To Fight or Not to Fight, That is the Question.

A judge came to each genin and had them choose a lot. Sakura got number 3. She would fight the winner of number 1 and number 2.

Hinata got number 11. She smiled that she would not have to fight Sakura until the final if both made it that far.

Naruto pulled out his number and his face fell. He had number 10.

His first opponent would be Hinata.

Naruto looked into Hinata's eyes and he knew he couldn't hurt the girl he loved. It had finally gotten through his thick skull that what he felt for the Hyuuga heiress was love. He had no other word to describe it and the past few years he had learned a great deal more about social things than he had ever known.

Before the fire it was not something he had ever worried about. Then, all he cared about was being recognized and acknowledged. He was loud and careless and inflicted pranks everyone in sight just to get the slightest attention even if it was negative. It was better than being completely ignored.

Since that fateful day, the pearl eyes with a hint of lavender in them haunted him. He found that he didn't need to do those things to be noticed. Someone cared enough that he would always have someone giving him attention. Now, after last night's confrontation over a simple insult had made him realize she meant so much more. Hinata was still a mystery to him in many ways. But she was a mystery he wanted to unravel.

He was forced to choose, fight Hinata and possibly hurt her or forfeit and lose the respect he had earned for Konoha in the Cloud. Neither choice was acceptable. He couldn't think of a way out of this.

Hinata slowly walked up to the waiting area deep in thought. This was the moment she had worked for since she was able to walk. Once she made chunin, she would certainly prove even to the most rigid Hyuuga elder that she was not weak or a failure. She only needed to go forward with this fight and her advancement would be all but assured.

But to get to her goal she had to go through the one person she cared for more than her family. She had to stop herself from poking her fingers together. She had not done that in a long time but her nerves had driven her most base instincts back to the fore. How could she fight like this?

Sakura shook her head. 'This is bad. Neither one can back out from this fight. But neither one is going to be able to fight the other seriously. That would be worse than one of them backing out. There has to be a way to solve this.'

Her train of thought was disrupted as the referee pointed the ten non-fighting competitors off the arena floor so the first pair could fight. Sakura noticed both Hinata and Naruto were looking nervously at each other. 'Both look like they are about to give up completely. If that happens not only will they never live it down but Konoha won't either.'

"Hinata, Naruto, you are going to have to fight here today. This Exam is bigger than either of you. Hinata, if you back down, the entire Hyuuga clan will look like paper tigers. Remember how the people were looking at you just before the second test? They saw a Hyuuga ready to take on anyone. You intimidated them and you hadn't done anything yet. Naruto, at the dinner last night EVERYONE was scared of you. You stood face to face with another jinchuuriki and didn't back down. If you do today, no one will ever consider you seriously as a candidate for Hokage someday. You both are going to have to fight and fight each other seriously."

The boy and girl looked at each other then back to Sakura.

"I know I need to fight seriously, Sakura. But seeing Naruto's face makes if difficult to try to hurt him," Hinata said quietly. "I lose my focus every time I look back at him. When I see his face and blue eyes looking back at me, I can't find Rabbit."

Naruto looked puzzled but Sakura just nodded. "Don't worry, Naruto. It was from girl talk. But that's the answer." The pink haired girl had a grin slowly widen on her face.

The cell door opened. The masked ANBU stood there. "It's time," he said.

Sasuke grumbled as the elite operative stepped back to let him out of the cell Jiraiya had him confined to a few days earlier. He thought he was doing a good job convincing the stupid civilians he was getting better. They were recommending his release. The Uchiha mystique was working on them just as much as his lies. Then Jiraiya having him confined to this room and telling him his chakra would be sealed off. His appeals to the Daimyo had been returned unconsidered. The Daimyo had agreed with Jiraiya, sealing or death.

He tried to get messages to anyone he could but once he had been taken to the cell, he had no more visitors to ask for help. He had even considered begging but his pride would not allow that thought to get moving. The ultimate indignity was this collar around his neck. If he tried to use his chakra, it would kill him.

Sasuke glared at the ANBU as he was lead to the sealing room. Jiraiya and the sealing team waited for him there. The heavy door closed behind him.

