It has been a while since I have updated this one. I could give all kinds of excuses but the simple one is I had not had any inspiration to write on this one. I wanted to finish but when I would open up my working copy, my mind would blank out.
I do thank everyone who waited around for this chapter. It seems the 'half hour break' took nearly a year.
Cloud Exam Finals
The Raikage looked over to Tsunade. "The Hyuuga girl is quite impressive," he commented.
Tsunade nodded in reply. "She is at that. My own vote would be for her to make chunin if I was one of the judges. Honestly, the whole team has been ready for some time but politics came into play. After the exam in Konoha got interrupted and all the chaos there, promotions got put aside. A number of genin in our ranks proved they had the skills needed but only needed a bit more experience before getting promoted. We expect a number of non exam related promotions to be happening soon."
The Raikage nodded. The business side of being a ninja was all about getting the jobs. His village was going to take a pounding in the reputation department when the last two Leaf ninja found themselves in the finals. He would not kid himself otherwise. This year, the Cloud genin getting this far the tournament were just not that good. Then he got an idea.
"Tsunade-dono, I would be foolish not to realize the final will be between your students. How about we change things and give everyone something to cheer about?"
Sakura, Hinata and Naruto were all sitting in the competitor booth relaxing when an announcement came from the speakers.
'Attention please. There will be a change in the program. The semi finals and finals will be replaced by a special fight between the Leaf ninja and a team of our own. The Raikage will speak before the bouts in about fifteen minutes. All people who made wagers on the semi finals and finals can get refunds at the box office. New wagers will be accepted at that time as well.'
The three genin all looked at one another as Tsunade walked in to explain what as going on.
Sakura was the most vocal and spoke up before Tsunade could begin.
"Tsunade-sensei, why did they cancel things? I barely got to fight at all!"
"Relax Sakura. The Raikage made a suggestion to me as the person in charge of all three of you. He realized his remaining genin didn't measure up when compared to your three and the finals would end up being Hinata against Sakura. Since he loves a good fight, he made a proposal that would make the Cloud look good."
"First of all, congratulations, all three of you made chunin. To forestall any political complications back in Konoha, the Raikage will announce it here in front of the daimyos in attendance. Those old farts back in Konoha won't be able to hold you back this time Naruto." Tsunade smiled at the shocked blonde.
The three teens looked stunned at Tsunade for a few moments as her words sunk in. Then Naruto let out a whoop of joy shouting, "I made chunin!" The girls just smiled at each other as Naruto stood up and did a strange victory dance that left the both laughing.
Tsunade let Naruto have his moment for almost two minutes before calling it to an end.
"Since you are all getting promoted and the people here are spoiling to see at least one more good fight, they are going to get one. You three are going to fight as a team in a special match against a chunin team from Cloud. The only rules are it is a prisoner match. You don't go out of your way to kill someone if they are already down and Naruto cannot use the Kyuubi chakra outside of his body."
"The Raikage only did this to make his village look better and not have this Final be a Konoha blowout. Plus, by promoting you in public before the crowd you all just performed in front of will give him additional points with the daimyos. He is going to get a lot of 'face' out of this move, no matter what happens to the three of you. Most of them have little choice to do their business with the Cloud so Konoha doesn't stand to lose much anyhow."
"I have no clue to what kind of team you three will be facing but I know it will be a strong and capable one. They will be experienced and likely closer to being jonin than to being genin. Just don't get hurt and do your best."
The members of Team Apprentice all nodded seriously to Tsunade then turned to each other to start making plans.
The Raikage stood up in his box to address the crowd.
"Revered daimyos, honored guests, ninja and people of the Cloud village; I thank you all for coming to this tournament. As you have seen already, the trio of Leaf ninja visiting us have been exemplary fighters. I polled the judges and all three have already been voted to advance as chunin. As pitting chunin against genin would not be that fair; their sensei, Senju Tsunade of the Leaf has agreed that they will participate in a special match against one of our best chunin teams. The remaining two semi-finalists will face each other prior to this special finale. Then the Leaf team will fight against Team Samui."
The assembled ninja cheered at the hope of seeing another high quality fight. The fight between Hinata and Naruto was already considered to be one of the top ten fights for a Chunin Exam in Cloud. Both of them in a battle on the same side against some of their best would be something to see. The gambling members of the crowd surged to the betting windows to place their bets on the new matches.
