KeybladeMasterRiku: Glad you think so, I enjoyed writing that fight a lot.
Sarahgri99: I'm glad to see you enjoyed it, because I enjoyed writing it.
Dai sennin kurosaki d naruto: I think a better question is, why did no one stop Gaara from crippling Lee in canon? Besides, Tatsu still had the full force of his Tenseigan, which gave him the power to rival a Tailed Beast, so I highly doubt that's actually an issue.
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The big day arrived.
Naruto, Tatsu, Lee, Neji, Ino, Temari, Kankuro, Sasuke, Shino, Shikamaru and Dosu all stood in the arena, the massive crowd of spectators all watching them.
Genma was acting as the proctor instead of Hayate "You guys are the heroes of this final competition."
Then Sarutobi stepped up from his spectator box with the Kazekage "Welcome all, and our deepest thanks for coming here to the Village Hidden in the Leaves for this year's Chunin Selection. We have come to the final competition between the 11 candidates who made it through the preliminaries. We ask that no one leaves until all the matches have been completed, now everyone enjoy."
"Alright, listen up. The terrain is different, but the rules are the same as before. That is that there are no rules. The match continues until one candidate acknowledges defeat or dies. That is to say, if I determine that a match is over then I can step in and stop it at any time and no arguments permitted. Understood?" no objections "There are the opponents for the first match, Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga. Those two stay, the rest of you can go to the waiting area."
They did, but Naruto and Neji stayed.
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"Hey Hinata check it out, I found a few free seats." Kiba pointed to a few seats in the front row of the crowd.
"O-Oh, thank you." Hinata sat down next to Kiba and gave him a small smile.
"I don't know about you but I think this is gonna be one hell of an interesting match."
"Yes. Naruto…'
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Ino glanced over at Tatsu "So what do you think, about the fight between Naruto and Neji I mean. Do you think Naruto can beat him?"
"I think that if anyone who actually knows Naruto and thinks about it then it's gonna be pretty much obvious." Tatsu told her bluntly.
"Meaning what exactly?"
"Exactly what you should expect if you know me, Naruto's gonna give him an ass kicking that he's long deserved."
"You think so? Well you've always had more faith in him than anyone else, I never really understood why until I saw his fight with Kiba. I have to admit I'm kind of surprised he lasted as long as he did, but if he actually can beat Neji then I'll definitely have some newfound respect for him."
"He will, but we're definitely going to be in for a long fight.
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Neji gave an arrogant smirk "You got anything to say to me?"
Naruto held out a fist "Only what I told you last time, I vow to win!"
Neji activated his Byakugan 'He has the look, he's calmer now and more sure of himself.' he got into a Gentle Fist stance "So much the better for me, I can't wait to see the look of despair on your face when you learn that your foolish vow is impossible to keep."
"Are we gonna stand here talking all day? Let's get going, show me what you've got."
"As you wish."
"Alright, now let the first match begin." Genma made the call.
"Are you ready to see why your destiny can never be changed?"
"How about I shove that up your ass instead!" Naruto fired off a volley of kunai and promptly charged forward.
"Naruto you idiot!" Kiba barked from the stands "There's no way in hell a frontal attack is gonna work on this guy!"
"We'll see about that!" Naruto let a barrage of punches and kicks fly forward.
"You should've listened to him." Neji caught Naruto by his left arm and attempted to fling him away.
Naruto regained his footing and fired off another barrage of punches.
Neji blocked every strike with ease and struck Naruto in the chest using his Palm Heel Strike technique, followed by him attempting to strike Naruto in the shoulder, sending him tumbling backwards a short distance 'I missed the chakra point, he knew exactly what I had been aiming for then.'
'That was way too close.' Naruto pulled himself back to his feet 'I almost fucked that up big time, if I get too close to him then he can turn off my chakra and there goes my ability to use any jutsu. I'll have to hang back and hit him from a distance with some long range jutsu of some kind.'
"Do you understand now then? You don't have any way to defeat me."
"Get your head out of your ass genius, I was just checking you out that's all. But now that we're both all warmed up, we can get this started. Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he summoned four Shadow Clones 'And people say that I don't like to use my head, that will show all of them!'
'Shadow Clones, but that is supposed to be a jonin level technique, so where did he learn a jutsu like that exactly? I see now, that's actually quite a clever move. He's distributed his chakra evenly amongst these clones so that even my Byakugan can't pick out which one of them is the real one. Not bad but it doesn't matter, you can't hide from me for too long."
"I think we'll just have to see about that!"
"If you're coming then come on. It won't make any difference how many clones he uses, I can defeat this imbecile on my defence alone.'
"As if you had to ask, but let me make this clear to you first. I don't want you to ever, and I mean ever, count me out!" and he had his clones charge in.
Neji dodged and blocked the attacks from the clones with ease, but wasn't able to react fast enough to avoid what came next.
"I gotcha!" Naruto blitzed forward with speed that caught Neji off guard and dealt him a swift uppercut kick to the jaw, sending him flying through the air.
Neji rebounded almost instantly and gracefully landed back on the ground "Not bad I'll admit, but I doubt you can pull that off again."
"Why don't you come and find out!" Naruto had his clones charge forward.
Neji leapt into the air and with a few swift movements he kicked and palm thrusted all four of the clones out of existence "You were saying?"
'What the hell is with this guy, it's like he's got eyes in the back of his head!'
"Did you really think you could become the Hokage? Such a thing is absurd, and it could never happen. I can see many things thanks to these eyes of mine, one thing they've shown me is that the limitations of people are set, fixed and cannot be changed. Only a fool wastes his time trying to become something he can never be."
"So I'm a fool then am I?" Naruto clenched his fist "There's no way I'm dealing with any of this crap again, who the hell do you think you are to decide what a person can or can't be?"
"Do you think anyone can become Hokage, that all it takes is a little bit of hard work? Open your eyes to the truth, of all of the shinobi in all of the world, think of how few of them have ever become the Hokage, or Kage at all for that matter. They were born destined to be the Hokage of legend, it's not something to become by merely trying to become it. They were chosen by destiny itself. Each person is given their own path to follow, and they must follow it with obedience until the very end. There is only one destiny we all share equally, and that is death."
Naruto found himself frozen in place as he and Neji locked eyes 'The look in his eyes, they show so much hatred… Yeah, well so what? I say you can think that way as much as you want, people always tell me that I just don't know when to give up, but I say that I just don't like to give up, and there's a huge difference. Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he summoned a massive army of Shadow Clones and they all charged forward.
Wasting no time, Neji weeded out the original and started beating him down, only to be forced to retreat by the barrage of Shadow Clones, but he quickly dispatched a considerable number of them with a few simple strikes.
'Dammit this is bad, I'm not even getting close to this guy.'
"Do you really think I can be fooled with a trick like that one? You can conjure up as many clones as you like, you won't be able to hide from me." he blitzed past the large crowd of Shadow Clones and struck the real Naruto right in the chest, causing him to cough up blood and the clones to disappear "You're the only one keeping out of my range for fear of my striking your chakra points like this. The more the others attack the more you stand out for holding back. That would make you the real one wouldn't it? I told you it was pointless, it's not my fault you didn't listen."
"Oh… Oh yeah?" Naruto spat out some blood and let out a chuckle "Well I remember telling you that it was a mistake to count me out." and then he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"What the- When did he- How did he-?" Neji whipped around to find two more of them charging at him 'So that's it then, he held back one of his Shadow Clones in order to deceive me and lure me into a trap!'
"What you thought I'd be too much of a chicken to attack you myself? Well you've got another thing coming! Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he and his clone both breathed out medium sized balls of fire.
'It might injure me, but I have no choice! 8 Trigrams Palm Rotation!" Neji surrounded himself in a dome of wind based chakra, dispelling the fireballs and blowing Naruto away while dissipating his clone, although he received a few minor burns in the process.
"What the hell was that supposed to be?"
"The reality of your situation, a good trick perhaps but it was nowhere near enough for you to defeat me."
"We'll see about that! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" with the formation of a hand seal he summoned 6 more Shadow Clones and they circled around Neji.
'My Byakugan allows me to see almost 360 degrees, I can detect any attack as soon as it's been launched so his movements are pointless. That's when my real defence comes into play, the 8 Trigrams Palm Rotation.'
"Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" the clones all fired off a barrage of shuriken and formed some hand seals that caused the shuriken to multiply mid assault.
"8 Trigrams Palm Rotation!" Neji unleashed his Rotation, cancelling out the shuriken and sending both Naruto and his clones flying.
Naruto pulled himself back to his feet "Dammit…"
"This is the end for you, you're in my range and it's impossible for you to escape from my Eight Trigrams. Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams 64 Palms! 8 Trigrams 2 palm! 4 palm! 8 palm! 16 palm! 32 palm!" he blitzed towards Naruto and started dealing him a fierce barrage of blows in all of his chakra points, sending Naruto crashing to the ground in a heap.
Genma made his way over to where Naruto was trying and failing to get up 'This one took a major beating, it looks to me like it's over.'
"I have now struck you in all 64 of your chakra points, at this point you're lucky to still be able to breathe at all."
"D-Dammit…" Naruto spat out some blood and tried to force himself back to his feet, but to no avail.
"It must be quite frustrating for you to realize just how utterly hopeless it turned out to be, that little dream of yours. You thought you could succeed through hard work alone, but such a thing is only found in a fantasy."
Naruto slowly lifted his head, his vision growing blurry as he thought back to the events of the preliminaries 'Tatsu… Hinata… Not a chance in hell…" he gritted his teeth and forced himself back to his feet.
"But that's impossible, how are you even standing?"
"It's like I told you… some way I don't know… when to give up… but I say… I just don't like to give up… There's a huge difference…"
"Stop with this madness already, you'll only get more of the same. I don't have anything against you personally."
"Oh yeah that's real touching, you're gonna make me cry. Anyway, I've got a hell of a lot personally against you."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You don't? And here I thought you were some big shot know it all, you don't remember what you did to Hinata then do you? The way you screwed her over with your stupid mind games, going out of your way to rip her apart when she worked so hard to get as far as she did."
"Never mind something like that, it has nothing to do with you."
"You mocked Hinata and called her a failure, all of that crap about how great the Hyuga clan is supposed to be, main households and branch families, what a bunch of bullshit! It doesn't give you the right to decide who fails and who doesn't, that's what I've got against you!"
"...So that's it then. So be it, if you're as interested as you claim to be then I'll give you a better understanding of the heritage of hatred that embodies the Hyuga clan! For generations the main household of the clan has practiced a secret jutsu known as the Curse Mark jutsu."
"Curse Mark jutsu?"
"The Curse Mark is the symbol of a bird locked in its cage, it's the mark of those who are bound to a destiny they cannot escape." he pulled off his headband, revealing the Curse Mark branded on his forehead.
"So, that thing is the Curse Mark?"
"It is. I was only four years old when the leaders of my clan branded this symbol on my forehead with their Curse Mark jutsu, and on that same day a great celebration took place for the people of the Hidden Leaf Village. After many years of war, a peace agreement had at last been reached with the Land of Lightning and they had sent the head ninja of the Hidden Cloud to sign the treaty and join in the celebration. Everyone was there to welcome our old enemies, whether they be genin or jonin or even any ordinary civilians. Only one clan was absent, and that was the Hyuga clan, because this was the day on which the heiress to the main household was to turn three."
"You mean-?"
"That's right, it was Lady Hinata's third birthday." he glanced up at the stands "Lady Hinata's father Lord Hiashi is sitting up there in the stands as we speak, he and my father Hizashi were twin brothers, and yet he entered this world first so as the firstborn he was made into the head of the clan. As a result of this, my father and his twin brother was banished to a lesser branch of the family. It was then on the day that the heir to the main household turned three that the Curse Mark was placed upon me and I was turned into a metaphorical bird in a cage by my very own uncle."
"You and this clan of yours, what's the point of all of it? Why bother to have a main family and a branch family, and this weird Curse Mark? What the heck does that mean anyway?"
"I can assure you of one thing, it's not simply for decoration. It's the instrument by which they keep us in our place, we live with the fear that they will use this Curse Mark to turn our brains into jelly any time they wish. Fear, that is what we live with and we live with it every single day of our lives. Only in death can we be free of it. Only those of the Hyuga clan possess the secret of this unique form of Kekkei Genkai, and of course there are many who would steal it from us as well. That is the reason for which we exist, it is the purpose of the branch family to defend that secret and to serve the keepers of the secret, the main household, with obedience without question for all of eternity. That is our destiny, or it was until that dreadful night they finally went too far, when they murdered my father. One night someone entered the main household and abducted Lady Hinata. Lord Hiashi acted quickly and he caught and killed the man, and who was this intruder you may be wondering, stealing through the shadows in the middle of the night and wearing a mask over his face to conceal his identity?"
"Who was it?"
"It was none other than the head ninja from the Hidden Cloud of the Land of Lightning, the man who had just signed off on an alliance with us. It was obvious to everyone that he was after the secrets of the Byakugan, but the Land of Lightning professed shock at this willful murder of their ninja. They claimed that the Hidden Leaf was in violation of the treaty and they demanded recompense as a result. Things continued to get worse and worse until it looked like war would break out yet again between our villages. The Hidden Leaf Village wanted above all things to avoid a war so at last they made a deal, a life for a life. The Land of Lightning had demanded the death of the person who had slain their ninja, so if there was to be peace then Lord Hiashi would have to die. The Leaf Village accepted their terms, and so to avert a war a man was killed, but it wasn't Hiashi. My father was his twin brother as I stated before, and because of that he was killed in place of Lord Hiashi in order to protect the main household! Only in death was my father finally free of this evil Curse Mark. They were twin brothers that were so much alike, but their destinies had been determined long ago when one was born only mere seconds after the other one. And this match is the same, your destiny was decided the very moment I was chosen to be your opponent. It's your destiny to lose to me, and it's as simple as that." he tied his headband back on.
"Oh yeah is that right, well I say we won't know until you actually beat me now will we? Okay I get it, so your father was killed a long time ago, and I know it wasn't fair and I get why you're upset about that, but that doesn't have anything to do with destiny. If you think I'm buying that then you've got another thing coming."
"I don't expect you to ever understand." Neji promptly reactivated his Byakugan, blitzed forward towards Naruto at full speed and landed a palm strike straight to the chest, sending him tumbling backwards. Then he glanced over at Genma "It's over now proctor, this battle is over and he's a failure just as I believed him to be." he started to walk away, when a voice stopped him.
"Hold it…" Naruto struggled but he managed to pull himself back to his feet "Don't you… even think about… walking away from me… I'm not done with you… not yet… I don't quit… and I don't go back on my word… that's my nindo… my ninja way…"
"That does sound familiar, so that's where she got it from."
"All of that crap about destiny, well if you really believe it then why the hell are you the one walking away?"
"You impudent little brat, why should I bother to waste any more of my breath explaining this to the likes of you? We are all given a destiny at birth, and it's pointless to fight against it. You have no idea what it's like to be branded with a mark that sets you apart from everyone else, a mark that can never be wiped away."
"Oh trust me, I know damn well what that's like better than you'll ever imagine. Well big deal, cry me a river."
"You worthless little son of a-"
"Man you think you've got problems. Well I've got some news for you Neji, you're not the only one who's special around here. Did it ever occur to you that Hinata might be suffering just as much as you are? It's not her fault that her father was born ahead of yours, and yet you resent her for it. You treat her like shit even when she's trying so hard to improve herself. All she wanted was for you to respect her, that's what she was fighting for even though it almost ended up getting her killed, and what was that all about anyway? I thought it was your destiny to serve the main household, not to beat it to a bloody pulp. After all you said about how you can't fight off your destiny, you don't really believe any of that crap either do you?" he suddenly let out a weak hacking cough.
"I've already blocked all 64 of your chakra points, how do you intend to keep fighting when you can't use any of your chakra against me? It's fitting that you sympathize with Hinata because you're about to share her fate."
"You wanna bet? You think that Byakugan of yours sees everything, you know everyone's weakness don't you?"
"Yes that's right, but if you're the one who thinks he can prove me wrong then I say be my guest."
