'Thoughts'
"Technique/Demon/Bijuu" Talk
"Demon/Bijuu" Talk from inside
'Technique in head/Demon/Bijuu'Thoughts
Reviews
Re Lovely Lover:
1. This will be explained later, not in this chapter though.
2. You're right about that, I don't know how, but I forgot that walking on walls was a thing.
3. That is true.
Autobot-Wolfsketch: I'm glad you liked the chapter!
Imperial-samaB: Just you wait.
Majestic Yo-kai Fauntleroy: Sorta. And yeah, that's true.
biginferno: It does seem so. Also that wasn't my intention with Sakura and Akame lol. Orange is a bold color.
NinjaFang1331: You are welcome! And no, Shisu's the only one that will most likely join.
dragonslayerajahn: Konan was doing it all for peace. Her and Nagato didn't see any other effective way other than to suppress everyone and keep them all in check through fear. I understand why you don't like Karin. Her feelings for Sasuke don't make sense, at least to me. And yeah, Kaguya did appear out of nowhere, but hey, sexy bunny goddess.
dragun95: Thanks for the concern, but I just started reducing the harem little by little, so don't worry too much about that. And I'll try my best to not have any stale female characters in the harem.
In the harem
Fem!Haku, Hinata, Kin, Temari, Yugao
Harem currently
Amaru, Ameyuri, Anko, Ayame, Fubuki, Fuu, Fuka, Guren, Hana, Hanabi, Hotaru, Ino, Karin, Karui, Kaguya, Kirai, Konan, Kotohime, Koyuki, Fem!Kurama, Kurenai, Kurotsutchi, Mabui, Matsuri, Mei, Mikoto, Moegi, Natsu, Pakura, Rin, Ryuzetsu, Sakura, Samui, Sara, Sasame, Shizuka, Shizune, Shion, Tayuya, Tenten, Tsume, Tsunade, Tsunami, Yakumo/Ido, Yugito/Nibi, Yukata
Girls being removed
Isaribi: After thinking about it, I don't really want her to be in the harem.
Mito: Same reason as Isaribi.
Natsuhi: Same reason as Isaribi.
Chapter 21: Exams VII
Pakura sat on a chair and watched the Konoha genin start unpacking his things. She had a worried expression on her face the longer she watched Naruto.
'Why is a genin here wanting to defend the village…? Is the current Hokage stupid? A kid can't go up against Orochimaru… and four elite jounin, that's crazy! And what is Lord Rasa thinking letting him stay here?! Is he trying to get the kid killed?!' Pakura thought concernedly. 'Well… guess I'll just have to protect him. Can't have a Konoha genin die in Suna territory… that'd be troublesome to deal with.'
Naruto cracked his neck after finishing his unpacking. He whirled around and faced Pakura.
"Alright! I'm done packing, what's on the to-do list?" Naruto asked the jounin.
She flinched before looking up at Naruto. "Oh! Uh… I can take you on a tour throughout Suna and show you around the village."
"Sounds like a plan!" Naruto agreed with a thumbs up.
The two shinobi left the Kazekage building and began their walk around the village. Naruto put his hands behind his head as he looked around and noticed all of the weird looks he was getting from the civilians.
"I'm assuming Suna and Konoha aren't on good terms?" Naruto guessed.
"Well, considering that we're going to destroy you guys, I'd say no. But hopefully after we fend off Orochimaru, we'll be allies," Pakura responded.
"That's another reason for me to try my hardest," Naruto mumbled.
Pakura looked at the blonde boy with a worried look. 'He knows who Orochimaru is… and he's not scared of him? What's up with this kid?'
"So, where're we going first, Pakura?" Naruto wondered as he smiled at her.
"First I want to announce something to the civilians, then we can get something to eat," Pakura responded.
"Sounds good to me!" Pakura led Naruto to what he presumed was the center of the village. Once she looked around, she grabbed Naruto's hand and suddenly, a small tornado of wind formed below them, lifting them up in the air a little bit.
"Oh wow, this is a cool trick," Naruto commented.
"It helps when you're trying to grab people's attention," the mixed-haired woman stated with a small shrug. She looked towards the civilians that started gathering.
"Citizens of Suna!" She addressed everyone. "You all already know me! I am Pakura, the Hero of Sunagakure! I just wanted to let you all know that this young Konoha genin is harmless! He is here by Lord Rasa's orders, so please, treat him with respect and he will do the same! That is all!"
After Pakura's announcement, the tornado slowly died down and the two walked away.
"You're called the Hero of Sunagakure?" Naruto asked.
"Yes. I stopped Iwagakure from attacking Suna during the Third Shinobi World War," Pakura responded.
"Really? That's awesome! You must be really strong then!" Naruto commented with a grin.
"I am a jounin for a reason, Naruto," the Suna kunoichi pointed out with a smirk. Naruto chuckled. "But, something's been bothering me…"
"Hm? What's up?" Naruto wondered.
"Why did the Hokage send a kid to help defend Suna? A squad of jonin or Anbu would've been better than sending you," Pakura pointed out. "No offense, but…"
"Yeah, I understand, but at the same time, I was the only trusted person Temari could've told this information to. If we never talked, the village would've been destroyed and Lord Rasa would be dead," Naruto stated. "I think it was luck that Temari found something to care about in Konoha. Otherwise… you know."
"Mm… I mean, I understand it… but I dunno about having a kid here taking on such a big task… it feels wrong," Pakura voiced her thoughts.
"I understand. It seems like the Sandaime has lost his marbles or somethin', but Gramps has faith in me, and I ain't lettin' him down no matter what," Naruto stated with a determined smile.
Pakura looked at Naruto and couldn't help but smile back. 'The kid sure is determined… but it's still Orochimaru we're up against…' "That's admirable, Naruto… Wait, Gramps? Is the Sandaime your grandfather?"
"Adoptive grandfather, but still grandfather no less. Both of my parents died when I was born," Naruto corrected.
"Really? Both of mine died when I was born as well," Pakura said.
Naruto's eyes slightly widened. "How so?"
"During the Second Shinobi World War," Pakura responded. "Iwa shinobi killed them not long after I was born."
"Did you hate Iwa after they killed your parents?" Naruto asked.
"I was practically conditioned into hating them, but my hate was also fueled by learning who they died to, so yeah, I did hate Iwa," Pakura answered. "I trained my ass off trying to become the best kunoichi there was. And thanks to my Kekkei Genkai I was able to achieve it faster. I believe I graduated at the age of ten."
"You have a Kekkei Genkai? What is it?" Naruto asked, his interest being piqued.
Pakura smirked. "Scorch Release." She raised her hand and a small ball of yellow, intense heat formed, resembling a small sun. "It's a combination of Fire Release and Wind Release."
"Holy hell that's hot!" Naruto commented as he shielded his face with his arm.
Pakura chuckled and closed her palm, dissipating the small sun. "Yeah, and it's really dangerous too. It evaporates all of the water in your body, so it's advised to not get hit by it."
"That sounds really scary," Naruto pointed out.
"That's cause it is. There isn't really a way to make it non-lethal, so just be careful, I could accidentally kill you."
"Noted."
The two shinobi walked around Suna with Pakura pointing towards important buildings. They eventually found a restaurant and they both walked inside. The restaurant looked different from the ones Naruto's been to. Instead of booths, there were secluded sections where people sat on carpets and rugs.
Pakura looked at Naruto and smiled at his astonished face. "This is a traditional restaurant called Chuto. Our people used to eat like this back when the Shodai Kazekage was alive."
"That's so cool…" Naruto replied as he looked around.
"Come on, let's find a spot. There aren't many here," Pakura said as she began walking to a spot. The whiskered blonde shook his head and followed the jounin to a secluded section and sat down. Once Pakura got comfortable, she raised her hand. Naruto looked at her in confusion.
"The servers here don't really know who recently came in and who left, so we raise our hands if we need something," the jounin explained.
"Ohh," Naruto commented. A server soon came to their spot with a notepad and pen.
"Hello, how may I—Pakura?! Hero of Sunagakure?!" The server recognized as he jumped back.
The woman rolled her eyes and groaned. "Yeah, that's me…"
"Did someone say Pakura?!" A man questioned as he jolted up and started looking around. She groaned even more as she slid down to hide her hair from sight.
"Where?! Where is she?!" A woman asked as she shot up. Pakura quickly made the Dog Boar Ram hand seals and in a puff of smoke, she transformed into a different person. Pakura now had orange hair styled into two buns, green eyes, and a basic white shirt with blue shorts and sandals. The disguised Pakura glared at the server.
