A/N: Before we begin, I just wanted to say that I am so, so sorry for the late update. I don't want to bore you with a long A/N, but so I saved that for the end of the chapter along with some other things.

For now though, let's read on people …

DISCLAIMER: I SUCK AT ENGLISH! No, really. I'm just trying my luck out here man. I mean, I need all the practice I can get because it is not my home language.

(Ha! You thought I was gonna do a "I don't own Naruto" disclaimer)

SUCKER!

CHAPTER FOUR: Continued Surprises

When Naruto returned to the competitors booth, the first thing he found was every bodies eyes on him. Why were they all looking at him? This question reverberated throughout his head as he looked at all the competitors that looked at him with varying looks.

'Crap, did I overdo it? I promised myself not to overdo it!' Naruto silently panicked, but his outer appearance was that of a calm individual.

"Uh … sup guys." he said anxiously, waving his hand at them all.

Shikamaru looked at him like he normally did, with boredom. Anyone that gazed into his eyes could tell you that much. Only a select few, however, could go beyond that, and they could read his mind. Unfortunately none of those were around, so he seemed like a bored individual to everyone around him that actually bothered to give two shits in his general direction, which was only Naruto.

'When did Naruto become so strong? from his posture alone, it would seem as if he barely expended any energy in his last fight.' the Nara heir quietly contemplated.

While Shikamaru quietly assessed Naruto, the only other blonde in this exam looked at the blonde boy with a bit of curiosity in her eyes. She was wondering something along the lines of Shikamaru as well, as she had seen his fight in the chūnin preliminary exams, and he did seem the tiniest bit impressive. Now though, now it was a totally different ball game.

Naruto looked around and saw that while most looked impressed with him, they also looked weary. Like that Temari girl from Suna and her brother Kankuro. Shino... well he was Shino, which meant a total unreadability to him. He may have become a conjoined human, on a spiritual level, but he was still trying to come to terms with that properly. So whatever body-language reading abilities his past self contained, it was all stored within his subconscious. He could not really draw on it … yet.

One look though, stood out to him in particular, and it came from the boy that pretty much crushed Rock Lee's career in one move. The red haired demon in kid-flesh known as Gaara. Looking at the boy would have sent a chill down his spine before, just like when they met at the hospital, but now he was different. Seeing the blood lust that practically rolled of the boy in droves made Naruto look at him a bit closer than he normally would have.

"You … you want to kill me, don't ya?" Naruto asked out of nowhere, eliciting a gasp out of Kankuro and a mere body twitch from Temari.

Gaara simply looked more crazed than before, before he answered the blonde chillingly, "Kill is such an understatement."

Naruto's passive-aggressive nature with his past self was on full display for him to see. He could get a reading on blood lust before the merger, anyone called a ninja could, really. Now though, he could tell the differences in blood lust with ease as he looked at Gaara. While the boy was indeed frightening, there was another, more underlying blood lust that Naruto sensed. One that reminded him of the Kyūbi- Kurama.

"I guess you're right if Shukaku is involved." Naruto said offhandedly, and for the first time since he had ever spoken to Gaara, he made the red head uneasy. This was evidenced by the slip of the maniacal grin Gaara had.

Naruto's past self had dealt with Shukaku before. The tanuki may not have been evil back then, but he was a bit of a nut. Naruto was able to discern Gaara as a jinchuriki of Shukaku because of the simple fact that he had blood lust rolling off of him that was similar to that of Kurama. Bijū may be different in personality, elemental affinities and whatever the heck else it was that made them different, but their core chakra was still the same whenever it came to blood lust. After all, they ere all derived from the same thing.

Before Gaara could even ask Naruto how he knew of Shukaku, the blonde had already gone off to stand next the lazy Nara. Temari, who had been oddly impressed by the shinobi-that-wins-bouts-with-a-fart, was now completely scared of him. Why? He somehow knew about Gaara being a Jinchuriki and casually dismissed him like he was nothing to worry about. No one, not even their own father had ever done that. Looking over at Kankuro, she could tell he felt the same fear that she felt for the blonde kid.

