Chapter 3: The Fights
Sasuke dashed towards his enemy as soon as the proctor said to begin. He tried to hit him several times with punches and kicks but Yoroi, who was Kabuto's teammate, dodged them before grabbing one of Sasuke's kicks and threw him across the room. Sasuke flipped in the air before landing on his feet an angry scowl marring his face. "So this is all the mighty Uchiha clan has to offer huh. This is disappointing. Don't worry I won't make this last too long. I'll finish this with my next attack." Naruto could see that the remarks angered Sasuke even more, the Uchiha started going through some hand seals but stopped half-way as he clutched his neck.
"It looks like that mark is still hurting him." Ino's concerned voice was heard over the gasps Sakura was releasing. Naruto didn't say anything as he stared down at the fight going on below. Sasuke once again ran through hand seals as Yoroi rushed him. Sasuke took a deep breath before shouting. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Yoroi dodged to the left, he didn't dodge fast enough to completely avoid it a part of his shirt was singed by the fire. Sasuke, with unexpected speed, ran at him and elbowed the older genin in the face. Yoroi was pushed back by the blow and Sasuke tried to follow up with a kick but Yoroi grabbed Sasuke's leg mid-swing and threw him on the ground. Sasuke tried to get up but was quickly straddled by the older genin.
"It's over." Yoroi exclaimed as grabbed Sasuke by the face, his hand glowing because of his jutsu. Sasuke struggled under the bigger man but managed to uppercut him, using the opening he head-butted the older genin and freed himself from his grasp. Naruto noticed that his teammate looked a lot more worn out than he should have. Kabuto's teammate looked slightly rejuvenated. Sasuke glared at the man and the masked genin simply chuckled. "I see you noticed, my Jutsu allows me to drain the chakra of my enemies and add it to my own."
Naruto heard several gasps from the other rookies around him and saw that Sasuke glared at the man before grabbing his neck in pain. He looked over at Kakashi and saw he was watching the match intently. Naruto saw Sasuke activate his Sharingan before he moved so quickly that Naruto almost didn't notice him. 'So you copied Lee's technique.' This time Naruto heard Lee and his sensei Guy gasp in shock as they looked on. Sasuke had gotten below Yoroi before kicking him up in the air. As Yoroi was hanging in the air Sasuke blurred behind him. Sasuke grimaced in pain as his mark flared before receding back to the seal. He kicked Yoroi's side to maneuver himself above him. Sasuke launched punch to his opponents face before spinning and hitting him with an elbow that made the older ninja hit the ground just as Sasuke landed an axe kick to his stomach that cracked the floor under them. He heard his teammate shout out the name of his new move. "Lions Barrage!" Sasuke stood up and stepped away as the proctor walked over and checked on the downed ninja.
"Yoroi Akado is unable to continue the winner is Sasuke Uchiha." The other rookies, mostly Sakura and Ino, let out cheers. Naruto just let a small frown come to face. Kakashi made his way over to Sasuke before he took him away. Ino noticed that Naruto was frowning and called him out on it.
"Hey, aren't you happy your teammate won?" Her question brought the attention of Shino and Hinata.
"To be honest I really didn't care who won the match." His answer made Hinata give him a concerned look as Shino looked undisturbed. Ino who traveled with team 7 for days knew how high the tension was there. Sakura who was standing nearby just had an angry face on. The conversation was cut short as the Proctor called the next two participants.
"Would Shino Aburame and Zaku Abumi please come down." The two genins made their way down. Zaku had his arms in a sling thanks to the injuries from Sasuke. The two stared each other down before the Proctor spoke up again. "If both Fighters are ready...Begin!" The proctor jumped back to give the genin more space.
"You should give up, you have no chance of winning. Why? Because you are already injured and I am not." Shino's calm and collected tone seemed to tick off the sound ninja.
"That's the difference between us, I'm a lot stronger than any of you weak leaf ninja." Zaku raised his left arm and started firing a burst of wind at Shino who simply dodged and let his insects swarm around him.
