Pearl: Well, since I've had so much time on my hands now, (sort of) I ended up writing this chapter…and compared to my others, let's just say that it's one of my longer chapters. Along with that, it's also one of my favorite chapters! Maybe that calls for some excitement in store for you guys! Once again, thanks for reviewing!

Sasuke: I'm in it! I'm in it!

Naruto: Yeah, yeah, but so am I!

Sakura: Me, too!

Kagome: I'm not…

Pearl: …wrong series, Kagome.

Kagome: …Inuyasha!

Inuyasha: (snickers)

Chapter Nine: Epic Battles

Lately, posters of a tournament called the "Epic Battles" were seen all over the streets of Konoha. They were plastered on the walls of almost every shop that people passed by.

"What are these…Epic Battles?" Naomi asked Naruto as they walked their way to the ramen shop.

Shrugging, Naruto said, "I don't really know, but they come up almost every year. Bah, I usually just ignore them."

"You've seen these posters every year, and you don't know what they're for?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

Sasuke scoffed at Naruto under his breathe. "That's to be expected." he said.

"What's that suppose to mean, Sasuke?" Naruto asked angrily.

"It means you're a loser." Sasuke said in his calm state.

"What? Y-you're a loser, Sasuke!" Naruto argued back as a vein throbbed on his forehead. The two bickered back and forth with one another, Sasuke remaining in his calm state and Naruto growing angrier and louder each minute, until Sakura finally knocked some sense into Naruto to stop…literally.

Unusually, Sakura and Sasuke decided to join Naomi and Naruto to eat at Naruto's famed ramen shop for lunch that day. The four of them walked closely, but casually along side one another. Naruto sulked with the big bump on his head.

"The Epic Battles is a tournament held year round," Sakura explained, "It's a fight where ninjas are only allowed to enter to battle one another and see who's the best."

"I see…" Naomi mumbled.

"All the ninjas that enter fight only for the grand prize money, and it's just a form of entertainment for the rest of the world, but it's not very popular even though they try to catch everyone's attention by over advertising." Sakura finished pointing out the flyers on the walls.

"Oh." Naomi said. "Hmm…But if any kind of ranking ninja can enter, and they battle…what if it's to an unfair advantage per say, a chuunin versus a genin?"

"Ah, that's simple." Sakura said coolly. "The tournament officials makes sure of your rank and places you among the others that are the same rank as you. You see, there are actually three battles that go on and three grand prizes for each battle."

Naomi nodded her head and added, "So there would be a genin battle, a chuunin battle, and then a jounin battle, right?"

"You got it!" Sakura said cheerfully. "Ah, and also each of those battles are held on three different days." The pink haired Kunoichi said as she held up three fingers.

Confused, Naruto rubbed his head and asked, "Could you go over that one more time?"

"Oh forget it, Naruto! You're hopeless." Sakura sighed.

"Come on, we're here so let's eat." Sasuke said as he stood in front of the ramen shop's entry way. He understood Sakura's explanation thoroughly and was slightly interested in the tournament.

Inside the ramen shop, the four of them ate a hearty meal of ramen and were satisfied. "Ah, I never knew ramen tasted so good." Sakura stated with a hand on her full stomach.

With a laugh, Naomi replied, "Well, you never know good ramen until you've met Naruto."

Nodding and laughing loudly, Naruto boasted, "That's right!"

Sasuke grumbled under his breathe, "Calm down, Naruto. Geeze, it was just a compliment."

Naruto shifted his gaze down on his teammate and narrowed his eyes. "What's wrong with that?" he asked crossing his arms and pouting.

"Uh…Naruto?" Naomi warned as she pointed at Sakura who threatened Naruto with her fist.

"Do you think we're going to have a mission today?" Naomi asked Sakura as they walked out of the shop.

Sakura looked at Naomi and replied, "Hmm…well, I haven't heard from Kakashi-sensei all day. Then again…you never really hear anything from him until the very last minute." Sakura was implying on Kakashi's lateness.

For some reason, just hearing Kakashi's name made Naomi's heart skip a beat. "Huh?" Naomi thought. "What…what is this…feeling?" Shaking her head, Naomi argued with her heart. "No…it can't be like that!" she thought.

"Um…are you okay, Naomi?" Sakura asked with worry.

"Oh! Uh…I'm fine! Eh…let's go!" Naomi exclaimed.

"Go where?"

