Disclaimer: You know the drill.

Last time: Moegi's opponent, Takeda Kanryu, takes a drug that boosts his chakra output by a lot.

This time: How Moegi deals with the boost.

As Moegi prepared her jutsu, her opponent was lost in the rush and euphoria of the sheer amount of chakra he was putting out. It rushed down his coils and made everything seem to stand out, from the sounds of a murmuring crowd, to the taste and feel of the moisture in the air from his mist jutsu. If he had a mirror, he might've been appalled at the insane light in his eyes, pupils wide and dark, the skin of his face and the fabric of his mask seeming to cling to his bones, the shadows throwing those ridges and valleys into even sharper relief.

Kanryu's own ragged breathing filled his ears as he soared ever higher on a drug-induced rush. Finally, the feeling broke through and he began to laugh, a harsh and mirthless sound that filled the air, made even creepier by the mist that filled the arena floor, and even reached into the stands, sending gauzy fingers through the aisles of spectators. The candidates box was just as filled as the rest of the arena.

Naruto heard the laughing and scowled, cerulean eyes flicking from side to side, scanning for a sign of Kanryu. He'd spotted a ripple in the mist earlier and knew it was Moegi. She was up to something, that much was obvious, because her chakra was beginning to flow and fluctuate, weaving an insidious web throughout the stadium. The blond genin smirked. He knew that feeling.

It was genjutsu.

Moegi was weaving an illusion throughout the arena, hoping to snare Kanryu in it. It was a good plan and would most likely work. Just because Naruto was able to sense it didn't mean some one else would be able to pick it up. The blond was willing to bet she would hook her prey, but whether or not it would hold was up for debate.

Genjutsu worked by fooling the five senses of the victim into literally living something that's not happening. To do that, the user of the jutsu had to send a tendril of their own chakra, either through hand seals, or for people like Itachi, a bloodline and an extreme affinity for the field. The traitor Uchiha was able to cast genjutsu just by pointing or looking at you. Which made him a bitch to fight. Once the user's chakra was in the victim's system, it would subtly fiddle with and manipulate the host's chakra in ways that couldn't be detected until it was too late.

With the host chakra manipulated, the caster's chakra would then rearrange the victim's chakra until the sensory organs, touch, taste, sight, smell, and hearing's nerves were cut off and then the chakra would turn into electrical impulses to fool the brain into seeing something it's not. It was a field that required fine chakra control and an exact knowledge of what to project. It was rumored that the jounin and ANBU genjutsu specialists underwent a training regimen where they would have genjutsu cast on them, if only to teach them how to fight it, look for flaws in the illusions, and what the illusions were supposed to look like. It was a good system and it worked well, Konoha's genjutsu specialists were some of the foremost in the entire shinobi world, widely regarded masters of their area.

With that said, the big problem that Naruto saw with Moegi's plan was that Kanryu's chakra was now more like a torrential waterfall than the calm river chakra usually was. It was turbulent enough that Moegi's chakra might just be drowned out and rendered null simply from the speed and force with which Takeda's chakra was moving.

Moegi smiled to herself as she finished her genjutsu and found Kanryu, then sent her chakra speeding for him. She felt a surge as her chakra entered the man, then she was slammed, as if by a giant fist, hard enough to make her actually stagger. The feeling of being connected vanished shortly after and the kunoichi realized that her attempt at genjutsu had been thwarted by the sheer turbulence of the other man's chakra.

Genjutsu would be worthless, just because of whatever Kanryu had done to himself. The teen scowled. Looks like she was in this for the long haul, there would be no simple solution. Well it looked as if there was one bright side to all of this, with so much chakra in his system, it would be nigh impossible to hide his chakra with any degree of success. Only if he was used to that huge amount, like Naruto or Hokage-sama was, would he be able to hide it, and Moegi was willing to bet that Kanryu had used some kind of enhancer, like solider pills, and he wasn't used to his great amount. Takeda's insane laughter also helped to pinpoint him.

"Well, here goes," Moegi muttered as she pulled out a volley of shuriken and kunai, holding the weapons up to throw. She turned to the laughing and let fly.

