Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Bleach, Inuyasha, Yu Yu Hakusho, Final Fantasy 7, King of Hell or any of the animes/mangas/songs shown or referenced
"Luke, join me"-Normal speaking
'No! You killed my father!'-Normal thought
"That I did. And it was FUN!"-Chaos/Zanpaktou from mindscape to real world, summon/Bijuu speak, jutsu use
"Sweatdrop"-summon/bijuu thought
Chapter V
Deathmatch
The 18 remaining competitors (Kabuto had withdrawn of course), the Jounin and other spectators (including Hiashi Hyuuga and several Hyuuga elders) looked at the names spinning across the screen with anticipation (and in Dosu's case; fear). The names were eventually chosen.
Sasuke Uchiha vs. Akado Yoroi
"Alright, will everyone other then the two contestants make their way to the stands"
Following the proctor's instructions, the 16 remaining genin walked up to the stands, gathering in their respective teams. With the exception of Naruto, Hinata and Shikamaru, who were standing together a little to the left of Naruto's team and to the right of Shikamaru's team.
"Alright, begin" the proctor called.
Kakashi then noticed something else interesting. Naruto and his apparently friends, seemed to be paying no attention to Sasuke's match. Instead, Shikamaru was sleeping and Naruto was listening to an iPod and he and Hinata were both reading a respective manga. Normally Kakashi would have wondered about this, but he needed to pay attention to this match to watch for any sign of Sasuke's Curse seal taking over, so he didn't pay this any heed.
Normally, Naruto would want to watch the prelim matches. After all, he could be facing some of these people eventually and the matches could turn out to be pretty interesting. But he already knew that he could pound Sasuke's angsty, emo ass into next week should the need ever arise. Besides, reading the latest volume of King of Hell while listening to 'Dark Chest of Wonders' was much more interesting (AN: I'm listening to that song while I'm writing this).
After a few minutes, Hinata tapped him on the shoulder.
"Naruto-kun, the match is over. It seems Sasuke won"
Naruto looked down at the arena to see Sasuke's unconscious opponent get carted off and Kakashi 'poof' away with Sasuke.
'Well, now that that's over, wonder who's up next?"
Everyone's attention was drawn to the screen on the wall as it scrolled through the names.
Kankuro vs. Misumi Tsurugi
As they two contestants made their way to the arena, Naruto killed the music and activated his Sharingan.
'I don't really care about that guy from Kabuto's team, but if my hunch is right about that Suna-nin, then I could pick up a very useful technique'
"Begin" Hayate said.
As Kankuro pulled the wrapped-up object off his back, Naruto noticed something interesting. Small, miniscule cracks, so small that only with the Sharingan was he able to see them, appeared on the Suna genin's face.
'Sand? Ah, I see. Looks like I was right. Thanks for the new trick ya makeup and pajama wearing freak with no common sense' (I mean come on. He lives in the desert and he wears an all black body suit. Does that sound smart? Didn't think so) Naruto thought.
Kankuro soon won by trapping his opponent with his puppet and squashing him like a bug.
After the genin's half-dead corpse was carted off by the medics, the screen began to run through the names again. Eventually one of the names was chosen:
Naruto Uzumaki
As the names were scrolled through for his opponent, a variety of thoughts were going through the remaining contestants minds
'Alright, I hope it's me. Then I can pound some sense into that dead last to not hang out with my Hinata' were Kiba's thoughts.
'Naruto Uzumaki, mother wants your blood, and I will give it to her!' were Gaara's demented, psychopathic thoughts.
'Yosh! Naruto-san, it would be an honor to fight you!' were the thought's of a certain green wearing retard.
'Don't be me! Don't be me! Don't be me! PLEASE KAMI, DON'T LET IT BE ME!!!'…you can guess who was thinking that.
'zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz'…alright, if you can't tell who was thinking that then you are a complete retard.
