"Speech"

'Thought'

"Demon/Summon Speech"

'Demon/Summon Thought"

"Jutsu"

Chapter 8 - Preliminaries

Seven teams passed the second part of the exams. Teams 7, 8, 9 and 10 from Konoha as well as Kabuto's team, Team Dosu from Oto and finally the Sand Siblings. All 21 chunin hopefuls were assembled in a room that was dominated by an arena and a giant statue of hands holding the ram seal. The Hokage stood on a small stage.

"Congratulations on passing the second stage of the chunin selection exams." He smiled as he looked over the majority of Konoha ninja in front of him.

Naruto was looking at the other ninja present; his demonically enhanced senses taking in every aspect of his would be opponents and the room they were in. It was obvious they would be fighting here; they had been instructed to bring their ninja tools for a reason. The Hokage was saying something about this being a replacement for war but Naruto was much more interested in the other genin.

His eyes kept drifting to one in particular, Temari. He hadn't been able to get her out of his mind. She had grown up with Gaara and still obviously cared for him regardless of his Jinchuriki status which was a big plus in his books, she was smart, strong and not to mention gorgeous.

"Haha the kit's got a crush on the Suna kunoichi! This is rich!" Kurama laughed uncontrollably.

'Shut your trap fox before I shut it for you' Naruto thought viciously, Kurama just laughed harder.

A sickly looking man stood in front of the Hokage and explained the rules to the preliminary fights they would be holding, Naruto barely listened. He was wondering if he was developing feelings for Temari, it was certainly out of character for him. Somewhere during all this Kabuto forfeited.

A screen on the wall started cycling through names while Naruto was thinking, it settled on Naruto Uzumaki Vs Misumi Tsurugi. Naruto found himself standing on the floor with just the proctor and Misumi but still he was thinking.

"Naruto Uzumaki versus Misumi Tsurugi, begin!" Called Hayate as he jumped back.

Naruto still not paying attention, which earned him a few sweat drops up in the audience. Misumi stretched his body out and wrapped it around Naruto, holding him tight and preparing to break his neck.

"Forfeit or I snap your neck" Misumi snarled, the voice by his ear jolted Naruto from his thinking.

"Oh sorry I didn't know we'd started." Said Naruto as a smile appeared on his face, showing off his incredibly sharp canines.

Red chakra suddenly exploded out from Naruto, encasing him in a fox shaped cloak with a single tail swinging behind it.

Misumi screamed as he fell back, his body covered in burns. He got up and snarled as he ran forward, all the time screaming in agony.

Naruto smirked as the hands of his cloak morphed into large claws.

What happened next was a chilling example to the rest of the genin there to avoid Naruto in a fight.

Naruto had made short work of Misumi by separating his arms from the rest of his body with two quick slashes. The bubbling demonic chakra cauterizing the stumps left behind. Misumi screamed in pain and before Hayate could intervene Naruto silenced him with a single clawed finger into his eye socket.

As soon as Misumi dropped dead the chakra cloak vanished from Naruto's body.

"Uh *Cough* winner by elimination Naruto Uzumaki" Said Hayate as he tried not to look Naruto in the eye. Naruto smirked before walking up to the stands, the other genin avoided him. Just the way he liked it. Oddly the sand siblings didn't bat an eye at what he had done so Naruto stood with them. Gaara bowed his head and the other two eyed him carefully.

Temari was unsure how to react, this guy had been so cheerful and upbeat, and dare she say it cute, when they were playing shogi but here he had been as brutal as Gaara. But now up in the stands he was in full control again. It was now obvious to the members of the sand team that Naruto was a Jinchuriki.

"Nine by the way." Naruto said out of nowhere.

"Huh?" Temari responded.

"You were wondering how many tales my tenant has, it's nine." Naruto stated off handed, Temari, Kankurou and their sensei Baki gasped in surprise.

"And you're…" Temari started as she tried to think of a way to finish her thought without offending him.

"Yes I'm in total control." Naruto laughed, Gaara watched in shock at how Naruto was acting. Surely to be as powerful as him he should be consumed by hatred… right?

