Disclaimer: You know the drill, I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in the series.
Enjoy the chapter…
Chapter 14 – The chuunin finals…
The Hokage was in his office meeting with a rather large, dark skinned man. "So let me get this straight. You, want to be in the audience instead of the Kage box?" Sarutobi asked in a surprised tone.
The man nodded. "I want to keep an eye on my genin in this event. Raijin is important to us. We also want to make sure that our jounin makes it back safely. I'm sure you can understand Hokage-dono," he explained.
Sarutobi sighed and replied, "Very well Raikage-dono. Please be careful. We expect a possible attack from the Sound and Sand villages today and would not want to have your people caught in the crossfire. I will assign an ANBU to your contingent and he will keep himself hidden at all times. Is that acceptable?"
The Raikage nodded and left the room.
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Naruto woke up in a mildly bad mood. Hinata and Haku hadn't settled their differences the day before and had gone to bed angry. While he didn't understand why they were fighting, he was sure that it had something to do with him.
(Flashback)….
Naruto entered the apartment to find the table overturned and the chairs scattered about the kitchen. Hinata and Haku were glaring at each other. Neither appeared to be hurt, but both wore angry looks. Naruto felt a chill run up his spine when both the girls looked at him like a piece of freshly killed meat. Not sure how to handle this he did the only thing he could, he said, "Hi girls…"
Hinata and Haku both broke down and began to cry. He immediately created a shadow clone and the both of them began to try to comfort the girls. Dinner was a quiet affair. Naruto had the clone to fix and serve dinner. Neither Hinata nor Haku seemed willing to release him after dinner. Eventually he was able to extract himself and went into the bedroom. He opened the door to find both girls again glaring at each other. Naruto got ready for bed, but noticed that Hinata and Haku both stripped naked and then jumped into bed with him. Rolling his eyes, he hoped it would be a short night.
(End flashback)….
Both of Naruto's hands were asleep and each was grasping a breast of the girl on said side. Well… sort of. It appears that the girls had positioned his hands on one of their breasts while he slept and now they were positions in such a way as to be able to grope them easily. He shifted a little and at that point was able to get some feeling back into his hands. If the girls hadn't been fighting over whatever reason he would have enjoyed the position a little more. Flexing his hands elicited a moan from each girl.
He enjoyed the feeling of the unintentional grope. They also moaned when he extracted his hands, since he dragged his hand across said girl's nipple. He finally sat up and both of the girls moaned his name. Naruto jumped out of bed and went into the bathroom and started the shower. Naruto returned to find both girls groggily waking up. Both noticed their state of undress and checked under the covers. Both sighed relief for something that Naruto had no idea why they did that.
Both of the girls entered the shower and the three cleaned each other, as per their normal ritual.
After drying off Naruto glared at the girls, who had the decency to blush under his glare. "Now I don't know or understand why you're fighting, but it has to stop. If you have a beef with each other take care of it in the tournament, but don't let it cloud your judgment," he said angrily. He features then turned softer and he continued, "I love you both and can't stand to see you two fighting. It's tearing me apart. Mainly because I don't know why you're fighting."
Both girls looked down at their feet and said in unison, "We're sorry Naruto-kun."
Naruto dropped his towel and embraced both of the girls. Both stiffened for a second and then returned the embrace. All three noticed the towels for the girls fall and the bare skin touching. All three blushed, but didn't break the embrace. Naruto felt tears hit his shoulder and he began to rub the backs of both of the girls and thus Zabuza found the three of them.
"So you couldn't wait until you at least made chuunin could you?" he asked in a teasing tone.
Haku glared at the man with teary eyes. While Hinata pushed her face further into Naruto's should only to elicit an 'Eep!', as her only reply to the accusation.
Naruto slowly released the girls and turned to Zabuza. "Shut up! We're having a bonding moment!" he yelled back at the jounin.
Zabuza chuckled inwardly and replied, "Yeah, I could tell. So which was your first?"
