Ninja of the Void

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters associated with it.

"Talking"

Thoughts

Really? That's Whose Fighting?

~ Namikaze residence (former) ~

"I've done all I can . . . ." said Minato as the watch began ticking again. "But this is all I can do . . . ." Looking at his study, most of his possessions and his home for the matter had already been sealed off. With this being the case he was glad he left some secret compartments in his desk with some spare parts. However, ". . . . I was only able to get hiraishin working again. Everything else is beyond my ability to repair right now". Then squeezing the watch in his hands, "I better get back soon before Kushina-chan gets too worried. But I better take a look around the village before I head back".

But looking about as he stood in his home, a sad expression could not help but grace his features as the truth of this future weighed heavily on his heart. But then he shook his head to this, "there's no point in becoming depressed about something that hasn't even happened yet. But then . . . ." as he closed his eyes for a moment, "time is not always as it appears to be".

Now looking out the window towards the entire village of Konoha, he could only let out a soft sigh. Truthfully he wanted to believe his wife that nothing bad was going to happen on this day.

However it's always been his philosophy to always be prepared for anything and everything life may throw at you. But looking to his watch he wondered, "was it coincidence? Or was it fate that Naruto would bring me here on this day. . . ."

But then he pushed this thought aside as had some important work to do. So focusing his chakra into the watch, he was gone.

~ Konoha stadium (hospital wing) ~

Tenten watched as Hiashi exited the room seemingly giving off a strange aura as he slowly walked away. "What was that about?" So going to the room, she peeked inside to see Neji in a somewhat altered state. There was something about him, something about his spirit that seemed to have . . . . changed. It almost seemed like he was . . . . Free for the lack of better words. "Could it have been something Hiashi told him?" But looking at him, she saw that the Hyuga prodigy was holding a letter as he seemed to have been squeezing it a bit. "Neji, are you alright?"

Neji looked up at this, ". . . . It's fine now. Everything is fine now".

"Neji what happened? What did Hiashi give you?"

The Hyuga prodigy looked at the letter before looking back at the weapon mistress. "My father's last words . . . ."

". . . . !"

"I think . . . . I need to rethink my life a bit" to which an uncharacteristic calm smile began to form. "I guess the first thing I should do is apologize to Hinata-sama for the way I've been behaving and . . . . I should probably thank Naruto . . . . For helping me to see clearly after all this time . . . ."

"Neji . . . ." as Tenten was speechless at Neji's sudden change in demeanor.

"Can you help me to the stands? I would like to continue watching the matches for now".

"Sure" Tenten softly smiled as she gave him her shoulder helping him to his feet.

"Thank you . . . ." to which they were now on their way.

~ Konoha stadium (stands) ~

Kushina was still giddy about everything that was going on around her. "I can see Shikaku, Inoichi, and Chouza. Wow they still look pretty well after fourteen years. Let's see who else is around . . . . Hmm a lot of faces that haven't changed a lot, but I guess it hasn't been that long since my time". She then looked at the V.I.P. area. "I guess it makes sense for the kazekage to be here. But I wonder why jii-san is sitting where Minato is supposed to be . . . . Meh, Minato is probably running an errand somewhere so jii-san is probably just filling in for him for now". But then looking around, "speaking of which, where is Minato with my pickles and peanut butter?"

"Did you mean me?" as Minato in his henge soon appeared next to her with the shriveled cucumber and peanut paste.

The red head's face glowed with awe as she quickly took the items from her husband's hands as she started eating it. "Good thing you came back Minato, the next match was just about to start" she garbled as her mouth was half full.

"Really? Who's up next?"

"It's that sand kid Gaara against Sasuke Uchiha" to which a worried expression soon appeared. "Although I'm worried for Sasuke, he's up against a jinchuriki of all opponents. I'm not sure if he's going to be up for this . . . ."

"Have a little more faith Kushina-chan" as Minato tried to reassure his wife. "If he is as good as his dad at that age then he's going to be fine".

