Jinchūriki in the Shell

by Darth Selendis

Naruto had worked hard to prove himself as an organic shinobi and gain the acceptance of the village, only for his dream to be ripped away from him. With Naruto struggling with what he has become, his friends try to help him reestablish his humanity while a mysterious woman encourages him to free his ghost and become something greater. Which way will his ghost lead him in the end?

7. Beta v1,5

Disclaimer: Naruto and all associated characters are a property of Masashi Kishimoto. Motoko Kusanagi and all associated elements and characters of Ghost in the Shell are properties of Masamune Shirow.

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

Bijū/Summon/Android Speaking

Bijū/Summon/Android Thoughts

Mental Communications

[Chat Box/Text communication]

Beta v.1.5

February 17th, 2248

A day before Chūnin Exam Finals – Outskirts of Amegakure

---

Through overcast and rainy skies an SATH-29C Jigabachi(1) slows to a hover over a barren, soggy field. Through the sheets of rain pouring from the skies, an industrial looking skyline could be seen in the background with pipes and LED advertisements dominating the gloomy horizon of Ame. The Jigabachi activates its spotlight and searches the field below for several minutes before beginning a careful descent towards the muddy ground. Stopping just short of landing, the side doors of the modified attack helicopter slide open revealing 9 individuals cloaked in white with hoods covering their heads.

With an unseen signal, the figures begin dropping out of the hovering chopper, landing on the ground gracefully before dashing off to a different area of the field to form a perimeter. Once all the passengers disembark, the Jigabachi gains altitude and begins circling for a few moments before it is met by a second SATH-29c Jigabachi. Soon after the arrival of its partner, a pair of heavily armed AAH-29c Jigabachi AV(2) arrive, escorting a white Kane 727(3) helicopter with a large Red circle painted on both sides. Inside of this red circle, the character 火 can be seen emblazoned in black with gold trim, designating this as the personal transport of the Fire Daimyō and his entourage.

The first Jigabachi continues to circle overhead in a protective manner while the other Jigabachi hover in a protective triangle around the white helicopter as it proceeds to land in the field below. Once the Daimyō's chopper has landed, a second Jigabachi follows shortly afterward, landing next to the transport where it deposits its cargo of the Hokage and his own entourage.

Naruto scanned the large lake that flanked the western edge of the field he was currently guarding. While it was unusual for a genin to be assigned the task of guarding the Daimyō's entry into a foreign territory, Kakashi had considered it a good training exercise for them to practice. Especially since the flying machines were only a recent introduction to Hi no Kuni and were quickly becoming a favored means of transportation. Kakashi had pointed out that it wouldn't take long for many of the wealthier clients to begin using transports of this kind instead of the traditional palanquins or carriages.

Sasuke had asked if that meant the elimination of escort missions, to which Kakashi denied. He had gone on to clarify that armed helicopters were not available for purchase to anyone but Konoha or the Daimyō's army. Shinobi would still be needed to guard civilian helicopters against surface to air jutsu and to cover landing zones which were popular areas for enemies to attack.

Naruto was briefly distracted by one of the assault Jigabachi passing overhead and glanced up to see it begin scanning the water with its spotlight. He had to admit that he was still nervous around the advanced war machines that were mostly AI controlled. While the one they had flown in on was still piloted by a person, the rest of the heavily armed ones escorting the Daimyō were AI controlled. Most of their orders and movements were relayed and monitored by androids who followed instruction from the pilot of the lead Jigabachi or the commanding officer of the Daimyō's protection detail.

Sakura had gone on at length explaining the details of how the machines were controlled and the various fail-safes that were implemented, but it didn't really comfort him very much. Even if the officer was watching through satellite footage and the external cameras, he still had to relay his orders to an android who was operating the machine. Naruto would be the first to admit that he wasn't a technical expert, but even he knew there were constant security updates to prevent hackers from invading people's cyberbrains. That knowledge didn't leave much room for faith.

No matter how much Sakura tried to reassure him that it was much harder to defeat AI defenses because of their superior programming capabilities and response times. Naruto was certain that if there were people capable of hacking a person's cyberbrain, then it was equally possible that someone was capable of hacking an AI brain.

He couldn't deny the fact that his initial fear of machinery had given way to exhilaration during his first flight home on the high tech helicopter. It probably helped that their ride hadn't been AI controlled, but it had still been a scary concept to fly through the air in a metal container that was held aloft by thin, metal blades.

While the flight wasn't uncomfortable by any means, he had still felt unease at being so far up from the ground at the start. After several minutes of Sakura attempting to calm him with her excited technobabble and a few taunts from Sasuke, Naruto had managed to calm himself down enough to enjoy the ride home in comfort. When Sakura had shown him how to access the external cameras through his data pad, he had to admit the view was nice. It was also a very convenient method of travel. Instead of having to travel for several days and camp out in the forest, they made it home in just five hours.

Naruto watched the AI controlled chopper warily as it investigated the lake and some of the floating debris Naruto had spotted and written off as inconsequential. After hovering over towards another log tangled in some flotsam and studying it with its spotlight for a few moments, the machine apparently recognized there was no threat and gained altitude before buzzing over to a cluster of trees that was 200 yards away. As Naruto turned his attention back to his watch area, his mind began to drift back to the start of his month-long training in Konoha.

Flashback January 20th, 2248

Training Ground 5 – Outskirts of Konoha

---

Naruto yawned as he sat waiting at the training ground the Hokage had told him to meet with his trainer. The training ground was every Suiton user's dream as it was set near a small ridge that had a waterfall spilling into a moderate sized pool. The water then branched off into a pair of rivers that framed the training ground. The ground itself was fairly moist from the constant spray floating off of the waterfall and there were several large boulders scattered around the edges.

When Naruto spotted the waterfall, he was tempted to summon a group of clones to work on cutting it with Fūton chakra just to refresh his elemental manipulation. He didn't really need to since he had mastered it already, but he was getting bored and hated wasting his time. While the old man hadn't specified that Jiraiya would be meeting with him, Naruto suspected it was another one of his attempts to establish some form or relationship with the man who had abandoned him.

Naruto returned to his sensory training to help calm himself but it was a bit difficult considering the ball of negative emotions inside of him. While he had made a great deal of progress in purging his hatred and bitterness, he still had trouble when it came to Tsunade and Jiraiya. Just the mention of them caused him to tense up and, try as he might, he couldn't find it in himself to simply forgive them. Especially when they refused to meet with him or even be bothered to send a letter to apologize for leaving him to the wolves.

Jiraiya earned a chance to make it up to him since the man had not only paid for most of his expenses but had also sent him a few personal gifts as he was growing up. While he still considered it a part of Jiraiya's responsibilities to provide for him in some way, the blond was still thankful the bastard had at least fulfilled that part of his obligation. Naruto knew his life would have been much worse without that extra iryō to pay for food and utilities.

The only reason Naruto was still giving the man a chance, despite him flaking out on meeting with him, was because of the personal gifts the Sannin had sent him. In Naruto's eyes, the gifts weren't a part of the Toad Sage's obligations to him as a godfather, so he would give the man a bit more leeway in making up for his neglect.

Naruto hadn't received much as a child. The Hokage had only taken him out to eat or given him gifts that were necessary for his advancement in the Academy or as a shinobi. All of his leisurely gifts had apparently come from Jiraya and, surprisingly, Kakashi.

He didn't hold a grudge against his sensei for remaining distant. Not only had the masked Jōnin been in his mid teens when Naruto was a child, he had also been an Anbu operative during that time. Even if the silver haired Jōnin had been trained by his father, Kakashi wasn't obligated to care for him in any way. Naruto also gave Kakashi some consideration for watching over him as a child; even if the bastard had mainly annoyed him or always foiled his escape plans after a prank. Naruto knew that Kakashi had been watching him set up and execute the pranks, but the dog masked operative had never stopped him unless he was doing something inherently dangerous to himself or others.

Naruto felt out his chakra system and began delving deeper to connect to the reiki inside of him. Setting aside his annoyance and resentment, he began to feel the energy within him. Once he felt that connection was solid, he began to expand his reach outward. Slowly he began to sense the world around him.

First, the grass beneath him came into his mental view. From there it spread to the nearby tree he was meditating under. After that, his progress began to speed up as his reiki connected with the reiki flowing through the trees, spreading through the root systems and the canopy above him. As Naruto attuned himself to the base energy of the plants, he began to pick up the energy of smaller lifeforms.

A line of ants carrying water from the river to their colony nearby. 50m behind him was a thriving beehive inside of a hollowed out log. Above the hive, there were a group of squirrels chasing each other through the trees, below them a family of rabbits was hidden in their den. A passing breeze stirred lose a few dying leaves within his sensory range, the movement drawing the attention of his inner eye as he focused on the fading life energy within them. As the leaves began to fall towards the ground, Naruto was able to lock onto the chakra signature of a deer grazing on some grass 120m to his right. Focusing in on the deer, Naruto began to study the deer's chakra signature closely while letting everything else fade slightly.

Naruto knew he needed to be able to lock onto chakra signatures without spreading his reiki throughout the foliage around him, but the Kyūbi refused to give him any tips or tricks to improve his sensory skill. Until the blond had mastered the basic exercise (or figured out the short cuts on his own) he was stuck on the first stage of sensor training.

As Naruto studied the deer closely with his mind's eye, he began to detect the age and chakra affinities of the subject he was focused on. The first thing his senses picked up was the strong and vibrant life energy radiating from this particular herbivore. This indicated that the deer was likely an adolescent or young adult. As Naruto studied the chakra system in the deer, he was surprised to find an unknown chakra affinity flowing through the deer's chakra system. It took him some time to puzzle out what that unfamiliar chakra was but eventually he identified it as Mokuton due to the presence of both Doton and Suiton chakra within the deer's chakra.

It was highly unusual for anything to have more than two affinities, even humans. The only exception to this was a bloodline that gave you access to a sub-element (like Mokuton) or through years of training. Even through training, it was extremely rare to raise an unaligned element to match a natural affinity. Typically, a trained element never grew stronger than a minor natural affinity, even after years of dedicated training.

Naruto fixated on the deer for a significant amount of time, committing the feel of Mokuton chakra to memory. Even if the bloodline had been lost to Konoha, it wouldn't hurt to memorize the sensation of every possible elemental combination. Better to be able to recognize it than to be caught off guard if someone did manage to manifest it in the future. While the Kyūbi might help him identify unfamiliar chakra, there was no guarantee that the fox would.

