Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto does. Also any series referenced in the story, yeah I don't own them either.
Speech - Well hey there Iruka-sensei
Thought - So what's the best move here.
Bijuu / Summon Speech - I'll show you some serious honorbound duty!
Bijuu / Summon Thought - Kit, show me that you're different from other humans.
Technique - Rasengan!
Text / Sign language - I have sent this friendly little letter to inform you.
Shingetsu - Yo, I'm Shingetsu!
(Note) - (A note looks like this)
Chapter 8, The Finals
It was the day of the finals and all twelve chunin hopefuls were standing in the arena. In front of them was a man with shoulder length blond hair and violet eyes. He was looking at the kage box where the raikage, and the hokage were sitting. The kazekage hadn't been picked yet, thus the suna team sensei, Baki, was sitting with the raikage, and hokage as the representative from Sunagakure.
The raikage stood up and spoke with a loud voice. "We all know what we're here for. So let the chunin exam finals begin."
The blond haired referee stepped forward as he said while holding a Fuinjutsu enhanced microphone. "Hello everyone, I am the referee for today's matches. My name is Q. Now all combatants except Naruto Uzumaki and Rock Lee, please leave the arena."
Soon Naruto and Rock Lee were the only people left in the arena beside Q. Before she had left, Hinata had given him a kiss on the cheek for luck. Q walked between them as he announced. "The first battle of the Kumo Chunin finals. Are both combatants ready?"
Naruto drew Shingetsu and slid into his starting stance. "I'm ready."
Rock Lee got into his stance as well. "I am ready as well.
Q grinned before he said. "Begin!" and jumped away from the arena, landing on top of the wall.
Rock Lee looked at Naruto as he said. "Shall we show the audience our flames of youth my eternal rival?"
Naruto grinned as he said. "Yes, now come at me Lee."
Rock Lee grinned before taking off his Weights and tossing them away. He knew they would be no use in the coming battle. They formed twin craters where they landed. Moments after they landed, Rock Lee charged at Naruto in a green blue and threw a punch at his chest.
Naruto slowly moved out of the way, using minimal movement to dodge the attack. As he did he struck out with his right leg, attempting to kick Lee in the stomach, only for the green clad boy to block it with one of his legs.
The two began to launch high speed attacks at each other. Naruto using kicks and sword slashes. While Lee made use of kicks and punches. They were moving at such high speeds that they were a blur to the civilian spectators.
As Naruto deflected another punch with his left leg. Shingetsu began to glow gold, the aura covering Naruto's body before he stepped back then flipped into the air. "Meteor Shower" As he was in the air Shingetsu was thrust forward, becoming a blur of stabs at Rock Lee. Who was forced to dodge multiple golden glowing thrusts.
Rock Lee was forced to flip away before he stopped around ten meters away from Naruto. Naruto landed on the ground and kept his eyes on Lee. Lee grinned and gave Naruto a thumbs up. "Yosh, Naruto your flames of youth are burning extremely brightly. I must match your flames intensity."
Lee crouched down as he yelled out. "Kaimon (Gate of Opening) Open!)" A burst of chakra was released from Lee's body.
Naruto frowned, this would be the true test of his training. Lee didn't know the meaning of the word hold back. The fact he was opening the gates, something he only did when Guy-sensei gave him permission, proved this. Most likely Guy had given him permission beforehand.
Naruto knew that Lee could open five gates, he had actually seen him open the gates before. During a spar with him. He still got shivers remembering it. Luckily Lee had only gone up to three gates when he did it. He just hoped his Haki would be up to the task. Because he knew once he opened more gates he would have a harder time keeping up, even with what he was about to do.
Lee rushed at him so quickly he almost disappeared. It was only the warning from his Haki that allowed Naruto to dodge out of the way. Naruto kept dodging around each attack by mere inches. He grit his teeth as he realized he had to take a gamble. He made sure to dodge a little late so that Rock Lee's kick connected, sending him into the air. As he flew up, his grip loosened on Shingetsu, making the sentient blade fall to the ground, blade first. Lee kicked him higher three times before unleashing his bandages and wrapping him up tightly covering him up to his face with the bandages. With that Lee quickly pulled the blond towards the ground and at the last second he released him and jumped away, sending Naruto crashing into the ground, causing a large crater to appear and dust to obscure him. What Lee didn't notice was as he let go, that Naruto's face became a shiny black color.
No one was expecting what happened next. Naruto's voice sounded out as the dust cloud slowly cleared. "Damn, that would have seriously hurt me if I hadn't defended myself." The dust cloud cleared, revealing Naruto dusting off his clothes. He reached down and pulled Shingetsu out of the ground. "Shall we continue Lee?"
"Yosh, your flames of youth burn brighter than ever." Lee crouched down once more as he shouted out. "Kyumon (Gate of Healing), Seimon (Gate of Life) Open!" With that, Lee's hair stood on end and his skin turned red.
Naruto grinned as he held up his arms. "I guess I need to level the playing field a bit." He made a hand sign before shouting out. "Kai!" With that, golden bands of kanji appeared on his limbs and torso before disappearing.
The two disappeared and all that was heard was the sound of clashing attacks. Only the chunin and jonin could keep up, along with a few of the chunin hopefuls. Suddenly there was a crash as something hit the wall. It was revealed to be Naruto who pulled himself out of the wall. As he stood up Rock lee had stopped and was gathering his energy for his next attack. Naruto grimaced as he said. "Urgh, I didn't want to have to use this yet."
Naruto sheathed Shingetsu before he coated his right leg in chakra. He set his chakra clad foot on the ground and began to spin at high speeds. When he stopped he lifted his now glowing leg. "The foot of the devil, Diable Jambe. The heat I generated from all that spinning will burn my kicks straight through you. Now shall we see what is stronger, the flames of hell, or the eight inner gates."
(Flashback, during training)
Naruto set his foot down, his face set in a grimace from the burns he had sustained with the newly learned Diable Jambe. A couple days ago, he had managed to finally ignite his chakra so he could use the technique. Kakashi who was leaning against a tree sent him an eye smile. "So it seems currently your limit for that technique is five kicks a day. It also seems you can't actually put said leg down while it's active, or the chakra runs out into the ground." Kakashi gestured to the ground where a huge scorch mark had been burned into the ground, by the chakra running off. "We'll need to work on that, as well as the number of kicks you can use with it."
The Diable Jambe was an exceedingly dangerous technique, for both the user and the one who it was used on. By coating the user's legs in chakra before spinning at high speed, they can ignite their legs with extremely hot flames. These flames increase the power of the user's kicks, but at a price. If the user over uses said technique in the earlier stages, they can do irreparable harm to their leg. But the risks do not come without reward. If the user masters the Diable Jambe, they will gain an immunity to fire, thus allowing the user to use Diable Jambe without any risk.
