A/N: I don't own Naruto. Sorry for the delay.
Naruto: The Greatest Hero
Chapter Eleven: The Finals
Yuuhi Kurenai was a simple woman with an average life; she was a comic freak and a normal Genjutsu Specialist among the jounin ranks. She was twenty-four, single and dubbed the most wanted woman in Konoha several times, unofficially, by her jounin friends, excluding Hatake Kakashi. Right now she was on her way to the flower shop, the famous Yamanaka Flower Shop, owned by the parents of one Yamanaka Ino.
She was clad in her normal jounin attire, and was here in the first place to get some flowers for a very sick Mitarashi Anko, who had apparently swallowed some pills by accident, leading to a very upset stomach and bemused Morino Ibiki. Ibiki was amused because Anko was suffering. He himself had suffered verbal torture from her, but he had never hit back, but God was on Ibiki's side, and Anko was sick.
Kurenai entered the shop, where an assortment of flowers were neatly arranged along the shop walls and some were on the counter. Behind the counter was Ino, her hair still tied in a ponytail and a rose in her hands.
'Good afternoon, Ino.' Kurenai greeted the blonde girl, who smiled.
'Good afternoon to you too, Kurenai-san.' Ino said in return.
'So why are you here? I thought that Kakashi would be training you.'
'No. I asked for a break. So did Sakura.' Ino explained.
'So I'll bet my money that he's training Sasuke as we speak.'
'Yup. He's carrying the burden of representing Team Eight in the Exams!'
'I wish your team luck, but he is going to face Naruto, right?'
'I got no worries about the match; Sasuke-kun might win or he might lose, but the result doesn't really matter; my Dad said that as long as you show skill…'
'You can become a chuunin. That's how the Chuunin Exam goes.' Kurenai said.
'Uh-huh.' Ino said, and then looking behind Kurenai, as if to find someone there.
'Are you looking for someone, Ino?' Kurenai asked the blonde girl.
'NO! I mean; of course not, Kurenai-san. I just thought there was a customer, heh.'
Ino waved her hands frantically in front of her, the blush almost revealing everything that she was thinking. Kurenai just smiled at the girl; it reminded her when Anko was around a certain scarred chuunin when they were in their early ninja days.
There were many blushes and many bruises included in the memories.
'So what kind of flowers are you here for, Kurenai-san?' Ino asked.
'I would like some tulips, please.' Kurenai remembered how Anko loved tulips.
Especially when she was given them by Iruka during a dance at a festival eight years ago. And Kurenai would bet her comic collection that she did not forget that.
A night where people were laughing and dancing joyfully with their soulmates and people that they loved or cared for while Kurenai was talking to her fellow kunoichi about their days and things that only women talk about. She did not have a date, but was asked numerous times by the other males around her age, only for her to reject them and go back home with tears and a broken heart. She remembered the attempts that one of her Anbu friends made to snag a very handsome-looking Kotetsu, who now was one of those who assisted the Hokage day-to-day basis.
'Um, Kurenai-san…' Ino looked to the black-haired woman, twiddling her thumbs.
'Yes, Ino?' Kurenai asked, looking to the rose in her hands.
Ino whispered something under her breath, and unfortunately Kurenai did not catch what it was that she was saying. The female jounin leaned in closer to the young girl.
'What is it, Ino?' Kurenai asked, and somehow she knew that this would be associated with one of her male students and she had the feeling it was the lazy one.
'Could… Could you please give this to Shika-kun later; I mean…'
'You have a crush on my lazy excuse for a student and want me to give him that blue flower in your hands and tell him it was from an admirer.' Kurenai finished.
Ino blushed and nodded dumbly at the woman's accurate guess.
'Of course I will, Ino.' Kurenai said, Ino smiled at her in happiness.
'Oh, and could you please not tell him it's from me? Just say that-'
'It's from a secret admirer.' Kurenai finished for her, once again.
It seemed to Ino, that Kurenai could read minds very well.
It was a nice day in the large field several miles away from the Hokage Monument; the wind was blowing nicely, creating a breeze that was almost comforting to any who received it. But one Uzumaki Naruto was not relaxing or enjoying this day.
The blonde was in a fighting stance; hunched forwards with several kunai in his left hand and a shuriken in his right. Before him was one of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya, with a serious look on his face and had his left palm facing forward in attack position. It was a sparring match between the two to test Naruto.
Naruto charged at Jiraiya with his weapons, only to have the grown man spin to one side and grab Naruto's right wrist. The blonde immediately turned into a log.
Kawarimi no Jutsu? Smart move, Naruto, now where are you? Jiraiya thought.
Jiraiya felt a presence to his left and there was Naruto, with a shuriken between two of his fingers and a wire in his right hand, which was balled up into a fist. Jiraiya looked upon closer inspection that the shuriken was connected to the wire.
