The Chunin Exam finals are about to begin. Something is going on at the borders of the Fire Country as a trek toward Konoha is in progress.
Chapter 21: The Fighting Begins
The daimyos were assembled in a hall in the Fire capital. Konoha was an hour's ride away by ceremonial cart. Sarutobi moved among the crowd as he over heard minor conversations. More diplomacy was carried out at the various Chunin Exams than in any other place. All the major leaders considered the place neutral ground as long as they were not at war. Those minor countries hostile to one another merely pretended their enemy did not exist and mingled with other leaders.
Sarutobi sipped at his glass of water as he looked out into the room. He hated these political functions but they went with being a leader. He saw the Raikage standing with the daimyo of Lightning Country. At least it was not the same man who demanded the body of a Hyuuga when the kidnapping of Hinata at age 3 went bad and the agent died at the hands of the angry Hyuuga brothers. Two months later the military coup deposed the sadist who ran the military there. The current Raikage had returned the body of Hizashi as a token of good faith in new peace negotiations. Things had been quiet with the Cloud since then. The younger man spotted Sarutobi and worked his way over to the aged Hokage.
"Ah, Sarutobi-dono. I am glad I got to run into you. I am looking forward to the matches tomorrow. This year promises to be quite interesting. I like the odds on some of them. I plan to be taking a lot of cash home from this one. A shame for you the odds makers dislike the Uzumaki so much."
"Really? Why do you say that, Saito-dono?"
"After Whirlpool country was 'annexed' by the Water country a few of the refugees settled in the south coast of our lands. A few of the refugees were called Uzumaki. Brash redheads with attitudes but they were skilled ninja. They were always keeping their word. My predecessor wiped them out when they would not serve him. The half dozen of them took down nearly a platoon in their battle. I got interested when the message of the Finals got out and I saw an Uzumaki on the list."
The Raikage continued, "Most of the daimyos are here to see the Uchiha. They were nothing but an arrogant clan of thieves in my book. I wanted to see an Uzumaki fight again. I was surprised however when I found out that he is a blonde. The ambassador in the capital sent me some information after meeting the boy some months ago with his team and their instructors. Making yourself a new generation of Sannin, eh? If those kids turn out half as good as the first group, I will keep telling the daimyo that war with Fire Country is not a good idea."
Sarutobi chuckled softly, "War is never a good idea, Saito-dono. I am not foolish enough to think we can end war but it should be avoided whenever possible."
The Raikage nodded, "If you cannot avoid war at least be strong enough to have your opponent know fighting you is going to cost a heavy toll. Peace through mutual destruction."
Sarutobi nodded slowly glad that a small conversation had kept peace with the Lightning Country for at least another year.
The eight finalists stood in the center of the arena at the gathered crowd. Many of the Leaf ninja and villagers were in attendance. The VIP boxes were full to bursting. The genin all bowed first to the Hokage box then to the assembled daimyos. All the daimyos were seated in a long booth, all at the highest level and in identical chairs. This was so no one leader could be singled out as being better than any other. The Hokage and Kazekage sat alone in the main booth. Since their genin were participating, they had the seats of honor. The Raikage was in the stadium but he sat with his daimyo. The stadium itself was packed with citizens of Konoha some of the more wealthy people in the Fire Country and ninja of all ages.
"Rock Lee and Gaara no Subaku remain on the floor of the arena. The rest of you go to the waiting area for your turn to battle," Hayate commanded.
Lee stood about 5 yards from Gaara while the rest of the genin filed up the stairs. Gaara merely stood and glared at Lee.
Hayate looked from one genin to the other. "I am only going to remind you once. Directly lethal techniques are forbidden. This is a showcase as well as a competition so make it look good for the daimyos. No other rules other than if I tell you to stop, you stop. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Referee-san," shouted Lee.
Gaara merely grunted and nodded.
Lee assumed a fighting stance. Gaara stood with his arms folded. Hayate backed up and the crowd roared in anticipation. "Begin!"
For a few moments nothing happened when Lee ran forward and leapt into a spinning kick shouting, "Leaf Whirlwind!" The sand from Gaara's gourd shaped container flowed out and formed a barrier that blocked the attack.
Lee followed up by continuing his rotation around the barrier to attempt a punch at Gaara's back but the sand reacted again to block the strike.
