Rika-Chan24- Hey guys! Sorry I didn't update sooner, I have been very busy with school. I hope you all like the chapter, and the rest of the Preliminary fights.
Thanks for all the Fave's, Follows, and Reviews!
I don't own Naruto.
The first five fights were done, and over with. Many of the genin left were just itching to fight now. Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai had been observing their genin, for a while. They were becoming really curious now.
Nine of them just graduated from the academy like six months ago, and every single one of them, knew element techniques.
That's something you learn as a chunnin, because most genin do not have the chakra reserves to do element jutsu's.
Sure, there were the occasional genin who had the chakra reserves to do so, but twelve of them? Something was really going on, and the jounin really wanted to find out what. Jounin do not like being out of the loop, especially if it is their genin that is hiding something.
The board started to spin through names once more. All of the genin watched the screen with almost rapped attention. A second later, two named appeared on the screen.
"Neji Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka." Hayate called. Both said boys nodded at each other before heading down to the arena.
"Ok Akumaru, we have a tough fight ahead of us." Kiba told his fighting partner.
"Arff" Akumaru barked in agreement with him. Sure normally, Kiba would be the type of shinobi that would brag about his strength, and tell them that they were going to lose.
Though, since the Konoha 12 spar a lot together, Kiba knew exactly how strong Neji is. He wasn't completely stupid, as his friends liked to think.
"Ready?" Hayate asked them, glancing between the two for an answer.
"You bet! We are going to give it our all." Kiba replied, as Akumaru barked along with him. Kiba slid into the Inuzuka taijutsu stance, waiting for the match to begin. Neji just nodded, before he did the same and slid into the Hyuga Gentle fist.
"Begin." Hayate said before jumping away from them. Kiba knew this wasn't the type of battle to jump strait into.
He was kind of glad that Naruto had them switch sparing partners, and play Shogi once in a while with one of the "Geniuses" of the group. In the long run, it really did help. Not that Kiba would ever tell Naruto that.
Neji headed straight towards Kiba, hands positioned to plug some of Kiba's tenketsu. Kiba quickly flew through a few hand signs before shouting.
"Earth style: Stone Spikes" Earth like spikes shot out of the ground, Neji was hit in the side, by one of the many spikes, sending the Hyuga flying away from Kiba.
"Alright, it worked!" Kiba cheered, but stopped when Neji came at him once more. This time Kiba crouched and got into the Inuzuka taijutsu style.
"Fang over Fang" Kiba and Akumaru were now spinning towards Neji at a fast rate. Neji knew how fast Kiba was, and Neji was quite glad he was use to fighting Lee, who was the fastest one of the Konoha 12.
Just as Kiba and Akumaru were about to make contact, Neji used Kaiten, and spin a circle that created a chakra type barrier. Kiba and Akumaru were sent flying into a wall behind them.
Kiba got up as fast as he could; Neji wasn't going to wait for him, because the Hyuga appeared in front of him. Neji began hitting the tenketsu in Kiba's arms as fast as he could.
Neji was just about to land another hit, when he was hit from behind by Akumaru. Neji was sent flying away from the Inuzuka.
"Thanks Akumaru!" Kiba chirped to his dog. Akumaru barked to him in reply.
"I am not going to last much longer, I am going to have to end this." Kiba thought.
Neji got back up from being tackled in the side by Akumaru. "Fine, I didn't want to use any Elemental jutsu yet, but I have to win this fight. Naruto needs me in the third round." Neji thought.
"Wind style: Great Breakthrough" Neji shouted as a burst of wind soared towards Kiba, who was coming back at him with another Fang over Fang.
The wind jutsu was strong enough to push Kiba away and into a wall, with Akumaru by his side.
The two were lying against the wall, trying to get up. Kiba sighed a minute later, he realized that he was out of chakra, and probably didn't have enough energy to keep fighting. Kiba turned to Hayate,
"I give; I don't have enough chakra to keep going." Kiba said.
Hayate nodded, before declaring Neji as the winner. Kiba slowly made his way back to his feet, and scooped Akumaru up as he did so. He would have to train some more after these chunnin exams.
"Good fight, Kiba. You did well against me." Neji said as the two of them walked up the stairs to the others waiting.