'Take this!' Naruto called out as he let loose that single shuriken.
Jiraiya caught the shuriken with his two fingers and smirked at the boy.
Behind his black facemask, Uzumaki Naruto grinned at his success.
'Never touch your enemy's weapons if you don't know what they are.' Naruto said.
Jiraiya's eyes widened at Naruto's words before attempting to throw back the shuriken, but it simply would not leave his fingers; Naruto grinned more.
'Raihebi!' Naruto shouted, a snake made of lightning charging to Jiraiya along the wire; Naruto smirked as it did, it was the offspring of the Chidori and Uchiha Jutsus.
Jiraiya was shocked within an inch of his life and almost fainted from the power of the technique, but since he was one of the Sannin, he countered the move.
'Nice move, Naruto! But I'm not a Sannin for nothing!' Jiraiya boasted.
He focused his chakra to the shuriken that was sticking to his fingers and expelled it. Jiraiya knew that Naruto was smart; he applied the same properties a shinobi used to stick to a tree or walk on water to his shuriken and created the effect of the shuriken becoming inseparable from his hands. Jiraiya also knew that Naruto's move, the Raihebi, had the potential to be more powerful; it nearly knocked him out, but that was just a test run for the attack, if Naruto applied his chakra fully to the wire, Jiraiya would be as toast as a roast on a spit. The shuriken released itself from Naruto's spell.
Countering your chakra control is the biggest victory one can get from this attack, Naruto; but I am still impressed with you, nonetheless, Jiraiya thought. smirking.
Naruto came charging at Naruto with his kunai, which the Sannin easily dodged before registering a punch to the blonde's left cheek, making Naruto stagger several steps backwards as Jiraiya took his position several metres away from him.
'That was an interesting technique; tell me, what inspired you?' Jiraiya asked.
'The Uchiha wire Jutsus of course; they were all associated with fire, so I decided to modify them a bit by combining a Raiton with it. Simple really.' Naruto replied.
'That was a good move, but let's see you stand up to this!' Jiraiya did several handseals before slamming his two hands to the ground; Naruto's eyes widened.
A gigantic pool or swamp full of a brown liquid was before him, and growing at a rapid pace. Before it reached Naruto, he leapt over it then focused his chakra to his feet to stand on the pool of brown liquid. Jiraiya smirked at his actions.
Damn it, what's this? The pool is draining my chakra, Naruto thought, panicking.
'Doton: Yomi Numa.' Jiraiya said in satisfaction to the confused boy before him.
Naruto whipped his head to face the old man, his long gold ponytail snapping.
'This swamp can sink almost anything and can absorb the chakra of my opponent as long as they are on it. Naruto, you have around five minutes before your…'
'Chakra drains.' Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke and appeared away from the muddy swamp, his face looking slightly tired from the effort he used.
In the place of Naruto on the swamp was a log, which was sinking.
'So, you found out the weakness of the Jutsu.' Jiraiya said.
'It wasn't actually a genius of workmanship, but the Jutsu prevents anyone from performing any Ninjutsu because of the fact that it absorbs chakra.'
'So all you did was focus an overloading amount of chakra to escape with Kawarimi no Jutsu. You're one of the few people who know the way to escape this.'
Jiraiya slammed his two palms to the ground and the swamp disappeared.
'Can you teach that to me?' Naruto inquired to the Sannin, who smiled.
'That's what I'm here for, aren't I? But let's see if you're up to the challenge of my training first.' Jiraiya drew a tag, just like an Explosive Note, out of thin air.
'What's that?' Naruto asked, looking to the strange object in Jiraiya's hands.
'A very rare object that I trained the Yondaime with. I told you about him before.'
Naruto nodded in understanding. Jiraiya had told him the tales of Yondaime Hokage and some of the traits that he saw in Naruto. Naruto was proud by the fact that he was, in ways, similar to the Yondaime, supposedly the most powerful ninja of Konoha.
Jiraiya walked over to Naruto and placed the note on his black shirt. It stuck very well to the material, not leaving an inch of sticky space on the note was left unstuck.
'What am I supposed to do with this?' Naruto asked the Sannin confusedly.
'You'll just have to see.' Jiraiya said, grinning evilly; Naruto did not like this at all.
Jiraiya started to do several handseals faster than the eye could see, ending with the Ram Seal. The Sannin's eyes were closed in concentration while Naruto looked on.
He's releasing a very little amount of chakra, but he looks quite fatigued, Naruto thought, still looking to the white-haired man that was before him, half hunched.
Suddenly, Naruto felt the weight of a thousand elephants come upon his body as he was literally smashed to the ground from his standing position. He was now on his stomach, unable to move a muscle. Try as he might, he could not move.
