The atmosphere in the room was palpable as they waited for the next team to be called out. The Monitor dinged and six pairs of eyes stared at it to see whose time had come at least.

"Nagashi Azuko and Yushiki Kaito, step forward to begin your match." Shikamaru declared.

Naruto gave Azuko a grin and a nod. "Give 'em hell."

Azuko smirked at the two of them, "Sure thing Sensei." He leapt down to the arena floor and readied his Kama.

The Kumo Nin stood opposite him; much like Gee; this Nin seemed to be a close combat type. Shikamaru began the match and the two of them blurred into action as they went toe to toe with each other. The heavy 'clang' of metal on metal rang out as Azuko's Kama clashed with Kaito's kunai again and again.

As Akari watched from above she was reminded of just what kind of protégé Azuko was. The Kumo Nin team that had passed were all at least four or five years older than them and vastly more experienced in real life combat.

And yet here and now Azuko had the Shinobi to the wall. His form was prefect as he merged defence into attack so seamlessly that he left no opening for the Cloud Ninja to strike a blow.

Eventually the Kumo Shinobi realized that Azuko was simply better than him, faster, more agile and simply more skilled.

He stepped back and pushed his Chakra to the limit.

"Raiton: Raiko Shomi!" His Chakra buzzed with electrical energy and Azuko was forced back from him, as a net of lightning ran over his body.

Azuko came to a stop a few feet away and sighed, popping his neck left and right before he took a readied stance. Still charged with a protective net of lightning Chakra Kaito charged in.

Azuko smiled and dropped to a knee he held up a hand and forced as much chakra as he could into his hand before stabbing it into the ground.

"Doton: Ji o bankatsu rekkō!" The floor beneath him was split in two and the whole building rumbled as Azuko caused no small amount of structural damage to the building.

From above on the ledge Makabi practically tackled Yin and Ikino out of the way as Azuko began the jutsu. Knowing full well of the destructive capabilities of that technique he had no desire to be anywhere near the area of effect for that technique.

Before either Ikino or Yin could ask him what he was doing the jutsu ripped up the wall and past where they had just been standing, ripping a rather sizable whole in the ledge and wall.

Likewise on the other facing Naruto barely had the time to grab Akari and jump to the side as the Jutsu visited destruction upon the building.

The Genin in the room stood there shocked as the level of power the jutsu possessed and how quickly it had brought it about.

Meanwhile, Tsunade and the other proctors all looked on in silent interest.

"He really is Naruto's student isn't he," Shizune said with an exasperated smile as she began trying to figure out exactly how much property damage Azuko had just caused.

Tsunade let a fait smile crease her lips. "That he is," She agreed.

Kaito stumbled as the building shook. His concentration broken as parts of the ceiling began collapsing. This lightning net flickered and died and Azuko smiled. He had the opening he needed. He darted forward, navigating the maze of falling masonry easily.

He came up behind Kaito and sent a heavy kick into the back of his head.

The Kumo Nin staggered under the blow but recovered quickly, sending out a volley of kunai at the young Konoha Shinobi.

He rolled left as he readied his Kama. The two went at it again trading blow for blow in a savage swirling melee as ever larger chunks fell from the ceiling.

Naruto actually began laughing as he watched the match play out. Such a level of unnecessary destruction was something Naruto had curbed over the years but a part of him was pleased that he'd passed such ability onto his student.

Azuko broke off the futile engagement, as much as he hated to admit it, the Kumo Nin was a better fighter than him, if he kept it up he'd lose. His chakra was already low from using his Jutsu if he didn't end this fight soon he'd lose.

He sighed to himself them smiled as a rock landed in-between himself and Kaito. Azuko smirked as he made the correct hand seals.

"Doton: Kabe Bakuhatsu no jutsu!" He punched the rock as hard as he could sending a wall of fist size stones at Kaido.

At a subtle nod from Tsunade Tokoni made a series of hand signs and slammed her hands against the ground. "Doton: Chikyū tsukuroi tenohira puresu!"

