Chapter 12: Promoted

The arena was roaring. Gathering close to five thousand people in the same place generated a lot of noise, and most of them were there to witness one of the greatest shinobi of his generation: Sasuke Uchiha. Ticket sales were through the roof, which meant ANBU were forced to act as security. So many civilians came that commerce had effectively shut down for the day.

Up in the Kage box, the Hokage and Kazekage sat side-by-side. Below them, a row of four seats were set up for the Head Jōnin of Ame, Kusa, Oto and Taki. Strangely, all four had opted to send ambassadors and underlings in their stead, rightly fearing the chance of ambush in Fire Country. This was the first occasion in some time that all of them had chosen to abstain, as usually one or two would brave the journey. Working with ninja was a treacherous business indeed.

The first of the four to arrive was the representative of Kusagakure. A tall jōnin with silver hair and ringed eyes, she introduced herself as Ryūzetsu. After her was Shibuki, the son of the former leader of Hidden Waterfall. Shibuki politely shook Ryūzetsu's hand and bowed to the Kage before sitting heavily in his chair. His eyes darted nervously about the box, and he trembled ever so slightly. Sarutobi wondered what had happened to make him a nervous wreck.

Next was the ambassador of Otogakure. Whatever they expected from the mysterious new village of sound, it wasn't this. Kimimaro Kaguya was an exceedingly tall and imposing shinobi, who was ill enough that you could knock him over with a feather. Sarutobi recognized that behind his frail-looking exterior was an iron physique and honed skill. He was accompanied by an orange-haired girl from the Fūma clan, whom he introduced as his aide and occasional nurse. The Hokage resolved to keep an eye on him, and possibly ask him about his leader after the tournament. What kind of man was his Head Jōnin to send a sick man in his stead?

The last was a woman who Sarutobi recognized almost immediately. Her black cloak with green trim, purple hair, and striking features had been related to him many times by Jiraiya.

"Konan?" he said, leaning forward in his seat. Konan looked up at him and smiled faintly.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi, Lord Hokage," she said, curtsying. "Jiraiya-sensei spoke highly of you."

"He also said you were dead," the Hokage mused, hiding his own surprise. "He was inconsolable for years. Thought he failed you as a teacher. I am pleased to know that you are alive."

"Did he?" said Konan, confused. "I would not have thought— I will have to speak with Leader of this. Is he here in Konoha?"

"I saw him yesterday," Ryūzetsu spoke up. "I was relaxing in a hot spring when two girls started throwing shuriken at a towel rack. Next thing I know, a man with silver hair is laughing at them and running away."

Konan's gaze lingered on Ryūzetsu's eyes, until she snapped out of her trance. "I would be pleased to meet with my old sensei. He would be happy to know that we succeeded where he failed."

The Kazekage leaned forward. "You overthrew Hanzō of the Salamander?" he said interestedly. "That's something not even the legendary sannin were able to do, and records say Hanzō didn't take them seriously."

"We had the advantage of surprise," Konan said negligently. "Even still, he was a great and terrible shinobi. We lost many of our warriors, including..." She trailed off.

"Does Jiraiya normally travel with a pink-haired girl?" asked Sasame Fūma. "It, uh, it looks like he's down there in the stands."

The seven ninja craned their necks and looked forward. Sure enough, Jiraiya was sitting in the front row of the stadium. On his left was Sasame's target of curiosity, the pink-haired kunoichi, and on his right was the jōnin-sensei of Team Oboro, with whom he was talking animatedly. Konan's breath caught in her throat. To see the man she revered as father, the custodian of the Ame orphans, who she thought to have betrayed them...

It seemed Pain felt the same way, for their discussion grew more and more heated. The pinkette, looking slightly uncomfortable, struck up a conversation with the boy on her left. Sarutobi nodded.

"I do not know why Haruno is with him, but that is Jiraiya," he said. "She is Sasuke's teammate, as well as Naruto's."

"Their jōnin-sensei must be very powerful, for them both to be in the final round," said Shibuki. Ryūzetsu nodded in agreement.

"Kakashi Hatake, is he not?" said the Kazekage.