Eventually, it landed on;
Kiba Inuzuka
"Alright! Come on Akamaru, this is gonna be easy"
'Yeah, for me' Naruto thought
Even though he hadn't gotten very far in his training with Tetsaiga and Tenseiga, he wouldn't need them to kick the crap out of the arrogant mutt-boy, besides, he had just the way of keeping him away from Hinata. Oh, he was going to enjoy this.
As the two contestants made their way to the arena floor, Asuma turned to Kurenai.
"So, how long do think Kakashi's kid is going to last? I betting three minutes tops"
"More like two minutes. Kiba's only gotten better over these past few months. I feel pretty sorry for Naruto actually" Kurenai replied.
"How about he doesn't lose period? Naruto may not be the best, but he's improved a lot since the teams were first assigned" Kakashi spoke up.
"Kakashi, unless you've been giving that kid ANBU training, I doubt he'll last very long against Kiba"
"Actually, you're both wrong" Shikamaru spoke up, surprising everyone that he was awake.
"You have no idea how much Naruto's been holding back. In fact, I think that Dosu kid wets himself every time Naruto so much as looks at him after what he did in the forest"
Their sensei's exchanged worried glances at what this could mean.
"And before you get the wrong idea, no, it doesn't have anything to do with Naruto's fuzzy roommate" the lazy genius continued, shocking the Jounin and confusing Sakura, Ino and Chouji
'How does he know about the Kyuubi?!'
Naruto and Kiba stood on the arena floor facing each other, Kiba with an arrogant smirk on, Naruto just looked board.
"Begin"
"Okay deadlast, how about you just forfeit right now. Then I won't have pound you into the dirt" Kiba said in his usual superior tone.
Naruto just smirked and threw some shuriken at Kiba.
"Ha! You are as bad a shot as ever you dobe" Kiba shouted as he dodged them.
"Oh?" Naruto said as he flung his hands back behind him. "Wanna bet?"
Kiba stared at him until he heard gasps coming from everyone else, especially two of the Suna genin. He looked behind him and his eyes widened as he saw the shuriken coming back at him.
"What the hell?!" Kiba yelled as he tried to dodge the spinning missiles, and met with marginal success. Some missed, though most of them were able to cut across his arms, legs and torso. Naruto caught his shuriken as they flew back to him.
Temari and Kankuro were gaping at the actions of the blond.
'Impossible' Temari thought 'How could a leaf-nin know the puppet technique? That jutsu is supposed to be exclusive to Suna! And if he knows it, then why doesn't he have a puppet? Wait…" Temari thought as she glanced over to Kankuro. 'Could he have copied the technique from Kankuro when he used Karasu?' She looked back Naruto with shock and awe.
Meanwhile, Naruto was putting away his shuriken when he heard the sound of feet running and then felt air rushing behind him. He took a quick glance at a now smirking Kiba's headband to see just what he expected. Akamaru was coming at him from behind performing a Tsuuga. Naruto quickly spun around, releasing the Aegis gauntlet as he brought his hand around and, to everyone's shock, caught Akamaru. He then shoved him aside, sending the spinning dog barreling into the wall, knocking him out. He then turned back around to a now gaping Kiba.
"Gotta say, that was a pretty smart maneuver, mutt-boy. But," he said as he made a one-handed seal that made Kakashi raise an eyebrow. "Let's see you hit what you can't see. Kirigakure no Jutsu."
A thick mist began to role in, surprising Kakashi that Naruto knew this technique.
As Kiba looked around, a voice sounded from seemingly all directions.
"Let's see, where should I strike?" Naruto's disembodied voice said. Sakura shivered at the memories it was dredging up. "Heart, lungs, throat, spine, brain,…ah I know. Now I can send a message, destroy your self-esteem and put you in extreme pain, all at the same time"
"Stop hiding and come out dobe so I can kick the crap out of you!" Kiba yelled.
Hinata sweatdropped as she looked on with her Byakugan.