"As if you had to ask, I'm gonna show you that you're wrong about a lot of things, starting right now! Yeah that's easier said than done, it doesn't feel like I have any chakra at all. I haven't felt so totally drained since that time when I was training with the Pervy Sage. Wait that's it, I can use Kurama's chakra!' he paused in order to focus himself properly 'Alright Kurama I know you're in there so listen up, if you're there then I'm gonna need you to give me a good chunk of power you got it?'
"I know I know, just get this over with. This Hyuuga brat is starting to get on my nerves right about now."
'How do you think I feel? I'm the one fighting him.'
"And look how that's turning out."
'Exactly. HEY!'
Neji glanced over at Genma "Proctor this battle has gone on long enough, I suggest you stop the match. If my opponent is foolish enough to continue with this battle then I will not be held responsible for what happens to him."
Genma let out a sigh "Fine, whatever you want."
"Thank you sir."
"Not so fast." Naruto formed a hand seal.
"It's pointless, I already told you this."
"You wanna bet? I can do this, I won't lose, not to him!'
"Why do you even bother, you don't even have any chakra to lose. Why do you even bother to fight such a hopeless battle in a desperate attempt to defy your destiny?"
"You really wanna know why? It's because people have always called me a failure, and now I'm gonna prove them wrong!" a crimson glow of chakra gathered around his body as his wounds began to heal themselves.
'What the- It can't be, where is this chakra coming from? It shouldn't be possible, just what is he?!'
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Tatsu gave a smirk aimed at the others in the waiting area "See you guys, I told you Naruto had this in the bag. I say we've only got another minute or two before Neji gets his ass handed to him. That said, it took Kurama long enough to pull his muzzle out of his tails and help the idiot out. Well nothing to do about it now, all I can do is sit back and enjoy the show, which I fully intend to do.
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Neji was forced to brace himself from the sheer force and potency of Kurama's chakra that was enveloping the area 'This chakra, just what exactly is he? What kind of chakra is this, or is it even chakra at all?
'This is awesome, this is even more power than I felt before, and I like it! Get ready Neji, because I'm coming for you!" with a sudden burst of speed Naruto blitzed behind Neji and fired off a volley of shuriken "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" and with the formation of a few hand seals the shuriken multiplied.
"8 Trigrams Palm Rotation!" Neji activated his Rotation to protect himself from the barrage of shuriken, catching a few of them and firing them off himself.
Naruto blitzed out of view and dodged the shuriken with ease.
'He's even faster than before, what's going on here?' Neji quickly dodged a blow from behind and fired off a volley of shuriken.
"Wind Style: Crimson Wind!" Naruto fired off a red colored slash of wind from his fingertips that cut clean through the jutsu "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he breathed out a large red fireball that was enhanced by the Crimson Wind jutsu.
Neji leapt out of the way, only to end up receiving a sharp kick to the head from Naruto, sending him tumbling to the ground 'His strength and speed are on a completely different level from before!'
"Alright Neji, I hear that you like close combat do you? It might be the way of the Hyuga to cave into destiny but it's not mine! If you think there's no point to fighting it then don't, just stand there and take it!" and so Naruto charged forward at full speed "I'm gonna change the way of the Hyuga clan, and I'll do it after I become the Hokage!"
'Quickly, I'll only have one shot at this! 8 Trigrams Palm Rotation!" Neji quickly activated his Rotation.
"Wind Style: Crimson Wind!" Naruto summoned wind chakra into his fingertips and slashed down on the Rotation, the two jutsu colliding and resulting in the explosion that followed, before the smoke cleared to reveal two craters where Naruto and Neji once stood.
Genma braced himself for the backlash and observed the situation once things had calmed down slightly 'Damn that kids got some real fire in him, never seen anything like it. No way that kid from the Hyuga could've…'
As the smoke cleared, Neji pulled himself out of one of the two craters coughing up a large amount of dirt and dust, stumbling slightly from the backlash as he made his way over to the second crater where Naruto appeared to be lying unconscious 'I didn't expect his apparent second wind to be capable of so much raw power and force.'
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Lee let out a sigh "That's the secret of the 8 Trigrams Palm Rotation, not only does it protect the user from attacks but it also turns the user's own chakra against them."
"You say that like Naruto already lost." Tatsu pointed out.
"I doubt I would be able to get up from a collision like that unscathed, but regardless of that no one has come as close to beating Neji as Naruto has."
"Don't call it just yet, keep in mind that I'm a sensory type."
"...He has another last ditch trick up his sleeve doesn't he?"
"Why don't you look down there and find out?"
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Neji slowly limped over to where Naruto apparently lay unconscious in the crater, and he let out a chuckle "Sorry, but this is the reality of the world. You fought hard and well, and I admit that you almost had me, but in the end you're still a failure. This match is over-" he was promptly cut off by what happened next.
"Wind Style: Crimson Wind Fist!" condensing the chakra of his Crimson Wind jutsu into his fist, Naruto suddenly burst up from the ground and dealt Neji a fierce uppercut while he was distracted, the force blowing him clear off his feet and sending him tumbling several feet backwards, while the version of him that was in the crater suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"I… I can't move…"
"And I can't feel my arm, I say we're even."
Genma looked on with a smirk of approval 'He used one of his Shadow Clones as bait and waited for a chance to take Neji down, even when he was getting his ass pounded into the ground he never stopped planning out his next move. He never lost any faith in his ability to win this match. Naruto knows on instinct that believing in yourself can give you the power to change your destiny, and on top of that he's got one hell of a left hook.'
"So you wanna do anymore preaching?"
Neji promptly coughed up a small amount of blood "I should've guessed you would use the Shadow Clone Jutsu, it's you're specialty after all. I grew careless and I let down my guard at the last moment."
Slowly, Naruto limped over to Neji "For the record, I failed the graduation exam three times because there was this one jutsu that was always on the exam and it tripped me up every time. It was the one jutsu that I just couldn't master. The fucking Clone Jutsu. So don't come whining to me with this destiny stuff, and stop trying to tell me you can't change what you are. You can do it to because unlike me you're not a failure, you're a genius."
Genma smirked and called it "The winner is, Naruto Uzumaki."
The crowd let out a thunderous applause.
Naruto looked up somewhat bashfully, then pumped up a fist and slowly made his way back up to the competitor's box.
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Lee let out a primal roar as he ripped off his leg warmers and ripped them to pieces "An amazing match, now to show the world what I can do! TANTRUM!" he jumped down into the arena and let out another primal roar.
"...What's wrong with him?" Dosu finally asked.
Tatsu sighed "The idiot must've gotten into my stash of Tantrum again."
"Wait, you have Tantrum?"
"My brother heard it was being discontinued so he stocked up on 50 gallons worth of the stuff before he got killed. Well, it's all or nothing now I guess." he leapt down into the arena, then started stretching somewhat before the fight began.
Gemna stepped up "Are both fighters ready?" both nodded "Begin!" he leapt back in anticipation of a fierce brawl, but that's not what he got.
Lee held up a hand "Just a second Tatsu, I have to do something first." he knelt down and removed the weights around his legs, then launched a few kicks to test himself, and it was clear to anybody that he was much faster than before.
Tatsu nodded in approval "Nice work, looks like you haven't been wasting your time."
"Absolutely not, I tripled my usual training regimen."
"Sounds intense."
"Considering I had Guy-sensei breathing down my neck over it, what do you think? Anyway, I never quit before and I won't start now." he held out his hand "Now then Tatsu, may the best warrior win."
"I intend to." Tatsu grasped his hand, and the second he released both of them vanished in the blink of an eye.
The crowd was silent as they watched both warriors unleash their speed, with both blitzing all over the arena at speeds that ordinary people couldn't even comprehend.
Tatsu and Lee returned to view, with Lee's shin meeting Tatsu's in the middle, the shockwave from the colliding attacks slamming into and fracturing the walls.
Lee let out a slight huff "You're as fantastic as I remember Tatsu, I'm already enjoying this battle."
Tatsu nodded "I know how you feel Lee, you're awesome too. I haven't enjoyed a spar like this since I trained with my brother." he met Lee's sprint with his own, skimmed over the ground and slammed into Lee to meet the charge, arms and legs vanishing before the spectator's eyes as they went into a stationary clash.
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Tenten marvelled at the battle "Unbelievable, he's actually giving Lee a run for his money."
