Lethal Shinobi

Chapter 10

The days went on and every passing moment was one closer to the grand finale of the Chunin Exams. And the village showed it.

Stalls were either cleaning up or being completely rebuilt and restocked with the most quality products that the village could afford. A huge event like this was always good for the businesses of the village, so any time there was a chance to increase sails, they took it.

Sadly, Naruto was not able to appropriately appreciate all of the chaos since the moment he would step out of his home he was surrounded by guards. And every time he would try to sneak away to the more public areas he would instantly be herded back to less populated streets.

Naruto was excited the very moment his eyes opened one morning. It was finally time for the Chunin Exams and his entire family was going to be present for the entire thing.

Well, to be exact, it was really the last part of the Exams. The Chunin Exams were split into three different sections, with the first two being based on the participants pure skill in being ninja. The final test was an all out display of combat prowess.

The village took advantage of this part of the test and would use it as an excuse to invite dignitaries and the wealthy from all over just to see the potential of future soldiers. It was probably one of the best money makers for most of the shops and businesses around the village.

Naruto had learned from his father that the first portion of this year's exam was an actual written exam. He was very pleased with the fact he was not becoming a shinobi after hearing about that. Normal school tests were hard enough, he could not imagine the level of difficulty that a written test made specifically for shinobi would be.

The second part of the Exam was a sort of survival test within one of the many dangerous training grounds that surrounded the village. It was hard enough for Naruto to rough it during his trip to Sunagakure and back. There was no telling what dangers the young shinobi faced while within that training area.

What was just as if not more exciting, was that Naruto's mother, Kushina, was about due for her next child at any moment. Minato tried to persuade his wife to not go to the exam demonstration, but she refused and there was no way that he was going to be able to change his wife's mind once it was set.

She was going to go, and if she was going to have the baby there, then that was exactly what was going to happen.

A few days before the major event, Naruto was shown one of the brochures that were going to be handed out to all attendees. It had the usual ads and what-not that were expected, but it also had who was competing and who against.

Naruto was pleased to see Sasuke in the matches, but he could not find Kiba's name anywhere. He knew the dog-boy was going to be a sulking mess for the next few weeks at the very least. From the brochure, Naruto could see that Sasuke was planned to be in the second fight of the day.

This would be the first time in a long time that Naruto would be allowed to be around people and not be surrounded by guards. He was too excited for it and did not sleep well for the next few days before the big event.

"Naruto!" Kushina called from the bottom of the stairs. "Get up and get ready or we'll be late." Even on days when her son was excited he would take his sweet time.

"Mom," Her son's voice suddenly came from behind. "You don't need to yell, I'm right here."

Kushina nearly jumped out of her skin. She still, to this day, had no idea how her son was able to sneak up on her and her husband without either of them knowing he was close. They simply chalked it up to him lacking any chakra that could be detected.

Kushina placed a hand on her stomach and chest. "I swear, you keep doing that and the baby will be born right now." She turned and gave her son a look. "And I don't really think you want to witness how you were born."

"I'd rather not." Naruto replied bluntly. He loved his mother, but not enough to witness something like that.

"Well, your father and sister went on ahead while you were messing about. And I, being the ever-so loving mother I am, decided to wait for you so that we could go together and you wouldn't need any bodyguards."

Naruto rolled his eyes before shoving the last of the chocolate he had been carrying into his mouth. "I told you, I no longer feel like I need to do that any more."

"And we told you that things like that do not suddenly disappear that quickly." Kushina put her hands on her hips and glared down at her son.

It was fruitless to argue any further, so Naruto did not and just followed his mother who was walking out the front door.

The day was sunny and warm; perfect weather to watch some young shinobi test their combative skills for a roaring crowd and high paying officials.

As they traveled, Naruto received looks. Looks of pity or disgust mostly, with hints of concern or fear sprinkled in every now and then. It was vastly different from the regular looks he would receive from the population. Word of his cannibalistic desire spread like wildfire through the village grapevine and; just like everything else, it was blown way out of proportion.

He did all he could to ignore the eyes constantly burrowing into him, but it was difficult knowing that he could do nothing about it.

After a brief walk, the mother and son duo arrived at the large arena where the event was to be held. The cacophony of voices coming from it already told the size of the crowd occupying the building, and there were still more piling in.

The two were quickly greeted by the staff of the building and ushered to where they were to sit and observe the fights; right on top of the structure with a clear view of everything. Minato and the constantly-name-changing little sister of Naruto's were already seated and waiting.

