Well there is no Naruto chapter this week which is really freaking heart breaking… But I figured now is as good a time as any to release a new chapter for everyone so we all have our Naruto fix until the actual manga resumes in a week with… A DOUBLE ISSUE!? Sorry, I'm excited for it as… Well if you're not caught up then I won't ruin it for you but shit just got real…
Anyways, here is the newest chapter for the story enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own naruto.
Chapter 12
Holding Back
The crowd was beginning to become restless. The proctors announced a brief intermission so that the contestants could prepare for the next round of matches.
During that intermission, bets had been placed for the next round on who would emerge victorious.
From the talk of the crowd, Sasuke was being bet on winning as was Naruto in his first match. But Gaara of the sand was bet on winning against the Uzumaki.
Very few people would bet on someone going a round against the Kazekage's son right after fighting a Hyuga.
Kakashi of course had bet on Naruto winning and suppressed a grin. He was hoping to get a lot of money out of this.
Glancing to his right, Sasuke was attempting to gain information on Lee from Naruto, but the blonde was unyielding and simply ignored his friend's requests.
"It wouldn't be fair to either of you! I haven't told him about you, and I won't tell you about him. You'll find out soon enough!" Naruto said, crossing his arms and turning his head.
Sasuke seemed slightly irritated at the display but eventually gave up.
Tenten watched as her teammate pledged to their sensei that he would win against Sasuke Uchiha otherwise he would climb the Hokage monument with one hand while wearing two times the normal weight he wore.
Tenten rolled her eyes.
'There's no way Lee could beat this guy… He beat Neji after all and Lee's never beat Neji…' She felt a slight pang of guilt for thinking this, but she felt it was true.
She glanced over at the boy that had surprised her and saw that he was talking with Naruto.
'I wonder if Naruto's can beat Sasuke Uchiha.'
She quickly made the decision that he could not as during the few times she had met him, Lee was clearly much stronger than him.
'Well… Good luck to you Lee.'
The Hokage leaned back and groaned as his back popped uncomfortably.
"And still you do not choose someone else to take up the responsibilities?" The Kazekage chuckled at the old man.
"I still have plenty of fight in my Kazekage, no need to worry about that just yet." The Hokage grumbled as popped his back once again and felt a wave of relief.
He glanced at the crowd as they grew more and more restless for the next round.
'Well Jiraiya… Let us see if Naruto-kun shows off any of those skills you taught him.'
Ino sat silently next to her father as the intermission was coming to an end.
She shifted in her seat, anticipation building in her for the coming matches.
'I'm sure I'm not the only one… I mean Naruto and Sasuke have both surprised us so far.'
She glanced to her father who seemed to be looking at the two boys that were on everyone's minds.
'The Jinchuriki has become very strong since the academy days; I can see why Ino was so fascinated with him. Same goes for the Uchiha. For Genin, those two are something to be reckoned with.'
"Now then!" Genma announced from the middle of the field. "The next match, Rock Lee versus, Sasuke Uchiha!"
The crowd roared at this, to see the Uchiha in action once again excited them.
Naruto grinned widely, knowing that this fight was going to be the talk of the village for quite some time.
He said nothing to Sasuke this time about winning, feeling that it wouldn't be fair to his friend Lee.
He merely nodded to the two and gave them both a thumbs up.
'At last, I will be able to show everyone here that working hard matches being a natural genius!' Lee's fist tightened as he glanced at the Uchiha who was walking just ahead of him through the stadium towards where they would enter the arena.
'He has definitely improved in the past month… His speed matches my own, and in just a month at that... Sasuke Uchiha is definitely a fantastic shinobi!'
They finally arrived before Genma and positioned themselves in the middle of the arena facing one another.
Sasuke smirked. "It's not going to be a brief fight like when we first met."
Lee nodded. "I have assumed as much Sasuke. This fight will be a bit of a challenge; however I shall not back down!"
Genma signaled the beginning of the match as the crowds cheers swelled.
Sasuke moved first, unleashing a barrage of shuriken towards the green clad boy.
One moment he was there, the next he wasn't.
'He's already taken his weights off…' Sasuke thought as he recalled what Kakashi had warned him of.
Jumping back, he avoided a sweep from Lee who had reappeared beside him.
Upon landing, Lee was on him with a barrage of Taijutsu that had Sasuke being driven backwards.
'Damn this guy is strong' Sasuke thought as he winced slightly from a kick that he blocked with his forearm.
Sasuke took a step forward, a risky move as it left him open against Lee's Taijutsu, however in his hand was a kunai that Lee had nearly failed to notice.
As Lee went in for a blow to Sasuke's ribs, Sasuke brought the blade up towards Lee's chin with amazing speed.
Thankfully, Lee's reflexes kicked in and he bent backwards just enough to allow the blade to pass him harmlessly. Flipping backwards he landed just as Sasuke jumped towards him. Lee jumped again and whirled around.
"Konoha Senpū" Sasuke grit his teeth as he tried to block Lee's kick, but the force of the strike sent him hurtling back.
Lee appeared beside the downed Sasuke and jumped into the air to avoid Sasuke's quick shuriken barrage. As he landed, Lee quickly brought his knee up to block Sasuke's foot coming towards him. Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke shifted his foot so that he could push off of Lee's leg and tried to knee him in the chin. The hit connected and Lee winced as his teeth clacked against each other painfully.
Sasuke was suddenly sent flying from a kick to his abdomen from Lee. Sasuke rolled to the ground and sprung back to his feet, the two now had some distance between each other.
Lee stared at the Uchiha for a moment.
'He's much better than I had thought he would be… I may need to open the gates in order to defeat him, especially if he begins to use ninjutsu to keep me at bay.'
Sasuke grinned. 'Now that I can keep up with him, it doesn't matter that his Taijutsu is better than my own, my Sharingan can predict his movements well enough to not be a problem.'
Sasuke put his kunai back in his holster. "Not as confident as you were earlier I see" Sasuke goaded Lee.