There was a wave of chakra as the chunks of masonry that had fallen began to meld into the floor and the building stitched itself back together.

The dust cleared and Azuko was finally able to see his opponent. The medical unit was already tending to his would and lifting him onto a stretcher.

Shikamaru sighed to himself as he finished his cigarette. "The winner is Nagashi Azuko." He declared.

Azuko put his Kama away and leapt up to the balcony where Naruto and Akari were standing.

"Have you ever heard of the term 'Over kill'?" She asked him.

"Whatever," Azuko mumbled as he took his place on the other side of Naruto.

"Sensei," Akari began hopping to get him on side.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't look at me." The Blond Jonin said.

Akari sighed and leant against the railing.

"Next match Kababura Yin vs Jinikino Yuto," Shikamaru said loudly. Yin looked across the room at Akari, She smiled and gave the Yoru Nin a wink.

Naruto looked at the display between the two with a casual interest.

"You two seem close." He said casually as Yin jumped down to the ring.

Akari shrugged. "Well you know how it is. Fighting for your life with someone tends to bring about a certain bond."

Naruto nodded. "Tell me more,"

Akari looked up at him. "Wait, you don't actually know?" She asked.

"Know what?" Naruto asked, his expression as blank as his mind. Akari sighed. "You don't know what happened in the forest?" She clarified.

Naruto shook his head. "Up until this point in the exams all I know is the Proctor and whether or not you passed the test. So unless you tell me I'll never know." He told her.

Akari nodded as she looked down at Yin.

There was a moment of silence before Naruto spoke again. "So are you going to tell me what happened?" He asked.

Akari glanced up at him quickly. "Why do you want to know?" She asked slyly.

Naruto shrugged casually. "Well partly cause I wanna know how easy and or hard it was for you guys and also because you're wearing his jacket," Naruto replied. "There has to be a story for that." He said.

Akari shrugged. "Well my shirt got burnt during a fight so to be a gentlemen he gave me his jacket." She told him.

The fact the Naruto didn't get whip lash from looking from the fight to her that fast was a testament to the healing powers of Kurama.

"Say again?" He stammered.

"I. Lost. My. Shirt. So. He. Gave. Me. His." She said slowly in an almost condescending tone.

Naruto nodded dumbly as he looked at her. "Oh, Okay, so under that you're umm…." His voice trailed off as he looked back to the fight.

"Oh relax I have bandages on." She said.

"Uh-hu," Naruto mumbled.

"I do!" Akari protested, opening up the jacket to prove it.

Naruto looked in the opposite direction.

Akari raised an eyebrow at her teacher's antics and a faint smile curled her lips. "Is it really that easy to mess with guys?" She asked.

"Akari if I ever teach you anything that you keep with you." Naruto began, still staring dedicatedly in the other direction. "Don't mess with guys like that, it's cruel and demeans all involved."

"Kay," Akari said at length as she went back to watching the fight.

It wasn't so much as a fight as it was Yin sizing up his opponent before acting. The last standing Iwa Nin put up a good fight but the level of Yin's jutsu was more than he could take and with one simple, yet powerful lighting style Jutsu the match was over.

The medical unit retrieved the unconscious Shinobi's body and Shikamaru congratulated Yin on his decisive victory.

"Would the final to contestants Soji Akari and Yanikata Yuu please make their way to the ring." Shikamaru called out to the remaining ninja.

Akari gave Naruto a wink as she leapt over the balcony. Yin looked down from the opposite end of the room and offered her a smile.

He'd done his part, now it was up to her.

The two stood there ready, hands on their blades, yet to be drawn as Shikamaru looked between the two of them. "Alright guys. You know the rules. You ready?" He asked. Both of them nodded as Shikamaru began the match. Akari dashed forward and drew her blade bringing it against the Kiri Nin's blade with a loud 'clang'.

He pushed past her and aimed a cut for her back. Akari rolled with the sword strike coming up under the blade and cutting up.

