A.N.: Thanks to everybody who reviewed. Thanks to you the last chapter had the highest number of reviews despite having the lowest number of hits on the first day in a lot of chapters. My muse is satisfied and is back with a vengeance.
A.N.2: Now reposted with less grammar and spelling errors.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Nothing more to say.
Temari was sitting in one of the VIP booths in the Arena. As the Kazekage's daughter she could afford it. She was also required to attend such events, but she decided to overlook that part. She had attended one Chuunin Exams Finals in Suna before and she had absolutely loved the event. The only thing spoiling her mood was her younger brother Kankuro blabbering like a kid half his age.
She was a big girl now, or so she claimed. She had graduated the Academy recently and went everywhere in her brand new blue ninja dress with her hitai-ate tied around her upper arm, her giant fan hauled on her back. It was too big for her small frame, it often dragged on the ground and she couldn't use it properly yet, but such things didn't matter to the twelve-year-old girl. She was a ninja now and she wanted to appear as such.
"That's a stupid-looking puppet," Kankuro commented. "Karasu is much cooler."
"You haven't seen it in action yet," she reminded him.
"It can't be better than mine," he scoffed. "In case you don't know, Karasu was made by Sasori of the Red Sands himself."
"Of course I know," she scowled. "You bring it up only about thrice a day."
"That's because it's so awesome," he puffed.
"It doesn't matter how awesome the puppet is when the puppeteer isn't," she muttered.
"What was that?" Kankuro narrowed his eyes. "I'll let you know, I'm going to be the best puppeteer Suna has ever seen!"
"I can't see it happening by the rate you are going," she replied.
"Just you wait, sister," he boasted.
"You're such a kid," she chided. "If you're really so awesome, why haven't you graduated yet?" She turned in such a way to show him her hitai-ate. She liked to show it off the same as her brother showed off his puppet, but she would smack anyone who would point it out. She was a big ninja and Kankuro just a stupid little kid in an equally stupid catsuit with a stupid tendency to get mad when somebody commented on his fashion sense, or lack thereof.
"Ranks are overrated anyway," he claimed. Temari just smirked. Her brother was so easy to tease. "Just look at who's competing today. I see four decorative girls and a little shrimp there. This is going to be boring."
"Dunderhead," she scowled. "You don't know what are you talking about. That shrimp, as you just called him, beat Him."
"What?" Kankuro blinked in disbelief. "You don't mean that little stupid-looking kid could beat Gaara?"
"Don't call Naruto that." Both Temari and Kankuro stiffened. The object of their conversation just walked into the booth.
The youngest of the Kazekage's children had changed significantly since his lost battle. He had stopped threatening people to crush them with his sand and started trying to make friends instead. It was just plain creepy in Kankuro's opinion. Gaara was the whacko who was supposed to go around killing everybody who looked at him wrong. This new personality freaked him out. He just waited for when the redhead would inevitably slip back into his old murderous self.
Temari had a different opinion. Even though she rarely thought about it, Gaara was still her brother. He scared her just like he did everybody else, but she could also see what life was for him. There were times when she wanted to change it, but she was too scared to try anything. She had no desire to end up as fodder for the thing Gaara called 'Mother.' But now, when somebody else managed to reach through the shell of sand to the child inside, she wasn't about to throw the opportunity away. If her little brother got better, she didn't want him to suffer a relapse.
"It's nice you joined us," she smiled, even if it was a bit forced. "Kankuro didn't mean it like that." Her middle brother looked at her like she had just sprouted a second head. "He's going to apologize, aren't you, Kankuro?" Her tone left no doubt that he'd better obey or else. Somehow in that moment she scared him more than Gaara. It was quite a feat.
"S-sure," he stuttered. "I didn't mean it." He tried to covertly to get as far from the redhead as possible, which in the small booth wasn't much.
"Apology accepted," Gaara said. He had no idea what he should say, but he thought he should say something. He then sat on the bench next to his siblings.
"So you came here to watch the finals?" It was a stupid question, but Temari couldn't think of anything else to start a conversation. She didn't even know whether starting a conversation was a good idea at all, but she tried it nevertheless.
"Yes." Gaara didn't even turn to her, instead watching the arena intently.
"So who do you think would win?" She tried it again.
