Hey guys I know I keep saying that I can't do more chapters for a while because of assignments, well if I actually don't upload the next one for a while it will be because I am swamped, just thought I'd finish this up as some final procrastination. Some comments on reviews at the end :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
The Champion of Clan Namikaze
Chapter 9: The Chunin Exam Finals
xXx
(Two weeks before the chunin exam finals)
"So after everything we're just going to abandon our plan?" Kabuto queried his master as they stood in a densely wooded section of one of Konoha's many training grounds. Kabuto had made sure that he wasn't being followed before making his way to the rendezvous.
"Yes, I've seen them shift their routines slightly ever since that red haired slut got away from me,"
"You really believe Karin would have told them everything? You've always meant everything to her."
"She must have, I might have meant everything to her but attempting to kill someone can unfortunately change their opinion of you rather quickly. It does not matter, I still managed to get the seal on Sasuke; the invasion can wait. It's already waited this long so it won't matter if stews a little longer. We still have control of Sunagakure but I am worried about that Uzumaki child. He is already posing a threat with the ability to use such high level techniques at such a young age."
"Hai Orochimaru-sama, but what about Gaara, if he goes berserk during the finals Hiruzen will know that you disposed of the Kazekage, he was the only one that could keep him from a rampage."
"Yes, he will have to forfeit. We can't have him getting out of control. I'll make the arrangements and inform the ninja of Sunagakure of our change of plans. The invasion will have to wait."
xXx
Jiraiya had given Naruto the day before the finals off and without any training to do Karin couldn't help but notice how distracted Naruto had been. As they lay in bed that night she realized that he wasn't even close to falling asleep.
Sitting up and turning to him she asked him the question that had been on her mind all day, "Naruto, what's wrong?"
He knew he couldn't hide his feelings from the sensor, she always managed to pick up his mood, "I'm worried about the finals, about Orochimaru's planned invasion, about the sand siblings, and I'm worried about my friends."
"Naruto, I trust that you'll be strong enough to protect those you care about. After all, you were strong enough to protect me. I'm sure you'll be fine."
"But what if I'm not strong enough to protect the people that I care about? What if I'm not strong enough to protect my team, what if I can't even protect you?"
"Naruto, you are stronger than you give yourself credit for. You saved me from someone who is incredibly powerfexul, and I never even thanked you for it, so," Karin said as she leaned down and kissed the boy lightly on his lips, "Thank you. Now get some rest, you're going to need it tomorrow."
Karin curled up next to him with her head on his chest and fell asleep to the feeling of his amazing chakra coursing through her. It had only been a month since he saved her from the forest of death, but it had felt like so much longer for her.
Naruto didn't know what to think as he went to sleep with a slight tingle running across his lips. It had only been a month, but she was meaning more and more to him every single day.
xXx
It was finals day and Karin was disappointed that she didn't get to watch, but it was still too dangerous for her to leave the house.
As he prepared to leave she ran up to him and pulled him back inside, "You're my boyfriend now, so you have to kiss me goodbye," it was only a light kiss that she planted on his lips, but he was still surprised.
"Since when?" Naruto said going red in the face.
"Since I said so. You don't have a choice," Karin was determined that her warm and cuddly amazing chakra machine of a boyfriend remained hers. She'd also seen that Hinata girl checking him out. That bitch wasn't getting her man, no way! If she wanted him so bad she should have done something about it already.
"But, but, bu-," to be honest Naruto couldn't really think of an excuse as to why not before she cut him off.
"No buts, unless you were about to tell me how much butt you are going to be kicking today!"
When he realized what had just happened he smiled at Karin, nodded, and left through the front door.
"Pfft, he thought he had a choice,"
xXx
When Naruto arrived in the waiting area of the arena where the other genin were waiting to compete or offer support for their friends his eyes were glazed over a little as he thought about what had just happened.
"What's with that look Naruto?"
Naruto didn't even think about who heard his response because he was still just as surprised and confused by the whole thing, "Nothing, just Karin kissed me and then claimed me as her boyfriend as I left, it was kinda weird," he said it as if it was nothing.
He then realized where he was and that Karin living at his place was a secret. Luckily the only people present were Sakura and Teams 8 and 9.
Sakura could only laugh, while the other's all wondered who the hell he was talking about. Well everyone except Hinata, who had passed out at hearing that another girl had kissed the boy she loved so dearly from afar and that he was now her boyfriend.
When Hinata woke up she saw them all standing around her with concerned looks on their faces, but the look Naruto gave everyone was stern, "Until I tell you that it's okay, I never mentioned Karin, ever,"
Kiba looked about to question Naruto but the look he got from Sakura and the shake of her head shot him down. Luckily he didn't pursue the issue any further because the other teams arrived shortly after.
