A/N: Angry as this might make some of you, I'm not editing chapter 19. If you don't like it, don't read it. Nobody's forcing you
Time for chapter 20
Enjoy!
Kakashi frowned to himself as he watched his students from afar. They were all within the tower that stood in the center of the Forest of Death, meaning that they had survived the second phase. They had made fairly good time considering what had occured in the forest. In fact, they had been the second of five teams to arrive. The majority of the teams that had survived the first phase of the exams had also survived the second phase.
'Even if they made it here physically alright, Naruto isn't in a great place, and Hinata is more than a little confused as to why she was marked. It just doesn't add up. Sasuke I can understand, but Hinata? What is he angling for?' the jonin wondered to himself. He then removed his forehead protector from his sharingan and focused it on Hinata's neck, where the mark had been left by Orochimaru.
'The chakra contained in that seal is nasty. It's nowhere near as bad as Sasuke's, but still not good' he thought to himself. As he considered the various trials and tribulations his team had encountered in the forest, he was joined by Anko.
"You're worried about the girl, aren't you?" she asked. Kakashi nodded and sighed heavily as he covered his sharingan once more.
"I know that there isn't much I could have done to prevent this, Orochimaru would have hung me out to dry even if I had somehow been there to help, but I still feel terrible. On top of that, Naruto's been beside himself since then" he said. Anko frowned.
"What do you plan to do about the curse mark? Think carefully" she asked. The silver haired ninja thought for a moment before replying.
"I should probably seal it myself. Both she and Sasuke, for that matter" he responded. To his surprise, Anko shook her head.
"If you want her to get her ass handed to her in the prelims, go right ahead. The sealing procedure will take a lot out of her. If Sasuke were healthy, I would agree with him being sealed, because he's strong enough from the get-go to handle one of the weaker genin in a compromised state. Hinata is stronger than a few of the people here without access to her Byakugan, but not Naruto" she said. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"You know about that, huh?" he said, earning a chuckle from the exam proctor. She sighed and looked out over to Team Seven, which seemed to be in the middle of a discussion.
"Why do you want them fighting each other, Kakashi? Be honest" she asked. Kakashi chewed the inside of his lip absently as he gathered his words.
"I won't go into detail, but a quiet, detrimental conflict has been raging between them for a few weeks now. Especially on Hinata's end. Honestly, I'm not all that sure Naruto is aware of what goes on behind that mask she wears. He's seen what lies beyond it a few times, but those occasions have done more to confuse him than anything else" he said. Anko frowned.
"And how would having them fight in front of an audience solve anything?" she asked skeptically. Kakashi shifted in place.
"They have differences to sort out, and an ego needs to be tamed. The only way to solve this problem once and for all is for them to blow off some steam. Sparring hasn't worked, and neither has competitive running. This wasn't my first choice, but I feel that it's necessary" he said. Anko remained silent for several seconds before speaking again.
"As a person who's been under the influence of the curse mark, I can tell you that this may actually make things worse. You aren't yourself, or, to be more exact, you're too much yourself. Everything you bury, everything you hide from those around you, it all comes flooding to the surface. Beyond the natural energy, that's what fuels the seal. Raw, brutal emotion" she said. The silver haired ninja gave her a tired look.
"You know, it was your suggestion that I not suppress the seal" he pointed out. The proctor shrugged and began to fidget with a kunai.
"You either let her fight and watch her use Naruto as a psychological punching bag, or you deal with the Hyuga Elders for weakening her. They will find out, and they won't see the logic. They're too damn proud for that" she said. Kakashi snorted.
"I can deal with those senile fools. They're about as threatening as a crippled house cat" he said bluntly. Anko launched the kunai she had been playing with into the ceiling.
"You may be able to, but Hinata can't. Those old coots will find a way to punish her for being 'weak' enough to let herself be marked in the first place" she said.
"Her father is a reasonable man. I doubt that would happen" Kakashi countered. Anko shrugged again and produced another kunai.
"Maybe, maybe not. The elders can override his wishes if they're in a bad mood. Is that a coin you want to flip?" she asked. The jonin considered her argument for a moment before turning to leave.
"No, it isn't. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go deal with Sasuke's mark" he said before vanishing in a puff of smoke. After a moment or two of silence, Anko looked back to Team Seven and frowned.
