I'm back again, after a string of Pokemon one-shots...so, what's up?

I know what's up, actually. It's time for some (admittedly fast-written) fights; it's almost 4 AM here, and I may need some help in picking up where I left off, but let's get this trainwreck moving!

"You may begin."

The two Genin were left alone at the floor of the makeshift arena, but that didn't mean much; they wasted no time in going after one another. Suigetsu slashed with his sword, cutting up and to the left...only to be blocked by the metal edge of the Uchiha gunbai.

"'No saving me from my fate,' huh? Do all of you talk like that? Geez, it sounds like you're some two-bit actor in a cheap action flick."

Sasuke didn't deign to respond with words, creating an opening instead; using the gunbai to knock Suigetsu's sword arm away, he kicked the teen in his gut. A quick series of punches followed, and he heard at least one rib crack before he backed away. Leaping to the other side of the room, he began gathering his chakra. Things were going to get a bit...heated.

Suigetsu charged, predictably enough, and Sasuke exhaled. "Katon: Hosenka!" The Phoenix-flower technique was dangerous enough on its own, and was a favorite among its Uchiha creators for the way it could hide weapons. But when it was boosted with a chakra-powered gunbai sweep, "dangerous" became "lethal." Each of the small fireballs quadrupled in size, creating a wall of fire that honed in on its target...but the youngest Uchiha's opponent was from Kirigakure, the land of the infamous Kaguya revolt and a recently-ended civil war. Anyone who could come out of that alive was sure to know their way around inescapable situations.

Hozuki Suigetsu, brother of the late Hozuki Mangetsu and brother-in-law to the Mizukage herself, a member-in-training for Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen; they were impressive credentials, and he had the skill to back them up. A quick Suiton attack punched a hole through the veil of flames, and he threw as many kunai at Sasuke as he could hold...all of them missed, but that had been the point. He just needed for the Sharingan-using teen to stay in one place, so he could take him out with a clean hit.

They're pathetic.

[Not everyone can be as good as you, you know. You can't expect them to be masters of their chakra, or even their emotions.]

Sure I can. It just means that my expectations go unfulfilled.

[You are a sad, strange, little man.]

Be that as it may, you're a man who permanently turned himself into a giant nine-tailed fox because of how much you hated your parents. I'm fairly certain that you win the contest of "who's more pathetic."

Kurama had nothing more to say, mostly because he couldn't argue with his host's point without bringing unnecessary details to light; he could certainly make a case for himself, but just didn't care enough. He was more interested, unlike Naruto, in the fight that was going on at the room's floor.

Naruto was much more focused on the people he saw around him, particularly the contestants who were clearly on a higher tier from one another; they stood apart from their teams, grouping together. There was one each from Suna, Kiri and Kumo...almost as if they were waiting for him to join their trio. Sabaku no Gaara, the demon of the desert sands; Terumi Mangetami, who had fought beside her mother in the final days of Kirigakure's civil war; Yotsuki Yamato, though he sometimes went by Robin, the only child of the Raikage's deceased younger brother; Naruto moved to them, standing beside them, noticing their postures and attentiveness.

Yamato leaned against a stone pillar, a nodaichi on his right hip, his hair going outward in an afro. His eyes flicked to Naruto, as if judging the fairer-skinned boy's prowess on sight alone, and he gave a nod...though whether it was of greeting, or approval, was uncertain.

Mangetami was sitting on the walkway's railing, looking at him for much longer than he'd have liked, emerald eyes seeming to take in every ounce of muscle that he showed. And, for that matter, she might as well have seen the frame that he hid beneath his shirt. He raised an eyebrow at her, questioning, but her only response was to lightly lick her lips; he rolled his eyes before turning his eyes to her left.

Gaara was standing comfortably still, with his eyes fixed on the battle, though it was clear that he wasn't paying much attention to it. His arms were crossed, and his imperious gaze was without pity; he didn't bother to acknowledge his bretheren's arrival, though he sensed it, and continued to observe.

"Uchiha Sasuke...this is all he is capable of?"

"Well, winning means that you might have to fight a second round. He's probably just sticking to Taijutsu and Kenjutsu for now, since that saves chakra."

"He's going to lose. Suigetsu was our top Genin-ranked swordsman, so Kenjutsu is just a waste of time."

Naruto smirked, though he chose not to speak, and continued to watch Sasuke dodge around Suigetsu's sword strikes. While the teen's Sharingan was allowing him to keep up with Suigetsu's movements, he had neither the skill nor the arm strength to outlast him; he would need to think like a real ninja in order to advance. And the first rule of being a ninja was, after all, to look underneath the underneath.

Katon-natured chakra still littered the room from a minute ago, when Sasuke had created the wall of flames, and he would need to use that to his advantage. Yes, Suigetsu was clearly a Suiton user, but that would only work to Sasuke's benefit if he could manipulate it correctly. The gunbai wouldn't be very important, as wielding it would only slow down his arms...he'd just need to trust his luck and dodge Suigetsu's blade.

