Chapter 5: Lord of The Cough

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Seven teams managed to pass the second exam and they were all lined up in their respective teams. Each of the Jonin team leaders stood in front of the line. Then the proctor walked into the room.

"Hello, my name (cough) (cough) (cough) is Hayate (cough) Gekko (cough) and I am your proctor (cough) as of now. Unfortunately, we have too many teams here so the Hokage has issued you to take (cough) preliminaries for your exam."

While everyone was shouting in disgust, Sasuke continued to grasp his shoulder because of his mark. Gaara asked if he needed any help but Sasuke refused. Hayate then asked if anyone wanted to quit. Surprisingly, Kabuto raised his hand and left the building. Right after that, Waki also raised his hand, to the great dismay of Temari and Kankoro. Then the Hokage walked in through a door on the other side of the building. He asked for everyone on Team 0, including their sensei to report to his office. Once inside the office, the Hokage ushered Itachi to take off his mask. Sasuke, Naruto, and Gaara were in shock when he complied.

"Hello Itachi, I presume these are the three you have had with you on your journey," pronounced Sarutobi.

"Yes Sarutobi, they are my brother, Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Sabaku no Gaara."

"Huh, brother why are you telling him this?" asked Sasuke.

"Recently I have done something that revealed my identity which led to me spilling everything to the Hokage," answered Itachi.

"What exactly did you do Itachi?" asked Naruto.

At that moment, Inuzuka Hana walked into the room with her three canine companions and she spoke up. "We made eye contact for the first time in years and we did something foolish and now I'm pregnant with our child."

"Yeah, once her mother found out she sent her dog after me. Right before it tore my head off, Hana stood up for me. Her mother and I reached an agreement and now Hana and I are to be married," said Itachi while scratching the back of his head.

Once Sasuke heard the news of the revival of his clan he started to jump for joy. "YES OUR CLAN IS ON THE RISE! Oh, sorry for the sudden outburst."

"But there is one last thing that must be cleared up. Who killed your entire clan?" asked Sarutobi.

"The reason for my clans near extinction is my second side. All of the evil in me separated from my body and created a whole other being," answered Itachi quietly.

"Do not worry about it Itachi, we do not convict you doing anything against the law. It technically wasn't your fault," stated Sarutobi with a smile on his face.

"Thank you Hokage."

"You can drop your henges and put your leaf headbands back on. As for you Gaara, I give you a choice, return to sand or begin a new life in Konaha," said Sarutobi.

Gaara decided to start anew with Konaha. Right after that, Team 0 and the Hokage went back to the preliminary building. Each team began to get annoyed at how long Team 0 was taking. Then, suddenly, the Hokage and some people walked through the door.

"This may come as a shock to you but this is Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Itachi, Uzumaki Naruto, and Sabaku no Gaara. Sasuke and Itachi survived the massacre with Naruto. Gaara met them early on and left with them. They are still Team 0 and will compete in the exam. With that said, let's begin the preliminaries," said Sarutobi.

"He's right (cough) let's watch the screen and see who goes first. It says Sasuke vs. Choji. The battle begins now.

Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akimichi Choji

Choji activated his rolling ball technique and launched himself toward Sasuke. Sasuke quickly dodged and watched as Choji hit the wall. While Choji was in a daze from hitting the wall, Sasuke used one of his techniques, Lightning Release: Five Way Thunder Strike. Choji was struck four times by a consecutive lightning strike. Choji stood up after the blow and followed up with an attack of his own, Body Expansion. His enlarged fists connected with Sasuke several times and crushed him into the wall. As Sasuke began to sink into the wall he yelled fifth strike and the fifth thunder strike hit Choji in the head. Normally it would kill someone but it just scrambled Chouji's brains a bit. Sasuke fell to the ground and spit out some blood from his mouth.

"I declare Uchiha Sasuke the winner of this match," declared Hayate without coughing once.

With that said Sasuke jumped up to his teammates and sat down against the wall.

Then everyone's eyes fixed themselves upon the screen. Two new names then popped up on the board.

Rock Lee vs. Temari

Temari leaped over the railing and watched as Lee quickly flipped onto the ground. Lee stated multiple things about the power of youth and took off towards Temari. Right before his jabs and kicks could land, Temari used her fan to blow him back.