"Naruto," the youngest of the three answered with absolute conviction. Figures. Gaara wasn't much of a conversationalist, but she already knew that. She gave up her attempts at small talk. They sat there together in silence. It might not have seemed like much, but she felt like they made a huge step in mending their relationship.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Kage booth~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Kazekage was the first one to arrive. He sat in his chair and surveyed the occupants of the arena below. Whole half of them were from Suna. That wasn't bad, but it wasn't good enough either. They had designed the Exams purposefully to favor their own, everybody did that, and he had expected better results. And to top it, the Suna teams who advanced weren't exactly the pride of their village. Oh, they were strong, no doubt about that, but they had all a reputation for being… odd, to put it mildly. Considering whom their senseis were, it was no wonder. He could just pray they wouldn't do anything to embarrass Suna too badly, he had already explained to them what would happen if they did.
His musings were cut short by the arrival of the Hokage. He rose from his seat to greet the elderly leader of Konoha properly.
"Welcome to Sunagakure, Hokage-sama. I trust you had a pleasant journey."
"It was as pleasant as a trek through the desert can be," Sarutobi replied diplomatically. The Kazekage wanted to ask how pleasant could it be in his age, but refrained. It was no need to antagonize another Kage any more than he already was. "I trust it's peaceful here in Suna. It would be very unfortunate if there were any incidents during the Exams."
The Kazekage mentally sighed. It was just a matter of time when the Hokage would bring this up. "I assure, you, Hokage-sama, that we made extra precautions to ensure the peace of the Exams won't be broken."
"I'm glad to hear this," Sarutobi replied. Before he could say anything else, the Tsuchikage entered the balcony. The atmosphere immediately tensed. Here two old enemies were meeting, barred by the temporary truce from doing anything to each other. That however didn't prevent them on remarking how the other had aged since they met the last time. Even Sarutobi, who wanted to improve their relationship, just couldn't help it after Oonoki had commented on his wrinkles.
The Kazekage, seeing that the situation was about to spiral out of control, decided to intervene.
"If you excuse me, the Exams are about to start. We shouldn't delay it needlessly by discussing politics. I organized a banquet for the finalists tomorrow evening. The successful candidates would be announced there and there would be enough time to discuss whatever you wish."
"Fine with me," the Tsuchikage replied. He didn't come here to make politics, he wanted to see the Finals and he didn't like waiting. He also agreed that words can sometimes accomplish more than weapons, so the opportunity for a later talk seemed fortunate for him.
"I agree as well," the Hokage said. Doing politics in a rush was never his style. He preferred the serene atmosphere of an official gathering.
"If that is settled, we should start the Finals," the Kazekage said. His two counterparts nodded and sat down in the prepared chairs.
The Tsuchikage surveyed the twelve genin lined up down in the arena. He noticed his grandchildren looking at him and he flashed them a smile. Not too obvious, a Kage must always retain his dignity, but family was family. He felt pride looking at them. Both were strong, skilled, cunning and ruthless, prime examples of what Iwa shinobi should be. He had no doubts they would earn their promotions here and had high hopes of one of them winning the finals. That is if they don't fall against a much stronger opponent.
That brought him to the source of his discomfort. He turned his attention to the Konoha team. There they stood, two girls and a boy, and three dogs, but they didn't count, silent, waiting for the Finals to start. He wondered which one of them was the jinchuuriki.
There was the girl from Inuzuka clan. The three dogs were sitting at her feet. She looked competent. He immediately dismissed her. In his experience demon vessels were feared by animals.
Next to her stood a purple girl in a skimpy outfit. She looked a bit like a seduction specialist to him, but the handle of a sword protruding over her shoulder suggested she was fierce in combat as well. She was a more likely candidate.
Then there stood the only boy in the team. He was short and looked by far the youngest of them. While his teammates appeared to be thirteen or fourteen, he looked seven or eight. It was extremely rare for somebody that young to enter the Exams. He must be really special. He took a closer look at him, covertly, of course. It would be unbecoming of his stature to be openly so curious about a genin. His eyesight wasn't as good as it used to be, but he could still discern a lot.
He couldn't tell much about his figure through the loose-fitting jumpsuit, but he was holding himself straight, like a trained fighter, but so were all ninja. He had a sword, marking him as a short-ranged type of shinobi, but his small stature wasn't too favorable for close combat. There must be some ace in the hole.
There was also the question of their age. Konoha wasn't known for having a jinchuuriki previously, it wasn't even associated with Bijuu after the Shodai Hokage got rid of his collection. The only intel mentioning the Leaf village and a demon together was the Kyuubi attack nine years ago. The Tsuchikage closed his eyes briefly and remembered the time when he had learned that the dreaded Yellow Flash had finally kicked the bucket. He had thrown a banquet for the occasion.
