Nawaki tried not to feel jealous when Hisa went down to fight Naruko, but he couldn't help it. Of course Hisa Uzumaki, daughter of Naruto and the second Sage of Six Paths would make it to the final. Who was he compared to her? All Konoha saw was her orphan teammate, not from any important clan. Not for the first time, Nawaki wished he could use his sharingan. If he could fight Hisa with it, they would be on equal terms. But he wouldn't reveal his secret, because it wasn't just about him.

He still couldn't help feel irritated throughout the tournament. He was better than half the people who had made it to the second round. He had just had the bad luck to fight a very good opponent for the first round. Next time, he would make sure he was the best, not just one of the best.

But for now, he would cheer Hisa on. At least if Hisa won, it meant Naruko hadn't. That girl gave Nawaki the creeps. Even without his sharingan, he could sense her bloodlust. The fact that she was five years old made it even worse. Nawaki laughed when he realised that the two finalists were five and six years old, respectively. This was probably one of the strangest Chunin Exams in history.

He looked up and saw Oki leaning over the balcony, cheering for Hisa. She hadn't exactly won her match either, yet she was still happy for her teammate. She noticed him looking at her and smiled, beckoning him towards her. He went to stand beside her and cheered for his teammate.

!

Hisa swore as she dodged yet another of Naruko's iron spikes. Ever since Naruko had revealed her jutsu, she had been trying to stab Hisa non-stop. Hisa didn't have any time to think of a counterattack, or even to figure out the limit to Naruko's power. The only thing she had done was stick a special kunai into the ground. She hadn't had time to even think about using it.

The Magnet Release was a very powerful kekkei genkai, and could be used in many different ways. Hisa's strategy all depended on how much Naruko could do. If she could magnetize anything she touched, then Hisa was in trouble. Most of her weapons were metallic, including her special kunai. Hisa didn't know much about the Magnet Release. She would have to learn as the match went on.

As Naruko aimed yet another spike at her, she tried to think of a plan. Naruko's main flaw was her arrogance. She seemed to think that the one jutsu was enough to take down Hisa. The Iron Sand jutsu was a strong one, but if it was the only strong jutsu Naruko knew, then Hisa had a chance.

Naruko paused in her attack to observe Hisa. She looked at Hisa expectantly.

"Are you going to quit or do I kill you?" she asked.

Hisa didn't answer her. She threw two shuriken straight at Naruko. Would Naruko's sand block it or would she use a different Magnet jutsu? Naruko's sand came up and blocked it. Naruko herself looked utterly bored, unaware that she had just given Hisa information. Hisa knew now that if Naruko had any other Magnet Release jutsu, she preferred to use her Iron Sand. That meant that Hisa's kunai and shuriken were safe for the moment.

Hisa ran straight at Naruko. The next step was to see how quickly Naruko could react. Naruko's sand wasn't like Gaara's. It didn't move unless Naruko willed it to. That meant that it was slower than Gaara's sand.

But it was still fast enough to almost kill Hisa as she ran. Naruko sent a giant spike straight at her. Hisa jumped into the air, keeping her eyes on Naruko. Hisa had heard of special magnetic shuriken that could magnetize anything they touched. She had already touched the sand, so she really hoped that Naruko hadn't learnt how to do that.

While she was in the air, Hisa threw another two shuriken. She was hoping that Naruko would use another jutsu to block them. No such luck: the sand came up faster than before and blocked the two shuriken.

Hisa took advantage of the distraction to aim a kick at Naruko's head. The sand came up almost instantaneously. Naruko struck back then, creating a giant wave of metallic sand. Hisa quickly jumped backwards to avoid it. Naruko's sand was fast, but it couldn't follow her everywhere. Hisa ran at Naruko again. She aimed two kicks at Naruko to distract her. While the sand was busy blocking the kicks, Hisa jumped up and threw four punches. The sand blocked each and every one of them. While Hisa was busy throwing punches, the sand surrounded her and sharpened. She jumped out of the way just as the spikes converged on the spot she had been standing on. Hisa couldn't help shuddering slightly; she had just avoided death by an inch.

She jumped back in, quickly aiming another kick for Naruko's head. The sand blocked it of course, but Hisa could see Naruko was getting fed up of being on the defensive. She was going to attack Hisa again.

