Chapter 6: Black-Haired Demon

I've been updated on a daily basis now. I'm just cranking out the story.

The further I go the better it will get. These chapters have been the development of Naruto as darkness continues to grow in him, as well as character development of others.

These characters will have a point in the story sooner or later.

I'm thinking about pairings, and what would go well with my story.

...anyways, Enjoy

Hours later, the teams gathered in the most central room.

The room was the size of a mid-sized battle arena. Two stairs led to separate sides of the arena guided by hand railings. In the back of the arena stood a large statue representing a hand sign.

The Third Hokage entered the room from the side door followed by the Jounin leaders of the remaining teams.

Naruto had noticed the count of teams, 7. 5 Leaf squads towards the back, 1 Sand ninja squad including the Shikaku vessel, Gaara. Naruto's own Cloud squad was placed in the front.

"Hello everyone, your squads are placed in order in which you finished the second exam. It is to my knowledge that Team Samui from the Hidden Cloud finished in a little under two hours." Everyone in the room, eyes widened with shock. How could it have been possible to breeze through the second part in under two hours.

Sarutobi continued, "Congratulations Cloud genin, you shattered the course record by four hours. This should play a huge role in determining your Chunin promotion."

The Third Hokage explained the reasoning behind the Chunin exams. His explanation let a bitter taste in most of the genins' mouths. It was the harsh reality of the world that the genin would have to get accustomed to.

"Now to finish my bickering. Hayate will explain the process of the third exam." The Hokage stepped back and allowed Hayate to take over

Naruto had noticed that he seemed terminally ill with the occasional whooping cough that startled some of the genin.

Sakura and Sasuke had been looking past the other teams in search of the guy who nearly led to them failing. The Cloud ninja with the black was extremely intimidating. His familiar blue eyes, only left them uneasy once again.

The other leaf squad were starting to pick up on this mysterious kid from the cloud. A Chunin exam was far fetched if they had a kid like that competing against them. The other two Cloud ninja didn't seem any different from the rest of them. But...this kid... if they could even call him that, was by far the most intimidating person in the room. He made the scars on Ibiki's head, and the sexual looks of Anko, look like Child's play.

Naruto knew people were looking at him. He chose to ignore it, his plan was becoming more and more inclusive the further and further the exam went on. He almost lost his expressionless face when he had first caught a glimpse of Jiji. The man he had trusted, betrayed all that time ago. A new-found hatred had been placed where his love for the man was.

His gaze drifted towards his once brief sensei. Kakashi was supposed to be his saving grace. Someone who would drag him out of the inevitable darkness. A mentor, he could've looked up to, but in the end, the burden inside him was thrown back in his face by yet another person he had shown vulnerability to.

Kakashi took notice of the Cloud ninja looking at him. 'What is up with this kid, why is he glaring at me?'

Kakashi shrugged it off knowing the kid would return his glare to the proctor. But, he traced his glance that now found its way on the Hokage.

The Hokage knew this Cloud genin was looking at them. He couldn't ignore the empty gaze still pestering in front of him. For the time being he chose to ignore it. He'd have to warn the other leaf teams about this child later. Something caught the Hokage's eye.

Familiar gypsy blue eyes returned their glare to Hayate as he prepared to talk.

"Before the third exam takes place, we will have to hold a preliminary round." This led to an uproar from the genin in front of him.

"What do you mean a preliminary round, we all made it to the third round of the exam." Kiba growled, followed by an agitated bark from Akamaru.

"A preliminary can be held any time the Chunin proctors see fit. Seeing that we exceed 20 competitors, the proctors decided on a preliminary round showing individual talent in order to get into the final tournament."

Hayate continued, "All of you will have one match. If you win, your bid in the final round is set. Before I continue, if anyone would like to leave considering the likeliness of injury and death sustained by battle, they can do so now."

Kabuto raised his hand and turned to the door causing a couple heads to turn.

'Coward,' Sasuke muttered before Hayate caught his attention.

"Alright then, 10 matches will be held at random. If you wish to concede before the fight then you will notify your instructor or myself. I will intervene when I see a fight is one side or an imminent lethal blow. Before we begin, you will have 10 minutes to talk to your Jounin leaders. Good luck you'll need it." Hayate walked into the arena to prepare for the fights to come.

