Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.
AN:So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.
Thank you for all your reviews, follows, and favorites…your words of encouragement are truly, truly appreciated.
The hokage's office was silent. None of the three adults present knew how to react to Naruto's angry statement. Jiraiya, in particular, had paled and kept opening and closing his mouth, unsure of what to say.
Seeing that he had them off kilter, Naruto began to weave his magic. Slumping his shoulders and allowing defeat and melancholy to color his tone, Naruto spun his tale.
Sarutobi, Jiraiya, and Kakashi all focused on Naruto as he began to speak. Jiraiya was the only one of the three who wasn't stunned by the picture of defeat Naruto presented; having not known the boy as the other two had, he had nothing to compare with. Still, some part of him recognized that such an aura of defeat did not lend itself well to a child whose presence bore such a strong resemblance to that of his dead student. All other thoughts fled from his mind as Naruto began to speak; each question aimed at him slowly causing him to draw further into himself in shame. Naruto did not shout; his voice remained dull, lifeless, and just disappointed.
"You were supposed to take care of me. Where were you when the orphanage kicked me out, and I had to survive on the streets until Jiji found me? Where were you when none of the teachers would teach me anything, and I failed my tests because I couldn't even understand the questions being asked of me? Where were you when shopkeepers refused to sell me anything, forcing me to wear that orange monstrosity and live off ramen for years? Where were you when…when I found out just why it was that they called me 'demon brat'?"
At that last question, the gathered ninja paled in horror. Before any of them could interject, Naruto asked one last question, causing Sarutobi and Kakashi to close their eyes in remembered sorrow.
"Where were you…two years ago...when I tried to kill myself…when I died?"
Kakashi's lone eye was staring blankly into space, incapable of focusing on the here and now. True to his prediction at the time, the memories of Naruto's motionless body – corpse – had not left him even now; the macabre scene had been forever branded in his memory by his spinning red and black eye. He had never known how badly Naruto was treated, but if he was honest with himself, he would recognize that he had never allowed himself to find out; it made it easier to pretend that his sensei's son was well taken care of if he didn't know for sure otherwise. Of course, he was aware that some of the villagers were more vocal in the dislike of Naruto, but he never imagined that they went so far as to deny him service in shops, or even sabotage his education. Now, after hearing just how much Naruto had had to endure with only the support of a handful of individuals, Kakashi morbidly wondered how the kid had lasted a full decade before taking a sword to himself. He quickly dismissed such thoughts; they brought to mind uncomfortable images of his own father's death.
This was one of the rare moments when Sarutobi truly felt his age. Standing before him was the product of one of his greatest mistakes – even worse than the debacle with his traitorous student. Internally, he cursed himself for ever allowing himself to bend to the whims of sentimental folly and announce the truth behind the events of the Kyuubi Attack. His misplaced belief in the nonexistent fortitude of the people of Konoha had caused Naruto to suffer as he should never have. To think that even a cheerful and optimistic child, like Naruto had been, could be driven to suicide at the too young age of ten left him feeling weak and useless. This was not the Konoha that his teachers had dreamt up, and then given their lives to create. This was not the Will of Fire of that Namikaze Minato had sacrificed himself to preserve. It had become a pale shadow of its former self, and having listened to Naruto's summary of his life thus far, it was not a village he could take pride in anymore.
Jiraiya wavered between extreme murderous fury and paralyzing shame and horror. Twelve years ago, when he had learnt of the sacrifice his student had made, he knew he had a choice to make. At the time, he believed that choosing to protect Konoha from outside threats was the right choice…evidently, he was wrong. Standing there, looking at the kid he was supposed to have raised as a son in the absence of his student, he realized just how much he had failed. He could have easily dropped in occasionally, to make sure that Naruto was growing up properly, but he had managed to convince himself, time and time again, that the child was fine and did not need him. The child, slumped in defeat before him, indicated that he had made the wrong call; possibly an even worse failure than he had had with his traitorous teammate. And now, because he had chosen to leave – run away – his godson had killed himself… Breaking out of his state of self-disgust, he quickly went over that thought. His godson had killed himself! How was he only finding out about it? Suddenly, he recalled one of the periodic reports from his sensei, mentioning that Naruto had been hospitalized for a few months. He nearly bit his tongue restraining himself from ripping into the Sandaime Hokage for not informing him of his godson's attempted suicide; it helped that he knew he was not blameless in the matter. Just as he thought that Naruto had shocked him enough, the kid continued, forcing Jiraiya into a near catatonic state,
With a reminiscent and musing tone, as though he were lost in pleasant memories of times past, Naruto continued,
"Dad was so pissed…you should have seen him; he looked like he could just flash around Konoha, killing everyone. And mom…Heh…she said she wanted to, quote, 'tear all those fuckers apart and bathe in their blood'."
Sarutobi, unable to believe just what Naruto was saying, just what he was implying, stuttered out,
"You…you met them...How?"
