In case it had been forgotten I dont own Naruto or any of the characters
Chapter 9 preliminary's
In the days since Naruto arrived from the tower things had been rather peaceful for the blond, he gave a full report to the Hokage with Anko the day she had left the hospital and after that the only time he had been put on edge was when he felt a large chakra spike from the forest on the third day of the exam.
Other teams started arriving after that and Naruto was happy to see the team 10 and team Gai arrive for the most part unharmed .
The days past for the blond relaxing until the final day came and he was asked to come to the ground level for the conclusion of the second round.
Upon entering the hall Naruto was able to discover that all of the other teams had made it from the rookie year with teams 8 and 7 arriving earlier that day but still not showing much in the way of fatigue this was when he became aware of the other people in the room.
On a platform surrounding the hall were the jonnin sensei's of what he assumed were the passing teams while at the front of the hall the hokage sat with Jiraiya standing beside him, Anko and another sickly looking jonnin were standing in front of the genin awaiting the hokage to speak
"Well done everyone for making it through the forest of death, but before we continue I would like to tell you about the third exam" the old hokage said
"In years past the chunin exams was a contest and a fight to the death between the best of the rising talent of every nation and was often used to help settle disputes with other villages, this custom has not changed and the final exam is a tournament that is observed by potential clients and dynamo's from all over the elemental countries" Hiruzen continued
"um I think I can take over from here Hokage-sama" the sickly jonnin said and he stepped forward
"my name is Gekko Hayate and I will be your proctor for the preliminary's" Hayate was cut off by loud complaints from the group of competitors
"what do you mean preliminary's we just got out of the forest" Kiba yelled
"we have far to many competitors at the moment and the preliminary rounds are designed to weed out those who are not worthy of being here or coasted through on your team's strength because whilst strength in a team is important individual skills are needed to become a chunin and to lead missions" the sick jonnin ended with a cough
"now is there anyone who would like to give up for any reason" the proctor stated befor once again entering into a coughing fit
Kabuto and Sai both pulled out at this stage "what Sai what give's you cant be in that bad shape right" Sakura asked loudly
"im exhausted Sakura five days in the forest were stressful and im low on chakra it would be unwise for me to compete in any fight's we simply didn't make it here on time I will do better next exam" Sai stated giving the pinkette a blank look
"anybody else" Hayate waited "ok good now the matches will be shown up on the screen everyone else will move up to the viewing area … now the first match will be... … Uchiha Sasuke Vs Akado Yoroi" the remaining combatants left the floor to the observation level with only Sasuke and an older leaf genin remaining with Hayate while Anko moved to stand next to the hokage as Jiraiya made his way up to talk to his student and the other jonnin
"so gaki I heard you ran into my snake of a teammate in the forest" the toad sage whispered fo the blond
"yeah hes really creepy I mean I actually thought I killed him aswell but he just shed his body for another like he was unaffected I guess I was totally out classed" Naruto said hanging his head
"yeah but don't feel to bad you held your own until help arrived and I am proud of you and you also were able to do something I have wanted to do for a long time shove a rasengan right through the bastards face" the white haired man ended with a chuckle before turning to the arena floor
(Sasuke vs Yoroi)
The match started and Yoroi quickly threw several shuriken at the waiting Uchiha who was able to easily block them with a kunai before rushing forward.
Sasuke sent a punch towards the older ninja's face but he dodged it and attempted a leg sweep knocking Sasuke over.
Quickly responding the Uchiha tripped Yoroi and sent him tumbling onto the ground before being placed in an arm lock
"really is that all you got" Yoroi said as his free hand grabbed Sasuke and began draining his chakra and strength.
Easily breaking the hold the older leaf ninja sent a powerful punch knocking the raven haired avenger into a wall before he fell on the ground struggling to stand.
Making it to his feet Sasuke started forming hand seals but as he went to blow out the fireball he collapsed from the pain in his neck
(stands)
'so the Orochimaru's curse mark is gaining more influence when he uses chakra this will be interesting' "Kakashi do you need me to seal the mark after this fight" Jiraiya asked the silver haired ninja shocking the pink haired witch that they knew already about her 'true love's' condition.
