Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Naruto I am simply borrowing them to create a story of my own, each and all of the characters (excluding OC's that shall be introduced later) are owned by someone else.

Authors note: Thanks for all your support guys . The few reviews I get keep me going as well I have a very lovely assistant that I haven't mentioned but yes my GF is helping in this project giving me ideas and helping correct me if I make a mistake. So, thanks Hun for all your help . Okay let's keep moving, warning 0 romance this chapter.

Trials of the Shinobi

A Naruto Fan-Fiction

By Dark-Angel-Cronos

Part 2: The tournament begins

Chapter 6: Exhibition

Neji and Sasuke pealed their eyes open wide searching amongst the crowd for strong opponents they were scouting out the competition. After Kuroda created that hole in the back wall they began wondering just how many strong opponents were in this lot of Ninja. Most of the ninja around were still aw stricken by Kuroda's incredible performance, so much so that they didn't even feel the presence of Sasuke and Neji watching them.

"Sasuke, do you see what I see." Neji was noticing only a few Nin as strong as themselves in the crowd. As well he saw a few who had strength Neji never could have imagined.

"Yeah, not too many strong ones, but that isn't to say there aren't any possible threats out there." Sasuke changed back to normal lowering his level three Sharingan. Sasuke felt his body tingle as he couldn't wait to fight these tough opponents he then heard a familiar name called from the screen.

"Kankurou of the Sand, Sand village" The display screen presented a picture of Kankurou as the first of the sand siblings stepped on stage. Temari was in the crowd cheering for her younger brother, Gaara was standing next to her shaking his head as Temari yelled for Kankurou to do his best.
Kankurou now had three wrapped dolls on his back. Two were normal cocoon shaped, but one of them was much smaller and looked more like it might have been a bowl or a shield but in fact it was his strongest doll.

"Okay fella's its show time," Kankurou lined himself up with the Taijutsu doll he planned on crushing it into dust with his newest puppet technique. Reaching back behind him he tightened the puppet strings around his fingers then threw his arms forward pulling around him the two cocoon puppets. The puppets broke free of their wrappings, each one sending out tentacle arms from its side and wrapping itself around the doll and the other puppet. Kankurou slapped his hands together, transferring the strings on his left hand to his right so he now controlled both with a single hand. Squeezing his right hand tight the grip that the two puppets had on the doll got tighter the doll was seem to be feeling the strain as everyone heard it begin to crack.

"Okay time to introduce my newest puppet" Kankurou pulled his other puppet from his back and threw it into the air. The puppet burst from the wrappings and fell to the floor it was a large spider like puppet. Long spider like legs sprung from the body and it began to walk towards the other two puppets as Kankurou's hand commanded. The spider began wrapping its long legs around the doll as Kankurou's fingers laced in between each other. Kankurou smiled wickedly as he was about to crush that doll.

"BOA CONSTRICTER CRUSH!" Kankurou turned quickly towards the crowd pulling hard on the strings making them tighter and tighter. As he did so his puppets squeezed harder and harder soon he heard the loud crack of the doll's wood frame breaking in two but when he turned he saw that his puppets were feeling the strain and had small cracks in them. He let the strings loose and the puppets wrapped themselves and returned to him. Kankurou looked at the doll in aw as he saw it reconstruct the cracks and indentions his puppets had left in it. The screen flashed and a large A-rank appeared over his profile. Kankurou had a smirk on his face but his thoughts still dwelled on the auto regenerating dolls. Kankurou stepped of stage as the next name was called.

"Shikamaru Nara, Leaf village." Temari turned around in the crowd looking for Shikamaru, she couldn't see him but he was making his way towards the stage. She was wondering if he had anything new to use against the dolls. If he didn't she was fearful of what might happen if he didn't get a high rank.

Shikamaru hopped on stage mumbling something about how troublesome going through that crowd was. He moved to the Ninjutsu doll and gave it a funny glance inspecting over looking for weak points. When Shikamaru saw nonee he simple sat on the floor and took his thinking position creating a cage with his hands. On lookers who didn't understand Shikamaru's tactics turned and started talking amongst themselves but the talk didn't last long as Shikamaru stood up ready to get down to business. Shikamaru popped his neck from side to side and looked down his shadow stared back at him. He quickly formed three hand signs and crouched down pushing his palms into his shadow his hands began to seep through the ground and into his shadow.

"Shadow torture hand jutsu" Shikamaru lifted his hands from his shadow to reveal they were now covered in a dark plasmatic energy. Walking slowly over to the doll careful not to let the energy touch his own skin as it lashed out a little too far for Shikamaru's liking.