Jiraiya walked into his office and sat down heavily. The sealing of both Sasuke's chakra and curse seal had been draining for him. But it was finally out of the way. Now he could address other issues. The paperwork was no longer out of control with the addition of a second secretary who sorted out the files before they were brought to him. D-rank mission completion and no incident guard duty reports were only on a tally sheet that he looked at once each morning. Those files never touched his desk unless he asked for them. That took care of more than half the daily paperwork alone.
With the paperwork tamed, it would leave him with some additional free time each day. He took out his list of items of importance to himself. His quiet attempts at breaking the seals on the Root members Kakashi had bullied Danzo into providing after the Invasion had gone nowhere. It would take killing the man to remove those seals. The old war hawk had been avoiding everyone of late but Jiraiya was not fooled by his silence. The man was simply biding his time. At the moment, the man was a non issue. Jiraiya knew the man's general plans paralleled his own, make Konoha stronger than it currently is.
Ibiki had informed the Hokage personally that a small number of Sound genin captured had been discovered missing from the prison mines. It had the appearance of an inside job but there were no leads. Something like that had the feel of trouble all over it. He made a note to tell Ibiki to keep following up on that. He made a new note to screen people as a replacement spymaster. While he was Hokage, someone else would need to fill that role for Konoha.
Jiraiya sighed and looked at his next item. Naruto's training and the note he had left himself about Naruto wanting to buy land for a house. Chuckling, he went to his drawer and pulled out the ledger of the boy's accounts. Old Sarutobi had done wonders with the boy's money before he died. Naruto had told Jiraiya about his owning his apartment building. The current Hokage had been amazed at what his old sensei had accomplished.
The boy not only had ownership of his apartment building but also a stake in the expansion of Ichiraku's into a full fledged restaurant the year before. Old Teuchi had always wanted funds to expand for years but the man would never accept the conditions that would go along with any loan. Sarutobi had made inquiries in the months after the Sannin had begun teaching and used Naruto's money to invest in the ramen stand's menu expansion and later into the larger building that was being constructed. The boy had a one third ownership of the new restaurant but was not aware of the fact yet.
Jiraiya scanned down the list of minor businesses that the crafty old man had invested in. A number of stores that had positive feelings toward the boy were benefiting from business loans out of Naruto's money. The lawyer who handled all the transactions was a non ninja member of the Sarutobi clan and believed in both Hiruzen and Naruto. A note in the file also let Jiraiya know the man was aware of Naruto's lineage and would not cheat the son of the Yondaime.
Satisfied, Jiraiya pulled out one of his oldest notebooks. The parcel number of a plot of land he had control over since the death of his favorite pupil was transcribed onto a new deed and stamped with the seal of the Hokage. The Toad Sage filled out a few other needed papers to go along with the deed and applied his seal once more. Naruto now officially owned his parents' small house.
The fight between the remaining pair of Cloud genin was far from memorable. It took all of five seconds. The boy from the half hour long match simply fell over unconscious from exhaustion when the proctor said 'Begin'. He had not wanted to forfeit and showed up just to pass out.
The winner just waved slowly at the scattered applause when he was announced the victor. He looked around lamely then headed off.
The main event was announced to massive applause. Naruto walked in front with Sakura and Hinata flanking him on either side. The trio were dressed in their 'serious' outfits. Anko had joked once or twice that they were war dress but Tsunade and Jiraiya just say 'No, its not'. Naruto was in black and dark burnt orange, Hinata was wearing dark blues and purples. Sakura had added a long sleeved shirt under her battle dress.
From the other side of the arena came the Cloud team. Karui and Omoi wore fairly standard Cloud ninja uniforms. Samui was dressed differently in a loose blouse over a chain mail undershirt. The outfit did little to hide her appearance or bountiful cleavage.
"Hey, did Tsunade Baa-chan have a kid and not tell anyone?" Naruto commented with a smirk as Samui came close enough to see both her features and 'chakra reserves'. Sakura smacked the back of his head while Hinata glanced down at her own chest and pouted.
'Sorry Kushina, the boy dies,' thought Tsunade.
"One last time, this is a standard exam rules match with one exception. This is a prisoner match. Begin!" he yelled as he jumped out of the way.
