A/N: Ready for the preliminaries? As I said, most of the matches will be canon, so I'm just gonna give a brief description, mentioning who fought and how that person won. Then when I get to the fights that are different, those'll be the real fight scenes. Also, after some reviews, I decided it'd be best if I repeat when Naruto's Rinnegan showed up, since some people have forgotten. It was after Mizuki revealed that he tricked Naruto into stealing the scroll and Iruka got hurt defending him that Naruto's Rinnegan awakened and he killed Mizuki like Nagato killed the Leaf shinobi who killed his parents after he awakened his Rinnegan. It was then sealed away to hide it, since the Hokage figured it would make Naruto an even bigger target of people like Danzo. More information will be revealed as the story progresses. If you need to reread those parts, go to the chapters 'Graduation' and 'Teams'.
Chapter 19: Preliminaries, Uzumaki vs Haruno
"Alright, remember, these will be one-on-one battles. And since there are twenty of you, there will be ten matches total. Those who win their match will move on to the finals. The fighters cough cough are randomly selected and their names will appear on the screen here." Hayate pointed at the screen above the hand sign statue. "There are no rules, other than no outside help. If someone interferes on your behalf, you will be disqualified. You win when your opponent is either incapacitated, gives up, or dies." Some genin, like Naruto, gulped at that. "It's recommended that those losing conceded to prevent a fatal outcome." Hayate coughs. "Also, if I say the match is over, it's over and I will intervene if necessary. We want to keep fatalities to a minimum. We will now select the two fighters." The screen flashed through names too fast for anyone to catch until it stopped on two. "Sasuke Uchiha and Yoroi Akado will fight first. Everyone else please move to the stands."
'So I'm up first? Good.'
'Show me what you've got, Uchiha,' Gaara thought as he entered the stands.
Once everyone else was in the stands, joined by their senseis, Karin moved over to Team 8. Her sensei found it curious but said nothing. Kurenai and the Uzumaki girl were already introduced when she congratulated her team. She was quite surprised that she was from the same clan as Naruto. When asked if she knew about the Uzumaki clan, she nodded and when her students asked why she didn't tell them she responded saying she thought they already knew.
"So Naruto never knew about his clan?" Kakashi asked Kurenai quietly. She nodded. "Strange. Keeping his parentage secret, I understand. It's the only reason I've never told him about his father."
"Same here," Kurenai agreed. "Being a jinchūriki, he's got enough eyes and ears on him. If one of those ears hear his relation to him and word gets out, then his father's enemies would hunt him down."
"But keeping his clan secret seems excessive. If people haven't made the connection between him and Kushina from hearing his last name, how will hiding his clan be any different? And I doubt it would be to prevent him from having a say in the council. After all, technically it's not an official clan of the Leaf, unless the Uzumaki clan head choses to make it so and has the approval of all the the Hokage and the majority of ninja clans. And no one has claimed that position as of yet. So it's just a foreign clan considered gone with no say in the council " Kakashi started to thinking when he realised something. "However, until another Uzumaki decides to take up the position, Naruto could possibly claim the position for himself, with all the duties, rights, and privileges that follow. He'd have to be at least be a chunin first or 16, but it could happen."
"Your right, which begs the question, is someone trying to keep him from his birthright? And if so, who?"
Kurenai and Kakashi started to ponder this, but their thoughts were interrupted when Hayate spoke. "The first match is between Sasuke Uchiha and Yoroi Akado. Are both contestants okay with this?" Both nodded. "Remember, you will keep fight until one of you is dead, unable to fight, or gives up and as proctor I reserve the right to stop the match as I see fit. Understood?" Again, the two genin nodded and Hayate coughed a bit. "Begin!"
The fight started and the two clashed. However, something seemed to hinder him. Those who knew about the curse mark correctly guessed that it was the cause, and Yoroi quickly took the advantage with his chakra absorption technique. Sasuke was at a disadvantage as Yoroi drained Sasuke's chakra whenever he so much as touched him. But Sasuke was determined to win and, taking a page from Lee, disappeared for a sec to kick Yoroi into the air, then using Dancing Leaf Shadow to get behind him to finish it. However the curse mark started reacting, and Sasuke was tempted to use it, but Kakashi had warned him before the match that if he used it, he'd be out of the exam. So Sasuke resisted and the curse mark receded as he finished his opponent with Lions Barrage that knocked his opponent out. After checking chakra absorbing and seeing Sasuke get up, Hayate declared the Uchiha the winner.
'He must have copied Lee's move with his Sharingan when they fought before the first test,' Guy thought. 'It's not a perfect copy though. Taijutsu takes more than movement, it takes physical conditioning that requires hard work to achieve. But he finished the move in his own way. No bad. He reminds me of you my eternal rival when you were younger.'