Kanryu felt the feeble attempt to place him under an illusion, and just snickered to himself, sending a surge through his coils to burn out the invading chakra. The girl would need to be more savvy than that to catch him!

He focused chakra into his feet and moved, getting behind the girl, by luck saving his skin from getting impaled on a hail of pointed weapons that she'd released just as he'd moved.

Moegi heard the dull clunking of her weapons hitting the trees and swore softly. She'd missed.

"What's wrong, girly?" A voice whispered in her ear, making her jump. It was Takeda. "You didn't hit what you were aiming for?" Her hand dipped into her kunai holster, brushing aside the snap cover and swiping the ring of the handle in one smooth motion then stabbed backwards, hoping to catch the bastard in the stomach.

No such luck, the warmth that had been pressed against her cheek from his simple proximity vanished just as her kunai whispered clear of the sheath. Now he was back out in the mist again, hiding, circling, and probably plotting his next move. Her hands began flying together again, going for another technique that would hopefully help with this mist.

"Katon! Housenka no Jutsu!"

A swarm of mini fireballs spewed from her mouth and zipped into the murk, covering the entire area as she turned, not letting up, and spit fire in every direction, though it did nothing to dissipate the mist.

Kanryu's eyes widened as he saw the swarm of fiery balls speeding for him at great speed, but he gritted his teeth and began bouncing from spot to spot, dodging the fire as the need demanded. He scowled angrily. This little bitch would have to learn her place. And he was the one to do the teaching.

His eyes lit maliciously again as he began making seals. Ordinarily, he wouldn't even bother with this technique, but with his chakra, it wouldn't matter.

"Suiton! Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"

From nowhere, water burst into existence. Well, not from nowhere, that would defy physics. What Kanryu had done was convert some moisture in the air, and some of his own chakra, into water. Usually, it took someone with immense control and a huge amount of chakra to do it, but with his sheer amount, it was child's play. The water shaped into a serpentine dragon, then sped into the mist. Even without a direct hit, it would flood to a decent depth and open the way for other techniques.

Once the dragon was on the way, he wavered on his feet, just before the chakra surged again and filled him with that intense euphoria again. It always happened, but the drug took care of the drain pretty quickly.

Both Genma and Moegi were surprised when a huge watery dragon with evil yellow eyes lunged out of the mist. The two shinobi jumped, clearing any potential damage, allowing the dragon to expend itself and flood the earthen floor with five feet of water. Thankfully, Kakashi had taught her to walk on water, so she alighted on the surface just in time to feel the decrease in Kanryu's chakra.

"Huh?" She murmured to herself. "That's odd. He just lost a lot of chakra. Well, it's a big technique, but still…" The kunoichi couldn't help but think that something was odd. It didn't seem natural to her for some reason, but then that chakra boost wasn't natural either, unless it was some kind of weird bloodline, but somehow Moegi doubted it.

A storm of kunai whistled out of the mist and Moegi jerked before somersaulting back onto the wall of the arena. She scowled into the heavy mist. There had to be something she could do about this damn vapor, but it would involve either a strong wind, or an intense blast of fire. Neither of which she knew or had the chakra for.

Then she stopped and smiled. Maybe that would work. It was a long shot to be sure, but then, didn't Naruto-aniki take long shots all the time and get them to work? That's what he was known for. There was no reason it wouldn't work for her to.

Another volley of weapons shot from the murk.

Moegi hurled herself at the water, some ten feet below, landed, then began running across the surface until a shadow shot for her. The kunoichi didn't hesitate and flung a kunai at the shadow, which promptly burst into a spray of water, showing it to be a Mizu Bunshin. Again, there was a drop in her opponent's chakra, but Moegi didn't pay attention to it due to a follow-up kunai that sped for her head. She rolled, got her hands beneath her and sprang into the air like a gymnast, and then she was sticking to the wall again, but this time on the other side of the stadium, bracing her stance with one hand.

A smile crossed her face for a moment before she reached into her kunai holster and flung a knife at the source of chakra. It moved and she was off, speeding across the water as fast as her legs could carry her, angling to cut him off. From one hand flew a trio of shuriken, and in the other was a kunai, held in reverse, ready in front of her to slice the man into sashimi.

