Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the cast.
Chapter 5: Elimination
The only highlight of the speech from the Hokage was learning that the Chūnin Selection Exams were a replacement for open war between the Elemental Nations' hidden shinobi villages. Also learning that you could become chūnin if you showed the appropriate skills even when losing in the first match of the main tournament. Naruko remembered most of what Iruka-sensei had said about chūnin and what was expected of them. Sadly, Naruko only had a high ranked jutsu and large chakra reserves, nothing else befitting of the rank. Add to that the village and council's hatred for her, that meant her chances of becoming a chūnin were about as good as Shikamaru joining Lee and Guy's energetic Flames of Youth brigade or Sasuke showing interest in a female.
Before the Hokage could continue, a man shunshined in front of the genin. "Hokage-sama, if I may," the man said before being caught up in a coughing fit. The Hokage nodded. "I am Gekkō Hayate, proctor for the third and final stage of the Chūnin Selection Exams," he stopped to cough a few times, "we will be holding a short preliminary tournament here and now."
"What?" Kiba barked, "why?"
Hayate looked upwards, as if a cloud was about to prescribe him something for that cough of his. "The first two parts of the exam were, probably, too easy. Quite simply, there are too many examinees left, so we need to cut your numbers down slightly."
"Why?" Sakura asked.
"Because we can't have a long, drawn out tournament," Hayate explained, "it would be tedious to the visiting Daimyo, Kage and various civilians here to see the tournament." He waited for a few moments. "If there is anyone who feels that they cannot continue, you may forfeit. It is now every ninja for themselves, so you don't need to worry about your team."
'Shows how much you know about my team,' Shikamaru thought as he imagined how Ino would yell if he walked out of the room.
"I quit," Kabuto said.
"Why?" Naruko asked.
Kabuto smiled at her kindly. "The damage I took from that Oto-nin in the first test as well as the wounds I received from the Ame-nin are taking a lot out of me. I wouldn't last a single round, so I'll quit while I can still raise my arm." He then spoke with his team, one of them sounding very angry about Kabuto forfeiting. After Hayate confirmed his name and removed him from the list, he continued waiting.
Sasuke flinched as the mark started to throb. Sakura had taken a good look at it while they were coming into the tower and told him that it sort of looked like his sharingan, but it had three tomoe as opposed to Sasuke's incomplete sharingan with its two tomoe. It also didn't have a ring.
"Sasuke-kun," Sakura mumbled, "you should quit and have Kakashi-sensei or someone look at that mark."
"No," he stated firmly.
"B-but I'm worried about you. You haven't been the same since you got it and it obviously hurts..." she said.
He grabbed her wrist too tightly. "Stay out of my business!" He then winced slightly. "I am not here to be promoted to chūnin or anything. I am an avenger. This is a test to see if I have grown stronger at all since I became a genin." He looked around as he clutched the mark on his neck. "There are a lot of strong ninja here. I need to see where I place among them, if I place amongst them at all."
Naruko growled and grabbed his arm, making him release Sakura. "You pig headed idiot. Sakura-chan is worried about you and all you care about is a good fight? You are really starting to p-"
Sasuke looked dead in her eyes. "You are one of those strong ninja I want to fight." He then smirked. "Ever since Wave, I realized that in missions, just like jutsu, you only shine when it gets really difficult. You are probably the only person in the world who completed an A-rank mission without cowering behind your Jōnin sensei." Sasuke remembered that he had been shaking like a leaf and ready to run when Naruko, still henged at the time, charged Zabuza and came up with a plan to free Kakashi. Had it been anyone other than Naruko in her place, Team 7 would be dead in that clearing while Wave was slowly picked apart by that vulture-like bastard Gato.
Hayate realized that nobody else was going to quit. "Now that we have covered that, we will announce the first match," he pointed to an electronic board, "the names of the two people for this match will be seen there, the rest will have to wait in the stands."
The board flashed on. Its displays saying: Uchiha Sasuke VS Akado Yoroi. Everyone filed out of the battleground. Kakashi stopped and said something to Sasuke before he left.
The fight seemed quite one-sided at first, Sasuke dominating Kabuto's teammate. It wasn't until Sasuke locked up Yoroi's arm that things changed. All Yoroi did was grab him and Sasuke released him. It wasn't until this happened again that Naruko figured that the masked ninja was doing something to Sasuke while grabbing him. Sasuke put some distance between himself and Yoroi, then stayed there.
