Of Trees and Frost
By
Ragnorokrising
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Chapter Nine: The Prelims, Part One
Naruto awoke in the tower on an unfamiliar bed. He groaned as pain shot through him. Deidara and Haku slept on the beds on either side of him. He silently went to the bathroom and took a shower. As he dried off, he made sure his team mates were still asleep. He put on a pair of black cargo pants with multiple pockets, a red shirt with a black flame outline and his navy blue trench coat. He let Rochi crawl up his arm and strapped on his sanjiegun. His swords were placed inside the coat and a set or gray fingerless gloves were slipped on his hands, the seals for Wind attacks placed into it. "I wonder if Kyuubi has any more seals to teach me."
"Maybe if you win your match kit." he marched down the hall to the other rooms to see who else was here.
"Any body here?" he chuckled lightly and yelled out "Marko!"
"Polo!" Gaara walked down the hall, a blank expression on his face. "Tell that old man I said thank you for fixing my seal. Your Kage and the old pervert have stopped Shukaku from influencing me."
"It was my pleasure to get you help. We need you in the battle to come so having you in stable mind is important." he grabbed the bottom of his shirt. "Besides, our kind is few and needs to stick together." he pulled up his shirt to show Kyuubi's seal. What he didn't expect though was that was that the kanji for tree, root, ice and glacier were above, below, on the left and right side of the circle.
"You are right. We must stay on each other's side, or we will endanger ourselves. There are only six of us so-"
"Seven, there are seven now." he launched into an explanation of how Madara attacked Sasuke, they fought back, skipped how Orochimaru saved them, how the Cloud Jinchuuriki attacked Madara, how Madara had implanted the Houkou, how the seals were placed, what happened with the Rock ninja and how he nearly went insane.
"Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, you certainly are a strange one. I must go now, my siblings await." the sullen red head turned away from the blond and up a flight up stairs. Naruto continued on his way, searching for other teams. He reached the East side of the tower and found Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga, and Shino Aburame.
"H-h-hello Naruto." stuttered out Hinata.
"Hey Naruto, can you hook me up with that hot chick on your team? The blond one." said Kiba, a perverted smile on his face.
"I didn't know you were gay Kiba." said Shino, keeping his straight face. Or, at least they thought it was a straight face. They couldn't see behind his collar and glasses but Naruto thought he heard a slight chuckle.
"I'm not gay! What the hell are you talking about!?"
"Kiba, that's a guy, named Deidara." he said with a laugh. Kiba spluttered for a minute before getting a mischievous grin on his face.
"What about that brunette girl?" he leaned in close to Naruto's ear. "Her boobs are kinda small but the ones with tiny tits are allows animals in the bed." Naruto narrowed his eyes as Kiba nudged him. "Heh, ya know what I mean?" Naruto looked at him for a moment.
"Kiba, cover your balls before I chop them off." the three Genin in front of him looked both shocked and appalled at the statement. "That girl you're talking about is my girlfriend and I'll be damned if I let you get away with insulting her and using her as the subject of dirty jokes."
"G-g-girl friend?" he nodded to the Hyuuga girl in front of him.
"Since yesterday."
"Damn, some guys get all the luck." complained Kiba. Naruto laughed and rubbed his head embarrassedly.
"I guess so. I mean…Hinata is something wrong?" she shook her head, making tears fly. She ran down the hall, sobbing in sorrow. "What'd I say? What'd I do?" Shino sighed and shook his head.
"You still don't know after all this time?" Naruto looked at him quizzically, waiting for him to explain. "She's liked you since the academy. You just never noticed it."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head again ('Am I getting a bold spot?'). "Actually I did know about it. I may not look like it but I'm actually really smart." Kiba snorted and Naruto kicked him in the balls. "Shino, give me any question you want and I'll answer."
"What was the name of the Nidaime Hokage?"
"Tobirama Senju, grand uncle of Tsunade the Sannin, brother of Hoshimaru Senju, the Shodaime Hokage, sensei to Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, famous for his Water and Ice jutsu and my great-great-grand uncle. Next question please."
"Same information on the Yondaime Hokage."
"Minato Namikaze, son of Tsunade Senju and Orochimaru no known surname, husband of Kushina Uzumaki, sensei to Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha and Rin no known surname, famous for his Rasengan, Flying Thunder God Technique and his seals. He is known as the strongest Hokage for defeating the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Only living relatives are his parents and his son, me."