Hinata now glared at her sensei, but was really disturbed Zabuza was that the temperature of the room actually fell dramatically. He could tell, since his breath had become evident. Zabuza glared at Haku and said, "Save it for that Nara boy. Save your strength for the exams." He then turned and left the room.
All three quickly got dressed quickly mostly because the room was nearly at freezing temperature. They entered the kitchen and ate the breakfast that Zabuza had prepared.
The four met up with Kurenai, Anko and the Konohamaru corps on the way to the stadium. Konohamaru said he knew a shortcut, but Anko grabbed him while the other jounin grabbed his friends and the group took to the roofs and headed straight for the stadium.
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The trio entered the stadium's arena floor and looked around. They found all the other participants except for Sasuke were there and waiting. The other noted yet another outfit change for the trio. Naruto this time was wearing a sedate orange, tan and white camouflage outfit. He had his sword strapped to his back and carried several water skins on his back. Hinata wore light purple, pale green and tan camouflage outfit without sleeves. Haku wore light blue, tan, and white camouflage outfit similar to a jounin, but without the vest. She noticed a couple of the male contestant's eyes bulge at seeing that she was female. Adorned along the side and back of her outfit were several water skins along with a large scroll on her back.
Naruto handed each girl a scroll from his weapons pouch and stuck one for him next to his holster on his leg. "Use this if you feel you need it," he explained to them, only to receive a smile and a nod.
Five minutes later Genma coughed to gain their attention. "We shall begin the chuunin exams," he said loud enough for the participants to hear. He then turned to the crowd and yelled, "These are the contestant for the rank of chuunin. Will Hyuuga Neji and Hinata please remain here so that we can begin?"
Hinata nodded to Naruto and Haku, as they and the rest of the contestants headed up a side passage to the observation platform reserved for them. They found chairs, a table filled with food and refreshment, a monitor showing the arena floor and a door to a bathroom.
Hinata looked sadly at her cousin who only glared at her in anger. "Niisan, why do you hate me so?" she asked.
"You're weak, especially for someone from the main branch," he answered through clenched teeth.
"If this is about your father, I had nothing to do with what happened to him," Hinata explained.
"Nothing to do with it! It was all because of you that he's dead!" he yelled at her. He then continued, "And as a branch member I can do nothing about it outside of this challenge, so you'll pay for my misery."
Hinata removed her headband revealing the caged bird seal on her forehead. "I was also regaled to the branch family, brother. Now if you feel that you can beat me, come at me," she said with much conviction.
"I will toy with the weakling, who no longer is even a main branch of the house, so that I can receive justice," he explained, as he shifted to his juuken stance.
Hinata put the headband back and entered a different stance that few recognized. "Shall we begin?" she asked, as she pulled a string and a water skin opened, only to have its contents slowly move across her outfit and thus soak it.
"I see you've already wet yourself in fear of me," Neji said confidently.
Genma lowered his hand and jumped away while he exclaimed, "Begin!"
"I see that you're using chakra to manipulate the water, but it won't help you, because my juuken is too advanced," Neji proclaimed.
Hinata smirked, as her hand came from behind her and threw several senbon. Neji dodged only to find himself face to face with his cousin. She threw a strike to his left arm only to have it blocked by Neji, who she noted that he had better speed than she did. She also saw him use his fingers to tap a chakra point on her arm. She smiled, since he didn't notice his finger splash a little water off of her arm in that spot.
The two continued to trade blows, Neji began to smile more and more after each blow. He then dodged a blow meant for his sternum and hit her in the center of the chest. She skidded back, made several hand signs and said, "Water needle jutsu." Water came out of the spot that he had hit and hit Neji in the left arm that he brought up to defend against the attack. The senbon turned back to water after they had hit him, but left five small, bleeding holes in his arm.
The look of surprise written all over his face was priceless. "How can you do jutsu? I shutdown all of your chakra points," he said in astonishment.