Sarutobi motioned Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, and Guy. "First off good luck to your students. I hope you trained them well." All four nodded, followed by a thumbs up and a blinding smile from Guy. "Second, tell your students to proceed with caution against that ninja. I am sure you all could tell that genin from the Cloud is very powerful beyond his years. His stature exceeds many Chunin and Jounin. I can feel his chakra, his coils reflect that of a tailed beast. Beware of this child, if you have to intervene in a fight with one of your students please do so. I doubt any of you want to be held responsible for one of your students' deaths."

This concern from the old man had left the four Jounin wondering if the Hokage had actually felt such power. But, Hiruzen never left things unsaid that were important.

Just by looking at the Cloud ninja they knew they would have to watch is every move. His emotionless figure was worrisome, it left an uneasy feeling in their stomachs not being able to know what this kid was capable of.

Soon after the preliminaries began with the first match...

The board inside the Arena flipped over and began to register names at random.

"First match is...Sasuke Uchiha vs Yoroi Akado"

The first matchup was Sasuke Uchiha against a member of Kabuto's squad. Before the fight started, Kakashi told Sasuke to not underestimate his opponent per usual.

Sasuke ignored Kakashi. He broke eyesight with Kakashi and made his way to the floor.

The match started with Yoroi stealing Sasuke's chakra with his chakra absorption. The match seemed hopeless for Sasuke.

He caught a glimpse of Rock Lee on the observer deck, which gave Sasuke an idea. He used the Lion Combo, a partial copy of Rock Lee's Front Lotus, which had been captured by Sasuke's Sharingan. Yoroi was knocked unconscious, and Sasuke advanced to the next round.

"Winner: Sasuke Uchiha by Knockout"

"Second match is...Omoi and Shino Aburame"

Omoi did not like the sight of bugs crawling on Shino's skin. In order for him to impress Yugito and the Raikage, he had to win this.

His motivation was the leading factor in the fight. Shino had been a mid-range fighter. He sent beetles everywhere trying to swarm and flank Omoi from all sides.

Nomatter the amount of beetles in each wave. Omoi Lightning style blade technique had evaporated the masquerade of beetles around him every time.

The gap was closed and hand-to-hand combat

was not in Shino's best skillset. Omoi soundly delivered heavy blows to Shino resulting in his defeat after not being able to get up. Hayate called the fight.

"Winner: Omoi by TKO"

"The third match is...Misumi Tsurugi and Kankuro"

The match with Misumi Tsurugi against Kankuro of Sunagakure's Three sand siblings began.

Misumi quickly used Soft Physique Modification to restrain Kankuro and threatened to snap his neck, until it was revealed that the Kankuro Misumi was fighting was just a puppet.

The real Kankuro was disguised, controlling the puppet. He used the puppet, Crow, to crush Misumi's bones, defeating him.

"Winner: Kankuro by TKO"

"The fourth match is...Sakura Haruno vs Ino Yamanaka"

The fourth match, Sakura versus Ino of Konohagakure's Team 10, was particularly meaningful, as the two were rivals.

The match dragged on for a very long time, since they seemed to be quite on par, until Ino tried to possess Sakura's body to force her to forfeit the match; however, Sakura's will expelled Ino from her mind.

Exhausted and out of chakra, they both went for a final attack, Sakura slipped under Ino's right haymaker. Sakura then delivered a heavy uppercut instantly folding Ino.

"Winner: Sakura Haruno by KO"

"The fifth match is...Tenten vs Temari"

The fifth match was Tenten of Konohagakure's Team Guy against Temari of Sunagakure's Sand Siblings.

The match was over quickly, as all the projectile weapons used by Tenten were completely countered by the Wind Style techniques used by Temari, who won without taking as much as a single scratch.

Rock Lee jumped down to avenge Temari's treatment of Tenten, but Might Guy stopped what would have turned into a fight.

"Winner: Temari by KO"

"The sixth match is...Shikamaru Nara vs Sai"

Shikamaru and Sai went off head to head. Shikamaru received multiple strikes in the chest from the blunt side of Sai's tanto blade.

Unfortunately Sai went for a finishing move with his Super beast scroll. A shadow had reached behind Sai from the wall.

