Chapter-7
-In The Hidden Sand Village (Sunakagure)
"You don't have to do this!" A masked blond yelled, blocking the raven's hit. "I am not going to let you talk me out of this like last time!" He threw another punch, aiming for the blonde's face. The blonde caught the punch and kneed the raven's chin. As soon as the raven was distracted, he put as much distance as he could between them. "Neko, I don't want to hurt you, please reconsider!" He yelled getting far away from Neko."I SAID NO! Fire style: Fire dragon flame bullet!" Three fire dragons surrounded Kitsune."You leave me no choice. Earth Style: Multi Mud Wall" huge mud walls emerged from underneath the sand, defending him from all three of the dragons. "You're so predictable, Kitsune" Neko said as he appeared behind him in a blink of an eye."Chidori: Senbon!" The raven shouted and a hundred needles made up of lightning chakra attacked Kitsune from his rear, "Wind style: Great Breakthrough!" Kitsune breathed out a gust of chakra enhanced wind from his mouth and managed to blow away most of the Senbons, but missed one, which sliced his arm. The wind was so powerful that it almost made Neko fall, but he managed to stay standing. After seeing that one of his needles sliced the blonde, the raven slightly smirked under his mask."Come on Kitsune, don't just defend against my attacks or are you too scared to go on offence?"Before Kitsune could retaliate with an insult, Neko had already prepared for his next move. "Fire Style: Great Flame Flower!" He exclaimed spitting a multitude of fireballs in the air, the only thought going through Kitsune's head was 'Oh shit!' He knew that these fireballs could easily break his earth style walls easily, so he did the only thing that came to his mind "Earth Style: Hiding Like A Mole Jutsu!" He disappeared under the ground, digging as deep as he could, he knew that the fireballs would cause great destruction and create craters, so it was better to hide as deep as he could.
All the genins participating in the Chunin exams were watching. They were woken up by the sound of explosions and had come to look for the source and they found the two fighting. The nearby sand ninja also joined the crowd of spectators. The ninjas watched in awe at the display of strength of the two. Even the elite jonin and the anbu just shivered at the thought of going against one of them, they would be lucky if they got out alive, so they didn't dare interfere.
Kitsune appeared in front of Neko after his jutsu was nullified and decided to go on offence."Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet" He used the water vapor in the air to create a water dragon. He had learnt this technique a few months ago from the second Hokage's scroll that his father had borrowed and was in the Uzumaki safe house. He was maneuvering the dragon towards Neko.
The Ninjas watched in awe as Kitsune created a whole water dragon out of nowhere, the sand didn't really have a huge water source, and the jutsu required a water body nearby to work.
Neko activated his Sharingan and unsheathed his Wakizashi and channeled lightning chakra into it which cut through the dragon dividing it into two. Kitsune already predicted this and was prepared, as soon as the water dragon was split into two, it turned into water bullets and attacked neko's back. He managed to dodge a few but still took damage. He charged towards Kitsune with his Wakizashi in one hand. The blonde unsheathed his katana and channeled wind chakra into it, he engaged Neko in a kenjutsu battle. Sparks flew as the blades collided. This went on for a while, both of them landing minor hits on each other. After sometime, Kitsune found an opening on neko's side, he attacked, but Neko was counting on it as soon as the blonde went in for the strike, the raven elegantly slid his blade under Kitsune's and parried with so much force that the blade flew from Kitsune's hand and landed in the sand, away from Kitsune's reach. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Around fifty shadow clones of Kitsune appeared, surrounding Neko in a circle. "Chidori Stream!"Neko yelled ramming his Wakizashi into the sand, zapping all of Kitsune's clones by electrifying the air within his four metre radius. To his surprise, Kitsune was not among them. His eyes widened when he realized Kitsune had planned all of this, by driving his sword into the sand; he had practically given away his location. Before he could jump away, a hand pulled him downwards burying him into the sand, leaving only his head above it. "Earth Style: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique!"Said the blond, as he appeared from underneath the sand. He unsheathed his Tanto and put the blade inches away from neko's neck. "I win" the blonde smirked from underneath his mask."Fine. We can have ramen for lunch. Now put that blade away!" The raven said with a sigh."You know, if you had said yes to having ramen for lunch, none of this would've happened." The blonde said while sheathing his blade.