'At least one of your is going to become a chunin. Not sure who, but I do know one thing for sure. It's going to be ugly'
Naruto yawned as he dragged himself into the gathering area of the tower. The surviving teams had been given eight hours to sleep, and all those with any sense at all had taken the opportunity. The blonde had managed to sleep for six of the eight hours after taking two to fall asleep. Hinata had done much the same, but sleep had been instant for the Hyuga heiress. The only person on Team Seven that did not sleep was Shikamaru, who insisted on keeping watch while they slept despite the safety of their location.
"You might want to wake up a bit, Naruto-san. The combat phase is about to begin" Hinata, who was walking alongside him, said. Despite her words, her tone held just as much exhaustion as the blonde's would had he been speaking.
"What do you mean? Don't we have a few weeks before we have to fight?" Naruto asked skeptically. The Hyuga heiress shook her head and gestured to the small crowd of genin in the room.
"From what I've heard, when there are five or more teams, a preliminary round of combat is carried out. There are six teams in this room. We have to fight, and soon at that" she explained, eliciting a groan from both Naruto and Shikamaru.
"And here I thought I'd have time to prepare" the blonde grumbled as he turned his attention to the front of the crowd, where Hayate, one of the exam proctors, was waiting patiently. After several moments, the room fell silent, allowing for Hayate to speak.
"Congratulations on surviving the forest, everybody. Really, you should be proud of yourselves. Don't start celebrating yet, though. You still have one, or rather, two phases left. Due to the fairly large number of you in here, we're going to be hosting several preliminary rounds before the actual combat phase begins. The losers of these prelim matches will be ejected from the exam, and they will be forced to come back next year" he began. A murmur rippled through the group of genin at his words.
"We don't have much time to waste. Now, as you can see, there are balconies on either side of this room. All of you please make your way to them" Hayate ordered. The genin all nodded and ascended the stairs leading up into the viewing platforms. Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru arrived on the balcony last due to Shikamaru tripping twice on his way up. Hayate then positioned himself in the middle of the large room, aligned with the large statue near the wall.
"I didn't think Hokage-sama would attend the preliminary round of the exams. I suppose it could serve as added motivation" Hinata commented. Sarutobi was, as she had said, standing near Hayate. He said several words to the proctor before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Naruto chuckled and gave his teammate a humorous look.
"Guess not" he teased. Hinata sighed and directed her attention back to Hayate, who was once again awaiting the silence of the genin.
"Direct your attention to the screen up above. It will tell you who's fighting who, so pay attention. All of the matchups are...random" he said, pausing strangely before the final word. The genin all nodded and looked to the screen with bated breath as a roulette of names scrolled by at blinding speeds. After several moments, the two slots in which names would be placed were occupied.
"The first match will be between Shikamaru Nara of Konohagakure and Kin Tsuchi of Otogakure. Would both participants please make their way down to the floor, please?" Hayate announced.
"And of course, I'm up first, fighting a girl. Fucking wonderful" the lazy genin muttered under his breath, earning a hard look from Hinata.
"Watch your language" she scolded as he made his way down the stairway. He was soon followed by the genin from Otogakure. After both combatants had arrived on the floor-level, Hayate had them stand across from one another on opposite sides of the enormous room.
"How long do you think this lasts?" Naruto asked. Before Hinata could respond, a puff of smoke appeared behind them.
"Less than five minutes. Count on it" Kakashi, who had just arrived, said confidently. The blonde glanced over his shoulder.
"Took you long enough. I'll say that it takes him ten minutes" he said. The Hyuga girl furrowed her eyebrows and glanced down at the lower level, where Shikamaru and Kin were receiving their instructions.
"How can the two of you be so sure? We know very little about this girl" she said. Kakashi snorted and made his way to the railing, which he began to lean on.
"Shikamaru is almost impossible to beat if you can't just overpower him. He's the smartest person in this room. He'll run mental circles around her once he gets going. Though, that might take awhile" he said. Naruto nodded in agreement. Hinata decided to quit arguing and opted to focus her energy on the upcoming match.
"Now, since you're both ready, you may begin!" Hayate called out loudly. Shikamaru, as expected, took no immediate action. Instead, he simply began to walk forward at his foe, who had drawn a handful of senbon needles.
"If you're going to use those, make it quick. This fight's gonna be slow as hell if we both try to make reads and all that junk" Shikamaru said tiredly, earning a hard glare from Kin.
"Well, since you asked so nicely…" she said. The Oto genin then unleashed a barrage of Senbon, several of which had bells attached to them. Shikamaru deflected the majority of the needles with a kunai and dodged those that he could not knock aside.
"That all?" he asked. Kin growled and stepped back, prompting the shadow user to charge forward and snap her head back with a hard punch between her eyes. Before he could build on his success, a ringing sound echoed through the room, causing him to freeze.
