"Blah": Talking
'Blah": Demon speaking/Inner Sakura
'Blah': Naruto's thoughts/other people's thoughts
'Blah': Harry talking to Naruto
Hello friends, followers, reviewers, and Whovians alike! I'm back from summer vacation and took some time between summer movies, work, vacation, time with friends, and other stuff and now present the latest chapter of Book 3! Excuse me for taking so long to update but I've been real distracted until now, but I'm back with a new chapter so everything should be ok in the universe now :D I hope
Naruto: It feels great to be back!
Iruka: It sure does!
Naruto: I still can't believe we haven't seen Azeroth44 this whole time…
K: Well, I did seal him within the Phantom Zone. We won't see him for a while.
Iruka: You used the Phantom Zone Projector?
K: Yeah.
Naruto: What a convenient device…
Iruka: I sure hope that wasn't needed somewhere else this summer.
K: I doubt it. Superman hasn't used this since Justice League: Unlimited. What would he need it for if he has had a decent film in a while?
(Superman then bursts through the wall in his new Man of Steel film outfit with his arms crossed and a cross look on his face)
K: Oh, SNAP!
(The famous big blue boy scout takes the Projector back from me and doesn't kick me in the butt and flies away)
Superman: There it is! I've been looking for this for months! It could have made the battle with Zod so much easier, dammit… Oh, well… A battle with Batman should distract me for a while…
K: Ok… That happened.
Naruto: Could we start the chapter now, please?
K: Sure… Sit back and enjoy the show, everyone…
Remember: Reviews are welcome and wanted!
Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto
Harry Potter is property of JK Rowling
Chapter 8: Hidden Intensions
The time for the survival test had run out and the tower was on an announced lockdown. The lockdown was made to make sure none of the other rookies that failed to arrive on time to finish the exam were able to enter. However, the authorities made sure all those that failed but still survived the test were escorted out of the Forest of Death and received immediate medical treatment. But ever since the incident with Orochimaru, the tower where the final exam was held had been on a secret lockdown from the start with ANBU at almost all the entrances and exits. The recent announcement was no more than a trick to make it look like the authorities were not aware of Orochimaru's intrusion. It was also made to assure to all the rookies within the tower that all was well. But there were two genin that were aware of the situation but still carried on like their more oblivious comrades.
Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno were able to smile and talk to each other like two normal teammates for the first time. The kunoichi with the colorful hair used to dismiss her blonde teammate and mistreat him often. But ever since that afternoon in the corridor one memorable afternoon, she started to treat him like a normal teammate or even a friend. The blonde shinobi had to sneak back into the medical center, where he was later released and sent to bunk in with Sakura in their team's shared bedroom. The two of them would often talk to each other and search around the inside of the tower in order to find their third teammate but with no luck. Naruto tried to distract Sakura from the matter and told her more about his little adventure with the Ame rookie (minus certain details) when he fell into the wooden cavern beneath the tree. She listened to him for once and took in all the details, and almost felt like she was there with him in those battles as he described them to her in detail.
While she listened, Sakura almost couldn't believe that this was the same Naruto Uzumaki that she used to attend school with. He used to be much more awkward or alien to her and believed he was an untalented nerd and a troublemaker. But Sakura was often too distracted with her obsession over Sasuke to notice her former classmate. After she was alone with him for a while, she started to realize how idiotic she was when she used to think Naruto was a total moron. When she remembered how brave and clever he was on all of their missions and misadventures, she started to realize the potential he had and his chances to become Hokage were not as fruitless as she believed them to be. He was brave and talented, and she wouldn't be shocked if he overcame the obstacles ahead of them and became a chunin once the exams were over.
After Naruto had finished his tale, he and Sakura discussed what their team would have done if he hadn't found the scroll the three of them needed. Sakura told her teammate that Sasuke would have had them memorize a password to make sure no one could infiltrate their team and kill them. Sakura told Naruto that she would have chosen a poem from school that Naruto couldn't remember be she and Sasuke would have memorized at once, called, Ninki.
After he listened to her recite the lines, Naruto answered with, "Yeah, I would have never remembered that."
Sakura smiled and she snorted at her teammate's honest sense of humor, and continued to walk with him to the cafeteria. The two of them continued to chat and smile until the two of them looked at the first table in the café and discovered their teammate. Sasuke was alone at a table with a bowl full of chilled and diced tomatoes and lettuce. Naruto raised his brow, relieved and astounded to see his teammate and rival, while Sakura covered her mouth and blushed before she stumbled after him in a heartbeat.
Naruto breathed, "There he is!"
"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun!" his teammate almost screamed as she rushed over to his table, "SASUKE-KUN!"
The dark-haired teen looked somewhat irritated and nodded to Sakura as she let him know how worried she was about him. Naruto was a little bit miffed that Sakura went back and obsessed over her crush, but he was soon distracted with the smell of rice and bread.
He was soon distracted and marched to retrieve a meal for him and his teammate, "Oh… Um… I think the food is over there…"
He returned to his teammates several moments later with two dishes filled with food for him and Sakura, he sat down across from Sasuke and Sakura and slid a dish to Sakura while she continued to bombard her beloved Uchiha with her concerns.
"You had me so worried, Sasuke-kun… Naruto and I searched the whole tower, even the basement levels," stated Sakura.
Sasuke started in a more harsh tone than usual "For the millionth time, Sakura, I was elsewhere with Kakashi. He and the Sandaime had this damn mark sealed and that was it. I had a little outburst about it when I first woke up and that's all I remember. Now do me a favor and leave me alone. There's no need to be so worried about it…"
Sasuke motioned to the curse mark on his neck and went back to his diced and chilled tomatoes for breakfast. Naruto earned his attention when he sat down in front of him and looked about the same as he did before whenever he saw his blonde teammate.
"It's alive!" teased the blonde wizard and then he asked, "So how's the neck, teme?"
Sasuke answered back as he rubbed his curse mark a little bit, "Fine. Don't act so concerned, dobe."
"Who said I was worried?" the rookie lied and decided to eat some hot rice and toasted bread, "Mmmm… You know, I've never been too fond of mess hall food before. But this rice and bread isn't that bad! The beans are ok, too!"
Sasuke looked at him and said, "You're not serious… that so-called food the mess hall serves is the same as the food that's served to detainees and criminals. It's total trash."
Naruto stared at him with a flat and cross look on his face.
He made sure he chewed one more time to seem more mature and serene, and it wasn't until after he swallowed when he said, "Excuse me. I don't have a French chef that serves me seasoned chilled tomatoes, fresh rice, or other such luxuries, Sasuke-teme. You see; I live in the real world."
The Uchiha crinkled his nose and continued to frown at his blonde-haired rival, because he didn't have a rebuttal to work with. So he turned back to his tomatoes and crammed several dices into his mouth, while Naruto smiled at the silent but obvious fact that he had won a battle of wits and treated himself to a victorious bite of warm bread. Sakura would have been more furious with Naruto for his attitude towards her crush, but this time she wasn't mad at him. She saw the Sasuke fume like a child and had never seen him look more adorable.
After a somewhat rushed meal and another announcement made to the rookies, Kakashi's three students walked down to the center chamber located in the middle of the tower on the bottom floor above the basement. The three rookies walked around a corner and noticed the wall to their side had a massive kanji term written on it that stood for 'human' or 'mankind' and were a little bit awe-stricken when the three of them entered the next room. Naruto and his older brother had a moment of silence as the two of them saw that the chamber turned out to be a massive battle arena. It made the two wizards think of the Chamber of Secrets as the arena was same size and was also carved out from stone. Not to mention, there was a massive statue at the end of the arena; two human hands that formed the sign of the tiger. Naruto and his teammates looked around for a moment and saw two staircases at the entrance to the chamber that led to twin balconies made of steel.
The blonde-haired shinobi looked around and noticed another team had arrived before him and his teammates. But he didn't need to see to know who was in the room thanks to his unusual sense of smell. It was the three rookies from Otogakure no Sato. Naruto could smell that familiar and horrid stench radiate from them and fill the chamber, as fresh as it was back in Ibiki's classroom. But to be honest, the odor wasn't as bad as it was in the confrontation with Orochimaru in the forest, so he could tolerate the smell as he walked inside with his teammates.
