Drifting

by AlphaDelta1001

Naruto is many things; troublesome, wild, unpredictable, adventurous, untamable, unique. But there's a benefit to being wild and unpredictable; no one has the faintest idea what you're going to do next. NarutoHarem

29. Chunin Exam Arc II - N,Model Accelerates

Author's Note: This is it: my favorite chapter in the tournament. The one chapter devoted to two of the toughest competitors in the tournament. It's not the final fight, which is just as epic as this one, this comes close to it. Hope you all enjoy it.

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NARUTO

Drifting

The New Models Accelerate

(Stadium – Kage Section)

"That was an interesting match," the Fourth Kazekage commented in a sort of dry tone, being sure to keep the excitement built up from the last two matches well in check.

"Since her opponent was so fast, Samui had to compensate for the huge difference in speed by going for simultaneous exchanges. That strategy normally, always works against opponents who have a marked advantage in agility and use a predictable attack pattern. But when she struck her opponent, she was only aiming to hit her with an attack that could stop her. She didn't know where she was going to hit, but she had to take her chance and avoid the opening blow at the same time," Onoki also spoke, arms folded and eyes narrowing as he reran the final engagement in his head. "This match showed that both opponents have some very interesting assets in their resumes. While Samui possesses remarkable intelligence, patience, perseverance and timing, Tsubaki instead has speed, tact and power on her side… even if she is conceited to the point of making bad judgment calls."

Honestly, talking about your abilities so openly like that. Only an Uchiha, Kage or higher could match that kind of arrogance and stupidity.

"Regardless, Samui still put up a really good fight," the Raikage stated while resting his head on his hand. "To be able to figure out that girl's abilities and to fight a battle that targeted that specific weakness immediately afterwards was a damn good play. Too bad she ran out of juice at the end, otherwise she would have finished her off." Yeah, and the angle she landed her blow meant she wouldn't have been able to finish off her opponent even if she wanted to, unless she somehow managed to yank the blade out and come in for a second attack before her foe managed to get away. If she had a team working with her though, it would have been an easy kill, no problem.

Onoki looked across at the man curiously, "Bummed out from seeing one of yours lose?"

A closed his eyes and grunted, "Call me petty, but yeah. I'll bet she would have made for a fantastic fourth rounder." He then looked across at Mei to see the woman still smiling and looking cheerful. "Your kid did pretty good herself, Mizukage. She may have gotten careless at the end, but she's still quite tough."

Giving a small giggle, Mei looked across at the Raikage with a sweet smile. "Just like what we saw in Gaara, while Tsubaki does possess the physical abilities and skills of a Jonin, I'm afraid some of her other character traits have brought her full potential down a couple of levels. It causes her to act carelessly and make mistakes… big mistakes." This got an intrigued look from the Raikage before he turned back to stare at the stadium's jumbo-tron, where he then decided to watch the replays of the previous matches while waiting for the next round to start. Sighing, the Mizukage looked ahead as well with her arms folded under her bust. "With her experience and talent, I figured she would do better in this tournament. I know that she's smart and that she plays to her strengths well, but she sometimes relies on them too much that she misses some of the other important stuff around her. The best she can do with this performance I'm afraid is Chunin. I was going to fill in the documentation myself to have her promoted earlier… but… I was curious."

Catching onto this, all of the Kage looked over at her again, especially Hiruzen. "Curious about what?"

Mei gave a small smile as she looked over the field to see Tsubaki exit the arena and into the hallway leading into the walls. "I was curious to see if there was a Genin of her age out there who could actually beat her; someone with insight and means equal to hers to match her, and strong enough to get her to work for her promotion. I put her and her team into this exam for the three of them to get more experience in combat and to test them against what the other villages had to offer." Her eyes twinkled when she recalled the last couple of fights. "It seems that my patience has paid off."

Remaining silent for a moment, Onoki then looked up at the screen again to see the replay of Naruto and Kiyoko's match come on, and narrowed his eyes. "She's up against that Naruto brat next, right?" Yeah, the one that jumped down with Samui's teammates to see if she was alright.

A grunted with an amused smirk. "He may seem unorthodox and a little bit weird, but he's pretty damn smart, and strong to boot. With his face, you'd easily think otherwise." Like several other people in the audience, the man had actually been hoping for an epic throw down between him and the blonde haired chick from Kiri. But even though expectations had been set on high for the two of them to take their bout into a bloody brawl, the brat took an alternative route of action and exploited one of the many weaknesses associated with the once thought to be indomitable Kiyoko.

This showed that you could have all the strengths of a particular field in the world, but still fall short in so many other areas.

Every single jutsu in existence had a weakness. The same fact could be applied to people, which Naruto had not been afraid to exploit.

"He's plucky that one," the Kazekage said while watching the screen intently. "However, strategy and grit can only get you so far in a fight, and against an opponent like the one he's about to face, I highly doubt he will last for very long. While he's got a terrific brain inside of that head of his, it may not be enough against an adversary who's probably already decided to change her entire approach and fighting style for her next match."

Hiruzen wasn't too sure about that. Unlike the other Kage, the leader of the hidden leaf wasn't going to call it so readily when the round hadn't even begun yet.

So far, Naruto had shown brilliant tact and skill as a shinobi, one worthy of both commendation and promotion. There was a small chance that the wily, blonde haired troublemaker would be able to win his match. However, with what everyone had seen so far, it made sense that they would doubt his ability to do so, because all he'd shown in his previous performances was some splendid taijutsu skills, some strange 'earth release' technique that didn't look like one at all, the shadow clone technique, and a penchant for pranks.

Being the wise old man that he was, the Third decided to wait and see what would happen, and popped his pipe into his mouth to sit out the half an hour break.

OOO

Sometime later…

Samui unexpectedly woke from her peaceful slumber to a warm, soothing sensation gliding across her body from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. Blinking in confusion, the kunoichi still in the midst of regaining full consciousness looked down her chest toward her feet to see the unexpected sight of two sets of glowing-green hands running a few inches above her immobile figure.

Watching the phantom limbs scan her for a few moments, the blonde's vision eventually cleared completely, allowing her to identify two unfamiliar faces looking her over from the sidelines.

On her right she saw a woman with short, brown hair adorned in a dark kimono, with the sleeves of said robe rolled up her arms and a kind look on her face. To her left, Samui also saw a blonde haired older woman in a green coat, top, and a necklace worn over a rather sizable, incredibly bountiful chest, the envy of probably a lot of women, suspended in full view of both parties.

Saying nothing, the Kumogakure Genin simply stared silently at the two strangers as they worked on her, before the blonde with the two ponytails lifted her hands away and brought her sleeves back down at the end of a job well done. A serious expression appearing on her face as she looked towards the teen, the temporary surgeon then realized right then and there that her patient was in fact awake.

Not at all surprised to see the youngster staring back at her, Tsunade smiled and tugged on the trim of her sleeve, "You took quite a big hit at the end of your match, kid. How does it feel being deep fried by a bolt of lightning?"

Remaining quiet for but a moment, Samui breathed in and out deeply before running damage control on herself. She wasn't in quite so much pain anymore, which was a good thing, and she could feel everything was pretty much still in the right place. So for the most part she was alright. Knowing there was a question that still needed to be answered though, the blonde shrugged a bit as the other kunoichi continued fixing her up in silence.

"Not as cool as I was hoping," Samui said in a notably chipper tone.

Chuckling at her response, Tsunade backed up and placed her hands on her hips. "Smart and tough. I'm actually quite impressed you managed to give your opponent such a run around. You made her move about the arena as opposed to your target getting you to follow her rhythm like she had been her other opponents in her matches. That was some bout."

Sighing, Samui stared up at the ceiling blankly. "As flashy as my performance was, I know for a fact that she wasn't even using all of her skills against me. Even though I pushed her into working hard to try and get around my guard, I'm certain that there's more to her than what she's shown to us so far." The girl then tipped her head at another fact. "I took advantage of her direct approach. She won't make the same mistake twice or use the same attack pattern… not in her next match."

"All of you are top class competitors, there's no doubt about that. Though your opponent is easily Jonin level in terms of speed and power, you're not too bad yourself, brat. I'd say, intelligence alone, you're easily a Jonin level kunoichi yourself," the Sannin responded with a small grin. "You really gave us one hell of a show out there. Good job."

Frowning a little, Shizune looked up from her work to stare at the Sannin. "You say that, but I know for a fact you bet against this poor girl, Tsunade-sama."

Shamefaced expression coming into play, the Sannin glared back at her apprentice who continued to heal the various burns still covering Samui. Though her state didn't look as bad anymore from the few minutes of patchwork they'd already done, the girl's condition had improved considerably from when she was first dragged into here. The medic nin that had been on station had actually moved out of the way to allow the most famous and proficient medical specialist and her apprentice to do the work themselves, since compared to the two wanderers from Konohagakure, their skills were only second best.

"I try to keep my business separate from my personal lectures, Shizune. Please acknowledge that invisible line and stand on either side of it," Tsunade stated crossly.

Breathing out in exasperation, the brown haired kunoichi nodded. "Yes, sensei."

Samui blinked as she looked between the pair before turning to the more elevated of the two, "Not that I'm not happy to be receiving treatment from the Legendary Tsunade of the Sannin but… why are you here?"

Hearing the question loud and clear, the bombshell formerly of the hidden leaf glanced down at the teenager gazing up at her before stepping back a bit. "Well, for one, I'm a professional. It would've been awfully tactless of me to just sit back and watch a seriously injured kunoichi get carted off to receive half-baked treatment for such grave injuries. You weren't just burnt by an ordinary attack out there. Your nerves received a direct shot from a hit of lightning chakra. I recommend not moving about for the next couple of hours or so, not until the electrical signals from your brain leading down to the rest of your body have calmed down." Receiving a bit of a look from her apprentice again, Tsunade waved her off and stepped away some more, before gesturing to someone behind her. "Secondly, if I didn't come down to help you then this brat wouldn't have stopped pestering me."

Curious, Samui fixed on the figure that emerged from behind the Sannin and smiled when she saw Naruto step into view. The jinchuriki grinned at her and waved, relaxing the kunoichi somewhat and earning a headshake from Tsunade and a warm smile from Shizune.

"How are you feeling?" the jinchuriki asked.

Samui moved her arm up and flexed her fingers. "Prickly… like my skin is being prodded by thousands of needles… and I'm sore."

"Those are just your nerves reconnecting with the rest of your skin," Shizune informed. "You're lucky your opponent knew exactly how to attack your body with her lightning so that she didn't kill you. She used just enough to knock you out of the fight. Anymore and your heart would have shut down."

This earned a grim smile from Samui as she looked up again. "Well… I guess a chakra monster like her would definitely have that kind of trick up her sleeve."

"She isn't a monster… just a really good kunoichi that people mistake for a monster," Tsunade stated with absolute certainty in her tone. "If she really was a malicious creature of some kind, then that would make me some sort of monster too."

Naruto smirked at the woman beside him, "Well, you sort of are a bit of a monster, baachan."

This immediately had the woman's eyes lock onto the jinchuriki. Killing intent poured down on top of him like a shower, causing the boy to shiver somewhat. "Watch it brat. I came down here out of the goodness of my heart to help fix up your number two girlfriend, so the least you can do is thank me."

In response, the boy waved a hand dismissively at her. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." He then brushed past her. "Thanks for that, baachan. Now shoo."

"What a cocky, smart-aleck punk," Tsunade growled in her head, wanting nothing more than to strangle the little bastard with her bare hands. Unfortunately, considering the circumstances, where they were and the competition they were still in, it would have been incredibly petty to throttle the kid into the next world for his brazen attitude when there were still two more rounds left to go. Instead, she left herself a note to clobber the youngster later onwards when the rest of the tournament was over, mostly out of curiosity and the need to see the brat's ass kicked. "Don't get smug just because you've made it this far into the contest kid. You skinned by mostly on nerve and luck. By the end of the day, you're still going to lose."

Looking up from Samui, the boy glared over his shoulder at the Sannin looking down at him, both literally and figuratively. Seeing her chest puff out, the blonde's knuckles tightened, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then. How about a wager?" Naruto asked, spinning around and pointing up at the medical nin. "If I make it to the final round and win, I want you to stop acting like a bitchy old lady and hand over that pretty little necklace around your collar." His eyes fell on the crystal he could see sitting above her well endowed chest, which immediately had several eyes widen all around due to the bet he was now making. Folding his arms, the boy grinned smugly. "You want to take that bet… or do you want to back down?"

Clenching her jaw at the boy's nerve, Tsunade folded her arms as well. "And what will you give me in return if you lose?"

"If I lose?" Seeing the woman nod, Naruto chuckled and, with his finger, poked at his headband. "I'll give you this?"

"Your forehead protector?" Tsunade asked, looking at the silver plate with the Konoha symbol emblazoned upon it. Snorting at the return bid, the Sannin looked at the youngster irritably, "Why the hell would I want your stupid headband?"

Meeting her glare, Naruto continued. "If I lose, I will give up being a shinobi and move on to an ordinary life of mediocrity. I will never think about being a ninja ever again. I think that's a fair trade." His expression then steeled when he saw the slightly surprised look thrown back at him by the older woman. "And when I promise something, I never go back on my word."

For a moment, nothing happened. The group standing in that little cubicle inside the medical room surrounded by curtains stood or lay where they were in silence, with all eyes set on the Sannin and the boy stubbornly shooting at her an intimidating stare to match the one that she wore. Eventually, once a certain amount of time had passed between them, Tsunade smirked and stepped forward, at the same time holding out her hand.

"Since you're so confident, I'll take that bet."

Brightening up in triumph, Naruto also stepped into the light and took her hand in his. He actually winced at how hard the woman squeezed, figuring she would be this tough considering the stories he'd heard about her from Jiraiya. After exchanging grins and shakes, the pair broke off with both turning to see the stunned expressions of both Shizune and Samui respectively. The former had actually stopped in her healing of her patient to gawk at the pair and the deal that they'd just made between each other.

"Did you all see that?" Tsunade asked, pointing down at the runt and watching the others nod. "Good." She then grinned confidently at the teenager. "Don't come crying to me when you eventually get the snot beaten out of you. Shinobi with big dreams and no talent are always the first to get killed. Your next opponent is going to turn you into chopped liver."

"You know, I'm getting really tired of that negative perspective on life of yours, grandma," Naruto returned boldly, crossing his arms. "When I come around to pick up my prize from you and you're still frowning and acting all moody, I'll slap you across the face and take that necklace from you by force."

"Heh. We'll see, you little bastard," Tsunade replied, turning heel and marching out of the room. Ripping the curtain away, she left the chamber and slammed her fist against the archway exit at the same time on the way out. In her haste, she unintentionally cracked the concrete with her fist and left a deep impression in the wall, which had everyone except Naruto stare after her warily.

Once she'd left, Naruto turned back to see Shizune looking at the blonde uneasily.

"You shouldn't have done that, Naruto-kun."

"What? Make a bet that I'm totally going to win?" He rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Nah. You're right, Shizune-neechan. I shouldn't have done that."

"Th-That's not…"

"Look, I wouldn't have made that bet if I didn't think I could win it. Since now I've got more than just winning this whole damn competition and getting a promotion riding on the line, I have an even bigger reason to keep pushing forward. If I stopped now, then I'd be letting a lot of people important to me down." He stood beside Samui's bed and grinned at the girl, who looked at him with a perplexed visage in play. "I've also got to pay that Tsubaki girl back for doing what she did to you. Since you didn't advance, I'm just going to have to make do with beating her ass into the ground."

Gazing momentarily into the dashing smile of the boy standing beside her, Samui smiled as well and shook her head. "You must be the craziest ninja I've ever laid eyes on." She then shrugged her shoulders and rolled her head, "Except for maybe my team leader, Gaara, Lee-san and Kiyoko."

"Hey. Everyone's got their quirks. A little crazy every now and then doesn't hurt."