The war fan was sealed away, and he kicked his enemy's sword from his hands; things were already going better than he'd have hoped. He let loose another Hosenka at point-blank range, now with kunai in them, and Suigetsu could only stop a few of them with his water techniques...the Kirigakure Genin's legs were given the equivalent of a moderate sunburn, and the air around him started to get warm with steam.

"I could just do this the basic way, but I think I'll finish you off with style."

Sasuke reached out to his chakra in the air, creating a string from what remained in his body, using it to bring the steam together into a solid block. Letting go, he turned his back to Suigetsu; at the cracking sound that signaled the other man's broken skull, and the subsequent call of his victory, he smirked. A shunshin technique sent him back up to the balcony, where he stood with Sakura and looked to Naruto.

The whisker-marked blonde gave a curt nod, motioning for him to look at the screen.

SABAKU NO GAARA

VS

HIKARU SHINJI

Gaara proved an easy victor, though he struggled to remain within the "no killing" rule, and moved on. Naruto slept through most of the matches afterwards, though there was one that shocked even him:

HYUGA HINATA

VS

HYUGA NEJI

Of course, everyone thought Hinata would give up. They assumed that, if she didn't, she would get trampled by her elder cousin. He was a genius and a prodigy, forced to work for every ounce of strength he posessed, where she was the soft-hearted heiress who couldn't win against a girl six years her junior. It was almost like they bought into the "fate" and "destiny" drivel that Neji constantly spouted...and, of course, they were all wrong. Even Naruto had assumed Neji's victory was certain; Kurenai, the girl's own sensei, had thought the outcome set in stone!

Hinata had silenced all of their assumptions, however. As Neji had begun his monologue on how it was impossible for her to win, that it was her destiny to fall before the true genius of the Hyuga clan, she had struck.

It hadn't been a Jyuken strike, or even an attack from a much more base Taijutsu style, but a hand sign. Her chakra had activated the seal on Neji's forehead, making him cry out in pained terror; as she continued to focus, his suffering became more and more intense. She had walked towards his fallen form, not letting up on her seal-based assault until she stood over him...letting her hand drop, she had jumped on his chest and broken his ribcage. For good measure, she had even kicked him in the face and broken his nose.

Something had happened to Hinata inside of Hell's Eden, and it had made her into something that she wasn't supposed to become. Whether that change was for better or worse couldn't be foretold, only guessed, but it had broken the sweet woman who had entered the Chunin Exams; she was prepared to be a ninja, all illusions about the "glorious" career now far-gone from her mind, and one thing was determined: the old Hinata wasn't coming back.

HARUNO SAKURA

VS

YAMANAKA INO

This would have been another boring match for Naruto to sleep through, were it not for something he noticed as Ino made her way down: a somewhat-rampant seal, its various lines extending out in a geometric pattern across her shoulder. Even from the distance that separated them, he knew what it meant; it hadn't just been his team that Orochimaru had gone after. The snake would have wanted as many potential vessels as possible, given that they had a death rate of nine in ten...the thought wasn't comfortable, and its implications were frightening, but he couldn't go to the Hokage with his worries.

In any case, the two once-friends stood in front of one another with determination in their eyes. For Ino, it was a chance to one-up her rival and get closer to Sasuke; for Sakura, it was the drive to keep up with her teammates. Sasuke was halfway to passing, and there was no way that Naruto would fail at this stage, so there was no reason for her to get left behind in their shadow!

"You may begin."

The words hung there, for a second, before they both exploded into action; Ino moved forwards, in a classic brawler fashion, intent on giving Sakura the roundhouse of a lifetime. Sakura used a small amount of chakra to leap overhead, where she began throwing her shuriken. A drawn kunai deflected the stars, save for one that sliced deeply into the blonde teen's cheek before coming back to its owner's hand...Sakura landed, and Ino fired off her familial Shintenshin jutsu.

"Behind you!"

"Sakura" exploded in a cloud of smoke, leaving Ino's conscience to wander around before returning to her body, leaving the real pinkette free to pummel her opponent's body. She wasn't incredibly strong, but enough hits to the back of the head is guaranteed to knock someone out; Sakura was declared the winner.

Several more matches passed, until only the last one remained. Though the two contestants knew who the other was, at this point, they still managed to bear with the pleasantries and wait for their names to be shown on the scoreboard. While it certainly wasn't going to be a clash of titans, it was surely going to showcase just how effortlessly one of the fighters could handle his enemies.

For the first time in a long time, he had returned to the world in his full glory; while the Kyubi's chakra was still sealed from him, and it was possible that Kurama's powers would never return, that didn't truly matter. He was here to do battle, to unleash the might of an ancient entity long thought dead to the world.

UZUMAKI NARUTO

VS

YAKUSHI KABUTO

The Dark Lord Kitsune had returned.

Believe it.