Finally, i have finished chapter 3 of the story. Words cannot say how sorry i am that this took so long, but my laptop has lately had kind of a bad mood. He decides from time to time to just stop working, and shut down without giving me time to save or anything. At one point, it decided that it would take this chapter with it. So when i turned on the computer, i lost everything i had written in this chapter.
This really hit on my motivation, since i struggled to re-write the entire thing while still beeing close to what i wrote the last time, but now it's complete and i'm back on track.
I'll try to get the next chapter up some time later this week, as i have a fair bit of time on my hand from tomorrow of. Anyways...here we go with chapter 3!
The next morning, Naruto got dressed, and headed out to get the one thing he had missed the most on while gone from the village. His precious ramen. He kept wearing the hood over his head while walking through the city. He wasn't interested in showing himself before the 'test' he had at noon. When he arrived at the stand, he sat down and waited to be served. Then an old man came out from the back and walked over. "Welcome to Ichirakus, would you like to order?" The old man said. Naruto pulled back his hood and showed a big smile. "I would like 10 bowls of miso ramen". The old mans jaw was threatening to fall of as he stared at the blond in front of him. "Na..Na..Naruto?! Is that really you?" The old man walked up and gave a big hug, finally his best customer was back in town. "Oi, Ayame! Come quick and look who it is." The old man shouted out to the back of the shop.
Suddenly a brown haired woman came out from the back of the shop, and when she saw the customer sitting there, she dropped the bowl she had in her hand. "Naruto, is it you?" she said as she leaped onto the counter to hug the boy in question. "It is really you! Finally you are back". Naruto only smiled at the two, and returned the hug. "Yes, I'm finally back again. It's been too long since I had the food of gods". The old man walked into the back to start working on Narutos order while Ayame was chatting with Naruto about the things he had experienced. "So." Ayame said. "Tell me about how you got these red highlights in your hair. They are so...kawaii." she said blushing while stroking his hair. Naruto chuckled at her before answering. "They are a kind of parting gift from the Kyuubi. Just before I came back, he was completely absorbed and passed away". Ayame only kept stroking his hair while nodding at him. She didn't really know what to respond to something like that. However she wasn't one to complain, because she definitely liked the change to his hair.
At that moment, the old man came out with the first bowl in Narutos order, and the blond threw himself over the food while answering more questions from the two.
After finishing eating and talking to the old man and Ayame, Naruto left towards the chuunin-exam stadium. It was closing in on noon, and he didn't want to be late. He didn't need to become another Kakashi that was late for everything.
When he arrived, he was met by the fifth hokage, Tsunade herself. He was guided towards a side entrance, and told to be on standby until she called for him. With nothing else to do, he sat down in a lotus position and started meditating.
After sitting like this for a while, he could hear Tsunade's voice boom out over the stadium. "My fellow shinobi and civilians of Konoha, we have gathered here today to honor the greatest hero of the war, and the person to defeat Madara Uchiha. Also, we are here to see his abilities on display while sparring against some of the best jonin this village has to offer. Without further ado, I give you, Naruto Uzumaki!". As she finished talking, a roar of applause was heard from the crowd, and Naruto figured this was the signal he was waiting for. As he walked into the stadium, the applause surprisingly increased even more. As he stood there in the middle of the stadium, he couldn't help but look around at the crowd that had gathered with a smile on his face, and a tear in the corner of his eye. It was totally packed, which much mean that the entire village was gathered here. As he was standing there admiring the crowd, Tsunades voice roared out once again. "To face of against him, we have chosen these two". As she finished talking, Naruto turned around and came face to face with two people that he knew quite well. "To fight against Naruto, is Maito Gai, and Hatake Kakashi." the hokages voice rung out once again.
Naruto only stared at the two while Tsunade was talking. They hadn't changed one bit since he saw them two years ago. Gai was still clad in his green spandex, and his eyebrows thick as ever. Kakashi was clad in standard jonin uniform with a face mask covering the bottom of his face, and his forehead protector was covering his left eye. His silver hair was also standing up like it always did.
Gai took his normal 'nice-guy' pose, giving Naruto thumbs up. "Yosh, let's show these people your youthfulness Naruto". Naruto decided to have a little fun with the man, and pulled out a trick from his sensei's book. He looked at Gai with a bored expression. "Huh, did you say something?" Gai's face completely lost all it's colour, and he looked at Naruto as if he had grown a new head. "GAH, we don't need another Kakashi with the hip attitude around here". At Gai's side, Kakashi was chuckling at the exchange. He knew that this was something Naruto had taken from him, and he did it for the same reasons. To annoy Konoha's green beast. Kakashi raised his hand lazily and eye-smiled at his student. "Yo, Naruto. Long time no see". The blonde boy only looked strangely at his sensei while picking his ear. "Eh? Do I know you from somwhere?" At this, both of the jonin sweat-dropped while looking at each other. "Did you learn your student to be this un-youthful? Gai asked his rival. Kakashi shaked his head. "This guy is even worse than me right now".