"O-Oh, s-sorry… it's just that you caught me off guard… w-we didn't expect for you to be here today," the server apologized and bowed. "If we knew you were coming, we would've prepared a private booth for you."
"That's exactly what I don't want. It would just attract even more attention," Pakura said with a sigh.
"O-Oh, okay… um… what would you like?" The server asked. Naruto and Pakura both looked down at the menu and found the drinks.
"Water for me," Naruto replied. The server stared at him for a second before nodding and writing it down.
"Sake please," Pakura answered. The server wrote it down and bowed. "I'll be back shortly."
The two waited for the server to be out of earshot before Pakura turned around and looked at Naruto. "Aren't you well-known throughout Suna? Why are people so surprised to see you?" Naruto wondered as he tilted his head.
"There are always a couple people who aren't used to my presence and freak out when I'm nearby… That's what happens when you're popular in a large village."
'Gramps and Dad must've had a lot of attention when they became Hokage,' the blonde thought.
"Well, now you know how my parents died. What about yours?"
"Kyuubi attack," Naruto replied.
Pakura's eyes widened. "Oh no. I'm sorry to hear that. Who'd they seal the Kyuubi into?"
Naruto smirked. "It's no problem. And they sealed it into me."
"W-Wait, huh?!" Pakura questioned. "They… they sealed it into you?!"
"Yup."
"So then…"
"Yep. You're lookin' at the Kyuubi's current Jinchuuriki," Naruto confirmed with a grin.
"Wow… I didn't expect to meet the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki just like that…" Pakura whispered as she looked off to the side.
"I expected you to be more surprised that they sealed a Jinchuuriki into a baby than meeting him."
"We did the same thing to Gaara, that's why I'm not surprised at that part," Pakura said as she looked back at Naruto.
Now it was Naruto's turn to be surprised. "They did that to Gaara?"
"Yep, except Gaara wasn't born yet," the disguised kunoichi confirmed.
"I… didn't know that was possible," Naruto commented.
"The more you know. You can seal a Bijuu inside of a baby before they're born." The server came back with their drinks and set them on the table.
"Are you two ready to order yet?"
"Nah, give us some more time," Pakura replied. The server nodded and walked away. "So who sealed the Kyuubi in you?"
"My parents did. My dad was very good at fuinjutsu, the only hard part was sealing the Bijuu while having a claw through his stomach," Naruto responded.
"I couldn't even imagine how painful that'd be."
"Me neither, but the man pulled it off."
"How is having a Bijuu inside of you? Does it suck?"
"Only if you two don't get along, otherwise, it's pretty nice having someone else you can talk to and call a friend," Naruto responded. "Though, if other people know, they'll treat you like shit."
"Ah, I've seen it happen before to Gaara. No one wanted to play with him cause they were scared that he might kill them. The parents kept their kids away from him and hid when he was near. I think Gaara's Bijuu is working against him. At night, he'd be roaming the streets like a feral animal, looking for something to kill. Some events happened and now he's cold as stone. He used to be such a sweet kid too," Pakura told before taking a sip of her sake.
"Mm…" Naruto hummed, taking a sip of his water.
"I guess that there's pros and cons of having a Bijuu inside of you," the Suna kunoichi said.
"Yeah, but I'm lucky I got a lotta pros with mine," Naruto said as he pointed at himself.
"How'd you deal with it?"
Naruto sighed. "By trying to survive the best I could. It was a struggle when the adults tried to kill me."
"Adults were trying to kill you?!"
"Yeah. I think it's cause the Kyuubi killed their loved ones, so they're trying to get revenge. The kids? They didn't know that I had the Kyuubi. All they knew was that I was a loner, so there must've been something wrong with me," Naruto answered, taking another sip of water.
"Wow, that sucks. I'm sorry to hear that, Naruto. No one should have to go through what you have, even if they're a Jinchuuriki…" Pakura stated with the shake of her head.
"Thanks, Pakura, that means a lot," Naruto said with a smile. She smiled back and the two of them began conversing about random things. After about ten minutes of friendly chatter, they ordered their food and ate it. Naruto loved the food the traditional Suna restaurant cooked and would have rated it as high as ramen, but nothing is better than ramen.
Once Pakura paid for the two of them and they left, they continued their tour of Sunagakure.
"Your favorite color's purple? Honestly, I expected something like gray or green," Naruto stated.
"Something wrong with it being purple?" Pakura asked, a hint of venom in her voice.
Naruto wailed his arms in front of himself. "No no, I just didn't expect it, is all!"
Pakura giggled. "I'm just messin' with ya!"
Naruto put his arms down and glared at her. Pakura stopped giggling once she saw a doll standing in their way. Naruto looked at the doll and raised an eyebrow. The doll was white with red lipstick and black messy hair. The doll was wearing a red kimono with a purple obi wrapped around the chest area.
"Uh… Pakura? I don't think dolls are just randomly left on the street," Naruto pointed out.
Pakura sighed. "That's because this isn't random…"
"Aw… you're such a good girl for finding me cute prey!" A voice spoke. Naruto looked around to find whose voice that was, but didn't see them anywhere. Suddenly, a girl came running towards the doll and picked it up, hugging it closely. The girl had light blue hair in two ponytails with bangs framing both of her cheeks. She had yellow eyes with red pigment around her eyes and light purple lipstick. She was also wearing the same kimono as her puppet except it was loosely fitted and noticeably shorter.
Naruto looked at the light bluenette in confusion. "Who're you?" 'And was she referring to me as prey?'
"I am Lady Saya, and you will address me as such!" The girl introduced herself.
'Oh boy, she's crazy…' Naruto noted. Two more people appeared behind her. A girl with long, light purple hair tied in a braid and grey eyes. She was wearing a lime t-shirt with light brown pants and sandals. The other one was a boy with short, black spiky hair and noticeable bulging black eyes. He had a red bandana around his mouth and was wearing a black muscle shirt with long arm sleeves and brown pants.
Naruto looked at all three of them before turning to Pakura. "What the hell is she doing?"
The woman sighed. "Saya—" the girl cleared her throat loudly, "—sorry, Lady Saya does this thing where if she finds someone cute she'll try and take it for herself."
"Yes! And you, blondie, are cute enough to be my doll!" Saya announced.
"I'd be flattered if you didn't put it in such a creepy way," Naruto said.
"Are you denying me of what I want?!" Saya questioned, her face turning into a scowl.
"At least take me out first. I'm not an object, ya know," Naruto responded as he crossed his arms.
"Don't be rude to Elder Sister! She could curse you at any time she wants!" The purplette warned with a stern glare.
"Yeah, Lady Saya deserves respect! If you disrespect her any further, I'll hurt you!" The boy added.
"If she wants respect she can earn it. Demanding it isn't how you get it," Naruto stated as he put his hands on his hips. He looked at Saya and saw the girl was pouting. Pakura looked away with a hand on her face. She didn't want to deal with this right now.
"Can you kids hurry it up? I have to do something with blondie here," Pakura asked.
"Fine! Since you won't submit, I'll make you!" Saya declared. "Go get her, girl!"
"Wait, Saya don't—!" The warning fell on deaf ears as the light bluenette threw her doll at Naruto. The boy was caught off guard by the move and was about to swat it away when the doll jerked midair and dodged his hand. The doll snatche da piece of his hair and circled around back to Saya. The girl was smirking as she closed one of her eyes and put her fingers together in a square. She put it over her eye and looked at Naruto.
"Puppet Imitation Technique!" Naruto flinched as his eyes went wide. Saya smirked. "Gotcha!"
The light bluenette stood over Naruto's body and looked down at him with a cocky smirk. She lost the smirk when she realized she was standing in water.
"Ew. The other people I did this to didn't have such gross water… so why does he?" She asked herself as she looked around.
"Yo, girl," a voice called out to Saya. She whipped around and saw a woman sitting down on an elevated surface. She couldn't tell because of how dark it was. The woman had short black hair with red eyes and white pupils. There were black rings around her eyes and streaks that connected the rings to her body.
"Who are you and how are you in here? Only I should be in here!" Saya stated as she stomped her foot.
The woman smirked before laughing. "HA! Brat, I've been here since this kid was born."
"Huh? That doesn't make any sense!" Saya called out as she pointed at the woman.
"Tell me, do you know what a Bijuu is?"
"Um… yes…"
"Have you seen one before?"
"Y-Yes… the-the Ichibi… that was really scary…" Saya responded as she slightly shivered.