Naruto knew the Kyūbi was keeping secrets from him but he wasn't too bothered by that fact. He knew the bijū didn't trust him completely and the feeling was mutual.

Once Naruto was confident he had memorized the Mokuton signature, he began to study a nearby bird that caught his attention. Before he could delve deeper into the bird's signature, a very familiar, and large, chakra presence entered his sensing range. Naruto couldn't help but study the Hokage's signature in awe as the old shinobi approached.

The first time he had tapped into his reiki successfully, and began sensing his surroundings, his training had been interrupted by a visit from the aged Hokage. The reiki in the old shinobi had been dim, due to his age, but his chakra signature had been amazingly potent. Not only were the old man's reserves fairly large still, he also had a perfect balance of each element flowing through his chakra system.

Even the Kyūbi had been impressed that the old man had managed to perfect each element to such a degree.

Naruto sighed to himself as this only confirmed his suspicion that Jiraiya wouldn't show. If he had, the old man would have only sent a clone along with his "godfather". The fact that he was coming in person could only mean he was going to try and sooth things over with him once more. He knew the old man felt guilty that his godparents had flaked out on him. That guilt had only been compounded when he had arranged for several meet ups only for them both to cancel at the last minute.

Naruto stood up and brushed the seat of his pants off while waiting for the Hokage to approach him. He could already see the sorrow and disappointment in the wizened shinobi's face, but knew it wasn't directed at him. If he hadn't been in a meditative state recently, he might be more agitated or angered. Instead, he found himself feeling a bit of resignation along with his calm state.

"So, jiji, I guess I am on my own for this month, eh?" Naruto said as the Hokage stood in front of him.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but this time, I must take responsibility. Jiraiya was going to come today but I had to send him to confirm some troubling information I have received." the Sandaime said with a sigh. "I know you will find it difficult to believe, given past events, but he truly was going to fulfill his obligation to you this time."

"Uh huh, if you say so jiji," Naruto said, completely unconvinced. "Well, I guess I should get started then. I can't afford to waste any time."

"Hold a moment, Naruto." the Hokage said as Naruto moved to leave the training ground.

Naruto stopped and turned to look back over his shoulder at the Hokage.

"I have some things here that should help you for the next two weeks." The Hokage pulled out a thick scroll from his robes and tossed it toward Naruto. "I would also like to help you during that time as well, to make up for the failings of my students."

"I'd be grateful for that jiji," Naruto said with a smile as he turned around. "But, why only two weeks?"

"Because Jiraiya should return during that time and spend the final weeks passing along some of his knowledge." The Sandaime answered.

Naruto simply nodded in response.

"I know you have been focusing on your taijutsu primarily before the start of the exams and working through the early stages of Doton and Katon manipulation. Considering you are facing both a Suiton and Doton user in your first match, I think it is pertinent you put more focus into improving those elements so you have greater flexibility." Hiruzen stated.

Naruto nodded and created his usual 60 clones before they all awaited instructions patiently. The Hokage created four clones of his own to guide the various groups before he began laying out his training plan for the day.

"I want 10 of your clones to go with this first clone to work on a Suiton exercise that I think will help you advance your sensory skills that have begun to develop." The Sandaime said. "While meditation has helped to awaken that skill, there is a trick the Nidaime used regarding Suiton to fine tune his own skills. I think you will greatly benefit from it and should be able to master it quickly."

Naruto blinked a few times before nodding and a group of clones broke off to follow the Hokage's clone. While the Hokage didn't know the truth about how his sensing ability came to be (a subject Naruto had promised the Kyūbi would remain secret), Naruto had informed him and Kakashi that he was starting to be able to pick up chakra flares and signatures at an increasing rate.

"Next, I want 20 clones to follow these two here to oversee the chakra manipulation exercises for Doton and Katon." The Hokage said with a gesture towards the clones on his right. "Finally, the rest of your clones should go with my last clone to begin learning a few Doton and Katon jutsu I think you should be able to master quickly."

After the clones all left to their designated tasks, Naruto asked. "What about me, jiji?"

The Hokage gave him a mischievous smirk which caused Naruto to start worrying. This was a smirk that he knew promised painful and difficult training.

"Tell me, Naruto, does your taijutsu scroll mention any weapons to learn?" The Sandaime said with a knowing tone.

Naruto nodded. "They mentioned something called a Shakujō but no one really knew what that meant when I checked the different weapons shops. I also looked on LATTICE but there was no information on them. Since no one knew about them, I didn't bother reading the scroll any further."

"That is because the shakujō wasn't really known for being a weapon but an instrument of prayer." The Sandaime answered before his smirk grew. "but it is essentially a bō with an ornamental head attached to the top and sometimes on the bottom as well."

Naruto blinked stupidly for a few moments as he took that information in before face palming. He should have been able to make the connection considering the principals of non-violence behind the style. He groaned as he realized that if he had bothered to read the scroll detailing the instruments of prayer he would have been able to figure that out on his own. He would have to review that at home after dinner.

The Sandaime chuckled at Naruto's reaction.

"So, the question I need to ask you now is, are you serious about learning to use that weapon, or is it merely a result of your fascination with the principals of Shōrinji Ken?" The Sandaime asked.

"I'll admit at first, I was only interested because the next step in the training routine was to focus heavily on the shakujō," Naruto answered. "When it told me to refer to the religious rituals and prayer tools, I didn't bother to investigate further beyond asking around or looking it up online."

"What about now?" The Sandaime pressed.

"I know I need to learn some kind of weapon," Naruto replied with a frown. "When we faced off against that Kumo team, it was difficult for me to keep that Kenjutsu specialist off of me and while the Shōrinji style does have kata and techniques for using daggers, they aren't geared around defending against something like a sword."

"I may not know the specifics on how to use a shakujō, but I certainly know my way around a bō." The Sandaime said with a glint in his eye. "It is my specialty after all."

Now Naruto understood why the old man had given him that grin of pain earlier. He was essentially going to be beaten into the ground with a long stick for the next two weeks.

There was no way he was going to throw away this opportunity, though. No matter how much it was going to hurt in the beginning.

Flashback End

---

As he had expected, the old man had firmly reminded him why he was made the Hokage twice. If it weren't for the Kyūbi healing his body, he would have been in the hospital for most of his training time due to fractures, breaks, and concussions. He had advanced quickly with the help of the Sandaime and having a large group of clones practice kata and sparring, but he knew he still had a long way to go before he could simply challenge a sword wielder with his staff alone. He was good enough to defend himself to the point that he could push them back and create an opening, but if he didn't break away quickly, they would eventually overwhelm him. Since he wasn't proficient with a staff, Naruto decided it would be best to avoid using one in the finals unless he had no other choice.

Showing anything less than full proficiency in bōjutsu would only hinder his chances of promotion, after all.

His Doton and Katon had advanced nicely as well during that time, allowing him to learn a few more Doton and one more Katon jutsu despite his weak affinity towards them both. With his increasing control over his chakra, he now could effectively use the jutsu without wasting chakra. He had also started progress on his Raiton chakra and managed to learn a single Raiton jutsu before the training period ended.

His greatest area of growth, however, had been his sensory skill. By learning the Nidaime's trick of drawing upon the humidity in the air and surrounding plant life to generate water, he came to a realization that he could use his Suiton and Fūton affinity to cast a "sensory net" over his surroundings. This process was immensely faster than spreading his reiki through the living things around him. With that newfound knowledge, his skill in sensing had increased dramatically. He no longer needed to cast a net to pick up signatures that held chūnin level chakra reserves or higher within 75m. He could also make an educated guess about their age and health by their reiki levels. With his sensory net active, and a bit of focus, he could accurately sense even the faintest chakra signatures within 300m.

He had also managed to learn some basic fūinjutsu seals and the Rasengan when Jiraiya had finally shown up two weeks later. The meeting had been quite uncomfortable for both Naruto and the Sannin considering the circumstances. Naruto had been quite defensive and distant from Jiraiya throughout the whole period. Jiraiya had tried to get Naruto to warm up to him a bit but it had proven to be difficult since they didn't have very much in common.

The first problem lied with Naruto's inability to grasp fūinjutsu easily, unlike his father and mother. While Naruto had advanced in his patience and tactical thinking, the complex and obscure concepts behind sealing were also highly technical. To fully understand how master level seals behaved, you needed to be proficient with physics and mathematics to some degree. The only other way to learn sealing was to brute force the knowledge through copying, repetition, and trial and error.

The latter method being how Jiraiya had managed to learn the style by his own admission.

While Jiraiya admitted he hadn't been the smartest tool in the shed in his younger years, his dedication and enjoyment of the obscure art of sealing ensured that he eventually became a master. Jiraiya also admitted that most of his advanced knowledge in the arts came from the few lessons he had managed to get from Mito Uzumaki. The rest of his knowledge had come from Naruto's mother, Kushina, who had been taught in the traditional Uzumaki school before being sent to Konoha to contain the Kyūbi.

Naruto, however, wasn't as enthused about the style. He had looked it up in the past on LATTICE so he could learn how to make his own explosive tags and the process had been both trying and boring to him. Knowing that explosive tags were considered introductory level seals, he had been put off by the style completely. In fact, Naruto had turned Jiraiya down when he first tried to teach him sealing until the Sannin had revealed how much both of his parents studied fūinjutsu religiously. After that revelation, Naruto had resigned himself to learn the obscure art as a matter of principal.

The Hiraishin was entirely based on sealing and was a part of his father's legacy. To let his father's trademark ability fade into history because of his distaste for Fūinjutsu seemed like a crime to him.

Naruto also felt he owed it to his mother as the last known Uzumaki. With the Uzumaki being known for their prowess in sealing, he needed to be proficient at the very least. He wouldn't bother with the advanced or mastery level sealing beyond the fundamentals necessary for teaching. With the fundamentals, he could pass that knowledge on and let his children advance the art further if they decided to pursue such a path.

Maybe after he had finished all of his elemental manipulation training and had a healthy library of jutsu to use, he would redirect his clones to sealing exclusively.