"The one and only," Sarutobi chuckled. "Goodness, I wonder what he's taught them?"

"Sasuke will defeat Kin," Kimimaro said boredly. His tone contained a touch of authority, enough to sway Ryūzetsu, Shibuki and the Kazekage.

"What makes you so certain?" Konan asked shrewedly.

"His defence against genjutsu is greater than her ability, and he lacks an area of expertise. With his sharingan and from what I have heard of him, Sasuke is a powerful shinobi. Kin is good, but today is not her day to triumph."

Sarutobi stood. As the host, it was his duty to welcome the crowds and begin the fights, though it was Gekkō's job to introduce the matches.

"GUESTS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES AND CITIZENS OF THE LAND OF FIRE!" the Hokage boomed. "WELCOME TO THE CHŪNIN SELECTION EXAM'S FINAL ROUND: THE TOURNAMENT! TODAY, THESE EIGHT YOUNG NINJA WILL FIGHT TO PROVE THEIR SKILL, HONOUR, AND DETERMINATION! OUR PROCTOR, HAYATE GEKKŌ, WILL START THE FIRST ROUND!"

Hayate jumped down from the stage, looking dubiously prepared. His clothes were rumpled and his hair mussed, and he was blushing faintly.

"First, we have Neji Hyūga of Konoha and Gaara of Suna," he told the audience.

Gaara, the young child who hosted a demon, looked up at the crowd. Their baying stoked Mother's fury, and he could feel his own bloodlust rising. As champion of this tournament, he would have the chance to slake his thirst with the blood of his foes. His father's orders were tempting as well. He might have to do that too.

Neji looked slightly different. He now wore the Konoha forehead protector cinched over his left wrist, and his jacket now had long sleeves. His forehead was bare, the swastika tattoo of the Main Branch clearly visible in black ink on his skin. Neji's face screamed 'tired', and his eyes were half-lidded.

"Fate has brought us here today," he said by way of greeting.

"If fate is the name you give to the engines of destruction, then it has indeed," Gaara replied. If it weren't for the insane gleam in his eyes, he would have looked as innocent as the child Karura held in her arms the night she died.

"There is one rule: what I say goes." Hayate suddenly looked more alive than he had in years. "Begin!"

Gaara's sand rose up and crushed. Neji darted backwards, avoiding the waves of sand with astonishing agility. As the sand coiled around like a snake to strike again, he raced forward and slammed a glowing palm into Gaara's chest. Gaara fell back, protected by his sand shell, and a burst of Shukaku's chakra reopened his tenketsu.

"Sabaku Kyū," he growled, and the sand encased Neji. It spiralled up his leg, flowing into the folds of his clothing.

"Kawarimi."

Gaara rolled his eyes, crushing the replacement log into splinters as he searched for the real Neji. He got him soon enough, as the Hyūga appeared in his face and began driving punishing blows into his armoured chest. Gaara realized immediately that Neji was relying on a Strong Fist approach, rather than the subtlety his clan was renown for. The sand protected him... until Neji's chakra-coated hands reverted it into ordinary sand, beyond Mother's control.

"You—!"

Following Neji's systematic dismantling of his defence, Gaara was mercilessly impaled by a Gentle Fist strike in the diaphragm. He doubled over, wheezing, and choked out something threatening. The sand moved with new speed, enveloping and crushing Neji so fast, not even a disciple of Might Guy could escape.

He didn't need to, it seemed. A blue light seeped out from the cracks in the sand, and Gaara's control was torn to shreds as Neji's Kaiten blasted the sand away. He tumbled back, gasping for air.

"Your defence surpasses mine," Gaara said in surprise. "No matter. I will crush you all the same."

"You are thoughtless," Neji grunted, regaining his footing. "Arrogant. Foolish. I will win, because it is your fate to lose to me."

They met again. With the Gentle Fist, Neji deflected Gaara's grasping sand and made to attack the boy himself, but Gaara was quick to switch with sand clones, making the exercise futile. Neither was loosing energy, Gaara being too stationary and Neji drawing on the boundless wellspring of Youth. Sand swirled, died, and came back in a fierce storm as Neji turned like a hurricane and fought for his life.