A spear of sand tried to impale Lee but the boy spun out of the line of the attack and slid to a stop a short distance away.
'That sand is my primary enemy right now. I must increase my speed to get past it. Lee backed up further from Gaara and squatted down sliding his hands under his orange leg warmers. He unclipped his hidden weights and tossed them to the side. They hit the ground with a heavy thump that impressed many older ninja who had trained with additional weight in the past.
Gaara merely stood bored of this and waved his hand in a motion at Lee as if saying 'Let's get this show on the road.'
When most people think of Rock Lee they picture his bushy eyebrows, his bowl haircut or his sickening green unitard. The ones who know him personally know he cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu and seem to think that the boy cannot use chakra at all. Only Gai himself knew the real truth in that case. Lee did have chakra. He had a great amount of it in fact. True, he was hampered but his lack of ability to express it externally. Internally was another thing entirely. His reserves all went to increasing his physical abilities; his speed, strength and endurance.
Freed from his heavy weights, Lee bounced on his toes a few times as he flooded his muscles with chakra then seemed to vanish as he moved to attack Gaara again. A blow was stopped by the sand inches from Gaara's face with a kick being stopped a split second later.
Lee jumped back a few feet then began a new attack. Taking a cue from his training and how he could wear down a post by repeated attacks on the same spot, he stepped in again and began to pummel a single point in front of Gaara with fist strikes. Several blows each second hit the sand and it was beginning to be driven back under the assault. Six inches, five inches, four inches from Gaara's face. The thickness of the sand increased and halted the advance but a roundhouse kick spun in suddenly and more sand had to rush out to stop the blow a mere inch from Gaara's head.
The sand seemed to come alive then. Lee was forced back as spikes of sand thrust at him. A single attempt at a parry almost proved a disaster for Lee when the sand tried to wrap around the hand he parried with. Lee was forced to dodge instead of blocking and was driven back away from Gaara.
The crowd roared in appreciation at the genin putting on a spectacle for them.
Lee moved to attack again, seeming to be in multiple spots at once as he used his chakra fueled speed to probe for weak spots in Gaara's defense. Even so, Gaara had yet to move from his original spot.
Lee tried pummeling a single spot again but a fist like block of sand hit him in the face and threw him back. Lee was back on his feet in an instant and wiped the blood trickling from his mouth.
'More speed,' he thought as he seemed to phase out of sight again.
Lee rushed in faster than the sand could react this time. He feinted a kick to one side and sidestepped inside of the sand's guard and hit a standing side kick to Gaara's chin. The red head flew backwards with the sand following along to cushion his fall.
"GAARA!" screamed out Temari.
"Crap, he actually hit Gaara," Kankuro muttered. "This fight is going to be over soon."
Gaara suddenly felt something new. 'Is this pain? My mouth … hurts. I don't like this 'pain' at all.' Gaara's sand stood him back up and Gaara moved for the first time in the battle. His arms lifted and he scowled at Lee.
"You hurt me! Now you will die!"
Sand flew at Lee who was forced to dodge. Each blast of sand followed snake-like after Lee. Lee was forced to keep retreating from the onslaught as more and more sand chased after him.
The minutes stretched out as Lee avoided the sand but in turn could not approach Gaara directly. Gaara seemed content to let Lee just avoid his sand and a grin developed as the Sand ninja toyed with his opponent. Onlookers could tell that Gaara could have ended the match at any time by simply enveloping Lee in sand. Lee was managing some amazing escapes of his own from the weaving pattern Gaara created.
Another ten minutes crept by with the Leaf genin avoiding capture while he could do little on offense. Each time Lee tried to stop to use a technique to open his Celestial Gates; Gaara's sand would close in on him to prevent it.
'I cannot get enough time to access more power. I do not have much left to continue this fight. If I am to win this battle it will take a great risk. If that sand hits me, I am finished,' Lee thought. He looked about the arena for anything to help him but found nothing. However, he did notice a majority of Gaara's sand was in pursuit of him.
Lee ran along the edge of the arena as Gaara remained near the middle. Lee slowed slightly so that the sand began to gather behind him. A single glance behind him was all he needed to confirm his idea.
