Chapter 36: The Preliminaries (Part 1)

"Now, if there is anyone present who would wish to resign from the preliminaries, this would be the time to do so."

Naruto twisted his head around and gazed at the collection of teams that had also managed to make it to the tower. Anko-neechan hadn't been kidding. The Forest of Death had certainly lived up to its reputation. Overall, only nine teams had been able to push through the forest and acquire both scrolls.

The presence of Team Gai didn't surprise him in the least. Based on what Sasuke and Hinata had told him about Lee and Neji, it had probably been a breeze for them to reach the tower after they had stolen their scroll. His stare lingered on Neji long enough for the two to share a short glaring contest, and he was sure to give the Sound team the same treatment.

He noted one of the two teams from Waterfall had managed to make it, if only by the skin of their teeth if their torn attire was any indicator. The Kumo team he had offered to help was also present, but their third teammate was suspiciously missing. He noted that Kabuto's team was also missing a member. His gaze lingered over the team from Suna, but he quickly looked away as he felt the red haired boy from the forest notice his stare.

What truly surprised him was that all three of the rookie teams had somehow managed to make it. He didn't know if their training was anywhere near the level that his team had gone through, but he was anxious to see the results nonetheless.

"Last chance." The Hokage mused as he stared into each of the faces of the genin, looking for any crack in resolve.

After another minute of silence, he smiled and nodded towards Hayate.

"Alright then, let's get this show on the road. " Hayate droned, "Direct your attention to the video board as we randomly generate the matchups."

Naruto felt a familiar excitement rise up in his chest at the thought of fighting in front of so many people for the purpose of creeping closer to his ultimate goal. So he felt disappointed when neither of the two names on the screen was his.

Sasuke Uchiha vs. Yoroi Akado

Sasuke felt his chest swirling with excitement, and Hayate began directing everyone else up the stairs towards the balcony.

"Alright teme. Don't you dare lose on me, I'm expecting to see you in the finals!" Naruto said as he shot him a grin.

"The same goes for you dobe. Nobody gets to beat you but me," he replied with a smirk of his own.

"Now, now boys. Save it for later. Best of luck, Sasuke-kun. We'll be cheering for you," Hinata cheered and the two of them began making their way towards the stairs.

Kakashi chose to linger and waited until the two were out of earshot before whispering, "Have you had any problems?"

"None so far," he replied as he rubbed his shoulder, "Hinata and Naruto sparred with me a little earlier and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how well the dobe's seal holds up."

Kakashi nodded and gave him one last thumbs up, before lazily making his own way towards the balcony. Sasuke gave the retreating form of his team one last look before turning to face his bespectacled opponent.

Besides the bruises he had received from his encounter from the sannin, he honestly felt great. The spot on his shoulder where the seal was felt incredibly sore, but other than that he was raring to go. Whatever the dobe had done, it was working wonders. The feelings of nausea and grime he had felt during his first day after being marked were almost completely gone.

He cracked his neck and dropped into his stance as he stared down his opponent. Hayate nodded at both the genin and raised his hand to signal them to start.

Sasuke smirked as his eyes flashed red, and he shot off towards his opponent.

"Well that was a little disappointing," Naruto murmured as he leaned against the rail. He stared down at the unconscious form of Sasuke's opponent, and sighed as Sasuke was declared the winner.

The match had taken less than four minutes, two of which were spent by the other guy shouting off some exposition about his jutsu. Without the curse seal holding him back, Sasuke had torn the guy apart in taijutsu, and Yoroi's peculiar ability to drain chakra barely even fazed him. He had plenty of experience with that by sparring with Hinata. The guy was certainly above average, but then again, so was everyone else in the room.

"You couldn't have made it more interesting?" he whined as Sasuke joined them on the balcony.

"Not my fault if I'm paired with a weak opponent. I just hope I have better luck in the next round. I actually want this to be interesting."

"Careful what you wish for," Kakashi mused as they watched Shikamaru and the girl from Sound make their way towards the floor. "Here's an easy lesson you kids should take to heart: never tempt fate. She tends to be stingy."

As the match got underway, Naruto leaned in towards Sasuke and whispered, "How did the seal do? It didn't look like there were any problems."

