Part Three, The Observer

For the last two years of her academy life, Sakura absolutely loathed Naruto. It was like the boy was fully retarded. He never took the hint, or the outright insulting rejections, and left her alone.

That all changed when the boy became a female cat demon. With it came a less than subtle shift in personality.

Gone was the loud brash idiot and in his place was a quiet, languid, extremely strong and fast idiot. Watching her nap in a sunbeam, her white cat ears occasionally twitching? It was something the boy from before could never have done.

More than that, perhaps the most prominent change had been Naruto's interactions with Sasuke. Before, all the prodigy had to do to get Naruto to insult and attack him was exist.

Now, Sasuke had actually tried to bait the cat girl into fighting, and she had brushed him off!

Compared to that, Naruto dealing Kiba a one hit K.O. really wasn't that impressive.

"Cats suck," Kiba said with a sneer as he entered the preliminary arena for the final part of the second exam. His puppy, Akamaru, was cowering in a corner, but the dog boy was determined to prove that the Deadlast was still a loser, especially because she was part cat.

Naruto just stared at him with those freaky eyes of hers, not saying a word.

Kiba growled and held his hands out before him, the fingers curled into claws.

The moment the judge, a Jounin named Hayate, said go, the Inuzuka boy dashed in as fast as he could, intending to shoulder check the girl. Sakura heard his sensei, one Kurenai Yuuhi, sigh in disappointment and turn away.

At the last possible second, Naruto dodged and kicked the boy in the back as he passed, sending him into the wall much harder than he had intended to go. He was out cold before he even hit the floor. Yuuhi just shook her head. She had warned her student about Naruto. He obviously didn't listen.

"Cats rule," Naruto said with a grin, "Dogs drool."

And so it went. Sasuke, being the first match, had won it against his opponent with some difficulty. Sakura knocked herself out alongside Ino. Naruto was obviously on route to the finals.

Before the cat girl could even ask, Kakashi told them that he would be helping Sasuke cope with his Cursed mark for the month that was allotted to training. Naruto just shrugged. She might have been jealous before, but now she was just eager to go take a long nap.

For Sakura, a month passed in a flash. Sakura saw nothing of her teammates. Not, that is, until the day of the finals.

She had shown up early, of course, hoping to get the best seat available. She was surprised when the blonde cat demon plopped down beside her, arms crossed and looking annoyed.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" The pinkette asked.

"Adults are stupid," the cat girl huffed, "No one will just train me! No! It always has to be some stupid, complicated, twelve steps of bullshit to make a girl waste her time!" She huffed again, her tail lashing back and forth with her ire, "Old Man Jiraiya wanted me to summon toads and use the Kyuubi's chakra. Did he tell me that? No! He told me to cut my thumb and put my blood on a piece of paper. Demon blood is acidic, by the way. No summoning for me. Then, the old pervert tries to get me to use the kyuubi's chakra…" it was at that point that Sakura was staring at her with wide, unbelieving eyes.

"What?"

"Oh, um, yeah," Naruto blushed, "I kinda have the Nine Tailed Fox sealed in me. It's a thing."

"Is that how-"

"I don't think so," the blonde interrupted, guessing what she would say, "The old pervert knocked me off a cliff and I guess I took a nap on the way down," Naruto would never say that she fainted, "I met the Kyuubi, kinda. He just screamed at me. Kept trying to get away and was saying something about he thought 'they' were lying! I don't even know," her orange claws dug into the chair she was sitting on, "I spent a month on this! I can't summon toads, I can't call on the furry bastard's chakra! The only freakin' thing I learned was how to walk on water!"

Sakura just continued to stare at the boy turned girl. Naruto had the Nine Tailed Fox sealed inside of her, and it was afraid of her. Just what had Naruto become, really? What kind of creature could inspire fear in the greatest of all demons to walk the Elemental Countries? Certainly not a Nekomata. Not the usual ones, at least.

Forty minutes later, when the first matches were announced, Sasuke turned out to be a no show.

The judges decided to push his match against Gaara to last place, what with Kakashi being eternally late likely being the cause for Sasuke's tardiness.

(Kakashi and Sasuke were at the former's house, using the Sharingan to cheat at poker. Loser had to do the dishes.)

Naruto's Match against Neji was somewhat strange. First, with Hinata, the boy's cousin shyly poking her fingers together next to Sakura and Ino.

"I hope Naruto doesn't take Neji too seriously," she said quietly, "He does like his Fate rants, but he's really not as… er… I just hope he doesn't upset her…"

"Neji was top of his class," Ino scoffed, "He's got a year of experience on top of it and-"

"Begin!"