Naruto helped his mother up the stairs like the good son he was. Eventually the two made it to the top of the structure and could see where they were to sit. Kinda of hard to miss being the only thing on the roof was a stone wall lined with thrones.

Minato and Naruto's sister were seated next to each other with the Hokage sitting right next to a man wearing the attire of the Kazekage. This caused Naruto to pause mid-step.

The man had everything but his eyes covered, and those eyes did not belong to the man Naruto knew. The very air around this fake Kazekage reeked of something Naruto could not quiet put his finger on.

'This man does not smell right.' Venom hissed. 'We smell rot.'

Decay was terrible. It ruined meals and made everything bitter. Naruto had fed on rotten flesh before and detested every minute of it, despite it being a necessity at times. This man reeked like a corpse that had been left out in the sun for weeks.

Minato quickly spotted the rest of his family and stood up. "Please, please, have a seat."

And so they did.

The family sat to once side of Minato while his guest sat on the other. The two village leaders talked to one another while the family focused their attention elsewhere.

Or, at least Naruto tried. The feeling that the false Kazekage gave off made the boy anxious and nearly every movement he saw out of the corner of his eye made him jumpy.

After a short while of waiting, a shinobi walked out to the center of the giant arena. He gave the Hokage a look and Minato stood from his seat and stepped forward before giving a lengthy speech about the shinobi that would be fighting today, bonds between combatants and other villages, and a few other things that were patriotic.

After his speech, Naruto's father sat back down and the first two combatants made their way onto the field. A young man of the Nara family, and a tall blond girl with four pigtails and a massive fan.

Naruto lend forward a bit as his was not sure his eyes saw correctly. But they did. It was none other than Temari standing on the battlefield. Naruto quickly grabbed the brochure he was given and looked at the names of the scheduled combatants. And there, plane as day, was Temari's name.

Naruto looked back down at the arena. He had missed watching her fight back in her home town. He was not going to miss the opportunity to see what that giant fan of hers was all about.

Temari took her eyes off her opponent for just a moment to look up at her father and quickly noticed Naruto, staring right down at her. Seeing this, admittedly okay looking, boy so focused on her caused a slight tint of red to appear on her sun-kissed cheeks. She had an audience and a father to impress, she was not about to let some tired-looking boy beat her down.

The fight began and Temari instantly went with a powerful wave of her giant fan, sending a massive gust of wind strong enough to take the Nara-boy off his feet and send him falling back.

Naruto's eyes were fixated on the fight below as it progressed. He had seen shinobi train more times than he could count, but he had never seen two fight with the determination to win at all costs. It was a sight he wanted to memories every detail of.

Temair did everything she could to keep her opponent a safe distance away from her. Using a variety of wind-based techniques as well as using a few smaller fans for more precise attacks.

Her opponent appeared to not really be giving the entire fight his all. His every movement was well calculated, but his bored expression and the obvious lack of force in his attacks showed that he either was not taking the fight seriously, or just did not care about it at all.

This clearly frustrated Temari as she was taking the fight as seriously as possible and yet was still not able to land anything sustainable upon her opponent. It was almost like the boy knew exactly how to either counter every attack, or at the very least, minimize the amount of damage he would take.

Naruto wanted to cheer for the girl, being he actually knew her and not the boy. But, he knew that being the son of the village leader, he had to uphold a sense of decorum and unbiasedness when it came to events such as this.

After a while, Temari started to tire. She had used so much of her chakra, and while she herself had not taken any damage, she had grown very tired very quickly. Her opponent did not appear to be any worse for wear. He had a then sheen of sweat on his brow and a few cuts from Temari's attacks, but the boy was showing no signs of fatigue.

Temari sneered and was about to put everything she had into one more massive swing of her gigantic fan, only to stop when the boy raised both of his hands.

"I quit." He said plainly. He straightened his back and gave a groan as he rotated his shoulders. "This is all too much for me."

Temari was so shocked with the boy's sudden proclamation, that she actually dropped her fan. "What?"

The boy looked over to the girl with a bored expression. "Yeah," He decided to continue. "This is all too much trouble. Promotion would just mean more missions and less time for me to do other stuff. It's just not worth my time. Becoming Chunin would be such a drag."

The shinobi from the desert glanced over the the exam proctor with a confused eye. His look was almost identical to hers.