Naruto acted first as he immediately made a hand sign and called out over a dozen shadow clones. The resulting chakra smoke took the sight of the other team away. In the seconds it took to disperse, the female members of Team Apprentice had disappeared.
Samui was highly displeased to be in this match. She had been enjoying the downtime and some of the early matches had been amusing. The pink haired Leaf girl had even made her chuckle with the medical jutsu attack on that genin. Then the heavy odds of a Leaf only final had made the Raikage propose this farce. The blonde nuisance even compared her to that Sannin and had the gall to say she might be her daughter.
Omoi pulled a new lollypop out of his belt and slipped it into his mouth. A fight always made him want a fresh one. "You realize if we don't put on a good fight, the Leaf will go to war with us and conquer our village and it will be all our fault," he said in a lazy voice.
"Shut up, you idiot," Karui yelled. She pulled out her sword and glared as the copies of the blonde Leaf ninja before them charged. Her first swing was blocked for a moment before her strength forced the clone's shadow weapon to give way and the clone vanished in a puff of chakra smoke.
A half dozen clones standing further pack cast jutsu at Team Samui. Several air bullets and water bullets closed in but the swordsmanship of Karui and Omoi dispersed the attacks. Samui just watched with narrowed eyes as she analyzed the attacks.
"Karui, go after the clone back left at your 10. Omoi, go after the clone front right at your 3. I have the stupid looking one at my 12. The rest just destroy if they get in your way," she ordered
The Cloud ninja attacked as their leader said and in moments a pair of the Naruto clones changed back into Hinata and Sakura as they were forced to defend themselves.
"You should imitate the body language of your stupid looking teammate better if you try to hide as one of his clones, little girls," Samui said with an amused tone in her voice as she charged the blonde boy.
The crowd roared in approval as a trio of individual fights erupted between the teams.
Omoi pressed Hinata back with short sword strikes. Each time she made a standard Gentle Fist counterattack, the boy's blade was waiting. 'He knows how to defend against a Hyuuga. That is bad if potential enemies can defend themselves,' the girl thought. She shifted her stance and her defense slightly into her Flowing Fist.
Omoi was feeling confident. The training against specific forms of Leaf taijutsu the Cloud had drilled for years was coming in handy now. The Raikage might not be trying to actively gain the Byakugan but he made sure that his ninja could defend against it. It made a lot of sense due to the fact that the Leaf was the closest great nation to the Cloud.
He almost missed a step when the small girl shifted her stance but it was still the Gentle Fist moves he could recognize. That thought quickly was discarded when Hinata attacked once more. He would give her a blow strong enough to capture her but also enough to let her know he could kill her if he wanted to.
Hinata slid past Omoi's defenses as if they didn't exist. Several chakra laced blows struck his arms and chest before he could get out of her range. He had to gasp a few times to make sure his left lung still worked properly. 'She has something similar to the Gentle Fist but she strikes completely different. She relies on speed and finesse a lot more than other Hyuuga,' he thought. 'If not for my vest being resistant to another person's chakra; that last strike would have shut down my lung long enough to knock me out.'
He jumped back to catch his breath and ponder his next move.
Sakura dodged a sword strike by Karui. The pink haired teen knew she would not be able to withstand the attacks without some defense. She pulled her father's long kunai from the sheath at the small of her back and took a stance with it.
"Ooooo, little girl brought a knife to a sword fight," Karui taunted. "I'm getting all tingly with fear."
Sakura knew how to play these head games as well. "You should be afraid. This knife in my hand made me the only non Uchiha in a generation to cut an Uchiha with an active Sharingan," Sakura countered.
Karui hesitated for a moment before chuckling. "Oh, as if a girl like you could cut an Uchiha. It's not like you have a lot of those left in your tree hugging village."
Sakura in turn just make an Anko style smirk. "I knew I should have listened to Anko-sensei and left the blood on it under a cover of varnish." The teen could feel her bravado withering the longer she had to keep it up so she pulled some shuriken with her free hand and hurled them at Karui.
The dark skinned redhead sidestepped the stars and attacked once more. She kept quiet as Sakura dodged her strikes. The girl kept using her kunai in a manner that showed she knew how to use it. The threat of a counter disabling her sword arm kept Karui from pressing too hard with her sword thrusts.