(Present time)
Naruto launched himself forward, his foot lancing out, just as Lee raced towards him. Naruto's kick just barely missed Lee, it grazed his side, burning his jumpsuit. Lee managed to ignore it and kicked Naruto hard into the air, the preparation steps for the hidden lotus were ready. He began to kick and punch Naruto through the air at high speeds. Naruto grit his teeth and use Haki to cushion the blows. As Lee kicked and punched him, he opened the fourth and fifth gate. As he was about to make the final blow through, Naruto managed to block said attack with a kick. Naruto grinned before grabbing Lee's arm as he said. "Sorry Lee, you lose." Naruto's glowing leg began to swing towards Lee who was being held in place. "Diable Jambe: Flambage Shot! (Devil's Leg: Flambe Shot!)" His foot connected with Lee and with a grunt of exertion, Naruto sent Lee rocketing towards the ground. When Lee landed he made a massive crater. This new crater put the one Naruto had made earlier, to shame.
Naruto landed on the ground, scorching the earth as the heat bled from his glowing leg. The dust cleared to show Rock Lee was unconscious, with a huge burn mark on his side. Q jumped into the arena and checked Lee's pulse before saying. "Rock Lee is unable to continue, the winner by knockout, Naruto Uzumaki!"
Naruto grinned as he said. "It looks like it's 10-9, my favor Lee." With those words Naruto walked towards the corridor that led to the contestant box.
The raikage whistled. "God damn Jiraiya, you got a pair of monsters there."
Jiraiya laughed as he said. "Rock Lee is Might Guy's apprentice. While Naruto is mine. He's also been trained by Kakashi. Kakashi wanted to make it up to him for dropping the ball right after Naruto became a genin. Oddly enough when Kakashi gets motivated, he's a pretty good teacher."
Baki leaned forward to watch the medics take Rock Lee to the infirmary. Luckily Tsunade had agreed to help with healing the contestants so there wouldn't be long term damage hopefully. "They're both easily chunin in skill. That boy Rock Lee is reckless though, he fell right into Naruto's trap. Your apprentice is quite clever Jiraiya-sama."
Jiraiya nodded. "Naruto has already had a bit of a talent for figuring out ways to defeat his opponents. He once stabbed a kunai through his own and his opponent's hand to hold them in place before striking them with the finishing blow."
A frowned as he said. "That sounds rather reckless. If he wasn't the Jinchuuriki of Kyuubi I would have called him insane." A noticed Jiraiya looking at him and waved it off. "I have two Jinchuuriki who are completely in harmony with their Bijuu. Yugito told me that Matatabi had sensed Kyuubi in Naruto."
Jiraiya nodded. "You're right, it was reckless. But the shinobi he was fighting was jonin level, Elite jonin level in fact."
(With the konoha jonin and genin)
Might Guy hung his head. "It is such a shame that Lee lost to Naruto. But Naruto's flames of youth are burning brighter than ever. You did an excellent job training him this past month Kakashi."
Kakashi looked at Guy with a bored look on his face. "What did you say Guy?" Sadly the bored expression was ruined by the fact he was putting his Hitai-ate back down.
Guy didn't seem to notice through as he clenched his fist and grit his teeth. "Damn your hip ways Kakashi!"
Kakashi after fixing his Hitai-ate said. "I didn't teach him any of that through. But I'm pretty sure how he escaped the Primary Lotus was something we worked on over the past month."
Kurenai turned back to look at the two as she asked. "What was it, Kakashi?"
"I barely noticed thanks to my Sharingan. But at the last moment as Lee let go of Naruto to drive him into the ground. Naruto's head turned a shiny black. That's a sign of Haki. He must have used Haki to absorb the impact."
Guy looked at Kakashi in shock as he said. "Naruto has already learned Haki?"
"Apparently his team was ambushed in the Thunder Peaks, and it caused him to awaken his Haki."
Guy nodded. "That would make sense. Haki is willpower given form."
Asuma who had stayed with his team to support the other two teams asked the question on the genin's mind. "What does Haki do exactly?"
Guy spoke slowly. "Haki is a power that was said to exist before chakra. As I said before, it is willpower given form. Those who have Haki can sense the intent of others, allowing them to dodge incoming attacks, even if said attack comes from their blindspot. It also allows them to coat their body and weapons in a black armor, which can increase damage and allow them to touch things that normally can't be touched."
Kakashi nodded. "What Guy said is true. It was quite annoying sparring with him, he would be able to dodge all my surprise attacks and he kicked apart a fireball."
The Kurenai, Asuma, and the genin of team ten looked at Kakashi in shock. Shikamaru spoke up. "Troublesome, so what you're saying is Naruto is now able to destroy jutsu?"
"It was only a C-rank jutsu, but yeah Haki allows him to do that."
Asuma put out his cigarette as he said. "So what all did you work with him on?"
"Well I helped him work on his nature manipulation. I also taught him several ninjutsu of each of his natures. I taught him the Body Flicker, improved his ability to use the Rasengan, and a few other things."
Asuma looked at him like he had grown three more heads. "How did you teach him all that?"
Kakashi chuckled. "Lots and lots of shadow clones. I might have ended up increasing my own chakra pool trying to keep up with him."
(Back in the arena)
Q spoke up. "Will Gaara Sabaku of Sunagakure, and Shino Aburame of Konohagakure please enter the arena?"
The two genin entered the ring. Shino knew he couldn't win. He was just hoping to drain some chakra and weaken Gaara enough for the semi finals. He also hoped that Naruto would gain enough information from this fight to win the semi finals.
Q raised his hand. "Are both contestants ready?" The two stoic individuals just nodded. "Then let the second match begin!" With those words he once again fled to the top of the arena wall.
The cork on Gaara's gourd flew off and sand settled around him just as Shino raised his arm releasing a cloud of insects. The Aburame heir charged forward, the insects of his flowing after him. He dodged around some sand shuriken launched by Gaara and threw a fist at the red head. Sand rose up to meet him, but Shino was expecting that. He slipped some insects into the sand with each strike before jumping back.
Gaara sent multiple waves of sand at him, that he barely managed to dodge. He waved his arm and a ball of insects was fired back at Gaara who blocked them with a sand shield. Shino smiled behind his collar. "Good, it's going well."
It was at that moment that Gaara lost control of the sand that he had been blocking the attacks with. Gaara's eyes went wide as he felt the connection to the sand be cut off. "What?"
Shino smiled as he held up a beetle on his finger. "These aren't normal Kikaichu (Parasitic Destruction Insects). These are a special subspecies of Kikaichu. This breed of Kikaichu are able to devour only a single nature of chakra, in exchange for that, they are able to do it at ten times the speed of the normal Kikaichu. They also gain an immunity to said chakra nature. The nature these Kikaichu eat is earth. It also means you can't destroy them with your sand."
it was like his battle against Naruto all over again. If he held back he wouldn't be able to win against Shino. "I see, then I will have to go all out." Gaara lifted his hand and almost all the sand that was laying at his feet rose and began to rush at Shino."Sand Coffin" Shino was forced to dodge and avoid the sand attacks for two minutes. But when hands made of sand appeared beneath him and grabbed him, Shino was quickly caught and engulfed in sand.
Gaara spoke as he lifted up the restrained Shino. As he did this he had his remaining sand quickly creating more sand for his use. "Please surrender, I would rather not have to suffocate a friend of Naruto's."
Shino shook his head in answer. Before Gaara could completely cover his face through, Shino collapsed into more Kikaichu that quickly infected the sand, making it useless. Gaara heard a sound behind him and his shield blocked another strike at him, he turned to see the real Shino jumping back. "An insect clone?" He barely took notice of his sand falling limply to the ground.