"You've made a foolish mistake." Shino started sending wave after wave of his bugs at Zaku who tried to fend them off with his one good arm. But no matter how much he struggled he couldn't get rid of all of them. "You should forfeit. Why? Because you are outmatched." Zaku grit his teeth as he brought out his other arm from its sling.
"I always have a trump card!." Zaku screamed at Shino as he raised both his arms and pointed them at him. "Extreme decapitating Airwaves!" There was a moment of silence before Zaku's arms exploded at the elbows as he screamed in pain and fell to the ground. There were insects in his arm tubes that had plugged up the escape. All around there was a stunned silence, Naruto looked around and saw that Ino looked pale and that every one of the rookies sans himself and Shikamaru looked a little green.
"I always thought he was creepy in the academy but that was a whole new level of disturbing." Ino let out a small shudder and Sakura nodded along.
"Heh, Shino is always quiet but he's dangerous, he's probably the opponent I would like to fight least out of all us rookies." Kiba's comment was met with silence and a quiet 'troublesome' from Shikamaru.
"That's a scary kid you got there Kurenai." Asuma said to the only female sensei of the rookies who looked at her fellow jonin.
"He has the best chance out of everyone here to make chuunin." Before any of the senseis could repute her comment the proctor had called the match.
"Zaku Abumi is no longer able to battle. The winner is Shino Aburame!." Shino made his way upstairs as his teammates congratulated him, Kiba with a pat on the back and Hinata with a small smile. Kakashi walked back up the stairs and Sakura asks him if Sasuke was ok.
"He'll be fine Sakura there's nothing to worry about." Sakura looks relieved as she watched her sensei take his spot with the other jonin. The attention of everyone was once again brought to the screen as it cycled through names as it landed on Kankuro and Misumi Tsurugi who was Kabuto's third teammate. He like his other teammate wore a bandana and cloth that covered his mouth but unlike his teammate, he wore glasses that weren't blacked out.
"Would both contestants please make their way down." The two genins made their way without saying a word and were soon squared up facing each other. "If you're both ready? BEGIN!"
Misumi rushed Kankuro who did nothing but stand there and soon he Masumi wrapped around Kankuro's body with his limbs bending at unnatural angles. "Fool you should have never allowed me to get so close. My Jutsu allows me to dislocate my joints and move my arms and legs so I can perfectly trap my foes. Give up or I'll snap your neck." His tone was sharp and confident.
"I refuse." Kankuro was calm even when in such a position. Naruto narrowed his eyes and noticed that his chest wasn't moving at all. 'He's not breathing.' Naruto paid extra attention to the fight. Then Misumi followed through with his threat as he twisted Kankuro's neck.
"You should have listened." He dropped Kankuro's dead body on the ground and addressed the proctor as gasps could be heard from those around the room. "Call the match." He shouted in surprise when he was suddenly wrapped up by Kankuro's body just like he had held him mere moments ago. He turned to look at him to see his face peeling away to show a wooden puppet underneath. "What!? HOW!"
"From the beginning, you never stood a chance." Kankuro's voice came from the bundled wrap on the ground that his puppet was carrying. Misumi looked stunned before looking to the proctor.
"I giv-" Before he could finish Naruto saw Kankuro clench his hands and soon the sound of bones breaking filled the room as his opponent dropped to the ground unable to support himself.
"Heh, now it's over." The Proctor quickly called the match for Kankuro as medics came in and took Misumi away. Naruto looked and saw that Ino had a sickly face.
"I can't believe he would do that he was in the middle of giving up."
"Anything is legal as long as there is no outside help. The only rule is you fight until your opponent gives up, is unconscious or dead." Naruto's hard tone took many of those around him by surprise especially his team sensei who looked at Naruto with his one uncovered eye. The screen soon ran through more names until it stopped on two very familiar names.
Sakura Haruno VS Ino Yamanaka
The proctor called both of them down. "Good luck Ino." Naruto's remark caused everyone to look at him in shock as it wasn't a secret that the blond had a huge crush on the pinkette, Sakura had a look of betrayal but was soon covered by anger as she made her way down.
"Thanks Naruto, but I don't need luck against forehead." Ino's voice was full of confidence. Naruto simply shrugged and nodded as Ino was making her way down Kakashi spoke to his most boisterous student.
