Fandom: Naruto
Title: Never Ever
Part: 08 of 15
Genre: General/Action/Adventure
Rating: PG
Warning: AU
Spoilers: Manga up to Chuunin Exams
Summary: What if Naruto had sided with the Sand in the Konoha invasion?
Chapter 08: Completion
All eyes were glued onto the scoreboard as it continuously flashed names. By now, there were only nine people left, meaning that there would only be four more matches and one person who was automatically advanced to the next level. Secretly, Lee thought that auto advancing would be more painful than death. Finally, it came to a stop on two names.
The Sand Village's Temari and the Leaf Village's Ten-Ten.
"YOUTH POWER, TEN-TEN!" Lee and Gai shouted in unison, successfully embarrassing the girl with twin buns.
'They don't ever change,' thought the two more conservative members of the year-old rookie team.
Lee glanced across to the other side of the room where the Sand team was. They weren't doing their part in cheering their teammate on. Jerks.
But Neji saw another thing. All three of the boys' eyes held the same thing. Assurance, confidence, and faith that their comrade would be the victor. If they were right, the match was already decided then.
---
The match began quickly. Ten-Ten tried throwing a few sharp weapons and missed for the first time in years. Temari had dodged it using the same taijutsu she used when she trained with her instructor. A slight movement so fast it would appear to be an illusion. No person her age had been able to see through that the first time she tried it on them. So what would a hot-blooded Leaf Genin kunoichi know?
Then Temari had revealed a purple Hoshi and told her that once three were present, she would lose.
So then Ten-Ten decided to use a technique involving two scrolls. And after taking a look at her teammate's faces, Temari had discerned that this must be her 'ultimate technique' or whatever. It didn't matter. If this girl was trying to win by throwing weapons, she would most definitely lose. Her fan was the best at countering projectiles after all.
And Ten-Ten did her technique, looking quite flashy while doing so. But in the end, Temari's wind-cutting blades prevailed, sending the Chinese ? Is there a China in here? girl's weapons falling to the ground uselessly and spearing the girl painfully onto the top of fan.
Temari then gave a smirk and tossed the girl aside, allowing her to be hurled straight into her dork-of-a teammate's arms. Then she said a snide comment of some kind and returned up the stairs where she was originally after she was declared the winner.
Naruto and Kankurou probably would have caught what she was saying if they weren't so busy making jokes about the fight below.
"Oh! Here, she'd say something like: 'I'm not going to lose because I'm a blond!' It's a war between blondes and brunettes!"
"Nah, you only hear stuff like that in the movies. Besides, that other girl's not a brunette. She has black hair."
"I thought we WERE making up movie lines! And her hair's kind of like a mix of black and brown."
"Her hair color doesn't matter. And we weren't making up MOVIE LINES. We were making DIALOGUE."
"What's the difference?"
"What's the difference between what?"
"AH! Hi Temari."
"What're you guys talking about?"
"Nothing."
"Anything important?"
"No."
"Were you paying attention to my match?"
"Yeah!"
"Good. Kankurou, you're next."
"Huh, Wha-?"
Kankurou glanced up and just as Temari said, his name was on the board along with another person, Inuzaka Kiba.
"Wonder who he is." Kankurou muttered aloud as he left for the downstairs. Hopefully, this match would be quick and easy. Why'd he have to go NOW though?
"Naruto, what were you guys talking about?"
"Uh..."
Suddenly, Kankurou was very happy that he was going next. After all, Temari would wring their necks for not paying attention to the brilliance of her fight.
---
Inuzaka Kiba was, as his name implied, a dog boy. He even had a little puppy with him.
'Interesting,' Kankurou thought as he laid Karasu down. 'Both have outside help.'
"We're going to defeat this pig-in-a-black-suit aren't we Akamaru?" His dog gave him an affirmative yelp.
'PIG... in a black suit? PIG!' Kankurou felt his blood pressure rising but he quickly squashed it down. It would do him no good to lose his cool and it would do him no good to be the only Sand who failed to pass.
"Match, begin."
"Yoshi! Akamaru!" He tossed the dog a small object affirmed as a soldier pill. The little white dog swallowed it and then the little white dog became a bigger red wolf-looking animal.
'Looks like Kiba wants to finish this match quickly.' Kurenai thought.
"Beast Effect Ninpou! Beast-human Bunshin!" Kiba shouted. Akamaru transformed into a human counterpart of his master. "Here it goes! Quadruped no Jutsu!" The two charged at Kankurou, cracking bits of flooring along the way.
Kankurou managed to dodge Akamaru easily, but failed to avoid Kiba. Kiba slammed into the Sand Nin, knocking him to the floor painfully.
"Second time, Akamaru!" Kiba shouted gleefully, but the affirmative bark never came. "Akamaru?"
