CH 26

d) Chunin – Phase III – "Preliminaries", pt 1

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

Gekko Hayate was surprised that no one backed out at this point of the exam. Usually one or two stepped away. "Well then," he said. "We'll now begin the preliminaries, which will consist of individual combat matches, as though this were part of a tournament."

He looked at them and coughed, saying, "This is a no-holds-barred combat. Each pair of combatants will fight until one of them is dead, unconscious or admits defeat. As soon as you sense that your opponent is overpowering you, immediately concede your loss, if you value your life… Uhhh, since we don't want a total bloodbath on our hands, there may be cases where we will ascertain that there is an undisputed winner and step in to end the match." He paused and then said, "But don't count on that. Oh, since there are an uneven number of participants one of you may just get a 'Bye' or one of you will have to fight twice, we'll see."

"From here on your fate is held in," Hayate paused until the device was revealed. "This electronic scoreboard and at the start of every round, we will display the names of the two combatants competing in that match, so…ummm…not to hurry you all to the slaughter, but let's begin. We'll announce the first two names." (…i…)

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

UCHIHA SASUKE (Konoha) vs AKADO YAROI (Konoha, Kabuto's teammate)

'Naruto told us that Kabuto is a spy or traitor,' Sasuke said. He looked to Naruto for guidance against this one. They both knew that Kabuto's third was their old teammate, but they didn't know the circumstances under which she became a part of that team.

The black haired boy then felt the signal coming onto his palm. The Team had agreed that they'd still wear the Fujin messaging gloves in case they needed team advice. This time he was getting instructions. 'Don't let him get close to you or let him touch you,' Naruto told him, as the Genins were being moved to the observation deck. 'Use you're swords or bombs, Seal your chakra if you can from internal and external harm, do not even use elements, this man doesn't feel right.'

Hayate then looked at the two and asked, "Akado Yoroi, Uchiha Sasuke, you two have been selected to compete in the first bout, any objections?"

'Kill?' Sasuke asked, knowing that it would disturb Risa, but he had to know.

'This is your battle, you decide,' Naruto said.

'If you were Hokage, would you order me to kill this man,' Sasuke looked at up his teammate.

Naruto nodded once and then let the decision belong to his teammate. Risa noticed the answer and pursed her lips.

Sasuke looked at the man and knew that there was something wrong with him. He only said, "I'm good."

"No objections," Yoroi said.

"All right," Hayate said. "Please begin."

Yoroi then said, "Shall I start?"

"Go for it," Sasuke said.

He slipped a hand into two of his hip pouches. He pulled out a scroll, crouched to the floor and used what little chakra he needed to release his swords from inside it, grabbed them. He tossed a couple of capsule bombs, guaranteed for a fiery explosion and shrapnel projectiles with his other hand. Then quickly put a three by three inch square on his left arm and activated the Seal, blocking his own chakra from internal and external influences.

During which Yoroi did a Jutsu and pulled out shuriken. He tossed them at the crouched boy, not really paying attention and was surprised by the burning force and stings that he felt from the bombs.

They were small and didn't hit the Proctor who was smart enough to leap away.

Yoroi quickly tossed some more shuriken this following them, intending to pound the boy with a chakra draining punch. The boy was down on the ground, liked he'd tripped.

Sasuke tossed his scabbards and storage scroll behind him. He played the Rookie and pretended to fall, hiding the blades of his weapons behind him.

Yoroi landed with an open legged crouched, his punched just missed because of the boy's quickstep to the side. His fist only crushed the stone floor not the head he'd been aiming for.

Sasuke used his shorter Wakizashi blade and cut the man's arm at the elbow, while doing an upward stroke with the Katana blade piercing the man through the shoulder of his other arm. The moves were quickly done and hadn't required any chakra enhancement for them.

Like the missing ninja, Zabuza, had taught him, quick strike and move away, which he did as his opponent tried to kick him. However he dropped another bomb under the guy with a very short fuse and backed away quickly, signalling the Proctor to do the same.