His question broke the other two men out of their funk, causing them to fully focus on Naruto. Neither the Sandaime nor Jiraiya even considered the full implications of Naruto knowing his parents' identities; they were too distracted by what Naruto had just revealed,
"Yes, I met them. Apparently, when dad crafted the seal, he included a failsafe; if it were ever the case that the seal was in danger of being completely unraveled, a portion of his chakra, which he included in the seal, would get to work mending it. "
The gathered ninja stood in awe of the sheer genius of the Yondaime Hokage. Naruto, meanwhile, stood and watched them fully digest all that he had unloaded on them. He knew that one of them was bound to notice, and point out, that although the information he had just shared was incredible, he still hadn't explicitly stated who had taught him. True to his prediction, the Sandaime leaned forward with furrowed brows and spoke in a hesitant sort of tone,
"While what you have shared with us leaves a lot of food for thought, Naruto-kun, I couldn't help but notice that it still does not fully tell us who your teacher was. I mean, I was there and from what I recall, you couldn't have been dead for more than a minute…two at the most."
Both Jiraiya and Kakashi snapped out of their states of shock, after hearing about Naruto meeting his dead parents, and quickly refocused on the present. They too were curious about whatever Naruto's response would be. With a put upon sigh, Naruto explained – lied,
"What dad had done was to basically seal Kage Bunshins of both himself and mom along with the Kyuubi. After meeting with them, and spending time together, the chakra eventually ran out, causing them to be dispelled. You all know that when a shadow clone is dispelled, the original gains the experience of the clone. In this case however, their original bodies were not present, and so, the returning chakra went to the nearest most viable host, their child. I am sure I don't need to tell you that children often inherit some chakra traits from their parents, and so, in the absence of mom and dad's bodies, I was the next best thing. Since I am not a perfect chakra copy of either of them, some of the memories were lost in translation, but what little I did get went a long way in helping acquire the strength I have today. It wasn't like with a normal Kage Bunshin, I only knew some of the skills in my mind; I had to teach my body and chakra to be able to use them."
The office was silent after his explanation. The three adult ninjas were trying to take in all that Naruto had said up until that point. It was almost unbelievable but all three of them were intimately familiar with the unparalleled genius of Namikaze Minato, and after seeing him summon the Death God to do his bidding, they wouldn't put Naruto's recounting as beyond him.
They all spent a few moments thinking about what they had just heard. Each of the three men, in their own way, had owed it to the Uzumaki-Namikaze family to take care of its only living member. Each of the three men, in their own way, had failed.
The Sandaime sighed out a stream of tobacco smoke. His eyes were sorrowful and his form was sagging with shame,
"Naruto my boy, I have failed you."
Jiraiya had to fight back a wince at the amount of feeling his sensei was able to pack into that one sentence. The knowledge that he too had failed his godson only made things that much worse.
Before the Sandaime could continue with his self-flagellation, Naruto let loose a sigh. As though he were letting out all his internal burdens, Naruto visibly straightened before them, gathering his composure. A few moments after, he looked his usual calm and unruffled self. He spoke up then,
"It's okay old man. It's in the past now; I'm hardly going to raise a fuss over something that you can't undo. It is enough for me to know that you care now, and that you always have."
The Hokage smiled in pride at just how much Naruto had grown. However, even as he slightly inclined his head in acceptance of Naruto's forgiveness, he made a personal vow to do right by the child from then on; ignorance would not be an excuse.
Jiraiya gazed thoughtfully at the young man his godson had become. He felt a momentary pang of loss at the fact that he had missed Naruto's growth. He quickly consoled himself with the knowledge that he now had the chance to make up for all the lost time, if Naruto would let him.
Kakashi, while happy with the resolution of the situation, was also saddened by the fact that he would have to spend the coming month solely training Sasuke. Even the knowledge that Naruto would probably be taken care of by Jiraiya could not placate him. Now that he knew how terrible Naruto's life had been, he was all the more eager to spend time with him and be there for him more than he had before.
With the more difficult part of the conversation out of the way, the four ninjas were more comfortable with each other. The three adults began to talk with Naruto about his achievements; all the time being told embellished truths sandwiched between believable lies. Jiraiya brought the discussion to a close when he just about leered at Naruto,
"So kid, care to show me what you've got?"
Naruto stood next to Shikamaru, along with the rest of the participants who had made it to the finals. The entire stadium was packed with many people, both foreigners and locals, all hoping to be entertained by the up and coming new generation of Shinobi. The Daimyos of the various main countries were in attendance, along with their massive entourages; all of them hoping to be entertained by their respective vassals.
Gazing around, Naruto took note of the absences of both Sasuke and Dosu. He hoped things played out as they usually did, and Sasuke ended up late to his own match, his plans depended on it.
Up in the stands, most of the Konoha ninja were gathered close to each other, with the jounin sitting not too far from their genin students. Asuma turned to Kurenai and spoke,
"These matches promise to be special."
Being aware of the suspicion surrounding the Chunin exams and the threat of hostile action by Orochimaru of the Sannin, she couldn't help but agree with her comrade; unaware that she had totally misunderstood what Asuma had meant.
They both looked to their right as they sensed someone plop down in the seat beside them. The slightly psychotic grin tipped them off to the person's identity, long before they noticed her purple hair, or heard her shiver inducing voice,
"Ho...I hope that little redhead can spill that red stuff I love so much; I'm betting on him to make this delicious. Hmmm, but then again, that little blond gaki had some good moves as well. He's Kakashi's brat right?"