Kushina gave a chuckle to this. "You're probably right. I'm probably just worrying for nothing". But then a smirk graced her features as she thought to the young Uchiha. "But if he was lucky, he would have grown up to resemble Mikoto more as let's face it she was the real looks of the family" to which Kushina snickered too. "But now that I think about it" as she looked around, "I don't see Mikoto or Fugaku anywhere in the crowd".

Minato simply shrugged at this. "Knowing Fugaku-san, he's probably busy with something else. But I'm pretty sure Mikoto-san or Itachi-san should be around here somewhere".

"Oh yeah! Itachi!" as the red head suddenly recalled the elder son. "He ought to be jonin by now. Fugaku was always going on about how much a prodigy he was. Hmm, but I wonder where he is . . . ."

"We'll ask Naruto when we get the chance. Let's just watch the matches for now".

However that would not be the exact case. Although Gaara was present, Sasuke was nowhere to be found. As time began to pass, the crowd started to get impatient.

"Hey! What the hell is the holdup down there?"

"We want to see the next match!"

"Bring out the Uchiha!"

Normally under the regular conditions, Sasuke would have been disqualified. But considering he was the main attraction for most of the spectators attending, an exception was made in his stead. Even Hiruzen had to agree to this for the last thing he wanted on his hands was a riot to which his ninjas would be forced to deal with. So after a quick contemplation, Sasuke's match was postponed.

"Unbelievable" thought Genma. "I can't believe how much leeway that Uchiha brat gets" to which he gave a sigh too. "Alright! Let's have the next combatants up!"

Kankuro cringed at this. "I can't afford to allow myself to be worn out. I need to conserve myself in order to ensure the plan succeeds" to which he immediately raised his hand, "I surrender!"

At hearing this everyone was both shocked and outraged at this.

"What the hell?"

"Why did he surrender?"

"Did he suddenly get cold feet?"

"That's strange. Why did he give up like that?" wondered Kushina.

Minato could only shrug at this. "Who knows, he probably had a good reason to why he had to withdraw".

"That's kind of lucky" then said Sakura. "You get to ascend without a fight or is that a bad thing?" as she thought about how this tournament worked.

Shino remained silent at this as he was somewhat disappointed he didn't have his chance to fight.

"Hey what just happened?"

Everyone turned to see Naruto and Hinata return looking slightly confused at what had just happened moments ago.

"That Kankuro guy just gave up without a fight" said Shikamaru in a kind of bored tone. "But if you ask me he did the most sensible thing and not get involved with something as troublesome as this tournament".

"By the way, you two just left to the hospital wing right?" asked Sakura. "Everything's was OK right? Nothing wrong with Neji".

Hinata looked to her before a fond smile began to form as she gave a nod. "Yes, everything is OK now".

Naruto could only smirk to this. On their way back, the pair decided to cross by the hospital wing to see how the Hyuga prodigy was doing. But at seeing Hiashi exiting the room and Tenten going in, the pair decided it was best to wait outside. Unintentionally, as they stood by the door they heard everything Neji had to say. So believing it was for the best, they then left leaving them be for now. "Since that Kankuro guy gave up I guess its Shikamaru's turn to fight".

Right on cue Genma announced their entrance. "The next match! Temari and Shikamaru!" to which many murmurs went about still questioning what had just happened moments ago. But to say the least no one was happy about this match as everyone was still peeved that they had to wait for Sasuke's match with Gaara and the recent forfeit of Kankuro against Shino.

Temari gritted her teeth at this. "It's still too early for the plan to enact. I need to buy more time". But as she looked to her scrawny opponent, the dirty blond could only smirk to this. "My opponent is just a weakling. I can handle him easily without losing too much power. I just need to draw it out for as long as I can". With that end thought she jumped to the arena grounds below.

Shikamaru's eyes could only narrow at how irked he was. "Why do I have to end up fighting a girl again? Maybe I should just give up. This is far too troublesome for me to deal with . . . ."

"Come on Shikamaru, get in there! You got Konoha's pride to defend!" as Naruto slapped him in the back which caused the shadow ninja to fly over the guard rail to which he was forced to slow his descent by chakra sticking to the wall. But finally getting close enough to the ground he let go as he was now looking up from the ground with a peeved expression on his face. " . . . . Damn Naruto".