'Now is my moment. Watch my fires burn, Gai-sensei'
Shouting out, Lee forced most of his remaining chakra into his muscles again. He increased his speed in a circle around Gaara. At least he swerved and moved like lightning at Gaara in the center of the arena. The sand continued to pursue as Lee slammed his shoulder into Gaara's chest. The impact lifted Gaara and Lee holding Gaara in his arms and pushed the red head back toward the arena wall.
There was a tremendous impact and the sand following Lee impacted as well.
No one moved or spoke as the sand slowly trickled down. Soon a shock of red hair appeared and shortly after a slumped down Rock Lee. The sand lifted the unconscious Lee off Gaara as the red head stepped away from the wall. The sand wrapped tightly around Lee as Gaara muttered, "Sand Coffin" His hand extended out with fingers slowly beginning to close. "Sand Fu…" Gaara stopped as he remembered he could be executed if he killed the Leaf ninja now.
"Referee, I am claiming to have just used my Sand Funeral technique on my opponent and he would be dead from it. As I cannot kill him due to the rules, I am claiming victory."
Hayate nodded and announced, "Winner: Gaara no Subaku."
Gaara released his sand and dropped Lee to the ground.
Medics rushed out with a stretcher and gently loaded Lee onto it as the crowd gave Gaara some sparse applause.
Gaara merely walked up to the waiting area and sat down with his arms crossed.
Reactions in the stands were mixed.
Gai was weeping at how Lee embraced the fires of his youth and gave everything he had in battle. Kakashi just looked up from his book and muttered, "Did you say something, Gai?"
Neji and Tenten were both concerned for their teammate but they could tell he was breathing fine and the medics would have things in hand.
"Wow, did you see Bushy Brows down there Shikamaru? I never knew he was so fast." Naruto gushed.
Kankuro sneered at overhearing that, "You do realize if Gaara wanted to, the green freak would have been dead in seconds. Our sensei told us to make sure we put on a good show for the crowd. The better we look out there, the more business it is going to earn out village in the next year. Keeping the daimyos happy and giving them something to wager on is another aspect of these games. If they are happy, they fund the village and lately, the daimyo of Wind Country has been holding back on us. We need to make him see we are worth funding.
"The second match will be Kankuro no Subaku against Aburame Shino," Hayate called out.
The called genin moved down to the floor of the arena and Hayate called the start of the match.
Kankuro sent his puppet out at Shino but the bug user dodged and sent a wave of kikai bugs directly at Kankuro. The puppet user leapt away leaving behind a small purple cloud that the bugs avoided.
'Poison,' Shino thought. 'I need to find a way past that defense.' Shino sent another wave of bugs to circle around Kankuro while giving a series of commands to his older colony. The older bugs crawled to the ground and disappeared.
Kankuro sent his puppet at Shino again. Kunai shot from the mouth of the puppet but these were avoided. Shino noted the poison dripping from the knives and knew a single hit could end this match.
'I need to fire the knives just slow enough for that bug boy to dodge them. I cannot let him realize there is a lethal poison on there yet.' A glance at the sun showed more than an hour before the planned start time for the mission.
Kankuro dodged a kunai with an exploding note attached. 'Trouble with this guy is I am holding back so much that he is able to focus on attacking me directly, not having to deal with the puppet.' He landed and found his footing disrupted. He fell as the ground seemed to lower beneath his feet.
Shino watched as the puppet user landed where he wanted and unleashed his trap. Kikai bugs had undermined an area and waited safely in the ground for a moment to strike. They flowed up over the Sand ninja's body and started draining his chakra. Kankuro quickly gave up.
"Winner, Aburame Shino."
The crowd applauded politely but not too enthusiastically. The match had been quick and relatively dull.
Kankuro had his puppet recover all of his weapons from the field as Shino made his way back to the observation deck.
Shikamaru narrowed his eyes as the Sand ninja gathered his weapons. 'That Sand ninja was not showing that much ability during his fight with Shino. He was holding back a lot. More than what would be needed to lull opponents. Something is wrong here.'
"Next match. Naka Shikamaru against Temari no Subaku," Hayate called out.
Shikamaru walked down to the arena floor while still thinking about the Sand ninja. This was going to be troublesome. He glanced up at the sky. It was nearly noon with very few clouds in the sky. Few shadows existed in the arena for him to manipulate.