Giggling subtly and briefly, Samui's expression then slowly turned serious as she reached out and gripped the corner of Naruto's sleeve. "Be careful. That Tsubaki girl… she's fast… faster than any Genin I've ever seen before. The only way you'll be able to fight her is to use lightning release techniques… and to dodge her." She was resolute in her warning. But even with this knowledge in hand, even she was having doubts about anyone beating her. "Watch your back."

Naruto, still beaming, took her hand in his and squeezed it reassuringly, "Don't worry. I've got a plan." Snickering at the look thrown his way by both kunoichi in the room, he slowly backed up and relinquished the hand he was holding. He then shrugged as he proceeded towards the archway. "I didn't say I was going to tell you what it was. Keep an eye on the big screen and you'll see." Saluting, he then turned and made his way for the exit.

On his path over, he stopped and knelt down on the ground, where Tonton was sitting and waiting patiently by the door and watching him. Raising his fist, Naruto grinned. "Wish me luck." Giving a small oink, the little pig raised her hoof and bumped his knuckles respectfully, earning a chuckle from the boy as he shot back to his feet and dashed out the door. "Forward unto dawn, baby!"

With his chorus of confidence boosting cheers echoing down the corridor, Samui and Shizune just stared after him in silence before facing each other.

The older woman grinned nervously as she continued on with her check-up of her patient. "I'm sure he'll be alright."

Relaxed, the Kumo Genin closed her eyes and rested into her pillow once more, feeling the pain from her other burns subside. "He'll be fine."

"I agree."

Looking up with a start, Shizune saw another familiar face come to stand beside the gap in the curtains. Arms folded and a bright smile on her face, both the patient and the doctor saw the unmistakable form of Kiyoko standing there with gauze slapped on her face and in the places where she'd received the most damage in her two matches. Due to the blows she'd sustained in her fights with Lee and Naruto in their taijutsu scraps, she also had stitches in her head and above her eye.

Arms crossed and her mane of yellow hair flicked over her shoulder, the Kirigakure kunoichi smiled. "Even though Tsubaki-chan is my best friend and teammate, and perhaps the strongest Genin in our village, Naruto-kun is also incredibly strong." The smile she wore showcased her certainty. "Though I don't know who's going to win, I do know that it's going to be an awesome fight."

And from the sound of her voice, both Shizune and Samui knew that she meant what she said.

OOO

Half an hour later…

To the rear of the stands…

Sitting up in the far back row, in a corner where nobody was expected to look during any stage of the tournament, an incredibly pale-skinned man dressed in robes and wearing a hood could be seen looking down from his seat towards the arena. His purple lined, snake-like eyes narrowing, the man allowed an excited grin to spread across his lips as the countdown over the course of the break came to an end, and the time for the next match finally came about.

"I think we're going to be in for an interesting match," another person seated beside the excited, pale-skinned individual, wearing the brown cloak with a hood spoke up, concealing his distinct, deceptively kind face. Eyes flashing sinisterly, the masked young man glanced across at the serpent beside him, "Wouldn't you agree, master?"

Orochimaru chuckled lightheartedly while looking over at Kabuto respectively, "Perhaps. That young girl from Kirigakure certainly has more power in her little finger than most of the other competitors in this tournament. I have no doubt in my mind that this coming round will last for as long as she's willing to stand and trade pleasantries with her opponent. She'll wrap this one up nice and easy."

"Oh, I wouldn't count out young Naruto-kun just yet," Kabuto said with a bit of a chuckle, surprisingly voicing his support for the boy, if in a bit of a condescending manner. "He's shown quite an interesting set of skills out there as well, not just in his match against Neji Hyuuga but also against that Kiyoko girl."

Murmuring thoughtfully for a moment, Orochimaru smiled and licked his lips, "An interesting prospect also. He's a perfect, physical specimen of health and character. With such a coarse and wild outlook, he would make for a fascinating test subject if I was to add my own little addition to his system. He may even survive the Cursed Seal process, given the opportunity. It could amplify some of his more useful techniques considerably."

Kabuto turned away in amusement, "So… you're also thinking of adding him to the list alongside Sasuke-kun. Is there… anyone else who you would like to recruit sometime later in the future from this batch?"

A renewed vigor came to the Sannin's concealed face, "One or two… but I'm a very picky eater, Kabuto-kun. I don't want to diversify too much otherwise it will ruin my appetite. While you can put their names aside for future consideration, let's just focus on the main course… and enjoy this show for its content."

"As you wish, master."

Meanwhile, several sections across in the back isle just like before, Haku was also keeping a close eye on the arena, waiting for the time the next two fighters step out into the open to begin the round. Just like everybody else, she was also feeling tense, wondering just how Naruto was going to do against his opponent, who was easily the hard-hitter of the Kiri team. Though she was able to figure out the girl's ability at around the same time everybody else did, she still had an uneasy feeling about how the whole conflict was going to play out.

Tsubaki's skills on and off paper were high class. She was a remarkable genius, a kekkei genkai user of the highest degree, and potentially the toughest here. Depending on she was matched up against, a fight could go either way, but it would definitely see the orange haired girl taking the lead right from the get-go and holding steady throughout most of the battle.

It filled the ice user and many other people in that stadium with a sense of dread.

Iruka shifted uncomfortably in his seat in the gradual build up to the match just as several of his fellow villagers and Naruto supporters did too, his eyes locking onto the screen above to see the two names of the next competitors and their photos flash into view. Not too far from his seat, Hiashi and Hanabi also glared towards center ring, and watched the proctors stroll into view. Next to them, the Jonin in the team instructors' section for the Konoha contingent sat on the edge of their seats, along with the Genin with them, whom shared the same feelings of unease and nervousness as the former competitors near the balcony.

Tayuya massaged her hands together uneasily while she remained in place, still a little sore from her fight but resolute in her decision to remain. "Shithead… be careful, and don't fuck this up. I don't want to have to take your body home in buckets."

Though Samui was able to match her opponent, Tsubaki was still no pushover. There was no telling what she could do when injured.

Gaara and Temari had remained in that balcony, with the former not really bothering to move and his sister sticking with him, just to keep him company and to make sure he didn't do anything rash. While the sand user seemed to be the most composed out of those in the stadium expressing concern and sweating, he too was actually feeling restless. With his finger tapping against his bicep and killing intent flooding the area, Gaara magnified Temari's own woes over the next match and the period leading into it.

There were only two ways it could go. Naruto was going to face off against Tsubaki and face a swift defeat in the form of a lightning fast kick. Or he was going to give it his best shot, fight her as hard as he could, and wind up deep fried just as Samui did.

Either way warranted fears from those watching, wondering how far his orange haired opponent was going to take it.

The big question; how many seconds was this bout going to last?

OOO

(Stadium – Arena)

Once Hayate, Mizore and Tenga had returned to the center ring and gotten into formation, they drew the camera's attention back to them, which in turn silenced the crowd once their faces appeared on the screens. Clearing his throat and making sure his mike was still operating as normal, the head proctor proceeded to address the audiences, "Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to begin the second to last round of the tournament. This semi-final match will determine who goes on to fight in the finals, which will then decide the winner of this tournament, so let's get this started. Will the competitors Naruto and Tsubaki please make their way down to center ring, please?"

Under the cheers and hollers of excitement from the many thousands of people still present, both Genin came marching out of the main entrance from the waiting box. Deciding to enter with dignity and poise, they approached the middle of the arena side by side, hands either in their pockets or behind their head, before pulling up next to the staff. Once they found an appropriate place around the center, which had been utterly ruined from the past dozens of battles that had already taken place, the pair faced each other down with serious expressions on their faces and a competitive air wafting off of them.

Looking his adversary over, Naruto clicked his tongue when he saw the bandages wrapped around her side. "Damn. Her body's weird structure from her kekkei genkai gives her a good healing rate too. What a convenient insurance policy." Not like the Kyuubi's, since she was clearly still feeling the sting from her last match.

That spot looked a little bit tender. Maybe he could exploit that later on.

Soon enough, the entire arena started to flood with intensity.

This did not go amiss by the referees, two of whom stepped away nervously while Hayate held the floor, looking between the pair cautiously "I don't need to explain the rules to you two again?" Seeing them shake their heads, the man nodded in understanding. "Good. Then it's decided. The semi-final match between Naruto from Konohagakure and Tsubaki from Kirigakure!" The man brought his hand up to stand between them before dropping it decisively, "Begin!"

Jumping away, Hayate and the other proctors backed off, giving the pair enough room to exchange blows. As the chorus of excited cheers rang out, both Naruto and Tsubaki faced each other with whatever expressions they deemed were appropriate for that kind of standoff. Squaring with each other in the center, the jinchuriki matched his opponent's aura with his own, before cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders.

"I've been waiting a long time for this fight," Naruto chirped with a smile in play. "You wouldn't believe how excited I've been. I couldn't even sleep a wink last night. Not a wink."

Remaining silent for but a moment, Tsubaki smirked, "So that's why you were dancing around like a fool during all of your matches. You must have a lot of energy and stress running through your system, knowing that eventually you were going to face me in this round."

"Stress? Ha!" Naruto held up both fists and took a fighting stance, "I can be a whole lot of things. Angry, yes. Pissed, yes. Stressed… against you… no way." His grin widened considerably. "Being who I am, I'm always looking for a good challenge… a way to test myself. After seeing your strength and how awesome you were, I was thrilled to know that I was going to fight somebody so powerful. Come on! Show me what you've got." At that, he stomped his foot on the ground and a gust of wind kicked up, picking up leaves and grass to spin around him. This phenomenon brought about a raised eyebrow from his opponent, who merely shrugged it off as something coincidental as his Eiyū no Kaze (Hero's Wind) was kick started into gear.

Chuckling to herself, a spark of electricity shot out from Tsubaki's head and hit the ground. After which, she then raised her hand and held it up in a manner that she had her palm aimed towards her opponent. Immediately after which, she vanished in a flash of lightning, where she then reappeared several dozen yards away from her target but still standing in his line of sight. From the way she held the exact same stance, it was almost like she'd teleported.

"My normal dashes won't work on him, since he was quick enough to dodge the Hyuuga's fastest attack and I've used it too many times that he's probably got the timing down. And I won't make the same mistake I did against Samui. I'll take him at long range and be done with this."

"In that case, I'll reward your courage with an appropriate send off. You may have beaten the Hyuuga, the wind user and my teammate in superb succession, but against me… you don't have a hope in hell," Tsubaki spoke, lightning beginning to course down her arm wildly. Seconds after charging her hand started to glow a brilliant blue while crackling bolts of electricity.

Naruto saw this and immediately crouched down, blasting off from his spot in a dash. His blurred out form could be seen by the audience making its way towards his opponent, but wasn't able to carry him fast enough when the kunoichi finished powering up her technique.

Her chakra skyrocketing had Akamaru whimper fearfully, with Kiba responding to his friend's distress by standing up out of his seat in shock. The Jonin sitting nearby also responded in alarm when they felt the amount of chakra blasting off of the orange haired teen down below.

Tsubaki however, looking like she wasn't exerting any effort whatsoever, proceeded with her attack without a care. "You're done. Raiton: Rairyu no Tatsumaki!" (Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon Tornado) The very second she spoke, her glowing blue hand suddenly erupted outwards in the form of a blast several hundred times her size, the maw of a dragon exploding forth from her palm and instantaneously enveloping her opponent in a single charge. Its roar was only matched by the clap of thunder that came with its summoning.

The massive lightning stream Tsubaki unleashed engulfed an entire eighth of the arena in a blast radius that disintegrated everything in its path. The crowd's immediate response was awe, before hundreds of them screamed and looked on in terror when the concrete barrier wall was also struck by the attack, which carefully dispelled the lightning twister but echoed the force of the attack over the stadium. The sound of rolling thunder reverberated throughout the sky as thousands of astounded onlookers shielded their eyes from the blinding light that came with the jutsu and the raging hot winds that shifted across the stands.

Under the howling storm, Mei blinked in interest. "That's Raiga Kurosuki's jutsu."

Seeing the jinchuriki become engulfed by the technique as it continued to tear up the arena, Tayuya jumped from her seat and leaned forward over the barrier with eyes reflecting nothing but horror. "NARUTO!" Unfortunately, her cry for her roommate was drowned out by the sounds of rumbling bellowing out. As a result, her expression slowly transformed from terror to desperation and defeat as her hands gripped the railing tightly. "No way… that's just…"

Tsunade, sitting up in the front row, also looked on in interest before her expression became deathly serious. "He's finished." She then shut her eyes, feeling not only a mild sensation of upset at seeing the boy become consumed by the attack but also disappointment. "Damn it… he was supposed to give me his headband after this round was over. How the hell is he going to if he's just a pile of ashes now?"

Eventually, the tornado of energy bellowing from Tsubaki's hand ceased. When she retracted it, she stared impassively at the cloud of smoke blocking her view of the area in front of her. As it cleared, it revealed an enormous trench carved into the ground from the attack she had launched, which had also been scorched black from the heat. The dugout expanded width-wise the further along you looked and, eventually, when you reached the end where the wall was, you could see a sizable, burnt dent had also been drilled into it.

At first Tsubaki and the entire stadium thought she'd incinerated her opponent in one shot, even though it was technically an attack meant to stop someone in their tracks and knock them out in one shot. After several minutes and seeing no body, even the competitor started to believe that and lowered her hand to pocket it and walk away. However, before she could move a step from her spot, the sound of coughing and sputtering suddenly came from the wall of fumes hanging in the air as all of a sudden Naruto came stumbling out of the clouds of smoke down the trench waving the smog out of his face. Dusting himself, he stared up at the girl.

His grin shortly thereafter came back into full play. "Wow! That was awesome! I've never seen a jutsu like that before! How did you do that?"

The audience blinked in unison, a loud squishing sound coming from every man, woman and child present when everyone's lids closed and opened at the same time. Even Tayuya was baffled.

Wait… what just happened.

Conveying a small amount of surprise at seeing her opponent still standing, Tsubaki grunted and formed a hand seal. When electricity began coursing over her hands again, she smiled, "I'm impressed you managed to dodge that technique. I could've sworn I hit you dead on with it." Parting her hands, electricity began shooting between her fingers and across when she charged up her next move. "However, I won't miss this time."

That jutsu she just used had contained enough lightning to sterilize an entire forest. An impressive, offensive weapon no doubt.

Up in the stands, Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, Anko and Genma all hardened their gazes on the arena. As surprised as all of them had been before at seeing such a powerful attack, which would have been considered overkill no matter the circumstances, even if it was A-Rank, there was one thing that the kunoichi said that struck them as odd.

They saw it for themselves. Naruto had been running straight towards her in a sprint. His head was down and everything… and he'd been standing directly in her line of fire.

"Wait? He dodged it?" Kakashi murmured.

That didn't sound right.

They all saw it… well… at least they think they did. Naruto ran headlong into it.

"Raiton: Raiju Hashiri no Jutsu!" (Lightning Release: Lightning Beast Running Technique) Tsubaki shouted, thrusting her hands outwards as another bolt of lightning exploded from her palms, which curled through the air before forming into an enormous tiger. With speed that could match Samui's own lightning release technique, the attack let out a tremendous roar of a wild animal before charging Naruto down.

The boy stood staring at the approaching tiger in awe, seconds before realizing that the attack was heading straight for him and responded accordingly. Throwing his arms up with a terrified look on his face, a cry of terror came from the blonde when the jutsu slammed headlong into him, engulfing the jinchuriki's body in a blast that scorched the ground around him and sent another series of thunder claps echoing throughout the arena.

Cutting off the feed and silencing the attack, Tsubaki once again straightened up and watched as the smoke cleared, expecting to find her opponent lying belly-up on the ground and burnt to a crisp.

However, when the cloud did part, it revealed Naruto with his arms still up and still crying out in terror with his eyes shut. Taking a breath and continuing to scream, he then opened his eyes and looked around. He eventually stopped screaming when he glanced over his shoulder and slowly turned back with a rather befuddled expression. "Uhh… nothing happened."