Frozen and with a blade placed on his neck, Sai conceded knowing he had lost.

"Winner: Shikamaru Nara by Forfeit"

"The seventh match is...Kiba Inuzuka vs Narui"

Kiba hopped over the barrier letting out a distinct howl. "Let's show this creep how it's done Akamaru!" Akamaru responded with a bark as usual.

Samui turned to Naruto, "Narui, don't kill him."

Naruto didn't plan on killing Kiba. Kiba wasn't his mission, but if it came down to it, he'd do as he sees fit.

Naruto bowed and jumped over the railing, 'I am going to end this fight quickly and efficiently.'

"You're in for a world of hurt weirdo." Kiba laughed and got into position ready to fight. The laugh soon ceased as he met Naruto's blue orbs. 'This guy has no emotion whatsoever. I think I've might of underestimated him already.'

"You may begin." Hayate jumped back.

"All fours jutsu!" Kiba grew fangs and his nails grew into claws. He rushed at Naruto, teeth flaring, as he sped. Kiba went for a slash at the stationary Naruto.

Naruto turned into smoke as Kiba tumbled through his body. "Huh, where'd he go?"

Kiba got impatient as everyone in the arena was searching for the black haired shinobi.

Rock Lee found Naruto standing upside down on the ceiling, "Look Guy sensei, up there!" He pointed in the direction of Naruto, everyone following the trail of his fingers. Everyone now looking at the ceiling saw no one.

"Lee you fool! There is no one there." Neji Hyuga stood disappointed at his teammate's belligerence.

Thinking Lee was crazy, everyone's attention was brought back to Kiba only to find him unconscious. Naruto stood next to his body and straightened out his bandage on his right wrist.

All the teams stood in shock. They never saw Naruto nor did they see Kiba get pummeled so easily.

Team Samui all looked as if they had seen it before.

Hayate knelt down in front of Kiba's unconscious body. "Get medical in here, he's out cold." Hayate's line of sight never left the fight even after Lee had drawn the attention of the other spectators. 'I was watching the entire time, I can't believe the sheer speed of a mere genin.'

Hayate cleared his raspy throat before determining Naruto the winner. Naruto was unfazed even in victory.

As he walked back towards his team, every team watched in utter silence at Naruto. Kankuro and Temari averted their gaze as Naruto strolled by them. Even Gaara to an extent, stared, but only for a brief moment.

Team Samui stayed silent knowing all well not to congratulate him. The intimidation factor he had on everyone right was uncanny. 'They have no idea what Narui is capable of.' Karui smirked at Naruto.

"Hey Narui. You scared, everyone shitless. Nice Job." Omoi patted Naruto on the back as he glared across the arena at where the Leaf teams stood.

All of the genin whispered to their sensei about the black haired boy from the Cloud. He didn't avert his gaze from Kakashi's team.

"Kakashi, do you know who that is? I didn't even see him hit Kiba. I mean Kiba's not the strongest but he was still a worthy opponent." Sakura was scared of the Cloud ninja even before the match. Now she was terrified of him.

Kakashi responded, "I have no clue, Sakura. Whoever he is, his speed is beyond Chunin level at least. It is also concerning."

Sasuke thought everyone was over exaggerating. 'I could beat this Narui kid if I got him in the finals. He just pulled a cheap trick that I am going to figure out.'

Sai never felt intimidated by anyone, but even this kid struck a little fear into his emotionless core.

Team 8 had just been celebrating the win by their lazy friend Shikamaru. That celebratory demeanor, now tarnished due to the fact that no one saw how or when this kid won the match.

"Asuma sensei, did you see what happened because I didn't." Choji didn't eat a single chip whilst figuring out what the hell just happened to Kiba.

"Kiba is a good ninja, he is probably one of the best out of the Konoha rookie class. Now look at him, that Cloud ninja put him on a stretcher in 10 seconds," Ino groveled at her loss, but this upset her even more. She was kind of thankful that she wasn't in the next round considering she had a chance of getting him as an opponent.

"Now that is why I told you three to watch yourselves if you got that kid as an opponent. He is not ordinary by genin standards." Asuma wasn't one to be taken by a storm easily. A former guardian shinobi and he had only seen a few with that kind of speed.

