Chapter 9: Never Underestimate Me!
Two more days passed, in which Sasuke managed to heal enough to be able to walk around and start training again. Many other teams had arrived and now the final day of the second exam had just finished. Standing in lines of three stood each genin team, in front of the Hokage and their Jonin sensei's as well as the proctors. Naruto looked around and then smiled when he noticed the different teams; there were five teams from the leaf village, one team from the sand and one from sound, so really it was going to be interesting seeing as half the time leaf ninja were going to go up against other leaf ninja. Sakura shook his shoulder suddenly and pointed to the Hokage who was going on about how the chunnin exams were the way to prepare the genin to the horrors of war. After paying attention for a few minutes Naruto was soon distracted by Gaara who was staring at him from the corner of his eye.
"KIT PLEASE BE CAREFUL MY BROTHER DOESN'T HAVE THE SAME CONTROL OVER HIS POWER AS I DO, HIS JAILOR IS UNSTABLE" Kyuubi said in his mind as Naruto stared right back at the sand demon jailor.
Naruto gulped "How would they become stable"
"THE ONLY WAY FOR THE JAILOR TO BECOME MORE STABLE IS TO ACTUALLY MEET HIS DEMON WITHIN HIS SEAL AND CREATE A LINK-LIKE WE HAVE" Naruto nodded and then paid attention when a sickly looking man jumped down in front of the Hokage and began whispering to the elder man before he turned and faced them.
"Hello everyone, I am Hayatte Gekko I am the proctor for the third exam, but unlike previous years we have to many genin who passed the first two exams, which means...we need to hold preliminaries" Naruto sighed and looked at the genin who had only got in that day and shook his head, they wouldn't be able to fight to the best of their abilities at that moment "So if anyone would like to pull out, now would be the right time"
Someone sighed and Kabuto put up his hand and scratched the side of his cheek "I'm sorry but I can't go on, I'm to worn out" Hayatte looked at Anko who then called out his name and dismissed him. Naruto watched him go with a slight confusion, from what he could tell the genin who had just left was perfectly healthy if not a little tired, he could have fought easily.
"Very well, when your name appears on the board you will come down here and will fight until one of you dies or I call the match, if your name is not called you may wait up on the balconies with your Jonin sensei" Hayatte as a digital board began to scroll through all the names of the competitors until it landed on Sasuke and Yori a man from Kabuto's team.
"Right off the bat" Sasuke said smiling as he cracked his neck making Sakura roll her eyes and start towards the balcony while Naruto just looked at him "What?"
"Just...don't lose I didn't teach you one of my favourite Tai Jut-Su moves for nothing" the blonde said as Kakashi herded him up to the balcony where Sakura was already waiting for them next to Gai and Lee who were already talking excitedly with her why she gave Tenten pleading looks for help to which she just shrugged helplessly.
Why would Naruto say something like that, my strength is in Nin Jut-su, yet he commented on my Tai Jut-su Sasuke thought as the older ninja stood before him. Hayatte looked between the two of them before signalling the fight to begin. Sasuke dodged a frontal attack from Yori and then began running through hand signs only for the man to grab his arm and cancel out his jut-Su. Frustrated Sasuke broke free only to feel slightly light headed as if someone had sapped his strength. Does Naruto know something about this guy and his fighting style? He thought as he shook away the fuzzy feeling racing through his head
Yori laughed and held up his right hand which was glowing slightly "My family has a special ability, it allows me drain your chakra from your body if I grab you with this hand of mind, and guess what it works even better if the victim is using Nin Jut-su" the man said before he raced toward him.
Sasuke jumped away and looked at Naruto who gave him a tiny nod and then smirked Thanks Naruto he said before landing a meter away from his opponent and then took a deep breath. Okay flow through each move, while putting all my strength and chakra behind it. Lee watched as Sasuke ran forward and kicked the man up into the air before kicking him around in an orb before leaping above him once more and giving him a slamming kick to the ground before latching on to him and hit him like a lion catching his prey. "Lion Barrage Sphere Shot"
Naruto laughed and shook his head why Lee just stared in awe why Gai gave Kakashi a piercing look. "You taught him the sphere shot?"
