Tenten's match didn't last long. She was quickly out on the defensive, dodging Toru's hammer and was quickly over powered. "Sorry Ten-chan." Maiku gave her a kiss and hugged her.

"You did good though Tenten." Naruto said, trying to cheer up his friend. She just walked over to Gai, know that he wanted to talk to her.

"Man, of all people for her to have to go up against, she gets Toru; the Hammer of Kiri." Maiku sighed.

"He's already making a name for himself." Naruto said. "Hey where's Ino-chan?" Naruto looked around.

"She said something about the bathroom, I wasn't really paying attention." Maiku said as he watched Shino fight some Oto-nin.

"Hey pig, hiding in here or something?" Asked and annoying pink haired girl.

"Shut up forehead!" Ino yelled. "I'd rather fight in the arena."

"Hey that pink bitch isn't here thank god." Naruto said.

"She followed Ino, they're probably fighting by now." Maiku said.

"A shame Sasuke is in the infirmary. I want him to see me win." Sakura said.

"Still can't see why you are still hung up on him. There are better people to chase around, though I am done chasing." Ino smiled, remembering her date with Naruto.

Flashback.

"Oh man aniki what am I going to do?" Maiku had been watching Naruto pace around the living room for the last five minutes.

"Ok first, calm the hell down." Naruto stopped moving. "Sit." Naruto fell to the ground rather than sat. "Now think, where are you going to take her?"

"There is this awesome restaurant on the west side. But its expensive." Naruto sounded nervous.

"Say no more." Maiku tossed Naruto his wallet.

Naruto looked inside the wallet. "Where'd you get this kind of money?" Maiku had on a creepy smile. "Never mind, though I'm sure Anko-nee-chan helped."

"Hey I asked if you wanted to go on the mission but you decided to stay home and sleep." Maiku walked over and picked his friend off the ground and tossed him up the stairs. "Now get ready!"

"Ino! There's someone here for you!" Her mother shouted from the bottom of the stairs. Ino came down the stairs a minute later, wearing a purple long sleeve shirt, blue pants and black shoes.

"No rush Ino-chan." Naruto said noticing that she almost fell down. Naruto had on a black long sleeve t shirt with an orange swirl symbol on the back, blue jeans and black shoes. He didn't have on his head band.

"Lets go. Bye mom!" Ino took Naruto's arm and left.

"Ino's mother wiped away a fake tear. "My little girl is growing up."

"Naruto are you sure about this place?" Ino looked around, the place wasn't formal yet it had that feeling.

"Its not that bad. Come on." Naruto led her inside and they were immediately seated. Apparently they had a reservation. 'Damn aniki works fast.' was Naruto's only thought. "I found this place by accident one time when I was with aniki. Actually I was in a fight outside the place."

"What happened?" Ino asked, angry that someone tried to hurt her date.

"Just some villagers getting a little over confident and a had a few to many drinks." Naruto placed his order of food before telling the rest of his story. "So anyway me and aniki are walking down the street one night. We were coming back from the hospital because we went overboard during training one time, the training with Ibiki-sensei."

"Yeah I remember the bruises." Ino shook her head trying to remove the image.

"Anyway some drunk ninjas come up to us and start calling me a demon, so Maikeru punched him in the face and it all went down from there." Naruto took a sip of water. "It was nothing short of normal really. Me and aniki are used to fights, keeps the hospital workers late every time though."

"So this has happened before?" Ino asked. "Why doesn't the Hokage do something?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know but I'd rather it be like this. They'll learn the hard way not to mess with me."

"And its all because of Kyuubi. You got him under control now, so does it still happen." Naruto lifted his left sleeve showing a scar running up his forearm.

"Got this yesterday. And aniki has one on his back from five hours ago." Ino almost broke her glass at hearing this.

"Those idiots. Just because of something thats not your fault." Ino was silenced by Naruto's hand taking her's.

"Let it go Ino-chan, I have. Though you're one of the few people I trust talking about this seriously." Ino blushed, not realizing how much she meant to him.

"Its no problem. Hey foods here." Ino said, not wanting to stay on the depressing and enraging topic, less she goes on a rampage and kills the 'idiot villagers'. They continued to talk about random things, most of which were stories about their team mates. "Shika is just lazy and Chouji does nothing but eat."

