Chapter 27 Preliminary Days

Sasuke was numb. He laid on the bed unmoving. Kiba stared worriedly at him from the corner.

He would never see Genki and Yoichi ever again.

After the slaughter all remaining members had become much closer. They had no one else after all. Genki would never smile crookedly after a prank again. Yoichi would never ask him to read to him again.

Sasuke didn't even know if the rest of his clan would survive.

The concept of being alone terrified him more than he thought it would.

He remembered the kind ANBU who helped around the household with a bitter taste in his mouth.

They had taken over caring for the household when Izumi was busy with her own assignments out of the kindness of their hearts. Rabbit had been good with the children and always had a soft word for Sasuke. Tortoise, who was Rabbit's partner, always had time to spar with him. Swan cooked delicious meals for them and organized the finances without a second thought. Partridge had ensured that nightmares never stayed long with their steady nighttime presence.

And they had died for the sake of his family. He would forever be grateful to them.

Sasuke would not forgive Orochimaru. He had done something unforgivable to his precious people.

If anyone else died he wasn't sure he could take it.

There were so few of them already! Why did the world keep taking from him? How could he become strong enough to protect his family?

Sasuke clenched his fists angrily.

Kiba awkwardly edged his way out of the room with Akamaru, slipping out the door quietly. Making it out into the hallway, he came face to face with a worried looking Naruto.

"How's he doing Kiba?" Naruto asked in a low voice.

"I don't really know man. He's like, really out of it and seems angry."

"I see… I'll try talking to him. Give us some time."

Kiba nodded, "Good luck man." He walked off to do some training in a private area of the tower.

Naruto sighed and knocked on the door to their shared room. He waited for Sasuke to open the door. When he finally did, Sasuke looked rather dazed. He walked back over to the bed and laid back down on it, staring blankly at the ceiling. Naruto slowly walked in after him, closing the door behind him.

"So, Sasuke. A ryo for your thoughts?"

Sasuke remained silent, staring at the ceiling as if it held the secrets to the universe.

"I thought you should know… Ichirou, Haruka, Izumi, Sachi, Haruto, Shinchi, Yosuke, Yamada, and Izuru all made it."

Sasuke covered his eyes with an arm. That meant Sousuke, Tanaka, and Hazara were gone. He swallowed roughly. Sousuke would never tell bad puns ever again. Tanaka would never learn how to cook. Hazara would never become a historian. The Uchiha clan was down to ten people. He swallowed roughly.

"...Thanks." He gestured to his neck. "For helping seal this shit away."

"Yeah. No problem."

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Naruto considered what to say next.

"Naruto." Sasuke croaked out. "How are you so strong?"

Naruto leaned back against the wall and considered the question. "There are many types of strength, Sasuke. If you're talking about physical strength, then it's because I've been training as soon as I've had conscious thought." Naruto paused, "If you're talking about emotional strength, it's simply because I have experience…"

Sasuke sat up, "But how. How do I become strong enough to take down someone like Orochhimaru?" Sasuke turned to Naruto his eyes burning with fury and tears spilling down his face. "How can I make him pay for what he's done to my family? And how can I learn the truth of why Itachi was crying that day?"

Naruto looked down, he suddenly found the floor very interesting. Was it time to tell Sasuke? He hesitated. But if he didn't tell him now, just when was he deciding to tell Sasuke? But could Sasuke take the additional pain compounded with the death of the last of his family? Naruto shook his head. No… Not right now. He didn't need to deal with this right now. He looked back up at Sasuke and took a deep breath.

"For now Sasuke. You train. I can help you grow stronger in time. For the Itachi situation. I will tell you when you are ready."

"When will I be ready though!?" Sasuke shouted.

"When you are not grieving and when you can maintain a calm mind. I promised you remember? I won't go back on my promise."

Sasuke huffed angrily, he didn't have the emotional capacity to be angry at both Naruto and Orochimaru. He flopped back down on the bed and resumed his silent staring contest with the ceiling.

Naruto's face softened. "How are you holding up so far Sasuke?"

Sasuke threw an arm over his face again and grunted in response.

"I see… Kiba and I are both here for you if you need anything. Do you want me to do anything in particular right now? I can leave if you want…"

Sasuke waved his hand vaguely, "Just… Stay there…"

"Okay, Sasuke."