Standing in front of the doll with firm a footing he slammed his palms into the doll's chest plate. The dark plasmatic energy lashed out and began encompassing and lashing the doll as well dark lightning sprung forth and shook the doll with its force. The attack seemed designed to completely and utterly drain and destroy his opponent as the energy quickly left Shikamaru's hands and enveloped the doll turning it into its own silhouette. Stepping back a few paces Shikamaru slowly began to close his hands into tightly balled fists. As he did so the dark sparks and lashing energy slowly quelled till it was completely still.

"Implode!" The dark energy was sucking into the doll at Shikamaru's words and even more dark lighting began to spring from the dolls body shaking it violently as it began to smoke from its force. When the doll stopped shaking Shikamaru let his hands relax. Doing so, what seemed like dark blood started too ooze from the doll. It was Shikamaru's shadow, his power was returning to him after accomplishing its mission. Once the shadow energy had returned to Shikamaru's shadow the screen flashed a large S-rank across Shikamaru's picture.

The ranking continued with random people going up a few of them attained B and A ranks but not many. Among the few that attained B's were the rest of Shikamaru's team. Ino performing a torture technique she had perfected. Chouji used his enlargement jutsu to new heights to make his fist massive and crush the Taijutsu doll. As well all of the leaf villages more mature ninja did rather well. Kakashi and Gai scoring A's respectively and Kurenai and Asuma managing well deserved B's for non original Jutsu. Now it was Hinata's turn, what would she produce no one really knew but Naruto and the gang knew that she must have something interesting considering she's always striving to become stronger.

"GO HINATA-CHAN!" Naruto was yelling to his lover most enthusiastically embarrassing Sasuke and Sakura to no end. Hinata simply turned and gave him a smile, before facing the Ninjutsu doll. She had recently modified her Shugo Hakke Rokujuuyonshou to be much more powerful and was itching to show off its new Ninjutsu properties.

"Byakugan!" Hinata's eyes became strained as her bloodline intensified her vision. She couldn't see any chakra in the dolls body but she had already memorized the place of every Tenketsu on a person's body and was ready to perform her newest jutsu.

"Enforcer Eight Divination Signs, One Hundred and Twenty-Eight Palms of the Hand" Hinata's hands started producing hand seals then stopped once she finished her announcement. Neji and the others looked in aw as Hinata took what seem to be Neji's Sixty-Four Palms of the hand's attack position but she did something unexpected. Hinata began forcing chakra out of the tips of her fingers. Not moving an inch from her original position, Hinata began thrusting her arms out like Neji would during his assault and as she did streams of chakra shot from her fingers like lasers and impacted upon the doll. Neji was in complete aw no Hyuuga had ever been able to have such precise control with their chakra, yet she was performing it without even a hesitant sweat. Hinata fired laser after laser hitting the doll each time at a different point where a Tenketsu would be. Her attack was simply amazing if performed on a normal enemy it could leave them stunned and without chakra just like Neji's attack but her attack was better because each blast dealt major external damage as well. The outer shell of the doll was beginning to crack immensely from each blast as the lasers pierced its hull searing away any protective material it once had. Hinata finished her dazzling display of pinpoint accuracy by charging her last two shots with more chakra than normal and piercing right through the doll with two lasers aimed at the chest cavity. Hinata was very pleased her technique worked so well and even more pleased when an S-rank flashed across her profile. She returned to the crowd leaving most of the on looking Nin star struck and stood beside her loving boyfriend.

"Hinata-Chan that was simply amazing," Naruto was hugging his violet haired friend very affectionately and praising her every step of the way.

"It was nothing Naruto-kun, just something I came up with during my long hours of training." Hinata blushed she didn't really think her technique was as great as he kept making it out too be but now noticing the on looking faces she supposed he was right.

Neji's ranking was up next and he was feeling nervous. He hadn't developed any new techniques and wasn't really prepared for this; he'd just have to use his sixty-four palms of the hand attack. Neji took position in front of the Taijutsu doll and activated his Byakugan then started his assault. Neji didn't want to have a lower rank than anybody else and pressed every ounce of chakra he could into each attack and from everyone else's point of view his attack was beyond impressive.