Again, another blink from the audience.

Shikamaru, gripping the railing of the balcony, looked down at the field in shock. "Wh-What's going on?"

Okay. That time nobody missed it. Naruto was hit smack on by that attack and was completely engulfed by it.

In all good conscience, he should've been on the floor burnt from head to toe just like Samui had been. Why wasn't he?

It was a question that had apparently filtered out to Temari and Gaara, both of whom were also gawking in surprise at what had just transpired. Even the young sand user was conveying a sense of astonishment and uncertainty, as opposed to his normally pokerfaced expression.

The amount of firepower that was being thrown around down there was just biblical.

Tayuya, still wrapped in confusion, suddenly began piecing things together carefully.

Lightning release. Tsubaki was a powerful lightning release user. It was her kekkei genkai, so that much was obvious. From watching her previous matches, as powerful as she was, her jutsu fell under the same principles as all of the other elemental affinities. Earth was susceptible to lightning release techniques, which was why Akatsuchi's jutsu dispelled the moment it made physical contact with her. And, just like all other affinities, if a lightning release technique was matched up against another of the same affinity, if they were of similar strength, they would cancel each other out, dispel or clash for a brief moment before one of them succeeded.

They were the rules that covered the system of chakra that shinobi used on a day-to-day basis.

"Wait a second," Tayuya spoke up, catching the attention of everybody else around her; Sasuke and Neji included. "Naruto used his Hero's Wind technique at the very beginning of his fight right?" She figured it was just for show, and that it was only meant to stir the air around his environment for effect. However, the principle behind it was that he expelled wind chakra from every pore of his body to mix in with the atmosphere, so… "If all of Tsubaki's attacks are lightning based… then that means…"

No way… could he have…

Clicking her tongue, Tsubaki narrowed her eyes and held up a hand. The moment she did so, she vanished in a flash of electricity.

Surprised, Naruto looked up when he tracked his opponent's route and saw her reappear hovering directly above him and, as opposed to flicking him like she had the others in case he had a counter waiting for her, she instead held her hand a couple of feet over his head. The smirk she wore on her face was all too obvious as electricity began crackling violently around her fingers.

"Let's see you dodge this at pointblank range. Raiton: Hiraishin!" (Lightning Release: Lightning Rod)

In a flash of blinding blue light and a loud clap of thunder, Naruto was suddenly engulfed in millions upon millions of volts of electricity that shot forth from Tsubaki's hand at close range. The noise that bellowed out and the amount of chakra the kunoichi blasted at him was absolutely tremendous, so much so that her attack caused the audience to nearly duck and cover out of reflex. The proctors and those people sitting in the front row once again had to shield their faces from the electricity that spewed out from the impact center of the attack, with everyone who was watching glaring through their fingers to see what the hell was going on.

Tayuya, her mind racing a mile a minute, looked up in shock as the attack continued bellowing out with the sound of a thunder storm echoing across the stadium.

That's it! It had to be!

The reason why none of Tsubaki's attacks were working on Naruto!

"All of her techniques are lightning release techniques!" Tayuya shouted, an ecstatic smile forming on her lips as blasts of hot wind from the middle of the arena washed over them. "If I thought about it sooner, I would've realized it before the start of this fucking round!" Apparently, the disease known as stupidity and blindness was contagious. "Lightning based ninjutsu won't work on Naruto!"

"He's a wind user!"

She knew this. His teammates knew this. His teacher knew this.

Everybody else didn't.

And he was using Eiyū no Kaze, one of his first original wind release techniques.

And, right on cue, just as Tsubaki was pouring lightning upon her foe right in his face, she suddenly saw Naruto glare up at her through the storm with eyes that reflected nothing but unbridled fury and anger.

"STOP FOOLING… AROOOOOOOOOUUUUUND!"

With an almighty bellow matched only by the atmospheric sound of epic music playing in the background of his mind, Naruto threw both of his arms up and out and, with a single toss, knocked Tsubaki flying off of him. The streams of lightning blasting from her palm immediately died when the orange haired girl was knocked through the air and away from her opponent. Upon descending from her brief flight, she then back flipped across the open ground before skidding to a stop several yards away.

The instant she was thrown away from her foe after performing what would have been the ultimate finishing move; the entire stadium was stunned into silence.

All around, every single man, woman and child, no matter how stoic or hardcore they were, or how damaged they were as human beings, were gawking down at the arena with their mouths hanging open and eyes bugging out of their skulls. While the sight was priceless to see on the faces of the normally calm and collected Anko, Asuma, Kurenai and every other Jonin in the arena, including on Hiashi and Iruka's faces, it was even more priceless to see it on the Kages faces.

A, Onoki, the Fourth Kazekage, Mei and Hiroto were leaning forward in their seats with saucers for eyes and jaws just hanging a few inches above the ground. Having expected the fight to have lasted only a few seconds from the techniques they'd seen performed, all those Kage that had said words against the blonde haired jinchuriki were now in the process of eating those words at the shocking development they were witnessing.

Believe it or not, even Kisame and Itachi were gawking up at the big screen. If they hadn't seen it for themselves, neither of them, not even Tsunade in the front row, would have believed it. After seeing someone survive an onslaught of attacks that would have killed a person a hundred times over, it made sense.

And of course, the most stunned of all those present in that stadium, back down on the arena when the cameras eventually panned up to Tsubaki's face, you could see the look of utter shock and disbelief pulled across her once stoic face. Out of every single member of the audience, Jonin and Kage alike, her eyes were bugging out the furthest, her mouth was hanging open the widest, and she had sweat pouring out of every orifice on her body. The only thing that could possibly complete the image of bewilderment she was conveying was if froth started to gargle out of her mouth.

Unfortunately, it didn't. All she could do was stare and gawk.

Her lightning release techniques were completely and utterly useless on her opponent.

How in the name of all seven levels of heaven and hell was that even possible?

Kakashi, knowing exactly what was happening down there, eye-smiled brightly. "That's my student."

Cracking his neck and taking a stance, Naruto crouched down before blasting forward at full dashing speed. "Ready or not, HERE I COME!" the jinchuriki roared, letting out a battle cry as he charged towards his still thunderstruck opponent.

Gritting her teeth, Tsubaki quickly shook her head furiously at the ridiculousness at what she'd just seen. "Alright, calm down! Physical attacks won't affect my body! Yeah. That's right. I'll just let this kid pass through me like everything else! As long as I've got my intangibility, then I can ju-" BAM!

A loud shockwave rang out when Naruto unexpectedly buried a flying sidekick deep into Tsubaki's stomach, bending the girl over and bringing a stunned look to her face. Eyes widening, the girl spat up both blood and saliva that splattered across the floor behind the jinchuriki when she was sent stumbling backwards.

This sight shocked the entire crowd even more as this was the first time in the entire tournament they'd seen the girl receive a physical blow dealt through taijutsu. The Mizukage was also confounded since it was also her first time seeing the teen take an attack from an opponent not using an element, weapon or chakra based technique.

Or so it seemed.

What in the world was going on?

Gripping her stomach and backing up, hunched over, the shocked Tsubaki coughed and choked up more blood before glaring up furiously at her opponent. A look of agony, anger and fear etched across her face, the girl straightened up just as the jinchuriki came flying at her once more. Attempting to guard, the kunoichi instead took a punishing right hook to her face that knocked her stumbling backwards again, followed shortly by a second one, and then a third one with the same punch. These blows racked her body and sent more blood and sweat blasting off of her in clouds from the force of each hit.

As the crowds watched in astonishment as the once untouchable Tsubaki was pummeled into submission, the bewildered girl could only think of one thing. "W-W-What the hell is happening to me? How the hell… am I getting damaged?" It was quite clear it'd been a while since she'd received so many physical attacks from an opponent, which was why she was failing to respond quickly enough to the punches she was receiving due to the shock of the pain hitting her system all at once. In her various attempts to right herself, the girl stumbled about on shaky legs before glaring hard across at the blonde boy hammering her face with punches. "What the hell is he?"

Naruto watched his opponent stagger to a halt and glare across at him.

After reassuming a proper standing position, the kunoichi huffed angrily before lunging forward, "Damn you!" In the blink of an eye, the girl vanished with invisible speed, reappearing directly in front of the blonde and thrusting out at him with her palm.

Telegraphing her attack just as he did with every other opponent who'd tried to take him on in taijutsu, instead of being sent careening across the field, the blonde pulled his signature sway back to avoid the attack and at the same time, nailed the kunoichi across the face with a right hook. The blow slammed the bewildered Tsubaki off to the side with a loud thud ringing out at the solid impact. Then, after straightening up from his counter and facing his adversary once more, the blonde slipped to the side to avoid the palm strike thrown at his chest, which allowed him to crack a right cross straight into her face, knocking the girl back a second time.

Naruto grinned when he saw how his swift attacks were affecting his adversary. "Oh yeah! Didn't expect that, did you?" After giving his triumphant smile, he began smashing his opponent repeatedly with punishing blows to the head and body. Hooks and punches cracked her in the face while kicks smacked her in the sides, knocking the teen left and right.

Amidst the string of attacks plowing into her, Tsubaki attempted to look to see what the heck her opponent was doing, before more punches began caving into her mug, sending blood splattering across the floor again. Several seconds later, after receiving a hook that sent her spiraling away following the dozens of strikes that already made their marks, the orange haired kunoichi quickly vanished using her lightning as a means of escape before reappearing a safe distance from her target, who stood out of his fighting stance to stare at her with his characteristic grin in play.

Panting heavily and wiping the back of her hand over her mouth to clear the blood, which smeared across her cheeks and chin, Tsubaki glared hatefully at her enemy. "What the hell… are you doing to me?"

Naruto chuckled and raised a fist, "What am I doing to you? I'm hitting you. That's what I'm doing. What? Have you never been punched in the face before?" Seeing the girl's eyes narrow, the boy rolled his shoulders and smirked, "Well, if you haven't, then that's what it feels like."

"B-But how?" Tsubaki growled, breathing out in frustration while at the same time thankful that she'd been able to work on her endurance during the month between the two stages to build up some resilience in her time training with Chojuro. "How can you be landing so many attacks on me? It doesn't make any sense! Unless you… wait!" Her eyes widened when she looked across at him, where she then saw a mischievous smirk cross his lips. "No… are you…?"

"Figured it out?" Naruto asked, raising his hand a producing a small rotation of wind that picked up a few grains of sand and grass blades from the ground, which hovered around him momentarily before drifting away. The shocked gaze his adversary threw at him was more than enough to tell him she got the message. "Yeah. Now you're in trouble, Ms. Lightning user."

Expression becoming serious again, the girl took a more defensive stance. It was funny seeing her actually ready herself, since the entire time she'd just been standing normally throughout all of her bouts. The audience didn't think they'd ever see the kunoichi take a fighting pose.

"He's a wind user. That must be it," Tsubaki thought hard, her expression darkening. "Wind is a natural insulator of lightning and can nullify lightning based attacks when applied correctly, and with my kekkei genkai, I'm absolutely vulnerable to wind based techniques." Her biggest Achilles heel. "That small gust that shrouded him at the beginning of the battle must be part of his defense." Somehow he was bleeding wind chakra out from his body to create some sort of invisible armor or barrier. It changed the air density around him enough to repel and completely dispel lightning based attacks like rubber, but not enough for his opponents to notice. It was a simple mechanism, but also incredibly troublesome for her. "That also explains how he's able to hit me. He must be emitting a constant and very fine shell of wind chakra from his body, creating a chakra shroud, which allows him to nullify my intangibility. What a trump card. I never expected to fight such a high-level wind user in this tournament."

The Hyuuga and that girl from Sunagakure with the fan she anticipated, but not this boy. He was something else entirely.

Naruto chuckled as he flexed his fingers. "At first I thought Eiyū no Kaze was just for show. But then I found out during a training session with Kakashi-sensei when he was showing me his lightning affinity that my useless jutsu had the interesting side-effect of being able to completely nullify lightning based techniques." The blonde began to march along the invisible path surrounding his baffled enemy. "I'm never going to think poorly of my jutsu ever again. EVER."

Seeing her foe begin to circle her, Tsubaki spat the blood out from her mouth before smirking, "Very interesting. I never figured you to be such a defensive type, let alone a wind type."

"Sometimes defensive is best. It sure shook you up something good," Naruto replied, clenching his fist as he stopped and turned to face her again. "You're not very used to taking hits from other people, huh? You faze through every single attack that's thrown in your direction, so you usually beat your opponents quickly. It's not surprising that a pretty thing like you doesn't know her way around a fist fight."

"I wouldn't get confident right now if I were you," Tsubaki exclaimed, flicking her hair back as she held her right hand out open at her side. "I changed my approach for this fight. Obviously it wasn't enough. You're able to dispel all of my lightning based jutsu. That's a commendable effort, definitely worthy of praise. However, lightning isn't the only thing I can attack you with. I've got a whole range of strategies I can use." When she curled her fingers, a spark suddenly shot off of her palm before streams of electricity began running into the ground.

Naruto and the audience watched curiously as the girl continued feeding electricity directly into the earth. At first nobody knew what she was trying to pull, until a black, metal powder started to lift off of the ground and gather in the air. Within seconds, the tendrils of black sand started to converge along three separate streams towards the girl's open hand, which she held out to her side with a serious look of concentration in play.

The sight of the cloudy material amassing around her palm had Naruto blink.

"W-What is that?"

OOO

Up in the stands, the Fourth Kazekage, having recovered from the shock of watching Naruto survive three separate and powerful lightning release attacks one after the other, had leaned forward even more in his seat to look down at the field intently once again. This time, along with the other Kage to have gotten their bearings back from the bewildering, opening act of the match thus far, now had their eyes glued on Tsubaki as they watched her gather the strange black matter around her hand.

It was after seeing the particles she was now summoning get picked up from the ground did the Kazekage quickly identify the technique she was in the process of executing. Though his face remained impassive, the leader of the sand village couldn't stop the bead of sweat that ran down from his head.

"This girl… she's using Iron Sand."

OOO

Back down in the ring, Tsubaki had finished gathering up enough of the black particles to form a ball of it around her hand. Manipulating it carefully, she then willed the black powders into a katana, the sword extending from her grip to stop after several feet. The sight of the black, sand-based weapon had Naruto's senses on high alert.

The blonde slid into a defensive stance while the girl held the sword further out to her side, the floating particles humming loudly.

"Hey? What is that?" the jinchuriki asked.

Tsubaki smirked, "Raiton: Satetsuken!" (Lightning Release: Iron Sand Sword) At that moment, a small leaf from a nearby tree drifted down and onto the blade of the weapon. Instead of landing on the sword and resting on it, the weapon sliced it clean in half as it fell through, causing Naruto's eyes to widen fearfully and his hair to bristle. Taking note of his expression, the kunoichi marched forward. "I made it by converting my lightning into a magnetic element. Right now the iron sand on this sword is vibrating like a chainsaw. You might bleed a little IF IT TOUCHES YOU!" She then sprinted at him at speed.

Getting defensive, Naruto watched the girl swing out at him with her blade. "I somehow doubt I'd get away with just a little bleed-HOLY SHIT!" He ducked when Tsubaki swung at him with her weapon, forcing him to back away quickly.

Within moments upon engagement, Tsubaki began pursuing her opponent left and right, lashing at him with swing after deadly swing of her sword. The loud humming of the blade echoed throughout the stadium with every attack the girl attempted on her enemy, the jinchuriki dodging her blows by a hair's breadth, while at the same time making very funny noises as he skittishly kept his distance from the damn thing. Moving around his foe using the oddest display of evasiveness anyone had ever seen, the blonde then scampered away when the girl attempted to cut him down the middle, but effectively missed.

The boy barrel-rolled across the ground upon avoiding the bifurcating hit, before springing back to his feet and beginning to sprint away.