Naruko was getting annoyed. Sasuke wasn't some weak loser. He was Sakura's favourite person and a superior ninja, at least he was in Sakura's eyes anyways. Naruko would admit that he was strong, but his strength wasn't all in his sharingan. "What the hell are you doing?" she shouted, "stop dragging your feet and kick his ass!"
Hearing Naruko of all people telling him to hurry up got Sasuke moving again. He remembered something, or at least all of it that he had seen Kakashi use once. Yoroi ran forward, that strange chakra draining ability most likely on. Sasuke wouldn't activate his sharingan. That stupid seal on his neck would just make it hurt too much to do anything but lose. He could lose to this nobody, this chakra mosquito. He needed to at least fight Lee and Naruko.
Right when it seemed Sasuke was trapped, he ducked down and drove a hard straight kick into Yoroi's jaw, sending the masked ninja upwards. He then jumped after him, fitting into the larger genin's shadow completely. "I don't know what comes next, but this is my version!" Sasuke stated. Right as he began to move, the curse seal on his neck started acting up again. It made no sense since Sasuke wasn't using any chakra. Then it hit him, it also reacted to lack of chakra. So now he couldn't use his sharingan or use too many jutsu. Just great.
The burning was messing everything up. He couldn't move and he knew that the technique would fall apart if he didn't get moving. Memories of his experiences with his team, recent and old, as well as all the people he had recently met flashed through his mind. He needed to get passed this. The burning receded as the seal was forced back.
The assembled ninja watched as Sasuke forced the seal back, one ninja astonished that Sasuke didn't rely on the seal. The Uchiha then swung a kick at Yoroi's hip, which was too light to be any use. He then chained a second strike on a spot slightly higher up, then another one. It finally hit everyone what he was doing just before the final blow landed; he was using his kicks to position himself for the real attack. Sasuke spun to deliver a very fast and hard heel drop to Yoroi's chest. "Shishi Rendan!" he shouted as the final blow smashed his opponent into the ground hard. Sasuke recoiled from the attack and felt pain shooting through his whole body. Clearly, he was limited in how much he could use that technique. He fell back, too tired and hurt to support his own weight.
"Good work," Kakashi said as he used his leg to support Sasuke, "now let's go take care of that curse seal." He then shunshined away before the medics could even arrive. Once Yoroi was removed from the arena, the next match was announced. It was that Zaku guy and Shino. The Aburame told Zaku to forfeit, but the arrogant teen didn't listen. In the end, Zaku blew one of his own arms off using his air cannons after Shino commanded his bugs to block them up. With Zaku being a one trick horse, one arm blown clean off and the other with a gaping hole in it, all Shino had to do was strike him once and it was over.
The next fight was about to be announced when Team 7's resident open pervert reappeared with his classic, "Yo!"
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed, "how is Sasuke-kun?"
"He's fine and resting," the Jōnin said, not mentioning his run in with Orochimaru or the fact that both Naruko and Sasuke had ANBU guards near them while in Konoha. Of course, Naruko's ANBU guards were hand picked by the Hokage while Sasuke just had a few that Kakashi had managed to find on his way here. His news calmed the pink haired girl down.
The next fight was announced. It was that Suna-nin dressed up in cat pyjamas, Kankuro, against Kabuto's other teammate, Misumi. The fight looked to be another quick one because of Misumi's ability to stretch his body like rubber, but just when it seemed he won by breaking Kankuro's neck, it turned out that he was a doll and the real Kankuro was the bundle. Kankuro ended the match by breaking ever bone in Misumi's body other than his neck and skull.
"Hey!" Naruko shouted, "isn't that cheating?"
Kakashi shook his head. "It is a tool, not another person. He obviously is one of Suna's puppeteer ninja. Think of that puppet like Kiba's puppy or Shino's bugs." Naruko grumbled. She watched as the badly wounded ninja was taken away. Now Kabuto's whole team was gone.
CLICK!
She looked up and saw the next match. Yamanaka Ino VS Haruno Sakura. 'Uh oh,' Naruko thought as she started to sweat, 'this could get ugly...' Sakura and Ino made their way down to the battleground, their killing intent, while quite weak, was easily detectable.