Shino nodded calmly, while on the inside he was nervous, he was running low on chakra. Using the subspecies of Kikaichu was extremely draining. He hoped that what he had done so far would help Naruto out.
Gaara frowned, it seemed he couldn't rely on his sand much right now. He would have to reveal it. He began to go through hand signs. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough." With that he waved his arm, releasing a massive blast of wind that sent Shino flying back.
Shino managed to maneuver himself so that he landed on his feet, with some chakra he stopped skidding pretty quickly. "I didn't know you used anything other than your sand Gaara-san."
"Well when you've faced Naruto and that talking sword of his, you tend to learn a few new tricks."
Shino pushed back up his sunglasses which were slipping a little low. "Let me guess, you learned them to help you counter Shingetsu?"
Gaara nodded. "Yes, Shingetsu did exactly what your Kikaichu did. So shall we begin the real battle?"
Shino raised his hand as he said. "Referee I surrender."
If Gaara had eyebrows, he would have raised one. Shino just looked at him for a few moments as Q announced the winner. Once he did the two of them left as they did he said. "The entire reason I was facing you was so Naruto could gather information for the next battle. I can't win against you, as my Kikaichu refuses to eat your chakra directly. I was stuck on defense and the moment you revealed you could use wind ninjutsu, I had no choice but to surrender."
"Fair enough."
Q's voice sounded through the stadium once again. "Will Kankuro Sabaku of Sunagakure and Neji Hyuga of Konohagakure, please enter the arena."
(In Kage box)
Baki spoke up. "The Aburame boy did quite well facing Gaara."
Jiraiya nodded as he said. "Shino is a natural strategist, the only one better at planning out strategies in their class is Shikamaru. It likely helped that Shino was part of the team sent to stop Gaara during the invasion. He was the one who defeated Kankuro."
Baki flinched when the invasion was brought up. "I was against the invasion. Rasa-sama should have just discussed things with Hiruzen-sama."
A shook his head. "Rasa was never too smart. I might be short tempered, but I can't understand what the point of that was." Most of the elemental nations had heard about the failed invasion.
Baki, desperate to change the subject pointed to the arena. "It looks like the next fighters have entered the ring."
(The Arena)
Neji and Kankuro stood across from each other. Kankuro had already unsealed his two puppets for the match. One was a three eyes puppet with multiple limbs (Crow). The other had a long head with horns (Black Ant). Kankuro grinned as he said. "It seems we get to have our match that I had to surrender in the last chunin exams Hyuga-san."
Neji gave a small smile. "Yes you could say it's our fate to face each other. Unless you feel like surrendering again?"
Kankuro shook his head. "Nope, i am either going to win this match, or I'm going to go down like a true shinobi, by taking you with me."
Q raised his hand. "Are both fighters ready?" After getting the confirmation he said. "Let the third match of the chunin exam finals begin." He once again fled to his safe space.
Moment it began Kankuro launched Crow forward, the puppet flying at Neji with blades exposed. Neji dodged around the attacks from the puppet. Each of the puppet's movements were quick, but mechanical.
Neji thrust out a finger coated in chakra and cut through a chakra thread. He kept doing this to try and cut Kankuro's connection to Crow. But Kankuro repaired the threads each time he severed one. With a twitch of his left hand Black Ant rushed forward at Neji. Neji was now facing a battle on two fronts as each puppet attacked from a different direction. What made it worse was that Neji couldn't really parry the blades for fear of getting poisoned. So he was forced to dodge each attack.
Black ant swung at Neji while Crow came at the exact opposite direction, making it impossible for Neji to fully dodge. He had no choice but to reveal it. He began to pivot on one foot as his skin glowed with chakra. "Rotation!" A spinning dome of chakra appeared around him, forcing both puppets back.
Kankuro whistled. "So that's the famous Rotation of the Hyuga clan. I didn't know they taught it to the branch family."
Neji smiled. "I learned it through watching the main family. It took me close to three months to recreate it perfectly. But it's not all I've managed to recreate." He then crouched down as a Yin Yang symbol appeared beneath him. "You're in range of my divination. Eight Trigrams, sixty-four palm!" Neji rushed forward before Kankuro could react and began to attack him.
"Two Palm."
"Four Palm."
"Eight Palm"
"Sixteen palm."
"Thirty-two palm."
"Sixty-four palm!" Kankuro was blown back by the fierce assault on him. But he had a trump card. As he was thrown back he activated the hidden chakra storage seal on his left palm and his chakra strings sprang to life. Before Neji could react he was grabbed by the Black Ant, which had appeared in his blind spot and pulled into it's open chest compartment. With a flick of Kankuro's fingers, the inside of Black Ant was filled with a paralyzing poison. As Kankuro lay on the ground he smirked as he said. "I told you I would take you down with me." With those words he passed out, Neji trapped inside Black ant and unable to move.
Q reappeared in the arena as he checked Kankuro, he then checked on Neji by using his sensory jutsu. He could tell that Neji was alive, but paralyzed. "Both fighters are unable to continue. This match is a draw."
(In the Kage box)
Jiraiya was looking at the arena in confusion. "How did Kankuro do that? His chakra was sealed off,"
Baki smiled as he raised his palm. "Kankuro has a pair of chakra storage seals on his palms. They can't be seen if he doesn't activate them, and he doesn't need chakra to activate them. He can use them in an emergency to power his chakra threads. Since Neji let his guard down, Kankuro was able to trap him."
A laughed as he said. "I think that that Kankuro kid is chunin material. The Hyuga I'm not so sure about. Although I will admit he's talented, I mean recreating the Hyuga clan's most famous techniques just by watching them be used? That's some scary good talent right there."
Jiraiya nodded. "I agree with you A. I wonder who will win the next match."
(The Arena)
"Will Samui of Kumogakure and Tenten Higurashi of Konohagakure please enter the arena."
When the blond haired genin of Kumo and the brown haired genin with twin buns arrived in the arena Q raised his hand. "Are both fighters ready?" After getting confirmation he said. "Let the fifth match of the chunin exam finals begin!"
Samui drew her tanto and stood ready to face her opponent. Tenten grinned as she pulled out a scroll and unsealed a pair of combat daggers. The two began to slowly circle each other, weary of what the other had up their hands.
After a few moments tenten rushed forward and thrust one of her daggers forward. Samui parried the strike with her tanto and spun slightly to push the dagger past her. Tenten's other dagger came flashing up but was blocked by Samui's tanto. Suddenly the tanto began to glow blue and much to Tenten's shock the dagger was quickly cut in half. She was forced to jump back to avoid getting stabbed.
Tenten frowned. "I should have expected a lightning affinity. I guess I'll have to unveil the big guns sooner than I planned." She unsealed two large scrolls.
Before she could unravel it Samui raced through hand signs. "Not if I can help it. Lightning Style: Flash Pillar!" Samui's body released an extremely bright light that blinded Tenten, but it cleared pretty quickly and Tenten saw Samui racing towards her.