Karui quickly grew frustrated at the pink hair teen's dodging ability. The Cloud ninja had no clue of Sakura's training in dodging the various species of snakes and wads of acidic slug spittle. She backed off slightly to come up with a new plan.
Naruto saw Samui rushing his position and called out another dozen shadow clones to intercept her. The buxom blonde woman simply plowed through the clones of the boy with little apparent effort on her part. The crowd could not see the electrified kunai she had in each hand which would shock the clones and disrupt them. She burst out of a cloud of dispersing chakra smoke to make the original Naruto dodge her swing. She pressed her attack giving Naruto no chance to create more clones or counterattack.
Naruto was surprised at how quickly these chunin were taking control of the match. Tsunade had said they would be practically jonin but this team had fallen for nothing so far. His clones had given him an idea of what was happening with Sakura and Hinata. He needed to get away from this blonde woman in order to strike back.
'Physically, I cannot keep up with this boy much longer,' Samui thought. 'With his power as a jinchuuriki, he could stand up to Bee. I must attack his weakest spot; his mind. She ran through a series of hand signs and called out a fake Raiton jutsu name to cover her genjutsu.
The genjutsu began as a series of smoky explosion and a feeling of static electricity on his skin. The smoke enveloped him quickly. He tried to jump away from the cloud he was in. He landed and looked around confused. Naruto found himself still in a foggy white area with smoke blowing past him. He quickly looked from side to side when a voice called out to him.
"Naruto-kun," a ghostly voice that sounded like Hinata called out.
"Hinata?" he replied. He turned to see a near naked Hinata standing there.
"Naruto-kun," crooned the vision. "I need you Naruto-kun. Make me yours."
The girl pressed her scantily clad body against him and he felt a hand groping hi. The other grabbed the back of his head and pulled closer it to her face, her lips pressing against his lustfully, her tongue begging entrance into his mouth.
"Hinata? What are you doing? Where are your clothes?" Naruto called out after the genjutsu Hinata had finished the kiss and pulled her tongue from his mouth.
"Hinata? What are you doing? Where are your clothes?" Naruto called out.
Hinata heard Naruto call out and missed a step. Omoi responded with a kick that sent her skidding on her back in the dirt of the arena floor. She couldn't do more than focus some of her attention through her Byakugan to see Naruto standing still. Her bloodline revealed the foreign chakra in his system. He was under the effects of a genjutsu with Samui getting ready to knock him out. She unsealed both of her tonfa, forcing some chakra into each to make throwing them easier. Then with a graceful twirl, hurled one at Samui and one at Naruto. The wooden weapons flew like senbon at their respective targets.
Samui noticed the tonfa soon enough to avoid a head strike. It was enough to disrupt her concentration on the genjutsu. Naruto took a hit to the chest with a slight flash of released chakra from the tonfa. He looked around with a blush on his face before Samui kicked him in the back of the head. His stunned body fell limply to the dirt floor of the arena.
Sakura dodged another sword strike and finally saw an opening. The teen parried the sword with her kunai but let go of the weapon once it had engaged the hilt of Karui's sword. Karui was over-balanced by this and shifted her weight slightly as her pressure had no resistance. Sakura grabbed the wrist of dark girl with the now free hand and hit the swordswoman with a chakra enhanced fist to the forearm. The strike broke both major bones cleanly and made the Cloud ninja drop her sword. The follow up blow to the face knocked the red headed woman back about five yards. Sakura picked up her father's kunai and sheathed it at the small of her back once more. Karui tossed enough shuriken to force Sakura to retreat enough to recover her own sword.
The crowd roared at the action. Sakura and Samui eyed each other while circling around to their fallen teammates. Naruto was not quite out of things but he was stunned from the kick. Hinata in turn forced Omoi back once more and took the opportunity to move over to her team. The girls grabbed Naruto and retreated to the furthest point in the arena they could. Samui and Omoi did the same with Karui.
Sakura applied a quick first aid jutsu to speed Naruto's recovery while Hinata stood guard.
"The redhead has a broken sword arm," she informed Hinata and Naruto.
"The boy is a good swordsman who seems familiar with Konoha taijutsu and the blonde woman used genjutsu on Naruto," Hinata supplied.
"Um, Hinata looked really pretty naked," Naruto said half coherently not realizing what he was saying.