Naruto slid to the floor and stayed there. He waited until Sasuke had started softly snoring to get up and get some food. He wandered off into the tower to find something to eat and bring back for Sasuke.

In the large meeting hall just before the cafeteria he ran into a shaken looking Team 8. It seemed that they had been at the tower a day earlier than Naruto's team. They were pale and the moment Naruto walked down the stairs, they were on alert.

"O-oh It's just Naruto." Sakura said, sitting back down. Hinata gave him a wobbly smile and wave from beside her. "Is Sasuke-kun alright? When did your team get here?" Sakura asked.

"Ah hello. Sakura. Sasuke… He's as fine as he can be." Naruto rubbed his arm. "We got here yesterday, what about you guys?"

Shino adjusted his glasses and spoke, "We arrived the first day. Why? We got lucky, the first team we ambushed had an earth scroll."

"Oh I see. Why are you guys so jumpy today?"

"N-N-Naruto-kun. W-we've been sharing the t-tower with one other team. T-they're really d-dangerous." Hinata stuttered.

"Huh?"

"The Suna team." Sakura clutched her shoulders and rubbed her arms, shivering. "They've been the only other team in the tower, we've been waiting for another team from Konoha to show up to warn them. The red haired kid on the Suna team is deadly. He kills without mercy! There's something wrong with him!"

'The Suna jinchuuriki? I wonder what's up with him?' Minato thought.

"Well thanks for the warning I guess. Good luck in the next round. I just came by to get some food."

Shino nodded, "Indeed. May the same be said for you as well."

"G-good luck Naruto-kun!" Hinata said.

Naruto waved Team 8 goodbye and returned to his team's shared room.

The assembled Genin stood before the Hokage and his Jounin and Chuunin subordinates at attention. It had been two days since Sasuke's conversation with Naruto and the second exam had finally finished. The Genin had been led from the tower to a large arena with spectator railings along the walls and a large sculpture of two hands in a ram seal at the end of the room.

"Congratulations to you all on passing the second exam!" The Hokage said to the young Shinobi lined up neatly in front of him.

Out of the 66 applicants only 21 of them had made it to the third round.

Naruto glanced around the room curiously inspecting the remaining competitors. His eyes narrowed as they fell on the Sound Genin. It seemed that had made it even though Naruto had taken their earth scroll. He looked towards their Jounin sensei and only his finely trained control kept him from widening his eyes in recognition. The severe looking man in a Sound uniform was no doubt Orochimaru in yet another false skin. The man hadn't been able to mask his chakra signature completely but it seemed that in changing his disguise Orochimaru had also managed to mask his scent. Naruto looked at Kiba. Kiba hadn't realized their attacker was here yet.

Minato signaled to the hokage in a series of blinks and subtle finger twitches. The hokage blinked back at him and smoothly began to explain the true purpose of the Chuunin exams without a single hitch in breath. Behind his back, the Hokage was rapidly forming hand signs and alerting the Jounin standing behind him.

"The strength of a country is derived from the strength of its village…" The Hokage said solemnly.

'Orochimaru sighted.'

The Jounin subtly shifted in response.

"And the village draws strength from the Shinobi who live there."

'All Jounin ready. Possible battle imminent.'

"And the greatest strength of those shinobi only emerges in the midst of a desperate life-and-death battle!"

'Signal ANBU.'

"These exams provide a public arena for each country to show off and boast the strength of its warriors. Hence the strength of the country itself!"

'Surround perimeter.'

"This test has meaning and great consequence. As you struggle for the sake of your very lives and your people, you help fulfill the dream that was envisioned by our ancestors."

'Eliminate escape routes.'

"But you've always emphasized the concept of 'friendship'... why?!" Tenten interrupted.

"Though my meaning is subtle, I choose my words with care. To preserve the balance of power at the risk of lives… is the essence of friendship in the Shinobi world. Let me reiterate before the third exam begins. You are taking no ordinary test!" The Hokage continued.

'Capture and neutralize.'

"You not only risk your own futures and your dreams… But the dignity and prestige of your homeland as well."

'Whatever. Could you wrap up the philosophical talk and get down to the life-and-death stuff anytime soon?" A raspy voice interrupted. Everyone turned to look at Gaara, subtly reprimanding for interrupting.

"Hmph! Very well. I shall explain the third exam."