Below him, the blonde could hear the ground slowly cracking from the pressure.
'The Gravity Note is a very rare item to train with, Naruto.' Jiraiya said, walking up to the blonde genin and bending down so his eyes could meet his.
'Gravity Note…?' Naruto questioned, getting tired at a fast rate, 'Wha…?'
'A Gravity Note gives the person who wears it extreme pressure on the body. Right now, your whole body weighs around twenty-five times what it normally weighs, Naruto. This is how the Yondaime started his training. Welcome to Stage One of your crash course.' Jiraiya said, still looking down to the blonde, 'Oh, and if you're really curious, you have a higher amount of weight on you than what the self-proclaimed Green Beast of Konoha, Maito Gai trains with.' the man finished, grinning.
Naruto was about to retort at Jiraiya, but found himself too tired to do so.
'Alright, Naruto; on with your lesson.' Jiraiya said, getting up to his normal height, 'Get to the Sandaime's head before tomorrow afternoon. If you don't get there before tomorrow afternoon…' Jiraiya said sternly, 'That Gravity Note will burn into your body and you will never get up from the ground again until you die. Reach there; and I will give you the skills needed for you to defeat the Uchiha.'
Jiraiya disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a panicking Naruto. In all his time with his elder brother, he could not have guessed that this would be one of the many ways of training. Naruto tried to get up. He was slowly lifting himself; his body was now an inch above the ground. He was getting exhausted very fast. Naruto could even feel the ground around the palms of his hands slowly cracking as they tried to support Naruto's weight. It was hard enough that he had to get to the Hokage's Monument before sundown with his bodyweight twenty-five times heavier, but if he did not get there by the afternoon of the next day, that Gravity Note would burn into his body.
Naruto was two inches above the ground now, and he was about to go for three inches, when he lost his power and came slamming back to the ground, cracking it underneath him. The feat was almost impossible to do. He sould not understand now Yondaime had succeeded in becoming what he did with this.
Damn it; that stupid Ero-sennin, once I get this thing off, I will personally rip his throat out and feed it to Pakkun and say that it's grounded beef, Naruto thought.
From a tree, Jiraiya had his arms crossed and was watching his first student for many years struggle in the attempt to accomplish his goal.
Jiraiya's face was one of amusement and expectation. He could not actually believe that he had done what he just did by giving the boy a Gravity Note. He was truthfully, not actually sure about using it in the first place, but something about the blonde genin made him very interesting to watch. Jiraiya was also not as cold-hearted as his words, if Naruto did not reach the Sandaime's gigantic head, he would just perform the counter seals to release Naruto from the spell of the Gravity Note.
'It's okay if you don't get it the first time, brat, but just try.'
Jiraiya disappeared in a whirl of leaves to another place.
Naruto was panting from exhaustion. He could literally not even move a finger. The power of the Gravity Note was crushing his body to the ground. It seemed that he would only, and could only; resign himself to live like this for the rest of his life. But Naruto was definitely not one to give up. Again, the blonde boy struggled to get up to his feet, only reaching an inch above the ground before collapsing once again.
What in the world have I gotten myself into? Naruto thought, his eyes drooping slightly out of the fatigue collected from his continuous attempts to stand again.
Naruto had tried focusing chakra to his limbs, but that only relieved a fraction of the weight upon him. Naruto knew that there was some kind of trick to succeeding in this test, but he could not, of course, see what that trick was.
Naruto was running out of ideas; there were just too many things that were entering his mind at once. He definitely had to move soon, if not he could never reach the Hokage's Monument in time. Naruto tried to get yp once again, but the Gravity Note kept him firmly on the ground. It was almost useless to keep struggling with this.
Damn it, come on, Naruto, think; how do you adapt to twenty-five times your bodyweight? Naruto questioned himself; it was getting darker.
Time was running out for Naruto, it was already in the late evening and the blonde had come no closer to getting up from the ground. Naruto continued to struggle up until he collapsed from chakra exhaustion into the world of dreams.
Hmph, at this rate, Naruto would definitely not be able to get up at all…
Jiraiya was back in front of the sleeping and tired form of Naruto.
He was looking to the blonde on the ground, in the crater created by the intense pressure from generated by the Gravity Note. Jiraiya bent down and surveyed Naruto, looking seemingly exhausted from his attempts at getting up.
Jiraiya smiled for a moment and rememebered the attempts that his own student, the Yondaime made, when training with the Gravity Note many years ago.
He really does remind me of you, Jiraiya thought, getting up and walking away.
In his mind, Naruto was dreaming. He was on cool grass and the wind was blowing, comforting his face. The blonde had no idea how he got here; a while ago he was at a glade behind the Hokage Monument, now he was on a grassy hill with a cool breeze.
'Where in the world am I?' Naruto asked himself, getting up to his feet.