Lee did not react immediately. "It is true that originally I had thought that I may be able to defeat you quickly, however after watching your fight with Neji, I knew this was not the case."
Sasuke nodded. "Good, I don't want this to be over quickly."
Lee dodged to the side as a fireball roared towards him.
His eyes widened in surprise, 'I barely tracked the hand seals on that, he has become much faster.'
Whirling around another fireball raged towards him. It was simple enough for Lee to jump backwards and miss the impact, but from the heat it was generating Lee knew this was not the same technique that had defeated Neji.
'He's distracting me' Lee quickly realized. He dropped to the ground just as Sasuke's roundhouse kick flew over his head.
Twisting around, he swept Sasuke's feet from underneath him. Sasuke merely grunted as he planted his hands on the ground and lashed out with his heel, forcing Lee to block the strike with his own forearm.
Sasuke frowned as he had put more force into this strike than he had meant to and Lee had simply blocked it without a problem.
'No wonder Naruto got so strong… If he had trained with this guy, it would explain a lot.'
Pushing off the ground, he twisted in the air, sending a round house kick at Lee who just dodged the strike.
Lee jumped back avoiding the strike and landing a good distance away from the Uchiha.
Sasuke threw another barrage of shuriken at Lee who drew a kunai from its holster and deflected the stars with ease.
Lee's eyes widened as Sasuke appeared in front of him, his foot striking him in the chin and sending him into the air.
'This is the lotus!' Lee thought, slightly panicked knowing how destructive the technique is.
Sasuke appeared beneath him grinning, using the shadow of the dancing leaf technique.
'That time, he copied me?' Lee wondered.
Lee grit his teeth as Sasuke's foot slammed into his stomach sending him towards the ground. 'No, this isn't the lotus!'
As Sasuke's next hit came at him, Lee caught the strike and using their momentum, reversed their positions.
Sasuke had no time to react as Lee's foot dug into his stomach just as he hit the ground.
The ground buckled slightly beneath Sasuke as the full force of Lee's kick hit him.
Lee rolled to the ground and jumped to his feet, falling into his Goken pose.
Sasuke struggled to his feet, a slight amount of blood trailing down his chin.
'This guy managed to stop my lion's combo… Damn it he's good.' Sasuke thought as he wiped his chin.
His crimson eyes bore into Lee, however Lee was not looking at his eyes but at his feet.
'Dammit… I can't use Genjutsu on him either as he isn't meeting my eyes.'
"Well Sasuke, is that all you can do against me? I was hoping to use some of my more advance techniques."
Sasuke bit his tongue, knowing he was trying to get a rise out of him.
'I could use my dragon flame technique again, but I want to conserve my chakra for when I face Naruto… But that might not be an option.'
"This isn't over Lee" Sasuke said. Suddenly, the two disappeared in a display of speed, only reappearing when the two traded blows.
The Kazekage was impressed. The odd boy was giving Sasuke a run for his money and had not even used any ninjutsu. He knew of course, that Rock Lee had no talent for anything but Taijutsu, but it surprised him still.
"You have some exceptional Genin this year Hokage-dono."
Hiruzen nodded at this. "Each generation of shinobi is set to surpass the previous generation."
The Kazekage said nothing at this, but continued to watch as Lee and Sasuke traded blows.
The rest of the audience cheered on each of the boys as the battle raged on, neither side seemed to be able to gain ground over the other. An explosion rang out as Sasuke unleashed the same technique that had conquered Neji Hyuga, but Lee had been fast enough to escape the blast.
Tenten was amazed at how well Lee was doing against the Uchiha when Neji had failed against the boy.
Ino sat there, her mouth open in awe as she couldn't keep track of their movements.
'This is what Sasuke is capable of… Naruto is right, if I had gone up against him, I'd be taken apart.'
She glanced over at Naruto who seemed focused on the match, a smile on his face as his eyes darted back and forth, following the two in the arena.
'If he can keep track of them, then Naruto is probably on their level as well… To think that the dobe from the academy can keep track of that kind of speed.'
Kakashi was also impressed at the boy his student was currently fighting. 'I pushed Sasuke to the limit and beyond and it seems he's equal to Sasuke, I definitely made a miscalculation. I meant to make him stronger.'
Glancing at his subordinate he was pleased to see that Naruto could keep up with the two. He had shown some amazing speed in the past, but the battle before them was faster then he had seen Naruto perform.
"He's going to lose" Naruto muttered.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this. "Lee?"
Naruto shook his head. "Sasuke… Unless he has some technique that can counter Lee's next move he's going to lose. They're even right now, but Lee is going to go further in a bit."
Kakashi narrowed his eyes. 'The Goken style uses the eight inner gates from what I've seen with Gai, but he wouldn't be so reckless as to teach Lee how to open more than two gates… Would he?'
Sasuke went flying back as Lee's foot connected with his face.
He skidded to a stop and stared angrily at Lee.
'This isn't good, we're completely even so far, and yet he's been able to land more hits that I have. Even with my Sharingan, it's becoming more and more difficult to avoid his hits.'
Lee smiled at Sasuke. "You are indeed formidable. To think a month ago I was able to defeat you with little effort, you truly are an amazing Shinobi. However, it is time for me to show you a technique that will finish you!"
Sasuke's fist tightened. 'I'd use the Chidori to end this, but Kakashi ordered me to never use it against a leaf shinobi.'
Lee loosened the wrappings around his arms before crouching slightly, his arms crossed in front of him.
The air began to ripple around him and loose dirt and rock began to rise around him.
'What is this?' Sasuke wondered. His Sharingan saw that Lee's chakra network began to overflow with chakra.
"THIRD GATE, GATE OF LIFE! OPEN!"
Lee shot forward and clipped Sasuke with a right hook.
Sasuke flew back before suddenly he was launched into the air as Lee appeared behind him.
Then he was flying back to the ground as Lee appeared again.
'This speed! What the hell is this!?' Sasuke knew he couldn't keep up as he felt himself being tossed around like a rag doll.