'He hasn't even thought of sniffing Naruto-kun out? Wow you're dumb Kiba'
"Alright, if you insist" Naruto's voice called out.
Hinata watched him with her Byakugan as he rolled back the left sleeve on his jacket, revealing an intricate and complex set of tattoos. Naruto then bit his thumb and smeared some blood along the markings, followed by a series of hand seals.
As he slammed his left palm onto the ground, he called out, "Bakudo jutsu: Shadow Spell!"
Kakashi's eyebrows rose at this.
'Bakudo? I've never heard of anything like that'
Kiba heard a rumbling as the ground shook, then he yelped he felt something wrap around his arms, legs and body.
As the mist cleared somewhat, everyone gaped at what was down on the arena. Kiba was bound by a mass of chains around his limbs and the midsection of his torso. The chains binding his legs as well as some binding his torso had seemingly burst from the ground while the ones holding his arms and the rest of his upper body had seemingly burst from the walls.
Still hidden in the mist, Naruto smirked. He had found out during his mental training with Chaos that his dormant Sharingan had instinctively copied every jutsu he had ever seen, though the only good ones he had copied were the ones he had seen Kakashi and Zabuza use in their fight. Still, those were some pretty good jutsus. Not only that, but Chaos had also taught him a few techniques too.
"Like my new trick Kiba?"
"What the hell?! What are these things?!" Kiba yelled as he struggled.
"Bakudo jutsu. Techniques designed specifically for binding opponents" Naruto smirked.
"Doesn't matter, these won't hold me for long anyway!"
"True" Naruto called out from the mist, only his silhouette visible to everyone. "But it'll last long enough to use my newest jutsu"
Everyone watched on, wondering what this new jutsu was. Suddenly, a noise sounded through the arena, signaling the jutsu. Everyone in the stadium gasped and the adults paled at the sound. The sound of a thousand chirping birds…
RAIKIRI! Naruto yelled out as the mist was blown away revealing Naruto holding the legendary Raikiri in his right hand, Sharingan blazing.
Kiba stared in awe and fear at the mass of blue lightning-like chakra in his opponent's hand.
"Wh-What is that?!"
"Heh, the sole original technique of my sensei, the Raikiri. You know, this is only the second time I've used it. I only mastered it a few hours ago" Naruto said smirking at the obvious fear in Kiba's eyes.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you with it. Though I will do something that some would consider even worse. You see, this jutsu has been known to split a bolt of lightning. So I wonder what it'll do to your nether regions?"
If possible, every ounce of blood drained from Kiba's face at this moment. Anko, Hinata and Temari immediately fell over laughing while Ibiki, Sarutobi and Shikamaru rolled their eyes in exasperation. The other females giggled slightly and the other males paled slightly, except Gaara who has no concept of pain.
"Now, let's get this over with" Naruto said as he bent low and then charged Kiba, dragging the Raikiri across the ground.
"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Kiba screamed like a five year old girl about to be eaten by Kyuubi.
Kiba passed out from the screaming and the extreme pain as his groin was obliterated by Naruto's Raikiri.
"Heh, the lucky bastard passed out" Naruto said as the chains 'poofed' away.
As Kiba and Akamaru were carried away by shuttering medics, Naruto removed his right glove, careful not to touch the outside. He then slapped an exploding note on to it and threw it into the air where it blew up.
"I'm going to wash my hands" Naruto said as he left the room.
Hinata nodded her head in understanding.
As Naruto walked back into the room, he noticed that the next two names had been chosen.
Shikamaru Nara vs. Shino Aburame
The two contestants made their way down into the arena.
"Begin"
As they were about to start, the lights began flickering.
"Damn power in this tower. I told those guys they need to keep the maintenance up" Anko said to no one in particular.
Kakashi noticed that Naruto and Hinata were suddenly very agitated. Scared even. He then looked down to the arena and his eyes widened. Shikamaru was holding his head as if he had a headache. And his face was contorted into some cross between a grimace and a psychotic grin. But most unsettling of all was that if one looked close at his shadow between the flickers of light, it was a mass of dark tentacles and one of his eyes was glowing yellow.