While the three of them were standing down in the arena, Tsunade was once again speaking up. "For these spars, there are no holds. You are allowed to use any means necessary to win. However, try not to kill eachother".
As she finished talking, the first spar between Naruto and Gai was called to begin. They were both standing in the middle of the field. Gai in his normal fighting stance, while Naruto was standing with his hands crossed. They were both standing like this for awhile, before the green clad jonin sprung to action. He raced towards Naruto at max speed, before he launched a kick at his head. The blond only bent forwards, and the kick flew over his head. Gai followed up with a punch towards his stomach, but Naruto blurred out of existence, before appearing behind the jonin. "tsk, you are still wearing your weights 'bushybrow-sensei'. If you want to fight me you should take them off". As Naruto said that, he flashed forwards, and slapped Gai to the back of the head before flashing back to his original spot. The jonin decided to do as said, and removed the weights from his legs and arms before charging at the blond again. This time his speed was even higher. As he came in for an uppercut, Naruto swat the punch away, and deliver an open-palm strike to the mans mid-section. Gai could feel the air getting knocked out of him. 'The power of this guy is immense, I never expected him to hit this hard'.
Meanwhile, Naruto decided to kick it up a notch. He took of his jacket, and lifted up his shirt. As he did this, he took of the weight-belt that was strapped to his waist. Deciding to have a little fun, he threw the belt at his opponent. As Gai saw it coming flying towards him, he sped towards it to try and throw it back towards the blonde and also adding his momentum to it. However, when he grabbed a hold of the belt to throw it back, he was stopped in his tracks, and sent flying along with it. As he landed on the ground, he was holding on to the belt with wide eyes. Even in the crowd people were staring with great surprise at the jonin. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't lift the belt of the ground. "Naruto, how much does these weigh?" Gai asked with shock written all over his face. "440 pounds (200kg), why?" Naruto replied. The amusement was clear in the blue eyes. "SAY WHAT?!" Gai was mortified. There was no way this kid in front of him was human. He was carrying a belt around his weight that was no less than about double of what he probably was weighing.
After letting go of the belt, Gai rushed ahead to take out the blonde as soon as he could. He was not interested in seeing more of the surprises he might have in store. Naruto saw him coming, and with a speed that not even his opponent could see, he got inside the jonin's guard. As he did this, he landed a crushing uppercut that sent Gai across the field. He looked on in amusement as the green-clad man tried to get back to his feet. The power behind that punch had made him wobbly, but he wasn't down yet. He still had one more trick up his sleeve.
Up in the hokage box, Tsunade was looking at the fight with wide eyes. Sure she knew Naruto was good, but the power behind that punch was like the ones she could pull of. She then looked over at Gai, who was looking back at her with determination in his eyes. She knew what he was asking for, and she nodded her head as agreement. Then, Gai crosses his arms in front of his face and his chakra spiked to immense levels.
Naruto saw this coming. In fact, he was hoping that it would come to this. The people wanted to know how strong he was, and now, it was time to show it.
As Gai's chakra continues to rise, you could see it surround the green-clad jonin. The people in the stands that knew what was to come was speechless. To think he actually had to resort to this to even have a chance to be at the same level as his opponent.
"(7th gate) Gate of Wonder: Kai!" Gai yelled out, and immediately, the chakra surrounding him turned green and his skin darkened. His once black eyes were now pure white, and you could see the veins around them.
After successfully opening the gates, Gai disappeared from view and charged at his opponent. Naruto for his part was ready for this. He took up his stance, and waited for the onslaught that was to come. For a few of the most observant people, you could see his eyes suddenly shifted from clear blue to a dark purple color.
When Gai reached his target, he unleashed a barrage of punches. The speed and friction behind the punches made them catch fire, and Naruto was suddenly engulfed in fire while Gai kept on with his barrage.
As Gai threw his last punch, you could see the ball of fire that was surrounding Naruto was blasted towards the wall, and cracked it on impact. However, when the fire died out, a ball of golden chakra fell to the ground. As soon as it touched the ground, it dispersed. But there was no Blonde inside of it. The whole stadium went silent at this. Some fearing the worst. However, the silent was quickly replaced by gasps as they saw what just unfolded down in the stadium. Out of nowhere Naruto had suddenly ended up behind the green-clad jonin, with a kunai to his throat. "I think I win this one Gai-Sensei", Naruto whispered. At these words, Gai resigned, and fell to the ground exhausted from the use of the inner gates. Then, the crowd exploded in cheers. The fights they just had witnessed was beyond most peoples comprehension, and the power level that was used was immense. People had heard Naruto had won them the war, but no one was expecting him to actually come out on top against a man who opened the 7th inner gate.