Asuma took a moment to ignore the statements preceding Anko's question, then he nodded his head. Absently wishing for one of his cigarettes to fortify him enough to handle the Snake Mistress of Konoha, he responded,
"Yeah. From what I've learned, he is not a genin to be taken lightly."
Most of the older Konoha ninja who heard Asuma were disbelievingly puzzled; wasn't that the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki? No way was he as skilled as they say. Obviously, the happenings in Wave had not been spread around. Kurenai had heard from Asuma about the events on the bridge in the Land of Waves, yet she was skeptical about the reports of one genin's strength.
The gathered genin, seating not too far away from the jounin, had heard what they were talking about. Kiba, Hinata, Tenten, and Lee, all turned their gazes to Sakura, questions in their eyes; they hadn't heard about the Wave mission either. Ino, who had been present and who never let an opportunity to gossip pass, leaned forward and spoke in a tone bursting with eagerness to share,
"It's true though, you should have seen him that day on the bridge, he-"
Ino's voice was abruptly cut off by the proctor's voice originating from the center of the arena.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Finals of this Chunin Selection Exam. We are about to begin with the first round of fights. Please sit back and enjoy the performance these young Shinobi will put up for you – and remember to cheer them on."
The proctor, Shiranui Genma, allowed a few moments for the crowd's cheers and roars of anticipation…and slight bloodlust…to settle down. When he was sure that they could hear him properly, he continued,
"The first match up is between Hyuuga Neji and Uzumaki Naruto."
The gathered crowd roared in anticipation of the coming bloodshed, with the majority of the Konoha civilians visibly more in support of Neji than Naruto. That's not to say that there weren't a number of people cheering Naruto on. No, in fact, there was almost an equal number of people cheering for the blond jinchuuriki – most of them foreigners.
Most of the gathered Konoha ninja noticed this, and Asuma, who was sitting closest to one of said foreigners, turned to the man sitting close to the group. He noticed that the man's eight year old granddaughter was vibrating excitedly in her seat, constantly pointing at Naruto and saying things like,
"That's him daddy, that's the nice boy who saved us. He's so cool."
Asuma cleared his throat and raised his hand a little, garnering the old man's attention. Now that he was looking at him, he noticed that the old man was probably some official from one of the surrounding minor villages. With the gathered ninjas listening in, some more subtly than others, Asuma asked,
"Excuse me, but I couldn't help but notice that you seem to know Naruto."
Asuma's words also caught the attention of some of the foreigners sitting around the person he was talking to. Noticing that their hero was being talked about, they noticeably tuned into the conversation as well. The old man gave a kindly smile to Asuma, while at the same time placing his hand on his granddaughter's head to keep her in place on her seat,
"Yes indeed, we had the great fortune of meeting him about a year ago. You see, we had just been sacked by bandits and they had kidnapped our women and children, including my little one here."
At that, the cute little girl gave a nod, acting all cute and solemn like.
"We are a simple farming village, without armed men to take care of such things. While we were debating on what to do, that young man arrived in our village, saying that he had tracked the bandits to our location, and offered to retrieve our kidnapped people. We were all skeptical at first, until my son, the leader of our village, recognized the young man from descriptions people from other villages had given. He was able to recover all our people, uninjured, as well as all that the bandits had stolen from us. He didn't even ask for anything in return."
The Konoha ninjas listening in were surprised at the old man's story; their surprise only increased when other foreigners sitting nearby nodded their heads, saying that Naruto had done the same for them. Putting together a timeline from what they were saying, the Shinobi realized that Naruto must have started such missions when he was in the last year of the academy. The Konoha civilians who were close enough to hear the old man's story were forced to reconsider all that they thought they knew about the jinchuuriki.
All attention focused on the arena when people noticed that the first match was about to begin; all other present participants having long cleared out from the field.
Genma stepped forward, and turning to each of the two combatants in turn, he asked,
"Ready?"
Getting a nod from each of them, he declared,
"Begin!"
The entire stadium fell silent, waiting to see who would fire the opening salvo.
Neji observed his blond haired opponent, his acute gaze easily noting that Naruto was completely relaxed with his stance full of openings. Choosing to interpret this as overconfidence, he spoke in a cold and disdainful tone,
"You should give up. Fate has decided that I will be the victor in this battle."
Naruto fixed him with a sharp look that was assessing, and then he sighed as though Neji had just been found wanting. Before anything else could be said, he formed a single handed ram seal and spoke calmly,
Raiton: Zukokku (Lightning Release: Intelligent Hard work)
A spark was created at the tip of his upright middle finger. The spark grew into a crackling ball of lightning about the size of a golf ball. Before the eyes of everyone watching, the ball of lightning fluidly shifted into the shape of a small bird, which then proceeded to start fluttering around Naruto's head.
After getting over his surprise at Naruto's actions, Neji scoffed,
"How disappointing, is that it?"
Neji had just barely finished speaking when the lightning bird dive-bombed him. Still unbothered by the obviously ineffective attack, he prepared a Jyuken strike to destroy the approaching bird.
A scant few feet away from him, the bird exploded.
In place of the small bird, a massive roaring torrent of supercharged lightning was suddenly bearing down on Neji.