"Ugh, thanks Neji." Kiba replied with a shocked face. "I will kick your ass next time though!"
"We will see." Neji smirked as they made it back to the others. All of them of course commented about their fight. Just like the fights from before.
The screen on the wall raced through names once more, before stopping on two pictures.
"Would Dosu Kinuta and Tenten please make their way down." Hayate called.
"You will do great, my youthful friend!" Lee shouted.
"Yes, show the sound nin your spring time of youth!" Gai added.
Lee and Gai began to go on a long loud rant, like they do almost all of the time.
Tenten rolled her eyes at the two, and made her way down the stairs to the arena. The other members of the Konoha 12 wishing her luck as she left the group.
Tenten stood facing Dosu, waiting for the match to begin. Hopefully it would go well for her.
"Begin" Hayate said before jumping away from the two genin.
Tenten jumped farther away from Dosu, and grabbed two scrolls from her pouch on her hip. Her weapons ready to be shot out from both scrolls at any given moment.
Dosu studied his opponent, his wasn't really like him to just attack without thinking. He left that to Zaku normally.
A second later, Tenten released the Kunai and Shuriken at Dosu from the scrolls. The weapons flew towards Dosu at various speeds. Dosu forced Sound waves through the metal device on his arm, to deflect all of the weapons flying at him.
Tenten began to charge lightning chakra into two kunai she grabbed out of her pouch and shot them straight towards Dosu.
The lightning chakra crackled around the two kunai as they soared through the air. Dosu went to use his sound waves again, but didn't have time. The kunai reached him, quicker than he expected.
Dosu managed to deflect one of the kunai, but the other one struck him in the arm, causing Dosu to be shocked by the lightning chakra.
Tenten used that time to grab another scroll from her pouch, and opened it like she did the other ones. Weapons shot out everywhere once more.
Dosu, who recovered in time, shot multiple sound waves from his arms. The first few waves blocked all of the weapons like the first time. The last wave made it to Tenten.
Tenten's hands immediately went to her ears. The sound waves were also beginning to make her sick. Tenten could barely stand back up, and before she could make it back to her feet, she was slammed into the wall by Dosu.
Tenten wasn't getting back up, after that. The sound waves and the punch from Dosu were too much for her.
"Winner Dosu." Hayate called as the medics came into the arena to check on Tenten.
Tenten was up a few minutes later, she was still a little sick in the stomach but she was still able to get back up the stairs and back to the others.
Even though she had lost, all of the members of the Konoha 12 told her she did a good job.
"Ino Yamanaka and Temari of the sand" Hayate called up to the genin.
"Alright, it's finally my turn." Ino shouted as she headed down the stairs. Temari rolled her eyes at the girl, before she calmly walked down to meet Ino and Hayate on the arena floor.
"Begin" Hayate told them before jumping away once again.
"Get ready to lose leaf brat, you shouldn't take that long to beat." Temari told the Yamanaka.
"I wouldn't underestimate me, I am pretty tough." Ino replied.
"We will see about that." Temari replied, before taking her fan off of her back as she slid into a stance.
Ino knew that close combat probably wasn't the answer at the moment. So instead she raced through hand signs.
"Water Style: water Shockwave." Water materialized from around them, before heading straight towards Temari.
Temari was ready to swing her fan and block as much as the attack as she could.
"Wind Style: Weasel Technique" Temari yelled out. The strong burst of wind collided with the water jutsu making the two jutsu's disperse.
Temari acted faster than Ino could, and swung her fan once more.
The wind jutsu hit Ino dead on, and was attacked by the invisible blades throughout her body. With that, the fight was over and Ino was knocked out.
"Winner, Temari of the sand." Hayate called. The medics collected Ino, and took her away to get treated fully.
"Temari is strong." Choji commented as he munched on his chips.
"She is. Ino wasn't strong enough to beat her." Sakura replied.
"You guy's seemed to know about the same element jutsu's." Asuma said to the group of genin.
"Well, we do train together Asuma-sensei." Shino answered.
The sensei's all shared a glance, before the screen shifted through names once more.
"Sakura Haruno and Kin Tsuchi" Hayate called out the next two names.
"Good luck Sakura" Hinata told the pink haired girl.