Interrupted by the start of the match, the three girls watched intently.

It started off extremely slow.

"You should just give up," Neji told the cat demon, "I know all about you. Last of your class, only passed by technicality. You aren't skilled in Taijutsu, Genjutsu, or Ninjutsu. I heard you've become fast and strong, but that won't help you if you don't have the skill to back it up," he slid into the first stance of the Gentle Fist, "As I said, you should give up. You are fated to lose here."

The blonde horror eyed him for a few moments as she crouched down, resting on her hands and feet like a regular cat, "Are you stupid?"

"What?"

"Do you have the slightest idea how fast I am?" her ears tilted this way and that as she spoke, never blinking at her opponent, "More speed than skill and half that in strength. You've totally got that right. But do you think you actually know how fast I am?"

"It does not matter," the boy growled, "You are fated to lose here, to me."

"Uh-huh, well, let me ask one more thing," she began to lean forward, "If Lee had ever gone all out on you, could you keep up?" The muscles on her legs began to tighten, readying for movement, "What about your sensei? Are you faster than him?"

Before Neji could attempt an answer, Naruto did to him what Kiba had tried to do to her, shoulder checking the Hyuuga boy into the wall of the arena. The prodigy barely had time to reinforce his body with Chakra before he hit the wall. It still hurt like hell and knocked the breath out of his lungs.

"I am." He could hear her say, clear across the arena.

He pushed himself to his knees, then to his feet and turned to Naruto to retort.

"Where-?" He grunted. She was gone! Not a hint of her anywhere. "Byakugan!" The boy whispered, activating his eye technique. He immediately dove forward in a roll. He got back up, glaring at the claw marks on the wall, directly above his previous position, and spun off to his left.

This had him skidding back, finally facing his opponent.

Naruto was crouched down again, staring at him with a blank face.

"You know," she began, "Hinata is really nice. She's soft spoken, and shy, and makes these neet little fishcakes that just taste awesome in ramen," her orange claws dug into the arena floor, "Most Importantly, she's a Cat Person."

Naruto attacked again. She held herself back to something that would leave the boy alive, but put him in traction long enough to think about his actions.

Neji didn't see her move. He didn't feel the impact against the wall, nor his legs break. He didn't hear the Jounin call the match. His next conscious thought, some two weeks later, was that he should probably stop tormenting his cousin, as long as she had such an… interesting friend.

"Winner by knockout, Naruto Uzumaki!"

"What?" Ino almost cried, shocked by the outcome.

"Oh, what a relief!" Hinata sighed contentedly, "I was afraid she was really going to hurt him."

Sakura and Ino looked at the Hyuuga Heiress, then at the boy who was out cold, both legs bent at odd angles. Naruto sauntered, actually sauntered, back up to the balcony seats. She sat down next to Hinata and the bluenette started scratching behind the cat demon's ears.

"So…" Sakura drawled, "When did this happen?"

"Oh!" Hinata seemed to realize they had an audience and blushed profusely, "Well, that is…"

"Apparently, Hinata likes me," Naruto said, nudging her head back into the smaller girl's hand, "I guess that's been a thing for while, right 'Nata?"

The human girl nodded, still blushing.

"I still like girls, ya know? And Hinata likes me," Naruto shrugged, "So, we're together."

"Uh-huh," Sakura crossed her arms, "But when did this start?"

"A month before these exams, I believe," Hinata finally spoke again, entwining her fingers with Naruto's. The blonde wrapped her tail around the girl's leg.

"But how!?" Ino was losing her patience! She needed details, damn it!

"Shino Aburame, winner by forfeit."

"Well, that's unfortunate. Now Shika knows he can quit. What do you think he'll do?" Naruto turned to the other blonde.

"Like hell, he's quitting!" Ino roared getting out of her seat and storming down the steps to the competitor's area. The next match was called to start. Shikamaru was kicked out of a window by a screaming girl that could only be his teammate.

"Nice deflection," Sakura drawled.

"Don't even know what that means," Naruto grinned. Hinata was still blushing heavily, but seemed content to have the demon right there with her.

Sakura would have tried to dig deeper, but Naruto was very pointedly watching the match going on before them.

It lasted quite a while, but eventually ended with Shikamaru's forfeit. Ino was furious.

And now it was final call for Sasuke's match. His absence stretched on and on. Gaara was visibly getting angrier and angrier, a twitch developing above his eye.

In the Hokage's private booth, the Kazekage beside him, Sarutobi shook his head.