Sakura was really tempted to finish the knockout Samui had begun after that comment while Hinata's blush would have glowed in the dark.
"Focus, Naruto-kun. We are still in the middle of a battle," Hinata said in a low voice. Now she was not sure she wanted to know everything the blonde had shown her boyfriend.
"Huh? Whoa, my head hurts," the boy stammered out when Sakura finished her healing jutsu.
Sakura outlined a plan she had come up with.
"Both sides took some damage there, Tsunade," the Raikage said.
"True, but I think your team took a bit more. The blow Sakura used on your ninja could have easily destroyed her sword arm permanantly. She pulled it because this is not a match of enemies," Tsunade said with a nod.
The Raikage nodded. He knew Karui would not be recovering from that broken arm quickly. Her teammates only knew basic first aid. He could see the pink haired girl applying medical jutsu to the Uzumaki boy. The fight would continue soon with his ninja at a disadvantage.
Karui cursed under her breath while Samui tied the splint on her arm. None of the three knew enough medical techniques to do any more than that. "The pinkie knows some of Tsunade's strength techniques," she hissed out of clenched teeth.
"That fits. She barely used anything during her match so none of us knew for certain," Samui calmly responded.
Omoi pulled his lollipop from his mouth asking, "Will you be able to fight?"
Karui lifted her sword with her other hand in reply.
"Karui, go after the Hyuuga. Stall her as much as you can. Omoi, you take the boy. I'll work on the pink girl," Samui commanded.
The team headed back toward the Leaf ninja.
The team was prepared to follow Sakura's plan when a number of explosive tagged kunai landed in their midst. Naruto and Hinata jumped off in one direction while Sakura went the other.
Sakura rolled back to her feet to find the blonde Samui attacking her. The pink kunoichi defended herself from a furious taijutsu assault. Sakura knew this woman was not as skilled as Tsunade or Anko but the unfamiliar up close style kept Sakura on the defensive. She was lucky so far as she had not really fought before this. She tried different counters to the attacks but Samui's greater experience easily dealt with those.
The blonde stepped back and launched a dozen senbon at Sakura; who managed to dodge most of them. A pair lodged into the teen's thigh. The spot burned for a moment before it was numbed.
'A toxin of some kind,' Sakura realized as she prepared to apply medical treatment. The numbed area was spreading rapidly but Samui attacked once more before Sakura could deal with it. The teen fought desperately but her numbed leg hindered her defense and prevented her from jumping away. Sakura blocked another series of taijutsu attacks but her lack of mobility eventually allowed Samui to hit her to the ground. Once Sakura was down, Samui hurled another handful of senbon flew at her face. All Sakura could do was protect her eyes. Most of the needles clanged off of the hidden forearm bracers but a slightly burning followed by numbness was felt in both arms. The toxin left Sakura unable to properly use her hands.
The blonde woman smiled coldly. "So, what are you afraid of little girl?" she asked rhetorically as she made some hand signs for a genjutsu. Sakura tried to for a release but her fingers would not form the hand signs.
Sakura screamed as she couldn't stop the illusions that invaded her mind. In her mind's eye, Hiro from the beach resort and Orochimaru were waiting for her; one to claim her body, the other to lay claim to her soul. In moments, the girl slid to the ground unconscious as her mind shut down. Samui picked up Sakura and carried her to the holding area.
"The first one to fall was one of yours," the Raikage noted. "I had expected it to go longer before anyone went down."
Tsunade nodded sagely. "There was a paralytic in those senbon apparently. Once Sakura lost her mobility she couldn't avoid further attacks with them. The experience of your team is making the difference. Sakura is very good but her lack of experience facing other village's ninja made the difference there."
The Raikage agreed.
Omoi was going after Naruto with his sword. Naruto grinned and had unsealed his own pair of tonfa. He held the left back along his forearm to protect it and the right in an attack position. The teens sparred like this feeling out the other's level of skill. Naruto knew he was overmatched by Omoi's sword work but hung on gamely. The tonfa were taking damage due to the skill difference until Omoi simply cut through the one in Naruto's right hand.
