Naruto: Return From Darkness
"Kyuubi Speaking"
Thoughts
Speaking
/
Chuunin Exams Final Matchups
Round One: Shikamaru vs. Temari
Round Two: Kazuto vs. Shino
Round Three: Sasuke vs. Gaara
Round Four: Jin vs. Neji
Hiro looked at the lineups and wondered how Jin would fare. He already knew Kazuto would almost undoubtedly win the whole competition, but the name Gaara seemed oddly familiar...
Shaking his head he looked up just in time to see Takeshi and the Raikage pass by.
"Hiro, are you prepared for the worst?" The Raikage asked quietly.
"Always am." Hiro nodded confidently, "But the Kazekage has been giving me weird vibes since we got here, be careful. Takeshi watch his back for me." Hiro bumped fists with his friend before watching them walk down the hall and turn a corner.
The Tournament will begin momentarily, everyone please be seated.
Hiro stood up and was about to make his way to his seat when he was grabbed from behind.
Turning around to see Ino and Sakura followed by a small entourage, he smiled underneath his scarf.
"Hiro where are you going, come sit with us." Ino suggested, pulling him along with her.
Hiro sighed and said, "I know it may surprise you, but I do have a job."
"Well regardless, you don't want to sit by yourself, do you?" Ino asked, looking up at Hiro
"Fine you win, lead the way." He said.
Sakura giggled to heself before running to catch up the unlikely duo.
/
Hiro sat down and took in his surroundings. The Hokage, Kazekage and Raikage were all seated a small distance away from him, but he still had a good view of them and the arena.
Relaxing a little bit, he looked to those sitting close to him. Other than Ino and Sakura there was Hinata, Kiba, Choji, Tenten, Asuma and a Female Jounin.
Nodding to Asuma, he asked, "Who's your friend?"
"Uh, this is Kurenai." He answered with a slight blush on his face.
"Hello Kurenai, I'm Hiro, you specialize in Genjutsu don't you?" Hiro gave a slight eye smile at the woman.
"Nice to meet you, and yes how did you know?" Kurenai asked, curious of how the man could tell without ever meeting her.
"I just had a feeling." He said mysteriously before laughing slightly.
Ino grabbed Hiro's arm and said, "Quiet, the match is starting. GO SHIKAMARU!"
/
The match played out as Hiro predicted, Shikamaru kept the upper hand with his careful planning but inevitably lost when he ran out of chakra.
"That was a good fight." Hiro commented, nodding in approval.
"What do you mean? Shikamaru lost." Ino asked.
"Yes, but he predicted his opponent's moves extremely well and surrendered when he knew he had lost." Hiro explained.
"Yeah, but that's just him being lazy." Ino said.
"This is merely a competition, Ino, there was no reason to continue if he was out of chakra as he would be unable to showcase any more of his abilities." Hiro went into further detail.
Ino nodded in understanding before looking out onto the arena, "Is that Kazuto?" She asked.
Hiro nodded, stood up and walked over to the nearest railing.
"Oy, Kazuto!" He shouted.
"Yo, Hiro-Sensei!" Kazuto smiled and waved at his teacher.
"Max three." He said before turning back and returning to his seat.
Kazuto looked disappointed but nodded and turned his attention back on his opponent.
"What does that mean Hiro?" Ino asked the man sitting next to her.
"It has to do with Kazuto's style of attacking, you'll see." He explained, pointing to the arena.
As the two genin prepared each owns respective techniques, Kazuto's hand began smoking, as did the bottoms of his feet.
"Whats happening to him?" Ino asked, worried.
"Kazuto has a strange ability, where he can greatly heat up portions of his body." Hiro explained, smiling greatly beneath his scarf.
Ino nodded and returned her attention to the battle.
Kazuto, fully prepared, stared dead at Shino, who had summoned many bugs, all of which were crawling all over his body.
When the proctor made the call, Kazuto shot forward, like a cannonball, straight at Shino.
Shino simply held up his hand and sent a swarm of bugs at the genin. Kazuto smirked, and when the bugs got close they either recoiled away or exploded on the spot.
Shino, looking confused took a few steps back but was intercepted by Kazuto who landed a sold blow to Shino's ribs.
"What happened to Shino's bugs? What did Kazuto do?" Ino asked Hiro, for like the millionth time.
"The heat was so great from Kazuto's body that the bugs blood boiled, even from that distance." Hiro laughed, "I bet Shino is feeling some intense burns from that punch right now."
Shino clutched his side and jumped away, throwing some shuriken as he went.
Kazuto held up his hand and blasted the shuriken away and leapt after Shino. Shino being unable to react, simply held up his hands in some form of meager defense. Kazuto brought his fist forward towards Shino's stomach but stopped about two inches away.
Concentrating chakra in his fist Kazuto yelled, "Heat Crash!" And an explosive blast of heat sent Shino flying away, smoking as he went. His journey was inevitably stopped by the arena wall, which he hit and then subsequently came crashing down.
The crowd seemed quiet for a few moments as Kazuto made his way out of the arena but eventually everyone started cheering loudly. The medics picked Shino up and removed him from the field and the proctor returned.
"Sasuke and Kakashi-Sensei haven't arrived yet." Sakura said worriedly.
Hiro nodded to himself, and looked off into the distance, "They'll come, they're actually almost here." He assured her.
"How do you know?" Sakura asked.
"I can feel it, Sasuke really doesn't want to miss this." Hiro explained and then held up one finger, as if to tell her to wait.