For what seemed like an hour for Sasuke, he was being pummeled by Lee.
Then suddenly, it stopped and he hit the ground, unable to move. A wave of pain crashed over him as he lay there for a moment. His vision began to dim and the last thing he noticed was how blue the sky was.
'Dammit… I wasn't strong enough… I'm sorry Naruto; I can't fight you this time.'
The crowd roared as Genma declared Rock Lee as the winner of the match.
Kakashi sighed. He had lost a fair amount of money from betting on Sasuke to win the match. 'I wonder just how many gates he can open.'
Naruto sighed. "Too bad… I wanted to show Sasuke the new techniques I learned."
The healers marched onto the field and took Sasuke's limp form away on a stretcher.
"The healers will take care of him. He'll be up and running soon enough." Kakashi said nonchalantly. "I think it's your turn though."
Naruto nodded and he glanced over at where Hinata sat beside her father.
'So I have to fight Hinata eh? I wonder how strong she is now.' Naruto wondered.
He began walking away when Ino called out to him. He turned and looked at her.
"Good luck Naruto, make sure you get farther than Sasuke and me" she sounded as if she was giving him an order.
Naruto considered her for a moment before smiling at her. "Sure."
Ino smiled as well and leaned back in her seat.
Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. 'Well well… It seems Inoichi's daughter is taking an interest. I wonder what Sasuke would think of this… Or Sakura for that matter.'
Hiashi Hyuga was worried. His oldest daughter was about to face off against the Kyubi Jinchuriki. A month ago he might not have been so worried about her prospects; however from what he had been hearing around the village as well as his fights in the exams that he had observed, the boy had become quite a Genin since the academy.
He had given Hinata advice to go all out as quickly as possible and close off his Tenketsu before Naruto could have a chance to take her down.
Hinata had been more nervous than before as the match began to approach and Hiashi could do nothing to calm her nerves.
"Watch closely Hanabi… We shall see if Hinata can overcome her emotions and fight against that which she holds… dear."
Hanabi nodded silently, knowing what her father meant.
Naruto stood in the arena, watching as Hinata slowly emerged from the dark hallway into the same arena.
When she finally reached the middle, she looked extremely nervous, her two index fingers poking against one another.
Naruto noticed how she avoided his gaze as the proctor announced for the two of them to begin.
"Hey Hinata!" Naruto called out.
She glanced at him. "Just relax Hinata. You've gotten this far in the exams and have done great; this is just another challenge for you. Give it your all; I want this to be a good match not just for the audience, but for the two of us." He smiled at her, a wide smile that caused Hinata to flush.
"N…Naruto-kun… I just wanted to say… Ever since the academy, y…you've inspired me… To become a great Shinobi… To never give up…"
Naruto laughed. "Never give up! That's the way to do it!"
Hinata allowed herself a small smile. 'Naruto-kun… I will not hold back, I want to show you how far you've helped me…'
Concentrating her chakra, she activated her Byakugan.
She was shocked however when she saw Naruto's chakra network.
'His Tenketsu! My Byakugan can't pinpoint them! What's going on?'
Naruto grinned when she activated her Byakugan. "It's not going to be that easy" he said as he shot forward.
Hinata swatted away Naruto's fist so that it sailed past her head harmlessly.
She went in for a palm strike that Naruto side stepped, countering with a round house kick which Hinata dodged by bending backwards.
Naruto was surprised at her flexibility.
Taking a step forward towards Naruto to get in his guard, she went for where she assumed a Tenketsu in his arm might be and struck at it quickly.
She winced as the small chakra amounts she released seemed to rebound back through her fingers, giving her a bit of a nasty shock. Naruto grinned as she winced and used it to his advantage to kick her away.
Hinata grit her teeth as she skidded away, thankfully staying on her feet.
'Why did that happen?' Hinata wondered.
Naruto glanced down at where she had struck him and saw that his jacket was unharmed.
'Thank you Ero-sennin.' He thought as he recalled the day he got the jacket.
Flashback
Naruto watched as Jiraiya presented him with a brown leather jacket.
"That seems kinda impractical…" Naruto deadpanned.
Jiraiya simply laughed. "This is a special jacket. The leather is fairly thin so it won't impede your movements, so you'll still be able to move regularly. The special part is the multitude of seals we'll be putting on it to help you out."
Naruto took the jacket from him. "What are the seals going to do to help me out?"
Jiraiya grinned. "Well as a sensory shinobi, you know that being detected by other sensors can be a problem, so it'll mask your chakra from anyone trying to find you. Also, you may have to fight against either the Uchiha, or the Hyuga. The seals will help prevent the Sharingan from seeing your chakra flow while the Hyuga will still be able to see the flow of chakra but the Tenketsu won't be visible."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. This was a handy jacket for the exams. "It won't do much good in the field as the Sharingan and the Byakugan are only found in Konoha."
Jiraiya huffed at this. "There are still rogue ninja that have other Doujutsu that the jacket could help you against."
Naruto nodded as Jiraiya took the jacket from him and laid it on the ground. Using a thin kunai, Jiraiya cut at the seams on the jacket, taking it apart. "Also, we're going to put a secondary seal on top and fill it with some chakra. This way if you fight a Hyuga, when they use their technique against you, it'll give some backlash. That won't last forever so don't depend on that working for very long."
Naruto sat beside the old man as he pulled out an ink well and a brush.
"Let's begin."
Flashback end
Naruto shot forward, not fearing Hinata's techniques.
They began to trade blows, as Sasuke and Neji had done earlier that day.
With a sweeping motion, Hinata jumped over Naruto aiming a strike at Naruto's exposed neck. Naruto dropped to the ground and rolled away, running through hand seals for his fireball jutsu.
As Hinata landed, she began to spin for her rotation technique while Naruto's fireball roared towards her.
The two techniques clashed and Naruto grinned as he remembered Sasuke's fight against Neji.
'Although this isn't over yet…'
Naruto made his cross sign and six Naruto's appeared around him.