"I don't see what everyone is complaining about" said Kushina. "Shikaku was a smart guy, like father like son right? I would expect this to be a good match".

Minato gave a nod to this as he continued to watch.

Meanwhile elsewhere in the stands another round of betting went about. Even though no one thought much about this fight, it didn't stop them from wagering money on it. By the odds, the majority was in Temari's favor.

"I don't know" said Kiba. "Who should I bet on this time?" as he thought between the girl from sand and his friend from the academy. "That Temari chick was brutal during the prelims as she was pretty thorough is showing how tough she was. Plus she seems like the angry type . . . ."

"Everything on Shikamaru!" announced Ino as she handed away her pile of money.

"Why? He looks like he's going to get his butt handed to him out there!"

"Just trust me" said Ino as she waved her finger at him while giving a wink. "As lazy as Shikamaru is, he's a very smart guy who's always able to come up with an air tight plan. But if not" as she gave a smirk. "It's always good to bet on the long shots".

"Nah, I still think it would be better to bet on Temari just to be safe".

Now in the arena below Genma seeing as both his participants were on the battlefield, he immediately waved his hand for them to commence. "Let the match begin!" to which he cleared the field.

Shikamaru who was still lying on the ground looked to see Temari unfolding her giant fan ready to swing it at him. "Ahh this is going to be pain" to which a giant gust storm was shot dusting the area which shook the arena slightly.

"Don't tell me I defeated him already" thought Temari as she tried to peer through the dust.

"Well I can't have a guy losing to a girl. That would be too disgraceful. I guess I might actually have to do something . . . ."

As the dirty blond looked, the shadow ninja impaled the wall with two kunais as he was standing on top of them. "Tsk, you cocky bastard!"

"Come on, do we have to do this?" asked Shikamaru back in his bored tone. "Honestly I'd rather not bother with this as a lot of inconvenient things could happen like getting hurt and stuff".

"Enough talk!" as Temari was slightly getting irritated believing her opponent was looking down on her. "Get out here and fight!" as she charged in with her fan swinging it like a club.

To this statement Shikamaru could only sigh to which he dodged.

"Punk is good at running away!"

Due to the lack of action, people from the stands began booing as they began throwing whatever they had on hand at them in show of detest for what they were seeing.

"Tough crowd" said Kushina.

"Well he's definitely like his dad" said Minato. "Funny enough, it's almost exactly what happened with Shikaku during his chunin final".

Now in the participant's area, "Come on Shikamaru!" cheered Naruto. "Get in there and give it the old one two!"

"Go Shikamaru-kun!" as Hinata cheered alongside her blond friend.

"This is just disappointing" said Sakura as her face sagged a bit while sitting back down in her seat. "I was kind of expecting a bit more".

"Don't underestimate him" said Chouji which caused the pink kunoichi to look at him. "Shikamaru will definitely put up a good fight up to the very end. But eventually he'll just give up".

"Huh? Then what's the point?"

The husky ninja just continued to eat his chips. "Just watch, you'll understand".

Now back on the arena ground Temari looked even more peeved as Shikamaru at this time was sitting in the shade as apparently he was eating a dango one of the spectators had threw into the arena. "Is that little sh*t just taking me lightly or does he really have that much skill not to be worried? What can he be thinking right now?"

"Such wonderful clouds" as the shadow ninja looked to the skies. "So simple and serene in the sky above. How I wish I could be a cloud, they don't have a care in the world" to which he gave a sigh too. "I only became a ninja because I thought it would be interesting but it only brought more trouble than it was worth. Why can't life ever be simple?" as he now started to daydream a bit. "All I really want in the end is a simple life. When I grow up I just want a wife, not too ugly not too beautiful. Have two kids, one girl and one boy. When I grow old, I just want to play shougi all day". But looking at his opponent glaring at him, "I guess I have to deal with this now. Although I can't have a guy losing to a girl, it isn't right for a guy to be hitting one either . . . . Damn this is going to be troublesome" as he threw the skewer stick aside.

