A/N: Alright, so the low turnout in terms of reviews for last chapter makes a lot of sense, honestly. This is easily the most dull part of the arc. We've all read it before.

I will be doing my best to skip what isn't necessary, but there are some things I really do have to write out for this for the sake of the plot.

This chapter will be more fun than last chapter, so I hope you guys find a way to be entertained :)

Time for Chapter 28

Enjoy!


Shikamaru looked on uncomfortably as the wind whipped past his face. Purely on feeling alone, it had been safe to assume that Suna's genin were a formidable bunch. They radiated a confidence bordering on arrogance, and their abilities, what little they had shown, at least, were all distinctly foreign. Currently, Temari was only strengthening this notion. The match had been a complete wash from the start. No matter what she had tried, Tenten had been entirely unsuccessful.

Having revealed herself to be a weapons specialist, Tenten had repeatedly attempted to incapacitate her foe with projectile weaponry, to no avail. Each and every time, Temari unleashed a gust of wind that nullified Tenten's offense. Less than a minute prior to the present, the Sand Kunoichi had seemingly grown tired of being defensive, and she had unleashed a cyclonic wind from her large fan. Within that whirling tornado was Tenten. With each rotation of the wind, her body was cut into and bludgeoned. It was difficult to watch.

Eventually, after another thirty more seconds of prolonged torture, the cyclone died out, leaving Tenten to contend with gravity. As she fell, Temari held out the blunt end of her steel fan and waited. A moment later, Tenten crashed back-first onto the fan. A sickening cracking sound echoed through the room as Tenten hacked up blood from her mouth.

"My god." Satsuki breathed. Even the generally cold Uchiha couldn't help but be unsettled by the display of cruel dominance. Shikamaru felt a shudder run down his spine. Temari of the Sand was ruthless. A trait she most likely shared with her teammates, if the banter between them Shikamaru had overhead was any indication.

As the room stood in uncomfortable silence, Hayate wasted little time in doing his job. No inspection was needed to determine the outcome of the match.

"Tenten is unable to continue! The winner is Temari of the Sand!" the proctor announced to the genin. There were no cheers. No clapping. Only silent concern. Even from those not hailing from Konoha.

"Somebody come catch this thing." Temari called out to no one in particular, whipping Tenten's limp body from her fan. In an instant, Rock Lee, who stood on the opposite side of the balcony to Team Seven, leapt into action. Before Tenten could hit the ground, he caught her as gently as he could. After briefly ensuring that his teammate was still alive, Lee sent a harsh glare in Temari's direction. Much to his obvious indignation, the fan wielder was already walking toward the stairs.

"Have you no shame?" Lee demanded as Temari ascended the first few steps toward the balcony. Sparing little more than a cursory glance over her shoulder, the Sand Kunoichi simply shrugged.

"No room for that in battle. She lost. That's on her." she said evenly. She then began to walk up the steps again. Baring his teeth, Lee began to pursue her, but he was stopped by a hand on the shoulder from Might Guy, the Jonin leader of his cell. Shaking his head solemnly, the older man took Lee by the wrist and jumped back up onto the balcony with his student in tow.

'That was cold.' Shikamaru thought to himself, his eyes fixed on Temari as she entered the balcony once again. Before he could return his attention to Hayate or the screen, she caught his eyes with her own. Changing her trajectory ever so slightly, Temari brushed by Team Seven, stopping briefly with a sideways look to the Nara boy.

"Enjoy the show?" she asked casually. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes and kept his posture turned away from her. She was intimidating in and of herself. Tall, self-assured, and as had just been proven, utterly merciless.

"A little graphic for my tastes." he shot back. Temari's lips pulled into an odd smirk. She was projecting some kind of emotion his way, but for the life of him, he couldn't quite catch what it was.

"C'mon over to me, then. It's about to get worse. I'll hold you." she said, walking away before the shadow user could reply. Once she was out of earshot across the balcony, Kakashi, who had remained silent during the brief exchange, sighed and shook his head.

"Not this one, kid." he said tiredly. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and leaned over the railing again.