Kiba could only nod dumbly "I know."
"It is impressive." a voice agreed "But what's even more impressive is that they're trading blows at full power and speed at such close range and neither of them has even taken the slightest bit of damage so far."
Kiba and Tenten looked to see Kakashi behind them "Kakashi-sensei, when did you get here?"
"I've been here the whole time, I even saw Naruto defeat Neji."
"Say Kakashi." Tenten spoke up "What's the history with Lee and this Tatsu guy, how do they know each other?"
"Well, I myself didn't know much about it until Tatsu told me about 6 months ago. It started when Tatsu was about 7 and Lee was 8, back when Lee was in his first year in the academy."
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(Flashback- 9 years after Kyuubi Attack)
Lee formed some hand seals "Clone Jutsu!" nothing happened "Transformation Jutsu!" still nothing happened.
"Hey."
Lee looked back to see Tatsu doing pushups behind him "Oh, hi. What're you doing?"
"Training."
"Same, only problem is I can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu no matter how hard I try. Maybe I'm just not cut out for it."
"Maybe you're just not supposed to."
Lee's head snapped over to Tatsu 'Who is this guy? Despite the topic of our conversation, he's so relaxed and nonchalant. So you think I'm not supposed to be a shinobi?"
"I never said that, I said you're not meant to use ninjutsu or genjutsu, but those aren't the only areas for a ninja to excel in. For all you know, you're probably destined to be a great swordsman like my sensei Hayate."
"Maybe, but I've never been interested in using a sword."
"Alright then, maybe you're supposed to be a great taijutsu master. Look at the old Master Chen from the 3rd Great Ninja War, he's supposedly one of the greatest taijutsu masters to ever live, for all we know he could've been just as much of a hopeless case. So what if you haven't got any ninjutsu or genjutsu, devote yourself to becoming the greatest taijutsu master this world has ever seen."
Lee seemed to ponder his words for a moment.
"Well, what you decide from here on out is up to you. Later." and he walked off.
(Flashback End)
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Tenten thought back to when she and the others first became genin 'Lee, you said that a certain someone showed you the way, and you want to become the greatest taijutsu master this world has ever seen, and that this guy was probably the only reason you didn't let Guy convert you to the Flames of Youth. Tatsu, on behalf of all of us, thank you.'
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Lee's fist thrusted forward, but flashed past Tatsu's head when he dodged.
Tatsu's arm came up and pushed Lee's fist away, before his foot blasted towards Lee's ribs.
Lee's arm came down and slammed hard on Tatsu's arm, forcing it down just enough for him to put his hand on Tatsu's shoulder, then appear above Tatsu, one hand still on Tatsu's shoulder and both feet in the air. Lee then fisted his hand on Tatsu's gi and kicked his feet over behind Tatsu's back, with the momentum knocking Tatsu off balance, allowing Lee to hurl him towards the wall.
An instant before he made contact, Tatsu threw his arms out and unleashed a kiai (shockwave) that launched him so high into the air that he went beyond the Kage's box, before blitzing through several hand seals "Sorry Lee, but I'm gonna have to get serious!"
"Damn!" Lee's mind was racing 'If I get hit by that I'm just asking to be fried! Still, that's what makes Tatsu such a worthy opponent.'
"Fire Style: Crimson Dragon!" Tatsu quickly breathed out a red fire dragon that blasted downward, the force making a vicious blast of hot wind rip through the stands before it even hit the ground.
'Now's my chance!' Lee sprinted straight at the wall, before there was a flash of light and a fiery explosion enveloped the entire arena floor in smoke.
From high up on the arena wall, Tatsu tried to sense out Lee's chakra 'Where is he? I know that attack was nowhere near enough to kill him, it's more than enough for most of the mooks in the arena, but not for him. Damn, he's gotten even better at concealing his chakra level. Now I can't sense him.'
Then Lee burst from the smoke column below and ran straight up the wall, then launched himself into the air, hitting the top of the barrier separating the arena from the village "I've got you now Tatsu!" he reached Tatsu's level and lashed out with one leg.
Tatsu was caught off guard so he didn't have time to block it, taking the full blow right in the side of his jaw. He was flung back, but still managed to grab Lee by his ankle and quickly pull him in "Not yet!"
Lee saw only white as Tatsu's fist crashed into his face, missing his nose just by a few inches. His free leg came up on instinct and returned the attack full force, then came up and then back down, his heel slamming down on Tatsu's shoulder directly over his collarbone.
Tatsu tightened his grip on the leg he held, then quickly spun and hurled Lee away, slamming him into the ground below.
Both let out a sharp exhale as they made contact, then bounced right back up, before they vanished again and began slamming together all across the arena.
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"How are they still moving after that?" asked Kiba "I mean, they hit the ground at full force!"
"Kiai." explained Kakashi "It's a method most martial artists us to help them absorb an impact. Tatsu sacrificed a decent landing for a chance to hurt Lee because he knew he probably wouldn't get another chance for awhile. Think of it like a game of Shogi, you've gotta sacrifice another piece to get the one you want. There are also ways of falling in the right manner that allow for the falling warrior to spread, absorb and deflect the force of his impact so that he doesn't get hurt too seriously."
"So where does the kiai come in?" asked Tenten.
"It's a method for keeping the pressure in the lungs even. By exhaling sharply, they still retain air and the warrior can breath immediately instead of waiting for their lungs to refill with air which would've cost them a crucial few seconds."
"I'm kind of surprised." Kiba spoke up "I figured Tatsu was good, seeing how he beat Gaara and all, but Lee's keeping up so easily. I've never really seen what he's capable of at full power, but still."
"Actually, Tatsu's way ahead of Lee right now."
"No way, even with whatever bizarre tricks he's got Lee's still one of the strongest genin in this exam."
"Actually, Tatsu's not even taking this fight anywhere near as seriously as he could be."
"...What do you mean?"
Kakashi looked over at the arena floor as the clashing momentarily stopped, words were exchanged, and Tatsu did a familiar hand sign "Take a look, I think you're about to find out."
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Tatsu and Lee glanced off each other again, their fists just missing each other's faces, before they skidded apart and shot each other cocky smirks.
"Alright Tatsu, I think we should stop warming up and get serious." Lee suggested.
Tatsu nodded "I think I'm limber enough now." he formed a hand seal, blue chakra radiating around him "Gravity Seals: Release!" he was engulfed in a blue cloak of chakra, which then quickly evaporated and disappeared "Alright, I'm ready."
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"What the hell did he just do?" Kiba wondered.
"That is Tatsu when he gets serious." Kakashi explained, sounding rather smug "He's decided to stop toying with Rock Lee and released the Gravity Seals I gave him. Now Lee no longer has a chance of winning."
"That's where you're wrong my Eternal Rival!" an unbearable voice thundered "Lee's trained harder than ever before for this very moment. GO LEE! SHOW HIM HOW BRIGHTLY YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN!"
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Lee almost blushed 'Dammit!' then he got into a stance "Tatsu, this is the moment I've been training for. Prepare yourself! First Gate: Gate of Opening: Open!"
Tatsu raised a curious eyebrow 'The f*ck? His chakra shot up a good margin, but nowhere near enough to match me now.'
"Just wait Tatsu, it gets better. Second Gate: Gate of Rest: Open!" his chakra shot up again, a considerable margin more than what it'd been before "Third Gate: Gate of Life: Open!" this one was like a bomb going off, a wave of power shooting off Lee's body and slamming into Tatsu, making him stagger. The ground beneath him began giving way under the sheer force, rubble and debris flying off in random directions. Lee's pupils vanished and his hair began standing, and his skin turned deep crimson "Fourth Gate: Gate of Pain: Open!" the ground beneath him began to buckle, rubble being flung around randomly.
Tatsu was forced to shield his eyes from the onslaught of debris, some of which ripping through his gi top and legs, but nothing pierced his skin.
"Fifth Gate: Gate of Closing: Open!" the earth itself blew away.
Tatsu flickered as he blitzed around to dodge the debris 'Lee's chakra levels are going through the roof, I've never felt anything like it.'
Lee staggered slightly, sweat dripping from his forehead and teeth gritting somewhat, but he wasn't hunching over like he should've been 'Come on Lee, just endure the pain. After all, the muscles haven't snapped like they're supposed to.'