Shikamaru faced off against the beautiful blonde Sand with 4 ponytails. 'Feh, I thought she is beautiful. Troublesome hormones.' He saw her pull her battle fan from her back and got ready to move as soon as Hayate called start.
"Begin," Hayate called out and in an instant Shikamaru had done a replacement with a small rock near the trees. Temari swung her fan a moment too late to hit him and he ducked behind a tree.
The Sand kunoichi sent multiple wind blasts at the hiding shadow user but he remained behind cover. "Come out of there you coward!" she yelled out at him. Small clouds of dust hung in the air between them casting small indistinct shadows on the dirt.
A dark line of shadow rushed out at Temari who jumped back from it. She knew from the preliminaries he could capture someone with his shadow. She retreated until the shadow stopped advancing and marked the ground. The length of the shadow suddenly reduced as the cloud of dust parted letting the bright rays of the sun touch the ground between them.
"Well, if you will not come out, I will forced you out of hiding, coward!" Temari yelled again.
Temari focused chakra into her legs and jumped high into the air. She swung her battle fan down at the ground beneath her feet sending up a large cloud of dust and sand. As her jump reached its peak she twirled in a graceful move with her fan in front of her body. "Desert Winds: Dust Devil!" she shouted as she cast wind chakra through her fan into the dust cloud around her. The chakra rotated with her as she landed far from Shikamaru's hiding place. The dust and sand gathered into a tornado shaped dust devil. Temari swung her fan several more times to increase the chakra and speed in the construct before sending it toward the trees. Gale force winds pummeled the trees for nearly a minute until the dust devil dissipated. Dirt, branches and leaves drifted slowly to the ground as Temari watched for movement.
She suddenly stiffened as she felt herself lose control of her body. She found herself slowly turning and saw standing in his original location was Shikamaru. He closed the gap to get to speaking range of the blonde with his hands out like he was holding a fan like hers. Temari growled under her breath as Shikamaru spoke.
"This is a troublesome situation. I find myself in them much too often. I could just make you bash your pretty head in with your own fan right now. That would leave you unconscious for a few hours, at a minimum."
Temari had little control over her body but she was still able to speak and had control of her face. He eyes went wide when she heard 'a few hours'. She would miss the mission! She caught herself quickly but Shikamaru had seen enough. Something was definitely going on with the Sand ninja.
Shikamaru continued speaking as it he had seen nothing, "But since I have so little chakra remaining, I forfeit. You win."
The crowd was stunned when Hayate indicated that Temari was the winner of the match. Murmurs broke out all over and a mild scatter of applause rose. Shikamaru just walked off the floor and climbed the stairs to the observation deck, then tried to continue on up toward the general seating.
Naruto was livid as Shikamaru walked right past him. "Darn it Shikamaru! You had her beat. All you had to do was knock her out!"
Shikamaru looked at Naruto then over at Shino and Sasuke. Sasuke was ignoring him completely. Shino looked back as Shikamaru raised one eyebrow and twisted his head a bit. He caught Shino's nearly imperceptible nod and casually walked up the stairs with Naruto ranting to his back.
Temari just stood there in shock at being declared the winner. She was brought out of it by Hayate waving her off the arena floor. She slowly walked up the stairs in a confused state.
Once Shikamaru was out of sight of the observation deck, he began to run. He had to find Asuma-sensei and FAST.
Sarutobi was watching the matches closely. He noticed Shikamaru leave and break into a run. 'A Nara would never run if they did not need to. Something is going on.' He gestured to Hayate and sent a message down to the floor.
"There will be a 15 minute intermission before the next match between Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto," Hayate announced. A good portion of the crowd cheered while many flooded to the refreshment stands and to take care of other personal business.
Sasuke just sneered, "You get a small reprieve, Loser. I am so going to mess you up down there."
Naruto growled back, "Only one being a loser today is someone with 'uke' in their name."
Sasuke flushed angrily at Naruto but kept still. He would deal with the Loser in the match.
Naruto smiled slightly and found himself lost in thought about his training over the past two weeks.
Flashback
Once Hiashi had said Naruto was fit to face Neji, Naruto thought that he would be able to stand and fight the Hyuuga prodigy toe to toe. He was sadly mistaken. Neji had him on the ground in 3 hits, without using the Gentle Fist. Hiashi had only smiled and said, "Good, Neji. Naruto, what had you done wrong in your fight?"