After Neji's rather impressive performance that netted him an S-rank, the rest of the leaf ninja went with others in between. Sakura, Tenten and Kiba scoring well deserved C's as they held back to conserve their techniques or at least that's what they said. Naruto and Sasuke put on a marvelous performance since they went right after each other performing the Big Rasengan and Sasuke's upgraded Chidori respectively destroying what was left of the Ninjutsu doll halting some of the ranking for a new one to be brought in. Unfortunately that doll didn't stay long between Temari and Gaara's very nice performance of the Sand village's power; Temari slicing it up rather nice with wind blades and Gaara crushing it with his sand coffin. Temari netted an A-rank like her brother Kankurou, but Gaara's got an S successfully making him stand out more so than the other siblings. Besides the leaf Nin most other Nin could barely pull above a C rank and everyone could really tell who the cream of the crop was and who'd be left in the dust. It was Kazuma's turn and everyone of the Leaf nin paid careful attention to his movements they were confident he'd use a strong jutsu but what he did do surprised them a lot as well the ranking from his move surprised them even more.

Kazuma moved in position in front of the Ninjutsu doll, and cracked his neck and his hands seemingly working out any kinks so his jutsu wouldn't go wrong. The leaf Nin in the crowd were already bracing themselves for an unbelievably impressive display but he simply pointed a finger at the doll turned his head and covered his eyes. Everyone was very puzzled but their questions were soon answered as they heard him let out a faint chuckle.

"Spirit Shot" A small orb on energy appeared at his finger and he fired it. No beam, no big explosion, all it did was impact upon the doll and fizzle out. The leaf Nin couldn't believe it, was he really going to hold back so much as to not even use a real jutsu. The screen flashed and an S-rank appeared; the entire crowd was in aw they couldn't understand what had happened. A loud crack broke the silence and Kazuma uncovered his eyes to look at his handwork. Slowly, the doll began to crack and crumble into dust, disintegrating before their very eyes. Kazuma laughed and then stepped off stage as the officials ran off to replace the Ninjutsu doll for the third time today.

The rankings continued with only a few rankings left. A ninja from Michiyo's village was up next, and she seemed rather confidant.

"Haru Kunari" The flame kunoichi stepped on stage and lowered her hood she had covering her head it let down long braids of tightly wrapped black hair. She stepped in front of the Ninjutsu doll and began performing hand seals her eyes were closed. She slowly got faster and faster with her hand signs. Her body began to glow with a faint reddish orange glow, and her hair was now floating behind her.

"Swirling Heat Jutsu!" Haru finished her jutsu performing a triangle like hand sign that seemed to send out a heat wave as the air began to fold and become hazy like the air above a fire. Haru seemed to begin to dance. As she danced large seared in slices began appearing in doll and it seemed to be smoking until she stopped dancing and took her position in front of the doll once again. The screen flashed an S rank appeared and she pulled her hood back over her head and returned to the crowd.

"Chiasto Kunari" The screen didn't seem to change but it did flash and a picture of a nearly identical Kunoichi appeared. The second of the twin flame Nins was up.

Chiasto was dressed differently than her sister her hair was down and not in braids and she didn't sport the same hood either. They were identical in almost every feature though, same slightly matured figure, same deep brown eyes and jet black hair, as well same lightly tanned skin and face. Chiasto wasn't closing her eyes as she stepped in front of the Ninjutsu doll, she simply held both arms out and two burst of flame appeared in her palms. She played with them for a while her fingers feeling the heat of the flame before she squeezed them in her fists and they became elongated fire whips.

"Fire whip, Double lash!" Chiasto started her attack throwing her right hand out lashing at the doll with one whip. The lash came down across the chest plate leaving a melted exterior in its path. The second whip came from underneath and left a melted slash as well, the two slashes had made an X in the chest of the doll.

"Fire whip, Staccato!" Chiasto crossed her arms in front of her chest and the whips followed crossing in front of her as well. She flicked her wrists out repeatedly sending the whips in and out at the doll, cracking a thunderous snap at every flick. Each flick left a rather large burn and made the doll recoil as well. Chiasto then began to spin her whips flying outward almost hitting some in the audience.

"Fire whip, Searing heat!" Chiasto lashed hard at the doll now. Each lash wrapped the whip around the doll; the lashes left large circular rings of melted material. She finished by wrapping both whips around the doll and tugging hard this spun the doll around and around.

"Fire whip, Burst Dance!" Chiasto used her best whip attack now. She flung both whips at the base of the doll and snapped them quick it caused a large upshot of fire that engulfed the doll. The doll was on fire and still spinning creating a fiery pillar. Chiasto had let her whips die releasing them from her hands and stepping off stage as the screen flashed an S.

Once again the doll had to be replaced and the officials were getting worried that maybe they shouldn't have invited so many deadly ninja to the trials. After the doll was replaced, everyone was becoming restless; they knew there were only a handful of rankings left to be had. The next contestant had drawn their attention back towards the stage.