"Watch this fight Naruko," Kakashi commanded as he stepped forward and held the railing while uncovering his sharingan, "it only happens a few times in one's life."
"W-what?" she asked.
"A cat fight!" Kakashi said in all seriousness. Naruko realized that he was still teaching her the joys a man could experience in his life despite her being a girl now. Ah, whatever. Naruko still thought like a guy. 'I wonder what it would be like with mud?' she thought, then banged her head into the rail lightly. 'I'm going to wind up like Kakashi-sensei!'
When they got into position, Sakura took off her forehead protector, shocking everyone. The two then exchanged heated words, almost all of them relating to Sasuke. Poor Naruko felt like crawling into a corner and vanishing. After a few words, Ino removed her own forehead protector, then both put them on again the way that was considered standard. Hayate signalled the start of the match.
Sakura rushed forward, forming two bunshin on either side of her. Just when Ino looked like she was going to ignore the bunshin, since they couldn't do anything, Sakura used the tree climbing exercise to boost her speed, allowing her to deliver a heavy punch to Ino's face. After Kakashi explained Sakura's perfect chakra control, and putting Naruko into a slightly deeper depression by saying Sakura was better than her, the girls charged at each other again. Both stopped the others punch with their free hand. They jumped back and both threw shuriken, only to have them hit each other.
Without warning, Sakura pulled out a kunai and sliced her long hair off, letting it blow away in the wind as she dropped the kunai. "It was getting in the way," she stated before going after Ino again. Both girls struck each other and both were knocked quite a distance from each other. They started yelling at each other again, Sakura ending the exchange by insulting Ino's skills and long hair. Ino became enraged and responded by mimicking Sakura's earlier action and sliced her pony tail off with a kunai. Ino threw her hair in between them. Ino then started the process of using her family jutsu.
"Kakashi-sensei... Isn't Ino's jutsu too slow to be used in battle?" Naruko asked.
Kakashi held his chin. "I don't know too much about it, but I do believe it is not a technique one can use too easily in battle."
Sakura also pointed out the weakness to her former friend's jutsu: its lack of speed. Ino kept going with it though. Sakura went to move. Ino initiated the jutsu and both girls stopped after Sakura moved a foot over. It seemed that Ino had screwed up, but Ino revealed that she had used her discarded hair as a bastardized ninja wire. With Sakura trapped, Ino restarted her jutsu. "Shintenshin no Jutsu," Ino said as her body slumped to the ground.
Sakura chuckled a bit. "Proctor," she called to the coughing man, catching his attention, "I, Haruno Sakura, am fo-"
Naruko knew what was happening and she would not allow it to happen. "What the hell is wrong with you Sakura-chan! Don't let that Sasuke baka beat you!"
Ino looked over at Naruko, mild annoyance on her face. "Like I was saying, I fo-"
"To make that idiot worry about me... I'm not that weak."
'What?' Ino thought. Sakura's consciousness should be shut down right now.
Sakura, or at least an image like her, appeared and shoved Ino aside. "What are you doing in here Ino-pig!" the image, which had 'Inner Sakura' written on its forehead, yelled as it grew larger and grabbed Ino. "This is my head! No pork allowed! Get out!" Seeing that she didn't have the chakra to subdue another Sakura, she cancelled the jutsu and returned to her own body.
"T-two consciousnesses?" Ino asked, "what is the matter with you?"
"Nothing," Sakura panted, "just a survival mechanism."
Both girls knew they were tapped out. They would end it with a single strike. Both ran forwards and punched the other over the head hard enough to knock their forehead protectors off. When both girls hit the ground, Hayate just looked at them and announced a draw. Their respective jōnin sensei picked them up and returned to the gallery. Naruko was told to not worry about the girls and go watch the next match.
This time, the Suna kunoichi, Temari, was facing off against Lee's teammate, Tenten. Right after the fight started, it became completely one-sided. Temari either blocked or blew away Tenten's numerous weapons with wind. She became bored eventually and tossed the younger girl into the air with a small tornado, then held her fan out so Tenten landed on it back first.