"Well then… today's your lucky day…" After the woman finished saying that, she suddenly rose higher in the air, making Saya have to crane her neck to look up at her. "… Because you get to meet the Kyuubi."
Suddenly, the area was filled with light and the light bluenette had to cover her eyes. When she rubbed them and looked back up at the woman again, she wished she kept them closed.
The girl's eyes widened fully and her mouth fell open as the Kyuubi was looking straight down at her. The girl was frozen in place as her legs shook. She tried backing up, but was rooted to the water in fear.
"Hey, lemme ask you somethin'," the woman said. Knowing that Saya couldn't respond, she continued. "What did you wanna do with my host's body?"
The bluenette tried to formulate words, but nothing was coming out of her mouth.
"Reminder: if you don't answer, the Kyuubi here will eat ya up!" For emphasis, Kurama bared his teeth and lowly growled. Saya started hyperventilating and turned around to hopefully run away, but was caught in the embrace of Naruto. The girl shut her eyes as Naruto spun around to where his back was facing Kurama and Kirai.
"I-I-I…" Saya sputtered.
"Calm down, they won't hurt you," Naruto whispered, drawing a circle apon her back.
"B-But t-that's—"
"The Kyuubi? Yeah, I know. Me and him are best friends. If he hurts you, I hurt him," Naruto said. Kurama deadpanned behind him.
Saya took deep breaths as she tried to calm down. "And-and what about… the woman…?"
"She's just a parasite. All bark no bite," Naruto insulted as he smirked.
"I'm RIGHT HERE!" She shouted.
"B-But… t-they're scary…"
"They may seem scary, but the more time you spend with them, the less you'll think that they're scary," the blonde said. After a few moments, the girl calmed down.
"I-I'm… s-sorry for trying to take you…" Saya quietly apologized, hiding her face in his chest.
"You didn't hurt me, so no harm done. Only do it if you're in a fight with someone, not for menial things like this," Naruto advised. "Oh, and thanks for the compliment! You're cute yourself."
Saya squeaked as she jumped slightly. Naruto couldn't see it, but the light bluenette was blushing.
"Are you two done now? There's no point in having her here if you're gonna be standing like morons," Kirai pointed out.
Naruto rolled his eyes. "She does have a point though. Cancel your technique so we can get outta here."
Saya muttered an okay and she disappeared.
Once the technique was cancelled, the bluenette quickly put her hands down and grabbed her puppet from the air before hiding her face with it.
Naruto blinked twice and shook his head. "Am I gonna have to start getting used to being possessed?"
Pakura looked at Naruto and the shy Saya then developed a confused expression on her face. 'How did he… what the hell did he do to make Saya stop her technique?'
"Hey, Pakura, you said you had to do something with me? We should probably do it," Naruto brought up.
"Right, yeah, let's do that," the Suna kunoichi agreed with a head nod. Naruto walked ahead of Oakura and stopped in front of Saya.
"Hey, Saya." The girl peeked an eye open and hummed. The blonde put his hand on her head and rubbed. "See ya later!" Naruto continued forward with a confused Pakura while Sana and Mamushi watched them go. Once the two turned a corner, they looked back at Saya.
"Um… Elder Sister…? What happened?" Sana asked. Saya responded by grunting. "You're not gonna tell us, are you?" Saya grunted again and Sana sighed. "Alright, whatever, let's go."
"So, where are we going now?" Naruto wondered.
"To see my student," Pakura replied.
"You have a student?"
"Is everything about me going to be questionable to you?" Pakura asked as she deadpanned at Naruto.
The whiskered blonde chuckled. "I dunno, maybe."
Pakura rolled her eyes. "Yes, I have a student."
"Huh, I should be calling you sensei then," Naruto said.
The Suna kunoichi's eyebrows furrowed as she turned to Naruto. "Are you calling me old?"
Naruto looked at her and shrugged, sticking his tongue out and looking off to the side.
"You asshole!"
Five days had passed by and the Naruto back in Konoha was standing in the preliminary arena with the other participants. He was slightly pissed at everything going on behind the scenes. In front of him on a small stage were the jounin leaders as well as Anko and the Sandaime Hokage.
"First of all: congrats on finishing the second part of the Chuunin Exams!" Anko congratulated the genin. 'I expected this lot to be in the single digits. Guess things are starting to change starting with this generation of ninja. Especially since Naruto's here, bustin' his ass for a job not meant for him,' Anko thought.
Shikamaru looked around and sighed. "Kami damnit… so many people passed… this is such a drag…"
"Yeah… this is worrying," Choji agreed. "And I'm hungry too…"
"I see your team didn't do too bad, Kakashi. They must've gotten real lucky. Of course with my team still around, your team is doomed for failure. After all, what matters on the next test is ability and we've got you far outclassed," Might Guy bragged as he looked down with a cocky smile. "Well, I guess a part of growing up is learning to deal with heartbreak, eh, Kakashi?"
"Sorry, were you talking to me?" Kakashi asked as he turned towards Guy. The jounin leader let out a comedic scream as he held his head as if he were having a crisis. Might Guy turned around and began monologuing when Kakashi turned back around.
"Alright now pay attention, Lord Hokage is going to explain the third exam to you! Listen up, brats!" The purple-haired jounin announced. "Lord Hokage, it's all yours."
The Hokage nodded and began explaining the third part of the exams and how they'd work. If anyone had any questions, he'd answer them as well as explain what the true purpose of these exams were.
After he was done explaining, Hayate Gekko offered to explain the last part. He told all of the genin about the preliminaries and why they were having them.
"… So if there are any of you who feel you're not in top physical condition, now's your chance to—" he started coughing for a bit, "—sorry about that. As I was saying, any of you who don't feel up to this, now's the time for you to bow out. The preliminaries will be starting immediately," Hayate announced.
"What?! We're gonna be starting right now?!" Shikamaru questioned, unbelieving of what he heard.
"We just finished barely surviving the last exam… don't we get a break?" Ino complained.
"Oh yeah… uh… the winners will be determined by one-on-one combat sudden death. Like I said: anyone who doesn't feel up to this, now's the time to raise your hand," Hayate added.
'Tch, does he really think anyone's gonna quit—' Sasuke made a muffled pained sound as he clenched his left shoulder. Sakura looked at his back with narrowed eyes. Naruto looked over his shoulder at Sasuke, his slit pupils glaring at the Uchiha.
"You should get that checked out, Sasuke. Seems painful," Naruto pointed out.
The Uchiha looked up at him and glared. "Shut up, Naruto! Keep your eyes up front!"
"Heh, okay, ya got me, I'm out," Kabuto stated, causing everyone to turn their focus onto him.
Hayate flipped through some papers and coughed slightly. "Kabuto Yakushi of Konohagakure, right? Okay, you can go on and step back."
"Gotcha," Kabuto complied as he turned around and started leaving.
Orochimaru watched as Kabuto walked towards the doors, a bad feeling in his stomach.
'Something's not right here…' He thought as his eyes narrowed.
Naruto smirked as Kabuto took another step then froze instantly.
"W-Wha…?" The white-haired man asked as he looked down to see a dark blue circle appear with seals on it.
"Kabuto Yakushi of Konohagakure? No, that doesn't sound right. I think Kabuto Yakushi, Orochimaru's trusted spy and assistant works much better," Naruto spoke, causing most of the people in the room's eyes widen. Kabuto looked back and saw Naruto's grin.
Before he could do anything, four Anbu shinobi surrounded him.
"Kabuto Yakushi, you are under arrest for conspiring with Orochimaru, trying to destroy Konohagakure, leaking information, and other things. You're coming with us," an Anbu with long, purple hair spoke as she placed a sealing tag on his back. The tag activated and sunk into his back. Kabuto felt almost all of his chakra disappear, and couldn't even feel the remaining bits of it left.
Because of the sudden shift in having little bits of chakra left, the man was knocked unconscious and the seal below him disappeared. The purple-haired woman grabbed Kabuto and placed him over her shoulder before looking at the Hokage and nodding. The four Anbu shinobi made the Tiger hand seal and flickered away.
Orochimaru didn't show it, but he was confused and angry. 'How the hell did they find out about Kabuto?! None of them could have known he was a spy, and if they did, they were quickly dealt with!' His eyes then landed on Naruto. 'I may have to switch my plans and either kill him, make him mine, or take over his body… he's too strong and too smart to be alive.'
"Naruto, what the hell was that?!" Ino whispered. Naruto turned to her and shrugged.
"I'll tell you after," Naruto responded.
