Chapter Ten
Yo, finals time baby. Have fun. Giving ya last chapter, and this chapter, only minutes apart! But I'm also gonna have to wait a bit to upload. I have to write ahead some more before I am comfortable posting the next few chapters. Plus, it takes time to edit this stuff for mistakes. Along with making sure it flows correctly and is a good read.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. I'm just messing with his story.
Sarutobi smiled, Jiraiya really outdid himself this time. It was impressive, the way Naruto resembled Minato. The sight alone made the villagers question how they looked at him, a step in the right direction. He felt the Kazekage beside him stiffen ever so slightly at the sight of the boy and the Sannin. He knew this man was not the Kazekage, the old Hokage knew more than Orochimaru thought. But had hope even though he knew it was futile, that seeing Jiraiya here would make the traitor hold his attack off a while longer.
"Dosu of Otogakure, has not arrived and cannot be located. He will be disqualified, and Hinazuki Rikka will fight Haruno Sakura in his place to keep the flow going." The proctor informed the crowd before continuing. "First match, Hyuga Neji against Uzumaki Naruto."
Jiraiya turned to his blond pupil. "Hey good luck kid. Kick ass." Smiling he flicked off to the Kage box.
"Thanks Jiraiya-sensei."
At the Kage box, Hiruzen addressed Jiraiya's arrival. "So my student, how did his training go?"
"He's faster than ever now Sarutobi-sensei. He's truly a terrifying force."
"There's no way...it's not possible he taught the boy that technique. No of course not. It's completely unlikely. Jiraiya himself doesn't even know how to perform it. I myself couldn't even figure it out." Orochimaru thought to himself.
Naruto stood across from Neji staring the Hyuga down. "Between my eyes and your fate. You will lose here to me."
"Can it Hyuga, I promised you a beating, not a heartfelt conversation. Maybe after I'm done kicking your ass, but not before."
Neji looked as if he was about to speak, but Genma interrupted anything the boy might say. "Begin!"
The Hyuga prodigy quickly activated his byakugan, only for his eyes too widen as he saw Naruto behind him. "How!?" He thought. He quickly spun to intercept the strike the blond had prepared only to be met with the sight of the boy, behind him again. Appearing in a handstand that allowed him to bring both his feet to bare in a vicious kick to the Hyuga's side. Said kick launched the older boy across the stadium, and into the wall with a resounding impact.
Neji stood quickly. "What the hell just happened?"
"Your all seeing eyes can show you everything I do. But it won't matter if you aren't fast enough to react to it." Naruto said from across the stadium field.
Neji stood silent, not knowing what exactly to say in reply. Naruto suddenly threw a large group of kunai at the long haired boy, who quickly deflected them with his own. The blond smiled, and Neji's eyes widened as a kunai was suddenly where Naruto had just been and he felt a fist smash into the back of his skull. Naruto had substituted with one of the kunai and immediately transferred into a body flicker to put him directly behind the older boy.
Neji hit the dirt with an angry snarl. This wasn't how this was supposed to go. This blond bastard was faster than Lee. How could he counter something he couldn't even react to. Neji stood, and immediately launched into an attack at Naruto, just as his first palm strike was about to hit the speedster, he hit a kunai instead. He realized he had ran right past one of the previously deflected kunai as Naruto appeared beside him, kicking his legs out from under him and planting his fist in the Hyuga's face before he even hit the ground.
Neji knew he needed a counter. And he needed it now. He jumped to his feet, throwing a smoke bomb on the ground. He knew at the very least he could see better in the smoke than the Uzumaki could.
"Oi...Hyuga. You should know my team an I fought Momochi Zabuza, the Demon Of Kirigakure, one of the Seven Swordsmen of Kirigakure. He was a master of the hidden mist jutsu, and the art of silent killing. Because of that man...I can fight just fine without my eyes." Naruto said to the older boy.
"It doesn't matter. You may be skilled but you will lose here." Neji channeled chakra throughout his body and pushed himself to his limits. He had to keep up with the blond. The blond flickered next to him preparing to strike, but the Hyuga was able to pull of his Eight Trigrams: Revolving Heaven technique. "Rotation!" A dome of chakra spawned around the Hyuga knocking Naruto back fairly hard.
"Heh, nice trick." Naruto said mockingly "I'm actually unsure of how to handle that. If he's able to pull it off before I move he might have a chance. It doesn't matter. I'll find a way." He thought to himself. As soon as the Hyuga dropped his dome, Naruto body flickered to him, only to be once again met with a dome of chakra. "How did he know I was gonna move? Ah...shit he's probably taking note of when chakra is focused in my body for a technique. How am I gonna handle this?" Naruto was officially stumped he had no idea how to get around this defense of the Hyuga's.