The Kiri nin leant back brome the blade's edge, bringing a leg up into Akari's jaw as he flipped back.

Akari did the same and the two re-assessed each other.

Akari looked at her blade then back to her opponent. She didn't have much chakra left. What little she'd been given by Naruto had kept her from passing out before now. She was about to cures herself for squandering her Chakra earlier but she knew she would have done it each and every time should she have to re-live the event.

She sighed to herself. She'd need to save her Chakra for the decisive blow. Everything else had to be skill and speed.

She moved in again and the Kiri Nin counter charged. The two of them went toe to toe with each other; the constant ringing of steel meeting steal rang out across the large hall as the two of them fought.

However it soon became clear that Akari was fighting a losing battle. She was low on chakra while her opponent was fresh and ready. He was also more skilled with a blade than she was. He was wearing her down with every cut until Akari was fighting on the full defensive, barely able to keep up with the furious onslaught of attacks from her opponent.

Eventually he broke through, bringing his katana down in a heavy blow Akari staggered back her stance faltering and her guard gone the Kiri Nin flipped his grip and brought the blade up across her body.

Had it not been for the exceptionally tough and durable materials that the standard Yoru Chunin jacket was made of Akari had no doubt she'd be holding her entrails in at the moment.

She let out a cry of pain and staggered back further.

The cut wasn't too deep, but it still hurt like hell and Akari's vision was blurring.

This wasn't good.

"Would you stop with this pathetic display!" Azuko shouted angrily. The room seamed to freeze as the young Genin spoke. Akari grunted and looked up at her team mate, about to say something but Azuko continued.

"For someone who made such a display earlier you're asking yourself look pretty pathetic. So would you stop wasting every ones time and just end it already."

Naruto smiled at Azuko. He was exceptionally proud of the young man. The Azuko he'd first met would have never offered anyone such encouragement, though admittedly, his motivational skill needed a little work but on Akari at least, they had done the trick.

She smiled to herself and got to her feet. "Yea, yea, I hear you." She replied. She looked down at the jacket she was wearing. The front was cut wide open and it was already a few sizes to big for her so she decided the best thing to do was lose it.

With a sigh the girl planted her blade into the ground and removed the coat, letting it fall behind her.

The reactions to that were various but Akari paid none of them any attention, she kept her eyes on her opponent. They stared each other down for a while before Akari made a series of hand signs. It was definitely going to burn through the last of her Chakra to do this, but it was now or never.

Thanks Azuko, the girl said to herself. If it hadn't been for you I might have left this too late. She took a readied stance and beckoned the Kiri Nin.

He nodded in response and charged her, swinging his blade for her neck. Akari planted her feet on the ground with a loud 'thud' and brought her fist back, gathering all of her chakra into her arm.

Naruto and the other Jonin saw what she was about to do and all of them thought the girl had gone insane.

Who in their right might would punch a sword?

"Senko: Sen ken!" Her arm began to glow as she brought it to meet the blade. The two met and barely half a second later the blade exploded.

The crowd looked on in shock as the Kiri nin stumbled forward Akari grinned at him cheekily as she focused the rest of her Chakra into her leg.

"Senko: Senzuko!" Her arm came back into view as her jutsu ended and her leg began to glow, signifying another use of the technique.

She brought her leg into the Kiri Nin's stomach amazingly quick and the next thing any of them knew he was thrown against the far wall.

He hit the floor, completely unconscious. Akari smiled to herself as she planted her foot back on the ground, an action she immediately regretted as she screamed internally. Her arm was numb and her leg felt like she just stepped into a fire. Still her outward composure was perfect.

Shikamaru stood there for a minute, looking at the remains of a Kirigakure Katana and the young Genin currently getting medical treatment.

Well, well, well, Shikamaru thought to himself. You really are an interesting and unorthodox girl, but then again. Shikamaru spared a glance in Naruto's direction, the young blond just grinned mischievously. Hardly surprising what your Sensei is the ultimate maverick Ninja.

"The winner is Soji Akari." Shikamaru declared. As the medics removed the Kiri Nin from the room there was a brief round of applause at Akari's display.