"It's not what you think. Either way, it's not my fault this time." he muttered. No more time was afforded to Team Seven for the awkward topic at hand, fortunately. As a medical team loaded Tenten onto a stretcher and carried her away for treatment, names began randomizing on the screen again. After a dull wait, the screen froze on two names.

"Hell yeah! My turn, baby!" Naruto exclaimed loudly. Indeed, the blonde's name was one of the two present on the board, alongside another.

"The fourth match of the preliminary round will be Naruto Uzumaki versus Kiba Inuzuka, both of Konoha!" Hayate announced. Cracking his knuckles, Naruto grinned as he began to walk toward the stairs. Before he could go too far, Satsuki called out to him.

"If you lose to him, you're treating the whole team to lunch." she said. The Jinchuuriki made a face at her, but continued on his way. As he descended down to the ground floor, Shikamaru looked to Kakashi.

"What do you think of this one?" he asked. The Jonin smiled under his mask and folded his arms across his chest as he observed the blonde rolling his shoulders down below.

"I'd be surprised if this lasted more than five minutes." he said. Satsuki raised an eyebrow at her teacher's confidence.

"Kiba's gross, but he's not a pushover." she pointed out. Kakashi shook his head and glanced over at Team Eight, who were all looking on with baited breath as Kiba joined Naruto.

"Try to stay humble after this is over."


Naruto removed his hands from his pockets as Kiba settled across from him. Hayate stood between them, eyeing both boys carefully.

"You both know the rules, so I won't bother explaining them." he said. Naruto nodded, prompting Kiba to do the same. As the proctor raised his hand up, the Jinchuuriki allowed himself to smile. While he certainly would not have complained no matter who he had been paired with, Kiba specifically was a person he was glad to be facing. The Inuzuka heir had been rather antagonistic in the academy.

"You may begin!" Hayate said, his voice reverberating throughout the large room as his hand chopped downward. Jumping backwards several meters, Naruto settled into a taijutsu stance. Kiba, on the other hand, pressed forward.

'He's got his dog with him. That's gonna be a pain in the ass.' the blonde thought to himself. Kiba's Ninken, named Akamaru, was clinging to the top of the boy's head as he charged forward. Once he was in range, Kiba swung for the left side of Naruto's head. The blonde ducked under the punch and pivoted around him in-tight, allowing Kiba to soar by him. Before his fellow genin could fully leave the exchange, however, Naruto cracked him behind the ear with a short, left-handed punch.

Despite not having thrown it particularly hard, the punch caught Kiba badly out of position and largely unaware. As a result, Kiba stumbled forward and fell to his knees momentarily.

"I'm gonna be honest, that was a pretty dumb way to start a fight." the blonde commented as the Inuzuka heir rebounded to his feet and turned to face him. Kiba growled and dusted himself off.

"Lucky shot." he said dismissively. Naruto smirked and readied himself to fight on. Kiba quickly engaged again, this time taking greater care not to charge in head-first. It made little difference. The moment he stepped in too close, Naruto kicked his lead leg outward to create a more square target. As Kiba attempted to adjust his footing and regain his balance, Naruto laced him twice on the jaw with a pair of sharp punches. Stumbling back, the Inuzuka heir blinked several times to clear the stars he was now seeing.

"Your luck's looking pretty awful, then." Naruto joked confidently. Only two exchanges had occurred, but the blonde could well and truly feel the benefits of having sparred daily with Satsuki. Kiba, who had managed to steady himself, took a visible deep breath.

"I wanted to make this fun, but fine. I'll start trying." he said vaguely. Akamaru then jumped down from his head and growled. The Inuzuka heir made a hand sign, a grin revealing his pronounced canines.

"Human Beast Clone." he said menacingly. A burst of smoke then enveloped he and his ninken. Naruto backed up a step and readied himself. What he saw upon the clearing of the smoke was unusual, to say the least. Kiba was down in a quadrupedal stance, with what appeared to be a clone of himself perched on his back in a similar posture.

"Where'd the dog go?" Naruto asked as Kiba kept him in his sights. The Inuzuka boy chuckled huskily.

"He's right here. You'll catch on." he replied. The Jinchuuriki was afforded no time to process the answer, as both variants of Kiba blitzed forward a half-beat later. Narrowly avoiding them by leaping straight over the pair, Naruto drew a kunai and clashed with one of them immediately upon touching back down on the ground. The two were practically impossible to tell apart while moving.