With a nod, the six clones shot towards the Hyuga girl as the fireball technique disappeared and Hinata's rotation ended.
Up in the stands Hiashi frowned.
"Hinata is doing very well against Uzumaki" Hanabi said, a small smile playing at her features.
"Hinata is going to lose." Hiashi stated.
Hanabi looked to her father. "What do you mean?"
"His Tenketsu have not been struck. He has used some sort of seal to hide them away so that Hinata cannot effectively close off his chakra network."
Hanabi's head snapped back to the battle raging before her as she activated her Byakugan.
"What kind of seal can do that?" she asked her father as she found he was correct.
"It had to have been made prior to the match in the event he was to fight Neji or Hinata. He had enough foresight to do such a thing which impresses me. It must be either on his body, or his clothes."
Hanabi was impressed. Her sister was basically fighting blind against the boy. The Byakugan was an essential part of their Taijutsu, without it there was little they could do.
Hinata back tracked as the clones attacked her from various angles; however she was able to fend them off with little difficulty.
'Naruto-kun has become very fast with his Taijutsu… However that is irrelevant against the Juken. Once within a certain range, I can track their movements with my eyes and quickly counter them… However, Naruto-kun is amazing that he has not sustained any damage…'
She bit her lip as she swatted away a kick from one of the clones before pushing it back with a flurry of strikes.
Behind her, she saw two of the clones making a bee line towards her.
Doing something unconventional, she dropped to the ground and swept the Naruto clone's feet from under him. Without pausing, she spun around and grabbed the clone by its ankles and threw him at the other two clones.
The three of them collided painfully before poofing out of existence.
Naruto's eyes widened from where he stood watching.
"That was different" he said, his mouth slightly agape.
The other three clones took a few steps back.
'She's trying something new since nothing has worked so far… I didn't think that the Hyuga tried anything other than their gentle fist stuff…' Narrowing his eyes he decided that he needed to stop pussy footing around the situation. 'I didn't want to hurt her, but I guess there's no other way. Stupid of me to try and find a way to restrain her…' He swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat. He had always liked Hinata. Sure she was weird, quiet and shy. She always seemed to stutter when she noticed that he was around, but she had been nice to him during their days at the academy, never laughing at him or berating him.
"Hinata, I just want to say, that I'm sorry" he declared.
Hinata seemed confused.
"I wasn't taking you seriously… I thought that maybe I could just restrain you like I did with that weasel thing my last opponent summoned… But you're a lot stronger than I realized and now I have to start fighting back with my real strength. I didn't want to hurt you, since, I consider you a friend!"
A murmur ran through the crowd at this.
Hinata blushed. 'H…He thinks of me as a friend?' She smiled, his acknowledgement causing her spirits to soar.
"You really surprised me by stepping away from your Juken for a moment there, and that's when I realized that you're stronger than anyone's realized. You have a lot more to show me in this fight, but I need to end this."
'In case I need to use that technique against Gaara.' Naruto took a deep breath and made a cross seal.
Fifty clones appeared around him.
"When you wake up, we'll have to train together some time!"
Hinata fell into her Juken stance. "N…Naruto… I will not fail…"
She smiled, knowing that in the end, Naruto, the one she had admired from a far, the one who had come so far in such a short amount of time was going to win.
The clones rushed her as the original Naruto stood back and watched as his clones swarmed her.
She fell back into a new stance, her eyes closed for a moment.
"Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!" She stepped forward as the first few clones entered within range of her divination, ready to strike them down.
Just as she began to deliver the first of the strikes, hers eyes widened as she saw the chakra within the clones swell.
Five clones right next to Hinata exploded violently, sending dust into the air.
There was a brief interval where the other clones stopped for a moment. Naruto watched stoically for a moment before shifting his foot. The motion prompted the other clones to rush forward again. Another five went off, then another five.
Each time, a few seconds would pass before the next group shot forward and did the same.
Kakashi paled at the sight. 'That's a devastating move, especially for Naruto… The amount of clones he can create is amazing. Now that he knows this technique he could take down a platoon of Chunin quickly if they weren't careful.'
Hiashi stood up, his fist tightened as he watched the explosions fill the arena.
Hanabi looked away, not wanting to see what would happen to her sister.
The final set of explosions died off, leaving the stadium unnaturally quiet.
Nobody seemed to move as the dust began to settle. Many people began to strain their eyes, to get a glimpse of Hinata to see if she was alive or dead.
Naruto had disappeared from where he had previously stood as the explosions had erupted.
Then, they saw it. Where Hinata had been when the first clones exploded, stood Naruto, Hinata unconscious in his arms.
"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki!" Genma announced, appearing behind him.
He glanced at the Genin being held by Naruto.
'Well, she isn't too injured. Some burns and bruises… Maybe some broken bones, nothing that can't be healed quickly.' Genma smiled. 'The boy showed restraint. He didn't detonate the clones within the kill radius. Just far enough away to knock her around a lot. No wonder he made so many, just five wouldn't have been enough to knock her out doing it that way.'
The two Kage watching were of the same opinion.
'Naruto-kun has really learnt how to use his clones effectively. Not only that but he knew enough about his technique to not permanently harm Hinata. He has grown so much since he was told of Minato. I am proud of him.'
The Kazekage leaned forward. 'The boy continues to impress me… This match will definitely be one to enjoy.'
Naruto lowered Hinata onto the gurney that lay before him. Medic ninja quickly shooed the boy away before taking her off the field and off to the medical wing.
Naruto watched their retreating forms, smiling as he thought of Hinata. 'She's changed since the academy. She was so shy and timid… But fighting her now, I see that she's changing. Just like me.' He turned and looked up at the crowd, scanning for someone. Finally, he locked eyes with the Hokage. 'Old man… That job will be mine!' he thought with such force, he entertained the brief thought that the Hokage could hear him. He was taken aback slightly when the Hokage gave him a knowing nod, as if to say he did not doubt it.