Naruko formed three giant iron spikes and shot them after Hisa. Hisa ran for her life. The first spike slammed into the ground directly behind her. It was heavy enough to send tremors shooting through the ground. Hisa ducked the second spike and it slammed into the wall, creating a web of cracks. The third spike tried to smash down on her, but she managed to jump out of the way. She paused for a second to catch her breath, when she noticed that Naruko was unguarded. She had used too much of her dust for the spikes, and now there wasn't enough to shield her completely. Hisa ran straight at her, kicking and punching like a madwoman. Naruko's shield blocked most of the assault, but one kick managed to get through. It hit Naruko in the face and sent her flying. Naruko crashed to the ground, stunned that Hisa had managed to hit her.

The rest of the stadium looked stunned as well. Naruko had claimed that her defence was impossible to breach. Hisa smirked slightly, Naruko looked pretty stupid now.

Naruko sat on the ground for a minute. Hisa waited for her to get up and attack, but nothing happened. Usually, you were supposed to wait for your opponent to get back up, but Hisa had never understood why people did that. They were shinobi, did good sportsmanship really matter?

She ran behind Naruko, aiming a punch at her head. If she hit hard enough, hopefully it would knock Naruko unconscious. Just as she was about to punch, Naruko stuck out her hand. Hisa cried out in surprise as her whole body jerked to the side. Her punch missed Naruko's face completely.

Naruko was on her feet now, looking at Hisa with murderous glee. Hisa was on the ground, trying to figure out what had happened. Naruko had stuck out her hand and Hisa had… Hisa froze when she realised fully what had happened. Naruko was smirking down at her.

"So you've finally figured it out." she gloated "Honestly, were you really stupid enough to believe that the Iron Sand was all I could do with my kekkei genkai? Every time you touched my sand, I magnetized your body a little more. Now, I can draw you towards me at any time I like."

Hisa could only watch as Naruko stuck out her hand again. She felt her body jerk and suddenly she was flying through the air. Naruko grabbed her throat and slammed her onto the ground. Slowly, Naruko climbed on top of her and wrapped both hands around Hisa's throat. Hisa was terrified. She wasn't scared about the prospect of dying, but the look on Naruko's face of pure longing petrified her. This five year old girl was looking forward to killing Hisa, and that was just awful.

Naruko's hands tightened and Hisa began to choke. She moved her head from side to side. Her eyes landed on the special kunai she had stuck into the ground at the start of the match. Before Naruko had started her first attack, Hisa had filled the kunai almost to the brim with chakra. Her mind was starting to get foggy from lack of oxygen, but she could still sense her chakra lying in the kunai. Naruko hadn't noticed the kunai at all throughout the match.

Hisa slowly pushed her chakra down her right arm. When it reached her fingertips, she sent it across the field, to where the kunai was. As soon as the kunai felt full, she yanked her chakra out.

The effect was instantaneous. One second Naruko was choking her, the next second she was lying on the ground halfway across the field. Her right arm felt like it was on fire, but she was alive.

She used her left hand to push herself to her feet. The look on Naruko's face was priceless. She looked at Hisa, then at her empty hands, then back to Hisa. Finally, she noticed the kunai and her eyes narrowed.

"You know how to teleport." she stated.

Hisa was busy pushing the last of her chakra into the kunai. She knew what Naruko was going to do next, and she needed the kunai to be ready.

"Yes, I can teleport. Thank you Captain Obvious."

Naruko frowned.

"If you want obvious then fine. Your kunai is made of metal, I can magnetize and-to a lesser degree-control metal. What does that make your kunai? Useless."

Naruko stuck out her hand and pulled the kunai out of the ground. The kunai shot forward and landed in Naruko's hand.

"I think I'll keep this after I kill you. It's a pretty kunai."

Hisa grinned. Naruko had done exactly as she had expected. The kunai that was filled with chakra was now in Naruko's hand. Naruko herself was completely unaware that the kunai was almost full. If she had known, she would have dropped it and ran but as she didn't…

Hisa pushed the last of her chakra into the kunai, then pulled it out using the chakra in her left hand. She had just enough time to stick her leg out before she had teleported across to Naruko. Hisa saw a brief flicker of shock in Naruko's eyes before her foot connected with Naruko's head. Naruko fell to the ground, but Hisa wasn't finished. If she gave Naruko any time to recover, she would lose the match. She had to end this now.