Many in the crowd flinched back at the unexpected metamorphosis from harmless bird to lethal beam of crackling death.
Neji, without wasting time, immediately kicked it into high gear. With a cry that was just barely heard over the noise of Naruto's attack, he began to spin, Hakkeshou Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Rotation).
The massive wave of lightning slammed into Neji's revolving dome of chakra. A piercing sound, much like nails on a chalkboard, was heard as the two attacks ground against each other. The higher ranked ninja leaned forward as they noticed that Neji's dome was buckling under the onslaught.
Then, just as it seemed like Neji was about to be electrocuted, Naruto gestured and his attack abruptly ceased to exist.
As Neji spun to a stop, even he was confused at the abrupt end to the attack, especially when – and he would never admit this – he was about to falter.
Naruto's even tone cut through the confused mutterings of the people in the stadium,
"You should not have done that."
Seeing that Neji did not understand what he was referring to, Naruto decided to explain,
"You should not have used that trump card. Now that you have shown me that move, you have allowed me to understand it. Now that I understand it, it has become useless against me."
For a few moments, the stadium was filled with confused muttering after Naruto's declaration, when a scoff chock full of disdain cut through the air. Neji did not even bother to speak, he moved.
In a blur so fast that the spectating genin could only just keep up, he bridged the distance between Naruto and himself. His right hand – blazing blue with a primed Jyuken attack – lashed out at Naruto, who shifted his head out of the way. Neji did not stumble when he missed; he fluidly shifted into another assault, his hands a blur as they struck out at the blue eyed masked genin.
Naruto kept up with his dodging, noticing that Neji was getting increasingly frustrated with his evasions; it was testament to the boy's genius that his attacks maintained their precision and fluidity even as he got more annoyed. Eventually, when Neji's attacks were moving at low jounin speeds, Naruto began to use his own hands.
Knowing that it would be only foolish to try to block a direct hit, he instead chose to hit Neji's wrists, forcing the incoming attacks to deviate from their targets and miss him completely. Even when Neji tried to trick him by pulling his blows, Naruto was not fazed, neither was he hit.
Naruto finally created an opening in the formidable genin's flurry of attacks by deflecting his two hands wide, allowing him an open shot to his torso.
He did not hesitate.
Neji let loose a grunt as Naruto's fist impacted with his chest, launching him feet away from his opponent. He was too stunned by the ridiculously powerful blow to regain his footing, and so, he crashed into the ground.
Naruto watched him calmly as he got to his feet while trying to hide his wince at the soreness in his body.
The spectators, scenting blood, leaned forward in heightened interest. The ninjas among them were intrigued by the crisp and fluid taijutsu exchange that the two genin had just shown. They were eager to see what more the new blood had to offer.
Tenten and Lee were both surprised at the way the match had been playing out so far. It was obvious to them that Naruto had been in control from the very beginning. It was a new experience for them to see Neji in the dust instead of his opponent.
Neji, finally recovered from his loss of breath, focused his gaze on his opponent, who was still calmly standing there, looking at him. He gritted his teeth because he believed that Naruto was looking down on him…just like those main branch dogs did. Quickly losing his cool, he snarled out,
"Do you think that because you managed to hit me, that you stand a chance at winning this fight? Don't be arrogant! You are no better than me…and besides, this match…is over."
Naruto watched on as Neji lowered his center of gravity, raising his hands to form a slope, pointing forward towards the ground. He didn't react when Neji spoke, already knowing what was about to happen,
Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms).
Moving even faster than he had before, Neji was suddenly standing in front of Naruto, his hands a blur as he attacked.
Hakke Ni Shou (Eight Trigrams Two palms)
Yon Shou (Eight Trigrams Four palms)
Hachi Shou (Eight Trigrams Eight palms)
At this point, only the spectators above low jounin level could keep track of his blurring hands.
Yet, Naruto kept dodging, moving his body only enough to avoid getting hit by the skin of his teeth. All the while, his face was calm, while Neji's voice was getting more and more strained, revealing his mounting frustration.
Finally, he ended with Rokujuuyon Shou (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four palms).
The moment the last of his chakra dissipated into midair, Naruto struck.
Neji's head was abruptly forced backwards by Naruto's kick to his jaw. Just as his stunned body began to rise off the ground, Naruto bent his body forward, launching a double punch coated with yellow lightning, while intoning Soukotsu (Twin Bones).
For an instant, they were both frozen in that position, and all was silent.
One heartbeat
Blood flew from Neji's mouth and he felt his ribs buckle as they were put under stress…then he felt them fail as the force proved too much for them.
Two heartbeats
His internal organs were bruised and some blood vessels ruptured, causing internal bleeding.
Three heartbeats
The momentum of the impact finally fully translated into him and, with a sonic boom, he rocketed away from Naruto and slammed into the wall of the stadium, raising a cloud of dust. The sound of his body impacting with concrete was not loud enough to mask his scream of pain as the lightning behind the attack finally hit him.
After a few moments, the dust cleared away to reveal Neji's barely standing form. Blood dripped from his mouth and bruises were already beginning to show on the patches of skin visible through the tears in his outfit. He was panting, in obvious pain, and just barely able to keep himself from pitching forward onto his face.