"You can't beat me with your stupid Taijutsu. Why don't you try using something else," said Temari.

"I would, but I can't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. I wasn't a gifted prodigy like many of you here. All that I can do is Taijutsu. Even though that's all I can do, it doesn't mean that I am an awful Shinobi. Guy sensei taught me that."

Moments after he said those words, Lee jumped up onto the railing and leaped up to the ceiling. He jumped down while screaming Leaf Whirlwind. Temari was swept off the ground and Lee attempted to launch a flurry of punches and kicks. She countered by blowing him back with her fan.

"LEE, TAKE THEM OFF. YOU NEED ALL THE HELP YOU CAN GET."

"BUT GUY SENSEI, YOU SAID NOT TO UNLESS I WAS FIGHTING FOR MY LOVED ONES."

"I'M MAKING AN EXCEPTION THIS TIME, LEE."

"OKAY GUY SENSEI."

Lee removed his leg warmers to reveal weights. Temari laughed at the thought of some leg weights being enough to beat her. He dropped the weights on the ground and they went straight through it creating hole in the ground. Everyone including Temari gasped at the sight. Seconds later, Lee disappeared. The room was silent as Temari walked near the hole that Lee's weights left. Suddenly the ground began to rumble. In defense, Temari put out her fan. Lee launched up through the hole he left and kicked through Temari's fan and brought her up in the air with him.

"Now it's time for my secret technique, FORWARD LOTUS," screamed Lee.

"This is it, FORWARD LOTUS CONCLUSION."

Lee jumped away as Temari was launched into the ground. Five minutes after Lee was announced the winner, Gaara began to panic since it was his sister down there so he threw Sasuke into the hole and he told him to get his sister. Sasuke felt something soft beneath him and when he opened his eyes he saw that he was on top of Temari.

"You sick pervert, what the hell do you think you're doing?" asked Temari.

"It wasn't me; Gaara threw me in he-."

"Sure, blame it all on him. Don't you dare do that again or I'll tear you apart but I appreciate the gesture," spoke Temari with a small grin.

Gaara watched as Sasuke climbed out of the large crater carrying Temari on his back. "She's okay, I knew you could do it Sasuke," proclaimed Gaara as he took hold of Temari and walked her over to the Medic Nins.

"Geez, talk about protective younger brothers," chuckled Naruto as he watched Gaara make sure that the medics knew what they were doing.

"I agree," stated Sasuke.

"So, Kai, Roak, what do you think of the last few fights?" asked Sakura.

What's it to you weakling?" answered Roak in a spiteful tone.

"Never mind. Cha, when they see the results of my training with Rengu, I mean Naruto, they will be surprised.

"Without further (cough) ado (cough) let's see who the next fighters will be," coughed Hayate as he pointed to the screen.

Aburame Shino vs. Yemma Kai

Right as Kai began to open his big mouth to talk about how easy the battle will be, Shino sent many bugs into Kai's mouth. The insects blocked his lungs from releasing air and Kai passed out. Then the insects flew out of his nose.

"Humph, I win this match, loser," said Shino quietly.

"He is right (cough) I declare Shino the winner!" exclaimed Hayate.

The medic went over to Hayate and gave a status report. "The kid that just lost, has damaged vocal chords. Some of the insects that the other kid released are inside of the chords and are manipulating his voice."

"That isn't our responsibility so just take him and (cough) (cough) heal all of the wounds you can." He ushered the medic away and turned his head to the Genin that were anxiously awaiting their turn. "Turn to the screen for the next battle."

Inuzuka Kiba vs. Tenten

The battle didn't last very long. Akamaru, Kiba's dog, bit Tenten's weapon summoning scrolls. That caused Tenten's weapons to impale themselves in her. Luckily she wasn't in a serious condition but it was still really bad. Hayate announced Kiba the winner and ushered for the medics to take her away.

"Hm, Hana will be ecstatic when she hears that her brother won", thought Itachi as he observed the previous fight.

"Woo hoo, we won Akamaru," shouted Kiba.

"Shut the hell up Kiba," shouted Naruto back at Kiba.

"Okay, okay, shut up you two. Go back to the (cough) balcony. Unfortunately, some weapons were lodged into the video screen so I must read the names from a card."

Then a carrier ninja walked in and handed him a card. He read the card and revealed the next battle.