The Raikage invited Tsunade up to his box since there was no official representative for Konoha at this exam. He hated sitting alone in the box. It would also raise the status of the Cloud in the eyes of the daimyos that had attended. Having a Sannin of Konoha in attendance was nearly as good as another Kage since the team members were all recognized as being Kage level ninja. Having someone to talk to during the waits between matches was welcome as well.

The first three matches were done quickly. 'Some of the genin were not that good,' Sakura thought. One fairly handsome one had done well and might give Sakura a test in her match in the second round but she was confident in her ability to beat him. She was worried about the fourth match just as the announcement came up from the floor of the arena.

"The fourth match, Hyuuga Hinata of Leaf against Uzumaki Naruto of Leaf," the jonin referee called out.

The pink haired girl heard footsteps descending the stairs as the combatants went to the floor of the arena one at a time. The murmurs of the crowd increased as they saw the Leaf ninja.

Both were dressed in classic black stealth outfits and bristled with weaponry. What was making the commotion was the fact of the blonde was wearing a porcelain ANBU style mask with stylized features of a fox on them. The dark haired fighter wore one with the features of a rabbit complete with ears slightly wrapped around the sides. The pair stopped about ten paces from each other and stood there waiting for a signal.

A single ninja used a shun-shin jutsu to get down to the floor of the arena and spoke to the referee. He pointed to the combatants and made a motion like lifting a mask from his face.

The jonin in charge stepped up to them. "I need to confirm your identities. You may wear the masks but I need to insure you are the correct people under them."

Rabbit stepped up to the jonin and lifted her mask. The man nodded and went to Naruto. Naruto also lifted his as well. The jonin was satisfied with the identities of the people and nodded up to the box where the Raikage sat. The Raikage waved for the man to continue.

The Cloud leader leaned over to Tsunade. "Interesting situation. Why the masks?"

Tsunade sighed. "They are good friends and neither one is in a position to back down from this fight. With the masks on they can go at each other full force because they don't have to see the face of their friend being hurt under their hand. It is a mental thing but when they put on those masks, they are true ninja."

Rabbit stared at Fox. She went over in her mind what Fox's favorite attacks were. Most of their fighting style was known by the other. She smiled slightly thinking, 'Most, but not all.' Rabbit got into her ready stance and waited.

Naruto was having trouble controlling his emotions. There was too much of the Kyuubi chakra in his system from the previous night to make things easy for him. Now that he was aware of his true feelings for Hinata, he found it difficult to focus on the moment. He needed to center himself but the fight was about to begin.

The jonin referee shouted, "Begin!" and leapt back. Naruto immediately spammed a dozen shadow clones that charged Rabbit. Naruto himself jumped backwards and to the surprise of everyone began doing a simple tai chi kata.

Rabbit nodded as the dozen clones charged her. She would have rather gotten down to business but these would do for a warm up. She stepped up and with the grace of a dancer began her own attacks. Her fingers shimmered as she gathered chakra in the tips. The clones vanished as she just grazed her fingers along them. The smallest nick of her chakra was enough to destabilize a clone. Six disappeared in her first pass through the mob.

The remaining six clones jumped away from Rabbit as they also gained the memories of the dispersed clones. They realized this was a new attack and had to come up with a counter. Each clone began on a jutsu. Five of them began the same jutsu while one began a different one. In seconds, five blasts of air hit Rabbit while the ground at her feet turned to mud.

'An earth jutsu, that's new,' Rabbit thought. "But Jiraiya-sama is an earth type after all. It makes sense he would have Fox learn at least some of the simpler ones.'

Rabbit allowed the wind blasts to push her back as she slid across the surface of the mud. Her chakra kept her on top of the muck instead of sinking into it. Her hands slid behind her to pull out senbon from a special pouch in the small of her back. Once the wind stopped she threw the needles at the clones in sequence. The clone casting the earth jutsu got her attention first. His hand flew up to his face as the needle penetrated the eye hole of the mask as it dispelled. She began running ahead as she pulled more senbon and hurled them at the five clones still scattered around her. Her target was in front of her and she was closing rapidly on the true Fox.

Naruto focused on getting his center. That had always been one of the biggest problems. His ability seemed to increase dramatically when he could hold it. The tai chi kata Jiraiya had taught him had helped immensely and would allow him to focus better but even that took ten to fifteen seconds of preparation.

