Finally here with the next chapter! It took a bit of time since I've been busy for the week since one, I work a 2nd shift job, and two, as a result I normally only have time to write either the hour or so before work or the 2 or so hours afterwards, or on the two days off I get each week. Other than that though, I've also been doing a bit of planning for this story as well as others so that it doesn't just become a story that only follows canon, but rather expands from canon once a certain point is reached.
Also to the one reviewer who caught that error I made in chapter 12, thank you for that, its been fixed. Its comments like yours that allow me to fix mistakes.
As for the Harem, I have mentioned at least 3 of the girls who will be in it (Asuka, fem Haku, Hinata), and will be trying to keep it from getting too large (after all, gotta give some of the other guys some pairings). Plus when you have too many, it gets harder to try and keep their personalities separate. Though there will be more added as the story goes on. Don't expect Tsunade, Mei, or Shizune to be put in it since I already have plans for those three.
As for Karin, decided to at least consider her, though it will also depend on whether or not I can come up with another pairing that could work for her. But that's up in the air for now.
Now then, let's get into the chapter. And yes, unlike canon, Tenten at least puts up a little bit more of a fight...also before anyone says anything...Asuka?
Asuka: Right! WVH does not own Naruto, be its characters or any part of the franchise. That belongs to its respective owners, be it the manga, anime, or etc. All he owns is the story, the techniques he comes up with, and any OCs added to the story.
WVH: To be fair, at this point technically since your personality and gender is different from canon, you're basically bordering on OC character.
Asuka: ...you're not wrong...anyway let's see what happens next!
Chapter 15: Blood Soaked Sand
The Tower, Forest of Death, Konohagakure, Land of Fire
With Kankuro
Kankuro had a smug look on his face as he went up the stairs. He was pleased that he managed to win the prelims match...but then again, it wasn't as if he was up against one of the more troublesome threats.
There were at least four people in the room he was worried he would have been put up against.
That Aburame kid would have been a pain in the butt. Those bugs of his would have screwed me over with their chakra eating bullcrap. And then there's Temari who knows how my puppets work...and Gaara...uuughh don't want to think about that. I feel bad for whoever has the shit luck with him...though there's also that Naruto guy. He may be a loudmouth, but he clearly ain't normal. He thought as he went up the stairs.
As he rejoined his team, Temari gave him a complaint for drawing it out for so long, while Gaara gave him one glance before he returned his focus to the stage below. Though he did notice the boy twitch a little at his fingers.
His psycho of a little brother was getting antsy. Not exactly a good thing.
With Fu
"Wow that guy went down easy...what was his name again?" Fu said with a smirk on her face.
Her teammate ignored her question for the most part, as he didn't want to associate with her. Fu had let that be for the moment, since unlike their other teammate, this guy at least had the balls to stick around.
However, there was a response from elsewhere.
"I forget. Though I gotta agree with that nickname the puppet guy called him though." The Nanabi, Chomei spoke from with the seal she had on her body. He had the voice of a young boy, which she thought quite mismatched the beetle in his 'Biju' form.
Then he'll be forever remembered as Stretchy she thought spoke to the beast.
As she looked at the medics pull the surprisingly still living 'Stretchy' off the arena floor and to where she remembered the infirmary was supposed to be, she couldn't help but think about the beast within her.
They had originally started on a bit of a rocky relationship, considering he was the main reason Fu had many, MANY grievances with her home village, save for a few such as Shibuki. Eventually though, she started to get used to the beetle's attempts at banter that she started to see him than more than just some stupid monster. Though there were times she would admit he was an idiot, though then again she had her own mistakes at times.
As she thought about this, she looked over to the blond haired boy a bit away. She was surprised that according to Chomei that said boy, Naruto Uzumaki, was in fact the Jinchurikki of the Kyuubi. That and through a verbal slip of her own biju, that the Kyuubi was female. That made her day. The fact the strongest one was female.
The Kyuubi being female, eat that you sexist retards! She thought in her mind with a smirk.