Down in the arena, Shikamaru was fighting for his life, though not in the way most would think.
'Damn it! Get out of my head you bastard!'
'YOU CANNOT BANISH ME WELP. I AM PART OF YOU! THE SAME DARKNESS THAT FEEDS ME SUSTAINS YOU! YOU ARE MY PUPPET!'
'I am no one's puppet! And most certainly not yours! Get out of my head!'
The lights suddenly stopped flickering and Shikamaru seemed to return to normal and Naruto and Hinata breathed a sigh of relief. Hayate cleared his throat.
"Alright, we'll continue with the…"
"I forfeit" Shino said, surprising mostly everyone.
"After what I just witnessed, I do not think it would be in my best interest to fight against you Shikamaru-san"
As the contestants made their way back up to the stands, the screen began to scroll through names again, eventually it landed on:
Sakura Haruno vs. Ino Yamanaka
Naruto immediately tuned out the incessant ranting of the two fangirls as he put on his iPod with Y-jack and a second set of earphones for Hinata.
As the two failures headed down to the arena, Kakashi turned to Naruto.
"Aren't you going to offer her some encouragement?" he said as they walked past.
"sigh…fine, kick her ass Ino" Kakashi sweatdropped while Sakura and Ino looked at him like he was crazy and Hinata snickered.
"What? You actually thought I would root for that whiny, useless, pink-haired fangirl? Ha, you've got a better chance of Sasuke giving up his emo revenge quest and the villagers actually liking me!"
With that he turned on the iPod and tuned out any further ranting.
Sakura was speechless. Naruto, the bumbling idiot that had always been obsessed with her, had just talked to her like she was a piece of crap. However, she had bigger fish to fry, or pig to be more exact.
As the fight began, Hinata put on her headphones while Naruto turned on "The End of All Hope".
"You know, if anyone knew you listen to this, they'd probably be scared out of their wits"
"So?"
"Good point"
The match, which Naruto ignored completely, was over quickly, ending in a tie. Naruto thought this was fitting. After all, those two were nowhere near qualified to be chunin. Heck, they barely even qualified as genin. After that, the girl from Neji's team, Tenten was brutally defeated by Temari, the girl from the Suna team. What struck him as odd was the fact that every time she looked at Shikamaru, she had a look on her face that bore an eerie resemblance to the look that Hinata use to wear when she looked at him.
'Could she…? Maybe. After all, Nara men have had a history to being attracted to bossy women, and she fits that category perfectly and she's not useless like Ino. And her brother's a Junchuuriki, so she would be able to adjust to Shika's…condition…pretty easily. Who knows? Having a girlfriend like that would do wonders for that slacker. Wait a minute, does Shikamaru even notice the looks she's giving him? Probably not. Maybe Hina-chan and I will have to…influence…them. That'll be fun. Oh! They're picking the next two contestants"
Hinata Hyuuga vs. Dosu Kinuta(sp?)
Naruto killed the music and Shikamaru immediately sat up. This was a match they had to watch.
"Be careful using Jyuuken against that guy," Shikamaru warned "he uses a close-range sonic attack that targets your ears"
"Good luck" Naruto said.
"Not that I'll need it, but thanks anyway" Hinata replied as she headed down to the arena. As she did, Naruto noticed many of the other Hyuugas looking on with something akin to disgust. Naruto and Shikamaru smirked at each other. Those senile old fools were about to get one BIG wakeup call as to how good their so-called 'failure' really was.
Hinata and Dosu stood facing each other in the arena.
"Begin"
Hinata instantly activated her Byakugan. This shocked the rest of the Hyuuga present, including Neji.
'She didn't use any handsigns! She's never been able to do that before!'