As the stadium slowly began to fill and a new proctor walked into the stadium he began informing the competitors and spectators of the rules, "My name is Genma Shuranui and I will be the proctor for today's event. The fights will proceed between two competitors until one competitor concedes or is unable to continue fighting. My decision is final so if I call a fight then you must stop whatever you are doing. There will be no one attacked after I make my decision. Besides that there really aren't any rules, so have fun with it."
The man was average in height and had brown hair and brown eyes; he looked pretty casual with his forehead protector worn in the style of a bandana and senbon sticking out of his mouth.
"Same as the prelims then. Anyway where's Sasuke, he should be here by now, I really hope he hasn't taken up another of Kakashi's habits. Turning up late all the time is decidedly more annoying than reading Icha Icha," Naruto said from his position overlooking the arena.
"Says you," Sakura said standing next to him, looking around the stadium for her crush.
"Hey, if you kissed him on the lips I don't think he'd even mind, and I'd bet it'd be because of Icha Icha, it's like he's conditioned to that stuff now."
Sakura blushed at the thought before turning away, hoping Naruto wouldn't notice, "Exactly, you can thank me later," Oh he'd noticed.
The arena was a circular pit with high walls. It was bare in the center with a slightly forested area going around the outside all the way to the walls. On one side was a massive stand that held the spectators and the Kage's box; where the Hokage and Kazekage were seated. The competitors were waiting in their own area that was lower in the stand and opened partway down the wall so they had a better view.
"Man Sasuke better turn up, this won't be any fun without him." Naruto was whining as the proctor called out the first fight.
"Naruto Uzumaki versus Neji Hyuga," Genma called out, announcing the competitors for the first fight.
"Well time to show this Neji guy what I'm made of,"
"Remember Naruto," he heard Hinata call just before he jumped into the arena, "D-don't let him touch you,"
"Don't worry Hinata-chan, he won't be fast enough."
With Naruto's power still mostly unknown to the civilians of the village and his true strength only known to his fellow teammates many of the villagers were betting against him. Oh the money the bookies were going to make.
Naruto stood across from the Hyuga in the center of the arena and Hayate called a start to the fight.
"You should withdraw now Naruto, I've heard what you were like in the academy and even after that display with Kiba you are still no match for me, you will never be as strong as I am,"
"Actually Neji, I just came to show you what happens when you have such a shit attitude, oh and you know attempt to kill one of my friends. I'll give you one chance. Forfeit now and I'll spare you the humiliation."
"Heh, you really think you have a chance,"
"You're loss Neji,"
"So you keep telling me,"
"Guys you've been able to fight for a while now,"
"Oh yeah, well come on Neji, hit me with your best shot, if you can actually hit me."
"Don't underestimate my genius," Neji charged at the blonde as he stood waiting for an attack.
Naruto responded by reaching inside his coat and removing a piece of paper with a seal on it with his right hand and throwing a kunai at the Hyuga with his left hand.
Neji simply moved his head to the side and let the kunai fly past him. That was his first and only mistake.
To everyone's shock Naruto simply appeared behind the attacking Hyuga. In a quick motion he slammed his right hand onto the back of the genin, pushing him further into his charge and causing him to stumble but also applying a seal to the back of his clothing.
He caught the kunai with his left hand in the same motion and stood waiting for the Hyuga to recover.
It can't be! The yellow flash of Konoha! Shock spread throughout the villagers at just what this genin could do and who he might be. Before they could think about it any longer their attention was turned back toward the fight where Neji was screaming in pain.
Naruto stood next to a Hiraishin kunai that he had planted in the ground and Neji stood a few meters away, however every few seconds Naruto would reappear behind Neji cut him once and reappear next to the kunai in the blink of an eye.
He was only cutting him very lightly so as to not cause any serious damage so early in the fight.
Half of the villagers watching weren't even fast enough to see Naruto disappear.
"What were you saying about losers always being losers? I've cut you twenty times now and you haven't done single thing about it. You're making me think you can't do anything about, but that can't be true, not the genius of the byakugan."
Over the past month with Jiraiya and the help of his library Naruto had been able to work out how to apply a Hiraishin no Jutsu seal on an opponent if he had an already prepared seal written on sealing paper. The method he'd devised kind of worked like a temporary tattoo.
He merely placed the sealing paper facedown and channeled chakra through it, causing the seal to apply itself to whatever it was touching. It also meant however that he had to draw his seals reversed whenever he wanted to use that method of application, which he had to admit was extremely difficult at first.
This had allowed him at the start of the fight to place the seal on the Hyuga's back and was the reason he could always appear next to or behind the now bleeding genin.
"Surely there's something you can do in response?"