"Winner, Temari!" Hayate announced. Temari flung Tenten towards one of the walls, but Lee caught her. After angering Lee, he tried to strike at her with his Konoha Senpū, but the kunoichi blocked it with ease. Guy went to the battleground to retrieve his genin, telling the Suna-nin that Lee was stronger than they thought.
"Don't lose to them Naruko!" Sakura shouted, having recovered during the Temari/Tenten slaughter.
"S-Sakura-chan?" Naruko asked, a little scared, "did Ino hit your head too hard?"
"I'm fine, it is you who should be worrying," Sakura said, "you need to make it to the end to face Sasuke-kun after all." Once again, Naruko felt like hiding. "Also...thanks for earlier," Sakura said softly, "if it weren't for you, I would have lost to Ino."
Naruko merely stared at her. "You got a point there." Sakura wanted to smash Naruko for that. Here she was being nice to her and the redhead goes and makes her angry again.
The next fight was the Oto kunoichi, Kin, versus Konoha's resident slacker prince, Shikamaru. The fight was unimpressive. Shikamaru used her own wire trick against her to capture her with his shadow jutsu. He then threw a shuriken, as did Kin. When both leaned back to avoid the attack, Kin smashed her head into the wall and was knocked out. Shikamaru was announced as the winner. 'That was so boring and he still looked cool,' Naruko thought.
The display announced the next round. Uzumaki Naruko K. VS Inuzuka Kiba.
"Looks like we got lucky!" Kiba shouted, "this is an easy win."
"Hey!" the redhead shouted, "I'm not a weakling!"
"You're right," Kiba admitted, "you are a dobe and the dead last idiot of our class. A total failure. It was a mistake that you even passed."
Naruko growled and jumped over the rail, falling to the ground in a feral crouch. Her hair actually stood on end slightly as she walked up to her starting position. "I'll beat you so badly that Akamaru will need to sniff you to recognize you!" she declared.
Kiba scoffed and put Akamaru down, telling him that he didn't need to interfere in this battle. The puppy whined a bit, now catching Naruko's scent. The puppy had a bad feeling about this, but listened to Kiba.
"Start!" Hayate shouted.
With that, Kiba shot forward and punched at Naruko's face. He connected with air while Naruko's open hand caught his face. "What?" he managed before the girl shoved forward with her hand, sending him skidding back to Akamaru. Kiba felt the place where her hand had gripped his head from the pain of where her fingers had pressed into his skull. He didn't notice it before, but she was slightly taller than him and her legs were longer than his, giving her greater reach. He noted her feral, crouched stance. 'That little bitch! She's copying the Inuzuka style!' He rushed forward again, this time feinting with his right fist while getting an uppercut ready. She dodged the first blow, then partially blocked the uppercut. With her in the air, he knew he should save her the embarrassment of a drawn out fight. He jumped at her, rotating as he became a furious drill of taijutsu. "Tsūga!" he shouted as he drilled into the redhead's stomach. He landed and looked at the proctor, wondering why the match wasn't called.
He got his answer when two Naruko's struck from either side, hitting him with sweeping hand strikes that lightly spun him. 'Dammit! She is fighting like that demon cat!' he thought as he remembered his last run-in with Tora. It did seem like Naruko was trying to scratch him, but lacked the claws to do so. He struck one down while Akamaru bit the arm of the other, both proving to be shadow clones. The real one struck him from behind by landing on his shoulders, then vaulting off him, sending him sprawling into the dirt to skid on his face.
In the stands, Sakura was speechless at what was happening on the arena floor. Naruko was fighting very well, seemingly playing with the Inuzuka. Then again, Kiba was holding back. He had yet to use his family's jutsu and Akamaru had only just joined in. Even so, it seemed Naruko was holding back just as much as her opponent was, maybe even more so.
Kakashi was wondering how and where Naruko learned to fight like that. It was true that the genin had often hunted him down to learn jutsu, tactics and taijutsu, but Kakashi had to ignore her or else the council would start wondering why he was teaching the kitsune anything at all. Through team training, the girl had learned tactics, but nothing else. He smiled lightly, knowing that what little he taught her had an impact. He wondered how strong his team would be had he been free to train the whole team equally. Actually, he wondered how it would be to have a team without that eyesore, Sasuke. What he wouldn't do to send that unstable brat to a psych ward... Actually, screw the crazy house, just bury the little shit alive.