"...Forgive my interruption Hokage-sama" A jounin appeared in front of the Hokage kneeling. The Jounin was dressed in the standard Konoha uniform and lanky brown hair and a headband over his hair. He was pale and sickly looking with deep bags under his eyes. His voice was very soft and low. "If you don't mind handing the rest of the proceedings over… To me Gekko Hayate, the proctor of the third exam."

"...Go ahead." Said the Hokage.

Hayate stood and turned to face the Genin. "Good to meet you everyone… I'm Hayate." He paused to cough several times. "Uh… Before we start the exam I must ask you all to do something for me… There are some preliminaries before you pass on to the main exam. Whether you proceed or not is dependent on how well you manage those."

There were a flurry of complaints, chiefly from Sakura.

Hayate coughed and said, "I don't want to say that the first two exams were too easy… But we still have too many applicants. We will need a preliminary to reduce the number of applicants who'll proceed. A number of honored guests will be observing the third exam. So the exam must be intense, tight, and fast moving…" He paused to cough again, "So now that you know what it's all really about. Anyone who doesn't feel up to the challenge, either physically or mentally, can walk away. Just take a step forward. The Preliminaries start now!"

The contestants started. Now? Some of them had just arrived at the tower! Didn't they get time to rest?

A hand raised in the crowd of genin. "I'm outta here." Kabuto said nonchalantly.

Hayate looked down at the clipboard that appeared in his hand, "You're Yakushi Kabuto of Konoha right? Okay. You can go." Hayate coughed, "Uhh… I also forgot to mention that from here on in you fight as individuals… Not as team members so you can step out without worrying about your teammates. Anyone else want out? Raise your hands."

Naruto stared suspiciously at Kabuto. There was no obvious reason for Kabuto to drop out at this stage.

"Kabuto-san! Why are you quitting now? Isn't this your chance?" Sakura asked.

"Sorry Sakura, I got beat up real bad in the forest and I haven't been able to hear out of my left ear since the second exams started. I just don't think I'm up for this."

The Hokage watched Kabuto with an impassive face. He motioned to Anko to read off Kabuto's stats. They weren't particularly impressive. 14 D-ranks and 2 C-ranks to his name as well as an extremely average record. Except for the incident in which he was brought to Konoha. The boy was a survivor from the battle at Kikyo pass. The Hokage made extra hand signs behind his back to have his ANBU follow the boy out.

Hayate looked up from his clipboard. "Is anyone else deciding to bail out?"

No one moved. Naruto shot Sasuke a glance and tapped his neck, asking if he was alright. Sasuke nodded back firmly. Naruto's seal was holding back any pain.

Hayate looks around and assessed the faces of the determined Genin. "Ahh well then. We'll now begin the preliminaries which will consist of individual combat matches as though this were part of a tournament. Since there are a total of twenty combatants left we will hold ten bouts. The victors of those matches will advance to the third exam." Hayate coughed for a few seconds before continuing, "This is a no holds barred combat. Each pair will fight until one is dead or unconscious, or admits defeat. As soon as you sense that your opponent is overwhelming you, concede immediately if you value your life. Uhh…. Since we don't want a total blood bath there may be cases where we ascertain that there is an undisputed winner and step in to end the match. But don't count on that. From here on out the key to your fate is…" Hayate paused as a small section on the wall behind him lifted up revealing an electronic screen. "This electronic scoreboard. At the start of every round, we will display the names of two combatants competing in that match. So uh. Not to um. Hurry you to the slaughter but let's begin. We'll now announce the first two names."

The Genin waited with bated breaths as the scoreboard spun through names. It finally landed on two names, Uchiha Sasuke and Akado Yoroi.

Kiba started laughing uproariously. Yoroi was one of Kabuto's teammates. He was dressed similarly to Kabuto except he wore a veil over his face and had round black lenses where his eyes should be.

Kiba had absolutely called this! This was priceless. Kiba had told Sasuke that they should have taken out Kabuto!

Sasuke glared at Kiba as the boy gloated to Akamaru, "Hahaha! I told you so! Didn't I, boy?"

"Arf!"

The two combatants made their way to the middle of the room with the proctor.

Hayate looked at both competitors, "Akado Yoroi, Uchiha Sasuke… you two have been selected to compete in the first bout. Any objections?"

"I'm good." Sasuke said.

"None." Said Yoroi.