"Hn."
"I even gave you an option to reconsider."
"Hn" the raven said while getting out of the sand. Oh how he wanted to eat his favorite onigiri (rice balls) with okaka (dried, fermented and smoked tuna). But now he had to settle for tomato ramen. He started healing his wounds and bruises with his medical Ninjutsu.
Meanwhile Kitsune was happy that he got to eat ramen and he defeated Sasuke. He let Kurama heal his wounds.
The crowd just sweat dropped after they learnt that the two had fought such a large battle just to decide what to eat. The genins were just relieved that they were not participating in the Chunin exam finals taking place tomorrow.
As soon as the two turned to the crowd, Naruto's azure blue eyes found a certain Yamanaka's ice blue. They stated at each other for what seemed as hours but were just seconds in the real world. They broke the eye contact when suddenly, in a swirl of sand, the Kazekage appeared.
"Kitsune, Neko, this is the twelfth training ground that you have destroyed. What was the fight about?" Gaara asked Naruto and Sasuke.
"Dobe wanted to eat Ramen but I wanted to eat onigiri and okaka."
"I see. Who won?"
"Me of course. Hey Gaara, want to join us for lunch?" Naruto asked
"Sure."
The trio shunshined away to the best ramen shop in Suna.
-With Ino
She was thinking about the masked blonde she saw earlier 'His eyes are just like Naruto's. He even shares Naruto's love for Ramen. Maybe that is Naruto. I mean he also has the same hair. Snap out of this Ino, you have to fight in the Chunin exams. But if that is Naruto, then I tell him how I feel, I need to show him that I have gotten stronger. I have trained hard for the past year and a half to become stronger, just so next time I can be there fighting alongside him. I need to win the Chunin exams. I have to make Tsunade-Shishou proud; I will not lose to billboard-brow this time. I am going to win.'
With those thoughts she went to train a bit and strategize for the next day's fight.
- The Kage Booth. The day of The Chunin Exam finals.
The Hokage, (Tsunade Senju), The Mizukage (Mei Terumi), The Kusakaze (Leader of the grass village), The Kazekage (Gaara), Neko and Kitsune were seated in the Kage booth. Kitsune and Neko had convinced the Mizukage and the Kusakaze to join the Chunin exam finals after signing a treaty with the Hidden Grass village. The Village elders of Suna had decided to make the duo as judges instead of bodyguards after witnessing their fights; it was safe to say that the two could easily see who were Chunin material and who were not. They were waiting for the Chunin exam finals to begin.
"Kitsune and Neko, your yesterday's battle was quite spectacular. Wasn't it Hokage-sama?" Mei Terumi spoke in a gentle voice.
"It surely was, Mizukage-sama." Tsunade replied.
"Thank-you, Mizukage-sama and Hokage-sama, but the battle could've been avoided if Neko here would have agreed to eat ramen for lunch." Kitsune pointedly looked at Neko
"Hn. I just wanted to eat Onigiri and Okaka."
"You don't know the half of it, they have destroyed twelve training grounds within four months, oh and one their battles went going on for eight hours. I had to enclose them in a sand coffin and force them to stop." Gaara said.
All the Kage (and the Kusakaze) were amazed.
"THE FINALS OF THE CHUNIN EXAMS ARE ABOUT TO BEGIN!" A loud voice echoed throughout the stadium.
"Well then, let's pay attention to the exams." Gaara said to all the people in the Kage booth
-In the stadium
The matches were written in bracket format on the huge board in the stadium.
The matches were
1. Kiba vs. Sand genin (Sand genin won)
2. Mist genin vs. sand genin (Mist genin won)
3. Shino vs. Hiroto (Shino won)
4. Tenten vs. Sand genin (Tenten won)
5. Choji vs. Mist genin (Choji won)
6. Hinata vs. Grass genin (Hinata won)
7. Grass genin vs. Sai (Sai won)
8. Ino vs. Sakura
"INO YAMNAKA AND SAKURA HARUNO ENTER THE STADIUM!"