Kakashi took Sasuke away. "Now that you match is finished, we can deal with that curse mark on you," he said when they were out of earshot of the other genin. "You may have gained temporary control, but we can't take any chances. We'll need to seal it."
Sasuke wanted to protest. He believe if could control it then, even if it was only temporary, it meant that full control was possible. But he knew that they would never accept it. He could see it. All of them were too caught up in where it came from to see the potential. 'No matter. I'll just bide my time. After all, Kakashi-sensei may be a great ninja, but I doubt he's master the sealing arts. I'm sure whatever seal he gives me will weaken enough eventually, and I'll be able to fight Itachi with everything at my disposal!' It also bothered him that he wouldn't be able to watch the rest of the fights, since he wanted to see Gaara and Neji's skills first hand, but he was sure Sakura would give him her observations. 'Or Shino if she doesn't survive.'
The next fight was between Shino and Zaku. The bug user had the advantage because he witness the Sound nin's jutsu back in the forest, and his arms were in slings from what Sasuke did in the forest. However, once the match started, Zaku reveal that his left arm was in good enough shape to fight with. Shino blocked a physical attack only to be blasted away by Zaku's Slicing Sound Waves jutsu. However, Shino recovered and from behind Zaku, a swarm of his parasitic insects were approaching him ready to devour the Sound nin's chakra. Shino warned that with only one good arm, Zaku could not defend himself from both Shino and the swarm behind him. That's when Zaku moved his right arm and got ready to blast both Aburame and swarm. However, not only did his attack fail, but the air pressure he built up in both arms was trapped in them burst out of his arms, causing severe damage from the inside out. Shino ended up winning.
-
It was a dark room lit by candles on the ground. Kakashi finished placing the curse sealing on a shirtless Sasuke. "Remember, this seal will hold back the curse mark's power, but it's only as strong as your will. If you lose faith in your strength, if you doubt yourself, the curse mark will seep through and be unleashed in all it's fury."
'So I control the seal? Even… better…' Sasuke lost consciousness.
"Look at that. Too tired to argue," Kakashi joked.
"My, my. You've grown up big and strong Kakashi." The Leaf jonin froze, eye wide as he recognised the voice. "To perform a curse sealing. But then again, what would one expect from the Son of the White Fang and Student of the Fourth Hokage."
"Orochimaru," Kakashi said with venom as he turned around.
"It's been awhile." Orochimaru was wearing a black flak jacket over a black attire, the Sound headband partially hidden by his hair. "It good to see you, but I'm afraid I didn't come for you, or that Sharingan in your left eye. I'm here for the boy behind you."
"I figured as much. Let me guess, you're after his eyes."
Orochimaru chuckled. "But of course. You should understand. The power that lays within those eyes. You've copied about a thousand jutsu with the one eye of someone as weak as Obito, imagine what I could achieve with two eyes of someone like Sasuke."
"Don't you dare insult Obito!" Kakashi growled.
"Why not? Did you not think the same of him? At the time I was still a Leaf shinobi. I'd seen the way you treated him, like he was below you. I wonder what it was at Kannabi Bridge that changed your mind though. Was it when he finally activated his eyes? Or when he sacrificed himself, leaving you his left eye?" Kakashi found it hard to control his emotions as memories of that mission flooded his mind. "Oh, did I strike a nerve?"
"What are you planning?"
"Well, as I'm sure you've guessed, the new Sound village you've heard about? It's mine. It's provided me with some excellent pieces to play the game with."
"Like those Sound genin?"
"Exactly."
"And Sasuke's another pawn for you?"
Orochimaru shook his head. "Oh no no no. Sasuke's a much more valuable piece. It's too bad I didn't get that Hyūga, but it's no big loss."
'He tried to mark Hinata too? She's the only possibility because of the seal on her cousin.'
"No the genin I've sent are nothing more than sacrificial pawns." Orochimaru stepped forward.
Kakashi uncovered his Sharingan and blazed through handsigns. Lightning gathered at his hand. "I won't let you take Sasuke!" Kakashi stated, his Lightning Blade ready to strike down the rogue sannin.
"Please, we both know you're not a my level."
"I don't care! If you take one more step…" he warned.
Orochimaru just started laughing. "A vain attempt to make up for your past failures. But fine, I won't take Sasuke." Kakashi eyed him. "Because I don't need too. You've seen it too, right? The darkness rooted in his heart? He craves power. Power the mark can give him. Power I can give him. And he will not be denied. Oh I won't take him, he'll come to me of his own free will. But don't let me discourage you. Go ahead and try." Orochimaru turned around and walked away. "But I warn you, he will seek me out for the power to avenge his clan, because that's what he is. An avenger." He stopped. "Unless you stop me right now. Go ahead, give it your best shot. It's the only way to stop me." He smirked. Kakashi didn't move. Not, that's not right. He was shaking. His jutsu ended and the snake sannin disappeared.