While Naruto and his teammates entered the chamber, the rookies Zaku, Kin, and Dosu turned their heads and stared down at the new rookies. The three older shinobi from Oto seemed to stare at Kakashi's team with untold hatred, and made the smaller rookies wonder what made the older students seem to resent them so. Zaku seemed to have the nastiest look on his face as he crossed his arms across his chest and frowned at them, Kin seemed to exhibit more restraint but still looked resentful of the other team, meanwhile Dosu didn't have a readable look about him since most of his face was masked with cloth.
But soon, the Oto rookies turned their backs to Team 7 and faced the statue. It was then and there that Naruto noticed that there were other shinobi and kunoichi in the room as well and he stared at the ensemble in awe; Ibiki Morino, Anko Mitarashi, and another unnamed instructor was there, as well as all the instructors to the teams that were able to survive the exams. Hiruzen Sarutobi stood in the middle in front of the massive stone statue with the instructors lined on either side of him like chessmen on a massive board. Kakashi was there and he stood beside his eternal rival Might Gai, with Asuma Sarutobi next to him, Kurenai Yuhi beside him, and then another unidentified instructor from Konoha. On the other side of the old man, there stood Iruka, and next to him there stood Ibiki, Anko Mitarashi, the unknown instructor, a tall shinobi from Suna with red tattoos on his face, while the left side of his face was covered with a turban-like cloth that was held with his headband. And next to him, there stood the Oto instructor; the man's skin was almost bloodless and his slick black hair was tied into a braid that ran down his back, like an Elven warrior. He wore a wine-colored vest with a headband identical to his three students. Naruto stared at the man for a moment as he felt his forehead burn a little bit. He could have mistaken the Oto sensei for a cousin of Orochimaru but he was certain that it wasn't him, otherwise, the air in the room would be much fouler and Naruto would be sick to his stomach. But the blonde-haired shinobi soon distracted when he heard other students enter the chamber.
Naruto looked behind him and saw several teams that he remembered from the First Exam. Team 8 arrived first; all three members were covered with dirt and bruises all over their clothes and skin. Shino didn't seem too dirtied while his friends Kiba and Hinata were a little bit filthier around their faces. Team 10 soon followed and all three members looked exhausted, but Ino still led her teammates like a boss and maintained her interventionist nature. Naruto frowned when he saw Kabuto's team enter the chamber and remembered what the older teen said back in the forest about how he tried to track him and his teammates down and the mention of an unnamed master. He felt his forehead burn a little bit and flinched a little bit before he diverted his attention to the next team that arrived. Naruto's forehead burned a second time as Gaara and his brother and sister made it inside the arena. The blonde shinobi noticed all three of them didn't have so much a scratch on their faces and looked well rested and well fed. He tried his best not to look at the Suna Siblings and soon saw the last rookies that survived the exam: Tenten, Rock Lee, and Neji Hyuga.
All of the teams that arrived formed a series of lines that faced towards the instructors and senior shinobi while all of them awaited the Final Exam in silence.
Anko Mitarashi walked around the room with a board walked and soon faced the children and announced, "Congratulations to all the rookies that have survived the trials of the Forest of Death," the woman smirked a little bit as she studied the survivors and noticed the small blonde shinobi that she liked above all the others, 'Hmmm… We started with a whole classroom full of amateurs… It's amazing that at least twenty-one of them were able to make it out alive… I said that I would cut their numbers down to less than half, but I didn't think there would be less than ten teams left…'
Ino noticed Sasuke almost at once and she muttered over to her teammates, "Look over there! Sasuke-kun and his team made it!"
The blonde shinobi heard Ino even at the distance and started to observe his other fellow rookies. Shikamaru looked at the other teams and seemed bothered or irritated that there were still more shinobi and kunoichi that he and his teammates would have to battle with. His best friend Choji was behind him and his main concern seemed to be the chips he continued to eat, as if he would die from starvation. Naruto believed that his former classmate and friend had to bulk on calories if he wanted to use even one of his clan's techniques. Naruto then looked ahead and saw Gai talk to his mentor Kakashi. He couldn't hear them well, but it looked and sounded like Gai wallowed to his rival and went on and on about how his team had a better chance to win in the next examination and how Kakashi's team was doomed to failure. Gai seemed to continue his rant and wallow until he was done, but then the masked shinobi turned to face him and asked what he had said to him. Naruto smiled and snorted when he watched Gai almost scream in unbelievable frustration. But he did his best to contain himself while he turned the other direction and made a silent vow to defeat his rival and looked about as serious as a cartoon character. Kakashi seemed to be oblivious to his comrade's antics and looked as careless and relaxed as ever. But then Naruto could have sworn he could hear his sensei snort under his breath.
'The brows on that man's face are massive… I can see them even from here.'
The two wizards in the room continued to observe the area and all the shinobi in the room as the medics soon came in and several ANBU from outside arrived as well to observe the rest of the examination. Naruto looked over at Lee and saw him watch his near-identical mentor as he clenched his fists in determination and excitement. The blonde shinobi then looked over at Neji Hyuga. The older teen had observed at Sasuke for a little bit, but from the moment the blonde shinobi looked at him, Neji stared back at Naruto with a look that made it look like he wanted to kill him, like he had a reason to harm him. The blonde wizard soon looked on into another direction but fumed at the look the older rookie threw at him.
'I wonder what's the matter with Neji… it looks like he has a vendetta with me…'
'It sure does beat me, kiddo.'
Naruto continued to observe the arena until he noticed the redheaded Gaara from Suna. It unnerved him a little bit to see someone able to arrive to the tower without a scratch on his face. Gaara stood there in the front of his line with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. He seemed to stare at the old man in the middle and never once did he even blink while he waited for the exam to start. The blonde-haired shinobi soon looked from the students back to the teachers in admiration. He saw Iruka and smiled at him as he tried to make him notice him too. Naruto tried to look taller as he stood on his toes and soon Iruka noticed him and winked at his little brother.
'Wow… The Sandaime, Iruka-aniki, Kakashi-sensei, and even Gai-sensei are all here in the same room with all the other instructors! It feels like we're in the Justice League!'
'It's looks like one hell of a team, I'll admit… But cut down on the drool a little bit. None of them are wearing a cowl or pants on the outside of their trousers.'
'What about that Amazon over there next to the bearded man? I see a Wonder Woman!'
'I should have incinerated those blasted comic books while I had the chance…'
Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled, as he looked down at all the teams that made it to the last examination. He was astonished that most of the teams that were here were the newest rookie teams, almost fresh out of school. It now looked like the three newest instructors were correct to allow their students to be entered and all doubts that the old man had before had now been erased. Hiruzen looked over at his little Naruto and saw that he didn't look that much healthier than when he last saw him. In fact, he seemed to have lost more color in his face and looked a little skinnier, which meant that the seal had not been corrected and that his old student had not arrived as he ordered him to. Hiruzen almost looked furious for a second but he contained his frustration.
'Where in the hell is Jiraiya? I should have known he wouldn't have the courage to reunite with Naruto after all this time. It looks like he wants to meet him on his own terms then… Traitorous as his actions are, I'm certain he will still do what I told him to sooner or later… Naruto should be fine while he still has those soldier pills I lent him…'
The old man looked from Naruto over to his teammate and noticed Sasuke didn't look that much better. He saw the Uchiha start to rub the mark on his neck. Which didn't make much sense, because he and Kakashi had done their best to seal the curse mark. Both he and Kakashi had witnessed Sasuke use it when he awakened and attacked an ANBU in the room at random. He was soon restrained and then the mark was sealed, but the old man feared that Sasuke started to succumb to the mark now that the final exam so close. Hiruzen felt worried about the Uchiha as well as his adopted grandson, but he still continued with the examination, determined to tend to both rookies as soon as the events in the tower were concluded.
While the old man tried to maintain face in front of the rookies, Anko walked towards the center and cleared her throat, "Now then… The Sandaime will now elaborate on the third and final examination! Listen here and soak in whatever he has to discuss about the examination!"