With only two weeks to learn the complicated art, Naruto hadn't made a great deal of progress; even with a generous use of clones. He had only completed learning the basic and intermediate seal arrangements, symbols, and a few basic seals like storage, explosive, absorption, and weight seals. Jiraiya had expected Naruto to take to the style like both of his parents. The sannin had expected the teen to cast aside his other training in favor of mastering sealing exclusively like Minato had. Instead, Naruto only assigned a third of his usual clones to practice his calligraphy and sealing while the rest continued practicing with the bō, Doton, and Katon manipulation.

Naruto wouldn't have written a single seal with his own hand if Jiraiya hadn't required him to personally demonstrate his progress at the end of each training session.

The blond knew that Fūinjutsu required a great deal of time, practice, and dedicated focus. In order for him to make real progress, he would have to abandon the training and workout schedule he needed to keep his taijutsu in top form. With the amount of growth and benefit he had received from that schedule, he wasn't inclined to drop any portion of it until he had mastered the style completely. For now, he was satisfied to practice some sealing during his evening down time or when Jiraiya had him focusing on it during their training sessions.

The second problem Naruto had with Jiraiya was entirely due to how the Toad Sage behaved during their training sessions. Unlike the Sandaime or Kakashi who were always on hand during training sessions, Jiraiya would only stick around when it came to sealing lessons. If it was jutsu, like the Rasengan, he would simply explain the jutsu once, provide a demonstration and then leave Naruto to his own devices. Sometimes Jiraiya would remain nearby, writing into his notebook while giggling like an idiot. Other times, Naruto would notice him sneaking off to spy on the waterfall or hot springs that were conveniently near the training ground the Sannin had chosen. Considering that both locations were highly popular with the villagers for swimming or bathing, it didn't take a genius to figure out what his godfather was up to.

That had lowered his opinion of the Sennin even further.

Naruto could understand the value of letting someone figure things out on their own. Kakashi often did the same thing, but the lazy jōnin always stood nearby and watched or left a clone to observe and answer questions. Even though his nose was stuck in that perverted book for the majority of the training session, Naruto knew that Kakashi was still observing.

For only having one eye exposed, the bastard was amazingly observant of his surroundings at all times.

To Naruto, it was just another indicator that Jiraiya didn't really care to be in his presence. Instead, the perverted old man would rather violate women's privacy to get his rocks off before writing down his fantasies in a smutty book.

While Naruto could admit to being curious and appreciative of the feminine form, (He was going through puberty after all) the thought of spying on a woman during her private moments seemed wrong to him. He certainly didn't want a person to watch him while he was bathing.

With the use of clones, Naruto had managed to learn the Rasengan in just under 12 days time. It had pleased him to see the old pervert sputter in disbelief at how fast he had mastered his father's ultimate finishing move.

When the end of his training time came with Jiraiya, Naruto decided to remain coolly polite with the Sannin. Since he still needed to learn the fundamentals of fūinjutsu and sign the Toad contract to follow in his father's footsteps, it wouldn't do to blow the man off entirely. Plus, Naruto was certain he would have to fulfill some kind of training in the use of Toads during combat, and only Jiraiya could provide first-hand knowledge in that regard.

The only reason he hadn't signed the contract already was because of Hanzō's ban on Toads in particular.

Both Naruto and Jiraiya had agreed that it would be better for him to focus on the exams first before preparing for any potential trial the Toads might put him through. Jiraiya had explained how both himself and his father had been subjected to a month-long trial that was quite arduous, so it was only to be expected that Naruto would be forced to endure something similar. The Sannin had set a date a few months after the Chūnin exams to present the scroll to him to sign so he would have time to prepare for the trial. Naruto wasn't about to hold his breath but kept his skepticism silent.

At the end of the month, the Sandaime and Jiraiya had bid him farewell with a few useful gifts he was truly grateful for.

The first was a shakujō the old man had ordered for him for reaching the finals in the Chūnin exams. The components for the weapon and the designs for the metal components had been customized by the Sandaime and was based on an old painting of the Buddhist monks at the Fire Temple with a few personal touches

The staff was made out of a rare tree from the swampy areas of Mori no Kuni (Land of Forests) called Yamiwood. This particular dark wood was undisputed as being the toughest wood in Genso no Kuni. Yamiwood was notoriously difficult to cut, easily capable of withstanding any bladed weaponry. Even wind-enhanced blades wouldn't be capable of causing anything more than small cuts. If a person channeled Doton chakra into the wood, however, it became impossible to damage through any means.

The wood for the staff was just shy of six feet tall and the wood grain fit the standard for Yamiwood. A beautiful black hue with a few scattered groupings of reddish-orange lines and dots running along the length of the staff.

Topping each end of the staff were the standard ornamentations for a shakujō but with a modern twist. Instead of the standard steel or iron typically used by shinobi, a new alloy of steel, chakra metal, and tungsten was used. This gave the metal ornaments a dark gray sheen that reflected less light than steel but was stronger and more resistant to jutsu than iron.

The ornamental head was in the shape of a crescent moon with the points facing straight up and engraved with a motif of flames on the bottom half of the moon to represent the Will of Fire. Where the points met at the top was a round orb with the impression of the Uzumaki swirl engraved on both sides. Inside the large crescent moon was the symbol of Konoha facing straight up with the stem of the leaf touching the staff and the leaf tip connecting to the Uzumaki orb. On each side of the leaf, there were four large rings wrapped in leather, that hung from the crescent moon. The rings helped with trapping blades and spears so that Naruto could disarm his opponents. With the right leverage, he could even snap standard katana or naginata with ease. Finishing off the decorations on the staff was a simple metal end cap with a matching Uzumaki orb.

The Sandaime had mentioned that rings were wrapped in leather to reduce the sound they would generate, even if they were traditionally intended to make noise as the monk walked. At first, the Hokage had considered leaving them out, but he opted to leave them in to make the gift more authentic. He wasn't certain if Naruto would have been willing to learn how to use the staff or shakujō as a weapon. Most shinobi opted for chokuto or ninjato nowadays. Weapons like the bō, naginata, and yari were falling to the wayside ever since the Second Shinobi War. Even the kusarigama had lost popularity as it took a great deal of hard work and time to master the sickled chain.

Judging from the way Naruto was clinging to it excitedly with stars in his eyes, he had made the right decision in the end.

Jiraiya gave him a scroll on how to use the Shikoku Fūin (Finger Carving Seal) so Naruto could engrave his own seals into his bracers, shin guards, and even his leather pouches. He noted it might work on his shakujō if he was to use Katon chakra instead of regular chakra while having a clone fan the chakra with Fūton but in the end, he recommended sticking with regular ink. Even if it meant having to rewrite the seals regularly.

Jiraiya also gave Naruto a few books. One was the Tale of the Utterly Gusty Shinobi, and the second one was an old notebook that belonged to the Yondaime. It was filled with jutsu, jutsu theories, and seals Minato had made while he was on Jiraiya's genin team.

Naruto was truly grateful for his father's notebook and the scroll, thanking Jiraiya sincerely. While the blond wasn't sure what to think of the storybook he was given, it didn't sound like a book of smut so he would give it a chance.

Naruto heard the all clear ring out through his ear piece and moved back towards the chopper convoy to regroup with his team. As he drew closer to the convoy, he saw that the Daimyō had been loaded on a palanquin and the rest of his entourage were protected by a canopy being carried by guards or servants. The Hokage followed behind the Daimyō holding a large umbrella to shield himself from the rain. With him was a pair of Anbu operatives, the only guards he was allowed for the event.

Naruto fell in line with the rest of his team behind the Hokage and followed the procession into the village. Once they reached the foreign quarter, they were met with Ame Anbu and team of diplomats who then led the Daimyō and the Hokage toward the center of the village where the upper-class hotels and shops were located.

Team 7 and 10, however, were ordered to return to their rooms at the inn. With the finals starting tomorrow and the influx of foreigners entering Ame today, security was extra tight. Without their usual "guards" to escort them, they weren't allowed to leave the quarter without being disqualified.

The Konoha finalists (including Kurenai) met up with Team 8 who had all decided to stay and watch the finals. Team 10 had apparently departed shortly after the 2nd stage ended in order to get more training done. Asuma had been pretty disappointed with their performance against Team 7 and had decided that he needed to push for more training instead of focusing on missions like he had after his team left the Academy.

Over lunch, Kiba and Hinata filled the others in on the sights they had seen when they visited the merchant area under escort. While most of the merchants were pleasant, the rest of the village was still quite hostile. There wasn't much available in Ame that you couldn't acquire in Konoha besides exotic fish, water flora, and ornate metal work.

Kiba tried to press both finalist teams for information about their training but neither group gave anything away. Considering the fact that they could all be facing each other in the final match, it wasn't a particularly wise idea to begin recounting all they had learned this past month.

After lunch was finished, the teams went back to the room to relax or make any last minute preparations. Naruto began to flip through his father's notebook until dinnertime. Afterward, he ran through his usual evening routine before heading to bed early to ensure he was well rested for the Finals.

In the shadows of the skyscrapers, a shadowy group began to set its plans into motion. Tomorrow, they would reveal themselves to the world and push their agenda forward. With all the major political figures of Genso no Kuni gathered in one place, it was the perfect time to strike and bring down the corrupted political system. The Genso no Kuni would be cleansed of corruption and the world would be sent a message.

February 18th, 2248

Chūnin Exams Stage 3 – Poseidon Global Dome

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The center field had been greatly modified in the past month. Instead of the regular field having potted plants and barrels of water like in the second stage, the field was now had a dynamic layout.

The announcer had explained, in detail, how the field was now capable of shifting through different types of terrain with the whole field capable of changing completely in less than 10 minutes. The field was divided into 9 large tiles that were 5 square yards in size and 6 cubic yards thick. Each tile was able to rise up, drop down, or slide in any direction through an automated system of magnetic rails and telescoping robotic arms.

Grass, ice, water, dirt, or even custom made terrain could be applied to the various sections of the arena in just a few minutes. Each landscaped layer secured underground through a system of interlocking tiles that are connected to various magnetic tracks. As a result, the bowels of the dome almost ran deeper than the arena stood in height to accommodate the various field types. The terrain inside each tile was kept intact by thin metal walls and a sliding lid that opened from the center. The lid would remain magnetically sealed until the tile was locked in place on the main floor. Once locked into place, the lid of the tile would slide open rapidly, taking less than 6 seconds to reveal the hidden terrain contained within.