"Ayumi Ishimaru, Shadow village." Dawning the Yang symbol across the bottom of her headband she had come with only a single other teammate. The Shadow village was by far the least represented village in the tournament and how they would fair no one really knew. Shikamaru's head turned towards the stage and away from Temari for a second, because he knew of the Shadow village. His family had descended from that village meaning that most of the people there would have power similar to his. The girl on stage wasn't what Shikamaru had pictured though she was wearing rather loose black pants that had lots of chains on them either for style or for weapons, he didn't know which. She wore a tight black tank top that showed a lot of her semi pale skin. She had black eyeliner and lipstick it gave her a very gothic feel but to accent that her hair was short and died a bright purple. The most notable feature Shikamaru saw however where her hands, she had long fingernails perfectly manicured and were painted a deep black that seemed darker than even the night sky. 'Why would you have your nails down like that if you're constantly in situations where it's not needed?' Shikamaru was confused by the way she had her nails, but he'd soon find that they weren't painted that way just for show.

Ayumi took a position in front of the Taijutsu doll, the dolls shadow had shifted positions over the day and luckily for her the shadow was outstretched and at the tip of her feet. She smiled softly and placed her well manicured hands together forming a single jutsu sign.

"Shadow Claw Jutsu!" She bent slowly down and touched her fingers tips to the tip of the dolls shadow the shadow was absorbed into her fingers instantly. Her hand became black but not oozy like Shikamaru's had hers were just like gloves. She raised a single hand and without any notice her fingernails shot out and pierced the doll, each one had become razor sharp and focused to a point where it could pierce even steel. Her fingernails retracted and she began again this time with both hands. Her nails shot out and began stabbing the doll rapidly piercing different parts of the body and literally tearing it to shreds. The crowd was in aw as she simply moved her fingers and her nails did her bidding. Bending slightly in different directions, stabbing and slicing at the doll, leaving puncture wounds and slash marks all over, her nails seemed an irreconcilable force. When she finished her nails retracted back to their normal length and the shadow in her hands was gone. She snapped her fingers and the dolls own shadow began oozing out of the wounds she had left. The shadow seemed to melt away at the dolls body like it was bleeding acid. When the shadow had returned to the ground the doll was unrecognizable and very basically ruined for any further use. The screen flashed an S came across and her ranking was over. Ayumi stepped down and walked back into the crowd ignoring their stunned stares.

The Taijutsu doll was quickly replaced as they had moved replacement dolls for all the dolls after the last Ninjutsu had been destroyed. The screen flashed a profile and called out a new name.

"Ayame Ando, Shadow Village" Another nin dawning the Yang symbol stepped on stage taking a position in front of the recently replaced Taijutsu doll. Her hair was long and neatly tied into a long ponytail. Her face was soft and didn't give the gothic feel that the last Shadow nin did. She wore all black how ever, black flak jacket and cargo pants. She had her head band tied tightly around her forearm, and she had a bandanna tied around her other arm they seemed to symbolize something but no one knew what. She began her hand signs quickly pushing together many complicated signs. They reminded everyone of Shikamaru's but she was performing them faster and with a lot more complicated ones. When she finished she dove her right fist into her own shadow and began tugging. A long completely black broad sword was now in her hands she shook it and the dark shadowy energy was flung off revealing the blades true color. The blade looked like steel but its color was strange as she turned it I her hand the blade changed different shades of silver and black like it was alive. The hilt and guard of the sword was serpent like skin and a large black snake mouth opening wide on both ends.

"Serpent Death Blade" The Snakes eyes popped open to reveal red eyes they were jewels but they seemed so alive she let the sword go from her hand and it floated with a demonic dark energy. She directed her hand pointing towards the doll the blade spun and flung itself into the doll's chest. The doll shook violently then it subsided. The doll began to bleed black but as the blood came out it was absorbed back into the doll. As the blood was absorbed the doll began glowing black till it was a silhouette of it self. The doll shook slightly and exploded the sword flying out towards Ayame. She caught it and drove it back into her shadow returning it to its preverbal sheath. The doll was destroyed but the screen still flashed her rank a very nice S appeared. The crowd had covered their eyes and shielded themselves from the explosion and Ayame had already left the stage making everyone wonder where she had went. The officials sulked as they replaced their precious doll once again hoping that maybe the next person would leave the doll in better shape.
"Miharu Nakashima, Light Village" The screen flashed a new face and called her name but no one appeared. Everyone turned looking for some movement in the crowd signifying her coming towards the stage but still nothing. From off the side stepped a young girl. She was rather shy she had short brown hair and was dressed in normal clothes nothing unusual her head band wrapped around her neck in a bandanna fashion. She had her hands in front of her in a defensive position as well she had her head down. She was by far the youngest nin to step on stage she must not have been more than 16, she was also rather small in stature almost kid like she only stood a mere four and a half feet tall.