Just at that moment, one of the instructors cleared their own throat but tried to cover it with their hand. The man nodded to the kunoichi and blushed, while Anko looked a little bit cross with him about it. Sarutobi dismissed the two instructors while Anko nodded to the old man.
She then said in a courteous manner, "You now have the floor, sir."
Sarutobi faced the rookies, breathed out some smoke from his mouth, and then he advised the students, "The third and final examination is about to commence… But before we start, I would like to make an announcement about one vital fact that needs to be addressed… I must beseech to the rookies about the true intentions of the Chunin Selection Exams."
Almost all of the students stared at the old man and wondered what he was about to tell them. Even rookies such as Shikamaru seemed a little bit lost.
"Has it never crossed even one shinobi or kunoichi's mind the reason that an exam of this nature is conducted under the best shinobi countries and nations in our mutual alliance?" he asked, but none of the students had the heart to answer, "It is said that the exams are made to promote friendship among the allied nations and raise the level and standards of the art of shinobi… One must be clear in mind about what those terms mean! I must admit that these so-called Chunin Selection Exams…" Sarutobi took a breath of smoke and said in a somewhat remorseful tone, "… Are no more than a miniature war in between the allied nations."
Several rookies twitched at what the old man had said. Naruto looked shocked and almost couldn't believe what he had heard.
"Take a look back at our most recent histories and find that most of the shinobi nations that we are allied with have been, at one time ago, continuously fought one another for power and dominance… In order to save our resources and end the waste of human life in war, each leading nation has decided to select champions to do battle for their home countries, located in a selected and secured location… That was how the Chunin Exams first started…"
Almost all the rookies seemed to be frozen in shock, while few others even seemed to be bothered. But Naruto decided to voice his concerns as well as his confusion, "How come? I thought the exams were made to select chunin."
Sarutobi looked solemn and answered, "Alas, this test is still held to select which rookies have the skills to advance to the chunin rank… But that's not where it ends… This exam also allows a chance for the shinobi to represent the pride of their nation and battle with other shinobi from other lands at the small risk of their lives… Countless leaders of various countries are invited to attend this exam as honored guests, and most of them come to seek shinobi to hire for missions in the future… This Final Exam will determine the course of your shinobi career until further notice as the honored leaders watch your battles and take note of the strengths that each shinobi or kunoichi and each nation is developing. If there is a gap in power between the countries, the strong nations are flooded with mission requests for their shinobi. And in opposition, the request to other countries deemed weak, are declined. Therefore, the stronger our nation is, the better our position comes to negotiating with neighboring countries and settle matters more peacefully. So it is vital to show how much military strength our village has…"
"THEN HOW COME WE HAVE TO RISK OUR LIVES?" shouted Kiba Inuzuka.
Sarutobi looked saddened as he said in a more tired voice, "The strength of a shinobi nation comes from their village, and a village draws out its strength from their united shinobi brethren, and the greatest strength from shinobi comes out from the heat of desperate and life-or-death battles and situations… This Chunin Selection Exam is a chance for each nation to demonstrate the true strength of its shinobi and the strength of the nation itself… It is because this is an exam where a rookie's life is on the line that it has an actual significance… And it's for this reason and the strength of the nation that your forefathers have taken on this exam… To be able to take on this exam is a dream worth fighting for…"
The entire room was silent as the old man's words echoed around the rookies and it wasn't over until Tenten raised her hand.
"B-But… You used the term friendship earlier, sir… Where does friendship fit into all this?" she asked in a nervous tone while she trembled a little.
Sarutobi continued to look sad and somewhat solemn while he answered, "I did mention that when I started, I should choose more careful words next time… To establish balance between the shinobi nations at the risk of our lives, that is what friendship means when it comes to the world of the shinobi… This exam is not some test; this is a battle between life and death… a battle that risks lives, dreams, and ambitions, but also the dignity and pride of a shinobi or kunoichi's home as well… It is a sad truth… but it is the truth nonetheless…"
The rookies stared at the old man in the center and the silence between them continued for several minutes while Sarutobi let them sink in his words. The teams leaders and mentor watched their students, while most of the rookies were shaken at how barbaric their societies were; all of them sooner or later came to terms with the truth. Naruto stared at the floor and then his own hands until he too realized how barbaric the shinobi world was, even in Konoha. But soon he remembered that he couldn't recall a recent incident where two shinobi battled each other to the death in the arena. So the blonde-haired shinobi assumed that traditions were different now and the esteemed leaders and instructors wouldn't allow the rookies to kill each other in combat. Naruto was also confident that Kakashi wouldn't let him be killed if he was there to witness him fight.
He secret sorcerer crossed his arms and soon said out loud, "I think I understand it now…"
"Whatever," called out Gaara's low voice, "Wanna end this stupid little speech and just skip ahead to the fighting and killing already?"
Sarutobi looked somewhat insulted, "How rude… But first… Please allow me to elucidate on this final exam."
But then at that moment, one of the three instructors, the unnamed one next to Anko stood before the old man, kneeled down in front of him and lowered his head to hide his face as he addressed the leader.
"Forgive me for the rude intrusion, sir. But with all due respect, I believe I should be the one to handle the rest of the proceedings. After all, I am one of the instructors, Hayate Gekko," the shinobi insisted while he continued to bow his head to the old man.
Naruto blinked and then he held his breath when he heard the man's voice and then his name echoed in his ears. The blonde-haired shinobi stared at the back of the man named Hayate and a flood of memories was rushed back into his head, like a dam, as his mind was flooded with memories that were once clouded and lost. He remembered the back of that man's head, and soon an entire series of events and emotions were made clear and were rushed back into his mind. Naruto blinked one more time as color rushed to his face.
'Hayate Gekko? Wait… I remember that man! I can't believe I didn't notice him earlier! It's him! I can't believe it's him!'
'What is it?'
'I know that man over there! Hayate Gekko! He was one of the shinobi that used to take care of me when I was little! He was still a kid when I first met him, no older than I am now. He was one of the few babysitters I had that was nice to me! He even played with me when I was bored or felt alone! You remember him too, Nii-san?'
'I don't remember him at all, Naruto… However, after we first met each other, I noticed within the recesses of the Pensieve, there was a time where a lot of your memories were clouded or blocked from view that I couldn't access. Your memories of this man must have been lost somewhere in that clouded area that I couldn't enter… You must have reawakened some of those lost memories when he made his entrance there… His name of his does sound a little bit familiar. I think I heard it in the Pensieve, after we first met in the mindscape…'
'How could I have forgotten about Hayate? He was nicest man I had ever met at the time, other than the Sandaime. He was the one that introduced me to comic books! He used to take me to a bookstore to read them whenever I behaved the best and he let me see his collection whenever I wanted!'
'At least now, I know who to blame…'
Naruto soon shook his head and watched as Sarutobi nodded to Hayate and allowed him to take over and do what he volunteered to do and retreated into the line with his men and women at his sides. Hayate soon turned around and revealed his face to the rookies.
"Good to meet you all, my name is Hayate," the man nodded to the rookies after he cleared his throat.
His face was rather different from what Naruto remembered when he was toddler. This older, more mature version of the man he once knew had brown hair that reached down to his shoulders. He had dark irises and also bore bruises under his eyes that made him look like he hadn't rested or that he was ill as he continued to clear his throat in between his sentences. His skin was rather pale and he looked like he hadn't eaten in a while. Hayate wore the standard Konoha uniform but his vest was a somewhat darker shade than the others in the room, and he also wore his headband in the form of a bandana. Naruto was a little bit shocked at the state of his former guardian, as he remembered him with a rounder face and a shade of tanner skin. But at least his headband and hair was the same as he remembered, so he was sure this was the same man he remembered.
Hayate was about to make an announcement but he needed to clear his throat a few times before he talked, "Erm… Before we start the exam, I must ask that all of you do something for me… You see…there are some preliminaries to the exam proper… and whether you proceed to the exam depends on how well a rookie fairs out…"
"Preliminaries?" asked Sakura.
Shikamaru then asked while he looked discontented, "Preliminaries? Like what?"
"Hayate-sensei, I don't understand what you mean by preliminaries. Why can't all of the remaining applicants just go ahead to the next exam?" asked a nervous Sakura.
