AN: To answer the question I got from last chapter about Temari's last name being shown as 'Ishida' that was because there was no clan name given for that family in the canon, so I grabbed part of the name from Gaara's Japanese voice actor.

AN2: Given I wanted a team from every 'faction' here I had to make some OC people and shuffle others around to fit. Case in point, Naruto's opponent and the non-Konoha person involved in the second fight for this chapter. That said, I think I did a good job and I'm trying to make them interesting/logical. Also, I have plans for Naruto's opponent going forward, so be ready.

AN3: Sorry about slow updates, as said before, working on move and things have been crazy. I haven't had much time to write.

Trickshot

Chapter 26

-Naruto-

Face stoic, Naruto stood across from his opponent. Oda Terumi, younger half brother of the leader of the Mist Rebellion, sneered at him, eyes alight with greed.

"Are the fighters prepared?" Hayate questioned, the Jonin able to note the clear tension brewing in the air. Given that Naruto's possession of Kubikirihocho wasn't a secret he doubted there was anyone in the room who was confused as to the reason why.

"I'm ready." Naruto nodded, unsealing the legendary sword as the greed in his opponents' eyes only grew.

"Ready." Oda was near salivating, a bit of steam escaping his mouth as the genin grew excited. Boil release, much like his sister Mei. Given they only shared a single parent it was unlikely he possessed lava release as well which was fortunate. Lava sounded like a pain to deal with.

"Then begin!" Hayate gave the signal as Naruto lashed out, using the Gale Force Palm to clear out the cloud of acidic steam before it could even come close to him. Up in the stands, he could hear the rage of the brash male member of the Sound team. Not giving his opponent a chance to try something else, Naruto surged forward.

"You know, your plan was pretty stupid." Naruto commented calmly as he threw out a kick, coating his foot in wind chakra which cut through a bit of Oda's shirt as the Mist genin leapt back.

"The hell are you talking about?" the Terumi snarled, more acidic steam leaking out. It would seem his opponent had a great ability to produce the mixed element but lacked the talent to properly control it.

"Assuming you somehow did win," Naruto made sure to remain calm, knowing it would piss off his opponent more "did you really think you'd be permitted to just leave with my sword?"

"That sword belongs to Mist!" Oda snarled, the topic easily getting under his skin as he started leaking out more and more acidic steam, "It belongs to me!"

"To you?" Naruto scoffed, tossing out a burst of wind to clear a path before surging forward and burying his fist in Oda's stomach, "Zabuza entrusted his sword, his legacy, his will to me. I won't dishonor Zabuza or Kubikirihocho by letting you taint this blade. Mist isn't worthy of this sword!"

"SHUT UP!" Oda's angry scream came with a burst of steam that burnt at Naruto's exposed skin as he leapt back, the skin quickly regenerating, "You stupid worthless fuck!" his opponent was lashing out now, seemingly not taking well to being beaten or denied. Given how Naruto had heard rumors of Oda's sister threatening her own people for even imagined slights he wasn't surprised that he was unstable "You should just roll over and die like the rest of your clan!"

Naruto gripped his sword tighter, working not to lose his composure even as he could feel Sasuke's desire to kill growing form the stands, that comment hitting close to home for his dark-haired friend.

"I'm going to melt your ass!" Oda was pouring out steam now as the Jonin seemed to be readying to intervene if it got too close to the spectators, "Then I'm going to fuck your bitch and take a piss on Zabuza's grave!"

He'd had enough.

Naruto didn't even say a word as he hurled the mighty cleaver, the blade whistling through the air, coated with wind chakra as it flew faster than his opponent could see. The blade cut through Oda Terumi's right arm before swinging back around as Naruto summoned Kubikirihocho back to him, taking Oda's left leg as well.

Before he could swing to take the bastard's head, Hayate's voice rang out "Oda Terumi is incapacitated." The Jonin had to speak lout to be heard over the screams, the pain finally hitting the bastard "Naruto Uzumaki will move forward." Flicking the blood from his blade, Naruto resealed it before using the body flicker to get back to his friends, and to Tenten. He needed her by his side to calm himself down right now.

-Anko-

"Damn, I can see why they call him the Butcher." Anko grimaced as she sat with her genin in the scrying room with the other Jonin whose teams weren't in the prelims.

"H-how the hell is that Naruto." Sakura was pale. Thanks to the kid's warning back in the Forest of Death, none of those observing had seen Orochimaru's attack on Sasuke or what Naruto had done to fend against it thankfully, so this was Sakura's first real taste of what the blond brat could do when serious.