At first she was a bit worried about the possibility of having to cause a scene if they fought, but through the link of the Biju, they agreed that if a fight was to come between the two of them to avoid full force. She was quite fine with that. She didn't want another village to hate her too. Plus the guy seemed quite entertaining from what she had seen so far. The only other guy like that was the one who used bugs for his jutsu. She had to admit it was a bit interesting considering she had a giant bug trapped in her. Though Chomei took that as a slight insult.
What did worry her though…
That one redhead...you said he's got the nutcase one right? Fu thought spoke to Chomei.
"Yeah...Shukaku-nii kinda at one point started going murder crazy. Let's just say at least we're lucky the exam isn't being held in Suna. Else even with my help we would be screwed in a fight with him. He may only have one tail, but he's super duper strong in the right place." Chomei replied.
Fu simply nodded, before then focusing on the arena below as the proctor stated that the next round would soon begin.
She wondered though If I'm not against those two. Wonder who I'll be up against. I would like it if I got to fight someone that isn't a pushover. Even better if its a fistfight!
With Team 7
Naruto and co meanwhile finished their own debate on the matter as they thought about the fights ahead. Naruto was getting a bit antsy since he had already been excited about the idea of a tournament.
"I really hope I get to go soon! Watching all of these fights so far makes me want to jump in and kick some butt!" Naruto said with his usual grin.
Though there was also the underlying thoughts.
If I go against Chomei's Jinchurikki though, hopefully she knows that we can't go overkill here...plus I haven't gotten too far in that part of Kyuubi's training.
Within the seal, the Kyuubi merely replied in annoyance "If you're saying you would lose to that fleshbag, while you're not wrong at this time, it would be an insult to me to lose to one of my siblings. So don't you dare even think about that brat."
"Don't worry about it too much for now Naruto. After all, according to the Kyuubi here, she won't go too overkill on the biju stuff...however, there are two other problems." Minato spoke to him.
Right...Orochi-pedo and Gaara. Naruto thought.
"You'll probably have to use the fox fire or specifically tailored seals at least against Gaara, even if it drags attention. As for Orochimaru though, he probably won't make a move in here. Even I would be a bit cautious to pull something in the presence of this many jonins and an enemy Kage." Minato told the boy.
Naruto simply nodded as he knew that would probably be the best course of action.
As for Sakura, she was taking in each of the fights. And with each one, she felt ever so more grateful for her recent training. Heck, if she could, she would be hugging Lord Fourth right now. She was certain that without it, against any of the participants of the previous fights, she would be down on the floor either unconscious or crying. But now she could come up with ways she could counter them, though she had a feeling some were holding back at this time. Especially the first of the ninja from Sand.
Haku had similar thoughts to Sakura in that she was also analyzing the competition. That and she also was entertaining the image of what peoples' reactions will be to Naruto's growth outside of those that learned the truth, or at least part of it, about Naruto's current state.
And in 'Sasuke's' case, she was acting indifferent for the moment, but she was pleased that she moved past the prelims. And Asuka knew the others would likely pass since she knew what they were capable of. And of course, she also watched the battles in preparation of who she might have to fight later on. She was annoyed though she had to contain any excitement she might have for the moment since she had to keep the act up of 'Sasuke Uchiha, the duck haired emo edgelord himself.'
That reminds me...whenever I do the reveal...I need to change this damn haircut! Maybe let it grow out a little? She thought to herself.
It was then that the scoreboard shuffled through names for the fourth time, which drew the attention of the team and the others in the room.
This time the names stopped on…
Sakura Haruno Vs Ino Yamanaka
"Well that's interesting." A jonin with black spiky hair and beard spoke from where Team 10 was. He had dark eyes and wore the typical vest and jacket combo of the jonins.
Sakura frowned for a moment at the thought of fighting Ino. They had originally been friends and split apart due to their obsession with Sasuke. And it was just recent that it turned out said obsession was pointless due to the truth that Sasuke was actually a girl named Asuka. She had even been thinking about trying to rekindle their old friendship.