Kakashi walked up to his students and asked again, "Where are you guys going?" Glum fell over Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura.

"Oh great…he's found us and we're probably going to go on a mission or train." Sakura thought. "Damn it! And I was going to spend some quality time with my Sasuke-kun!" her inner Sakura roared.

For some reason, Naomi was glad to see Kakashi and a small blush brushed her cheeks. "What the? What is wrong with me?" Naomi thought frantically.

"We weren't really going anywhere, Kakashi-sensei." Sasuke started.

"We just ate." Sakura added.

"Why are you here, Kakashi-sensei? Are we needed for something? Is it another mission?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Uh…yeah." was all Naomi could say to her sensei.

"No, Naruto, we're not going on a mission today." Kakashi said as he stood over his students. "Well, I'm sure you've all heard of the Epic Battles…"

"Ah! We were just talking about it before we ate!" Naomi managed to blurt out. Behind Naomi, Naruto nodded intently.

"What about it, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Well…" Kakashi said hesitantly with a hand on his head. "I thought it would be good for training so I'm suggesting that you guys should enter."

"What?" Sakura exclaimed. The four of them stared at their teacher with bug eyes until Sakura said, "I don't see…how that can help with our training."

"Ah, it can help you in a real ninja battle. It's about the same situation except in this case, you have to knock out your opponent with no intention of killing them." Kakashi finished.

"I see," Sasuke said, "It will help us with experience."

"Oh…" Sakura realized.

"But…what if we all win against our opponents? Then, we'll have to fight one another in the next round or so." Naomi stated.

"You know, the funny thing is," Kakashi began, "this year in the genin tournament, all you have to do is beat your one opponent and you'd win automatically, and when they choose your opponent, the officials will make sure that they are from another team."

"What?" Sakura asked in disbelief. "Is it rigged or something?"

With a sweat drop on his head, Kakashi reassured, "No, no, the officials just didn't have enough money this year to hold a grand prize for the genins."

"Well, that's understandable. Especially with all the over advertising they do." Sakura figured.

Scoffing, Sasuke asked, "Then what's the point of holding a genin battle anyways?"

"Yeah, it doesn't makes sense." Naomi added.

"Slow down." Kakashi said, "apparently, the genins still want to fight, and as you said it, Sasuke, they've entered to fight just for the experience."

"Oh, I see…" Naomi thought.

"So…are you four willing to enter?" Kakashi asked his team.

"Well, I'm in…for the experience." Sasuke said.

"If Sasuke's in then…I'm in, too!" Sakura boasted.

"Ah well…two against two, eh? I'll just have to make it three against one. How about you, Naruto?" Naomi asked her blonde teammate who scratched his head.

"Uh…I'm sorry, can you guys run that by me again?" Naruto asked with a clueless expression.

At this, Sasuke, Sakura, Naomi, and Kakashi fell over. "No wonder why he's been so quiet." Naomi concluded thinking back to their conversation. Sakura explained everything over to Naruto again, and he was happy to oblige in joining the tournament.

"Well, the tournament's not until a week from now so, Team, let's start training to prepare!" Kakashi directed happily.

"Wasn't this what we were trying to avoid from the very beginning?" Sakura thought ironically.

The time for Konoha's genins to fight one another in the genin tournament finally came, and Sakura held one of the many flyers in her hands.

"So…where is this tournament held again?" She asked aloud while carefully analyzing the flyer.

"Don't know…but it should say." Sasuke said. The four of them were walking around in circles as they tried to find the destination that held the tournament.

"Ugh…are we there yet?" Naruto asked for the hundredth time.

"Ah, if only Kakashi-sensei was here." Naomi said. "We wouldn't be lost right now." Everyone nodded at these words.

"Ah! But no! He just has to be late, every time!" Sakura wailed.

"It's no use complaining." Sasuke concluded, "We need to find a way."

"Hey, how about we follow that crowd of people that are filling up that stadium over there." Naruto suggested pointing to a crowd of genins.

There was a small dull pause before they all exclaimed, "WE'RE HERE!!!"

Kakashi spotted his team not too far from where he stood and waved to them.

"Hey, where have you guys been?" Kakashi asked innocently. "I'm surprised to see that you guys came late…and at that, you guys are later than me."

"Uh…well, we decided to join the club." Naomi mumbled under her breathe as Sakura scowled in anger.