The two entered the stadium. Ino had a poker face expression, while Sakura's expression was a smirk, Sakura was too over confident for her own good.
- In the Kage booth
"Dobe, your girlfriend is fighting the weakling." Sasuke whispered to Naruto, so that no one could hear them, even with advanced hearing.
"Shut up, Teme, She is not my girlfriend." Naruto's face was becoming red, he was grateful for the mask covering his face.
"Not yet. Okay, your childhood best friend turned genin sweetheart is fighting the weakling." Sasuke was enjoying teasing the Uzumaki.
"What are you two whispering about?" Gaara whispered to the duo. He clearly wanted to join the conversation as he had been attending too many conversations with old people and wanted to talk to someone his age.
"About dobe's girlfriend beating the hell out of the banshee." Sasuke snickered
"Teme!" Naruto whisper-shouted, a part of him wanted to strangle the raven but he couldn't.
"Mhm so this is the girl." Gaara suggestively said to Naruto, clearly teasing him.
"Hokage-sama, if I am not mistaken, aren't those two your students?" The Kusakaze asked Tsunade.
"Yes they are. Now let's pay attention the match is beginning." Tsunade pointed out. She knew that Ino would definitely beat Sakura. While Sakura has power, Ino has speed and accuracy. Ino had worked hard compared to Sakura's laziness and Ino was more level headed, while sakura was just impulsive and cocky. The only question was, 'how long will she actually take to defeat Sakura?'
"HAJME!" The proctor shouted.
"Get ready to get your ass beaten Ino-pig"
"We'll see whose ass gets beaten billboard-brow, now less talking more fighting."
"Earth Style: Stone Clone Jutsu!" Ino spat out earth from her mouth, which formed five clones. They spread out within the stadium, while the real Ino was hiding under the earth, camouflaged and waiting to spot Sakura's weakness. She knew that she could not waste too much of her chakra in this fight as this was a tournament and she had to fight many other contestants that were stronger than Sakura.
"CHHAAAAAA!" Sakura punched one of the clone, turning it into stones. She continued punching the Stone clones. "CHHAAA!" Her hand went through the last clone, she smirked, however she did not notice the paper bombs in the clone, the clone took a hold hand and held it firmly, before exploding. Sakura flew back because of the because of the blast and before she could even react, Ino delivered a chop to her neck, rendering her unconscious.
"WINNER: INO YAMANAKA!"
"Hokage-sama, I see your student, Ino, is very skilled. Her speed is definitely jonin level and her technique of taking the opponent by shock is admirable. I think she is definitely Chunin level, wouldn't you agree, Kusakaze-sama, Kazekage-sama, Kitsune, Neko?" The Mizukage asked turning her face towards Tsunade.
"She is really strong, she has skipped the last three exams just to become stronger and win these exams." Tsunade was proud of the Yamanaka, she had grown closer to the blonde after becoming her teacher, and after Naruto's death the two had gotten even closer. The two never did believe his death and hoped that someday he would return back to them.
"Her use of the earth style is certainly excellent" The Kusakaze replied.
"I agree, Mizukage-sama" Gaara replied.
"I couldn't even spot the paper bombs!" Kitsune pointed out.
"Because you were too busy looking at her" Neko teased Naruto. No one really understood what he meant except Naruto and Gaara. Naruto blushed underneath his mask and Sasuke smirked.
Every one braced themselves for the second round.
"ROUND TWO OF THE TOURNAMENT WILL BEGIN SHORTLY!" The proctor shouted out.
A/N:
Well, I gave you all the Naruto vs. Sasuke fight that you wanted. Also the next chapter is going to have even more fight scenes. I know that the Ino vs. Sakura fight was short, but I didn't want to show that Sakura was powerful. Also, I am thinking of making an OC. Let me know about your thoughts on that. If you all have any ideas, comment them or dm me. Let me know how this chapter was.
Peace!