Naruto grumbled at losing one of his better quality tonfa. He had played according to the other person's rules long enough. He jumped into the air and made a hand sign to create a large number of shadow clones. They managed to dog pile on Omoi and hold him down until the real Naruto could knock him out with the same jaw popping punch he had given Sasuke on several occasions. The clones then carried the captive boy to the Leaf side holding area
The crowd was roaring its approval overriding the cries of some of Omoi's fangirls
Karui was being pressed hard by Hinata. She was not as good with her off hand for her sword work. She kept pushing Hinata back before the Hyuuga could close her tenketsu but it was getting more and more difficult with each flurry of attack and counter. Hinata charged once more as Karui tried to use her broken arm to support a strike until pain made her slip and alter the angle of the blade in mid-swing.
Hinata had been careful around all of the sword attacks until now. There were two things that made the Hyuuga Clan proud. The first was its Gentle Fist taijutsu. That was the item of pride most were familiar with. The one people were not commonly associating with the Hyuuga dealt with their hair. Few cared about that issue but, if it was brought up, it was noted that almost all Hyuuga ninja had long thick luxurious hair that would survive intact as a testament to their skill in battle.
Hinata had kept her hair short in back until after she had begun pranking with Naruto. In the nearly two years since that point, it had grown out and she kept it at about mid back length now. She had taken care to insure that it was safe. Her dodge to the side would have been more than enough to allow her hair to get clear. Karui's blade changing the angle of attack ruined those plans. Instead the blade nicked Hinata's right ear and sliced cleanly through the strands that trailed behind her head.
The end result was a section of hair missing when seen from the back; starting at her bleeding right ear down to about shoulder length in the middle. The left side remained untouched so there was a large length difference after the cut section fell to the ground.
Hinata and Karui both looked at the hewn strands in the dirt in silence for a moment while the women in the crowd gasped in horror.
Karui made the mistake of moving and drawing Hinata's attention. The redhead nearly wet herself at the look of fury on the tiny Hyuuga girl's face as killer intent washed over her. She could barely defend herself as Hinata assaulted with massively increased ferocity. Tenketsu point after tenketsu point was closed under Hinata's barrage until Karui could not flee. She pulled out some kunai with flash-bang notes attached and activated them when Hinata hit her arm. The kunai fell to the ground unnoticed by the enraged girl.
Karui went down just as the notes exploded and knocked out Hinata.
Naruto was rushing back from securing Omoi to see if he could help his fallen girlfriend when Samui got in between them.
"This fight isn't over yet, boy," she said as she began to cast another genjutsu at Naruto.
'I'm not in a mood to deal with this Tsunade wannabe right now,' he thought at the same moment. He swiped his hand over a trail of blood leaking from a cut from Omoi and made his own hand signs.
The jonin all knew the fight would be decided in the next few seconds.
"Magen: Hell Viewing," whispered Samui.
"Summoning Jutsu," yelled Naruto at the same moment.
Naruto felt the genjutsu tug at him but his flaring chakra overpowered the illusion and prevented it from taking hold. The chakra smoke of a summoning surrounded the pair on the arena floor.
For long seconds the smoke hung in place, before a breeze kicked in and helped it dissipate.
Naruto stood on the back of an elephant sized toad dressed in modified samurai armor and holding a very large sword looming over Samui on the ground.
"Say hello to my little friend," Naruto said to Samui.
"I surrender," was Samui's only reply as she eyed the large sword aimed at her throat.
The crowd all murmured in astonishment at seeing a toad summon while Tsunade just put her hand to her face and shook her head as the Raikage stood up.
Then the sound of a man clapping echoed across the arena. The crowd followed their leader and roared in appreciation for the battle.
Next Chapter: Homeward Bound
End Notes: The Hinata hair scene inspired by and modified from the Ranma ½ scene of Akane getting her hair chopped off.
A note to anyone who wants to comment on any ongoing revelations in Naruto from recent months. If I decide to include something that my plot has not touched on, I might consider them. If it conflicts with something I have already written, my fan fiction will not be modified to accommodate it.
The first seven chapters have been edited and replaced. There are no material changes, mainly just some spelling and grammar fixes
Author appreciation:
I would also like to thank everyone who has read my stories. I have posted 7 stories to date; 2 being one shots, 1 completed story 'The Lost Ninja' and 4 stories still in progress. Across all stories in total, I have had over 1 million page views. I am both amazed and humbled that so many would want to read what I have written.
Posted 06/25/10