First, he focused on blocking off the chakra leaking into his system from the Kyuubi. That part was simple enough. 'I can't make more than a few shadow clones without the kitsune's chakra. I can't be using that jutsu too much during the fight,' he mentally reminded himself. He could not block it forever but by focusing his own chakra along the seal the natural leaks were plugged. The harder part was flushing the chakra already in his system out. He did not want to go against his word.

He felt his clones winking out as Hinata destroyed them. 'No, not Hinata. Just Rabbit. Your opponent is Rabbit.' He thought as he focused. The memories of the clone who took the senbon to the eye hit him. That was the last thing he needed now to push him into the mindset of being able to fight unrestricted.

Naruto achieved the control he needed and forced the small amount of the Kyuubi chakra in his system out in a flash of crimson light.

Fox opened his eyes and glared at the charging Rabbit.

Tsunade knew her students well enough that she could sometimes sense their emotional states simply from the way their chakra reacted. Hinata was able to reach the mental state of Rabbit with a few deep breaths. Her mind was ordered, serene, and determined in spite of her long history of social awkwardness. Shifting it into the right mindset had been just another training exercise for her. It matched her structured state of mind well enough that she rarely had trouble doing it. Once achieved, Rabbit emerged. Rabbit was Hinata free of emotional restraint

Naruto was different. He was naturally chaos personified. His actions were wild and untamed and much like his chakra were the very antithesis of order. When he began his training under the Sannin, finding order amid the chaos was close to impossible. It took him finding a focus and going with that. The medic had been surprised when Jiraiya pulled out the tai chi trick he had picked up over the years. It gave Naruto a chance to focus on the pattern of the motion and find the order that lay underneath. Once he could hold it, his own emotions fell under control and for him Fox emerged. The wild and unruly energy of Naruto became controlled and focused. His anger and sadness no longer had any control over him while he could hold onto Fox. He could do this against enemies and had proven it a month earlier when the Sound remnant ambushed them. Now he had for the first time found Fox while facing a friend.

The Raikage was enjoying the opening of this match. It was already more entertaining than the first three. He was disappointed that these opponents had to face each other in the first round but that was the chance all the participants faced. Uzumaki stopped his small tai chi dance and the Raikage felt a shiver pass through his body. Uzumaki's chakra had just shifted. The wild state of flux it had been in since the competition began suddenly calmed to a steady beat. The chakra of the Kyuubi was forced out of the system of the blonde boy as a flash of crimson light. The Hyuuga girl closed in on the now waiting blonde. The Uzumaki was truly ready to fight now. This was the fight he had waited twenty five years to see. He leaned forward in anticipation.

Jiraiya finished painting the last of the symbols on Sasuke. The boy had sat there shivering while Jiraiya had done his work. There was not much else the Uchiha could do because of the explosive charge around his neck. The Hokage of Konoha sighed as he began the next step.

"Don't do this," Sasuke said in his normal voice to the sealing team. His tone made it sound like a command but Jiraiya ignored it. The people helping the Hokage also tuned out the boy's words. The decision had been made at levels far above their own.

Sasuke knew his vengeance would never come about if he let them seal his chakra. He wanted to fight this situation but he couldn't think of a way to escape the sealing alive. Even his pride could not accept this was truly happening to him but he refused to beg.

Rabbit charged up to Fox and made her first strike. Fox merely leaned to one side and allowed it to miss. His counterblow could have ended the fight right there but Rabbit blocked in an almost casual manner. She slid a few feet past him and spun on one foot while the other dragged in the dirt in a circle around her to dampen the momentum of her charge. Dust flew up in an arc as the foot stopped Rabbit in a ready pose.

Fox stepped forward in a strike at her face but Rabbit parried and countered. Fox blocked and pulled back his arm as his foot snapped out at Rabbit's knee. She stepped closer and blocked down with her hand to push the blow off target. Fox could not make a strike from his position so he shifted his weight onto the foot he attacked with and spun around behind Rabbit.

Rabbit shifted and made a back kick at Fox's stomach only to have it blocked. She pushed off the block to spin her body further out from Fox and fell back into a ready stance.