The Hyuga charged at Naruto in anger and frustration at having been slowly cut into. Whenever the blonde appeared he was never there for longer than a moment and then he was gone. He didn't even have the chance to use a defensive jutsu like the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven.
Neji had no understanding of what Naruto was doing and therefore had no way of countering it.
There was simply no way he could respond to the boy's movements.
"Surrender now before Neji, even after what you tried to do to Hinata I'm not the kind of person that want's to hurt you unnecessarily. I said I wanted to humiliate you. I have, now quit," Naruto tried to plead with the boy, but it only made him angrier.
Naruto brought his fist back, shifted his stance to a more solid one and disappeared, the moment he appeared an instant later his fist connected solidly with the face of the Hyuga and blood splattered as his nose broke beneath the punch.
The boy's body rag dolled as his momentum swept his feet up into the air slightly and he fell to the ground on his back, unconscious.
"The victor of this match is Naruto Uzumaki!" Genma called out, in awe of what he'd just seen. He knew Minato's signature technique when he saw it.
The medic-nin rushed over and carried the unconscious and bleeding Hyuga away to treat him.
"Yeah we never stood a chance against you in the prelims did we?" Kiba asked as the genin appeared next to them in an instant.
"Not really no," Naruto said with a friendly smile, "But that guys, is what I do to people who try and hurt my friends."
Gaara could be seen off and to the side staring at the blonde with a greedy look in his eyes. Temari and Kankuro were both concerned that the boy wouldn't follow the plan when it came time for him to forfeit.
It wasn't long before Genma called the next fight out "Sasuke Uchiha vs Gaara of the Sand," just as he announced this another Konoha ninja jumped down and spoke to him.
"This match has been postponed until further notice, we are sorry for the delay. In the meantime we will be moving on," Genma announced to the audience, "Shino Aburame vs Kankuro of the Sand,"
It didn't take long before the two ninja were standing opposite each other and the fight was underway.
Shino knew the basics of puppetry ninjutsu from what he had been told from Kurenai and knew he had the advantage.
Kankuro had seen Shino's fight in the preliminaries and knew that the genin used some kind of insect in offensive and defensive jutsu so he went on the offensive, quickly unbinding his puppet and sending it toward the boy.
That puppet wasn't a joke and Shino needed to deal with it. Quickly reaching into his pocket he pulled a smoke bomb out, releasing it at his feet and giving himself the cover he needed to retreat.
"Hah, coward! Running and hiding, you should just quit now." Kankuro taunted from his position in the center of the field as he controlled the puppet charging into the smoke.
The smoke cleared and he got no reply from the stoic ninja that had retreated into the wooded area. Surging forward the puppet burst into the shaded forest area as Kankuro began searching for his target.
Everyone in the stands had a clear view as the bug wielding shinobi created a bug clone; making his escape through the trees.
Within seconds Kankuro thought he'd found Shino only to have the boy explode all over his puppet, covering it with insects.
"You think some insects can destroy my puppet!" Kankuro turned as Shino and another clone emerged from the tree line on either side of him and he went to move his puppet to intercept one of them.
Only the puppet didn't move.
Unbeknownst to Kankuro the Aburame clan is famous for utilizing chakra absorbing insects in combat and these insects are perfect for consuming the chakra strings that give a puppet master their control.
"What? How?" Kankuro quickly retreated into the trees before the two Shinos that were hot on his tail could catch him.
He quickly made his way to his puppet with Shino still in pursuit and ejected another set of chakra strings to regain control of his weapon.
The puppet stood for all of five seconds before collapsing back to the ground, the chakra strings once again consumed.
Kankuro had stopped, hoping he would be able to stop the two advancing shinobi with the puppet. Those five seconds had given Shino and his clone plenty of time to close the distance and begin a taijutsu battle.
It's safe to say that Kankuro would most likely have been able to take Shino in a taijutsu battle alone but as soon as he hit the insect clone it burst, showering him in deadly chakra absorbing critters.
Before the minute was up he was beginning to feel exhausted and it wasn't long before he was unconscious on the ground and Genma called the match.
The next match up was between Temari and Shikamaru and while it was exciting in that it was suspenseful you would have gotten more action out of a fight between toddlers. The only time Shikamaru was in danger of taking any damage was when he was hiding in the trees as Temari attacked him with her Sickle Weasel Technique.
He simply waited her out, and while she had tried to deal with him there was simply nothing to be done about it. She couldn't attack him from her range effectively and to get in closer would have meant being caught in his jutsu.
In the end he managed to corral her into a position where he could capture her but surrendered anyway.
"Shika did you really have no way of beating her once you had her, or were you just being lazy?" Naruto asked when Shikamaru made his way back to watch the next fight.