'From the look of it, he's finally feeling the strain.'
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"What… What the hell is he?" Kiba wondered.
Kakashi looked stunned by the display, but then he turned to Guy, his gaze sharpening in a way few have ever seen "Guy, you didn't! You taught him how to open the Eight Gates?"
Guy merely smirked "Kakashi Kakashi, you're one to criticize. Besides, you don't know Lee like I do. Watch, you'll understand. Lee has worked hard to master the Gates, he's practiced every second of every day, opening them every chance he gets for as long as he can. Even I haven't achieved what Lee has."
"What do you mean?"
"See for yourself."
Kakashi did, and once he saw the shape Lee was in, realization hit him "That shouldn't be impossible."
"And yet it is."
"What are you two talking about?" asked Kiba.
"Lee…" Kakashi began "Lee has mastered the Gates in a way no one before him has. He's used them so often and so much for so long that his body has accepted the strain."
"Accepted it and adapted to it." Guy continued proudly "Lee's durability and endurance has enhanced to the point the muscles don't snap upon activation, nor is he as drained as someone like Kakashi would be if he activated the Gates. Lee has taken the technique and made it almost entirely his own."
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Tatsu had leapt back onto the wall of the arena 'So he's mastered 5 of the 8 Gates to such an extent and doesn't even feel any pain?'
"Here I come!" Lee crouched down and then pushed off, the earth buckling beneath him from the force.
'I'd better use this new thing I've been trying out, I just hope I can endure this long enough to gather up the necessary chakra.' he barely got his guard up in time, the blow rattling his jaw when it connected. The two launched a barrage of attacks, their fists colliding in a way that rocked the entire arena as they fought in mid-air.
Lee was using some of Tatsu's attacks to keep himself in the air.
Tatsu's head was ringing as a blow slipped past him, making his vision go blurry, but he recovered quickly and dove back into the fray faster than Lee had anticipated, allowing Tatsu to deal a blow to Lee's face as well.
Lee went rocketing downward, flipped to his feet as he hit the ground, skidded backwards and hit the wall behind him, causing it to shatter, a deep hole blown into its surface as he stopped himself by throwing an arm out behind him, a vein bulging in his forehead as he strained himself to absorb all of the force.
Tatsu watched as Lee began yanking 'His arm must be embedded too far into the wall, there's no way he can pull himself free.'
As Lee continued trying to free his arm, something emerged from the wall.
'Wait, he's not freeing himself. He's pulling!' Tatsu formed several hand seals.
Lee yanked a water pipe out of the wall, breaking off a sizable section when he pulled it out far enough. He immediately whipped it at his opponent.
Tatsu was forced to cancel out his technique to dodge the pipe, which missed him by the ear just barely.
Lee buried his fist into Tatsu's gut, doubling him over as the bandages began wrapping around him.
Tatsu wasn't able to regain his awareness before he was bound tighter than a mummy and unable to move.
"You took your eyes off me, a poor decision on your part." Lee flipped over so they were pointed head first at the ground, then began spinning like a tornado, picking up speed and power on the way down until the dirt began swirling, a brown and green tornado lighting up the sky, with Lee and Tatsu only recognizable as a dark smudge inside the cyclone "A new technique Tatsu! Cyclone Lotus!" the bottom of the cyclone blew out in a massive explosion of earth, the cyclone dissolving into nothing more than a small mass of dust, the heavier particles falling to the arena floor as earthen rain. Lee himself then shot out from the cloud below, bandages on one of his arms unraveled slightly, and he pulled Tatsu out, once again ensnared in his bandages, the cyclone disappearing as green chakra surrounded his fist "This is the end Tatsu! Cyclone Lotus Fist!" he thrusted the first forward.
'Now!' Tatsu suddenly broke free of the restraints, blue chakra surrounding his fist "Leaf Dragon Fist!"
The attacks collided, enveloping the two in a ball of green and blue chakra, which then imploded and detonated in a massive explosion, the shockwave sending both warriors tumbling to the ground on opposite ends.
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Kakashi quickly felt realization hit him "At the last second, Lee transferred the chakra from the attack into his fist for one final strike, and Tatsu did the same with the chakra he'd been saving for his Leaf Dragon God."'
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Tatsu was the first to stand and coughed out blood "Okay… that hurt… more than… I thought it would…"
Lee then stood and coughed up blood "Same… here…"
"What… was that?"
"Cyclone… Lotus… Fist… new jutsu…"
"Scary… you almost… had me there…"
"It wasn't… enough…"
"A little faster… and you would've won…" that was all he could say for a moment as his breathing evened out as much as it could 'Incredible, I never thought he'd master the 8 Gates to such an extent. He'd almost beat my Tenseigan Chakra Mode at this level, at least if it wasn't for all the strain. "You're really something Lee, but the Eight Gates might turn out to be more of a hindrance than a help. Sure they power you up to an unbelievable extent, but the strain on your body is close to unbearable. That fact that you're still standing is impressive in itself, but you can't have much left." he took a long deep breath, his chakra radiating around him, renewed determination burning in his eyes "I can win this."
Lee seemed startled, then his red skin returned to its normal shade as his pupils returned, and he let out a bitter chuckle "You're right…" then a sound was heard similar to rubber bands snapping, and he managed one yell before his eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness, but still remained standing.
Genma suddenly reappeared and looked over Lee closely, before leveling his right hand over towards Tatsu "Winner: Tatsu Kamikaze."
The crowd's reaction was immediate and ear shattering, and anyone and everyone was on their feet screaming and cheering for the battle they'd witnessed.
Tatsu let out a relieved sigh as he powered down "Good thing… he didn't… call my bluff." then he passed out then and there and was taken away on a stretcher."
A half hour intermission was called to allow several shinobi to repair the arena with Earth-style jutsu.
Once that was done, Gemna then addressed the crowd "Alright everyone, we're moving on to the next match. So Shino and Kankuro, come down."
Kankuro was sweating 'My match doesn't matter at all now. Besides, I don't want to reveal the mechanism of my trained Crow puppet to the enemy before our plan comes to fruition. Proctor, I withdraw."
'What?'
"I withdraw, so please advance to the next match." he received various boos.
"Due to Kankuro's withdraw. Shino Aburame wins by default."
Then, with a blast of wind, Temari made her way down "Hey."
"And you are?"
"It's my turn right?"
"Well you're an eager one aren't you? Fine, let's start the next match then. Hey you up there, come down."
"Oh come on." Shikamaru grumbled "Why did I have to be so early? This is such a drag."
"Shikamaru Nara, come on."
'Great, if it's gonna be like this then maybe I'll withdraw too.'
"Less stalling, more getting off your ass and actually doing something for a change!" a comically pissed off Sasuke then proceeded to shove Shikamaru off the balcony.
Shikamaru hit the ground with a loud thud 'Sasuke, you jerk.'
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Tatsu finally came to and found Naruto, Sasuke and Ino sitting by his bed "Hey guys, what'd I miss?"
They tried to smile, but it came out rather weak "Not much."
"So, where the hell am I?"
"The hospital wing." Ino told him "You had a bad concussion, some light internal bleeding, a crushed shoulder and 5 broken ribs. The doctors are saying you're lucky to be alive, but they fixed most of it. Now you just need a little rest."
"No need. That's the good thing about the Kamikaze clan, we burn through chakra fast but we recover it even faster." he sat up and winced, then slowly got onto his feet and reached for a pair of crutches "Besides, I've had worse. It's not like the scar I got from Zabuza, and I'm already back to 70%. By the way, how's Lee doing?"
"About the same as you, his leg and arm are in really bad shape though. The bones are in shambles, it's almost too much to fix and every muscle in him has some kind of tear in it."
"I see."
"I'm lucky though." that was when Lee sat up, fully conscious, then got his feet with his own pair of crutches "Apparently some medic worked a little magic and kept me out of the ICU, now I'm back to 60%."
"You're one lucky bastard, I honestly didn't think either of us would make it out of that one."
"Same. You've gotten way stronger Tatsu, and if you'd used your Tenseigan Chakra Mode then I would've been one-shotted."
"There's a reason I use it, but that's for another time."