Tsubaki grinned, "If you're just going to keep running around, I'll just make it do THIS!" Throwing her sword out, her straight weapon suddenly twisted and bent in the air, before extending at high speed towards her retreating target.

Looking back, Naruto gasped, "The sword extended?"

The tendril whipped through the air, heading towards the blonde's back like it was homing in on him.

In reality, Tsubaki was just concentrating the flow of her electricity through the iron particles and willing them to pursue her foe in the form of a flexible lance. This brought a triumphant glean to her eyes as she watched her newly formed attack close in on her fast retreating foe, who still had his back turned blind to the tip of the spear as it converged on his position.

"The timing's spot on! There's no way he'll be able to dodge-"

However, just as the iron whip was about to hit the boy, Naruto suddenly turned. Right hand and body becoming enveloped in a tornado-drill that encompassed his entire body in a spinning vortex of dust and leaves, the jinchuriki slammed his chakra coated palm into the approaching sword and split it. "Tsubame Gaeshi!" (Swallow Return) The two attacks collided as the sand whip plowed into the palm guarding the intended target, seconds before the length of particles dispelled and blew back towards their owner.

Tsubaki looked up with a stunned expression as she felt the handle of her sand weapon break apart and blow about on a light breeze.

"He used his wind chakra to revert the iron sand back to its original form by dispelling the electricity I had holding it together?" the kunoichi thought, eyes shimmering in astonishment before a serious look came across her again. "This one… he's smart." She then proceeded to watch Naruto lower his hand and start blowing furiously on his palm, nursing some serious sand burns.

"Damn it! Why does that hurt so much?" Naruto grumbled, shaking his appendage out before smirking toward his opponent. "Looks like you messed up."

Tsubaki chuckled, "Did I now?" A spark of electricity from her head was quickly followed by a gust of wind, which suddenly caught all the iron sand particles drifting through the air. More shots of electricity through the wind then saw the masses of black powder suddenly begin twisting in the sky above her in vast quantities, which slowly drifted over her opponent.

Stunned at the sheer amount of iron dust the kunoichi had managed to summon, Naruto gawked up towards the clouds to see the floating masses twist and contort, before several tendrils then began shooting straight towards him in the form of metallic lances. The blonde gritted his teeth and cocked his right hand back again, which became shrouded in twisting wind chakra.

"So you can even manipulate the iron sand taken by the wind?" A smirk formed across his lips, "But even with this, no matter how many times you try, the result will always be the same! Tsubame Gaeshi!" He then swiped his hands through the air and struck the cloud falling towards him, effectively dispelling the electricity and sending the sand drifting away uselessly.

Watching the cloud disperse Naruto then quickly began searching for his opponent, only to find the valleys in front of him empty. Blinking, he started looking for her more thoroughly, only to feel a tight grip suddenly incase the hand he had out and glared sharply over his shoulder to see his foe standing there grinning triumphantly.

"Even if you can block the lightning I can throw at you, I'd like to see you try and stop a direct shot to your body!" Tsubaki spoke, her arm beginning to course with electricity.

At first the audience braced themselves to see the jinchuriki get fried. However, just when it seemed like he was going to be barbequed by thousands of volts of electricity, they suddenly saw the orange haired girl recoil slightly and look down at her limb in astonishment.

After several moments of trying to get a spark going and a charge to run through her target, the Kiri Genin looked up at her foe in surprise when she realized she couldn't. "What? I can't stun you? Why?"

Smirking, Naruto cocked back his left fist and stepped in. "Did you really think it was going to be so simple?!" With a yell, he threw an uppercut straight into the girl's chin, prompting her to flip backwards to dodge, where she then landed solidly several yards back. When the boy rounded on her, he glared. "I'm still shielding myself. Your electric shocks won't work when I have wind chakra escaping through my pores."

Clicking her tongue irritably, Tsubaki brought her hands about in front of her before vanishing in a flash of lightning photons. "Yata no Kagami!" When she disappeared in a streak of electricity, the jinchuriki tracked her through the air as best as he could, before suddenly seeing her form rematerialize out of thin air on the very roof of the stadium away from him. The crowd and the cameras eventually found her too, and when all eyes fixed on the girl again, standing many stories above the ground, everyone began murmuring amongst themselves as to what the kunoichi was going to do next.

Frowning as she glared several stories down towards the center of the arena, where she saw her opponent glaring in her direction, she then smirked and raised both hands out in front of her. Another spark of lightning signaled the initiation of another technique that placed the youngster on guard once more.

"Let's test that wind based defense of yours," Tsubaki said loudly with a smile, slapping her hands together and concentrating. When lightning began coursing off of her body, a fierce wind picked up. "Raiton: Kokuu no Jutsu!" (Lightning Release: Black Rain Technique)

The moment electricity started to zap off of Tsubaki's form high above the stands the people in the arena seats suddenly became aware of a strange phenomenon taking place.

Before they knew it, all those in the crowd wearing or carrying metal of any kind on their person, most notably the kunai and shuriken in the pouches of all the shinobi present, began pulling towards the girl rather violently as she called upon all the metal in the area. The Jonin at the front attempted to resist the pull, but try as they might, eventually their pouches cracked open and every single blade and metal work they had flew in the direction of the kunoichi. The audience clamored in panic as they watched countless weapons and items with the potential to cause serious damage fly up towards the girl shooting off the electric currents.

Thankfully, Asuma was able to react in time to stop his knives from joining the escape.

Several seconds later, a cloud of deadly weapons the size of a ten story tower formed up behind the kunoichi and began to arc and curl into two separate formations. Naruto watched the gathering of weapons in surprise, before gritting his teeth together and forming a hand seal. When he did, he slammed his foot into the ground, causing a gust of wind to shoot off of his body as he prepared for the assault that was to come.

"Hien's not going to work on that! There's just way too many. There's no other option. I have to dodge! Tsubame no Mai!" (Dance of the Swallow)

Tsubaki grinned when she saw the boy act. "Taking a stand? Very well then. Consider this your last one!" With a shout, the girl threw her hand forward and, in a flash of lightning, sent the clouds of magnetized, floating weapons flying towards her target in a hail.

The cloud trailed close to the ground as it homed in on her adversary, traveling at such a speed it would have been impossible for a single shinobi to avoid all of them. The range and spread of the attack was just too great. However, when it seemed like the audience was about to witness the most brutal death ever, in which the blonde haired wonder from Konohagakure was going to be skewered by countless kunai and shuriken, the people then watched another startling turn of events occur.

Just as the weapons came to within feet of the boy, the audience suddenly saw the hail of weapons fly right past the spot Naruto had been standing in, the first barrage missing by several meters, as if the target had veered off course. The jinchuriki stood off to the side of the barrage as the thousands of blades peppered the ground and ripped it to pieces. When it died down, the results revealed just how far off the kunoichi had been in her attack, as the blonde stood safely outside the area riddled by projectile.

The sight had Tsubaki's brow furrow and the collective audience scratch their heads, wondering what exactly was going on.

Glaring down at her opponent to see him still set in a defensive stance and looking up at her seriously, Tsubaki once again sent another hail of weapons flying straight at the boy. Using the other cloud of metal she'd gathered, the thousands of blades cut through the air towards her target in a sweeping arc before once again riddling the floor space with deadly throwing weapons. However, instead of hitting their target, the jinchuriki had suddenly shifted off to the side like he'd been instantly displaced, causing the attack to miss by a couple of yards.

Under the eyes of the camera and his opponent, Naruto's form shimmered in several different colors for a split second, almost like a glitch, before returning to normal.

Blinking when she watched the strange phenomenon occur a third time after sending the last of the weapons hovering around her down at the boy, Tsubaki huffed in frustration. "This technique… is it a genjutsu? No. I would have noticed." She then disappeared in a flash of electricity and reappeared back down on the arena floor again, just several meters away from Tenga, whom jumped away from her in surprise. "This is something else… and judging from the irregular pattern to it, I think I know what it is."

When Naruto saw his opponent return to ground level and step towards him, he set himself into another stance, ignoring all the kunai and shuriken lying on the ground around him. However, when it seemed like she was going to move to attack him again, she instead spoke in a voice clear enough for everyone to hear.

"That's an interesting trick you're using; displacing yourself instantaneously about the arena," Tsubaki exclaimed with a thoroughly entertained glint in her eye. "On first glance it looks like you're using a cleverly executed genjutsu, but in actuality it's a physical technique disguised as an illusion based one… an optical illusion to be exact." The girl pointed to the space around him. "You're using your control over the wind to manipulate the particles in the air to bend the light and make it seem like you're standing in one spot, but in reality you're actually standing several meters away. This causes your opponent to think that you're teleporting and displacing yourself around them, which also causes them to miscalculate whenever they're either attacking or defending."

Surprised that the girl was able to figure it out, Naruto smirked. "Wow. You were able to figure it out from just one look?" A light chuckle escaped his lips. "You really are a genius."

"The theory is complicated, but the execution is relatively simple," Tsubaki responded before smiling. "What a troublesome technique. I can assume the wind also distorts a person's sense of smell and hearing because of all the slipstreams converging around a single point, and because you're expelling chakra in the form of a barrier in the same way you're using to nullify my lightning release attacks, optical based genjutsu or visual doujutsu trying to gauge your chakra network wouldn't work either." When she saw his expression change again, she let out a sigh of exhaustion and rubbed her head. "You truly are an incredible opponent. Though this defense of yours certainly does have its benefits, I've noticed that it has about four weaknesses that I should point out." Looking across at him again, the girl frowned. "One; any shinobi with a sharp enough sense or ability will be able to read the wind currents and know that the technique is active, which means they can actively avoid it and counter with a fire release technique, since wind release jutsu are susceptible to flames. But I'm guessing you've already worked out that little discrepancy." Seeing him glare at her, she continued. "Secondly; the technique is purely dictated by your control over it, which means you have to exercise concentration while keeping both an eye on your opponent and moving at the same time, which limits your combat effectiveness. Thirdly; you can use the technique to avoid attacks that have a certain spread to them… but how about attacks that encompass an enormous range?"

Case in point, Tsubaki suddenly threw her hand to the floor and fired a bolt of lightning at the ground beside her. All of a sudden, before Naruto could question what she was doing, she then threw her hand forward, at the exact same time a huge portion of the ground next to her exploded upwards and an enormous rock the same size as the boulder he threw at Kiyoko in the previous match was flung in his direction by a gathering of iron sand particles, which the kunoichi had pushed underground.

Alarmed at the sight of the massive tower of rock falling towards him, Naruto threw his hand forward and slammed it against it. "Jet Hand!" The instant his palm made contact, he slapped an enormous ejection point against the surface and sent it barreling the other way, where it landed safely in an open area with an earthshaking crash.

As an enormous cloud of dust rose into the air, Naruto returned his attention to his opponent to see her smirking at him.

"Just as I thought. You're still here," Tsubaki continued before raising her other hand. When another spark of electricity shot out of the girl's palm, Naruto took a stance in preparation for a second attack. "That's only your third weakness. The fourth one is that not only are you confined to a certain area to pull off this defense, you also can't use it as liberally with your speed, which means you won't be able to dodge attacks fast enough when your opponent already knows you're nearby."

All of a sudden, Naruto suddenly saw currents of lightning chakra begin coursing around his opponent's hand, which then prompted the many fallen weapons around him to be picked up and drawn toward the magnetic field. Watching closely, the boy observed the orange haired girl in tight jeans and chest binds gather a large amount of the knives in the air in front of her before running her lightning between them. At first baffled by what she was doing, the crowds and competitors became shocked when they suddenly saw the kunai and shuriken the girl was suspending melt under the electricity before she molded it into a yari.

Naruto bit his teeth together nervously when he saw his opponent finish constructing her weapon. "She used her lightning to heat up the air and melt the metal down to form a new weapon. Shit. What now?" That spear she was using was meant for close and middle range combat? What did she intend to do with it now that she'd given such an elaborate breakdown on his technique?

The kunoichi smirked at him when she spun her yari in a one handed grip before taking it into a solid stance, its tip pointed in his direction. "Your speed is limited and so is your range. How long will you be able to dodge me when I'm coming at you at high gear?" Her expression became serious once more. "Let's find out." She then vanished in a flicker of electricity.

Blinking in alarm, Naruto suddenly saw his opponent reappear directly in front of him and swing in with her metallic staff.

As expected, Tsubaki's yari passed through the air where her target had been standing, indicating he'd 'teleported' again. Not panicking in the slightest, the girl followed through with her missed swing and spun around again, this time coming in low with a wider sweep of her staff. When she did, she saw her opponent had crouched below her previous line of sight to duck her attack as opposed to shifting to the side, which meant he didn't have enough time to execute his unique jutsu.

Eyes widening when he saw his opponent swing in with her follow-up, Naruto threw up his arms to block, only for the side of her staff to slam into him and send him careening across the arena. With a cry of pain, the boy tumbled violently towards the trees, where he crashed into them at full speed, causing one of the trunks to collapse on top of him. After seeing him vanish inside the cloud of dust, Tsubaki rose to her feet and with a smile, vanished in another flash of lightning.

Tayuya and the other Genin up in the stands stared fearfully towards the ring after seeing Naruto get hit. Upon hearing everything through the speakers of what the girl had to say, they realized that even though their friend and teammate was able to counter most of her attacks up until this point, his opponent was still a major threat.

She didn't just have her lightning. Not only could she magnetize the elements around her and utilize the battlefield to her complete advantage, she was also incredibly intelligent and could still move at blinding speed. Tsubaki had plenty of weapons to fight with, and now that she had this advantage and was no longer following the same pattern of attacks in her match with Samui and the others, she was not going to let the chance to defeat her foe slip through her fingers.

Seeing the cloud of dust fade and Naruto pull himself out of the rubble, Tayuya clenched her fists nervously when she saw him wipe the blood dripping down his face away and dust himself down. He took a big hit, and judging from the angry look on his face, she knew the boy was in trouble.

"Damn it!" Naruto cursed, looking up suddenly to see his opponent reappear out of thin air and dive straight at him with her yari. Reacting immediately, the jinchuriki leapt out of the way, a split second before her lance drove into the ground with a loud crack, the tip splitting the ground. The orange haired girl however was not deterred and followed after him with her eyes.

Skidding away on all fours, the blonde glared up at his opponent, seeing her stand up from her kneeling position to stare at him. Gritting his teeth, he then sprinted to the side, deciding to open up distance and analyze the situation more closely. However, while he was keeping a close eye on his adversary now standing several yards away, the boy suddenly bumped into something solid and froze up, his senses going haywire.

Spinning around, he suddenly saw Tsubaki standing directly behind him, having bumped into her shoulder, and was now swinging at him with her yari.

"Holy fuck! How fast is she?" Alarmed, the blonde brought up a kunai to block, only for the girl's lance to slam into his side and send him spiraling across the hills again, where he tumbled to another grueling stop many meters away. Coughing up blood when he felt two of his ribs go the boy looked again, where he saw Tsubaki strolling towards him and vanish in a flash of electricity. "This is ridiculous! She's changed her strategy and is actively avoiding simultaneous exchanges that would allow opponents slower than me to hit her! Now she's moving just as fast as Lee using that eight gate thing!"

"Brat! This girl has a kekkei genkai designed to restrain biju! Don't take her skills lightly!" the Kyuubi shouted in his head, the fox baring his teeth in frustration. "Even though you trumped her with your affinity advantage, she's still got plenty of other elements she can work with. As long as she can move as fast as a lightning powered user can possibly move, you don't have a hope in hell of catching her."

"How fast is lightning? Like, 3,700 miles per second," Naruto gritted his teeth. Though this girl wasn't actually moving at the speed of lightning, she was still moving pretty quickly, which had the blonde shake his head in annoyance. "Hey furball, do you want to drive for a while?"

