Hi! It's me again, bringing you the newest chapter of "Naruto: Next Generation"! Lately a lot of things are crushing down on my head, but I hope I'll manage to keep the rate of updating once a week (especially considering that the eliminations will take a really long while to finish).

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. I'm really glad you liked it and hope that you'll enjoy this one at least as much (hopefully even more).

Now, before I start, I have two, important announcements to make:

FIRST POPULARITY CONTEST HAS BEEN CLOSED: all the votes has been counted and so I'm placing the results at the end of this chapter. There's no point for you to place your votes now, coz the contest has been closed. But those of you, who really wanted to place their votes shouldn't worry, as this story is a pretty long one and if nothing, unexpected won't happen, then most likely this was not the last popularity contest. As of now, I'm planning another around chapter 100. And a big thanks from me to everyone who decided to vote!

And second announcement:

PLEASE READ THIS: I'd like to ask all of you who likes to draw and are interested in helping me with a certain idea. I'm not good at drawing, so it's hard for me to estimate if the 'job' is hard or not, but I don't think it's THAT difficult. All of you, who I got interested, please let me know (by review, PM or via e-mail) and I'll give you the details. Thanks in advance. This is NOT about chapter covers!

And now, I believe the only thing left to do is to get on with the show:

Chapter #50: The Prelims Start

Title Page: Takaru is standing on a rooftop, observing the Hokage Monument

"Will everyone, besides the two fighters, please move over to the platform above?" Lee asked politely, pointing at the place there were suppose to go and a second later everyone headed up the stairs. Ino caught Kakashi's attention before he went and receiving a nod from the Rokudaime, the examiners of the first, three tests were gone.

Meanwhile all the gennin, along with their jounin instructors, settled on the platform and it was only then that Naruto noticed something out of place: "Where's the Grass team leader? A team can enter the exam only when recommended, so…"

"First elimination fight: Gekido Takaru from Konoha against Fuma from Kumori!" announced Lee loudly, throwing quick glares at both participants. "BEGIN!" and with that he jumped out of the way as the shadow-nin charge immediately at the Leaf shinobi.

Takaru easily blocked the first punch and spun on his leg, aiming a spin-kick into his opponent's face. Fuma predicted that however and bending his knees, he attacked the leg the son of Tsunade was standing on, while the leaf-nin's attack went over his head.

Noticing shadow-nin's movement in the last moment Takaru jumped into the air and somersaulting, he landed right behind his opponent, with his back turned towards Fuma. Blindly the scar-faced gennin reached his hand behind him and once he managed to grab the older boy by his clothes, he threw him over his shoulder.

Fuma however managed to flip in mid-air and landed safely on his feet, now facing Takaru, who was charging straight at him. As the scar-faced gennin came close enough, the shadow-nin lunched a kick into his head, only to see the son of Tsunade spin on his foot in an instant, thus avoiding the attack.

And before Fuma could react in any way, the number one rookie propped his hands on the floor and lunched a kick into his opponent's back, while standing on his hands. As the attack connected, the shadow-nin lost his balance and taking few steps forward, he managed to stop without hitting the floor, however as he turn around to face his adversary again, he only saw another kick coming right at his, this time hitting him in the face.

As Fuma flew back, Kusari's eyebrow went up: "Oh, that guy's pretty weak…" he stated simply, though didn't seemed that surprise at the discovery. "I suppose he was only talk when we met him during the second exam…"

"I don't think so…" replied Kumiko calmly as a single drop of sweat run down her face. "There's something about this Fuma guy that's disturbing… I can't place a finger, but…" and at that point she stopped. But Ibuki seemed to agree with her teammate completely:

"My father always taught me that a good assassin should know his target before taking any action…" she stated, seemingly unmoved by anything, but deep down she was a little worried about Takaru. "He should look for possible weak points and then use them when the time is right… what that shadow-nin is doing… it might be just that…"

Kai looked at the young assassin with worry showing on his face, before he turned back to observing the arena below. Fuma slowly got up. He didn't seemed very hurt nor impressed. Takaru's eyes only narrowed, but the son of Tsunade said nothing. The shadow-nin was the first to speak: "I see you have some skills after all… good, it's more fun that way…" but the scar-faced gennin kept quiet. "What, you're not gonna reply? Have it your way…" and so he charged at the leaf-nin once more.

But as Fuma lunched a punch aimed at Takaru's face, the number one rookie only moved his head to the left and when the shadow-nin's fist when past him, he grabbed his opponents hand with his own and spinning on his feet he threw him over his shoulder once more. Only this time he didn't let go and having no way to flip in mid-air, Fuma landed hard with his back on the floor.