Repeated use of the Kaiten drained Neji's chakra considerably, leaving him forced to rely on a taijutsu form he'd only learned recently. Meanwhile, Gaara was forced to avoid his hands, as reanimating his sand took precious time that he didn't have. Neji slammed a fist into his shoulder, revealing another sand clone.

The first to make a mistake was Neji. Carelessly, he left an arm open in the midst of a fierce offense, and the sand latched on to the opening. As it constricted around the Hyūga prodigy like a malevolent snake, shifting cautiously to hold Neji's tenketsu closed and keep his hands at bay, Gaara drew him closer.

"Is this fate?" he asked, almost earnestly. "Is this what is destined, is this what the wheel of time decrees? Is it your fate to lose to me?"

"Foolish," Neji said simply. "Gate of Opening!"

With five times his normal strength, Neji ripped free of the sand and kicked Gaara point-blank in the upper arm, spinning around with the force of impact and kicking him in the other arm. With two sharp cracks, both of Gaara's humerus bones broke. Moving on autopilot now, the sand siezed control of the raging Neji, forcing him to step up his fight lest Mother devour him.

In the end, the power of the First Gate undid him. Going for a final thrusting kick to the dazed Gaara, Neji tore a ligament. Reflexively, he crouched low to the ground to avoid further injury, and that was when Gaara moved in. This time, the Hakkeshō Kaiten didn't save him.

"Stop!" Hayate bellowed. Amazingly, Gaara stopped. Neji's body was cast carelessly to the ground, covered in blood and broken but still breathing.

"Winner: Gaara!" the proctor announced. There was considerably less applause than there would have been if Neji had won.

.:.

"As he is no longer in the tournament, who here is in favour of promoting Neji Hyūga to chūnin?" asked Sarutobi.

"H-He performed well," Shibuki said.

"I am told that he learned the use of the First Gate in this last month. Is it true that he is considered a prodigy?" asked Ryūzetsu.

"So I am told," Konan supplied. "For one so young to nearly best a jinchūriki is an accomplishment in its own right."

"He fights well," Kimimaro rumbled.

"He lost," the Kazekage pointed out.

"Both of Gaara's arms are broken. In a battle, he would be dead before he had the chance to kill Neji," the Hokage said astutely. "All in favour?"

Five hands went up. Sasame's did too, but nobody paid her any attention. Only the Kazekage abstained.

"Very well. It seems Konoha has a new chūnin."

.:.

"Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha versus Temari of Suna!"

Before Naruto got into the ring, Kakashi clapped him on the shoulder. "Remember what I taught you Naruto, but the simplest strategies are the best. Be yourself."

"Uh... Thanks, Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto.

Temari looked worn and tired. If Neji hadn't slept in days, her insomnia had stretched for months. Nevertheless, her war fan was at the ready, and Temari looked just as manic as her brother. Naruto wasn't sure what training she had undergone to fight him, but he knew it couldn't be good.

"They call you the most unpredictable ninja in this village," Temari said, hushing the crowd as she spoke. "What can you do that I cannot predict? What strategy have you that I cannot counter? I will enjoy eviscerating you, Uzumaki."

"I dunno what that means, but I'm gonna win!" Naruto declared.

"Begin!" Hayate shouted, ducking out of the way.

"Daikamaitachi no jutsu!" Temari yelled. Naruto dodged out of the wind scythe's way, watching horrified as it turned a tree into splinters. Temari brought the fan to bear and swung again. The wind roared and whistled as it formed a thousand knives, each slavering for flesh.

"Katon: Gōkkakyū no jutsu!"

The fireball's diameter was twice as tall as Naruto, and the resulting swirl of oxygen sapped the strength of Temari's wind strike. Temari nodded appreciatively.

"You can learn. Perhaps you aren't the dead last I was lead to believe. Unfortunately, your fire jutsu is worthless. I anticipated such a strategy, and I have equipped myself to handle such a tactic. Fūton: Shinkū!"