This time the bomb blew up in the guy's face with a burning force, no shrapnel this time, but it wasn't needed. This one was a bomb within a bomb. The first part knocked the man out, but the second lodged in the man's clothing and there were flames from the first part.

"Stay back," Sasuke told the Proctor. "There's a secondary…"

Hayate quickly moved away and the body exploded from the bomb that had been lodge in the clothing. There weren't that many body parts flying around, but it was unmistakeable that the man was dead.

The black haired boy looked at the mess he'd made and swallowed hard, clenching his teeth. He wasn't proud of this. There is no honour or glory for a nation in doing something like this. He looked to his blond teammate who nodded to him, knowing that he wouldn't be able to access his chakra until that Seal on his arm was removed.

He wiped his blades clean and then walked over to where their scabbards had been tossed. He sheathed them and then tucked them into their holding places that were a part of the over suit he'd had made by Akiko.

Kasumi flew down and lending what comfort she could. She knew that this was his first real kill.

Hayate was somewhat shocked as were many in the gallery. However the Hokage had noted the exchange between the teammates. "Well," the Proctor said. "Uchiha Sasuke is the champion of the first battle and advances past the preliminaries to the next level."

Sasuke walked up to the observation gallery amid the stares of his fellow Rookies and the others that were there, older than him. "There was something wrong with his hands," he said. "They had a glow to them, so I couldn't let them touch me."

Naruto walked up to him, put his hand on the Seal and released it from the boy's arm. "This was useful?"

"Yes," the black haired boy was still looking at him and asked him through the Fujin Gloves. 'Was he a bad man?'

'If I was Hokage and gave an order like that…You wouldn't need a reason or an explanation to carry out the order, as long as you trusted your Hokage to know it was the right decision or action to take,' Naruto explained to both of his teammates. He was looking at them both and then said, "Yes."

The others around were confused by the exchange, but the blond's two teammates knew that this might be the only time that they'd ever be told that a man was bad or evil. It'd probably helped to know how bad a person is before hunting them done and killing was required, but they both knew that a mission or an order from a superior wouldn't require an explanation.

Sasuke nodded to Naruto and said, "Understood."

"Yes," Risa said.

Then they looked at the scoreboard for the next opponents.

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

ZAKU ABUMI (Sound) vs ABURAME SHINO (Konoha)

Zaku one of the Sound Team, asked, "Who's that loser?"

"I hope Shino's up to this," Hinata said, looking down at her teammate.

"He's pretty tough," Kiba said. "Out of all the people here, he's the only one that I wouldn't want to go up against."

Hayate looked at the two combatants and said, "You may begin."

Shino told his opponent, "If you go though with this you'll be so badly hurt that you'll never be the same. Walk away, while you can."

"Hah," Zaku said. "There's no way that I can lose." He used his techniques to strike and attack. He began with Taijutsu and the used his air or sound technique. That's when he noticed the bugs. They were coming out of the guys wound and there was a creepy skittering sound behind him.

"Do you like my little friends? They're called Kikaichu Parasitic Destruction Beetles," Shino told him. "The attack in swarms and devour the chakra of their prey. There's no way you'd survive an onslaught of this magnitude…so if you value your life…you'd better surrender, it's your only way out."

"Who do you think you're talking to," Zaku said. He extended both his arms to do a simultaneous attack. He forced his chakra into action and arms ruptured. One fell completely and the other was barely staying together. "WHAT ON EARTH?" He screamed.

Shino was behind him and he said, "Just now, while I distracted you with all that helpful advice, my little friends were making their quiet way to key points in your body…creeping down the tunnels you use to blast that gale wind through."

Zaku look at him in anger, saying, "YOU….!"

Shino struck him in the face with a hit powerful enough to knock him out.

Hayate looked at the down boy and thought, 'This exam is turning into a bloody mess of body parts.' He then said out loud, "He's finished, winner Aburame Shino."

The boy walked up the observation deck to join his awaiting teammates.

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

KANKURO (Suna) vs DOSU KINUTA (Sound)

Dosu hopped down to the main from the viewing gallery and why he had to fight the one guy in the room wearing makeup. It was clownish and creepy to him. However he was confident in his sound moves.

