The sun was barely over the treetops as Naruto made his way to the center of the backyard training grounds only to find Raven already there waiting for him. It was the morning after his twelfth birthday and while the party with his friends the night before had been far more enjoyable then what awaited him at that moment he knew that what he was about to do would serve to bring him one step closer to his goal of being the greatest Hokage ever. With a tired sigh he began his morning warm-ups complete with twenty laps around the pond while Raven simply watched.
Once his exercises were finished he joins Raven near the training logs that have served as his practice targets for the past several years. "Alright Naruto," Raven began once he was sure he had the boy's full attention. "I promised I'd teach you one of my original techniques and I am a man of my word," he tells his young ward. "Now what I'm about to teach you I have never taught anyone else before as it requires a chakra capacity few could ever hope to acquire along with a reflexive memory and intuitive response that can only come from years of repetitive training to be able to use to its fullest potential."
Hearing that Naruto's interest was at once peeked. "So what are we waiting for," he asked his Guardian, "Let's get on with it already."
Raven could only shake his head at the blonde bundle of energy his late friends left for him to raise. "Alright." he said with an evil grin, "Let's begin…"
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All eyes in the arena are on the two Genin preparing to face of in what most were already anticipating to be an epic battle of skill and ability. The excitement radiating off of the two combatants was intoxicating to the spectators and the match had yet to even officially begin. Smiling in anticipation of their match Naruto offers Lee a friendly wink before nodding his readiness to Raven. Lee returns the gesture before offering Raven his nice guy pose signaling that he too was ready to begin. Giving both boys a knowing grin Raven raises his hand and drops it in a simple chop. "Begin," he calls out before vanishing from the ring, getting out of the way as quickly as possible.
Lee's movements are swift and precise showing no overt signs of wasted motion. To those with a well trained eye the level of his dedication to his chosen specialization is abundantly obvious as is the hours of hard work and sacrifice that must have gone into gaining such mastery at his young age.
For his part Naruto's own skill level while perhaps not as sharp or refined as Lee's shows as much if not more potential then most shinobi of his generation. His ability to think on the fly as well as his knack for improvising attacks and counters in the blink of an eye are, at the moment at least, all that are preventing him from being severely outclassed in what has thus far been a purely Taijutsu match.
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"Damn…" Kiba whistles watching the match below. "I know Naruto is good but that Lee guy has him completely on the defensive," he says as Akamaru yaps his agreement.
"I'm not sure how he's doing it," Sasuke says as he leans slightly closer to gain a better view of the match. "But Lee's somehow managed to marry the Iron Fist Style with the Academy's Taijutsu Style."
"Given his Sensei I'm not surprised," Kakashi comments as he lifts his headband, activating his Sharingan, to watch the battle more carefully. "After all Gai is among the Greatest Taijutsu Masters in the World," he tells them, fully acknowledging his so-called 'Eternal Rival's' combat expertise.
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"I've got to say Lee, I haven't had this much fun in years," Naruto tells him grabbing Lee's right wrist while twisting his body to the left to avoid the older boy's punch before stepping in and bringing right knee up to connect with Lee's gut only for the green clad Genin to block the knee with his left hand while pulling back on his right to connect with a head butt that forces both boys to stagger back from the impact.
Shaking away the cobwebs Naruto grins as he and Lee once again square off. "As much fun as this has been," he says as he begins to gather chakra in the palms of his hands. "It's time to up the ante," he tells the older Genin before firing off a blast of pure chakra from his right palm straight at Lee followed almost instantly by a second blast from his left.
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"What the hell was that," Ino demands as the two chakra blasts connect with the statue at the end of the arena, not only causing every adult near by to scatter but also nearly leveling the thing in the process.
"That would be Niisan's Chakra Blast Technique," Asuma tells her allowing his cigarette to fall to the floor in disbelief. "Kami help Lee if one of those actually connects."