The shadow she was running towards sharpened into the Takeda brother, his hand already moving, hurling a trio of shuriken that he'd been holding. As Moegi vaulted over them and arced with her kunai leading, she had a sneaking suspicion that those shuriken were hers.

Her hand flashed, but she wasn't fast enough and the Kiri-nin's hand caught her wrist and flung her away. Moegi had been semi-expecting that though, and got her feet under her, slamming into the wall again in a crouch, a hand slapping the wall in frustration. This guy wasn't even taking her seriously. She hadn't been able to touch her, and he had yet to truly attack.

"What's the matter, girly?" A sinister voice asked from behind her. She blinked and whirled, seeing Kanryu standing on the wall behind her without a care in the world, hands casually in his pockets, looking more like a Kakashi knockoff than ever before. "Getting a little angry are we?"

The Konoha-nin tensed a little then lunged, but was knocked away by a casual crescent kick, flying away, bouncing off the top of a submerged bush, then skipping across the surface of the water, raising small geysers with every bounce. She got her feet under her after the fifth bounce and skidded to a stop, baring her teeth at the menace hidden from her view.

The water at her feet bubbled and frothed madly then exploded, Moegi just managing get clear in time, skidding backwards up the wall, dragging a hand, like she'd been doing for a while now, then managing to stop.

Kanryu climbed out of the water like he was climbing a staircase and stared up at the kunoichi with a hungry gaze, tinged by a slight shine of insanity.

"What's wrong with girly? Can't keep up?" He said with a mask-warping grin.

Moegi smiled back. "Nope. I just needed a way to keep you busy."

"What do you mean?" He asked, with a hint of violent menace in his voice.

The red-clad kunoichi's hands flashed together and stopped on Ram. "I'm just clearing the mist." She leaped, right as an explosion touched off behind her, the blast wave knocking over Takeda and extending her leap by a good amount. She skidded over the water and stood up, as Kanryu tugged himself upright with a livid expression.

Naruto blinked and picked himself off the floor, where he'd been thrown when explosions had rocked the stadium and knocked him flat on his back, feet over his head and ass in the air.

'Graceful.'

'Shut up fox.' He stood up and looked out the front of the contestants box. The flooded arena was clearly visible, the last whisps of mist dissipating, along with the rain of cement wall fragments and the smoke. 'What happened?'

Below, Kanryu demanded that exact same thing.

Moegi grinned. "Easy, all that time I spent on the wall was part of my plan."

"What plan!?"

"Oh nothing much, I just set explosive tags all around the arena and used the flame and shockwaves from the explosions to get rid of you Kirigakure no Jutsu."

The kunoichi could literally hear the other shinobi gnashing his teeth at her in anger.

"Little…bitch!" He managed to grind out. His hands blurred together and the water beneath him began to writhe again before it exploded upwards and took on the form of another water dragon. That was when Moegi knew that this guy had more chakra than he knew what to do with. He'd used two dragons in a row and didn't show any sign of strain.

The technique lunged for her, but Moegi vaulted up and over, hurling a kunai into the serpentine construct as it twisted around and came for her again, maw opening wide, showing her watery fangs, just before the kunai that was still sinking through its body exploded and blew the dragon in half, drenching Kanryu and succeeding in making him even angrier, a feeling that was amplified by the drugs coursing through his system.

"Alright, little girly," he growled. "No more mister nice guy!"

The Konoha kunoichi just snorted at the old cliché phrase, right before Kanryu simply vanished. Before she time to do more than blink at the sudden disappearing act, a fist slammed hard into her gut, making her double over as pain shot up and down her spine and Moegi spit up blood from the force of the hit.

She stumbled backwards and received a vicious backhand that sent her flying in a dizzying spiral off to one side, crashing to the water and beginning to sink, since she was too dazed to even think about channeling chakra.

"Oh no you don't. I'm not letting you off that easy," the masked shinobi said with a vicious grin that was audible in his tone. He reached down and yanked her up by the hair. "You're not done until I say so!"