Kankuro leapt out of the way and still was walking around fine. He'd been able to land a couple of hits confusing his opponent by the fact that he hadn't been at all affected by the sound waves. Taijutsu was being used and everyone that had fought the Sound Ninja wondered how it was being done.

"Either's he's Sealed his ears," Naruto said.

Risa shook her head. "That person is not alive. That's what Akoba is telling me."

"The doll," Sasuke said. When everyone looked at him, he shrugged and replied, "Don't you remember during the first exam Ibiki asked him if he had fun with his doll, when the guy had needed to go to the bathroom?"

"HOW…" Dosu said from his downed position. "IT'S NOT POSSIBLE!"

Kankuro came out of the wrapping, keeping his ears covered and said, "It is possible. Finish him Crow."

He manipulated the puppet to knock his opponent unconscious. He then looked at the Proctor waiting for the man to tell him that he'd won before leaving the area.

"Winner Kankuro of Suna," Hayate said.

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

HARUNO SAKURA (Konoha) vs YAMANAKA INO (Konoha)

Hayate called out then next combatants.

"What!" Ino exclaimed. "Where is old billboard brow? She wasn't even at the written exam, I refuse to believe she made passed the forest."

Down on the main floor was a figure dressed similarly to Kabuto and Yoroi. The figure was small and then they removed the mask that they had been wearing the entire time of the exam, up until this point. The masked tossed away, but there was no mistaking that pink hair.

"Hello Ino-pig," Sakura said. "Why don't you come down here and see if I could have made it through the forest or not?" She held up her fists in the first stance for a Taijutsu attack.

Ino walked down the stairs. She wasn't about to cause injury to herself, by jumping down, just to fight the pink haired Kunoichi. "All right," the white blond girl said. "I'm here, but just so you know there no way that Sasuke would fall for a fashion blind idiot."

"You think he'd fall for someone simpering on his arms without a brain in her head," Sakura told the other girl. "Still this is a fight that I never saw coming."

Naruto snickered and turned to the black haired boy saying, "Must be nice to be popular."

"Can it Blondie," Sasuke told the still snickering boy. He turned his back on the girls' goo-goo love sick eyes that were both turned in his direction. He moved away from their visual line of sight and sat down. "They need to concentrate on their fight without distractions right? I'd rather not be stared at like that because it's downright disturbing."

"Point," Naruto said looking down at battle.

Sakura was doing well, but they both deflated a little because they could no longer see the black haired boy of their dreams. Ino did something a little dramatic by cutting her hair, but she had a plan that even surprised her always-has-a-plan teammate.

It didn't matter in the end because both girls fought to a double knock out and both failed to pass this stage of the exam.

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

INUZUKA KIBA (Konoha) vs INUZUKA RISA (Konoha)

"Next up," Hayate said. "Inuzuka Kiba versus Inuzuka Risa." He looked and saw to slightly similar looking people coming down opposite sides of the viewing gallery. "Huh, brother and sister?"

"Cousins," they both said at the same time.

Kiba looked at the girl and said, "So 'Cous, you wanna admit defeat now so you don't get embarrassed."

"You want me to pull out the baby pictures of you running around naked with a bunch of puppies in Auntie's back yard or are you gonna shut your yap?" Risa said, adjusting her gloves. She checked pouches by feel knowing what they each contained. "I'm ready," she said to the Proctor.

"Keep your hair on," Kiba said. He looked at his dog and said, "I don't think this is going to be easy." His cousin looked at him with a nearly identical toothy grin and took a stance that mimicked Sakura's from a moment ago.

"All right then," Hayate said. "Begin!"

Risa just stood there looking at her cousin knowing just what he was going to do.

"Ninja Art of Beast Mimicry!" He said crouching low to the ground. "Shikyaku no Jutsu! Down on all fours technique."

"Idiot," she said and whispered softly. "Earth Style: Immoveable Wall." He was running at her, but her fist hit the ground and a six-foot wide, four-foot tall wall appeared in time for him to crash into it, hard!