Kakashi shook his head and pointed at Naruto who just looked down guiltily "no, Kakashi sensei didn't, I did" he admitted as he watched Sasuke walk confidently up the stairs and towards his team where Sakura congratulated him before starring at the board in anticipation.
Gai looked stern for a moment before his face split out in a huge grin "THE YOUTH BURNS BRIGHT IN THIS ONE DON"T YOU BELIEVE LEE!" he shouted making Naruto take a step back in fear.
"Yes Gai sensei my rival truly is worthy" Lee cried before hugging his sensei tight why Kakashi and Naruto sighed and turned their attention back to the field. Naruto looked down and Saw a sound ninja going up against Shino and just looked away.
"This isn't going to be pretty" Naruto whispered.
When Naruto had said it wasn't going to be pretty he hadn't been lying, the fight had only taken mere moments, resulting with Zaku the sound ninja having his arms blown apart. As the battle finished Zabuza appeared behind them and gave Naruto a small smile before motioning to his back. Naruto nodded and Zabuza then looked down to the field where Temari and Tenten where standing.
"This will be interesting" Naruto whispered and his teammates nodded making both Jonin stare at them confused.
Temari smirked as she looked at Tenten who looked at her confidently. This will be a synch she thought as Hayatte motioned for the match to start. Tenten jumped back a few meters and then threw a shurkien and kunai at the sand shinobi. But when they hit the ground a foot from the girl she gasped. Gai shook his head and tightened his grip on the bars.
"There is no way Tenten missed, she has perfect aim" he muttered, Sasuke looked at Naruto who was watching the battle with interest and then looked at Gai who was explaining something to Neji.
"She didn't miss" he said when suddenly a huge gust of wind blew several weapons back at Tenten. "She blew them away" he continued as Temari swept her fan back only opening it a quarter of the way revealing one purple moon.
"You see this moon, there are three of them, when you see all three you lose" Temari said holing out her fan with a smirk on her face. Tenten grit her teeth and whipped out a scroll and jumping into the air with it and summoning weapon after weapon and ditching them at the wind mistress who just sighed and waved her want sending the weapons flying towards their owner who managed to dodged them all. "There's the second moon" Temari said as she opened the fan to half way revealing the second moon.
"The truth is, Tenten couldn't have drawn a worse opponent, Temari is basically the worst person she could have started fighting, Tenten has already lost" Naruto said looking down sadly. Gai looked down at the field and then down at Naruto.
Could he have already figured all that out in the heat of battle, in no way is he a strategist but to be able to figure all that out in the heat of battle, he would make a really good teammate The Jonin said before smiling at Naruto who became dazed once again "Nonsense Tenten has the power of youth on her side"
Naruto rolled his eyes and then focused on the fight below and cocked his head to the side when the weapon mistress brought out two scrolls and placed them on the floor and ran through several hand signs before leaping up between the two scrolls that had released in the form of two dragons. Temari sighed as Tenten began throwing all different types of weapons at her and then flicked her fan out to reveal all three moons and swung it powerfully. Sending all the weapons to the floor.
"Times up girlie hope you had your fun" Temari mocked as she jumped onto her fan and glided until she was behind Tenten. "Wind Scythe Jut-Su" she called swinging her fan and catching Tenten in a mini tornado which began slashing Tenten while she screamed in pain. When the wind mistress cancelled the Jut-su Naruto watched sadly as she caught Tenten on her fan on her back making Lee and Gai gasp, even Neji was shocked at the brutality that Temari had shown.
"Humph that was boring" she said sliding Tenten to the ground as if she was something she stepped on. Naruto fixed his gaze onto Temari, who stilled when she felt it, when she looked around and looked into Naruto's eyes she couldn't help but gulp when she saw the anger there simmering dangerously.
