for a moment. "Shintenshin no Jutsu!"

Ino slumped as if unconscious, then Misumi released her, tied his own arms and legs in knots, then announced smugly, "I, the perverted loser Misumi Tsurugi, forfeit this match to the beautiful and talented kunoichi Ino Yamanaka!"

"Ino Yamanaka is the winner by forfeit!" Naruto's father announced.

"Yes!" Ino jumped up and performed a victory dance.

"No! I didn't forfeit! It was her!" Misumi objected, rolling around, frantically trying to undo the knots.

"Even if it didn't count, you have been sufficiently incapacitated that you can not win. My decision is final."

"Way to go Ino! Ha! He looks like a pretzel!" Kiba laughed.

"Isn't that the knot we're supposed to use on prisoners to keep them from making hand seals?" Naruto asked.

Ino proudly climbed the stairs back up to the balcony.

"Good job. Very creative restraint technique," Asuma praised his student.

"Tch. Troublesome," was her other teammate's remark.

"Now, the next match will be..." The scoreboard began flipping through random names once again. "Hiun from Kumogakure versus Hisen from Takigakure!"

Two ninjas leapt into the arena. Hisen looked fairly normal as far as ninjas go. His opponent, however, seemed quite eccentric, even by ninja standards. He wore hakama and suikan with geta on his feet like some sort of priest. The sleeves of his suikan extended down well past his hands. A hood rose out of his suikan, draping over his face so that only his thin, tight, creepy smile was exposed.

"Ready?" Both competitors nodded, Hiun licking his lips in anticipation. "Begin!"

Hisen opened with a flurry of shuriken. Hiun spun in place like a ballerina, his flapping sleeves seeing to knock the projectiles off course. When Hisen stopped launching his shuriken, Hiun stopped spinning with his back to his opponent before suddenly leaning backwards and sticking one leg up into the air.

Hisen, angered by the irritating upside down grin, rushed at his opponent. Though Hiun's guard seemed to be down, it was merely unconventional. Just as Hisen was about to stab Hiun with a kunai, Hiun flexed the leg that was supporting him, allowing Hisen to pass right under him. Very few of the genin saw what happened next. As Hiun majestically glided over Hisen's head, his sleeve glanced against the base of Hisen's skull. By the time Hiun's feet hit the floor, Hisen had fallen, dead, to the ground.

"Hiun is the winner."

There was silence for a few seconds before people began to mutter.

"Well, he died quick," Anko sighed, "That was barely entertaining at all."

"He's dead!" Sakura looked rather sick at the thought.

"Did anyone see what he did?" Kiba asked.

"I did," Naruto confirmed.

"I as well," Neji added confidently.

"I'm an Uchiha, of course I saw something as slow as that!" Sasuke bragged.

"Yeah, right..." Naruto mocked, "I suppose you saw both stabs of the hidden kunai."

"Of course. My eye wouldn't miss something–"

"Like the fact that he wasn't using a kunai at all, oh great and all-seeing Uchiha," Naruto snickered.

Sasuke growled angrily. "We'll see how funny you find it when I beat you."

"The next match is Naruto of Konoha versus Hibaki of Taki!" Naruto's father announced.

"Keep your eyes open Sasuke, wouldn't want you to miss this," Naruto taunted as he leapt into the arena. Sasuke glared at him angrily, but said nothing. He didn't have to, Sakura had begun ranting about how he shouldn't badmouth Sasuke.

"Just because you had a lot of points doesn't mean I'll lose to you!" Hibaki challenged, though he sounded unsure of himself.

"No, you'll do that because I'm better than you," Naruto replied, taking a relaxed position with his hands in his pockets, much like he'd see Shikamaru do on several occasions. He wanted to make the fight look easy to shake the confidence of his future opponents.

"Are you both ready?" The two competitors nodded. "Begin!"

Hibaki immediately leapt away from Naruto as if expecting an attack, but Naruto merely watched him lazily.

"Do you want a handicap?" Naruto asked, "I won't use my hands at all if that will make you feel better."

"Don't get too cocky!" Hibaki took another step back and withdrew some shuriken which he threw at Naruto. Naruto dodged them all without moving from the spot he had started in.

"You could give up now and save yourself some embarrassment," Naruto idly taunted, "Or are you going to start trying now?" Naruto didn't really feel like killing this kid. He obviously wasn't chunin material yet and Taki was allied with Konoha.