But then she shrugged and cracked her knuckles as she thought Well, better that it's me rather than someone else like that Gaara guy. Something about him just worries me...
Naruto meanwhile, after a bit of a pout since he wasn't next, then told Sakura "You got this Sakura! Go in there, and kick some as-"
But before he could finish, Ino yelled out.
"Can I forfeit!?"
Some of the ninja looked at her in a bit of confusion, save for those who saw the destruction of the sound nin team, those who saw Team 7's fight with Orochimaru, and Kakashi, Gai, and Lord Third, the last of whom had actually seen the fight against the sound trio with his crystal ball earlier.
Though of course, Asuma asked her "...why?"
Ino just stared right in her sensei's eyes as she said "You want me to fight against a girl that can annihilate a team of genins alone AND had learned from Gai at one point?"
The remaining Jonin's eyes opened in surprise as they looked between the Yamanaka, the pink haired girl, and lastly, Gai himself, who simply gave them a nod to say it was true. They no longer felt the need to question her quitting the exam.
Kakashi couldn't tell whether he should be worried about his students fast rate of growth, or pride at the fact that his students were becoming quite powerful. He included Haku too since they made somewhat of a student-teacher bond over the previous month. Not as strong as her bond with Zabuza or Naruto, but it was there.
Asuma had his mouth open before he spoke "Okay then...you have a point."
Hayate just shrugged at this and made his announcement.
"Very well then. The winner of the fourth match due to forfeit is Sakura Haruno!"
There wasn't really any fanfare about it since the fight never really happened. Ino simply let out a breath of relief since now she didn't have to fight Sakura. After what she saw her do, she was 100% certain that fighting her would be very, VERY bad for her health.
The proctor coughed into his hand both due to his health and as a way to bring the attention back over to him.
"In any case, let's move onto the next match."
And like that, the board once again shuffled through the remaining names. Naruto had his fingers crossed and said "Come on! Come on! I wanna go next!"
Kiba was doing the same thing, and of course that made both boys look at each other with a glare that implied 'Hey! Don't copy me!'
However, both their hopes were ruined as the next set of names popped up.
Tenten vs Temari
"Darnit!" Both of the boys yelled, before looking at each other in annoyance again. To which Haku giggled while the rest sweatdropped at their antics. Well, Asuka was laughing a bit on the inside.
Meanwhile with Team Gai…
"ALRIGHT TENTEN! SHOW HER THE POWER OF YOUR YOUTH!" Gai and Lee yelled with enthusiasm at the same time, to which Neji just sighed at their antics.
He simply looked at her with a smirk that implied 'good luck'.
While ignoring the rants of the two, she showed her own smirk to Neji and then jumped down to the floor. Her opponent did the same action as well and landed across from her. The two stared down at each other, though Tenten was doing a bit of extra work.
Hmm, from what I can tell that's a battle fan on her back, and since she's from Wind Nation, high chance she'll be using wind jutsu with it. So just throwing weapons around isn't going to help much… she thought as she studied her opponent as she worked in her mind to develop a counter strategy.
However, she was cut from her musings as the proctor asked "Are you both ready?"
Temari simply gave a nod as a smirk appeared on her face, and Tenten replied to the proctor with a "Yes sir."
As the match was about to start, up in the stands Kakashi was also filing away his observations on the Suna genin before he spoke "This might not go too well for her."
"For who?" Naruto asked him.
Sakura, with a bit of a frown on her face, said "Tenten. She specializes in weapons, especially thrown ones. But from what I can tell, Temari might be a wind user."
Haku nodded as she also agreed with the statement. Asuka responded with the typical Uchiha 'hnn'.
Naruto, who also was a wind user, replied "Oh...well that sucks...but as she's my friend...kick her ass Tenten!"