Turning back around, he locked eyes with his next opponent.
'The Ichibi Jinchuriki… Gaara. It's that time I guess.' Naruto thought.
Ino wiped her forehead. To think that she thought she could contend with Naruto if she had to fight him by some chance. That technique would have decimated her and she was surprised that Hinata had lived. Her father had explained to her what Naruto had done to ensure that Hinata was perfectly safe.
'I would have kicked his ass if he had risked her life needlessly… I mean, she's one of us after all!'
However a new feeling began to settle over her. She watched as Gaara appeared on the field in front of Naruto in a flurry of sand.
'This guy nearly killed Sakura, and Shikamaru and Shino both quit against him… If those two thought this guy was trouble, Naruto might be in danger.'
Glancing at her father, she noticed the look in his eyes as he watched the two boys.
'He knows something about him… He's nervous, expecting something' Ino analyzed. 'If something goes wrong, it's like he might intervene' Ino realized. She looked back at Gaara and felt a shiver run up her spine.
Kakashi noticed Ino's reaction from where he stood. 'She's a sharp one… She knows that her father and possibly other Jonin are waiting for something to happen…'
He shifted slightly as he heard someone behind him.
"Sasuke, welcome back. You're just in time for Naruto's third match."
Sasuke grunted, not feeling particularly happy at being beaten.
He looked down at the field and flopped into a seat beside Kakashi that was empty.
'So Naruto is facing Gaara… Just what he wanted… To get revenge for Sakura.'
He glanced at Kakashi and noticed he seemed unusually tense.
"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked.
"Hm? Oh, just eager for Naruto's match to start. The anticipation is killing me" Kakashi said with a wave of his hand.
Sasuke returned his attention back to Naruto and Gaara. 'I hate being lied to… Especially by someone who's so bad at it.'
Sakura tried to lean forward to get closer to the television but winced in pain as her body protested against her. She had been unable to tear herself away from the screen throughout Sasuke's matches as well as Naruto's.
But this one was made her feel uneasy. She remembered how Gaara's sand had shielded him from any attack thrown at him from her as well as from his two opponents earlier that day.
"Naruto, you have to be careful… Otherwise, he might kill you." She whispered to no one.
She grasped the blanket that covered her and bit her lip. Despite all of her arguments with the blonde, she felt he had become important to her and she couldn't bear to see something bad happen to him.
"Please… Give up… Don't let him kill you." She whispered.
The classroom was cheering as the camera focused on Naruto's face.
Konohamaru sat in a corner cheering Naruto's name but quickly fell silent at Iruka's glare.
'Shouldn't have gotten caught placing bets with the others…' the boy thought to himself.
The others had been allowed out of their corners, however since Konohamaru was the instigator of it all, he was to be punished longer.
However that didn't matter to him, he had a great view of the screen that was featuring his rival.
'Naruto, be careful against him.' Iruka thought as he watched the screen pan out so that both opponents were seen staring at one another.
The match had already started, but the two of them had just stared each other down for a few minutes, neither of them speaking.
Finally, it was Naruto who broke the silence.
"I'm going to cause you a world of hurt for what you did to Sakura…"
Gaara said nothing, but his eyes did seem to darken for a moment.
"I just thought you should know why I'm going all out on you when I held back so much against the others."
Gaara folded his arms.
"I will kill you Naruto Uzumaki…" the sand Genin stated, as if it were a simple fact.
Naruto snorted. "Why? Cause you've never been hit before? That'll change."
Gaara did not respond and the two went back to staring for a moment.
"After I've killed you, I'll find the Uchiha, and kill him as well." Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Then I'll kill this Sakura you keep talking about. Then the boy in green and eventually, everyone in this village."
Naruto clenched his fist. 'I guess I'll just have to beat it into his head that as long as I'm here, he won't touch anyone…'
Naruto smirked. "Only if you can beat me. If I beat you though, I'm making sure we change that attitude of yours!"
Gaara's eye twitched. 'What a strange boy…' he thought. 'I will enjoy crushing his body…'
Suddenly the cork on his gourd shot out at Naruto who cart wheeled out of the way.
Suddenly, a wave of sand loomed over the blonde boy. He shot backwards as the wave crashed over where he had been a split second ago.
'He's not wasting any time!' Naruto thought as he drew a kunai and threw it at Gaara.
The blade was stopped as sand shot up in front of the boy and caught it. Just as it halted its progress, the blade exploded.
Naruto was forced to duck under a tendril of sand that aimed for his neck.
Rolling to the side, he jumped as sand seemed to surround him.
A clone appeared underneath Naruto and he used it as a springboard to gain even more altitude.
He floated for a moment as he saw that Gaara was unharmed from his exploding kunai.
'Guess I'll have to do what Lee would do… Hit him up close with some Taijutsu. After all, his sand didn't seem that fast.'
As he fell to the ground, the sand seemed to gather beneath him before suddenly forming a together, creating what Naruto would describe as a patch of spikes waiting to impale him.
He ran through a few quick hand seals.
"Kirigakure no Jutsu" a mist began to envelope the area when Naruto formed a few more seals before holding out his hand. The mist seemed to draw towards Naruto's hand as water formed and began to swirl.
"Suiton: Hahonryū" the vortex of water destroyed the sand spikes, allowing Naruto to land harmlessly.
With a grin, he quickly disappeared.
Gaara narrowed his eyes when he saw that Naruto could not be seen.
Suddenly, he felt an odd sensation in the back of his head as he was lifted off of his feet and shot towards the wall. It felt very unpleasant… In fact… It hurt. This was when Gaara realized that he had been struck there by Naruto.
Naruto's grin widened when Gaara's body hit the stone wall.
"I take it this is the first time you've been hit before?" he asked.
Gaara had fallen to the ground after his impact and it took a minute for him to stand up. Turning around, he glared at Naruto. His skin seemed to be falling off, but there was another layer of skin.