As the announcer explained the technical specifications of the center field, the crowd was treated to a demonstration of different patterns of tile replacement as well as various terrains that would be used on the battlefield. So far, Naruto had seen a typical desert tile, a tile of nothing but water, a grassy meadow type tile, a barren rocky tile, and even a tile that looked like a fancy garden for some reason. Maybe it had been intended for Kusa ninja who were known to utilize flower style jutsu, but none of them had succeeded in passing the 1st exam.

"Announcing the 1st Finalist: Shizuka from Nadeshiko Village!" the announcer called out.

A platform rose up in the upper left-hand corner revealing a green eyed kunoichi with long black hair tied in a high ponytail, two chin length bangs framing her face and hime cut bangs over her forehead, covering her hitai-ate.

She was wearing the traditional outfit of Nadeshiko: a blue strapless leotard over a pair of tight gray pants. Over the leotard was a gray asymmetrical top with large circular cutouts over the chest and lower back area. The top had a short sleeve on the right arm with a purple armored shoulder pad while her right hand had a wrist length glove. The left arm was sleeveless with a bicep length glove. On her waist was a large red obi used to secure her ninjato. She had the standard kunai pouch on her right thigh and white combat wrap securing her gray combat sandals on her feet.

There was some polite applause and some cheering as she made her appearance.

"Announcing the 2nd Finalist: Sakura from Konoha!" the announcer called out.

Naruto cheered wildly as Sakura appeared on the upper right-hand corner tile.

There was some booing and jeering from the crowd but there was also a great deal of loud cheering. While the stadium itself wasn't completely full, the sections reserved for Konoha ticket holders were already filled with spectators.

"Announcing the 3rd Finalist: Mitsuki from Suna!" the announcer called out.

The lower left-hand corner tile rose up and revealed a kunoichi with short blue hair in a pixie cut. Her eyes were light blue and she wore a dark blue battle kimono over a kusari body suit. On her feet were regular geta sandals and her hands had no gloves. She had several scrolls held in a large pouch on her lower back and a kunai holster strapped to her thigh.

Mitsuki received a tepid welcome from the crowd for the most part. There were a few people cheering from the Suna section, but there weren't many people seated there yet. Naruto felt kind of bad for the lack of support but at least they didn't boo and jeer her like the did with Sakura.

"Announcing the 4th Finalist: Haku from Kiri!" the announcer called out.

The lower right-hand corner tile rose up and revealed a kunoichi that was wearing a hunter-nin mask with the Kiri symbol engraved on the forehead. The mask was solid white with narrow eye slits and two red stripes. One stripe came in from the right cheek creating a swirl around the nose portion of the mask, the second strip framed the left chin and curved up over the left cheek.

The kunoichi had long dark hair tied up in a covered white bun and long front bangs tied with small white tape to weigh them down. She had a short sleeved teal haori over a thick dark green woolen turtleneck and calf-length dark green hakama with standard wooden geta on her feet. Around her waist was a long trailing moss green sash.

The Kiri kunoichi received an even colder welcome from the crowd. Not only were there very few people sitting in the Kiri section, the amount of seats reserved for the island village was far smaller than any of the "big five" shinobi villages. Naruto wondered if they would start scalping those tickets to Ame residents before the Shinobi finals or if Kiri just simply had no interest in watching their kunoichi comrade.

It wouldn't be the first village that had displayed sexism towards the female counterpart to shinobi.

The four kunoichi stared each other down while the proctor explained the rules. When he received a confirmation nod from each of the contestants, the proctor backed away to a safe distance before calling the match to start.

Shizuka immediately turned towards Sakura and unleashed a flurry of kunai using Nadeshiko-Ryū Shinku Enbu (Nadeshiko-Style Deep Crimson Dance Performance) she quickly turned and sent another barrage towards Haku and Mitsuki to keep them at bay before turning her focus back on to Sakura.

Sakura dashed away from the first barrage before pulling out two kunai to deflect the projectiles as she charged towards Shizuka. Sakura knew that Shizuka was taking things a bit personally since Sakura had eliminated her teammate Kimiko quite rapidly during her semi-final match. Sakura put a burst of chakra into her legs and began sprinting towards Shizuka at full speed while dodging and weaving through kunai. Reaching behind her, Sakura tapped the top button twice to get six shuriken before whipping them forward to deflect another wave of kunai.

Haku had been preparing to stand back and pick off a target with her senbon, but she was forced to dodge when Shizuka sent a wave of kunai towards her. With her speed, it was easy to avoid the attacks. Spotting a water tile nearby, she dashed towards the tile before flipping through a long chain of hand seals for Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Dragon). Knowing the water tile could disappear at some point, Haku planned to lace the other tiles with pools of water for her to use later on in the fight. It might be pointless if they switched the entire field soon, but the ice wielder figured she had some time before that would occur. The advantage to having water scattered throughout the battlefield was too great to ignore. If they replaced all the tiles later, she would just have to fall back to her sealed water scrolls. Seeing Mitsuki unraveling a few scrolls, Haku decided to try and stop the Suna kunoichi's plan by sending the water dragon in her direction. Even if it failed to stop whatever she was planning, the water would settle over a good portion of the field.

Mitsuki had unraveled her scrolls and began summoning her fleet of puppets after rolling out of the way of the kunai sent in her direction. While her puppets weren't as complex or powerful as most puppeteers, they made up for their vulnerability with speed and numbers. It also helped that most enemies viewed her puppets as "cute" and underestimated them until it was too late.

She managed to summon her flock of one and a half foot long Desert Wrens and a group of Bobcats that were only three feet long, at most. Right after she finished summoning her standard combat puppets, she spotted the water dragon speeding towards her. With a twitch of her left hand and a few subtle finger movements, her flock of twelve wrens flapped their wings rapidly sending a barrage of wind bursts towards the dragon. The narrow gusts of wind began to chip away at the water jutsu causing it to start destabilizing before it collapsed several feet in front of Mitsuki.

Seeing that Shizuka was now engaged with the pink haired Konoha chick, Mitsuki decided to take advantage of their distracted state to try and eliminate them both. Sending her wrens towards the dueling duo, she sent the six bobcat puppets charging towards Haku with her other hand to keep the Kiri-nin at a distance.

Sakura had managed to close the distance before Shizuka could move into her Enbu: Ni no Dan (Dance Performance: Second Step). The girls exchanged a flurry of punches and kicks as they tried to break through each other's guard and land a power hit to eliminate their opponent. Shizuka was the first one to find an opening and used her Nadeshiko-Ryū Kōha Reppūken (Nadeshiko-Style Hardliner Gale Fist) towards Sakura's solar plexus. Sakura barely managed to deflect part of the blow to avoid getting struck in her vulnerable torso. Instead, the wind enhanced punch landed on her shoulder and sent Sakura spinning back away from Shizuka.

Before the Nadeshiko kunoichi could capitalize on her advantage, she was forced to use Kawarimi when a flock of bird puppets came out of nowhere and began dive-bombing and swooping around her. Even after replacing herself with a nearby tree branch, the wrens were quickly upon her, swooping and diving around her randomly making it difficult for her to dodge or retaliate. The wrens were slashing into her body and arms with wind enhanced claws and stabbing at vital points with beaks that were slightly thicker than a trio of senbon bound together. The movements of the wrens were blindingly fast and sporadic, appearing as nothing more than blurs of black, brown, and white.

Shizuka leaped back out of the tree, crashing through the branches carelessly in an attempt to escape the whirlwind of beak and claw before something vital was struck. Shizuka landed roughly and rolled backward to create some distance. As the wrens advanced towards her once more, the Nadeshiko kunoichi leapt backward to force the wrens to cluster closer together before launching into her Enbu: Ni no Dan (Dance Performance: Second Step), spinning rapidly while sending out flurries of kunai and shuriken around her in an attempt to destroy all the birds attacking her.

Sakura took advantage of the break in combat to run a quick diagnostic on her arm. Finding no reports of damage, she quickly healed her wounds and began planning her next move while she had the chance. Before she returned her cyberbrain into autistic mode (all wireless and networking functionality disabled) she noticed that two of her opponents still had their wireless connections active. Inwardly, Sakura smirked at their idiocy before she set to work hacking their cyberbrains. As that was taking place, Sakura flipped through hand seals and began layering a few subtle genjutsu on each of the kunoichi she was facing while they were distracted.

Mitsuki frowned as she lost several of her wrens to Shizuka's attack before she managed to pull them back. Only four of the wrens that were struck had broken apart to avoid permanent damage, as intended. three of her wrens were seriously damaged and would likely need extensive repairs. Seeing Sakura moving in on Shizuka again, Mitsuki decided to put her full focus onto the bobcats attacking Haku. Her right hand began moving through rapid gestures and finger movements while her left hand began to slowly draw the wrens back and reassemble the puppets that were salvageable. She would wait for the Konoha kunoichi to give her another opening for a sneak attack before sending her precious birds in again.

The cats had blurred towards Haku at blistering speed before launching wind enhanced claw attacks towards the Kiri ninja. The cat's method of attack was similar to the wrens in which they would dash around the target in random patterns before attacking. Unlike the birds, however, the cats had more sophisticated attack patterns. One-half would attack low, clawing and biting with wind enhanced claws and Doton enhanced jaws. The other half would leap into the air and use Fūton chakra to launch themselves downward at blinding speeds to lash out with their claws and try to grip onto their target.

While Mitsuki's focus had been on Shizuka, the cats had attacked in an easily decipherable pattern that Haku picked up quickly. She had managed to disable a few cats by pinning them with several tight groupings of senbon, but the cats were very fast and highly agile.

Haku slowly made her way towards the center of the arena to try and lure the cats into a position where she could eliminate them all, but that plan fell short as the cats had hampered her movements for too long. With Mitsuki's full focus on her now, it became twice as difficult to evade and counter the cats. The simple pattern that the Suna kugutsu user used to distract and wear down her opponent suddenly became more complex and focused on causing lethal damage.

The remaining cats surrounded Haku in a diamond pattern while still matching her speed. They would then randomly switch between aerial and ground attacks from opposite sides, constantly striking from her flanks when she turned to fight off or defend against the previous attack.

Haku began taking more damage as the cats speed picked up and their attacks began to land more often. One cat latched onto her shoulder with claws and began biting and digging into her ribs with its hind claws. Haku cried out in pain before gripping the cat puppet by the scruff and ripping it off of her shoulder. She jammed a fist full of senbon into the various joints and seams of the puppet hoping the steel needles would disable the movement of the puppet before tossing it aside. Making a single ram seal, she quickly summoned an ice mirror behind her to block the next series of attacks before flipping through one handed seals for Sensatsu Shishō (A Thousand Needles of Death).