An uppercut had her floating and a hard left cross into her stomach had Moegi gasping for air, even as she slammed into the hard wall of the stadium. Debris and powdered concrete sprayed outwards from the hole, settling to the water and turning the fluid a murky gray-brown.

Kanryu straightened. He'd put as much chakra and weight into the blow as he could, so much so that his left arm had rivulets of crimson running down it, from where the chakra had ruptured the skin. He scratched the back of his head in a mock gesture of sheepishness. "Aww…too bad. Did I break her?"

Silence filled the ring, with the exception of Konohamaru, who was frantically calling out his girlfriend's name, one leg on the rail of the candidate's box, restrained from jumping into the fray himself only by Naruto's steel grip on his shoulder, though one look at the blond Jinchuuriki's face was enough to kill in and of itself. His eyes, if one looked closely, were even starting to bleed into at dark shade of purple and the pupil had small but defined points on the top and bottom.

"I guess Takeda over did it a little," The Mizukage said without any real sign of remorse. As the head of Kirigakure, it was no secret of the animosity the Kiri and Konoha harbored for one another, surpassed only by Iwa's hatred for the Leaf. "My sincerest condolences about the loss of your kunoichi, Hokage-sama."

"You underestimate her, Mizukage-sama," Tsunade replied with a tone to match the blue-clad leader's. "Moegi is not to be taken lightly." She turned hard brown eyes on the other Kage. "I have half a mind to have ANBU arrest your genin for the possession and use of an illegal drug."

"But my man falls under my responsibility, not yours." The Mizukage said silkily.

Tsunade got scary. "Really? Then you will do the honors and disqualify him?" Her voice was getting to the point that promised trouble. The aides present were all watching the two Kages, and even Gaara was looking sideways at them, his face blank, but eyes showing the racing thoughts in his head.

The Mizukage shrugged. "There's nothing I can do. You see, Hime-sama, the Mist's policy is that you have to have witnesses. I saw nothing to suggest that Takeda-san did anything illegal. Perhaps it is a Kekkei Genkai."

"That's a damn technicality and you know it, Kage-san." She hissed. The other leader's eyebrow arched ever so slightly at the lack of a proper honorific or even a title. It was a slight to his pride as a village leader, but one he could endure. He simply snorted and returned to watching the duel below.

Tsunade almost lunged at the bastard then and there, but knew that would lead to all out war with Kiri, and stopping the match to arrest the genin with his leader present would do the same. He could, and probably would, claim that it was a Kekkei Genkai and that Konoha had deliberately provoked him, leading to a war anyway. No, she would have to play this subtly. The Mizukage seemed to imply that there were other users in Kirigakure.

Perhaps she could find a supply line and expose it to the world? Then Konoha would be justified in attacking, because killing someone while under that drug's influence was considered a first-degree murder in most of the Hidden Villages. And the Leaf would certainly gain new allies in the attack, since most of the other leaders would know that if it was in Kirigakure, then it could be in their territory as well, which, in turn, would lead to inquiries, arrests, and, ultimately, executions.

Tsunade stopped. She couldn't declare war over something so petty. She had to look at the bigger picture, despite her (hidden) affection for Saru-sensei's grandson and his team. Shinobi died all the time, that was a fact of life, and the Mizukage was right when he said there was no substantial evidence since she'd never actually seen the drug's usage. Still, it raised the question. Were there users in Konohagakure as well? It was something she'd have to look into. Konoha's ANBU were in charge of keeping that drug out, but still, while the Black Ops Corps was good at what it did, they were still human, and someone with enough money and resources could fool them.

She couldn't use an ANBU operative, in case there was a drug ring. Maybe she was paranoid, but if there was even one user out there, they wouldn't hesitate to sell out Konoha for another fix. History showed that when the drug was hailed as the next soldier pill, people had told centuries-old secrets for just a few ounces. She would need someone with good connections and could be discreet.

Tsunade smiled. She knew the perfect person for this one.

The Sannin glanced at Gaara and the Mizukage. Both were occupied, but something told the Fire Shadow that Gaara was purposely ignoring her. The Kage's right hand, draped casually on the armrest of her chair, moved and contorted ever so slightly.