Hisa reached down and slammed her hand onto Naruko's chest.

"Almighty Push!" she yelled.

The force of the chakra wave pushed Naruko two feet deeper into the ground. Naruko's eyes bulged and she coughed once, before her eyes rolled back in her head. The push had broken at least three of her ribs, and possibly damaged her lungs. The pain was enough to knock Naruko unconscious.

Shikamaru strolled across the field. Once he had confirmed that Naruko was really unconscious, he grabbed Hisa's hand and raised it into the air.

"The winner: Hisa Uzumaki!"

The crowd exploded into cheers, although there were a few grumbles from Suna shinobi. Medics rushed onto the field and swarmed over Naruko. Hisa looked up to where her teammates were watching. Nawaki and Oki were cheering and clapping, Obito was shaking his head and smiling proudly and Kawa, who had just been released from the hospital, was grinning like a maniac. A warm feeling appeared in Hisa's gut, and it only intensified when she saw her father jumping up and down and her mother clapping quietly with a huge smile on her face. For the first time in quite a while, Hisa didn't mind being the centre of attention. For the first time ever, she felt proud of her Rinnegan.

!

Naruto grinned as Gaara signed the cheque.

"Thank you kindly, Lord Kazekage. Your generous donation will pay for at least ten more ramen stands and possibly a new swimming pool."

Gaara was wearing his old psychopathic genin face. Sasuke was slightly worried about Naruto's safety.

"I'm glad to know the money will be spent well. My original plan was to use it to build a new home for elderly retired shinobi in Suna but I'm sure a swimming pool for Konoha is just as important."

Naruto shrugged.

"Maybe not the swimming pool but the world definitely needs more ramen stands."

Gaara's sand was swirling menacingly so Sasuke thought it best to get Naruto out of there.

!

Nawaki smiled happily as Hisa climbed back onto the balcony. Oki gave her a huge hug and Obito clapped her on the shoulder. She hugged them back before standing in front of Nawaki. Nawaki could see she was nervous, she didn't know how he was going to react.

He stepped forward and gently pulled her into a hug.

"Congratulations." he said "You were amazing."

She smiled up at him, a genuine happy smile that was very rare on Hisa.

"Thanks." she said quietly "It means a lot to hear that from you."

Nawaki smiled. He was about to say something else but Hisa was ripped from his arms.

"Hisa, that was amazing! That last bit where you used the teleportation jutsu twice in a row looked so hard! How are you feeling? Are you hurt?"

They all laughed and Hisa rolled her eyes before answering Kawa.

"My arms feel like they're on fire but I'm too happy to care. How did you get out of the hospital so quickly?"

As Kawa began to reply, Nawaki Oki and Obito moved away to give them some privacy. Obito was frowning thoughtfully at Kawa. Nawaki wasn't sure why, but he would have time to find out. He may not become a chunin today, but at least he was staying in Konoha. His fears of being found out were finally receding. Sasuke had seen him today hadn't he? There were no police men surrounding him, which meant that Sasuke hadn't figured it out. He was safe to stay in Konoha, safe to build a bigger and deeper identity and safe to see his mother soon.

His thoughts moved back to the exam. He meant what he said when he said he wouldn't enter for a few years. He needed time to train harder and to get stronger. He didn't want to lose again.

He smiled when he felt Oki take his hand.

"The jackets won't be presented for a few hours. Do you want to get some ramen?"

He smiled and nodded.

"What about Hisa?"

They both turned and looked to where Hisa was talking with Kawa. She looked happier then Nawaki had ever seen her and was laughing at something Kawa had said.

Oki smiled.

"I think she'll be fine here. Let's go, just the two of us."

Nawaki's smile got bigger. He gripped her hand firmly and they began to walk down the stairs. Nawaki never thought he would feel this happy after losing, but right now he felt content.

This was his home.

A/N Finally, the Chunin Exam Arc has ended! I know the ending sucked but I didn't know how else to finish it. To be honest, this arc was a pain to write. It was basically fight scene after fight scene. I hope I didn't do too badly, but I wasn't very happy with it myself.

There will be a timeskip of a few years in the next chapter, otherwise the story would have just dragged on. Thanks again for all the reviews. I appreciate every one of them.