I got a question about whether or not there will a be pairing. I hadn't really thought about it much, but I'm open for suggestions. Leave a review if think there should be a pairing or if you think there shouldn't be one. If you think there should be a pairing, then put what pairing you think should happen in your review. If I'm going to do a pairing, I'd probably want to do a unique one. Ultimately, it is my decision, but I'll definitely consider it if I get enough requests.
"The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win." - Roger Bannister
Chapter 12: Chunin Exam: Just the Beginning
"Don't die out there, Sakura." Naruto said casually. He turned to face Kankuro, whom was on the opposite side of the viewing stands smiling about his "good fortune." Naruto shook his head in amusement. 'Face-paint's in for a surprise when he starts fighting Sakura.' Naruto thought. Naruto believed that unless Kankuro was a secret genjutsu expert on top of being a puppet master, he'd have a hell of a bad time fighting against Sakura.
"Thanks, Naruto. I'll also be sure to breathe in and out, too." Sakura said sarcastically. She glanced over to Sasuke, and patiently waited for him to wish her luck as well. Seconds later, Sasuke finally noticed Sakura staring at him intently, so he muttered off some form of a good luck. Sakura, seemingly satisfied with the response, walked down to the center of the arena to face her opponent.
Kankuro's confidence was nearly palpable. Going from the smirk that graced his features, he believed the fight would be over before he could even unveil his puppet.
Sakura rolled her eyes at his cockiness.
"If you are ready, you may begin." Hayate announced.
Kankuro, taking a step out of his comfort zone, ran toward Sakura with the intent to end the match as quickly as possible. Sakura took a calming breath, and decided to start with the most interesting genjutsu in her arsenal. Performing the necessary hand signs, Sakura whispered, "Demonic Illusion: Death Mirage Jutsu."
Kankuro suddenly stopped running, and froze in place. Everyone in the stands witnessed as Kankuro began shaking and screaming. Naruto heard what Sakura had said and he could probably guess what Kankuro was seeing in the illusion.
Gaara.
Kankuro fell to his knees as the illusions overrode his mind. To him, it appeared that Gaara had gone on a rampage, killing everyone in the stands and gazing at him as a predator would his prey. That's when the screams came.
Sakura briefly wondered just what he was seeing, but she shook it off quickly. She ran towards Kankuro with chakra charged to her feet to increase her speed and kicking power, and slammed her foot into the kneeling Kankuro. Kankuro's body skid across the floor. The power of the kick awoke Kankuro from his illusory hell. Aside from the surprisingly strong kick, Kankuro was still disoriented from suddenly awaking from the genjutsu. Regaining his bearings, Kankuro's expression grew into one of unbridled anger.
"I think she almost the face paint off him with that one." Choji whispered to his best friend and teammate, Shikamaru, whom muttered in agreement. Ino glanced at her portly teammate before turning back to Sakura.
Kurenai, if anyone, could appreciate the delicacy of implementing powerful genjutsu in one's arsenal.
'How did Forehead improve this much?' Truthfully, Ino used to believe Sasuke put Team Seven on his back. Then word got around that Naruto had defeated a jonin level missing ninja by himself, and Ino didn't know what to think. Now, having witnessed Sakura's growth firsthand, Ino couldn't help but feel a bit inadequate in comparision. Looking around the stands, it seemed a few other teams had similar grim thoughts.
Kankuro quickly unwrapped his puppet and pulled it from his back. The puppet twitched in accordance with Kankuro's fingers. Sakura made that observation, though it was obvious.
"This match ends now, little girl." Kankuro scoffed, "Now, I'm going to have to fight seriously." Kankuro moved his fingers, and the chakra strings connecting him to his puppet shifted as well. In response, the puppet flew at Sakura at a moderately quick speed.
Sakura sidestepped the puppet and went straight for Kankuro. Kankuro made his puppet fire hidden projectiles at Sakura's blindspot. Sakura, sensing the incoming projectiles, jumped to the side to avoid them. She reached into her weapon pouch and threw some kunai at Kankuro, whom used his puppet to block the attack.