"Uh… okay, now that that's over, anyone else wanna quit?" Hayate asked as he looked at the genin. After seeing no one else falter, he nodded. "Alright then, we'll now begin the preliminary round. This round will consist of one-on-one individual combat at full battle intensity. This is not an exercise. There are twenty-six of you remaining, so that means we'll need thirteen matches. The surviving candidates will advance to the third exam. As for the rules: there are none. You fight until one dies or concedes defeat, or are physically incapable of continuing the contest. Naturally, those who are losing are urged to concede defeat promptly to avoid a fatal outcome. Furthermore, as proctor I'm given a certain amount of leeway in judging the matches. I might occasionally intervene if a match seems hopeless to save as many lives as possible. Now, it's time to reveal what fate has been chosen for you."
"Open the panel," Anko said in her mic. Everyone looked to the back wall and saw a panel start opening up to reveal a black screen.
"The names of each pair of opponents are chosen completely at random. Before each match, these names will appear on the display behind me. As there's nothing more to say, let's begin. At this moment, the names of the first two opponents will appear," Hayate finished. Everyone looked at the blank screen in anticipation.
The screen quickly flashed yellow and all of the genin's names started flashing on the screen.
Naruto Uzumaki
vs.
Kiba Inuzuka
"Alright, those whose names are on the board come forward," Hayate told. Naruto and Kiba both walked up to Hayate. Once they were in front of him, they turned around and faced each other. "You have been chosen for the first match. Naruto Uzumaki, Kiba Inuzuka. Any objections?"
"None from me," Kiba said with a cocky smirk.
"Nope," Naruto replied.
"Okay, everyone other than Naruto and Kiba must clear the area to the upper level," Hayate instructed. Sakura looked around at the genin and noted both Kin and Temari's worried faces. She followed their gaze and it was on Naruto.
'Something's wrong with Naruto… and it seems like only Kin and Temari know… I'll have to ask them about it later,' Sakura told herself as she walked away from the duo to the other side. Once everyone was on the two catwalks, Sakura made her way over to Hinata.
"Hey, Hinata!" Sakura whispered to the bluenette. She perked up and turned to where she assumed Sakura was.
"Oh, hello, Sakura," she greeted.
"Hey. How are your eyes?" The pinkette asked.
"They're not hurting anymore. I can take off these bandages, but I'll keep them on for now," Hinata responded.
"That's at least good. Have you noticed something different about Naruto? Kin and Temari have and it seems like it's something serious."
"Yes. I've noticed that he seems to be more angry than usual," Hinata noted.
"What do you think happened? I didn't notice anything bad happening for him to be angry."
"It must've been when Kin and Temari talked to him in private," Hinata remembered.
"I see…"
"Alright, if both opponents are ready, let the fight… begin."
"Heh, I've been waiting to fight you for awhile now, Naruto," Kiba said as Akamaru hopped out of his jacket. "I can't wait to beat that smug look off of your face when I kick your ass."
"So annoying…" Naruto said as he picked his ear.
"Kurenai, I'm sorry in advance for Kiba," Kakashi apologized as he bowed. This got the attention of the other Konoha jounin leaders.
"What do you mean, Kakashi?" Kurenai wondered as she tilted her head.
"The hell did you say to me?!" Kiba shouted.
"I said: you're fuckin' annoying. Always yelling all the time and thinking you're some 'alpha dog,' when you're just shit,' Naruto stated as he flicked his fingers.
"Huh, you get that from all the times you were alone? Can't make any friends so you stalk your classmates?!" The Inuzuka rebutted.
"Stalk my classmates? When have I ever stalked my classmates? What, did you want me to stalk you?" Naruto asked.
"Shut up! You don't have any parents, so I wouldn't start talking, you fucking loner!" Kiba shouted. Everyone's eyes widened at the insult.
"K-Kiba! Why the hell would you say that to someone?!" Kurenai shouted at her student.
Naruto lowered his head with his hair shadowing his eyes. Kiba looked at him and sneered. "What? Can't handle—" Kiba was interrupted by a harsh knee to the gut. Naruto raised him in the air slightly before shifting his body and forcefully side kicking Kiba. The Inuzuka flew back and crashed into the wall, creating a crater in it.
Akamaru looked at Kiba in shock before gritting his teeth and turning towards Naruto. He was about to attack the blonde, but he looked at Akamaru with wide, red eyes that promised the dog death. Akamaru slightly faltered and backed up from Naruto.
Kiba fell from the crater and landed on his stomach, coughing up saliva and a bit of blood. He looked up and saw Naruto staring down a frightened Akamaru.
"Akamaru! Dynamic Marking!" Kiba shouted. The white dog shook himself before leaping in the air and started urinating where Naruto was. The boy jumped back and luckily didn't get any on him, but was now surrounded by Akamaru's urine.
"That's… gross…" Aoika noted.
"Fuck, I can smell it from here," Shisu said as she covered her nose.
Kiba grabbed some smoke bombs and threw them at Naruto. They exploded in his face and now he was surrounded by smoke and dog piss. Things just keep getting worse and worse.
"Fang Passing Fang!" Kiba shouted.
'Tch, predictable,' Naruto thought as he put his arm up. 'Magnet Release: Human Field.' He felt his body parts moving in different directions, but quickly changed it to where his personal field was repelling. Naruto activated his Byakugan at the same time, his red eyes changed to a lighter shade of red while his slit was barely noticeable.
The blonde Uzumaki saw the two drills coming towards him and stretched his arms out. When the drills both tried attacking him, Naruto moved his arms and made them both change direction.
'It didn't work?!' Kiba thought as he and Akamaru both exited the smoke before sharply changing directions and going for Naruto again. Naruto saw them coming and this time, he grabbed both of their arms, stopping their spin.
Kiba and Akamaru both looked confused at being grabbed out of their Fang Passing Fang, but couldn't voice it once Naruto threw Akamaru away from him and slammed Kiba into the ground, making the Inuzuka bounce up before kicking him out of the smoke. Naruto pointed his hand at the ground and shot air out of his palm, forcing the smoke to rise in the air. He quickly looked at Kiba's barreling form and made a Shadow Clone in his path. The clone stopped Kiba with his foot before shoving him forward and backing up. The original Naruto kneed Kiba's face and did a twirling flip over him, landing behind him. The Uzumaki began striking Kiba's back multiple times in quick succession before punching him one last time and making him fly forward.
A clone appeared in Kiba's path and punched his face, making him fly back. The Inuzuka got struck in the back and was forced forward again before being kicked towards the ground. He bounced off of it and the Naruto that kicked him continued his spin, fire encasing his limbs. He slammed his foot into the ground and a pillar of fire erupted right under Kiba.
While the Inuzuka was airborne and burnt up, a Naruto jumped into the air and did a front flip before clamping his hands together and slamming down on Kiba's chest, sending him towards the ground.
A Naruto on the ground stomped and a small pillar of earth came up, breaking Kiba's fall and back. The Naruto in the air dived towards Kiba and crashed into him with his full weight, breaking through the pillar and cracking the ground.
The blonde propped himself into the air and did a backflip before making the Tiger Ox Dog Rabbit Snake hand seals. 'Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!' He blew out a straight line of wind that rammed into Kiba, making the cracks in the ground greater. Naruto did a flip before landing. The blonde looked back at Hayate and he just stared at the blonde.
Naruto noticed Akamaru getting up and doing a full dash towards him. The boy turned around and glared at Akamaru. 'Magnet Release: Magnetic Field!' A large field surrounded Akamaru and Naruto threw his hand down. The dog instantly fell to the ground and struggled to get up. He tried his hardest, but he wasn't going anywhere.
Naruto once again turned around at Hayate and the man sighed. "First match goes to Naruto."
The boy cancelled his technique and instantly made his way towards the stairs.
"That's what I mean," Kakashi said. Kurenai watched as Kiba was put on a stretcher and escorted out of the room with Akamaru following. The noirette then turned towards the stairs and saw the blonde ascend them. Once he reached the top, he looked around and locked eyes with Kurenai before walking the opposite direction she was.
'At least Kiba wasn't gravely hurt… though his back might be an issue,' Kurenai thought with a sigh.
"Well Kakashi, it seems like one of your students is strong, but that still doesn't outclass my team!" Might Guy stated with a dramatically clenched fist.
"Sorry, what was that?" Kakashi asked as he turned to Guy.
"GRK!" The man choked as he turned around and looked at the ceiling, tears streaming down his face. 'GAH! NOT AGAIN! DAMN YOU KAKASHI AND YOUR COOLNESS!'
Hayate looked around. "Alright, next match."
The board began randomizing names and soon stopped.