"You can't win…" stated Takaru simply as he backed away slightly, while his opponent was once more getting up. "I suggest surrendering and save yourself embarrassment…" but Fuma only laughed at that:

"You believe that's you're winning?" he asked, once he calmed his laughter down. "Let me tell you something, kid: I'm not even serious yet…" and as he said so, the son of Tsunade felt strange chakra escaping his opponent's body.

Right before his very eyes Fuma's teeth began to change into fangs, his nails began to form claws and his skin started to be covered with black fur. The leaf-nin backed away, a little scared: "What the hell?" he thought to himself confused. "Is he suppose to be a werewolf or something?"

"That mutation…" Naruto wondered as his eyes narrowed. "But he can't be a Jinchuuriki!" and with that he glared at the other shadow-nins. The one called Kyuu seemed to tighten his grip on the rail slightly at noticing what his teammate was doing: "That idiot…" he whispered so that no-one would hear him. "He's totally ignoring our orders…"

Kokoro only threw a quick glare in his direction and after narrowing his eyes slightly, he turned towards his instructor: "Hinata-sensei… those shado…" he began, but got cut off by the head of the Hyuuga: "I know… but don't worry about it now… you should concentrate on advancing to the final exam…" and with that she got back to observing the arena bellow, but in reality she didn't took her eyes from the shadow-nins.

Meanwhile Fuma's transformation was complete. He now resembled some sort of wild beast more then a human: he had fangs, claws, pointy ears and most of his body was covered with black fur. He face got deformed as well and now it looked more like the one of a wild dog. A disturbing smile appeared on the shadow-nin's face as he spoke up in a deep voice: "So… shall we begin?"

"What the hell is this?" yelled Kai, flipping his hands up and down. "This isn't some stupid, horror story! What the hell is that shadow dude?" and as he kept moving his hands, Kogane was the one to reply to his question, even though she didn't look at the blonde boy: "Most likely what we just saw is the effect of genetic engineering… in most villages those sort of research were forbidden, but in some these are still everyday works… to skip the fact that many do research even against the village council's orders… so to put it simply: no, he's not a werewolf, but at the same time, I wouldn't say that changes anything for Takaru-kun…"

Fuma slowly bended his knees, making the son of Tsunade go to his fighting stance immediately, but as the shadow-nin sprung at him, he only managed to widen his eyes and on instinct jump to his left, barely avoiding his chest being pierced by his opponent's claws, yet his shirt which was 'left behind' a little to cut on the front.

The Leaf gennin didn't manage to feel sad about this 'loss' however as the moment his feet touched the ground, he had to dodge once more, seeing Fuma charging at him furiously. In an instant he jumped to his left again, gamboling on the floor and turned around to face his opponent once more.

"His speed seem to increase…" Takaru thought as he clenched his teeth. "I can hardly keep up… if I won't think of something soon… he'll literally tore me apart!" and with that he jumped up, making Fuma run under him with his claws held out front.

"So we got two monsters already…" Aisu thought to herself with a smirk as she threw a quick glare at Yamazaru. "This exam is getting more interesting by the minute…" and with that thought she saw the son of Tsunade jumping back, barely avoiding being slashed by Fuma's claws yet again.

"Just as I thought…" stated Funbo calmly with a tiny smirk appearing on his face as he propped his arms on the rail. "That's all Ibuki's teammates are capable of…" but Hitomi, who stood right next to him didn't react to that in any way. Her eyes only narrowed as she observed the transformed shadow-nin.

"Pathetic…" was all Takai said with his arms crossed, his expression, even though emotionless, hinted that he wasn't even a little bit interested in the fight below. Senkou on the other hand observed the battle very closely: "Such speed… fighting that shadow-nin later on certainly won't be a walk over…"

Fuma jumped into the air and came down straight at the place Takaru stood. The scar-faced gennin once more was forced to jump back and as the shadow-nin landed on the ground, his claws sunk into the floor, making in crack slightly due to the impact.

In a flash the monstrous gennin used his hands to gain some speed as he flew right at the surprised leaf-nin. This time Takaru didn't manage to react in time and received a powerful slash on the face, which didn't kill him only thanks to his own instinct which made his head shoot back right before the hit.

The son of Tsunade flew back and bouncing of the floor few times, he hit the wall behind him hard, coughing out blood. As his face hit the floor, he slowly began standing back only to receive a hit in the face from Fuma, who was already next to him.

Before he could act in any way, the shadow-nin's hand grabbed him by the neck and he was lifted into the air. As he desperately tried to gain some air, his opponent smashed him against the wall once more, still holding his neck with his right hand.

"Now you see what it means to mess with me…" announced Fuma coldly with a wicked smile appearing on his face. Takaru didn't reply. In a desperate attempt to free himself, he pushed his back harder against the wall and shoot his legs up.

As they reached the height where Fuma's head was, the son of Tsunade lunched them both at the shadow-nin's head. The monstrous gennin only managed to widen his eyes before he received a powerful, double kick in the kisser and flew back, letting go of his opponent's neck.