The crowd cheered from the quick exchange of blows.

Fox recalled a sequence he had used months before in his spars with Neji and began attacking. His attack pushed Rabbit onto defense while Fox pushed hard to make his blows get connect. But this quickly stopped as Rabbit countered with her own unique Water Fist variant to get inside his guard. Fox grunted as Rabbit closed a pair of tenketsu in his stomach. He spun in a high kick to break free of her counterattack and create some space between them once more.

'Most of what I learned fighting Neji is not going to work here,' Fox thought. 'Rabbit's style is based on moving around attacks and getting inside the guard while classic Gentle Fist stands firm against attacks. I need something new.'

'A good solid hit,' thought Rabbit. 'Fox will be trying more long range attacks now. I need to keep close to him.'

The combatants circled slowly, each reacting to the motions of the others. Genin in the audience were waiting for more action but the more experienced ninja were seeing the subtle things in the movement. Attacks were being considered, felt out and countered before even being set into motion. Rabbit would slide her foot forward a few inches to prepare for a rush but Fox slid a few inches to his left to be ready to block and counter. Fox shifted his weight from one foot to the other and Rabbit changed her stance slightly in reply.

This dance of subtle movement continued for long minutes as the pair matched wits as well as skill. He decided that he would not win this in a head to head taijutsu match. So, Fox leaped backwards and ran through hand signs to launch a wind jutsu at Rabbit. Rabbit replied with a mud wall to deflect the wind in spite of her affinity being for water.

The Raikage nodded impressed. If more Hyuuga would learn ninjutsu to compliment their impressive taijutsu, they would be a force to be reckoned with.

Fox finished his wind blast and created a half dozen plain bunshin before he landed.

Rabbit smirked as her Byakugan allowed her to see in spite of the wall in front of her. The 'ears' of her mask hid the tell tale veins her clan bloodline showed while it was active. Once the wind finished she cancelled the wall. Fox expected her to fall for thinking they were shadow clones and attack only to discover too late they were not solid.

Rabbit charged to close the distance once more. The clones all moved in to block her but she ran through them without pause. She struck the surprised Fox squarely in the chest. But the surprise became hers when 'Fox' vanished in a puff of chakra smoke. 'This one was a shadow clone,' she thought.

Hands gripped her ankles and she was pulled into the dirt of the arena floor. 'Headhunter jutsu,' she thought. 'He tricked me.'

Before she could be pulled completely down, she flared her chakra into the start of a Kainten. The dirt was pushed away from her body and kept her arms from becoming trapped. Her hands flashed through the seals for a kawarmi with a senbon she had thrown earlier. The jutsu took a lot of her chakra due to size difference but it was better than the immediate loss of the fight. Rabbit staggered slightly at the loss of most of her chakra at once.

Fox emerged from the ground after his failed attempt at trapping Rabbit but he pressed his current advantage. He charged into the girl's range as she faked being unprepared. He missed with an obvious strike that left himself open to a counterblow with her Water Fist. Rabbit realized her mistake once her hand was in motion. Fox's knee got through her guard and impacted her solar plexus. She completed her own strike in spite of the pending hit with a little extra chakra behind it so he could not follow up on his advantage.

Both combatants stumbled back from the exchange. Rabbit could barely breathe under the mask. Fox was trying not to vomit from the chakra points in his stomach being closed down again. He had completely dropped his guard.

Rabbit saw her chance and shifted into a standard Gentle Fist stance. Behind her mask she muttered, "Hakke Sanjūni Shō" and attacked. The more formalized attack that she had used unintentionally years before served her again. Her hands blurred as she struck 32 of Fox's tenketsu points completely blocking his chakra in his arms and legs but stopping short of killing him outright.

Fox felt the strikes hitting him but could do nothing to stop them after the initial hit. As his body began falling to the ground, he knew he could release and flare the Kyuubi's chakra to overcome the attack. But that would mean going against his word. The ground rushed up at him.

Hinata took a deep breath and stepped up to the fallen Naruto and placed a kunai along his neck.

The jonin referee called out, "Winner, Hyuuga Hinata."

The crowd was stunned to silence as they saw a tiny Hyuuga defeat her opponet simply by poking at him.