"Oh and Shukaku don't worry, I'll cleanse that annoying spirit, maybe little Gaara here can finally get some sleep." Laughed Naruto, within Gaara's head Shukaku shivered, even he was afraid of Naruto.

The board started to cycle through names again, settling on Shino Aburame Vs Choji Akimichi.

The fight looked boring from the get go, Choji didn't want to hurt one of his classmates but with some prompting from his Sensei he attempted using his Human Boulder technique, sadly during his indecision Shino had already started spreading insects around the arena and as soon as Choji had inflated he was coated in the chakra draining bugs. It was over before Choji knew what hit him.

"Not what I would have done but eh, it worked." Naruto commented to the Suna shinobi as Shino was announced the winner.

The next fight was so devastatingly bad that Naruto ended up laughing uncontrollably at the end of it. This fight had been Ino Yamanaka Vs Sakura Haruno. The whole fight was a grudge match over who Sasuke liked more, and from the way that Sasuke completely ignored the fight suggested he didn't give a fuck about either. Suffice to say a double knockout was probably a small mercy for the two kunoichi.

The board cycled through the names again, settling on Kiba Inuzuka Vs Kankurou. The fight was short but sweet, Kiba and Akamaru had gone into the fight cocky, expecting an easy win. What had really happened was they had ended up wasting a significant amount of chakra trying to establish a quick K.O. but had targeted a puppet and not the ninja controlling it. Kankurou quickly paralysed them with senbon coated in a numbing agent.

"That was too good; Kiba's been an arrogant and annoying mutt ever since we were in the academy… Although I was a lot like him then." Naruto said as Kankurou came back up to the stands.

"Will Sasuke Uchiha and Zaku Abume please come down to the arena?" Called Hayate. The two genin came down to the arena, Zaku's arms were wrapped in slings but he shakily removed his right arm from the sling and got into a fighting stance. Sasuke smirked seeing the damage he had done to the sound ninja.

"You should give up now; I won't lose to you and will only damage your pathetic arms again." Sasuke said as he smirked, Zaku's reply was a smirk of his own.

"Begin!" yelled Hayate as he jumped back.

Sasuke tried to activate his sharingan but a searing pain exploded in his shoulder over the curse seal, he could feel the barely restrained power lurking there. He was tempted to use it but had been informed by Kakashi that he would personally remove him from the fight if he accessed it.

Growling in frustration Sasuke charged forward attempting to get in close to engage in a taijutsu battle. However before he could get close a blast of compressed air launched directly at him. He barely dodged it and prepared to dodge another that followed closely behind.

"Pathetic, I thought the Uchiha clan were the best of the best." Laughed Zaku, "You only got lucky in the forest."

"You were lucky you survived the forest!" Roared Sasuke as he charged forward again, his eyes flickering between sharingan and normal onyx black. His chakra flared wildly as he tried to access it but the curse mark was still messing with his control.

"I won't lose to trash like you!" He snarled as he finally got within striking distance. Sasuke swung a punch at Zaku's head but Zaku ducked it and while he was down attempted to blast Sasuke away but before he could even move his arm a powerful kick slammed into his already weakened shoulder joint.

He screamed in pain as his freshly healed arm was snapped out of its socket and wrenched backwards.

"These arms of yours are your most prized weapons. It would be a shame if something happened to them." Whispered Sasuke as he twisted his foot, still wedged against Zaku's shoulder.

With another quick shove Zaku was sent sprawling, Sasuke turned around and began walking away. Zaku's rage boiled over and he slowly pulled his less injured arm out of its sling. Aiming at Sasuke's back he charged as much chakra into the tube in his arm and prepared to blast the punk off the face of the earth.

Sasuke felt the chakra begin building up and spun around, throwing a kunai at Zaku's outstretched palm. The kunai's point lodged in the hole in the centre of his palm and before Zaku could stop it the chakra build-up in his arm detonated. The chakra and compressed air made short work of his arm, tearing through flesh, blood and bone like paper.

His screams echoed for a minute until he lost consciousness and the medics carried him away, a younger medic turned green at the state of the boys arm.

"Now I can honestly say I don't like the Uchiha but that was quite the show." Laughed Naruto, the sand siblings were unfazed by the sight, they were used to seeing such gore from Gaara.