Naruto groaned in pain as he stood up, "I lost?"
"A little more thought please, Naruto. Tell me what Neji's strengths are, then answer. Why did you lose?"
"Well, Neji is much better than me at taijutsu. He can see my chakra with his eyes turned on. His style can stop my chakra too."
Hiashi nodded, "A good basic analysis. So would standing directly in Neji's reach be a good idea in fighting him?"
Naruto looked down, "No, it wouldn't. I thought I was getting better but I guess I haven't."
Hiashi smiled again, "You have improved greatly in the past two weeks, Naruto. With the exception of genjutsu, your skills are chunin level already. But the issue here is thinking like a chunin. When confronted with an enemy, you must determine what their strengths and weaknesses are in order to defeat them. Neji is strong in taijutsu while it is not your greatest ability. So what would be the worst way to fight him?"
Naruto brightened up as he understood, "The worst way would be to try to fight him in taijutsu."
"Correct. Now, what is Neji's other powerful tool to fight with?"
"His eyes."
"No. His eyes are important but not his most powerful tool. His most powerful tool in battle is his mind. Without being able to think there would be no strategy, with no strategy there would be no plan, with no plan there would be no victory. It is true raw power can overcome the best strategy but it works the other way as well."
"So I need to think of something that can not only beat Neji's taijutsu but his mind as well? That is impossible. Neji is a genius," Naruto whined.
"Yes, Neji is a genius. But in your own way, you are as well Naruto. Tell me, what is the greatest prank you ever did?"
"Oh that is easy. Painting the Hokage's faces on the mountain," Naruto beamed.
"How long did it take ANBU to capture you after that?" Hiashi asked already knowing the answer.
"Um, a couple of hours I think. I was too busy running to really notice. I had to stay away from some pretty fast people."
"Three hours and seven minutes from the moment of your first yell to the village. I read the ANBU report on it. In the course of the chase, there were 27 ANBU run into the ground from chakra exhaustion, 12 admitted to the hospital for blood loss due to nosebleeds and a total of 53 separate traps and ambushes. It took the best captain in ANBU to apprehend you but he did not begin to follow you until the first three hours had passed."
Both Neji and Naruto had looks of shock on their faces at the scale of the effect it had had on ANBU.
"Naruto, the average ANBU chase lasts under 5 minutes. Your performance has caused much trouble for the ANBU pursuit section. In addition, they have copied many of your traps and use them to train with. Your ability to think in a non standard method for ninja is not always looked upon kindly by others but in one fashion it is genius in its creativity."
"Wow," Naruto whispered in shock. The leader of the strongest clan in Konoha was calling him a genius.
"Before you get into your head that you are set to become Hokage, you must know a few other facts. Had ANBU been allowed to go to 'kill mode' instead of simple 'pursuit and capture' you would have been dead less than 2 minutes into the chase."
Naruto's face paled at that and swallowed weakly. His thoughts of being 'all that and a bag of chips' flew out the window.
"The other point is if you had stopped running long enough to fight the ANBU, you would have been defeated faster than your loss to Neji. ANBU are the elite of the village. You are not at their level yet."
"Now, we get back to the original subject. What must you do to fight Neji at his best?"
Naruto thought for a minute "Well, I need to stay out of his reach or he will shut me down with his Gentle Fist. If I get in close it has to be something he does not expect and either take him down in one shot or hit and move away. So, my best bet would either hit him with something big or wear him down from a distance."
Hiashi nodded at Naruto's analysis. "Very good Naruto. Those are standard tactics against a Hyuuga with Gentle Fist. So what areas would you attack on Neji to have a chance to defeat him?"
"Well from my work for the Hokage on the, um, official pranks I know that something that works on your eyes would be the best attack. I had a few ideas I could have tried out but I was not allowed to hurt anyone. I was never able to figure out how that flash bang thing the missing ninja who attacked you that time used because I don't know enough about seals. I came up with a gas that just affects the eyes. You saw the design for it in the report I gave the Hokage."
Hiashi nodded but Neji looked confused and broke in, "Wait a second! YOU really are the Great Prankster? But several pranks were done with you in plain sight far away from the place that got hit!"