Sakura quickly decided that genjutsu was her best option. As Sakura performed her hand signs, Kankuro sent his puppet after her in an attempt to stop another illusion. A smirk spread across his face as Sakura became ensnared by the puppet. Kankuro had his puppet squeeze Sakura hard enough to elicit a shout of agony.
Unfortunately for Kankuro, Sakura had already completed her hand signs.
"Flower Petal Escape." Sakura whispered as her whole body dissolved into many flower petals. Kankuro's face accurately portrayed his confusion and anxiety from not knowing Sakura's next move.
"Damn it! She still got her genjutsu off." Kankuro cursed to himself. Kankuro kept his guard up, scanning every inch of the arena. His search was fruitless as it seemed Sakura was no where in sight.
"Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!" A feminine voice coming from below Kankuro shouted. Before Kankuro could react, he was pulled underground with only his head left exposed and Sakura jumped from the ground.
"Gotcha you." Sakura taunted as she pointed a kunai at his exposed head, "Oh yeah, don't even think about trying to move that puppet of yours."
Kankuro's eyes widened as his predicament set in. 'I lost to her? How can Team Seven be that strong?' Kankuro thought. He glanced up to look at Naruto and Sasuke. Undoubtedly, they possessed more power than their pink-haired teammate, but her power was no joke.
Hayate was caught between coughing and laughing as he remembered the puppet master's cockiness before the match, "I declare this match over. Sakura Haruno is the winner."
Sakura smiled softly and walked calmly to the stands to rejoin her team. On the inside, Sakura was jumping up and down, laughing maniacally, and screaming several taunting phrases to Ino.
The audience in the stands were busy watching in amusement as Kankuro attempted, unsuccessfully, to wiggle his way out.
"So how did I do guys?" Sakura asked excitedly, barely managing to keep from bouncing around.
Kakashi smiled at her, "Very smooth, Sakura. Great use of your genjutsu to throw off your opponent." Kakashi praised. Sakura beamed at her sensei and ran over to Ino, undoubtedly to brag.
Back on the monitor that decided the fighters for the match, the names cycled until it landed on Sasuke Uchiha and Kiba Inuzuka.
Sasuke spoke no words to his teammates. He simply walked down to the arena casually. Anyone witnessing Sasuke's attitude could plainly see his disinterest.
Kiba was the complete opposite.
Kiba ran down the stairs with Akamaru following, barking excitedly. The smirk on his face displayed his anticipation.
"Let's show'em, Akamaru!" Kiba encouraged his canine companion. Akamaru barked in response and seemed to crouch slightly in preparation.
Sasuke kept his hands in his pockets and regarded Kiba with a piercing onyx gaze. Unrelenting, Sasuke maintained intense eye contact with his opponent, nearly reducing Kiba to an anxious child. Sasuke allowed himself a slight smirk. Half the battle relied on the happenings of the pre-match.
"Now, begin!" Hayate declared.
Kiba wasted no time in readying himself. Crouching down and allowing Akamaru to mount his back, Kiba made a single hand sign and focused his chakra. "Beast Mimicry: All Fours Jutsu." Kiba uttered with a slight growl.
'Seems like he won't be pulling any punches from the start.' Sasuke thought briefly as he activated his Sharingan and witnessed Kiba's chakra flow firsthand.
"Man Beast Clone." Kiba spoke. As soon as the phrase was articulated, Akamaru transformed into a beast-like clone of Kiba. Given that Kiba's appearance was altered by the All Fours technique, Kiba and Akamaru were identical. "Let's go, Akamaru! Fang over Fang!" Kiba bellowed. He and Akamaru spun around rapidly, rushing toward Sasuke like a homing missile.
Sasuke easily followed the movements of Kiba and Akamaru and acted accordingly. To his surprise, Kiba reached into his pouch and threw a few smoke bombs in his direction. The smoke immediately took effect, and Sasuke almost laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. While Kiba and Akamaru would be blindly attacking, Sasuke could clearly see his opponents.
'This will be almost too easy.' Sasuke thought humorously. With his developed Sharingan, Sasuke followed Kiba and his trusted companion's eccentric movements.