"No I can do it I know you don't want to miss Naruto's match and I am confident I can use a proficient suppressor seal besides he is my student and my responsibility" the silver haired jonnin finished with an eye smile
"anyway it looks like your student is about to win anyway that Yoroi kid ran out of steam fast" Jiraiya concluded
(Arena floor)
"Lions Barrage" Sasuke screamed sending the elder ninja crashing to the ground before dropping his leg to make sure he was unconscious
after the brooder was declared the winner he turned to walk to the rest of the competitors but was stopped by his sensei reading his ever present orange book
"well well congrats Sasuke you did an excellent job in your match but now I think its time to get that little mark of yours taken care of" the copy ninja finished leaving with Sasuke in a sunshin
the contestants turned to the board to find out who the next competitor's were they finally stopped on Shino Aburame Vs Zaku from the sound village Naruto found the match rather interesting especially as Zaku used what appeared to be a type of wind style used without hand seals but Naruto soon found there were tubes in his arms which became obvious when Shino's bugs blocked the airways and his arms exploded causing his arms to explode with the beetles closing the air pathways and winning the match.
"Winner Shino Aburame" Hayate stated calmly " the next match is Subaku no Kankuro Vs Tsurugi Misumi" he finished as the the two genin made there way down the the ground floor.
What followed was a highly amusing match where the elder ninja was completely oblivious to the fact he was fighting a puppet until the very end
"man he was able to win without actually have to do anything now thats my kind of fight" said Shikamaru
"kami your so lazy Shikamaru don't you want to be cool like Sasuke-kun" said Ino in a lecturing tone
"troublesome" was the lazy nara's only response
the next match was Sakura Vs Ino and could only be described as pathetic it was dominated by Ino but by some strange coincidence the blond girls body transfer jutsu was not able to hold and in the end both young kunoichi knocked each other out the match ending in a tie.
The following match was Tenten Vs Subaku no Temari and despite Konoha's young weapons mistress showing fine skills she was no match for the sand kunoichi's wind based attack's from her fans which Naruto was quite jealous of.
"damn I want a big fan like that look at the power she has with her wind attacks" the blond exclaimed loudly getting a smirk from the kunoichi heading back up to her teammate's
"nah you don't need it gaki once you master your wind element you will be able to do far better than that despite the fans uses it would be heavy and only suited for a long range fighter" Jiraiya explained getting a nod in understanding from the blond
the following match was Shikamaru Nara Vs Kin of the sound village which the lazy Nara won by easily out smarting the sound kunoichi by casting a thin shadow along the thread of her chakra strings then forced her by the use of his shadow possesion to hit her head on the wall behind knocking her out
"The Next match is Uzumaki Naruto Vs Inuzuka Kiba" the proctor called as the names blazed on the screen
"Yeah I got the jack pot no way can I loose this I mean im only fighting the dobe" Kiba yelled his voice filled with joy at having the so called dobe as an opponent
"I feel sorry for the poor boy there is no way Kiba will loose this" Kurenai said in confidence to the surrounding jonnin and genin
"I think you are forgetting who his his teacher is" Kakashi said boldly
"what do you mean" Kurenai asked
"he means I have trained my student far to well for him to loose here I would go so far as to say that if he looses I would give up my research for a year" came the confident voice of the toad sage who had walked over to talk to Kakashi "what do you think Kakashi"
"I think Naruto will win he is easily chunin level" the silver haired ninja said shocking the red eyed jonnin
(Arena floor)
"You should just give up now looser your no match for me and Akamaru and I don't think you will want to be embarrassed any more than you already are wearing that orange jumpsuit" the dog trainer joked
"Well I guess there is only one way to find out if I am really an embarrassment or if your just all talk kibble" Naruto taunted getting into the defensive toad stance
Kiba was shocked not recognizing the stance from any that he had ever seen before
(up in the stands)
"what is that stance" asked Kurenai who was now curious and still skeptical of the blond's abilities