Before anything else happened, Kakashi handed the four a packet of stapled papers. "Here, these are the forms you must fill out and agree on. When you're through, hand them to that nice lady over there." He pointed to a female jounin, who stood near the entrance. She had short black hair that covered her ears and gold eyes that inspected the forms she held in her hands. The leaf headband was hung around her neck, and even in Naomi's eyes, the woman was beautiful. Naomi saw Kakashi blush and thought, "nice lady?"

Many jounin teachers met and greeted one another, and Kakashi was surprised to see how many of their genin students were present. The teachers talked about how lucky Kakashi was to be able to train the healer. Even the students whispered and pointed at Naomi.

"That's the healer?" A boy said in his surprise. "Wow, she doesn't look like anything I imagined!" "Yeah…those glasses and that outfit. Ha! What a nerd!" A girl sneered as they all criticized Naomi. The harsh judgments they muttered entered Naomi's ear, and though it was hard, she tried her best to ignore them.

All the genins, who were either nervous or excited, stood in the long line leading to the entrance of the stadium holding their filled out packets. "Oh, I can't wait!" Naruto exclaimed as he waved his papers in the air. Washing away all her fears and worries, Naomi laughed and said, "You never can." Sasuke stood behind Naruto and looked over his papers one last time.

"Hmm…" Sakura thought. "I wonder who I'm going to go up against."

"Hey, Sakura! Let's hope that this match will be ours!" a girl with a long blonde ponytail a few meters away shouted.

Sakura turned around and thought with a testy attitude, "Oh great, it's Ino."

Naruto and Naomi turned towards Ino's way, and Naomi asked, "Who's that?"

"That's Sakura's rival, Yamanaka, Ino. She's pretty annoying if you ask me." Naruto said with his arms behind his head.

"Hmm?" Naomi wondered.

"I've got some news for you, Ino, you pig!" Sakura shouted.

Ino blinked and said, "You know, you can stop yelling, billboard brow." She only stood a couple of feet from Sakura now.

"I'm not yelling!" Sakura argued.

"Oh, whatever. Just get on with it…big, ugly forehead." Ino muttered with irritation.

"Well, if we go against each other, I won't lose to you! And Sasuke-kun is mine!" Sakura said proudly.

Ino's eyebrow twitched from Sakura's words, and she shouted, "No way, you billboard brow! I can kick your butt any time! And Sasuke is mine!"

"Well, we're just going to have to find out now, aren't we?" Sakura growled loudly as she glared at Ino who returned it with her own.

When all the genins finally turned in their papers and walked to their stadium seats, the announcer called everybody to sit and quiet down. From her seat, Naomi spotted Kakashi, who was still at the entrance, talking to that female jounin. Squinting her eyes to clear out the scene, Naomi watched the two for a moment. "She's…a nice lady?" She thought as she questioned her teacher's statement.

The first match was about to begin, and though it was a match between two genins whose identities were unknown to the team, they still eagerly watched the fight. After the winner was declared, another battle between anonymous genins was announced and the day carried on. Naomi nervously glanced at the entrance where Kakashi and the jounin teacher still stood, but no longer talked. They were closely watching the genins now. Peculiar, mysterious, and astounding feats were revealed that amazed the audience.

Finally, Kakashi moved from his spot and headed toward the rafters. Somehow he found his students and walked to where they sat. A male teacher suddenly appeared next to Kakashi, and he pointed out immediately, "Ah, Kakashi! You showed up late again!"

"Uh…I'm always late." Kakashi replied with a cool-head.

The jounin made a long face, but then gestured towards Naomi. "And who is this?" he asked knowing that it bugged Kakashi.

"I'd say you know."

"Well, at least introduce us properly." the man pleaded.

Sighing, Kakashi said, "This is Gai, Naomi, and Gai, this is Naomi, the Healer."

Stars sparkled in Gai's eyes, and he kissed the back of Naomi's hand.

"Um…" Naomi stuttered disturbed with Gai's actions.

"Gai-sensei is Kakashi-sensei's rival," whispered Naruto.

"You…don't say?" Naomi asked aloud uneasily, and then she bent over and whispered in Naruto's ear, "That's kind of sad."