Hinata Hyuuga
vs.
Zaku Abumi
"Will Hinata Hyuuga and Zaku Abumi please come down?" Hayate requested as he looked between the two catwalks.
Naruto looked at Hinata and before she left, he stopped her.
"Good luck, Hina!" He wished with a grin. Hinata smiled and nodded.
"I will," she said. "Oh, and Naruto?"
"What's up?" The blonde asked as he tilted his head.
The bluenette patted his head unexpectedly. "Calm down, okay?" Without waiting for his response, she turned around and walked towards the stairs.
"Wait, Hinata, are you sure you want to fight?! Your eyes aren't fully healed yet!" Kurenai asked as she ran up to her student.
"Don't worry about me, Kurenai-sensei, I can see just fine, I just want to hide my eyes for a bit," Hinata whispered with a smile.
"Hm? Hide them? What for?" The woman wondered.
"Because they're… evolving. It's not like any normal Byakugan, Sensei, and I don't want Neji to see my eyes evolving in the middle of battle. This hasn't happened to any Hyuuga I've known about… so I don't know what's going on," Hinata told.
"Mm… Okay, I understand. I'll help you figure this out. Now go win your match, and don't hurt yourself either," Kurenai said.
"I won't, Sensei, thank you!" Hinata promised with a head nod. The bluenette went down the stairs and walked towards Hayate and Zaku.
Neji looked down at Hinata from where he stood. 'Truly pathetic. If a Hyuuga can't use their eyes, they're useless. Just what I expected from the main branch family's eldest daughter,' the male Hyuuga thought as he glared at Hinata.
"Heh, I'm fighting a blind girl? I ain't that weak I need a handicap!" Zaku stated as he looked at Hayate.
"Don't look at me, this is randomized," Hayate said as he coughed. "Hinata, are you sure you can fight? Fighting blind is hard."
"Yes, Hayate-sensei, I can fight," Hinata replied.
Hayate looked at her for a moment, then sighed. "Alright, if both opponents are ready, let the fight begin!"
Hinata blinked and saw Zaku starting the fight by spouting nonsense before opening up with a blast of sound from his palms. The sound waves were going to hit Hinata's chest and disorient her. The Hyuuga blinked again and readied to dodge.
"Heh, you made a mistake not bowing out," Zaku said as he made the Snake Hare Horse Boar hand seals and threw his hands forward. "Decapitating Airwaves!" A blast of sound shot out of his palms and towards Hinata. The girl ducked low to the ground and effectively avoided the sound waves. She then shot forward and struck Zaku's chest with her palm before throwing him back.
The surprised Zaku rolled back and came to a stop. 'What the hell?! How did she know I was gonna start with that?!' Zaku stood up, but stumbled slightly. 'Shit… some of my chakra's gone…' He looked up at Hinata and grit his teeth.
The Hyuuga reeled her palms back. 'Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm Stream.' Hinata then began rapid firing Vacuum Palms at Zaku. Before the Oto genin even knew it, he got struck in the chest by an invisible force, then got struck many times as he flew back into the wall and cracked it.
After Hinata finished her technique, she twirled around and reeled her arm back. "Eight Trigrams Air Force!' She launched her palm forward and a large blast of air shot towards Zaku, making her slide back slightly.
When the blast of air hit Zaku, he visibly recoiled into the wall before getting slammed into it by the explosion and made a crater almost like Naruto did with Kiba.
The spiky-haired boy's eyes were wide but unconscious and his mouth fell agape as he fell out of the crater and onto the ground.
"… Hinata wins the second match," Hayate announced. Hinata bowed before turning around and walking back to the stairs. Neji watched Hinata in shock. 'What…? How was she able to see that boy with bandages wrapped around her eyes…? And did she use a high-level Gentle Fist technique so easily?!' The brunette asked himself.
Once Hinata made it up to the catwalk, she walked over to Naruto.
"Congrats, Hina! You won so easily, and that was awesome what you did at the end too!" Naruto congratulated.
"Thank you, though, the last technique hurt my hand," Hinata said as she waved her right hand. "It should be fine soon."
"Here, let me see it," Naruto offered as he put his hand out. Hinata gave him her hand and the whiskered clone began healing it. "Hinata, what did you mean by 'calm down' before you fought Zaku?"
Hinata looked up at him and smiled. "Naruto, I can tell that you're very angry right now. Even before your fight with Kiba you were angry. I don't know why you're angry, and you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I am here if you need to talk to me."
The blonde sighed as he looked down. "I wish I could tell you… but maybe after the Chuunin Exams."
"I'll hold you to that!" After Naruto healed Hinata's hand, they both turned towards the board to see who was fighting next.
Tenten
vs.
Sakura Haruno
"Show Kakashi whose boss, Tenten!" Might Guy shouted at his student as she made her way down to the floor. Tenten rubbed the back of her head as she awkwardly chuckled.
"Do your best Sakura," Naruto said as he nodded towards her.
"Win this one so you can advance!" Hinata told the pinkette.
Sakura smiled at them and nodded. "I'll try!"
Once the two kunoichi were standing in front of Hayate, the chuunin looked at the two. "If both opponents are ready, let the battle begin!"
"I always wanted to fight you since I saw you in the forest," Tenten said as she grabbed a scroll.
"Really? Didn't know you wanted to fight me," Sakura responded as she cracked her knuckles.
The brunette smiled. "I heard from the black-haired girl and the blue-haired girl that you're pretty strong. You've piqued my interest, Sakura Haruno." Tenten unrolled her scroll and a tanto popped out.
"Hopefully I don't disappoint," Sakura said as her arms got covered by chakra. Tenten smirked before rushing Sakura. The brunette grabbed three shuriken and threw them at the pinkette. Sakura dodged two before grabbing the other one between her fingers. She then threw it right back at Tenten.
'Weapon: Stop Motion!' Sakura smirked when Tenten dodged out of the way of the shuriken, but it stopped right before it hit her.
'Huh?!' Tenten questioned as she looked at the frozen shuriken.
"Instant Detonation!" Right after Sakura said that, Tenten's shuriken exploded and blew her away. The brunette rolled across the ground before propping herself back up and stumbling backwards. Once she stopped, she set her tanto at her side and unrolled another scroll. A crossbow and bolts appeared and Tenten didn't waste any time loading the bow with a bolt before shooting it at Sakura instantly.
'Counter Vibrate!' Sakura held her hand out and when the arrow hit her hand, it absorbed the impact as Sakura reeled her arm back before launching it forward, sending the impact back into the arrow and returning it towards Tenten.
The brunette's eyes widened as she quickly rolled out of the way. She looked at the arrow and saw it halfway into the wall. She turned back around and saw Sakura start running towards her.
Tenten quickly resealed the crossbow and got out another scroll. She got out a kusarigama and dashed towards Sakura. The Team Guy kunoichi began spinning around the chain and throwing it towards Sakura. The pinkette barely dodged the fairly moving chain and continued running towards Tenten.
The brunette quickly yanked the chain to the side before pulling back. Before Sakura knew it, the chain wrapped around her torso, making her stop in her tracks. Tenten smirked before dropping her sickle and grabbing the chain with both hands, then using her strength, she spun Sakura around. She then threw her into the wall next to Kiba's indent.
Tenten put the sickle underneath her arm and made the Tiger Snake Dog hand seals. "Lightning Strike!" She grabbed the chain and created an electrical current from her hands that traveled down the chain. Once the lightning reached Sakura, it shocked her entire body.
After a few seconds of electrocution, the lightning died down with Tenten smirking. She lost her smirk when she heard something breaking, then looked surprised when Sakura got off of the wall without a scratch.
"W-What?! You should have smoke coming off of you!" Tenten shouted at the pinkette.
Team 7's kunoichi looked at Tenten and shrugged. Tenten squinted her eyes and realized that she didn't have her aura on her arms anymore, and bits of electricity were coming off of her body. The brunette's eyes widened when she came to a conclusion.
'Did she just absorb my technique?!'
"That looks like what Lionelle can do, Shisu," Akame pointed out as she turned to the blonde girl.
"Yeah…" The blonde agreed.
'Damn… taking on that lightning technique used a lot of chakra,' Sakura thought as she repeatedly clenched her hands.
"The good news is: you got lightning chakra to use," Inner Sakura mentioned.
'True… but I don't know how to use it… oh well, I'll just use it to power up my body, I'm sure you can figure it out for me.'
"Eh?! Use your own damn brain!"