No one saw that one coming except maybe the members of Team Seventeen. "Atta girl Risa," Naruto said from the rails. "You go for it!"

She then used a chakra infused punch to crack the wall quickly and punch her loud-mouthed, over bearing cousin. 'Who cares if he's going to be the Head of the Clan one day,' she thought. 'I'm going to be a Chunin soon and there is no way that this brat is going to stop me.'

The other thing she had in her favour was the fact that she was female and for some reason beating him in this fashion, allowed him to see his order in her pack and it wasn't yet as an equal. "All right cousin," he said, staying down on all fours. "I, Inuzuka Kiba withdraw from this match, but don't think you're keeping that position for long."

"Rats," Risa said and Akoba yipped that he'd been looking forward to the specialized bombs to use against his beast mimicry Jutsu. "I was looking forward to using those too." She pulled her pup out of her hood and everyone noted that the pup's head was wrapped in a silk cloth that covered his nose. "We'll take these off slowly and find a way to perfect the delivery some other time."

Then she paused to look at the Proctor. "Hayate-sensei?"

"I'm just curious about why you'd cover your dog's nose in such a way," the man said. "Doesn't that render his sense of sme…"

"Hi…mi…tsu," Risa told him with finger shush and a wink. The she look pointedly at her cousin's crouched position and then back at the Proctor with a raised eyebrow.

Hayate coughed and said, "Winner Inuzuka Risa."

"Way to go Risa," Sasuke shouted down at her, surprising nearly everyone up on the gallery. He shrugged off the speculation and didn't care what they thought, because the girl was his teammate. It was only right that he cheered for her.

Naruto was beside, jumping up and down laughing, from his joy. "Yes," he shouted. "You did it!"

Risa just grinned up at her teammates and waved.

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

NARA SHIKAMARU (Konoha) vs KIN TSUCHI (Sound)

Shikamaru looked at the electronic board and scowled. "Me, eh?" He ambled slowly down the stairs and said, "This is such a nuisance and how embarrassing being expected to fight a girl…"

"If that's the way you feel, I'll put you out of your misery quickly!" She told him.

'Even though I learned about the strengths of the Sound ninja when we battled during the second exam, I don't have a clue about what's this one's specialty is,' Shikamaru thought. 'On the other hand, she's had a good opportunity to observe me in action. But I wonder…"

Hayate looked at the two Genin and then said, "Begin."

'Well, this is all I've got,' Shikamaru thought. "Ninja Art: Kagemane no Jutsu."

Sasuke watched the Jutsu through his active Sharingan. He was learning quite a few things at this exam and a few that he knew he'd never use. 'Art of Beast Mimicry,' he thought. 'No thanks! I know about the foul, sulfur and old egg scented bombs that Risa was packing, which was the only reason she covered her pup's nose.'

"Just a one trick pony," the girl from Sound taunted. "How lame!" She dodged his extended shadow and said, "All I've go to do is keep an eye on your shadow's movements…this'll be a piece of cake."

He dodged the two senbon needles that chinged with bells attached at the end. He looked behind him and then looked at the girl. "What a tired old trick! I suppose next you'll be flinging your needles in two groupings with and without bells to mislead me into thinking I'm safe once I've dodged the ones I can hear…until the silent ones perforate me, right?!"

"Chatty aren't you," she said lifting her arm up.

Shikamaru thought, 'All I have to do is evade the silent, phantom needles, once I've mastered the pattern, if I'm careful I can do it.'

A noise distracted him and it came from behind him, 'What?' He looked and then thought, 'Thread? Aw, crud…! She's pulling the strings to ring the bells…! She's mocking me!'

"Too late," she said launching her senbon needled in his direction. Two of which actually hit him. "Once I mastered how to avoid your shadow, you never stood a chance! Now for the coup de grace!" She held up three senbon needles in her, which she immediately dropped for some reason.

She shocked expression told everyone what she was thinking, 'I…can't …move...!'

"Okay," Shikamaru stood up tall. "Now it's time to deploy my 'Shadow Possession Technique'."

"How," She yelled. "Your shadow is nowhere in sight."

He tilted his head down and said, "You still don't get it do you?"