So getting fed up with waiting, Temari launched another one of her attacks. "Ninpou: Kamaitachi!" as many blades of wind began to fly at her opponent cutting up everything in its path.

At seeing this, the shadow ninja took refuge behind a tree taking cover.

Up in the stands, people braced themselves at feeling the intense gust of wind.

"This is the same technique which defeated me!" thought Tenten as she tried to keep her eyes open.

Neji narrowed his vision as he tried to remain focus at what was happening down below.

"Did I get him?" thought Temari as all she could see was a dust cloud. But then out from the cloud came a streak of darkness that shot out right at her. "It that's technique!" Temari knew exactly what she was up against as she remembered this technique from a month ago. In her understanding, Shikamaru would use his chakra to bend his shadow to any shape or form to which if it came into contact with an enemy's shadow that would give him instant control over them. With that being the case, she was forced to retreat as she began jumping back. But then after a few meters the shadow began to shrink then slowly recede back. At seeing Shikamaru grimace at this, she gave a smirk. "Looks like there is a limit to your shadow technique. For as much as you can change and stretch your shadow, it still all has to be relative to the surface area of your shadow isn't it?"

Shikamaru could only scoff at this. "Yeah that's right".

At that confirmation, Temari gave an arrogant smirk as she quickly jotted down in her head the relative calculations of distance where she could effectively attack without receiving any kind of challenge.

At seeing what he had to work with, Shikamaru scanned the battlefield seeing the many kunais that littered the ground from the match earlier as well as some garbage. Then looking to the sky above, he soon closed his eyes as he pressed the tips of his fingers against each other in some kind of weird pose which immediately got the crowd talking.

"What is he doing?"

"Is this some kind of jutsu?"

"What can that kid be up too?"

"Could this be some kind of special jutsu?" asked Kurenai as she watched from the stands.

Asuma who was sitting next to her smirked at this. "It's a bit of a habit of his".

"Huh?"

"For you see, he's actually a patient thinker. That's why he enjoys games like shougi like an old geezer. For when he's backed into the corner he always gets into that pose" which caused Kurenai to look to him to further explain, "it's a sign that he's coming up with a strategy. Due to this I've never won a game against him. Not even once". As Kurenai was about to refute this, Asuma could only smirk as Shikamaru was a diamond in the rough as he would then go on to explain at how much of a super genius he was.

"Wow, just like Shikaku's match" as Minato gave a strained laugh.

"Now this is where things get good" said Kushina.

Back on the arena grounds Shikamaru gave a smirk. "Plan complete". So looking about he took out several kunais with attached explosive tags as he quickly began preparing them.

"I won't give you the time to use those! Kamaitachi!" as another wave of wind went soaring through to which Shikamaru immediately took cover. But after that attack he quickly responded with his kagmane to which Temari was confident it would not reach her. But seeing it was uncomfortably getting close, she then jumped back as it quickly dawned upon her how it happened. "You're using time aren't you? The more time passes the bigger the stadium shadow gets which furthers your reach".

"Heh" as Shikamaru looked plainly to her.

"I better end this soon. The more time passes the more room I lose. I can't afford to wait". Strangely Temari was getting a bit too carried away with this battle. Although it shouldn't have mattered if she won or lost in relation to the 'plan', she now viewed Shikamaru as a rather competent intellect or someone rather irritating to which her pride was on the line. If that was case, this was a battle she didn't want to lose.

As this was going on, everyone's opinion began to change about this battle. At first it started with two no name ninjas who no one had any interest in. Yet after this exchange everyone couldn't remove their eyes from this intricate game of cat and mouse that was going on.

"Wow this is intense".

"I should have probably betted on that Nara kid".

"Yeah! Keep going!"

"This is awesome" said Kushina with glee in her voice. "I can't wait to see more".

"Calm down Kushina-chan or you're going to miss it" said Minato. "Because I have a feeling that the climax is coming soon".

"Incredible, Shikamaru isn't as lame as I thought he was" said Sakura.