"We have no choice. Bat," an ANBU operative stepped forward, "Inform Hayate that Sasuke has been disqualified." The ninja nodded and started to leave.

"Is that wise?" The Kazekage asked.

The Third held up his hand, stopping his ninja from leaving just yet.

"Sasuke is late, beyond late, actually. We have already pushed his match to the end of the first round. I understand that he might be on his way this very minute, but this is unacceptable," he looked at the other man, "Would you promote a ninja who could not be counted on to show up on time?"

"Well, no, but I feel rather let down, missing a chance to see your prodigal Last Uchiha and my son fight. I feel it would be quite the spectacle," the Kazekage looked him in the eye.

"That is easy to arrange. Bat, Sasuke remains disqualified. Inform Hayate that there will be an exhibition match, as soon as Sasuke arrives. He will face off against the winner of the tournament," The ANBU nodded and left.

The Third turned back to the man he knew to be Orochimaru in disguise, "That should satisfy, I think."

Down in the arena, Hayate made the announcement.

"Now, will Naruto Uzumaki and Shino Aburame please enter the arena."

Naruto gave Hinata's hand one last squeeze and jumped from the balcony to the arena below. She landed with nary a sound and didn't even make a cloud of dust. She then sauntered over to the proctor.

Shino made his own way into the arena. When he finally stood in front of the cat demon that had destroyed his teammate in the prelims a month ago, he felt curiosity. The colony of chakra eating bugs inside him seemed hesitant to attach to the monster. An instinctual response?

"Begin." Hayate jumped away.

Unlike the fight with Neji, Naruto didn't immediately attack the boy across from her. He hadn't done anything to annoy her. He was also her girlfriend's teammate. She really didn't want to hurt him.

But she also wanted to win.

"Um-"

"I forfeit," the boy said.

"Oh," she blinked at him, "thanks."

"I forfeit, too!" Temari almost screamed when she realized she'd have to fight her little brother.

"Hmm," Hayate made a curious sound, then shrugged, "Alright, final match, Naruto Uzumaki against Gaara of The Desert."

Gaara teleported into the arena, glaring at Naruto, "If you forfeit," he growled, "I will kill everything you love."

The cat demon narrowed her eyes and crouched down to the ground. Her legs bulged, almost obscenely, as she prepared to pounce.

"Begin!"

Before the jounin could jump away, Naruto was on Gaara like a fat kid on cake. There was an explosion of Sand as she appeared on his other side, skidding to a stop fifty feet away.

She twirled around, crouched low and dashed in again. Another explosion of sand. Another. Another. Another! It was happening so quick that Naruto was leaving after images of herself.

Gaara had trouble keeping up with Rock Lee when he'd gone all out. Now he couldn't even guess where the girl was.

"Oh, lord in heaven above!" Sakura gasped, "The hell did he say to her?"

Finally the boy decided there was only one way of dealing with this. He pulled his sand into a sphere around himself. It was extremely dense, nearly impossible to penetrate. Nearly impossible.

There was a crack like thunder and suddenly Gaara was face to face with the cat monster. The sphere he had created had a massive hole in it, leaking in the sunlight. She grabbed his hands by the wrist.

"You know something?" She said, her eyes glowing in the dim light, "It seems to me that you don't get much use out of these. I'll just take them away for you." There was a wet ripping sound and Gaara was alone again. Minus his arms. In their place were two bleeding stumps. The sand dome fell as Gaara screamed in pain and fear. Naruto was quickly declared winner and the boy was taken away on a stretcher, still screaming.

It was to this that Sasuke arrived.

"What the hell happened to him?" He asked, forgetting his plan to pretend to be mad at Kakashi for making them so late.

"Gaara said something to Naruto. She took offense to it. They just called the match. But there's good news!" Sakura said cheerfully.

"What? What good news?"

"Well, you were disqualified, obviously. But the Hokage decided that an exhibition match between you and the tournament winner would be acceptable!"

Sasuke looked down into the arena, where Naruto was sniffing at one of the hands she'd torn off the Sand ninja. He knew the answer, but he had to ask.

"Naruto won the whole thing?"

"Yup!"

The Last Uchiha moved up the stairs and into a nearby supply cabinet. The next thing Sakura knew, there was a tidal surge of profanity, muffled, pouring out from behind the door.

Approximately two minutes later, the door opened and Sasuke came back out.

"Well," he said after clearing his throat, "This should be interesting… Sakura."

"Yes, Sasuke?" She asked sweetly.

"If I should die, burn the magazines under my mattress, please." That said, he made his way down to the arena, to meet his fate.