Landing on the last hand seal, Haku sent a small barrage of water needles raining down on the cats using the small pool of water left over from her first water jutsu. Mitsuki tried her best to avoid the barrage but her concentration was disrupted when the tile she was standing on began to drop suddenly causing her to stumble. As she steadied herself, she saw the nearby tile begin to slide towards her direction, threatening to crush her against the neighboring tile if she didn't move. Mitsuki leaped forward to the tile in front of her only to be caught off guard by Sakura appearing directly in front of her in the air.

Sakura had noticed Mitsuki watching her out of the corner of her eye and caught her in a subtle genjutsu that would fool the kunoichi into thinking Sakura was engaged with Shizuka. With her full focus on Haku, it was easy to slip that minute amount of chakra into Mitsuki's chakra system hiding Sakura's true actions from the Suna-nin. Next, she trapped Shizuka in a dual layer genjutsu before she recovered from the withdrawing wrens. The Nadeshiko kunoichi had detected the first genjutsu and dispelled it easily, but the second illusion had been strong enough to fool the brunette into believing that she was currently locked into a taijutsu battle that she was slowly winning.

Sakura was about to unleash her mental attack on her first victim when her cyberbrain detected a surge of energy from underneath the arena. Her mind quickly equated the sudden increase in power with an impending field shift, so Sakura delayed her plans in order to prepare for the tiles to shuffle instead of taking action. No one was currently focused on her at the moment so she could wait it out and make a new plan once the new layout appeared.

When she began to see the tiles surrounding the Suna kunoichi began to shift away, Sakura saw an opening and charged towards the kugutsu user, hoping to eliminate her with a single shot. From what she had observed so far, Sakura knew that she was ill equipped to deal with all the puppets that Mitsuki had. She wasn't particularly slow by any means but she was definitely not fast enough to evade or hit those extremely fast puppets.

The pinkette lashed out at Mitsuki with a kick that was chakra enhanced and powered by an increased cybernetic output of 110 percent. The roundhouse kick caught the Suna ninja dead center, causing Mitsuki to spit up blood and go flying back towards the edge of the combat field. The kunoichi bounced off of the containment barrier before falling to the ground in a heap.

As Sakura landed from her assault, however, Shizuka had broken the second genjutsu placed on her and charged in to blindside Sakura with Nadeshiko-Ryū Kōha Senkaigiri (Nadeshiko-Style Hardliner Revolving Cut). The wind enhanced kick struck Sakura in the chest, sending her flying back towards the barrier. Shizuka watched with a smirk as Sakura flew back towards the barrier and prepared to attack her on the rebound only to see a log bounce off of the barrier instead. Shizuka immediately whirled about and saw Sakura charging towards her left flank. Flipping rapidly through had seals, the Nadeshiko kunoichi used Ressenpū (Violent Whirlwind) to send Sakura flying back. Unfortunately for the brunette, she had fallen for Sakura's trap.

The real Sakura had managed to perform her first successful hack by invading Shizuka's cyberbrain while she was distracted by the wrens and genjutsu. It didn't take long to identify and target the optical receivers in Shizuka's brain in order to create an illusion similar to genjutsu except this illusion wasn't so simple to dispel.

As soon as Sakura had used Kawarimi, she had quickly used Shunshin to move out of that location and left a false projection of her charging Shizuka from her left flank. Instead, Sakura was actually on the opposite side of her projected image, flipping through hand seals for Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Flower Jutsu).

Shizuka never realized what she was seeing was false until she felt a searing pain throughout her body as the cluster of fireballs Sakura sent towards her target landed. If Sakura had not aimed the fireballs around Shizuka instead of directly at her, the brunette would be dead right now. Instead, the fireballs exploded around the Nadeshiko kunoichi, sending her flying away from Sakura. She tumbled across the ground for a bit before stopping face down near the edge of the battlefield. Seeing the contestant was unconscious with first-degree burns covering a good portion of her body, the proctor declared her eliminated from the match.

Sakura didn't have time to celebrate, unfortunately, as she was attacked on two sides by Mitsuki and Haku.

Mitsuki had managed to summon her Uchiwasaboten (Prickly Pear Cactus) puppets around her in a defensive formation. While she was protected from almost all angles, she funneled a large portion of her chakra to make the chakra fruits grow. The chakra fruits, filled with healing chakra, could heal most wounds once eaten by the puppet master. After she ate enough fruit to stabilize herself, she glared at Sakura in rage before unsealing her next group of puppets. At the same time, she used the offensive ability of her cactus to send endless waves of senbon towards both Sakura and Haku.

Haku had charged Sakura as soon as she saw her flipping through hand seals for her fire jutsu. She reduced her speed to time her attack on Sakura to land right after she finished off Shizuka with her fire jutsu. For the most part, Haku's timing was perfect. She sent Sakura skidding back several feet with a powerful punch to her jaw that rattled her cyberbrain and caused her vision to black out briefly. If Sakura hadn't been clinging to the tile with chakra, she might have been sent flying back towards Mitsuki's cactus line.

Instead, she was forced to defend herself against Haku's onslaught of punches and kicks laced with senbon strikes that aimed to disable her opponent. Sakura found herself on the defensive right away as she struggled to keep up with the lightning-fast strikes. For every kick or punch she would block or parry, Haku would land two strikes on her body. Unfortunately, for Haku, her pinpoint accuracy was striking the wrong points to disable cybernetic limbs. Had she been facing an organic shinobi in this fight, they would have been rendered immobile by now. While the needles were causing damage to Sakura's prosthetic limbs, they weren't significant enough to disable their functionality.

At that moment, the first wave of senbon from Mitsuki's Uchiwasaboten reached their intended destination, forcing both Haku to break apart before they were pummeled by countless steel needles.

Haku quickly retreated into an ice mirror she manifested at her feet. The masked Kiri-nin reappeared on the far side of the arena where she had hidden a mirror earlier in the match. Haku studied the formation of puppets around Mitsuki to find a vulnerability she could use to launch an attack. She kept close tabs on Sakura out of the corner of her eye while trying to come up with a strategy to avoid that wall of cactus and the even more dangerous wall of needles they were capable of spewing.

Sakura was forced to dodge, deflect, and block the wall of senbon that was sent in her direction. By the time the barrage ended, her limbs were riddled with the sharp metal needles. Tossing a wary glance at Haku, Sakura began ripping out as many of the needles as she could while the Suna shinobi was in the process of summoning some more puppets. Using genjutsu was out of the question since Haku had eliminated them with ease, and Mitsuki was entirely focused on her.

Out of a large cloud of smoke, a pair of 10-foot long centipede puppets appeared. The inert wrens and bobcats, disappeared in a puff of smoke while the wall of cactus moved from in front of Mitsuki to cover her flank on each side. Seeing the Suna-nin move her senbon launchers out of range, Sakura realized that these centipedes were probably the woman's trump card.

"Now you die you pink haired bitch!" Mitsuki snarled before sending a centipede towards Sakura. The other centipede charged towards Haku in a blur before rearing up and striking with claws and fangs, forcing Haku to use Kawarimi to evade the blindingly fast attack. Even after replacing herself as far as possible, the centipede was almost on top of her in a few seconds. Instead of lashing out again, it circled around Haku to entrap the Hyōton user before it began to speed up causing a small cyclone to start forming.

On the other side of the arena, the same exact tactic was being used on Sakura as well. As the centipede continued to pick up speed it also began to tighten the circle threatening to dice the trapped target with its razor sharp limbs. At the same time, the cyclone generated by the spin began to gain strength trying to launch the target into the air where they would be vulnerable to the venom injectors that were situated in the jaws of the centipede. A toxin so virile that the victim would die within 30 seconds of injection (if the massive mandibles didn't strike anything fatal in the process of injecting said venom, of course).

Sakura had latched onto the ground using her chakra, but the cyclone was quickly eating through her reserves. Kneeling down towards the ground, Sakura decided to make a risky maneuver to escape this trap and hopefully finish off the puppet.

Increasing the cybernetic output to her legs, she drew on the tensile strength of her left arm to increase the output even further before adding a quarter of her remaining chakra as well. Pushing off of the ground, she used her burst of power to leap up into the air and used the updraft of the cyclone to add to her momentum.

At first, the puppet user was shocked by the speed of which Sakura was pulled off of her feet. Then she realized that the cyclone hadn't reached the proper strength to lift someone off of the ground. She tried to lash out with the centipede's jaws to poison the pinkette as she flew past the puppet's head, but Sakura's ascension was too fast for the puppet and the attack missed by a wide margin. Mitsuki paused as she tried to figure out what, exactly, the Konoha kunoichi planned to do from that height until she saw the build up of chakra in the pinkette's fist. In a panic, Mitsuki tried to draw her puppet back, but it was too late.

Shifting the power from her legs into her right arm and fist as she fell towards the arena, Sakura put most of her strength and power into the attack. Her chakra was too low for her to add more power behind the attack, so she was relying on gravity and inertia to make up the difference. Hopefully, the shock wave would eliminate both of her opponents or put them in a vulnerable state so she could finish them off.

As soon as she was about to hit the stadium floor, Sakura slammed her fist into the ground and expelled half of her remaining chakra and the rest of her combined output causing a massive crater and shock wave to erupt from around her. The centipede puppet that had tried to flee away from the attack disappeared in an explosion of splinters and spindly legs leaving only one-eighth of the puppet intact. The force of the attack also dislodged several of the arena tiles causing them to collapse or shatter into pieces that flew out from the center of the impact zone. One of these large chunks went flying towards Mitsuki, who had fallen to the ground from the force of the shock wave. The shattered crushed both of her legs and one of her arms before leaving her pinned to the ground.

Sakura collapsed to the ground while panting heavily. Her left arm and legs were temporarily disabled by her cybernetic redirection, while her right arm had sustained heavy damage from the impact on the ground. Far more than she had expected. Looking up she was happy to see that Mitsuki was out of the match for good before she scanned her surroundings and saw a fairly uninjured Haku emerging from a massive spire of spiked ice that had ripped apart the centipede surrounding her and sheltered the Kiri-nin from the shockwave and a few shattered pieces of tile.