"No way," she exclaimed in realization that she'd been tricked.

"Yes you idiot," he told her. "Such delicate little threads, so high up…there's no way they could cast shadows! Whereas I can make my shadow as big as I wish… or as small, within limits" He lifted his hand and pointed at her, making her mimic his stance and point back at him. He put his hand in his shuriken pouch and pulled one out, making her do the same.

"DON'T BE AN IDIOT,' she yelled in a panicking tone. "While we're locked into this mimicry any injury done to me will hurt you, too!"

"Tell me something I don't know," Shikamaru said, getting them into a mimicked position for throwing.

"You wouldn't," she said, but he did.

He threw the star and held fast in that position for a head-to-head shuriken attack. He could see her struggles to dodge and when the star spun really close him leaned backwards quickly, doubling over onto his hands, while his opponent…

Well, she fully knocked herself out mirroring his move because she was standing too close to the wall.

"The winner is Nara Shikamaru," Hayate said.

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

HYUGA NEJI (Konoha) vs HYUGA HINATA (Konoha)

The next pair of combatants had just as must speculation about its outcome due to the fact that they were family, like the Inuzukas prior battle. Tokuma-sensei wasn't the only sensei to groan when the match up occurred and he knew the main reason why such a match up should never take place.

"This is not good," Tokuma-sensei muttered.

"Why not," Risa asked.

"There's been strain between the Central and Cadet branches of the Hyuga Clan for some time," he told them. "Relations aren't exactly friendly and Neji seems to feel it more. He is from the Cadet branch whereas Hinata is from the main family branch, but in truth they are first cousins as their fathers were twin brothers."

"Weird," Naruto said. "I don't understand the need to separate family like that, even if it's to maintain bloodlines."

"Naruto?" Tokuma-sensei questioned. "How…"

"Hm," the blond turned to look at them. "That's what it sounds like to me. All this talk about main branch, cadet branch, and whatever else goes on. It sounds like an animal breeding program to me and since I don't have family, it's just weird to me to separate everything like that."

"Sometimes Dobe you say the funniest things," Sasuke told him. "Of course you wouldn't understand, but sometimes it's best to track who's related to whom and by what degree to prevent too much inbreeding."

"See," Naruto said with a pointing finger. "I told you it sounds like some kind of animal breeding program." Everyone around him chuckled as the Proctor told the two Hyugas that they could begin their fight.

Neji looked at his cousin, one he'd come to dislike for certain reasons, however instead he chose another method to bring her down. "Before we begin there's something I have to point out, Lady Hinata," he told her. "You're not cut out to be a Shinobi. Withdraw from the match."

Hinata looked at him and couldn't say a word at the moment, "…!"

"You're all sweetness, light and a peacemaker, not a troublemaker," Neji told her. "You're easily led, not a leader where you have to have self-confidence. You've got a world-class inferiority complex. So I know you'd be more comfortable and content staying at the Genin Rank."

The way he was talking and looking at the girl, made several people in the observation deck angry, but the foolish boy just plowed on. "Applicants for the higher-level Chunin selection exam must compete as a trio and you couldn't bear to let your teammates down, but the truth is that your participation has been reluctant from the start, hasn't it?"

"N..no… you're wrong!…I…," Hinata took a breath and continued. "I really wanted to change that about myself. So, of my own volition…"

"Lady Hinata," Neji interrupted her. "You're the sheltered little baby of the main branch, aren't you? A Leopard doesn't change its spots. A failure always fails. A weak personality won't become strong. It's precisely because of the unchanging nature of humankind that differences between people are born…It's why we've coined terms like 'Elite' and 'Failure'. Whatever you're classed at is as unchangeable as the fact that I'm of the cadet branch and you're of the main branch."

"No," Hinata said. "I really want to…"

"My eyes can't be deceived," Neji then activated his Byakugan. "Every motion of your eyes, hands, body, all of it can't deceive me. You worry, you're fears are overwhelming, you feel the failures of your past coming and inflicting doubts in you. Because of all this you will fail, and you must be aware that you can never change yourself!"