"This match is over." Naruto stated with finality. Sakura and Kakashi nodded their heads. Truthfully, they, like Sasuke, had to suppress a laugh when they saw Kiba retrieve smoke bombs from his pouch.
As the smoke cleared, Kiba and Akamaru were seen on the ground, unable to stand, and Sasuke looked to be unharmed.
Hayate checked on the Inuzuka and his partner, finding them to be unable to continue. "I declare this match over. Sasuke Uchiha is the winner."
Kiba's team was visibly concerned and upset with his crushing defeat. As it seemed, less people were ecstatic about fighting a member of Team Seven. Some of the genin were relieved that there was only one more member of Team Seven that they could fight in these preliminaries, but it happened to be Naruto, the one who was considered to be the strongest genin on Team Seven. The rest of the candidates started to, comically, sweat bullets at the thought of fighting the fox-eared genin in a one-on-one match.
Next up to fight was Temari and Tenten. Rock Lee, who was, at first, crestfallen because it wasn't his turn, immediately cheered up and wished Tenten the best of luck in her match. Gai joined in on the cheering, and Tenten sighed, mentally laughing, at the behavior of her teammate and sensei.
Temari spared no words to anyone and hopped down to the arena. Tenten instantly became serious as she joined Temari in the arena.
"Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate? That's right, Tenten!" Rock Lee and Gai chanted simultaneously. Even across the arena, Naruto had to pin his ears to his scalp in a feeble attempt to block out the offending noise. Kakashi's eyebrows kept twitching as he took in the sight of what seemed to be two Gais.
"If you are ready, you may begin." Hayate announced.
Tenten took the initiative and hopped into the air to throw kunai at her opponent. With Tenten's deadly accuracy, the kunai should have, by all means, hit the mark, but for some reason every kunai missed the smirking Temari.
Tenten's eyes widened in complete shock. In the last six months, she could count on one hand the number of times she missed a moving target, let alone a stationary one. Her teammates had similar expressions on their face, because Tenten never missed.
In actuality, Temari, being a wind style user, had simply used the fan on her back to shift the projectiles' trajectory slightly so they would miss. She managed to do this quickly enough and Tenten was never the wiser. As soon as the fight began, Temari knew this fight wasn't one she could lose. Tenten just happened to get the worst possible matchup
Keeping her eyes on Temari, Tenten waited for the slightest movement, the most minute hint of trickery. When she saw Temari place her hand on the fan strapped to her back, Tenten received her answer as to why her projectiles missed. Deciding on a larger scale attack, Tenten jumped into the air and retrieved a scroll that was inside her pouch. She maneuvered herself well enough and unrolled the scroll so the scroll would rotate around her body while she spun in midair. Tenten increased the speed of her spinning, and unsealed the many weapons hidden in her scroll. The weapons flew toward Temari, whom, once again, used her fan in a very subtle motion to throw every projectile off course.
Tenten surprise gave way to frustration as she took in the confident look of Temari, whom seemed to not have moved since the beginning of the match. Temari now held her fan out to her side. It was slightly opened to reveal one purple circle. Tenten's frustration faded and she regained her confidence.
"I really didn't plan on using my trump card in the preliminaries, but it looks like I'm running out of options." Tenten whispered to herself as she pulled two different scrolls from her pouch.
Temari remained confident and she shook her head, "No matter what you try, it's useless."
"We'll see." Tenten responded simply as she balanced the scrolls upright on the ground and crouched while performing some hand signs. She finished by crossing her arms over her chest and uttering, "Rising Twin Dragons."
A massive smoke cloud appeared, and through the smoke, rose two dragons. In actuality, the dragons were merely the two scrolls. Tenten jumped up through the middle of the two scrolls and repeated the process of unsealing and throwing, doubling her weapon output from before.
Temari chuckled, "I told you before, it doesn't matter what you do, it's still useless." Temari opened her fan a little more to reveal the second purple circle. She swund the fan inward, and every weapon was deflected once more.