"You really expect us to believe you're related to all those people?" laughed Kiba. "I doubt it some how."
"Well you always were kinda stupid."
"I can't believe the academy dobe, and a blondie no less, just called me dumb when he failed the test to graduate three times."
"Hey, my first mission was a B-rank. I took out a traitor before I was even a ninja and you started with D-ranks. Who's better at being a ninja here?"
"He can't even do a Clone Jutsu?"
"I have to much chakra for that technique!" he yelled. "Besides, I learned a jutsu form the Forbidden Scroll of the Hokage in three hours whiel evading almost all ninja Chuunin or higher in the village."
"oh yeah, well…at least I'm not a Blonde Dobe!"
"You wanna fight dog breath!?"
"Bring it on Blonde Dobe!" they dashed to the arena where the other contestants were gathered.
"Naruto, just in time for you to be in the prelims and miss the speech. Take a look at who your possible opponent could be." Naruto scanned his eyes over the group. He saw Sasuke, the cat girl, Sai, Deidara, Haku, a set of Rock ninja, a Sound ninja group, Kabuto's team mates, Shikamaru's team and Kiba's team as well as a Hyuuga boy, Lee and a girl in a Chinese outfit with her hair in two buns and Gaara and his siblings.
"Sensei, some one has to fight twice. I'll do it." declared Naruto to Hayate on the field. "Me and Kiba got a score to settle."
"Okay, but no swords or Wind jutsu." Naruto nodded and jumped from the railing onto the floor. Kiba followed him as Hayate cleared his throat. "This event is being televised to all nations across the continent so be careful what you use. BEGIN!"
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" forty nine clones popped into appearance and all fifty Narutos tossed two tri-kunais around Kiba.
"You missed dobe!"
"Did I really Kiba? You obviously have never seen a Flying Thunder God Kunai before." Naruto smirked and worked some hand signs. "Tree Style: Arms of the Soul Tree!" four arms shot from underneath Kiba's feet and held his arms and legs. The clones made a bird sign and disappeared in a yellow flash. Kiba screamed as wounds appeared on his skin. Naruto smirked then turned and slammed a clawed hand into a second, more beast like Kiba. "Glacier Cocoon!" the Kiba fell to the ground in a block of ice.
"Akamaru!" he yelled. The Kiba in the ice disappeared to be replaced by a small dog. Naruto chuckled and snapped his fingers. In an instant, the tree branches sunk away and the ice melted into water.
"I'm no monster. I would never hurt an innocent little animal." he walked over to the wall and leaned against it, waiting for Kiba. The aggravated Inuzuka tossed a pill to Akamaru, who turned red. Kiba then got on all fours and growled.
"That's it! Akamaru!" Akamaru barked and jumped onto Kiba's back. "Ninja Art: Man Beast Clone!" in a blast of smoke, the small puppy turned into his master again. "Ninja Art: Beast Mimicry!" Kiba lowered his head to the floor and covered it with his hands. When he came up he looked like a rabid dog.
"Akamaru, keep your mutt on a leash!" yelled Naruto. "Or I'll do it for you." he chuckled again as Kiba and Akamaru jumped into the air and twisted.
"Inuzuka Taijutsu Style: Fang Over Fang!" two swirling vortexes of wind, weaving in and out of each other, came towards Naruto. As they grew closer he took a huge breath, did a few hand signs and spit a long line of mud at them. They went up over his head and tried to come down again. Tried being the operative word here. Naruto inspected his finger nails till they were about four feet apart and spin kicked out of the way at the last second, scoring a hit on one of the clones.
"Not bad Akamaru but you should train your pet better. He's just a burden to you and the village!" Kiba howled in anger and ran straight at Naruto on all fours.
"I'll show you whose the pet here!"
"Bring it on your wet haired, slobbery, flea infested, mange ridden mutt." Kiba sped up and circled Naruto. Said blonde yawned and slammed a Rasengan into the ground. The arena crackled and scattered. Kiba was thrown into the far wall.
"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze!" yelled Hayate.
"NO! I can still fight!" yelled Kiba, crawling out of the hole. He ran at Naruto again, blood pouring from his left arm. Hayate moved to stop the fight but Naruto beat him to it. He disappeared in a golden flash and appeared in front of Kiba with his fist an inch from his face. A small plate of wind hit him and sent him flying. Naruto bent his arm so his hand was in front of his face and he had a straight arm and placed his other arm on his wrist. He pulled it down to his elbow then pointed the arm at Kiba and balled the hand into a fist.
