'Thoughts' "Speaking" Author's Notes "Bijuu Speaking" "Telepathic Talking"

[Disclaimer read by Naruto]

"The following is a fan fiction made by the one and only Author-sama. Naruto, Naruto Shippuden and the Naruto movies are not owned by Author-sama but credit goes to Masashi Kishimoto. Any pictures, videos, music etc etc are not Author-sama's but have respect to the original creators (again). Please support the official releases."

"Damn it I hate it when he makes read long disclaimers out-"

Basically, super long gap between release of this chapter and previous, this chapter is kinda bad.


=Chapter 19: Finals - Part 2=

"Please can Kumogakure Team 25 and Konohagakure Team 8 please come down!"

The arena turned into a rocky landscape with rock towers spread out across the arena as the two teams stood on top of their rock towers.

"Finals Match 3: Start!" called out Darui as the two teams tensed up.

"Lightning Style: Charged Voltage!" Rat held his hands out together as lightning crackled in between them. He sent brought his hands dangerously close to the crackling chakra before sending it flying towards Team 8.

"Man-Beast Transformation!" Akamaru transformed into his partner as the two dodged the smoke of the attack. "Fang Over Fang!" The two did their signature attack towards the bottom of the team's rock tower and forcing Team 25 to jump to separate places. "Dynamic Marking!"

Akamaru turned back into normal before spinning in the air and spreading urine across the map as his two teammates disappeared behind rocks.

"Disgusting, Water Style: Whirlpool Nest!" A dome of water formed around Ram and Monkey as the waste hit it, being absorbed by the wall before seeping back into the ground.

"At least have decency on the battlefield!" said Rat before leaping behind more rocks as not to get 'marked' by the urine.

"Ninja don't fight fair, Fang Over Fang!" Rat's eyes widened as he saw Kiba rushing towards him as he was cornered in some rocks. Rat jumped up only to get hit by a gust of wind from Hinata, Byakugan ablaze.

"Eight Trigrams Air Wall Palm!" called out Hinata before sending another gust of wind at Rat, who only smirked before flickering behind his teammates.

"Wind Style: Breakthrough!" Monkey set a blast of air towards Hinata and Shino who dodged it and landed elsewhere on the arena.

"Water Style: Coral Sprouts!" The arena flooded slightly before the ground cracked open with coral sprouting out of it and heading for Shino, who in return did the hand seals for Earth Style: Mud Wall.

"Hidden Jutsu: Beetle Tornado!" Kikaichu rushed out of Shino's arms and spread out over the arena before targeting Monkey who started jumping on top of boulders and rock pillars as to dodge the incoming swarm.

The beetles started increasing in speed before surrounding Monkey and rushing around him, while feeding off his chakra and cutting into his skin.

"Release!" The Kikaichu returned to Shino, revealing Monkey, panting and grasping for breath and near chakra exhaustion.

Monkey's teammates rushed to his aid with Ram giving some basic medical ninjutsu to him. Rat launched some more lightning jutsu at the three Konoha-nin who started circling the three Kumo-nin.

"Eight Trigrams Air Wall Palm!" A large gust of wind hit the rocks holding up the pillar Team 25 was on before Ram cast her defensive jutsu once more and made their water bubble around the top stone.

"Insect Clone! Parasitic Beetle Infestation!" Thousands of Kikaichu formed another copy of the Aburame before the two sent out more and more beetles which swarmed around the Kumo-nin and started clouding their vision.

"Two Headed Wolf!" Smoke filled where the two Inuzuka partners stood before a larger version of Akamaru with two heads leapt out of the smoke. "Super Fang Over Fang!" The large wolf... dog spun violently before heading inside cloud of beetles, parting to make way for the attack.

"Missed!" came the taunting voice of Monkey as he reappeared across the arena. "Honestly..." Ram flickered behind Monkey, quickly followed by Rat. "...making us use more power!"

"Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists!" Hinata charged towards the group before engaging in a taijutsu fight with the ever so excited Monkey. Monkey soon got frustrated after realising there were no blind spots to this attack and one touch from those lion head could drain his chakra instantly. He quickly looked over to see the other four contestants fighting it out before jumping backwards and rethinking his attack plan.