"Glad I'm with aniki, much more interesting." Naruto chuckled. "Oh well, nothing you could do about it." Naruto paid for the food. "Lets go." Naruto took her hand and went outside where a horse size Kyuubi stood.

"You're lucky Kit, no villagers around to see me." Kyuubi said, lowering himself so the two could climb on.

"Whatever fox." Kyuubi stood and ran towards the Hokage monument. "Hang on Ino." Ino wrapped her arms around Naruto's waist as Kyuubi jumped. He vanished in mid air and naruto landed on the fourth's head, Ino in his arms bridal style. "Not a bad landing, if I do say so myself."

"Yeah." Naruto set Ino down but kept his arms around her. "Wow, look at that."

"Its always nice to look at the stars up here." Naruto turned her head to face his. "But I can think of one thing prettier." Saying that, he kissed her. Her eyes widened in surprised, but closed as she relaxed. After a minute they broke apart. "Thanks for giving me a chance, Ino-chan."

"No problem."

Flashback End

"Guess you enjoy being with a loser." Sakura laughed. "That blonde idiot was just lucky in his match.

"How can you call that luck?" Ino's anger was almost at her boiling point.

"Doesn't matter. Sasuke would win against any of them." Sakura left. Ino couldn't take the bitch anymore, so she did the only thing she could do with her target not around, she punched out the mirror.

"Ino-chan what happened to your hand?!" Naruto asked.

"Nothing, just a pain in the ass got to me is all." Ino finished bandaging her hand.

"Perfect timing to." Maiku nodded towards the screen.

Sakura Haruno vs Ino Yamanaka

"Perfect indeed." Ino smiled. 'Guess I get to pond out my anger.'

"Have fun Ino-chan." Naruto kissed her cheek before she jumped from the stands for her fight. It was a quick one, but brutal. Ino just charged toward Sakura and just repeatedly punched her in the head until she went unconscious.

"Damn." Maiku winced.

"Note to self, don't piss off Ino-chan." Naruto said.

"I'd make sure you'd get a lovely funeral." Maiku laughed and hit Naruto in the head. "Told you I'd hit you later." The rest of the fights were uneventful. Though the most unnerving one was the fight between Gaara and Lee. "Damn, he went all out on that."

"His defense is incredible. We're going to have a tough time." Maiku nodded as the two walked down to join the other finalists for a quick meeting.

"Well I think the first thing to say would be congratulations on your hard fought victories." The Hokage began.

"They weren't that hard." Naruto said.

"Maybe not Naruto, but I assure you that a month from now things will get a lot more challenging." Ibiki brought out a box. "Now then before we proceed, we need you to draw lots. Once that was done and had the names and numbers recorded Ibiki held up the board showing a tournament ladder.

1. Naruto

2. Neji

3. Sasuke

4. Sabaku

5 Shikamaru

6. Temari

7. Maikeru

8. Toru

9. Shino

10. Kankuro

11. Ino

12. Dregan

13. Dosu

"A tournament eh? This will be fun." naruto grinned.

"Its to allow you to display your abilities so you can be judged if you're worthy of the rank of chunin. Obviously the more you win the more you have to show off your potential. But, even in the first round you can become chunin. So all of you could become chunin and maybe none of you." The Hokage finished.

"Maikeru." Someone said.

"Hello Hayate-sensei, what up?" Maiku smiled, seeing his old sword instructor.

Hayate just held out a large scroll in front of him. "Your father gave me this a few years ago. He told me to give it to you, just for this purpose. Its your clans secret sword techniques." Maiku carried the scroll on his back.

"Thank you Hayate-sensei." Maiku bowed. "I'll use them well."

"What was that about aniki?" Naruto asked as he finally caught up with Maiku.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." Maiku was glad that Hayate had given him the scroll. "We got training to do."

"Aw man Maiku, I have to fight your cousin's sadistic team mate." Ino said.

"She is a little crazy." Toru came up to them. "See you in a month, Maikeru-sama."

"Yeah, it'll be fun." Maiku smiled and left.

Maiku sat at his desk in the compound. He turned his chair around. On the wall hung two scrolls, one his sword techniques and another that was all he could think about it. He cleared off his desk and removed it from the wall and unrolled in on said cleared desk. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Do it." Bogu sounded in his head.

Maiku slit his right palm and signed his name with his blood. "Might as well get it over with." Maiku went out to the backyard, made the necessary hand signs and slammed his palm into the ground. 'Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into.'

ok 18 is done

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