Team 7 rolled their eyes at that, Minato and the Kyuubi let out a few chuckles from within the seal, and the spandex duo also cheered for her. Minus the profanity of course. As for Neji, for some reason that he didn't understand, he felt the slight urge to punch the blond boy. But he decided to let it pass. He assumed it was because the boy was acting like an idiot.
"Match 5: Tenten vs Temari. BEGIN!" Hayate announced and then jumped away from the battle zone.
Right as he did so, Tenten pulled out 10 shuriken and threw them at Temari, who with a chuckle, pulled at the fan from behind her back, opened it part way, and swung it at the projectiles.
With the swing, the shuriken were blown away, and Tenten had to jump to the right to avoid the gust of wind.
"Of course I get the wind user." Tenten sighed. She then cursed her luck since in this situation, the majority of her arsenal was useless.
But thankfully, unlike the rest of the remaining Leaf Genin, she and her team had a year's worth of training. That meant she had a few things that she could pull out of her sleeves as well.
She then dashed to the left as she dodged yet another of the blonde girl's devastating wind jutsus, which caused a miniature tornado to spawn where Tenten was previously.
"She's quick on her feet at least." Temari said with a smirk. She was happy that at least this opponent wasn't a complete pushover, but she was already preparing a strategy to finish this fight.
What happened next though nearly caught her off guard.
Tenten threw a pair of kunai at the Suna kunoichi, who smirked as she swung her fan again...but instead of blowing them away, seals that were attached to the kunai lit up before setting off an explosion.
A smokescreen? Clever girl...but not clever enough! Temari thought before she swung her fan to clear the smokescreen. However, that had been Tenten's plan as she rushed Temari right as she swung her fan. She even nearly lost her grip to the ground with Temari's swing that cleared away the dust.
However, she was now in close combat range. She then tapped a bracelet on her wrist to reveal that it was a storage seal that held a katana, which she now held in her hands. She then made a horizontal slash at the Suna girl, only for it to be blocked by the fan at the last moment.
"Not bad. Though you're going to have to do better to beat me." Temari gloated.
Tenten retorted "I'm only just getting started."
"That right?...well I've already started." Temari retorted with a grin that bordered a sneer.
Up in the stands, Neji noticed the buildup of Temari's chakra, as well as the one handed seals she was making. While it went against his pride, for once, he decided to actually help his teammate.
"She's stalling you!"
Tenten looked at Neji in surprise, first at the fact that for once in a while, he was actually showing concern for one of his teammates. The second was at what he implied as she looked at Temari.
The blonde kunoichi sneered as she spoke "Too late. Wind Style: Great Breakthrough."
Temari then released a gale of wind from her mouth, and blew away the bun haired girl. She then quickly stopped the gale before using her fan's wind jutsu to then launch Tenten up into the air. As she went up, blades of wind made multiple scratches onto her body, causing her to lose the grip of her katana.
"UUGGH!" Tenten groaned as the injuries accumulated.
Lee and Gai looked on in panic, and while it wasn't on his face, Neji also felt a bit worried. After all, she was his teammate.
"Don't you dare lose so easy…" he muttered.
As if though she heard him, right as the wind jutsu stopped, she then flipped in the air so that she was facing the sand kunoichi below and pulled out two scrolls that opened up besides her, spiraling around her.
"I'm not done yet!" She yelled as she prepared her last attack.
"THAT'S IT! SHOW HER YOUR YOUTH!" Gai and Lee cheered.
Meanwhile the others cheered her on as well...though Naruto was thinking something else.
Dad?
"Yes son?" Minato replied.
Is it just me...or do those scrolls have a FUCKTON of weapons in them? Naruto asked him in thought speak.
"Yes. Yes they do." Minato answered as he was thinking the same thing.
"And the question is...is it gonna do jack shit?" The Kyuubi commented.
With a wave of her hand, dozens of weapons were released from the scroll with more on the way, each of them connected back to the scroll with ninja wire.
Temari grimaced a bit at the onslaught, and then pulled her fan to the side before she opened it up all the way, with all three of the purple circles now in sight.
