Chapter 49

Sasuke who had watched the match between Naruto and Kiba while using his sharingan, was able to tell even through the smoke that Naruto had won. The force of the takedown had knocked Kiba out as soon as he hit the ground. Clenching his fist Sasuke's lips twitched as he tried to hold his excitement, 'Naruto I really do want to fight you.' he thought as the smoke from the clones disappearance began to clear. 'If their is anyone who I can depend on to get strong enough to push me become stronger, it's you.'

Standing in the arena with a struggling Akamaru in his arms, Naruto looked at the unconscious form of Inuzuka Kiba. Who laid flat on the cracked ground from the fall; his breathing shallow, but noticeable.

"I WON!" he suddenly yelled out and raised the puppy above his head as he spun around, a wide grin on his face. "Sakura-chan, Sasuke! I won, I won!" he called to his team-mates, as he stopped his spinning and faced them.

"Cha!" Sakura yelled as she punched the air. "Naruto you did great!" she congratulated as he face broke into a grinned. Looking at Sasuke, she saw the way he brought his left arm up, his hand still in a fist and gave Naruto a thumps up and a small smile. 'I'm glad they're finally getting along again.' she thought and turned back to Naruto; waving him over so that they could celebrate his victory together.

Nodding Naruto, put Akamaru down and used a another of his kunai to cut him out of his bindings. Akamaru, after being freed hurried over to his friend and partner and licked his face while whining; trying his best to rouse Kiba.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" Hayate called out; making Naruto's win official.

"Hehehehe!" Naruto chuckled and walked towards the stairs; his arms crossed on the back of his head.

Around the arena, a lot of people were either impressed with Naruto's growth or in disbelief about his defeat of Kiba. Who's family taijutsu gave him a distinct advantage in close and mid range combat, so seeing the way Naruto had used his Kage Bushin's and Akamaru to keep Kiba distracted and take the win. Made people wonder on the sort of strategist the boy could become.

"Let's get started with the next match." Hayate called out as the medical team carried Kiba away with Akamaru still trying to rouse him. Behind him the electronic bulletin lit up and the names started being selected at random, before it stopped.

On Hyuga Hinata and Hyuga Neji.


Watching from the other side of the arena, Trunks and Karin had seen the way that Hinata had shied away from her fight with Neji. When he had started talking about destiny and how its set for everyone, that had set off some warning bells for them; specially when the feel of his chakra became embittered with emotion.

"Just how many of these guys had a traumatic childhood?" Karin whispered aloud, as Neji continued to cause Hinata distress.

"Hinata!" Naruto yelled and interrupted Neji. "Don't listen him! I know you win this if you give it your all."

Naruto's words had an incredible effect on Hinata, who had gone from feeling fear and uncertainty; to determined and ready. Taking a stance, she addressed Neji as family and told him that she would give it her all and win no matter what.

The fight had started soon after and the two visitors got treated to sight of the juken in action. From what they could tell, the juken's made up of quick precise strikes to specific parts of the body and, using the smallest amount of movement needed to dodge the opponents attacks and counter.

As the fight dragged on, it was becoming obvious that Neji was playing with the younger girl as he easily dodged or parried her attacks; while making it look as though she could win. He was purposely dragging the fight out to cause the most amount of damage to Hinata; who kept on attacking unaware of what's being done to her. It hadn't taken long afterwards for them to come to understand the effect the juken has on the body and why such precise attacks, are so dangerous.

To Trunks and Karin, it felt as though Hinata's chakra got shut down, and the match started to look as though a civillian was trying to fight off a well-trained martial artist. This was proven true, when with one palm strike with more power than his others; Neji had sent Hinata skidding backwards for ten feet. Leaving her struggling to catch her breath, with sweat accumulating on her brow and blood running down the side of her lips.

"Give up." Neji said as he lowered his arms to his side. "I've already blocked all your chakra path ways, there's no way for you to win."

"N-neji-niisan," Hinata said before she broke into a coughing fit causing blood to fly from her mouth to the floor. "I won't give up, I promised myself that I wouldn't give up no matter what happened, even if it was against you!" she said her voice even more determined than before. Suddenly Karin and Trunks saw something on the older boy's face. It was only there for a second, but they caught it on both his face and his chakra.