"Oh no you don't!" Tenten placed the scrolls at her side as she quickly raced through the hand signs and jumped into the air. As she jumped into the air, the scrolls unraveled and spun around her. "Twin Rising Dragons!" With that she unleashed a barrage of various weapons onto Samui. After a couple minutes Samui was on the ground unconscious and bleeding. Tenten landed on the ground and closed her scrolls. It was at that moment she felt a sharp pain on the back of her neck and everything went dark. As she fell, the Samui that was unconscious on the ground disappeared with a glimmer.
The real Samui stood over Tenten. "Lucky Bee-sensei got C-sensei to teach me that Genjutsu. I would have had a hard time dodging all those weapons."
Q checked on Tenten. "Winner by knockout, Samui."
(in the Kage Box)
Jiraiya sighed. "That was a pretty sad display from Tenten."
A chuckled as he said. "She's a student of my brother B and my bodyguard C."
Baki spoke up. "She did good using that, it allowed her to hide her skills for the rest of the battle."
The blond bodyguard of A's chuckled. He had been quite just like the other bodyguards for most of the finals. But now he spoke up. "You're quite right Baki-san. Samui is hiding a lot of her skills."
A spoke up. "Something I've been curious about, who do you think will be the winner of the finals Jiraiya, Baki?"
Baki tapped his leg slowly. "I would like to say Gaara, but he will have to defeat Naruto first. I don't know how much stronger Naruto has come through since their last fight."
A sighed as he said. "As much as I would like to root for my own genin, I am only confident in Samui. Her two teammate's aren't quite as powerful."
Jiraiya smiled. "It will be Naruto and Hinata in the finals, and Naruto will win."
A and Baki both turned to him. Baki was the one who asked. "Why do you say that Jiraiya?"
"Naruto is my apprentice, so I know how strong he was before the chunin exams. He trained with Kakashi who trained him pretty well according to the reports they both sent me. Hinata is tsunade's apprentice, she's also trained by Kurenai Yuhl and Anko Mitarashi. While she's extremely skilled I am putting money on Naruto beating her. Although, he might surrender since she's his girlfriend."
Jiraiya's guard, the anbu Cat, chuckled as she said. "I could see that."
(In the Arena)
Q's voice sounded out once more. "Will Omoi of Kumogakure, and Temari Sabaku of Sunagakure, please enter the arena?"
Omoi walked down into the arena. Temari instead jumped out of the fighter box and floated down into the arena on her fan. Omoi gulped when he saw that. A battle fan user would be really difficult for him to fight.
"Are both fighters ready?" Both of them gave confirmation Q raised his hand as he said. "Let the fifth match of the chunin exam finals begin!" He jumped away to his sanctuary on the wall.
Omoi drew his katana and charged forward. Temari swung her fan releasing a blast of wind at Omoi. The young swordsman rolled out of the way and swung his katana at Temari, flickering with lightning. Temari blocked it with a kunai that was glowing green. With a grin she kicked Omoi away and then swung her fan once again, releasing a massive wave of wind that sent Omoi flying. He crashed into the wall hard and was knocked out.
Q jumped down and checked on him. "Winner by knockout. Temari Sabaku."
(In Kage Box)
A sighed as he facepalmed. "Omoi got the worst possible opponent. Hopefully this will make him start to focus on things other than his Kenjutsu."
Jiraiya nodded. "I don't think he's quite ready to be a chunin yet."
A nodded. "I agree with you, he focuses too much on Kenjutsu without having a back-up plan. Karui is the same. Although according to Bee, Omoi is the best swordsman out of the three."
Baki nodded. "Sadly Temari is also overspecialized. But she is an extremely skilled tactician so it makes up for it at least a little."
(In the Arena)
"Will Hinata Yuhl of Konohagakure, and Karui of Kumogakure please enter the arena?"
Soon Karui and Hinata were in the arena facing each other. Q looked at the two. "Are both fighters ready?"
Karui nodded as she drew her sword Hinata said with a smile. "I am ready Q-san."
"Then let the sixth match of the chunin exam finals begin!"
Karui charged forward and slashed at Hinata. Her blade swung through the air, aiming right for Hinata's neck. Before the blade could reach through there was a clang as it was stopped by a staff that appeared in Hinata's hands.
Karui's eyes went wide. "This is surprising, a Hyuga who uses more than just the Junken?"
Hinata spun her staff one handed as she said. "Apparently I wasn't strong enough to be a Hyuga, so I was banished." No matter how well she hid it, she was still pissed off at the elders for forcing her father to banish her. The only elder she wasn't passed off at, was her grandfather who is on her father's side and is against the caged bird seal.
Karui frowned for a few seconds before she decided to drop the subject and swung at Hinata again. Hinata deflected the blow with her staff and then thrust out her palm at Karui, forcing the red head to backstep to avoid it.
The battle evolved into a deadly dance. As each weapon strike was blocked and each palm strike was dodged the battle went on for easily five minutes.
As Karui backstepped to dodge yet another Juho strike she was shocked to see the former Hyuga race through hand signs before breaking in deeply. "Fire Style,. Fireball jutsu!" With that Hinata released a large fireball that Karui was forced to dodge.
"Ok, Now I've seen it all. A Hyuga using ninjutsu. I know you were banished, but still I thought that clan taught you all to never use anything but the Gentle Fist."
Hinata gave Karui a small smile. "I don't believe in restricting myself like that." With those words she spun her staff and tried to strike Karui in the chest, the Kumo genin blocked the strike with her sword. As she did she was forced to lean to the side to avoid a Juho strike to the shoulder.
The two disengaged and Karui frowned as she said. "How is it my sword hasn't cut through your staff yet? I'm channeling Lightning chakra through my sword."
It wasn't Hinata that answered but Hinode. "Oh I was wondering why I felt tingly every time I struck that sword. Sorry dear but I'm in a completely different league from your sword."
Karui stared at the sentient weapon in shock. "Did your staff just talk?"
Hinode responded, her voice just dripping with sarcasm. "No, it's just your imagination. Good god I've been spending too much time with Shingetsu haven't I?"
Hinata giggled as she said. "Don't worry Hinode, you'll always be my partner, even if you become just like Shingetsu."
Hinata quickly leaned back to the point her arms were touching the ground. The reason she had done this, was to dodge the strike that came from karui. Hinata used her hands as a pivot and spun before flipping back away from Karui. As she did she pulled two things from her pouch with her free hand and threw one of them at Karui.
Karui reacted too late and hissed in pain as there was a piercing pain in her right shoulder, which then went completely limp. She looked at her shoulder embedded in her shoulder was a single senbon. "Theren't aren't any nerve clusters there." Her eyes went wide. "You managed to hit one of my chakra points with a senbon!"
Hinata smiled as she spun the second senbon that she still held in her hand. "It took a while to get it right. But I managed to create a way for the Junken to be used at long range."
Karui pulled the senbon out of her shoulder, but her arm was still limp. "Damn it."
Karui was forced to block a strike from Hinata's staff with one hand. She didn't know if she could win anymore, she had lost half of her fighting strength with that one move. She grit her teeth, she wasn't going to give up. She parried another strike, she would have to focus on parrying since she couldn't exactly block with only one hand.