As the match went, Chouji's eating reflected the intensity of the match as he too knew it was going to end soon.

Now back on the arena grounds, Shikamaru calmly laid his back on the tree as he looked to the sky. "It's about time now". So quickly going out he threw out all his explosive tags as they flew out exploding on contact with the solid ground surface.

"Is this some sort of distraction? I won't allow it!" as Temari blew the dust away with a swing of her fan. However it still casted a shadow on the ground to which the shadow ninja took advantage of as his kagemane began to stretch over it trying to catch her. However she was very agile as she easily dodged the shadow as she backed up. But after a few minutes of running the dust cloud had dissipated to which Shikamaru could no longer hold the technique as his shadow was forced to recede back. "I'm going to end this now!" as the dirty blond was getting infuriated at how much trouble she was having. So looking at her current position, she opened her fan as she slammed it into the ground covering Shikamaru's view of her. "I'll just use a bushin no jutsu. Once he captures the clone in his shadow I'll just jump out and finish this in one move!" So peeking out past her fan, she saw that Shikamaru was waiting in the shade for her to make the next move. "It's time now" as she began weaving her hand seals. But only getting half way though, her body stalled as a strange feeling came over her. "It can't be . . . ."

"Kagemane no jutsu, success" smirked Shikamaru as he started to stand up to which Temari had no choice but to mimic. Then walking out to the middle of the arena they both were now face to face with each other.

The dirty blond could only grimace at this. "How . . . . How did you catch me? There was no way you could have . . . ." as she continued to try and struggle.

"Let's look to the left shall we?" to which they both turned their heads to see a long line of shadows being stretched along the shadows of a bunch of standing up kunais? "But how?"

"That's simple" explained Shikamaru. "I first needed to bide my time for the sun to get into position. But for everything to come into place, that's where you came into it" as he took a breath. "For Naruto and Neji really did a good job at littering the field with kunais with some help from the audience too. So when the time was right I used several explosive tags to launch many of them up, and anticipating your next move your wind attack along with this stadiums architecture created a perfect vacuum effect which not only sent the kunais up but stalled them for a while before coming down. While I kept you busy running around, I let gravity take over as naturally the kunai's sharp end was heavier making it land first impaling them into the ground. Then was the matter of timing which was right on as you hid yourself behind the fan not noticing what was going on around you as I expected your focus to be completely concentrated on your plan to get me. So using each kunais individual shadow I could have caught you no matter where you were in the arena. But truthfully if this plan didn't pan out, I at least had ten other moves I could have made as alternatives to this one in order to catch you".

Temari cringed at this as she had now realized that she had completely underestimated her opponent.

"Well let's end this then . . . ." as he began raising his hand which caused Temari to close her eyes in anticipation to the beating she was going to get.

At this incredible climax everyone was at the edge of their seat to see what was going to happen next.

"Oh my god" said Kushina. "What is he going to do?"

"If he's anything like his dad" then said Minato. "I'm pretty sure we both know how this is going to end".

"Told you to bet on the long shots!" said Ino as she gripped her fist in excitement.

"Ahh man, I'm going to be completely broke now" said Kiba.

"I can't believe it! He is actually going to win this!" said Sakura excitedly.

Chouji began to eat his chips more ferociously as things were about to come to an end soon.

Now on the arena grounds, Shikamaru had his eyes closed in thought before reopening them looking to his blond opponent still shivering as she tried to escape the bind she was in. So taking in one deep breath, ". . . . I surrender".

Temari's eyes immediately snapped open at this. "What is the meaning of this?" to which was the same question on everyone's mind in the stadium.

"Why did he give up?"

"He was so close to winning!"

"This was a rather unusual outcome".

"Yoshino is definitely going to have a field day about this" sighed Shikaku as all he could do was hold his face to this.

"Well your son did put up a good match" as Inoichi patted his friend on the back.

"This was a strange case of déjà vu as this was the same exact way you did your match" said Chouza as he gave a light laugh.

"Well I guess I shouldn't have expected anything better than this" said Kushina as her tone reflected slight disappointment.