The older instructor sniffed and said, "Well… I don't want to have to say that the first two exams were not difficult… The truth to the matter is that we still have too many applicants," the shinobi removed a tissue from his vest and blew into it before he continued, "Under the traditional rules of the Chunin Selection Exams, we have to have to… reduce the number of applicants that will proceed to the third and final exam."
Sakura tried to dissent him, but the instructor ceased her when he continued his statement and insisted that she listen and remain silent.
"As Hokage-sama mentioned before, a number of important guests will be observing you as you're participating in the third exam… So we have to make the test as intense, tight, and fast-moving as possible…"
Sakura looked over to Sasuke and then back to Hayate, who removed a board he had hidden behind him that had a list of the names of the rookies in the chamber. It also contained some of their information and several of their individual back-stories. He studied then over and then he had to check and see which rookies didn't have the stomach to continue as he noticed the odd number of students.
"Hmmm… So anyway… Now that we have an idea of what this is all about… Anyone who does not feel up to the challenge, whether it's physical or mental, can walk away and try again next year. Just take one step forward… because the preliminary matches will begin momentarily!" he announced to the shocked students.
Kiba then shouted as loud as he could while the others around him flinched, "RIGHT NOW?"
Naruto remained where he stood and waited for Hayate to start the matches. He wasn't that shocked as the other rookies around him that the matches had to start now, since all of them were collected in the middle of a battle arena all at once. The others rookies, while most of them were shocked at the suddenness of the situation remained in their stations and didn't move. It would seem that no one wanted to leave until Kabuto Yakushi, who stood two rows from Naruto, smiled and waved at the instructors and various other authorities in the room and decided to leave.
He said as he waved, "Well, I'm outta here!"
Naruto turned around to look at the older and vicious-in-nature rookie. He remembered what he and his teammates said when his shadow clone was hidden under the fallen tree near the river in the forest. Kabuto was bad news from the start and it looked like his intensions for his forfeit from the Chunin Exams were not thanks to nerves or a broken wrist. It almost looked obvious like he had an ulterior motive based on how he smiled and how calm he sounded while he waved to the older shinobi in the room. His teammates didn't seem all that bothered either and remained at their stations with no concern for their teammate. It made Naruto and his older brother feel all the more suspicious of them.
Hayate cleared his throat and check the board in his hands before he asked, "You are Kabuto Yakushi from Konoha, right?"
Kabuto nodded and still maintained that odd smile.
"Alright, then… You can leave… there will be an ANBU escort outside…" he soon said to the rookie and allowed him to leave.
Naruto continued to stare at Kabuto while he turned his back from the test to meet the ANBU outside the chamber to lead him back home. At the same time, Anko Mitarashi checked a board she owned as well and checked Kabuto over while he left the chamber. She stared at his outline and checked two more documents about him and started to look a little bit confused and then shared the exact same look that was on Naruto's face.
"That's odd…" she muttered as she tried to reach out to the old man beside her, "If these documents are correct, then that Kabuto Yakushi has failed this test the last time he was here, and the time before that… I wonder what he must be thinking… This has to be the sixth time he chose to flunk out of the Chunin Exams…"
Sarutobi heard Anko and asked her in a low voice, "What does his record hold?"
"He was an average student at the Ninja Academy, finished two C-Rank missions and fourteen D-Rank missions, he doesn't seem to have remarkable skills on the battlefield…" she answered and then she found another document about him and said, "But there is one interesting fact about him."
Sarutobi asked her, "What is it?"
"Sometime before he was entered into the Academy, he was involved in the Battle of the Kikyo Pass… he was the lone survivor of the entire massacre…" she said under her breath.
The old man sounded a little bit astounded, "Kabuto Yakushi was the child that the jounin from the Advanced Medical Corps brought in?"
"Yes, sir. That's him…" she nodded as she watched the rookie leave.
Sarutobi stared at Kabuto while he left and frowned, as there was little known about that much older rookie and then he remembered what Naruto had told him about Kabuto, 'His sudden reluctance to become a chunin makes him all the more suspicious… After all, he is also the main suspect to Orochimaru's sudden appearance in the village… I'll need to have someone monitor him at all times from now on…'
Kabuto looked back at the crowd of rookies he left behind and looked at the jounin from Otogakure no Sato. He smiled and pushed his glasses closer to his face and turned to leave the arena. But not before he looked over at Naruto who continued to stare at him. The much older rookie acted like he was no more than a few feet from the blonde-haired rookie and smiled at him. Naruto continued to frown at him and soon Kabuto looked on ahead with a dark look laced on his face as he looked forward to meet Naruto once more in the future.
'We shall meet a second time soon, Naruto-kun….'
No more than a few moments after Kabuto had fled from the arena, the tide started to shift when Sasuke let out a small noise and started to rub the mark on his neck. His face darkened and a whole mixture of emotions ran across his face like a river while his skin turned a little bit red and sweat ran down his face and he earned the attention of both his teammates. Sakura was the first to notice and became worried about her crush in an instant. She tried to do what her best friend had told her over the last week and tried to be less useless and asked her crush what was the matter in a hushed voice.
Hayate looked around the chamber and said, "Since no one else seems to want to leave the exam…"
"You should quit too, Sasuke-kun…" the kunoichi tried to convince her teammate out of concern for his health.
Sasuke was able to overcome the hurt that ran across his neck to look at Sakura with a face that was filled with hate. He had thrown a lot of mean faces at Sakura Haruno before, but he never looked as mad as he did now while she tried to tell him to abandon the exams. Naruto heard the commotion and turned around to see what was the matter with his teammate while he noticed Sasuke started to succumb the curse mark.
Sakura tried to convince her teammate while she noticed the mark that he tried to hide with his hand, "You've rubbed that mark ever since we've entered the chamber… You don't look well… You look frustrated, tired, dark, and it almost looks like the mark is alive now! Look at it!"
The kunoichi forced him to remove his hand from his neck and saw the black mark start to move while the muscles in his neck remained motionless. She held her breath and Naruto saw the mark as well and started to look concerned as well. He had heard that Sasuke had a moment where he lost control and attacked someone at random when he first awoke after the Orochimaru attack, and now the blonde-haired shinobi feared his teammate would lose control a second time and could become a threat to all the others in the room if he was not treated soon. But then Sasuke forced Sakura to remove her hand from his neck and almost shouted at her as he cover the mark with his hand.
He hissed at his female teammate with the coldest and meanest voice he could muster, "Leave it alone, Sakura!"
Sakura flinched backward and darkened her face with the shadows from her hair. She started to shiver and her shoulders trembled. She started to remember what Orochimaru had told them in the forest before she blacked out and soon a river of tears started to flow down her face in torrents. Naruto heard her familiar breaths and started to move in close. He wanted to reach out and ease whatever stress she felt while he also wanted to hit Sasuke in the face for his defensive and selfish behavior and the fact that he made their teammate break down into tears for the second time in a row.
Sakura tried to clean her face while she sobbed in silence, "P-P-Please don't do this… I'm scared Sasuke-kun… You have to have it looked at now…"
Sasuke showed of his teeth and bit down hard while he continued to listen to her whine and sob like a scared child.
"You're in no condition to fight, Sasuke-kun!" she said as more tears ran down her face and her cheeks flushed red.
The Uchiha's face became more contorted and frustrated while he let out a low noise from his throat and the mark on his neck continued to burn and almost sizzled on his skin. Sakura soon decided she had to take matters into her own hands and save her beloved crush, even if it would make him hate her even more. All she wanted was to make sure he was safe and sound.
"Sasuke-kun, I won't let this continue… That curse mark is active. You have to have it looked at now. Gomenasai, Sasuke-kun. You leave me no other choice, I have to tell the teachers about-"
Sakura was about to raise her hand like Kabuto did and tell the teachers about her teammate's mark, when Sasuke reached out and clenched Sakura's hand within his own and almost crush it while he forced her to lower it. The kunoichi held her breath and almost screamed when it felt like her hand was stuck in a cold mechanical vice. She stared at her crush and never before had she ever seen him look so mad as he bare his teeth like an animal and hissed at her like a snake. Naruto was shocked at his rival's behavior and marched forward and become the adult on the team for the second time in a row.