The blonde was quite surprised as he did not know that the Gravity Note Jiraiya had applied to him was gone. He looked down to the front of his shirt; it was gone.
'This is really weird; where am I?' Naruto questioned once more, looking around.
He was standing on the slope of a hill and all around him was nothing but grass, with a cool breeze blowing around. Naruto walked down the slope and across the breezy fields. It was quite eerie to the blonde as he looked around; no one was there. Naruto puleed up his facemask and started to walk in one direction; nothing was there, as before. It was getting quite frightening to be alone in this place.
'I never knew that you were so pathetic, boy.' a powerful voice came.
Naruto's eyes widened and turned around; no one was there. He did not even have his weapon's pouch with him and he could sense the owner of that voice had a very powerful aura hovering around him, no matter what or who he was.
'Who's there?' Naruto questioned to almost nothing; there was no answer.
Naruto shook it off and started to walk forward, when he heard a chuckle.
'Show yourself!' Naruto shouted once again and a chuckle came in reply.
'You are not worthy to see me, boy.' the voice came, a killing intent with it.
The killing intent sent shivers up Naruto's spine, but he kept his emotions in check.
'Who are you?' Naruto questioned the voice, and another laugh came.
'Riddle me this; what resides in your mind other than yourself, boy?'
'Kyuubi.' Naruto said in just above a whisper.
The scenery started to fade, consumed by a surrounding darkness until it reached Naruto. Naruto was on the cold, wet floor of what looked like a sewer. He looked to his left, and sure enough, he felt a chakra of epic proportions being emitted.
Naruto knew whose chakra it was; Kyuubi's. Naruto walked toward the chakra and through another tunnel, where he finally came up to the Kyubi's cage.
It was a gigantic gate that had a note on it, saying Seal. Behind the bars of the gate stood the red eyes of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, its demonic chakra surrounding it as though it was some sort of unholy armor made of fire. Naruto approached the cage, looking into the eyes of the Kyuubi in all its demonic glory.
'What do you want, fox?' Naruto questioned the demon, who merely looked back.
'I have actually nothing to say, but you are positively pathetic.' Kyuubi said.
'What do you mean pathetic? I'm trying my best to get up with the stupid Gravity Note on me! If you don't know, that Gravity Note is making my body much heavier!'
Naruto saw the frown come onto the Kyuubi's face. He looked up to the demon.
'I was right, you really are pathetic.' Kyuubi said, turning away.
'Pathetic? I told you, I'm trying my all to get up and reach the stupid-'
'Don't you remember what your brother, Hatake Kakashi said, you idiot!'
The red chakra of the Kyuubi's sepped out of its cage in a quick motion and appeared to swirl before Naruto, taking the form of Hatake Kakashi, made up of red chakra. Naruto's eyes widened as the image of his brother looked to him.
'The determination of a human has its limits, but a heart does not.' it said.
Naruto remembered what Kakashi had taught him when he was finally able to master the exercise of tree climbing with his chakra. Kakashi was training Naruto in Ninjutsu when he was nine; his first Ninjutsu was the Suiryuudan no Jutsu. At the end of the day, Naruto was still only able to make his dragon around his size.
Kakashi had left Naruto, going to get groceries for the young boy. Naruto was extremely tired and exhausted into the night, training his Ninjutsu near a river.
That same night, was the night that Mizuki, a chuunin at the Ninja Academy, decided to execute his plan by transforming into Naruto with the Henge no Jutsu and stole the Scroll of Forbidden Seals. On his way out of the village, Mizuki had encountered Naruto and decided to kill him to clear his tracks. He would have succeeded in killing the young boy, had it not been for Kakashi.
Kakashi had arrived in the nick of time, blocking a large shuriken with his body to protect Naruto from getting harmed. Kakashi could have defeated Mizuki, but the shuriken was in too deep into his back for him to attempt anything.
Watching his adopted brother almost get finished off, Naruto performed the same handseals he had been practicing in the day and evening. The same seals for the Suiryuudan no Jutsu. The Ninjutsu succeeded in knocking Mizuki unconscious and saving Kakashi. Until the end of the morn, Naruto had not let go of his brother out of worry and care. And at the end of that event, Kakashi had said those words.
'Kakashi-niichan.' Naruto said as the red image of Kakashi disappeared in a swirl.
'Do you remember them now, boy?' Kyuubi turned to Naruto.
The world suddenly disappeared in a flash of light and Naruto felt a headache. He opened his eyes and saw that he was back in the glade. The weight of his own body multiplied by the Gravity Note was back and the sun was in the sky.
Wait, the sun…? Naruto thought, looking to the sky out of the corner of his eyes.
Then, it hit him; it was almost in the afternoon. He had to get up and go before the Gravity Note burnt into his body. Naruto tried to get up once again, to no avail.