Sakura nodded at her, with a smile. Since she had fought Kin in the forest, this shouldn't take very long.
Sakura jumped over the rail, and landed gracefully on her feet. Kin was already there glaring her down.
"You aren't going to win this time Pinky." Kin growled out at Sakura.
"We will see." Sakura replied.
Hayate told them to begin; he once more jumped away from the middle of the arena.
Kin decide that rushing to Sakura this time, would be a bad idea. So instead she reached into her pouch to take out senbon.
Sakura headed straight towards Kin, with her arm positioned to punch her. Kin quickly began to throw many senbon at Sakura. Some of them attached to bells so that Sakura could be hit.
Sakura dodged the majority of the Senbon, but was struck by a few as well. Sakura finally remembered Shikamaru's fight with Kin the first time around.
Sakura was glad that Kin, hadn't thrown any of them at vital areas, otherwise she wouldn't be able to still be charging at Kin.
Sakura was just about to hit Kin, but missed when the sound Kunoichi rolled to the side and away from the pink haired girl.
Sakura's fist met with the floor, shattering the ground and creating a decent sized crater.
Many of the ninja were quite shocked from that punch. Some were reminded of the female slug Sannin, Tsunade.
Kin kicked Sakura in the side a second later and sent across the floor. The pink haired girl got back up to her feet and raced through hand signs.
"Earth Style: Stone Spikes."
Spikes of earth launched out of the ground around Kin. Kin tried to dodge as many of them as she could, though it couldn't be helped much. Kin was hit by quite a few of them.
Kin was too focused on dodging the earth spikes to notice Sakura suddenly appeared next to her. A second later and Kin was sent straight into one of the spikes behind her and into the ground unconscious.
"Winner Sakura Haruno." Hayate informed the ninja in the room. The medics were already collecting Kin from the floor.
Ino made her way back into the room, just as Sakura was declared the winner. The two of them both walked up the stairs together.
"Good job, Forehead" Ino told the girl truthfully. Ino knew from her own fight that she would have to train a lot more. Especially if she wanted to beat Sakura.
"Thanks Ino. Your fight was good too, you did well against Temari." Sakura replied as the two of them made it to their friends.
The others congratulated Sakura, and told Ino that her fight was good. None of them had anything mean to say.
Every single one of them seemed to learn that from Naruto. The boy always gave them positive feedback, even for things that would help them improve.
It was finally the last two genin's turn to fight. This fight would definitely be intense. Almost every single person in the room believed so.
"Would Rock Lee and Gaara of the Sand please make your way down." Hayate called out to the two genin.
"Hey, did you ever talk to Gaara?" Neji suddenly asked, everyone could hear the slight panic in his voice.
Most of the Konoha 12 and the Sensei's all turned to look at Neji, to find him looking towards Naruto.
Naruto was looking out towards where the Hokage, and few Jounin were standing. Naruto was quite for a minute, before finally answering him.
" Was there any doubt? I wouldn't let anything happen to my precious people. Even the ones who don't wish to be saved."
This statement seemed to ease the tension that had started to build up. Of course there wasn't any doubt.
This was Naruto they were talking about, a ninja could change many people, and keep his word to anything. It was like a weird version of therapy.
"Yosh! I will do my best and show everyone my power of YOUTH!" Lee shouted. Lee's shout had broken everyone out of their own thoughts.
"Yes Lee, my youthful student! I know you can do it!" Gai replied with an equally loud shout. Lee did a quick Gai pose and jumped down from the balcony and landed on his feet, next to Gaara and Hayate.
"Begin" Hayate called out a minute later and jumped away.
Gaara didn't move at all. He looked slightly calmer than usual and just stood there staring Lee down with his arms crossed.
Lee wasn't much for being very patient, and launched himself towards Gaara in a very fast speed.
A second later Lee appeared next to Gaara, ready to kick him, but as soon as his leg was about to make contact Sand flew up and blocked him.
Lee tried again to attack, but was only blocked by sand once more. Lee kept at it though, and kept trying to hit the red-haired sand-nin.
Lee knew it was time to take his weights off, he shared a quick glance with Gai and then jumped a fare distance from Gaara.
The green spandex wearing genin quickly took the weights he had on his legs off.
The weights were so heavy that they created a small crater in the arena floor. There were several gasps throughout the room.