"You shut that damn mouth, Sakura," the Uchiha hissed at her with malice and then he threatened her as she continued to clench her hand, "One more word to the teachers about this mark… and believe me, it'll be the last…"
Sakura almost cried but tried her best to hold in the sobs that bubbled in her chest. Sasuke soon released her hand and let her retreat a little bit and made a bold statement to validate his irrational, selfish, and violent behavior.
"I am an avenger… This test is more than a test for me... I need to fight and prove to all those here and to myself and show them how strong I am... I am carrying the pride of the Uchiha clan and no one on this earth is going to stop me..." the Uchiha stated in a cold and serious voice, that sounded more like an act.
Naruto moved in and almost tore Sasuke's skin clean off when he clenched his blue rookie shirt and forced him to look at him face-to-face. The blonde shinobi clenched his teeth and shouted at his selfish teammate in a silenced voice while he was forced to hold his fist back and the Uchiha was one second closer to a broken nose.
"You conceited moron!" he shouted in a silenced tone, "Don't ever treat Sakura-chan like that again! I thought you were going to forget about your stupid pride and be an adult here! This is the Chunin Selection Exams! Were you even listening to what the old man said at all?"
Sasuke looked a little bit scared of his teammate while he scold him, but soon he smirked at his teammate and told him, "Naruto. You are one of the ones that I've wanted to fight the most…"
Naruto was taken aback from Sasuke's statement and froze for one second. But then he seethed at his rival and was about to scold him a second time, like a teacher, thanks to his older brother Iruka's influence. But then Sasuke clenched the curse mark once more and started to shiver while he lowered his head and tried to will out the pain.
Sarutobi and all the other senior shinobi that were aware of the situation with Sasuke noticed the commotion between the rookies. Then the old man noticed Sasuke flinch, shiver, and rub his curse mark. The older shinobi and kunoichi in the room that were aware of Sasuke's curse mark looked concerned but also more alarmed after the rumor about Sasuke's violent outburst earlier. Hiruzen let out a breath and frowned at the Uchiha while he still seemed concerned for his health.
"It is as I feared…" he said to the others close to him, "He won't listen to me or to Kakashi… Sasuke's lust for power has become more overwhelming…"
Ibiki stood next to the old man and asked, "What is the matter with the Uchiha, sir? I thought the curse mark was sealed."
"Kakashi and I did seal it," the old man answered, "But it looks like Sasuke is reluctant to leave it alone… The excitement and the adrenaline of the next exam must have overwhelmed the seal we set around it."
Anko listened in on the conversation and then walked over to Sarutobi and told him, "You should remove him from the exams now and reinforce the seal, sir. Make sure he's under constant observation until he can control the mark on his neck."
"You think he'll follow orders like that?" a cool voice beckoned to the kunoichi.
Anko turned around and scowled when she saw Kakashi Hatake wink at her and seemed to smile underneath his mask while she seemed more reasonable and serious. She almost wanted to kick him in the nuts when he said the next statement out loud.
"Bare in mind, that he is a member of the Uchiha clan," the masked shinobi stated.
Anko looked angry, "Don't be an idiot! I'll kick him out of here if I have to! If he so much as shows a signal sign that he is not suppressing the mark on his own will, I will cut him out in a heartbeat!"
"I wouldn't do that." stated Kakashi as he opened his eye more seriously.
The lavender-haired woman then said, "I don't care what you think, Kakashi Hatake. That mark will force more of his chakra out and make him stronger than most of us in this room. But that mark was created from a forbidden art… It's a miracle that that Uchiha brat is able to bare it like that… It should have killed him now…" she then looked to the old man and looked more worried, "Hokage-sama… Please understand... he's a threat to all of us here if he can't control that mark… the Uchiha could kill us all…"
(A/N: Understatement of the frickin millennium!)
Sarutobi hesitated for a moment until he reminded Anko about her confrontation with her former master in the forest after the white snake left his mark on the Uchiha heir, "Remember what Orochimaru said, he will attack Konoha at full force if Sasuke Uchiha is removed from the Chunin Exams... and I will not risk the lives of innocent citizens and shinobi alike... We have no choice in this matter, we have to let Sasuke continue on with the exam with the others…"
"H-Hokage-sama…" stammered the wise kunoichi.
Sarutobi inserted his pipe into his mouth and stated in a calm voice, "However, if the curse mark shows any signs of spreading across his body like it did last time, then we shall indeed intervene and restrain him at once. If he loses control for even one second in this room he will be thrown out of the Chunin Exams in a heartbeat."
Ibiki, Kakashi, and then Anko nodded to their esteemed leader and focused their attention back to the exams when Hayate confirmed that none of the other students wanted to forfeit from the exams.
Hayate announced to the anxious rookies, "Well then… We'll now begin the preliminaries… Which will consist of individual combat matches, as if this were part of the tournament."
All of the rookies in the room aimed their attention to him and listened well.
"As there are a total of twenty combatants left, we will hold a total number of ten individual rounds. Ummm… And those who win their individual match, will advance to the third and final exam," Hayate instructed clearly, "This is no holds-barred combat, folks. Each duo of combatants will fight until one of them is dead, unconscious, or admits defeat… As soon as you sense that your opponent is overpowering you, immediately concede your loss if you value your life… Uhhh… Since we don't want a total bloodbath on our hands, there will be cases where… we decide who the winner is and end the match before anyone is hurt. But don't count on that… From here on out, what will decide who will battle with who will be determined with…"
Anko said talked into her headset and at once, one of the massive stone tiles on the far wall behind the statue slid to the side and revealed a massive monitor.
"… this electronic scoreboard," the instructor stated, "At the start of each round, we will show two names of the combatants for that match… So, ummm… Not to rush all this… But let us start the matches. We will now announce the first two names…"
The scoreboard came to life and started a roulette of names that moved too fast to understand. All of the rookies stood frozen and waited for the first two names to be announced and see which two students would have to fight each other first. Each second was like a minute to the children while some of the more nervous or restless started to sweat, worried about who would be forced to battle with who. But after ten or more seconds, two names had been chosen at random and stood out like sore thumbs.
SASUKE UCHIHA VS YOROI AKADO
Sasuke smirked at once while his masked opponent did the same. He wore identical purple and white clothing as his teammate Kabuto, but he wore a mask and a bandanna headband.
The Uchiha smirked at the tall rookie that looked at him in a rather wicked manner, 'Now, I'm excited…'
Sakura looked as worried as ever and tried to shake her head that her beloved Sasuke was chosen to first. Naruto looked at Sasuke and saw his confidant smirk but he did feel a little bit worried about him or fearful of him in the manner that he smirked. He still smiled at his teammate and wished him luck, but Sasuke rebuked his wish and insisted that he didn't need luck. Naruto shook his head at his teammate and walked with the other rookies when Hayate instructed them and all the others in the room to be moved to the balconies above the arena. He walked beside his friend Sakura and had her follow him to the stairs. The blonde-haired shinobi turned around for a moment and waved to his mentor, but Kakashi didn't seem to notice him and instead he stood next to Sasuke and seemed to offer his student some much-needed advice. Naruto couldn't hear what the two of them said to each other, but whatever Kakashi said to Sasuke, the Uchiha look shocked or insulted and watched as his teacher walked over to his other students and nodded at them while he seemed to smile under his mask.
Naruto and the rest of his team were soon on the levels with the rest of the small audience with Sasuke and Yoroi at the center of the arena. He looked around and noticed that Gai and his team were next to them with Asuma's team on the right, also close to them. Naruto also noticed that Lee was next to him and looked excited to see the match. His teammate Neji stared down at Sasuke but did not look all that amused while he crossed his arms and looked like there was a foul odor in the air. The blonde-haired shinobi felt his invisible older brother stand next to him and lean on the rail while the two of them focused on Sasuke's match that was about to start. All of the adults in the room that were aware of the caution taken into account created a feel in the chamber that made it seem like there was a bomb about to blow in the room as Kakashi and the other senior shinobi stiffened and watched.