Hearing the boy ask for his help, the Kyuubi thought about his situation for a moment before responding in kind. "No thanks. I'm not interested in getting deloused through electricity today. I'll let you figure this one out."

"Whatever, you selfish bastard."

This speed was completely different to anything the jinchuriki had encountered before. While Kakashi was fast, this girl seemed even more accurate with her speed, and Haku's 'speed of light' kind of travel was strictly limited to her mirrors, and since she was still human was restricted to how fast she was permitted to shift between them. She only created the illusion she was moving at the speed of light, but not this girl.

This was scary, A-Ranked crap she was using.

She could use her element like it was second nature and travel just like lightning. That was just a fight that seemed impossible to win.

Some genjutsu to stop her in her tracks would be really helpful… skills that the jinchuriki didn't have. Now Naruto was wishing he had Neji's bloody Kaiten technique or Temari's wide-spread, wind release techniques to knock this bitch out of the air while she was moving.

Unfortunately, it didn't look like Tsubaki was going to give him a chance to call Saito for help.

"I've still got to give it a tr-SHIT!" Cut off, Naruto jumped to his feet and avoided his opponent crashing down on top of him with a kick, which split the ground and created a small crater. Rolling away, the blonde was on his feet again to see the orange haired girl yank her foot out of the ground and come stabbing at him with her yari. Swaying around the spear thrusting in his direction, Naruto attempted to get clear and acquire some space. However, his retreat was stopped short when he was unexpectedly kicked in the stomach and sent barreling across the hill. When he landed on his back, he hissed in pain. "Damn it! No time to think!"

Jumping to his feet, Naruto winced and grabbed his side, looking to see his opponent dashing at him in a blur. Clenching his jaw shut, he formed his familiar cross-fingered hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Shadow Clone Jutsu) A series of puffs of white smoke exploded all around him, and a dozen Narutos emerged out of the wall when it parted.

Sliding to a stop, Tsubaki frowned when she saw the squad of copies up front crank back their fists and fire shots of wind in her direction. Calculating their trajectory, the orange haired girl suddenly dispelled into a series of electrical bolts before reappearing in the sky above, avoiding their narrow attacks. When the clones looked up, they saw the kunoichi kick down at them and fire a beam of compressed lightning at them, which struck the ground at their feet and exploded with concussive force, easily dispelling them.

Shielding himself from the blast, Naruto formed another hand seal and produced several more clones that fanned out. He mixed in amongst them, scattering across the field in an attempt to confuse his opponent. However, when it seemed like he'd managed to give her the slip and was on his way towards the forest to find cover, the girl suddenly reappeared alongside him in a flash and he looked across at her in shock.

Tsubaki grinned as she sprinted over the field alongside him, "You can produce as many clones as you like. No matter how many times you scatter them, I'll simply take them out." She then suddenly spun around and slammed a kick across his face, plowing him into the ground. As he bounced and rolled to a painful stop, the girl slid into a normal stance as well and smirked down at his fallen form. "You forget that I'm lightning. With my kekkei genkai, I can easily clock speeds that a Jonin can reach. Whether it's just one person or a whole army, nothing can catch me while I'm moving."

While this wasn't true, her words were mostly used for intimidation purposes and to help make her point.

She was not intent on losing.

Growling, Naruto forced himself onto all fours and glared across at his foe, his vision blurry from receiving her kick. He knew his opponent couldn't send him flying across the ring like she did with her other opponents, because those attacks required her to exert a certain charge of electricity to execute. Since he used a wind release coating, she couldn't do that. But that didn't meant physical attacks couldn't reach him.

He was getting the shit kicked out of him.

Breathing furiously, Naruto then vanished in a blur, hoping to lose his opponent with his speed. However, just as he reappeared on the other side of the field, near the barren area, he looked over his shoulder to see his opponent directly behind him, swinging in his direction with her lance. Eyes widening, the blonde ducked out of the way, only to get kicked and smacked flying across the arena again. When he came to a stop in a cloud of dust, puffs of white smoke exploded all around him as an army of shadow clones surrounded the entire area. When they rounded on Tsubaki standing at distance from them, they began throwing shuriken and firing off consecutive Hien rounds.

Shaking her head, a smirking Tsubaki suddenly vanished in a flash of blue light. That blue light traveled in the form of a bolt of lightning that seemed to bounce off of all fifty of the shadow clones produced before stopping in front of one of them, the original Naruto staring in shock at the girl looking at him straight in the eyes while all of the copies he'd summoned suddenly collapsed to their knees before dispelling all at once.

Gritting his teeth, the blonde attempted a swinging hit, but his opponent smacked him with the side of her staff and sent him toppling to the ground. Rolling, the jinchuriki cocked his gauntlet arm back and set off a series of smoke bombs on the ground, clouding the area. Tsubaki watched as her field of vision was absolutely blinded, her gaze turning serious for a moment while her lightning form neutralized the toxins he attempted to get her to breathe by vaporizing it. After a few seconds of waiting, she spun on the spot and swiped her yari out, cutting through the gas before hitting something solid. A loud clang rang out when Naruto was sent flying across the hill again before landing in a crumpled heap several yards away.

Spitting up more blood, the blonde wiped the back of his hand against his chin and glared furiously across at the orange haired kunoichi. When his smoke bombs faded, he saw the kunoichi drive her lance into the ground and gestured him with both hands to 'bring it on.' Giving a furious yell, he charged at her and began cutting out at her with combinations of attacks with blinding speed, swinging at the girl as best as he could. However, no matter what he tried, she just slipped and stepped out of the way effortlessly. After seeing him come around, she then spin kicked him across the face and sent him tumbling over the dirt.

With her kekkei genkai stimulating her damn senses, even though she didn't have the same level of taijutsu skill at him, her speed and reflexes granted to her by her natural affinity for lightning made her dangerous up close.

Even his usual style of fighting wasn't cutting it.

When the boy stopped and glared back at the girl, Tsubaki frowned and allowed him to reset his position. "This kid's senses are still good. He's able to cushion my hits and avoid any attacks aimed for vital spots by moving at the last second. Even though I'm damaging him, he's still going strong. I'll need to wear him out a little bit more… and mess with his mentality to force an opening." And that meant more intimidation tactics. To destroy a person's sense, you needed to hit them from all sides, and not just physically. Upon seeing the boy wipe the blood from his chin, the orange haired girl smirked and snapped her fingers. "Hey… why don't we play a game I like to call hide and clap. Know it?" Hearing him snarl, the teen chuckled, "Don't worry, it's an easy game. All you have to do is to try and find me. Alright… let's go." She then vanished in a flash of electricity.

The arena falling silent, the boy suddenly jumped to his feet and got into a defensive stance. Looking around furiously, the youngster attempted to find his opponent, keeping an extra ear and eye open for any signs of a sneak attack. However, when several seconds ticked by and nothing happened, Naruto then stiffened when he heard two distinct claps echo out from behind him and spun around, where he saw his opponent standing right next to the proctor Hayate.

The referee, not even knowing she was there, jumped in surprise and looked at her in shock.

She'd just gone from standing just several meters away from her opponent to over fifty meters in the blink of an eye.

Grinning when she saw Naruto round on her, Tsubaki nodded and held her yari casually at her side. "Very good. But how about now?" She then vanished in a flash of lightning once more.

Growling in frustration, knowing that he was being toyed with, the jinchuriki looked around again. This time, nothing happened for about a minute and the entire stadium was left searching in confusion and wondering where the girl went this time. Of course, when the clap came sometime later, causing Naruto to freeze up, the boy looked towards the balcony box where all of the former competitors were sitting alongside.

All the Genin sitting in the front row jumped, with a couple of them yelling in shock when they spun around and saw Tsubaki standing on top of one of the chairs. Rocking her yari in her arms, Sasuke, Neji, Lee and everybody else stared fearfully at the girl to see her smirking darkly down at her opponent in the center of the arena, as if the act of getting from where she was before to here had been a breeze.

"Wow. It took you about a minute to try and find me this time," Tsubaki giggled while giving a shrug. "You're getting slow, Uzumaki. Try and keep up. This is your last go, so give it your best shot, okay." She then vanished in another flash, leaving everyone staring at the spot she'd previously been occupying silently, as if they'd just seen a ghost.

Eyes widening, Naruto searched one last time, wondering where on earth she was planning to pop up next. She was darting all around the arena at such a speed ordinary people just couldn't keep up with her. Even the Chunin in the stands were struggling to follow her.

After another minute of looking around, the entire stadium then heard a clap from up above and looked into the sky above the arena. When they did, jaws dropped all around when they saw Tsubaki floating in the air with her arms at her side and her yari held firmly in her right hand. Upon seeing every set of eyes turn to stare up at her, the kunoichi gave a frown as she glared down at the boy beneath her.

The expression of alarm could be clearly seen reflected in Naruto's eyes as his attention fixed on her completely.

"She's… incredible…" the jinchuriki murmured, sweat running down his face in steams. "I… I can't…"

"You can't beat me. That's what you're thinking, isn't it?" Tsubaki asked with eyes cast over in shadow and a deathly serious stare framing her, which she shot down at him. When she saw his body start to tremble, the orange haired kunoichi gave a dismissive grunt and crossed both arms over her chest. Hands held out and her yari staff now strapped to her back, she started to gather electricity in vast quantities. Seconds of quick charging later and two balls of lightning could suddenly be seen hovering in front of her palms. "Well… you're absolutely right on that mark. But I have to say, you came really close… almost as close as my previous opponent. That alone is worthy of a promotion."

Naruto took another fighting stance, hands held up and an intense visage locking onto his adversary.

Seeing him curl up defensively, Tsubaki chuckled. "As you wish, Naruto Uzumaki. Raiton: Yasakani no Magatama!" (Lightning Release: Eight Shaku Curved Jewel)

In a blinding flash of light, the kunoichi threw open her arms and unleashed a hail of thousands upon thousands of blue balls of energy, which rained down upon Naruto all at once.

Shielding his face, Naruto was instantaneously caught in the hell storm that struck the ground around him and ripped the earth asunder. The proctors actually had to jump out of the way when the rain of absolute, certain death almost reached them too, the entire region of hills the jinchuriki was standing on being torn apart and turned into confetti by countless small explosions that piled up to form one final closure that went up with the force of hundreds of paper bombs going off at once. This occurred after several seconds of an unending hail storm that utterly decimated the whole arena.

The fire ball the enormous explosion produced shot into the air in the form of a mushroom cloud, blocking out the sun with its sheer size and causing the crowd to cry out in terror.

Tayuya, Haku and everyone who saw Naruto become engulfed by the attack watched on horrorstruck.

No one could have survived that.

Upon unleashing her final move and watching the flames turn into smoke that began to dispel on the wind in embers, Tsubaki dropped down from the sky and landed outside the enormous crater she'd produced. While it was true the rest of the field had been peppered and the proctors had been forced to duck and cover as well, most of the damage had at least been contained around her one target. Surveying the damaged region of the ring after the smoke had cleared shortly following her barrage, the orange haired girl then breathed a tired sigh and embedded her lance into the floor next to her.

Dusting herself down and straightening the robe hanging off of her shoulders, Tsubaki turned heel and began walking away, having found no trace of her foe left.

It was done.

"This is the first time I've ever had to use so much chakra in a fight before," she muttered to herself before chuckling in her head. "You were one hell of a ride, Naruto Uzumaki." That beating at the beginning had been one hell of a surprise. While ordinarily she would've dodged, after seeing her opponent stand through all those attacks just left her speechless.

Hopefully the hidden leaf would acknowledge the skills that boy displayed today and begin teaching them to the rest of their shinobi. He was definitely worthy of that merit.

Just as she was beginning to make her way to the exit though, she stopped when she realized someone was standing in front of her. Looking up, she saw the Suna proctor Mizore looking at her or… more precisely, looking over the Kiri girl's shoulder. Wondering why the woman had come to stand in front of her, the Genin frowned.

"What's the big deal? It's over." Staring at the woman for a moment and receiving no response, Tsubaki then decided to see what all the fuss was about and turned around. When she did, her own eyes widened when she saw the familiar, battered form of her opponent standing in the center of the smoking crater.

Air clear and dust settled… everyone saw that the boy was alive and well.

Clothing in tatters from the debris and rubble that had flown about during the barrage, blood dripping down his head and mouth, and looking slightly burnt from the various explosions, an exhausted, bent over Naruto panted heavily as he pushed aside the boulder that was in his way before looking up through tired eyes. His own gaze fixing with his foe's glare, he showed to her that he wasn't done yet through body language and raised a hand to gesture her over.

He was in a poor state, but the slight smile he cracked said the opposite.

"I'm not through… with you… yet…"

Tayuya's face lit up when she saw her boyfriend was still alive and well.

Stunned to see her opponent had survived, Tsubaki then remembered an important detail she'd overlooked and slapped her forehead. "Right. Wind coating. He's resistant to lightning release techniques." Breathing in annoyance, the girl marched forward and yanked her yari out of the ground on her way over. Twirling it in a double-handed grip, the girl refocused all of her attention on her enemy and prepared for one last bout. "You really are a stubborn opponent. I'll give you that. But looking at you now, I doubt you'll be able to survive even one more kick from me." Setting herself into a stance with her lance held at her side, the kunoichi grinned. "Come on then. Bring it."

Panting slightly and gulping down saliva that had gathered, Naruto straightened up with his hands at his sides and caught his breath.

Breathing, breathing, breathing… that's all he did for the next few seconds, before he closed his mouth and concentrated. Lowering his head back down, he fixed on his opponent through the bangs that covered his eyes and shook his arms out.

Tayuya and everyone else watched on in worry, wondering what the boy could possibly do now in his current condition. Even Shizune, Kiyoko and Samui, all of whom had come up from the medical bay below, were watching anxiously from the entrance to the arena stands with concern for the teen's safety.

Even with his affinity advantage over his opponent Tsubaki still held an advantage in terms of skill, reflexes and experience. Not only was she smart, but she could also use her abilities in ways no one could've even imagined and had the best agility of all the competitors, on par with Lee's. Even the Kage acknowledged her speed as being top class.

None of Naruto's tactics or jutsu worked on her either, and her level of agility allowed her to overcome him in basic hand-to-hand combat. From that perspective alone, she was seemingly superior to him in every way.

So what else could he possibly bring to the table that could help him win this fight?

For a full minute nothing happened and everybody was left watching silently from their seats and waiting for a new development. However, when it appeared that the jinchuriki was just going to throw in the towel or Tsubaki was going to bring him down, the sound of feet tapping suddenly echoed out around the stands and the crowd began looking about in confusion.

Realizing that the sound was coming from the arena, everyone looked on to see, much to their bewilderment, Naruto shuffling and skipping on the spot.

Arms at his sides in his usual fighting form and head still lowered, the boy shifted left and right, his feet switching orthodox and southpaw repeatedly as he began to, in a word, dance.

It took a few seconds of watching for Tsubaki to process what was happening before the girl eventually dropped her own arms in shock as she proceeded to observe her opponent begin to shuffle at high speed on the spot. Even the proctors and audience gawked at the boy, the question of 'what the hell is he doing' flowing over each and every one of them.

OOO

Shikamaru blinked, "Wait… is he…?"

Sasuke's shoulders fell in disbelief, "You're kidding me? He's doing that at a time like this?" He looked over at Neji when he remembered seeing his teammate do this very same thing in their fight. The Hyuuga obviously recalled this scenario too from the way his jaw dropped. "This isn't the time to be doing that."

"He should be backing up and getting distance so that he can figure out a strategy," Kaede remarked.

Frowning, Tenten glanced across at the boy and gestured down to the field. "Have you been watching this crap as closely as I have? He can't get away from his opponent. No one can. She just chases him down wherever he goes."

"B-But," Shiho also looked over at the kunoichi, "Taijutsu doesn't work on her. How is dancing going to help Naruto-kun?"

"Bookworm is right. This isn't the time to be screwing around with his opponent. He's getting his ass kicked out there," Karui spoke up.