Hibaki leapt high into the air, then shot downwards with his leg extended for a piercing kick. "I'll won't give up!"

Naruto leaned forward, causing Hibaki's kick to fly over him. As his torso went down, his leg went up in a powerful heel kick that caused every male, including Naruto, to cringe in sympathy. "Sorry," Naruto said.

"Hibaki is unable to continue! The winner is Naruto!" The hokage finally announced. No one wanted to be his next opponent after that victory. "The next match is Temari of the Sand against Oyu of the Mist!"

It was another short battle. Oyu tried to use a super-heated version of the hidden mist technique, but Temari just blew the mist, and Oyu, away with her fan.

The next battle was a Konoha nin, Yoroi, against a Kumo nin, Kanden. Yoroi used some sort of jutsu that allowed him to steal his opponent's chakra using his hands. At first Kanden tried to keep his distance, but Yoroi's glancing blows were wearing him down. At the last minute, Kanden desperately activated a defensive lightning jutsu that disrupted Yoroi's technique. It seemed that Yoroi had few other skills, and with his chakra draining ability disabled, he was quickly defeated in a 'shocking' taijutsu display.

"The next battle is Sayu of Kiri against Tenten of Konoha!"

"Go Tenten! Kick her ass!" Naruto cheered his fiancée. She answered him with a happy grin as eight kunai seemed to magically appear in her hande.

The mist nin remained silent until the match began. "Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu!" Sayu breathed out a thick cloud of mist that obscured the field.

Tenten took to the air to get a better view of the battlefield, landing on the statue of the hands. She remained there for several minutes, hoping that her opponent would reveal herself or run out of chakra from maintaining the mist. During this period of waiting, she came to the conclusion that she needed to learn some wide area ninjutsu in order to draw out hidden opponents. Eventually, She noticed a flash of color through a briefly thinned portion of the rolling mists and began launching projectiles all around the area.

"Suiton: Teppoudama!"

Tenten realized too late that what she had seen in the mist was a mere bunshin as a water bullet knocked her from her perch and back into the mist. She rolled as she landed and brought out Naruto's gift. She flung the monstrous sword in the direction the water bullet had come from. The force of the sword temporarily cleared a path through the mist and she was able to see Sayu try to dive away from the blade. She almost made it, but the blade carved a deep gash from the front of her hip all the way to the middle of her shoulder blade. While not immediately life threatening, the would would surely slow her down and leave a nasty scar.

"Where did you get that blade?" Sayu demanded.

"Engagement present from Naruto-kun," Tenten replied, "Didn't you listen to Kabuto when he blabbed all about Naruto before the first exam? One of those A-ranks was when he kicked Zabuza's ass!" This was not technically accurate. While he had surprised Zabuza with the Kyuubi's power the first time, he was not yet in the league of any member of the seven swordsmen.

"Well I will just have to take it off your corpse when I win then!"

Tenten threw some shuriken towards where she thought her opponent's voice originated from, but heard no signs of any of them hitting. Then, there was a drip, probably from the wound. Tenten leapt towards her injured opponent. It was another trap. She found herself enmeshed in ninja wire that stopper her movements as a series of traps went off, peppering Tenten with kunai. Then, in a moment of terrible realization, the mist thinned enough for her see her opponent standing in front of her and driving a katana up through her stomach and out her back. She coughed up blood.

"The winner is Sayu! MEDICS!"

"Tenten!" Naruto cried out.

Neji merely watched expressionless while Tenten's other teammate and sensei cried youthful tears.

Sayu limped over to the sword that was embedded in the wall and grabbed the hilt. She couldn't budge the blade at all. A presence was suddenly behind her, she could feel the power of the chakra hot against her back and killing intent that froze her in place.

"If she dies, you join her, slowly." Naruto growled. He grabbed the sword with a hand that was glowing faintly red and pulled the sword from the wall. He hefted the sword in one hand as if it was no larger than a butter knife, then leapt back up to the observation deck.

Sayu fainted and the medics collected her.

"That was an exciting match, though I wish it had ended differently. Next match is Sakura versus Kiba, both of Konohagakure!"

The match was over in a single punch. Sakura stood no chance against the Inuzuka.

"The next match is Shikamaru of Konoha against Tarumi of Taki! Begin!"

"What a drag. Why do I have to fight a girl?" Shikamaru complained.

"Just get down there and beat her!" Ino yelled at him before throwing him over the ledge.

Shikamaru laid sprawled on the ground in the corner of the arena.