Sasuke and the rookie Yoroi stood across from each other with Hayate close to the middle. He held his hands out and then he announced before he bound backwards, "Alright. Begin!"
Yoroi then asked while he formed a seal with his hands, "Shall I start first?"
Sasuke smirked and answered with, "Go for it…"
Yoroi removed his hands from the seal formed with his hands and reached for a blade from his back pouch while his right hand was soon coated with chakra. Sasuke withdrew a kunai and thrust it downward and deflected Yoroi's thrown shuriken. He hit it so hard that he caused the shuriken to reverse in direction and flew back at Yoroi. But then Yoroi seemed to vanish out of thin air and then he rematerialized in front of Sasuke and thrust his chakra-coated fist into the ground where Sasuke head used to be before he rolled to the side. Sasuke drove his kunai into the floor and twisted his legs around Yoroi and forced him to fall and hit the concrete hard.
Naruto decided to be a nice teammate and cheered him on, "Yes!"
Yoroi thrust his arm down to crush Sasuke's chest, but the Uchiha reacted on instinct and clenched the older rookie's arm when it was no more than a few inches from the skin of his shirt. Yoroi soon scrunched the front of Sasuke's blue shirt and started to focus his chakra into the Uchiha's chest. From the instant the older rookie held his shirt, Sasuke felt weak and tired and his hold on Yoroi's thick muscular arm faded while he felt his hand slide on his skin.
"W-What the hell is this?" he snarled.
Sasuke's hold on the arm faltered and soon his hands released the arm while his arms felt like lead and fell to his sides. Once he was free, Yoroi clenched his fist and drove it into Sasuke's chest as he intended to do from the start. Yoroi was now on his knee and slammed his hand onto Sasuke's forehead and caused the back of his head to hit the concrete. The Uchiha shouted and started to moan while his older opponent started to focus more and more of his chakra into his hand.
Yoroi soon chuckled in amusement and answered the Uchiha, "I'm feeding on your chakra, brat. It's a really unique gift of mine… I guess I won't stop until I have devoured all of your chakra and then-"
But soon, the older rookie's rant was cut short as Sasuke kicked him off and gave himself some room and time to recover. The Uchiha started to run through his options and had hard time to decide on what he could do that would ensure his success in this battle without the use of his Sharingan. What Naruto didn't hear earlier was that Kakashi ordered Sasuke to not use his Sharingan in the match or else it would cause the curse mark to react and then activate like it did when he had his first violent outburst. Kakashi had warned him that if he didn't control the curse mark, then he would be removed from the match as well as the rest of the exams.
Sasuke was soon driven with frustration aimed at his teacher while he tried his best to avoid Yoroi's attacks, 'Dammit, Kakashi! I need to use the Sharingan to win! How am I supposed to win the match, now?'
Naruto noticed Sasuke's hesitation to act when he avoided Yoroi attacks for about three minutes. He knew that the Uchiha should have attacked now but he didn't, he decided to shout down at him and knock some sense into him.
While Yoroi focused his chakra into his hand, the blonde-haired shinobi shouted, "What the hell is this, Sasuke-teme? YOU CALL YOURSELF AN UCHIHA EVERY THREE SECONDS AND YOU GO DOWN THIS QUICKLY?"
The sudden shout from above earned Sasuke's attention for less than a second, but that one second seemed more like a solid minute as the Uchiha looked at the balconies.
"C'mon, Sasuke! Don't let this idiot win now! You can beat him!"
But while Sasuke took that one-second to look at the balconies, he didn't look at Naruto or even listened to him at all. Instead, his attention was aimed to the rookie next to his teammate, which was Rock Lee. The Uchiha stared at the rookie and then he remembered the skirmish the two of them had back at the school before the first examination even started. He remembered that he had used his Sharingan in their short-lived battle and he had taken in some valuable information that he didn't need to activate his bloodline limit to aid use it.
The Uchiha soon realized this and said in his head, 'That's it!'
Yoroi ran after Sasuke like a starved and crazed zombie with his arm so full of chakra that one small touch would cause Sasuke to become immobilized. Yoroi smirked underneath his mask, confident that he was about to win and decided to rub it in Sasuke's face before he had even touched him with his chakra-coated hand.
"You couldn't have chosen a worse time to-"
But then Yoroi's sentence was cut short when Sasuke crouched down low towards the floor and kicked the older rookie in the chin with his left foot. Sasuke had mirror Rock Lee's exact same movements that he used in their skirmish last week. But that wasn't the end when Sasuke used his chakra to move as fast as Lee and almost vanished before he rematerialized behind Yoroi while he was still airborne. All of the rookies and teachers held their breath at the sudden turn of events and watched as the two rookies remained in the air, but one shinobi in the room looked like had one of his most valuable items stolen from him when he saw Sasuke mirror his exact movements. Rock Lee looked shocked but then he looked insulted as he realized that Sasuke had stolen his moves.
Lee turned his hands into fists while he continued to watch the match, 'That's MY technique!'
Yoroi blacked out when Sasuke kicked him in the face so hard and when he came to, he realized he was nineteen feet in the air and heard Sasuke Uchiha's confident voice come from behind him.
He heard the Uchiha claim; "This is a new technique I developed while I had some free time this week…"
Sasuke was about to kick at Yoroi's side, until he drew his strength from the curse mark and it started to crawl out of the Evil Sealing Method he received from Kakashi and the Sandaime as if there were black flames on his skin. Sasuke shivered and froze in midair as he felt his skin burn and the black tattoo flames crawled across his skin and burned as if his muscles and his insides were drenched with acid. The black flame-like marks became visible to all the shinobi and kunoichi that were aware of what Orochimaru did to him as Sasuke failed to control the curse. Anko, Kakashi, and even Sarutobi and the rest of the ANBU in the room were about to move in and remove Sasuke from the tournament the moment he hit the floor and screamed.
But the Uchiha realized the shinobi below him would take him to be re-sealed and end his involvement in the tournament, so he mustered all the will he had within him and forced the curse mark to halt and retreat back into the mark on his neck. The Uchiha soon blinked back into the battle and used the time he had in the air to end the match as all of the shinobi that watched him showcase his will. Kakashi, Sarutobi, Anko, and the others were left breathless and shocked that the Uchiha was able to control and contain the curse like he did in an instant and made them all remember that the Uchiha clan (while considered one of the most selfish and conceded shinobi clans to exist) was revered for a reason. The shinobi, kunoichi, and ANBU soon relaxed and stood aside as the match continued. Sasuke then kicked Yoroi in the side where he was vulnerable and delivered another kick to his chest as he used his momentum to move around Yoroi until he was above him and the two rookies started to fall towards the concrete. Sasuke delivered one last kick and drove it into Yoroi's stomach at the same time he hit the solid stone floor. Sasuke then made one last bound in order to land on his feet, but instead tumbled backward and tried his best to stand on his own.
When the dust cleared, Yoroi was still on the floor and a noticeable crack was seen behind him while blood started to ooze from the back of his head. Hayate stormed in and checked Yoroi and learned he was unconscious. So he stood aside and motioned over to Sasuke, who was on his feet but soon sat down on the floor.
Hayate nodded and announced, "Sasuke Uchiha is the winner of the first battle… and advances to the next level!"
"YES!" Naruto cheered for his teammate while Sakura was able to breathe now that her crush won and survived his match.
Kakashi soon vanished from the balconies and landed behind Sasuke to talk to Sasuke once more, while he read his new volume of Make-Out Violence nonetheless. Naruto was curious about what he and Sasuke talked about but couldn't thanks to his somewhat bad vision. He diverted his attention to Sakura and smiled now that she was relieved that Sasuke survived the match and the two of them watched as Sasuke and Kakashi left the arena to escort him somewhere else where he wouldn't to a threat to the others in the room. Naruto couldn't contain himself and started to shake the metal rail with the excitement of his own future match.
"Now I can't wait for the next match to start! But I wonder where Sasuke learned how to kick like that…" the blonde-haired shinobi wondered out loud.