"Kamaitachi no jutsu!" she yelled as she swung her fan at the barrage of weapons. The weapons were not instantly brushed aside though as there was a lot more speed behind them than when Tenten had been throwing her weapons previously.
And so, the two attacks clashed, as the two girls yelled out at each other, charging as much power as they could into their two attacks.
However, the wind won out in the end.
The wind then pushed through the barrage and at Tenten, which lifted her higher into the air once more, the cuts this time too much for her to handle.
"Tenten!" Team Gai, Sakura, and Naruto yelled out.
She then fell towards the ground...right into the butt of Temari's now folded fan. The pain sent her into unconsciousness.
Naruto was gripping the edge of the railing, tempted to jump down there, but was stopped by Kakashi, who told him "Naruto, don't."
While the others looked at her with a bit of rage, Minato, Sakura, Haku, Shikamaru, the jonins, and Neji paid a bit more attention. The Hokage himself frowned.
"Naruto, pay closer attention...she was falling down head first." Minato told him.
But what does that have to do with anything? For all we know, that sand bitch broke her back! He thought yelled, nearly letting his thoughts be said out loud.
Minato then retorted "If she didn't catch her...she would have snapped her neck or worse after hitting the ground."
Naruto's eyes then widened for a moment before he let his anger go.
The jonins, the Hokage, Sakura, Haku, Shikamaru, and Neji had also came to the same realization. They grimaced, but they chose to accept it.
Shikamaru however, was thinking a bit ahead of the rest of them.
That sand nin had an advantage and was trying to hold back until that last jutsu...but she could have easily just let her hit the ground and be done with it, or even catch her in her arms instead...it's as if though she's hesitant about something. The pineapple head boy thought
Temari sighed before she looked at the girl.
If it wasn't for this damn plan Otou-Sama ordered us to do, I would have actually caught the girl instead. She deserved that much...but at least this way she's injured rather than dead...still think this is a horrible idea to be working with HIM of all people...but...
She couldn't disobey their Kakekage's, her Father's, orders.
Neji then jumped down from the stands and walked over to her. She noticed him and then sent Tenten flying into his arms. She then walked by him and whispered loud enough for him to hear "Sorry about that…" as she walked away.
Neji simply nodded, not noticing that he had his Byuakugan activated as he wanted to glare at the Sand nin, but found that he simply couldn't. As in the end, despite the brutality, Tenten still lived. He then took a look down at Tenten as he waited for the medics to come over to the stage. When they did so, he set her on the carrier and then went back upstairs to his team.
Meanwhile with the two waterfall nins
Fu was looking at Temari in annoyance. She liked the attitude of the Konoha girl in that fight. She had a strong will to win despite the disadvantage between their fighting styles. Too bad it ended up the way it did.
"That was a bit brutal." she spoke out loud.
Her teammate retorted to her "And you aren't, monster?"
Fu sighed "This again, really?"
"I'm not wrong. Compared to her, you're a monster. And everyone from the village knows it. I still don't understand why Shibuki-sama tolerates you." The waterfall nin said to her.
Fu looked away from him in annoyance. A majority of the village was like that, treating her as if she was Chomei himself. And from what she knew, Chomei wasn't really all that bad. Yes he was a being of extreme power who on more than one occasion nearly caused catastrophe to the village...but he had the personality of a child who was a bit of a klutz.
"Hey! I heard that last part!" Chomei cried out in indignation.
Ku chuckled as she thought spoke And am I wrong?
Chomei tried to retort, but any argument he could use was invalid. Though he was inwardly happy that it at least got Fu's mind off of the current problems.
However, she was brought back to reality as the scoreboard made its beep as the next fighters were decided.
Gaara Vs Kichiro Joku
"Umm...you might want to forfeit this man…" Fu asked of him with a bit of worry for her teammate. She could tell that Gaara was the redhead who held the most bloodthirsty of the Biju.