"Akamaru turned into you, didn't he?" he asked as he strained against the claws of his current opponent. Kiba did not respond. His eyes were feral, and a low growl was rumbling from his throat.

"Oh, you turned into him." the blonde clarified, kicking the clone in the chest and sending it flying back. Noting the likely identity of whom he had just struggled against, Naruto focused himself on the pair in front of him. There were, upon further inspection, slight differences between them. While both were low to the ground in posture, Kiba himself kept himself largely bipedal, while who Naruto could only assume was Akamaru was entirely down on all fours.

'Two on one? Never done this before.' the Jinchuuriki thought to himself. It was a tall order, but not undoable. It would simply require him to be entirely focused.

"You were never beating me, Naruto." Kiba said with a fanged smirk. Naruto responded by throwing his kunai between the genin and his humanoid ninken. The maneuver was never intended to inflict damage, and its true purpose was achieved. Immediately sprinting off in opposite directions, Kiba and Akamaru quickly positioned themselves on both sides of the blonde.

A moment later, they broke out into a rotating motion that turned them both into a blur of spinning features.

"Fang over Fang!" came the voice of Kiba, who seemed to be charging from the right. They were attempting to crush Naruto between them, a fact the blonde easily read. Diving forward, Naruto narrowly avoided being caught between the two spinning forces. To his disappointment, they did not crash into one another. Instead, they drifted right by each other and ceased spinning. They had clearly practiced the maneuver plenty, as their movements were highly coordinated.

Naruto then reversed the established dynamic by leading the dance himself. Sprinting forward toward the pair, the Jinchuuriki halted just before reaching them. The false entry caused Kiba himself to flinch and hesitated, but Akamaru, whom Naruto now firmly knew the identity of, took the bait. Leaping in with a wild swipe of his claws, the Ninken was subsequently stopped cold by an intercepting knee to the chest. During the brief pause, Naruto spun Akamaru around and shoved him forward into the oncoming Kiba, who had reacted on a split-second delay.

By pure accident, the Inuzuka heir struck his own Ninken across the jaw with a fully committed punch that sent him down. Capitalizing with no hesitation, Naruto stepped over the fallen Ninken and slugged Kiba in the gut with his left hand. As his opponent doubled over, the blonde seized him by the hood of his jacket and tossed him away. In that moment, however, Akamaru recovered from having been knocked down.

While Naruto's eyes were still fixed on Kiba, who was tumbling away from the commotion, the Ninken swiped his claws across the blonde's cheek. The lapse in concentration had awarded Naruto with a nasty cut on his face. Immediately shifting his attention, the Jinchuuriki slammed his shin into the left side of Akamaru's ribcage and launched the Ninken into the wall beneath the balcony, which Akamaru harshly collided with.

Now left in the center of the lower floor, with both copies of Kiba slowly recovering from the damage he had put on them, Naruto recollected himself. He was well in command, and it hadn't taken him particularly long to establish that control.

'Just keep doing what you're doing.' he coached himself. Soon enough, Kiba and Akamaru were circling him. Whether they would attempt the same tactics twice or not was left to be seen, but regardless of their approach, the Jinchuuriki was entirely sure of himself.

As the following minutes would show, his confidence was well-placed.


Satsuki couldn't help but smile at the sight before her. She had always known Naruto Uzumaki to be talented, despite his lack of academic prowess. In the hundreds of sparring matches Team Seven had participated in amongst themselves, the blonde was always a difficult task. He was not technically perfect in many regards, but he was smart, intuitive, and adaptable. To see him display his rapid improvement before an audience brought the Uchiha girl a certain level of pride by association.

"He looks great. I'm not sure why I was worried." she said aloud. Shikamaru nodded in agreement as the blonde ran Kiba and Akamaru into one another head-first.

"We're probably around him too much to have a solid idea of how good he actually is compared to other people." he said. Kakashi, who was looking on with a satisfied look on his face, drummed his fingers on the railing.