With a wave of her fan, Naruto's fire petered and died. He stumbled back, dizzy from chakra expenditure, but Temari forced him into action again with sweeping strikes, sickle-edged air cutting rips into his clothes as he ducked and dodged like a madman.

"How the hell did you make me stop?" Naruto wailed, hurling a brace of shuriken to cover his tracks.

"You'd be surprised how many people are prepared to fight a fūton user," Temari said, batting them away with the edge of her fan. "I've had to fight a lot of them, and in the end it boils down to strategy or katon ninjutsu. Strategy is my forte, but it wasn't until last month that I realized how to counter fire. Combustion can't occur inside a vacuum, and it just so happens that I stumbled on that idea last month fighting Dosu."

Kakashi felt like cursing. He had hoped Naruto would be able to out-play Temari with characteristic lack of wit and a barrage of shadow clones, but apparently Naruto wasn't ready to do that. His fight with Tenten had given him a healthy appreciation of putting kage bunshin near enemies who could kill them with impunity. Now, his most powerful techniques had been rendered useless by one girl and her accursed nature transformation.

Naruto howled internally. Temari was a brick-wall opponent like Zabuza, with the artillery, armour and know-how to beat the stuffing out of him. He cast his mind back to Team Seven's battle with Zabuza. How could one take advantage of a superior opponent?

With a blast of fire, Naruto attempted to close the gap and engage in taijutsu. Temari didn't even pause in her assault, warping the air around the inferno to choke off the oxygen and swinging the fan wildly at Naruto. The speed at which she accomplished both was rather impressive, and resulted in Naruto crashing head-on into the far wall.

"You have a lot of chakra, but you're burning through it pretty quickly," Temari taunted. "I barely have to use any for wind release techniques. Daikamaitachi no jutsu!"

Again, Naruto dragged himself out of the technique's path, but his strength was indeed waning. Two fireballs had taken their toll, and Temari looked as hale as ever. Zabuza had been taken care of by Kakashi; Team Seven never had to fight anything more than water clones. He had beaten Haku... with the Nine-Tails' help. Calling on the demon was a sure-fire way to increase his speed and power, but in this case he didn't have the time to demand the fox help him: Temari would rip him to shreds while he pleaded for help.

'There's only one thing I haven't tried, but it's risky,' he thought, flipping backwards over a particularly powerful wind shot. 'It could backfire easily... but it's the only chance I have.'

Temari decided that her opponent was too fast to be dealt with any time soon. He needed to be tired before she could tag him with a Sickle Weasel technique. She didn't want to needlessly subject him to her actual sickle weasel, but if he kept dodging, she would do it. Now he was behind the wreck of a tree, hiding from her.

Naruto jumped up and fired another row of shuriken, all of them with flames licking at their heels. Recognizing a ploy when she saw it, Temari quickly dodged out of the way rather than returning them with a blast of wind. They lay in the ground like land mines, little twinkling lights like stars in the ground. Temari advanced past them, her fan dragging menacingly across the ground.

"Any last words, Uzumaki?" she asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah... Surprise!"

One of the flaming shuriken behind Temari transformed back into Naruto, a small portion of his sleeve aflame but otherwise uninjured by the experience. He grabbed the rivet holding Temari's fan together, channeled as much chakra as humanly possible into the cool metal... and the fan exploded. The shadow clone dispelled itself habitually, allowing Naruto to bask in the glorious sight of Temari rendered helpless.

The crowd was quiet as Temari examined her destroyed fan. It was hardly a unique fan, they could be bought easily enough in Suna, and as the Kazekage's daughter it wasn't as though she couldn't find a replacement. But it was her mother's, a last heirloom from the distantly-remembered figure from her childhood. While she expected rage, all she found was sadness. It wasn't as though she deserved any less.

"I forfeit," she said quietly, and left the arena.

.:.

Above the applause, the judges reconvened to judge Temari.

"Her battle acumen was sufficiently demonstrated in previous battles," said Kimimaro. "She is chūnin material."

"He outsmarted her nicely," Shibuki weighed in.