Hayatte stared at the digital board before coughing and pointing at the new competitors "Shikamaru Nara and Kin please come down"
Naruto smiled when he heard Shikamaru groan and couldn't stop the snigger that burst through when he heard Kyuubi laughed loudly. "Kyu shut up"
"SORRY KIT, ITS JUST, THE SLACKER HAS TO FIGHT A GIRL DOESN'T HE" The giant fox said before cracking up once again making Naruto just shake his head and focus on the match below him. The fight didn't last long and surprisingly Shikamaru was the winner, although out of all the genin there it seemed only Naruto and Chouji were the least surprised. Naruto gave Shikamaru and smile and nod to which he just gave a half hearted wave. "Sakura" Kakashi said making Naruto whip around and see that his pink haired teammate was next facing...Ino Yakamara. Sakura took a deep breath and jumped down in the railings opposite Ino who was already waiting for her with a sneer on her face.
"Fight" Hayatte said and the two girls leapt at each other.
Sakura's gotten better but is she good enough to beat Ino Naruto thought as he watched the pink haired girl kick Ino hard enough to send her flying back a few meters. "I wonder do you think she'll use it" he asked Sasuke who smirked and nodded.
Kakashi smiled and gave Zabuza a shrug who was watching the young girl he had called week only months earlier go up against her best friend. Gaara watched the pink haired girl in interest, ever since he had seen her before the exams with the one like himself he had been drawn to her but now that he was seeing her in battle he was even more fascinated.
Ino smirked as she caught Sakura in her hair line but then was shocked when the pink haired girl brought out a dozen kunai with what looked like small pink orbs on the end of them. "Go On Sakura show her" Naruto called out to the girl who then nodded and then looked at Ino and shrugged.
"And I really wanted to win" she said before throwing the kunai so that the orbs would explode and litter the floor with what looked like confetti. Sasuke stared at Sakura and at how close some of the paper was to her and looked at Naruto's sad face. "What's going on" he demanded.
Naruto gave Sasuke a sad look before turning back to the match where Sakura was running through several hand signs, "When Sakura designed this Jut-su she asked me how it could be used, I told her and made sure she knew it could also be a suicide jut-su if placed right, Sakura knows she can't beat Ino she isn't that strong yet, so she at least wants to tie with her to show Ino she isn't the small little helpless child she was all those years ago" Sasuke frowned but nodded and turned back to the match were Sakura hand stopped on the Hebi sign and then smirked at Ino who was watching her confused.
"Sakura Blizzard jut-Su" Ino was shocked when all the small pieces of paper began to glow pink before they exploded. All around her knocking her out when suddenly they exploded hard enough to send Sakura flying into the wall knocking her out as well.
"Paper bombs" Gai said in awe "That was amazing, if not a double edged sword" he said as Hayatte declared the match a tie so no one would advance.
Naruto shook his head and lent on the bars comfortably "Not really you see normally that Jut-su would be used at a distance but Sakura knew it was the only way for Ino not to win as well" he said as Kakashi brought Sakura up to rest against the wall. The Tai Jut-su specialist nodded and turned to watch the next match which was between Kankuro and the other genin on Kabuto's team. Naruto watched in awe as Kankuro defeated the man with his puppet by changing places with it and making it look exactly like him.
"Winner Kankuro" Hayatte said as Kankuro walked back up to his place next to Gaara. Naruto stared after the puppet master and then looked at Gaara who was staring at him with an interested expression. When he looked at the red head he saw a part of himself, he saw Kitsune.
Sakura stretched out and allowed Sasuke to help her up and gasped when she read the two names on the board. "Naruto" she whispered making the blonde turn and then freeze when he read who his opponent was.
"Kiba Inuzuka Naruto Uzumaki please come down" Hayatte said staring at Naruto with interest. He had been told to keep an eye on the boy's match by Anko who swore that the boy had fatally injured Orochimaru earlier in the exam.
Naruto sighed and jumped down and face Kiba who had Akamaru by his side who was barking at Naruto happily. Naruto grinned at the little puppy then gave Kiba a serious look "No holding back come at me full force" Kiba gulped and nodded. Hayatte signalled the match to begin and Kiba immediately activated his beast mimicry all fours jut-su.
