Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.
-Sun Tzu

Chapter 18: His Arrogance

"Ten minutes, just ten minutes." Naruto repeated the words over and over in his head like a mantra. The more he looked at Gaara, the more nervous he felt. He knew that he was probably the strongest, no, he was definitely the strongest of his team, but that didn't make him feel any better. He felt more like a sacrifice to an evil monster. He took a deep breath in and breathed out, trying to stop himself from shaking. He must have looked pathetic at that moment because the way Gaara twisting the sand around his arm scared him silly!

Baki stood off to the side with his hands clasped behind his back. He looked from Naruto and then to Gaara with a discerning eye. In his heart, he worried that Gaara might suddenly attack and try to murder Naruto. But he knew that this was something that had to be done. Now, he was watching Gaara. In the arena, he wouldn't be able to stop Gaara if something happened, but now he would be able to see if Gaara had control. He knew that the Kazekage wanted his children entered into the chuunin exams, but if Gaara was going to be a danger, Baki would withdraw his approval.

The Sabaku genin were like children to him. He had been their personal trainer for many years now, and they were all as close to him as they were to each other. He liked to think of himself as a permanent fixture in their lives. He was the father figure, and as that father figure, if he thought that they were not ready for the exams, he would pull his approval. He was their jounin sensei; if he said they weren't ready, then they could not be entered. He took in a deep breath and unclasped his hands.

He raised his right hand into the air and began the countdown. "Three," Naruto loosened his stance and slipped open his kunai pouch. "Two," the gourd on Gaara's back dissolved away into thousands upon thousands of small particles and drifted through the air. "One," the two combatants shared a look, one was confident while the other was nervous. Both felt as if they already knew the outcome of this match, but one didn't like what he was foreseeing. "Begin!" Baki's hand shot down and the two leapt into action.

A wave of sand shot towards Naruto, and he rolled to the side to dodge past it. He landed on his feed and jumped up toward Gaara. He threw an experimental kunai only to have it blocked by a swirl of sand. An eye glanced behind him, and he saw the sand coming up from behind him. He moved to dodge it, but was instead hit by another surge of sand, tossing him a few feet over to the side. Ok, kunai wouldn't work. And that dratted sand could move separately, not just as a single unit. This would be, as Shikamaru called it, troublesome.

Naruto knew that he wasn't the strategic type. He had no clue as to how on earth he would be able to penetrate that sand. He stopped for a moment to look at Gaara. The red head was casually standing with his arms crossed over his chest. A sand dome surrounded him, but caved near his face to provide him a view out into the world. Obviously, the strength of the sand had something to do with the demon inside of him. The Kyuubi had made it obvious enough that Gaara was stronger than most genin.

There was no way he could beat a jinchuuriki using normal tactics, but he had no control over the Kyuubi. Gaara and his creature seemed to work in sync, but Naruto had to let the Kyuubi take over if he wanted to use its power. Naruto bit his lip. He couldn't just release the Kyuubi. He had killed Aoi last time that happened. Who knew if he would accidentally move to kill all of the Sun delegation? No, he had to do this on his own. But what could he do with a few kunai and a blunted wind affinity?

Pretty much nothing. Naruto made up his mind right then. He'd have to run and dodge like the dickens. Another swell came at him, and Naruto leaped to the side. He had to at least pretend that he was fighting. Hopefully, Gaara wouldn't become irritated with the monotony of the weak attacks. Naruto pulled out a few more kunai and hurled them simultaneously at Gaara. As he expected, the kunai sunk into the sand before falling out onto the ground.

Naruto cursed the fact that he wasn't allowed to use explosive notes. Explosive notes would be taken as a sign of hostility and could spark political wars. Naruto couldn't afford that. So what else could he use against the sand? He knew that Kei and Shikamaru would analyze the actions and movements of the sand to predict how it would react to certain stimuli, but he just couldn't think of it on the fly. His thoughts got the better of him as he got hit was a slam of sand, sending him careening back into a tree.

It was a testament to Gaara's restraint that Naruto didn't go flying right through the tree. Gaara had his eyes closed and his arms were clenched tightly against his chest. It was obvious to anyone how much he was holding back. He was dying to crush the boy and get it over with, but he could feel Baki's eyes boring into him. He may not have felt close to anyone, but he didn't want to face the reprimands of his tutor. They would be annoying and would waste his time. So instead, he tried his best to talk down the Shukaku who was trying to convince him to murder the blonde.

The Shukaku said something about how the blonde was his natural enemy. Gaara didn't quite understand that though. Shukaku had never said anything like that about any of the other people they had met. Why was this Naruto boy so different? He opened up an eye to look at the boy who was getting up from the ground. He looked like all the other genin. Maybe he was a bit shabbily dressed, but the Shukaku had never been known to wage fashion wars of all things.