No one noticed the ANBU that had been hidden in the shadows of the entrance to the Kage's box vanish without sound or sight of his presence. The silent assassin didn't know why the Kage wanted to see Jiraiya-sama, but it wasn't his place to ask questions.

Meanwhile, in the arena, Moegi was busy pretending to be lifeless as she tried to think of a way out of this mess. Kanryu had her outclassed in speed, power, and chakra. In a head-on fight, she'd lose in a matter of seconds, and it probably would be her life this time. A memory of her training with Kakashi came back to her.

"Moegi, this jutsu I'm going to teach you is to be your last resort. Use it only when you have no other recourse left." The kunoichi blinked at the jounin that had decided, out of the blue it seemed, to teach her for the Exams in three weeks.

"Okay. What is it?"

"Watch closely. I don't expect you to master it, or even perfect it, in the time we have left, but I think you need a shocker jutsu and this one should do nicely." Kakashi showed her the technique and she got to work.

The lanky shinobi had been right. It was a bitch of a jutsu to use and even worse to make work, but in the end, she'd gotten to the point where it was feasible, though she was good for only one shot and maybe a pass or two.

The problem was Takeda. He would dodge it, no problem, so she had to be ready to take advantage of whatever opening she created.

"Proctor! She's dead already! Call the match!" Genma just blinked and chewed his senbon a bit more. He could sense Moegi in the hole, but Kanryu couldn't. He wasn't even looking at the hole, busy yelling at the jounin proctor. Kakashi had gotten the girl pretty damn good at concealing her chakra. Even he, a freaking jounin, could barely sense the kunoichi's chakra beginning to move and mold. Well, he didn't like the Mist at all, and, while the rules said that he wasn't allowed to be biased, there was nothing wrong with just happening to create an opening at the right time…

Moegi's heart almost stopped when Genma's movement totally took whatever attention Takeda might have spared her off her and onto the proclamation. What really got her was that Genma was flicking glances in her direction, subtly enough that Takeda missed it, but she, who'd been taught by an instructor who was famous for his 'underneath the underneath' policy, caught rapidly.

The jounin's hand raised. "Winner…"

Her hands moved, finishing the final sequence of seals.

"Takeda…"

She took a deep breath.

"Kanry…"

"Katon! Karyuu Endan!" She blew the breath out and a massive flame erupted from her mouth and shaped into a dragon, speeding from the hole she was in and zeroing in on her intended target, the startled and horrified Takeda Kanryu.

He jumped, just clearing a sizzling death, but the dragon, a mammoth thing composed entirely of flame and smoke, turned right before it hit the wall and sped for the other genin, who'd overdone it with his jump and was just now reaching the peak, leaving him wide open.

The Kakashi knockoff twisted at the last possible second and was just barely brushed across his back by the dragon as it lanced past, but it was enough and howls of rage and pain filled the air as the flaming monstrosity scorched him and slammed into the upper rim of the arena's walls, blackening the concrete and charring the lacquered wood rim to a crisp, the embers threatening to light until a group of jounin descended on the site and put it out with water jutsu that both extinguished the chance of fire and siphoned off some water in the process.

Moegi dropped to her knees, feeling herself slowly sinking into the water because of the exhaustion that was flooding her system, the knees of her clothes getting soaked, but she didn't care, at least not until an iron fist slapped her across the water.

It was Kanryu, his shirt burned away and dark burns marring a pale and wiry chest. If that was from his shirt, then Moegi really didn't want to see his back.

"You BITCH!" He screamed, kicking her across the arena while she was down. She lurched and yelled as she felt a couple ribs break. Feebly, and trembling from exhaustion and pain, she rolled onto her back, still feeling the water creep up her sides. At this rate, she only had thirty seconds, maybe a minute, left before she sank.

Takeda's foot slammed into her gut, forcing blood out her mouth again.

"I'm gonna kill you!" He shrieked, punctuating each word with a stomp. Moegi felt pain shoot up and down her nerves, growing even worse as a poorly aimed stomp smashed into her ribs, aggravating the broken ones and breaking or fracturing several more. "I'm gonna fucking kill y…." He broke off, and then next second he was screaming in pain, the yells loud and high enough to make her hair try to stand on end. Her ears dropped below water then and cut off the worst of it, but the rest of the crowd wasn't so lucky.