"Are both competitors ready?"

"Yes!" Tarumi answered. She looked much like Ino, except that her hair was a pale blue and her ponytail fanned out and became wavy at the bottom.

"No," Shikamaru said.

"Okay, begin!"

"Hey! I said I wasn't ready!" Shikamaru complained, "This is too troublesome."

Tarumi ran straight at him, hoping to take advantage of his lack of horizontal positioning. She fell right into his trap, stepping on his shadow and freezing. "Hey! I can't move!"

Shikamaru sighed and mimed walking from his position on the ground. "Hmm, yellow. I was expecting blue." He muttered as her mimicking of his movements had her pas over him and giving him a clear view of her panties.

"You pervert! The minute I can move again I am going to kick your perverted ass!"

"You're too loud. Why must women be so troublesome?" Shikamaru sat up. The same motion mimicked by Tarumi had her bending suddenly at the waist and ramming her head violently into the wall, leaving her bowed, unconscious to the ground, and revealing the yellow panties to everyone on the other side of the stadium, specifically right towards Kiba who had traversed over there in order to hang out with Naruto.

"Shika! You're the best teammate ever!" Kiba cheered, not even pretending to not leer at the downed girl.

"Boring!" Naruto sighed.

"Come on! You can see her panties," Kiba protested.

"I'm engaged, or married, to four girls," Naruto replied, "Panties are nothing. Hell, I see more than that every day with my sensei."

Kiba turned to look at Anko. "Lucky bastard," he muttered.

"Lucky? Just wait until you have to try pleasing four girls at the same time," Naruto grumbled. He glanced towards the door that led to the medical bay and wished that he could find out how Tenten was doing. Kiba was barely suppressing a nosebleed at the thought of four girls.

"The next match is Kankuro of the Sand against Isarai of the mist."

Kankuro and a twin tailed girl headed into the arena.

"Begin!"

"I'm a medic nin, so I am not really good at fighting. Please be gentle," Isarai said with a bow to her opponent.

"Umm... I'll try not to hurt you too badly," Kankuro replied.

"Thank you! I was sure you were going to be a meanie like that Kiba guy!" She tackle-hugged Kankuro. "Doesn't he know he's supposed to go easy on a girl!" She pouted cutely, then jammed a senbon into his spine. "Sucker!"

Kankuro's arms and legs wrapped around her suddenly and a genjutsu dropped, revealing him to be one of his puppets. "You know, you really hurt Karasu's feelings, stabbing him in the back like that," Kankuro said, "If you don't surrender now, I will kill you."

The girl struggled for a few moments. "I give up. I can't move."

"Winner, Kankuro. I am frankly disappointed at the quality of the matches so far. We've only had one good match, which means most of you probably shouldn't have entered this exam to begin with." Some of the competitors looked suitably embarrassed, others looked indignant, while most seemed to agree with the Hokage's assessment. "Next is Neji versus Hinata, a battle between two Hyuugas."

"You have improved greatly since you have become a genin, but my juuken is still the best," Neji said coldly, "Surrender now, unless you wish to be humiliated."

"We shall see cousin. My juuken m-may be inferior to yours, but unlike you, j-juuken is not my only skill."

Naruto was impressed with Hinata's courage. A year ago, Hinata would have meekly submitted before her cousin. "Go Hinata-chan! I know you can beat him!"

Hinata smiled at Naruto, then took a defensive juuken stance while Neji took a more aggressive stance.

"Begin!"

Neji raced forward and aimed a juuken strike at Hinata's shoulder, hoping to disable her arm early. He was visibly surprised when she not only dodged his strike, but also managed to strike three tenketsu before spinning around and throwing him to the floor. He didn't have any time to ponder her speed and strength as she began to launch shuriken at him. He rolled away quickly before flipping to his feet, cringing as he was forced to operate some of his muscles without chakra enhancement.

"You're improvement exceeds expectations," Neji grudgingly admitted, "You were not so capable a week ago."

"A week ago, we were merely training, so I felt no need to remove my weights," Hinata said, "This fight will test my limits!"

She shocked Neji again by switching to a stance that he had never seen before. It was certainly not juuken. She dashed forward and began to assault him with various arcing strikes. Sometimes, she attacked with fists, and sometimes with knife-hand chops, and every once in a while, she would throw in a traditional juuken strike. He could not take any of them lightly though. He quickly discovered that the punches were powerful enough to knock him back a few paces, the knife-hand chops left shallow gashes in his skin, and the deceptively gently juuken taps were as dangerous as ever.