"Surely Naruto can't beat that kind of fighting" Gai said in a shocked voice as he watched Naruto dodge all of Kiba's moves gracefully.
"Wrong" Zabuza said crossing his arms "Naruto is probably the only one who can match the Inuzuka's style of fighting and come out of it unscratched" Kakashi nodded and watched as Naruto grabbed Kiba and threw him into a wall.
Kiba groaned and then whistled to Akamaru who raced to him side "Have a food pill boy" he said making the tiny puppy turned bright red and more ferocious. Naruto saw this and sighed before running through several hand signs.
"Well if were fighting with pups I don't want to be left behind" He said before slamming his hand on the ground. Kiba watched in fear as steam began rising from underneath the blonde palm and then fire erupted from around it, Naruto slowly brought his hand up and then as if magic molten lava took on the form a wolf pup which was slightly larger than Akamaru. "Elemental Wolf Pup Jut-su: Kumio Fire pup" Naruto said as the rock turned into fur and the wolf became a real wolf pup although it's eyes stayed as two molten pools of lava while he had lines of lava running over his body. "Shall we continue" He said before rushing forward and punching Kiba in the stomach while Kumio leapt on Akamaru and slashed down leaving a large burning slash marks on the floor when he missed.
Kiba frowned and used fang over fang sending Naruto flying into the nearby wall. "yeah I did it" he cheered only to here a snarling and saw Kumio had pinned Akamaru and had his throat in his jaws ready to kill the pup at a moment's notice. "What?" Kiba said confused.
"You know one attack really isn't going to do the trick with me" Kiba froze and looked back and saw Naruto picking himself out of the rubble and then cracked his knuckles, "Now let's end this" he said before running through a long series of hand signs.
"That little brat I can't believe he knows that" Zabuza said laughing as he recognized the hand signs. Kakashi nodded in shock as he saw how powerful Naruto had become without his guidance.
Naruto looked up at Kiba and smirked before two giant wings that looked identical to Valor's exploded from his back "Wings of Courage Jut-su" he said before he leapt up into the sky and began to shine brightly before being enveloped in a orange glow "Sky attack Jut-su" he said before his wings wrapped around his body and he began spinning and dived towards the dog handler. When Kiba tried to move he saw Kumio had trapped him by biting one of his legs why Akamaru laid unconscious on the floor a meter away with large burn marks around his throat. "NEVER UNDERESTIMATE ME!" Naruto shouted right before he hit Kiba head on.
A large explosion filled the arena kicking up dust everywhere and when it cleared they saw Naruto who was sporting a gash on his hairline, standing above an unconscious Kiba with Kumio on his shoulder. "Thanks buddy" he whispered scratching underneath the fire pup's chin before it howled and faded into a small spark of fire on Naruto's jacket which he quickly put out. "Winner Naruto Uzumaki" Hayatte declared as the medics took Kiba away who was groaning in pain. "You did good Kiba" Naruto whispered before leaping back onto the balcony where Zabuza hit him on the head.
"WHEN THE FUCK DID YOU LEARN THAT MOVE YOU GODDAMN IDIOT!" Zabuza shouted at Naruto.
"IT WAS NONE OF YOUR GODMAN BUSINESS YOU NO EYEBORWS FREAK" Zabuza was about the strangle the blonde genin when Hayatte coughed and pointed to the electronic board which displayed the next to fighters: Hinata Hyuga Vs Neji Hyuga.
Naruto gulped and looked at Neji and then at Hinata who was a pale as a white piece of paper, this fight was going to be a blood bath. Thanks to his days as Kitsune and working with various Hyuga's Naruto knew the bad blood between the main family and the branch family, and he knew that Hinata was a main family member and Neji was a branch member.
"This won't end well"
Lee nodded and then stood next to Naruto who was quickly becoming his best friend and winced as he heard Neji hurl insults at his younger cousin. But Naruto watched with pride as the Hyuga princess fought back with everything she had and even managed to land a few decent hits of her own, but even with all her skill Hinata wasn't a prodigy of the Byukugan like Neji and after a fatal hit to the heart she fell and didn't get up again.