"What do you mean Asuma-Sensei," Sasuke asks.
"Raven once told me that each Chakra Blast requires about as much chakra as twenty five Shadow Clones," he tells them. "But what makes them so devastating is the fact that each blast is condensed chakra in its purest form. The results are plain to see," he says referring to the damage being caused by each Chakra Blast as it impacts either on the arena floor or the walls. Where each blast hits large chunks of concrete and bricks are blasted to pieces quickly turning the arena into a true battlefield.
"LEE," Gai calls out to his student. "TAKE THEM OFF," he yells trying to give his prized pupil a better chance at not only winning the match but also at possibly surviving the Exams in one piece.
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With his weights off Lee's speed quickly turns the tide of battle rendering Naruto's Chakra Blasts all but useless. While before the removal of the weights Naruto had been able to hold the Taijutsu expert at bay now he was once again forced to improvise and adjust tactics on the fly just to avoid being pummeled into the ground.
As Lee barrels towards his opponent at speeds the younger Genin's eyes can barely keep up with Naruto crouches down just barely avoiding the fist mere centimeters above his head. Using a quick burst of chakra to momentarily increase his speed he shoots forward driving his shoulder into the older boy's stomach while grabbing Lee's legs just behind the knees while lifting the other boy u into the air. With a quick jerk on the back of Lee's legs and a hard shrug of his shoulder Naruto intends to snap Lee backwards towards the hard arena floor only to have his opponent's right arm wrap around the side of his head trapping it in a side headlock as the Taijutsu Specialist's legs wrap tightly around the blonde's waist.
Both boys fall towards the floor with Naruto above Lee with Lee's legs squeezing Naruto's ribs tightly making breathing difficult while his arms hold Naruto's head firmly against the side of his body slowly cutting off the flow of blood to the Rookie Genin's brain.
Naruto struggles to remain conscious as lack of oxygen and blood to his brain begin to take their toll. With rational thought proving to be exceedingly difficult and begin even more difficult with each passing second he can only think of one option for escape. Placing his palms flat against the arena floor he fires off two beams of pure chakra into the ground, which hurls both boys high into the air. The height of the blast brings them within a hair's breadth of the arena ceiling before gravity once again makes itself known to the pair and pulls them mercilessly back down towards the ground.
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Everyone's eyes widen in horror at the shear speed with which both boys plummet towards the ground but more then that their respective Sensei's fear the worst as the trajectory of their decent would bring them both down right on top of a cement spike sticking out of the floor which resulted from one of Naruto's missed Chakra Blast. Without even thinking and certainly with no prior signal or acknowledgment both Gai and Kakashi move as one towards their young charges and catch them both before either can come to harm.
Kakashi gently lays Naruto on the ground and can't help but chuckle as he hears the faint snoring coming from his most unpredictable student. Gai helps a wide eyed and nearly petrified Lee sit down beside the sleeping blonde and can't help but be proud of how well both boys had fought. Lee's fear arose the moment he noticed the spike that would have signaled both his and Naruto's deaths behind his Sensei once they landed on the ground.
"Due to outside interference," Raven begins as he makes his way over towards the four of them. "Both Genin are disqualified," he announces as the remaining members of both Teams rush towards their Senseis and Teammates. "There will be a ten minute break while we repair the arena for the next match," he tells them, "Be back then."
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"I still can't believe that baka got himself choked out like that," Kiba chuckles leaning against the waiting room wall. "I mean yeah sure Lee was good but come on…"
"Given the lack of blood to his brain and the lack of air to his lungs to not too surprising," Sakura tells him, "Even as stubborn as he is the human body can only last for so long without oxygen."
"Still it was a good match while it lasted," Sasuke says from his spot on the floor. Sitting in the chair beside him is Hinata and next to her is Choji. They along with the rest of the Rookie Nine are waiting on one side of the room with Team Gai while both the Sand Siblings and the remaining Sound Genin are on the other side of the room.