"That's the men of Nara" half chuckled Minato.

"Unbelievable" gaped Ino as she couldn't believe what had just happened. "So close . . . . He was so close . . . ."

"Hah, I knew I betted on the right person" said Kiba. "I figured something like this was going to happen".

The light blond looked peeved at this as she gave a slight glare at the dog ninja. "It wasn't fair! Shikamaru had her on the ropes. He should've won this!"

"Well I guess you don't know your teammate as well as you think you do".

"Hey! I want a refund! This wasn't a fair bet!" as Ino was now very close to getting violent with the bookie.

"Wooh wait! You're going to get us kicked out of here!"

Now in the participant's area, "see I told you" said Chouji. "Shikamaru was going to give up in the end".

"But it was such a disappointment. He had her beat and everything" said Sakura.

"But you had to admit it was a great match to watch" smiled Naruto as he folded his arms behind his head.

"It was still such a shame to see him lose like this".

"He may have lost the fight Sakura-san" calmly smiled Hinata, "but in the greater picture, he was the one who actually won".

Now back on the arena grounds, "Why? Is this some sort of pity?" half growled Temari slightly angered that her victory felt so hollow.

"Wasn't worth my trouble" Shikamaru plainly stated. "Besides in the end I wouldn't have been able to continue with this tournament anyways. With the way things were, I would have only been able to hold you for an additional three minutes till I was completely tapped. So with that, I'm satisfied with this conclusion" to which he released his shadow bind and soon walked away.

Temari squeezed her fist at this as she shut her eyes in slight shame to how things turned out.

Genma could only smirk at this. "Funny kid, although he lost the battle he still won the war. Although he did lose he carefully planned out everything taking into consideration the pros and cons of the situation. When it comes to leading a team, these are the things a leader needs to take into consideration. The qualities that make a good captain, a good chunin", but getting back on track "the winner is Temari" to which the crowd gave a cheer too. So after the field was quickly cleaned up and everything was revving to go again, Genma called in the next participants. "The next match! Chouji vs Hinata!"

The husky ninja gulped down the last of what he was eating as he turned towards Hinata. "Let's have a good match".

"Yes, of course Chouji-kun" Hinata responded.

With that response, Chouji jumped to the arena below.

Just as the Hyuga heiress was about to follow suit, she felt a firm grasp on her hand to which she looked back. "Naruto-kun?"

"Do your best Hinata-chan. You'll be great out there" Naruto smirked. "Show everyone just how much stronger you've gotten".

Hinata gave a happy nod to this. "I'll give it everything I have and I won't give up till the very end as that's my ninja way". The blond jinchuriki gave a nod to this as soon she too jumped to the arena down below as she was now face to face against Chouji.

As they faced off against each other, both ninjas were well aware of what they were up against. However what they didn't know was that both of them had an ace in the hole. Like Hinata, Chouji too was working on developing his own technique, a technique that has been passed down through his clan for many generations which is considered the epitome of his multi-size technique. For both of them, if push came to shove then they were not scared to reveal their trump cards when the time truly demanded that they used it.

While Hinata and Chouji maintained their focus on each other, Genma then looked between them as he raised his hand in commencement for their battle. "Now let the match begin!"

To be continued . . . .

~ Omake (don't take this seriously) ~

Temari glared at Shikamaru as she readied her fan to her back. "My wrath will descend upon you! With a swing of my fan, the wind will raise the Earth and blot out the sun!"

The shadow ninja looked to her stoically as he opened his eyes from her long winded rant. "Then I shall fight in the shade"

Author's notes: This concludes another chapter to which I hope you all enjoyed. Now I hope I'm being progressive as this is all leading up to an exciting conclusion of the chunin exams to which there is a lot more I had in mind to where this story is going to go.

Also concerning one of the reviews, you're right about Kushina's character as it was slightly off. So for now on she'll just call Minato well . . . . Minato and not Mina-kun. I'll try to make her seem more tomboyish I guess with the addition of being more passionate.

So I thank everyone for taking the time in reading this fic and further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.