Hinata smirked as she ran through another series of hand seals. "Water clone jutsu," she said, as the water from another water skin dumped out to form a second Hinata. "Each time you went to hit me I used the water to block your juuken strike. It takes very precise chakra control and the ability to see when you're going to do such a strike, so it would only be useable by someone with our eyes. Now about your father, I had nothing to do with it. I was an innocent victim of the whole thing and you're blaming me is so stupid. I was nearly kidnapped by Kumo and you want to blame me for his death? How egotistical are you? We're both now branded, even though I wasn't supposed to be. I wanted to remove the use of this accused seal from our family, so that both branches could live together in harmony," she explained.
Neji's face softened and he replied in a sad tone, "Those of the main branch will never stop their abuse of side branch."
"I no longer am a Hyuuga, and will prove that there is a better way than what there is now," Hinata exclaimed.
"Then show me this new way, Hinata-sama," he said, as he hardened his features.
Hinata smirked and said, "I've already won."
Neji shook his head and replied, "No, I can tell which of you is the Water Clone and which of you is real."
Hinata shook her head. "No, you see two clones, one Water and one Shadow," she explained. His eyes opened wide, when he felt a kunai at his inner thigh and saw her coming out of the ground. "You see, you can't move fast enough to get away, so give up, Niisan, please," she said in a pleading tone.
"You have never killed and thus I believe that you cannot hurt me, because you lack the will power to do so," he explained, only wince feeling the kunai pushed through the skin and into his leg.
"I'm sorry Niisan, but if you move I will sever your artery and you could die in minutes. Being instructed by Tsunade and learning anatomy has taught me how to be more efficient at my job and yes I have killed before. I don't want to take your life, so please give up," she said again.
Neji nodded, turned to Genma and said, "I surrender!"
Genma nodded and said "Winner, Hyuuga Hinata!"
Hinata carefully removed the kunai and helped Neji to the medic station. "I'm sorry Niisan, but you couldn't see the light and needed some guidance. See father about that incident. I'm sure he might have some more information for you," Hinata explained with a warm smile and left back to the observation platform, but not before collecting as much water as she could back into her water skins."
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"So that is the girl we tried to kidnap?" the Raikage asked from beneath his cloak to Yugito, who was sitting next to him.
She only nodded and continued to watch the proceedings.
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Genma cleared his throat and asked, "Will Momochi Haku and Nara Shikamaru please both come down?"
Shikamaru shook his head and asked, "I might as well give up now and why do I have to fight a girl?"
Haku smiled warmly at Shikamaru and replied, "I guess it is just your good luck."
Haku noticed Shikamaru look around and smile at the length of the shadows. 'Great, now I remember, he's a shadow user. Well I guess I'll just have to use that jutsu. I was hoping to either not use it or wait until later,' she thought to herself. She positioned herself in a stance that would allow her to empty several of the skins at once. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and waited for Genma to begin the match.
"You know this is just a drag," Shikamaru said in a bored tone.
Haku smiled warmly at him and replied, "I know and I'm sorry we have to fight. You being Naruto's friend and all makes this, all the harder."
Genma again stared the mach with the lowering of his hands.
Shikamaru immediately jumped back and watched Haku.
'Since he didn't use his shadow jutsu right off the bat, I'll use a wind jutsu and save that jutsu for later,' she thought, as she made several hand seals and swung her hand forward, while she exclaimed, "Wind Style: Great breakthrough!"
A torrent of wind headed at Shikamaru who used a substitution jutsu to evade the jutsu. He watched in awe as she uprooted a tree and crashed it into the side wall. He then saw her panting and smiled. He jumped down, while doing hand seals. "Looks like that is a great jutsu, but it takes a lot out of you, Shadow possession, success," he exclaimed.
Haku smiled at the shadow user, who looked at her with a confused look on his face. "Water possession jutsu, success," she said happily.