"Egh, had I won I would have had to continue fighting, and I couldn't just surrender at the start. You can't be seen having a woman beat you."
"HEY I HEARD THAT!" Sakura and Ino both chorused.
"See? Trouble-some," Shikamaru said as they stormed over to him.
"You do realize after that performance they will probably promote you anyway."
"Great," Shikamaru said sarcastically as Sakura and Ino started getting into him.
"Unfortunately Dosu is incapable of participating," Genma revealed to the audience, not wanting them to know that he had been found dead, "So Sakura Haruno will be advancing to the next round without a fight."
The crowd was full of noblemen, villagers, merchants, bookies, gamblers; all of them travelling from across the country to see the up and coming shinobi of the future. Needless to say they weren't happy about missing a fight.
"The next match is between Sasuke Uchiha and Gaara of the Sand, however as Sasuke has yet to arrive we must withd –," As Gaara had seemed very unwilling to stick to the plan and go down to surrender, Temari had to take the chance, else they would risk everything.
She rushed down to Genma and interrupted him. When they were finished talking Genma once again addressed the crowd that was starting to get restless now that Sasuke was about to be knocked out before even fighting, "However I have just been informed that Gaara has withdrawn. Sasuke advances to the next round by default."
The people were somewhat pleased that the genin that most of them had come to watch wasn't completely eliminated and they might yet get to see him fight.
"The next match will be Naruto Uzumaki versus Shino Aburame."
"Should we even bother with this fight Naruto-san?" Shino said to the blonde as they made their way down to the pit.
"Wow, that's the most I've heard you say in one sentence ever I think," Naruto was actually surprised Shino had bothered to talk at all, "And I liked how you handled the puppet. You probably don't stand a chance, well you don't but where's the harm in trying? Shino you're my friend, I'm not going to leave you with any injuries. Permanent ones anyway, hahahahaha," Naruto was joking around but Shino sweat dropped, knowing that with Naruto's strength he could easily put an end to him.
Shino was quiet, but he wasn't a coward, whether or not he knew he would lose he wasn't going out there to surrender.
The crowd murmured in excitement as the blonde genin walked out into their view.
He was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, but most people had now guessed that he was the son of Minato Namikaze so there were mixed feelings.
He had yet to unleash an unholy demon fueled wrath upon the village and was already showing great promise as a ninja despite his constant pranking as a child.
If Naruto could make a name for himself as a powerful ninja he might just get the respect he had always desired sooner than he thought.
Shino faced the blonde as they both stood ready and was the first to make a move when Genma called "Fight!"
Shino quickly made his way to the trees and Naruto went after him. The fight really was a no contest, with Naruto easily catching the bug wielder; however a quick punch revealed a cloud of insects, with Shino having used a switch similar to his fight with Kankuro.
Before the majority of the bugs could converge Naruto attempted to retreat but was too slow; however within seconds of being swarmed the blonde had disappeared in a puff of smoke, having merely been a shadow clone the real Naruto had created as soon as he entered the forested area.
"Nice Shino, but I saw you use the same strategy on Kankuro; did you really think I'd fall for it?" Naruto called out to the shinobi he was pursuing through the trees.
Shino was fast, but Naruto was easily gaining on him even without the use of his Hiraishin no Jutsu.
When he was within striking distance Naruto created two clones that he used to cut off Shino's avenues of retreat and forced him out into the open.
Now that he had nowhere to run Naruto quickly engaged the bug wielder and the fight was over within seconds, the blonde subduing the member of Team 8.
The crowd was rather disappointed that they didn't get to see a more action packed fight but from what they'd seen of the Neji fight Naruto had some unseen power, and they knew from the start the bout was going to be one sided.
Genma himself was a little disappointed he hadn't gotten to see more of Naruto's strength.
"Temari versus Sakura Haruno," the proctor called out signaling the next match. The crowd didn't know what to think. Temari seemed like she was a strong shinobi from her match with Shikamaru even if she was outsmarted, but the spectators hadn't seen anything from the pink haired girl.
Suffice to say there were a lot of members in the crowd that looked please they might see some girl on girl action.
Once they'd made their way down to the center of the stage Temari looked over to the Konoha genin, "You really think you can take me on?" She didn't look like much, and she only got through the preliminaries because that blonde kunoichi Ino was such a pushover, but she was on the same team as Naruto and that Sasuke kid, so maybe that counted for something?
"I don't doubt it, now bring it on air head!"
"Wow that was such an original joke," Temari said, her voice laden with sarcasm, "I think I'll punish you for just how shitty it was."
Once she'd made some distance she swung her fan out, using her signature Sickle Weasel Technique to kick up a ferocious storm of wind in the direction of Sakura.