Naruto laughed out loud, but quickly stopped when Gai shot him a glare. "Well…nice to meet you, Gai-sensei." Naomi forced herself to say. "Ah, and same to you, Oh, Great Healer! Ta, for now!" And with that, Gai twirled around and walked away with a light bounce in his step. A sweat drop rolled down each teammates' head as Naomi stammered, "Oh…g-great Healer?" Scratching his head and sitting down in the empty seat next to Sakura, Kakashi sighed and said, "That's Gai for you."

When everything settled down again and another battle was taking place, Naomi managed to ask Naruto without others around them hearing.

"Who was the woman that stood at the entrance? She collected our papers before."

"You mean the one that, Kakashi-sensei said was nice?" Naruto asked back.

"Uh," Naomi stuttered surprised that Naruto kept Kakashi's comment in mind. "Yeah…her."

"That's Fumiko-sensei." Naruto said. "She may be Kakashi-sensei's…" Naruto ended his sentence there, raised his pinky finger, and winked at Naomi. (girlfriend)

"What?" Naomi thought with an itch in her stomach as her eyes widened behind her white frames.

"There's a rumor going around that they like each other. Heh, heh." Naruto chuckled.

"Eh…really? How…interesting." Naomi replied returning her eyes to the battle as she pondered her feelings.

Finally, it was time for one of the teammates to fight, and it just happened to be Sasuke versus another boy. Sasuke hopped down to the center, and everybody cheered. (Mainly the girls.) They waved flags and banners with Sasuke's name on it, and the guys narrowed their eyes at him in their jealousy. When the rules were explained, the fight began.

"Wow, he's really good." Naomi said. Naruto agreed and nodded.

"Yeah, well wait until you see me fight!" he boasted.

"Hey, Naruto," Naomi started again, "have you ever heard of the Hidden Painters?"

Puzzled with Naomi's change in subject, Naruto said, "Um…Hidden Painters?"

"I guess not, huh?" Naomi asked with some disappointment.

"Oh! I've heard of them!" Naruto shouted with his sudden burst of memory. "In fact, I think practically everyone's heard of them! They're the hidden ninjas that use the art of…art! Only a few of them live today, and it's really rare to see one. Why did you ask, Naomi?"

Amazed by Naruto's knowledge of the Hidden Painters, Naomi said, "Wow, I didn't know that they were ninjas. I've only just heard the name, but...other than that, that's all I know." The crowd suddenly cheered, and Sasuke was declared the winner. "That was fast." Naomi thought.

Next, Naruto was up against another boy. Everybody cheered for them both as they fought, and Naomi cheered the hardest. Naruto tried his best and fought evenly with the other genin. It almost came to a draw, but Naruto's spirit prevailed in his struggle, and he was stated victor! Partially injured, but through the power of the Nine-tails, Naruto healed quickly.

After a couple of matches, Sakura was next, and to her excitement, she was up against Ino.

"Are you ready?" Ino shouted.

"Ha! Sasuke-kun is mine!" Sakura shouted back.

As they began their battle, Naruto was yelling and cheering for Sakura wildly causing the audience to laugh and embarrassing Sakura. Sakura and Ino were one in the same. Their powers were equal, and Ino could not believe it. Sakura was pretty proud of herself, and the battle fought out to a draw where they both collapsed from exhaustion.

When Sakura and Ino both recovered enough energy to stand, it was time for Naomi to fight. The audience was silent as they watched their healer climb down the flight of stairs and into the center. Naomi faced off with a boy who had dark brown hair and black eyes. His name was Sho, and he was very serious with fighting Naomi.

"I don't care if you are the healer or not! I'm still going to win, and show everyone how weak you truly are, you got that, nerd?" he said with a cold stare.

Taken aback by his insult, Naomi glared at the boy, but then excused it when the proctor came. "Alright, you know how this works. No killing anyone here so no deaths allowed. Just fight until one of you is zonked out. Your weapons are anything." The man stated rather carelessly, but Naomi couldn't blame him since he stated those rules all day.

"Fight!"

Naomi leapt into the air evading ninja stars and thrust her own at Sho. He also avoided them, and came into close combat with Naomi. Soon, they were punching, kicking, and blocking in the air and slowly descending to the ground. The audience cheered wildly as Naruto wailed out for Naomi. Kakashi watched his student more steadily now.

They jumped out of their brawl, and landed lightly on the ground. This time, Sho threw his group of kunais at Naomi. "Oh no! Not this again!" she thought as she dodged them just as clumsily as she had in training. Laughter arose from the throats of the audience, and Sho began doubting that Naomi was the healer. Naruto paused in his cheering and thought, "Oh man…" Then he looked over at Kakashi and gave him a shrug. Sighing, Kakashi thought, "Looks like the extra practice didn't really work as well as I thought." As always, Naomi chuckled to herself as she straightened up from her absurd position.