Hinata's fingers slipped through her defense and struck the shoulder of her sword hand. Within a second her arm had gone numb and another strike from Hinode had knocked her sword out of her hand. Before she could react, Hinata's palm was right in front of her. "You lose Karui-san."
Karui sighed as she said. "It's your win Yuhl-san."
Q reappeared in the arena and said. "Winner Hinata Yuhl. There will now be a forty-five minute break before the semi-finals begin."
(In Kage Box)
Jiraiya sighed as he rested his head in his hands. "Hinata actually managed to finish developing it. That girl is a true prodigy. When the Hyuga clan learn of this, the elders will go mental."
A laughed as he said. "So the Hyuga banished the girl for being weak, but she has so much potential. That long distance Junken is terrifying."
Baki leaned forward as he frowned. "I honestly wonder how she did it. From what I heard, the Hyuga had tried for years, but eventually gave up."
Jiraiya nodded. "They did, they even tried senbons like Hinata did. She hasn't explained how she had done it. Apparently she had gotten the training in their use from Anko."
Baki shivered, he had met the snake mistress during his time in Konoha during the last chunin exam finals. The woman gave him shivers.
(In a corridor of the stadium, forty minutes later)
Naruto and Hinata were cuddling on a bench. The two had gotten lunch and then had spent the rest of their time just enjoying each other's company. It helped with the anxiety that came from their upcoming matches. Hinata would be facing two others in her match. While Naruto's would be a rematch with Gaara, not the most relaxing event.
It was Naruto who broke the silence. "What do you think of your next match Hinata-chan?"
"It's going to be difficult, but I believe I can win. Temari will be the bigger problem, simply because of how much damage she can cause with her ninjutsu. What about your match Naruto-kun?"
"Honestly, I wish I was fighting Temari and Samui instead. Want to trade?" Hinata giggled but shook her head. Naruto sighed as he said. "I was afraid of that. Honestly, Gaara was difficult to fight before, and he was practically insane with rage. Now he's covered up his weakness of relying solely on his sand? Yeah this is going to be a difficult fight. It also means most likely you'll get to see some of my new tricks."
Hinata smiled as she said. "Oh that will make the finals easier."
Naruto smirked. "Oh don't expect me to let you win." Hinata stuck out her tongue at him cutely in response. She knew he would never let her win a spar, it would be a disservice to both of them. No one got stronger by holding back in a fight.
It was at that moment that Q's voice sounded throughout the stadium. "The semi-finals will be starting in five minutes. Will all fighters please return to the fighter box. Also, will the person in charge of watching over Killer Bee, please report to the front of the stadium, he has escaped confinement."
Hinata looked up as she said. "I really hope that last part was meant as a joke."
Naruto chuckled as he said. "I actually got to talk to Killer Bee over the last month. The guy iks pretty cool, but apparently A locks him up for the chunin exam. Apparently the one time he didn't, Killer Bee hijacked the com system and started rapping. Apparently it was quite the sight to see, A was chasing him around the arena, Bee was running and jumping to escape, all the while rapping." (For those wondering, sadly I doubt I could do this Omake, I suck at rapping. I have a different plan for this chapter's Omake)
They both stood up as Hinata shook her head. "Maybe it's for the best that Killer Bee is confined, at least until the end of the exams." With those words they headed towards the fighters box.
(The arena, five minutes later)
Q spoke, his voice reaching all corners of the stadium. "Now that the break is over, it's time for the semi-final matches. Will Naruto Uzumaki and Gaara Sabaku please enter the ring?"
Gaara once again appeared in a whirl of sand. A couple seconds Naruto appeared in a whirl of flames and wind.
Naruto grinned at Gaara as he said. "It seems someone is eager to have his ass kicked again."
Gaara returned Naruto's grin with a smile of his own. "No, I will be winning this time Naruto-san."
Q the announcer spoke up. "Since you're both ready, let the seventh match of the chunin exam finals begin!"
The cork on Gaara's gourd flew off and sand quickly flew out and settled around him. As it did he went through hand signs before taking in a deep breath. "Wind Style: Air Bullet" With that he blew out five small bullets that quickly rushed at Naruto. Naruto responded by drawing Shingetsu and cutting through the two that would have hit him, dispelling them in the process.
Naruto spun Shingetsu as he smiled. "Well, someone's an eager tanuki."
Gaara nodded. "I will win this match, Naruto-san." With that Gaara waved his hand and sent sand flying towards Naruto, trying to bind him.
Naruto flipped over the sand, as he did his sword spun around, slashing through the sand and draining it of chakra quickly. The sand fell to the ground, cut off from Gaara's control.
Gaara managed to keep his eye from twitching at that. It was annoying having his sand taken from him, and it had been done by two different people today made it more annoying. Suddenly a sleepy voice sounded in his mind. "So the brat with Shingetsu is fighting us huh?"
"Shukaku, you know that sword?"
"Oh yeah, my dad was the one who made the sword. It's sentient and can drain chakra faster than a sponge soaking up water."
"Are there any weaknesses?"
"Well, not really. Shingetsu is specially made to drain chakra. It will even drain your chakra if it cuts you. Hell if someone who he doesn't like holds him, they will be drained of chakra in seconds."
As this conversation was going on, Gaara was keeping Naruto back with waves of sand and wind attacks. "How do I defeat him then?"
"Best bet? Try and disarm him, Shingetsu can only drain chakra from a body if they're holding the handle, or if they're cut by the blade. Chakra outside the body will be absorbed by just coming near it. Thus your best chance is to try and knock Shingetsu out of his hand. Honestly, of the four, Shingetsu is the worst possible one for you to face. After this you really need to get better at taijutsu, or maybe choose a weapon."
Gaara released a wall of wind to knock Naruto back as he said. "Yeah good idea Shukaku."
"You might want to focus on this fight. I doubt you'll win, but doesn't mean you have to make it easy for him."
As Gaara had been talking to his inner plush toy, Naruto had been dodging an assault of sand and wind. He dodged most of the attacks through acrobatic maneuvers. While the attacks he couldn't dodge he slashed through with Shingetsu. This had been going on for two minutes now, and Naruto was starting to get annoyed.
Naruto dodged around the wave of wind and grit his teeth. He had been right, Gaara was much harder to battle when he was sane. He needed something long range to punch through Gaara's defenses. But the only thing he had was that.
(Flashback, two weeks ago)
Naruto smiled as he held up the rasengan. He had masted making the blue spinning ball of doom with one hand. Kakashi gave him an eye smile as he said. "Well good job there Naruto. Now you no longer have to use shadow clones to make them."
Naruto watched the spinning sphere when he suddenly had a thought. What if he tried to coat it in haki. Would it hold it together and allow it to be used at long range?
(Present time)
Naruto held up his hand and quickly formed a rasengan. When it was formed everyone in the stadium was shocked to see one of the fourth Hokage's signature jutsu being used by a genin, one who looked like a young Minato Namikaze no less. But they were in forn an even bigger shock when Naruto's hand became as black as ebony. Slowly the black coloring spread from his hand to the Rasengan, covering it and engulfing it. Soon what was held in Naruto's hand was a shiny black orb.