"You're not worthy of your status" Neji sneered at his younger cousin only to be twirled around and glared at by a fierce blue eye leaking dangerous killer intent.
'I swear this to you Neji you better hope we don't met in the finals...or I will kill you" Naruto growled before grabbing Hinata and rushing to the infirmary where the medics were waiting for the young Hyuga. After giving Hinata to the medics Naruto went over to Kiba's bed and sat down and smiled at the Inuzuka who was still resting before lying a scroll out on the desk next to him and quickly scribbling a note on a spare piece of paper.
When Naruto got back to the arena he stopped halfway up the balcony when he saw Neji was standing next to his team. I'll stand here he thought and then looked to the side where Kankuro was making his way up the stairs towards him.
"Ah Naruto was it" the puppet master asked nervously when he saw Gaara glaring at him.
"Before you asked, yes...I am like him" Naruto said not taking his eyes of the electronic board when Gaara's name and Rock lee's name froze onto the screen.
Kankuro stared in horror at Naruto before gulping and moving a little closer to him "but you don't seem as...unstable as Gaara is" he said as Lee jumped down into the arena facing Gaara who just stared at him.
"Because unlike him, I have an understanding with mine, unlike Gaara's who feeds off him like a parasite" Naruto said as Hayatte explained the rules to him "He needs to speak with it before he can live with it"
Kankuro stared at Naruto for a second before gulping and turning to the battle and scoffing "That spandex wearing guy is going down"
"Wrong" Kankuro stared at Naruto in shock before giving Lee another look "Lee might not look like much but trust me your brother's sand...it might not be enough to protect him"
Lee rushed forward and began to fight with everything he had only to be blocked by a wall of sand everytime. Kankuro was about to laughed as Lee ran away from Gaara's sand when he jumped atop the large statue.
"And here we go" Naruto whispered when Lee dropped two large leg weights, let's see how ultimate he's defence is once something is fast enough to get past them" Kankuro scoffed again and then shut up when Lee blurred from eye sight and began his assault again but this time only just getting blocked by the sand. Suddenly Lee slammed his feet down on Gaara's head making him stumble a little.
"No way had he hit him "Kankuro whispered and they looked at Naruto who was watching the battle carefully his eyes scanning every move "and you knew he would be able to"
Naruto nodded and continued to watch. Kyuubi was on edge and was making him on edge but when lee preformed the Lotus and failed to beat Gaara Naruto knew even if he used the gates that the fighter was finished. "Gaara will win" Naruto whispered
Kankuro stared at Naruto in shock as he watched lee open a bunch of gates and perform the Lotus once more and once again Gaara had survived and was sending his sand after him. When the sand enveloped his right arm and leg Naruto's arms went wide when he saw Gaara squeeze his fist tight and then heard a sickly crushing sound. "LEE!" Naruto screamed making Gai stare over at him in fear. Temari looked over at Kankuro who was staring at Naruto with nothing short of shock in his eyes, and then gulped it was as they'd suspected Gaara was interested in the blonde because he was like himself. When Gaara began to send his sand back after him Naruto looked at Gai and nodded and the both of them jumped down. Gai stopped the sand from touching Lee why Naruto stepped on Gaara's hand forcing him to stop his Jut-su.
"You won, stop" he hissed letting some of Kyuubi's chakra leak out. Gaara's eyes went wide and Naruto could tell Shukaku would have been happy to feel his older brother so much he would have submitted almost instantly. Naruto glared once more at Gaara before walking over to the medics who were standing near Gai and only caught the last part of the conversation "I'm sorry but he'll never be a ninja again" Naruto froze and he stared at lee as his body was taken pass him on a stretcher and then looked up at Gai who was crying and laid a hand on his arm.