Neji smirked. The blond was definitely stumped. "It's time for you to lose." Neji charged at Naruto, managing to get close enough to start throwing palm strikes at the younger boy. Naruto however was fast enough to dodge most of them. A few of his tenketsu had been closed but he would deal. The older boy came at him for a solid strike that was sure to hit, and Naruto made the active decision to substitute with a kunai.
The jinchuriki was unsure of what to do with himself now. Neji now has a solid strategy, and Naruto had to get around it. He smirked, he had an idea that might work. He sped through hand seals and twenty water clones appeared around him.
"You can make clones all you want, but I can tell the difference between them and you." The Hyuga taunted.
"That's not what they're for."
Naruto's clones ran in at the older boy. Half kept their distance but the other half moved to engage. He quickly spawned another twenty that lined up behind his others. At the very least if it came down to it, Naruto could win this fight through pure stamina. But that wasn't how he wanted to win. While the clones engaged with the Hyuga and were subsequently dispatched, Naruto laid out his plan. He placed explosive tags all over the arena in different locations to act as traps. He then began to gather chakra, and he knew this shit was going to hurt. A lot. He would probably win with it though. His clones were almost all gone by now so he had to act fast. Instead of waiting for Neji to take out his last five clones, he body flickered right next to the older boy, managing to get a solid spin kick into his stomach before substituting with one of his clones so that it could take Neji's counter strike.
Naruto flickered into one of his many explosive placements, and focused his chakra. He had dispersed a ton in the air around Neji when he hit him, and as soon as the prodigy dispatched his last clone Naruto made his move. He enclosed all of his chakra around the boy, and forcefully substituted with him. Leaving the Hyuga confused, and in a ten by ten square of explosive tags, that Naruto then detonated. "Explode!"
The ground shook and the byakugan wielding boy was launched head over heels into the air. However Neji wasn't done yet and landed on his feet. He was battered and bruised, but not down. "How!" He practically growled. "How did you move me?"
"I have a lot of chakra. I forced it around you and substituted with your body, but it only worked because you were standing still." Naruto explained. "I'm sure I won't get that chance again." He said throwing another volley of kunai at the Hyuga prodigy. Neji quickly got out of the way and moved as far away from them as possible. "Sorry Neji, but it's time I end this, Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Wind tore apart the ground as it barreled toward the taijutsu specialist.
"Rotation!" A dome of chakra lit up around Neji negating Naruto's jutsu, but just as Neji released his rotation and he came to a stop he was facing kunai from ten different angles. In the time it took the prodigy to defend against Naruto's jutsu, the blond had made nine Water Clones, giving all of them real kunai to throw, as he didn't want the kunai to disappear if his clones did. They all body flickered around Neji and had thrown their kunai. All the knives would intersect at the point that was Neji's body.
The Hyuga was too off balance to return to his rotating motion so, he was forced to deflect and dodge the kunai. He deflected six of them and jumped over the other four, however Neji was in for pain, and he knew it.
As he was about to land the four kunai all flew away from him, Naruto appeared in place of one with a new kunai in hand, which he caught Neji lightly across the chest with. The Hyuga was pushed back slightly, and Naruto appeared behind him placing a spin kick into his back. Neji stared as the kunai he saw before him turned into Naruto once again, who planted his sandel in the Hyuga's teeth. Launched back once more he wasn't surprised when the blond appeared behind him in a handstand, angling his body as both of his feet collided with the older boy's spine, sending him flying across the field and smashing loudly into the wall. Neji didn't stand again. "Denkosekka!" Finished the blond.
He was barely conscious as his back slid down the wall and he landed on the ground. Naruto flickered into existence in front of him. The blond leaned down to look him in the eye. "Honestly Neji, you did amazing. I can't substitute with a kunai again for the next two days. If that last technique hadn't worked I might have lost. But you fight for all the wrong reasons. You need to re-evaluate why you became a ninja, I know of your burden, I too bare one similar. Mine to many would be considered much worse than yours, however. But I don't give in to this seal placed upon me. I won't ever let it control me, nor who I am. You have so many people who want to be close to you. Don't throw that away." With that, Naruto held a kunai to Neji's throat. "Proctor, please call the match?"
"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto turned to face the crowd, cloak billowing in a way reminiscent of that of their very own Fourth Hokage. He fought so much like him and he didn't even entirely realize it. He knew he took inspiration, but that was it.
"Brat doesn't even know he's almost fully re-created some of Minato's techniques. He really is impressive." Jiraiya thought to himself. The crowd cheered loudly for the blond, something that slightly shocked the boy. He smiled at them gave a wave and returned to the contestant stand. Meanwhile the medics came out and carried Neji away.
As Naruto strolled into the contestant booth, he was met with Sasuke and Sakura.
"Wow! Naruto, you were amazing!" The pinkette said to the jinchuriki.
"Heh thanks Sakura."
"Naruto." Sasuke called out.