Everyone watching took in the damage caused to Neji, many of them finding it hard to believe that it was wrought by just one attack.
Neji finally straightened, unable to hide his signs of pain, and began to limp back towards Naruto. He was about twenty feet away when he was stopped by Naruto's voice,
"At the start of this match, I told you not to use any trump cards…yet you didn't listen. Now I have understood your Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms) attack, and thus, it too has become useless against me. You claimed that fate had declared you the victor of this match. Yet, this match is over, and you have lost."
Neji, and everyone else watching, followed Naruto's suddenly pointing finger and looked up.
There was a small blue crackling bird hovering in place.
Before anyone else could react to what was about to happen, Neji was already in motion, forcing his broken body to move as the bird dove towards him. The crowd did not jump this time, having expected the explosive change in the bird's form.
However, none of them was prepared for the fearsome lightning dragon that emerged from the explosion.
The elemental dragon roared towards Neji's revolving dome of chakra and, a scant few inches from impact, it swerved.
Some in the audience blinked in surprise, wondering at the sudden change in direction.
The blue-white dragon began to travel around the revolving dome in a circle, moving in the direction of its spin.
Despite the noise from the two attacks, Naruto's voice was heard all through the stadium as he began to speak,
"When you used your first trump card, you revealed to me one clear fact; you are obviously a novice at using that attack."
Eyes widened all around the stadium at that last statement. Hiashi, in particular, was surprised at the implications of Naruto's words.
How did he know, was the question running through his mind. What Naruto had just said was true. Even though Neji had managed to recreate a main branch technique without outside help, he still had not perfected it; it was, after all, a secret technique passed down in the main branch for a reason. He listened with increasing amazement as Naruto pointed out the weakness in Neji's technique, completely caught off guard by the genin's perceptiveness.
"When you initiate your revolution, you keep spinning at a constant speed."
As he spoke, the elemental dragon began to speed up, slowly increasing its speed until it was moving in perfect sync with the rotating chakra dome. Naruto continued,
"Simple physics says that if another object were able to match that rotational speed, a relatively easy feat since it is kept constant, then as far as that object is concerned, your chakra dome would be stationary. And as everyone knows, stationary external chakra is just colored air."
Before the disbelieving eyes of the spectators, the blurring dragon slowly began to merge into the dome of chakra, seamlessly slipping through it.
The entire stadium vanished under a flare of too bright light and roaring sound as the elemental dragon detonated. The booming sound of thunder faded in time for the people present to hear the tail end of Neji's screams of pain.
Once the spots had cleared from their eyes, they quickly refocused on the battlefield.
Across the stadium, jaws dropped in shock when their owners saw the huge crater that had been formed by Naruto's attack, with Neji's smoking and charred body lying in its middle, unconscious.
Into the silence, Genma's slightly amazed voice rang out,
"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto"
The silence was abruptly shattered as the crowd surged to its feet, roaring in approval and excitement at such a fantastic match. Most of the Konoha civilians were stunned at the fact that the genius of such a prominent clan had lost to the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. The foreigners who had already had contact with Naruto were going wild, their cheers easily the loudest in the entire stadium.
Amongst the gathered genin, Tenten and Lee were both silent. They knew that Naruto was strong, but to see him handily defeat Neji was more than they had ever expected.
Kiba was gaping at the conclusion to the fight. He brain could not comprehend what his eyes were seeing. From what Hinata had told him, Neji was meant to be the strongest genin in their generation, and yet there he lay, defeated before the once dead last student of the academy.
Watching the match, Sakura couldn't even find it within herself to be surprised. She had long since come to accept the fact that next to her teammate, all other genin might as well be civilians for all the threat that they posed him. All attempts to learn Naruto's secrets had been calmly and ruthlessly shot down by him. Not even trying to charm – seduce – them out of him had worked. Unlike before, where he used to fall all over himself trying to get her attention, now he just politely and firmly evaded her.
The close sitting adult ninja finally collected themselves after seeing the ruthless deconstruction of the lauded Hyuuga genius. Anko let loose an amused whistle, and declared with a voice just slightly tinged with awe,
"The gaki didn't get hit…not even once."
Some of the ninja, who heard her, startled when they realized that she was indeed correct. Before they could react to that new revelation, Anko suddenly lunged to her feet, excitedly screaming out,
"I'm rich! Holy fucking shit I'm rich!"
Most of the surrounding ninja sulked as they were reminded of the fact that they had all bet on Neji to win. With a delighted cackle, she bounced to the bookies seated not too far away. The two – Izumo and Kotetsu – groaned as they were forced to fork over her winnings.
The grumbling of the losers and the maddened cheering of the winner were cut off by the sudden appearance of Naruto next to Anko's jumping figure. While the gathered ninja were aborting their movements of reaching for weapons, Naruto merely eye smiled at Anko and held out his hand. Seeing this, Anko pouted,
"Awww, come on little gaki, you can just let aunty Anko hold onto these for you."
With a huff of exasperated laughter, Naruto shook his head and motioned for her to hand over his share of the winnings. With an exaggerated sigh, Anko split the winnings in half and gave one half to Naruto. Seeing that her share was still a significant amount of money, she lost her exaggerated pout and smiled her usual hair raising grin and spoke,
"No matter, it's still a lot of dough. Good thing I agreed to your proposal little genin."