"None whatsoever. Turns out you can do something when you put your mind to it."

Naruto smirked and they both turned their attention back to the fight below them.

The next few matches seemed to fly by. Team Seven had collectively flinched at the sight of Zaku blowing his arms apart, and all three were shocked by Temari's brutal defeat of the girl from Team Gai.

"That was a bit harsh," Naruto said as he watched the paramedics whisk Tenten off of the floor. He unconsciously rubbed his lower back as he imagined how rough that final landing must have been.

"Indeed," Gai mused behind him, "but this should serve as an important lesson for her. She may not become a chunin today, but what she will have learned will be just as important. Better for her to discover this weakness now, rather than out in the field of battle."

"Gai-sensei! I will be sure to fight twice as hard! When the matches are over, we will be proud to tell her that Neji and I have moved on to the finals! She will be with us in fighting spirit!" Lee boomed as he gave Gai a salute.

"Well said, Lee!" Gai boomed with a smile, "Now all of you should pay close attention. This next match is going to be quite interesting."

Surprised by his change in tone, Team Seven and Lee turned their attention back to the floor as the genin from Waterfall and Kumo stood across from each other.

"Alright, now are you two ready?" Hayate coughed out, glancing between the two.

"All set!" the boy from Waterfall exclaimed as he stretched his right arm across his chest.

The white haired boy from Kumo simply nodded from behind his grey scarf.

"Alright then. Begin." Hayate drawled out as he brought his hand down.

There was a flash of light and a loud crack filled the room. Dust filled the air and the observers could only look on, dumbfounded, at the new sight before them. The Kumo-nin was now where his opponent had stood, with his fist outstretched. Across the room was the unconscious form of the Waterfall genin, embedded deep within the concrete wall.

Sasuke could only stutter as he tried to comprehend what they had just seen. "What…what the hell was that?"

"Well… isn't that interesting?" Kakashi murmured, drawing his attention.

Sasuke turned and was thankful to see that Hinata looked just as lost as he was. What did surprise him was the similar look on Lee, Naruto, and Neji's faces.

"Did you catch that too?" Naruto murmured to Lee.

"Just barely," Lee somberly replied.

"That's insane," Naruto muttered as he watched the medical staff attempt to pry the Waterfall genin from the wall.

"Care to explain what the hell just happened dobe?"

"Well…he hit him," he replied bluntly.

"Gee thanks. Could you be a little more specific?"

"That guy… was just ridiculously fast," was his only response.

"But there was something else too," Neji finally chimed in.

"Agreed. Did you see what he did with his chakra?" Naruto asked, temporarily forgetting his strife with the older genin.

"He was spreading it all over his body. It was barely there for a second, but his chakra system flashed from blue to white."

Fed up with their cryptic discussion, Sasuke leaned towards Hinata.

"Would you care to explain?"

"I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun, but I didn't have my byakugan activated. I didn't witness what Neji-niisan saw."

Sasuke cursed himself for his stupidity as a realization swept over him. He should have been using his sharingan. Not only could he have seen what was going on, but he also could have potentially copied whatever technique the boy had just used.

He glared across room to the other balcony as the Kumo-nin leaned back against the wall.

The spiky haired genin closed his eyes as his more talkative teammate yammered on and on beside him.

"That Ehl guy is something else," Naruto murmured, gaining several grunts of agreement. They were shaken from their stupor by the ringing of the monitor board, as the names once again began to spin.

"Come on! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEEAAASE!" Naruto whined as the yellow lights flashed through the names of the remaining combatants.

"Patience Naruto. You'll have your turn," Kakashi chuckled placing a hand on head.

"I know sensei, but I'm just so excited! Ohhh! Who is it going to be?"

Hinata was wondering the same thing. She held her hands to her chest as she painstakingly watched the numbers act out their roulette. After several agonizing seconds, her eyes widened as her name finally flashed across the board.

Hinata Hyuuga vs. Kabuto Yakushi

"Alright Hinata! You're up next!" Naruto exclaimed as he slapped her on the back.