"That wasn't very nice Naruto, just because you have a new girlfriend doesn't mean you should cheer against your teammate." Kakashi had purposely phrased his comment as to get a reaction out of his student, he was expecting him to splutter and blush as he denied his claims. What he got threw him for a loop and had him wondering what was wrong with his student. It also got the attention of Ino's team along with Hinata and her sensei.
"Ino's not my girlfriend Kakashi. I was just a being civil with her for helping me in the forest." Naruto's calm response made everyone question if it was actually him and not someone else as Kakashi noticed the lack of sensei to his name. Before he could question it further the heard the proctor ask if both fighters were ready.
"Begin!" The proctor jumped back from the two girls who simply stared at each other. Before removing their forehead protectors from their individual places on their body and tied them around their foreheads. The two glared at each other before running at each other meeting in the middle of the room engaging in a taijutsu match. The Two began to exchange punches and kicks but neither was landing a blow on the other. Sakura jumped back and created two clones and rushed Ino who merely scuffed and threw three kunai one to each Sakura and saw the middle one dodged and the other two simply disappeared when the kunai went through them.
"your gonna have to try harder than that forehead." Ino mocked her rival. Sakura said nothing and began an exchange again until Ino overextended a punch and Sakura was able to land a right-handed punch to her face. The two separated after Sakura landed her punch and Ino smirked. "I'm glad you're taking this seriously."
Sakura frowns and tries a new tactic seeing as this was getting nowhere. "I always take things seriously unlike you who spends too much time caring about how she looks." Naruto who was listening to them let out a small huff.
'Hello kettle, have you met pot?' Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by Ino cutting pieces of her hair and throwing it at Sakura.
"Fine then. Let me show you how serious I can get!" Ino's voice was full of anger as she brought her hands up into her clans special Jutsu. "Ninja arts: Mind Body Switch Jutsu." Sakura who knew what the Jutsu did jumped out of the way as Ino's body slumped to the ground.
"Hah! I win Ino-pig." Sakura's celebration was cut short as she felt her get restrained and she looked down to see Ino's hair bind her. "what is this?"
"It's my Chakra Hair Trap Jutsu, I knew you would dodge my first jutsu so I faked it. now you can't dodge. Ninja arts: Mind Body Switch Jutsu" Ino fired her technique and once again fell limp as Sakura stood up with Ino's hair falling to the ground. Sakura slowly raised her hand and spoke to the proctor. "I give u-" Before she could finish speaking she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. Ino jumped up from unconsciousness as she looked around confused. Both Kunoichi looked to be breathing heavily.
"I don't know how you managed to escape but it doesn't matter you're going down." Ino's declaration would have been more believable if she didn't look like a gust of wind would knock her down.
"Bring it Ino." Sakura and Ino then rushed at each other before simultaneously landing punches on each other as they knocked themselves out. Naruto turned when he heard Ten-Ten laugh and spotted Kurenai giving both Asuma and Kakashi disapproving looks. The Proctor proclaims the match a draw and soon Ino and Sakura were brought up when the medical team woke them up. Both Ino and Sakura looked happy and determined even though they lost and neither would advance.
"You got lucky that you faced each other." Ino and Sakura looked at Naruto with curious expressions.
"What's that supposed to mean." Ino's tone was hard.
"It means if you had faced any of the sound ninja or the red-headed sand ninja you would have died." Naruto's statement sent chills through their spines as they looked at the redhead who was releasing copious amounts of killing intent.
"GO TEN-TEN, Show them your FLAMES OF YOUTH!." Naruto's attention was brought to Lee and looked towards the screen to see Temari VS Ten-Ten. Both kunoichis were already down the steps. The Proctor started the match and jumped away.
"I'm glad I get to go after the disappointment that was the last match, I can show everyone not all kunoichi are useless fan-girls." Ten-Ten's statement was met with shouts of anger from Ino and Sakura who were ignored.