"Does that answer your question?" Kin asked as Shikamaru struggled to move. The Oto girl then produced another bell and flicked it, producing another ringing sound that caused the lazy genin to see triple.
"What...is this?" Shikamaru growled as he struggled to regain his balance and move. The Oto girl grinned and launched a storm of senbon into his paralyzed body, eliciting a cry of pain from the Nara.
"Auditory genjutsu. A favorite of mine, actually. I hope you like it too" she goaded as Shikamaru forced himself to his feet and took a shaky step forward. In response to his movement, Kin stepped back.
'She keeps backing up whenever I move forward. She probably needs to be a certain distance away from me for the sound to ring the right way. In other words, I need to pressure. No matter what' he thought to himself. Ignoring the searing pain in his limbs from the multiple puncture wounds, the Nara leapt forward and swung his kunai at one of the three Kin's in front of him. The blade passed right through the image, meaning that he had aimed for one of the genjutsu-induced after-images.
'God, I probably look so stupid right now. Just swinging at air' her thought to himself as he continued to miss with strikes, usually being paid back with a new puncture wound each time he missed.
'This sucks'
"Well, this probably won't last more than five minutes. I guess we were right, Kakashi-sensei" Naruto said with a grimace as his teammate waded through wave after wave of needles. Hinata pulled out her pocket watch and look at it.
"Three minutes and seventeen seconds have passed since the beginning of this match. Should he last another two minutes, he'll have proven you both wrong" she said. Kakashi shook his head and smiled at the crude, but potentially effective tactic Shikamaru was employing against Kin.
"Give it a minute. He's slowly but surely working his way towards winning this fight all at once" he assured, earning looks of confusion from his students.
"If this strategy of his involves getting stabbed with more senbon than I did when I died, then he's doing a great job" Naruto said sarcastically. Hinata nodded in agreement.
"I agree with Naruto-san. This is going nowhere quickly" she said. The jonin smirked and looked back at the genin.
"Tell me, what's different about their positioning now as opposed to how it was before?" he asked. Hinata scanned the battlefield for a moment before shrugging.
"His Kin is nearly backed into the wall, and Nara-san is-" she began, stopping before she finished the sentence as she came to an obvious realization.
"Oh. How crude and simple" she said. Naruto frowned, but soon came to the same conclusion his teammate had.
"He's trying to corner her for his shadow possession. It's a good idea, but he's getting carved up along the way" he said. The group continued to watch Shikamaru meander his way forward through the maelstrom of needles for several more minutes. As the minutes dragged on, Shikamaru began to dodge and deflect the needles again, implying that the genjutsu had worn.
"He's fully functional again. This fight is just about done" Kakashi said confidently as the Nara increased his forward pressure and made a hand sign. His shadow shot out and merged with Kin's.
"Hell yeah! He got her!" Naruto yelled. Hinata nodded in approval and patiently awaited her sensei's predicted finish to the match. Shikamaru, taking advantage of the fact that he now had control of his opponent's body, took two steps back, forcing Kin's back to the concrete wall. The Nara then leaned forward and abruptly whipped his head back, smashing the back of the Oto genin's skull into the concrete as a result.
Kin slumped to the floor, having been knocked unconscious by the impact. Hayate, who had been observing the match from roughly fifty feet away, jogged over and checked the girl's body before waving his hands over her.
"Kin Tsuchi is unable to continue. Therefore, the winner is Shikamaru Nara!" he announced to the group in the balcony. Naruto and, quite surprisingly, Hinata both cheered for their teammate as he hobbled his way up the stairs while Kin was attended to by a team of medical ninja.
"Not pretty, but that was cool as hell" Naruto complimented as he slapped hands with his teammate. Shikamaru nodded and began to pluck senbon out of his arms and legs.
"Yeah, that was not worth the trouble. I'm going to be sore for the next month" he grumbled. After several minutes in which Kin's limp body was carried from the battlefield and Shikamaru removed the majority of the senbon from his body, Hayate cleared his throat.
"Take a look up at the screen again" he said, prompting the genin to all look up at the monitor again. After the predictable roulette of names, two names slotted themselves in.
"The next match will be between Gaara of Sunagakure and Rock Lee of Konohagakure. Both combatants, come on down"
A/N: I know, I know, I copied the canon for the Kin vs Shikamaru fight. I just wanted to get that one out of the way. Hope you all enjoyed :)
See you next chapter! Read and Review!