"That shadow-nin really moves like an animal…" Tsume realized with her eyes widen and teeth slightly clenched. "He doesn't just mimic a beast… he really became one!" nearby Hanamaru covered his eyes for some reason, which earned him a smack in the back of his head from Kogane, who only yelled: "Come on, Takaru-kun, you can do it!"

The son of Tsunade slowly stood back on his feet as Fuma did the same. The Leaf gennin breath was heavily as blood dripped from his left cheek. His eyes narrowed as the shadow-nin charged again, this time making him dodge to his right, away from the wall.

At this point the scar-face tried to counterattack, but as he lunched a punch at the back of Fuma's head, he only received a powerful hit in the face again as the monstrous gennin turn around in the fraction of a second and attacked.

The number one rookie flew back, but managed to flip in mid-air and land safely on his feet, just to see that the shadow-nin didn't slow down and kept charging right at him.

"Come on, Takaru, dammit!" yelled Kai, more and more annoyed. "How long are you planning to play around! Don't tell me this is really the best you can do! And to think I once saw you as a rival!"

And as those words hit Tsunade son's ears, he smiled to himself while jumping back: "Dope's right…" an instantly he stopped, narrowing his eyes as Fuma kept charging at him. "This is it!" yelled the shadow-nin and in the next moment his hand pierced right through the scar-faced gennin's side…

---could this be Takaru's last battle?---

And so this chapter ends. Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll 'tune in' next time as well.

Now I'll be placing the results of the popularity contest, but before that just one, last bit of info: starting next chapter I'll go back to making character profiles. As usual, if you want a certain character to get his profile sooner, note me. And now, the results:

Now, the number before the character is the one he got in the voting (so first is the best). The number after his/her name is the count of people who voted for the character and in brackets the number of 'voting points' that character received. With that cleared, I believe I can…

Kai: Hiya!

Shang: What the $&# are you doing here! Weren't you suppose to be at the eliminations?

Kai: I was, but then I figure you could use some help, with this, so…

Shang: ……………………

Kai: So, may I give the results? makes puppy eyes

Shang: Whatever…

Kai: Alright! This is your favorite ninja speaking, here to give you the results of your voting and to confirm that you like me best! The number of people who cast their votes on one character is the things that counted the most. If the number was equal, then 'voting points' came into the account and if that didn't decide, then the characters had to share one spot. So, here are the results:

1. Kai Haisha – 10 people (34)

2. Kusari Hagane – 8 people (30)

3. Ibuki Tanken – 7 people (25)

4. Takaru Gekido – 6 people (29)

5. Akira Manako – 6 people (19)

6. Senkou Hatake – 5 people (16)

7. Kumiko Murasakki – 5 people (14)

8. Mikka Igaku – 4 people (15)

9. Funbo Tanken – 3 people (10)

10. Hizoku Wanabi – 3 people (9)

11. Hanamaru Gusoku – 3 people (8)

Kokoro Benda – 3 people (8)

13. Naruto Uzumaki – 3 people (6)

14. Toku Amagasa – 3 people (4)

15. Rei Konpaku – 2 people (8)

Hinata Hyuuga – 2 people (8)

17. Horohoro – 2 people (7)

18. Reiji Ono – 2 people (6)

Kitsune Debano – 2 people (6)

Ino Yamanaka – 2 people (6)

21. Hitomi Hyuuga – 2 people (5)

22. Kogane Rikoteki – 2 people (4)

23. Teela Junsei – 2 people (2)

24. Takai – 1 person (5)

25. Sabaku no Sabure – 1 person (4)

Torune – 1 person (4)

27. Tarakudo – 1 person (3)

Aoru - 1 person (3)

Taka Kuchibashi - 1 person (3)

Tsume Inuzuka - 1 person (3)

31. Kouba - 1 person (2)

Temari - 1 person (2)

Tsuino Furikuzu - 1 person (2)

Saiken Tenma - 1 person (2)

35. Shikamaru Nara - 1 person (1)

Deji - 1 person (1)

Taki Hamano - 1 person (1)

Sasuke Uchiha - 1 person (1)

Kasui Rein - 1 person (1)

Galu Kobushi - 1 person (1)

Karame - 1 person (1)

Hari - 1 person (1)

And that's that for the voting. I must say that the results surprised me a little (like the fact that Kai actually won)… Kai: Hey! ……… but I'm still very glad that the frequency of the contest was quite high. Once more thanks to all the voters.

And just because the popularity contest ended, doesn't mean there won't be some surprises. I have something planned (basically this is the reason why I'm asking drawers to contact me) and if everything goes well that surprise will be ready for the next chapter or the chapter after that.

But it's 'bye' for now.

Best wishes and have a great day!

See you next chapter, hopefully.