"Uh… Well then. It's time for the first match. Everyone other than the two combatants should move to the upper level." Hayate said waving at the raised platforms.

The Genin made their way over to the stairs. Naruto clapped Sasuke on the shoulder just before he left.

As Kakashi passed Sasuke he stopped and said, "Be careful when using chakra, push yourself too much and Naruto's seal might break. His seal is relying on the power of the curse mark to keep it contained and the curse mark is linked to your chakra. But if you run out of chakra… Well if that happens the curse mark will run rampant and the consequences will change your life."

Sasuke place a hand over the mark and nodded.

He stared determinedly at his opponent.

"All right… Please begin!" Hayate called.

Yoroi formed a hand seal, "Shall I start?" He asked. His right hand began to glow with charka and he reached into his pouch for shuriken.

Yoroi threw three shuriken at Sasuke as an opening move and charged forwards with the shuriken. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and drew a kunai.

Up in the stands the Sound Jounin sensei subtly frowned.

He deflected the shuriken back at Yoroi. Yoroi sidestepped quickly and advanced on Sasuke with his right arm outstretched. He made a grab for Sasuke but Sasuke ducked underneath Yoroi's arm into his guard. Sasuke proceeded to flip Yoroi over his shoulder, kicking at Yoroi's legs and grappling with him on the ground.

Suddenly Sasuke's grip on Yoroi began to weaken. He gasped as he felt his strength leaving him. Was this a jutsu? Sasuke let off a burst of electricity from his hands causing Yoroi to yell and roll away from him.

Sasuke panted on the ground as he reassessed his opponent.

"Heh. Wondering what happened to your chakra?" Yoroi asked.

Sasuke's Sharingan spun, rapidly analyzing the chakra in Yoroi's right hand.

Yoroi jumped away from a spinning kick and rushed in again. He punched down at sasuke and shattered the ground slightly as Sasuke rolled away.

Sasuke weaved signs and slapped his hands on the ground. He released a large stream of electricity at Yoroi. Yoroi jumped into the air to dodge. Sasuke threw a brace of shuriken at the man as he fell through the air. Yoroi pulled out his own kunai and deflected the projectiles, he landed and ran forwards trying to grab Sasuke.

Sasuke narrowly avoided the grab, but he still felt his strength drained from him as Yoroi's hand passed his head. He grunted and kicked Yoroi away. Yoroi smirked nastily at Sasuke. Not that Sasuke could see it with Yoroi's mask. "I'll end this!" Yoroi yelled spinning around and lunging for Sasuke again.

Sasuke leaped into the air and sent a barrage of shuriken at Yoroi.

"Useless!" Yoroi declared dodging to the side.

Sauske landed on the ground and smirked. He flipped through hand signs one more time and channeled a stream of concentrated electricity through his ninja wire. The shuriken that Yoroi had ignored had wire tied to them subtly entangling Yoroi.

Yoroi screamed as he was electrocuted. He fell to the floor twitching. Sasuke turned away from him but Hayate didn't end the match just ye A hush fell across the room as Yoroi shakily stood once again.

"You'll pay for that brat! Don't underestimate me!" He screamed as he charged Sasuke again and grabbed him by the head. Sasuke gasped and began wilting in Yoroi's grip. Yoroi slowly siphoned energy from Sasuke, adding to his own reserves while draining Sasuke's.

"Come on Sasuke! You can do it!" Kiba shouted from beside Lee.

Sasuke glanced in Kiba's direction briefly, then his eyes widened. He knocked away Yoroi's arm with a punch and disappeared from Yoroi's field of vision.

Sasuke dropped and delivered a high kick to the bottom of Yoroi's chin, lifting him up into the air. Sasuke leaped up into the air as well, aligning his body so that it was parallel to Yoroi.

Several audience members gasped, that was the Goken style of taijutsu and shadow of the dancing leaf! When did Sasuke manage to learn that?

Sasuke poked Yoroi's back with two fingers. "Its over." He said. Sasuke then twisted in mid air and delivered a devastating spinning kick that Yoroi barely managed to block.

"Stupid amateur!" Shouted Yoroi angrily.

But Sasuke wasn't done yet. He twisted in the air once again, hitting Yoroi with his arm, and then with another devastating kick that sent Yoroi crashing into the ground.