Naruto grinned as he held the orb in hand. Gaara looked on in shock, he didn't know why, but he felt a serious sense of danger from that attack. Naruto threw the orb into the air "Rasenshot!" as it came down he spun and kicked it hard towards Gaara. Gaara quickly put up a heavy defense, which took the form of Shukaku. The Rasenshot began to slowly grind through the sand, before exploding, destroying the sand and blinding everyone with a cloud of sand.
Suddenly Gaara heard a voice in front of him. "It's over Gaara.": Gaara looked down to see Naruto in front of him in an Iai stance. "Starburst!" Naruto drew a shining shingetsu and began to quickly slash at Gaara. Each slash left a glowing line behind. Naruto's strikes were so fast they couldn't be seen, only the glowing lines were seen. Naruto reseathed his blade, a glowing kanji for the word star floating in the air, his sand armor almost completely destroyed. Naruto backflipped away and made a hand sign. "Katsu!" The kanji exploded, sending Gaara flying back where he landed on the ground and slowly rolled, he had been knocked out by the final attack.
Naruto landed on the ground and sheathed Shingetsu. He did his best to keep from revealing the toll that his attacks had done to him. His right hand was trembling slightly, he had burned his chakra coils in that hand slightly. Hopefully it would be healed by the time the finals arrived. He wasn't at all used to mixing chakra and haki together, not to mention using the Starburst right after. It was no wonder his arm was damaged.
Q checked on Gaara before signalling for the medics to take him away. "Winner by Knockout, Naruto Uzumaki."
(In Kage box)
Baki sighed as he said. "Gaara put up a good fight, but Uzumaki-san is one of the worst possible matchups for him. But I was surprised, Uzumaki-san could use the Rasengan."
Jiraiya nodded. "Yep I taught him how to do it. The4 boy is a prodigy, he managed to learn it in less than a month."
A turned to him as he asked. "How did he launch it, and what was the black coloring?"
Jiraiya frowned as he said. "I honestly have no idea. He never showed that during his training with me, most likely it's a new thing."
A shook his head. "I stand by what I say, that kid is scary."
Naruto slowly walked back to the fighter box, trying not to move his arm too much. "Kit, you know that was pretty reckless."
Ever since the incident on Thunder Peaks a month ago, Kurama was able to talk to Naruto clearly. He was also able to see and hear what Naruto did. Although the ancient fox still spent most of his time sleeping. Naruto really couldn't blame him at times.
"Sorry about that Kurama, how bad is the damage?"
"Not too bad, it should be healed by the time the final round starts. It would be healed much quicker if the cage was open."
"Don't worry Kurama, Pervy Sage said he would give me the key on my birthday. He just needs to negotiate permission to use the Jinchuruki training ground Kumo has."
"I look forward to it. I will enjoy stretching my legs."
Naruto walked into the fighters box just as Q's voice sounded. "Will Samui, Temari Sabaku, and Hinata Yuhl please enter the arena."
Naruto smiled at Hinata as he said. "Good luck Hinata-chan."
Soon the three kunoichi were all standing in the arena, arranged in a triangle, making sure their two opponents were in sight. They had all drawn their weapons and were prepared for this battle.
Q spoke up. "Are all three fighters ready?" After getting their confirmation he raised his hand and said, "Let the eighth match of the chunin exam finals begin!"
After Q left the arena the three kept watching each other, none of them wanting to make the first move. Hinata's Byakugan studied both girls. "Temari is the bigger threat if I leave her alone. I need to take her out first, but I have to be careful Samui doesn't interfere."
Samui watched both her opponents, her tanto held in front of her, ready to parry any strikes. "Yuhl is the bigger threat, but I can't take her down safely with Sabaku still in this match. Her long range would interfere in our battle. I need to take down Sabaku first, then face Yuhl."
Temari was tense, she knew that very likely she would be targeted first. Even if she somehow won this match, she would have to face Naruto. She decided she would try her best to prove herself worthy of being a chunin.
Temari was the first to act, with a wave of her fan she sent a blast of wind towards her two opponents. Both who jumped out of the way, before rushing towards her. She frowned as she tried to keep distance, releasing blasts of wind and back tracking.
The two kunoichi kept dodging the blasts of wind as they moved towards Temari. As Temari was getting ready to fire a blast at Samui. Hinata's hand flickered forward and Temari let out a cry of pain as a senbon embedded itself in her right shoulder.
Temari gritted her teeth as she pulled out the senbon with her still working hand, sadly this meant she had to drop her large fan. Once the senbon was pulled out she reached into her fan and pulled out a small fan. She wouldn't be able to do as much damage with this. But she would give them both a parting gift before surrendering. She flipped the fan into the air and bit her thumb. When it came back down she grabbed it and opened it, smearing blood on it as she did. She then swung the fan, activating the special seal on it. "Summoning: Blade Dance!" This technique produced a small whirlwind, from which a weasel with a sickle appeared. The weasel began to spin, increasing the whirlwind's size and targeting Temari's two enemies.
Samui dodged the whirlwind but not completely. A blade from it managed to hit her right leg, cutting deeply. The whirlwind focused on Hinata through, seeing her as the bigger threat, thanks to her defeating Temari before. Hinata dodged what she could, even blocking some of the blades with Hinode. Each blade of wind launched made the whirlwind smaller. As it got close to her height the weasel let out a loud sound and the whirlwind dispersed, launching all the blades at her. Hinata was unable to dodge all of them. She coated herself in chakra and began to spin "Rotation!" A dome of chakra appeared and blocked all the blades of wind. She only stopped spinning when all the blades were gone.
The weasel disappeared in a puff of smoke. As the weasel summon had been focused on Hinata, Temari had been forced to try and hold off Samui. Sadly she failed and she was knocked out by a powerful lightning ninjutsu. Moments later Hinata stopped spinning. She saw that Samui had knocked out Temari and rushed towards her. Her staff clashed with Samui's tanto.
Hinata disengaged from the tanto and threw a palm strike at Samui's chest. Samui weaved out of the way and slashed at Hinata's stomach, her tanto glowing with lightning, but it was blocked by the butt of Hinata's staff.
Hinata broke from the clash and spun her staff to knock away the tanto. As she did her fingers lanced out and managed to clip Samui's torso. While she didn't get a chakra point, she still released a pulse of chakra to attack her.
Samui twitched in pain, she could feel the chakra burning in her side. It seemed that Yuhl was using fire chakra for her junken strikes. She couldn't fight it, but she knew it would burn out after a few minutes. Till then, she would have to deal with the pain.
Samui leaped back and quickly rushed through hand signs before taking in a deep breath. "Lightning Style: False Darkness!" With those words she shot a lightning spear from her mouth at Hinata.
Hinata performed a rotation to block the lightning spear. Once she stopped spinning she threw something out her hand, releasing an air palm. Samui dodged the air palm, but didn't notice the senbon that was tossed at the same time until it was almost too late. She managed to dodge the senbon hitting a chakra point, but instead it stuck in her arm and began to burn. She grit her teeth again as she pulled it out. Yuhl was using fire chakra in the senbons as well.
The two clashed again, Hinata had the much longer reach, while Samui's tanto was quicker. The fight had been going on for close to five minutes. The two were in what appeared to be a stalemate, but Samui knew she was losing. She was tiring quickly, and her movement was already becoming slower. She knew she would make a mistake soon, and when she did the fight would be over. She couldn't even get enough distance to launch some ninjutsu.