The Raikage arched an eyebrow at the conclusion of the fight. It was not quite the fight he had hoped for but it was a quality one nonetheless. He leaned over to Tsunade,"Interesting student you have there. With the power at his disposal, he could have easily overcome that attack and won this fight. I am surprised that he didn't."

Tsunade smiled, "He gave his word, Raikage-dono. He said he would not use the power he contains and he meant it. You saw the natural ability level of Uzumaki Naruto in that fight. I am sure your own ninja briefed you on her encounter outside Konoha. If he used the bijuu's power, he could have filled the stadium with shadow clones and overwhelmed her. But he abided by the restriction that he set on himself. If I recall correctly, few jinchuuriki have real skills equal to their rank without using the bijuu they contain. Naruto has tried his entire life to be seen as who he is, not what he holds prisoner."

The Raikage nodded, "As I said at your arrival, he has earned his rank. As far as power goes, I know he could give my baby brother a run for his money but would eventually lose as my brother does have the training to match his rank."

Once he finished speaking to Tsunade, the Raikage stood and applauded the match. The crowd followed their leader and did so as well.

Down on the floor of the arena, Hinata was shocked to hear the appluase. It had begun slowly but increased steadily. She pulled off her mask and smiled down at Naruto. She focused and lightly poked each of the closed tenketsu points with a burst of healing chakra to open them back up.

"Ow, ow ow," Naruto grumbled as he felt the pain of each touch run through his body.

Slowly, Naruto pulled off his own mask before climbing to his feet. The medics back off when he stood and Hinata draped his arm over her shoulder to help him off the arena floor. The brought on greater cheering from the jonin and a few whistles from the teenagers. Hinata blushed but smiled as she helped Naruto hobble off.

The Cloud ninja in the waiting area all gave the pair some room and looked at Hinata warily. One had the stupidity to whisper, "He threw the fight," to a friend. Naruto stood up and painfully walked over to the Cloud genin. All of his friends back away from the boy.

"What did you say?" he growled out at the teen.

The teen had pulled some courage out from somewhere, "I said you threw the fight. I was there last night. I saw what you can do. That was no way you fought at your top stength today."

"Are you deaf too?" Naruto hissed out as he moved forward. The Cloud genin backed up but found his back against a wall. Naruto closed in to within an inch of the boy's nose and glared. "I gave my word to your Raikage that I would not use that other power and I kept it. Without it, I can't beat Hinata in a fair fight because she is that good. The only move I had that I can stop her with is an assassination jutsu. I will not use one of those on a comrade or in a simple rank test."

The blonde boy stopped holding back the chakra of the Kyuubi and it rushed back into his system. Even a genin could feel it from inches away. The smell of urine filled the air as the Cloud genin lost control of his bodily functions. He whimpered and whispered in a strained voice, "I apologize. I was wrong."

"Accepted," Naruto said as he turned to walk back to Hinata.

Sakura chuckled as she leaned over to whisper in Hinata's ear. "You do realize that he is acting just like a jealous boyfriend. He did the same thing last night against that jonin."

Hinata blushed and made a small squeak.

"You two should really stop dancing around the issue and just come out and be boyfriend / girlfriend so the rest of us can stop pretending you're not. The only people who haven't seen it already are you two," Sakura finished and went to leave Hinata and Naruto alone while she got ready for her first fight.

Jiraiya finished the proceedure. Sasuke slumped down in the sealing array. It was done.

An ANBU removed the explosive collar from Sasuke's neck and took it away. The restraint was no longer needed.

Sasuke reached for his chakra but he could not draw on it. He tried over and over but nothing happened. He had thought he could overcome the power of the seal Jiraiya had come up with. He was an Uchiha after all. The seconds ticked off as he tried everything he could think of but even the pulse of the curse seal was gone.

His deranged mind finally grasped the situation clearly. He was powerless now. Even an Uchiha had limits. His mind could not longer hold onto his own illusions of superiority.

For the first time since his clan was killed, Uchiha Sasuke cried.

Jiraiya stood in silence as he watched Sasuke's attempts to draw his chakra but knew the boy was not going to succeed. He wished there had been another way but it was choosing between the boy's life and his death. Jiraiya hated needless death and for him this was the lesser of two evils.