The dog was, of all things, sleeping on the floor. Suddenly, a mechanical hand clamped down on his wrist.
"Well? Is it my turn?"
A hand stuck out of the mummified object his opponent had put on the floor moments earlier. It gave a slight tug and the bandages came loose revealing what was underneath. Kankurou.
"Dogs, especially pet dogs, are susceptible to any type of Genjutsu, especially sleep." Kankurou said, getting up from under the wraps. "And since you've been attacking the wrong thing..."
Kiba finally turned around to see what held his wrist prisoner and was shocked to find a mechanical eye staring into his. 'What the...'
Suddenly, even more arms wrapped around Kiba's body, arms, and neck. Then they began to squeeze.
"Forfeit." Kankurou said. "Unless you want to die."
'Shit.' Kiba thought as the mechanical arms tightened even more. 'I have to think of something or else-' "AH!" His wrist hand snapped.
"Stop the match." Hayate said quickly. "Winner, Kankurou."
---
"Kiba-kun... will he be okay?" Hinata asked.
"He's fine." Kurenai said. "His only his wrist is broken."
"The way he yelled someone would have thought he broke his nose or something." Shino grumbled.
"Shino." Kurenai reprimanded, to which Shino gave no response. He was, perhaps, a bit impatient although his features gave away no hints. There were only five people left and he was the only one on his team who hasn't gone. So he was dying with suspense even if it wasn't the most obvious thing in the world.
Why can't that thing just choose two names randomly instead of flashing it so fast like that? So annoy-
"Shino, you're up."
Well stuff him with bugs and call him a freak. He actually got chosen.
---
His opponent was a man named Tsugiri Misumi. He was the other person on Yoroi's team. If his abilities were the same as Yoroi, then it would be no problem. After all, his kekkai bugs consumed all his chakra. So even if Misumi tried to touch him, there would be nothing to drain.
"Match, begin."
Immediately, Misumi threw a few punches at him, which he avoided easily. But as soon as Misumi was within range, his body suddenly elasticized and he clamped onto Shino, arms wrapped around him and constricting quickly.
"Forfeit now, or I'll have to break your neck." Misumi said.
Suddenly, he felt an odd sensation. Like thousands of tiny little feet were crawling up his legs and slowly making their way up. He quickly released Shino and was horrified to discover that millions of bugs were making rapid progression toward his head.
"AGHH!" Misumi screamed a scream that raised the question of his masculinity, but then again, when was a scream ever masculine? Then he began 'dancing' around, attempting violently to shake off all the eight- legged intruders.
"You won't get them off that easily." Shino said as Misumi finally lost his balance and toppled to the floor. "Most of them have probably gone under your skin."
"ERGH!" Misumi wasn't sure if he could even muster out the words for forfeit. The bugs were draining his chakra faster than Yoroi ever could.
When Hayate finally had the sense to stop the match, the bugs crawled off Yoroi, leaving behind a terrifying sight. There were holes in the man's skin. Dozens and dozens spread over his arms and legs. The kekkai bugs had done a thorough job in cleaning out his chakra.
"Neji, can you see what's in that boy?" Gai asked.
Neji gave an affirmative nod and focused his Byakugan on him. What he saw gave him a start. "I can understand if he summoned them." Neji said. "But this... there are bugs living within him."
"What?" Lee asked incredulously.
'The Aburame clan.' Gai thought. 'This is their successor.'
---
Lee was tense. Very tense. This was the absolute last match in the Chuunin Preliminary exam. He just HAD to be in it. He HAD TO. By now, there was only him, the Sound guy, and Yamanaka Ino.
'I HAVE to be in this.' He thought. "I have to get revenge on him for embarrassing me in front of Sakura-san. If I don't make this,' he vowed, 'I'll slam my head against the wall 100 times. Then I'll run 500 times around Konoha.'
The next match was between Kinuta Dosu and Yamanaka Ino. It proceeded only after an incident in which they had to restrain a bowl-hair boy from smashing the wall with his head.
Dosu smirked confidently. This girl thought she could avoid his attacks using earplugs? She was WRONG!
Ino was kneeled on the floor holding her ears painfully. His attack had been unexpected and had completely destroyed what remained of her balance. Now she was kneeling on the floor but it didn't look feel like she was kneeling on the floor. It was like she was sideways on a wall or something. And not to mention what was going on with her eyes. Dosu looked like he had hundreds of clones behind him.
Suddenly, all of them dashed at her and in that split second, she finally saw the true Dosu, Then his palm came in contact with her chin and the force knocked her into the wall.
"Winner, Dosu."
---
Sandaime looked at the group of Genins before him this year. All of them were exceptional, and almost half of them were rookies. Very impressive. His gaze briefly passed over Uzumaki Naruto. The boy was standing in the back row and was having a conversation with another Genin Sand, the one with a gourd on his back.