"Hmph, well see about that." Temari's statement caused Ten-Ten to grow angry as she started pulling out scrolls from her ninja pouch unsealing a ridiculous amount of weapons that flew at the sand kunoichi. Temari grabbed the fan of her back and opened it slightly to show a single crescent moon and swung her fan making a gust of wind that completely stopped the barrage of weapons. "If this is all I'm going to be very disappointed." Ten-Ten with a look of determination unsealed a bow staff and ran at the blond only to be blasted back when she was hit with another blast of wind.
"C'mon Ten-Ten you can do it!." Lee's encouragement was heard by everyone.
'She got a bad matchup. If she has nothing else she won't be able to win.' Thought Naruto
Ten-Ten pulled out two scrolls from her kunai holsters on her leg and jumping into the air as she rained down even more weapons. Temari smirked before unleashing a tornado of wind that picked Ten-Ten up and slammed her unto her folded fan she was holding out. There was a moment as Ten-Ten lay there a when the proctor called the match. Lee quickly went to go pick up his teammate who was then taken away by the medics. "That was most unkind." Lee's voice was hard as he spoke to the sand kunoichi.
"Whatever kid, she's lucky I went easy on her." Lee glared at the sand team as he made his way up.
"Poor Ten-Ten she had a horrible matchup." Said, Guy.
"She wasn't fated to win today." Guy gave Neji a disappointed look before going to check on his student.
"Woohoo! We won the lottery Akamaru!" Naruto looked towards the screen to see his name had finally come up along with that of Kiba's.
"Would Naruto Uzumaki and Kiba Inuzuka please come down." Kiba jumped down and yelled up at Naruto. "Hurry up dead last, and don't worry I'll make this quick."
'This is it, this is where I start. No more holding back.' Naruto made his way down but not before he got a good luck from both Ino and surprisingly Hinata. Naruto stood across from Kiba when he heard Kurenai speak to Kakashi.
"Sorry Kakashi, but Naruto doesn't stand a chance."
"I wouldn't say that, Naruto may surprise you." His attention was brought back to the proctor when he announced if both fighters are ready. Kiba nodded with a smirk and Naruto just gave a single nod.
"Begin!." The proctor jumped back to give the combatants more room.
"Heh, stay back buddy I won't need you for this. Get ready Naruto cause I'll end this in one hit!" Kiba ran at Naruto with surprising speed and tried to elbow him in the gut. Naruto seeing this allowed his instincts to guide him as he spun out of the way and decided to elbow him in the back of the head. Kiba crashed into the ground and those who knew Naruto where shocked into silence at this display. "Wow! when did Naruto get so good!" Said Ino.
"Troublesome blonds." Shikamaru was instantly rewarded with a slap to the back of the head. As Sakura looked on with slight concern. Naruto jumped back to avoid a sweeping leg kick from Kiba as he stood back up and wiped the blood from his nose.
"You got lucky Naruto!" Naruto stared down Kiba as he shouted at him. Kiba decided to throw some Kunai at Naruto and as he dodged he ran up to him and tried to punch him. Naruto grabbed his punch and threw him away from himself. "Fine I'll stop messing around, Let's go Akamaru!" Kiba reached into his pouch and threw several pellets at Naruto and soon he was surrounded by the smoke. Naruto closed his eyes and focused on his senses and jumped backward as he felt a small object bite unto his shirt and tore it away.
'Great, I just got that shirt.' Naruto quickly refocused as he felt two presences coming at him from either side. He reached out and grabbed Akamaru from the air as he tried to bite his arm and quickly kicked Kiba out of the smoke. Kiba slid to a stop and saw two Naruto's one holding Akamaru and the other standing off to its left. "Give up Kiba." Naruto's tone was cold and Kiba felt himself shiver involuntarily from the slight killing intent he was giving off.
"There's no way I'm giving up! Akamaru catch!" Kiba threw a pill at Akamaru that he had gotten out when he had seen Akamaru get taken. Naruto grabbed the pill from mid-air and crushed the pill in his hands.
"If you want to continue fine, but it's going to be just you and me." Naruto signaled to his clone who quickly jumped up to the statue and held Akamaru there.