Sakura tried to move her body to stand up and face the final opponent, but her limbs wouldn't respond. Her cyberbrain quickly generated an injury report and repair progress report. Seeing the numbers that were displayed, Sakura knew that it was over for her. She had severely underestimated the added kinetic energy behind her attack when falling from the projected height with the amount of output and chakra she had added to her attack. Sakura mentally cursed when she realized she had forgotten to factor in gravity to her calculations. There was no way the opponent would let her be for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. Even then, she would be severely hampered and low on chakra to boot. Haku was also running in cyberbrain autistic mode, so there was no possibility of her hacking the Kiri-nin's brain and turning the situation to her advantage.

With a resigned sigh, the pinkette looked at her opponent with a frown. Haku approached cautiously with a fist full of senbon at the ready.

"Would you prefer to forfeit or be eliminated painlessly," Haku asked quietly.

"Proctor, I forfeit," Sakura called out. She might get more points for being taken out, but it was foolish of her to sustain more damage at this point. Even if her opponent was being generous with her offer, she couldn't be certain it was genuine. In fact, Sakura was surprised that a kunoichi from Kiri wasn't simply eliminating her without question.

Now that she thought back over the battle, the Kiri shinobi hadn't done very much at all. It seemed she had opted to sit back and try to pick off people. While she had been hacking Shizuka's cyberbrain, she saw Haku under attack by the various puppets, and knew the kunoichi was skilled, but it seemed she wasn't very aggressive.

Haku would win the title of champion but Sakura doubted she would get a promotion from her performance.

As for herself, she wasn't entirely certain if she would earn a promotion either. She didn't know if they could tell that she had hacked Shizuka and if they could tell, they would know that she had failed to hack Mitsuki's cyberbrain successfully. She wasn't even certain if they would award or deduct points for such an act or possibly disqualify her.

While cyberbrain hacking was harshly punished within the Nehan Empire and a majority of other countries worldwide, there was no rule or regulations against it in Genso no Kuni, yet. Each village had different penalties for cyberbrain hacking that widely varied from a moderate prison sentence to immediate execution. She knew it wouldn't be long before it was banned because of the potential damage that could be done. Seizing control of a person and forcing them to commit a crime, stealing all their personal information, even simply frying their brains was all possible with hacking. Yet, the Yamanaka had jutsu that could do the exact same thing and it wasn't really illegal. Shinobi used whatever means necessary and morals were only dictated by the shinobi or the village they were sworn to serve. This was probably the primary driver behind the lack of current regulations as each village weight the benefits and cons of supporting such actions.

If you could force your target to eliminate themselves without leaving behind a trace of evidence, why wouldn't you foster that kind of method? Every shinobi and kunoichi would have to complete an assassination mission once they reached the rank of Chūnin since they were, sadly, a sizable portion of mission requests. Some might not consider bandit removal as "assassination" but Sakura didn't accept the various technicalities used to try and categorize the difference between eliminating a future clan heir inside of an enemy village or butchering a particularly vile group of highwaymen. To her, they were all assassination missions that had different moral quantifications in regards to mental baggage.

Sakura decided that she was satisfied with her performance until the very end, but her successful, first time hacking of an opponent's cyberbrain was definitely the highlight of these exams in her opinion. While there was no training on how to perform such hacks and cyberbrain hacking was generally frowned on, Sakura had been reading up on the subject through underground websites that had been appearing on TRELLIS and HAEvN as well.

She didn't delve onto the global network very often, but when she did, it was always to study advanced technology and programming that wasn't available on LATTICE and TRELLIS. She loved delving into Alpha and Beta versions of software because the code was often unsecured and she could study the various styles and signatures that different programmers used. It especially trained her to identify vulnerabilities and how to defend against them. She had become far more proficient at it then the security software and updates that were released to the general public.

For Sakura, hacking a target's cyberbrain to gain information or subdue them seemed more humane than torture or assassination. With the right skill, you could erase or replace memories. There were even ways to plant suggestions based on keywords or images so that you could make sleeper agents. She wouldn't deny it was morally objectionable, on some level, to tamper with someone's mind in such a way, but ninja weren't known for being righteous in their tasks. Completing missions for the good of your village often set you at odds with another.

It was just how their world worked.

With her forfeiture announced, Sakura was taken off the field on a stretcher by the medical team who began treating her organic wounds. The inorganic wounds would require a proper medical lab to assess and repair all the damage done to the internal systems. She saw Shizuka and Mitsuki also being treated inside the arena's medical ward.

At least there was a screen for her to watch Naruto's fight. Judging from how much damage she had to her prosthesis, she would still be here by the time his match would start. If they managed to repair the field in time. Hopefully, the judges didn't hold that against her for promotion. Still, a small part of her was glad that Ame would have to spend a great deal of money to replace what she had damaged, even if it cost her a promotion. After the hostile treatment they had received from the village, the bastards deserved it.

After the hostile treatment they had received from the village, the bastards deserved it.

VIP Box

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In the VIP box, the judges and Kage for each village discussed the last fight and reviewed each kunoichi contestant by replaying highlights of their battles during the second stage and scores from the written exam in the first stage. Some of the Daimyō were actively involved in the discussion while others were simply diverting themselves with watching the playbacks of earlier matches or playing card games with each other while waiting for the Shinobi matches to start. Several caterers entered the room and began to set up a fancy spread of gourmet meals, exotic fruits, and a wide array of alcoholic drinks on several tables covered with large silk cloth to contrast with the polished silver serving ware. The Anbu guards from each village briefly inspected the thermal containers that kept the food warm (or chilled), dishes, utensils, and any other equipment that the caterers brought in with them. Once that inspection was complete, each dish was tested for a wide array of poisons before the Anbu allowed to continue with their set up.

Once everything was arrayed on the tables, the caterers tucked their extra equipment underneath the tables to keep them out of view. While most of the caterers left, an orange haired bartender and a blue haired waitress remained behind to serve the high-class clientele and collect the empty glasses, plates, and utensils.

Every so often the bartender would study his surroundings carefully before glancing at the blue haired waitress. The waitress made her way around the room, tending to the nobles and occasionally approaching the Kage themselves, to ask if they needed on food or refreshments. At first, she was rebuffed by Hanzō's guards immediately, but she had attracted the attention of some of the lesser Kage from the minor villages.

After a short discussion with the leader of Ame, he allowed the waitress to set up a few small tables around the Kage booth where she arranged sampler platters from the food table. The bartender came over to assist the waitress in setting up the tables and set out small ice chests at each one before he began pouring and mixing drink requests for the gathering of village leaders.

It didn't take long for the duo to serve each of the interested Kage from their selection of food and drinks. Once the gathering of leaders returned to their discussions on the kunoichi eligible for promotion, the waitress and bartender slipped away. Taking up their original positions at the main food and beverage tables, they continued with their facade of serving the bloated nobility and corrupt leaders of their country until they received the signal to begin their stage of the plan.

Ame Central Broadcast Tower

---

Several shadowy figures emerged from the large moat surrounding the tall building that housed all of Ame's TV and online broadcasters. The group of 12 cloaked figures split up and made their way around the outer perimeter of the building, eliminating guards before planting small devices around the guard stations and any visible surveillance systems. As the mysterious figures converged on the front and rear exits to the building, a short flash of light emerges from the planted boxes simultaneously, temporarily disabling all unshielded circuitry in the immediate area.

Surveillance cameras, observation AI, androids, and any unfortunate cyborgs caught in the blast radius power down or are rendered immobile by the strange wave of light.

The cloaked figures then enter the building from both entrances on an unseen signal, taking down any security guards and locking down all entrances and exits to secure the building. A few members remain hidden in the shadows near the entryway and exit, ensuring that no one enters or exits the building before their plan can be accomplished.

Once the first floor of the building is secured, the group then spreads out and begins systematically sweeping each floor of the building capturing or killing all the employees within. The only floor untouched at this point is Channel Blue Broadcasting, which is responsible for all the feeds of the Chūnin Exams being broadcast inside and outside of the Genso no Kuni. Including the feeds being displayed to the Nehan Empire and its allies for the very first time.

To the outside world, nothing appears to be amiss. With most of the jobs of running a TV or web-based entertainment channel being handled by sophisticated AI with a living observer, the shows and streams continue uninterrupted.

The group converges on the Channel Blue offices and quickly subdues or eliminates its employees. After completing another sweep, the mysterious group begins to make modifications to the current programming. A few members of the group remain behind to ensure that the various channels and feeds continue to run smoothly until the new content is ready to be aired worldwide. When they receive the signal from their Leader, the world will learn the truth and a new world order will be born.

The rest of the group depart the building and fade into the shadows of the towering skyscrapers, preparing for the next phase of their plan.

With Naruto

---

Naruto finished his Taikyokuken routine with just 10 minutes to spare before his match in the finals. He felt calm and focused, ready for the match to come. His chakra was now smooth and easily pliable instead of agitated and condensed. As usual, completing the moving meditation exercise boosted his sensory range immensely for a short period of time. Already his senses could pick up the subtle nuances of his opponents chakra signatures as they waited in the nearby underground ready rooms. The blond had already been forced to tune out the spectators because of the massive amount of chakra signatures he was picking up above him. Even though most had genin level chakra reserves or less, the sheer amount of signatures he had felt when he exited his meditation had almost overwhelmed him.

Nervous excitement had almost bubbled back up in him when he felt the sheer numbers of spectators, but the whiskered teen managed to regain control of his emotions by controlling his breathing and keeping his heart rate slowed. After a minute of intense concentration, he managed to return to that post-meditation tranquility he enjoyed. The tension and excitement from his nervousness now tucked away to be utilized as energy in the heat of combat.

At the instruction of the assistant proctor, Naruto entered the tile room and is directed towards his starting tile. The tile was already opened, revealing the terrain underneath revealing a patch of nothing more than coarse sand.

'A desert battleground?' Naruto thought with a furrowed brow as he tested his footing.

The sand was fairly deep and dry, making his feet sink into it up to his ankles without using chakra. Either he would waste chakra remaining on top of the sand, or his movements would be slowed by remaining bogged down by it.

The assistant proctor interrupted Naruto out of his thoughts by clapping a hand on his shoulder before drawing his attention to a red light hanging above him.

"Once that light turns green, you will have 5 seconds to prepare yourself for the tile to move up into the arena." The assistant says. "Just a warning, the tile will move very fast so if you don't want to make an embarrassing entrance, be ready for it."