Kurenai smirked at the shock the Hyuugas were displaying. Hinata had progressed so much while under her tutelage. Little did she know, that while Hinata had progressed enormously since becoming a genin, almost none of it she (Kurenai) had taught, or was even aware of.
Hinata charged Dosu, who brought up his arms to prepare his sonic attack.
Hinata threw a series of Jyuuken strikes at the Oto-nin, who jumped back quickly, wary of the potentially-lethal attacks. Hinata saw Dosu gather chakra at his gauntlets as he threw a punch.
'That it! That's what Shika warned me about!' she thought as she jumped back to avoid the sound waves. She landed several feet away, clutching her ear, which was bleeding slightly.
'Damn! Even though he didn't do any damage, that HURT. Looks like I'll have to use that' she thought to herself.
As Dosu charged again, Hinata quickly jumped back repeatedly towards the other end of the room until using a chakra-enhanced jump to land on top of the large hand statue.
"What's she doing?" Neji said out loud, "the most she can do up there is throw kunai and shuriken"
Naruto and Shikamaru looked on with apprehension.
'Could she be preparing it?'
Hinata then smirked and said aloud.
"Oh well. I guess there's no other choice" she said as she smirked at the Hyuuga present. "I hope you're watching…father. This is what I can really do"
With that she reached around her neck under her shirt and pulled off a necklace that she had been wearing under it. It had a silver chain with a pendent that looked like a combination between a star and a cross. Kakashi noticed that Naruto and Shikamaru had a look of shock on their faces, while the other Hyuuga and her teammates just looked confused. Whatever Hinata had been keeping under wraps, only Naruto and Shikamaru knew about it.
Hinata tied the necklace around her left hand so that pendent on the end was pressed against her palm. She then stuck her left hand and arm out in front of her, as if she was holding an invisible bow. Then, with a blast of chakra, said bow wasn't invisible anymore.
Everyone in the arena gasped at the sight they beheld. In Hinata's left hand, was a large bow that seemed to be made of pure blue chakra. The Hyuugas were the most shocked.
'What! How could that failure learn that lost art?! The last user died decades ago!"
Dosu looked on with shock and a little bit of fear.
Hinata then grabbed the bows string and drew it back. As she did, an arrow-shaped object formed in the bow. Dosu immediately jumped back, fearing whatever his opponent was about to do. Naruto looked on with look of pride and happiness on his face.
'Great job hime. You finally get show just how wrong they were about you. Now kick his ass!'
Hinata released the arrow as shot at high speed at Dosu who just barely dodged the shot as it hit the ground, exploding with force of an exploding tag.
'Damn, that's quite the attack! I can't afford to get hit by one of those!'
"Looks like that Dosu kid is out of luck" Naruto said aloud as Hinata fired more arrows, attracting the attention of the one near him.
"What do you mean?" Ino spoke up.
"Because he doesn't have anything that can hit Hinata" Kakashi spoke up. "Am I right Naruto?"
"Yep. In this open area, he has nowhere to hide from Hinata-chan's shots. He also can't sneak up on her, and since his attacks are close range, all he can do is dodge"
"But Hinata can't keep this up forever" Shikamaru spoke up. "Dosu can dodge a lot more times then Hinata can shoot"
"Yeah, but you know Hinata-chan. She always has some kind of backup plan" Naruto replied.
"True. Now let's see it"
Hinata stopped firing for a moment and sighed.
"Oh well. Guess I'll have to bring that out too" she said as she brought her hands into a familiar cross-shaped seal.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" she called out as almost everyone gasped (again).
Three more Hinata's popped into existence and charged Dosu as the real one prepared another volley of shots.
'Damn!' Dosu thought as the Hinata clones bombarded him with Juuyken strikes. 'Now I not only have the bitch's arrows worry about, I have to look out for her friends'
The other Jounin could only stare in wonder, only Kakashi was staring in a little less wonder.
'Were you the one that taught her that…Naruto?' he thought to himself.
Dosu continued to dodge Juuyken strikes and arrows.
