Chapter 4: The Final Exam
It was the day after Naruto's spar with Kakashi, those who had passed the second exam were in the center of a large arena, the 'Kazekage' and Hokage in the grandstand overlooking the arena, the 'Kazekage' studying each contestant closely.
Naruto would be on the floor of the arena, studying the chart of who would be against whom, Naruto still pitted against Neji, he sighed in relief at this, not wanting to change too much too often. After waiting fifteen minutes for Sasuke to arrive, he finally did, right as he was about to be disqualified, as the exams began, Naruto decided to let all of the fights except for his go the way they originally did. As Genma had Neji and Naruto set up across from each other, Naruto entered Sage Mode and Bijuu Chakra Mode, earning many gasps from the grandstands, Neji tensing slightly as he activated his Byakugan, he was greeted with a massive, nearly blinding amount of chakra flowing through Naruto's body.
"No matter...I'll just defeat you like anyone else, fate has decided it, and it will be so." Neji stated
"Don't give me that crap about fate Neji, I'm gonna kick your ass and then someday become the Hokage! Believe it!."
Naruto would blur out of vision, Neji focusing with his Byakugan to find him, noticing him just soon enough to dodge Naruto's fist, Naruto flying past him and smashing the ground, creating a crater around three feet deep in the ground, quickly wheeling around, Naruto would spin on his hands, launching himself at Neji, bringing his foot from the right into Neji's side, sending him flying away into a wall. Standing, Naruto would brush himself off, focusing back on Neji before running towards him, releasing his chakra cloak but leaving Sage Mode active, most of the crowd thinking Neji can beat him now. Neji would emerge from the dust cloud, sprinting at Naruto, his hands ready, chakra running through them, his byakugan still active, Naruto charging him, he would bring his palm up, nature energy running around it, though his form would stagger for a moment, Neji taking the moment to strike, shouting
"Two Palms! Four Palms! Eight Palms! Sixteen Palms! Thirty-two Palms! Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
Before sending himself away from a crumpled Naruto, though no one could see it, Naruto was smirking at this moment.
"STUPID KIT, WHY WOULD YOU LET YOURSELF GET HIT LIKE THAT? NOW I NEED TO GIVE YOU MORE CHAKRA!"
In a split second Naruto's chakra cloak would return, burning golden once more, the markings spreading over it again. Naruto would slowly rise as the chakra rushed through his chakra points, re-opening them once again, giving him a major source of energy, he would send himself flying towards Neji, spiral kicking the boy in the side, sending him skidding across the dirt panting heavily as he coughs up a small amount of blood.
"I promised to win, so I'm not gonna lose to someone like you!"
Neji would smirk before standing, pushing chakra into his feet before pushing off of the ground, sending himself at Naruto, attempting to being the gentle fist again, though Naruto managed to dodge every single attempt to hit him, as Neji kept missing, he continually grew more and more frustrated that he couldn't hit him, yelling "Kaiten!" as a burst of spinning chakra from his body, Naruto leaping back and rolling so that he would not be hit by it. Frowning at his use of that, Naruto knew he should end the battle now, he threw down smoke bombs, cloaking his chakra before summoning a shadow clone and hiding underground, gathering nature energy, after Neji dispersed the clone, Naruto reemerged, entering Six Paths Mode, forming his two staffs with two truth seeking balls before forming a defense around himself with the other, charging Neji, seemingly teleporting to him, smashing the staff into his back, sending him flying into a tree, knocking him out instantly, Naruto would exit Six Paths Mode before speaking "This fight is over proctor." Naruto would walk to the participant stands, sitting down as the next fight was called on, all of the fights going how they normally would up to Gaara fighting Sasuke.