This also, inadvertently raised another question for them … did Konoha know?

"So, who's next?" Naruto asked Shikamaru as soon as he reached him.

As if the question was heard by more than just Shikamaru, it was coincidentally answered by Genma, who was at the centre of the arena, "The next match is of Uchiha Sasuke, and Sabaku no Gaara."

Gaara, as if he had been waiting to hear his name, turned his lower body into sand, which drifted towards to the stadium's arena, before the rest of his body followed suit. Before he completely disintegrated, however, he looked in Naruto's general vicinity and said, "First I'll go for Sasuke... then you're next."

As soon as Gaara's sand had left the competitors booth and coalesced back into Gaara in the arena, Shikamaru was the first to speak for everyone that was there, "Wow … you sure know how to pick 'em."

And pick 'em he did, the other competitors silently agreed. First it was Neji, now it's Gaara. What's next, the Kyūbi?

Kage Booth

Predator. That was a word that was used a lot when it came to describing Orochimaru of the Sannin. A predator was something he took great pleasure in being simply because he believed it allowed him to surpass all adversaries that were put before him. Like any good predator, he knew how to bide his time whenever he wanted something, and he had waited an awfully long time to get to where he was right now. Sitting next to the Sandaime Hokage, getting ready to see what his next prospective prey had for him.

His team mate, someone Orochimaru had admittedly overlooked, had done things that not even he had been able to do with Doton. In fact, he doubted that even the Tsuchikage, the current greatest Doton jutsu user alive, could actually do what Naruto did. The small movements with his feet, allowing him to manipulate the earth on a near telepathic level, surprised Orochimaru greatly. So much so that he had placed the boy high up on his list of possible problems for the future.

Which meant that he had to get rid if him as soon as possible.

"We finally get to see your son in action again, Kazekage-dono." the Sandaime Hokage spoke up from Orochimaru's left, dragging the man back from his thoughts, and making him concentrate on the arena, where his current flesh bag's son was standing impatiently waiting for his opponent.

"Yes … but it would seem as if Gaara's opponent is not here yet." the Kazekage's voice spoke in place of Orochimaru's.

"Yes, that is a problem." the Sandaime said, quickly coming to the realisation that Kakashi had transferred his tardiness to Sasuke, "I'm afraid I might have to-"

Whatever the Sandaime was about to say died in his throat because of what happened next.

Arena

Genma had been silently looking up at the Hokage, pretty sure about what his leader was going to decide with regards to Uchiha Sasuke's fate because the boy was running late. By his estimations, the boy was nearly three minutes late for his match, and he had turned to his fearless leader to confirm what he thought was going to happen. Sasuke was going to get disqualified. Those were the rules after all. If you're late, fuck off!

Then everything changed after that thought. It started out with a simple electrifying of the air, something only shinobi of a particular calibre could catch on to. He was one of those shinobi. It was just a small zap of power in the air. What followed this zap was a pillar of light that blinded everyone that was in the stadium. Genma was pretty sure that all of Konoha had seen this light as well.

Then there was a streak of lightning that fell into the arena. The lightning was so bright that no one could see anything after it hit the arena. They could, however, make out the thunderous boom that usually accompanied lightning a few seconds later.

"What the-" Genma began, as he shielded his eyes and tried to make out what was happening. When the lightning's bright light finally died out, the entire shinobi world bore witness to history in the making.

Uchiha Sasuke stood smack-dab at the centre of the arena, wearing a pair of high-collared, light-coloured kimono top held closed by a dark sash. The collar of the kimono was adorned with the tomoe of the Sharingan. He wore a black full-bodied suit underneath. The thing that truly stood out with Sasuke was the sword he sported on his back, which had the shape of a ninjatō, but was actually bigger in terms of width. All in all, Sasuke looked extremely … different.

And in a tournament such as this, where the stakes are always high, different can sometimes be the deciding factor in whether you excel or fail.