Tayuya, mesmerized by the boy's shuffling she could see on the big screen, suddenly felt an unsettling feeling come over her and straightened up. Eyes shimmering with intrigue and intensity, she brought her hands up to her chest.

"No… I think… this is the perfect time for it."

OOO

(Stadium – Arena)

After staring in bewilderment for about a minute longer as her opponent continued to dance around on the spot, Tsubaki then shook her head and took a solid stance again. Yari held firmly in hand, she pointed the tip directly towards her foe, planning on running him through the moment she sprang forward.

"I don't know what you're planning to do, but that bogus dance isn't going to save you. Not from me!" She then dashed forward in a blur, vanishing from the proctor's sight. "It may have served you well in your fight against the Hyuuga, but it's useless against me." She then jabbed out with her spear.

Just when it seemed like she was going to cut her opponent down with a single swing, Naruto unexpectedly swayed back and avoided it. Jerking slightly in surprise at missing but still not breaking her rhythm, Tsubaki pulled away and struck down at him, only to see the blonde slip around her attack and the combinations that followed. Swing after swing, the kunoichi attempted to corner the boy, chasing him a full circle out of the smoldering crater before lunging in with a lightning fast strike.

However, instead of nailing her opponent when his head popped up again, the jinchuriki suddenly ducked under her attack and dashed off to another part of the hill. When he skidded to a stop and spun around, he began skipping and shuffling on the spot again, going through the same weird footwork as before, with only one slight difference. Instead of letting his feet do all the work, he started to move his arms a little more. With his left swinging at his side, his right was brought up to his cheek, the hand of which he started to flick and twist around at random to go along with his odd dance moves.

A little bit frustrated at watching the boy get away, Tsubaki vanished in a flash of electricity and reappeared behind him on his blind spot, her spear cocked and ready to take him down.

"Nice try, but I've got you now!" She then thrust forward, only to see her opponent once again sway under it at a ridiculous and almost painful angle and skip backwards away from her. Blinking in surprise, the girl bit her teeth together and pursued, lashing out with a few more strikes and watching the blonde weave around them by a hair before he unexpectedly ducked under one of her swipes and scampered away at speed.

Springing across the field, Naruto skidded and stopped.

He stopped for only a moment, watching and waiting for his kunoichi opponent to lock onto him to give pursuit, before starting to dance and skip on the spot once more.

Seeing him blur from side to side with his quick and impressive shuffling movements, Tsubaki stared at him for a good, long moment before beginning to look him over much more seriously. With her battlefield made lance in hand, she brought it up defensively and narrowed her eyes, tracking the jinchuriki's shifting, back and forth, over and over again. She even noticed his feet blur out of focus, showing just what gear he was running on.

"I'm keeping cool and my chakra levels are still good. I've got plenty of juice to spare but…" Her expression scrunched up in confusion. "What is this? This is weird. I should have caught him by now, yet… he's evading me so easily with these odd movements." Granted he'd used this weird bobbing, swaying and shuffling style of fighting before, there was just something off about his evasiveness and subtle increase in agility that was starting to get to the kunoichi.

Hell, even she was having trouble counting the times he shifted.

Breathing deeply, Tsubaki relaxed and turned to face her skipping opponent. "Focus. Keep calm. Watch him closely. His speed isn't difficult to deal with. Just follow him and nail him when he stops."

However, she wasn't able to get that far when her opponent suddenly tapped against the floor before beginning to walk backwards quite quickly, but doing something that had everyone's jaws drop.

Naruto started moon-walking. Sliding one foot back after the other, he made an impressive line across the field before beginning to dance and shuffle again, busting out some more moves while waving his arms about some more. While shifting and skipping, he pulled off another moonwalk, baffling Tsubaki and the audience, before the kunoichi took a deep breath and snarled.

"I am NOT… going to get annoyed by this," the girl growled in her head. "You're trying to provoke me into missing you and screwing up. Well, too bad for you, I can see through your little game!" She then vanished in a flash of lightning, lunging at the boy using speed she knew he wouldn't be able to track. "You're out of time!"

Reappearing in front of her adversary, Tsubaki struck out at the youngster with her spear, aiming to go right through his skull. However, just as her lance was inches from making impact, the boy slipped under and around her attack. Pulling back, she began striking at him with swift thrusts and swipes of her staff, her movements a blur as she used a series of elaborate and aggressive attacks that would have taken out anyone standing in front of her. But for some startling and unexplained reason, Naruto kept dodging her blows, the spear's attacks speeding up to that of a machine-gun's rate of fire as she began peppering the air in front of her, trying to hit the jinchuriki.

However, just as she was coming in for one last sure hit to catch him through the chest, Tsubaki's eyes widened when she saw something strange happen to her opponent.

His body became transparent, beginning from his chest before working its way up to his head. When her yari shot out and 'hit' him, his form completely faded out of sight, revealing to the kunoichi that she'd struck nothing but air. After throwing her last attack in the combination, she remained standing in place momentarily, wondering what on earth had just happened before she heard the sounds of tapping behind her.

Eyes widening, Tsubaki spun about to see her opponent had been standing directly behind her with his back turned to her. It was when she turned to face him completely she then saw the jinchuriki sprint off and coast to a stop several yards away, his feet beginning to skip and shuffle about in place. The sound of his feet drumming along the ground echoed throughout the quiet stadium, giving background noise to an already baffled crowd.

Tsubaki blinked in astonishment, eyes dilated and conveying her disbelief. "Did I… did I just lose sight of him? My speed is good and my attacks are precise… but… he just evaded all of them." Sweat breaking out on her face, the orange haired kunoichi looked to see her foe's eyes reveal themselves from under his hairline and shoot towards her. "How? How come I can't catch him all of a sudden?"

Watching him start skipping for another engagement, Tsubaki bared her teeth and timed herself accordingly to his weird rhythm. As his feet blurred and he began to 'dance', the orange haired girl charged forward in a invisibly fast dash, aiming to cover the many yards of distance between them for a scrap.

"He's still injured from that last attack! Even though the lightning didn't affect him directly, he's still winded from the explosions. Focus! Take him down!" Tsubaki thought, watching him move and wave his arms about erratically. When her eyes looked right, his left lifted up and twisted. When his shoulder twitched, his right shot out, with the orange haired girl struggling to keep track of each of his individual movements. Approaching at high speed and still in motion, it was now an effort for the girl to determine where he would dodge next. "Right? No. He'll slip left."

"Focus! Observe his movements. His eyes will give him away. Watch him closely! Watch him close-"

Tsubaki skidded to a stop, as her opponent had suddenly vanished.

"-ly?"

The kunoichi's eyes widened in horror when she realized the jinchuriki was now gone. Lance held up, the girl stared at the spot the boy had once been standing in incredulity, wondering what the heck had happened to her target. Even the audience was stunned, as they too could no longer see the boy.

Tayuya, Samui, Kiyoko, Sasuke… everyone was stumped.

"Th-This can't be," Tsubaki thought in alarm, looking left and right repeatedly. Glancing over her shoulder, she looked towards the proctor Hayate, whom she saw was also baffled by the turn of events. When she saw him looking around, she realized that he too had lost track of the jinchuriki and stared ahead of her again. "W-Where the hell did he go?"

It was then, a shadow darting beneath her line of sight caught the girl's attention, and the kunoichi's eyes shot down to suddenly see Naruto materialize out of the air beneath her, his left fist cocked back and swinging in. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw the course of his attack and attempted to evade it, only to receive a sharp body blow to her liver. The attack rang out with a loud thud, followed shortly by Tsubaki grunting at the impact before she swung out with her lance, attempting to hit her opponent.

Naruto, using deft footwork, darted out of range of the yari before blurring out of focus again. His opponent attempted to track him, coming around and thrusting her spear a second time. When the jinchuriki ducked low, evading the blow, he then rammed two more body blows into her side, staggering the girl who then attempted to kick him. But the orange haired kunoichi missed him completely when he zipped off at speed, her eyes following him till he materialized out of the wind several yards away, still skipping and still dancing.

"Damn it! Knock it off!" Tsubaki growled, vanishing in a flash of lightning.

Blinking, Naruto then looked to his left, where he saw a bolt of lightning shooting towards him, causing him to sway back. Immediately after that, his enemy materialized from the current of electricity and began lashing out at him with her staff again. Back and forth, round and round, the ridiculously fast girl attempted to nail the blonde with whatever attack she could, mixing in her thrusts and slashes of her yari with kicks and elbows. However, as the two blurs darted around each other in that single space, no matter what she tried or how fast she moved, Tsubaki just could not catch the boy.

He kept slipping in and around her, swaying under her every attack and jumping this way and that. Even with her blurred out shots, the boy was already two steps ahead of her, swinging out of her line of sight repeatedly while she tried to nail him. Eventually, he slipped right under a sharp lunge, and nailed his opponent with three body blows that caused the girl to cough out whatever air she had in her lungs and stumble forward. Her attack pattern upset, she spun around to track him a fifth time, only to see he had vanished into thin air.

Her expression showed a smile, but her eyes reflected her disbelief.

This was a joke!

"Th-This… can't be happening."

Another shadow to her right. Glaring down, Tsubaki attempted to slash, but received two more body blows that rammed into her ribs. Growling, she repeatedly tried to cut at the orange blur that dashed around her. It circled her and she followed, but when she thrust out with her spear, a flash of pain in her side told her she got hit by another body blow, and with her cheeks puffing up, the girl reeled forward in shock, letting out a loud groan.

"Why the fuck can't I hit him?!"

Coming around on the girl's far right, Naruto emerged from his blurred form and continued to dance on the spot. Legs shifting across the ground at speed and arms dangling at his sides, the boy looked curiously at his enemy to see her look in his direction with a stunned visage.

"Did she just groan?" Naruto murmured to himself, blinking in confusion before smirking. "Furball?"

"Yeah kid. I heard it," the fox exclaimed, a sly grin forming on his face. "Shit brat, are you…?"

"One step at a time, furball," Naruto grinned, raising his arms up and beginning to squirm about again, his legs and arms moving individually, separately, shifting about through the air at high speed. From everyone's point of view, it looked like he was dancing, but from Tsubaki's point of view his movements were all erratic and blurred. Completely random. "It's time to take it up to the next level."

Tsubaki's eyes widened in panic when, after watching the boy for several seconds without blinking, all of a sudden she literally saw her opponent fade to transparent, before vanishing completely from sight.

Unable to respond fast enough, the kunoichi unexpectedly received another blow to the body. Spotting the boy's feint shadow to her side, she attempted to slice out at him, only to expose her side to repeated shots to the midsection. Grunts escaped her lips as she was nailed again and again and again, before managing to drive the boy away with a kick.

"THAT'S IT!" Tsubaki spun around, electricity running down her arm when she used her magnetic capabilities to pick up a cluster of kunai lying on the floor in front of her and hurl them in a wave straight at her opponent now standing at her back. However, instead of impaling their target, the rain of knives passed straight through the jinchuriki when his body became transparent, seconds before her attack ended and he became solid again. The kunoichi's eyes widened in astonishment, "What? He's still standing!"

Naruto stared blankly back at the teenager, moments before a smirk crossed his lips and he began to skip.

The Kiri girl just couldn't comprehend it as her eyes shimmered with disbelief, "Those kunai went right through him!" Seconds into her thinking over the situation, Tsubaki was knocked out of her reverie by her opponent vanishing from right in front of her and her side caving in from another body blow, followed by another. From that point onwards, the entire process started all over again.

Kiyoko, seeing her teammate stagger after her opponent vanished, suddenly saw Naruto pop up again to her friend's left and approach her from there. Spotting him, the blonde haired girl stepped forward and shouted over the bewildered crowd while slamming her fists onto the concrete wall in front of her. "HE'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, TSUBAKI! HIT HIM!"

After taking another hook to the side, the bewildered Tsubaki gritted her teeth in desperation. "BUT I CAN'T! HE KEEPS VANISHING FROM RIGHT OUT UNDER ME!"

Glaring ahead of her at the empty space of the ruined grassland, she then suddenly saw her opponent moonwalk past her, which brought an irate growl from the girl as she took on another offensive stance.

"You think this is funny?!" It was then her attention perked when she saw the boy look across, before beginning to move around again. Just like before, his hands began moving independently of their own free will, along with his feet, hands, wrists and legs. His head also began cocking left and right, his gaze landing everywhere else but on her. The sight of his limbs blurring out of focus and his form taking on that of a person with multiple limbs flailing around in all directions had Tsubaki's gaze reflect her panic. "His dancing around isn't my problem… it's this thing! He always disappears immediately after he does this."

It was completely random.

Hands, feet, legs, knees, shoulders, head… every single part of his body was moving around on their own. He was throwing punches and kicks that weren't really meant to go anywhere, moving about on the spot, looking everywhere with a blank look on his face, and making no expressions whatsoever to reveal his intentions. It was like a full body feint.

Tsubaki gritted her teeth and shook her head, refocusing on him, only to see he'd vanished again. The girl spun her staff around and swung out, but ended up hitting nothing when the orange blur that was her opponent shot past her line of sight.

"This is bullshit! Every time I look at him he just vanishes! If I try following him he just shoots off in the opposite direction as fast as he can! I can't work around it!" the kunoichi cursed while glancing about as fast as she could, her senses unable to pick up anything. "With the reflexes and timing granted to me by my lightning release kekkei genkai, my eyesight is better than even the Sharingan's. But I can't work around this! Nobody can! There's no way a person can respond to feints that aren't being thrown intentionally!"

Getting annoyed, the girl waited for her opponent to reappear again.

However, when it looked like he had just up and vanished, the girl froze when she heard two claps echo across the field, drowning out all other clamor and action.

Claps?

Not tapping?

Startled, Tsubaki turned around, where she saw her opponent leaning against a tree sixty meters away. A smug grin on his face, Naruto looked across at the girl confidently. His eyes flickered with a sense of deviousness and, slowly but surely, he pushed himself off of the trunk. "You thought before that I had given up … that I was thinking to myself that I couldn't beat you when you thought you had me cornered." He shook his head. "That wasn't what I was thinking at all. What I was really thinking was how happy I was to fight someone as unbelievable as you; someone who could move as fast as a bolt of lightning. I was excited and thrilled to be fighting a kunoichi so powerful." A chuckle escaped his lips when he saw the stunned look in her eyes, "All the more reason why I'm going to beat you at your own game… so let's play." His grin widened considerably. "Hide and clap. Try and find me."

Letting out a growl, Tsubaki vanished in a blur, reappearing directly in front of her opponent and swinging in with her staff. "DON'T FUCK WITH ME!" In a single slash, she cut down the oak, missing her target when he just up and vanished. As the tree collapsed to the ground, the kunoichi began looking around wildly, wondering where he'd rushed off to this time.

All he was doing was pulling feints and tricking her eyes into following shadows around the confines of the ring. That was all. He couldn't travel long distances and he couldn't travel faster than her. It was all an illusion.

All she had to do was find him… and gut him.

For the next minute she stood there looking around, with the audience and cameras also unable to track him. Hell, even the experienced Jonin had lost sight of him. The arena went deathly quiet for the longest time in today's fights, the girl's fists clenching tightly around her staff as she was unable to find any trace of her opponent.

But then, after several more seconds of fruitless searching, the sound of clapping echoed throughout the stadium, and Tsubaki froze.

Turning around slowly, her eyes panned up to the Kage Section where, one after another in a slow, haunting beat, Naruto could be seen standing directly in front of the village leaders, clapping. The six Kage could be seen staring up at him, having just a few seconds ago realized he was standing directly in front of them. Since they'd been so focused on the arena, they didn't even notice him reappear directly in front of them, several levels up in the stands.

"W-What?" Tsubaki choked, sweat pouring down her face. "H-How the hell did he do that?"

Did he teleport? Was he… moving at the same speed she was?

What the heck was going on?