Naruto gave a foxy grin and said, "Trade secret."
Hiashi chuckled, "He had an accomplice; one that no one suspected at all; your cousin Hinata."
Neji just looked more shocked at this revelation. Shy quiet Hinata was in league with the greatest prankster in the history of Konoha.
Hiashi decided now that enough talking had been done and it was time to fight again. He set Neji and Naruto against each other several times a day for the next week. Naruto never managed to actually defeat Neji but their battles took more time with each engagement. Each trick that Naruto came up with Neji would find a counter to either immediately or by the next fight. Even so, Naruto grew to think both strategically and tactically for each match. The boys grew to have a healthy respect for the other's ability and something akin to friendship developed. Neji even pulled some of Naruto's tricks on Naruto to the delight of the blonde.
Hiashi smiled at the end result. Naruto had a way of changing everyone he touched for the better and in the end the blonde boy had saved his nephew from a deeper darkness. Neji would never be the fate driven sullen boy again. Naruto learned to think more before he fought and improved greatly in his fighting ability.
End Flashback
Naruto was startled out of his reverie by the sound of a hawk calling out.
The intermission ended and Hayate called out the Fourth Match: Uchiha Sasuke vs. Uzumaki Naruto.
Sasuke glared at Naruto on the floor of the arena. "You should give up now, Loser. You cannot beat my eyes. I beat you once before without my Sharingan. You will not have a chance now that I have it."
"Blah, blah, blah, my eyes are the best, my eyes are the greatest. Big deal," Naruto taunted.
Sasuke growled as Hayate signaled the start of the match. The dark boy sprang forward to end this match quickly. His eyes tracked Naruto standing there and seeing his punch on track to impact on the Loser's face.
He missed. Naruto used a move from Sasuke's own style to avoid the blow and threw Sasuke into the air. Sasuke flipped over and landed in a skid. The crowd roared in appreciation. This was going to be a battle.
"He used MY style against me,' Sasuke thought furiously. 'I will not be mocked like this. I know his weaknesses already. He is afraid of fire.' Sasuke grinned and began hand seals
"Grand Fireball" he shouted as he blew out a huge cloud of fire at Naruto.
The fire billowed out and filled nearly a quarter of the stadium floor. 'That should make the Loser freeze up just like last time.' Sasuke thought evilly. 'Then the humiliation will commence.'
The fireball went out a few seconds after Sasuke stopped blowing and he scanned for Naruto. He spied the blonde but what he saw made him pause. The blonde was sitting on the ground cross legged and holding a marshmallow on a stick.
"Um, Sasuke? Could you maybe make a little more fire? My marshmallow was not quite cooked yet." Naruto grinned and wiggled the stick. The crowd was shocked for a moment then broke out into laughter.
Sasuke was shocked as well but it quickly turned into anger as he realized the crowd as laughing. He rushed at the blonde again who sprung to his feet and dodged and dropped a small ball in to ground as he moved. A small explosion engulfed Sasuke. The smoke cleared within seconds but the effect was clear.
Sasuke was dyed day-glo orange from hair to toes. The crowd roared in laughter again. Sasuke growled louder as he knew they were laughing at HIM.
Hiashi sat in his box and gaped at the plan of Naruto. Since he had seen a few signs of this before he knew what the boy was doing. Naruto was going after Sasuke's weakest point.
"Interesting battle tactic, Hokage-dono," the Kazekage said.
Sarutobi chuckled, "Naruto is one of our most promising young ninja. He has always been a prankster at heart. But his strategy is very sound."
Hinata squealed at the orange Sasuke. Sakura just stared. Anko was rolling in the aisle with laughter. Tsunade smirked at the whole thing.
"Gee Sasuke; are you trying to be me? I mean I know my orange outfit was a fashion statement but I don't think you pull it off too well," Naruto taunted again.
"FIGHT ME SERIOUSLY YOU LOSER!" Sasuke yelled.
Naruto made hand signs and called out his jutsu "Air bullet!" A ball of condensed air shot towards Sasuke.
The Uchiha grinned as his eyes copied the jutsu and he flashed through the hand signs and sent the same jutsu crashing into the attack Naruto had made. The jutsu cancelled each other out. The crowd was cheering again.