Naruto received his winnings, and with an incline of his head, he vanished to join the rest of the tournament participants.
Anko turned around to meet the questioning gazes of her comrades, and decided to offer some explanation,
"The gaki found me a few days ago, and asked me to place a bet on him using some of his own money, since participants are usually not allowed to bet on themselves. After seeing him perform during the preliminaries, I decided, why not, and added my own money to his. And now, I'm filthy rich…a life's supply of dango and sake here I come. "
She ended with another cackle, leaving her fellow ninja to digest that while she retook her seat.
Hyuuga Hiashi couldn't take his eyes off of the unconscious body of his nephew, even following him as he was taken away to be treated by the medics. He finally sighed and, with a glance at his youngest daughter beside him, he stood up, intending to finally correct some of Neji's misconceptions.
Naruto materialized next to Shikamaru on the balcony set aside for the exam participants. He paid no heed to the looks being thrown his way by some of the genin present, especially the murderous gaze of the Ichibi Jinchuuriki. He stood idly by Shino as Genma announced the next match up between Shikamaru and Temari.
Whereas the previous match had been a fast paced exchanged of furious taijutsu and powerful ninjutsu, this match was mainly waged on the mental front. Over the course of several hours, Shikamaru had managed to manoeuver Temari into a position where he was able to finally capture her using his shadow jutsu. The entire stadium was then stunned when he summarily forfeited, claiming that he was too low on charka to do anything about it.
Dissatisfied, the spectators had grumbled further when Kankuro forfeited his own match before it even started, granting Shino an automatic win.
With a put upon sigh, Genma announced the next match – Sasuke versus Gaara.
Gaara appeared in the arena in a swirl of sand and spike of chakra. His deadened gaze was locked on an increasingly flustered Genma as he waited for his opponent to show.
Up in the kage box, the Sandaime Hokage turned a questioning gaze on his counterpart, the Yondaime Kazekage. Sarutobi was fully aware that the person seating beside him was actually his traitor student, Orochimaru. He fully expected his student to try to convince him to defer Sasuke's match until he arrived. Thus, he was understandably surprised when the Kazekage spoke.
Orochimaru had been focused on the blond haired jinchuuriki from the onset. True to his expectations, Naruto had been spectacular. He fought back the instinctive need to lick his lips as he often did when observing an interesting specimen. He realized that the Sandaime – sensei – seemed to be waiting for his input. Although he had wanted to see the might of his next vessel go up against the power of an insane jinchuuriki, he consoled himself with the knowledge that if he couldn't watch Sasuke-kun, then he would watch the other person of interest. Really, if the boy were not the vessel of the Kyuubi, I would have marked him with my cursed seal and claimed him…such potential.
He turned to his sensei, and making sure to keep his speech as close to the person he was imitating as possible, he spoke,
"It is my opinion, Hokage-dono, that a Shinobi that cannot be on time, lacks discipline and respect for his superiors."
For an instant, Sarutobi was surprised, though he was too good to let it show, until his quick mind fired rapidly and made the necessary connections. He had to fight to keep from pouncing on the imitator next to him and ripping his head off, when he realized just who was the focus of his traitorous student…Naruto.
Displaying nothing to hint at the storm raging inside him, he stood up and walked to the edge of the kage box. His sheer presence easily commanded the attention of the entire stadium, and as he spoke, his even tone effortlessly carried to all ears present,
"When a Shinobi fails to show up for such an important event, he displays an appalling lack of discipline; a terrible flaw in character. He disrespects those who have come to see him, those who are his comrades, and above all, he disrespects his Kage. Thus, Uchiha Sasuke will be disqualified and struck off from the list of those being considered for promotion during these Chunin Selection Exams."
The crowd was subdued by the ancient legend's solemn tone, many of them finding themselves unable to argue with his reasoning. The more vocal sycophants amongst the Konoha population were silenced by the numerous nodding heads around them; their intended objections stifled before they could be made.
With a respectful nod to his Hokage, Genma turned back to the stadium and announced,
"Next match, Sabaku no Gaara versus Uzumaki Naruto"
At those words, Naruto materialized out of the air, right next to Genma, causing him to twitch minutely. Naruto's cool blue gaze was focused on the insane Ichibi Jinchuuriki, who was giving him a deranged grin in return.
Genma, sensing the imminent bloodshed about to occur, started the match and promptly high-tailed it out of there.
The spectators held their breaths in anticipation as the two juggernauts faced off. Most of the civilians present were unaware of Gaara's reputation, but even they were able to sense the bloodlust coming off of him in waves.
Up in the stands, the gathered ninja were feeling anxious, though it was harder to read in the jounin. The older ninja recognized the talent and huge potential in Naruto, and they worried that it might be snuffed out by the insane red haired jinchuuriki. The younger generation, recalling Gaara's brutality during the preliminaries, worried about their fellow genin.
Ino turned to her teacher and asked worriedly,
"Asuma-sensei, do you think that Naruto-kun will be okay?"
Before her sensei could lay her fears to rest, a droll tone interrupted him,
"Mah, Ino-chan, Naruto is a big boy, I'm sure he can take care of himself."