Speaking of the devil, the boy here had the same shade of hair. Could it be? Nah, he must be imagining things. At least he hoped so. Once the suspicion rooted in his brain, it was impossible to forget. Due to his age, this boy was the likeliest candidate for the jinchuuriki. He would be observing him carefully.
The Hokage watched the lineup as well. Unlike the Tsuchikage, he wasn't plotting anything, merely assessing the competitors and trying to guess what chances the Konoha genin had.
The Kazekage stood up and walked to the railing.
"Greetings to all who came here today," he began his speech. "We hope you will enjoy the final matches of the Chuunin Selection Exams. The tournament may begin now." He sat back into his chair.
Maruishi walked up to the lined-up contestants. "The rules of the finals are simple," he started recounting. "There will be one-on-one matches, everything is allowed. The match ends when one participant is dead or when I say so. There will be special rules for the final three-way fight, in case none of the three finalists forfeits. Now the first match is between Kaede of Suna and Uzumaki Naruto. You two pleas step forward, everybody else leave the arena floor."
The ten genin turned and walked away. Only the two named remained.
Naruto walked to the center of the arena slowly, trying to show as much dignity as he could muster. Tenzo's words from earlier this morning still resounded in his mind. He must present a strong front to show off the power of Konoha. He desperately tried to keep his hands from shaking. He was nervous. He had never felt that way before a fight before, mostly because his previous battles tended to start so suddenly he simply didn't have time to be jittery, he was too preoccupied with simply staying alive. But this time he had a full month of anticipation and it showed. He could only hope that once the fight starts, his worries would disappear.
His opponent calmly strode across the sandy ground inside the stadium like she owned it. The long sleeves of her kimono flowed behind her in the breeze and her feet in high sandals barely left any trace in the sand. The Konoha genin briefly wished he could move with the some elegance. Then he decided it didn't matter. The only thing of importance here was who would win and who would lose.
They came to a stop near the middle of the circular arena. They eyed each other with impassive faces, both hiding they agitation. The crowds cheered loudly, mostly for the local competitor. The proctor briefly made sure they were both prepared, then waved his hand.
"Begin," he called and disappeared in a shunshin.
The Suna kunoichi wasted no time. She swung one of her arms in a wide arc, the sleeve raising a gust of wind. "Fuuton: Cutting Gale," she whispered. A barely perceptible distortion in the air was the only thing that betrayed the presence of dangerously sharp blades.
Naruto didn't wait for them to hit. The moment Kaede first raised her arm his hands were already forming seals. 'Fuuton: Wind shield' was the technique of his choice. The air in front of him moved and rippled, the chakra infusing it dispersing the technique, changing it into a harmless breeze.
The blond boy didn't wait for another attack. With another series of handsigns he called forth a dozen of Shadow Clones and had them charge at the girl. She was unfazed. She swung her other sleeve and destroyed the attacking doppelgangers. They disappeared in quickly dispersing clouds of smoke. The original was nowhere to be seen.
She jumped from her position fully expecting some form of attack to hit the spot she had been standing on. Nothing of the like happened. The young genin remained unaccounted for.
She checked for possible hiding spots. There weren't any. So unless the pesky child could become invisible, he must be underground. Unfortunately she didn't know any Earth technique to force him out. She'll just have to wait for him to come out. And then she'll be prepared to welcome him properly.
Naruto meanwhile was considering his options. The fight barely started and he already discerned that the kunoichi had a move that was both a powerful offense and effective defense. And to boot it she could execute it within a moment. There was no telling what else she might have up her enormous sleeves. This called for caution, and most importantly more information. He crawled into position, released the transformation giving him the form of a lizard and started his plan.
Kaede heard a small rustle behind her. She jumped to the side, whirling in the air, and released another of her signature Cutting Gales in the direction her opponent suddenly emerged from. She saw him forming another batch of clones. She smirked. Didn't the kid learn anything? She'll just destroy them all.
Almost as if the replicas could read her thoughts, they screamed. Her smirk widened, then disappeared. That was some kind of jutsu coming at her. Her right arm came up in a defensive gesture, with it a wind picked up, lifting the sand from the ground and creating a protective wall in front of her.
The original Naruto spat out a fire jutsu and let it be fed from the winds. His training with Fire elemental manipulation, though incomplete, was paying off. Blazing blue flames roared up in the middle of the arena. Before they could die down, a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye made him duck. A long kimono sleeve passed through the space his head had occupied just a fraction of second before. 'How did she get behind me so fast?' he wondered briefly. The Suna Kunoichi pressed her charge.
Her taijutsu was good, she was fast and her sleeves were charged with Wind chakra turning them into nearly unstoppable blades. He had to put some distance between them or he was screwed.