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Despite being initially unwilling, Shikamaru agreed to fight Temari due to his desire to refuse to lose to a girl, and after studying the arena and its elements he quickly came up with a strategy for the battle.
Despite this, Temari had seen how Shikamaru's jutsu worked and knew of its strengths and weaknesses, and it appeared that she was able to evade his Shadow Possession Jutsu and adapt to his tactics.
However, it turned out that that Shikamaru had actually been luring her to one of the tunnels that had been created in one of the previous matches, allowing him to catch her in his trap through the use of the tunnel.
However, despite the fact that he had clearly won, Shikamaru forfeited at the last second, claiming to have exerted too much chakra in capturing Temari to continue the match, also adding that if he continued and won, it would just mean more work.
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Kiba made his way down into the infirmary "Hey Ino, the repairs are finished and you and that Sound guy are up in about 5 minutes." and then he left.
Ino glanced over at the others "So do you have any advice?"
Tatsu gave a shrug "Just release the gravity seals and make this fast, I don't know why but I've got a bad feeling in the pit of my gut."
"Right." and so Ino made her way out towards the arena.
"You realize that after she and Dosu go at it, the two of you are gonna go at it next right?"
Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other, then at Tatsu "So, any advice?"
"I have only one thing to say to the two of you."
"Yeah?"
"...Just punch each other as hard as you can."
Naruto and Sasuke fell anime-style, then got back up and made their way towards the stadium.
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The next match was about to begin.
Genma stood in between Ino and Dosu as both got raring and ready to fight "Are you both ready to begin this match?"
Ino gave a simple nod as she pulled off her arm warmers and dropped into a simple taijutsu stance.
"And what about you?"
"More than ready." Dosu braced himself.
"Then begin."
Dosu promptly leapt away to gain some distance "Go ahead and make your move."
"Gladly." Ino formed a quick hand seal "Gravity Seal: Release!" her body glowed with blue chakra for a moment and she charged forward at even greater levels of speed.
'She's even faster now. Earth Style: Mud Wave!" Dosu formed a few hand seals and summoned a large wave of mud and rocks that he was able to ride on "I know how those seals work, by releasing them you're at least twice as fast as before. I can't afford to let those get anywhere near me."
"Pretty observant."
"With someone like your boyfriend it's hard not to be."
"Tatsu isn't my boyfriend."
"I never mentioned any names."
"...Screw you." her cheeks were red, but she quickly formed a hand seal "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" she summoned a water dragon that clashed against the Mud Wave, but it quickly dissolved after pushing Dosu's Mud Wave back a short distance 'Dammit!' she glanced up only to see that Dosu was gone "What the heck?"
"Not bad but water is weak against earth." a hand suddenly burst up from the ground and grabbed Ino by the ankle "Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!" the hand suddenly pulled Ino into the ground so that only her head was visible, and then Dosu himself appeared "Not bad, but in the end it was just a bad match up."
"Yeah you'd think so wouldn't you?" Ino shot him a grin suddenly dissolved into a puddle of water.
"A Water Clone? So that would mean-"
"Water Style: Ripping Torrent!" Ino suddenly charged at him from behind and launched a water jutsu at Dosu's face, only for him to dissolve into mud that caught her arm and rendered her trapped "Dammit, an Earth Style Shadow Clone?"
"You put up a good fight, but it's all over now." the real Dosu made himself known from his place atop the Mud Wave "You can't use any jutsu if you can't wield any hand signs, and you can't dodge my attacks if you're bound in place. You put up a good fight and your skills and strategy were rather impressive, but in the end I just had the better strategy."
"I wouldn't count me out just yet."
"We'll see about that. Earth Style: Mud Needle!" the Mud Wave formed a large jagged spike that shot forward at full speed, piercing Ino through the chest, only for her to suddenly dissolve into water.
"Another Water Clone?" Dosu looked around 'Nothing on the left, on the right, in front, behind, below, so that leaves… above!' his head snapped up 'Dammit, I won't be able to dodge this!'
"It's like Shino said before, you should always have an ace in the hole! Lightning Style: Purple Thunder!" Ino charged down from above and slammed a purple blast of lightning down onto the Mud Needle, shattering it in an instant, and then she slammed the blast into Dosu before he was able to react, sending him tumbling into the ground
Dosu pulled himself out of the ground and spat out some blood "You caught me off guard when I let my guard down, I guess you did have a better strategy."
"The element of surprise helps too." Ino held out a hand and helped Dosu to his feet "So you wanna keep going?"
"I simply wanted to test how far I had come after the past month of training, this just means that I have that much to improve on. I with draw from this match."
Genma studied both of them 'Water Style and Lightning Style on one side, Earth Style on the other, and both of them have a keen head for strategy. Not too shabby. Dosu has withdrawn, so the winner is Ino Yamanaka." this was met with cheers from the audience all around.
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Neji sat in his room in the medical bay, pondering the events that had taken place 'It's strange, but somehow I now feel at peace.'
That was when Tatsu made his way into the room "Lee asked me to come and check in on you after the ass kicking you got."
"Thank you for the sarcasm and concern, but I'm doing quite alright."
"Hey it's not like you don't deserve the sarcasm, not after the way you've been acting."
"I'm well aware of that, and don't worry I'm over that. Lord Hiashi came by a little while ago, during your match with Lee. I had always believed that those of us from the side branch of the Hyuga clan would never truly be free until the power of the Byakugan was sealed and our Curse Marks disappeared, but it would seem that my father thought differently. It's true that some things can never be changed, but still perhaps I've made too many blind assumptions about the way things are in the world. I thought that I had such a clear understanding of everything, I bore such an unwavering grudge against the main branch of my clan, and I never even questioned that. But I didn't know the truth, I just blamed fate and held onto my pointless grudge. But during our battle Naruto explained it to me, he told me that Lady Hinata was suffering just as much as I was, if not more so. He told me that to gain acceptance and respect he had been trying incredibly hard to change, and I hadn't even considered what Hinata was going through. He helped me to understand just how selfish and narrow minded I was being."
"Yeah I know, I was there and I heard everything."
"Naruto Uzumaki, there's something special about him."
"I know his destiny for a fact, and he's gonna be greater than all of us. Except me, maybe. I'm personally aiming for the top. Well I'm gonna head back up to the stadium, Naruto is supposed to go at it with Sasuke and there's no way in hell I'm missing that one."
"Do what you want, I would just like to be alone with my thoughts for the time being."
"Suit yourself." and so Tatsu left.
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Roars of approval filled everyone's ears as Naruto and Sasuke emerged. The crowd was already on the edge of their seats in wondrous anticipation. Who would win, would it be the underdog Naruto, or the prodigy and last of the great Uchiha clan, Sasuke? One thing was clear, the battle wouldn't end until both were completely drained or unconscious. Or both.
Genma stepped forward "Ready?" he received two grins "Begin!"
"Naruto!" Sasuke thrusted his fist forward.
"Sasuke!" Naruto thrusted his own fist forward.
Sasuke blocked Naruto's fist.
Naruto blocked Sasuke's fist.
Sasuke swung his leg at Naruto's side.
Naruto blocked the kick, then swung Sasuke around by the leg.
Sasuke stopped himself with his hands and kicked Naruto in the face.
Naruto rebounded in mid-air, then charged with a fist thrusted forward.
Sasuke blocked the attack and flipped Naruto over his shoulder, sending him to the ground.
Naruto was quick to raise his guard and block the next onslaught of punches.
Sasuke was quick to kick him back "Don't tell me you're giving up."
"Not by a long shot!" Naruto was quick to fire a barrage of shuriken "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he then used the shuriken as cover himself and fire off a barrage of clones.
"Looks like you haven't been wasting your time this past month. But just to warn you, neither have I." Sasuke leapt above the shuriken but found his landing space covered with clones 'Crap, I can't tell the clones from the original even with my Sharingan. Guess I'll have to get rid of them until one one's left.' he felt something wrap around his ankles "Crap."
The clones formed a human ladder, using it to grab hold of Sasuke's feet while he was still in the air. The clone-ladder rotated, slinging Sasuke through the air towards one of the walls.