Kurenai motioned to her students to go down to the floor and help Kiba onto the stretcher. Hinata had minor tears in her eyes watching a seemingly lifeless Kiba being lifted off the ground.

'Kiba is the strongest on my team. Unbelievable...,' Kurenai trailed off as she glared towards Naruto only to have the malice returned.

The medics told Kurenai that Kiba was going to be out a couple of hours due to the severity of the blow to his neck.

"Hinata will stay here with Shino for your match. I will go with Kiba to the infirmary."

"Guy sensei he is fast. That speed could give my weightless self a great challenge! He vanished when I was looking at him on the ceiling," Rock Lee was the only one who saw Naruto on the ceiling and even then he couldn't keep track of him.

"Yosh! Lee do not get down on yourself, yours and Neji's match is still to come. Your youth will be shown to all, my youthful students." Guy gave Neji and Lee a thumbs up and a trademark flickering smile. Lee started tearing up and eventually tears ran down his face, "Guy sensei, you are so wise!"

"If that Cloud runt had gotten me as an opponent, that speed wouldn't have been enough to beat the likes of me." Neji was impressed, but still would not show his frustration with someone having talent near his own.

Tenten was barely conscious sitting behind her team. That blow she took gave her a good night's sleep without the mentions of youthfulness.

"Alright now that the floor is cleared let's begin the next battle." Hayate looked up at the board awaiting the next names.

"The eighth fight is...Hinata Hyuga vs Neji Hyuga"

The eighth match brought a family rivalry to the forefront, as Hinata and Neji of the Hyuga battled.

At first, Neji assaulted Hinata psychologically, using her fears to convince her that she had no possibility of winning. Hinata decided to fight to prove that she could be brave as well.

They both fought using the Hyuga Gentle Fist style and the Byakugan which Kakashi asserted to surpass the Sharingan. While they initially seemed to the observers to be equally matched, Neji managed to interrupt Hinata's chakra flow in her arms, disabling her ability to use Gentle Fist.

Hinata still tried to go on, and it was only the exam proctor's intervention that stopped Neji from killing her.

"Winner: Neji Hyuga by TKO"

"The ninth fight is... Rock Lee vs Gaara"

The ninth match pitted Lee against Gaara of Sunagakure's Sand Siblings.

At first, none of Rock Lee's taijutsu attacks managed to penetrate or circumvent Gaara's Sand shield, until Lee removed the weights he was wearing on his legs. The boost of speed was such that Gaara's sand couldn't follow Lee's movements, and Gaara was hit for the first time in his life. However, Gaara was revealed to be using Sand Armor to keep Lee's attacks from working on him.

Realizing that his normal attacks will no longer work, Lee then used his Front Lotus on Gaara, but in the end it was revealed that it had been a sand clone. Having no other way to end the match, and with Guy's permission, Lee then opened five of the inner gates, the result being that Lee's strength was multiplied immensely for a short time, but also severely injured him.

He then proceeded to continuously beat Gaara with his Reverse Lotus. However, as Gaara fell to the ground, he dispersed his sand gourd as a cushion to break his fall. Gaara then used his Sand Coffin to crush Rock Lee's left arm and leg.

Might Guy jumped down to prevent Gaara from killing Lee, and regretted having taught Lee how to open the inner gates after learning from the medical ninja that Lee could no longer be a ninja due to his intense injuries. Gaara won the match.

"Winner: Gaara by KO"

"The tenth fight is...Karui vs Choji Akamichi"

Karui had noticed the bum eating nearly the entire time. There was no way she was going to lose to a fatso like him.

Before she jumped down to meet Choji in the middle, Naruto grabbed her wrist and said, "Do not underestimate him."

She nodded and acknowledged that Naruto knew what he was talking about. Choji got into a fighting chance as soon as Hayate said fight.

She unsheathed her katana. Sparring with Naruto, had really helped her strengthen her fundamentals. Although she never laid a finger on him, she still felt she could defeat this bum in front of her.

Choji screamed, "Human Boulder," before repeating, " . .Roll," over and over trying to hit her.

She quickly evaded the massive spinning, and returned a slashing strike to the massive ball, knocking it off course. She could tell the hit had affected his speed and sense of direction.

'I most of hit a vital spot. This is good, very good.' She dove out of the way of another charge. She returned with a Dancing Blade, a samurai technique taught with the art of the sword.

