Tomorrow . That was the day of the finals. Maruku had descended from in order to rest his body. He was as prepared as he was going to get. Over training would only hurt him now. Thats why he was currently sitting in a tub filled with oil and currently on fire.

The oil bath had been Darui-sensei's idea to help relax. The heat it provided after spending a month on that god forsaken mountain was euphoric. He was just about to fall asleep from the relaxing bath when the door to the bathroom door slammed open.

"Maruku! Sasuke's awake!" It was Naruto.

"Fucks sake Naruto learn to knock!" Naruto took a closer look at the burning tub to see a faint human outline in the flames.

"Are you naked in there?" It took an extraordinary amount of willpower to not burn the other boy to a crisp as Maruku sighed.

"Yes! Now get out! I'll be right there." After he was sure the other boy had left he stepped out of the tub stopping his human torch impression. Sealing away the still burning oil the boy quickly dried himself off and got dressed. Heading outside he saw Naruto waiting on him.

"Woah! You disappear for a month and come back buff as hell!" Maruku gave himself a look over. He was a bit more muscular but he didn't think that it was that big of a deal.

"Thanks. How was your training?"

"Well I can't tell you. We're in the finals together but you should prepare yourself to lose to my awesomeness!" Maruku rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless at his friend's answer.

"By the way I never found out but who are the finalist?"

"Me,You,Sakura,Shino,Shikamaru,Lee,Neji,Some girl named Sammy or something, the bitch Sasuke lost to, and two of those sand kinds. The chick and that red head creep." Hearing the names of the finalist gave him some worry. That was a lot of talent that he would have to compete against. Even with his nerves however Maruku couldn't help but feel somewhat excited. He wanted to see the results of his training.

While they were talking they were also making their way towards the hospital. Going inside they headed towards the receptionist.

"Hi, we're here to visit Sasuke Uchiha we're his teammates."

"Room 421." The duo made their way towards the room in comfortable silence. Opening the door to the room they found Sakura and Kakashi already there.

"How is he?"

Kakashi looked over at Maruku."He'll make a full recovery but that wound to the chest is going to scar. Other than that he's fine just a little high.

"Ruku is that you?" Maruku raised an eyebrow at the odd abbreviation of his name before he made his way to Sasuke's bedside.

The boy looked rather well for someone who was impaled through the chest and then set on fire not even a month ago. Most of his hair had already grown back. Though by taking a closer at his eyes Maruku could tell that his friend was higher than a kite.

"Ruku! You are my best friend, therefore I shall let you name your first born son after me. Of course I shall also be godfather." Before Maruku could even think of a response Naruto spoke up.

"Woah woah woah! Why do you get the first born and get to be godfather. Don't be selfish!" Maruku couldn't help but groan as his friends were fighting for the right for his first born son to be named after them. He glanced at Sakura while Naruto and Sasuke we're still arguing.

"Help me." The boy pleaded for Sakura to make them stop but that went out the window when he saw her extremely serious face.

"If I'm not godmother I'll kill you." The boy closed his eyes in embarrassment. He looked towards his last hope who was watching the scene with amusement.

"Kakashi-sensei please."

"I got dibs on being an uncle." With his last hope gone Maruku faced palmed.

"Alright I'ma head out." Crossing over to the other side of the room the boy opened the window and launched himself out of it. Doing some fancy flips he landed on his feet and headed back to the hotel. Before tomorrow he had to make a change to the White Divider.

FIREFIREFIRE

As the foreign genin were being led to the site of the finals the nerves were starting to get to him. He took a deep breath to try and calm himself. He had prepared for this. He was ready.

They were led up some stairs when the testing site came into view. Upon seeing the testing site the nerves came back all over again.

"This is the Cloud Viewing Pad. The site of the final phase of the Chunin Selection Exam. The Cloud Viewing Pad was simply a flat circular large piece of rock suspended in the air by dense white clouds. Below the Pad were the streets of the village. A ring out here meant death.

"Before we begin the rules. You must fight until you are unable to any longer. There is no down count, there is no surrender." "Just say what you mean. This is as close to a death match as you can get without it being completely illegal.

"Now then. Will the first contestants please step forward." Maruku watched as Naruto and Shino stepped forward. Two pieces of the dense cloud that was holding up the pad came to their position in the waiting area. Without any hesitation Naruto jumped on the cloud which easily held his weight. Shino did the same and the two were taken to the Pad.

"Match Begin!"

Despite getting the signal for the fight to begin neither of the two moved.

"I'm sorry it has to be this way after you helped us so much on ." Shino adjusted his glasses in response to Naruto's statement.

"It is of no consequence." Naruto nodded and the two began to clash.

Swarms of insects made their way across the pad only to be cut down and razor sharp wind left the opposing boy's mouth.

"Take this! Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Four shuriken suddenly became four hundred. With nowhere to run or hide and no time to muster any feasible defense Shino did the next best thing. Falling to his back and balling up to cover as much as his vital points as possible. Despite doing what he could the boy was still hit dozens of times and by the time he got to his feet he looked like an academy training post.

"Wind Style:Bullet!" An air bullet tore its way through Shino's shoulder further crippling him. Feeling that his work was done Naruto turned to the proctor in the waiting area.

"Hey! Call the match he can't fight anymore." The proctor shook his head however.

"The fight isn't over yet." Naruto looked back at Shino who was paler than normal due to blood loss and was currently trying to stop the bleeding from the hole in his shoulder.

"I surrender. I am unable to fight with my arm like this."