Sasuke found he couldn't dislodge them 'Naruto, he must be using chakra to keep his grip on them.' no matter what he did, he found he couldn't move Naruto. He slammed into the wall not too hard, but found it was still enough to rattle his teeth. Sasuke quickly shook off the collision, but then he saw a cloud of orange coming at him "You've gotta be kidding me!"
"NA-RU-TO! Uzumaki Barrage!" the clones plummeted.
"Wanna bet?" Sasuke formed several hand seals "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he unleashed a ball of light, dissipating several clones in various puffs of white smoke. Then he leapt high into the air and launched a different set of hand seals "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" he launched a large fire dragon, blasting every remaining clone present.
Naruto himself tumbled into a bush, upside down.
Sasuke rolled back down to the ground and landed on one knee "Sorry Naruto, so much for your clones."
"Wanna bet?" Naruto was about to create more clones, but stopped "Sasuke."
"Yeah." Sasuke activated his Sharingan, dispelling the genjutsu around him.
'Kurama!'
"Right!" Kurama quickly dispelled the genjutsu for him.
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Tatsu was quick to realize that the genjutsu was flooding the arena "Ino. Lee."
"Right." they all released it simultaneously.
"Get ready." then Tatsu himself leapt down into the arena "Guys, we've got a problem. Gaara's missing, last I sensed he was out in the forest-" he was cut off when Sasuke himself took off running in the opposite direction "Sasuke!"
"I'll track down Gaara and stall him!" Sasuke called "You guys get a squad and come back me up when you get the chance!" and he disappeared from beyond the arena walls.
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Up in the Kage box, revealing himself to have killed the Fourth Kazekage, Orochimaru took Sarutobi hostage and had his personal bodyguards, the Sound Four, Jirobo, Kidomaru, Sakon and Tayuya, establish a barrier using Four Flames Formation so nobody would interfere.
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"That's a barrier jutsu." Guy noted.
Kakashi nodded "They outwitted the Anbu Black Ops, and the Anbu are supposed to be the best." then he saw an Anbu appear in front of him.
"Why are you doing this? Lord Hokage's in danger!"
The Anbu formed a hand seal, and several Sound Ninja appeared by his side from within the stands.
"What a nuisance." Kakashi muttered.
Guy nodded "An enemy masquerading as Anbu Black Ops, so he was using genjutsu."
"Yes, there's no mistake."
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The Hidden Leaf gate was quickly crushed by a gigantic snake summoned by the Hidden Sound and Hidden Sand forces.
The invasion had begun.
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Tatsu led Naruto up into the stands and rendezvoused with the jonin "Kakashi! Guy! Hayate-sensei!"
Then Hayate appeared "Tatsu." then he saw several large summoning snakes "Quite a few of them from the look of it."
"We've been careless." Guy noted "And now even Lord Hokage… Guys look, there inside the barrier."
Tatsu looked and froze "Orochimaru. Great, that's another problem. Guys, Gaara's missing."
"Where was his last known position?" asked Kakashi.
"From what I sensed, somewhere in the forest outside the village." Tatsu then promptly blitzed over and punched out 3 enemy ninja in a matter of seconds "Ino, Lee, back me up."
"Right." Ino and Lee joined him and took manji formation, punching out enemy ninja one after another as they neared him.
"Tatsu." Hayate spoke up "Listen up, I'm giving you a mission. Release the genjutsu on Shikamaru. You'll have to be careful, it's your first A-rank mission since you went to the Land of Waves. Sasuke's currently chasing after Gaara, right?"
"I get where you're going." Tatsu turned to his comrades "Ino, we'll go back up Sasuke. Lee, wake Shikamaru and get to evacuating the civilians in the village."
'I feel uneasy about Gaara.' Kakashi cut his thumb and placed his hand down "Summoning Jutsu!" he summoned a small dog "Listen carefully Tatsu, Pakkun here will track down Sasuke by scent."
"...Okay." he looked at Pakkun "Hey."
"Okay it's time, release the genjutsu on Shikamaru."
"You heard him."
"I'm on it." Ino made her way over to Shikamaru, only to see his eyebrow twitch "...I shouldn't even be surprised at this point."
"I've got him." Pakkun then bit down on Shikamaru's leg.
After about 3 seconds, Shikamaru bolted up and started yelling and thrashing his leg around in an attempt to get Pakkun off "Ow ow ow ow ow!"
"Why were you pretending to be asleep?" asked Ino.
"I didn't want to get involved." Shikamaru started stretching Pakkun's mouth out "Just give me a break, I couldn't care less about Sasuke." then he got bitten by Pakkun on his hand.
"You don't have to, you and Lee head out into the village and start evacuating the civilians. I'm going with Naruto, Pakkun and Ino to back Sasuke up." Tatsu told him, just as he saw a Sound ninja appear behind them "Look out!"
Lee quickly punched him out "There's your exit, now get going and good luck!" and he quickly grabbed Shikamaru and dragged him out into the village.
"Alright, let's go." Tatsu quickly led Naruto and Ino out into the village, not noticing Shino and Dosu disappear amongst the chaos.
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Sasuke raced through the forest at full speed, but stopped when he saw something 'Sand on the ground, Gaara must really be out of it after that fight with Tatsu. Come to think of it, I did noticed something off about the chakra he was using. I can't waste time, I've gotta move.'
Then he went on his way again.
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Orochimaru finally began his battle with Sarutobi, who'd been his mentor before becoming Hokage, with both displaying powerful techniques that the observing ANBU could describe as a Kage-level battle.
Orochimaru then used the Summoning Jutsu: Reanimation, to summon Sarutobi's predecessors: Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, and Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage and the inventor of the Reanimation Jutsu.
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Tatsu led Naruto, Ino and Pakkun through the forest "Remember guys, when we find Sasuke don't charge straight into battle. Fall back with Sasuke and formulate a plan, I'll hold them off so you guys can retreat. Gaara's still hurt so it shouldn't be too bad."
"But how could he still be injured?" asked Naruto "I mean sure you beat him bad but it should've healed by now."
"That's the point of my Tenseigan Chakra Mode, it burns through my chakra really fast but I recover it quickly, and the chakra used to inflict the wound stays in the wound, greatly nullifying any healing abilities, Tailed Beast or not. Ino, if you want I'll explain that later but for now let's focus on the task at hand. By this point, he's probably close to transforming again. Pakkun, they're suppressing their chakra so I can't sense them. Where are they and how long will it take us to reach them?"
Pakkun shrugged "I don't know, probably a while if they keep moving at this pace."
"This isn't good. Guys, we're gonna have to pick up the pace if we wanna reach them before Sasuke gets himself killed. That, and we've got a problem. There are 8 ninja tailing us from behind- Wait, no it's more like 9 following us. I don't think they've discovered our location yet, we've gotta lose them." he stopped them.
"What's the deal?" asked Naruto "Why are we stopping?"
"Zip it and follow me." Pakkun slowly backtracked "We're going back over our footprints, if we pull this off then we'll seem to disappear."
"Is this really gonna do anything? I mean, they'd have to be pretty lame ninja if this throws them off our trail."
"It'll help buy us some time, that's all we need now but if our pursuers get impatient, succumb to the thrill of the chase and lose sight of our tracks then I certainly won't complain."
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After awhile, the Sound Ninja showed up and found that the tracks left by Tatsu and the others just stopped.
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Pakkun sniffed out that they were coming again "This isn't good, they're definitely back on our trail."
"Chance are they're all chunin or higher, if they catch us we'll probably be killed." Tatsu noted.
"We don't have much choice guys, we should ambush them." Naruto decided
"No chance, they're Orochimaru's henchmen and they're all jonin level. It won't work. Sure an ambush is a key battle tactic and can be very beneficial, but for it to work there have to be 2 conditions met. First, the ninja on the run has to be completely quiet and must find the enemy first. Second, they have to be able to catch the pursuers off guard at a location where they can do a lot of damage fast and conceal themselves just as fast. Only under those conditions can an ambush actually work. The first one isn't so hard since Pakkun's nose can sniff them out, and the second one looks like it's in our favor since we know our village's geography like the backs of our hands. But don't forget that Orochimaru originally came from the Hidden Leaf so we're out of luck on the second one. Our pursuers have studied the layouts of this village, and we've gotta assume they've been put through simulated practice for this invasion. On top of that, they've probably mastered the pursuit jutsu."