Naruto merely nodded in affirmation while keeping his attention fixed on the light. He concentrated on the chakra signatures of his opponents and found them to be in a similar state as his own. Calm and steady with slight fluctuations that signified some nervousness or excitement. Moderate strength in Doton and Katon on his right, Heavy Suiton with a dash of Raiton in front of him.

Even as far underground as he was, he could hear the muffled roar of the crowd as the announcer began speaking over the arena's loudspeakers. A small glimmer of stadium lights and a mechanical whirring sound drew his attention towards the right where he saw one of his opponents get lifted up into the stadium. The roar of the crowd grew louder until the tile locked into place, muffling the sound once more.

'Damn that man wasn't kidding when he said it moved fast!' Naruto thought before quickly turning his gaze back to the red light. It had taken only a few seconds for his opponent to rise up to the stadium floor which was, at least, 10 feet above them.

The moment he saw the red light flicker off and the green light begin to glow, Naruto began to channel chakra into his feet and took a bracing breath to keep his nervousness to a minimum. He had to stop himself from flinching when the tile overhead dropped down and slid out of the way revealing the bright lights and roar of the packed arena. With a lurch, he was suddenly cast up into the blinding lights and thundering applause to reveal the newly repaired fighting arena.

Naruto blinked to adjust to the sudden change in lighting before studying his surroundings discreetly. The battleground was currently set to a resemble a miniature harbor with the large pool of water residing mainly on the opposite side of the arena. The pseudo ocean then began curving towards his left where it tapered off into the stadium wall. The rest of the combat area replicated a beach that was littered with a few clusters of rocky boulders, patches of wild grass, and some scattered brush common for a beachfront environment.

'Of course, they had to give the Ame guy a major advantage from the very start.' Naruto thought flatly when he saw the Ame ninja emerge from the bottom of the arena on the very edge of "ocean".

The genin was wearing a strange, off-white jumpsuit with a rebreather and white half mask covering his eyes. His hair was covered by his bandanna hitai-ate, and his feet were covered with closed toe shoes that matched his suit.

Naruto recalled that Shibi of Ame had remained completely at long range during his quarter final match and used a great deal of combination jutsu with his teammate while their close range specialist prevented their opponents from charging in to disrupt their hand seals. Whenever someone on the opposite team managed to get past their defender, the Ame genin had always sent out a massive wave to push everyone back.

Not even his teammates were spared from the deluge.

In a straight jutsu battle, Naruto was confident he could win. Shibi didn't have large chakra reserves from what he could sense, and his body structure and build showed he lacked the conditioning to endure a drawn out hand to hand battle. The problem with challenging the Ame genin in a Suiton manipulation battle lie mostly with the Iwa genin, Katsuo. Trying to simply battle at range would ensure that the bulky rock-nin would simply blitz one of them while they were exchanging jutsu.

The Iwa genin favored taijutsu heavily, using a common combination of Iwa no Yoroi (Rock Armor) and Doton: Kengan no Jutsu (Stone Fist). From what Naruto had observed during the Iwa team's match, Katsuo's overall skill and speed weren't very good. The only reason his team came out on top was due to the fact he was able to absorb a great deal of damage and had the stamina necessary to chase an opponent around doggedly until he managed to land a crippling strike with his stone encased fists. It didn't help that Katsuo had the elemental advantage over him either, but Naruto had a few ideas on how to get past that.

Setting his plans into motion would be difficult, however, as it was quite obvious that both of his opponents intended to eliminate him first. It wasn't hard to guess, considering that both of them were glaring at him intensely. The Iwa genin even went so far as to crack his knuckles as he sneered at Naruto.

His red, fingerless gloves matching the strange shirt he was wearing. With only a single long sleeve on his right arm, his left arm was exposed entirely beside the glove and a small leather bracer that covered half of his forearm. His pants were brown with matching brown combat sandals on his feet. His head was shaved bare and adorned with a hitai-ate with a red strap.

As the proctor began explaining the rules for the match, Naruto tuned him out in order to run a few scenarios through his head. It would be difficult, but his best option was to eliminate Shibi first. Hopefully, his clones could hold off Katsuo long enough for him to take down the Ame ninja.

The proctor finished outlining the rules before jumping back and calling the match to start.

Immediately, Katsuo began rushing towards Naruto in a full out sprint while flipping through hand seals for Doton: Kengan no Jutsu. At the same time, Shibi began flipping through his own sequence of hand seals relying on Katsuo to serve as his distraction to launch his attack.

Naruto immediately created two clones before all of them used Shunshin (Body Flicker) to appear in different parts of the arena. While he positioned himself in the northwest quadrant, his clones appeared in the center and southwest quadrant respectively. Seeing both Katsuo and Shibi looking between the different clones warily, Naruto knew they weren't sensors and had lost track of him. That wasn't too surprising, considering most genin didn't usually have sensory skills unless they had a bloodline of some type. Now, at least, he was certain that neither of them were sensors and his plan could be readjusted accordingly.

Shibi just continued with his long sequence of hand seals before landing on the bird seal. He called out Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Dragon) as a giant water dragon rose up behind him.

Naruto knew then that Shibi's elemental manipulation wasn't even close to his level.

When someone has fully mastered their elemental manipulation and control exercises, the need to channel your mental will into the jutsu by calling out its name became unnecessary. While it could be a trick or the Ame ninja was just trying to be flashy for the audience, Naruto could feel how much Shibi's chakra reserve was depleted from the attack and the water dragon wasn't nearly as large or dense as Naruto could make his own.

Springing into action, Naruto sent the center clone to clash with Katsuo who had decided to charge the middle clone first. The southwest clone began to flip through hand seals along with Naruto himself. The first to finish their seals was Naruto, who began spitting expanding boulders towards Shibi using Doton: Iwadeppō (Rock Bullet). The southern clone completed its jutsu and enhanced the flying boulders with Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough).

Shibi sent his water dragon charging forward towards Naruto, counting on the stronger Suiton jutsu to overpower the weaker Doton jutsu but was surprised when the boulders began tearing through the attack once the wind jutsu augmented their velocity. While his jutsu was defeated, the Ame ninja was forced to dash towards the center to avoid the remaining boulders that crashed down on his previous position.

Once out of the range of the projectiles, he focused on Naruto and began flipping through hand seals, ignoring the southern clone completely. Naruto responded by flipping through his own hand seals and calling on a large amount of chakra for his next move.

Meanwhile, Katsuo was getting frustrated trying to land a hit on Naruto's evasive clone in the center. The bunshin was easily ducking and weaving around Katsuo's lumbering attacks with the standard academy style, so it didn't bother revealing his more advanced styles yet. While the clone landed several counter attacks, the Iwa no Yoroi was negating most of the damage caused by the clone, even with Fūton chakra enhancing each of his strikes.

The clone managed to push Katsuo back with a spinning back kick before flipping through hand seals rapidly. Landing on the Tiger seal, the clone took a deep breath before spitting out Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) towards the Iwa genin. Katsuo merely scoffed and prepared to charge the attack when he caught sight of another clone appearing next to first one before extending its hands. A gust of wind from Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) enhanced the giant fireball, causing it to speed up rapidly and increase in power.

Katsuo had no choice but to pull off a quick Kawarimi to avoid the attack since his rock armor wouldn't be able to withstand the combination attack. Seeing one of the clones disappear in a puff of smoke, however, removed his wariness and the Iwa genin charged forward into the fight once more.

To the north of the battle in center field, Naruto was currently taking cover behind Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall) to avoid Shibi's Suiton: Suishōha (Water Shockwave). As the water surged around the earthen wall, Naruto quickly flipped through his own hand seals. Slamming his hands on the ground, Naruto sent a surge of cutting water towards Shibi from an underground water tile using Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri (Rising Water Slicer).

Caught off guard by the attack, Shibi was cut along his leg and torso by the razor sharp jet of water that emerged from directly underneath him. Naruto moved to finish his opponent off, but both of them were forced to pause in their attacks as the arena began to shift beneath their feet.

Naruto clung to the top of the earthen wall he was in the process of leaping over before the tile beneath him began to sink down into the recess below. Scanning the field from his perch, he saw a large groove opening up between him and Shibi and scowled.

'Can these assholes be any more obvious about their bias?!' he shouted mentally as he watched his opponent's tile shift out of his range.

Katsuo and his clone were forced to leap apart in their battle as their tile also sank into the ground and other tiles shifted apart to make way for new terrain.

The outer edge tiles began sliding towards the center to fill the gap while new, covered tiles began replacing the outer edges. The fighters were forced to leap from tile to tile as the entire field shifted from the sandy beach to the smooth metal that concealed the terrain hidden underneath.

Naruto managed to keep tabs on his opponents with his senses as he made his way towards the newly added tiles. His clone had dispelled itself in order to add its remaining chakra to his created. Since there would be a lull in combat while the field changed, there was no use in keeping the clone fueled until he knew what the new terrain would look like. While he still had a good amount of chakra remaining, he had hoped to eliminate at least one of his targets before his reserves dropped to this point.

He could sense that Shibi would be running low soon as he was using Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm) to heal his wounds. Katsuo hadn't lost much of his chakra, so far, but he hadn't done much beyond activate his two key jutsu and battle a clone who had simply evaded his swings. Naruto could sense that his chakra was agitated, however, meaning he was frustrated and starting to feel the cost of maintaining his rock armor.

Naruto landed on a covered tile and looked back over the battlefield. The last of the center tiles were now being replaced with the new terrain arrangement, but the metal covers had yet to slide open. Naruto extended a bit of reiki to see if he could pick up any clue as to what this new terrain was, but the magnetic fields keeping the tiles sealed were screwing with his senses.

A slight click, barely heard over the roaring audience, was the only warning he had to leap into the air as the metal lid cover slid open beneath him. Naruto's eyes widened when he saw flames beginning to lick beneath his feet. Creating a few clones in mid-air, he used his clones to toss him away from the fire that was being revealed beneath him.

He landed a bit roughly closer to the center and was forced to roll with the momentum. Looking back, he saw pillars of flame shoot upwards and sharp metallic spikes rising up around him. From the sides of these large spikes, several smaller spikes shot out forming an abstract silhouette of a tree. He dashed away from the metal tile he landed on towards a small island of rocky dirt that had been revealed towards the center.