"That's it!" Kiba shouted, angry that he had been battered around. It was like fighting his sister. "Shikyaku no Jutsu!" he growled as he fell to all fours, his nails becoming claws and his appearance becoming even more feral. He was going to trash her. He rushed at her, then struck at her face again. Naruko spun around from the impact, then slammed her elbow into his temple, staggering him.
'Why? Why can't I knock this loser out?' Kiba thought as he felt a deep, burning anger. He wasn't the best in the class, but he was better than this grade A loser. Then he remembered the insane level of luck the idiot had. How else could she have evaded trained ninja for hours on end? It wasn't skill, it was all luck. Time to end it though. "Akamaru! Let's put her in her place!" he called out to his partner as he fed him a pill. The dog barked as it turned red, then hopped onto his back. "Jūjin Bunshin!" Kiba called out as Akamaru transformed into a copy of him. Now Naruko couldn't tell them apart. Kiba wouldn't take that chance though.
"Gatsūga!" he shouted as him and Akamaru turned into twin drills, almost pinning the girl between them. She evaded, then crouched low and waited for them to stop the attack.
"You aren't fooling anyone," she told the two, then pointed at the left one, "especially you Akamaru."
Kiba wanted to grin. The dobe had pointed to him and called him Akamaru. Shows how good she was. The two rushed forward again, making it look like another Gatsūga was coming. At the last moment, the two struck with punches to her stomach, knocking her down. Kiba jumped onto her, pinning her legs with his and her wrists with his left arm. "Give up," he ordered. He had no time for this girl. He wanted to face strong opponents, not some loser.
"You first," Naruko shot back as she drove her knee into his groin, or almost did anyway. His grip loosened enough and she slammed her forehead protector into his nose, breaking it. She then shoved him away with her legs.
Kiba stood up as Naruko got to her own feet. "Damn loser," he growled, "you only got anything done because you hid behind your sensei while the Uchiha did everything."
That was a mistake, one that Kiba would never, ever repeat again.
Kiba watched as the girl performed a bastardized version of the Shikyaku no Jutsu as she roared to the heavens, the air vibrating with her anger. Her hair became a wild mane the color of old blood, her nails became claws, her canines lengthened and her pupils became slits. She dropped to all fours and charged at Kiba with incredible speed, scratching him on his face and right shoulder. Akamaru jumped in, trying to distract the redhead so his partner could get away from her. She turned to the transformed dog and delivered a single uppercut to his jaw, making the dog spin in the air for a few moments, cancelling the transformation and knocking Akamaru out for the remainder of the fight.
'She's faster, stronger and now has the weapons her strikes require!' Kiba thought as he held his wounded shoulder. He wanted to end this fight, but he knew he was now on the losing side because of her increased abilities and him losing Akamaru. He had no choice but to slip into her defences and deliver a point blank Tsūga with all he had left. With luck, the blow would be enough to knock her out. If it failed, she would probably knock him out with her next attack. He charged the girl, hoping it would work. "Tsūga!" he shouted as he used his strongest solo technique at nearly point blank range.
To his horror, the girl caught him and stopped his jutsu with her bare hands. To make matters worse, four Narukos appeared around him as the real one released him and jumped back. One of them punched Kiba in the head, knocking him towards the others. While he was off balance from the first one's attack, it started. "U!" kick, "zu!", two kicks, "ma!" three kicks, "ki!" all four kicked him up. He looked up to see Naruko spinning above him like a buzz saw. To his horror, two more Naruko buzz saws appeared. All three stopped and swung their legs down in brutal kicks. "Naruko Rendan!" the three shouted as their feet connected with his chest and smashed him into the ground with enough force to crack the ground and knock him out for a few hours.
The assembled ninja were frozen. Even Hayate, who barely knew Naruko, was too stunned to declare the match over. Most present had pegged Naruko as getting eliminated in her first fight, thinking her getting into the actual tournament would only happen if she didn't get picked during the prelims. Instead, she devastated her first opponent, one that was known to be quite powerful. Kurenai, Kiba's sensei, was the most surprised. She had heard a bit about Naruko from Anko, but figured most of it was just Anko's raving about a similar ninja. It also didn't help that her friend had been hitting the sake and dango pretty hard at the time either.