"I didn't want to reveal this yet," Neji said, "But, you've left me no choice. You are within the range of my divination. Hakke Sanjuuni Sho!" Neji leaned back in his stance then struck at blinding speed. "Two palms!" He missed.

Hinata had taken advantage of the juuken's reliance on hands and had dropped flat on the ground as soon as he had revealed which technique he was going to use. As he was off balance from missing his attack, she swept his foot as she returned to her feet to destroy his stance and give her an opening to counter attack.

"Now, you are the one in range of my divination!" Hinata quipped as she leaned back. She formed an illusionary clone that mimicked the movements of the eight trigrams technique, knowing that it would only be a momentary distraction due to his byakugan. She launched two handfuls of shuriken at her cousin and raced forward, allowing her clone to dissipate. She had underestimated him though. He used his own eight-trigrams thirty-two palms technique to deflect the shuriken, landing four blows on her at the end.

Hinata backed up rapidly. He had managed to completely seal her left arm. She threw a flash tag between them, making Neji back away, thinking it was an explosive tag. It blinded him for a moment as Hinata put her medical skills to use and used her juuken to unblock the tenketsu Neji had blocked, biting her lip to prevent herself from screaming out in pain. Juuken was much like frostbite in terms of pain: you didn't even feel the effects until you tried to undo them, then it felt like your insides were on fire.

She vaguely heard Naruto cheering for her and realized that the pain had distracted her from the battle. She dodged to the side without thinking, avoiding Neji's approaching attack. He was breathing heavily now. Though she had not struck any major tenketsu, the effect was still gradually wearing him down. She was never more thankful for Anko's warm up exercises than she was now. She wasn't even winded. Heartened by the realization, she launched an assault against Neji, putting him on the defensive. His moves had begun to lose their practiced precision as fatigue built up.

" Hakke Sanjuuni Sho!" Hinata suddenly called out, launching a devastating attack on Neji who was at this point having difficulty defending, let alone attacking. "Two palms!" The major tenketsu in the shoulders were the first to go and Neji looked at her in wide-eyed realization. "Four palms!" The hips were next, preventing escape. "Eight palms!" The secondary pathways to the arms and legs were blocked. "Sixteen palms!" The major branches from his chakra reservoir were cut off. "Thirty-two palms!" The pathways to his major organs were the next to go. Had she performed the sixty-four palms, she would have struck the remaining junctions of chakra flow. If she had been capable of one-hundred-twenty-eight, there would have been no chakra flow to protect from a direct assault on the internal organs, guaranteeing a long hospital stay, and likely death. Usually, the tight masses of chakra coils around organs gave them some minor protection against low-power juuken strikes.

"Winner, Hinata Hyuuga!" Hummingbird announced as Neji slumped to the floor.

"It is a shame that the clan will lose you to Naruto," Neji said as he lay on the ground, "You would have been a worthy heir."

"Thank you, cousin, but remember, even if I am no longer a Hyuuga, we will always be family."

The conversation was cut short by Naruto who got tired of waiting for Hinata to return to the balcony. "You won!" He grabbed her around the waist and twirled her around happily. "I knew you could do it!" He rewarded her victory with a kiss that drew catcalls from Kiba and Kankuro, and a variety, of other reactions.

"Just take me to the infirmary before these to make me sick!" Neji called out. The medics complied and Naruto leapt back up to the balcony with Hinata still in his arms.

A tendril of sand wrapped dangerously around Naruto's ankle and Gaara hissed into his ear, "I have already won both of my matches, I expect to be rewarded accordingly as soon as it will not compromise the mission.

"Anything you want, Gaara-chan," Naruto squeaked nervously at the threat.

"And by the process of elimination, that leaves Sasuke Uchiha to fight Chouji Akamichi, both of Konoha!" Naruto's father announced.

For a moment, it looked as if Chouji would refuse to fight, but a few whispered words from Kakashi convinced him to enter the arena.

"Begin!"

It was a short match. Sasuke had slammed a kunai into Chouji's gut before he could make a single hand-sign. Another was immediately buried in the side of the large boy's neck before Hummingbird interfered and the medics rushed in. Sasuke's eyes were blazing red as dark markings were crawling up the side of his neck. He was dragged out of the arena, followed by the hokage.

"There will be a one hour break for lunch and rest, then the second round will begin," An ANBU announced.