Sasuke tumbled to the ground next to Yoroi panting. Hayate walked over to Yoroi and examined him for a short moment before he announced, "I'm halting this match before it goes any further! Uchiha Sasuke is the winner of the first battle and advances past the preliminaries to the next level!"

Sasuke sat up breathing heavily and deactivated his Sharingan, he tried to stand but fell backward. He didn't fall far; he found himself supported by Kakashi's knee.

"Well done!" Kakashi said, nose deep in his Icha Icha book.

The medical corps nin came and carried Yoroi away on a stretcher. Sasuke politely declined their requests to go with them as he wanted to observe the rest of the matches.

Kakashi supported him as they walked back to the stands.

'Hmm… I wonder how he would have won if he hadn't fought Lee… ' Minato thought. 'This boy is really growing frighteningly fast. The Sharingan is truly not to be underestimated.' He nodded approvingly to Sasuke as the boy came to stand beside him.

"Yeah thats what I'm talking about Sasuke! But you're so beat up for someone who won, hahah!" Kiba laughed. Akamaru barked in congratulations from inside his coat and received a pat on the head in return.

The electronic scoreboard spun again, Landing on Zaku Abumi and Aburame Shino.

Zaku was the Sound genin who wore the shirt with the kanji for 'death' on it. He had holes in his hands that he used to fire high pressure blasts of wind that could slice through stone.

Shino on the other hand was an Aburame who used the bugs living inside of his body as weapons.

The match was short lived. Zaku used both of his arms to fire continuous blasts of wind at Shino while Shino made clever use of his bug clones to distract and harass his opponent. The match ended when Zaku blew one of his arms off as a result of the holes in his palms being blocked by Shino's bugs. The wind that Zaku expelled through his hands built up in his arms, and under pressure, exploded his arms causing grievous injury.

Naruto and Hinata congratulated the boy as he walked back up to the stands while everyone else received the boy with a wary silence.

The Sound Jounin smirked and vanished in a shunshin. Instantly all Konoha Jounin were on alert. The Hokage subtly nodded at Kakashi and Kakashi disappeared with a quick, "Be right back." to his students. Naruto's face became grim as his teacher went off to detain Orochimaru.

Hayate coughed and everyone gave their attention to the scoreboard once again. The names that came up were Nara Shikamaru and Tsuchi Kin the Sound kunoichi.

Outside of the Stadium Orochimaru had been surrounded by Konoha ANBU. Kakashi arrived at the showdown and Orochimaru smiled grimly, "I see you have mastered the sealing arts Kakashi. How exactly were you able to fully seal away my little present?" Orochimaru spat bitterly.

Kakashi opted to ignore the fact that it had been his student that performed the sealing. "What do you want with the Uchiha?" He demanded.

Orochimaru snickered, "Oh you know. You have it. They have it. I want it. You've had it for a very long time yourself now haven't you?"

Kakshi shifted into a combat stance, "The Sharingan…" He whispered. "So its just your greed and delusions of grandeur." He concluded.

"Well I suppose you could say that..."

"Stay away from the Uchiha" Kakashi said, putting his right hand down and charging crackling electricity though his hand. "Even if you are one of the great Sannin. I can take you with me to death! ANBU with me!" Kakashi and the surrounding ANBU leaped simultaneously at Orochimaru, the man cackled and lashed out with a sword hidden in his throat. Several unfortunate ANBU were bisected and the Sannin leapt up and flashed through hand signs. A huge snake was summoned into existence and began to thrash around, taking out the numerous ANBU. Kakashi charged with a Chidori and gouged out the snake's throat in a spray of blood. The snake fell in a great thump and exploded into a cloud of smoke. When the smoke had dissipated Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn! Quickly secure the exits he can't have gone far!"Kakashi yelled. The AnBU scattered and raced to find Orochimaru but it was for naught. The man was long gone, leaving a trail of dead and dying ANBU behind him.

Kakashi was forced to return to the arena empty handed. He delivered a series of hand signals to the Hokage informing him of the incident. The Hokage sighed deeply as he read the quick signs Kakashi flashed him.

Shikamaru strutted back up the stairs to the spectator railings. It had been an easy fight for him. Just a bit of maneuvering of the enemy and he had won with a simple back bend.

The scoreboard spun again as Ino and Choji congratulated Shikamaru. Soon the names called were Dosu and Haruno Sakura.