Naruto grit his teeth. 'Damn. He's wearing some kind of armor made of sand. So his regular sand isn't his only defense. No wonder this guy has never been hurt before.'
He cracked his knuckles as Gaara's sand formed around him and seemed to repair his thin layer of sand armor.
"I guess I'll just have to beat it off of you!"
He disappeared again. Gaara flinched as he knew that his sand could not protect him against the boy.
Naruto reappeared beside him and sent him flying with a right hook.
Gaara grunted as he flew to the side. Naruto was about to charge after him when the sand sprung up in front of him and tried grabbing him, forcing him to jump back again to avoid it.
'This sand is really annoying.' Naruto thought as he avoided another few tendrils of sand.
'This Gaara guy is really strong…' he glanced over at the boy to see that his sand armor had begun to come apart again.
'I've got to keep up my attack though.'
He disappeared again and Gaara growled in anger. His sand shot towards him, intent on reaching the boy before Naruto did.
Gaara grunted when the blonde appeared before him and hit him with an uppercut, lifting him off of his feet for a brief second.
'He's really heavy' Naruto realized as he whirled around and kicked him away.
Gaara growled as he felt Naruto's foot connect with his stomach.
'He is very strong… This does not matter though…'
As he landed, Gaara sprung up to his feet and threw his arm forward.
Naruto yelped as he dodged wave after wave of sand.
"Okay he's getting more aggressive" Naruto grunted.
He quickly preformed a kawarimi when he saw no way of dodging a wave of sand shuriken that had been fired at point blank range.
"That's new" he said to himself.
He jumped back and used chakra to stick to the arena wall as he ran through set of hand again.
He stuck his hand out as it began to swirl with water.
'Takes a lot more chakra to do this without water around or the hidden mist technique, but I don't have the option of taking my time for that route.'
He jumped away as another of tendril of sand snaked its way towards him.
Spinning in the air, he fired his water jutsu at the sand that was racing his way.
'If I get the sand wet that should help slow it down' Naruto thought to himself.
The sand suddenly flew apart, letting the water jutsu pass through harmlessly.
Naruto yelled out in frustration.
'This guy is way too good with that sand!' he mentally raged.
The sand reformed into some kind of lance and flew towards Naruto at even greater speeds. Naruto barely dodged it by throwing himself to the side, but felt the sleeve on his jacket tear.
'Damn, that was too close.'
Rolling to his feet, he began to charge towards Gaara.
Gaara's arms shot forward and another wave of sand appeared before Naruto.
"This is getting ridiculous!" Naruto yelled as he leapt backwards again. However, he had forgotten about the lance made of sand behind him. It quickly reformed as a tendril and wrapped around Naruto's ankle.
"Oh shit!" Naruto exclaimed as he felt it pull him into the air and swing him around.
Gaara grinned as he tilted his hand to the side. The tendril of sand suddenly changed direction and slammed Naruto into the wall of the arena, shattering the concrete and throwing up a slight dust cloud obscuring Naruto's form.
Gaara's smile quickly vanished when another explosion erupted from the tendril of sand.
'His kunai have exploding tags wrapped around the hilts…' Gaara observed.
The dust and smoke quickly cleared to show Naruto kneeling on the wall, adhering to it with his chakra.
"Gotta say, you're really sneaky with that sand" Naruto called out.
Gaara said nothing but recalled his sand to him.
'He has something planned.'
Naruto made the cross sign and suddenly a ring of Naruto's appeared along the arena wall, surrounding Gaara.
"So many clones…" Gaara exclaimed.
Naruto smirked.
"Let's see how you're sand does against this. Half of the Naruto's spread out amongst the ring began to run through hand seals.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu" Gaara's did nothing as his sand rose to defend him, however when he saw the other clone's performing the next technique, he form a quick hand seal.
"Fūton: Daitoppa"
The fireball techniques quickly amplified as the wind jutsu fueled their fire and roared throughout the arena. Within a second, all anyone could see were the raging flames of Naruto's technique as they engulfed the stadium.
Kakashi darted forward as did a few other Jonin in other locations, running through hand seals. Ino watched as her dad did the same. She did not hear the name of the jutsu over the roar of the flames, but watched as the flames raged towards the audience but halted just in front of the balconies.
'Naruto… This is too much!' Ino thought as she watched the orange flames fill her vision.
Many of the audience screamed in fright, but quickly settled down when they saw that they were in no danger.
Jiraiya whistled, impressed that his student's technique had caused a pillar of fire to rise out of the arena and into the sky.
'This is going to be talked about for a while. That kid has got a knack for destruction that's for sure. His clone technique makes two simple techniques like those into something to be reckoned with!'
Ibiki stood beside Jiraiya, impressed at how much power the Genin was displaying at the moment.
"This kid just keeps surprising me" he mumbled.
Naruto ceased the attack as did his clones.
The flames took a moment to die down, but quickly all they could see was smoke and ash.
Naruto glanced around and nodded. His clones all disappeared before he felt a wave of pain crash over him.
'I need to remember not to do that again' he thought as he clutched his head.
He dropped off of the wall and to the ground. The grass that had once been there was gone, destroyed by his technique.
He frowned, Gaara's chakra was still there, and it seemed to be getting stronger.
"Dammit, it wasn't enough" he frowned as the smoke began to clear. "I thought I could at least cause some injury."
Then he saw it. The sand from Gaara's gourd had enveloped him and created a sphere around him.
'This guy is really annoying!' Naruto thought angrily.
Up in the stands, Ino leaned forward, unable to see anything yet.
"He must have been beaten by that, I mean who could survive that kind of attack?"
Inoichi shook his head. "There are many shinobi that could avoid or protect themselves from that attack and Gaara could be one of them."
Ino pursed her lips. "Well I say he's probably beat!"
Inoichi did not smile but instead focused on the smoke that was beginning to thin.
There stood Naruto, and there was the sphere of sand that protected Gaara.
"Like I said, Gaara could be one of them" Inoichi said.
Ino's jaw dropped. Gaara had protected himself with his sand so quickly.