"Wind Shotgun." a large compressed bullet of air shot at Kiba's head. Kiba covered his head as the wind impacted against its target and exploded. Kiba shakily turned his head and looked at the HUGE crater next to his head. Naruto grabbed his shoulder as his arm went into minor seizure but quickly stopped as a red aura ran down it and back up.
"Watch your step Kiba, or next time I won't sneeze when I try and kill you."
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Jiraiya and Anko were rolling on the floor as Sarutobi slammed his head on the bar. "The brat sneezed and missed!" laughed Anko as Kiba was taken away.
"That kid's so unpredictable! I remember one time though, his father sneezed as he activated the flash and instead of him, his snot hit the Tsuchikage in the face!" even the contestants were laughing at that one. Jiraiya wiped his eyes of tears as the name selecting electric board began to shuffle.
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"I told him his over confidence would be his undoing but he never listened to me." said Kiba's sister, Hana, in the Inuzuka residents.
"He did well for some one going against that kid." said his mother, Tsume, as she sipped some tea.
"Inuzuka like Kiba are a disgrace if you ask me. You need to teach him some humility." Tsume waved her hand back and forth and poured the rest of her tea into her dog's mouth.
"Thank you Tsume."
"Any time partner."
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The Tsuchikage ground his fingers into the diamond desk as the entire continent laughed at the fact he had gotten a face full of snot in the war courtesy of the Yellow Flash. The desk snapped as he realized Akira had failed her mission. "ANBU, send three fourths of all available Hunter-nin after Akira!" the ANBU in the corner disappeared and he sighed. "Akira, I am sorry, but I have no choice. You have failed and failure is not an option in my village."
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Madara laughed as he watched the replay of Naruto sneezing right before he fired. Then it got hard to breathe as they zoomed in on the crater to show snot flung every where. "That kid is funny!" he said while wiping his eye.
"Master, what did I miss?" asked Pein as he came back with the popcorn. His mouth fell open when he saw all of the Akatsuki members laughing their asses off. Madara hit the rewind button and showed the snot. The popcorn dropped as Pein covered his mouth. He suddenly burst out laughing, a high, squeaky, school girl giggle. All laughing stopped for a moment as all eye focused on Pein. He wrinkled his nose and sneezed, sending green mucus into the popcorn. They burst out laughing again as Pein ran to his room to cry.
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The names spun at a fast rate. Hayate announced each name as they appeared. "Ino Yamanaka will fight…" the second name slot turned around and around and began to slow down after Ino's name appeared. "Temari Sabaku."
"Well this should be quick. Temari 'ill have this girl beat in a second." said Kankuro as his sister slightly opened her fan in front of Ino.
"BEGIN!" shouted Hayate before disappearing. Temari swung her fan at Ino and sent her flying into a wall with a blast of wind. She fell on the floor a moment later, completely unconscious.
"Boring." Temari climbed the railing and agreed with her red headed brother's statement. The names rolled again and Hayate once again announced them.
"Third Match, Shikamaru Nara VS Kin Tsuchi. Begin!" the female Sound ninja began by firing off senbon needles at the lazy boy, who side stepped them. She smirked and pulled. Bells on the end of the needles shook, sending sound waves out to Shikamaru's ear drums. He groaned as his vision grew fuzzy and several copies of Kin appeared around her.
"Give up, you can't escape." Shikamaru smiled as he crouched down and made his hands into a ram seal. Kin started to do the same. "What in the world?"
"Shadow Possession Jutsu: Successful." a black line expanded from underneath the thread connecting to the bells until a long shadow connected Shikamaru to Kin. He walked forward and she was forced to do the same. He turned her away and up the stairs, meaning a forfeit.
"Kin Tsuchi has left the arena so the winner is Shikamaru Nara." Choji congratulated Shikamaru up in the balcony as once more the names rolled.
"Fourth Match: Neji Hyuuga VS Naruto Uzumaki."
READ THE A/N IT'S IMPORTANT TO THE STORY!
A/N: I've decided to make shorter chapters than I usually do so I can have a longer story. Most other stories are in chapter twenty at this point so I'm going to space out the prelims, the training after it, the finals and the invasions. I'm also going to explain the relationship between Kakashi and Gabrella next chapter and how she survived since I kinda forgot last chapter. And I need profiles and skills on the Rock-nin team's second and third member. I already have one on the first. Same for the Cloud ninja team, other then the Jinchuuriki.