Two of his clones attacked the girl from behind, making her to pause in her attack to dispose of them. It was all Naruto needed. He jumped back and unsheathed his sword. He sent his own Wind chakra into the blade, making an extension appear. He could now double the length of the weapon this way.
The other competitor was upon him again. He swung his ninjato, but she nimbly evaded. Then both her sleeves were closing in on him. A sealless Kawarimi with his last remaining clone got him out of the range of the danger, but he knew his respite would be brief. He needed a strategy and quick. But first he needed time to devise one. Another group of clones was sent to slaughter, but they provided enough cover for him to henge again and disappear from the girl's field of view. Unless she caught on his trick, he should have plenty of time to think in peace. He proceeded to wrack his brain.
The problem was he couldn't hit her, she was just too fast for him. He might try a firestorm encompassing the whole arena, but he wasn't trying to kill her, and he had to consider the spectators' safety as well. He'd have to slow her down somehow, or maybe lure her into a trap. The obvious pitfall of such tactics was that there was no way he could prepare something without her noticing. He mentally went through his list of techniques and equipment at hand, deciding what might stand a chance at hitting her.
Kaede was getting frustrated. That obnoxious child had vanished again. She couldn't fault him for hiding, but it was slowly but surely trying her patience. She wanted to flush him out and beat him senseless. Now if she could just figure out how he kept pulling his disappearing act.
Then suddenly an attack came. She turned and swung her sleeve at the offender. He jumped out of range. She pursued. She noticed a group of clones running around the arena. She moved to destroy them, but the original jumped at her again and she was forced to dodge. She attacked with another swipe of her sleeve. Naruto responded with a Slicing scream. She threw her arm in front of her face to prevent an injury, but her sleeve now sported several tears. The Konoha shinobi slashed with his sword again. A step back took her out of the danger zone. She was already swinging her undamaged sleeve, chakra oozing from the special fabric. Her opponent couldn't dodge. He disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
A clone? Impossible, she had put some scratches on him as soon as he first appeared. Kawarimi, then. But where is he now?
The sound of blades sailing through the air snapped her out of her reverie. The clones that had been running around now stood around her in a circle, their arms still upraised after throwing their kunai. She noticed something on the handles of the throwing knives. Explosive tags? No, that wasn't it. Not that it mattered. One swift move of her arms lifted up wind and sand into a protective dome around her. The projectiles were thrown off course, most of them dispersing, being just chakra constructs.
The wall also obscured her vision, which was exactly what the blond had hoped to accomplish. He withdrew a scroll from his utility pouch and unsealed its contents. It looked like a number of kunai with some ninja wire attached. He threw it at his opponent.
The winds around Kaede died down and the dust slowly settled. It revealed another set of kunai closing on to her. She smirked derogatorily and threw her arms up in her signature defensive move. Then an explosion threw her off her feet.
Now it was Naruto's turn to smirk. The two seals on the kunai had paid off. One of them was just a simple explosive tag, the other was a weight seal. He'd have to thank Kanou for teaching him that one. It made the weapon much harder to throw, but also much harder to block. Just as he expected, it had landed close to the girl, the kunoichi suspecting nothing.
Now she was propelled forward, right into the net rapidly descending on her. Before she could shake off the damage from the blast, she was enveloped by chakra resistant steel wire. Now she was slowed down sufficiently. He charged for an attack.
The Sand kunoichi cursed under her breath. The wires were seriously restricting her movement. She couldn't swing her sleeves to raise wind and she couldn't run. But she wasn't out of options yet. She was more then ready to show the little brat what she was made of.
A fistful of senbon slid into her hand from a holster concealed on her forearm. A flick of her wrist sent them flying towards her fast approaching opponent. Naruto saw them flying and jumped high overhead. One of the needles still marked his ankle drawing blood. He ignored the minuscule wound.
Then another senbon barrage was launched from the girls other hand. He had no chance to dodge in midair. He switched with one of his clones, appearing now behind her back. He resumed his attack.
Kaede scrambled to her feet, frantically trying to untangle herself from the net. She already tried cutting it with chakra, but the wires proved to be extremely resistant. And the child was closing on her again. If she couldn't do something fast, she would lose to a child a little over half her age and she just wouldn't survive the shame. She looked for something she could switch with. Unfortunately the arena floor was barren and the only human-sized things down there were her opponent and his clones. She had never managed a Kawarimi with another person. She tried it anyway. It had the expected result – nothing. It just cost her a precious second.