He's the Kyuubi, you fool! He's the nine-tails! We must force the possessor to bring the Kyuubi out into the open. I have longed to taste the copper of his blood for many years. It has been too long since we have met.Gaara froze at that and shook his head ever so slightly. He didn't want to do that. He had been explicitly told to not kill the boy. But how he longed to watch him bleed. Wait... Gaara's eyes widened a bit.

The only rules were not to kill each other and to not break bones. Baki had even said that drawing blood was allowed. A cruel smile crept onto Gaara's face. He raised a hand and flexed out his fingers. The sand shot after Naruto, shredding up against his skin. Naruto yelped as his shoulder turned warm with blood. The jinchuuriki jumped back and flipped up into the air, throwing a kunai. The sand that had been rushing after him moved back to catch the kunai, buying Naruto some time.

Or at least, that was what Naruto had thought. As the blonde scurried farther down the field, his arm began to tingle. He didn't notice it at first because he thought it was just blood loss, but then pain bloomed along his arm. Dozens upon dozens of sand particles had made their way into his wound and had crept under his skin. Upon Gaara's cue, they all propelled straight through Naruto's skin and out into the open air.

Naruto yelped as a large chunk of his skin was ripped away by the attack. He stumbled down to the ground and tried to keep himself going through the pain. He didn't worry too much about the injury, the Kyuubi would heal him. But he did worry about how much it freaking hurt! He looked back over to where Baki was, and the man held up his hand with all five fingers out. Dangit. They were only at the halfway mark.

Naruto wasn't sure if he knew how much longer he could stall.You stupid brat! This show you're putting on is disgraceful to me. I personally don't care if you get beaten to a pulp, but I'm not going to let Shukaku be the one to do it. You're making me look weak for having such a pathetic container. Let me help you.Naruto shook his head violently. To someone else, it might have looked like he was trying to clear his head, but to him it was a silent denial to the Kyuubi. Naruto wouldn't ever risk a possession over something as small as this.

Oh come on, brat. I'm not going to possess you. Just do all the handsigns that I tell you to do. Got it?Naruto hesitated. It was only a jutsu though, so what harm could it do? Gaara probably had the same healing factor that Naruto did, and he still had the sand to protect him. Naruto rationalized that it would probably be ok to use a jutsu even if he didn't know what it did. His chakra stores were enough to deal with it after all.

Good, brat. Now listen closely.Naruto rolled out of the way of an incoming surge of sand, and listened intently to the sound of the Kyuubi. The Kyuubi had always made his life miserable, but it was also strong. Strength was what he needed right now if he was to avoid taking an even worse beating from Gaara.Dog, Ram, Monkey, Dog, Boar, Bird, Serpent, Dragon, Tiger.Naruto's hands flew through the seals as he continued swerving out of the way of the sand.

His hands fell into the final seal and he yelled, "Tsuin Tatsumaki no Jutsu!" He separated his hands and held them off to the sides. For a few moments, it looked like nothing was about to happen. Naruto almost began to panic. Had the Kyuubi fooled him? But then, the jutsu snapped into action.

Twin tornados began swirling up from the ground, reaching up just so their edges touched Naruto's hands. His hair whipped back and forth as it was blown around by the cyclones. The funnels of air reached up a good twenty feet above his head and effectively stopped any sand coming towards him. When the sand flew at him the next time, it was immediately sucked into the torrent of wind and was shot out the top a few second later.

Naruto moved his hand to the side and noticed that the tornados moved with him and grinned. This was pretty awesome! Gaara frowned at the tornados as his clothes flapped around him in the wind. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes to concentrate before opening them and sending a new wave towards Naruto.

Naruto ran forwards towards the sand and brought his hands forward in front of him. The two cyclones converged and strengthened as all the chakra was channeled into a single space. The sand was sucked up into the current and was flung away into the air. Naruto neared Gaara, and Gaara could feel the sand being stripped away from him. The redhead leaped back and tried to regroup his cloud of sand. A jutsu of that magnitude could not be sustained forever, but this was a jinchuuriki. Who knew how long the boy could keep this up?

Gaara gritted his teeth and tried to ignore the angry voice shouting inside his head.The only way for you to win is if you set me free! Let me crush him and grind him into dust. You're too weak and pathetic to finish this job, so let me do it!Gaara was fighting a two front war. One battle was with Naruto, but the other was with the Shukaku. He couldn't afford to lose either.

He raised his hands in the air and formed an arrow out of solidified sand. He condensed it so that it wouldn't easily fall apart before sending it at the cyclone. Gaara redirected the arrow so that it wouldn't hit any vitals, but it would be enough to knock the boy off his feet.

Naruto saw the arrow coming and forced more chakra into the jutsu. He layered his hands over each other and held his hands before him. The arrow neared and cut through the first layer of the tornado. Naruto's eyes widened in shock, and he was hit with the dulled force of the mound of sand. The jutsu didn't disperse even as he was pushed back a few feet. The sand didn't have any more time to damage him anymore as it got funneled away.