The proctor then looked up at the Hokage, still as confused as ever. Minato did not act as if he had noticed for a moment before giving a single nod. The proctor gave a shrug before raising one of his arms high into the air and claiming Temari as the victor of the fight.

The crowd was not particularly happy about how the fight had gone. They had come to watch spectacular fights and amazing displays of shinobi skill and technique. They did not want to see someone quit after a few minutes of strong winds and haphazard weapon throws.

The two shinobi left the arena as the exam proctor stepped forward to announce the next two competitors.

"Strange shinobi you have." The false Kazekage bemused. Even the voice was not right. Whoever was trying to imitate the man either had never met him before, or was aware that Minato had not. Either way, Naruto was on top of his guard.

Something was going to happen today. He just did not know what or when.

It was to be a male member of the insect using Aburame family against another shinobi from the land of sand.

The moment that the announcement was made, the sand shinobi instantly shot his hand into the air and declared that he forfeit the entire fight. The crowd quickly erupted into a roar of angry shouts and demands.

The cacophony of dissatisfaction grew louder when it was declared that one of the participants of the next fight still had not shown up. To, hopefully, calm the angry crowd, the proctor stated that they will wait a few minutes for the competitor to arrive before declaring an automatic winner.

That was enough to calm the crowd down for a short while. Once again, basic chatter filled the arena with nothing really being said.

Naruto wanted to go down and speak with Temari. He was amazed at her ability to control the wind created by her fans and really wanted to know how she did it as well as show him more.

There was no telling what other amazing techniques she knew!

After a few more minutes of waiting, the crowd began to get rowdy again. The exam proctor looked back up to his village leader, who gave just another nod.

The man turned his attention back to the crowd and announced that they were going to proceed to the next fight while waiting for the arrival of the other shinobi.

The crowd's jeering quickly changed when the next two shinobi that were to fight was announced. Hinata Hyuuga and a male Hyuuga that went by the name of Neji.

Both arrived at the center of the large arena with obviously dissatisfied expressions written on both of their faces. Hinata's was a lot more of a scowl while Neji appeared to look more like superior dissatisfaction.

The two stared hard at each other. Not a word was said, but plenty was understood.

Neji slowly got down into his family's famous fighting stance. "I will not go easy on you, Lady Hinata." His voice was cold and harsh. It was clear that he intended for this fight to be more than just a competition.

"I'll break every bone in your body if the thought ever crosses your mind." Hinata replied, a lot more heated than the boy. She too got down into the Hyuuga family fighting stance. Except her stance was not as low to the ground as Neji's.

The proctor shouted for the two to begin, but neither moved. The two family members stood stock still and continued to glare into the other's eyes. A conversation that only they were privy to going on behind those pale, ghostly orbs.

Both of their eyes narrowed as the veins around them began to bulge out. The very air surrounding the arena felt still and icy cold despite the warmth that existed everywhere else.

So fast that the eye could not see, the two shinobi slammed into each other with such force that a small explosion of chakra that rocked the entire arena. Both shinobi struck at each other with a variety of open palm strikes and swift leg sweeps. Both dodging just as much as the hits they landed.

Each powerful strike was punctuated by a small explosion of chakra appearing behind the pair as they slowly moved around the arena. No matter the number of hits one landed on the other, there was not a single sign of visible damage on the two.

It was only when Neji noticed an opening did he jab forward with his index and ring finger extended outward. With the way she was moving, he was positive that the strike would exactly where he hoped.

Hinata saw the attacked coming and decided to follow through with her body's current motion. But exaggerated it enough that instead of a smooth readjustment of her position, Hinata practically flopped onto the ground.

Neji followed through with his attack, not suspecting the sudden motion and was left right open for a counter from his relative. Which Hinata was all too happy to deliver by placing both of her palms behind her head, tucking her legs in, leaning back, and pushing off the ground while greatly extending her entire body.

The balls of both of her feet smashed into young man's jaw with enough force to send him sailing through the air. He landed on his back and found the taste of iron coat his tongue.

Anger welled up inside the young Hyuuga. The supposed princess of his entire family just attacked him with such a barbaric attack. Worse yet, it had actually landed and injured the best young combatant of the generation. There was no way he was going to stand for this insult upon the Hyuuga name.

He did not have time to come up with any other reasons to be angry, as Hinata was upon him with a chakra-infused palm aimed straight for his prone gut. Neji was forced to roll out of the way before the strike could land. Thankfully he did as the cracked ground around where Hinata's palm landed showed that he would probably no longer be a shinobi if it had landed.