When he saw his opponent look at him, Naruto smiled and stopped. "It took you two minutes, but you finally found me," the jinchuriki exclaimed with a sly grin. "Honestly, I was getting a little bit bored waiting for you to catch up, so let's kick things up a notch!" The moment he said that, he began skipping on the spot, his feet tapping along the ground at speed and blurring out. As his hands started to move, the boy looked back at the Kage looking at him curiously and smiled, before turning back to the arena and towards his baffled opponent. "Let's see how fast you really are."

Tsubaki kept staring at her foe intently as he started to go through the motions, seconds before he vanished from his platform. The kunoichi didn't even blink and he just disappeared from her line of sight with a crack of wind, stunning both her and the Kage who'd actually been in close proximity with the boy.

"W-Where… did he go?" the Kiri Genin thought, sweating up a storm as she looked around.

After several seconds of looking, she suddenly got her answer and stiffened in shock. Crossing her arms over her face, she reacted just in time when something hard and fast moving smashed into her guard. A sonic boom echoed out when she was knocked backwards by an orange blur that suddenly shot past her. When her feet touched the ground again, her opponent flashed back into view behind her, looking over his shoulder with a blank expression on his face before he sprung forward again, and vanished with another crack of wind.

Turning, Tsubaki focused just in time to see the cloud of dust that had formed from her opponent taking off settling to the ground. Gritting her teeth, she brought her yari up and held it to her side in a protective guard, a split second before another blow plowed into her from the side with the sound of a shockwave ringing out as sweat was blasted off of her in a cloud. Spinning around after the hit, she attempted to pursue, but her opponent had taken off again.

"ENOUGH!" the girl shouted, taking her yari into a two handed grip and spinning, swinging it out in a 360 degree motion.

When she did that, kicking up a cloud of dust at the same time at the speed she executed it, Naruto suddenly reappeared out of thin air, springing away from her lance. Successfully driving him out of whatever supersonic flight he was moving at, the kunoichi fixed her glare on him as he began to circle her, his arms hanging at his sides and his wide eyes fixed on her in what she identified as an intense glare.

While moving about, Naruto's head was traveling a mile a minute. "She can still move around really quickly. That's her lightning release kekkei genkai for yah. However…" A smirk formed on his face as the entire world just slowed down, like it was moving thousands of frames per second. The clamor of the stadium and the sounds of battle were drowned out and replaced by white noise, which allowed him to focus entirely on his furious opponent. "Whenever she throws an attack, her movement becomes disjointed. I can see it… everything; every muscle fiber of her being tightening, twitching and twisting to create motion, every inch of her action right down to her shifting hair follicles. The movement from her lower body to her upper body… there's no flow in it. She has no edge in her motion." His eyes flashed deviously. "It's like she's not even moving."

Yes. This was it!

This was the sensation he'd been looking for! The one he'd been aiming for!

This was his ability.

His speed zone.

"How do you like my Zanzō no Jutsu (Afterimage Technique), Tsubaki-chan: my perfected version of the Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)?" A chuckle escaped his lips as he got a good look at her face. "It took me hours of training to get it right, but it finally paid off. Time to stretch my legs."

He then vanished, disappearing in a blur. Tsubaki tried to trace after him but lost sight of the boy again, seconds before something unbelievable happened. Before the girl could even respond, dozens of Narutos suddenly started dashing around her in circles; countless afterimages just blurring past her on all sides, kicking up dust and moving so quickly she couldn't even count them. Not only were the proctors shocked at seeing the countless Narutos darting around the girl, but the audience also gawked in shock, as everyone wondered just how fast he was traveling.

Every direction he traveled he left an after image behind that faded away seconds later, and there were hundreds of them moving around at random around Tsubaki, making it look like she was surrounded.

Tsubaki choked in shock. "What the hell? I…" Her eyes looked around in panic. "I can't follow him! W-Which one is he?"

Before she had a chance to act, the original Naruto decided to rattle her chain a bit. Hiding amongst the countless after images darting around the girl, the real blonde eventually decided to make his move and cut towards the kunoichi at speed, watching her turn towards him in slow motion and nailed her in the chin with an uppercut. The blow caused a shockwave to ring out and cocked her head upwards, a cloud of blood and sweat shooting into the air. While she stumbled away, the real Naruto reappeared fifty yards behind her, changing directions before vanishing again, smashing into her from the other side and sending her staggering forwards.

Winded, Tsubaki attempted to counter with her lance, only to get nailed in the side and sent propelling across the field, sliding to a stop immediately afterwards. Responding quickly and desperate to get away, she leapt straight into the air to see if she could throw off his attack, suspending herself three stories above the ground. However, while trying to search for her opponent she failed to notice the blonde materialize out of the air directly above her, and nailed her in the back with a haymaker. The blow rang out with a loud bang, the girl crying out in agony as she was smacked down to the ground, where she landed on all fours. Before she could even begin to recover, she leapt out of the way when an orange blur suddenly descended at speed into the ground, smashing a crater into it.

Sliding away, Tsubaki looked as the smoke and dust cleared, where she then saw Naruto rise up out of it and start dancing. Baring her teeth, the girl prepared her lance for another attack, only to realize she'd lost it from being knocked around by her opponent. Looking around, she spotted it lying several meters out, but after considering it for a moment decided to let it be.

It was just extra weight. Not something she needed fighting this boy.

Watching Naruto begin to shuffle and skip again, his odd hand movements restarting, the orange haired girl tensed. A spark of lightning ran up and down her, signaling she was getting ready for a high-speed game of tag. "I can't believe how fast he's moving. After all this time, I never thought I'd ever meet anyone who could move at the exact same speed as me." A deeper frown appeared on her face when the electricity crackling around her intensified. "Lee was one thing… but this kid. There's no other option available. I've been saving as much chakra as I could for the final round, but it looks like I'm going to need every speck of energy and effort I can muster to beat this one! I'm taking off the training wheels! No more restraints!"

He was clearly moving at a level similar to hers… she just needed an extra boost to catch him.

At that, much to A's and the other Kages' surprise, Tsubaki's form suddenly became encased in lightning armor. The chakra exploded off of her body like fire and began radiating around her with the sound of loud crackling ringing out. Hair standing on end under the bellowing aura, the girl took a stance and readied for attack. Crouching low, she watched her opponent continue to dance before disappearing in an orange haze. The girl tracked him with her eyes and took off after him, vanishing from the crowd's sight.

"There!"

From the audience's point of view, all they saw was a bolt of lightning streak across the arena following after a small orange blur that was also darting around it. About several seconds later, the two peculiar anomalies mounted the top of the barrier wall and began chasing each other along it, running several laps of the entire stadium until they shot off and began crisscrossing over the ring like fast moving beams of light on the grid.

Shockwaves rang out like thunder claps when the two streaks of light engaged several times before the lightning bolt pulled ahead.

Glaring behind her while she was still traveling at Shunshin speed, Tsubaki's eyes widened and she dodged to the left, avoiding a right cross thrown by her opponent, who was somehow keeping up with her step for step.

Cocking his fist back, Naruto let out a growl and advanced yet again. He launched a one-two combination that his opponent barely slipped around, watching the armor covered girl desperately slip around them, before he set her up with a right cross. The punch cut out at the kunoichi, who slipped to the side in time to avoid the cannon ball that flew past her, causing her eyes to widen when she felt it graze her cheek.

Even though they were moving at speeds untraceable for ordinary people, to them, they were both moving at the same rate.

"W-What the hell?" Feeling the heat from the punch scorch her, the girl suddenly threw up both her arms and blocked a killer left hook that crashed across her guard. The attack exploded against her with the sound of an artillery battery firing, resulting in another thunderclap from the two glowing blurs shooting across the field. Feeling her arms go numb from the sheer power of the attack, Tsubaki could no longer hide the expression of horror and shock on her face as she retreated even more, only for her opponent to stick to her like fucking gum. "Impossible! How can he keep up with me?"

She retreated, only to see him advance on her even faster, his intense glare fixed on her as he closed in inch by inch.

Despite moving at such high velocity, Tsubaki was confounded.

The longer they fought at this speed, the faster he seemed to get. And unlike Samui, who used patience and illusions to counter her agility, this boy was taking her head to head in the exact same field.

Trying to pull away, the girl bit her teeth together. "Speed… Am I lacking speed?!" Seeing her opponent cock back his right, the kunoichi brought hers up as well. "If that's the case, then I'll speed up even more!" Tsubaki loaded her counter at the same time her opponent let out a roar of effort and struck out with a swinging overhand. The girl responded in kind, "CAN YOU KEEP UP WITH ME, NARUTO UZUMAKI!"

Just as she threw her shot, Tsubaki was nailed clean in the face by the boy's chopping right. The attack smashed into her with the force of a mule's kick, causing a sonic boom to ring out and blasting the girl back in a traveling mass of electrified light. Eyes reflecting her shock, blood flew out of her mouth when the girl barreled across the field in her glowing armor, tearing a trench through the earth at incredible speed.

After traveling a countless number of yards she eventually stopped, where she then rolled back onto all fours. Panting heavily with blood dripping out of her mouth and nose, the kunoichi let out a growl of anger and powered up, her aura exploding outwards at a higher rate. As soon as her chakra output increased, she disappeared in a blue flash and reappeared in the center of the arena a split second later. When she stopped, she leapt skywards, just in time to avoid her opponent reappearing out of the air in front of her and swinging at her with a hook. Looking up, both Naruto and the audience saw Tsubaki reappear several stories up, hovering in the sky and panting exhaustedly.

Feeling the winds whip at her body and looking down at the ground to see the person attacking fix on her, the girl chuckled and allowed a small smile to appear on her face. Shortly thereafter, her snickering then transformed into full blown laughter, which echoed over the stands as she continued to drift through the sky high above the arena, well out of reach of her opponent.

Grinning almost maniacally with bloody teeth, the girl glared back down at her foe. "What are you going to do now, huh?!" she shouted, throwing her arms out. "Even though you can move fast, you can't walk on air, can you? CAN YOU?!" She laughed out loud again. "Since you can't reach me, you can't beat me! It's over! You lose!"

Blinking as he looked up at his adversary for a few seconds longer, Naruto rolled his head, cracking his neck, and removed his jacket. Immediately after that he threw off his shirt, leaving his top half bare. The proctors and the crowd watched him intently, wondering what the boy planned on doing as he stretched out before crouching down, placing his hands on the floor, digging his feet in and looking towards the clouds where his opponent was hovering with great intent.

Concentrating hard, Naruto allowed another grin to spread across his lips before the ground at his feet suddenly burst outwards in a ring dust when, all of a sudden, his hands and feet started to spew wind out in the form of jets. The sight had Tsubaki and the stadium's immediate attention, before the boy gave a loud holler and took off from the ground, a sonic boom ringing out as he rocketed into the sky, propelled by air ejections points from his hands and feet.

"Tsubame no Koto!" (Soaring Swallow) Naruto bellowed, stunning the audience when they saw the boy literally fly towards his opponent.

Even Onoki's jaw dropped as he saw the jinchuriki take off and advance on his foe several stories above the earth.

"He can do that?" the Tsuchikage asked, looking on wide-eyed along with the others.

Astonished at seeing her opponent blasting towards her, Tsubaki cocked her right fist back to plow into her target and send him back into the ground. However, just as her punch was cutting out, her adversary reached her first and drilled her with a right punch that had the kunoichi reel over in shock, eyes bugging out and mouth agape.

Coughing out blood at the impact, the kunoichi let out a yell and kicked, only for the jinchuriki to leap over it and, with a yell of effort, drilled her with a left overhand that smashed her back towards the field below.

Descending in the form of a lightning bolt, the girl recovered by flipping and skidding across the floor. As soon as Tsubaki stopped, she threw off the coat hanging from her shoulders and extended her right arm, which became encased in her lightning armor's sheath and extended outwards slightly from her finger tips like spikes, before her entire body began expelling her volatile aura once more.

"Alright, Naruto. No more games! I'm taking you down, even if it kills me!"

OOO

(Stadium - Kage Section)

Onoki's eyes narrowed as he watched the two teenagers down on the absolutely ruined battlefield set themselves for another clash, and felt his bones ache at the amount of chakra radiating off of both of them. "Even though the Tsubaki runt had a clear affinity disadvantage against her opponent…"

"She was still able to fight back by changing her attack strategy and utilizing her immense speed," Hiruzen murmured, also looking down at the ring seriously. As expected of a genius, she was able to face down her natural weakness and fight accordingly to the circumstances presented to her. "But Naruto was able to surpass her in speed as well using what I believe is his own version of the Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)."

Naruto was able to move faster than his opponent because of the very sudden directional quality of his ability. He'd subtly combined his fighting style with the Shunshin no Jutsu, a technique that allowed a person to move short to long distances at an untraceable speed. Normally this technique was only used in small bursts, because the sheer speed a person moved at created tunnel vision that made it impossible to dodge obstacles and was also risky because even if you did use it, a skilled opponent could still track you because you moved in a straight line. Naruto however didn't.

By integrating the technique into his fighting style, he was able to slow his perception of the world around him to a crawl, allowing him to survey the battlefield carefully and aim the technique along a nonlinear path. Not only did it not hamper his vision or his movements, but he could also execute it without a single hand seal and use it at long distances for an indefinite time, just like his opponent. Being a stubborn adversary too and with his ridiculously sharp senses honed from years of practice, it was possible for him to both match and overtake his enemy.

There were also several other unique traits to this new kind of Body Flicker technique Naruto was able to utilize. Not only could he teleport across distances, but the jinchuriki could also leave behind and create afterimages to confuse his enemy. What's more, while this was only a small addition made at the expense of his opponent, his weird dance technique not only loosened his muscles, but it also allowed him to throw full-body feints to confuse his enemy even more so, making it impossible to predict his exact line of attack or intent. This countered Tsubaki's calculating nature and allowed him to throw her off his trail in an instant.

A remarkable combination of speed and unpredictability.

Tsubaki was able to move as fast as a Jonin.

But Naruto was able to move even faster than her.

Hiruzen grinned at this thought. "He's just like his father was…"

OOO

(Stadium – Arena)

Upon cranking her arm back, Tsubaki vanished in a flash of lightning. Following its path, a once again grounded Naruto spotted her coming in from in front and charged as well, kicking off the ground in a cloud of dust.

Traveling across the field at speed, both the bolt of electricity that was the kunoichi and the orange blur of the jinchuriki ran each other down, cutting through the clouds of debris and meeting in the center of the ruined battlefield. When they lunged at each other, the Kirigakure Genin swung in with her right, thrusting her four fingers forward, whereas Naruto sprang through the air and spun, his right foot wrapped in a tornado that went right up his entire body.

"Jigokuzuki!" (Hell Stab) Tsubaki shouted.

"Tsubame Gaeshi: Chaser!" (Swallow Return: Chaser) Naruto yelled in kind.

The impact of their attacks colliding resulted in a deafening silence, which lasted for only a split second before a clap of thunder rang out and a shockwave from their attacks meeting each other caused the ground beneath them to cave. The sonic boom shot outwards and tore up the earth like it were paper, both Genin's attacks canceling each other out before they vanished in a flash of blue and orange.

The gale of wind that was the force of their collision traveled across the entire stadium, nearly knocking the proctors off their feet before washing over the stands. The people cried out when they were hit by the hot winds, dust and debris, the people in the front row being the first to recover once the raging gales stopped. Once the chaotic result of the simultaneous attacks subsided, the audience tried searching out for the two competitors, looking all around for any signs of them.

Another loud clap of a shockwave high above drew everyone's attentions towards the sky. Eyes panning up, every man, woman and child in the area was able to see a bolt of lightning and an orange blur shrouded in wind darting across the sky, like a whacked up fireworks show. Against the grey clouds, the two warriors crisscrossed the airspace, intercepting each other continuously and throwing attacks that reverberated over the entire region.