Lee decided to comment on Sasuke's match and said under his breath, "It feels like... he cheated…"
Naruto didn't hear him, but his unseen older brother sure did and nodded to the older teen. Rock Lee was correct: Sasuke did not use his own moves to advance to the next round; instead he used the information he had collected from his confrontation with Lee to defeat Yoroi, and then used the strength from the curse mark to finish him. It made Lee a little bit mad, and to him it was almost the same as cheating. Sure, all of them were ninja and it would make sense to use the Sharingan on the battlefield or in the middle of a war. But for someone like Rock Lee, Sasuke had stolen from his hard work to win his match and advance to the finals. To make matters worse, he had heard Sasuke when he claimed that the move he used to throw Yoroi in the air was his own. Gai had heard it as well and frowned at the Uchiha for such a false claim, but he rubbed Lee's shoulder to let him know that he knew the claim wasn't true.
At the same time, the rest of the rookies and teachers in the room had their own reactions to the match; the other instructors such as Iruka, Anko, Hayate, and Ibiki were relieved that it was over and that no one else had been hurt. Meanwhile, the rookies had their own individual reactions thanks to their obliviousness of the curse mark that could have caused Sasuke to kill them all.
Ino Yamanaka marveled at Sasuke, blushed, and cried out loud to the heavens, "You're the best, Sasuke-kun!"
Her teammate Shikamaru looked bored and Choji didn't even seem to care as he munched down on more snacks he had obtained from the machines earlier. Hinata had watched the match and felt a little intimidated while she watched Sasuke, meanwhile her teammate Shino stood there and took a mental note on how to avoid Sasuke's attacks in the event that he ever has to face him in battle in the future. Kiba on the other hand, didn't seem as amused as he believed he would and scoffed at the entire scene.
Kiba said while he rested on the metal rail, "Who cares? That battle wasn't all that…"
It took some time for the medics to remove Yoroi from the scene and then clean the blood he left behind on the floor. But as soon as the area was clean and Yoroi was sent to the tower's medical clinic, the next match was about to start. The electronic scoreboard started for the second time, and two new names were chosen.
SHINO ABURAME VS ZAKU ASUMI
In no time at all, the two rookies entered the arena and stood across from each other. Shino seemed to be calm and relaxed while his hands were tucked into his coat, while Zaku seemed more excited and his hands twitched and trembled as he smirked at the smaller rookie. Both students waited for Hayate to remind them of the rules and then he bounced backwards to let the two students start the match.
Zaku's sensei watched the match start, but almost as soon as it started, he started to wince and then he looked sick to his stomach. He held his abdomen and looked at his hands and noticed, to his shock, that his skin started to turn chalk white. The obvious unnamed sensei rushed out of the chamber at once in a hurried walk, so that he didn't attract too much attention. While he left, he ran into Kakashi who had returned without Sasuke. The two men slammed into each other's shoulders for a moment but the man with the black hair and snake-like face continued to leave without a word. Kakashi remained unaware of who he was, so he frowned at the rude man as he walked and turned the corner and called out his rudeness.
He shouted at the man, "That was real nice!"
Kakashi soon returned to his other two students in a flash after he nodded to Kurenai and seemed to rematerialize behind his students to remind his students how fast he was as a shinobi. Naruto sensed his sudden movement and turned around and asked him, "What was the matter with that man, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Hmm? Oh, never mind him. He's no one," the masked man shook his head.
Sakura looked cross with her instructor and raised her voice to him in a similar tone she used to use with Naruto, "Don't act like nothing is going on! Where is Sasuke-kun, Kakashi-sensei?"
"He's fine, Sakura… Sasuke has been sent to the clinic downtown to recover from his match. He'll be back on his feet soon," the masked man answered as he smiled down at his kunoichi student.
Sakura let out another held-in breath, relieved that her crush was safe and cared for. Naruto smiled as well and landed his hand on her shoulder. The kunoichi looked over at her teammate and nodded to him with a smile of her own. Kakashi noticed this and smiled underneath his mask, astounded and ecstatic that Naruto and Sakura had started act to more like teammates, or even friends. The somewhat heartfelt scene almost erased the fact that Sasuke was surrounded with ANBU at the medical clinic at all times from his mind.
Kakashi then focused his attention to the battle about to start and asked, "So, what did I miss?"
"Not much," informed his blonde-haired student, "Shino's match started now. He's about to battle one of the rookies from Otogakure."
The masked man looked more amused and distracted and mused out loud, "Oh?"
Down below, the Oto rookie Zaku started to the match when he outstretched his arms and created a blast of wind that could have rivaled a small storm. The blast blew Shino into the air and he was tossed across the chamber like a doll until he was slammed into a solid wall of concrete. The audience watched as Shino fell to his knees and his sunglasses slid down his nose and cracked. Zaku smirked as he lowered his arms while a wave of confidence overwhelmed him and he marched towards Shino as if he didn't have a care in the world. He continued to smile as he watched Shino tremble and shiver on the floor and so he looked over at the instructor and boasted.
Zaku said with an obnoxious tone, "Proctor… You can end the match now, if this sad sack of shit wants to live!"
"Well, he's doomed…" the blonde-haired wizard commented as he rested his chin on his arms and leaned on the rail.
All of the rookies and instructors in the chamber knew that Zaku was about to lose based on his overconfidence, but almost none of the other students in the room ever imagined how the silent cadet from Konoha would win the match. But their answer was in the form of a massive black swarm that swam out from the crevices of Shino Aburame's white coat. Zaku ceased his boasts and soon became horrified when the black mass came out of nowhere and surrounded him. Zaku shouted and screamed as the swarm came in and he realized with the rookies in the audience that he was surrounded with small black parasitic beetles. Shino was back on his feet and he outstretched his arms and released another cloud of small insects that encircled him like a shield and attacked Zaku. The room was filled with buzzes from the beetle and terrified Ino, Choji, Tenten, Neji, Sakura, and Naruto all at once. Zaku tried to create more windblasts to banish the insects as he felt them crawl onto his skin and sneak into his clothes. The cloud that surrounded him fluctuated when the blasts were released but the cloud was so full of beetles, that the insects were able to contain the winds and continued to fester and swarm around the Oto rookie while he ran around in circles and screamed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! GET 'EM OFF! GET 'EM OFF OF ME! GET 'EM OFF!" he screamed inside the black cloud.
"Kaka-sensei! Where did that cloud come from? And what has Shino done to that Zaku?" the blonde-haired shinobi student asked his instructor in a rushed and worried voice.
Kakashi looked toward Naruto and lectured him, "Shino is a member of the Aburame clan, Naruto. Their clan specializes in utilizing jutsu that enables them to control insects that bond with them from birth."
The blonde-haired shinobi and his older brother looked down and continued to watch as Shino outstretched his arms and commanded his insect forces and the cloud shifted and formed into a vortex that surrounded the Oto rookie. Zaku tried to blast wind out of the holes in his hands where the wind blasted out from, but the insects were able to hold in the wind he created and attacked his face without to immobilize him.
"THEY'RE IN MY EYES! THE BUGS ARE IN MY EYES! AIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
No one could see inside the cloud of insects but all of them could hear Zaku while he screamed and thrashed around in the swarm as it attacked him. Ino, Tenten, and Sakura all covered their mouths and retreated closer to their instructors while the other rookies that witnessed the battle shivered at the constant screams and shouts.
"What do those insects do, sensei?" Naruto had hesitated to ask his sensei.
Kakashi shuddered as he witnessed Shino order his minuscule minions to attack the Oto rookie and told his student, "The kikaichu beetles, that Shino uses, consume chakra like a food source. Shino's insects allow him to control them in exchange for some of his chakra as sustenance… It looks to me that Shino ordered his insects to consume Zaku's chakra."
'It's no wonder almost no one talked to him when we were in school… it makes me feel a little bit bad for him…' he shivered but then relaxed for a moment and then he wanted to ask Kakashi one more question, but he was a little bit scared to ask, "Where does he hide the insects whenever Shino doesn't use them, sensei?"
Gai was the one that answer for his eternal rival and said, "Shino's insides are infested with his insects… the Aburame clan has an egg sack full of them sewn into each newborn child in the clan after their birth…"
Naruto belched and he held his hand over his mouth and tried to hold back the vomit he felt was about to swell inside his stomach.