The both looked down to see a small string of water connected to Shikamaru and a shadow connected to Haku.
"So what do we do now?" Shikamaru asked, but then he continued, "I knew you would be a hard one to beat, but I never thought you would use a jutsu similar to my family jutsu to catch me. I've currently run about two-hundred scenarios in my mind. I could win, but both of us would be out of chakra and the chances of success are less than one percent."
"You are smarter than you let on, but I would give you about five to ten percent chance to win, and with the sun slowly removing your shadows that number would only go down. We can keep our jutsu going until either one of us runs out of chakra. Which more than likely would be about the same," Haku explained.
"How do you figure that? You've got more chakra than I do," he replied in confusion.
"My jutsu is only newly created and thus wastes a lot of chakra, while yours is a family jutsu that has been refined and taught to you, but I can still win," Haku said with a grin that Shikamaru only thought Naruto was capable of.
More water came along the string and then formed a kunai and set itself against his throat. "That has to be hard," he said.
Haku smiled while her breath began to become labored. "You have no idea. Now give up please," she asked in a pleading voice.
Shikamaru sighed and said, "I know that you could finish me at any time, so I forfeit."
Genma smiled and said, "Winner Momochi Haku." The crowd erupted in applause.
Both released their jutsu and headed back to the observation area.
Genma looked down at his sheet and then said, "Will Aburame Shino and Kankuro of the Desert please come down?"
Shino prepared to head down just as Kankuro said, "Proctor, I forfeit."
Most of the genin noticed the sweat that had formed on his face above the makeup.
Genma sighed and said, "Very well. Shino wins by forfeit."
This brought up a round of booing from the crowd.
Genma announced the next participants, "Will Kinuta Dosu and Takiko of Taki please come down."
Dosu jumped over the railing and stood before Genma. Takiko made her way down to the stadium floor. She smiled at Genma and bowed. Genma bowed his head and said, "Ready, begin!"
Takiko ran through several seals and sent a large ball of water at Dosu. He quickly dodged and uncovered his melody arm. He tapped the metal and only a second later Takiko was on the ground holding her ears.
She began to move through several seals and fired a couple smaller balls of water at Dosu. Dosu dove forward and rolled in front of the girl his hand in her stomach. "It's over little girl," he proclaimed.
Takiko doubled over holding a kunai with an explosive tag on it. Dosu smiled under his bandages and jumped away. Takiko pulled out the kunai and did several hand seals and was enveloped by a sphere of water. The note exploded. Genma appeared next to the girl and proclaimed, "Winner Dosu…" but was interrupted by a second paper bomb that exploded right in front of him.
"Dosu!" Genma yelled holding Takiko in his arms. He was bloodied and angry. "You are near breaking the rules, because the second bomb was not necessary. She could not continue," Genma explained.
"My apologies Proctor," he replied.
Genma looked up at the Kage box after he placed Takiko in the hands of a medic. The Hokage nodded and Genma said, "You may continue with the exams, but are herby warned, if it happens again you will be disqualified."
Dosu nodded and said, "I understand Proctor and you have my deepest apologies for hurting you."
Genma glared at the sound genin, as the genin made his way back up to the observation platform. Naruto growled at Dosu as he passed him on the stairs to the arena floor. Temari just smirked at the whole affair.
Naruto pulled out a ski mask from his pouch that had a similar pattern as his outfit and put it on. "Good luck Temari-san," he said happily.
Temari raised an eyebrow at the antics of the young genin.
Genma nodded to both participants and said "Begin!" He disappeared and appeared on the top of the wall.
"Is he afraid of you or me?" Temari asked only to see a smile on Naruto's face that made her nearly wet herself. She opened her fan and said, "Cutting whirlwind!" She swung the fan and a cyclone of wind headed towards Naruto.
Naruto went through several hand seals and said, "Wind style: Great breakthrough." He swung his hand up and a blast of wind hit her jutsu canceling out both jutsu leaving dust to cover most of the stadium floor.