Tenten landed on the ground with her confident, determined look still present and she jumped back in the air. She held out her hands and the fallen weapons began rising again. Tenten was manipulating them with wire.
Temari opened her fan even wider and revealed the third purple circle. She swung her fan outward, and this time, razor sharp wind accompanied the powerful gust and deflected the weapons as well as injuring Tenten.
Tenten couldn't handle the onslaught and passed out. Before Tenten could hit the ground, Temari caught her, in a rather gruesome manner. Temari threw her to the ground. Rock Lee gasped and jumped down to catch his teammate.
"Why would you do that to someone who has fought their hardest?" Lee inquired, literally shaking in anger.
"That was her hardest? You could have fooled me." Temari mocked with a taunting smirk.
Lee was about to charge Temari, but Gai stopped him. He allowed himself one more glare in Temari's direction before letting the medics take a look at Tenten and returning to his place in the stands.
The next match was Shino Aburame vs. Choji Akimichi.
The two competitors arrived in the center of the arena. Shino kept his serious, casual expression as usual and Choji was all fired up with promises of barbeque pork if he squeezed out a victory.
"You may begin." Hayate declared.
Shino made a single subtle movement before relaxing his stance and watching Choji. Choji prepared his signature technique by expanding his body and tucking his head and limbs into his shirt. When he finished, he shouted, "Human Boulder!" Choji rolled across the arena heading toward Shino, whom seemed to have no intention of moving. Suddenly, Choji's rolling abruptly stopped and his teammates gasped in shock as an unconscious Choji laid on the ground in front of Shino. Even more appalling was the horde of insects crawling out of Choji's shirt.
"You made yourself into a massive food source when you expanded and tucked your head in without taking note of your surroundings." Shino stated, readjusting his sunglasses.
"The winner is Shino Aburame." Hayate declared.
"Oh Choji, you're a mess." Asuma shook his head and sighed.
The next match was definitely one that would be more exciting than the previous. The randomizer landed on Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga.
The arena got a bit silent when the two names appeared, because this was a fight that they all wanted to see.
Naruto smirked and chuckled, "I was hoping I would get a decent opponent. Let's see what Hyuga's got in store." Naruto walked down to the arena to meet his opponent.
"You may begin." Hayate announced.
Neji immediately activated his Byakugan and looked at the now visible chakra points of Naruto. Even when he was merely standing, his chakra seemed to be flaring. 'How much chakra can one genin have?!' Neji thought before composing himself and getting into his usual stance.
'With those eyes of his, he should be able to see my burst step, but let's see if he can actually react to it.' Naruto thought to himself. The rapid burst step would most likely throw Neji off whether or not he had to physical capability to counter it.
Naruto created Shadow Clones and decided to throw some of his special explosive fire clones into the mix. He and his clones pulled Kubikiribōchō from their backs and he sent his fire clones in first.
Neji observed the clones that were currently charging after him, burst stepping all the way. Neji couldn't quite tell, but he knew there was a difference between the clones that were on the offensive and ones standing by what he presumed to be the real Naruto. To test his theory, he pulled out a kunai and threw it at one of the charging clones. The targeted clone deflected the kunai with ease.
'I should have known that it would not be so easy.' Neji thought. The clones closed in on Neji, whom reacted quickly by dodging several sword slashes, kicks, and clawed strikes.
Naruto, along with his clones, used the distraction his fire clones created and made a circle around Neji and his attacking fire clones. Neji's hands were tied, dealing with the attacking fire clones.
Naruto and his regular Shadow Clones swung Kubikiribōchō in a wide arc and bellowed, "Wind Style: Wind Cutter Jutsu." The slicing wind came from all directions, making it virtually unavoidable.
Neji's eyes widened at the oncoming attack. The clones were a decoy, and he realized it too late. 'The Wind Cutter Jutsu will not be enough to finish me, and I will not fall prey to the same trick.' Neji thought to himself. The wind blades cut into the fire clones as well, exploding with Neji in the center.
As the clones exploded, realization struck Neji with almost the same ferocity as the explosion. 'I see. It was a three-fold strategy, and I fell right into it. What a fool, I am.' As the smoke from the explosion cleared, a badly wounded Neji laid in the center. Naruto dispelled his remaining clones.