Jiraiya was about to answer but he was beaten to it by Gai "that kurenai is the toad style used by Jiraiya-sama and is a highly effective defensively focused style that uses the opponents speed against them and attacks with large powerful movement, young Naruto is quite proficient at it and to a lesser extent my goken style which he picked up in his most youthful spars with young Lee" the green clad ninja said to the others who then went on to ignore his shouts of how brightly Naruto's flames of youth were burning
(match)
"I will win this so easily I wont even need Akamaru" Kiba said as he took the puppy out of his jacket and settled into his own stance
Kiba wasted no time and pushed off at high speeds but Naruto easily jumped to the side grabbing the fist of the on rushing animal enthusiast and skilfully used his momentum to land a kick in his side and whipped him around throwing the Inuzuka back where he came from
"heh I guess this might actually be abit of a challenge" sneered Kiba as he picked himself up off the ground "Man Beast Clone!" he shouted as Akamaru changed into a perfect copy of his master
"oh I thought you weren't going to need the puppy" Naruto said in mock surprise still not having moved from the spot he started the match
"oh its not that I need him I just want this to be over quickly so I can relax and watch the rest of the fights knowing im in the finals" and with that both Kiba and his clone on all fours greatly increasing his speed
'hm it seems his speed has greatly increased I could remove my weights but I think I can manage this I don't want to give away all my tricks before the finals' the blond thought as both dog and trainer attacked at the same time looking to give Naruto no escape
both attacks arrived at the same time Naruto quickly spun away to his right gracefully dodging both attack but they didn't let up on there assault and despite the reflexes and great defense of the blond several attacks were still getting through and eventually Naruto was knocked back enough and both Kiba and his clone charged "Gatsuga" the dog trainer yelled and both spun so quickly they looked like a couple of twisters heading straight for the blond
a direct hit and the ground shattered around him spewing rock and dust into the air, when the smoke finally cleared Kiba was walking out of the crater with a smirk on his face "proctor call the match he is going to need medical attention"
"uh-huh well in that case the winner is -" "Wait there is no way I am done yet" the voice of Naruto rung out as he climbed out from the crater behind the now stunned Kiba with some torn and dirty clothes but otherwise fine
"well it looks like I played around with you a little to long Kiba its time to get serious" said Naruto and he got back into his toad stance
"what ever dobe just give up already you cant beat me" Kiba yelled as he and Akamaru once again charged the blond
this time however Naruto jumped right over one Kiba and kicked the other aside in one fluid movement landing behind the first using the momentum of the speedy Inuzuka to throw him forward into the wall.
Jumping back Naruto took out a kunai and wrapped a tag around it and waited for the Kiba's to recover
after they regrouped they began to circle there pray and once again attacked from either side this time Naruto just stood there until the were close enough before throwing his kunai at the ground between his feet
Smoke exploded from the kunai and when it finaly cleared Naruto was standing there with his eyes closed and and a hand holding his nose while both Kiba and his clone were having sneezing fits
"my new pepper smoke exploding tag's perfect against people with heightened sense of smell now to finish this im going to steal a move from Sasuke but I think mine will be better" said Naruto making twenty clones
the clones rushed forward kicking both Kiba and his clone into the air then another kick in mid air sent the them further up Uzu-ma-ki Naruto Barrage" Naruto finished with five clones jumping behind the flying Kiba and delivering a spin kick in the dog trainers chest sending him crashing to the floor before Naruto finished it with a kick to the head knocking the poor Inuzuka out
"because his opponent is unable to continue the winer is Uzumaki Naruto" the sickly proctor said through several coughing fits
Naruto went to check on Kiba placing his puppy on the stretcher as Hinata ran down to check on her teammate
"uhm co-congratulations Na-Naruto-kun you were really imp-ressive" the shy blue haired girl stuttered out
"thanks Hinata im sure Kiba will be allright don't worry to much good luck in your match" Naruto said offhandedly as he walked past her to where Jiraiya was waiting for him.
(With Naruto and Jiraiya)
"congrats gaki your into the finals and you didn't give away much in terms of skill im proud of you" Jiraiya said voice lased with pride
"thanks erosennin" Naruto said happy to receive the praise of his sensei not caring that the fatherly smile the toad sage had was now replaced with an irritated mock scowl at the boys chosen nick name.