Over at the other fight, the two-headed dog gave no time to think or plot as Shino continually released his bugs to their enemies and giving no more openings to 'Team Invention.'


=Medical Bay=

Naruto, still disguised as Menma, lay in his medical bay bed, not quite asleep but currently wandering around his mindscape. He would've spent his time chatting with the fox, and tuning out the people around him but something here was exerting a stronger pull.

Something even stronger than Kurama. Naruto walked down the empty hallways of his mind again until the water started to flow faster, all draining not to the bijuu hall but to somewhere else, past the hall. Into a place where he had never been before.

Dark, damp doors lay before him and he pushed them open, revealing a completely dark room. He saw cracks spread out beneath his feet before the ground collapsed beneath him. He fell down into the pitch black before summoning a Truth-Seeker Orb as his landing pad.

He jumped onto his pad and the area shifted, revealing a broken battlefield with some distinct features on it. He could see the Gedo Mazo in the distance before it warping into a being he perceived as the Juubi, one of the most powerful beings on the planet.

He looked around to see the lifeless and extremely weakened bodies of his fellow teammates, the Orange Flames of the Sun, along with shinobi from across the shinobi nations littered across the field.

He saw one figure approach him, obviously an enemy, radiating extreme amounts of evil chakra and sending killer intent to Naruto. He saw one large horn going round the head with another one bearing the start of it.

He could see the right eye emitting a glow and a pale white in the left eye. His appearance resembled that off a god with the white robes and translucent cloak. In place of the palms of his hands were two Rinnegan, one on each palm.

A dark purple aura surrounded the figure before raising its hand, the Rinnegan eye pointing at Naruto, who found himself unable to move on the floor. The purple glow seemed to move towards the eye before it flashed purple and releasing extreme amounts of power.

Naruto's eyes widened as a high-pressure beam rushed out of the hand at almost point-blank range before he willed himself to flicker out of the way but didn't have enough chakra. Time slowed down as he forced himself to move before the beam eventually reached his face, his eyes almost touching it before...

He woke up. He grabbed his chest and inhaled extreme amounts of air, his heart pounding and the booming voice of Kurama echoing in his head. Sweat poured down his face as he shook it off, before making sure he was still in as his black-haired counterpart.

Mentally sighing, he looked around the room once again as he recounted some new memories in his mind. Something was going down, something big.

Something almighty.

And he wouldn't be strong enough.


=Arena Floor=

Team 25 had still been dodging the vicious strikes from Konoha before still trying to find any openings. Well, until it clicked in one of their minds.

Monkey looked at Hinata, who was panting and running out of stamina, with her lions slowly fading. She hadn't managed to land a single hit, so she never absorbed any chakra, refuelling her. Monkey smirked, if he could just continue dodging the attacks, he could swipe the win at the last second.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Hinata brought her hands up in defence, before being knocked backwards into the boulders and losing her lion's power up. Monkey's smile widened as he appeared behind her, only for the lions to reignite in one desperate plea of taking chakra.

He could see the growing smile on the Hyuga's face as she was about to take more chakra before Monkey turned in midair and narrowly avoiding the lion heads. The blue heads disappeared before Hinata collapsed in exhaustion and Darui taking the Hyuga out.

Monkey smirked and wiped some non-existent dirt off of his sleeves before joining his remaining two members who had figured out their key to victory. They mentally thanked their training sessions at Mount Myoboku, although they'll never admit it.

Stamina building, with Naruto having the best idea of feeding them Ma's cooking and then making them run around the mountain and village. It sounded more like torture but it definitely worked.

With victory in their eyes, Rat started flying through sets of hand seals before attacks formed around them and head for their opponent.

"Lightning Style: Positive Charges!" Rat called out as he put his hands together, bringing them apart and the '+' symbol forming before multiple orbs holding the same symbol appeared around him. The orbs multiplied before sending out copies of themselves, flying towards the two remaining Team 8 ninja.

The orbs hit Kiba before a 'poof' sound was heard, indicating it was a shadow clone. The team from Kumo widened, knowing they had been tricked and then Shino dissolved into bugs which spread randomly throughout the arena.