Naruto glanced over at Baki and saw him cup his hand into a half circle. Thirty seconds left. Naruto grinned. He could do this. He looked back over to Gaara who was glaring vehemently at him. Only small wisps of sand surrounded him now. Naruto snapped off the jutsu and grabbed some kunai from his pocket and flung them at him.

The remnants of sand curled into the air and attempted to stop the kunai, but only managed to stop two out of the three. The third flew past the defense and hit Gaara in the arm. Gaara shook as he looked down to his arm. Bits of blood trickled down from his sleeve before splashing onto the ground. "Over!" Baki called out, ending the spar. He rushed up to Gaara and jerked the kunai out. "Don't look at it." He said as he put a hand over the injury. Naruto raised an eyebrow at this. Why was Baki acting like it was something of vital importance? He had ended the spar six seconds early. Naruto had counted those seconds like they were his lifeline and he knew that they had ended early.

"Glad to see that you're alive," said Shikamaru as he sauntered over. Secretly, Shikamaru was proud of Naruto. What confused him, however, was where on earth that jutsu had come from. He highly doubted that Shirakumo had managed to teach him such a jutsu in the little time that they had together. He glanced over at Kei who had her face furrowed as she looked through her notebook. Beside her, Inoichi had a slight frown on his face.

That jutsu that Naruto had just performed was not a genin ranked jutsu. So, where did he learn it? Inoichi made a mental note to talk to Shirakumo about it later. There was a faint chance of him learning the jutsu from Shirakumo, but they had only a few weeks practice. Inoichi highly doubted that it was possible. But where else could he have learned it? That was what puzzled him.

Kei was staring at her ciphered paged of forbidden jutsu. She flipped to the fourth page and nearly screamed. There, on the page, was theTsuin Tatsumaki. What did Naruto think he was doing, using a forbidden jutsu in front of Inoichi? Better yet, when had Naruto learned it? Naruto didn't have that type of memory which allowed him to remember words on a page for longer than a few days. And she was sure that she never gave him a normal copy of the list. It was impossible for him to remember how to do that!

Could it have something to do with the Kyuubi? She supposed that the Kyuubi could remember things that Naruto couldn't and then feed the memories back to him. She bit her lip tightly as she thought over all the scenarios. Her golden eyes flicked over to Inoichi, and she noticed his troubled look. It seemed that he noticed the jutsu was above Naruto's level as well. Hopefully this wouldn't get them in trouble. She looked back to Naruto and began to walk over to join him. If she looked troubled by it as well, then Inoichi's suspicion would double. She had to act like everything was normal.

"Good job, Naruto-san," she called over as she approached her two teammates. As she turned away from Inoichi she had a slightly peeved look on her face. Naruto was quick to catch up on it and signaled that he would talk to them about it later.

He looked over to the Suna Team and watched as Baki patched up Gaara. The two other Sabaku siblings were standing awkwardly off to the side, talking with one another. They didn't seem to care for one another. Perhaps this would a lead to an intra-team division? Shikamaru followed his gaze over to Temari and Kankuro and said, "They're both rather loud. They aren't concealing much, in my opinion. The brother practically told me his life story while we watched the fight. Either it's a deception to make us feel safe or it's plainly obvious that they're not our enemies."

Naruto nodded. "I...I don't think they are against us. Call it a hunch if you will." From his fight with Gaara, he could tell the importance of the Suna-Konoha relations to them. Gaara was obviously fighting to control himself during the entire battle. Even though they had set up sparring rules, an enemy would have at least tried to slip in a fatal "mistake" or two. But Gaara had had the chance to kill him easily and didn't take it. The sand could have traveled down to an internal organ and ripped something vital, but instead all it did was tear a little skin.

Naruto lifted his hand from his arm and noticed that the bleeding had already stopped and the wound had begun to heal over. It was superficial enough to hardly cause him any damage. He couldn't bring himself to think that Gaara was an enemy, but they didn't have any confirmation yet. All he had was a hunch.

"Hunches are what will get you killed." Shikamaru replied smoothly. "Evidence is what ensures survival."

Author's Note: A bit of a shorter chapter, but I hoped you liked it. Evidently, not many people liked the last chapter. xD So, I hope this makes up for it?

I know some of you guys are going to be confused with how the Kyuubi knew the jutsu. I'll give you a hint though. The Kyuubi is contained. Even though the Kyuubi is talking to Naruto, he doesn't possess him. (;

Thanks to Pokepikachu1 for betaing me again! And thanks to all of you for reading! Leave a review and tell me what you think! ;D

Tsuin Tatsumaki no Jutsu| B Rank of Wind Affinity. Labeled a forbidden jutsu because it causes significant drain on the user. Produces two tornados, one from each hand. Tornados center on the user and cannot travel away from their summoner.