Hiro then disappeared in a small flash of light, he reappeared behind the Raikage and whispered a few words into his ear. The Raikage nodded in understanding and then turned to the Hokage.
Hiro reappeared next to Sakura and Ino, surprise clearly written on their faces.
"I just told the Raikage to tell the Hokage to wait for Sasuke." Hiro said, a little tongue tied.
Sakura smiled and thanked him.
The proctor stepped forward and said, "The wait time for the next match will be extended, feel free to get up and stretch your legs. The next match will be in about ten minutes"
Hiro stood up, "I'm gonna go congratulate Kazuto." He said blandly and turned to leave.
Walking down the hall, Hiro eventually reached Kazuto's room where he was sitting on a bed, cooling off.
"Yo good fight, a little easy though." Hiro joked.
"Oh Hiro-Sensei, yeah I wasn't expecting much anyway, with you as my teacher at least." Kazuto said confidently.
"He was the easiest match up for you, his bugs couldn't come near you and his hand to hand combat skills were very far beneath you." Hiro said, proud of hi disciple.
"Who else in the competition should I watch out for?" Kazuto asked curiously.
"Sasuke might be a bit of a fight, though you'd still win. Jin could be stronger than Sasuke if he concentrates but you'd overpower him easily. And Gaara... don't fight Gaara." Hiro said, ominously.
"What why not? You yourself said I'd be a decent match for almost any Jounin, what does that kid have that I couldn't deal with?" Kazuto asked nervously.
"I'm not entirely sure, but I've heard whispers from the sand village, of a boy, strong enough to kill tens of jounin without lifting a finger. They call him a demon." Hiro said seriously, his gaze seemining to penetrate Kazuto's very being.
"They call you a demon too, sensei." Kazuto pointed out.
"There is a difference between great strength and senseless violence, though it may be fun at times, killing for the sake of killing leads to nothing." Hiro explained, a little bit annoyed.
"Alright, alright I'm sorry." Kazuto said laughing, putting up his hands in a sign of defeat.
"Good, and by the way, defend the Raikage if things happen to descend into chaos. In such a case I'll allow use of the third level on those that pose a threat to your safety or his." Hiro said darkly before getting up and leaving Kazuto to contemplate the meaning of his words.
/
Returning to his seat, he looked out at the arena to see the proctors diiscusing something with one another before one of them stepped forward.
"Sasuke Uchiha has not arrived for his match, and is therefore-" Was all he was able to get out before he was cut out by an explosion of leaves.
"Did we cut it a bit close?" Kakashi said feebly, rubbing the back of his head. Sasuke stood back to back with him, wearing all black, his gaze more mature, more confident than before, but also more arrogant.
"They finally decided to show up, huh?" Hiro said happily.
"Look at Sasuke, he looks so cool!" Sakura squealed loudly.
Kakashi left the arena and appeared next to Asuma, sitting down tiredly. Sasuke stood in the middle of the arena, waiting for his challenger.
"Kakashi-sensei, what took so long?" Sakura asked, frustrated with her eternally late teacher.
"Sasuke refused to leave until he was one hundred percent sure he was ready." Kakashi explained, shifting the blame.
Gaara stared at his opponent from his perch in the stands. He jumped down and continued to stare maliciously at the young Uchiha.
"With this sudden arrival the third match will now take place." The proctor exclaimed.
The two young men faced each other as the proctor called the beginning of the match. In almost an instant Sasuke rushed at Gaara and aimed a kick at his head. His foot was easily stopped by a wall of sand, though Sasuke did push it back a little.
Leaving no time for rest, Sasuke quickly rushed around to Gaara's back to deliver a right hook to his ribs, but was again stopped by a barrage of sand.
Sasuke bit his lip in frustration and retreated to the wall of the arena, where he knelt down.
I didn't want to have to use this so soon, but it looks like I have no other choice at this point. Sasuke thought to himself, irritated.
Sasuke flipped through handsigns before concentrating chakra in his right palm and clutching his right arm with his left hand.
"Chidori!" He said, mostly to himself as his palm seemed to explode in electricity and the chirps of one thousand birds.
Gaara, understanding the gravity of the situation and power of his opponents techinique, surrounded himself with a dense ball of sand.
Sasuke, his technique fully primed, sprinted forward aimed directly at Gaara. Sticking his arm out, he prepared to strike Gaara.
The split second before Sasuke reached the orb of sand, he flipped over it and landed on the opposite side. Turning on his heel, he leaped at Gaara and pierced the sand shield with his Chidori.
/
"Wow, Sasuke got really strong!" Sakura said excitedly, "That guy doesn't stand a chance."
"This isn't good..." Hiro muttered to himself, before returning his attention to the match.
/
Sasuke smirked and went to remove his arm, but found it incredibly hard to do so. It was as if something was holding onto him... something, not human.
Sasuke eventually managed to rip his hand free, and fell backward onto the ground. Looking at his hand he could see that it was covered in blood, to which he immediately switched his attention to the new gaping hole in the sand ball.
"You... You HURT me... HOW DARE YOU! AGGHHH!" Gaara said in an almost inaudible whisper until he began to get louder, escalating into shriek.
Sasuke was in shock, as out from the hole he had ripped his arm from, came a strange, pseudo-sand like tentacle that seemed to be reaching straight for Sasuke.
And as he scrambled to get up, the whole arena around him seemed to descend into madness.
/
Woooooo, I get really pumped up to write and so I kind of slammed through this one.
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Thanks for reading!