'Damn it, get up, damn you!' Naruto commanded to his body.
Naruto felt his chakra react wildly to his command, as though it was lashing out for freedom. Slowly, but surely he felt the weight on his body slowly disappear and he was getting up. In the moment he was on his knees, the ground below him started to crack, not from his weight, but from the pressure of Naruto's blue chakra.
I will win this challenge, Ero-sennin; just you see, Naruto thought strongly.
Naruto got to his feet, staggering, feeling as though he was weightless, his body was now enveloped by a new chakra, a red-colored one, the chakra of the Kyuubi.
It lighted his body as though they were flames, but instead of burning him, it felt cool and powerful, giving him a new breath of life.
I never thought that I'd ever say this in my life, but thanks, fox…
The weight of his body was now seemingly nothing, as Naruto felt. He looked to his left and right before lowering his head in the direction of the Hokage's Monument. As fast as he could, he dashed to the Sandaime's head, where Jiraiya was waiting.
Naruto jumped and ran from tree to tree, feeling more free than ever before.
A few moments later, Naruto reached the Sandaime's large carved stone head, where, sure enough, Jiraiya was, sitting cross-legged with a smug look on his face.
'So, you made it. Didn't think you would.' Jiraiya said, his voice matching his look.
He proceeded to do several handseals and the Gravity Note was gone from Naruto's shirt, floating slowly to the ground, where Jiraiya picked it up.
'Congratulations, you made it here right on time; Lesson One clear!'
'Shut your trap.' Naruto kicked Jiraiya's face, making the man fall back several steps, Naruto reached for his pouch of weapons and pulled out a kunai, 'The moment I got up from the ground was the moment of your doom, because I swore that once I got up, I would make your death a very painful one!'
'Hm.' was Jiraiya's answer as he got up, brushing the dust off his clothes and looking to the blonde, 'Well then, let's use that energy to go ahead with you Jutsu training, shall we?' he performed several handseals, 'Let's go, kid.'
It was finally here, the Chuunin Exam Finals. The streets were almost empty as except for the areas around the stadium, where there were several stalls and people buying food for the matches in case they got hungry during the matches. Leaning against a wall was Nara Shikamaru, clad in a black flak jacket and white ninja pants, a gift to him from his mother the week before. He was to face his best friend Chouji in the third scheduled match. He was looking forward to it.
'Heya, Shikamaru!' Kiba had arrived, along with Kurenai and Akamaru.
'Good morning, Shikamaru.' Kurenai greeted her student waving her hand.
'Kiba, Kurenai-sensei; how are you guys today?' Shikamaru greeted in return.
'We're fine, so!' Kiba looked around, as if looking for something, 'Where's-'
'Naruto's not here yet, and I won't expect him to be for another hour.'
'Yeah, that's right; the ceremony doesn't begin until then!' Kiba said.
Akamaru, ever the agreeing dog, barked at his master in support.
'Well, I think that we should get to our seats before people get the good spots.'
'Alright, I guess I'll see you later, Shikamaru! Good luck!' Kiba said.
The two of them walked away from Shikamaru and towards the crowd of people that started gathering in front of the entrance. Shikamaru looked skywards; he had been training with his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to increase his skills with them.
A startling discovery he had made was that his replications could make their own shadows. Shikamaru looked to his left and saw that there were several genins that were participating in the Chuunin Exam Finals coming towards the stadium.
Hyuuga Hinata was walking in front with Akimichi Chouji and Aburame Shino, who had recently been fully healed from his clash with Rock Lee. Chouji noticed Shikamaru leaning against the stadium wall and went over to him after asking Asuma for permission. Shikamaru saw his friend approach him and gave a gesture with his head as a greeting. Chouji did the same. The brunette gave a lazy grin to Chouji.
'How are you doing today, Chouji?' Shikamaru asked his friend.
'I'm good, thanks. So we're really going to have our match today?'
'Yup. We fight in the third match.' Shikamaru said knowingly.
'Well then, I guess that I'll have to do my best against you.' the ginger-haired boy said, smiling just as wide as Shikamaru's grin, eyes closed in the action.
'I know you will.' Shikamaru said, getting his back off the stadium wall.
'You're going to the waiting area already?' Chouji asked confusedly.
'Yeah, that way we don't have to rush our way past, you know…'
Chouji nodded and the two boys walked to the waiting room. They went in the by the alternative entrance meant to be used by the participants of the Chuunin Exam Finals. The corridor leading to the waiting room was not very well lit, as Shikamaru noticed.They entered the door of the waiting room and the pair of them saw that Hyuuga Hinata was already there, clad in her oversized jacket. In one corner was Rock Lee, flexing some of his arms and the blonde female, Temari and Gaara of the team from Sunagakure no Sato were there as well along with their instructor and the one that Shikamaru had defeated in the Preliminaries, Kankuro.