"Her nature transformation is far above genin rank. Jōnin level, perhaps, for I have never seen someone so efficiently dismantle a fire technique," Ryūzetsu said, a tinge of awe entering her voice. "Victory by fluke: Naruto has none of the skills a ninja values beyond brute strength."

"On the contrary, he distracted and outplayed her," Konan argued. "I saw a boy fight and defeat a girl well above him in every way, using a technique I've never seen used before. Why should she not be punished for overconfidence?"

"Unpredictability, sheer power, longevity, the Uzumaki were known for all of these things," Kimimaro said impatiently. "We digress. Temari's pending promotion is the subject."

"Put it to a vote," the Kazekage insisted.

The vote was three-three. Kimimaro, Ryūzetsu, and the Kazekage nominated her, while Konan, Shibuki and the Hokage abstained.

"We should discuss this later," the Kazekage suggested diplomatically. "This is the event we've been waiting for, after all."

.:.

"Now, for the third fight: Sasuke Uchiha of Konoha versus Kin Tsuchi of Oto!" Hayate announced, looking as excited as the audience felt. Both fighters descended on the arena with trepidation, equally wary of the other's abilities. Kin was a long-range master of genjutsu, and Sasuke could easily kill her with melee range. Conversely, if he was kept far away enough from her by genjutsu, her poison would finish him off quickly. Neither spoke as Hayate started the fight and moved back, though Sasuke began unwinding the bandages on his right arm.

Kin grimaced as her opponent's eyes flashed red. The sharingan was a formidable dōjutsu, able to pinpoint projectiles and make the wielder react without conscious thought. Sasuke could evade her opening salvo without trying, and then she would be screwed. Then again, that wasn't the point. Her orders were to survive the fight and not surrender, not to win against the Uchiha. With that thought in mind, she embraced her inevitable defeat.

Sasuke's arm was a blackened mess. the veins stood out prominently, and Kin felt an involuntary pang of sympathy pain. "Chidori," he said quietly, and a spark jumped from his thumb to his fingertip. In an instant, his entire forearm was wreathed in an electrical storm, the sound of the arcing generating the noise of a thousand birds. He leaned forward and charged.

To be fair, Kin tried to dodge and hit him with senbon at the same time, but his speed was incredible. Aided by the lightning, Sasuke managed to alter his course enough to only be hit by one needle, and at the same time smash the chidori into Kin's abdomen. The power of the technique was low, so much so that the current only jolted her slightly, but his stiffened fingers pierced an uncomfortable distance into her stomach. Kin looked down at her chest, Sasuke's hand buried in her belly up to the first knuckles, and promptly passed out.

Despite the anticlimactic ending, the crowd was ecstatic. In the next round, after all, he would be fighting Gaara, the Sand's greatest competitor. Shucking Kin like a worn garment, Sasuke stumbled away. The burn in his arm bothered him far less than it used to. He could do it again... he hoped.

.:.

"Hmm..."

"No."

"But—"

"If she—"

"I say no."

"No."

"Very well. Kin Tsuchi is not a chūnin."

.:.

Behind Jiraiya in the stands, a nondescript old lady watched Zaku Abumi and Kankurō bow to one another. Chiyo saw the pseudo-jinchūriki cast a nervous glance in the direction of the Kage box, while Kankurō waited for her to begin the invasion with a resignation she hadn't seen in a long time. The traps had been set, the gambits assembled, and the targets acquired. Now all she had to do was attack. Kabuto's glasses glinted at her from across the arena, a sure sign he was looking at her from another part of the stands.

She fought long and hard against the compulsion of Kotoamatsukami, but the mangekyō sharingan was too powerful for her. Chiyo was at least thankful that she still had her sense of self, but she wondered from time to time if it wouldn't have been kinder for Itachi to make her think she did this of her own free will. The most powerful genjutsu in the world made her nod to Yakushi, cast her chakra threads into the ground, and pull—

I'm not happy with how these turned out, but this story doesn't need perfect fight scenes. They just need to be fun, I suppose.

How did Naruto 'splode a fan? I'll give you a hint, it's completely canon. Find out... in the next chapter!