Kakashi sighed in relief. 'I don't think I could've stopped him no matter what. I guess I should take Sasuke to the infirmary.'
"Yo." In a puff of smoke, Kakashi appeared back on Kurenai's left. "Miss me?"
"How's Sasuke?" Sakura asked her sensei.
"Oh, he's fine. Just recovering in the infirmary. So, what'd I miss?"
"Well," Asuma lit a cigarette, "Your student Shino won his match against one of the Sound genin." The smoker explained the fight.
"Good work Shino." Kakashi told his student. "I think you've got a good shot at chunin."
"Thank you sensei."
"Well, I guess that's two of my students that made it to the finals," Kakashi commented with pride and a little smugness.
"Anyway," Asuma continued, "After that was a match between another Leaf genin, someone named Misumi, and one of the Sand genin. The one in the black suit. He just won using puppetry."
"So he's a ninja puppeteer. Interesting. It's a difficult art to master, and very dangerous." Kakashi mostly directed it at the genin in from of the three Leaf jonin.
"Great, another dangerous opponent. What a drag."
"Hey, look at the screen. I think the next fight is being decided," Hinata said. Everyone watched as the screen showed the names of the next two fighters.
"Will Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki please come down," Hayate said, coughing.
Naruto looked at the pink-haired kunoichi. "S-so uh, g-guess we h-have to…"
"Uh, yeah, I guess." The two of them walked down and stood in front of each other. Hayate repeated the rules and started the match. Sakura jumped back. "I recommend you don't hold back against me, cause I won't against you." 'Alright, if I remember what I saw in the forest, Naruto finally managed to make clones and uses them. But I didn't see how cause I was busy making sure Sasuke was alright. He can also increase his speed and strength somehow, so I better watch for any red.' She rushed at him at a speed no one thought she had and sent a flurry of punches at Naruto, which he managed to block and dodge. Lee started cheering her on.
"Come on Naruto! You can win!" Karin cheered. 'And when you win you'll come up here, hug me and spin me around then…' The genin who weren't among the Leaf rookies were wonder who she was, what she was doing here since she was the only Grass genin at the tower and no one had seen her teammates. And some, including some of the rookies were wondering why she was giggling uncontrollably.
"Sakura's using her high chakra control to augment her speed and strength!" Kurenai said shocked. "Did you teach her that?"
"Nope. She learned that on her own. I didn't even know she could do it. But I've always known she had great chakra control. Even taught her the water walking exercise. It was no fun though cause she caught on quickly. Oh well, at least Sasuke and Shino gave me some laughs when I taught them later on. I think one day, she'll be able to develop Tsunade's strength enhancing technique."
"Still, I doubt it will be enough. Sakura may have excellent chakra control, but Naruto still has the advantage physically, especially in stamina, and he can outnumber her greatly using his shadow clones. And so far, Sakura hasn't landed a single blow."
"True, though I wonder why Naruto hasn't gone on the offensive," Asuma said.
Kurenai answered him. "Well, while he now can fight a real threat with little to no hesitation, he's still reluctant to fight with his comrades. It usually takes some time for either Hinata or myself to convince him to fight back when we have him spar. The only time I can think of where this hasn't been a problem was during our training in the Wave mission, because of the threat of Zabuza and the state of the country.."
"Choji's the same way. In that case, he'll need to outlast her or it's game over," Asuma said.
Naruto ducked under Sakura's punch and jumped back when she tried to sweep at his legs. Sakura frowned, frustrated not only because she hadn't landed a blow, but that Naruto wasn't fighting back. "If you aren't gonna fight me then stay still!"
"Come on Naruto!" Hinata shouted. "You need to fight so both of us can be chunin!"
Naruto looked at her, which proved to be a mistake as Sakura took advantage of this and clocked him, sending the blond back. He managed to recover and block a roundhouse kick. 'I guess I shouldn't be this hesitant to fight. It's like Hinata said, I have to so we both can be chunin. And I don't want to let her down.' "Sorry about this Sakura." Said girl was wondering what he meant when Naruto elbowed her gut, then twisted around her and kicked her back, sending her down.
She got up, quickly turning to face him. "Finally taking me seriously? Alright." She threw a smoke pellet and hide in the smoke. Shurikens came out, which Naruto dodged. And when the smoke cleared, there were five Sakuras.
'Clones? When did she… Oh right. They're probably illusions, not solid clones like mine.' Naruto drew shurikens from his pouch and threw them at the Sakuras who scattered. Then Naruto went after one and punched. She crossed her arms to block.
"How?" she asked, dumbstruck.