The wind brushed by and rustled some leaves from the nearby trees. The leaves plucked themselves off the branches and twirled loosely into the stadium. As they hit the ground, almost immediately, they swerved and darted into Naomi's direction. "Watch out, Naomi!" Naruto warned as loudly as he could. Caught off guard, Naomi managed to dodge some of the green darts, but a few cut her arms and legs. "Ouch." Naomi said wincing at her pain. "Ah…he's using his chakra to control the leaves." she presumed as she turned to Sho. "What's the matter? A little scratch, and you've stopped?" He jeered with confidence.

Now, Kakashi watched with worry. "Ah, I don't think…she can handle it." he thought. Sakura saw her sensei's worry and asked aloud, "You think Naomi's going to be okay?"

"Of course she's going to be okay, Sakura!" Naruto declared. "We've been having extra practice! She'll be fine!"

"Do you guys really practice during extra practice?" Sasuke asked doubtfully.

"Heck yeah, we do, Sasuke!" Naruto proclaimed with his bold attitude.

Once again, Naomi dodged the leaves, but they just kept turning around homing in on her. Cursing, Naomi ran at Sho, who left an opening, and jabbed him in the face. The audience cheered loudly at this, and Sho stumbled back outraged. "I'll show you!" He shouted. After focusing his chakra and finishing his hand signs, Sho raised his hand in the air and then abruptly pulled it down. This time, many leaves from the nearby tree flew off its boughs and headed toward Naomi. As swiftly as she could, Naomi kept her distance from the swarm of leaves, but she knew that her stamina was wearing down quickly.

"Ah, this doesn't look good." Kakashi said. "Come on, Naomi." Naruto mumbled with hope. At first, the crowd hadn't the slightest idea what went on with the leaves, but when they realized it, everyone whispered in their astonishment. "Bah, that's just a basic level to controlling your chakra." A genin bragged. "I can do better." "Yeah? Too bad to see that this "Great" Healer of ours is losing out." the girl that sneered earlier pointed out.

Just then, Sho saw Naomi slowing down from exhaustion and spotted an advantage in her footing. "There!" he shouted directing his horde of leaves once again at Naomi, who evaded it just as she had before, but what caught her off guard was the few leaves left behind that came flying in after the first flock. "Oh crap!" she shouted in her mind.

The pain came to Naomi, who didn't realized how hard the leaves swiped at her. Cutting her arms and legs deeper than the first, Naomi fell to the ground on her hands and knees as she watched the blood dribble down her forearm. Sakura and Naruto gasped at this, and the audience watched in shock. Sasuke and Kakashi's eyes were glued to the battle, and they watched Naomi carefully with despair. Suddenly, the metal part of Naomi's leaf headband that she wore over her forehead clattered on the ground in front of her, and Naomi thought back to the day she received the headband.

"You know what I am, Lord Hokage?" Naomi asked in alarm.

"Do not worry." Hokage said. "But of course, I do. Jiro informed a great deal about you the other day."

There was a hesitation before Naomi spoke again. "I see…"

The Hokage turned his back to Naomi and reached over at the table that stood in front of him. As he twisted his way back to face Naomi, he handed her a leaf headband. "Huh?" Naomi thought puzzled by his action. "What's this for?" Naomi asked.

"You should wear this." Hokage started. "It may help as a disguise."

Realizing Hokage's intentions, Naomi took the headband from him and stared at the leaf symbol with admiration.

"Or it can be a fashion statement. You know, all the ninjas are wearing one so they are all the rage." The Hokage teased. This pulled Naomi from her gaze, and her eyebrow twitched at his remark. Laughing, Hokage said, "I'm just kidding, but I'm sure that it should help you with your time here in Konoha." At this, Naomi smiled and gave a nod.

Slowly, Naomi raised her head and rolled her eyes over at Sho. Underneath the headband's metal was another silver piece, but instead of a leaf symbol, a paintbrush revealed itself. Sho stopped his leaves in mid-air and asked with enlarged eyes. "What's that symbol?" The audience gave a gasp and then began babbling about the concealed emblem. "That's a Hidden Paintbrush symbol of the Hidden Painters!" the boy who bragged earlier pointed out. "No way!" the girl exclaimed astonished.