The next fight was Tenten vs Temari and while both were capable kunoichi it was the worst possible match for Tenten. Her use of weaponry was incredible but were completely ineffective against Temari's wind ninjutsu and battle fan. Upon seeing Temari's finisher, Tenten landing back first onto the folded fan Temari wielded, Naruto's jaw dropped. He would never admit it to Kurama but this girl was really starting to get to him. She was smart, strong, related to a Jinchuriki and ruthless in battle.

'Crap I do like her' Thought Naruto.

"Hahahahahahahaha" laughed Kurama in his head.

'Fuck note to self don't think when kitsune-baka is awake.' Thought Naruto, Kurama growled and cut the connection.

"That was quite the fight Temari-chan" Naruto said offhandedly as she arrived back with their small group, Temari blushed slightly causing Naruto to smirk.

"Thank you Naruto, it's too bad for her that she was put up against me. Against any of the other kunoichi here or even some of the guys she would have won easily." Temari said trying to get her blush to die down.

"You must be pretty strong to swing that fan of yours, it must weigh more than Sakura… then again an average kunai weighs more than Sakura." Naruto said, laughing slightly.

"No offense but your teammate is a disgrace to kunoichi everywhere." Temari said, getting nods from Kankurou and Baki.

"Why would I take offence, I think she's a disgrace to both kunoichi and women in general." Naruto said getting an affirmative laugh from Temari.

"Winner Shikamaru Nara." Hayate called, Naruto and the sand ninja looked down to see Kin Tsuchi, the kunoichi from the Oto team, unconscious on the floor, her shadow still connected to Shikamaru.

Above them the board cycled through names, settling on Rock Lee Vs Gaara.

"YOSH GAI-SENSEI! It is time for my FLAMES OF YOUTH to shine through and show everyone that I am a true ninja!" Yelled Lee to his sensei, the two could have been twins.

"LEE"

"GAI-SENSEI"

"LEE"

"GAI-SENSEI"

A rainbow and waterfall appeared behind the two as they hugged, tears streaming down their faces.

"Gaara refrain from killing Lee, I may not like it here in this village but for now they are my comrades." Naruto said calmly, Gaara nodded before appearing in the arena in a swirl of sand.

Naruto was stunned to see that Lee had beaten Gaara to the floor even though he had body flickered there.

What happened next was shocking to all present, Gaara's control of his sand was incredible and the way it automatically blocked all of Lee's attacks was amazing. That is until Lee removed his weights and shook the tower to its foundations. Now Gaara's sand struggled to keep up with the flurry of kicks and punches that were flying with devastating force. Suddenly Gaara grunted as he rocked back with a series of cracks appearing in his previously hidden sand armour.

Gaara seemed to get lost in the thrill of the battle as Lee started to unleash a series of punishing strikes to the armour trying to break it but he couldn't quite get through. Lee darted back and concentrated for a second, with a cry his chakra output increased tenfold. The ground cracked beneath him as he launched forward.

"Hmm it seems the strange one can open the 8 gates. That is a powerful technique that is able to increase the power of a ninja to beyond levels possible to anyone not a Jinchuriki although with terrible damage to the body and after the opening of the final gate only death remains." Lectured Kurama.

'I didn't actually care fox' Naruto thought.

"Well you should, the gates being open could propel someone's power to the point that even my help could not be enough." Kurama said with annoyance.

'Fine I'll pay attention then... oops too late' Naruto thought as he saw that Lee was encased in sand with only his face showing. Gaara was barely containing his demons bloodlust as his arm shook as he held back the sand.

"Lee is unab-" Hayate began before suddenly the sand was blown away and Lee stood there with his skin glowing bright red. His eyes were completely white and a visible aura of chakra was swirling around him. Suddenly he was in front of Gaara with his foot planted firmly in his chin. Gaara seemed to be frozen for a split second before he was launched into the air, a series of strikes propelled him further and further into the air before Lee appeared behind him. The bandages wrapped around his arm swung around Gaara and encased him in a cocoon.

Naruto had demonic chakra running through his system, not enough for a cloak or physical changes but enough to enhance his senses, enough to let him see Gaara body flicker out of his sand armour in that split second before being launched and leave the armour behind as an empty shell.