Sakura made a valiant effort in the battle. It was clear to Minato that she had started to take her training seriously while in team Kurenai. It seemed that her fangirling had finally been used to motivate her to become stronger in order to be able to stand side by side with Sasuke. She made prodigious use of several complicated genjutsu but unfortunately for her, it was a bad match up. Dosu didn't need to see her to attack her. He simply swung at the air and let his vibration based attack target her ears and take her down.

Hayate declared Dosu the winner after Sakura had collapsed on the floor vomiting uncontrollably and then failed to stand since her balance was ruined.

The scoreboard spun onwards. Rock Lee and Kankuro were called up next.

Minato felt for Kankuro. This wasn't a good match up either. Kankuro had maintained a facade of taking Lee on with hand to hand combat before his head was caved in with a sharp kick. Revealing that the Kankuro that Lee had been fighting was a puppet. Kankuro climbed out of the bandage wrapped bundle on the puppet's back and began attacking Lee in earnest. The puppet danced and swung between Lee's swift attacks while wildly slashing with poison coated blades. Hidden compartments loaded with positioned senbon popped open and sprayed at Lee. Lee was able to dodge the weapon sprays easily due to training with a budding weapons mistress constantly. He used his superior speed to rush past the puppet and engage the real Kankuro in a one sided taijutsu match. Kankuro was left unconscious on the floor after a brutal round of kicks to the face, rearranging his facial structure slightly. Well… It was nothing a med nin couldn't fix Mianto thought, pitying the boy.

And so the board spun. Soon Yamanaka Ino and Tenten were called down to fight.

From the very onset of the match Tenten dominated the arena with a never ending salvo of thrown weapons. Ino had been hard pressed to defend and deflect. Every passing second left another cut or nick on her body from a projectile that was too fast for her to avoid. Ino threw a dramatic temper tantrum and attempted to get in close to Tenten and go hand to hand. Ino cut her hair and threw it in the air and tried to set up a trap for Tenten. Tenten had simply ignored Ino's stalling and rushed her with a bo staff. Tenten was able to easily knock Ino out with a sharp crack to the back of the head.

Hayate coughed. The board spun. Gaara and Temari were called down to fight.

The fight was nonexistent. Temari forfeited the instant she read her name off the board. She stoically ignored the round of boos from Kiba and Choji as she shivered. Gaara was staring at her with a blank expression, he had been getting more and more riled up as the fights went on and now he wouldn't even be able to fight in the preliminaries. Minato winced from the sheer amount of bloodlust that was pouring off the boy. It was nearing the levels of bloodlust he had felt on the night of the Kyuubi attack. Kurama protested furiously in his mind. He was so much more bloodthirsty compared to that little brat and his pet sand raccoon! Minato chuckled nervously in his mind.

The board spun and spun. Hyuga Hinata and Hyuga Neji were chosen.

The fight was a battle of doujutsu. Hinata truly tried her best in the battle. Neji had kicked off the fight with a truly disparaging round of insults that made Minato frown disapprovingly. He knew about the situation between the branch family and the head family of the Hyuga, but to see that it had negatively affected the children so much… Had his old friend Hiashi changed so much that he would widen the divide of the Hyuga? Speaking of Hiashi, he hadn't sensed Hizashi in years. Was the man still alive?

Sakura cheered desperately for Hinata, reminding Hinata of the times they spent training together to impress their crushes. Hinata wanted to change for Naruto. she wanted to be able to stand next to him. So she got up and faced Neji with determined eyes despite his systematic dissection of her timid behavior. She put up an admirable fight. She pushed Neji hard but Neji showed off why he was regarded as a genius within the Hyuga clan. Neji, unlike many other Hyuga, was capable of seeing the small tenketsu in a person's chakra network. He had targeted the tenketsu in Hinata's arms and made her juuken useless by shutting down the chakra network in her arms.

Hinata thoroughly impressed Naruto with her dogged determination to continue fighting even after her attacks had been rendered useless. She didn't give up once, even against the face of an overwhelming skill gap. He nearly jumped in to hold Neji back along with the other Jounin when Neji ran in for the killing blow on Hinata. Neji had thrown a fit, asking if this was further favoritism for the main family when Sakura told him to shut up. Neji scoffed. Another loser couldn't tell him what to do. Minato frowned determinedly, he couldn't let this fate obsessed mindset go. It would only hamper Neji's promising future. But just how could he beat it out of the boy? Literally beat him up? But just how would that prove anything?