Standing next to Sasuke was Hatake Kakashi in his usual attire. The people of the stadium did not really care about him though, all of them had their eyes glued on Sasuke. Kakashi might as well have been invisible to the people that were present. He could have snuck up on each and every single one of them and snatched all of their valuables and they would have been none the wiser about it. All they cared about currently was his student.

With Sakura

Sakura had stars in her eyes the moment she saw that Sasuke had appeared in the arena. To her, he looked beyond perfect. He looked like he came here to crush everything and everyone. He was strength personified. Ino had similar thoughts as well, as she joined Sakura in her star struck, and slightly drooling, state.

The two girls were not the only ones that had those thoughts as well, most of the stadium did, minus the drool. They seemed to be in awe over the power and confidence that Sasuke was exuding as he stood in the arena, next to his sensei.

With the Jonin

"Whoa, is that Sasuke?" Kurenai asked rhetorically, looking at the boy in awe. She, along with her fellow jonin, were impressed by the Sasuke that they saw before them.

"I think it is …" another Jonin, who wore the usual shinobi attire of a Konoha shinobi, with the addition of a pair of red trimmed sunglasses, answered her slightly rhetorical question.

Kurenai almost felt the need to make Aoba notice that he answered a rhetorical question. Almost being the operative term. She chose not to do it because she, just like he and every other Jonin, was just transfixed on Sasuke.

Kage Booth

With the two present Kage, they too were impressed with the power that Sasuke exuded, the Kazekage more than the Hokage. Orochimaru was looking at Sasuke with a look that mirrored almost everybody's. He was in awe, and internally he might as well have done the chicken dance or something else that was equally ridiculous, because he knew at that moment that he had found it.

He had found the perfect vessel.

In the Contestants Booth

"What?" Naruto said, stupefied by what he was looking at. While everyone was looking at Sasuke in awe, he looked at Sasuke with something akin to fear.

Why fear?

Because he had seen this before. He had seen the look that Sasuke sported. He had felt the power that he exuded before, and it wasn't a happy memory for him.

'Please don't let this be what I think it is.' Naruto silently prayed as he looked at Sasuke's back, which sported the Uchiha clan's crest on it along with the magatama.

As if by some trick that fate conjured up just to fuck with Naruto after so much good fortune for the past month, Sasuke turned around and stared directly at him. He stared at him with a pair of fully matured Sharingan. Sharingan that held zero empathy in them. Sharingan he had seen before. And they had belonged on the face of the same person that could charm people with nothing but his mere presence.

'Oh my …' those thoughts rang out in Naruto's head.

Sasuke silently looked up at him for the longest of moments, making the tension between them more palpable than an active volcano that's waiting to burst. It was as if the sun and the moon were having a stare down, and the moon was winning.

After these long and very tense moments, Sasuke finally spoke to Naruto, but it was in such a low voice that a lot of people, the Kage included, could not hear, but they could read the boy's lips, so they saw what he was saying. To Naruto, he might as well have screamed those words to him because they rung throughout his body, confirming his greatest fear right now.

"Hello, Otouto."

To be continued

Holy shit! What the fuck do we have here, huh? Sasuke just goes all Storm-like and drops out of the sky in a lightning bolt. A lightning bolt. Since when has he been able to do that, huh?

Also, what the fuck is going on? Why did Naruto fear him all of a sudden? And what's up with the whole "nii-san" thing? So many questions … we're gonna have to wait until the next chapter for the answer to them, and hopefully not have a few more raised along the way, huh.

I just wanted to once again apologise for the shortness of this chapter as well as the lateness of it all. A combination of lethargy and more lethargy just kept it from being posted. Also, I finally have a solid plot for this story now. It isn't some blind run story now, which is cool.

Anyway, depending on the reviews and likes for the story, I might post a 10K chapter next week … remember, that's all dependant on your responses people. So get the word out about this story.(Is a hundred reviews wishful thinking?)

Oh, on a side note, I wanted to know who reads comic books over here, specifically the current Thor comic book, The Mighty Thor? PM if you do because I'm dying to talk to someone about it and a whole lot more when it comes to comic books.

Finally, in the words of … whoever came up with this:

I'm out!