The man replied "Oh please. Anything is better than having to deal with you bitch."
"Do you want to die?" Fu retorted to him.
"Yeah right, that redhead ain't got jack on me." he said before he walked over to the stairs down to the arena.
That word happened to strike a nerve with her. And she knew like most of the people who discriminated against her, he wouldn't listen to reason. So she decided to let him go without another word...though she groaned as she knew she was going to get a headache from her guardian figure when she got back.
Back with Team 7
"Is she gonna be okay Kaka-sensei?" Naruto asked Kakashi, still worried over the girl's condition despite the fact that at least she would live.
Kakashi eye-smiled and spoke "Well, from what I know she'll probably be fine after some time in the hospital."
"Ugh, I hate that place." Naruto replied in annoyance.
Sakura then asked him "Why would you hate the hospital?"
Haku however had the gist of it as she guessed "Problems with foxes?"
Naruto and Kakashi, who happened to know a bit about it, nodded in response.
"Yeah...they would never let me get treated there. 'We don't treat monsters.' they say. At least on the plus side there's one or two of the guys there that actually give a crap about the whole thing and at least gave some first aid if I needed it. Not that I ever really needed it much." Naruto replied.
Asuka asked "Wait, what do you mean by never needed it much?"
Naruto, Sakura, and Haku all replied at the same time "I/He heal/heals fast."
Asuka thought about asking how exactly the other girls also had the same answer to the question, but figured that maybe Naruto told them when she was unconscious earlier.
However, any further conversation was cut off as they heard a blood rattling scream from the arena below.
They looked over just in time to watch the waterfall nin, Kichiro, be crushed to death by a coffin of sand, courtesy of Gaara of course.
"Weak…" he said in annoyance.
Everyone had turned grimly silent. The only ones who didn't do so were the Suna genins and Jonin, who knew he would probably do that, and Orochimaru who was quite pleased with how the holder of Shukaku acted.
Perfect. If that's how he is, then pitting him against Naruto later so that the Uzumaki brat can die will be oh so satisfying. The Snake Sannin thought.
Meanwhile both Naruto and Fu were looking down at the boy with worry. He was clearly unstable and highly influenced by the one tail's thirst for blood. In response to one of their gazes, Gaara looked at Naruto dead in the eye, as if implying that he wanted to fight the blond ninja.
The proctor looked at the unstable boy in worry, and then towards the hokage above. He simply nodded, through with a frown on his face. While killing was looked down upon in the Third Exam, it wasn't exactly against the rules either.
"The winner of Match 6 is Gaara."
The redhead then retracted his sand back to its gourd...sand that was now soaked in blood. He then went back up the stairs.
As he did so, he quietly muttered.
"Soon mother...just wait for now...you'll have Uzumaki's blood…"
Lee: That was unyouthfully brutal!
Naruto: Yeah, at least Temari tried to care at least, but damn Gaara
Gaara: Well, this was before I changed Naruto. Plus, in canon I had a much more difficult opponent. With how I was back then, if Lee was on that Waterfall nin's level, it would have likely ended the same.
Shino: He's not wrong. My reasoning would be the team he took out in the forest.
Sakura: Yeah, good point. Hopefully Naruto can change him here too.
Gaara: I would hope so.
Fu: Yeah...also WVH, what was with the name of that random teammate you gave me?
WVH: Oh, well his first name means "Good luck" and "Son", and the last name means "Joke." Get it?
Everyone: ...
Kyuubi: Oh that's just funny! *starts laughing due to her dark sense of humor*
Asuka: ...you literally made him to be canon fodder for Gaara, didn't you?
WVH: ...I won't deny it.
Minato: Well in any case, I hope all you wonderful people enjoyed the chapter. Be sure to R&R and return for the next chapter. Hopefully it won't take as long.
Add: Speaking of...kekekek, WVH its time for Magician!
WVH: ...uh, gotta go bye! *runs from an annoyed Add and other Elsword Characters*
