Chapter 26: The Finals
Four medics came running into the arena. Two put Isis on a stretcher and the other two took Naruto. When they reached the edge of the arena in the medic area Sakura ran up to Naruto and walked next to him.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, the numbness from the bolt is wearing off," Naruto said with a smile.
"You made it to the finals," Sakura said with a grin.
"Yeah. How far did you get when you took the exams?" Naruto asked.
Sakura had to wait to answer, they had taken Naruto into the second medic room, she could only go in once they were done. Sakura looked around her, the others were gone, except Link. For some reason she was still there, sitting on a bed.
"Why are you still here? Don't you want to see how your teammates do?" Sakura asked.
"I'm more concerned with their health than their victory," Link said.
"I'm sure he'll be okay. Naruto doesn't like killing," Sakura said.
"I know. I learned that first hand," Link said.
Sakura didn't know what to say to that. But she was saved the trouble of finding something by the medic ninjas leaving the second room. Sakura walked in, Link behind her. Both went straight over to their team mates.
"So, how far did you get?" Naruto asked. His right shoulder was bandaged now and the bandages on his torso had been changed.
Sakura smiled, "I got to the semi finals. You got farther than me," she said.
Naruto grinned, "Sorry, I thought I'd be out in the first round," he said.
"Hey, after the last two fights, even if you give up on this one, I'll be shocked if you don't get chuunin," Sakura said.
Naruto's grin widened, "I hope," he said.
x-X-x
"You awake?" Link asked.
Isis was in a bed, his right arm was wrapped up to the shoulder, his face completely wrapped up, only his mouth and left eye weren't covered. His entire torso was also covered with extra wrappings and padding on his chest and abdomen. At Link's words he sat up and looked at her.
"Yeah, I've been awake the whole time," he said.
"But the guy said he won by knockout," Link said.
"Yeah. When the second blast went off I knew he made the choice to use the small one when I'd catch it," Isis said.
"Yeah, he's a strange one. He goes all out, but stops short of killing his opponent," Link said.
"You thinking of going against the plans?" Isis asked.
Link looked at him, the look was as much a warning as it was a confirmation.
"Yeah, me too. Only problem is Dozez," Isis said.
"No chance in hell he'd go against the plans," Link said.
"Unless that he fights that guy and decides against it too," Isis said.
"That won't happen. He'll decimate the guy in the state he's in," Link said.
"If he even fights him," Isis said.
"The guy ain't gunna give up," Link said.
"No, but that Vin guy, he's way more than we thought," Isis said.
"What, like us?" Link asked, her interest peaked.
"No, like a prodigy. I think he might even have a bloodline," Isis said.
"You sure?" Link asked, now skeptical.
"Yeah. I don't know where he is on the board, but he could defiantly give Dozez a run for his money. He could even weaken Dozez down enough so this guy can win," Isis said gesturing to Naruto.
"Doubt it. After the beating he took in the fights with us. If this Vin guy can beat Dozez that bad, he can win against him," Link said.
At that moment Dozez burst through the door, with two medic ninja behind him. he was beat up pretty badly, but was still standing and walking. Both Link and Isis was backed as far away as they could, they knew a pissed Dozez when they saw one.
"How'd you take him down Dozez?" Isis asked.
"Bastard won," Dozez said as the medic ninjas finally forced him into a bed to heal him.
"How?" Link asked.
"His sword kept cutting down the hands. Plus he's faster than me. Finally used a damn genjutsu on me for the final blow," Dozez said.
"Naruto, if he's here I think that means your up," Sakura said.
Naruto nodded and the two left the three Grave ninjas and the medic ninjas. They walked out of the medic area and Naruto took out another soldier pill. Sakura looked at it with disgust, but could see the third still in the container, as long as he didn't resort to it she'd be fine.
x-X-x
"That was quite the show. Do you know what genjutsu he used Raikage?" Tsunade asked.
"I'm afraid not. I'm not very familiar with these three. The other two were near the bottom of the class, and Vin there never showed more than he had to," the Raikage said.
"A wise decision," Gaara said.
"Yes, and an unexpected one from a thirteen year old," Tsunade said.
"If I remember his family history properly, he possesses a bloodline limit," the Raikage said.
"Really, which one? I know your village also possesses two, but I though they were lost," Tsunade said.
"Nearly. There are very few with either left, and if he has one I cannot say witch. I have not seen it, nor gotten reports from those who had," the Raikage said.
x-X-x
Vin didn't leave the arena, he merely walked back to Neji. Naruto walked into the arena and made his way to the other two. He didn't get as enthusiastic a roar of cheers as when he came to fight Isis, but the crowd still sounded their favor.
Naruto reached the two and put the pill at the edge of his mouth, ready to take it the instant Neji gave the signal.
"Ready?" Neji asked looking at the two.
"I'm going to give you the chance to back down. You fought very well to get this far, and I am sure you will become a chuunin from it. But I will not hold back in this fight, despite your injuries. I will not pull my hand back from death as you have. I will kill you if I must," Vin said.
"That's a lot words. But I don't think it worked on the others at the lower level fights, it won't work now on me," Naruto said.
"Very well," Vin said.