The pink haired genin went through a series of quick hand seals "Doton: Doryūheki (Earth Release: Earth Style Wall)" A solid barrier rose out of the ground on short noticed and blocked the cutting barrage of air that was heading toward her.
As the wind died down Sakura let her wall drop and made a headlong charge at the sand ninja. Her speed surprised the sand ninja and even a lot of the spectators as she burst from cover.
Temari however was faster and she brought her fan up to blow the blunt genin away with another blast of her Sickle Weasel Technique. She collided with the wall of air just meters from hitting the sand genin square in the face, but instead of taking damage the genin to blur and fade into nothingness.
The crowd was surprised by the tactic, wondering where the girl had gone, and Temari immediately put her guard up. The fight almost ended there as Sakura burst from the ground in an attempt to knock Temari out with one hit.
The sand genin responded, quickly back hand springing out of the way and just managing to avoid taking a hit to the chin, but it was Sakura on the offensive now.
Temari was fast and had avoided her first attack, but the genin of Team 7 quickly closed the distance before Temari could assault her with her air jutsu and was forced to engage Sakura with taijutsu.
Quickly closing her fan and using it as a means to block and attack might have been a sound decision against any other genin but Sakura wasn't a normal genin.
Temari brought the iron fan up to block a punch Sakura had put most of her weight behind after closing the distance between them.
Everyone in the audience could only wonder what the pink haired girl was doing by continuing her strike on a metal fan; wouldn't she just hurt her hand?
Except in the end, when it came down to it, the fan lost the battle.
As Sakura's fist made contact with the iron she channeled as much chakra as she could manage into her fist and the fan crumpled, bending under the force of the attack.
The knockback was enough to blow the now useless fan from the sand genin's hand and put her off balance. Following through with her assault Sakura now easily overpowered the kunoichi whose main means of attack and defense was now gone.
Sakura followed through with a quick right handed swing at Temari's side, cracking a few ribs and drew her left fist back before smashing it into the now defenseless shinobi's sternum, sending Temari flying across the ground battered and bruised.
She tried to stand, but could barely make it to her feet after the beating she'd just received. Two hits from that pink haired slut and I can't even stand.
Genma could see the condition she was in and called the match before Sakura could inflict any more damage, because she didn't look like she was about to stand down.
The crowd was surprised at the complete beating they had just witnessed. That genin was a monster. Two hits had sent her opponent flying. Team 7 was turning out to be the squad of the year.
The jounin in attendance wondered just how many mission requests Kakashi and his team would be getting once this was all over.
Genma announced to the audience that there would be one more fight left before the final, but due to continued absence of Sasuke Uchiha the fight would be delayed both to give him time to arrive and for Sakura to recover her from her fight.
So when Sakura joined Naruto in the stands after the medic-nin had carried away her opponent they had time to kill.
"You excited about fighting Sasuke Naruto?"
"Hah if the bastard even shows up, and what are you talking about, he has to beat you first!"
"We both know that that's not going to be a problem. I'm strong but I'm still not on the level of you guys yet, so I need to keep training. Doesn't mean I won't go all out, but I'm not expecting to win."
Gaara was standing in a corner of the room watching the two as they talked and it wasn't lost on Naruto.
"Yeah well try your best; I know you'll do great. You've already shown off what you can do. Now what does this guy want?" He was wary as the sand genin walked over and stopped in front of them.
"You and your team are powerful; mother has decided that she wants all of you."
"Yeah well your 'mother' can't have any of us." Naruto didn't know what the guy was talking about, but it didn't sound very great.
"But I will take you for her, she will drink your blood, she's getting quite thirsty," Gaara said with a dark and hungry look in his eyes. Yep, now he knew what he was talking about, so this guy was hungry for blood, well wasn't that just fantastic.
"Okay, unless you want the ass kicking of your life I'd back up right now," Naruto said. He didn't need this sand freak creeping out every genin there, "You're not touching any of my friends, at least not while I'm around to do anything about it."
"You won't be around to do anything about it,"
Before the situation could escalate any further the crowd murmured in excitement and all the genin looked down into the stadium to see what the commotion was all about. Naruto and Gaara were the only two who didn't look, both glaring at each other intently.
"Look it's Sasuke! He's finally here!" Ino squealed at the sight of the black haired genin standing next to his masked sensei.
Gaara backed away from the group after Kankuro walked up and urged him to leave them alone now that more attention was on the genin and the upcoming fight, leaving Naruto wary of just exactly what the twisted sand-nin was up to.
Before it could consume his attention too much he was greeted by his friend shun-shinning up into the waiting area to stand next to him.
"What took you so long teme?"
"Oh you know, I was on my way back to the village and stepped over a black cat. Had to go back and start the trip again."