"Naruto-kun will be fine," Hinata tells everyone, "His injuries were rather minor and once he wakes up he'll be as good as new."
"He'll be a royal pain in the ass you mean," Kiba snorts, "He hates losing almost as much as Sasuke."
"Yeah well serves him right for pulling such a bone-headed move," Ino chimes in her opinion.
"Troublesome," Shino sighs staring up at the ceiling as if he could look through them and see the clouds above. "How much longer do we have to wait?"
"Five minutes and thirty-seven seconds," Shino answers sitting beside Ino much to the blonde Kunoichi's discomfort. She has nothing against Shino or his allies it's just the just that with everyone looking at him like some sideshow attraction she wishes that he had sat somewhere else.
"Okay… he's a human timepiece," Kiba says slowly, "Who knew?"
"His Teammates obviously," Sasuke answers with a slight smirk.
At the end of the rest period the remaining competitors returned to the arena and were surprised to find that it looked almost exactly as it had before the Preliminaries had begun. "Let us continue," Raven says once everyone is accounted for.
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"You have to be kidding me," Kiba growls as he sees the names on the electronic board. "Sakura and Hinata both forfeit rather then face each other and I've got to fight her fate obsessed emo-ass cousin?"
"Sorry Kiba," Sakura says trying to calm her irate Teammate, "But Medic-nins have a different method of advancement so we don't really even need to take the Chunin Exams to be Promoted."
"You know," Sasuke tells him with a smirk. "You could always give up too Kiba," he teases the Inuzuka, "I mean he was Top Dog at the Academy last year…"
"Screw that bullshit," Kiba growls before hopping over the railing to join the Hyuuga in the center of the ring.
"You just had to goad him didn't you," Choji asks his Team's Captain. "You know you've condemned him right?"
"Not necessarily," Sasuke replies with a smirk. "Inuzukas tend to fight better when they're pissed off."
"I swear you've been hanging around Siefer to damn much," the Akimichi tells him, "You both like pushing people's buttons just to get a raise out of them."
"True," Sasuke admits, "But we did enter the Exams for the competition and wouldn't you rather face the best?"
"You're right," Choji sighs taking out a bag of chips. "Besides I do love watching a good match," he adds with a chuckle.
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Kiba faces Neji still fuming from his little chat with Sasuke. "Let's do this," he growl baring his fangs in anger.
"You would do well to quit now rather than embarrass yourself," Neji tells him in a calm cold manner. "Fate has already…"
"Fate can go fuck herself," Kiba growls. "Inuzukas make their own fate so shut up and fight." At Raven's signal he hurls several smoke bombs around the arena floor in order to conceal his actions from view.
"Your tactics are useless against the Hyuuga's Byakugan," Neji tells him activating his Clan's Kekkei Genki only to find that the smoke is laced with chakra rendering his eyes useless.
"You've never fought an Inuzuka before have you," Kiba taunts him as both he and Akamaru pop a Soldier Pill each. Running through several hand seals he calls out the name of his first Jutsu, "Man-Beast Transformation."
In the Chakra laced smoke Neji closes his eyes and ignoring his temporary blindness focuses on hearing for his opponent rather than looking for him. Hearing the Jutsu being called out he immediately rushes towards the source of the sound. "Got you," he calls out as he begins his attack only to come up empty.
"Don't you just hate Genjutsus," Kiba taunts him through the smoke. "Beast-Man Clone," he yells out just before the smoke dissipates. Once the smoke clears Neji is now faced with not one but two Kibas and each looks far more feral than the one that entered the match. "Double Piercing Fang," they both call out as the charge towards him turning into miniature twisters.
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"I hope Kiba and Akamaru remember to pull their punches," a voice says causing everyone in earshot to turn towards the source.
"About time you woke up baka," Sakura replies as she smiles at the newcomer. "So how was your little nap, Naruto?"
"Not too bad," he tells her, "Except I woke up with one hell of a headache."