Uzumaki Naruto vs. Abumi Zaku

Naruto readied himself in a fighting stance as Zaku charged at him. Zaku launched several air waves from the vents in his palms. Naruto quickly followed up with his Wind Release: Air Barrier attack that spun the waves back at him. The waves may have been going fast but Zaku just reinforced them with his Supersonic Slicing Sound Wave jutsu. When the enormous sound wave began to screech its way to the side of the arena that Naruto was in, craters began to form all over the field. The entire time, Naruto sat meditating on the ground. He quickly stood up and threw two small, red blasts at the wave of sound. It exploded, causing the entire ground floor to take major damage, as well as causing the walls to crack and some rooms to implode. Surprisingly, the blast wasn't able to reach anyone on the balcony. Once the smoke cleared, Zaku could be seen lying face first, in the rubble that is the arena floor. On the other side of the arena, Naruto stood against the wall next to Zaku breathing heavily, brushing off dust from his ninja suit.

"It seems Naruto is the winner in this match," declared Hayate.

Right as Naruto reached his team on the balcony Itachi pulled him aside. "What was that attack you pulled off out there?" asked Itachi.

"It's a new set of techniques that I learned from Kyuubi," confessed Naruto.

"What is the technique?"

"Well Itachi, it is a blast made of spirit energy that comes from Kyuubi. I use the blasts depending on how much spirit energy I can utilize at the moment. Using to much can cause me to tap into the force that keeps me alive. Doing that can kill me."

Naruto walked next to Gaara but Itachi continued to ponder about Naruto's power source, The Kyuubi. He learned that Naruto possessed it a few years ago on a mission in which he saw the seals on his stomach and the red chakra that consumed him when he fought a warlord. Then Hayate announced the next match.

Yamanaka Ino vs. Sabaku no Gaara

Ino started the match by throwing a few shuriken at Gaara, but they were deflected off the sand wall that Gaara summoned. Gaara followed up by laying down a pile of sand on the ground and using Water Release: Liquid Layout. In the time that Gaara was using his combo, Ino decided to use Poison Style: Wolfsbane Takeout. Gaara's sand turned to mud and he commanded it to attack Ino. The poison combined with the mud and hit Ino. She was strapped against the wall by the poisoned mud.

"I declare Gaara the winner (cough) of the match," said Hayate as he ushered the medics towards Ino.

Right as Gaara returned to the balcony, Naruto congratulated him on his win. After that match, all of the others seemed to pass by quickly. Shikamaru defeated Hinata with his shadow possession jutsu. Sakura broke Kin's arm and kicked her into the wall and used an earth jutsu that made her a statue except for the fact that she could breathe. All because she said that Sakura has a big forehead, but Kin still did a good amount of damage to Sakura with her bells.

Naruto volunteered to take her to the hospital but his offer was denied. The next match pitted Kankoro against Dosu. In the end, Kankoro won by a hair. Neji fought against Misumi. He quickly used his Byakugan and immobilized Misumi, thus defeating him. The final match of the preliminaries concluded with a match between Yoroi and Roak. Roak used his family's secret technique and teleported around Yoroi. Yoroi kept using his chakra sapping attacks but continued to miss and lose chakra of his own. One of them made contact at Roak's heart. They both collapsed and the medics carried them away. Hayate declared it a draw and told the remaining genin to report to the ground floor. The 3rd Hokage walked into the room and gasped at the amount of damage the genin did to the best training building in the village.

"This was the best training building in the entire village," said the Hokage with a frown on his face, "That doesn't mean that I'm not impressed, though. I congratulate all of you who have passed the preliminaries. As you have been told, there is going to be a third and final exam. It will take place in one month. Just like your preliminary exams, it will be a small tournament that will take place to determine whether or not you can be a Chunin class ninja. To determine who you fight against, you will draw a number from this box. Your numbers will range from 1- 10. If you and someone else have numbers next to each other like one and two, will fight.

Everyone except for Sakura, who was still hurt, drew their numbers. Since Sakura wasn't present, Naruto drew his paper last and took the one that was still there so he could take it to her. He ran off before the Sarutobi could clearly state that Sakura's his opponent.

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End of Chapter 5

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A/N: Another chapter has come and gone. Please continue to review my story and send any suggestions you want.