"Y-yes," she murmured as she let out a sigh of relief. It felt like a massive weight had been lifted off her shoulders. With the looming presence of her cousin and that red-haired boy from Suna in the room, she had been terrified of who she could have potentially been paired up with.

"Hinata?" Kakashi said, drawing her attention. He placed a hand on her shoulder and offered her one of his patented eye smiles. "I have full confidence in you. Go out there and do your best."

She smiled up at him as Naruto swung his arm around her shoulder. "She's going to kick butt! Now go on down there and try to go easy on him. You got this in the bag! Right teme?"

Sasuke smirked, but gave her an approving nod.

She giggled at their antics. They were just too supportive. With a final good luck, she began making her way downstairs.

Across the room, Kabuto watched their interaction with mild interest. His eyes swept along the balcony until he locked eyes with a Konoha jounin leaning against the wall at the end of the room.

The man's toothy smirk and nod drew him back to his conversation before entering the tower.

"Did you accomplish you objectives, Orochimaru-sama?" he asked as his master emerged from the shadows.

"To varying degrees of success. I was quite pleased with Sasuke-kun's performance, and I granted him the mark; however, the Hyuuga was able to escape without my gift."

"Really? I'm surprised a genin was able to escape from you."

"It appears that entire team is full of surprises," he chuckled as the memory of that yellow flash of light echoed in his mind. "We might have to keep an eye on the jinchuuriki as well. Make sure that the Uzumaki boy is also being monitored."

"Consider it done. Are there any other changes to the plan?"

"Yes, actually," Orochimaru replied as he turned to face him, "I no longer want you to excuse yourself from the preliminaries."

"Of course, but why, if I may ask?"

"Despite our interaction in the forest, I didn't get as good a look into Hinata-chan's progress as I would like. Her potential intrigues me to no end, especially if she has truly unlocked the Hyuuga's little secret. I will make the necessary adjustments so that you will face her in the preliminaries."

"As you wish, my lord."

"Good. Oh, this is getting fun," he cackled as he turned to face towards the tower, "Just imagine it, Kabuto. Being able to decipher both the Uchiha stone tablet and Hyuuga stone ring. The ultimate secrets of the clans directly linked to the Sage himself."

"I'm sure it will prove fruitful," Kabuto chuckled, "Before I forget, I also met with our contact within the Hyuuga before the exams. They had a rather peculiar request."

"Really now?"

"They were interested if you would allow them to study Sasuke's body after you are forced to switch out of it. She isn't bothered if you keep the eyes, but she offered a new shipment of fresh byakugan in exchange."

"Let her know I shall consider it. Also tell her that she is free to access our base along the Southern border if he wishes. I know she is getting close with her pet project, and the tools there should help speed things along. If Hinata-chan proves herself in your match, her research could prove valuable."

"As you wish, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru smirked before pausing and gazing off to the East. A sinister grin started plastering itself across his face as a familiar presence entered the range of his senses. It seems they found the bodies.

"Start heading towards the tower. I will meet you after the matches are complete. I believe it has been too long since my old student and I last had a chat."

"I wish you the best of luck, Kabuto-san," Hinata bowed before slipping into her jyuuken stance.

A smile plastered across his face as her returned a small bow of his own.

"To you as well Hinata-sama. May our match truly push us to our limits."

'Or at least to yours'

Hayate gave the signal and Hinata dashed off towards her opponent, striking the first blow against the older genin.

Kabuto definitely beat her in size and in physical strength, but his lankiness made him more open for her short, precise strikes, which Hinata took advantage of in full force. As they exchanged blows, her fingers danced across his skin, leaving a trail of red welts in their wake. A tap here, two jabs there, and she finally started to notice his movements growing slower.

'Good. His right arm should be completely locked up by now,' she jumped back to prepare her next kata. She paused and steadied her hands, before diving back towards him.

She spun a fake out to his left, before launching a kick towards his right side.

She was caught off guard as his hands shot up and caught her kick with ease. He smirked as he tightened his grip and tossed her across the room.

She spun in mid-air and crashed onto her knees. She slid to a halt and stared up at the boy, who casually smiled at her, with a hand on his hip.

'What's going on? The muscles in his arm should have been completely locked up.'