"Not surprising giving the situation," Kakashi tells his student.
"Yeah well…" Naruto chuckles scratching the back of his head. "Just sucks I got D.Q.ed," he mumbles. "But well… what could you do? Honestly I think I'd rather be eliminated than terminated."
"NEJI…" TenTen yells causing them to turn back to the arena floor in time to see what was happening.
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Neji staggers back holding his stomach as blood begins to leak between his fingers from the wound he just sustained from the Inuzuka's attack. The continual assault simply proved too much for him to avoid and with the two never stood still long enough for him to even attempt an attack he had miscalculated the trajectory of the last attack and received a clawed hand in the gut for the error.
"Give up now," one of the Kibas tells him as the other continues to force him to evade rather then attack. "You won't last long with that wound," he tells the Hyuuga before once again joining his twin in their duel assault. Neji continues to avoid the twin tornados but he can feel the pain of his injury combined with the continual blood loss beginning to take their toll on him as his reaction time begins to slowly become more sluggish with each new attack.
"Enough," Raven calls out before appearing in the center of the ring holding the twin Kibas by the scruffs of their necks. "Winner Kiba Inuzuka," he announces just a moment before Neji falls to the ground having passed out from loss of blood. "Medics," he calls out dropping Kiba and the now de-transformed Akamaru on their feet.
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Lee holds TenTen by the waist to prevent the frantic girl from interfering with the Medics treatment of their Teammate. He shares her pain but knows that the best thing that they can do for their Teammate right now is to stay out of the way and let the Medics do their job.
Sasuke holds a tearful Hinata as they Hyuuga heiress cries into his chest while Choji places a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder silently offering his support. Kiba stands behind Sasuke looking down at the blood dripping from his fingers and can't help but feel guilty for hurting someone else for the first time since becoming a Shinobi. "I…I'm sorry…" he tells Hinata unable to look up at his friend knowing that he's the one that hurt her cousin. "I…I just…I lost my head…"
"Go away Kiba," Sasuke tells him quietly as he continues to comfort his distraught Teammate.
"Really I didn't mean…" Kiba begins only to be silenced by a hand on his shoulder. Turning around his eyes meet Naruto's. The blonde simply shakes his head as if tell him 'not now' before signaling for them to return to their own Team with a slight jerk of his head. Kiba sighs in defeat and follows his Teammate as they rejoin Kakashi and Sakura a few feet away from the members of the other Team
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A/N: I'm going to stop things here for now and should finish the rest of the prelims up in the next chapter. I wish to thank everyone for their continued support and to let you all know that I'm still trying to get back on a regular up-dating schedule but between family, life and work it's still proving to be problematic.
Anyways I'm still working on finishing the next chapter of Naruto Meimeikira and for all of you that loved Master of Puppets I'm seriously considering rewriting it rather then continuing where I left off. Not to get anyone's hopes up but I do have a few ideas for some changes that should prove interesting and also help set me apart from the other Puppet User Naruto writers out there.
On another note I've found some truly excellent stories on this site that are EXTREMELY well written and sad to say far better then anything I could ever come up with. The really sad thing is that they haven't received anywhere near the same recognition that my stories have even though they are FAR more deserving then anything I could ever hope to write. That is not to say you shouldn't keep reading my stories (LOL) but that you should also check them out as well.
One such amazing story is The Hidden Life of Morino Ibiki by Illegitimi. It is an excellent story centered around an under written character full of drama, humor, suspense, intrigue and enough lemony goodness to keep anyone coming back for more. It's already at 56 chapters and 232,043 words yet it's only got 36 reviews, which is a true crime, given the time effort and love that's gone into this true Master Piece of Fanfiction. I admit I haven't reviewed myself yet but fully intend to review each and every chapter once this is posted and would like to encourage each of you to at the very least give it a look and who knows maybe you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
Anyways until next time…
Later
Raven