Neji looked at the two, both nodded at him, "Fight!" Neji yelled before jumping backwards and out of their way.
Naruto took the pill, but as it went down his throat Vin attacked. Almost no one in the audience saw the in-between movements. They just saw the two standing a few feet apart then face to face, Vin's sword in Naruto's gut.
"Oh hell," Naruto said as Vin pulled the blade out.
"Surrender at any time and I will stop. If not it will take the proctors word or your death to end this assault," Vin said before swinging to cut Naruto's chest open.
Naruto dodged out of the way and stumbled backwards. The soldier pill was working, but so was the sword wound. 'gotta get the katana out of his hands,' Naruto thought.
Naruto made a clone and both he and the clone started making Rasengans. Vin looked at the two and saw the attack before it happened. The real Naruto was first the clone right behind it. Naruto wound up the Rasengan and was about to thrust into Vin when the katana cut through him. he turned to smoke and the clone behind him followed though with the attack.
The Rasengan hit Vin in the chest and sent him flying back. The clone had grabbed the blade of the Katana in its left hand as it attacked, the sword and master were now separated.
"Very smart. Using the Body Substitute jutsu with your clone to switch places with it the moment I attacked. I never would have thought someone would have tried that," Vin said.
"How'd you know I did that? How'd you know which was which? Do you have the sharingan?" Naruto asked.
"No, I have no Leaf blood in me," Vin said.
Naruto threw the katana as far behind him as he could, to keep Vin as far way from it as he could. He took out a kunai and charged Vin. Vin stood there waiting for the attack, ready for it. Naruto brought the kunai down onto Vin's shoulder.
Vin was forced back a bit from the attack, but no blood fell to the ground, no wound was made on Vin. "I do not have the sharingan, but that doesn't mean I don't have a bloodline limit," Vin said as he straightened back up.
"What the hell? I just hit you," Naruto said breathing heavily, the run mixed with the stab wound was wearing him down fast.
"My skin can become stronger than normal skin. If I want it to, it could get as strong as steal," Vin said.
"WHAT?" Yelled Naruto.
Vin grinned, "giving up yet?" he asked.
Naruto gritted his teeth. What did he have that could get through that? Then it hit him. he threw the kunai at Vin and started running. Who dodged it and took off after Naruto. Naruto took out another kunai and threw it back at Vin, who avoided it as well. Naruto turned sharply and made four clones. Each Naruto taking off in a different direction. Vin stopped running and looked at the five Narutos running. Each in a different direction, each turning and throwing kunai at him periodically.
Vin was looking for the real one, but all five were clones. The real one was hiding again. A rather smart trick. Vin grabbed a kunai at his feet and took off for the nearest clone. But his eyes were late in seeing what was going on and he barely stopped in time. Some of the kunai had trip tags on them. If he entered the area they'd all go off.
'quite the plan, but I saw it, it's useless now,' Vin thought turning around.
As he did he saw the real Naruto standing there with a Rasengan in his hand. Vin's eyes widened and was about to strengthen his skin when he was hit in the gut by the attack.
The force of the Rasengan sent Vin into the area marked by the trip tags. At once they all went off. The force knocked Naruto back quite a bit and caused him to dispel his clones. Naruto forced himself into a sitting position. And stared at the smoke as it cleared.
x-X-x
"Is there any particular reason Naruto found it necessary to blow up all three of his opponents in three different ways?" Temari asked.
"Well, it had to be different ways, the new opponent would be watching out for the old way," Jiraiya said.
"But yes, it is odd he resorted to blowing up all his opponents. As if it was the only thing he could think of that could take any of them down. He even had all the tags already," Tsunade said.
"The only field though he did was which explosion choice to use," Jiraiya said with a smile.
"Hm, that makes him far less remarkable than I thought," the Raikage said.
"The forethought that had to go into this was still impressive. As was the way in which he brought out the different explosions, each one specified to the opponent he was faced with," Tsunade said.
The Raikage looked at her and rubbed his chin in thought, "perhaps," he said.
x-X-x
The smoke was mostly gone now, revealing Vin in he wounded state. Most of the wrapping form his arms was gone, his vest and pants were in taters and his glasses were gone. He was holing onto his forehead protector, the cloth that held it to his arm gone in the blast.
Vin was standing but hunched over, his head dropping forward. Naruto tried to get up, but the pill was gone, there was a hole in his gut, and he had lost a lot of blood. 'Damnit, if Vin starts an attack, I'll have to surrender," Naruto thought.
"I know you could have killed me. You showed how well your aim was in a previous fight, and you could have placed the kunai closer," Vin said looking up. "You could have beaten all your opponents into unconsciousness, even death, yet held back. That is a trait I admire, but not one for a tournament winner," Vin said pulling out a kunai and walking towards Naruto.
"Alright, if you can still fight, you win," Naruto said.
Vin stopped and put the kunai away, "I still commend you for you restraint. It is a good quality to have," Vin said.
Neji called for the medics and turned to the audience, "The winner of the tournament has been chosen and it is Vin!" he yelled and the crowd roared with cheers. "The genin will be treated then the Hokage will announce which have been elevated to the chuunin status. Until then please enjoy the intermission," Neji said as the medics carried Vin and Naruto away.