He had to quickly get to his feet and go instantly on the defensive as Hinata began an unrelenting barrage of palm strike with the occasional straight on punch to mix things up a little.

There was no opportunity for Neji to counter any of the incoming hits. He either had to block or redirect them, or else risk a blow that he knew would put him out of commission.

The woman did not show any signs of slowing down.

Neji had to be patient. He could not allow his anger to get the better of him and risk loosing the fight, he just needed to wait. Eventually, his opponent will make a mistake and he will be able to capitalize on it.

And this time, she won't see it coming.

Or, at least that was the plan. Unfortunately, Hinata's hard hitting attacks were beginning to take a toll on the young man's defenses. He needed to make an offensive strike soon or else be defeated through sheer exhaustion.

But there was simply no opening for him to strike through.

Out of sheer frustration, Neji decided to make one. He threw both of his arms forward, catching and forcing Hinata's apart before pulling his arms back, gathering chakra, and thrusting them both forward with all the force he could.

Both of his palms slammed into Hinata's chest. A massive explosion of chakra appeared behind the girl as she slowly doubled over in pain. She grit her teeth as hard as she could but could not hold back coughing out a mouthful of blood. Hinata stumbled back holding onto her chest in pain.

Neji could not hide the superior smirk that crawled it's way onto his face. He knew what he had done and he hoped that it would drive the message home; that Hinata's brash attitude and refusal to stick to the norms of the family were beneath everyone.

He hated that the supposed leader-to-be of the Hyuuga family was nothing more than a delinquent that had no understanding of what her position would entail. Her fighting style was a disgusting insult upon the traditions of the family, as was her attitude to the elders.

Hinata had no right to lead the family and Neji hoped beyond hope that his uncle, Hinata's father, would choose his other daughter, Hinata's little sister, to be the true heir.

Especially since from the way Hinata reacted to just that one hit, that it appeared she could dish out damage while not being able to take a single hit herself.

Hinata suddenly snapped her head up and glared viciously at her cousin. The boy had made an actual attempt at her life. If she had not applied a boat-load of chakra to her chest right before his attack had landed, her heart would have been nothing more than bloody paste right now.

With a snarl, the girl lunged forward, catching Neji off guard. He threw up his hands to defend himself only to ave Hinata grab one of his wrists and yank him forward. She pulled back her other fist as far as possible before letting it fly.

She struck home and slammed her balled up fist against the center of Neji's face with a sickening crack. Whatever part of the boy's jaw had not been broken from her previous kick, was now nothing more than useless bone. Same for the boy's nose.

Neji flew back once again and smashed into the ground hard. The pain in his face preventing him from doing much more than hold his broken nose.

Hinata walked over to her pained relative and glared down at him before turning around in a huff.

Her cousin always looked down on her. Even when they were small children, all he did was glare at her and go all out when even doing the simplest of spars. It was like he wanted to prove that she was not fit to lead.

Sure, she knew she had a temper and could let her anger get the better of her a time or too. Sure, she liked to cause trouble. Sure, she was not completely dedicated to the family's fighting style. But she had grown to see her own self worth a long time ago, and she would be damned if anyone was going to try and 'put her in her place'.

She shot a look at the proctor who quickly raised a hand and declared Hinata the winner of the fight. She left the arena without saying a word or even acknowledging the crowd.

Naruto, having watched every moment, was thankful that the girl had never let out that much strength against him. Women were scary. If she was really made the times she bullied him, then Naruto was sure he would be in the hospital constantly, even with Venom healing him up.

The crowd cheered and were pleased with the fight, even though it too was a bit shorter than they would have wanted. It was rare enough to see the Hyuuga fighting style, and even more so to see two opponents using it against one another.

Now there was no other choice than for the crowd to wait for the final challenger to finally make an appearance. The audience once again went back to idle chatter.

"Seems like your shinobi don't exactly understand punctuality." The supposed Kazekage muttered.

Minato took the words in stride and gave a chuckle of his own in return. "Some become a little too dedicated to perfection and train a bit longer than they should. A problem, I know, but it helps motivated the younger generation."

"Hopefully, this lack of punctuality does not cause any real issues for your village."

"None what so ever." There was nothing anyone could say that Minato would not be able to counter. At least when it came to the home he loved so dearly. He glanced over to his family and smiled as they all appeared to be at least tolerating the fights as well as the strange public seating.