"There are no surrenders. Keep fighting." Naruto bit his lip an expression of anger on his face. Taking out a kunai he made his way over to the other boy.

"For what it's worth I really am sorry." Shino simply nodded at the boy's words before the ring end of the kunai slammed into the top of his head. The boy slumped clearly unconscious.

"Winner Naruto Uzumaki!" The dense cloud separated to allow the boy to come back to the waiting area while medics took Shino away. Maruku looked on with a stoic expression. This was the violence needed to insure victory. He hated it, Shino was a good ninja who had helped a lot during the second phase. The entire fight tore at him. On one hand he was excited to see Naruto's growth and proud of his friends win on the other hand he didn't like that one of his allies got washed and folded like laundry. But there was nothing he could do about that. The only thing he could do right now was win these stupid fights and make sure that he never had to take the chunin exams again.

As he glanced at his opponent who was deadly serious he knew it would be easier said than done.

"Next contestants please come forward." That was his cue. As Maruku stepped up he felt hands on his shoulders. He looked back and saw Naruto and Sakura.

"Don't be nervous. You got this." He smiled at the girl's encouraging words.

"Win." Naruto was much more simple but it still gave him the strength he needed. With a nod the boy walked towards the hardest fight of his life. As Maruku and Yugito stood on the pad there were no words. They weren't needed.

"Begin!" At the signal Maruku immediately lashed out. He couldn't let the girl make the first move. He needed to be in control of the flow of the fight or else.

"Laser Cutter!" A crescent horizontal wave of light green energy soared towards his opponent. After he launched his first attack Maruku reached into his supply bag and withdrew two jet black studded knuckle dusters. They were a gift from Darui. His old ones had melted from his experiments. These new ones were specially made from a metal found only on . They were capable of surviving even the hottest plasma style attack.

Equipping his new weapons he rushed forward and met fist to fist with Yugito who had slid under his Laser Cutter. Their clashed then evolved into a taijutsu battle. Fist met claw, elbow met elbow, and knees met knees. Neither one of them bothered with defense each just looking to do more damage then the other. It was a childish display that put both contestants' martial talents on blast.

His fist slammed into the girl's cheek while her knee buried itself into his stomach. They leapt back observing one another before engaging once again. He couldn't reveal his trump cards just yet but he could kick it up a notch.

"Whole body fire style!" His whole body seemed to spontaneously combusted before he rushed at his opponent. Yugito seemed to have similar thoughts as a shroud of her dense blue chakra covered her and she came forward as well. Their fist met once more. Red versus Blue as their respective power pushed against one another. The ground cracked beneath the exchange of power as the two tried to force each other to submit.

Yugito was the first to disengage causing Maruku to stumble with the sudden loss of balance.

"Cat Flamethrower!" The girl inhaled, her chest swelling up before she released a deadly blue flamethrower.

Maruku's eyes widened before he too inhaled and exhaled a deadly flamethrower. The gouts of flame met in the middle of the pad causing an explosion despite that however the two opposing fire beams pushed against one another. Maruku was struggling to keep up the beam struggle as the Cat Flamethrower seemed to have got a boost in power. It was overwhelming his own flamethrower seemed tiny in comparison as he was slowly being pushed towards the edge of the pad. Of course that wasn't the end of his problems however. The Cat Flamethrower, he could feel its heat! Maruku knew that Yugito's blue fire, a power she no doubt got from the Two-Tails was capable of burning even him. Simply put he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Keep up the struggle and let himself be pushed off the pad's edge and fall to his death or get incinerated.

He chose option C. While still breathing fire he raised his right hand and tried to angle it so his next attack would hit the girl. Pointing his finger a small orb of fiery green plasma came to life.

Spirit Gun: Semi-Auto! The bullet raced forward catching the girl on the side of her leg. His diversion worked as the Cat Flamethrower faltered giving him enough time to slip to the side of it before it returned full blast.

Breathing rather heavy he looked at Yugito who was holding her burnt and slightly smoking leg. The Semi-Auto bullet didn't break the skin like he had hoped but it looks like he was the first one to cause any serious damage. Now that he knew that plasma style could for sure hurt her it was time to go on the offensive.

"Laser Cutter: Barrage!" Wave after wave of plasma energy rushed towards his kneeling opponent. Maruku watched as if time slowed down. He watched her eyes widened with shock, or fear as she realized that her life was about to end. Then it happened.

A particular Laser Cutter had obstructed his view but there was no denying his senses. This terrible dread that he felt. The sheer heat that caused his skin to burn. It was all dwarfed by the singular feeling that made him feel like he had just made the worst mistake of his life.

There was a surge of power that forced the Laser Cutter to dissipate. The dust cleared and Maruku found himself looking at a completely unharmed Yugito with two fiery blue tails swaying behind her.

"Congratulations. You've just reached the end of your life!" Hearing Yugito speak for the first time since the fight started snapped Maruku back into reality.

"I'll put you down!" With his comeback said Maruku engaged his own power up. Black markings had spread out from a single point of origin on his chest covering his entire body except for his right hand where the black blended into blood red. His eyes had turned a fierce light green and were leaking from excess power. His En was so strong and concentrated that it could be seen outside his body making it look like he had an aura of the same light green of his eyes.

"Prepare yourself Yugito, because you're not just dealing with the average ninja warrior anymore. I have evolved and became Super Maruku!"

The two charged forward with blistering speed faster than the blink of a sharingan eye.

Round 2 starts now.