Kanryu began clawing at his heart, his veins beginning to bulge against his skin, his face looking more and more pallid by the second as his pain grew even worse, feeling molten lava was coursing through him instead of blood.

"Neji! What the hell's going on!" Tenten shouted, despite the Hyuuga genius sitting right next to her.

"I don't know!" He answered, Byakugan shining. "His chakra just went haywire, and so did his coils."

"N-Naruto-aniki? What's going on?" Konohamaru asked, having stopped his struggling when Kanryu went crazy.

"The hell if I know!" Naruto answered, unable to tear his eyes away from the gruesome spectacle. 'Kyuubi?'

The blond genin could feel the demon's interest was rapidly sharpening as the screaming went on. 'Drug's wearing off.' The kitsune answered simply. 'The idiot got so caught up in what that girl did to him, he forgot to take more of the drug.' The massive creature's lip pulled back, revealing fangs as tall as Naruto. 'The idiot mortal's about to get his.'

Kanryu's screaming got worse, his veins standing out in cold relief against his skin, a depression visible in his mask from his open mouth. Suddenly he gagged, and blood shot out of his mask, a thick spray of it, even with the fabric, and Takeda Kanryu went silent, standing still for a second before falling backwards with a tremendous splash.

During the screaming, Moegi had been sinking, until Genma reached down and pulled her up and clear, preventing her from drowning, since she didn't have the energy or stamina to even think about swimming. Now she watched the rippling water with horrified eyes and chattering teeth as a comforting hand dropped onto her shoulder.

It was Kakashi, looking down at her with a sympathetic look in his eye. "Nice work, Moegi." He said.

"Y-y-y-you I-I-I-idiot," She stammered, trying hard to get out a coherent sentence. "Y…You're l-late!" She lurched forward abruptly and emptied the meager contents of her stomach into the water. A medic was a Kakashi's side a moment later and Moegi found herself borne away for the infirmary. He held a powder to her nose and she dropped into dreamless sleep a moment later.

Kakashi watched his student vanish then was surrounded by a platoon of ANBU, one of whom was a medic-nin from the dove mask. ANBU medics always wore dove masks, which both marked them as medics for allies and made enemies think that they were invincible, since you could kill one dove mask only to face another, identical one later on. Thus, the enemies learned to fear the dove mask, while to the injured and dying, it represented hope. The ultimate paradox. Naruto was not far behind the ANBU. Kakashi considered telling him to leave, but then realized that Naruto's skills had grown to roughly that of a Hokage or a Captain-level ANBU. Maybe his input could be worth something.

The body of Kanryu was retrieved and the other three ANBU held it steady while the medic ran a hand over the corpse, which still had bulging veins, and now blood was leaking from the rolled back eyes like red tears.

"Well?" The leader asked, whom Kakashi recognized as Tenzou, Yamato to the rest of the world.

The medic sighed. "Dunno what he used, but it killed him, and not in a pleasant way."

"What happened to him?" Kakashi asked. Despite not being in the Corps anymore, they were still a big fraternity, with the elders and the juniors respecting each other and still going out to drink once in a while. The dove was hesitant and Hatake knew why. "Naruto's not a problem. Now, what happened?"

Still the medic hesitated until a commanding voice interrupted. "Tell us." It was the Godaime. She was walking towards them with Shizune and Sakura in tow.

"Eh, I don't know what he took, but from my scanning, all I can say is that COD was cardiovascular in nature."

Tsunade nodded then dropped and did her own scan. If anyone could say, it would be the Slug Princess. "Damn." That was all she said for a moment before she straightened up. "It's nasty."

"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked.

"His cardiovascular system is in shambles. No wonder you weren't able to get a solid prognosis."

Naruto broke in. "Cut the shit, Baa-chan. Just what the hell did that drug do?"

"Drug?" Sakura asked before her master cut her off.

"I assume it told you?" No one present needed clarification on what it was.

"Yeah."

"Alright, I'll tell you." She glared down at the corpse. "For this one, his withdrawal symptoms were an elevated heart rate and blood pressure."