Minato settled back to think on the issue as Hayate called Inuzuka Kiba and Akimichi Choji down to fight.

The battle between Choji and Kiba was like watching two spinning tops clash against each other. Choji used his Akimichi family techniques to enlarge his body and roll into enemies, literally flattening them. Kiba and Akamaru used their Gatsuga like a high speed drill to crush his enemies. While Choji was much slower compared to Kiba, he was much more tankier and could take more hits.

These two forces clashing against each other sent plenty of debris flying about the arena. Kiba changed tactics when he realized that his drilling technique didn't work against Choji's heavily cushioned body. Kiba began to use his earth clone jutsu in an attempt to try and overwhelm Choji with numbers. Except Choji rolled through Kiba's clones with a bowling ball. Eventually Kiba had to resort to a new jutsu he had developed as a secret against his teammates to corner Choji and force him to concede. Kiba covered the arena floor in dangerously hardened earth spikes and forced Choji into a corner, literally. Choji tired to use his body expansion jutsu to crush the spikes but it seemed Kiba's mud hardening exercises had finally paid off. the spikes were too difficult to destroy and Choji was hungry. So the boy conceded.

Choji's team facepalmed when they heard his lackluster excuse. Kiba crowed in victory, Naruto patted him on the back, and Sasuke grunted in acknowledgement.

Finally it was Naruto's turn. He was up against one Tsurugi Misumi. Who was another one of Kabuto's teammates. The man was dressed similarly to Yoroi and had the same veil over his face, the only difference was that the man wore round glasses like Kabuto.

"Final match between Uzumaki Naruto and Tsurugi Misumi! Start!" Hayate called.

The Genin rushed at Naruto and threw a straight forward punch. Naruto blocked the punch but Misuimi's arm contorted around his limb and quickly wrapped around him. Misumi followed up by wrapping his entire body around Naruto unnaturally, immobilizing Naruto.

"I can dislocate every joint and manipulate my limp body by chakra alone! I can keep on squeezing and constricting until your bones crack! The longer you wait to surrender the tighter I'll squeeze! I don't know what you may be capable of but once your body is helpless in my hands it doesn't matter. If you give the slightest hint of trying anything… Then ill snap your neck like a twig!" Misumi declared.

Luckily for Naruto, he had long mastered the sealless kawarimi and shadow clone jutsus. He was able to smoothly replace himself with no one any wiser.

"Squeeze away." His clone said in a bored tone of voice.

Misumi grew a tick mark and squeezed.

The clone exploded in a large burst of chakra and sent Misumi flying. The man hit the wall with a crack and fell to the floor unconscious.

Naruto was thankful Itachi had decided to teach him the great clone explosion. It was such a useful technique considering that he could create as many shadow clones as he wanted.

And thus the preliminaries had ended. The winners of the matches were lined up in front of the Hokage and various Jounin to hear about the next phase of the exam.

"To those of you who won your matches and qualified for the finals of the third phase of the Chuunin exams. Congratulations!" Hayate turned to the Hokage. "Uh… Hokage-sama , they're all yours."

"Yes…" The hokage adjusted his hat. "Well then starting now, I shall begin explaining the finals. As I mentioned earlier, you will conduct your finals in front of everyone. Each of you represents the battle strengths of your respective lands. So we want you to exhibit and fully showcase your various talents. And thus the finals… Will commence one month from now!"

Kiba raised his hand, "Wait. we're not doing this right now?"

"We call this the requisite preparation period."

"What do you mean?" Asked Neji.

"Well…" the Hokage began. "Its a period of time that allows us to relay the results of the preliminaries to the rulers and Shinobi leaders of each land and summon them to the finals. It also serves as a preparation period for you applicants."

"I still don't get it! But it sounds youthful!" Lee declared.

"You must prepare to understand your enemy and understand yourself. During this period you can analyze the intelligence you have gathered on your foes during the preliminaries. And use it to increase your chances of victory. Even though up to this point all battles have been real battles… they were conducted on the premise that you were fighting an 'unknown enemy'. However the finals are a different story. Some of you probably ended up exposing everything you've got in front of your rivals. In order to make the finals fair and just, we give you this month. Each of you must take advantage of the opportunity to practice hard and learn some new tricks. And of course get some rest as well!