'Thanks a lot!' The pinkette looked at Tenten before hopping from side to side. 'Lightning Break!' As soon as Sakura landed, she disappeared in a blur and appeared behind Tenten on one leg, almost tripping forward.
Tenten's eyes widened as a gust of wind blew by her. She turned around but saw Sakura about to punch her.
'Water Arm: Hyper Cannon!' With her left arm coated in water, Sakura punched Tenten's cheek, then sent out a blast of water from the same fist, firing Tenten far away from her.
"Current!" Inner Sakura shouted. The electricity crawling around Sakura's arm extended towards the water and instantly traveled down it to Tenten. The brunette was instantly electrocuted and she let out a pained scream. Sakura cancelled her technique and quickly appeared before the downed Tenten, stumbling slightly. When Sakura caught her footing, she reeled her arm back and aimed for Tenten's gut. When the pinkette delivered the punch, the brunette substituted herself with one of her scrolls. Sakura's eyes widened as three medium-sized metallic balls popped out of the scroll. When Sakura caught sight of an explosive tag, she quickly covered the front side of her body with chakra as the metallic balls exploded, sending shrapnel in all directions.
The shrapnel hit Sakura's chakra aura, and thankfully didn't do any damage to her, but she realized that Tenten was behind her and tried to turn around but was wrapped in wire strings. Tenten manipulated the strings and threw Sakura in the air before unrolling a scroll and getting out a club. The brunette ran forward and jumped high in the air. She brought her club over her head and swung down.
Tenten planned to smack Sakura down her into the ground, but the pinkette didn't allow that.
"Vibration: Release!" Sakura shouted. The aura and electricity around Sakura disappeared. All of the electricity in Sakura shot out in all directions, catching Tenten and shocking her before an explosion of vibrations shot out around Sakura, blasting Tenten back. The brunette hit the ground and rolled away before stopping, electricity coming off of her and vibrating madly.
Sakura did a flip in the air and landed on her feet. Hayate was already by Tenten's side, checking her to make sure if she was unconscious or not. After about a few moments of watching the brunette, Hayate came to a conclusion.
"Sakura wins the third match," he announced.
Might Guy gawked at Sakura.
"What was that about you having us outclassed?" Kakashi asked as he tilted his head at Might Guy.
The bowl-cut jounin grit his teeth and clenched his fist before shaking his head. "It is indeed sad that Tenten lost, but no matter! I still have two genin left, Kakashi! If they ever go up against Sasuke, you bet that he'll lose!"
Kakashi crossed his arms before turning back around. "If you say so."
"Good job, Sakura!" Hinata congratulated as the pinkette walked up to her.
"Yeah, what you did was awesome. Especially when you made Tenten's shuriken freeze in the air. How'd you do that?" Naruto wondered.
"Ah, that… When I grabbed Tenten's shuriken, I transferred my chakra into it and gained full control. Once I threw it at her, I just slowed down the shuriken's molecules and sped them up rapidly to the point where they exploded," Sakura explained. "That's all really, heh."
Naruto and Hinata both looked at Sakura in astonishment. "Huh, Akame wasn't lying when she said you were very smart," Naruto said with Hinata nodding her head.
Sakura slightly blushed at the appraisal. "Aw… it wasn't that great…"
"Sakura, tell me exactly how many shinobi can stop a shuriken using their chakra like how you did," Naruto said as he put his hands on his hips.
"I-it's not exactly hard to do… all you have to do is take control of the molecules inside of the shuriken an—"
"See? That right there. Not all of us are scientists, Sakura. Sure, controlling a bunch of molecules in a shuriken sounds easy, but how many molecules are in a shuriken? And aren't they all moving? And aren't they moving even faster when thrown? That just makes controlling a shuriken with just your chakra much harder," Naruto pointed out.
"I… I guess…" the pinkette agreed as she rubbed the back of her neck.
"Regardless of that, you were still amazing," Hinata complimented.
"Thanks Hinata, and so were you. When you were fighting Zaku, it looked like you knew exactly what he was gonna do at the beginning!"
"That's because I did," the bluenette said with a smile.
"H-Huh? Did you like… predict it…?"
The Hyuuga shook her head. "No, but I'll tell you later, Aoika and Akame are going up next."
Naruto and Sakura looked down to see Aoika and Akame standing in front of each other. Hayate just signaled for the round to start.
"Let's make this quick," Aoika said with a smirk. Akame hummed in agreement as she grabbed the handle of one of her swords and slightly unsheathed it.
"Dokessho!" Aoika threw her ball of plasma at Akame. The girl jumped out of the way and dashed towards Aoika after landing. The purple-eyed kunoichi smirked as she reeled her right arm back. Akame's eyes widened as she looked behind herself and saw Aoika's Dokessho split into two, then turned around and headed for Akame. The noirette stopped in her tracks and dodged the two projectiles. After they missed their target, they turned back around and tried striking her again. Akame kept dodging like this and started getting farther from Aoika. The sword user got a cut across the cheek and realized they were shuriken covered in plasma.
'She can control her plasma from a long distance?' The noirette thought. Aoika made the Tiger hand seal with one hand.
'Plasma Release: Crackling Flames!' The purple-eyed girl slammed her hand on the ground and flames came out in a frenzied line, rushing towards their target.
Akame deflected a plasma-covered shuriken and blocked the other one, getting into a stalemate with it before noticing the approaching fire. Her eyes slightly widened, then she bent backwards far enough to let the shuriken slide off of her sword. The red-eyed girl stood up straight before jumping back, avoiding the flames. She unsheathed Kiriichimonji and let the blade float in the air behind her before leaning forward and planting her feet on the sword.
Akame launched off of the sword and Aoika jumped back, just barely avoiding Akame's slash. The purple-eyed girl did a backflip and slid back, but her eyes widened when she saw Akame quickly approaching. The Plasma Release user made the Tiger Snake Rat Snake Tiger hand seals.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!" She instantly spat out water at the ground and it quickly circled around her feet before a wall of water erupted in front of her, forcing Akame to stop and leap back.
Aoika didn't waste any time and made the Hare Bird Dog Monkey Boar Snake hand seals before slamming her hand on the water wall. 'Plasma Release: Static Rejuvenation!' Light purple lightning was transmitted to the water before it shot out towards Akame.
Akame looked to her side and saw Kiriichimonji planted into the ground. She looked back at the lightning and quickly raised Meihou up above her head. "Yang Release Sword Technique: Luster Dragon." Meihou started glowing a faint white as Akame touched the side of the blade with two fingers. She then dragged them across the blade and slid her fingers off before pointing at the purple lightning. The white aura around her blade started moving more before it twisted around her blade and recoiled back. The white aura shot forward and as it left the blade, it formed into the head and upper body of a small dragon with light blue eyes.
"FLASH WARNING! CLOSE YOUR EYES!" Shisu warned the stands. Everyone on the catwalks looked at her, but didn't get to question it once they heard something down below. They all looked and saw the white dragon clash with the lightning. They all closed their eyes as an explosion was heard and a blinding flash of light followed through.
Aoika closed her eyes to not get blinded, and Akame took this as her chance to move. She slightly unsheathed Murasame. "Murasame: Yang Release Shadow World Overspread." The whole place suddenly turned pitch black and as everyone opened their eyes, most of them were confused besides Sakura, Sasuke, and Hyoshi.
Akame sheathed Murasame before picking up Kiriichimonji. "Kiriichimonji: Lightning-Like." Aoika just opened up her eyes and was confused, but her eyes widened when her water wall had a visible slash in it.
"Huh—" Before Aoika could voice her confusion, she got struck multiple times in quick succession. "GAH?!"
The noirette held out her hands and her two plasma-covered shuriken flew back to her. Akame tried hitting them away, but they dodged her slashes and successfully got into the hands of Aoika. The plasma on the shuriken quickly spreaded across the girl's body and she smirked as she made the Hare Bird Dog Monkey Boar Snake hand seals. "Static Rejuvenation!"
The plasma across her body shot out in all directions. Akame backed off of Aoika, slightly jolting. Aoika spotted Akame and stopped her technique.
The two girls stared at each other before Akame sheathed Kiriichimonji and slightly unsheathed Murasame, causing the darkness to get sucked back into the sword. The girl then sheathed Murasame and was left with Meihou. Aoika raised her right hand and her Dokessho formed in it. The girl then touched the ball of plasma with her other hand and crushed it with ease. Akame narrowed her eyes as she prepared to move.
"What are you doing?" Akame asked.
"Just compressing my plasma to its basic nature transformations," Aoika responded.
"What does that mean?" The sword user wondered.