"You three have had a rough schedule. You've been facing people closer to my level than somebody like Kiba's. You haven't been winning, but as you can see, experience matters." he said pointedly. Satsuki then winced as her blonde teammate snapped Kiba's head back with a spearing jab and evaded Akamaru's attempt to intervene.

"He's tuning them up." she said. A similar sequence occurred right after the words had left her mouth, but this time, Naruto whirled around and slammed the back of his elbow into Akamaru's forehead for attempting to interrupt the cascading taijutsu lesson the blonde was dishing out to Kiba.

"I kinda feel bad for him, to be honest." Shikamaru said wearily. The sentiment was an easy one to relate to generally speaking, but Satsuki herself found it to be rather difficult.

"I'm enjoying this. I can appreciate a good schooling." she said with a shrug. Shikamaru laughed a bit at her cold response.

"Is it because Kiba wouldn't take the hint to leave you alone last year?" he asked humorously. The Uchiha girl's expression soured at the memories.

"Not entirely, but…I'd be lying if I said it didn't make this more fun for me." she admitted as Naruto knocked Akamaru down hard with his forearm. Closing her eyes momentarily, Satsuki allowed her sharingan to manifest. She had seldom used them to observe combat that did not involve herself, and there was little else to do but test out the experience.

With her perception now heightened to a completely different standard, the Uchiha girl realized just how one-sided the battle raging down below truly was. Even while outnumbered, Naruto was anticipating each and every maneuver Kiba or his Ninken attempted entire seconds in advance.

'You've really grown, Naruto.' Satsuki silently projected to her teammate as she thought back to their first sparring sessions. He had been sloppy, predictable, and she had picked him apart. Even Shikamaru had largely roughed him up. Over time, he had become less and less beatable. Now, after only just under three months of training, Naruto was likely on an even playing field with Satsuki herself.

'No, you're…stronger than me.' she thought to herself, an image of red, slitted eyes flashing across her mind. The line of thinking brought a negative connotation to her pride in the blonde's progress. On some level, his strength was not natural. Whether he chose to use it or not, there would always be a deep well of power within him. One that no ordinary NInja could contend with.

'His eyes are still blue. He's not angry either. He's winning fair and square right now.' she insisted mentally, attempting to correct the course of her train of thought. Despite her best efforts, thinking so deeply about Naruto and the nature of his strength had planted a seed of inherent bitterness. One that she was struggling to shake from her subconscious.

"This is about to be over."

Snapping from her thoughts, Satsuki turned her attention back to the lower floor. As Kakashi had said, things appeared to be going as far south as they possibly could for Kiba. Akamaru, while still transformed into his partner, was laid out on the ground, appearing to be completely unconscious. Kiba himself was in rough condition, as his face was bloodied and bruised.

"Kiba's got no chance head to head. They spent about two minutes fighting one on one, and Naruto didn't even get touched." Shikamaru said grimly, his empathy for the Inuzuka heir showing through. Shelving her darker thoughts as best she could, Satsuki devoted her focus to witnessing Naruto's oncoming victory.

Despite the switch in topic, a nagging irritation remained.


Naruto looked on silently as Kiba cradled Akamaru in his arms. The Ninken had reverted back to his natural state as an adolescent puppy, and was out cold. While certainly formidable, Akamaru was simply not as durable as Kiba was. Seeming to sense that the pause was unusual, Kiba looked toward Hayate.

"Just give me a second." he said hastily. He then shed his jacket and wrapped it around his Ninken. Setting the battered dog aside under the balcony, the Inuzuka heir quickly jogged out to the center of the floor once again. Meeting Naruto's eyes, he pursed his lips.

"Thanks for that." he said, drawing a curt nod from the blonde. With no more words left to be said, the boys ran to meet one another. No longer having enough respect for Kiba's prowess to wait for an opportunity to counter him, Naruto led the engagement by lowering his levels. When Kiba, out of instinct, began to duck down to meet him, the Jinchuuriki popped back up and slammed an uppercut into the bottom of his fellow genin's chin.

The impact stood Kiba up straight again, and in his daze, he was unable to react to the three punches Naruto promptly tattooed him with from both hands. Staggering back, the Inuzuka heir attempted to swing a wild hook to earn himself a moment to rest, but was swept off his feet mid-motion by a kick to the calf from Naruto. The entire sequence had taken place over the space of only a few seconds, and it had left Kiba stunned, sore, and floored.