"You asked for it Naruto! Ninja Arts: Beast Mimicry All Fours Jutsu!" Kiba Shot off towards Naruto faster than ever before and Naruto rolled to the left and as he was getting up he heard Kiba shouting. " Ninja Art: Fang Over Fang!" Naruto jumped straight up to dodge Kiba who was spinning so fast he had become a tornado, unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough and his bandages got torn off allowing everyone to stare at his barely healed scar that ran across his chest. At the sight of it, several people reacted. Hinata and Sakura who had never seen the scar started tearing up. The third and Kakashi narrowed their eyes while everyone else wondered how he was able to move so well with such a wound. Naruto once he landed had to quickly dodge again as he just escaped another hit from Kiba.
'Damn it I need more speed!' Thought Naruto who started channeling chakra all over his body to give himself a boost. He made two clones to give himself a better chance to counter-attack. This had caused his seal to become visible and many people took notice specifically the sand team, Neji, and the third. The third saw that Naruto had a Five Element seal placed over his normal eight trigrams seal and was instantly amazed Naruto was even fighting at all as the seal messed with not only his chakra control but it was also meant to cut the flow of chakra. As Kiba came out of his spin he was instantly put on the defensive as two Naruto started to attack him. Kiba was able to pop one clone but the other had managed to send him flying with a kick but before he was able to regain his balance the real Naruto appeared beside him and delivered a devastating punch to his face. Kiba bounced off the floor twice as the tile under him cracked on impact. The only sound that could be heard was Akamaru whimpering and the proctor called the match.
"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto looked up at the catwalk where the rest of the rookies were staring at him shocked. The third made a quick signal to the ANBU informing them he would be leaving for a short while then signaled the medics to take Naruto to a private room. Soon the medics took both Kiba and Naruto away as people assumed it was to deal with the giant scar on his chest. As he left he could hear the others talking about him
"Wow, I didn't know Naruto had gotten so strong." Ino's voice held amazement as all the other rookies nodded along in mute silence. "But did you see that seal he had on his stomach?" Her question made the jonin senseis look at each other. "Do you know what it does Sakura?"
Sakura looked puzzled. "No, but when we were attacked by Oro-" Sakura was stopped by Kakashi who had nudged her side who nodded slightly, this act didn't go unnoticed by Shikamaru, Neji, Shino, and Ino. "By the enemy sound team, one of them did hit him in the stomach with a weird jutsu before making him pass out." The others didn't say anything as the next contestants were soon called out.
"Would Shikamaru Nara and Kin Tsuchi please make their way down." Naruto could no longer hear what was said as he was taken into a private room and soon the third came through the door.
"Hello, Naruto. How are you" The thirds voice was calm and gentle like always.
Naruto let out a small smile one that the third had not seen since the blond had been a small child. "Hey old man. Honestly, I could be better." Naruto took a second before looking the old Hokage in the eyes and the third was reminded of another blond man for just a second. "I'm assuming you already know that Orochimaru attacked team 7."
"Yes we got the information, we also know he placed a cursed seal on young Sasuke." The third paused for a moment before continuing. "I was not aware he had placed a seal on you as well." The third let out a frown at this. "Why didn't you inform Iruka or Kakashi about it?"
Iruka-sensei left to quickly for me to tell him and I didn't see Kakashi until we were all in the big room." Naruto's words caused the aged Hokage to frown before nodding.
"Well there nothing that we can do about that now, but I can remove the seal from you right now, it was originally I who taught this jutsu to my students. I'm amazed you made it this far with the seal on" Soon the thirds left hand was lit with blue fire as he touched Naruto's stomach. "Five Elemental Seal release" Naruto felt the effects instantly.
"Thanks, old man"
"No problem Naruto, there are spare shirts over in the corner." The third pointed to the corner in the room where spare supplies were stacked. He then walked out of the room. "You can go back and rejoin the others when you're ready." with that the third left the room.
Deep within Naruto's seal, the Nine-tails lifted its massive head as he noticed the infernal seal being gone. 'Good, do not disappoint me Naruto' The great fox thought to itself before going back to sleep.
Naruto walked out to the main area after getting a new black shirt and he noticed that Hinata and Neji where on the arena floor, and that Hinata was crying. 'This isn't good' Naruto thought to himself as he made his way upstairs