Chapter 17 – 'The Preliminaries, Part II'

Back for a second round of the Chunin Prelims, as the second match begins between Naruto and Shoja Akatsuchi of Iwa!

For such a large figure, Akatsuchi moved fast, and he moved forward as soon as Raika had started to speak, exploiting a loophole in which he need only wait for Raika to start saying "Begin", instead of waiting for him to finish the word. Sending a strong uppercut at the puny blonde genin, he felt satisfaction for a fleeting moment as his gauntlet made a sharp slam against the hyoid bone, only for it to go away as his opponent dispersed into thin air, a small wisp of smoke being the only remainder of the phantasm left behind.

Akatsuchi quickly considered the technique to have been a Kawarimi before he dismissed it, as there had been no weapons left behind in the clean-up from the previous match, the arena floor was still smooth with no displaced stones, and only a very talented Wind element user could Kawarimi with the air itself. That left the Bunshin class of jutsus, one that had a physical presence. His estimation of the unknown genin (who had not come from any known clan) went up in his head, and he quickly vowed to be more cautious.

Turning around, he saw three Narutos standing near the far wall, as if taunting him with his inability to know which one was the real one. No matter, it was said that except for Iwa Bunshins and Suna Bunshins, any other clone would fall apart with the slightest tap. Adjusting the metal gauntlets he held over his hands, he slammed a fist into the stone ground, causing a deep crack to form. More importantly, it sent a deep tremor through the ground, throwing all three Narutos off balance. Each of the three managed to stop their trip down to the stone floor by using their hands, but the force of gravity still dispersed all three of them, banishing them to incorporeality. Bah, the real one wasn't among them.

Highly-honed instinct allowed him to put his gauntlet up and catch a foot that was coming for his face. He was unable to catch the second foot, which caught him in the unarmoured chest, sending him reeling back a bit. Naruto, unable to free his first foot from Akatsuchi's hand, settled for using his free leg to deliver a fast scissor kick to the exact same spot he had just hit on his opponent's chest. It had less force behind it this time, but the second hit to his bruised spot was all that was needed to stun Akatsuchi for another second, his hand letting go of Naruto's foot.

Despite the pain, Akatsuchi kept his mind disciplined, and quickly swung out, managing to tap Naruto on a cheekbone while he was retreating. It wasn't much, even wearing his gauntlet, but it was a satisfactory trade-off for the damage he had received.

With the opening salvo completed, Naruto blocked out the white noise in the background as the audience began to buzz, rubbing his cheek to see just how much damage he had taken from the hit. Although it stung slightly, his tongue did not detect the metallic taste of blood on the inside of his mouth, which was good enough. He had not revealed any of his abilities during that battle, and he was able to suppress the natural battle instincts he had built up over a half-decade's time.

Akatsuchi moved in again to make a swipe at Naruto, only to back off for a brief few seconds as Naruto threw a handful of shuriken at the bulking giant. They were easy to deflect, but his body protested slightly at being forced to decelerate abruptly, and the cool stone floor simply did not act well as something to burn momentum on through friction. The brief lull granted by his stop allowed Naruto to continue to move backwards, before hopping up onto the wall.

"Hmm, interesting..." Yamato said, mostly to himself, as he watched the proceedings going on below him.

"What's interesting, Yamato-sensei?" asked Sakura, having moved over from the opposite end of the viewing arena once she had seen her sensei arrive, while simultaneously dodging advances from the weird kid with a bowl cut who had suddenly tried to throw himself upon her. She was worried about where that 'Ino-bunta' was, as she and Team 10 had never shown up to the tower.

"Well, Sakura-chan, you know that your teammate naturally has a lot of energy, correct?" He got a nod. Pointing at the scene below, where Akatsuchi had followed Naruto up onto the wall opposite the viewing arena, he continued, "I would say that among all the genin in this tournament, Naruto probably has the most amount of stamina out of any of them. Now," jabbing his thumb at the current spate of close-combat the two went through, before Naruto backed off again, "No matter how hard he worked, Naruto still had poor taijutsu skills three months ago, and I could only bring him up to decent levels, not above-average. His opponent has both the size and the skill advantage, so Naruto is fighting him in the only way he thinks he might have a chance."

"Through stamina," Sakura suddenly said, realising the point that Yamato had been trying to make. "He's trying to make his opponent tired through extended usage of chakra and by going through several spurts of short but intense activity."

"Precisely," Yamato responded, "Stamina is Naruto's natural strength, so he is wielding it as his weapon. Whether it comes through or not remains to be seen."