She had to unleash her last defense. She somehow managed to lift her arm to her head and pluck out the decorative needles from her hairdo. She flung them at her enemy.
Naruto reckoned they weren't just for distraction, but he had no idea what they could do. He decided not to stick around to find out. He switched with a clone on the other side of the stadium. He wasn't a second too early. The decorative parts of the needles exploded and covered the area in a sickly greenish smoke. The Konoha genin thought it was probably some kind of poison. He'd have to be extra careful from now on. She had still more in her hair.
He reached into his poach and took out four kunai with explosive tags. He originally didn't want to use them, intending to spare them for tougher situations, but it looked like he had no choice. When he couldn't get close to the girl, he'd have to take her out from the distance, and he didn't know a technique that would knock her out from that far away. He could try the Great Breakthrough, but it tended to just knock people around, not out, and he couldn't risk her getting out of the net.
The four weapons were launched into the air. The kunoichi saw them and tried to knock them off course with her senbon. The kunai had more inertia and continued only slightly off their intended trajectories. They landed close to the still trapped girl. She desperately tried for another wind barrier, but managed only a gentle breeze.
The notes on the kunai flared for a moment, then exploded. Kaede braced herself for the impact and somehow managed to remain conscious after the blast, but she was badly burnt and shaken, lying on the ground disoriented, unable to get up. Her ears were ringing and there were bright spots dancing in front of her eyes.
Naruto didn't waste a moment. He ran up to his downed opponent and placed his sword on her neck. "Do you yield," he asked. She didn't answer. She couldn't even hear him.
The proctor appeared in the arena again. "Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"
The Konoha genin sighed in relief. He did it! He won his first match in the Chuunin exams. He bowed to the cheering crowds. He gathered his discarded weapons, especially the net, and watched the medics carry the defeated Wind user to the hospital. Then he left the arena to make place for the next pair of competitors.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Kage booth~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So what do you think?" asked the Kazekage.
'That is the question,' though the Tsuchikage. What did he think about it? That Uzumaki boy was strong, not just for his age, but compared to other genin as well. He didn't see him using anything resembling His techniques, he wasn't even particularly fast, but the short man could even now say that the child had the potential to grow into a powerful ninja, true elite of his village. Even at his age the boy was skilled and he had loads of chakra to throw around. Oonoki was certain that his first guess about the identity of the jinchuuriki was correct.
"Kaede is fast and skilled at what she does, but she seems to be overly dependant on just one technique," the Hokage summed up his observations.
"But she has a backup strategy as well," the Kazekage pointed out.
"Not good enough," the Tsuchikage said. "The boy was dominating the fight. He gathered information at first and then used it to launch a devastating strike. But he seemed to be pulling his punches. That would get him killed in a real fight."
"So would you vote for either of them?"
"At that point no, but I'll see what else has the boy to show."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Spectators' stands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Wow," said Kiba wide-eyed. "I had no idea he was so good."
"So you now see why you have to train more?" Tsume asked with a smug smile.
"Yes," he nodded, before regaining his usual attitude. "You'll see, mum, in no time I'll be just as good as him!"
"I'll remember it," she promised.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Finalists booth~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Good fight, Naruto," Hana congratulated him with a smile.
"Thanks," he smiled back.
"Couldn't you finish her off earlier?" Hotaru teased.
"Didn't you see how fast she was?" he objected. "It was all I could do not to get skewered."
"I could have done it faster," scoffed the dog mistress.
"You'll have your chance to shine soon," the purple-haired girl reminded her.
"I'll rip cat-boy to pieces in no time, you'll see," the Inuzuka boasted.
"I think Akira would disagree," a new voice entered the conversation. It was cat-boy's female teammate Mizue, Hotaru's first opponent.
"He might disagree all he wants," Hotaru said, "Hana's going to rip him to pieces and I'm going to do the same to you."
"You'll welcome to try," the long-braided girl shot back.
"Stop it," Akira said, "Toshiro's fight is about to start."
Mizue immediately forgot the baiting and leaned over the railing. Sure enough, down in the arena the two contestants were preparing for their battle.
"Aren't you a bit scared, Naruto?" Hotaru teased.
"Why should I be?" he raised an eyebrow.
"You're going to face one of them in the next round," she elaborated. "They look like they could kill you with one hit."
"Then I mustn't get hit," he answered simply. "And they make pretty big targets for my jutsu."
"So which one you think would win?" The purple-haired kunoichi asked.
"I don't know," he shrugged, "and be quiet now. The match is going to start."
Next time: A couple of quarterfinal matches (what else, duh).