She took position quickly in front of the Ninjutsu doll and pulled a crystal box from her pocket. She set the box on the ground aiming it so one side faced the doll and formed three hand signs then touched the box it began to shine brightly. The intense light began blinding people as it got brighter and brighter but before it became to bright for the girl she lifted one end of the box up and it released a large beam of light that smashed into the Ninjutsu doll and burned it crispy as well left a rather large hole in the center of its chest. The doll however still had enough of itself left to regenerate the hole and return from crispiness. The light from the box had everybody wincing and scrunching there eyes, so no one saw the girl exit the stage and go back to the cabins as well they barely caught her A-rank flash across the screen. It was getting dark and the officials where thinking of calling it a night. They checked the list and suddenly realized they only had one contestant left and they were basically done.

"Michiyo Nakamura, Flame village" Michiyo and Kazuma were in the back of the crowd waiting for the rankings to end. Michiyo went forward slowly and then jumped up and landed on stage a second later using ninja speed to make a flashy entrance.

"Good luck Chiyo-Chan" Kazuma said under his breath as she left. Michiyo was confidant and sporting very dark shades she turned towards the crowd and gave them all a smile she was using her eyes to read them and gain something she would need to produce her most powerful attack.

She turned back towards the dolls and positioned herself in front of the Ninjutsu doll. Crouching low and holding her arm as she flexed her muscles, she sent chakra to her palm. A spiral of chakra formed around her hand. As she swirled it she brought in fire with her other hand and it spiraled with her chakra. The wind picked up and began swirling her hair and blowing hard outward from her making everyone cover their eyes. As she produced more and more shockwaves the crowd began to grow scared at her power. Her chakra spiraled around her and focused into her hand, her hand began to spark with electricity as she was reaching in for her third element. She was now ready, she thrust her hand down and boards of wood beneath the spiral of elements in her hand began to break up and be dragged into her hand.

"FIRECRACKER!" She pushed her arm forward throwing her spiral of power at the doll. It rocketed from her hand sending a massive shockwave behind it as it left her hand throwing everyone in the crowd back a bit Michiyo and Kazuma never budged as they had braced themselves. The blast hit the doll dead on and exploded with great force. Shrapnel of wood from the doll and the floorboards shot out along with fire and electricity that fried the other two dolls completely as well the wind forced behind the blast and had gone through and knocked the entire back wall of the stage down. As the smoke for the explosion cleared all three dolls were in ruins and the screen was cracked and lying against the only standing support pole left it showed a large S-rank then flickered and went off as it lost the last of its power. Michiyo and Kazuma had left before anyone could get up from the shockwave and see into the smoke. The officials seemed a little jumbled as the head official took the mike and told everyone that there were no more rankings left and they could return to their cabins. The leaf ninja stayed behind and grouped together to talk.

"Sasuke?" Sakura was worried Sasuke looked scared his eyes were full of fear and he seemed out of it. The others were silent and felt the eerie presence that this might be their last mission.

"Sakura, I'm just a little aw stricken. Don't worry" Sasuke shook his head and walked ahead of the group making Neji, Lee and Naruto stay back and grab Sakura as she tried to run off to catch up with Sasuke.

"Guys let me go!" Sakura was fighting Neji and Lee's grip on her shoulders. Naruto stepped in front of her and gave her a serious look that caused her to go stiff and stop fidgeting.

"Sakura, Sasuke just needs his space. He just saw what Michiyo could have done to him if she had been serious in their battle. He needs to think things over. As do we all" Naruto was becoming wiser and wiser, and it was strange to everyone, but since the sound incident Naruto had seemed to grow another personality and it was very comforting to know he had a reasonable side.

"Okay. I just hope he realizes that there is no way any of us can do this alone."

Authors Note: OMG it's finally done. This chapter by far took the longest to write for many reasons. Lots of cutting, that's right I cut out entire sequences and dialogue. I just didn't want to clutter it up with repetitive stuff so eventually I abandoned the everybody gets a ranking idea and went with the important and some non important people get rankings. Although I would have loved to show every rank I just couldn't. As well each attack took numerous hours of choreographing….yes I choreographed each attack to an extent. Basically I got my headband out and looked over what it would look like and went for the best effects. As well I owe a big big big big! Thank you to my loving girlfriend, who will remain nameless and actually pretty much wrote two of the attacks for me I just transferred it to my story with enough changes for it to make sense and feel like I wrote it. Also all her support was great as well. I Love you Hun

Okay well hoped you liked it. See you next chapter. Remember every review helps .