"the following match is Hyuuga Hinata Vs Hyuuga Neji" the proctor called out
Both Neji and Hinata were skilled in taijutsu but the longer the match went on the more obvious it was that Hinata while skillful was not on the same level as her cousin and the attacks were nowhere near as intense at the end of the match Neji went for a final attack to finish his younger cousin but was stopped by the observing leaf jonnin.
"so this is the favoritism the main house gets even here" Neji raged
"the match was over and you went to kill that is not picking a favorite or defending her because of what house shes in" Kurenai harshly spat at the usually stoic hyuuga
"what was that for hey isnt she your family why would you attack her like that" Naruto yelled from the railings
"shut up looser a failure like you doesn't know what hes talking about, it is fate that the strong will move on while the weak will fail its impossible to change destiny" Neji said not caring to see the looks of disgust on the surrounding jonnin and a look of disappointment from his sensei
"well then I am just going to have to prove you wrong because I am going to win this tournament and become a chunin and if I have to beat your ass to do it all the better" Naruto yelled in defiance
"hmph like a looser like you could beat me" and with that Neji walked away to the other side of the hall.
"Ok now that the floor is cleared the next match is Subaku no Garra Vs Rock Lee" the proctor after Neji and the jonnin had returned to the observation area
"Yosh now I can show everyone just how brightly my flames of youth burn" the energetic thick eyebrow ninja yelled
"Go get'em Lee" Gai said to his miniature striking his famous nice guy pose
The match was a real eye opener on the mysterious red heads ability nothing Lee could do would get past the sand blocking his attacks from hitting there mark and Garra just looked on with his arms folded slightly amused at the leaf ninja's efforts to hurt him
'thats quite a skill no doubt but I know bushy brows ain't done yet no far from it come on Lee show them what you got' Naruto thought eagerly looking on at the fight hoping to see something special
"Lee take them off" the voice of Gai rung out
"Are you sure sensei you told me never to take them off unless a comerade was in danger" Lee replied
"I give you permission now take them off" Gai ordered as lee began reaching down to his leg warmers
'now this should be interesting I knew Lee used weights like me but how much will that help him' Naruto was brought out of his mental monologue when a loud crash shocked everyone in the room and Lee took off in a blur 'what speed I don't even think I could keep up with him when I am using some of kyuubi's chakra' the blond thought as he watched Lee, with his now enhanced speed he was able to get through the passive defense of the sand and land hits on the unstable Suna ninja
This continued for some time but despite how hard Lee tried Garra still remained standing deciding to go in for a match winning move Lee opened several of the 8 inner gates and charged Garra performing the hidden lotus before shakily getting to his feet
'amazing bushy brow's, I sure hope I don't have to fight you early on in the finals I would probably need a full tail Yokai cloak just to survive a move like that' the blond thought but was shocked when sand rushed out and grabed lee around the ankle and wrist crushing it before moving to spread across his body
'impossible' were the thought of almost everyone in the stand's as Garra lay on the floor with his face cracking and parts dropping off what appeared to be a condensed layer of sand. 'he uses the sand to form armor just like the Iwa ninja I had to fight in the forest only by the looks of it this sand armor dose not effect movement in the same way they have to stop the match now or Bushy Brows is dead' Naruto finished his thoughts and was about to jump down to help his friend but was not as fast as Gai who knocked the sand off his pupil before taking him over to the medics.
Garra won the match because of the interference but it didn't matter to him he was angered that he had been denied a kill
The next match was Choji Akimichi Vs Dosu of sound they young leaf genin showed he was strong but the last remaining sound villager was able to easily overcome using sound waves from his gauntlet to knock the young Akimichi out and winning the final match
"ok now that the contestants have been decided we will draw numbers for the first round of the finals" the proctor called
after the matches were decided and Naruto couldn't be happier he had Neji he would prove to him that a looser can be better than him after all he was the class joke the dead last the fights were
Naruto Vs Neji
Sasuke Vs Garra
Shino Vs Kankuro
Temari Vs Dosu
Shikamaru fights the winner of match
And with that done the fighters left the arena to spend the next month training for the final exam
Chapter done hope you didn't mind me glossing over the other fights like I did anyway until next time