The Hokage, Kakashi, Sakura and Hinata were the only ones who weren't surprised all that much. Hinata had always seen the strength that Naruko possessed, knowing that it never had the chance to be seen because everyone focused on Sasuke. Sakura had been seeing what the redhead could do, and after Wave, she knew the redhead was quite powerful. Like Sasuke, Sakura learned that Naruko only did her best in real ninja missions, not those tedious excuses that made up all D-rank missions. Kakashi and the Hokage knew how and why Naruko had won. She had the speed and reflexes an Inuzuka needed a jutsu to achieve in addition to huge chakra reserves to back them up, and that was all before she shifted more towards being a true kitsune. She may have lost a lot of physical power, but she made up for this by unconsciously pushing chakra into her muscles. It also helped that she could create shadow clones to eliminate, or override, the handicap on her strength.
Hayate realized he had a duty to perform. "Winner: Uzumaki Naruko K!"
A few people, mainly civilians with ninja contacts, suddenly wondered what that K stood for and decided to try to find that out later. The redhead limped up the stairs and leaned against the railing, obviously damaged from whatever technique she had used to copy the Shikyaku. She stood next to Sakura for a total of four seconds before she slumped, then fell backwards. "Naruko!" Sakura shouted in alarm as she checked on her teammate. A loud snore was heard and Sakura felt the need to box Naruko into a coma. Several people laughed at her. Instead of killing Naruko, Sakura shook her awake to watch the matches.
[An hour later]
Naruko now had a hit list. That asshole Neji nearly killed Hinata during their fight. Bushy brows had his arm and leg destroyed by that sleepless freak from Suna. The good news was that Naruko had caught the attention of that fate deluded bastard Neji and Lee dealt some damage to Garra. Of course, it seemed that Lee had dealt so much damage to his own body that the medical ninja started to doubt if they could help him. Oh yeah, Dosu managed to beat Choji as well. The Akimichi was only worried about eating after getting beaten, so he was okay.
Kakashi said some things to Sakura, Naruko was too far away to hear it, but she assumed it was Sasuke again, before he left. The Hokage explained various things, such as training and getting ready for the tournament in one month.
Anko was going around with a box with slips of paper in it. Once everyone had a piece of paper, they were asked what number they had.
"Three," Dosu said.
"I got eight," Naruko grumbled.
Temari sighed. "Six."
"One," Kankuro mumbled.
"Nine," Garra stated as he used sand to shred the paper apart.
"Five," Shikamaru said, a low 'troublesome' was heard.
"Seven," Neji said.
"Two," Shino said, looking the least worn out of anyone.
"Sasuke is four then," Ibiki informed the Hokage.
The old man nodded. "Now I can tell you who you will be fighting in a month's time."
"What? Is that what the drawing was for?" Shikamaru shouted. That was probably the most animated he had been since the time he called Sakura a troublesome woman that nobody in their right mind would date. She had the lazy genius run that day.
The Hokage told Ibiki to show them the match ups.
Match 1: Kankuro VS Aburame Shino
Match 2: Uchiha Sasuke VS Dosu
Match 3: Nara Shikamaru VS Temari
Match 4: Uzumaki Naruko K. VS Hyūga Neji
Gaara VS winner of Match 4
Naruko was happy. Both people she wanted to beat were matched against her. Now she needed to work some way of beating the Jūken and Garra's sand defences. The old man went on about some other stuff, but Naruko just kind of dozed while waiting for him to finish. She needed to find Kakashi-sensei so she could get some training in!
'Finally!' Naruko thought as the Hokage finished his speech. "Hey Sakura-chan!" she called, "where is Kakashi-sensei?"
"Probably with Sasuke-kun at the hospital!" Sakura called down.
"Thanks!" Naruko shouted before she bolted to go find her sensei.
[Konoha Hospital]
"WHERE IS SASUKE'S ROOM?" Naruko boomed.
"S-Sasuke-sama isn't allowed visitors at the moment," the medic said, wondering if he could get his ears checked later. The girl could hit some very high notes. He swore his ears were bleeding.
"Naruko!" Kakashi called loud enough to be heard, "quiet in the hospital."
"Kakashi-sensei!" the redhead shouted happily, "I got a request!"
The open pervert held up a hand. "I already know that you want training and I went and found someone who would be perfect for you."