Akatsuchi had guessed as much as to what Naruto was doing himself. No longer was his body in a cool, homogeneous state, as he was beginning to sweat hard, while his Konoha opponent's skin was only just now beginning to flush. The gauntlets he wore around his hands and the steel-toed boots he wore also were working against him, as four of the biggest heat outlets on his body were sealed up. Even his chakra was beginning to run low, having been lured into the trap of fighting on the wall.

No more. Sorry grandfather, he thought to himself, but I'm going to have to use it. Abandoning the wall, leaving a clueless Naruto behind, he went to the center of the room. Putting his hands together in a quick set of seals, he summoned up two Iwa Bunshins using the cool earth that was underneath the crushed stone where he had earlier hit the floor. The two clones were to be distractions and bodyguards to give him the necessary time to do his next move.

Naruto had, by this time, remembered Yamato's words about Akatsuchi's relative, and quickly moved in to stop him from summoning a golem, only to be intercepted by the two Iwa Bunshins. He winced as he stopped a karate chop with his arm, but took advantage of it and grappled with the Bunshin that had just attacked him, smashing it against the ground and breaking it into pieces. With one Bunshin down, he turned to the other. Barely dodging a punch to the head that he had no doubt would feel like an anvil had it landed, he grabbed the Bunshin's errant arm in mid-air and threw it down to the ground, twisting its head hard enough to snap the clone's neck, making a few of the observing genin wince at the sudden brutality, no matter that it was a clone.

Suddenly, Naruto's visibilility drastically decreased. Looking to the ground, he saw a circular shadow around him that was quickly getting bigger. Not even sparing a moment to look up, he sprinted out of the radius covered by the shadow: not a second too soon, as the whole room shuddered at the impact of the golem hitting the floor.

Looking back at his opponent, Naruto saw Akatsuchi standing on top of the construct of rock and stone. With a flair for the dramatics, Akatsuchi pointed at his foe, and started talking. "You've lasted longer than I expected, Konoha genin, but it ends here. Witness the power of my golem, and cower as it cru-" He was cut off as a kunai came straight for his face. Deflecting it with his gauntlet, he looked down, only to find four Narutos, one heading to each corner of the arena. Growling at the continued usage of the clones by his opponents, he shouted out for the whole room to hear, "You can run, but you cannot hide!"

Up on the top viewing area, Sakura was gripping the metal rail tightly, her knuckles turning white as she watched her teammate fight the good fight. She wasn't fooling herself: had she been in his place, she would already be out of the match, if not dead given the Iwa genin's bloodthirstiness. Without moving her head, she queried her teacher. "Yamato-sensei...do you think Naruto can win?"

Yamato was unsure himself, but decided to try to at least reassure his female student. "Without a doubt. The odds are against him," He quickly added, shooting down Sakura's hopes, "But it's not impossible for him. He's going towards the corners, though, so I think I have an idea of what he's hopinh to accomplish."

Sakura was about to ask what he meant, but Naruto's next action helped to answer her question. In the dry indoor arena, water elemental users were often at a disadvantage thanks to the environment. As a result, whenever a match was to occur, a barrel of water was placed at each corner for a person to use if it was necessary. It was a resource that each of the four Narutos were currently exploiting, each going through a single seal to turn the water into a mist. Although the upper areas of the room were mostly unaffected, down in the area below, there was a thick clump of mist that now hid the two fighters, the golem, and the proctor.

Sakura finally turned to face Yamato, incredulously. "You taught him the Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist Jutsu)?"

Yamato nodded. "Yes, I did. It is one of the simplest Suiton elemental jutsus, perfect for distorting scent and sight." Pausing, he decided whether to add another piece of information, and continued. "Your teammate has a very high hearing level, so in this environment he can dominate, particularly since a golem is unlikely to be quiet."

"I...see..." was all Sakura had to say before trailing off. Looking down back at the mist, she had to marvel at how much Naruto had improved.

Akatsuchi had managed to remain calm throughout the whole battle, but he was furious now. He had called out his own personal golem, only for the blond Yondaime look-a-like to have levelled the playing field once more. True, he still had the upper hand, but while the Konoha genin could move silently, his golem would lumber around and create lots of noise. Furthermore, summoning the golem had taken about three quarters of his remaining chakra, leaving him very low on energy.

The battle wasn't over yet, so he had to calm down, and think. A couple of deep breaths later, he had an idea. Speaking quietly to his golem, he ordered it, "Attack the ground as hard as you can, and repeat attacking it until I tap you." Immediately after, he took a huge breath, one that should last for over five minutes, and then moved down from the top of the golem and hung onto its side, using its body as a shield.