"Sup S'ke?"
"You're the one I want to fight the most. Out of all the challenges here, our battle will be the greatest." The last Uchiha said with a smirk.
"Better not lose your fight then." Naruto said back with a cocky smile.
"Pfft as if."
"But seriously Sasuke." Naruto said eyes growing serious. "Be careful. You saw what he did to Lee and I'm honestly surprised they didn't rig it for me to fight him, considering we are both jinchuriki. But just don't die got it bastard?" Naruto finished.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted in return.
"Will Haruno Sakura, and Hinazuki Rikka please come down?"
The two women stared each other down. Sakura remembered the girl faintly, but other than the preliminaries she was pulling blanks. She had watched the girl overpower her opponent in the preliminary match, so she knew she was strong.
"Let's have a good match?" The pinkette offered.
"Sure." The girl replied with indifference.
The pinkette studied the girl, taking in what she looked like. She had blue shoulder length hair and red eyes. She wore a dark grey sleeveless jacket with a hood, but it was down, along with a mesh armor shirt underneath along with black shorts. She had bandages wrapped down the length of her legs, and on her right side she wore her bag for equipment and was outfitted with typical sandals of the shinobi. One thing was out of place however, and that was the long burnt orange scarf she wore around her neck. She had red marks almost like that of an Inuzuka. but they came up from the sides of her face ending below her eyes and were upside down. (Like Rin's but pointed.)
Sakura had watched the Rikka fight in the preliminary match, the girl had thrown around a lot of Fire jutsu, leading the pinkette to suspect that she had fairly high chakra reserves. She would need to be careful, especially if she used the strength technique she and Kakashi had come up with, which she had dubbed the Haruno fist. It consumed way to much chakra, and it was highly possible her opponent could win this match though pure stamina.
"Begin!" Shouted out Genma.
Sakura immediately launched forward activating her strength technique, she intended to attempt to end this quickly. The other Konoha genin however was fast in her own right, jumping away and flashing through hand seals as Sakura's heel drop proceeded to decimate the ground she had just stood on. "Fire Style: Foxfire!" Ten balls of fire appeared around Rikka, and with her hands she began launching them at the pinkette.
Sakura responded in kind with a jutsu of her own. "Earth Style: Terra Shield!" A wall of earth rose in front of her blocking the fire that aimed to char her skin.
Rikka once again began a sequence of hand seals. "Fire Style: Flame Bombs!" She spat two large balls of fire that expanded upon impact next to Sakura's shield. The pinkette then came out of the ground behind the stoic girl, slamming her foot into the ground inches behind her as she barely managed to dodge. The ground imploded where she had stood, but she managed to bring her body around and launch into another attack. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" A burst of flame sparked from her mouth engulfing Sakura, who immediately substituted with a log but had still received minor burns.
Sakura was slightly ticked off. The other girl was faster than her, and she just couldn't seem to get the drop on her. She decided to subtlety cast Genjutsu: Optic Delusory on her opponent. This made her enemy perceive her as moving slower than she was, allowing Sakura's next attack to land a solid kick into Rikka's abdomen, launching the bluenette across the field. Sakura smirked, things were looking up.
Rikka hurt. A lot. Her whole body ached from that one landed hit. She couldn't get hit by that again. She had a bit of skill in medical ninjutsu, so she ran her palm over her lower body and healed as much as she could as quickly as possible.
Sakura saw the girl begin healing herself. "Crap I didn't expect that. And note to self, learn medical ninjutsu." Sakura grunted. A war of attrition it would be then. This time it was Rikka who charged in, engaging the pink haired girl in a fast paced bout of taijutsu that didn't leave her room to really get off a good high powered hit. Rikka took advantage of this, slamming her foot into Sakura's chest and launching herself backwards away from the girl. As she flew she tossed a round of kunai, which had timed explosive tags attached. The resounding explosion shoot the stadium lightly. But Sakura was alright. Beat up and starting to reach her limit, but she was alright.
"Fire Style: Red Spider!" Fire surrounded the female member of Team Seven, and a spider made of pure fire charged at her intent on turning her crisp. Sakura however, had something up her sleeve.
She punched the ground in front of her as hard as she could, launching enough earthen debris up into the path of the spider to completely disperse the jutsu. Sakura was tired though. Her reserves were almost depleted the strength technique she and Kakashi had made was extremely wasteful when it came to chakra. "Shit I might lose this."
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" A large concentrated stream of fire tore across the arena at the pinkette. She barely had time to dodge. When she hit the ground Sakura made strategic decision.
"Proctor! I forfeit. My chakra is all but depleted." She said sadly.
"Winner of this match is Hinazuki Rikka!"
The crowd cheered as Rikka walked over to the downed member of Team Seven. She offer a hand to help Sakura up. "I respect your skill. If I hadn't know medical jutsu, that kick you landed would have been the end of it. Maybe we can spar some time."