"Why can't you train me?" Naruko pouted. She didn't wait for an answer, it was always the same thing. Naruko growled, her pupils becoming slitted. "It's Sasuke again." She closed her hand tightly, actually cutting her palms with her lengthening nails. "Who is training me then?" she asked, figuring the pervert would never take the time to train her at all. It was always going to be about Sasuke. Naruko didn't expect to be chosen to advance a rank, but she at least wanted to beat the crap out of Neji and Garra.
Truthfully, it hurt Kakashi to see the girl lose all hope of being trained by him, but he had to hide it. Maybe later, he could teach her the same jutsu and speed that Sasuke was going to receive. Why the council wanted Sasuke to learn that jutsu, Kakashi didn't know. It wasn't like the arrogant brat would use it for its true purpose. "I found someone much better for you than me for now."
"Who?" Naruko asked.
"That would be me."
Naruko recognized that voice. "The closet pervert!" she shouted as she pointed at Ebisu, Konohamaru's former sensei.
I was just wondering, is everyone okay with how this fic is going relationship wise? I prefer believable relationship growth, which is why there has been little to no relationship so far. According to ArinaSugarBaby, there needs to be a relationship right away or the fic is crap. I am currently writing chapter 7 out, so I can alter it a bit to make Ino go after Naruko sooner than I wanted to.
My question is: do you guys want the NaruIno to start when I wanted it to start, around the retrieval arc, or before that?
ShadowCub: Think of the training Naruto puts himself through. 1000 pushups, 100 laps, tons of chakra molding. Plain and simple, he's a masochist. He seems to want a woman who can keep him in line, hence Sakura's presence. Also, she won't be hitting Naruko in this fic for obvious reasons. I'd like to see you hit her after what she does to Neji and Gaara.
No to Hana. Naruko is a kitsune, a fox demon. Hana is from the Inuzuka clan, a clan of trackers/hunters and tracking dogs. I know that tracking dogs are used to hunt foxes, so Naruko would have in inbred dislike for dogs.
Chm01: Sorry for going off that way, but I hate it when people stick broad term labels on things when it doesn't fit, all because they are ignorant or don't want to waste time with something they don't care to understand. I've spent my whole life getting cruel labels stuck on me by my sister and other people. I even suffered a mental and nervous breakdown when I was twelve due to that, and they happened at the same time too! Because of that event, I have a memory block on everything before I was twelve. If I do remember anything from before that, I get these extremely painful headaches. Now you know why I hate those broad term labels, I've lost almost half my life to them.
Firestar001: Eh? He isn't saying my story is horrible, he was threatening to bomb me if I STOPPED this fic. In other words, he wants his Naruko/Sakura/Ino fix so bad he is willing to commit murder-suicide to get it. I wonder if he's related to Achmed?
And I have told people off before. I remember telling one guy to write a fic himself if he thought he could do a better job than the author. To this day, he hasn't written a single thing other than troll reviews.
Sky Zephyrus: ...Stop reading my mind. Seriously. Do you have a transmitter in my head or something? Actually, it isn't the curse seal that brings about problems, it is Naruko herself!
And I have to ask you this: did you read the last chapter? She went all psycho on Team Dosu! I'd say that is a bit of a snag to having her powers.
Gaara king of sand: Uh, I guess you wanted Naruko to do all the ass kicking. I guess this chapter might have been interesting for you. Wait until later.
Tachi Kagahara & AsterBlake333: Updated!
Serfius: I also wondered why this section was empty, so I decided to do the same as Neil Armstrong and Captain James T. Kirk, boldly going where no man has gone before! Sadly, I haven't started something that cascaded amongst other writers.
tehedward: Hmm. I've noticed that about some fics. Truth be told, Hinata is so timid that I doubt she could take center stage at all. Since she takes center stage in those fics, that means that she is being written OOC. I'm also not good at writing characters like her, so her presence would mostly be mentioned in the background if she was part of the harem.