Hinata sat down on one of the many chairs that were lined up in the room as Shikamaru and Chouji came in. Naruto, Sasuke and Dosu were nowhere in sight.
Out of everyone, only Gaara knew what had happened to Dosu and Sasuke, and only he knew the fear that Dosu had felt the night after the Preliminaries. For Dosu was dead, dead by the hands of Sabaku no Gaara, and Gaara loved the event of Death.
'I wonder where Naruto is…?' Shikamaru questioned, looking around to find him.
At least half an hour passed before the genins were called to come out to the arena for the opening ceremony of the Chuunin Exam Finals. Shikamaru exited the waiting arena and went through the corridor to the arena along with the other present four genins. Shikamaru was nervous, but he was very good at hiding it.
At the end of the corridor was an open air arena with several trees near a wall that was practically surrounding the whole stadium's arena and was connected to the edges of the stands, where the spectators were. The stands were above them by around forty feet, and the Hokage stood in his own box, along with the Kazekage.
Man, Naruto better come soon or he'll be disqualified from his match, Shkamaru thought, looking up to the crowds above him lazily; he had a bad feeling.
Suddenly, there was a gust of wind blowing through the arena quite strongly, as if supporting Shikamaru's feelings; he grimaced in response to the wind.
Wait, this wind is chakra-infused; can it be that…
In a blur, came the black-clad form of Uzumaki Naruto, with his hair untied and his gloves both having metal guards on them. To his sides, strapped to his belt were Fuuma Shurikens, two on each side. The appearance of Naruto had several reactions from the genins in the arena. Shikamaru and Chouji were surprised, Temari and Hinata were blushing, their faces indistinguishable from a tomato and Gaara looked indifferent, although he could be seen barely frowning at the boy.
'Sorry I'm late, I got caught up in my training.' Naruto explained.
The referee was Genma; he had just come up to them and was getting annoyed at the "pretty-boy's" tardiness. But he was one who enjoyed the laid-back life and decided to keep quiet about it and motioned for Naruto to get in line.
Naruto did so and came up next to Shikamaru, who was quite surprised to feel almost Jounin Level power being emanated from Naruto. In his mind, the lazy brunette wondered; what had Naruto been doing for the past month?
The Hokage then came up from his seat and started to give his traditional Speech of Welcome and Good Fortune to the spectators and the participating genins.
Genma walked up to the genins, motioning to take something from his flak jacket
'Alright, let me show you the changes made to-' Genma was cut off again.
A poof of smoke appeared a few metres to the left of the genins and Genma's right; Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke were finally here, Sasuke clad in a very familiar way to Naruto except that he wore shorts instead of long pants.
Why do the pretty-boys always have to make an entrance? Genma thought.
'Sorry we were late; we were so caught up in training we didn't notice the time.'
Sasuke did not say anything as a manner of speech. Kakashi turned to the raven-haired boy and nodded. Sasuke gave his own nod in reply.
Hatake Kakashi disappeared in a whirl of leaves, leaving Sasuke with the genins.
The Uchiha lined up next to Temari. Genma sighed and pulled out a piece of paper from inside his flak jacket and showed it to the genins; almost all of them frowned.
What? The last time I checked, I had one more match after Temari, Hinata thought.
Did that Dosu guy retire? Shikamaru thought, looking to the piece of paper.
Genma folded the paper and put it back into his flak jacket and looked to the genins.
'Okay then, the first match is Uzumaki Naruto versus Uchiha Sasuke, the rest of you please go to the Examination Waiting Room up there.' Genma indicated a room that was above them that had a balcony, some distance away from the stands.
Shikamaru went walked up to the Examination Waiting Room, but not before casting a glance back to his blonde teammate; he was slightly nervous for him.
From the stands, Hatake Kakashi and Maito Gai stood upon the steps, highly anticipating this match, though only Gai showed his anticipation.
'So, just as a matter of curiousity, what did you teach Sasuke?' Gai questioned.
'You'll just have to watch the match, Gai.' Kakashi said calmly.
'Such a hip response; you are definitely a worthy rival!' Gai half-shouted.
Kakashi now wished that he did not come up to this part of the stands.
Back down to the arena, Genma stood a considerable distance away from the two ninjas that were about to clash. He could already sense that these two were above the Genin Level, but he wondered if they could prove it to the Hokage and the crowd.
'I've always wanted to have a match with you, Naruto.' Sasuke said.
Naruto did not answer, but got into a fighting stance that Kakashi was extremely familiar with; the Kage Senpuu Ground Style. His right palm was outstretched, facing Sasuke and his other hand was behind him. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
'I don't know what your Taijutsu Style is, but you won't be able to beat me with those fancy moves that you used against Hyuuga.' Sasuke said, smirking.