Naruto sweat-dropped, "Seriously Sasuke, just stick to reading Icha Icha, that excuse was not only really bad, but I've heard Kakashi use it before."
Sasuke seemed a little crestfallen that his attempt to imitate his teacher hadn't gone as planned and then cried out when his pink haired teammate smacked him over the head, "That's for making me worry about where you were!"
Sasuke just rubbed the growing welt on his head as Naruto jumped into to stop a potential fight, "Hey Sakura save it for the fight, then you can go for your life, beat him up all you like then."
"Wait, I'm fighting her? I thought I was fighting Gaara?" Sasuke seemed a little confused at the situation having arrived so late.
"Yeah well that's what you get for arriving late. They probably would have disqualified you if Gaara hadn't withdrawn from the fight. And Sakura beat Temari, so the winner out of you two fights me. Now get out there," Naruto was inclined to throw both of them in the ring one on top of the other to see what reaction he'd get but decided that was probably not a good idea.
They both made it to the center of the arena and Genma gave them the go ahead, the crowd roaring in approval at the kind of spectacle they were likely to be in for.
Sakura had no idea exactly what Sasuke had improved on over this past month but figured she was about to find out. As he stood watching her, his eyes flared red, revealing that he now had activated his third tomoe in both of his eyes.
He blurred out of sight, surprising her with his incredible speed, and she only just managed to bring her hands up to block the quick flurry of strikes he made against her.
She quickly retaliated whenever she could, trying to land a solid hit on the fast moving Uchiha, but it was no use. With his Sharingan she may as well have been telegraphing her attacks and although had Sakura been able to make contact with the boy she may have been able to inflict damage he simply wasn't letting her.
He was able to redirect her attacks or simply avoid them, allowing him for a while to control the pace of the fight.
She quickly jumped back from their engagement going through seals as she retreated and slammed her fist into the ground before Sasuke could catch her, "Earth Release: Earth Style Haven!"
Three walls sprang up from the ground around her on an angle, all meeting at an apex, effectively trapping her in a hollow earth pyramid, but also protecting her from Sasuke's current attacks.
He looked about ready to charge an attack that would break her defense before he noticed a slight vibration of the ground with his kekkai genkai.
You've already used this strategy before Sakura; don't think I'll fall for it again.
A hand emerged from the ground in an attempt to grab his foot, but he easily avoided the attack now that he knew it was coming.
While he couldn't attack her effectively while she was underground he knew she had to surface soon or later, and so he stood waiting, the ground vibrating subtly as she made her way to the cover of the trees, knowing that she now wasn't going to be able to catch him off guard.
She emerged from the ground and jumped into a tree after her attacked had failed, but as she did so she locked eyes with the black haired boy that she so dearly cared for.
A boy that was slowly walking towards her with his guard down as he began taking off his shirt. The boy that approached her and beckoned her to jump down from the tree as he stood bare chested.
She did so without question and as she stood before him he leant forward and went to kiss her, until her inner voice screamed at her WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU THINK SASUKE WOULD DO THIS IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT! GENJUTSU YOU FOOL!
Realizing what it was at the last second, she broke the genjutsu with a quick "kai" only to be greeted with the sight of her crush about to pummel her.
She managed to get her guard up and they traded punches, Sasuke landing a few blows, with Sakura's not even coming close to due the Uchiha's efforts.
Moving back out to the center of the arena in view of all the spectators Sasuke managed to trip up the Kunoichi and she fell on her back, but not before she grabbed his shirt and pulled him down with her.
Naruto could see Ino in the crowd, red with anger at what she was seeing, Sasuke, tumbling on the ground with Sakura. They were in the middle of a fight, sure, but she wanted to get close to the black haired Uchiha in any way she could. Naruto elbowed Shikamaru and Chouji and all had a chuckle at her reaction.
Until she froze and turned her head slowly towards them, giving them a stare that certified her insanity, getting all of them to shut up before she decided to walk over and beat them over the head.
Sasuke took this opportunity and attempted to pin Sakura and force her submission, but as she lay on her back she quickly went through seals again.
Sasuke quickly tried to bring a kunai to her neck but it was too late as she sunk again back into the ground, grabbing the Uchiha to drag him down with her.
He broke her grip with a few strikes and escaped the stick fate that might have ended his fight early.
It wasn't long before she reappeared not far from where the scuffle had taken place looking tired.
Although she'd escaped, dragging Sasuke into the ground really was her last ditch effort in taking victory from the boy. She had no other options available to her. Her taijutsu was useless against the Sharingan and her Hiding like a Mole Technique had already been overused; it was next to useless against Sasuke.