The gathered people flinched in slight surprise at the sudden appearance of the newcomer. Observing him slouched casually in place – ever present orange book in hand, the older ninja were reminded of the man's legendary status when they realized that none of them had sensed his arrival.
Asuma exchanged a knowing look with him when he noticed the absence of the Uchiha heir.
At the start of the month long intermission between events, the Hokage and his top ninja had gathered to discuss the issue of the presence of his traitorous student. With the additional input of Naruto's report concerning his own encounter with the Snake Sannin, they came up with a plan. Shikaku easily deduced that Orochimaru's interest lay in the Uchiha heir. With that in mind, they proceeded as follows: They sent off Sasuke with the Copy Shinobi to a secret training ground under the guise of one-on-one training. There, Kakashi, as well as a hidden Anbu squad, would watch over Sasuke and prevent any preemptive attempts to capture him. Then during the finals, Kakashi would delay his student, causing him to be late to his match. They believed that any signal for an impending invasion would occur during the young genin's match. As such, they intended to force Orochimaru's hand by creating a scenario in which Sasuke would get disqualified; he could be easily raised to chunin status later, if he was deemed ready. In the event that Orochimaru did not jump the gun, Sasuke would still be kept away from him; they had decided that Sasuke wasn't so effective a ninja that his absence from the invasion would cripple their defenses. It was a win-win situation either way.
Presently, Sasuke was kept unconscious in a hidden room, known only to a handful of people and out of reach of any of Orochimaru's agents.
Sakura was quick to note Sasuke's absence and immediately inquired after him. Kakashi noticed that the question had also garnered the attention of the nearby people not in the know. He merely eye smiled and replied in a disarming voice,
"Well, he heard of his disqualification on the way here, and so he left to brood by himself."
No one, who wasn't privy to the truth, even suspected that he was lying; he was too good to get caught.
Back on the field, Gaara was getting impatient. He had been looking forward to spilling some of Naruto's blood, and he was glad that he didn't have to be delayed by fighting a weakling like Uchiha Sasuke. Deciding to make the first move, his right eye twitched.
Abruptly, the cork in his gourd exploded out of its position in the mouth, rocketing towards Naruto's head. It tore through the space previously occupied by his face.
Naruto vanished from his position and the ground where he had been standing suddenly cratered from the force of his push off. Before Gaara's eyes could widen at his phenomenal speed, Naruto was already spinning in the air in front of his face; his leg on a course to plough into the side of his head.
An insane smile suddenly flitted across Gaara's face as his sand, moving noticeably faster than it had during the preliminaries, was suddenly there to intercept Naruto's foot, formed into vicious spikes intended to mangle his leg.
Gaara's eyes widened as Naruto's foot passed through the sand like a ghost, the obstacle causing his form – afterimage – to waver and disappear. His eyes then widened further, now from pain, when his body registered the arm planted in his gut. The silence, brought on by the sudden explosive start to the much anticipated match, allowed everyone to hear the cracking sound caused by the spider web cracks forming on Gaara's Suna no Yoroi (Sand Armor).
Gaara's body was stopped from flying away by a hand suddenly grasping one of the straps that secured his gourd to his back. He was dragged back in to receive an uppercut to his jaw, which succeeded in launching him feet into the air…and away from the sand on the floor.
His eyes, involuntarily closed after the blow, opened only to meet the fierce blue gaze of his opponent.
In a few heartbeats, he took in the scene before him.
He was suspended in mid-air, his body upright.
Naruto was suspended above him, his body pointing downwards with his hands by his side.
Naruto's legs were drawn in, as though he were about to launch off a surface.
Upright, with its own feet placed against Naruto's own, a clone was squatting, suspended in mid-air as well.
Across the stadium, eyes widened in anticipation as their owners took in and understood what was about to happen.
In an explosive burst, the two Narutos straightened out their legs, causing the original to be propelled towards Gaara at blurring speeds. Blue lightning suddenly erupted around his body, moments before he ploughed into Gaara. His voice somehow managed to cut through the sound of crackling lightning and Gaara's scream of pain, Raiton: Ryuusei (Lightning Release: Falling Star).
The two falling figures impacted powerfully with the floor, kicking up a huge cloud of dust and causing a huge booming sound. When the dust cleared, the spectators cheered as they saw a massive crater, with Gaara lying in the bottom. Naruto stood beside his downed body, impassively looking down at him; thus, he was completely prepared when Gaara retaliated.
Naruto smoothly ducked as a spike of sand tore through the air above his crouching form. He then pulled off a series of acrobatic manoeuvers to avoid the numerous arms of sand trying to capture him. His evasion finally took him far enough away from Gaara that he was able to get back to his feet, and make his was out of the crater.
Once the sand stopped rushing him, Naruto and everyone else watching focused on Gaara's figure.
Gaara's head was down, his hair creating a shadow that concealed his eyes. It began subtly, but eventually everyone noticed that his shoulders were shaking. Suddenly he threw his head back and howled in mad laughter. Many in the audience shivered at the sheer amount of monster contained in Gaara's voice, all of them descending into silence at the new development. When his laughter tapered off, he brought his head back down, allowing Naruto and those in his field of vision to see his eyes.