'This battle is insane!'
Sasuke was at the edge of his seat. "Naruto… That technique beats all of my fire techniques…"
Kakashi appeared next to Sasuke again. "It's an effective combination, wind and fire. However, you still have a lot of room to grow Sasuke, you have a natural affinity for fire, and you'll be able to master techniques that make that inferno look no bigger than a campfire."
Sasuke said nothing as he stared at Naruto. 'How much stronger have you become?'
Naruto felt himself stagger slightly. The exploding clones had taken a lot of chakra to do as the technique was still new for him. Then the combination of his many clones and his wind and fire jutsu hadn't helped his condition.
He waited for a moment to see if Gaara would reemerge from his sphere, but nothing seemed to happen.
"Great… Now I need to break that to get to him." Naruto muttered angrily.
With a few quick hand seals, he had water swirling in his palm again.
"Suiton: Hahonryū" the water vortex slammed against the sphere but had no effect against the sand.
Naruto grit his teeth. Shooting forward, he decided to try breaking the sand shield with his Taijutsu.
Just as he got within range to strike, the sand contorted and quickly created spikes that Naruto nearly impaled himself on if not for his quick maneuvering. His fist impacted on the sand that felt as hard as steel at this point. It didn't budge at all. Jumping back as the spikes slowly extended he felt the urge to scream. He hadn't planned on using this technique already but he had no other choice at this point. He jumped back, putting some additional distance between him and the now protected Gaara.
A clone poofed into existence beside him with without prompting.
"Well, it'll give them a good show" Naruto sighed.
Naruto held out his hand as his clone began to work his own two hands above Naruto's palm.
Chakra began to form in his palm as the audience gasped.
Inoichi's eyes widened. "That jutsu! He knows that?!"
Ino glanced at her father. "What is it?"
"It's one of the Yondaime Hokage's techniques" Kakashi's voice answered. Ino looked over at the man and saw that he too looked surprised, even with the mask on.
"My own technique the Chidori was derived from this jutsu, but pales in comparison."
The crowd began to murmur as the blonde formed the powerful ball of chakra.
The Hokage had stood at this point, astounded that no only had Jiraiya taught the boy the jutsu, but that Naruto had been able to learn it within a month.
'It took the Yondaime three years to complete that jutsu… Naruto, I have underestimated you. We all have.' The Sandaime thought.
The Kazekage also felt dumbfounded. 'The Rasengan!? This Jinchuriki was able to learn such a high ranked jutsu?'
Asuma's cigarette dropped from his mouth as he watched. 'This kid… is something else.'
He grinned as he reached for his pack of cigarettes.
The crowd began to chant Naruto's name, slowly at first, but quickly it roared throughout the stadium. The blonde had surpassed all of their expectations.
Across the village, those tuning in on their TV's even began chanting his name, watching as the Rasengan, fully formed, swirled in the blonde's palm.
At the academy, the students had all fallen silent, awed at the jutsu they did not fully comprehend that was about to be used.
Iruka sat at the front of the class, smiling softly as his one time student stood proudly.
'You'll make a fantastic Chunin… Naruto.'
Naruto glared at the ball of sand. 'Let's do this asshole…'
With that thought, he shot forward, quickly gaining speed, the crowd around him roared, yelling things that he didn't hear, his focus solely on his jutsu.
Things seemed to slow down for everyone. Naruto's face was clear as day, and anyone that looked, could see the determination to win on the boy's face.
His hand shot forward, dodging the spikes that grew yet again from the sphere of sand.
The small ball of swirling chakra slowly plunged into the sand, as if it were nothing more than water.
And then everything stood still. There was silence, the crowd had stopped cheering, all of them looked intently at Naruto and the sphere of sand.
And then, the back of the sphere exploded outward violently, and Gaara's body shot backwards spinning and impacted against the stadium wall with such force, the audience felt their seats tremble.
Their cries echoed again, the jutsu having been a success. Even those that had bet on Gaara were on their feet cheering out the blondes name. The match would be talked about for ages.
How a mere Genin, had gone against the son of the Kazekage, and used a legendary jutsu not seen since the Yondaime Hokage.
Sasuke himself allowed a quick cheer for his teammate's success, having impressed him with such a powerful jutsu.
Ino jumped up and down cheering for her one time classmate.
Inoichi was clapping, a smirk on his face. 'Minato would be proud of you kid.'
Asuma grinned as did Shikamaru.
Kiba howled from where he sat beside Kurenai and Shino while the bug user remained silent.
Kurenai was simply awed at the power of the jutsu, as having only heard of the Rasengan herself.
Kakashi smiled, glad that his student was progressing so splendidly.
'Naruto… You're quickly surpassing us all. One day, I won't even be a match for you.'
Rock Lee and Gai-sensei leapt around much to the crowd's dismay, cheering at the top of their lungs about Naruto's prowess.
Tenten sat amazed at the boy since she had last spared against him. 'Does he train even more than Lee?' She briefly wondered.
At the academy, the students had gone insane, throwing papers and such into the air, Iruka however didn't even react to it. He simply stared at the TV, swelling with pride.
Sakura Haruno sat in her hospital bed, hearing many cheers from the hospital staff that were watching the exams as well in other rooms.
'Naruto… You did it! You beat him! Maybe… Maybe when I'm out of here, you can help me… Become a better shinobi.'
She smiled and looked outside the window. The day seemed to be a whole lot brighter.
Jiraiya beamed as he heard the crowd's cheers.
'You've done well, but remember Naruto, you haven't won yet.'
Naruto did not concern himself with the crowds cheering and continued to stare at the cloud of dust that had been kicked up from Gaara's impact.
'His chakra… It's still getting stronger' his fist tightened. 'This isn't good… I'm starting to run low on Chakra and this guy just keeps taking everything I throw at him.'
Suddenly, there was a howl of rage that drowned out every other noise in the stadium.
"NARUTO UZUMAKI!"