"Great cutting whirlwind!" Temari exclaimed, as a new bigger whirlwind appeared and began to move through the stadium. The whirlwind cleared the area of dust, but Naruto was nowhere to be found. She directed the jutsu at one of the trees in the stadium and cut it into pieces.
"That wasn't nice!" Naruto exclaimed from the other side of the stadium.
Temari swung her fan and said, "Cutting whirlwind." Another cyclone headed towards Naruto, only to have him go up in a puff of smoke when the jutsu hit him. Temari jumped suddenly, as a hand appeared beneath her.
"Earth style: Headhunter jutsu," Naruto said. He frowned, since he got her fan and not Temari. Naruto quickly jumped away when shuriken and kunai were suddenly landing near him. "Sorry about the fan…"
Temari growled, as she pulled the fan from the ground. "That wasn't nice you jerk," she exclaimed. She finally freed her fan only to realize her feet were sinking into the ground.
"Swamp of the Underworld," Naruto said just loud enough for Temari to hear.
"Let me go you brat," Temari exclaimed angrily, as she continued to sink.
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"That is very powerful jutsu to train a genin with," the Kazekage said.
"Yes, Naruto is an unusual genin," Sarutobi replied.
"He has shown at least two affinities. How delightful," the Kazekage said almost hungrily.
Sarutobi looked at the Kazekage with apprehension. 'Only my student Orochimaru would talk like that,' he thought to himself. "Oh by the way Kazekage-dono, I've come up with a replacement for my position," he said with a smile.
The Kazekage looked at him with surprise. "And who might that be?" he asked with a slight lisp.
The Hokage smiled and replied, "Why my student Tsunade of the Sannin."
The Kazekage's eyes went wide, but then returned to normal. "I'm glad you've decided to retire. I'm sure you old bones could use the rest," he said in an almost sad voice.
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The swamp slowly disappeared, as Naruto walked up to Temari, who was now stuck up to her neck. Naruto squatted down and asked, "So, is your brother the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi? Because I'm the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi."
She paled, nodded and asked, "Please don't kill him. He's become a monster because of our father. I just know that there is some humanity left in him."
Naruto pulled off his mask and put it back into his pouch. "Sure, but you have to do something for me," he said in a playful tone.
Temari blushed. She then sighed and said, "Fine, I'll do anything." Images of the blonde Konoha genin ravaging her body went through her mind, but if it would save her brother she was willing to endure it.
"Great! Just surrender and I'll do everything I can to help him," Naruto said.
Temari gaped at him, her mouth opening and closing, but no words coming out. She then nodded in submission, but was happy that he didn't want to use her body.
"Winner is Uzumaki Naruto!" Genma exclaimed. The crowd went wild.
Naruto offered a hand to Temari, as she came up from the ground, while he released the jutsu. Naruto and Temari headed back to the observation area. Kankuro still had his mouth gaping at what Naruto had done.
Haku walked next to Shino and said, "I would have told him to close his mouth, so that he wouldn't catch any flies, but thought you might be insulted by the statement."
"Thank you for your concern, Haku-san, but I would not have been insulted," Shino replied.
Haku noticed a beetle leaving Shino's jacket. It caught a fly and flew it into Kankuro's mouth, who immediately began to gag on the fly. Haku could have sworn she heard a chuckle from Shino, but wasn't sure.
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"Amazing, the genin team with the blonde boy appears to be quite skilled. Two of them have at least two elemental affinities, and the third has at least one and to top it off she's a Hyuuga," Yugito exclaimed.
"Calm down Yugito-chan. We will no longer pursue that child, because we don't want to anger the Senju. The boy is Tsunade's adopted son. He appears to have both Wind and Earth affinities, but I'm guessing he has water also by the water skins he also carries," the Raikage explained.
"That might mean that they are actually related and he might have the Mokuton gene," Yugito said in astonishment. "Is there any way we could either capture or sway him and the others to Kumo?"