"Oh? What's this?" Kakashi asked eyeing Naomi curiously.

Closing her eyes and taking in a deep breathe, Naomi thought, "Ah well, all is revealed."

His eyes glued to the paintbrush, Naruto whispered quietly in disbelief, "No way..."

Naomi picked out three paintbrushes from the pockets that was on her biceps. They were as big as toothpicks, but only because a spell was placed on each one of them. If an item with the spell cast onto it was tossed into water or touched a drop of water, the item would enlarge to its normal size. Naomi also pulled out a tiny jug, too small to be seen, that jiggled with water. Dripping the wetness in her palm, Naomi held her enlarged brushes in one hand and returned her secret jug to it's normal size. Tying the jug around her waist, Naomi armed herself with two brushes in each hand and the other in her mouth.

"I don't believe you! You're just a fake!" Sho shouted with determination, and with that, he launched his swarm once again at Naomi. "Come on, just like…dancing." Naomi thought as she pictured Jiro in her mind. Slowly, walking into the swarm, Naomi, with her eyes closed behind her glasses, twirled and spun around avoiding each leaf gracefully as they passed her by. The memory of training with Jiro danced with her mind as she danced with the leaves. When the last leaf flew past her and with one last twirl, the audience found Naomi on the same side as Sho giving him a blow to the head with a kick.

Sho collapsed hard on the ground and skidded across the dirt. His leaves fluttered slowly in the air and glided across the floor. Silent, the spectators watched eagerly now. "Uh…wow." Naruto thought, but then a sick feeling overwhelmed his stomach. It was as if Naomi betrayed and lied to him just like the time of the misunderstanding. Still, he kept his eye on the battle.

"I won't lose that easily." Sho mumbled wiping the blood from his chin. He took control of the leaves again, which were soon floating above the ground. "Wow, he's got a very good stamina." Naomi thought as she observed Sho. The leaves hurled themselves once more in Naomi's direction, and she found herself dancing again. "Heh, oh yeah? Let's see how you like this." Sho chuckled under his breathe. With that, he threw his kunais at Naomi as she was dodging the leaves. "Huh?" Naomi wondered noticing the kunais. Just as she jumped out of the fray of leaves, her hands motioned vigorously in front of her catching the kunais.

"What? What happened? Why didn't she dodge them all stupidly like she did before?" Sho questioned alarmed by Naomi's sudden change of power.

"Ah, so she's been holding back during training." Kakashi thought and gave a nod. "I knew something was fishy." "Hmm…" Sasuke thought as he observed Naomi.

"Hey, I have some things of yours!" Naomi called out. "I think you might want them back." Afterwards, Naomi threw one of Sho's kunais back at him, who quickly used one of his leaves to block the hit. Naomi noticed that the leaves were hardened by Sho's chakra, but as soon as the kunai hit the leaf, it twirled weakly to the ground. Soon, a cluster of leaves surrounded Sho's feet, and Naomi remained with a few of his kunais in her fingers. Seeing Sho panting, Naomi figured that his chakra would run out soon. "He's getting tired." She thought. "Well, here I go."

Throwing the remaining kunais at Sho, who blocked them with his leaves, Naomi disappeared off the ring for a moment, but then reappeared at the far end of the ring slamming Sho into the wall. She held a paintbrush horizontally at his throat which cut off the air to his lungs. Squirming and choking, Sho, who was completely caught off guard, tried to kick Naomi away. Naomi clicked her tongue at him. "Tsk, tsk, tsk." "Ah! G-get…OFF!!" he gagged. "Heh, have you had enough?" Naomi asked him with some sarcasm. Growling at Naomi, Sho glared into Naomi's glasses, which gradually slid down to the end of her nose. His eyes broadened at the unexpected sight of Naomi's sapphire eyes glaring through him.

The audience only watched now at the suspense that was in store for them. The teachers and jounin all watched Naomi warily, but would glance eagerly at Kakashi to see his reactions. Even the proctor stood and watched aside impressed with the battle displayed. From the corner of Naomi's eye, she spotted Fumiko walking towards Kakashi's direction.

The pile of leaves behind Naomi slowly drifted off the ground."Heh, you shouldn't let your guard down." Sho said quietly noticing Naomi's reaction to Fumiko. They hovered in the air for a brief second, but almost in a flash, the leaves propelled themselves at Naomi and gouged into her back.