It was a minute later that it happened. Samui's foot caught on a hole in the ground, the same hole where the sand that had grabbed Shino came from. She fell back unable to regain her balance. Hinata took that moment and lunged forward, as she did her free arm was clad in blue chakra that formed a lion head. "Gentle Step: Lion Fist!" Her fist impacted on Samui, the chakra increasing the force of her strike, causing Samui to hit the ground hard and crater the ground. The crater was nowhere near the size of the ones left behind by Lee and Naruto's fight.
Q jumped into the arena and checked Samui. "Both Temari and Samui are unable to continue, the winner by knockout is Hinata Yuhl."
(Kage box)
A turned to Jiraiya. "Well you guessed the final match Jiraiya. Shame we didn't actually bet anything."
Jiraiya nodded as he said. "Her lion fist is getting more destructive."
Baki looked at Jiraiya. "I have never seen that technique before, what in the world was it."
Jiraiya chuckled. "I can't go too deep into detail, but basically it's a fusion of Hinata's fighting style, with Tsunade's super strength technique. Sadly according to her, she's nowhere near finished with it. Tsunade's certain that Hinata will surpass her."
Baki looked towards the arena with a smile. "I look forward to seeing the final match."
(In the arena)
Naruto and Hinata were both in the arena facing each other. Q looked at the two as he said. "Are both fighters ready?"
Naruto nodded. "I am ready."
"I am as well."
Q raised his hand. "Then let the final battle of the chunin exams begin!"
Naruto and Hinata both looked at each other. The two stared for a few seconds, causing the tension to build in the audience. That's when they made their move, it was time to end the chunin exams.
Rock, Paper, Scissors!"
Everyone in the stadium fell flat on their face. The only ones still standing were Kakashi, Guy, Kurenai, Jiraiya, A, and Tsunade.
(In the Kage box)
A was laughing his ass off as the guards and Baki slowly climbed back up from the ground. "Jiraiya, I like that student of yours."
Jiraiya nodded, barely managing to stop laughing as he said. "I wasn't really expecting a fight between the two. But I wasn't expecting them to decide the fight like this."
A grinned as he said. "Well, I guess we can say for certain that Naruto is an Uzumaki clan member. I bet his ancestors are laughing themselves senseless in the pure land. Although I have a feeling Hinata's ancestor's are probably spinning in their graves."
Jiraiya grinned. "You would be surprised. Hinata's mother was known for the fact she helped Kushina with a few of her pranks back in the day."
Baki climbed back into his seat. "Well, that is quite the memorable way to end a chunin exam finals."
Jiraiya nodded. "Yep, those two are definitely going to be chunin."
(With the Konoha genin and jonin)
Kakashi was chuckling while Might Guy was standing up yelling about the youthfulness of this conclusion. Kurenai was trying her hardest to stop giggling, but she was having a hard time.
Asuma climbed back into his seat before looking at Kurenai. "You and Kakashi knew about this beforehand didn't you."
Kurenai nodded. "Apparently Naruto and Hinata both decided if they ended up facing each other in the finals, they would choose the winner that way."
Kakashi nodded with an eye smile. "It was actually Naruto's idea. Hinata went along with it because she thought it would be funny."
(In the Arena)
Q was confused but he spoke slowly. "Um, well it seems that Naruto Uzumaki is the winner of the chunin exam finals."
Naruto didn't hear him. Naruto was too busy laughing his ass off. Hinata was giggling as well. They hadn't expected this to work quite so well.
(Omake, Naruto's first team mission as a chunin)
Naruto had returned from the chunin exams a week ago. Four genin had been promoted, Hinata, Neji, Rock Lee, and himself. Over the past week Naruto had helped to teach students in the academy like before. But today was the students day off and he had special plans for today. He was meeting the Konohamaru corps at the training ground he had taught them tree walking at. Today would be a very fun day.
Naruto got a surprise when he arrived at the training ground. He was expecting three kids waiting there for him. But instead he had found four of them. Hanabi had apparently come along with the Konohamaru corps to join in on their stealth lesson.
Naruto to be completely honest, quite like Hanabi, She was like the little sister he never had. With Hiashi cracking down on the clan elders after Hinata's banishment, the girl was allowed to act like a kid again. She was also often seen in the company of Konohamaru, who both Naruto and Hinata were sure she had a massive crush on. She had even given him a nickname, Kono-kun.
Naruto smiled at the four. "Well I wasn't expecting to see you here Hanabi."
The young girl blushed before she said. "I heard Kono-kun talking about meeting you for a stealth lesson. I asked to come along because I wanted to learn as well." All shinobi in the village agreed, most grudgingly, that Naruto was the undisputed master of stealth in the village. Even the Hyuga had trouble finding him at times. This was back when he wore bright orange. Ever since changing his attire, Naruto had reached a whole new level of stealth. The few pranks that had happened in the village since he became a genin were suspected of being committed by him, but no one could find proof.
Naruto shrugged as he said. "I don't mind, but just so you know, this stealth lesson, your dad might not exactly approve of it." Naruto's idea of a stealth lesson involved pranking the people of Konoha.
"I don't mind, I want to get better at stealth!"
Naruto grinned as he said. "Well then I guess we better start." With those words he pulled out six scrolls and placed them on the training log that was beside him. "So as Konohamaru can tell you, most of these stealth lessons are trials by fire. I give you the basic knowledge you need, then you each will follow the instructions in the scroll. In those scrolls contain your pranking targets. Don't worry Hanabi, I will help you with your target since this is your first lesson. Now pick your scroll." He gestured to the six scrolls he had set out in front of them. They each picked one of the scrolls and Naruto sealed away the other two. They were all prepared beforehand and he had close to twenty left. As the students pulled out the instruction scroll from their dossier, Naruto unsealed the advanced scrolls from them. These were his stealth missions, to help keep himself in shape. He wasn't going to let his students have all the fun.
The Konohamaru squad all grinned after reading their targets, while Hanabi was surprised as seeing the target she had picked. Konohamaru had drawn the Sarutobi clan compound. Moegi had gotten the Academy. Udon had drawn the Nara clan ranch. While Hanabi had drawn the public library, the civilian library, not the shinobi one.
Naruto's own missions made him grin. The four advanced stealth missions were hitting the Hyuga compound, the shinobi library, the hokage tower, and the anbu base. Today would be very fun.
"Are you all ready?" They all nodded as they closed up their scrolls. "Good, Hanabi, I will be helping you with your mission since this is your first lesson. Now we will strike tonight, does everyone understand?"
The village of Konoha was in chaos, various clans had been hit by pranks in the middle of the night along with multiple other buildings. In total eight places had been hit.
The Sarutobi clan had woken up to find their compound now surrounded by cardboard cutouts of tropical trees with bananas hanging from them. All the male Sarutobi clan members (except Konohamaru) had been dressed as monkeys. Asuma found himself dressed as a silverback gorilla and his cigarette replaced by fakes that released bubbles when smoked.
Iruka had arrived at the academy to find it had been painted an eye burning orange and all the windows had been covered by wood that was painted a bubblegum pink. It was quite horrifying to look at. But the inside was even worse, each room had been changed in a different way, some looked like jungles, others looked like a beach. There was even one that looked like a prison.