"So they know all the cards we're holding?" Ino guessed.
"We've gotta assume that. Besides, our enemy is probably a special unit put together specifically for this. We're just a bunch of genin and a dog. Tactics are about clearly grasping a tough situation and simulating the best plan possible, and right now there's only one plan that makes sense."
"And that is?" asked Naruto.
"A diversion that only looks like an ambush, so one of us will have to stay behind and slow them down."
"Like a decoy?" Ino guessed.
"Exactly, if one of us can delay them then they shouldn't be able to find the rest. We can escape, although the one who acts as a decoy will probably die. Then again, that's what war is about. So here's the deal, I'll be the one who-"
"No, I'll do it."
Naruto gaped at her "Ino, you can't! You'll be killed!"
"Come on, do you really think I'm just some weak fangirl who can't throw a punch? I've been training with Tatsu for this past month, I've grown up a lot." she leapt back "Besides, Shikamaru isn't the only one with a head for strategy."
"Hey! Are you saying I'm not smart?"
'Pretty much, yeah. Come on Naruto, you know that's not what I'm saying. You guys have a way better chance of stopping Gaara than I do, but I'll do everything I can to slow them down and buy you guys some time."
"Alright." Tatsu finally spoke "We'll leave it to you. Come on Naruto, let's get going. Ino, we're counting on you." and he took, with Naruto in tow.
Ino found herself alone, and within minutes she could hear them coming 'Alright get ready girl, they're coming.'
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Hayate quickly cut down several enemies with his Crescent Moon Dance, and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine 'Tatsu, please be careful.' then he suddenly coughed up blood.
"Hayate!" Asuma quickly came to his aid and caught him as collapsed.
"I'm sorry… take care… of everyone…" then Hayate passed out.
'Damn, of all the times for his sickness to catch up to him.'
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"Well well." the Sound ninja found a terrified-looking Ino backed up against a tree "Look what we have here, a little Leaf sapling and doesn't she look damn cute." this caused her to shrink back "Well you must be the little diversion your team left behind, so sad that we've gotta kill such a cutie." a kunai slid out of his sleeve and he held it up "Now then, do you want pleasure before death or just death?"
Ino faked trembling, then smiled dangerously and quickly formed a hand seal before they could react, the action followed by a series of huge explosions, then a huge crash and crunch right before a section of tree came into view.
"A trap! Scatter!" they spread out, breaking their formation, only for a new arrival to flash from the bushes, kunai and shuriken flying from it. The group avoided for the most part, but one guy wasn't so lucky and a kunai caught him in the chest, knocking him off his feet as it tore straight through his body and burst out the other side, eventually stopping in a tree behind the guy.
Even as the guy fell, the blur used his corpse like a springboard to leap into the air, throwing around more kunai that wounded two and hobbled another.
The group began rallying and focused their attacks on the interloper.
This didn't pan out since a fist crashed into the hobbler's face, which shattered under the force of the hit, slamming him into the trees hard enough to shatter it. The blur then flew at the leader.
Unfortunately, the leader wasn't as slow as the others since he saw the oncoming fist with just enough time to twist out of the way, seize the limb and hurl the blur into the air, over towards where Ino was still crouching against the tree.
The figure passed right through Ino like she didn't exist, then cried out as she struck the tree.
The leader felt his blood boil "So a clone huh? You used a clone to distract us while you set off the traps and attacked from the sidelines. Impressive girl, but not good enough." he grabbed Ino by the front of her shirt and lifted her "Now what're you gonna do?"
Ino drove her shin into the man's crotch, causing him to drop her and double over and clutch his damaged goods.
He never even noticed as Ino's fist crashed into the back of his head, knocking him out.
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Tatsu sensed the explosions and looked back 'Come on Ino, you can do this. Naruto, let's pick up the pace."
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Ino ducked a punch, blocked a knee, then launched an uppercut, feeling the Sound ninja's jaw shatter beneath her fist 'Got him!'
He fell, motionless.
'Is he dead? I know the others are injured, but…'
The two in front of her backed away nervously "How's a girl like you this powerful? It's just not fair!"
"I had a good teacher. Besides, how am I the one not being fair when you guys are outnumbering me? Man, Orochimaru needs better help." two of Ino's clones burst from the bushes.
Both men swiped and lost their concentration on Ino as they advanced.
The clones vanished, but before either Sound ninja could do anything, Ino smashed their heads together, causing them to drop out cold. Ino herself then dropped to her knees 'Okay, they're gone and I'm exhausted. Then again, I was using so much of my chakra to augment my muscles and I'm not exactly big in terms of reserves. I've really gotta thank Tatsu and the others for that. Still, I don't have enough in me for a long fight. I've really gotta work on that."
A cold edge laid itself against her throat "Too bad you'll never get the chance."
'Wait, there were originally 9- Dammit, the lookout! The one who usually stays back for this kind of situation. I was careless.'
"Never forget your enemy will always keep one man in reserve, now you die." the blade pressed harder against her throat, with a scream filling the forest.
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Pakkun took a whiff "Huh, looks like those ninja aren't chasing us anymore."
Tatsu smirked "Looks like Ino pulled through like I thought. I never doubted you for a second. We're half done, now we've gotta catch up to Sasuke before he gets killed. Come on Sasuke, just hang in there.'
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"Earth Style: Boulder Fist!"
Ino suddenly found the ninja holding her hostage on the ground with a hole in his chest 'What the-?'
"You… traitor…" the man spat out before dying.
"I was never a traitor." another voice retorted "I just realized what it meant to fight for a side that's worth fighting for."
Ino looked up "You…"
"For the 7th time, and I've been counting, my name is Dosu. I would've been here sooner, but I was a little sidetracked. Still though, you did well."
"Thanks, but I'm pretty much spent." then she passed out from exhaustion.
"Take a break, you earned it."
"Yes she did."
Dosu turned to see Asuma standing on a branch behind him "You're her sensei."
"I am, and I should thank you for saving her today and for last month."
"No thanks necessary, just repaying my debt to Tatsu and Sasuke. Now I think you should take care of her, I'm going to join up with Tatsu and the others."
"Right." Asuma quickly took Ino on his back and took off.
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"Hurry!" by this point, Temari and Kankuro were supporting a wounded Gaara as they retreated through the forest.
Kankuro glanced back 'What a pest?'
'We have even more pursuers? Two, no three. Kankuro, we've gotta go faster!"
"Okay okay."
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Sasuke was chasing after them, not too far behind 'Forget it, there's no way I'm letting you get away!'
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Tatsu led Naruto and Pakkun through the forest 'Whatever you do Sasuke, just make sure you don't get killed.'
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Temari stopped the group and checked something 'I see…'
"Well Temari, what's up?" asked Kankuro.
"He's close, very close."
"I knew it, what do we do?"
Temari pulled out some wire "Leave everything to me."
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Sasuke leapt across the forest, setting off a Paper Bomb in the process, along with several more following, forcing him to retreat upwards 'Well that was close.'
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Tatsu stopped the group "Must be some tripwire traps, they're probably trying to slow Sasuke down."
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The Hokage battle royale began, with Hashirama's Wood Style giving him and Tobirama the advantage over Sarutobi, who was quick to summon the Monkey King Enma to help him in the one-sided battle as Orochimaru brought out his Sword of Kusanagi.
During the fight, Sarutobi learned that ninja brought back by the Reanimation Jutsu were immune to any normal form of attack and regenerated from any injury dealt to them.
At the time, Orochimaru explained his desire to become immortal and know every form of ninjutsu, then decided to reveal the fruits of his labors by peeling away his face, revealing the face of a young woman whose body he now occupied.
A/N:
The biggest revision to this chapter was expanding on the Naruto vs Neji fight. I originally rushed it big time because I really wanted to get it over with and get to the fight between Tatsu vs Lee, the highlight of this chapter in my opinion. I also got to actually write out the potential Ino vs Dosu fight I originally completely glossed over, but here I actually enjoyed writing.
The Tatsu vs Lee fight was meant to expand on their past a little, showing how they became friends and rivals and how Tatsu's influence made Lee a somewhat different character from canon.
Tantrum is a reference to How I Met Your Mother, mainly because I'm absolutely in love with that show.