As for giving her a harem, nobody fits her. And don't point at dog boy or Gaara. I highly doubt that Hiashi would allow Hinata and Kiba to hook up. Hell, I bet he would have fought tooth and nail with the Hokage to move her to a different team if he gave a damn about her before the chūnin exams. As for Gaara...no, that's just wrong. One has pearl eyes and the other has seemingly unblinking eyes with dark marks around them, not a good combo. And if you mention making her a lesbian also (growls throatily at the thought of the shy Hyūga girl with a hot woman, preferably Anko or Kurenai) I already planned that for something else I'm writing. And no, she doesn't hook up with either of the above mentioned ladies in spite of how blood spurtingly awesome it would be.
Ino and Sakura would be dominant girls, the alpha females (not counting Naruko) so they would easily override the shy, timid Hinata. While on the subject of Hinata, that shyness, timidness and her tendency to imitate possums and tomatoes whenever Naruto shows the slightest interest in her is the main reason why I don't think there will ever be NaruHina in canon. Hell, I honestly believe Naruto will die along with Sasuke, so there will be no Naru/anybody!
Either way, it was only an idea I've been gnawing on since Hinata is one of two girls who 'react' to Naruko during a later event. I don't have to make her act on it at a later date.
Naruko's curse seal...I told you I have plans for Pedo-snake's love bite. I will reveal next chapter, which is also the last completed chapter I have right now. I'm going to work on some more since I'm almost done with KTD's last canon arc. I think I'll work on the OC arc, the time-skip filler arc, while I write this. I think it would only be three or four chapters anyway, so it should work out.
Karibanu: Hmm, hard to react when you are in blissful coma. I guess I'll forget about adding Hinata to the harem. I got another (serious) fic that involves NaruSakuHina anyways. And before you say all that again, I am making it so they have been friends for years in that fic, so no fainting. There will be finger poking, stuttering and trying to go from porcelain white to blood red in it though.
Dinian: And Naruto isn't over the top with his jinchūriki forms? She tapped into some of her power while fighting Kiba, so that explains her power at the time. Trust me, that is NOTHING compared to later. But overall, she will be a bit stronger than in canon, and her powers are very different, but she won't be too powerful because most of her power is inaccessible to her.
And nothing drags a girl in like raw lust! You'll see how I do it, and it has been done before! I actually got the idea from a fanfic I read a while ago. I'll try to find it so I can give kudos where they belong.
And what does d(w)b mean?
Bilingualkyuubi: Why do I feel like the critique was a little flame-like? And at least my plot holes aren't the glaring chasms that Kishimoto has in canon. I'm not even going to bother listing any of them since there are far too many. I could write a newsletter on those things.
I'll leave the rest alone too. Moving on.
Anonymous: If you had even half of those sources, kid, they would be telling you to not tempt me. I'm not exactly the most stable of people, which is part of the reason I avoid people. Now, quit with these types of reviews or I WILL cut the story for a while. It would also give me far more time to plan this one out.
Dumbledork: Where have I seen that name before? Must be my precognition again. Anyways, I have yet to start a chain reaction. We need more Naruko fics where she goes for girls. I can't stand that she is always going after Kakashi or Sasuke. Ugh. I think I just made myself sick writing that.
Anikky: Long chapters are difficult. Even with my practice on an unreleased fic (which is pretty damn good if I say so myself), my chapters are only about twelve to fifteen pages long. My goal for my fics is to try and aim for 20 pages per chapter after the time-skip.
Pensuka: You and me both. The plot bunny is struggling to be heard over the bunny that is telling me about 'The Greatest.' I'm proud to admit that Two Demon's is all me and not insanity driven by plot bunny. Sadly, this fic IS insanity driven.
Spazzyninjafish: Okay, what is with the fish part? I just had to ask.
As to my traits, my hair actually comes four colors, silver being the fourth while the others are the same as you. I have a few blonde streaks in my hair, mostly in the front. I have red on the interior of my hair, with a few silver strands saying hi, and the rest is mostly brown with dull red here and there. My eyes aren't like yours. Mine actively change depending on mood and overall health. My eyes were dark, dark blue once due to a heavy blood infection.
Now parkour is something I've always been interested in, but my fighting style has ruined my joints too much to do it. My style relies on producing high levels of torque in my joints, enough to injury myself, then strike the opponent with that level of strength. I can do it at will and I actively shift the bones around slightly using it. Of course, I'm much stronger than I appear. I can also move quickly while on all fours, so I guess it isn't all bad news. Lucky for me I have a very high pain tolerance and the ability to power through any pain I do feel.