"I-it was my worst jutsu," Naruto explained. Sakura remembered all of his attempts back at the academy. His clones always appeared sickly and pale. "I s-studied everything about it in o-order to do it, including this. T-This type of clone, they don't have shadows."
Sakura looked at one of her duplicates and saw he was right. Because it was nothing more than illusion, it didn't cast a shadow. Sakura threw a right hook, but Naruto leaned back and her fist passed in front of him. 'So clones are useless against him since he can see through their tricks. And he has the upper hand in taijutsu. Think Sakura think!'
"I hope Sakura is ok after this. Naruto might lose it and go fox on her," Ino said.
"That's not gonna happen Ino," Shikamaru told her.
"And how do you know that? Sakura wasn't exactly the nicest person to him. And now they're fighting."
"Troublesome. Look at our sensei. And their's. Do they seem worried about this at all? No. Right now their only concern is who'll win. Have a little faith in Naruto. I mean look at him. He doesn't look like he's anywhere near angry. If anything, he seems reluctant."
"Shikamaru's right," Choji told her. "I mean, I was worried too, but I hung out with Naruto. I don't think it's right for us to be afraid of him." Ino sighed, but thought on her teammates' words. Asuma overheard the whole thing and decided he should speak with Ino later.
Naruto ducked under Sakura's swing, but was hit in the gut from a quick punch from her other hand. Sakura followed up with a spinning kick, but he rolled back and got on his feet. Sakura rushed, but Naruto caught her next jab and tilted his head to dodge her other fist while placing a kunai at her throat. "Sorry, but I think you should yield," Naruto suggested.
The cold metal was pressed against her neck, but not too hard as to draw blood. Just enough to let her know it was there. She sighed. "I give," she muttered, just loud enough for Hayate to hear. 'I guess I need to train my body more.'
"Naruto Uzumaki is the winner by submission." Hinata, Karin, and his other friends congratulated him. Shino told Sakura she did well. She thanked him and walked over to her teacher.
"Sorry sensei."
Kakashi looked at her and shrugged. "Well, I won't get to brag that all three of my students passed onto the final on their first try, but I was impressed with your use of chakra control." He ruffled her short hair, and she looked at her sensei annoyed but smiling too. "Did you learn anything?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I need to train my body more. Work on my taijutsu."
Kakashi nodded. "Something for me to help you with."
"Good work Naruto. You were too hesitant in the beginning though," Kurenai told her student.
"S-sorry," Naruto said.
"Forget it. You did great Naruto!" Hinata said, causing the boy to blush from her praise. "But why didn't you use your clones?"
"W-well, I wanted t-to hide m-my abilities for the f-final round." Kurenai approved of his answer. It was a good idea.
Sakura heard and was confused. "But everyone can make clones. You can't pass the academy without being able to."
Naruto answered her in a low voice. "M-my clones are… different. Solid. T-they can hit you o-or perform j-jutsu."
"It's true. It's called the shadow clone jutsu. It takes up a large amount of chakra though. Even I can't make many, about two or three at once."
Sakura looked interested. "Wait, I saw you make five clones. Were some of them regular clones?" Naruto shook his head. "So how many can you make?"
"Oh, well um…"
"About a hundred, from what I've seen," Hinata answered.
Sakura looked at Naruto bug-eyed. 'H-he can make a hundred! A hundred solid clones!' She imagined what would have happened if he made that many in their match. ' I didn't stand a chance,' she concluded sadly.
"But they aren't durable," Kakashi said. "A good hit would dispel them."
"Well, let's see who's fighting next!" Kiba exclaimed. 'I hope it's me.'
Alpha: Done! Hope the fight turned out alright. I didn't want it to be completely one-sided.
Sakura: At least it wasn't one of those fight scenes that make me look pathetic.
Alpha: Anyway, here's a little deleted scene.
-
Naruto ducked under Sakura's swing, but was hit in the gut from a quick punch from her other hand. Sakura followed up with a spinning kick, but rolled back and got on his feet. Sakura rushed, but Naruto caught her next jab and tilted his head to dodge her other fist while placing a kunai at her throat. "Sorry, but I think you should yield," Naruto suggested.
"No, I'm sorry." Naruto wondered what she meant when her knee shot up and hit him between the legs. All the men instinctively covered their crotch as Naruto fell.
"Um, t-the winner is Sakura Haruno."
"We really should make protecting that area standard issue," Asuma said aloud. All the men agreed.
Sakura suddenly felt two large killer intents directed at her. She turned to see the angry glares of Karin and Hinata. The two jumped down and grabbed the pink-haired girl and dragged her out of the arena. Sakura started shouting apologies and cries for help in vain as the door closed. Half an hour of screaming later, Hinata and Karin returned, dragging a badly beaten Sakura behind.
-
Alpha: Well, next chapter will be better. It's Inuzuka vs Hyūga!