The villagers watched in awe as both the fast moving Naruto and Tsubaki traded blow after blow, with the lightning user remaining suspended momentarily as her opponent made several passes on her. She dueled him using her Yonhon Nukite (Four-Finger Nukite), clashing with his Tsubame Gaeshi shrouded fist. Sparks flew with every clash, shockwaves also ringing out before Naruto came in with a hook, his blow colliding with hers when she countered before he flipped over her. The jets of air on his feet and blasting from his back keeping him airborne, he attempted to swipe down at his adversary, but the kunoichi slipped around his hand and plowed a left straight into his face.

The blow sent Naruto packing, before he performed a graceful aerial recovery before taking off, his jets pushing him along. Tsubaki growled and gave chase, both of them breaking the sound barrier when the jinchuriki used his wind to rocket him at speed while his opponent reverted to lightning again.

Still feeling the kunoichi was after him Naruto spun around and flew through hand seals. Immediately after performing them, he threw his right hand out and fired a cloud of white smoke, which began filling the air and expanding at an alarming rate. "Futon: Oroshi!"(Wind Release: Wind Blowing Down from the Mountains) the jinchuriki shouted, the grey clouds blocking him from view of his opponent, who stopped and looked on as the enormous sea of white and grey smoke began flying towards her.

The cloud collided with Tsubaki head long, knocking the lightning enveloped girl about before the rest of the stadium was hit by the technique. The crowd braced themselves when Naruto's attack expanded in rings, forming a mushroom cloud in the sky like a nuke had gone off, blasting the observers with gales that also picked up dust and nearly knocked some observers out of their chairs. Everyone had to shield their faces as the attack washed over them in waves, with Kakashi recognizing this as the smokescreen Naruto had used against him before on their very first training session as Team 7.

Caught in the middle of grey and white smoke clouding around her, Tsubaki clicked her tongue and brought her right hand up. Switching from her Four-Fingered Nukite to the Three-Fingered Nukite, she cocked her arm back and took aim. "Was that meant to buy you time? COWARD!" She spun on the spot, chopping out with her arm and, with a blast of wind from the increased power of her attack, blew the clouds away.

The air cleared up seconds later, revealing to both the stunned crowd and the kunoichi that Naruto was gone.

Sasuke, Sharingan activated, looked around nervously. "Where is he?"

"Did he… run away?" Omoi asked out loud, his own question being shared by a few of the others.

"No!" Tenten shouted, looking up into the sky anxiously with narrowed eyes. "Naruto wouldn't turn his back on his opponent! He's not scared of her."

"Shithead's not afraid of anyone," Tayuya also spoke up, asserting her own confidence in her boyfriend's character.

For the next minute, silence rained over the entire battlefield. But then, just as everyone was beginning to wonder whether the jinchuriki had fled and left her opponent floating there, waiting for a ghost, a sudden, chilling sensation caught Tsubaki's attention and she turned to the sky above her. When her eyes fixed on the heavy white clouds above, at the same time the Kage and everybody else did, a gust of wind fell upon the stadium when, out of nowhere, a glowing blue light could be seen radiating from behind mass in the atmosphere.

Seconds later, the clouds above Tsubaki parted violently and continued to do so, revealing the sun and the blue sky behind the ceiling when Naruto made his grand reentrance. His ejection points propelling him in a fast descent and blasting off of him at full power, the jinchuriki dove towards his opponent at speed. An intense glare on his face, the boy let out a heroic war cry as he picked up speed in his fall, aiming to attack his foe with everything he had.

Clicking her tongue irritably, Tsubaki's lightning armor flared up, switching from the Three-Fingered Nukite to two fingers before blasting up towards her enemy in a bolt of lightning. Zipping through the air, trailing fire or… electricity in this case, the Kirigakure Genin let out a roar of anger as she cranked her right back and plowed it forward, aiming to cut the boy down in a single swipe. "YOU'RE FINISHED!"

However, just as her fingers were inches away from slicing into him, the spear of her lightning armor having extended much further than before, Tsubaki's eyes widened in shock when her arm was unexpectedly knocked away by Naruto's left, which he'd held forward in his dive towards her. With her arm deflected, the girl's rate of ascent was upset and she was blown back from the sudden redirection of her attack, her expression conveying disbelief.

Naruto's grin came back full force and his eyes widened in a frenzied expression. "A straight-ass jab like that can still be blocked, no matter how fast it is!" the boy yelled out at the top of his lungs, the left hand he'd used to block also igniting with compressed wind chakra, meaning that both his fists now had tornadoes spinning around them. Setting his form above the kunoichi and taking aim, the jinchuriki lunged in with a yell, his cry echoing throughout the sky. "YOU'RE MINE! TSUBAME RENDAN!" (Swallow Barrage)

The Kyuubi, watching closely from inside, sat up from his spot where he was lying and grinned determinedly, "GET HER, BRAT!"

With a bellowing roar, Naruto drove his right fist into his opponent's stomach, nullifying her lightning armor and striking the girl directly. Immediately after the following hit, the jinchuriki then began laying into his opponent with punches that rattled her very core one after the other. His blows plowed into her repeatedly and continuously, shockwaves ringing out with every hit as he began smashing her towards the ground at an alarming rate. He fell with her, continuing to punch into her again and again and again.

Blood flying out of her mouth, Tsubaki let out a cry of rage and agony as her lightning armor expanded, smashing into Naruto's next fist and causing a fiery explosion that knocked both of them away from each other. Smashing through the flames and still falling, seeing his opponent now several stories below, the blonde cut off the chakra feed to his hands and brought his right back. Concentrating energy around his palm, Naruto then let out a growl of effort and, in a blink of an eye, formed what looked like a miniature twister between his fingers, the winds of which expanded several times in size and literally whipped in front of the sun behind him, which had since revealed itself when the clouds in the atmosphere parted.

Tsubaki, seeing the enormous attack appear behind her opponent, looked up in shock when the boy shot towards her, swung it forward, and drove the enormous, spiraling collection of wind into her.

"JET HAND!" Naruto shouted, slamming his attack into his target's chest.

The impact was marked with a loud crack, Tsubaki's lightning encased body becoming flushed up against his palm and a cry of terror escaping her lips as the jutsu ground into her. The attack expanded considerably on impact, growing in size to the point of exploding and sending an enormous tornado-like blast of wind rocketing towards the center of the arena with the kunoichi at the very head of it. When it struck, it struck with lightning speed and enough force it could have decimated the side of a mountain, sending dust, debris and enormous chunks of rubble crashing into the barrier walls. The crowd was still hit with the gales of wind that was the shockwave of the catastrophic explosion, which had everyone cover up before looking to see the exact results of the attack.

Watching closely, the Genin sitting beside the competitor's balcony wondered what had happened to Tsubaki until a familiar friend landed directly in front of all of them. Body battered and panting heavily, Naruto had his back turned to everyone as he looked across the arena at the enormous crater in the middle. Waiting patiently for several seconds under the bewildered stares from the crowd behind him, he watched a bolt of lightning leap out of the crater and land on the other side of the stadium directly in front of the Kage.

Still encased in lightning armor, a battered and bloodied Tsubaki panted heavily for a moment, catching her breath from the violent fall before giving a low growl. "Let's finish this!" throwing her right arm out, she extended one finger, her chakra spiking when the end point of her Hell Stab stretched outwards. She was now using the Ippon Nukite (One-Fingered Nukite), the final level of the technique and the strongest sword. The sight of it had the Kage look on uneasily.

Seeing her opponent power up her final attack, Naruto reciprocated her actions and held out his right, his chakra gathering for another Jet Hand. The small collection of spiraling chakra remained suspended above his palm, causing the wind around him to twist, while his foe's own attack flashed and sparked dangerously.

Once both their attacks were charged up, the two Genin vanished in their respective flashes.

Landing on the arena floor, both opponents sprinted across the ruined battleground at full speed, their forms marked by a trail of dust kicking up behind them. Naruto had to cross over the lake first, kicking up water instead as he made his way towards his opponent, intent on meeting her at the center. Grins formed on both fighters' faces as they closed in, shaving away the distance little by little until eventually, they reached the end.

Meeting directly in the center of the ring and crater formed from the last attack, Tsubaki cranked her right back and threw it forward, the spear of lightning shooting out at speed.

However, just when it seemed like Naruto was about to clash horns with her, instead of facing off against the terrifying Nukite strike head first, he instead ducked under it and, countering appropriately, thrust his hand straight into her open chest, the Kiri teen unable to respond in time to escape. His collection of chakra slammed into her and knocked her back, the attack grinding into her armor but unable to pick her up as she had her feet firmly glued to the ground through her chakra and her output of lightning increased drastically to counter.

Tsubaki acknowledged his efforts to send her packing with a grin, even while she was being plowed into by her strong opponent.

"HA! That's not going to be enough to pierce the Raiton no Yoroi! (Lightning Release Armor) Unless you can get more penetration power, you won't beat me with it!"

Gritting his teeth, Naruto continued to push, his jutsu losing ground even though he was still digging deep to try and get it through to hit his target.

Even though he was dispelling her lightning armor, Tsubaki had increased its density to several feet to block his finishing move and stuck to the ground to keep her from flying off, and it was pissing him off.

Foot tapping nervously on the floor as everyone watched with baited breath the two Genin clash one last time, Sakura suddenly stood up and, gripping the barrier wall, leaned over in a blind fury. "NARUTO! IF YOU DON'T BEAT HER RIGHT NOW, I'M GOING TO HAVE YOU BANNED FROM THE ICHIRAKU RAMEN SHOP FOR LIFE!"

His ears catching the shout from his teammate, the boy's expression became one of pure horror, before his look changed from surprise to absolutely manic in the blink of an eye. With his gaze becoming demonic, the boy grinned wildly as he stepped further forward. "If that's the case… I'LL FUCKING CRACK HER ARMOR OPEN, EVEN IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!" With a loud roar following his spirited declaration, Naruto clenched his hand into a fist. The drill tornado of his Tsubame Gaeshi formed at the exact same time he bent his arm and, upon stepping in, wind began to gather around his driving limb. "JET ELBOW!"

The second he shouted that, an ejection point formed on the corner of his arm and exploded outwards with the sound of a tearing storm. Merging and adding more power to the tornado already twisting around him, the wind blasted out of his elbow and ripped apart the ground behind him like a rocket. Working in conjunction with his Tsubame Gaeshi, the jinchuriki let out a tremendous bellow that drowned out the entire stadium, before his wind drill effortlessly cut through the lightning armor like a knife through butter and struck Tsubaki's stomach underneath it.

The kunoichi's eyes widened when a shockwave rang out, one strong enough to rip open the ground at their feet and lift her off the floor. Bolts of pain shooting through her as the attack dug into her, the winds picking up to a gale that whipped around both of them as Naruto went in with the final push. As he yelled out, so did Tsubaki, blood flying from her mouth before, seconds later, a sonic boom rang out as she was sent spinning across the arena.

Crashing through remarkably still standing trees and boulders, she eventually slammed straight into the barrier wall of the arena, where she became buried under tons of rubble. A cloud of dust shot up into the air immediately after her impact, with Naruto stumbling forward before crashing onto his front.

Panting in exhaustion, he looked up intently to watch the thick clouds of his once airborne target thin out before dissipating on the wind.

Eventually, when the air cleared and the audience caught a full glimpse of the crash site, they saw Tsubaki lying sprawled out over the piles of rocks. Her stomach showing the signs of the wind drill that had been driven into her, the orange haired girl remained motionless as she laid there unconscious on the ground, bleeding from the head and mouth.

Silence prevailed over the arena when the end of the match came. The proctors cautiously made their way over to the final stopping point of the Kirigakure Genin, with Mizore checking on her condition. When she concluded that the girl was still alive and nodded to Hayate that she was out cold, the man cleared his throat and waved to the cameras and the audience.

"Winner of the semi-final match by knockout: Naruto of Konohagakure!" He then gestured towards the youngster in question.

When the crowd looked over at the boy, they saw him push himself to his feet and, breathing out a heavy sigh of relief, raised a fist into the sky in victory.

OOO

Expression transforming into one of joy, Tayuya leapt to her feet and threw both fists up, an action that startled everyone sitting around her as it was accompanied by an outcry of triumph. "FUCK YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!"

"H-He beat her… Naruto actually defeated her," Ino murmured in disbelief, earning a nod from a speechless Sakura.

"I didn't think anyone would be able to beat that chick, but… out of everyone here at this tournament… it was the runt that did her in," Kankuro murmured to himself, his face showing the signs of sweat broken during the course of the match. In all his years, this battle had to be one of the most, if not the most intense things he had ever witnessed… and he'd seen a lot of things. His jaw clenched tightly as he looked up at the big screen to see Naruto throw both hands up and start laughing ecstatically. "Though he doesn't look the part… that kid is absolutely terrifying in his own way."

Satisfied at the conclusion, Neji smiled and folded his arms, closing his eyes as the crowd slowly started to come around. One after the other, people started to applaud, the storm of clapping transforming into wild cheers of celebration, as all manner of congratulations was sent down towards the victorious blonde in a wave. Under the deafening cries of the stadium, the Hyuuga chuckled.

"I can expect nothing less from the person who defeated me."

With all of Team Gai up and cheering, with Tenten gazing admiringly up at the screen alongside Tayuya, Sasuke couldn't help but continue to stare in silence at the site where Tsubaki had crashed. Seeing the unconscious girl get hauled onto a stretcher and carried out of there, the Uchiha felt his fist tighten and glare harden as he felt a sense of satisfaction flood through him as well. With the fight over, he could finally process everything he'd just witnessed from both the powerful kunoichi from Kiri and his lifelong rival.

Smirking as he fixed onto the center ring where Naruto now was, hands in the air and receiving the people's cheers gratefully, Sasuke gave a chuckle. "Anything less and I wouldn't ever consider you a challenge of any kind."

The determination to outdo the blonde intensified as his fists tightened even more so. If nothing else, the raven haired genius was looking forward to fighting him again to test his own skill.

OOO

(Konohagakure – Chunin Exam Stadium)

The entire audience sitting in the stands of the hidden leaf's own coliseum was up and celebrating as well. It was almost like they'd just watched a giant slain with a rock fired from a slingshot, as every man, woman and child broke out into applause. Even Ebisu, remarkably enough, was also clapping with an approving smile on his face.

As the cheers rained down, with Jiraiya in the back row clapping, Kin and Isaribi were completely beside themselves. The moment she saw Naruto raise his fist in the air in a victory pose, the purple haired girl had leapt out of her seat and shouted joyfully, which inevitably started the chorus of praise from the rest of the people in the stands. Her delight became shared with Kin, who had also jumped up to dance alongside the girl, completely forgetting about their rivalry and sharing a high-five with the diver.

As the applause began to settle, Isaribi couldn't help but remain standing in place, hands over her mouth and eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

"He did it… Naruto-kun did it."

Once again, for the second time in knowing him, Isaribi had just seen the boy pull off the impossible, and came out the other end victorious.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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Author's Note: My favorite chapter.

This was the fight between Naruto and his rival in speed Tsubaki, where instead of using the same level of strategy in his other fights; he just went in and beat the shit out of his opponent. While Samui used patience and genjutsu to overcome her opponent, Naruto went head-to-head with her and won. This was the fight that allowed both of them to completely cut loose and fight at their absolute best.

While the match between Samui and Tsubaki was inspired off of the fight between Ippo and Saeki, a slow fighter beating (almost in this case) one of the fastest fighters ever, this match was Itagaki vsSaeki, two of the fastest fighters in the entire country.

And just if you're all wondering, the fights in anime that inspired this fight include Itagaki vs Saeki (Hajime no Ippo), Luffy vs Enel (One Piece), and Kirito vs Eugene (Sword Art Online).

Hope you all are looking forward to the next fight. While this one destroyed half the arena, the next one destroys all of it. What else can we expect from a Naruto vs Gaara fight? Lol