Neji was going for the kill.

He had only taken his first step forward when Karin and Trunks moved, each taking a side of his body and grabbed him by his shoulder and arms.

"What?" Neji asked in shock at seeing them appear so quickly beside him. "Let go of me!" he exclaimed as he tried to struggle. "Your not allowed to interfere in our match."

"Shut up!" Karin said and glared at the older boy. "Your her family! Her older brother even. It's your job to protect her not try to take her life yourself!" she stated and pushed him back getting between them.

"Hinata," she said getting a small squeak from the younger girl. "Give up."

"W-what?" Hinata asked and shook her head. "I-i can't give up! I promised that I wouldn't give up no matter what!"

"Don't you get it." Karin replied as she turned her head to her. "If you continue this fight, he's going to kill you!"

"I-i," she stuttered and shook her head, unwilling to give up even when faced with death. But the choice's taken away from her when she collapsed backwards, the adrenaline that had kept her up finally running out. 'No.' she thought as she felt her self lose conciousness. 'I don't want to lose.'

"Hinata!" Naruto yelled as he jumped off the railing with the jonin sensei's not far behind.

Everyone had gathered around the Hyuga heiress as the medical team got called in to attend to her.

"Hmph!" Neji let out as he turned his head away. "I see the heiress from the Hyuga clan is so important that every jonin has to come down here to see if she's alright."

"You bastard!" Naruto yelled and turned from Hinata's prone form. "She's a member of your own family and you treat her as though she was an enemy ninja."

"Family?" Neji asked rhetorically. "While we maybe related by blood the only thing I am to the main branch is a slave to use as they please. I gave her a chance to give up before, but she stubbornly listen to the idiotic cheering of a dead last and fought me regardless."

With growl, Naruto ran forward intending to attack Neji for his words. But stopped, when Lee moved between them with his arm extend and his back to Naruto.

"Naruto-kun," Lee began as he looked at his team-mate and rival with a serious look. "I understand how you feel, and I would like to see a fight between a prodigy and a hard-working dead last. But wait till you fight him officially during the chunin exam, that way you can show the results of all your hard work to everyone."

Backing down reluctantly, Naruto saw Hinata's blood on the floor and bent down to touch it with his right back up, he made a fist and pointed it towards Neji; his eyes set and a determine frown on his face.

"I promise on this blood that I won't lose to you."

"So says the dead last of his academy group." Neji responded with a smirk. "You should understand that your destiny has already been set, if you and I meet in the next part of the exam; I'll win."

"Don't count on that." Sasuke said as he walked up to Naruto. "During the month between the chunin exam; Naruto and I will train together and by that time, I'll make sure he's strong enough to beat you."

"Sasuke!" Naruto stated as he smiled at his friend.

"What concern is this of yours?" Neji asked as the Uchiha. "You've already lost your match, shouldn't you train yourself to make sure not to repeat todays events."

"I just don't want the person I consider my rival to get beaten by last years model." Sasuke replied with a smirk getting a glare in return. "Naruto, let's go back Sakura. We still need to talk to with her."

"Hmm!" Naruto replied with a nod, and once Hinata had been put on the stretcher and taken way followed after his friend.

Back at the railing on their side of the arena, Karin glared from across the arena at Neji, angry at the way he treated Hinata. 'He's her older brother, how can he think about killing her as though she was some stranger out to take his life.' she thought as she brought her hands to the railing and squeezed; causing the metal to bend under her hands. The metal was about to break under her hands when a familiar hand settled on her right shoulder.

"Karin?" Trunks asked and watched as she sigh before letting go of the railings. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she replied. "It's just that seeing Hinata getting attacked by her own flesh and blood really make's me angry; because Ichi-nii would never do that, he would always come to help Yuzu and I when we needed him." she explained as brought her hand up and placed it over his. "I don't know what happened between them, but as an older sibling he's suppose to protect her. Not be the on putting her in danger."

"We could always offer-" he stopped and they both turned their heads to Gaara who's chakra had spiked suddenly.