"I will help him I swear to you Gai Sensei I swear you'll get your student back" he said with so much conviction Gai couldn't help but believe him. Gai nodded and appeared with his team up on the balcony why Naruto walked back to the stairs where Kankuro was waiting. "Your brother needs help tell him Naruto will find a way to reach him" Naruto said before walking back to his team who were scared and horrified by what they just saw.
Naruto watched as Gaara appeared back with his siblings but continued to watch him and Sakura and then began forming a plan with Kyuubi's help. When he reached his team he gave Sasuke a nod and then motioned Sakura over "When all this is over I have a favour to ask" Sakura nodded wordlessly and then went back to Sasuke who gave her a confused look which she just shook her head and Naruto was glad to have such an intelligent teammate.
Zabuza motioned for Naruto to show his back to him and with a sigh he began shedding his top layer of clothing. When he took off his Jacket Neji was shocked when Tenten sighed happily as the form fitting shirt revealed the blondes hard earned muscles. Temari smirked and leant forward to get a better glimpse at the blonde ninja. Naruto sighed and took off his shirt making Ino squeal and Sasuke had to hold back laughter, but when he saw a black marking on his ribs and his shoulders he twirled Naruto around until his back was facing them. Kakashi stared in shock as he gaze upon the full back tattoo of the nine tailed fox on his student while Sasuke just stared in awe. Sakura who had already seen it made Naruto quickly throw his shirt back on and gave both Sasuke and Kakashi a glare as the last fight was halfway through. Naruto finished dressing and was saddened to see that Chouji had lost to the sound ninja but then shrugged.
"Will the finalist's please make their way down to the arena" Hayatte said "The Hokage would like to explain the final exam to you" Naruto shrugged and began to walk down with Sasuke to stand in front of The Hokage who smiled brightly down at all of them.
"Congratulations everyone for making it this far, now I will explain the final tournament to you, each of you will take turns taking a piece of paper from this box" he said pointing to Ibiki who was holding a plain black box with a hole in the top of it. "On each piece of paper is a number, then you will be drawn up into a match up sheet according to the number you draw" The Hokage said shrugging
"Wait if it's a fighting tournament does that mean that there is only going to be one chunnin at the end of it?" The Hokage shook his head at Shikamaru's question and then looked at each genin closely.
"When we hold the final round of the exams we invite a lot of feudal lords and leaders from other lands, this is because the chunnin exams isn't just about beating your opponent: it's about showing off your potential and skills to those leader who will in turn take interest in you and then hire you for work. Among the lords and civilians in the stands will be proctors who will be watching your performances and judging if your Chunnin material and of course the further you go in the tournament the more chances you have to show off your skills and get noticed" Shikamaru nodded and Anko stepped forward and cleared her throat "Okay please when you get your number call it out so I can draw up the match sheet"
Ibiki walked along the line until each person had a piece of paper and the Anko looked at Naruto who was at the start of the line, "One" he said
Sasuke grunted and then held up his piece "Four"
Shino pressed his glasses back up and then spoke very softly "five"
Neji sniffed and then looked away uninterestedly "Two" Naruto gritted his teeth and held his temper in check; he would be fighting Neji first.
Shikamaru groaned and held up his paper "seven"
Temari looked at Shikamaru and then smirked "Eight"
Kankuro held up his paper between two fingers and smiled "Six"
Gaara stayed silent for a moment before speaking "Three"
Dosu snorted and looked away "Guess that mean's I'm nine"
Anko nodded and then quickly wrote something on her clip board before holding it up "This is the match line up, remember it well"
NARUTO UZUMAKI vs. NEJI HYUGA
GAARA vs. SASUKE UCHIHA
SHINO ABURAME vs. KANKURO
SHIKAMARU NARA vs. TEMARI
DOSU vs. MATCH 4 VICTOR
Naruto looked at Neji and then nodded once before turning to look at the Hokage once more "The final exam will be held one month from now, so in that month I expect you all to train harder than ever before" The Hokage said smiling "Good Luck"
Naruto nodded and then turned to Sasuke who gave him a cocky grin before leaving the tower why Sakura jumped down to speak to him.