When Lee's bandages had entrapped the sand shell a small sliver of sand snaked out and attached itself to the bandages. Lee attempted to slam what he thought was Gaara into the ground while jumping away himself but found at the last second that he couldn't reel in his bandages. With a resigned smile at his loss Lee slammed into the ground with the sand shell.

When the dust cleared Hayate looked down into the crater that had formed, seeing the collapsing sand shell and the heavily damaged Lee he raised his voice and addressed the audience.

"Ahem, Lee in unable *cough* to battle, the winner is Gaara of the Sand." There was no clapping or congratulating, only stunned silence at the sheer power possessed by the two ninja. Naruto slapped Gaara on the back when he stood back next to him, Gaara flinched from the contact which shocked everyone watching. This boy had just made Lee look weak but a single tap from Naruto made him act like a frightened animal.

Down on the field Yoroi and Dosu were battling, the unique chakra absorbing technique Yoroi used meant the Dosu couldn't get in close to use his melody arm but he had been tapping on the metal of the weapon since the beginning of the fight causing a slight ringing in everyone's ears. Suddenly Yoroi darted forward with a glowing hand to catch Dosu but he slammed the flat side of a kunai to the melody arm making everyone groan at the sudden pressure and pain against their ear drums. Yoroi wasn't as lucky, being so close to Dosu resulted in the full blast of the sonic weapon hitting him. When the ringing stopped the audience looked down to see Yoroi on the ground with blood dripping from his ears.

Hayate called the fight in Dosu's favour as medics came and took the writhing form of Yoroi away.

"Heh, the weirdo survived having his eardrums demolished." Dosu commented off-hand as he returned to the stands.

Naruto was wholly unimpressed with the match, neither had abilities that he deemed useful. The chakra absorption would be useful if it weren't for the fact he had access to a nearly limitless chakra battery, and the melody arm would do more damage to his enhanced senses than his opponents.

The final battle of the preliminaries was about to begin, Hinata and Neji Hyuuga were squared off against each other, each in the same stance although a few errors were present in Hinata's stance.

The fight was brutal and evidently Neji had a serious vendetta against the main house of the Hyuuga clan as he fought with brutal efficiency and targeted vital organs all over Hinata's torso. She had put up a valiant effort but Neji was just too brutal, Hayate intervened before he could land a fatal strike to Hinata's torso.

When Hinata was carried away the winners of the matches were called down to pick out a number for the final round of the exams.

"Seven" Naruto called out.

"Three" Shino said calmly.

"Four" Kankurou yelled as he surveyed his opponent.

"Eight" Sasuke said as he looked at Naruto, this was his chance to show that even if the dobe was strong it wouldn't be enough against an elite like himself. He would just need to steal, ahem, learn some more jutsu from Kakashi.

"Six" Temari said as she surveyed the last few fighters.

"Troublesome, five" Shikamaru droned.

"One" Gaara said with the same barely contained bloodlust from his fight hidden within.

"Nine" Dosu said with confusion.

"Two" Neji stated calmly.

"Alright guys this is the final match ups for the third round of the chunin selection exams." Anko said as she held up a piece of paper. "Gaara of the Sand versus Neji Hyuuga. Shino Aburame versus Kankurou of the Sand. Shikamaru Nara versus Temari of the Sand. And finally a three way fight between Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Dosu Kinuta. The winner of each fight will continue onto the next round and then the final round after that." Anko explained.

"Now that the preliminaries are over I wish you all luck in your training over the next month. The final round of this exam is a highly publicised event and as such each of you has the next month to learn what you can about your opponents and learn new techniques to combat them." Explained the Hokage. Naruto smirked, a month of training and so many things to learn and try with Kurama and Gaara.

"And Temari..." Taunted Kurama. Naruto mentally growled.

"I need to speak with you" Naruto said quietly to Gaara as the chunin hopefuls all went to meet up with their senseis. Gaara nodded slightly before both he and Naruto disappeared in body flickers.

A/N Well I don't have much to say here, just that I'm trying to work on all my ongoing stories and maybe planning on releasing some of my experimental stories... that being said my experimental file is bigger than my actual released chapter file...

Thanks Trigger2332 out!