"I doubt it, he's Tsunade's son and both of the girls are on his team, but I agree that he is strong," the Raikage explained.
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Rock Lee and Fū entered the stadium floor and both nodded to Genma. Genma smiled at both contestants and asked, "Are you both ready?" He received a nod and then said, "Begin." He jumped away to prevent any injury to himself, still remembering the trick that the Oto genin used.
Lee looked down then back up at Fū, who appeared to be smiling. "I'm sorry if I have to injure you Fū-san, but I must prove to my Sensei that we are right about the power of youth," he said in a sad tone.
Fū giggled at the boy's admission, but then replied, "Please use all your strength, Lee-san, trust me, you'll need it."
Lee smiled, nodded and then his face turned serious. He then noticed Fū's eyes changing. The pupil changed from a single pupil to having nine, all of them appeared to be small hexagons. Her iris continued to be red. He moved forward with blinding speed and threw a punch only to have it caught by Fū. He was amazed that she had stopped the punch with little effort. This also worried him. His punch had been stopped dead, even with his strength. This girl was truly amazing. He jumped back and began to circle the girl.
Fū was amazed that this Konoha genin possessed enough strength to push her in her initial stage. She thought that she would only have to use less than one wing worth of power to defeat this boy, but she was wrong, or was she. She gave an order to her insects to drain some chakra from the boy. Lee saw the swarm of insects heading his way and immediately dropped his leg weights and dashed off leaving a dazed Fū. She heightened her senses and could tell that this boy was using pure speed and strength instead of chakra enhancements.
Lee had seen the insects coming and decided that if he was going to make it past this competitor to be able to fight Naruto he had to pull out all the stops, because of her immense strength he would have to use both speed and strength to beat her. He ran around her in a circle and finally decided to change directions to head straight at her. As he approached he suddenly turned at the sight of a swarm of bugs in front of him. Given the damage that Shino's bugs could do, he was weary to take damage from these bugs. While they were slower than him they seemed to be able to predict his movements to some degree.
Fū was carefully watching Lee and trying to keep her insects between him and her. Until her skin became hard with chitin she was at least vulnerable. The process took a minute, but until it hardened in a minute later she was very susceptible to damage. She could hurry the process, but it would weaken the structure of the defense.
Lee noticed a green substance coming out of Fū's pores and it began to cover her body like an insect's exoskeleton. Lee decided to attack before that exoskeleton could harden. He rushed in and blew through the insect swarm.
Fū's eyes went wide when she saw Lee blow through her insects. His speed was phenomenal. She began to deflect the punches that he was throwing at her.
"I'm quite impressed you can block my blows at this speed Fū-san," Lee exclaimed.
Fū continued to block and caught Lee in an overextended punch and grabbed his arm. She spun around and threw him at the wall with all her might. Lee spun in the air and landed on his feet, but left a ten foot wide crater where he landed. "I try to please," she replied during the throw.
Lee jumped down off the wall and blushed profusely. 'I think I'm in love…' he thought to himself only to correct himself, 'I said I would devote myself to Sakura-chan and thus I can't get involved with another girl.'
Fū sent a portion of her insects at Lee and kept the rest as guards for herself. Lee began to run again this time he ran around the insects. He also felt some pain on his arms and his chest. He looked down to see holes in his suit and blood slowly flowing from said holes. 'I guess they are as dangerous as the Aburame insects, if not more so. I should avoid them if possible. I need to end this quickly,' he thought to himself. He then began to do a zigzag pattern of running at Fū.
Fū saw the attack coming and placed her insects right in front of herself. Lee was nearly at the insect wall only to disappear. She then felt a kick to her chin sending her into the air. She then noticed Lee appear behind her and he began to wrap her up in his arm wrappings. "Primary Lotus," Lee said loud enough for Fū to hear. He began to spin her quickly and directed the both of them towards the ground.