The animated construct moved slowly, but it followed his order perfectly, as it brought its right hand down into the ground, sending another tremor through the room. More importantly, the floor at the point of impact exploded, sending stone shrapnel every which way, and contaminating the mist with dust and grain. The golem repeated this over and over again, in the hopes of flushing out Akatsuchi's target by forcing him to end the mist technique so he could actually breath.

What Akatsuchi failed to account for was Naruto's ingenuity, and the sheer amount of chakra he had. He was smart enough to try to kick up a bunch of dust, and even used the Golem as a shield to block any projectiles, but he had forgotten that Naruto had had at least three clones in the area, possibly four if the real one was hiding elsewhere. Under normal circumstances this would not have been a problem: however, each Naruto clone still possessed its own significant share of chakra, and could still perform a few more jutsus even after the combined usage of the Kirigakure no Jutsu.

One such jutsu that the clones could use that Naruto could display without fear of questions being asked was the Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu).

Of course, the golem managed to block most of the projectiles, but it could only protect against three directions. Its backside, which Akatsuchi was latching off of, was exposed, and so it was that Akatsuchi had to fend several shuriken off in the zero visibility mist. He was able to get off all but one.

There was a sudden shift in the atmosphere below, as suddenly a burst of killing intent shot out from below. The audience was on sudden alert, waiting for the next pivotal move in the battle.

The golem exploded out of the mist and smoke, Akatsuchi still holding onto its back, before it grabbed onto the railings separating the arena from the audience area, startling off several people.

"AAARGH, YOU BASTARD!" Akatsuchi shouted out, and it was then that everyone truly focused on the Iwa genin. To the shock of many, they saw that he was holding his gauntlet up to his head, right next to his left ear, where there was a large amount of blood running down. "YOU CUT OFF MY EAR! I'LL KILL YOU!"

That got the attention of the black-haired, lean female Iwa genin, who ran to Akatsuchi and shouted at him, "No, stop! It's a trap!"

Akatsuchi ignored his female companion's advice, and moved his attention back to the golem again. "Golem, take one of these metal bars," Here, he motioned to the rails, "And go down there and smash the floors and the walls until you find that genin! And then-"

The female, still standing nearby, once more tried to get her teammate's notice. "Damnit, stop! He's luring you in!"

Akatsuchi twisted his head around, the blood from his ear running down his face and throat now. To the female's horror, his face was pale white again, and the intensity in his eyes had subsided, both signs of exhaustion. "No, Kurotsuchi! I won't...I won't give...give...up..." By then, however, it was over. Naruto's strategy had taken some time in coming, but the sudden quick loss of blood had finally hastened the slow process, as Akatsuchi fainted.

Kurotsuchi jumped forward past the railings, grabbing her teammate before he could fall down. The golem, with its master fainted and his order interrupted, dropped to the ground, finally becoming inanimate. With the passed-out Akatsuchi in her hands, Kurotsuchi sighed. It seemed she had no choice. Calling out into the mist, she announced "Proctor, this match is over!" She grit her teeth at having to say that, swearing revenge on the blonde genin known as Uzumaki Naruto if it were possible.

With her words, the arena finally began to clear up; within a few seconds, visibility was greatly restored, and she could see blond next to black. A few more seconds later, she could make out the clear form of Uzumaki Naruto standing next to Uchiha Raika. "I quite agree," the latter agreed, before making it official. "The winner of this match-up is Uzumaki Naruto!"

In the ensuing minutes, Sarutobi watched calmly as several of his shinobi did a basic clean-up of the arena. While there was no time to clean it up totally, and that would have partly defeated the purpose of the exam anyways, it was undesirable to be as messy as it had been. Some, but not all of the rubble would be cleared away to simulate a natural battle environment.

Looking up over at the general viewing area, he watched as Uzumaki Naruto, the son of his successor the Yondaime, was congratulated by most of the Konoha retinue, though Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Neji strayed away. Narrowing his eyes, he started calculating what to do. Jiraiya-kun is back in town, and now that little Naruto-kun has proven he has some talent, his skills need to get back up to speed. Hopefully Jiraiya-kun can take a look at the Kyuubi seal, while he is at it. Heaven knows it would be difficult if the Kyuubi were to influence him from his path, that would be rather undesirable. Minato's son needs to get strong soon to strike fear in the hearts of all our rivals.

"Hokage-sama," Uchiha Raika had come up to him suddenly, "Preparation for the next battle is over. Permission to select the new match-up?"

The Sandaime had hardly been surprised by Raika's approach, skilled as he was. Stroking his beard, he nodded. "Of course."

"As is your will, Hokage-sama," Raika gave a final bow, before going back to the arena floor again.

"Wow Naruto," Sakura said, praising her teammate, "You did really good out there!"