'I have to get away from these clones!' he thought as he glanced at the real one just in time to see her launch an arrow at his face. Thinking quickly, Dosu leaped back so his body was parallel with the ground to dodge the arrow.
'She's fast, but I can still…' his train of thought stopped as he noticed something right above him.
Hinata.
She had apparently leaped from the statue right after firing, and had another arrow knocked and ready to fire. Only this arrow was the size of a spear. As Dosu looked on, unable to do anything but stare, a single word formed on Hinata's lips.
"Gotcha"
She fired the giant arrow. It went strait through Dosu and hit the ground, exploding with the force of about ten exploding notes. As the shockwave passed, Hinata landed on the floor, apparently exhausted as her bow and clones vanished. As she stood, albeit with difficulty, the proctor checked Dosu.
"Winner, Hinata Hyuuga"
At that, out of strength, Hinata fell backwards, into a pair of gold and black clothed arms. Naruto picked up Hinata in his arms, much to the chagrin of the other Hyuugas, and shunshined back up to the stands. He laid Hinata against the wall and knelt beside her as Shikamaru joined them.
"You okay?" Naruto asked.
"Hai. Just exhausted from all that" Hinata answered.
"Yeah, but that was incredible. The last time we saw you do that, you couldn't pull off five shots with out passing out. Now you shot off at least twenty and pulled off a Shinso!"
"Yeah. I've been training a lot"
"Apparently" Shikamaru said as he looked back to the board where the next two contestants were being decided.
Sabaku no Gaara vs. Rock Lee
Naruto and the others looked on in awe as Lee opened the fourth gate. Naruto had to have his Sharingan activated just to keep track of him. Lee pummeled the Shukaku at speed that most couldn't even see him. Then Lee was able to open to fifth gate and slam Gaara into the floor with the force of a boss summon landing on him. But even then, such a barrage was not able to defeat a junchrikki. As Lee tried desperately to get away with his broken body, Gaara sent his sand after him.
'Now let me feel ALIVE!'
He was cut off as something shot into the oncoming sand and blew it away like leaves in the wind. There, in front of a broken Lee, stood Naruto, wielding Tetsaiga and Tenseiga, with a look that screamed malice. Kakashi noticed that the sword in his right hand seemed to have a swirling of air around it, and the one in his left seemed to almost crackle with lightning.
"I would suggest that you know your place and not to anger your superiors, Shukaku!" he shouted, lacing his voice with enough Killing Intent to kill some people, causing Gaara to shiver with an alien emotion.
Fear.
Gai quickly jumped down and rushed his student to the hospital while Gaara was declared the winner and both he and Naruto returned to the stands, Gaara in much a worse state.
With that the final match between Hinata's emo-wannabe cousin Neji, and Shikamaru's teammate, Chouji began. The fight was brief, though Chouji was able to get a few good hits in, he soon learned why Neji was considered such a prodigy as he fell before a rain of Jyuuken strikes.
With that, the remaining contestants gathered on the floor on the arena to have their opponents selected.
AN: I know, bit of a pointless cliffhanger, but, I have a good reason for it. I'm running a poll on who you want to kick Neji's ass in the finals. Naruto or Hinata? And yes, Hinata has Quincy powers. If you think about it, since most if not all the Hyuuga techniques stem from chakra control, it would make since that they could have a technique like that.
Sorry for the less-then-satisfactory update, but this is all I'm going to do for this story for a while. I've found that it's too hard to keep two stories going at once, plus I have far more ideas for Naruto no Kyuubi, so I'm putting Inner Chaos on hiatus until I get to about Chapter 10 in Naruto no Kyuubi. Sorry. And for every whiny review I get about this, I am postponing the next posting one week. So don't whine about it. I also changed the summoning contract, 50 points to the one who can figure out what it is. Hint: It has to do with the jutsu he used to bind Kiba. Oh and Hinata is the one that's going to fight Neji, that's my final decision and I'm sticking to it.