The Genin that had passed all came down to the floor to stand before the Hokage and the exam proctors.

The all stood in a line as Tsunade came to meet them.

"First allow me to congratulate the eight of you for passing the Second stage of the Chūnin exams." Tsunade began. "I will now hand off to Shikamaru to explain the third and final exam."

Shikamaru nodded his thanks to the Hokage as he stepped forward to talk to the Genin that had passed.

"I'd also like to start with congratulations. You've all shown great skill, determination and ingenuity to make it this far; qualities that are rated highly among all Chūnin from each and every village. So far we've tested your ability to survive and to gather intelligence. Now as most of you may have guessed the third and final round will be testing your combat abilities.

"You will all be fighting another tournament stile battle much like this one, two on two fights, presided over by myself, all the same rules apply." He explained.

"If we were just going to duke it out in the third round why did we have to wast our time on this?" Seruga asked irritably.

"Shikamaru offered him a blank stare. "As Lady Hokage said earlier, 'polotics'. The tournament will not be some, behind the scenes affair like the last two exams have been, instead it will be a public event, in attendance will be not only lords and ladies of other lands but also your village leaders. It's basically a chance for each village to brag about the quality of their shinobi and to bring in business from other lands."

Seruga grunted at the reply but said nothing else.

"So, firstly Sai will come around with a box, I want each of you to pull a number from that box, when I ask you for your number let me know, that will give us our tournaments line up." Shikamaru told them.

The Genin nodded and a second later Sai came past with a small box, letting each Genin take a number from the box. Once they all had a number Shikamaru went down the line.

"Okay Sakura?" Shikamaru began.

"3."

"Yin?"

"7."

"Gee?"

"2."

"Makabi?"

"1."

"Akari?"

"5."

"Azuko?"

"4."

"Seruga?"

"6."

"Taibu?"

"8."

Shikamaru nodded as he wrote the names on a clip board. "Okay so the tournament will be;

"Makabi vs Gee;

"Sakura vs Azuko;

"Akari vs Segura;

"and Yin vs Taibu." Shikamaru showed the clip board to the assembled Genin revealing a simple tournament style ladder fight.

Taibu raised a hand. "I have a question Sir." He said.

"Go ahead," Shikamaru replied.

"Seeing as it's a tournament style fight with only one eventual winner does that mean only one of us gets named a Chūnin?" He asked.

Shikamaru shook his head. "No it does not." He replied. "The decision on whether or not to promote you to a Chūnin is a decision made by your respective village leader. So it's possible that none of you or all of you could make Chūnin during this tournament. However the more fights you have in the tournament the more chances you have to prove that you have what is necessary to become and effective member of your village." He explained.

Taibu nodded and Shikamaru went on. "The last thing you need to know is that the final round of the exam will be taking place in one months' time." He told them.

"Why?" Akari asked.

"Nobles needed to be contacted and make their way to the village as well as the leaders of the other villages, but mostly it's for you." He told her. "You all just had a firsthand look at your opponents abilities and they've seen yours. The idea is for you to use this month to hone your skills, develop new jutsu and fix any flaws that you feel your enemy has exploited. You should also note that any confrontation between applicants in this time outside of training will result in immediate disqualification. Understood?"

The eight Genin all nodded.

"Good, well then I wish you all the best of luck in your training." Shikamaru said as he and the other proctors walked away.

Akari turned to Yin as the others began to leave. "Sorry about your jacket." She said.

Yin just shrugged. "It's all good;" He said casually, "Not like you did it deliberately." He said.

The vest thing she knew something warm was draped over her shoulders. Puzzled she looked down realising it was Naruto's jacket. She smiled at him. "Thanks Sensei." She mumbled.

"Not a problem." Naruto said with a smiled. "Now we need to get you to a medic." Naruto said. He put a hand on both of his student's shoulders and gave a nod to Ikino. With that the three vanished.