"YES SHE CAN!" Naruto shouted down. "What did you do? Read some psychology book to feed her that utter bullshit! You can't arbitrarily decide these things about other people you fool! Show him, Hinata! Beat up this idiot!"

"Talk back to him at least," Risa shouted down. "Everything he said is wrong. Just hearing him talk like that makes me want to slap him silly. I'd never let anyone talk like that to me and I have the same fears and doubts you do. Stand up girl."

"Make a decision and see it through," Sasuke told her with a nod.

Hinata's surprise at being cheered on by her secret crush Naruto was doubly increased when his entire team was there with him, supporting her. She smiled shyly at them and thought, 'Naruto…Thank you! All of you!'

She turned to look at her cousin with firm conviction and strength.

"So you're not going to withdraw?" Neji said. "Then I won't be responsible for what happens here."

'I'll never go back on my word,' the girl thought. 'That's my Shinobi way too!'

Hinata activated her Byakugan and said, "Neji, Onii-san…let's fight!"

Both their fighting stances were the same. They both had their Kekkei Genkai activated.

"Damn them," Tokuma-sensei said watching the fight take place.

For a moment it looked like the girl was going to succeed. However a series successive punches later and then Hinata coughed up blood. Neji had her arm, pushed up her sleeve and revealed finger-tip bruising. She was surprised and said, "It can't be…you mean you… from the very beginning…?"

"That's right," Neji said. "Withdraw now."

"No," Hinata said. She continued to press and he continued to hit in places that made her cough up more blood. She was smiling full of confidence, but holding onto her side.

The Proctor looked on knowing who won, but sometimes things needed to be said.

"You're wrong about everything cousin," she told him. "I can see it now…that even more than me…it is you who is torn and suffering…caught between the destinies of the main branch and the cadet branch of our clan."

Tokuma-sensei sighed and told them, "Someone finally saw it and told him."

Neji growled and ran at her intending to attack her to finish her off.

Hayate called out, "NEJI, THE MATCH IS ALREADY OVER!"

The boy was stopped by the Proctor and some of the senseis. His master, Maito Gai said, "Enough Neji! Before this began you swore that you wouldn't drag the issues you have with your family's main branch into this."

"Well," Neji said. "Why is it that the other Jounin are getting involved? Special protection for the main branch, eh?"

Hinata's heart throbbed and she coughed up more, collapsing to the ground.

Naruto jumped down and ran to her. "Hinata," the blond told her just before she lost consciousness. "You did good!"

Neji then started talking to him, "Hey you, mister failure! Let me tell you a couple of words of advice. A true Shinobi warrior would have too much class to make a spectacle of himself by cheering during a serious match." He paused and then continued, "One more thing, you may as well accept who you are, once a failure, always a failure."

"Moron," Sasuke said to the Hyuga. "How is he a failure? He became Genin the same time you did!"

"That's right," Risa said. "Still have a problem with that blind spot of yours? Have you figured out how to detect someone when they become your hair tie?"

Naruto was still kneeling by the girl. His goggles were down and he'd activated his GYO technique, which surprisingly allowed him to sort of see the problems that the girl was having. "Forgive my impertinence," he said as he put his hand inside her shirt and used the REN technique to repair a couple of the more immediate dangers. He needed to hide this ability for now and the best action was to hide his hands. "MEDICS, what the hell are you doing standing around? Get your lazy asses over here and get her on a stretcher, while I have her stable!"

"Yes sir," they shouted and obeyed without much thought other than to get to that girl and take over from whatever that blood boy was doing. They had her on a stretcher, as they monitored her vitals they realized that the boy was doing something, but nothing that they could see to keep her stable.

"You guys take over now," Naruto said. Slowly he released the REN from his hands. The medics quickly stabilized with their methods and ran out of the room. He ran his hands through the blood that the girl had coughed up. He stood up, made a fist holding it out in front of him, pointed at Neji and said, "I vow to win!"

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

TBC…

(…i…) Order of the fights will not occur in the same order as the manga or animé for the most part – some of the battles will be the same and some conversations will be the same too – take from Vol. 8 - 11