He saw Katsuo grinning as they both prepared to collide in the center with Shibi running in from the opposite side. Flipping through hand seals as he ran, Naruto managed to draw on enough water from the air around him for a quick Tenkyū (Heavenly Weeping), spitting a wave of water senbon towards Shibi to force him back before he began to gather chakra for a move he hoped would finish off the Iwa ninja.

Shibi was forced to pause in his advance and concentrate on dodging or blocking the wave of water needles with his kunai. Naruto was caught off-guard, however, when he used Kawarimi to replace himself with a rock in Naruto's path to cut him off before trying to thrust his kunai into Naruto's chest.

Naruto barely deflected the attack away from his core using his reinforced bracer, earning a shallow cut on his whiskered cheek. With his plan to finish off the Iwa ninja foiled, Naruto began to engage Shibi at close range using the first style of Shōrinji Ken (Seven star style) in live combat for the first time.

Shibi lunged forward with his kunai while pulling a second kunai from his pouch to attack Naruto with his off hand. Naruto swept the thrusting kunai away from his body using a downward sweeping motion with his left hand while his right rose up to strike Shibi in the face with a back fist. As the Ame ninja head snapped back from the strike, Naruto followed up with a combination of strikes to the body and head that sent the Ame genin reeling back, unable to counter-attack. As Shibi was pushed out of range from a particularly powerful uppercut, Naruto shuffled forward to send a powerful thrust kick to the Ame ninja's gut.

Shibi coughed up spittle and a bit of blood as the powerful kick knocked the air out of his lungs and sent him flying backward. The genin tumbled across the ground before, painfully, coming to rest against a small boulder.

As Naruto prepared to charge forward and eliminate Shibi, his senses flared and he was forced to leap backward when Katsuo came crashing down on his position with a high-powered axe kick. The Iwa ninja dashed forward and began lashing out with a series of punches and kicks, driving Naruto back from the center.

Using the crane style of Shōrinji, Naruto was able to duck and weave through Katsuo's attacks while whittling away at the rock armor with numerous counter attacks. Deflecting a stony fist, Naruto would spin to the side and land a combination of wind enhanced punches and kicks to his opponent's ribs and kidneys. For each attack the bulky genin sent towards the blond, two or three were returned. The Iwa no Yoroi did its job, however, minimizing the damage that Katsuo took and allowing him to remain in the fight. Still, the constant attacks were wearing down the Iwa genin and Naruto could see that the small cutting bursts of wind he laced into each strike were beginning to wear down the armor. With each small chip of rock removed from the stony defense, Katsuo had to expend a portion of his chakra to restore the damaged section or he would become vulnerable. Slowly, but surely, his reserves began to dwindle.

Ducking beneath a powerful sweeping hook from the Iwa genin, Naruto was forced to roll to the side to avoid his countering overhead smash. The tiles beneath their feet rattled from the impact, but Naruto had already leaped up into the air and landed a powerful spinning hook kick to Katsuo's head. Landing spryly on his feet, Naruto immediately stepped forward and used his momentum to lash out with a low sweep to dislodge his opponent's feet and send him falling to the ground.

With a massive burst of chakra from his feet, Naruto propelled himself high into the air before summoning a clone directly above him. The clone rapidly flipped through hand seals and used Fūton: Daitoppato send the original hurtling down towards Katsuo with a high-speed split axe kick. Even with the Iwa no Yoroi active, the power behind Naruto's attack caused Katsuo to spit up some of his stomach contents as the powerful kick cratered him into the ground. The tiles rattled from the impact but remained intact.

Naruto felt a flare of chakra from the side and immediately rolled backward, narrowly avoiding the Suiton: Suiben (Water Whip) that had been sent towards him while he was stuck in the splits. In a fancy display of acrobatics, Naruto rolled, flipped, and hand sprung away from the lashing water whips that drove him further back from Katsuo and the partially recovered Shibi.

Naruto landed near a flaming tree and observed as Katsuo rose shakily to his feet before rolling away from a water whip sent at him from Shibi. Naruto drew on the flames around him and flipped through the hand seals for Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Flower Jutsu). He puffed up his chest and kneaded a large amount of chakra into the first fireball to fool his opponents into thinking he was performing the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu. It was a risky trick to attempt, but as long as he kept his throat and lungs coated in a thin layer of reiki, he should be able to hold the remaining fireballs back long enough to do the trick without roasting his internal organs.

Katsuo saw Naruto's actions and began to channel more chakra into his rock armor. While he didn't need to worry about the water whips being sent at him by the stupid Ame genin, he wanted to save his chakra to finish off the Konoha bastard. Katsuo waited for the blond to launch his fireball before he began his charge. He needed to finish off the blond for good, so the Iwa genin channeled a large part of his remaining chakra into his legs to give him a higher burst of speed than usual.

As Naruto suspected, the second he sent his first large fireball towards Shibi, Katsuo began to try and blitz him again. Naruto internally smirked as his plan fell into place, he waited until the Iwa ninja was too close to evade before sending the next three fireballs directly into his face.

Katsuo growled as the first fireball washed over him, channeling more chakra into his armor, he continued his charge only to be sent flying back as two more fireballs exploded against his chest. Staggered and blinded by the explosion and smoke wafting off of his body, the Iwa ninja was unable to react when Naruto appeared in front of him with a swirl of leaves. All Katsuo knew was pain when the blond shoved some type of chakra attack into his gut. The orb drilled through his armor like it was paper before grinding into his flesh for a few moments.

Naruto began to reduce the chakra to his attack before the Rasengan could pulverize his opponent's insides. While killing was allowed, it was still frowned upon. Naruto increased the chakra to his feet to latch onto the ground beneath him before allowing the Rasengan to destabilize and explode outward. Katsuo was sent flying back where he rolled across the ground and slammed into the base of one of the metallic trees.

The proctor used a quick spray of water to extinguish the flames on the tree before checking on the unmoving genin. The proctor checked Katsuo's breathing and began the customary ten-second countdown for unmoving contestants. Once the count ended, he announced to the crowd that Katsuo was eliminated before signaling an assistant proctor to remove him from the field. The crowd roared in response with the Iwa section jeering and cursing while the Konoha crowd going wild.

There wasn't much time for Naruto to celebrate, however, as Shibi had used the distraction from the proctor's appearance to send a wave of explosive notes, attached to kunai, towards Naruto. Naruto dive rolled away from the incoming tags, the concussive blasts sending him tumbling awkwardly but he managed to recover quickly thanks to his agility training.

Springing to his feet, Naruto stared down the Ame ninja and began plotting how he wanted to finish this match off. He could dominate him with Suiton jutsu just to rub his superiority in the Ame ninja's face, but that would also provide him with the means to retaliate as he would create water for his opponent to use.

After a moment of consideration, Naruto decided he didn't give a damn. Ame had obviously slanted things in their favor so he would hurt their pride by showing them a true Suiton user.

Naruto began flipping rapidly through hand seals while drawing on a majority of the water he could feel in the air and from a few tiles underground. This would probably drain him completely but he would have plenty of time to rest up before his next match. If this didn't finish the Ame ninja off, he could always take a food pill and use one of the chakra storage seals he had created.

For show, he called out the name of his jutsu, "Suiton: Suishōha!" and waited to see the look on his opponent's face.

The water surged up from underneath the stadium floor, dislodging several tiles in the process as it rose up into a towering column of churning water with Naruto standing on the very top. The Ame genin's mouth was agape as he looked at the size of the wave before he began to try and run to the opposite side of the arena.

Naruto merely smirked before thrusting both of his arms forward, in an exaggerated fashion, to send the massive wave crashing down on his opponent. Shibi was unable to avoid the towering wave and was swept off of his feet tumbling head over heals in the churning waters while being pelted with debris from the rocks and broken tiles that were caught in the turbulent waters. The damage only grew worse as he neared the metal forest near the edge of the combat arena as the Ame genin was sent slamming through a few of the metal trees before roughly being crushed against the protective barrier from the force of the wave.

The field was mostly swept clean by the pseudo tsunami Naruto generated, the rocky island nothing more than a smear of mud with most of the boulders being piled up around the battered body of Shibi. All the fires were extinguished and most of the metal trees were bent out of shape with a few being dislodged from their foundations entirely. The floor was covered with almost two feet of water but was quickly receding as the waters drained into the recesses of the arena through the tiles Naruto had dislodged when drawing on the water beneath him.

Naruto briefly wondered if all that water would damage the fancy system of tiles and machinery that allowed the floor to be changed. The last thing he wanted to do was be electrocuted to death because of his own water attack.

Like Sakura, a part of him hoped it was extremely expensive for Ame to fix, but he pushed that aside. While they deserved some part of his contempt because of their outright bias and hostility towards Konoha, allowing such spiteful thoughts would only cause an imbalance in him.

The crowd was silent for a moment before exploding into a riot of noise that was deafening. Not even the proctor's announcement over the loudspeakers could overtake the noise erupting from the spectators. The Konoha section was on its feet stomping and waving signs while the Ame and Iwa sections were jeering or cursing with a few throwing their beverages and snack on the field in contempt.

Naruto simply soaked in the acknowledgment, knowing that his victory had been televised and streamed across the world. With that last display, he was confident that no one could look down on him anymore. They might still view him with disgust and hatred, but they couldn't deny his power. They couldn't call him pathetic or weak because he didn't have any cybernetics. They couldn't ignore his presence any longer and they would certainly think twice before they cursed him or threw trash at him.

Sure there would be many who would start fearing him, but most of those idiots, who still viewed him as the Kyūbi, were far too cowardly to lash out at him now. The rest of the villagers that treated him with indifference or ignored his existence would be forced to acknowledge him in some way.

And for Naruto, that was what really mattered. Because you couldn't respect someone without acknowledging them first.

---

(1)Semi-Autonomous Transport Helo with Chakra Ordinance.

Lighter armor for more speed and more carrying capacity. Armed with quad rotary standard chakra cannons on each forward stabilizer fin and a seven barrel rotary Katon (Fire) chakra cannon on the "stinger".

(2)Autonomous Assault Helo with Anti-vehicle Chakra Ordinance

Heavily armored and armed with a pair of 24 slot Katon box cannons and 12 Bakuton (Explosion) warheads on the forward stabilizer fins with a 7 barrel Yōton (Lava) chakra rotary cannon. Designed for taking on Heavy Tanks, Think Tanks, and Armed Suits.

(3) Modeled after the Bell 525 Helicopter