Up in the hokage stand, Tsunade was cheering loudly for her "Blonde little brat". She knew this match would be one that would surprise a lot of people. She was just hoping that the next one would be just as good.
Back down at the stadium grounds, Gai was currently being carried out medic nins, while Naruto sat down to meditate. He needed to calm himself down for this next fight.
Kakashi was dumbfounded at the display he had just witnessed. To think that his student had come away from the fight without a single visible scratch on his body. He was really in for it now, seeing as he was the next one.
After a brake for people to calm down, and for Naruto to get some rest, Tsunade called for the next match to begin.
Naruto and Kakashi was standing face to face in the middle of the arena. "I gotta say, that was a good fight you showed us" Kakashi said. "But I won't let myself get caught as easily as he did". At this, Kakashi flipped backwards while rushing through hand-signs. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu". A huge fireball was launched at the blonde, who launched himself high into the air while going through his own hand-signs and pulling air to his lungs. "Fūton: Renkūdan" Naruto launched a ball of air from his mouth. The silver haired jonin managed to barely avoid it, but it tore of the sleeve of his left arm. The place where the bullet had hit was now a huge crater. As Naruto landed back on the ground, he turned to his former sensei. "I'm afraid I have to cut this fight short as I used a lot of chakra to defend against Gai's last attack". As he finished talking, he pulled out two kunai from his pouch. When kakashi saw this, his eyes widened. This kunai was not just a regular one. This was something that Kakashi never thought he would see again. This kunai had three blades instead of one, and on the handle, you could see markings carved into them.
Naruto took one of the kunai, and launched it at his opponent. As soon as it started to close in, he suddenly vanished, and re-appeared right in front of Kakashi with said weapon in hand.
As the crowd saw the technique just used, many of them had a flashback to the old days. Back under the forth hokages reign. And they erupted once again in cheers for a technique thought to be lost to the world.
Kakashi however, did not have time to cheer, as Naruto came in with one kunai in each hand. He was forced to draw his own to defend himself, and you could hear the sound of metal hitting against metal.
They continued to battle like this for a while, no one gaining the upper hand, before Naruto suddenly decided to throw in a kick that hit his opponent square in the chest. This sent the jonin flying, but he managed to roll in the air to land on his feet a little distance away. "You definitely have skill Naruto, i'll give you that." Kakashi said. "However, I will not give up yet". As he said this, he pulled up the forehead protector to reveal his left eye and the Sharingan.
His stern look was turned to one of confusion however as he looked at his former student, as Naruto was currently shaking. The shaking turned into chuckles as the boy looked back at him. "Oh, but this fight is already over you know". Suddenly Naruto disappeared once again, and a chill went down Kakashi's spine at the whisper he heard next. "And I have just figured out the technique to use. You might remember this from our bell test". Naruto had appeared behind him, and was crouched ready to pounce. "Konohagakure Hidden Secret Taijutsu Technique: One Thousand Years of Death!"
The entire stadium went silent, and the only thing you could hear, was Kakashi screaming as he was launched towards the hokage stand. When he landed at the feet of the hokage, the stadium broke out in laughter which later turned to cheers. The technique used to defeat Kakashi was unorthodox, but a win is a win, and he had just defeated to of the best jonin in the village.
Kakashi however, was not cheering. He was laying there in embarrassment after having been defeated by a technique that he had used on Naruto back when he had just graduated from the academy.
After the fights were over, and Kakashi was back on his feet, Tsunade spoke out to the crowd again. "Fellow citizens of Konoha, you have now witnessed the power of Naruto Uzumaki, and we have deemed this worthy of the rank of jonin. I have also been contacted by the other five great villages, and they have made him honorary jonin of their villages aswell. So it is my honour to award the rank of 'jonin of the five great villages' to Naruto Uzumaki".
The crowd stood to their feet and cheered once again as Naruto was awarded his flak-jacket as a sign of being a jonin. This jacket was a custom made one at that. On the back you could see the Konoha logo in the middle, while the four other village logos was placed around it in smaller size.
Naruto was overjoyed by finally being promoted from genin, and took on his jacket with pride written all over his face.
He was once step closer to becoming hokage...
So there we have chapter 3. Hope you liked it, and again i am so so so so so sorry for the long wait.
For those of you wondering about what ability Gai used after opening the gates, it is called 'Morning Peacock'. It's an ability he uses while fighting Kisame.
As for what Naruto used to defend himself, i will not tell about that just yet. Some may have figured it out, but it will be clearer in the next chapter.
If you have any questions/corrections or comments feel free to send them, i appreciate them all!
Until next time...Zhilay :)