Naomi's shriek of agony echoed throughout the stadium.

"Naomi!" Naruto shouted with worry. "Oh my…" Sakura said turning her head away. A small grin appeared onto Sho's face as he pushed Naomi away. Staggering, but catching herself, Naomi lifted her head slightly and looked at Sho through her bangs that covered her face. The back of Naomi's T-shirt was soaked in blood. It streamed down her legs and dripped off her arms darkening the dirt ground. Kakashi's eye widened at the startling scene, and Sasuke watched in shock.

"Now I ask you, have you had enough?" Sho mocked laughing afterwards. "This match is mine!" "Heh, heh, heh." Naomi chuckled. This stopped Sho's gloating, and he asked with distress, "What's so funny?" Flipping her hair from her face, a bright smile shown on Naomi's face as she replied, "You're good, but not good enough." And then Poof! Naomi disappeared into a puff of smoke and a log with leaves dug into it replaced her. "Damn it! A Replacement technique!" Sho realized preparing himself as he looked around for the real Naomi.

Knocked out from their silence, the audience all cheered rampantly at Naomi's brilliant stunt. "Damn it…and she even made her clone talk after all that. She made it seem so real." Sho muttered to himself. "Was…it a clone? Or a replacement? No, she combined them both."

"I knew it!" Ino exclaimed suddenly appearing next to Sakura.

"What the…?" Sakura said in surprise. Her unexpected appearance broke the shock that held Team Seven.

"I knew our healer was more than that!" Ino told Sakura.

"Ha! Of course, she is, Ino Pig!" Sakura declared.

"Ha, ha, ha! You can stop hiding it, Sakura! I saw you looking away, you billboard brow!" Ino pointed out.

"And I saw you duck for cover." Shikamaru said with his head butting in between the two rivals. "And move back to your seat, will you? You sit right behind her. I don't see why you went through all that trouble. Geeze…" Glaring at him with a vein pulsing in her forehead, Ino blurted, "Who asked you anyway? Besides, I wanted to sit next to my Sasuke." "Oh no, you don't! I got dibs first! Move!" Sakura demanded as she swapped her hand in front of Ino. "Will you guys shut it?" Sasuke demanded coldly. "My teammate's down their fighting, and I intend to watch." With that, Ino and Sakura shut their mouths and glared at one another.

"Eh, Sasuke intends to watch?" Kakashi thought with amusement. "Funny."

Standing a few feet away from Sho, the real Naomi said aloud, "Now it's my turn." She popped open the jug of water that hung around her waist and splashed her brushes with the liquid. Replacing the cap on the jug, Naomi spun her brushes in her hand and sprinted towards her opponent. "Close hand combat?" Sho thought quickly. "Ha! Not this time!" He kicked the dirt on the ground into the air hoping for a chance to blur his foe's vision, but ducking out of the way, Naomi emerged in front of Sho. She suddenly splat her two brushes into Sho's eyes, and pulled away. Blinking twice, Sho looked at Naomi and heard the laughter of the audience roar in his ears. "What…what's so funny?" he asked nervously.

Like a panda bear, there were two black circles that covered and surrounded Sho's eyes. Laughing, Naruto pointed at Sho and held his stomach. "That's a good one!" The sick feeling he had in his stomach lifted as he howled with laughter. Sakura and Ino joined in with Naruto's hilarity. Chuckling, Kakashi said to himself. "She's just toying with him now." Sasuke heard his sensei's words and agreed with a chuckle of his own.

Growing with anger, but spent from his use of chakra, Sho looked at Naomi with frustration. "Alright, enough horsing around." Naomi thought to herself with a small giggle. "First off, I've gotten to weaken him some more." Naomi clicked her brushes and out came the sharp part of kunais hidden underneath the brush hairs. "Time for you to get a taste of your own medicine." Naomi said as she leapt at Sho. After forming hand signs, Naomi shouted, "Clone jutsu!" Several more Naomi's appeared, and they quickly swiped at Sho with their kunai brushes repetitively. Sho blocked himself, but was still deeply cut on his arms and legs.