Sakura paled. "Wait, you mean…?"

Tsunade nodded. "Yep. His heart beat so fast and so hard that it literally turned itself to mush."

"Is that possible?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah. It did it by contracting so fast and hard that it bruised the muscle tissue until it was ineffective, essentially just wet a paper towel. His heart beat itself to death."

"Must've been some BPM." Shizune remarked.

"You have no idea. Way too much for the human body to handle."

Tenzou spoke. "That doesn't explain the blood vessels all bulging like that."

"The blood pressure did it. When the heart picked up the pace, the pressure naturally increased, causing them to dilate and stand out, though that's only partially the problem. The additives in the power most certainly had something to do with it."

"All this for a chakra boost?" Sakura asked. "Why would he do something like that when he could train and get the same results?"

"It's easy," Kakashi said. "It's human nature to seek out the easiest way to get results. Achieving that amount of chakra would take decades of training, or a one-in-a-thousand shot from birth, like Naruto here."

While Sakura looked revolted, Tenzou and Tsunade shared whispered words that ended with the Hokage shaking her head no and Yamato moving off, his body language looking like he was mollified but not pleased. His wrist moved in a way that only Kakashi caught and understood.

It was ANBU hand language, a system of gestures and finger movements that allowed for totally silent communication. It was a system that had been used since the days of Tsunade's grandfather and it had yet to be decoded by enemies, since it was passed on, not from charts, but from word of mouth. Or would that word of hand? It was inevitable that meanings and connotations would change over the years, so it was always fluid, making it that much harder to decode.

A rookie ANBU's hand language would mean different things to Kakashi, who knew an older version. It led to some communication error here and there, but the Black Ops always managed to work around it.

The Copy-Nin translated Yamato's message in his head,

Tried for an investigation of potential drug ring inside Konoha. Request denied, reason unknown.

Kakashi's own hand moved. He understood Yamato's request. If it could happen there, it could be happening here. If it was, Konoha had to move fast to stop it.

Understood. Do nothing. Try for request on my end.

Yamato nodded slightly then made a motion to his team and the four masked shinobi left in a series of blurs, leaving Kanryu's body to float on the water. The Mizukage and his last remaining brother didn't come for the corpse, so eventually the medics removed it and set it on fire, though in actuality, the corpse was moved to a hidden morgue inside the hospital and instead what was burned was a Leaf shinobi who'd died on a mission, the body placed under genjutsu after genjutsu until it was impossible to unravel the layers of illusion.

Over the next few months, Takeda Kanryu's body would be examined and dissected to determine the exact composition of the drug, which was unique from maker to maker, then the results sent to Jiraiya, who would follow it back to the source, unless the source was Kanryu himself.

In the arena, the floor was drained of water, dried with fire jutsu until the muddied ground was cracked and bone dry, then Genma stepped up again.

"The next match! Kusajishi Sasame vs. Sarutobi Konohamaru!"

There you go. Next up is Konohamaru and Sasame, then Moegi vs. Ayame, then the two big matches, Sasame v Naruto and Ayame v Naruto. The little quirks about both girls I've mentioned here and there will be revealed in the coming chapters and then it'll be on to bigger and better things. Thanks for staying with the story so far and putting up with my attempts at a decent Chuunin Exam. I upped the rating just in case Kanryu's demise went over the limit T sets. It might go down, might stay the same. Depends on how gory I want to get with my battles from here on in.

Read and Review!

Glossary

Katon: Karyuu Endan no Jutsu (Fire Style: Fire Dragon Technique): Pretty much the fire version of Suiton Suiryuudan.

Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu (Water Style: Water Dragon Technique): It's not the literal translation, but since my computer keeps losing memory for reasons unknown, it's gonna have to do since I'm too damn lazy to wait the three minutes for the site to load. The jutsu involves using a nearby water source to make a dragon, or if your chakra is monstrous enough, make it from thin air, like the Nidaime and Kisame are known for.

BPM: Beats per minute, with respect to the heart and how many times it beats in one minute. (Obviously.)

COD: Not sure if it's an official abbreviation or not, but either way, Cause of Death. Self-Explanatory.