His pupils were gold and his sclera black.
The more sensitive ninja easily picked up the strong undertones of demon youki in his rising chakra. Gaara's chakra output eventually stopped rising, leveling off at slightly above kage levels. He gained a manic smile to match his just concluded laughter and spoke in a voice just oozing with murder,
"That's it Uzumaki Naruto. Make me feel alive!"
The end of his declaration was shouted out with his arms and face raised to the skies, as though in supplication.
And the battlefield responded.
Numerous spectators drew back in fear as mind boggling amounts of sand rose up from behind Gaara. Gallons and gallons of sand piled up into a wave that was twenty feet tall, casting both Gaara and Naruto into shadow.
Naruto was already moving before Gaara's arms had come down.
Before the suddenly approaching wave hit the floor, it broke up into countless ropes of sand that snaked through the air, approaching Naruto's dodging form, intending to capture and crush him. Gaara's arms moved in motion with the advancing the streams of sand, directing them towards his elusive foe. Naruto kept on dodging and weaving through the questing arms of sand. He was completely aware of the fact that Gaara was not just mindlessly chasing after him, and he fought to keep a smirk off his face.
Up in the stands, the genin were at the edge of their seats, constantly fearing for their comrade's wellbeing. The adult ninja were completely focused on the two battling genin; even Kakashi's book was put away for the time being.
Kakashi was the first to see what Naruto had long since known causing him to take an unconscious step forward in rising horror. The others around him frowned at his suddenly pale face, only focusing back on the match when they heard his hoarsely whispered words,
"No…shit…it's a trap."
Now that it was pointed out to them, they saw what it was that had bothered Kakashi. Gaara had been attacking Naruto, making it seem as though he was just mindlessly seeking his death. However, he had been leading Naruto towards a certain part of the arena; maneuvering him in such a way that only an outsider, watching on, could have noticed. Once Naruto landed in the designated place, the trap was sprung.
Naruto froze as he registered the incoming sand, from all around him. The sand arms that he had dodged had gone past him to approach from behind him and above him. In addition to the sand coming from his front, he was basically at the center of a rapidly shrinking hemisphere of sand, with no way out.
The spectators, even the two present Kages, all leaned forward in anxiety and, for some, anticipation as they watched the impending demise of the blond haired genin.
Gaara was nearly salivating in heady anticipation as he watched his sand get closer to the stationary figure of his enemy. With the entire stadium watching on, Naruto finally showed an expression on his previously disinterested face.
He smiled.
Before anyone could make heads or tails of Naruto's odd reaction, he acted.
Across the audience, pale pupil-less lavender eyes widened in stunned disbelief as Naruto lowered his stance while raising his arms to chest height; many of their owners easily recognizing the stance for what it was.
Numerous jaws then dropped when Naruto solemnly intoned,
Raiton: Hakkeshou Kaiten (Lightning Release: Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Rotation).
A rotating dome of crackling blue lightning erupted from Naruto's suddenly spinning figure, easily deflecting the approaching strands of sand. As the outraged members of the Hyuuga clan watched on, Naruto utilized a modified version of one of their most prized techniques – far better than Neji ever did – to survive a previously fatal situation.
As the dome of chakra swatted away the questing arms of sand, some lightning bolts were discharged into the sand upon contact, instantly superheating it into glass, which subsequently shattered upon contact with the ground.
Up in the stands, Hyuuga Hiashi recalled Naruto's words to his nephew: Now that you have shown me that move, you have allowed me to understand it. Before his disbelieving eyes, he watched a genin do the impossible, absently noting that Naruto's speed of rotation was not constant, suggesting that he was better at the move than his nephew was.
Naruto slowly came out of his spin, chuckling to himself at the flabbergasted looks sported by a majority of the spectators.
Suddenly, he vanished from his position, and because he was mean like that, he materialized in front of Gaara already in another ready stance.
Previously widened lavender eyes widened even further as their owners surged to their feet with cries of outrage on their lips. Naruto's cool voice effortlessly cut through the noise in the sudden stadium,
Raiton: Hakke Hyaku Nijuuhachi Shou (Lightning Release: Eight Trigrams One Hundred and Twenty-Eight Palms).
With a flash of blue and the crackle of electricity discharging from his fingertips, he struck.
Only the two Kages and a handful of jounin were able to track his blurred hands as he forced lightning chakra into Gaara's muscles, sometimes even hitting his tenketsus, disrupting his chakra flow and causing him tremendous pain.
It was over in an instant.
Gaara was launched backwards, his mouth open in a soundless scream, as the full pain of the attack bore down on him. He crashed into the floor in a twitching heap while around the combatants, previously airborne sand collapsed limply without any chakra to support it.
The entire stadium was silent. the spectators too stunned to make a sound, as Naruto smoothly slid out of his finishing stance, his eyes never straying from Gaara's figure.
In a swirl of leaves, Genma was suddenly standing beside Naruto, his eyes similarly locked on Gaara's prone form. His hand came up to point at Naruto as he took a deep breath to announce the end of the match.
It never came.
Gaara suddenly arched upwards from the floor. His mouth opened and he roared.
The stadium exploded in a massive heart-stopping surge of gold and black demonic youki.
Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Please leave a review behind you.