Naruto made more signs and called out another jutsu, "Water bullet!" Sasuke again copied the jutsu and duplicated it. Once more the jutsu cancelled each other out.
"You cannot beat me in a jutsu fight, Loser. My eyes cannot be beaten that way. No one can beat an Uchiha with jutsu. We reign supreme!"
"Oh yeah? Well then I am going to have to use my Ultimate Jutsu on you." Naruto said in a quiet tone.
Naruto flashed into hand signs again. Sasuke's eyes copied the signs and molded the chakra.
Naruto finished but did not shout out a jutsu. Sasuke finished at the same moment.
Both boys disappeared into clouds of chakra smoke.
The crowd was stunned into silence as the smoke cleared up. Then there were shouts and laughter even louder than before coming from the crowd
The Raikage roared and wiped tears from his eyes. This Uzumaki was a true heir to his name. He found the biggest weakness in his opponent and capitalized on it. It was not a ploy he would recommend in most battles but here it was something to behold.
Sasuke heard renewed laughter as he saw the smoke clear. This was a strange jutsu and it made him feel strange. He felt a strange weight on his chest and his hips felt larger than normal. He also felt a breeze. He saw facing him a naked blonde haired girl with two long pigtails blowing kisses at him. 'No' he thought as he looked down at himself. Or more correctly, down at herself.
Sasuke heard Naruto quietly say, "Sexy jutsu. My ultimate jutsu against perverts. How do you like it Sa Uke-chan?"
Sasuke saw he was in a naked female form with breasts that rivaled Tsunade. Twin black pigtails hung down his back
He quickly cancelled the jutsu but the damage was already done. Sasuke was angry beyond words now. Something seemed to snap inside his head. It would take nothing but the utter destruction of Naruto to satisfy him now. The Uchiha would never realize what Naruto had done. The blonde had struck at the weakest point Sasuke had; his pride.
Naruto knew his plan succeeded but maybe a little too well. Sasuke was attacking full bore now but only with taijutsu. Naruto was hard pressed to block and counter the still skilled fighting style of Sasuke. Without the training in proper form from Hiashi, Naruto would have fallen already. He knew he had to end this quickly before the Uchiha's rage ebbed and he would focus on more than simply trying to take him apart.
Sasuke overextended on one attack and left himself wide open. Naruto hit Sasuke with a jaw breaking right cross that sent the dark haired boy to the dirt.
The Kazekage had seen enough. The Uchiha was more than powerful enough. All he needed now as to be collected. He made a gesture to his bodyguard who spoke into a hidden microphone. Within seconds, white feathers began drifting down around the stadium a dozen explosions rocked various parts of Konoha.
Next Chapter: Invasion and Loss
End Notes: This chapter was a hard one to write. I did not want to simply have the standard battles from canon but I also wanted to have them close enough for people to recognize them. Finding a way to do both was giving me fits. I want to acknowledge Dragon Man 180 for the sexy jutsu idea. It fit so well into my original plan for the fight that I had to include it.
My purpose in the Naruto / Sasuke fight was simple. Naruto cannot match Sasuke in a jutsu battle due to the copy ability of the Sharingan. Naruto has the advantage in sheer power but Sasuke has more skill. Naruto realized this and set out to simply embaress Sasuke to the point that Sasuke would fall into a rage and not use his skills effectively.
The whole training sequence with Hiashi and Naruto I had one mental picture in mind. Think of the scenes in The Matrix with Morpheus training Neo in the dojo. The whole point in both was to get the person to think rather than simply act. I know some people will be disappointed with my interaction between Neji and Naruto but I feel that in my story, Neji is not as big of an a as in most others. I already had his early attitude shaken by his fight with Hinata and Hiashi finished it off by working with his nephew along with Naruto bringing in his ability to change people. My purpose in the training was not to have Neji beaten down but rather to have Naruto built up and both learn from it.
Parting Shot: It seems like there are even more gay Sasuke / Naruto fics out than normal. While I try to be open minded about people's choices this is getting out of hand when it gets to a guy getting pregnant. Um to all yaoi fangirls, guys cannot get pregnant. What is worse it is always Naruto the one who is on the receiving end. And if they do not want to make a 'gay' fic, they turn Naruto into a girl and have the pair hook up that way. Heteros fight back and make more straight fics!