Choji's human boulder folded and he skid on the ground hitting his head against the wall.

"Winner: Karui by KO"

Omoi congratulated her. "Looks like we clean swept the competition. The Raikage will be proud of our endeavor. But what if he's so proud, that his heart starts pumping fast. And if his heart pumps fast, then he will have a heart attack and then..."

Karui cut him off and pounded the top of his head with her fist.

"Good job you three, the Raikage will be glad to know that all his genin made it to the finals. He said the only way he would attend the finals was if all three of you made it. So now you can add Lord Raikage to the spectator count for the finals." Yugito and Samui bluntly celebrated.

Their entire team had made it through the preliminaries. The Sand Siblings also followed in suit with all three winning.

Gaara nearly lost, it showed the others his weaknesses, and the Rock Lee kid had been eliminated as well. Naruto acknowledged this outcome, even if he had thought that Rock Lee would come out victorious. Gaara's ultimate defense proved it's worth, even after taking severe blows, he still came out on top.

The Hokage returned to the floor after hearing the fights had finally finished.

"Can all 10 victors come down to the floor to hear the next step." The Hokage stood surprised at who stood in front of him. 6 foreign genin outweighing the 4 leaf genin. This meant that 10 Leaf genin were beaten.

The 6 foreigners were no joke. Serious ninja with Chunin capabilities. The Hokage read their names as he went left to right down the line, "Kankuro, Gaara, and Temari of the Sand, Karui, Omoi, and Narui of the Cloud, and Shikamaru Nara, Neji Hyuga, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha of the Leaf. Congratulations to our finalists. Hayate explain the final stage."

Hayate emerged from behind the Jounin instructors. "Yes, of course sir. The final stage will be tournament style, single elimination. Winner will be promoted to Chunin instantaneously, others will be considered depending on how well you perform."

All 10 were motivated for the promotion. After having the invasion waved by the Kazekage, the Sand ninja could finally go for their promotion in actuality instead of playing a farce.

Naruto finally had a chance to prove his existence, and to destroy others who got everything they wanted. He didn't question if he would succeed or not, he knew that it was his opportunity to waste.

"You 10 will draw a number from this sack, the number you get is your placement in the tournament. Therefore, 1 and 2 will go up against each other and so on."

"Because we have 10 of you, one competitor will have a max of 4 matches. The others will 3 max. If you pull a number 5-8 then you will have the 4 max, potentially."

Hayate held out the sack, "Read your number when you pull it, and direct your name and number to Lord Hokage."

"Kankuro, 2."

"Gaara, 10." Kankuro thanked Kami that Gaara wasn't on his side of the bracket.

"Temari, 7." 'Shit. 4 matches? I am not looking forward to that.'

"Karui, 9." 'I have to face Gaara in the first round, ugh'

"Omoi, 4." ' Anyone but Narui.'

"Narui, 5" '4 matches, exactly what I wanted.' The Hokage noticed the slight smirk.

"Shikamaru Nara, 3." 'The Cloud Ninja Omoi, at least it's not Narui. Still troublesome.'

"Neji Hyuga, 8." 'Another woman? Insolence.'

"Sakura Haruno," she paused and gulped, everyone knew that was for only one person, "6." 'The last person in the finals I would want to face first. I'm terrified of him...at least he's good looking.'

"Sasuke Uchiha, that leaves me with 1. Accurate representation of the talent order." Kakashi stood behind his students wondering what on Earth his overly confident student was thinking putting a target on his back. Kakashi slapped him on the shoulder with a chakra enforced hit, leaving him rubbing his arm.

The entire line looked down at the Uchiha. 'He almost lost, why does he think he's better than everyone.' Kankuro thought.

Sakura nervously laughed turning to Sasuke and whispered, "Are you trying to get us killed before the fight even begins?"

Sasuke just grunted and returned his attention to Hayate, "You will have a month's time to train and improve your skills before the finals begin. The attendance this year is said to be in the 10s of thousands. You will showcase your skills in front of family and friends, as well as, government officials and Daimyo's across the world looking for special talent. Now, the way you perform in the end will determine if you are Chunin worthy or not. Good luck."

...and with the send-off the one month journey began.