She wasn't going to surrender though, no way in hell, and with a final charge she engaged Sasuke in what would be the final taijutsu encounter of the match.
He quickly made it past her guard and by misdirecting her attacks turned her around. A few quick strikes to her legs and she was on the ground, with him on her back. He had her arms pinned with his knees and was holding a kunai to her neck.
Genma called the match and the crowd erupted at the fight that they'd just seen. Team 7 was amazing. The speed and ferocity with which they fought was almost unheard of among genin.
As the two walked off together Sasuke turned to Sakura, "You fought really well out there today. And good work breaking that genjutsu, I thought I might be able to get the advantage over you with that, but you've really improved," Sasuke looked genuinely sincere as he complimented her.
Sakura blushed, and then went even redder when she thought about the fact that the genjutsu was a creation of Sasuke's mind. Even though tactically it was sound, I wonder if he enjoyed coming up with it.
Her mind jumped to the book she saw him pull out as he sat down and waited for the final match. She inwardly said a thank you to Naruto for giving Sasuke access to his collection.
"Nice fight teme, can't wait to see what else you've learnt over this past month, and that taijutsu was nasty."
"Yes it was," Rock Lee stood in the doorway to the waiting area with a crutch under his left arm and braces and bandages covering his body, "You copied the taijutsu I used in my fight against Gaara yes?"
"Yes, I thought if I was going up against Gaara I needed a way to get around his sand shield. It takes it out of me though; I don't know how you kept it up during that fight and then went beyond it. It was a great fight," Sasuke had actually been amazed at the speed the boy had moved around the battlefield. He certainly would not have wanted to fight Lee for keeps back then.
"When do they think you'll be back and ready for training?" Naruto asked cheerfully from his seat, wondering when the boy would be able to spar him.
"Unfortunately Naruto-san the medic-nin don't think that's an option. But I won't let these injuries stop me from fulfilling my dream!" Naruto noticed that the boys arm was bleeding as blood ran down the inside of his bandages.
"Well I hope you get better soon Lee, I want to spar you when you are well again." As Naruto said this he and Sasuke were called to the center of the arena and they left. Lee watched them leave and tears started run down his face at what he knew was a challenge he might never be able to meet. Naruto turned at the last second to see the once exuberant boy broken by his injuries.
Sasuke and Naruto made it to the arena, "Okay guys, give everyone the show they've been waiting for," Genma said casually as he backed up to give the genin room to fight. Both of them nodded in response, before disappearing in a blur, eager to start the fight.
Naruto wanted to win, and he knew that even with the speed training Sasuke had done and his three tomoe sharingan he had the advantage with Hiraishin; now he just needed to land a seal on his friend.
The blonde charged the Uchiha, throwing a Hirashin kunai past the boy before flashing to it, grabbing it and throwing it past the boy again as he turned to respond to Naruto's threat. In his place however Naruto had left another kunai stuck in the ground.
Repeating this Naruto was able to quickly form a perimeter of hiraishin seals around the extremely fast Uchiha. It was more reliable than creating a sea of clones and having each of the clones drop a kunai. He had tried that in the past and if a clone was dispelled he would lose the corresponding kunai as its equipment would dispel as well.
Sasuke cursed at the situation Naruto had put him in. He was trapped in the circle of kunai the blonde had spread around him, and he also had to try and deal with the constant attacks from the blonde. He noticed a piece of paper in the hand of the boy and he knew through the use of his sharingan that it was a reversed Hiraishin seal.
Naruto had no doubt worked out how to apply it to surfaces with the use of paper, so he couldn't let the boy touch him if he wanted any chance of winning the fight.
All Sasuke could do was take consolation that Naruto wasn't going to use the seal he already on the Uchiha for the purposes of winning the fight.
Naruto launched a kunai at him and created three clones, which teleported between a number of the Hiraishin markers encircling Sasuke. No doubt he's trying to confuse me and draw my attention from the kunai flying through the air; I can't let that get near me.
Sasuke responded with his own kunai that knocked the Hiraishin kunai out of the air before it could get any closer. Naruto's clones then decided to throw their own kunai in the hope they would get past his defense.
Sasuke didn't let the crowd down as he continued to launch kunai at the incredibly fast and accurate hiraishin kunai Naruto was launching at him.
The circle however was getting smaller, with every kunai that was thrown landing within the original markers.
Naruto knew that Sasuke couldn't block kunai from every direction and so created ten clones that spread out around the boy, but Sasuke knew what was coming.
Every one of the clones threw a Hiraishin kunai at the boy and while he could deflect them some of them with thrown kunai and dodge the others and prevent them from causing injury that would only mean that Naruto would then be able to flash directly to his blind spot and eventually put him down with one hit.