'Quit it with the talk, I'm not here for a debate.' Naruto smarted.
'I guess not, but let me prove, for once and for all, who is the real genius.'
'I never considered myself a genius, Sasuke, but…' Naruto bent down slightly, 'neither are you; there are no such things as geniuses. The real question is who gets to their goal first before the other. Now, let's get on with our match.'
The wind blew around them and a powerful gust blew into the stands.
'Now, First Match, begin!' Genma declared as the crowd cheered.
The two ninjas were unmoving, both of their eyes boring into each other's. A bead of sweat could be seen slipping down Naruto's left cheek; he was in deep concentration. Sasuke moved back slightly; Naruto hunched downwards.
Suddenly, the two genins did familiar handseals and threw their faces forward.
'Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!' they both shouted, breathing out fireballs.
Naruto's fireball was much bigger than Sasuke's and overpowered it. Sasuke cursed under his breath as he leapt sideways to avoid the oncoming flames.
Damn it, his chakra easily overpowers mine; I have to make this count, Sasuke thought, getting into the same position that Rock Lee got into duting his match.
Tekken-fu, Naruto thought, getting into his own Taijutsu stance once more.
With lightning-fast speed, Sasuke dashed toward Naruto, perfectly delivering a punch to Naruto's jaw, sending the blonde flying upwards. Sasuke then proceeded to leap upwards and lock his body around Naruto's before sending both of them to the ground at a very high speed, spinning. The power of the impact created a crater, which only Uchiha Sasuke was seen leaping away from. He smirked.
It looks like you're not as good as you really are, Naruto, Sasuke thought.
'Yeah, I guess that I could use a bit of grace in my moves.' a voice came.
Sasuke's eyes widened as he turned to face Naruto in all his glory.
Instinctively, the black-haired boy rolled away from Naruto, getting into his Tekken-fu stance once more. Naruto was just standing there, doing nothing.
'How did you get out of that attack?' Sasuke questioned, frowning at Naruto.
'Kawarimi no Jutsu; I switched myself with a log before you grabbed me.'
'Impossible! I didn't even see you do the handseals!' Sasuke called out.
'Who said I needed handseals to perform Kawarimi no Jutsu?' Naruto said, getting back into his Taijutsu stance, waiting for the Uchiha to attack, 'I have been training to the point that I would not require handseals for certain techniques over the month.'
Kawarimi no Jutsu only needs one handseal, but I didn't even see it…
'Activate your Sharingan, Sasuke; you'll need it for this fight.' Naruto finished.
'Heh, I guess you're right.' Sasuke's black eyes turned a red quality.
'Alright then, let's go!' Naruto said, dashing toward Sasuke to strike him.
Sasuke's eyes widened; the speed that Naruto was moving at matched his own, but he felt as though this was not the ninja's true speed. As if Naruto was holding his speed back for a greater purpose or cause. It right now did not matter; Sasuke's Sharingan caught up with Naruto's moves, though barely.
Sasuke raised a hand to block and parry Naruto's two strikes, which were finger jabs. His arms still hurt when he did it, though, as the damage that could be done with Naruto's speed was the equilavent of a heavy object falling at two-hundred miles an hour. Sasuke was greeted by more blows from Naruto.
Damn it, I can barely keep up with this! Sasuke thought, slightly panicking.
Naruto was about to deliver another blow to Sasuke, when the dark-haired genin turned into a log, which was literally smashed into bits by Naruto.
Above me, Naruto thought, looking upwards, and sure enough, there was Sasuke.
'Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!' four kunais multiplied into forty and rained upon Naruto and Sasuke saw with satisfaction that all of the kunais hit.
Naruto immediately poofed into a log; Sasuke's eyes widened once more.
'Kage Bunshin? Behind me!' Sasuke drew several shuriken in response to his senses; the blonde was there, several shurikens between his fingers.
'Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!' both of them called out, throwing their projectiles to each other; the attacks cancelled out one another.
Sasuke wasted no time with his follow-up attack, with the speed of performing handseals almost rivalling Kakashi's, Sasuke went on with the offensive.
'Katon: Karyuu Endan!' Sasuke breathed out a powerful breath of dragon fire.
Naruto saw Sasuke's offensive and proceeded to counter the move.
'Doton: Doryuu Heki!' Naruto created a large earth wall to block the attack.
Sasuke went back into his Taijutsu fighting stance as the people from the stands watched with awe at the amount of skill the two ninjas displayed to them.
'Are you really sure those two are genin?' one man in the crowd questioned.
'Man, that kid and the Uchiha are really heatening the arena up.'
'Those two are monsters…' a senior genin thought, watching them.
'Wow, Naruto is really going all out with his skill, isn't he?' Kiba.