"I'm sorry, Hinata-sama, but you're going to have to do better than that," the boy smiled, adjusting his glasses.

She narrowed her eyes as she brought her hands into a hand seal.

"Byakugan!" she cried as the world turned grayscale and the chakra systems of everyone in the room lit up bright blue.

She was surprised by the state of his arm, or rather, the lack thereof. It was completely unscathed, as if nothing had even happened.

"Well, if you won't come to me, I guess I'll have to come to you," he said before launching at her.

She blocked his initial kick, and parried away his oncoming jabs and punches as she searched for an opening.

She knocked up an incoming blow and lashed out with a quick strike to his chest, only for her palm to be caught in his larger hands. As her chakra flooded his tenketsu, he smiled and raised his other arm and shot his flattened palm towards her chest. Her eyes widened at his sudden increase in speed, but she just managed to catch the strike with her free hand.

Immediately, she gasped in pain as she felt the tendons in her hand being torn apart. Tears stung her eyes as she planted her foot on his chest and kicked off of him.

Kabuto made no attempt to follow her as she landed a safe distance away.

He raised his eyebrows as a green glow he was all too familiar with enveloped her free hand.

"Oho. So you are versed in medical ninjutsu as well. I'm quite impressed Hinata-sama. Our art is a practice that is sadly underutilized in the shinobi world. Your interest in the subject says a lot about your personality and intelligence. You should be commended."

Through his speech, she fought back tears as she mended the torn tissue. With her byakugan, she could make out the distinct shape of the chakra scalpels jutsu surrounding his hand.

What really surprised her was the activity going on in the tenketsu of his right palm. She could literally see it shrinking back to its normal size as the foreign chakra was expelled from the system.

"How are you doing that? Your body is somehow recovering from the effects of the jyuuken."

"Call it a specialty of mine. Due to my vast experience in medical ninjutsu, I have developed a technique that keeps my body in a constant state of alert. Once it detects any damage, it begins healing the injury immediately without needing a thought."

Hinata inwardly cursed as she rose back to her feet. She flexed her throbbing hand and started wrapping it in bandages from her bag.

As she rolled the bindings around her palm, she quietly studied her opponent. No questions about it. The first thing she had to do was find a way to overcome his healing factor. If she couldn't, any damage she could possibly inflict would be mute.

She was tempted to simply use her Lion Fang technique to drain away at his chakra for his technique certainly had to use up a lot, but her byakugan revealed that he had the reserves to keep it going for a long time. In fact, it surprised her just how big his reserves actually were. While she was used to seeing monumental amounts of chakra due to being around Naruto, Kabuto's were ridiculously large for a genin. They were almost the size of Kakashi-sensei's!

She grit her teeth as she eyed the razor sharp blade of chakra protruding from his hands. She was also not too keen on getting too close to him again after the revelation of his use of chakra scalpels. It would only take a simply tap or brush against his hands, and her tendons and muscles could be shredded to pieces. While he had yet to truly prove it, for some reason she suspected that he was holding back. Whether it was out of sympathy or contempt, she didn't know, but she could tell that he could probably out-speed her if he really tried.

'Time to test that healing ability,' she thought as she began dashed towards him flying through hand signs.

When she was within five feet, she cried out, "Suiton: Pressure Stream!"

Due to the distance between them, it was all Kabuto could do to dive out of the way to evade the raging stream of water. The pencil-thin stream followed his tragectory, and he winced as it slashed above his ribs.

She was in on him in a heartbeat, pulling out a kunai, and slashing at his arm. He twisted, managing to reduce the slash into a light cut. In annoyance, he lashed out with a speed greater than she could follow and sliced his invisible blade through her left arm.

Hinata cried out in in pain as she landed and jumped back, cradling her arm to her chest.

Kabuto tried to hide his growing irritation as his body got to work repairing the damage. It was truly difficult for him to hold himself back to such extents. He had to be careful. Under the watchful eye of the Hokage and some of the greatest jounin Konoha had ever produced, the tiniest slip up in performance would arouse some suspicions.

Hinata landed on her knees and fought through the pain as she studied the injuries on his arm and chest begin to heal themselves. She noted how the deeper cut on his chest was taking longer than the shallow cut on his arm. It made sense. The greater the injury, the more chakra and time it took to heal it.