'He feels just like that thing in Naruto.' Karin sent to Trunks as she felt the change in the boys chakra. 'The hatred, the anger even the blood lust feels the same.'

'Are there more than these two creatures here?' Trunks asked her, wondering if she could detect any more of them from the people around them.

Karin didn't respond for a couple of seconds as she concentrated on finding out. 'No.' she replied, 'Naruto and Gaara are the only one's with them.' she informed him. 'But whatever these things are they're not a part of them.'

'Hmm,' Trunks thought as Ibiki finished cleaning the blood on the arena. 'Hatake-san sealed the bruise on Sasuke's shoulder, so maybe these creatures got sealed into Naruto and Gaara.'

'But why would they want to?' Karin asked, with a frown as she glanced at Gaara who had begun to shake even more.

Coughing once into his hand, Hayate had gotten everyone's attention on him.

"Lets continue with the next matches."


Several hours later, all the matches had concluded and all the participants for the final exam chosen. Once all the genin got dismissed, Sarutobi had called a meeting at the Hokage's mansion, with the sensei's and testers to have them report any information they may have discovered during the a puff from his pipe, Sarutobi let it out as he looked around at all shinobi present.

"Which one of you wants to go first?"

Stepping forward, Kakashi began to report about everything that he's learned. He started with how the sharingan wasn't able to follow Trunks movement when he had attacked Sasuke, and proceeded to tell him about the technique he had used on Sasuke and the bean(sensu) that had healed Sasuke's injuries and restored his chakra. This had gotten a reaction out Gai, who's been depressed about the fate of his student.

"Kakashi!" he said interrupting his long time friend and rival. "Could this sensu heal Lee's injuries? Do you think they would willingly help out?"

"I don't know the sensu's healing abilities." Kakashi responded honestly, knowing that Gai was incredibly worried about Lee. "But Trunks-san doesn't strike me as the type of person who would refuse if you asked him for help."

"Really?" Gai asked his sullen face breaking into a grin. "Do you think he would really help Lee?"

Kakashi nodded, and Gai broke out into to tears as he thanked his rival.

"Kakashi, continue you report." Sarutobi said interrupting Gai's moment.

"Of course." Kakashi replied with a nod and continue to tell them about his meeting with Orochimaru, when he had sealed the curse seal on Sasuke's shoulder. "From what I've gathered, Orochimaru infiltrated the two Kasugakure shinobi as Shiore to gather information on them." explained. "Going after Sasuke was something that he I believe he was already planning from the beginning."

"I can see why Orochimaru would want to get his hands on those sensu, but what else do they have that he would keep himself from attacking them?" Kurenai asked what everyone was thinking.

"Technology." Kakashi answered, getting a confused look from everyone. "Orochimaru talked about how they possessed some sort of flying machine."

This statement had caused the room to become silent. It didn't last long however, as Anko chortled at the idea, "A flying machine?" she asked in disbelief. "Now I know he's just messing with you." she said with a smirk.

"I wish I could be certain." Kakashi responded with a shrug. "The way he spoke of it, made me think he was eager to find out more."

"Hmm." Sarutobi hummed as he took another puff of his pipe. "If Orochimaru's interested, then this technology must exist and we need to confirm its existence." the Hokage concluded as he blew out a wisp of smoke with a frown. "Does anyone have anything else to report?"

"I do." Gai replied his voice serious. "Neji had taken a look at chakra network of both Kasugakure shinobi." He paused, as Kurenai grunted when he mentioned his other student. "He told me that their chakra network is as underdeveloped as a civilians."

"How is that possible?" Asuma asked. "We saw the way the two fought, they were obviously using chakra to fight."

"That's just the thing, he said that while they have under developed chakra networks. Their chakra's spread throughout their whole bodies and surrounds them like an invisible armor." Gai explained with some hand gestures.

"Is there more?" Sarutobi asked, thinking about two specific techniques that uses chakra as a cloak. 'They are obviously not jinchuriki. So, does that mean that Kasugakure has come up with a variant of the Raiton no Yoroi.' he thought as he saw his shinobi shake their heads in the negative. "Then this meeting is over. I'll think of what to do with the information that you have all gathered, your all dismissed."

With that said, they all nodded and headed for the door.