"I have to admit," Yamato said, "I'm surprised myself. You had me worried for a while there for a bit once he pulled out the golem, but you pulled through in the end."

"Yeah," Tenten praised, having come over, partially to congratulate Naruto, partially to keep her teammate and sensei from launching into a speech about the springtime of youth. "You did good out there, you really showed that Iwa guy who's boss!"

"Aw, shucks, thanks guys," Naruto said, rubbing his cheek, where he had been earlier hit. He would have said some more, only to be interrupted by Raika.

"May I have your attention please," the Uchiha father boomed out, catching back the straying attention of everyone in the room. "The arena is now back in acceptable condition for battle, so the next match-up shall now be chosen." Motioning to the screen, multiple pairs of eyes followed, watching as the board scrolled and ended first on one name (with a few gasps and intakes of breath from the Suna regiment), and then a second name.

Sabaku no Gaara vs. Kojote Rote

The red-headed Gaara was quick to make his way to the bottom of the arena, showing off his ability to use a Suna Shunsin in the process, waiting for his opponent from the other Suna , the boy who was a member of the same village stood up where he was on the observation decks. The blonde-haired boy could visibly be seen swallowing in nervousness: he knew that even though Gaara was relatively mild in temperament, he still was the host to a demon (or so Rote thought, in any case), and he was nowhere at the skill level needed to possibly take on a jinchuuriki. It was with self-preservation in mind that he shouted down, "Proctor, I forfeit!"

"Well..." was all Raika had to say for a moment, as the room suddenly quieted down for a moment. Taking a look at Gaara, he saw the red-head nod, before making his way to walk back up. He had no doubts as to why Gaara's opponent forfeited. Speaking up again, he announced, "Kojote Rote has forfeited, therefore Sabaku no Gaara shall advance to the next round. The next match-up will now be decided." He observed as several of the observers leaned forward in anticipation again, as the next match-up displayed itself on the screen.

Sabaku no Temari vs. Haruno Sakura

Sakura's teeth chattered. She had little intelligence on her opponent, except that someone had just forfeited automatically to the sandy-brown's brother. That didn't speak well of her chances against Temari. She just began to get more and more anxious, up until she felt a strong grip on her shoulder. Looking around, green eyes met blue. "Naruto?" she quizzed him.

"It's alright, Sakura", he said, squeezing her shoulder as a show of support. "Just go in there and try out best. Even if you are dominated, Suna is our ally. She would not do anything untowards to you out of fear of harming diplomatic relations."

It made sense to her, and she nodded her pink-haired head, a little bit more confident than before. "Yes!" She said, already feeling a bit better about her chances.

It was rather amazing, Naruto marvelled to himself, just how easily people could be manipulated with words. Oh, there were people who couldn't be so easily maneuevered, such as politicians and experienced shinobi, but those who had little cause to suspect deception (or just little paranoia) would accept his words just like that.

Sakura had taken confidence from a mere few words from him, and used that confidence to charge head-on into a battle. Of course, she hadn't lasted very long. She had initially tried to do a Bunshin, copying his own strategy, but Temari had swung her fan in Sakura's general direction. As the pinkette's clones were just illusions, the real one was exposed rather quickly as being the only one to fly back from the wind, causing that strategy to go out the window.

Similarly, the girl had tried to throw a kunai at Temari's fan, to no avail: no self-respecting wind mistress would carry a war fan around that didn't have a metal cover to it, and so the kunai had bounced off the fan harmlessly. From there, it was rather pathetic, really. As much as Sakura had improved in the last few months under Yamato's direction, she was still outmatched by the sandy-brown royalty from Suna, and also mismatched, as she had no weapons or jutsu that might have helped her. The match was over rather quickly as Temari had hit the younger girl in the ribcage with a hard hit from the folded-up fan.

But with that, the fourth match was over. By this time, everybody in the room had gotten used to the routine, and watched the board again. With the number of contestants down to less than half of what it started at, the potential pairings had been greatly reduced, and those remaining were already eyeing their possible foes.

Finally, it settled on two specific names. Over with the Iwa retinue, the black-haired violet-eyed girl smirked. Finally, I can avenge your loss, Akatsuchi-kun.

The board read Kurei Kurotsuchi vs. Uchiha Sasuke.

Welp, another short chapter, but that is to be expected when I update in less than a day's time. The Temari/Sakura match wasn't very important, so that was why I did a quick summary of it from Naruto's perspective as opposed to making up an actual battle for it. Doing the Akatsuchi-Naruto match exhausted me for a bit, too.

Review, folks :/. Review review review! Next chapter should be done in four to five days by my estimation.

baka-pervert - Part of the fun is keeping his true strength and level hidden :)