=Spectators: Konoha=

Shikamaru's brain got working as he heard the tell-tale 'poof' sound of shadow clone, before scanning the arena. Since when could Kiba make a shadow clone? It was only one but one clone still costed a lot of chakra, most of a ninja's one. This put them in a near-death like state if you did it without thinking, but Kiba?

The Konoha 10, including Neji, had been working hard ever since Naruto's death and his reappearance but Kiba gaining enough chakra for a shadow clone seemed unreal. 'It's like no one trusts each other. Everyone's keeping secrets.'

Just then, another thing in Shikamaru's mind clicked. His mind wondered back to ever since Naruto's proclaiming of his heritage, he had just wondered, why keep the name 'Uzumaki'?


*Ninja Art: Flashback Jutsu!*

It had just been after Naruto's appearance and the Konoha 11 summit that Shikamaru pondered, 'Why keep the name 'Uzumaki?' Surely it wouldn't have had any meaning since he was a 'Namikaze,' until Shikamaru thought, 'Who was his mother?'

Surely there would have been some sort of clue as to who, but... well, who? He didn't feel like asking his father as he'd say it was too troublesome before going to sleep, although it may go different. Shikamaru dismissed this before hunting down any evidence in the Nara Compound Library.

He spent a good couple of hours scavenging throughout the library, picking up any information he could on the clan 'Uzumaki'. Turns out, there was very minimal information, with the books remaining been obviously stolen, probably by Danzo, or burnt by something. He kept on looking through books in the dimly lit place with some other Nara Clan members greeting him as they went on their daily businesses.

He flicked through another page, with the same repeating information of the clan being destroyed by some nations, which names had been blotted out for some reason. He could hear his mother calling him for dinner so he got up in his lazy attitude and accidentally knocked over a pile of books he had gathered. He knew his mother would kill him for this so he tidied up the books, until he saw the bottom one.

It had opened on a page with the book name unknown and on that page, was a woman with the name 'Kushina'. She most definitely had a surname as it had been torn or been eaten by some mice in the library with a bad quality picture remaining. He only had a small amount of time to take in some details before quickly tidying up the book again as his mother raised her voice once more.

*Ninja Art: Flashback Jutsu - Release!*

He closed his eyes once more and only listened to the sounds of the fight. That was one mystery solved, with the answer seemingly looking at him in the face. Now, to find out the mystery of Naruto himself.


=Arena Floor=

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" called out Monkey as the real Kiba and Akamaru jumped up behind them before Kiba called out the pair's signature move, Fang Over Fang. The blast of wind hit the two as Team 25 dodged the attack, only for the two to disappear back into the ground.

"Earth Style: Earth and Stone Bamboo Shoots!" said Shino, reforming with his insects out of the ground as he placed his hands down for the four sharp bamboo shoots headed for the three Kumo-nin as Ram cast her jutsu of Water Style: Whirlpool Nest and the three bamboo shoots heading straight for Ram and Rat tore apart into pieces before dropping onto the ground.

Rat... had a different story. He saw the shoot coming towards him and seized this opportunity to jump on top of the moving jutsu and pull out kunai in a bid to get rid of Shino. The bugs felt this menace towards their owner before reacting out of pure instinct and swarming him as he fought his way through the clouds of bug and pulling out his kunai, ready to cut Shino before a wall of earth rose out of the ground and made Rat choke on air as it flung him into the sky.

He gained his stamina before flickering behind Shino, for the bug user to turn back into bugs as Kiba and Akamaru spun out of the ground and made contact with Rat. He spat out some more blood before a large torrent of water hit Kiba in the face out of pure luck. Kiba saw his partner go down and get knocked down, with him going down quickly after with Monkey knocking him out with a chop to the neck.

Monkey landed back down on the ground, wiping his mouth before the floor collapsed beneath him with bugs swarming him at every angle. His eyes widened before the bugs fell lifeless to the floor, and Shino's body slumped to the ground in the distance. His two teammates stood behind him before the proctor called the match.