The remaining candidates in the stand took a breath of relief as the final member of Team Seven completed his match. Rock Lee seemed to be disappointed on top of being frustrated that he hasn't had his match yet.
"Naruto Uzumaki is the winner." Hayate announced.
"You really overdid it, Naruto. That could have killed him." Sakura said to her fox-eared teammate once he returned to the stands. Naruto shrugged.
"I have no reason to hold back." Naruto said simply.
The next match was between Hinata Hyuga and Ino Yamanaka.
Hinata nervously walked down to the arena, but when she reached her destination, she seemed to gain some courage. Ino walked down with some confidence and her resolve steeled. Damned if she let Sakura show her up.
"If you are ready, you may begin." Hayate stated.
Hinata had the same stance as Neji as she activated her Byakugan and readied herself. Ino seemed to hesitate about charging into hand-to-hand combat with a Hyuga, and ultimately, decided on a different approach.
Ino subtlely attached wire to a kunai and threw it at Hinata. Hinata simply side stepped the attack before running toward Ino preparing to strike. Ino used the wire to pull the kunai back, and watched confidently as the kunai headed toward Hinata's back.
Ino wasn't very shocked that Hinata managed to dodge the kunai again. Ino quickly tied more wire to some shuriken this time and threw them one at a time at Hinata, trying her best to ensnare the young Hyuga. Ino then took the kunai from before and threw it at Hinata's feet.
Hinata was doing her best to dodge each projectile, and was, for the most part, successful. She jumped up to avoid the kunai thrown at her feet. By doing that, she entangled herself in the other wires.
Ino allowed herself a small smirk after she saw Hinata was ensnared. She channeled chakra into the wires to immobilize Hinata. Ino silently cheered as she was successful in stopping Hinata's movements.
"Now that I've gotten you where I want you. It's time to make you surrender to Ino Yamanaka." Ino declared confidently. As she prepared herself for a Yamanaka clan jutsu.
'No! I must not lose here! I still have so much to prove to myself.' Hinata thought with determination. She was familiar with Yamanaka techniques, so she was aware that if she could free herself from her bindings, then she could easily dodge Ino's jutsu.
"Okay! Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Ino exclaimed. Both she and Hinata slumped to the floor. The audience waited anxiously for the results.
After a moment, Hinata stood up. The wires that immobilized her were severed. At the final moments before Ino activated her jutsu, Hinata severed the wires and ducked. Ino's jutsu missed and her body was now vulnerable.
"I am sorry, Ino, but I cannot allow myself to falter." Hinata said softly, confirming that she was in fact Hinata instead of an Ino-possessed Hyuga.
"Ino Yamanaka is unable to continue. Hinata Hyuga is the winner." Hayate stated.
"Can the final two candidates please come down to the arena for the final match?" Hayate asked.
Shikamaru and the ecstatic Rock Lee made their way to the arena. Lee looked up to the stands toward his sensei, "Gai-sensei! Please allow me to remove the weights for this special occasion." Lee pleaded.
Gai looked to be in thought before smiling with a sparkle on his teeth, giving his student a thumbs up, and saying, "Yes, my youthful pupil. You have endured the wait patiently, so you have earned the right. Let the power of youth explode!" Gai finished with a fire in his eyes.
"Right!" Lee responded with a similar fire. He jumped up to highest point of the arena and untied the weights from his legs. He let them fall, and the impact caused what seemed to be an explosion, one of youth, Lee would claim.
"O-okay. If you are ready, you may begi-"
"To hell with this. I give up." Shikamaru muttered before walking back to the stands, leaving a crying Rock Lee, and causing the entire audience to gape in unabided shock.
"Well that just happened." Hayate said before coughing lightly into his fist.
Damn near a month's wait for this chapter after posting eleven chapters in first month of this story's release. I'm slacking, aren't I? Screw making up excuses, I was lazy, alright?
Review if you wanna be a cool mofo! (And remember to comment about the pairing thing.)