'Yes, you practically see the power that Naruto's emanating with his moves.'
Kurenai's opinion was not wholly approved by the newcomer to the scene of the battle, Hyuuga Neji, who was not noticed by Kiba and Kurenai next to them.
'I don't think I actually agree whole-heartedly on your opinion. Kurenai-san.'
Kiba and Kurenai turned their eyes away from the fight and to Neji, who was standing next to them, a crutch in his left hand. Kiba looked surprised.
'Hyuuga? What are you doing here?' Kiba asked as Akamaru barked.
'I came to watch the battle between Naruto and Uchiha.' Neji said simply.
'Oh, would you like to take my seat?' Kiba noticed the crutch Neji had.
'Yes, thank you.' Neji slowly sat down in Kiba's seat as the latter got up.
'Oh, yes, Neji, why do you think that Naruto is not going all out?'
'Kurenai-san, you saw for yourself the ways that Naruto used to defeat me.' Neji said, facing the Jounin Instructor of Team Seven, 'Can you relate between the two?'
Kurenai's eyes went into deep thought and suddenly snapped open before turning to Neji, her eyes wide at the discovery that the Hyuuga prodigy had made.
'Neji, can you use your Byakugan to check on Naruto's chakra?'
Neji gave a nod and activated his Byakugan. He saw Sasuke's chakra, and it was the same level as his; the capacity anyways. He saw Naruto's chakra and his eyes widened in shock; Naruto's chakra was compressed into a ball, the density of it was almost incredible to Neji. That was a Jounin Level abitlity, no doubt about it.
'What do you see, Neji?'Kurenai asked him as Kiba motioned to do the same.
'Naruto's chakra; it's almost like its sealed; right now, my best guess is that Naruto is compressing his chakra for some kind of burst.' Neji explained.
'That kind of compression; that's Jounin Level!' Kiba almost shouted.
'I guess that you can keep surprising us all the time, Naruto.'
Back in the arena, the two ninjas were caught in a deadlock. Naruto's left fist was into Sasuke's right fist and Ssuke's left fist was into Naruto's right fist. The two of them pushed each other away, Sasuke was exhausted from keeping up.
'Sasuke; I have to admit that you're strong, but…' Naruto put his hands together in the Ram Seal, grinning slightly, 'It's time to show you the skills that I've gained.'
Neji still ahd his Byakugan activated, and now, the ball of compressed chakra broke itself free, causing the dust and dirt around the fighters to pick up. Naruto's chakra was unlike anything he had ever seen before; it was so wild, just like him.
Incredible; what a powerful chakra; it's almost as powerful as Kakashi's!
Naruto then suddenly disappeared from sight and Sasuke felt an extremely strong impact upon his left cheek, sending him flying towards a tree. Sasuke looked wildly around with his Sharingan but could only see several glimpses of Naruto in one spot for a second and in another spot one second later. Sasuke felt himself being picked up and thrown across the arena into the wall. Using his chakra, Sasuke stuck to the wall, moving several feet up it from the momentum registered to his body.
He is so powerful, how did he manage to gain so much power, Sasuke thought.
'Sasuke!' Naruto appeared in the middle of the arena, slightly panting, 'Let's end this fight!'
I guess that I'll have to use that move after all, Sasuke thought, grimacing.
Sasuke brought his two hands together and began to do extremely quick handseals.
'This is going to be my last move.' Sasuke said to himself.
Sasuke's left hand was covered in lightning, the ground that it hovered above turning into rubble as Naruto frowned. The Chidori; Kakashi's very own Assasination Ninjutsu was taught to the Uchiha prodigy to defeat him.
'Let's end this, Naruto!' Sasuke shouted, dashing at a blinding speed.
Naruto did several of his own handseals at the same speed as Sasuke. Sasuke was about to reach his target; the crowd watched as Sasuke looked to have succeeded in a turn over. Naruto thrust his hands to the ground.
The Chidori was a foot away from Naruto. The Uchiha was not moving at all. He was stuck in a swamp or pool full of a brown-looking liquid.
'What is this?' Sasuke questioned, eyes wide; his Chidori was fading away.
'Doton: Yomi Numa.' Naruto said simply before delivering a kick to Sasuke's side, sending him hurtling head first into a tree, knocking him unconscious.
'You were a good opponent, Sasuke, I commend you.' Naruto said, meaning it.
Genma looked to the unconscious form of Sasuke, tearing his eyes away from the Jounin Level Ninjutsu Naruto had performed on the ground to Sasuke.
It was obvious who the victor was here.
'Winner, Uzumaki Naruto.' Genma announced as the crowd cheered loudly.
Naruto cast one last look at Sasuke, who was being treated by several medic-nins, before making his way up to the Examination Waiting Room