Two meters before they impacted the ground the wrappings tore and a set of insect wings emerged from her back and she changed her direction only to crash into the ground. Lee stumbled for a minute to get his bearings. Fū picked herself up and wiped the blood from her mouth with her arm. "Very impressive, Lee-san," she said in a complimentary tone.
Lee by now was breathing hard and smiled widely. "Your insect methods are also quite impressive, but I'm afraid I will have to bow out for now," he said while panting. He suddenly collapsed.
Fū ran over and caught him and instructed her insects to seal the damage they had done to the boy. She was impressed that he had lasted so long and taken so much damage. Her chitin armor fell off of her body in pieces, as Genma arrived. "Please call the medics, I have tried to keep him from dying, but I can only do so much with my insects. He will need some blood and his injuries healed," she explained.
Genma nodded and waved the medics over to the combatants. He then said, "Winner Fū of Taki."
The medics quickly put Lee on a stretcher and allowed Fū to remove her insects before they took him away.
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"Has your Uchiha fighter arrived yet, Hokage-dono?" the Kazekage asked.
The Hokage looked at his jounin guard who shook his head. "It would appear not. I guess we will have to disqualify him for not appearing," Sarutobi said sadly.
"Why not get the other matches out of the way. I'm sure he will arrive. He is after all the one all these people have come to see, the last Uchiha. Also my son wishes to test the Uchiha, so as a personal favor could you give him an extension?" the Kazekage asked.
Sarutobi sighed, but was woken from his musing by another jounin appearing next to him. "Yes?" he asked.
"The council is asking for you to give Uchiha Sasuke enough time to be able to compete. They even say if you have to move onto other rounds it will be fine with them. They really want him to compete," the jounin said in an annoyed tone.
Sarutobi began to smirk in a way that disturbed both the Kazekage and both jounin. "Sure we can allow him more time to compete. Tell Genma that we will skip over any match that would end along the lines of Uchiha Sasuke's. We will continue the proceedings," he said happily, but continued his line of thought, 'but we he will not be promoted and will be punished for dereliction of duty for his tardiness. For each round the punishment will get harder and I will allow Tsunade-chan to decide on his punishment.'
The jounin bowed and said, "Yes Hokage-sama." He then disappeared from the Hokage box and reappeared next to Genma. He whispered into his ear and disappeared.
Genma frowned heavily, but then said, "Uchiha Sasuke is not yet in the stadium, so we will continue the tournament. His spot will be saved and his match against Gaara of the Desert will be postponed, by the request of the Kazekage and the Konoha council."
This had a mixed result of both boos and cheers for what was done.
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Tsunade sat down next to a rather large man in a cloak, similar to the one she wore. "Raikage, interesting development wouldn't you say?" she asked in a playful tone.
"Indeed, Senju Tsunade. To what do we owe the honor of your visit?" he asked in return.
"I was wondering if you were planning to kidnap my son," she said in a serious tone.
The Raikage chuckled lightly. "No, we have no intentions of doing any of that at this exam. We found out that there might be a fight along with the exams and wanted to protect a valuable genin and a special jounin," he replied happily.
"Nii Yugito, jinchuuriki of Nibi, the two tailed cat. I can understand why you want to guard her, but why the boy?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
The Raikage smirked and whispered into Tsunade's ear. Her eyes went wide and she saw Yugito blush. "Really… then I will keep you company while you watch, so that nothing will happen to such an important genin," she said with a smirk.
"We are honored Tsunade-sama," a dark skinned man with glasses said from behind her.
"I'm glad we had you agree to no rap while we're here in Konoha, Kirabi," the Raikage said in an annoyed voice.
"The rewards far outweigh the pain I feel at not being able to use my abilities to wrap," Kirabi said with a smirk.
Tsunade didn't miss the blush that appeared on Yugito's face.
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Naruto growled and said, "It's just like the council to give him a break none of us would get."