"Time to end this." Naomi concluded as her clones disappeared in a cloud of smoke unveiling her true self once again. "There-…there you are!" Sho panted. "Hi!" Naomi greeted cheerfully and then grabbing Sho's arm, Naomi pulled herself up and rolled over onto Sho's back. This forced Sho to fall onto all fours, but before he knew it, he collapsed from the weight and his fatigue. Naomi now sat on top of Sho's back, who was unconscious with swirling eyes. It took a moment for the proctor to pull himself together and announce, "The winner, Naomi!" There was an instant of silence and amazement before the audience's cheer rang deafly in the air.

When the tournament was finally over, everybody returned to his or her lives, but with something new to gossip about. Many teachers and Jounin stopped by to compliment Kakashi on his students, and of course, they mostly talked to him about Naomi. Even so, Kakashi himself wondered what other secrets Naomi had to hide.

"That was a great battle, Naomi." Naruto said.

"Thanks! The same goes for you, Naruto." Naomi replied.

The two walked to Naruto's secret spot, and Naomi noticed something bothering Naruto.

"What is it?" Naomi asked.

Remaining in his silence for a while, Naruto finally said, "You…you told me that you never knew what the Hidden Painters were, but…you are one."

"Oh…I see." Naomi slowly realized. "I'm sorry, Naruto."

They walked on further and finally reached their destination. "I guess…I should start from the beginning." Naomi started.

"Huh?" Naruto wondered.

Naomi began telling Naruto her past and who Jiro was.

"I was originally born in a village that doesn't really exist anymore." She said. "My mother and father reigned as a queen and king, but the place was attacked by this horrible demon spider." Naruto nodded his head thinking back to how similar it was with the Nine-tail fox and Konoha. "If your parents were king and queen at that time then…aren't you a princess?" Naruto asked curiously. Giving a small laugh, Naomi said, "Yes, I am. Have you heard of the princess named Princess Naki?"

Scratching his head, Naruto said, "I don't think so…"

"Well, they say that after the spider attacked her parents' village, she disappeared along with her mother and father." Naomi informed.

"Hang on a minute." Naruto said. "Your last name…Irunaki. Oh! I see now! You're Princess Naki?" Again, Naomi laughed and gave Naruto a nod.

"Wow! A real princess!" Naruto exclaimed.

"But hang on, I'm not through yet, Naruto." Naomi stated as she seated herself down on the grass. Naruto followed after her and impatiently pleaded, "Come on, come on! Finish the story!"

"Alright…My parents ran to the Crystal Kingdom where…a tyrant ruled. He was my father's brother so he was also my uncle." Now Naomi lifted her head and watched the sky and trees above her. "I was only a year old then, and I saw how horrible my uncle treated my parents. They were in debt, and to save themselves, they sold me."

"What?" Naruto interrupted with disbelief.

"From then, my life belonged to Uncle, and he still killed my parents after he bought me. I was his slave, and I was worked almost to death every day…until one night" Naomi paused for a moment to wipe tears from under her glasses.

"I had a savior. The king saw how poorly I shined his crown and decided to kill me himself. That night, the king was assassinated right before my eyes." she shuddered at the thought, but urged to go on. " He was a ninja, and I followed him out into the woods where I ran. I ran from everything in my past, and ended up with Jiro-sensei." At this point, Naruto knew the rest of the story. "Jiro was one of the few of the Hidden Painters that survived in this world, and well, he passed down everything he knew to me." Naomi finished. Naruto nodded at Naomi's reminding words. "Still…I'm searching for that ninja, who saved me." Naomi slowly said. "You mean, it wasn't Jiro?" Naruto asked. "No, apparently not…" Naomi answered sadly.

"Ah…I'm sorry, Naomi. Your life's kind of…full of tragedy." Naruto slowly said. "That doesn't mean I'm the only one you know." Naomi said giving Naruto a slight smile. "Yeah..." Naruto said as he raised his head and thought about his own past. Naomi gave a small random nod that eased the sad feeling in the air. "Everybody shunned you, but Mr. Iruka inspired you to become who you are." Naomi finished. Naruto nodded, but giggled at Naomi's formality for Iruka. They sat together admiring the peace and their company with one another, but as the sun began to set, closing up their exciting day, Naomi treated Naruto to a congratulating bowl of ramen.

Naruto: (swirling eyes) That…was a lot to read.

Pearl: Eh, heh, heh…sorry.

Kagome: (chasing Inuyasha in the background)

Pearl: Wow, she's still here?

Kakashi: Hmm…Fumiko, eh?

Pearl: Uh…(shifty eyes)