He would have liked to ask the boy many questions. Why did you leave? What happened when you did? Where did you go? Who did you meet? But he found that he just couldn't. It was probably his negligence in enforcing the 'regard him as a hero' rule that prompted the boy to run away in the first place.
"I would now like to begin explaining the main test." He said aloud, purposely avoiding eye contact with the former Leaf, and he was almost certain that Naruto was looking past him for a reason. "It will take place in a month. During this month, Shinobi leaders need to be informed and gathered for the selection. Of course, you will also use this time to rest and improve your bodies."
'Get the business over with, ji-ji.' Kankurou thought impatiently. 'Old geezers are always long-winded.'
"I would like to dismiss you now," the Sandaime started.
'YES!'
"But there has to be something done before that."
'NO!'
"There are pieces of paper in the box Anko's holding." Sandaime said. "Please take one." Each of them drew a piece of paper as the box came around. Then they were asked to repeat the numbers on the paper.
"You have just drawn numbers for the match arrangements of the finals." He said.
"THAT'S WHAT WE DREW THEM FOR?" asked the group of leaf Genins (and Temari).
"The match-ups for the finals are:" Ibiki said, "Match one, Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji. Match two Kinuta Dosu and Rock Lee. Match three, Kankurou and Aburame Shino. Match four, Temari and Nara Shikamaru. Match five, Gaara and Uchiha Sasuke."
Then the Nara boy asked a question about the terms of passing the exams before they were (in Kankurou's words) FINALLY dismissed.
---
The four from the Sand banded together and took off quickly. "Kazekage-sama won't like it that your and Sasuke's match is last." Naruto muttered quietly to Gaara.
"I don't care about what he thinks." Gaara muttered back.
"Right. You only care about what I think."
If looks could kill, Naruto would be poisoned, burned, body parts ripped off by five raging horses in five directions, and buried twelve feet under.
Temari watched the blonde jest with her little brother. Uzumaki Naruto, supreme fool, king of the idiots, and the only person who ever jokes with Gaara on a daily basis. On second thought, he was the only person who jokes with Gaara. Period.
"Anyway," Naruto was saying, "I found this great spot in the forest. It's right next to a river so I'll be training there if anyone's looking for me."
"What for?" Temari asked. 'It's not like you need it...'
"Speed and endurance."
The three of them almost face-faulted. Naruto was the Sand's fastest Genin and he once ran around Sunagakure 50 times without breaking a sweat. If he had to train at all, he should be working on strength training, not speed or endurance.
"But first, let's get a little something to eat." Naruto said, "RA-"
"NO!" Temari yelled, clocking him smartly over the head with the butt of her fan. "UDON!"
"EWW! Fat noodles!"
"You've eaten nothing BUT ramen since you got here!"
"I haven't eaten ramen in the last five days!"
"Good! Get that stuff out of your system." Temari grabbed the neck of Naruto's shirt and began to drag him to the nearest udon stand while Kankurou and Gaara trailed behind.
In the end, they ended up eating at a chicken curry place, but eating a chicken curry place has little to do with this story so let's move on now, shall we?
---
It was a bright, early Saturday morning. The birds were singing happily and Konoha was just coming to life.
Temari hated it. The sun was too bright, the birds were too loud and the people were even louder than the damn birds. No, she's not a pessimist. She just loves her sleep and hates the mornings. She rolled over and wrapped the cocoon of blankets around her even tighter. Kankurou and Naruto both insisted that the air-conditioning be on full blast. Mainly because at home, they never got a chance to be good and cold.
As she rolled over, she came face to face with a note. It read:
'Training. Be back at around five. -Naruto. PS: I won't eat Ramen for lunch if that's what you're worried about T.'
Temari gave a little laugh and ran her fingers through her hair. How predictable.
---
The 'spot' Naruto found was indeed an ideal training spot. The river extended beyond what the eye could see and wasn't very deep. He could just run up and down on the water all day. Chakra control, speed, and endurance all in one. He was about to start when he sensed someone watching him. He hurled a kunai in the general direction of the someone.
"Don't get so mad, Naruto-san." It was Kurosaki.
"Aren't you suppose to 'regroup'? What're you doing here?"
"Kazekage-sama has new orders for you." Kurosaki said, tossing the kunai he threw at her back to him, this time with a slip of paper attached.
"Should I inform everyone else?" Naruto asked.
"I said he had new orders for YOU." She replied, getting up to leave. "I didn't say it was for anyone else."
Naruto frowned as the Sand Nin disappeared into the trees. That was odd.
He glanced at the piece of paper. There were only three simple words on it.
"Summon a Kyuubi."