Aoika closed her eyes and smiled. "It means this." She opened up her palms. "Lightning Breathing Fire Tornado." Fire instantly shot out of her palms in a tornado with lightning circling around it.
Akame's eyes widened and she tried moving, but she jolted and was stuck in place. The tornado of fire consumed her and it continued until it hit the wall, the fire spreading out. Aoika soon closed her hands, the fire and lightning closing in on itself, and revealed an unconscious Akame stuck in the wall.
Hayate walked over to the wall and stared at Akame for a few seconds before turning around.
"Aoika wins this battle," he announced.
Shikamaru Nara
vs.
Kin Tsuchi
The two contestants met in the middle before Hayate announced the fight to begin.
'How should I start the fight?' Shikamaru asked himself as he stared at the Oto kunoichi across from him. 'If I first start with my Shadow Imitation Technique she'd just run away and avoid it… I could use that to my advantage and keep her distracted, but with what? This space is barren, I can't use another shadow if I wanted to… not to mention, I don't know what she can do… Damnit, this is such a drag…' The Nara boy grumbled as he scratched his head.
Kin looked at her opponent and narrowed her eyes. 'It seems like he's struggling to figure out a plan… let's wait and see what he opens up with before I do anything.'
'Right, I'll open up by throwing shuriken and kunai at her and in the air. I'll make her think I'm going to try and get to her faster via my tools thrown at her, but then I'll try and get her shadow without them. It should keep her distracted from the tools in the air,' Shikamaru thought as he took his other hand out of his pocket.
"… You know I said begin, right?" Hayate checked as he raised an eyebrow at the two genin.
Shikamaru dug into his patch and threw both shuriken and kunai at Kin and some in the air before making the Rat hand seal. "Shadow Imitation Technique!" Shikamaru's shadow quickly stretched out and raced towards the kunai and shuriken.
Kin's eyes widened as she jumped away from the ninja tools thrown at her. The Nara genin's shadow switched courses and went towards where Kin was landing. The noirette quickly leaned to her side until she was upside down and right before she was about to touch the ground with her hands, she made the Tiger Hare Boar Dog hand seals.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!" Once her hands touched the ground, a wall of earth shot up and she got on her feet. Kin jumped off of the wall and away from Shikamaru's reaching Shadow before taking out six senbon and throwing three of them at some of the tools in the air and throwing the other three at Shikamaru.
'Shit!' He thought as he quickly retracted his shadow and jumped back. He heard clangs in the air and looked up to see the three senbon hit the tools and change their directory. One of them was aiming straight for Shikamaru's head and prompted him to take a large step back. The ninja tools landed around him and he looked at them before seeing Kin land.
"How many senbon do you have?" Shikamaru asked the Oto kunoichi. "Three of them were thrown, but you hit all of the ninja tools I threw in the air."
"I have a lot to spare," Kin responded. She proved her point by getting out six senbon from her pocket. Shikamaru clicked his tongue. He quickly looked at the tools in the ground before looking back at Kin. The Oto kunoichi threw three of her senbon low at the ground while throwing the rest towards Shikamaru and running towards him.
As soon as the Nara boy made the Rat hand seal, the three senbon aimed at the ground hit the other senbon and bells sounded.
"Huh?!" Shikamaru looked at the ground and saw the bells ringing on some of Kin's senbon. Shikamaru looked back up and tried to move his arms, but he couldn't. 'Shit! I can't move my arms!'
'Screw it, I'll just activate it now!' "Shadow Web Network Technique!" Shikamaru's shadow extended forward to one of the senbon's shadows, and a second later that shadow connected to all of the ninja tool's shadows that surrounded him. He then forced multiple shadows from different ones towards Kin, but his eyes slightly widened when there were multiple of her rushing at him.
'Shit! I guess I'll capture them all!' The spiky-haired boy decided.
Kin watched as the shadows came at her, but some of them weren't aimed towards her. 'My technique must be taking effect,' she noted as she made the Tiger Hare Boar Dog hand seals.
'Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall.' She quickly tapped the ground with her hands and a wall of earth shot up in front of her. Kin quickly jumped on the back of it and backflipped off of it. She took out six senbon and once she saw Shikamaru, she crossed her arms.
'Dance of the Seiryo.' She threw the senbon and the ninja tools flew towards Shikamaru, but not before crossing over each other and changing their trajectory.
To Shikamaru's eyes, there were too many senbon crossing over each other that he had no idea what to do. The boy closed his eyes and used his arms to protect himself as he awaited for the amount of pain he was going to receive.
"Grk!" Shikamaru opened his eyes in shock as he saw that only six senbon were impaled into his legs. The underwhelming pain threw him off; he didn't realize that Kin was out of sight.
"Gah!" Shikamaru shouted as he was suddenly pulled underground until his head was left above the ground. He tried to get out, but realized it was no use.
Kin resurfaced in front of him and looked down at him before smirking. Shikamaru sighed as he looked at Kin with narrowed eyes.
"I forfeit," the Nara boy declared.
"Mm. Kin Tsuchi wins this match," Hayate announced. Kin opened up the hole a bit and helped Shikamaru out before closing it back up.
"That was a good fight. If you'd known about my genjutsu, maybe it would've ended differently," Kin said as she looked at Shikamaru.
"Even so, I don't have a lot of chakra to be throwing around aimlessly. My shadow techniques require a good deal of it from me, so I wouldn't have been able to last that much longer," the Nara boy responded as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Really? That's a shame, but you still fought well."
"Thanks, you as well."
Both contestants returned to their stands and the board started randomizing names.
Neji Hyuuga
vs.
Yoroi Akado
Before the fight began, Naruto just looked at the ground and before he knew it, he was in his mindscape. The boy blinked a couple of times before looking around.
"Huh? How'd I end up in here?" He asked himself.
"You were staring for too long," a familiar voice responded. Naruto whipped around and saw Kirai sitting in the strangely colored water.
"Kirai? What are you doing here? Wait, how did you even get in here? I'm a clone," the blonde questioned as he fully turned around at the entity.
"Duh, cause I'm Kirai?" She answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. When Naruto glared at her, she chuckled. "Alright, in all seriousness I'm a clone as well."
"W-Wait, you are?!"
"Yeah. Since we're kinda… fused together now like how you are with Kurama, whenever you make a clone, it makes a clone of myself too," Kirai explained.
"Really? How come you didn't say this before? And does that mean I can clone Kurama as well?" Naruto asked.
"Eh, I didn't think it was important to bring up at the time, plus, nothing would really change. And yes, Kurama can be cloned as well, but instead of cloning himself, he sends his chakra over to the clone," the entity explained.
"Oh that's pretty cool. But why does Kurama send his chakra instead of cloning himself?"
"He's just tryin' to figure out how it works since it's different than simply doing a Shadow Clone."
"Oh, I see," Naruto said as he nodded. He then looked at the water and saw the different colors that flowed through. "What's up with this water? Why's it colored like this?"
"This? This is your negative emotions, it's not even water at all," Kirai responded.
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Huh? My negative emotions? And whaddya mean it's not even water?"
"You see the red that's flowing?" Kirai asked as she pointed at it."
"Yeah."
"That's your anger. Purple is your fear, and dark orange is your annoyance."
"Fear? But I'm not afraid of anything at the moment," Naruto pointed out.
"Ah, it's more like you're worried. Worry is associated with fear "
"Oh, okay. But why is it shown like that?"
"Like water? That's because that's your hate."
"Hate? What's that got to do with this?"
"Your hate shapes what your other emotions look like. Right now, your hate is calm but when you show more of it, this water will start to become more rapid and wild," she explained. Naruto looked at all of the flowing water and looked behind him to see it continue.
"That's… a lot of hate…" the blonde noticed.
"Yeah, it's been building up since Sasuke entered your life," Kirai added.
Naruto slightly narrowed his eyes as he looked at his negative emotions in distaste.
"I understand that you don't like 'em, but if you think of them like that, you'll only make them grow more."
"So then… how should I look at them?" The blonde asked as he looked up at Kirai.
"Indifferently. Calm yourself down and look at your emotions indifferently. Once you've done that, we'll go over your emotions one at a time," she responded. Naruto hummed and closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. He opened them and they were back to normal.
"Sweet. Now that we got the first step down, let's move onto the second step, going over your emotions," Kirai said as she looked at the flowing negative emotions. "Alright, let's do anger. What's making you angry, Naruto?"
"… Well, Orochimaru came in and almost ruined the exams. Just seeing him in front of me made me angry, not to mention he could've killed any of us if he wanted to. And he's going to try and kill Kin and Temari's dad. Also, Sasuke being an asshole all of the time is always getting me angry, and what Kiba said before we fought pissed me off too" Naruto responded.