Sasuke would have one of his arms embedded into Gaara's sand dome, the sand slowly coating Sasuke and covering his body completely, Gaara reaching his arm forward, though a burst of chakra would send away Gaara's sand, the chakra being a bright golden color, encasing Sasuke and pulling him away. "We don't kill in the exams, not purposefully." Naruto would say "Fool! I need to kill the Uchiha to confirm my existence! Don't get in my way or I'll kill you to!" Gaara would retort. Naruto would sigh, entering entering Sage Mode, walking towards Gaara before yelling "Bring it on!" Gaara would send his sand at Naruto, trying to grab his legs or arm with it, Naruto continually avoiding it, slowly closing in on Gaara, eventually close enough to strike, he sent a burst of Nature Energy Gaara's way, the sand not even reacting up to stop it, the Nature Energy hurling Gaara away, blood dripping from his cheek where it hit him. Gaara would let out an enraged yell, sand covering his arm to form a smaller version of Shukaku's arm, Gaara swiping it at him, Naruto leaping over the arm, kicking it and sending it into the ground. Gaara would smirk as Naruto kicks his arm, the sand reaching up and grabbing his foot, Naruto struggling to get himself free from the sands grip, pushing chakra into his feet, the sand would slowly give way, though not before Gaara could send Naruto flying into the stadium wall. Naruto would let out a pained groan as he pulled himself from the small indentation from the wall, glaring at Gaara in silent rage before launching himself forward with the Nature Energy around him, moving at insane speeds, going to punch Gaara in the chest, though his sand arm would move up, blocking the punch, the arm now having a hole through it, though it would quickly fill up with sand, shortly after Naruto would leap away, rolling backwards as sand came from the ground in waves trying to grab him. Naruto would fly through hand signs, erecting a weak barrier to give himself a moment to rest, Gaara's sand pounding away at it as well as trying to go under and over it, after a moment Naruto would release the barrier before launching himself towards Gaara once more. It would take a moment, but Gaara's sand would fly up, blocking Narutos way, Naruto skidding to a stop on the ground, cursing himself for being such an idiot, Gaara speaking "Why don't you fight for yourself? You'd be much stronger if you did." Naruto glaring at him in silence for a moment before speaking "Hmph, I don't want to fight for myself because only when you have precious people can you become truly strong, I was taught that by a very strong person." Gaara would roll his eyes before sand would emerge from the ground, grabbing Naruto's legs, pulling him into the ground so that he is stuck, Naruto sending out a wave of Nature Energy to loosen himself a bit at Gaara approached him, a blade of sand forming in his normal hand. Naruto would be struggling against the sand in vain, trying to force his way out as Gaara approached, raising the blade up to head level before stopping, making firm his grip on the sword before swinging it, cutting Naruto's head off before Naruto poofed into smoke, Gaara widening his eye's before Naruto would appear behind him, punching him in the back of the head with Frog Kumite. Swinging his leg sideways, Naruto would kick Gaara as he was falling, sending the unconscious Gaara at the arena wall. Naruto would be staring at where Gaara is in the wall before silently cursing himself again for forgetting that Shukaku emerges when Gaara is asleep or knocked out, realising what was about to happen, Naruto turned and went to the other side of the stadium, sand rising up from the ground and going around Gaara, slowly forming Shukaku as many of the other Ninja in the village were busy fighting Sound and Sand Ninja, Naruto realised he would have to take Shukaku on, one on one, well, two on one if you count Kurama. Naruto would stare at Shukaku for a moment before shaking his head, his sage cape repairing itself as he entered Bijuu Sage Mode, pushing off of the ground, pulling his fist back, letting out a yell as Shukaku laughed and spoke "Hahahaha! You think human can defeat me? The Shukaku? Bring it on idiot!" Naruto would growl slightly as he disappeared from Shukaku's view only to reappear on his arm, Naruto's chakra arms blocking Shukaku's sand as it reached up, trying to grab him and rip him apart, Shukaku mumbling something about pesky humans before bringing his other arm around to try to crush Naruto. Naruto would notice the shadow of his arm approaching, not doing anything to avoid it, the arm coming down on him. Shukaku, thinking he had killed him, lifted his arm, only to find a wall of chakra surrounding Naruto, as soon as Shukaku's arm had moved, Naruto had launched himself forwards towards the Bijuu's head, bringing down his foot in a cartwheel kick, his leg ripping through the sand thanks to his chakra cloak, Shukaku yelling about how stupid Naruto is as sand surrounded him and began to crush down on his legs, Naruto's chakra protecting him from the full force of the attack, after a moment, Naruto would realise he had to do something, sending out a burst of chakra like the last time. After the sand was removed from his body, Naruto would hurl himself forward with his chakra, flying towards Gaara's unconscious form, going in for a chakra infused punch, as he was nearing him though, sand would reach up, pinning him right next to Gaara, his fist out of reach, smirking at how similar it was to the first time he had fought Gaara. Naruto would lose his smirk as he forces his head forward, headbutting Gaara hard enough to dig him out of the sand and send him flying across Shukaku's head, the Bijuu's sand form cracking before collapsing completely into sand, Naruto's chakra cloak dispersing as well as losing Sage Mode, Naruto would fall as well, exhausted from the fight with Gaara and Shukaku.
Naruto would awaken in the Konoha Hospital, shaking his head slowly, he would look around the room, seeing Sakura, Hinata, Kakashi, and Jiraiya standing around the bed. Naruto would smile before frowning, asking "Where's Hiruzen?" Everyone would frown slightly before everyone but Jiraiya would look towards the ground, Jiraiya speaking, grief in his voice easily detectable "Orochimaru has killed him...but Hiruzen took Orochimaru's arms with him...he used the Shinigami seal." Naruto would completely froze, screaming in his head "DAMNIT! I warned the senile old man about this! Fuck….I can't believe I couldn't save him…" "It is not your fault kit, he probably chose to die rather than let Orochimaru remain fully intact, as he did before." "Still...he died...I couldn't save him…" "Hmph…"
A/N: Hey people, another note, should check out Swagbito Uchiha on youtube, hes got some pretty good videos up on his channel.