"Winner: Kumogakure Team 25!" called out Darui before Team 25 nonchalantly walked off the arena and into their contestant lounge, cheering each other and doing some other dilly-dally. "And for Match 4, please can Konohagakure Team 10 and Kirigakure Team 13 (1) come down to the arena please!"

The arena on command shifted once again, leaving it now with two islands separated by a body of fast flowing water. The two teams merely got ready on top of some small mounds with one of them muttering how troublesome it would be.

"So, we got to fight Konoha's legendary Team 10? Bring it on!" The leader of the team brought out the well known swords, Kiba, before they started crackling with lightning. "Ringo Ameakuri, your demise!"

Ameakuri's two teammates got their stances ready before Darui brought his hands down again. "Finals Match 4: Start!"

"Go, Mikuro!"

"Hidden Mist Jutsu!" called out Mikuro before the twin swords flared into life and sent lightning throughout the arena, quickly followed with the chakra-laced mist. Some lightning hit the stands, alerting the guards around and sending basic protection seals to protect the onlooking civilians in the stands.

Team 10 got themselves ready in a triangle formation before Ameakuri suddenly appeared in the middle of them. Water flooded the area she was standing in before bringing both swords up and crossing them over above her, she called out: "Lightning Blade Jutsu: Thunderbolt!"

A bolt of lightning came down from the sky before the two swords redirected it to the surrounding water and for Team 10 to get partially shocked, with Choji absorbing most of the shock with his Partial Expansion Jutsu to hit their attacker.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" Team 10 could see a silhouette of the all-too-familiar attack rearing its head in the misty sky before charging down on the largest target, which so happened to be the most vulnerable as well, and throwing them into the jet of water that was its neck.

"Well you're not the only one who can use Water Style! Water Style: Ripping Torrent!" Ino held her left hand out before water gathered in volume there, spinning and compressing itself and launching itself into the mist, for it to shatter a rock and send the remains of both hurtling through the arena at high speeds.

In the medical bay, Menma could only smirk and think of how it looked like a basic Water Style: Rasengan. Oh, it still needed some work but it was awfully similar.

Back in the arena, the mist partially cleared before Kiri's Team 13 decided to move, but couldn't as they looked down at their feet. Darker shadows merged into one as they traced it back to the famous Nara heir, holding his hands in the seal of 'rat' before they got knocked to the side like dominoes, thanks to one Akimichi.

Team 13 flew and the shadow released itself before paper bombs exploded all around the team of Kiri-nin before Ameakuri summoned down a bolt of lightning to detonate the rest of the tags at once.

They stumbled out of the smoke in pain, before regaining their stamina. "You fought well, Konoha. But now, it's time to show you our-"

"Mind Transfer Jutsu!" called out Ino before taking over the mind of Ameakuri, who fell limp to the ground before holding up the two swords and attacking Ameakuri's teammates. The swords always seemed to fail however, when Ino swung them, before the unnamed teammate decided to explain.

"The swords won't work. You're not the real owner of the swords, therefore, they don't recognise you. Give up before use stronger force."

Ameakuri grunted before her body returned to normal and looking over to the Konoha-nin. "Heh, so you managed to get her out Hiora. Now, to finish this!"

Both Hiora and Mikuro took out some home-made swords of their own before the three charged into battle, casting hand seals and summoning three giant water dragons from out of the flowing arena water. Team 10 dodged the attacks before Choji swung his massive hand into the mist and managed to take out Mikuro's sword.

Mikuro smirked before flickering behind Choji, who spun around in response with his giant hand lumbering behind him. Mikuro leapt in to battle before striking Choji with her fists and sending him a bit backwards back with one hit of his fist.

"You're strong, but not strong enough! Akimichi Secret Technique: Butterfly Mode!" Two massive blue butterfly wings sprouted out of Choji's back before emitting intense pressure on the arena. "Butterfly Bombing!" The wings grew smaller and disappeared before coating Choji's right arm in the same colour substance.

Choji smashed the ground with his hand with the ground shattering across the arena and shadows leapt out of nowhere on Shikamaru's command.

"Black Spider Lily!" The shadows turned into multiple sharp needles before more and more surrounded each of Team 13, before the three ninja got dragged towards Shikamaru where paper tags lay. Ino did her hand seal before the paper tags exploded once more, harming the restrained Kiri-nin. The shadows released and left the injured Kiri-nin on the ground, before Hiora and Ameakuri disappeared in poofs of smoke.