'I need to inflict a major injury. Nothing life threatening, but enough to push his ability to its limit. If I can manage it, it should slow him down and drain at his chakra.'

She grit her teeth as her chakra got to work repairing the damage.

'But its not like he's just going to let me do that. He's faster than me, and its even more difficult with his chakra scalpels thrown into the mix. I need something that can give me some kind of edge. The jyuuken may slow him down for a couple of seconds before he recovers, but I need something that will last through the match.'

"What should she do sensei?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not sure. That pesky healing ability of his seems to be quite challenging for her to overcome, especially since her technique involves shutting down the body," Kakashi replied.

He folded his arms as he glanced down at his male students. "This is the danger of battling a medical ninja. Many people dismiss them out of hand due to the connotation of their name, and they end up regretting it. Hotheaded shinobi prefer the flashiness of explosive jutsu, but being able inflict lacerations to your opponent's muscles and nervous system with just a simple touch is just as, if not, more effective. Including their nasty tendency to heal any injury, whether it is theirs or their comrade's, you have a devastating enemy who can swing the tide of any mission."

As her jutsu finished its work, Hinata raised her head and caught eyes with the older genin. He was still standing in place, offering her that same, off-putting smile as he adjusted his glasses, which caused her to pause.

'That's it!'

Her eyes darted across his body as her plan started to fall into place.

'He may be able to quickly overcome the jyuuken's effect, but it will shut him down for at least a few seconds. Hopefully that will be enough.'

Kakashi leaned in as he watched his student rise to her feet, a new, steely resolve flaring in her eyes.

'She's got something. C'mon Hinata. Let's see what you've cooked up."

She brought her hands together and cried out, "Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Five puffs of smoke erupted next to her and Kabuto was greeted to a line of Hinata scowling at him as they each drew out their kunai. The original reached into her bag and threw down a smoke bomb, enveloping herself and her clones in the purple cloud.

'Simple illusions are all fun and games, but that level of jutsu is not going to be enough, Hinata-sama. I'm starting to think Orochimaru believes in your ability a bit too much,' Kabuto smirked as the wall of clones raced towards him.

'She's obviously not in the front. The first is always the distraction, which means the true one is either the third or fourth,' he thought as he slowly reached for his own kunai.

He ignored the first, and glancing behind its shoulder towards the approaching group. He prepared to let the intangible image pass through his body, but winced in astonishment as the muscles along his arm and shoulder began to cramp and tense up.

His eyes shot wide open as he stared down into the fierce, byakugan eyes right in front of him.

'She tricked me! She actually tricked me!' he thought in genuine surprise.

He was too slow to recover as she quickly jabbed at his other arm, momentarily disabling it. As his healing factor kicked into effect, she use what little time she had to swipe up with her kunai.

'Now! While he can't mold his chakra scalpels!'

Coming back to his senses, Kabuto leaned back to evade her attack. As he jerked back, his glasses lifted shortly off of his face. Her eyes narrowed and she twisted her kunai, changing its trajectory. With one swift motion, she cleanly sliced his glasses in half.

Kabuto growled as he felt his body fully expel the chakra in his tenketsu. He slashed out at her only to be met with air, as she ducked and darted away.

'Very clever, Hinata. She knows he's faster and physically stronger than she is, so she decided to impede his sight to give her an advantage. Nicely done,' Kakashi thought as he smiled down at his student.

'I did it! I need to keep up the pressure!'

She reached into her kunai pouch and threw down three more smoke pellets. Kabuto only smirked as the purple smoke began to surround him.

"I'm sorry, Hinata-sama, but if you think this little show will give you an advantage then you are surely mistaken."

He stood completely still as Hinata disappeared into smoke. He lightly snorted and closed his eyes, losing himself in his other senses.

"A good shinobi does not just rely on their eyes. Even if yours are far superior than most, it is a weakness to realy so heavily on one thing. A shinobi must be able to utilize all of their senses, such as smell or…"

He whipped around, grabbing Hinata by her throat, and slammed her into the ground, knocking the wind from her lungs.

"Sound."