The world came back into view and the three of them stood in the hospital. Before anyone could say anything Sakura walked wound the corner.

"Ah Sakura, perfect timing," Naruto said cheerfully.

Sakura paused mid step as she saw the three of them. She tried a few times to put a sentence together, the general gist being about why they were here and what the hell had happened to them.

"Chūnin exams," Naruto explained. "So could you help please?"

Sakura sighed and looked at Akari. "Yea fine, follow me." She mumbled in a defeated tone before turning on her heal. She stopped a doctor on the way hand handed him her chart. "Could you see to the woman in room 1453?" She asked.

The doctor nodded and began walking as the four of them came to a medical examination room. "You two wait out here." She said as she let Akari into the room.

Akari spent the next twenty minutes undergoing various treatments and tests as Sakura healed her stomach wound and scanned her arm and leg several times. Taking a large amount of notes as she did so.

Eventually she seemed satisfied and poked her head out the door. "Naruto could you come in please?" She asked. Naruto nodded and handed Sakura one of Akari's shirts.

Akari accepted the shirt thankfully if felt good to be wearing her own clothing again. Naruto came in after Sakura had given him the green light. The three of them stood there in silence for a little while, while Sakura flicked through her notes.

"Akari you're suffered from a mild case of Chakra depletion, nothing that won't be fixed by a good night's sleep, the cut to your stomach was bad but if you come see me tomorrow for another treatment you'll be fine."

"Okay," Naruto and Akari said, wondering where the pink haired girl was going with all of this.

"The real problem is her muscled particularly her right arm and left leg." Sakura said. "So I need to ask both of you what happened during the Chūnin exams. The muscle damage was extensive, nothing that can't be fix, after a week I'll have her right as rain." She assured the two of them. "But I need to know what caused it, because if it continues to happen then it will be just like your Rasensuriken Naruto." She explained. "If it happens too much then there won't be anything anyone can do about it."

Akari felt her heart sink as Sakura spoke. Her ace in the whole and it was breaking her down.

"Well she did use some kind of jutsu I've never seen before." Naruto said as he looked at Akari.

Akari looked down at her feet as she gripped her pant legs. From everything she had heard and everything she had felt she had known this would happen eventually, but she had hoped that it would be a long time from now.

"Akari," Sakura prompted gently after Akari had been quiet for several minutes.

"It's my Jutsu." She admitted. "I funnel Chakra into parts of my body to allow myself to move faster. It's hard to control and when I use it I always feel sore afterwards but I never though." Here words caught in her throat as she took a deep shuddering breath. Naruto put a reassuring arm on her shoulder.

"It's okay," He said. "Every jutsu has it's down side, now that we know it we can fix it." He said.

"No you won't." Sakura said.

Both of them looked at her but she didn't back down. "Look I know I sound like the bad guy for saying this, but the Jutsu you're using is just too dangerous. Your body can't withstand the strain you're putting on it, right now it may only be some aches and pains after use but eventually you're just going to cripple yourself. As a doctor I cannot allow you to use this Jutsu, if you do then you may as well give up on being a Shinobi, you might pass the Chūnin exams but you'll never make Jōnin before your body finally gives."

Akari couldn't help but cry. She'd put weeks and months of effort into that Jutsu, training until she passed out, trying to perfect it and be able to use it at will, and now, when she finally had it, it was snatched away from her.

Naruto gave her a sad smile as he stepped forward and gave her a comforting hug.

"It's all right." He said soothingly. "I promise you that we'll find a way around this problem." He told her. "If this Jutsu is a no go then we'll make a better one."

Akari calmed herself down and whipped the tears from her eyes.

"You promise?" She asked.

Naruto smiled at her. "I never go back on my word." He said.

Hello my Frendlies.

Sorry for being away fro so long, but writes block and other stuff happened. Also just a heads up now, I'm going to skip most of the month in training so next chapter will be, just before they leave and when they get back for the third Exam. then its back to the glorious fighting death that you're here for.

Until next time I Wish you all the best.
Yours truly.
Nicolai Grey.