Mikuro spat out blood before Darui took the injured nin out of the arena, leaving the rest to fight.

Meanwhile, in the medical bay, Menma was becoming more and more interested in this match. Not at it itself, but the power of Kirigakure. His mind continued going through the history of Kiri, Suna and Kumo and found a few faults in it. Potential allies? Maybe.

He smiled again before admiring the match. Shadow clones, huh? And mastery over the legendary sword Kiba? He couldn't...

.

.

.

Believe it. (2)


=Unknown Location=

"What is this you tell me of him? He's alive?"

"There's no way. Absolutely none. He's dead! His chakra beacon went out ages ago!"

Three figures stood beneath the Gedo Statue, two of them bewildered at this new revelation.

"The party's all coming together. I knew it ever since I landed on this planet, something wasn't right."

"Then I guess we'll have more fun to be had here, but what if he betrays us? There's going to be five of us here contesting over it!"

"The traitor managed to severely weaken him. The traitor feared us so we can obviously beat them into shape."

The three smirked under the shadow of the statue before sinking into the ground, to be seen whenever...


=Arena=

Me being lazy below :/

Back in the arena, the ground cracked before Hiora and Ameakuri jumped out of the ground before launching their own shuriken at Team 10. The shadows spread across the arena again, trapping and returning each shuriken to their thrower.

Ameakuri summoned her chakra before throwing one of the twin swords, covered with lightning. Choji expanded before swinging his hand around and hitting Ameakuri in the head and sent the Kiri-nin flying into the arena wall.

Shadows continued leaping out of the darkness with Hiora having to continually dodge the incoming darkness and kunai randomly being thrown into the mist.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" called out Hiora again before lightning struck the dragon, giving it power. The water dragon swam in the air before charging along the ground and striking Choji in the gut and sending the Akimichi backwards into his two teammates, paralysing all of Team 10.

Ameakuri jumped out of the mist, wiping blood from her mouth before summoning her lightning to strike again. The lightning struck the two swords before the wielder threw both swords at Shikamaru and Ino as the two dodged the strikes, although still getting struck by lightning.

Hiora threw some more shuriken into the mist, which was slowly fading away. She cast her hand seals again before making the mist even thicker.

The pair of Kiri-nin rushed around Team 10 as Ameakuri picked up the two swords lying down on the ground. She rushed into the fight before deflecting kunai and shuriken and knocking Ino back with her fist onto the ground.

"Lightning Blade Jutsu: Thunderbolt!" Lightning struck the two swords once more, sending a current through the arena again and through the bodies of the ninja, Hiora hiding behind a rock. Ino fell to the ground before being taken away by Darui as Choji and Shikamaru stood up by their knees.

Shikamaru choked on his blood before doing a last desperate hand seal and setting off more paper bombs dotted around the arena in one last final war cry. The Nara heir collapsed onto the ground before being flickered away again, making the match tilt into Kiri's hands once more.

"Human Boulder!" Choji expanded in size before rolling towards the two remaining Kiri-nin. Ameakuri dodged, only to throw both of her swords into the moving mass and send blood through the arena. Rocks flung to the side as the human boulder crashed through another mound of dirt and then into the arena wall.

Choji shrunk in size as the two swords clattered to the ground with Darui declaring the match.

"Winner: Kirigakure Team 13!" The victors rushed into the medical bay to tend to their injured ally as the arena slowly repaired itself again before shifting into the final battle ground for the first round.

"For the final match of the first round, please can Iwagakure Team 9 and Sunagakure Team 2 come down to the arena please!"


So... How'd I do? Good? Bad? Awful? Trash? Amazing? Tell me!

If you have any suggestions, let me know and I'll incorporate them if I like them!

(1) The team I added by kicking out Otsutsuki.

(2) ...I just had to do it.

I need some inspiration for this and I'm getting lazy. And tired. Heh, I'm gonna be happy once this is over and I can start writing the real plot of this story, you liking it so far?

And that's all for now!

See you later: Ja ne!