"You don't have to keep going." Naruto said as Kiba struggled to his feet. The boy ignored his words and went back on the offensive, sending out his left hand to measure distance. Pulling his head just an inch or two out of range, the Jinchuuriki returned with a loose counter that caught Kiba right on the mouth square with his fist. Freezing in place momentarily, once again, Kiba was simply not able to brace himself for what came next. Pushing off of his back foot, Naruto clattered him across the jaw with a harsh left hook.

Dropping flat on his back, Kiba's eyes were slightly glazed over as he stared up at the lights. Feeling as though he had done enough, Naruto looked to both Hayate and Kurenai, the latter of whom was watching the match from the balcony with a look of discomfort on her face.

"Is nobody gonna stop this?" he called out. When nobody answered him, the blonde looked back to Kiba, who was up to one knee.

"I don't wanna hurt you. Please stay down." he said. Kiba bared his teeth and forced his way up to a vertical stance again. He had no intention of giving up, that much was clear. Sighing heavily, Naruto re-assumed his stance.

'I'm sorry, Kiba.' he apologized silently. He then blitzed forward, crossing the distance between them in an instant. Without warning, Naruto began assaulting the Inuzuka heir on all levels. Ripping him with four consecutive punches, Naruto followed his staggered foe out of the exchange by meanly digging his foot into his stomach. Doubling over, Kiba's head was promptly pulled down into the point of Naruto's knee.

Stumbling away, concussed and barely even aware of his surroundings, Kiba was finally given the mercy of unconsciousness when the Jinchuuriki shoved him to the floor, and rattled his head off the concrete with a single punch as he stood over him. Once it was clear that Kiba had been knocked out, Hayate made his way between the boys.

"Kiba Inuzuka is unable to continue! The winner is Naruto Uzumaki!" he announced, earning a few reserved cheers from the Konoha genin. A team of medical ninja soon appeared in the room behind a puff of smoke, just as they had for Tenten upon her grave injury. As he watched Kiba be tended to, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. It was Kakashi's.

"He'll be fine, Naruto. You performed excellently." the Jonin said comfortingly. The blonde nodded and took a deep breath to calm himself. The student and teacher briskly returned to the balcony, where they were greeted by the remainder of Team Seven.

"You did the damn thing. That was awesome." Satsuki said with a smile, offering a rare compliment. Naruto returned the smile and scratched the back of his head.

"I felt good. My hands kinda hurt, though." he said, shaking out his fists. He was then handed a small towel by Kakashi, who gestured to his bleeding cheek. Wiping his face clean, the Jinchuuriki settled on the railing by his teammates.

"We're two for two so far. Up to you to make it a clean sweep, Satsuki." Shikamaru said after having remained silent since Naruto's return. The Uchiha girl smirked and looked to the screen, on which names were appearing once again.

"I'll be just fine, don't you worry." she said. A customary silence then overtook the entirety of the genin as they awaited the next set of names to be chosen for combat. After several moments, the next contestants were laid out on the screen.

"The fifth match of the preliminary round will be Rock Lee of Konoha versus Gaara of the Sand!" Hayate announced. Naruto perked up at the revelation. Gaara had seldom been on his mind since their encounter in the testing hall, but he was still fascinated to see what the redhead was capable of. He was an enigma. When he turned to look at his teammates, while Satsuki appeared about as intrigued as he was, Shikamaru certainly did not.

"You alright, Shikamaru?" he asked. The Nara boy's face was contorted with an emotion resembling resigned displeasure, and his body was slightly tense. Upon being addressed, he shook his head as his eyes followed Gaara, who was walking down the back of the balcony to reach the stairs.

"Lee's going to die."


A/N: Alright, so I tried to inject some character stuff into this chapter to break up the monotony of the prelims, and Naruto vs Kiba is definitely different in this fic than in canon.

Also, to those who have complained about Naruto being weak, here's my reply. He's stronger than he was in canon. He's just fought a bunch of monsters. This chapter was meant to clear that up.

If you have some thoughts on this chapter, I would really appreciate a review. It means a lot :)

I love you all

Read and Review!