It was clear the Kushina was not comfortable with where she was and had been doing all she could to try and make her obviously pregnant belly a little less obvious as possible.

His son and daughter did not appear to be as bothered by it, thankfully.

Minutes passed by and the audience once again began to voice their displeasure. Yet, at the same time, knowing that it was going to be a fight involving one of the Uchiha. A large number of the audience had hoped that the fight would have been between one of the Hyuuga and the Uchiha considering the famous rivalry between the two families.

If the next match ever gets underway, then there may be a chance such a wish could be granted.

After almost a full twenty minutes of waiting, the proctor glanced up to the crowd was once again starting to get rowdy and it was nearing a point where either Sasuke would have to show up immediately or forfeit the match simply due to not showing up.

Minato gave a heavy sigh. He really hoped that the youth would make an appearance soon. The displeasure the visiting dignitaries would have about being denied a fight involving the famous Uchiha family would be something he just did not want to deal with.

Business would decrease drastically around the entire village. There would be less shinobi contracts. Overall, just a lot of unnecessary issues would arise just because some kid was late to an event.

He gripped the arms of his chair tightly before slowly raising to make the disappointing announcement.

"Maybe we should wait just a little longer?" The Kazekage asked. "We don't want to disappoint everyone." He said it as if Minato had not been worried about that the entire time he had been there. "I'm sure that the people will be willing to wait and see what power the new generation of Uchiha have to offer."

The instant those words left the man's mouth did a small swirl of leaves and smoke suddenly appear in the center of the large arena.

The smoke and leaves quickly cleared away to reveal Sasuke standing tall and proud; while wearing a pretty silly looking black one-piece outfit. He did have his fists wrapped in protective bandaging so at least it wasn't completely dumb.

With him was a tall jonin wearing a mask that concealed most of the lower portion of his face and had strange side-standing grey hair.

"I hope we're not late." The jonin said in a bored tone of voice before placing a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and whispering something in his ear. The boy's expression hardened but he did not voice a response. Instead, his harsh onyx eyes shifted into the famous red and black of the Uchiha Sharingan.

Minato smiled before sitting back down.

This was it. This was where Sasuke would show the world what he was capable of. He would show that he was more than just his big brother's sibling. He looked at his opponent, a red-headed short boy from the Village Hidden within the Sand.

The boy wore a massive clay gourd on his back and had a blood red tattoo etched onto the left side of his forehead. He had obvious bags under his eyes that showed the boy did not sleep much.

He glared down at Sasuke from where the rest of the contestants stood before making his way down to the center of the arena after his name was called. The two stood opposite of each other.

A hush took over the arena as the two stared each other down. The proctor standing between them with a single arm raised.

Throwing the arm down and shouting to begin, the man quickly leapt out of the arena just as a wave of sand come straight for Sasuke.

The Uchiha was forced to move out of the way. But instead of just jumping to the side, he began to run. He quickly gained speed and started to go so fast that he was nearly impossible to see; at least for anyone not trained in the shinobi arts.

Sasuke was able to put some distance between him and the sand before skidding to a halt and applying a large amount of chakra to his right hand. The hand began to shake, forcing him to hold his wrist with his other hand to prevent the hand from twitching too much.

He applied more and more chakra to the area until it began to visibly spark. The sparks increased in side and number until his entire right hand was engulfed in blue electricity. The sounds of the sparking chakra echoed within the arena.

Another wave of sand come towards Sasuke; who once again ran out of the way. This time, he had his body low enough to the ground to drag his chakra-coated hand on the ground; leaving a trail of hot rock and dirt behind him. The sand following after him.

The sand shinobi, now known as Gaara, stood stock still the entire time; his eyes never leaving Sasuke's form. Without moving a muscle, he willed a wall of sand to spring up in front of the Uchiha, forcing him to either get out of the way, or be smashed between it and the incoming wave.

So, he did. He turned ninety degrees and dashed straight for Gaara, bringing his charged hand up to bear.

The sand user did not show a sign of fear as his opponent charged him as a wall of sand come up to separate the two. His eyes widened when the sand wall in front of him burst towards him with that electrified hand coming right for him.

Gaara was forced to take two steps back to prevent the attack from actually landing. Lucky for him, his sand was just barely able to prevent his opponent from completely reaching him. The sand boy's expression faltered for just a moment before returning to the same, slightly angry, look he always had.