Anko standing beside the Hokage brought out a small box with a hole cut in the top. "Now then, please take a slip of paper from the box and then read off the numbers in a line from right to left." She said.

Anko walked down the line of Genin with the box and each of them took a slip.

"Ten," Gaara started.

"Nine…" Said Dosu.

"Three." Shikamaru drawled.

"Five." Stated Shino.

"Two." Neji Deadpanned.

"Six." Chirped Tenten.

"Four!" Shouted Lee.

"One." Naruto said.

"Seven." Kiba barked.

"Eight." Sasuke replied.

The Hokage puffed on his pipe. "Good. Now I will reveal the match order for the tournament style finals!"

"So thats what the drawing was for?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yes. Now then, ibiki please show them the brackets."

"Yes sir." Ibiki turned the clipboard he had been writing on around and showed the Genin the match ups.

Round one was Naruto versus Neji. Round two was Lee versus Shino. Round three was Kiba versus Sasuke. Round four was Dosu versus Gaara. Round five would be the winner of round one versus Shikamaru. And finally round six would be the winner of round two versus Tenten.

'Hoh. The Hyuga immediately and an extra fight huh?' Minato thought.

"Now then… it's time for you to plan your strategies, rest up, or whatever you please. We're all finished here unless any of you have questions."

Shikamaru raised his hand and asked, "May I?"

"Sure."

"You said this is a tournament, So… There's only one winner right? Then does that mean only one person gets to become Chuunin?"

"No. For the finals you will be observed by many judges including me, the Kazekage, the Daimyos, and those requesting missions. Based on your performance in the tournament those judges will assign you an absolute value. And all those who have been deemed to have sufficient ability to become a Chuunin... Even those who may have lost. In the first round… Can become Chuunin."

"So it's possible that all of us can become Chuunin then?" Kiba asked.

"Yes. However it is also possible that none of you will become Chuunin. The advantage of fighting in more rounds in the tournament is in having a greater number of opportunities to display talents for the judges." The Hokage turned to Shikamaru. "Does that answer your question Shikamaru?"

"Yosh! Kakashi! It appears that all of our youthful students have made it into the finals! How wonderful! Unfortunately it seems two of your students must face off against each other right off the bat! Otherwise I would have a competition with you on how far our students get!" Guy shouted with a youthful fire burning in his eyes.

"Maa… Don't be so hasty Guy. We can still have that competition. I'll be betting on my students after all."

"Very well then! I too shall bet! Watch out Kakashi! I swear my cute students will knock yours out of the park!"

"Mmm… You don't know that yet. Who knows. My students may surprise you after all…"

The Hokage coughed, "Well then, good work all! You are dismissed until one month from now!"

The genin nodded resolutely and began to leave. Though Naruto lingered behind to talk to the Hokage. He waited for the rest of the genin to disperse before approaching the Hokage.

"Hm, Naruto? What is it?" The Hokage asked.

"I wanted to talk with you privately for a while."

"Of course, come let us go to my office."

Naruto followed the Hokage to an underground passage beneath the forest of death from the tower to outside the fences of the forest. They then quickly traveled to the Hokage tower and sat down in the old man's office.

"I just wanted to know what happened with Orochimaru and inform you that Gaara is Suna's Jinchurriki." Naruto said as he sat down in a chair.

The Hokage sighed deeply and took a puff of his pipe, "Ah yes… Danzo informed me of the Jinchuuriki problem, he believes we should begin training ours in the use of their Bijuu," the Hokage said with a pointed look at Naruto. Naruto nodded and mentally prodded Kurama who snarled at him.

"As if any you would lose to that damned Tanuki. Of course they want my power. Filthy humans."

Naruto smiled awkwardly was that praise from Kurama?

"And what about Orochimaru?"

"Unfortunately he escaped… We discovered that Kabuto was his spy after all. Good work in these Chuunin exams Naruto. No matter what happens in the third exam you have already achieved the qualifications of Chuunin for discovering Orochimaru and his spy."

"Ah thank you very much, Hokage-sama." Naruto bowed his head slightly to the Hokage.

"If that is all then?"

"Yes. Thank you for having me old man."

"Haha, yes, good luck in your training Naruto."

"Thanks."

A/N: Updates will be slowing down dramatically from here on out. The school semester is starting and I'm gonna be getting busy soon.