"Mm, okay, what's getting you annoyed?"
"It's mostly just Sasuke. Does that tie into anger?"
"It can. Depends on how annoyed you are with him."
"Sometimes I just get annoyed because he talks so much shit but can't really back it up, and how he always insults me."
"And that's all?"
"Yeah…"
"Alright, what's making you scared? Or, worried?" Kirai asked.
"I'm just worried about how this is going to end. I don't know if I'm going to be able to save Lord Rasa from Orochimaru, or if I'll be able to save Konoha from Orochimaru and his four bodyguards… I'm also worried that if Orochimaru survives after all of this, he'll somehow find a way to kill Kin. And if Orochimaru is planning on taking things seriously, I won't be able to keep up with him… I'd just die…" Naruto vented with a sigh. "I'm just… worried that I'll fail and everything will go wrong…"
"I understand. It's not easy going up against a sannin, let alone Orochimaru. Hell, you'd have an easier chance if it was Tsunade you were up against," Kirai joked with a smirk.
"Heh, I guess so," Naruto agreed with a little chuckle.
"But, here's the thing that's wrong with your worry."
Naruto perked up with a raised eyebrow. "Huh? What's… wrong with my worry…?"
"You keep on saying 'I this,' and 'I that.' You're saying it as if you're doing this all by yourself," Kirai pointed out.
"Well, I…—"
"You're not doing this alone, Naruto. You have the Sandaime Hokage, the Yondaime Kazekage, the Suna shinobi, the Konoha shinobi, your girlfriends, me, and even Kurama," Kirai listed. "You aren't going up against Orochimaru alone, there's a lot of people fighting him with you."
Naruto remained quiet as he pondered what she said. He stared at his emotions flowing for a bit before smiling. "Yeah… you're right… I'm not in this alone. A lot of people are gonna be with me in this one. Thanks Kirai…"
"Heh, no problem."
The blonde looked at his emotions and saw that the purple was growing smaller, but it still remained. He furrowed his brow as he didn't understand why it didn't completely go away.
"Why didn't my worry go away?"
"Cause you're still worried about the future," Kirai responded. "Listen, you shouldn't worry about the future so much. Whatever happens, happens. Of course, if you knew about the future, then you could prevent things from happening, but you don't have that kind of power, so I suggest just… living in the moment. Worry about things when they happen and not some made up events in the future that might not even happen."
"Can't you—I dunno—give me the power to see into the future?" Naruto checked with a raised eyebrow.
"Uh hell no. I'm not adding more to your plate already. If you could see into the future, your emotions would be like a tsunami, and I'm not drowning in it," Kirai denied as she crossed her arms.
"Ah, I see," Naruto said. He looked at the emotions again and saw that there was no purple there anymore. "Huh, that worked…"
"Of course it did, I'm Kirai. Now, moving on. These next three emotions you might not be able to get rid of," the entity warned.
"Uh… why's that?"
"Unless you want to forgive Orochimaru and Sasuke for what they've done, your anger and hate are going to remain here," Kirai answered.
"Yeah that's not happening," the blonde Uzumaki quickly shot down with a deadpan look. "But what about annoyance?"
"You'd have to be nice and polite to him. You can't say anything negative towards him and what he says to you."
"Also not happening."
"Yeah, that's why I said you might not be able to get rid of them," Kirai pointed out. "But don't worry, we'll get rid of these emotions."
"How so?" The blonde wondered with a tilt of his head.
"First, let's unwrap your bandages." After Kirai said that, the bandages around Naruto's right arm unraveled and revealed the black arm. "Alright, put your right hand in your emotions."
"Okay…" Naruto complied and submerged his arm in his emotions. After doing that, they began swirling around his arm like a whirlpool. The boy's eyes widened as he watched them swirl around it.
Before Naruto knew it, the area was clear of any emotions. He blinked twice before standing up straight and looking at his arm.
"Woah…" he whispered as he saw the orange and red swirl in his black arm.
"That right there is your current negative emotions. You can now use them like techniques," Kirai said.
"I-I can?!" The clone questioned as he looked at Kirai.
"Yep! But there's only a limited amount. Of course, you can get more from here as long as you feel any sort of negative emotions," she explained.
"Wait, but what about hate? Do I have an infinite amount since my arms black?" Naruto wondered.
"Nah, your hate is radiating around your arm," Kirai answered as she pointed at his arm.
Naruto held his arm away from himself and saw the radiating black aura around his arm. "Will this show through my bandages?"
"Nah, that'll be covered up."
"Oh sweet… I feel much better now actually… thank you a lot, Kirai," Naruto thanked.
"It's no problem. It just would've been a problem with all these emotions bottled up. If you were to pop and transfer these back to the original, he'd blow up."
"I see…"
"Anyway, you have a chuunin exam to pay attention to, although, you missed two fights."
"I did?! What two fights?!"
"Neji versus Yoroi Akado and Shisu versus Misumi Tsurugi," Kirai answered.
Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief. "I assume Neji and Shisu won?"
"Obviously."
"Okay sweet."
"Next up is… Gaara versus Ino Yamanaka, damn, that's a horrible matchup," Kirai informed.
"Shit, I have to tell her to forfeit, she doesn't stand a chance against Gaara!"
Naruto blinked his eyes twice and instantly looked around. He saw the board and Kirai wasn't lying, Ino was up against Gaara. He continued looking around and saw Ino about to go down the stairs.
The blonde quickly moved past Sakura and the other people on the catwalk before reaching Ino.
"Ino!"
The platinum blonde flinched before whipping around and seeing Naruto.
"N-Naruto? W-What's up?" Ino nervously asked.
"Forfeit the match."
"W-What…?"
"I said forfeit the match. Gaara would kill you in an instant the second the match starts," Naruto repeated with a serious look.
"I-I see…"
"Listen, Ino, I know that you want to at least try but this is not the match to try. Your Mind Body Transfer Technique won't work on him because he has a Bijuu, and not only that, he's done so many missions without a single scratch on him. You think you'd be able to get one on him?" Naruto questioned, making the Yamanaka girl look down.
"Look, I'm not trying to say that you're weak, but please forfeit Ino…" Naruto pleaded with a worried look on his face.
The girl looked at the stairs as she considered his words. The blonde sighed as she turned around and walked down the stairs. "You're right, Naruto, my Mind Body Switch wouldn't work on a Jinchuuriki like him. I don't wanna go through that experience again… Thanks for telling me."
"I'm sorry Ino…"
"It's fine. I actually thank you for caring about me so much," Ino said as she smiled brightly at him. "But you owe me for this. Forfeiting out loud is embarrassing, especially when I didn't originally plan on doing it."
"You're right, I do owe you."
"We'll work out the details later, I got a match to forfeit." The blonde girl walked down the stairs and met up with the redhead and jounin. Naruto turned around and walked over to the railing.
"Alright, are both—"
"I forfeit," Ino declared, raising her arm with a blush of embarrassment.
"Huh?" Hayate asked as he looked at Ino.
"I said I forfeit," she repeated.
"Oh… uh, okay. Gaara wins this match," Hayate announced with a slight cough. Ino turned around and walked back to the stairs while Gaara stared at her before he too turned around.
Ino went back up to the catwalk and when she got to her spot, Asuma looked at her.
"Why'd ya forfeit?" The jounin sensei wondered as he watched Kuroka and Dosu meet in the middle.
"Gaara would've killed me if the match started," Ino responded as her eyelids slightly fell.
"What makes you think that?"
"Other than he's a Jinchuuriki, he's completed a lot of missions without getting a single injury on him. There's just no way I could win that match," the Yamanaka heiress explained as she sighed.
"Well, at least you learned one thing from this," Asuma said.
Ino perked up and looked at Asuma. "And what's that?"
"You know how and when to pick your battles. Of course, there'll be times where you can't escape your enemy and you'll be forced to fight them, but when that happens, you'll have to fight to the best of your abilities. But besides that, good job for not fighting that kid, cause you really would have died if you continued," Asuma responded. After he was done, he patted Ino's head.
"Thank you, Asuma-sensei." Ino then looked at Naruto as he was talking to Hinata and Sakura. 'And thank you too, Naruto.'
I wanted to cram the rest of the fights in this chapter, but I felt like it would've been too long for that, so I'll continue them in the next chapter. Til then, ciao.
Also, if you were wondering: no, Saya is not joining the harem or is going to fall in love with Naruto.