"Thank you, you're of extraordinary talent. I'm really impressed, I'd love to spar sometime." Sakura said standing with the help of her opponent. The crowd cheered some more, and medics came and helped Sakura away from the arena.
"Will Nara Shikamaru, and Temari of Suna please come down." Genma called out wishing to continue matches in an orderly fashion. The two opponents came down, and prepared themselves. Although, Naruto practically had to kick Shikamaru out of the contestant booth. "Begin!" Called Genma and both contestants leapt away from each other.
If you asked Naruto, he was extremely impressed by the amount of tactical thinking and strategic analysis that went on in this fight. It was rare to have the chance to watch two master tacticians battle it out. These kinds of battles were absolutely awesome to watch in Naruto's opinion. It also helped him improve and take tips from both fighters to help shape his own battle planning abilities. In the end, Naruto wasn't exactly surprised when Shikamaru decided to forfeit. The Nara was out of chakra and obviously physically tired. It was a sound strategic move on his part.
"Aburame Shino, versus Kankuro of Suna. Will the contestants please come down."
Before Shino could even move, Kankuro called out. "Actually Proctor I'd like to forfeit."
"Fine winner is Aburame Shino by forfeit. And next time you decide your gonna waste people's time, do it in a way that doesn't embarrass your village." Said Genma making Kankuro recoil slightly.
In the Kage box, Jiraiya whistled next to the Hokage.
"Oh damn he really just roasted that kid didn't he, Sarutobi-sensei?"
"Yes I suppose he did Jiraiya." Hiruzen chuckled.
Genma looked around the stadium. People were excited for this one. Oh well it was time. "Will Uchiha Sasuke, and Gaara of Suna please come down." Both genin were on the battlefield in an instant. Sasuke smirked, he was going to wipe out this sand genin with his new jutsu and blaze a trail till his fight with Naruto.
"Begin!"
Sasuke immediately blitzed Gaara, proceeding to outclass the Suna nin in speed and taijutsu. Gaara was getting beat an he knew it. And it was pissing mother off. So he would kill this swine and give his blood to her. Gaara launched back enclosing himself in a ball of sand. Suddenly sand floated into the air above him gathering to form an eye.
"What the hell kind of technique is this? No matter if he wants to use this defense I'll pierce it with Chidori." Sasuke thought. He ran up the side of the stadium wall to give himself a lot of distance. "Monkey, Dragon, Rat, Bird, Ox, Snake, Dog, Tiger, Monkey." He held out his arm and it was engulfed in lightning chakra. "Chidori!" He called out while blasting down the wall and across the ground at Gaara's dome. Dodging the spikes of sand that burst from the dome upon his arrival he slammed his hand through the dome and hit Gaara's shoulder.
A cry rang across the stadium, "my blood! It's my blood! You'll die here, Uchiha!" A massive arm ripped through the sand dome, tossing away the Uchiha prodigy.
"Kaka-sensei! You gotta stop this fight right now!" Shouted Naruto.
"I can't do that Naruto, trust me Sasuke has this under con-"
"No sensei! Gaara's a jinchuriki, like me but the One Tail. If this thing gets out of control…"
"I-I see…" responded the jounin of Team Seven, but before anyone could act feathers began to fall into the stadium, caused by a mass genjutsu. "Shit! Naruto, the village is under attack. I hate to say this to you because you know how I feel about it as well, but you're Konoha's jinchuriki. I need you to go assist Sasuke and prevent Gaara from releasing the One Tails! I'll try to get back up to you! Now go!"
"Yes Sensei!" Naruto flickered down next to Sasuke who was watching Gaara closely. "S'ke! We gotta chase this bastard out of the village! Now!"
"Got it!"
"Combo five!"
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
A massive torrent of fire barreled toward the enemy jinchuriki, he immediately took off smashing a massive hole through the stadium wall and running into the forest.
"Let's go, Sasuke!"
"Right!"
The two boys took off after the Suna nin in hot pursuit. It would lead to a battle that would be well know throughout Konohagakure.
That was a fun one to write y'know! When Neji says that Naruto is fast than Lee, he is only referring to the body flicker and kunai substitution. Not raw natural speed. Anyway I skipped Shika's match because it was mostly canon, just Shika had to come up with some extra tricks. And I didn't really want to write that match for some reason. And for anyone wondering why Sasuke's fight went so quick, I was trying to write it as if Sasuke was rushing himself, because he really only wanted to fight Naruto. In his excitement he also kind of forgot he was up against a jinchuriki. Also Denkosekka means "A flash of lightning amidst the falling snow" which I thought would be a sweet name, bonus points if anyone figured out exactly where it came from. It's been used in Naruto stuff before that wasn't FanFiction. Anyway I'm out! See ya!