Temari hesitantly put a hand on Naruto and said, "Please don't be cross with my father, Naruto-kun. He wants to give Gaara an outlet for his anger."
Naruto looked at her in the eyes and whispered, "You're lying. I can smell your fear and also tell it from your body posture. Also, I got a whiff from the box and he doesn't smell like either you or your brothers. He smells different."
Temari looked at him in confusion. 'How could the man in the Kage box not be her father?' she thought, but was brought out of her musings when a bolt of lightning came from the sky and hit a blue dome. She looked down to see that the match between Raijin and Nijiko had become very heated.
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"Your bet was that if you win, I go back to Kumo with you, but if you kill me you would only have a useless corpse," Nijiko said while she panted, after having used a heavenly spin to deflect a rather powerful lightning jutsu.
Raijin also panted, but smiled and said, "I knew you could block it, or at least part of it. I find you attractive and would like to court you. Thus the reason I made the bet."
Nijiko blushed lightly, but also retook her stance. "I have no need to become an object, and a breeding puppet of Kumogakure," she replied angrily.
Raijin sighed, and said, "You wouldn't be a breeding puppet. I know the Raikage personally and would guarantee that no other man would touch you. If you chose to marry me then we could have children."
The grin seemed sincere, but she would not want to insult either Hinata-sama or Hiashi-sama, as the one who let the Byakugan go to Kumo, even if she found the darker skinned, blonde boy attractive. She had a duty to her village and to her clan.
The boy became surrounded by lightning and moved quickly at Nijiko. She sidestepped his fist and tapped his shoulder. They both winced in pain. His shoulder dropped and her hand had steam rising from it. They again traded blows. This time he was hit in the shoulder, but she was hit in the right breast. She blushed profusely and held her hand over her breast. "You're getting a little fresh aren't you? We haven't even had a date and you're already touching me in inappropriate ways," she said in a sultry voice.
"Being from Kumo, we have to work as fast as lighting," he replied with a smirk.
"So I would be just a one child stand?" she asked, as she closed.
Genma registered fear in Raijin's eyes, but he knew he had brought this upon himself.
The electric field that surrounded Raijin began to falter. Nijiko touched his right leg, only to have it collapse. "You would not treat me like a proper woman? You would take a relationship to a quick conclusion?" she asked angrily.
"No, that isn't what I meant," he said in a pleading tone.
"Would you cherish me and treat me like a goddess?" she asked with a critical eye.
Raijin waited a second too long to answer, "Of course I would!" He then felt his left leg collapse from under him. He also felt a grope of his butt as he fell on his back.
"I believe you, but it is too late and the match is over, sweetie," she exclaimed, as she wearily turned to Genma.
"Winner Hyuuga Nijiko," Genma exclaimed.
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"Quite a charmer you have their Yugito-chan," Tsunade said in a teasing tone.
Yugito shook her head and looked at Kirabi. "I blame it on his father," she said.
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A/N: Well another chapter down and we have the first part of the third portion of the chuunin exams up and running. I would like to thank the readers for their nice comments… well most of them. I know I turned off the anonymous reviews, but I did so because I'm tired of nameless people putting junk in my inbox. I like critiques and can handle them, but death wishes are a little far over the edge. The thing to remember is that I have a plan with each story. I will put in things that people will not like, heck I might not even like them, but they have a reason for them.
I do understand some of what Kishimoto is doing, but some of it is beyond my understanding. I will not spoil the latest manga with my opinions. Most of you know where I stand already. I hope you enjoyed my attempts at writing fighting in the exams. If I glossed over a fight I didn't feel that it was that important and only covered what was important or I put it in so that you could find subtle subplots. I know mean author. Before you ask, no, Temari will not be another wife for Naruto, he has enough problems with the two.
Next chapter: Hinata vs. Haku… what are you fighting about? And more…
Dustin B. AKA DusandDan: We will see him use his sword, but it will be later.