He placed a knee on her chest and held his hand above her face, his chakra scalpels flaring to life.

"Submit. I would rather not have to make this messy."

Hinata squirmed under his weight and thrust something up in his face. It took a second for him to recognize the shape, and when he did, it was too late. His eyes widened as the tags began to glow, making his blood run cold.

'Exploding Tags!'

He leapt away at his full speed, putting as much distance as he could between the blast radius and himself.

As he shot of the smoke and after several seconds, he was surprised and stunned by the lack of an explosion. As it finally sunk in, he began to chuckle as he realized that he had been fooled.

"That was a very clever use of genjutsu Hinata-sama. Very well done," he called out.

The smoke began to clear away, revealing Hinata on one knee, fighting to regain her breath.

She was getting nowhere and she knew it. Even after removing his glasses, it barely slowed him down. She needed to find a way to overload his senses, so she could have a chance to get in and disable his body.

Naruto and Sasuke grit their teeth as their hands gripped the handrails.

"That was too close," Sasuke muttered, "She's lucky he fell for her bluff."

C'MON HINATA! YOU CAN DO IT!" Naruto shouted.

Kabuto was starting to get bored of this, and decided she needed to start stepping up her game. If Orochimaru-sama was going to invest time into her, she needed to start proving she was far more capable than this. He shot off towards her, forcing her to start weaving through multiple hand signs.

She took a deep breath and formed a massive swell of chakra in her gut as she shot off a large water bullet at the ground in front of Kabuto.

He leapt through the splash of water, and was on her in seconds. He reared back and kicked at her prone form only to stumble through thin air as the henge faded away. He slid to a stop and turned around just as a kunai flew past his face.

His instinct as a shinobi flared in his mind, and he caught a kunai heading straight towards his face by the handle. A sizzling noise caught his attention, and he realized his mistake too late as the tag tied to the kunai lit up.

The flashbang went off right in his face causing him to scream as his visual and auditory senses were completely overloaded.

Hinata rushed at him with as much energy as she could with her kunai in hand. She slashed numerous times across his chest, dodging out of the way of his flailing arms.

He spun around to deliver a kick, which she easily ducked under. She crossed her arms and slashed the kunai across his chest one last time.

She let the kunai clatter to the floor as she began pumping chakra into her hands until they were glowing bright blue.

"8 Trigrams: 64 Palm Guard!" she cried out as the net of sharp chakra slammed into his chest.

He cried out as the tiny blades of chakra shred across his skin. As fast as his healing factor was, it was being pushed to its absolute limit as the needle like threads bombarded his body.

She finally halted her rotation and delivered one final hit to his chest, sending him flying across the room into the wall.

He slammed into the concrete and fell to the ground as blood seeped from his chest.

He growled as he struggled to his feet, but froze as a kunai landed next to his face with a tag attacked by a string.

"This time that exploding tag is real, Kabuto-san. Please submit. I would rather not make this messy," she cheekily replied, echoing his earlier comment.

Kabuto spat out some blood and glanced up at the balcony at his master. He could see the excitement dancing in his eyes, and took his growing smile for his satisfaction.

'She is lucky Kabuto held himself back to such an extent. I'm sure he won't be as forgiving the next time they cross paths,' Orochimaru thought as Kabuto raised his hand to surrender.

"Kabuto Yakushi has forfeited the match. The winner is Hinata Hyuuga," Hayate called out, which received a rambunctious applause from Naruto.

"Way to go Hinata! You did it!" he cried as he jumped down and enveloped her in a big hug.

Despite the cloud of steam erupting from her ears from embarrassment, a warm feeling of content washed over her body.

She had done it. She had made it through the preliminaries.

Author's Notes:

AND WE ARE BACK! Finally! My laptop is fixed and I am ready to go! While it was an inconvenience, it did create a nice relaxing period over winter break, but now it's time to get back to work.

Also, apologies if there are any discrepancies with this chapter. It's been a few weeks now and it may be a chapter or two before I'm back up to my usual standard.

I hope you enjoyed this clash of medical jutsu users.

Review Corner:

These are going to be pretty empty for the next few chapters to save space, but they shall resume after we are caught up.