A split second later Lee vanished from most people's view and was next to Gaara in an instant.
This time Gaara's sand wasn't fast enough to block Lee's fast movements. Gaara was quite shocked that he had been hit. No one could normally get near him, because of his Sand shield. He was sent flying away.
A second later Lee was using front lotus on Gaara, but as soon as they made contact with the floor, sand burst out everywhere.
Revealing that it was a sand clone. Lee was all of a sudden knocked clear across the arena by sand.
Lee was up a second later, if he wanted to win this match he was going to have to open the gates.
After a brief conversation with Gai, Lee opened the chakra gates. Lee seemed to have grown even faster and stronger.
Gaara and Lee went back and forth for a while. It was just after Lee used his Reverse Lotus that Gaara began to fill the arena with sand, to stop Lee's fast movements.
Gaara finally got Lee with in his sand, he was just about to crush the boy's bones in his left arm and leg. When Naruto's voice flooded through his mind.
"When you or if you fight anyone from the leaf, please refrain from killing or seriously injuring them. I don't want to see my friends badly hurt."
Gaara let go of Lee, and let him drop to the floor exhausted. The fight was over, it was a good fight. Though he kind of wanted to see how strong Naruto was.
Lee tried to get back up to continue fighting, but he couldn't. The fight, and the chakra gates took a lot out of him.
After a few minutes, Hayate finally gave the match to Gaara.
"Winner Gaara of the sand."
As soon as Hayate said this, Gai jumped down and headed over to Lee to check on him. The medics were already heading over to them.
"Good job Lee" Gai told his student as the medics looked the genin over.
"Thank you Gai-sensei! As soon as I am well I will head out for more training!" Lee replied.
Hayate cleared his throat to gather everyone's attention. The Hokage and the other jounin in the room were already standing in a row besides the Hokage, along with a few chunnin.
"Will all winners please come down the floor, so we can discuss the third preliminary match of the chunnin exams."
Naruto slipped a piece of paper to Shikamaru, Neji and Shino before the group of them went down the stairs.
The only thing that was written on it was a day, time and place. The three of them knew exactly what it was for. They had to discuss a few things about the finals and such.
The genin that passed were all standing in a row, in front of the older ninja. The genin that didn't make it were scattered around behind the winning genin.
"Now numbers have been placed in this bowl. This will determine what order you fight in, and who you will be facing in one month's time." Hayate began.
Hayate only stopped, because he thought there might be a question, but none of the genin asked anything.
"You will be given time to train, and rest before the month is up. There will be lots of people watching this time. All of you have seen each other's moves and now have time to adjust and get stronger." Hayate explained.
The genin all nodded in understanding before Anko went around with the bowl so the genin could draw numbers.
"2" Neji read off his number before rolling his eyes. The same number as he got the first time around. He wondered if he might be fighting Naruto again.
"8" Gaara replied.
"3" Temari read off her number.
"5" Shikamaru replied lazily. Shikamaru was glad he didn't have to fight Temari this time around.
"6" Shino stated, before sharing a glance with Shikamaru.
"9" Dosu said.
"4" Sakura ready off her slip of paper. This time she would actually be in the finals.
"7" Sasuke smirked after reading his number. It seemed like he was once again fighting Gaara. Though that left with Naruto at number one.
"1!" Naruto exclaimed, it was just like before. He would be fighting Neji once again. It seemed like the universe wanted to keep something the same.
"Alright you are dismissed, and I will see all of you in a month's time." The third hokage explained. The genin all nodded before dispersing from the tower in different ways.
I hope you all liked the chapter! I know it's shorter than usual, but I didn't want to add the meeting with Jiraiya until the next chapter.
Also do you think the Konoha 12 need a new group name? I have gotten a few suggestions from people, so do you think I should just keep it or change it?
**Spoiler if you are not up to date with the Manga.***
I think it is totally awesome, that the four hokage's are back. I really hope they get to go to the main battle. It would be really awesome! They are all really strong! Plus more drama with Obito and all that, because I believe Minato does not know that Obito was the masked man. I also think we might find out more about Rin, because really we still don't know the whole story.
Well Review! I am hoping to be updating again soon. Naruto will get to see Jiraiya again!