The Hokage motioned for the medics to come over and take the boy. Perhaps the mental health department could help Sasuke now. He would welcome a sane Uchiha as a civilian one day, but never again would this Uchiha be a ninja in Konoha.

Back in the Cloud village, the second round of the Finals began. Sakura got into position and waited until the referee called for the match to begin. The handsome Cloud genin she faced had a sneer on his face.

"Why do I have to face this pathetic girl?" he had whined. "She can't be serious. I mean pink hair? Who in their right mind has pink hair? Not only that, she is ugly and she has a huge forehead."

A number of fan girls in the crowd swooned at the boy's tone. It was easy to see that this had an effect on Sakura. She was going to humiliate this boy. The referee signaled the fight to begin and wisely moved further back than he had for any other match. The look of anger on Sakura's face was plan.

The Cloud genin smirked as he thought his taunts had the effect he wanted. 'The girl should be so enraged she will react poorly,' he thought.

Sakura rushed at the boy who stood in a ready stance. He exuded confidence and felt he should win quickly. He struck but was shocked when Sakura merely caught his punch and squeezed his hand. With her strength jutsu, she crushed the bones in his hand easily. The evil grin on her face made the boy think he had just made a huge mistake. Before he could give up, Sakura punched him in the jaw and spun the boy around.

She flashed through hand signs. "Medical Arts: Constipation Relief." She dropped to one knee behind the boy and thrust her hand at his rectum. A flash of green light followed by a shout one would expect from a small child. Sakura backed off as the jutsu took effect.

Her opponent lost control of his functions as her 'attack' worked quite well. The sound was not pleasant and followed by a large brown stain in his pants. The boy grabbed his butt and ran for the exit.

"Winner, Haruno Sakura," the referee announced as Sakura bowed to the Raikage box and strolled back to the waiting area. She made sure to wash her hands several times and burnt her gloves.

Tsunade could barely hold in her laughter. The Raikage looked over at her. "Interesting technique. I have never seen a medical jutsu used in that manner before," was all he said on it.

The next match was forfeited by the boy who had made the comment to Naruto.

The third match of the second round took over a half hour as the boy and girl involved first fought with taijutsu then cast low powered jutsu at one another. Neither one was overpowering but their stamina was impressive. Eventually, the boy won the match. He got more applause for helping the girl up and back to the waiting area.

Hinata came back for her second round match. She decided to leave her mask off for the match. She faced the girl with a dark glare that could have done Neji proud. The girl could only think of how Hinata had taken apart Naruto and was shaking badly. The referee signaled for the match to start.

Hinata slid forward slowly as the kunoichi she was facing frantically threw kunai and shuriken at her. Hinata closed to within five feet of her opponent when she spoke in a low voice, "I can beat you easily right now, but I can tell you are better than this. Fight me. Show your leader that you are worth his time to watch," she said.

The kunoichi jumped back from Hinata and made the hand signs for a lightning jutsu. "Lightning Blade," she called out as the girl pulled out a kodachi. The short sword was covered in lightning chakra as she swung at Hinata. Her skill at swordsmanship was better than with her throwing weapons. She managed to force Hinata onto a defense but the Hyuuga heir parried or dodged each cut. Hinata made the battle drag out nearly five minutes by mainly avoiding the attacks with enough offense to make it look like she was going too easy on the Cloud girl.

Once Hinata felt she had seen enough of the girl's skills she went on offense. She waited until the tiring girl over extended a swing and struck at the tenketsu points in her arms. The lack of chakra made the energy on the blade fade to nothing.

Hinata followed with a leg sweep and then set a kunai on the neck of the flattened girl. The girl conceded before the referee could call the match for Hinata. The Hyuuga then put away the knife and held out her hand to the Cloud kunoichi to help her to her feet. The crowd appreciated the gesture and cheered loudly.

The Raikage stroked his chin before applauding. He was impressed by Hinata and thought that while his predecessor had acted rashly, the addition of the Byakugan would have been a benefit for Cloud. He also liked seeing the Hyuuga girl had a sense of fair play in addition to skills. Hinata had allowed her opponent for show off her skills for the crowd. His genin would not gain promotion this time but the kunoichi had potential worth watching. A quick loss would have prevented that.