The Nara's woke up and found their home was painted floor to ceiling and wall to wall with abstract art that was so random that Vincent van Gogh would have gotten vertigo looking at it all. They couldn't help themselves but to look for patterns and soon were screaming out running or literally getting sick on the floor just looking at the paintwork. It was horrific and the Clan Head Nara Shikaku did the only thing he could do: He ordered every member of the Nara household out to buy paint and brushes to cover this abomination. Sadly for them, someone had destroyed all the cans of paint in every store. This would lead to the Nara clan being forced to camp outside in tents for a week.
The civilian library had been painted to look like a blue birthday cake. The pipes on top of said building now looked like candles. Over the entrance of the library were the words "EAT ME!" painted in big white letters. (This message was added by Naruto after the fact)
The Hyuga clan adults had woken up to find sunglasses stuck to their face, and a white cane stuck to their hands. To make matters worse, all the adult members had their undergarments changed. The men having women undergarments in their drawers, while the women had men's undergarments in theirs. This led to quite a few accusations of perversion in the Hyuga clan that morning. The children of the clan were unhit, and were able to watch the chaos in peace.
The Shinobi library had been repainted to look like a ship. Naruto had also somehow managed to get some flag poles on top of it, and turned them into Sails. Over the entrance was the figurehead, that of what looked like a sunflower mixed with a lion. Tenten and Neji when they saw this both screamed and ran, suffering from PTSD type flashbacks.
The Hokage tower had been repainted to look like black stone, with red lines going along it. On top of it was a weird red painted cardboard cutout that looked like a flaming eye with a slit pupil, that actually seemed to look around. (Tower of Mordor from Lord of the Rings, complete with Eye of Sauron) Jiraiya had been suffering from a hangover from drinking with Tsunade the night before. (He had woken up in bed with her as well). When he saw the new tower he actually approved of it and quickly gave the order to leave it alone for the next couple months.
All these pranks had been done through special seals that Naruto had made. Each of which were on special chakra paper that allowed them to be applied to said location with ease. These seals had the side effect of making the pranks harder to clean up. But the ones who suffered the most, were the anbu. Naruto had snuck in and with the help of his clones had placed special seals on all the anbu masks he could find. Even some that were being worn by anbu that were active at the moment. Shortly after the other pranks were causing chaos, all anbu members were engulfed in smoke. When it cleared they all found themselves in cosplay of characters from various manga, books, and movies, while their masks had changed into face masks of said characters. There were also quite a few different Yokai thrown into the mix.
Shortly after this happened, the village of Konoha was treated to a sight they hadn't seen in a while. Naruto being chased by Anbu. This sight was sadly ruined by the fact the eight anbu agents currently chasing him were in various cosplay. As Naruto ran away, screaming about being chased by weirdos, he was being followed by four women and four men. The men cosplay included a Natsu Dragneel (Fairy Tail), Coco (Toriko), Bobobo-bobo (not even going to bother writing out the series name, you all know it), and Eren Yeager (Attack on Titan). The Eren Yeager anbu was sadly being affected by the fact the Vertical maneuvering equipment actually seemed to work, and would at random fire out an anchor, stalling said anbu's chase.
The women costumes were getting in the way just as much as the men. One of them was dressed as Mirajane Strauss (Fairy Tail) She was forced to hold up her dress as she ran and hopped across roofs after Naruto. The second was dressed as Patty Thompson (Soul Eater), the Third was dressed as a Kitsune, sadly for her, her cosplay was one of the most revealing with the low cut kimono and the holes cut in the back for the actual moving tails. The final female anbu was a generic elf from fantasy stories, sadly for her, a bow and quiver of arrows had been included and was attached to her hands and back with industrial strength super glue.
As they chased Naruto he would flip and jump from rooftop to rooftop, keeping a hand on his hat, the grin on his face hidden behind his scarf. He was the only suspect and he would deny it no matter what, and thanks to Kurama, Yamanaka techniques and truth serum were useless against him.
"You'll never take me alive!" With those words Naruto flipped off a roof down to the ground below, only to be ambushed by a group of anbu, all dressed as clowns or in spandex suits. Everyone outside the alley was treated to the sound of Naruto's protests.
"AAHHHH! Come on guys, be reasonable! It was just a joke! OW! You red nosed mother fucker! Just because you were picked on in the academy doesn't give you the right to be a prick! I have rights you know, I have the right to a lawyer. Resisting arrest? Are you crazy? I thought you had to be fit to be in anbu, maybe you should cut down on the dango! You want resisting arrest? I'll show you resisting arrest! Let me go you masked perverts! Handcuffs? Kinky, I didn't think anyone beside Anko was into that. Wait… what the fuck is the rubber glove for? I refuse to let you bastards give me another cavity search! Bad anbu! Down, no dango for you!"
After this scene Naruto would spend ten hours in interrogation, where not even Ibiki would be able to make him admit to doing the pranks. It was just another day in Konoha.
(I will readily admit, I got a couple of these prank ideas from other fanfiction. Then only one I can remember off the top of my head is Naruto: Curse of the Ryugan. Even then the two from that are the Nara Ranch prank and what happens to the civilian library. Also the scene when Naruto gets captured, is heavily inspired by "This time as a Namikaze" a really good fanfiction that I hope will one day restart (although i doubt it). The others I can't remember where I saw them, if you see one from your fanfiction, please don't sue me, and instead take pleasure in fact you helped inspire a fellow writer. Also there will be reference to a lot of other series in this prank raid. I will say this, the series referenced in these pranks actually exist as stories in this world. You will occasionally see references to manga and books about other worlds in these stories. Also Naruto will NOT be visiting the worlds referenced in these pranks in the future. If you haven't realized Naruto will be entering into some crossovers, then you obviously have not read Kyoleth's Codex.)
Author's Note: I hope I did those battles well. So we're starting to see more of Hinata's fighting style. I turned the Lion fist, into her way of combining the super strength technique with the gentle steps. Also, I know a few of the battles were probably too short (Like Omoi, sorry dude, you got short changed) but don't worry I'm working on getting better at writing fight scenes! As you probably noticed in the Omake, yes Tsunade and Jiraiya are together it just happened in the background (I ship them). Don't be surprised if there might be an heir to the Senju clan eventually. (I don't want to hear anything about her being too old. She's related to the Uzumaki clan, a clan that is known to live past up to 150 years old, at least in this story). Also I will soon be starting a second story, no this won't be abandoned it just is a little hard for me to focus on writing the same story constantly. So basically it will two stories posted. A chapter of Different Path, then a chapter of the other story, then a chapter of Different path, then a chapter of the other story and so on till one is finished and gets replaced by another story. So next chapter will actually be the prologue to the new story, hope you all enjoy it. Anyway, this is the Celestial Dragon king Kyoleth, signing off. I'll hopefully see you all in the next chapter.
Additional note: I forgot to add this before. I just wanted to say, if anyone wants to do a Reading version of Different Paths or any other stories I write. Go right ahead, my only request is that you please tell me when you post it so I can read it! Anyone who does do a reading of my stories, I look forward to your work :D