Several minutes of smoking in peace and thinking about what he should do later, Sarutobi made up his mind. "Guards." he said and immediately a pair of anbu appeared in the room, kneeling before the Hokage's desk. "I need you to deliver a message to the elders and Root."


The next day team seven, stood waiting for Kakashi at the bridge were they usually met. Last night after the end of the preliminaries, they had talked about what Sasuke had learned from his meeting with Orochimaru and the training that Kakashi would be supplying. Now waiting around for Kakashi they were trying to decided how they would approach Karin.

"Let's just go up to her and say were sorry!" Naruto suggested as he leaned forward with a smile on his face.

"We don't know where she is." Sakura answered with a shake of her head. "I remember she said she was staying at one of the barracks but I never asked which one."

"No problem!" Naruto responded. "We just need to ask around."

"Not everyone will know where they are." Sasuke said shooting down his suggestion. "We should just wait for Kakashi to get here, he's probably better informed about their location than most people in the village."

"What makes you say that?" Sakura asked as she looked at him curiousity in her eyes.

"Karin and Trunks are taking part in the chunin exam, and they're foreign ninja." he began, getting a nod from them he continued. "I'd say is more than likely that the jonin who're involved with the exam would know the were all shinobi who are in the exams are staying."

"That's a great idea!" Naruto agreed, but suddenly his smile fell. "But Kakashi-sensei is always so late! By the time he gets here they could have probably went off to train."

"I hate to admit it, but Naruto's right." Sakura said with sigh. "If Karin goes of to train for the next part of the exam with Trunks, then all our waiting will be for nothing."

Contemplating what they just talked about, team seven fell silent as they thought about another way to get in contact with the girl.

"I got it!" Naruto shouted as he brought his hands to his hips and threw his head back with a laugh. "We'll just ask the old man, since he's the Hokage he's bound to know something."

"It sounds like good idea," Sakura began a little hesitant. "But are you sure they will let us talk to the Hokage?"

"Sure!" he answered with nod. "I went to see the old man all the time before I was a genin."

"Now, now." Kakashi's voiced said from above them. "Hokage-sama has been busy with the arrangements for the exam. So I would prefer if you didn't disturb him."

"Your early!" Naruto and Sakura yelled in surprised as they pointed at him.

"Yo!" Kakashi answered as he jumped from the top of the bridges support. "So who's ready to start training?" he asked with smile.

"About that," Sasuke began as he pushed off the bridges railing. "We want to talk to Karin before we begin."

"Hmm." Kakashi hummed as he pretended to ponder his request. "Well I suppose there's no harm in that, let's go to the hospital." he said as he turned and started heading in its general direction.

"Why are they in the hospital?" Naruto asked as he and the rest of team seven followed.

"Gai and I went to see if Trunks-san would offer one of his sensu's to Lee." Kakashi answered causing them to quite down, as they remembered the events of last nights battle.

"How is Lee-san?" Sakura asked as they walked down their usual path.

"Not well." Kakashi answered with a sigh. "The break on his arm and leg was very sever and his bones may never heal properly." he explained. "The doctors said he's going to have to give up being a shinobi."

"That's awful." Sakura said as her eyes widen. "Being a shinobi is everything Lee-san has wanted to become."

"Damn it!" Naruto said as he clenched his teeth. "That damn Gaara, he didn't have to go so far just to win."

While his two team-mates were thinking about the predicament that Lee's found himself in Sasuke thought about the effect of the sensu bean on his body. "Do you think the sensu will heal Lee's bones?" he asked getting Naruto and Sakura's attention.

"You tell me." Kakashi stated as he turned his head to look at Sasuke. "Other than Trunks-san and likely Karin-san as well, you're the only person who's eaten a sensu."

Sasuke saw as his team looked at him expectantly, wanting to know if he has the answer they wanted.

"I don't know." Sasuke responded after a couple of seconds. "But I do know that when I ate it, I felt as though all my exhaustion banished and all my bruises where gone." he explained before continuing. "I also haven't gotten hungry since I ate it."

"Then let's just hope the sensu works as advertise." Kakashi commented as they enter the populated area of the village and filed Sasuke comment about not being hungry away.