The fight continued on like this for a while; Sasuke trying his best to get through Gaara's defenses, and Gaara trying to simply catch Sasuke.

The stalemate finally ended when Sasuke, once again, thrust his electrified hand through Gaara's sand wall. This time, however, Sasuke used his other hand to grab onto the wall and pull himself further into it. Finally reaching Gaara and slamming his hand into the boy's right shoulder.

The attack was not anywhere near the full force or power it could have, due to the wall slowing it down significantly, but it was enough to tear away the clothing and leave a decent sized bloody spot on Gaara.

The red-headed boy looked down at the spot with a look of pure shock and horror. He continued to stare down at his wounded shoulder as Sasuke freed his arm from the sand and had to leap away from more trying to reach out for him.

Gaara slowly opened his mouth and let out an ear-spliting scream as a storm of sand surrounded him. Sasuke could not dream if getting close to the boy and any weapons he threw were quickly blasted out of the way by the storm.

The sand began to pile around Gaara until it had completely enveloped him in a large dome. His screaming stopped once the sand structure was complete. As did the attacks from tendrils and waves of sand. Everything appeared to just come to a complete halt once Gaara was encased in his sand tomb.

Sasuke stood poised for any sort of attack to come from the sandy dome, but none came. A sudden surge of chakra coming from inside the sand structure, however, told him that there was something going on inside that he probably did not want to know about or let finish.

Since he was not longer under siege by sand, Sasuke had the chance to really power up his shocky hand attack. He put everything he had into his right hand, the build up of electrified chakra sending bolts all across the ground, leaving heated sand and rock where ever they struck.

Sasuke charged straight for the dome with his hand ready to strike through the hardened sand. But the instant that he reached his target, hardened sand spikes sprang out defensively. The Uchiha was forced to come to a skidding halt or risk being impaled by the dome's defenses.

He was even forced to leap back a few steps as the spikes continued to extend further and further. Once Sasuke was a good distance away did the spikes retract back into the dome, leaving it as smooth as it was when first made.

Sasuke tried the attack again with the same result taking place. He tried once more with no change.

The boy finally stopped and took a moment to think and observe his surroundings and the current situation. For a moment he looked up and could see his family with his father staring down at him, an unreadable expression written all over his face. Further up, he could see his village leader and one of his best friends watching with intent.

The look on Naruto's face was enough for the young Uchiha to see how impressed he already was with everything he had seen. Sasuke could not hide the small smile from gracing his, admittedly, pale face. His smile grew just a tiny bit more when he saw the girl he had been dating sitting

Everyone was watching him. Now was not the time to let himself be beat by some weird freak.

He charge up one final time. This time, for sure, he was going to git his target and end this fight. He put every last ounce of strength he had into hand. He did use up a lot of chakra on that one good hit, but he had enough for one more.

Once again, Sasuke charged forward. And just like the last few time, the sand spikes sprung out from the surface of the dome right for the incoming target. Only, this time, Sasuke leapt to the side the very moment the spikes would have impaled him.

He instantly dashed forward again and saw another wall of spike form and jut out towards him. He leapt out of the way of those as well and continued closer, keeping his speed.

He continued like this until he was close enough to reach the dome. He could see the spikes beginning to form, but pushed onward and thrust his hand out just as the deadly sand weapons began to jut out.

The base of his palm burst through the sandy dome and he could feel it slam against solid flesh. Only, it did not feel like how normal human skin felt like. Whatever he had hit was warm, like a normal living thing, but also felt very gritty with a bit of a leather-like feel to it.

He was about to grab onto the strange skin when it decided to grab onto him. Surprised, Sasuke leapt back away from the dome while yanking his arm back as well.

He was able to pull his arm free from the dome, but also pulled out a strange mass of sand colored flesh that had sporadic blue vein-like markings on it. Once Sasuke was a good distance away, the strange limb pulled released Sasuke before retreating back into the dome. The hole the Uchiha had made still remained.

The stadium was completely silent. No one really knew what to take from what they had just seen.

But there was one thing.

That sand using shinobi, either was or had within him, a demon.

Minato's eyes widened upon seeing the strange limb assault the Uchiha. His brain working hard on answering the question of, why the Kazekage would allow a shinobi with such obvious little control over his demon to participate in the Chunin Exams.

His mind quickly came to a terrifying conclusion. Ever so slowly, not moving his head an inch, Minato glanced over at the Kazekage. The other man was staring right back.

Chaos immediately struck.