"Because he trained his ass off." Anko gave her lazy students a hard look, "He was weak and decided he didn't want to stay that way. He took training seriously and threw himself into improving every damn day. If you put in the same kind of effort, you three might have be down there fighting."

"The next match is being declared." Choji's voice was soft and thoughtful, the kid even putting away his chips as he stared at the image. Suigetsu Hozuki, of the bloody Mist against Neji Hyuuga from Konoha. Oh, this would be something.

-Tenten-

Leaning on the railing, one hand holding her boyfriend's, Tenten observed the two genin squaring off in the ring below. Both of them were extremely cocky, clearly thinking they had this fight handled without a chance of losing. Given the reputation for those coming from 'The Bloody Mist' she hoped for Neji's sake that his was the bravado with a strong backing.

The moment the signal to fight was given, Neji began monologuing "You should just surrender now." Neji sneered at the Bloody Mist Genin "Fate has already declared me the victor."

"Fate can suck my nuts." Suigetsu snorted in derision, "And hope you're not too attached cause I'm gonna cut off yours." Tenten grimaced at the 'charming banter' the two were having.

"Then your loss is already sealed." Neji took his Gentle Fist stance and surged forward, fingers lashing out to close a Tenketsu…only for his fingers to go into Suigetsu.

"Hey, that tickles!" the albino genin grinned before rearing back and headbutting a stunned Neji, the Hyuga's nose breaking with a sickening crack.

"I-impossible." Neji was wide eyed even as he put a finger to his own nose, feeling the blood "The Gentle Fist is the greatest Taijutsu style in the world, it is unbeatable!"

"Maybe you're just that weak?" Suigetsu offered with a grin as he stood there lazily, "Honestly, I wanted to fight blondie up there." The albino gave Naruto a look that was both filled with bloodlust and with glee in equal parts, "Hear me goldy locks?! I'm commin' for you later! I am Suigetsu Hozuki, brother of Mangetsu Hozuki, and like my brother before me I will master all seven swords!"

"Come and try it." Naruto met the gaze of the fighter who was now ignoring Neji even as her teammate kept trying to close Suigetsu's Tenketsu, his hands just going into the body without doing any damage.

"Hah! At least you have spine." Suigetsu nodded with glee.

"STOP IGNORING ME!" Neji snarled, "ROTATION!" Tenten felt sick to her stomach as she saw the albino get liquified, splattering all over the arena by the Jutsu, even Neji was shocked. But then Tenten noticed that those from Mist didn't look concerned and the Jonin clearly didn't think this was over.

"That it?" the voice of Suigetsu laughed out from the various body parts as she saw them seemingly melt, racing and pooling back together as he rose up, not a scratch on him.

"No…no what are you?!" Neji was panicking, Tenten fully aware that her teammate had never been outclassed like this or struggled except when fighting a Jonin like Gai.

"I'm the last of the Hozuki." Suigetsu grinned widely, "And thanks to my family's technique, my body is made entirely of water. Your little pokes ain't gonna do jack shit." As he spoke, Suigetsu surged forward, his arm losing color as it became water completely, grabbing around Neji's head and enveloping it, her teammate thrashing and unable to get out.

Hayate moved to declare the fight in Suigetsu's favor before Neji could die. Tenten could see him moving to do so, the Jonin could see him moving to do so, and so did Suigetsu.

Hozuki though, apparently wasn't happy with ending the fight that way as his arm started surging, trying to drown Neji before the fight could be declared.

Tenten reached for her Kunai to throw, she could feel Naruto moving to grab his sword and try and intervene. But Gai was already in the arena, one hand grabbing Suigetsu without sinking in as he hurled the albino hard into a wall.

The raw power rolling off her Sensei was staggering as was his cold furious expression, Neji hacking and gasping for air on the ground.

"Hozuki, you saw me readying to end that fight." Hayate glared at the uncaring albino.

"But you hadn't yet, so I didn't break your precious 'rules'." Suigetsu grinned unrepentantly, the Mist Genin's sensei nodding in agreement as Tenten wanted to snarl. While he was a bastard, he technically wasn't wrong.

"You're moving to the final round." Hayate looked like he'd been force fed a lemon as he stated that, Gai taking a shaken Neji back up to the rafters.

"How…how did he touch that Suigetsu guy?" Hinata asked with a frown as they waited for the next fight to be called.

"That…that's something personal that you'd have to ask Gai about yourself." Asuma Sarutobi sighed, "Just don't be surprised if he doesn't answer." Tenten wasn't sure why she felt a chill down her spine at that before the screen lit up.

Rock Lee against Dosu Kinuta.