He needed to get out of the circle, and the only way he was going to get anywhere near doing that was if he managed to take away Naruto's advantage.
Quickly going through hand seals Sasuke inhaled deeply before jumping up above the kunai as they converged on him "Fire Release: Great Flamethrower Technique." Rather than exhale one massive ball of fire, Sasuke had modified his original technique with more control and could now fire a refined stream of flames from his mouth. He rained death upon the clones that had all teleported underneath him in an attempt to subdue him when he fell back to the ground.
The original Naruto had also made to attack him, but as soon Sasuke began spewing fire, he retreated, launching a kunai at a tree at the edge of the battlefield and flashing to safety.
Not only had Sasuke defeated the clones, he'd also burned the seals off each and every one of the Hiraishin lying on or in the ground, giving him the short reprieve he needed.
"TEME! Do you even know how long it's going to take for me to replace those?"
"Just use your clones dobe," Sasuke said before going through hand seals that Naruto hadn't seen before.
Naruto had a look on his face that said he hadn't thought of doing that yet but when he saw Sasuke going through hand seals he got serious.
So I'm going to see another of the bastard's new moves, I have to admit that flame thrower one was pretty epic. Naruto was glad that he had such an awesome teammate on his team, but he had to focus, or he might actually lose the fight.
Sasuke's hand began crackling with lightning and he charged at Naruto. The blonde responded by forming a rasengan.
"Let's see whose attack is stronger shall we!" Sasuke shouted as he ran at the blonde, but neither of them got to find out. Before Naruto could even respond by throwing any of his kunai a sand storm kicked up.
When it cleared both the genin had stopped out of confusion and a mad looking sand ninja with a gourd on his back stood between them.
"Yes, I've seen enough. Mother is hungry and you two will do just fine!" Gaara cackled maniacally as the two genin stared him down and the jounin in the stands went to restrain him.
"NO!" Naruto called out to the stands, "Don't move, everyone is here today to see a fight, well we'll give em one they won't forget. Besides I've got a bone to pick with this guy about what he did to Lee." Rock Lee was in the stands and was in awe of Naruto and Sasuke's ability to fight. But also that Naruto would stand up for what had happened to him in the preliminaries.
The jounin hesitated after hearing that Naruto and Sasuke would fight the sand genin but they still looked ready to move. This was not what they needed when Orochimaru could invade at any time.
Orochimaru himself was in a spot of trouble. If he tried to force the genin not to fight he might enrage him into releasing the Shukaku, and that was something he couldn't afford. He also didn't want to let him fight Naruto and Sasuke because if he took any considerable damage he would most definitely release the demon sealed inside him.
"Gaara, stand down, do not fight them!" Orochimaru called out to the boy hoping that he wouldn't go ahead with his attack.
Gaara snapped, he'd had enough and he wanted the blood of these two powerful genin, "NO! I WANT THEM, MOTHER WANTS THEM, I WILL TASTE THEIR BLOOD!" and with that, in the middle of a village packed with people, Gaara started layering sand onto his body.
So guys :) Hope that was an alright chapter, for some reason I had trouble writing this one, normally they don't take me as long, but there were a few times I felt like I'd written something and it didn't feel right. That and I wrote a fair chunk of it on the train and in transferring through dropbox to my main comp I deleted my progress... soooo that was gay. Anyway hope you enjoyed it, and review review review!
Serialkeller - So i've answered in this chapter why Naruto just doesnt make a bajillion clones and then have then drop Hiraishin. But a) So far he's never really had the need to do that. And b) I figure if he makse a clone and it is dispelled then everything that belonged to that clone would also be dispelled.
Tamult - thanks for the massive reply, tbh i just didn't see a harem happening in this story, like it didn't seem to fit, that and I've read about a bajillion harems... soo it's kinda old... Naruto can't just magically get all the babes...
Gliding One - thanks for picking that up, I updated it to say tokubetsu jounin :)
BigBossVince - I didn't have to justify it with realism, but I feel I should justify most things. Idk it's what I do, maybe it comes with being an engineering student, or I'm just weird, but no worries :)
I apologise if the Neji fight didn't have heaps more action, but well Naruto kinda shits all over Neji in this story so it was never going to take long.
To everyone else who is worried about Naruxhina and all that if I don't make a Harem, which I'm not, I hope this chapter made it more clear what the pairing is. Which is NaruxKarin. Anyway if you managed to read up to this part without getting bored I commend you, and you should review ;P until next time (which hopefully won't be too far away, but may very well be).
*Also I've noticed that I'm at like 5000 views for chapter one, which then drops down to 2000 and then 1000... can't believe I lose so many readers on the first two chapters :( but at least I still have you guys! Sticking with my first ever story yeeewww! Glad I can entertain you guys in some way :P