These Konoha ninja were always strange to him. On one hand, they were highly skilled and had unseemingly high requirements for chunin and jonin ranks. They were strong and cunning in battle but did what was necessary to win. But when the battle was over, they were kind to the people who were not their enemies. Recent news of some Sound genin captured in the invasion of Konoha being given a second chance as Leaf ninja had made him think. This was against the things he was taught as a boy; once enemies were always enemies. But perhaps he could have enough time for his plan to emulate some aspects of the Leaf within Cloud would come to pass. Perhaps once enemies could be made into friends

The referee called for a half hour break until the semi finals.

Next Chapter: Cloud Exam Finals

End Notes:
Not a lot to say on this one. Some of the fighting parts were difficult to write. I tried to picture it in my mind and I hope I did not pull out any moves that didn't flow through natural motion. The whole finding a proper mental state is something martial artists and professional athletes work on. I remember my days of running track in high school had a lot of that. You need focus to run hurdles and find your steps.

The semis and finals next time. Will Sakura face Hinata or will one of the cloud genin pull an upset?

Review Notes:
There are a lot of reviews that need addressing this time. I did not answer that many directly so I want to here.

To people who complain about politics affecting a decision. There are always politics. You cannot escape them.

Welcome to Ikasury, he left a number of reviews on this story and on some of my others. He pointed out to me that even canon waffles on how well Naruto heals. The simple cut from Anko in canon was still there after more than an hour but the hand sealed up quickly. Makes you wonder.

To HinatayShikamaru, the seal holding the Kyuubi in Naruto is something completely different from ones holding other bijuu. The Fourth called upon the death god to seal the Kyuubi with the intent of the demon being held forever and dying with Naruto one day. Other jinchuuriki are intended as weapons and their seals reflect that. The Ichibi, Shukaku had been sealed into and removed from other hosts before Gaara. The Sanbi had that type of seal and once it was not holding the bijuu in, the demon would be free once it pulled itself back together. Hinata has also developed something similar to her Protection jutsu from the filler; her Arms of the Dancing Asp attack seen in my Wave Arc. The tonfa were not intended to replace anything but rather to expand on their knowledge and be something they could do as a team.

Timewise, the Cloud exams would be roughly 2 to 3 months after the end of the 'filler' episodes of the anime. A number of the incidents in those did not happen or were dealt with by other teams and some were mentioned in passing.

To PKHenkel, the Raikage in my story is not spoiling for a war. He is actually trying to avoid one. The attack by the Sound remnant was a deliberate attack on the Konoha genin. It was a terrorist attack plain and simple. The issue with the scrolls was him trying to gain some advantage for his village out of something that had no other value. They had kept the scrolls for 25 years hoping there was something good on them but they did belong to the Cloud, not to Naruto. His offer was fair. The part of having Naruto destroy them was a test of the boy's character. He gave Naruto the original of the Uzumaki genealogy but I am certain the Cloud had a copy made of that. Bee was a party crasher but I felt the Raikage put him in his place handily enough. Naruto made the death offer not the Raikage.

To Julius Noon, I also say to you, go read the manga. In the VotE, Sasuke was disappointed his Chidori missed Naruto's heart right before snapping the blonde's neck. It is kind of hard to miss the killing intent on that one. Yes, Sasuke left Naruto alive without a third attempt but my opinion is that was more due to Kishimoto getting hate mail from Sasuke lovers over the earlier attempts. They didn't want their precious being seen as the irredeemable traitor he is. Although I must say if he tries to redeem Sasuke now, that would write FAIL on the entire series.

A number of people were complaining that Naruto and Hinata fighting in the first round is cliché but they are in the same exam and will have to fight at some point during it if both keep winning their own fights. I actually pulled numbers out of a hat to get the placement for the exams. I did intend for Naruto and Hinata to fight but I originally intended to have it happen in the finals. I felt the first round did neither a service but that was how I pulled it so I went with that because life is not fair.

Personal Stuff:
For people hoping for my next chapter of Runaway Hokage, it should be out inside of a week. The kiddo having softball practice nearly everyday cuts deep into my writing time.

Chapter Posted 07/06/09.