Naruto quickly drew a kunai, ready to charge when the dust began to clear. Just as it began to clear, feathers began to appear everywhere.
'Is this Gaara doing this?!'
He quickly formed the ram seal and expelled a large amount of chakra, just as he was beginning to feel drowsy.
As the feathers seemed to disappear, he heard the hole of wind. Turning he was hit with some kind of wind technique that drove him backwards with force that surpassed his Rasengan. Naruto tried to yell in agony as he felt his back break in several places as well as a few of his limbs, but he was traveling at such a speed it was hard for him to make a sound. 'This is one hell of a wind jutsu!' Naruto thought right before he blacked out from the pain.
The Jonin had quickly dispelled the Genjutsu and had sprung into action. Kakashi glanced at the wall where Naruto had been tossed through. 'I hope he survived that attack… He went straight through the stadium and then some…'
He glanced down at the field and saw that Gaara had begun to transform. He hadn't fully released the tailed beast, but it seemed he was half way there. He had sprouted a tail from the gourd, a beastly arm in place of his left arm, a contorted claw at the end of it. Half his face seemed deformed at this point, a yellow eye and a new ear. His mouth seemed to be growing fangs of some sort as well and a maniacal expression on his face.
As the Jonin began to surround the Jinchuriki, the Hokage's seats exploded and the Kazekage dragged the man to a separate roof followed by the Kazekage's two guards.
Kakashi cursed as Oto ninja began to appear amongst the crowd.
'Looks like the Hokage was right… The Sound and sand are invading.'
He glanced over to see a few sand shinobi appear as well.
'Naruto… I hope you're okay.' He looked over at where Naruto had slammed through the arena.
Gaara had also seemed to disappear at this point. 'What's he going to do now?' He glanced at Sasuke.
"Sasuke, I have a mission for you!"
Kakashi whirled around as two Sand ninja attacked and he quickly killed them with well placed Kunai.
"Find Gaara, and stall him, by any means necessary!"
Sasuke nodded, knowing what that meant.
Beside him Jiraiya suddenly appeared. "Try to find Naruto as well" the man said upon appearing.
Kakashi gave him an odd look.
"I taught him a way to restrain and seal a Biju back into its host."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this as he spun around and caught a sound ninja's fist before tossing him into the wall and quickly punching the man's throat in, leaving him flailing on the ground in agony.
"How?!" Kakashi asked.
Jiraiya threw a few kunai to distract a few Oto ninja that were fighting with Asuma and Kurenai.
"It'll take to long to explain, just find him!" Jiraiya retorted. He glanced at Sasuke.
"Go now!"
Sasuke nodded and jumped into the stadium before running through the hole Naruto's body had created.
Jiraiya glanced up and saw a purple barrier appear.
"Looks like the old man has his hands full with Orochimaru" Jiraiya muttered.
Kakashi whirled around quickly and saw that the Sannin was correct. In the middle of the purple barrier stood Hiruzen facing Orochimaru, wearing the Kazekage's robes.
"Clever move… Impersonating the Kazekage" Kakashi said.
Jiraiya nodded. "Let's make some Kage Bunshin to track Naruto down and then get rid of these guys."
Kakashi nodded.
Naruto woke up. His surroundings were dark. Sitting up, he saw that he was in front of a large cage, a paper tag at the middle that had the kanji for seal upon it.
"Damn it, just when I need to be awake…" Naruto muttered as he realized where he was.
"Naruto… Why are you here?" a low voice rumbled.
A pair of red eyes opened in the darkness beyond the cage, boring into Naruto's blue eyes.
"The Shukaku… It may have caught me by surprise" Naruto huffed.
The fox roared. "WE HAD A DEAL YOU SIMPLETON!" Its claws rammed against the cage, rattling it and shaking the entire room, but the cage remained unharmed. Slowly but surely, the Kyubi no Kitsune was revealed in it's entirety as Naruto's eyes adjusted to the dim light.
"It hasn't come out all the way yet… He's just channeling its chakra!" Naruto yelled back. "Plus I still have a chance to beat him so I haven't gone back on our deal you dumb fox!"
The Kyubi snarled at the blonde. "Do NOT try my patience you fool!"
Naruto stood up. "I may need you to heal my body quickly, it felt like I got pretty messed up out there… And when the time comes to use that jutsu, I'll call on you okay?"
The Kyubi stood there, glaring at the young boy not answering.
"…Or would you rather the world know that I lost to the one tail Biju when I hold the nine tailed Biju. Like I said when we first met, you may not care what happens to me, but I if I lose against the Shukaku, you'll be considered the weakest of the nine beasts.
The Kyubi snarled again. "I UNDERSTAND THAT NARUTO! I already told you that I would help you out with this sealing jutsu you have planned, Shukaku is no friend of mine!"
Naruto grinned. 'To think that pride would be the demon fox's weakest point…'
"Good, then quickly, heal my body and lend me some chakra so I can get this thing going!"
The Kyubi said nothing as the water around Naruto began to bubble and turn red.
"That's more like it" Naruto said.
And there is the chapter. Yes Naruto and the Kyubi have met before, and they have a plan to deal with Shukaku. Honestly at this stage of their relationship, I feel that blackmailing the Kyubi is the only way Naruto can get the fox to cooperate, and yes I do think the nine tails is a prideful beast. He goes on about how awesome he is in the manga given the chance. Plus it's stated that he considers himself the strongest of the nine biju, and that's why him and Shukaku don't get along well.
As for Sasuke VS Lee, I think that Lee would have kicked the crap out of Sasuke if they had met up in the finals, and it's just too predictable for Sasuke to win the match.
I'm sure some people are mad that I interrupted the Gaara/Naruto fight, but there's going to be more in a bit of that.
Quick spoiler alert for the upcoming chapters, a couple of Naruto's friends will find out about the nine tails in the next chapter or two, so feel free to guess as to who it will be and why.
Now I shall leave you be, but please remember to review, I do appreciate genuine feedback.
Have a wonderful day and I hope you are excited for the next chapter.