"It's not tasteful to most shinobi, but it's what makes the Aburame clan a force to be reckoned with…" concluded Kakashi, "But I'm a little bit shocked that the Aburame didn't form a more respectful admiration like the Hyuga or Uchiha clan… But I can see how some in Konoha wouldn't find them as approachable…"
Sakura shook her head and took a mental note to avoid Shino even more than she ever did before. Naruto tried his best to forget about what he learned about his old classmate and tried to focus on Zaku when the last of his screams were heard. The swarm soon cleared and the beetles returned to their master. Once the dark cloud was clear, Zaku was on the floor, frozen like a statue with his mouth and nostrils filled with dead insects that he had been smothered or killed in the chaos. Whatever other beetles survived the mess flew out of Zaku's mouth and back into Shino's sleeves. Shino stood still and waited for Hayate to check Zaku if he was still alive. He confirmed that Zaku was still alive, however he was now catatonic. The medics moved in at once and carried him out in a roller and moved him to the medical clinic fast.
Once the Oto rookie was dismissed, it was announced, "The victor of this match is Shino Aburame!"
Shino returned to his team within moments where he was commended with his teammates and even his sensei, and all of them did not seem as scared or bothered as the others in the room with his unusual abilities. Or rather, the team was used to it.
"You did nice work, Shino," their attractive sensei told him.
Hinata smiled and said, "That was so well done, Shino-kun!"
"That was awesome, dude!" shouted Kiba.
And then Shino returned with, "Just don't slow down the rest of the team, Kiba."
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" he shouted back.
The scoreboard started for the third time and revealed the newest names after another roulette.
MISUMI TSURUGI VS KANKURO
Naruto tilted his head as he remembered the second name, 'Well, I sure do remember him…'
Kankuro smirked as he almost waltzed down the stairs after he walked around his teammates. Gaara shot him a mean look and so did his sensei. It looked like neither of them was amused with Kankuro's overconfidence, but one could excuse it since last week almost all the rookies in attendance had seen his boxers. Lord knows he must have needed the confidence. When he did arrive in the arena with his opponent from Konoha, who was the last member of Kabuto's team, he smirked at the much older rookie. Kankuro then removed the marionette on his back and let it stand on the floor, leaned onto it, and looked relaxed. While the man named Misumi looked more stressed out and serious.
Hayate looked between the two of them and announced, "You may begin…"
Hayate bounced backwards but the two combatants stood still. There was an awkward silence between them until the older of the two clenched his fists and decided to intimidate the teen from Suna.
"Just because you're still a kid, doesn't mean I'm not going to beat your head into the wall… I won't let a single second slip through my fingers like Yoroi did… This won't take me much time…"
Kankuro smirked at the older rookie and told him, "No sweat… I'll make sure to finish this soon… But if we want to make this short, I'll to have to finish you off in no time…"
"Not if I finish you first!" the older rookie shouted back at him.
Misumi roared as ran after the overconfident teen and moved in to backhand Kankuro in the face. But the rookie from Suna blocked the attack and held onto Misumi's arm. However, when he did that, Misumi's arm moved around in an unnatural manner and turned smooth and snake-like, as if his bones had been turned into rubber. In less than a second later, all of Misumi's limbs did the same transformation and also moved like snakes and swathed around Kankuro's arms and torso until Kankuro was immobilized and shocked at the sudden turn the battle had taken.
Misumi chuckled, his voice somewhat strained, as he was certain that he would win the match and decided to boast it around to both Kankuro and the audience, "In order to gather information on missions, I've had my body altered so that I can infiltrate even the tiniest of spaces. I can dislocate every joint and manipulate my limp body with chakra alone! With this same power, I can keep squeezing, constricting my body until your bones are cracked into dust… The longer you wait to surrender, the tighter I'll squeeze!"
The old rookie twisted his arm around Kankuro's throat while Kankuro looked over at his marionette and looked back at Misumi.
"DON'T THINK I DIDN'T SEE THAT, BRAT! MAKE ANY ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE AND I'LL SNAP YOUR NECK IN TWO! Surrender now… Or I'll do it…" threatened Misumi.
Kankuro smirked as he did before, and choked out "Wanna bet… chicken-shit!"
"DO YOU WANT TO DIE?"
The teen from Suna insisted on what he had said and smirked at the older rookie while the skin on his face started to turn red under the strain.
"DO YOU? YOU'RE ABOUT TO GET YOUR WISH!"
Misumi's breathed harder and the blood flowed in his veins like fire while he felt Kankuro move his arms while in the hold, which meant he refused to surrender while he was now unable to talk. Misumi then did the unthinkable; he then killed his heart, made one swift movement, and a sick crack echoed in the massive chamber. All of the rookies that had witnessed the short-lived battle held their breath and stared at the scene in absolute shock.
Lee cried out loud, "He broke his neck!"
"Oh man…" breathed Naruto.
Kankuro's brother Gaara didn't mourn but instead looked irritated and muttered, "What a waste."
Misumi seemed to smirk underneath his mask while he shivered at the realization that he had killed another man in cold blood in front of a live audience at that.
"There! I did it! He asked for it, and I did it! He didn't want to surrender, so I killed him!" he boasted.
As Misumi started to lower Kankuro to the floor to fall down with his marionette, Kankuro's dead face had cracked and turned into dust or sand. His facial characteristics had faded and turned lifeless as his skin turned white and revealed that he had used a Replacement Jutsu and had switched with his marionette once believed to have fallen on the floor behind Misumi. The lifeless marionette clicked and twitched before it turned it's head to look at a shocked and horrified Misumi face-to-face and screamed into his face with Kankuro's voice, "ALLOW ME TO RETURN THE FAVOR!"
The marionette burst out of Kankuro's clothes and swathed its several forearms around Misumi and held him so close that he couldn't move and his face started to turn red. The real Kankuro then burst out from where he had switched with his marionette and concentrated a massive amount of chakra for someone of his rank and created almost visible lines of chakra from his hands that connected to the marionette. Kankuro clenched his fists and his marionette constricted Misumi so hard that a short series of over two hundred individual cracks were heard before Misumi screamed and realized almost all his bones had been broken.
Kankuro smirked and said, "I'll break everything, but your neck, chump!"
The marionette released Misumi and the older rookie fell to the floor, unconscious and in for a miserable series of recoveries and an addiction to COX-2 inhibitors. Kankuro didn't seem to care about his excessive use of violence and tucked his marionette with a smile on his face.
Hayate cleared his throat a few times and then said, "The winner of the third match is Kankuro!"
The blonde haired shinobi and his unseen older brother felt a little bit worried about the rest of the exams after that match. Back when the two of them first met Kankuro, the older rookie didn't consider Naruto to be a threat at the time and had underestimated him. But in the match, Kankuro was more focused while he acted as if he didn't have a care in the world when his battle started. If Naruto was able to advance to the next round then there was a chance that he would have to face Kankuro and if it came to that he didn't know how he would be able to counteract such a form of ninjutsu without magic. He could use a Reductor Curse to turn the marionette into dust and then take down Kankuro with his basic combat skills, but since he couldn't do that with a live audience in mind in the future, he needed more information on Kankuro's unusual ninjutsu and then would determine a course of action. Naruto looked over to the best expert on ninjutsu he could find and believed he knew a lot about what Kankuro had done to Misumi.
The wizard turned to his sensei and asked, "I've never seen ninjutsu like that before… What is it, Kakashi-sensei?"
"You wouldn't hear much about the art of Puppet Master Jutsu in Konoha, Naruto," answered his masked sensei, "It's studied and researched more in Suna than in the other shinobi countries of our world. It's a form of ninjutsu where an individual can control a lifeless doll with an extension of the user's chakra, like a tool. The wooden marionette he has is sort of like a weapon. He probably prefers using it over using kunai or shuriken."
Naruto nodded after what he learned and watched as Kankuro returned to his team with that same overconfident smile on his face. His sensei still did not look amused and neither did Gaara as he continued to scowl at him and cross his arms. The blonde-haired shinobi stared at the Suna team and watched as Kankuro continued to smile while his older sister and sensei chastised him for his behavior. He couldn't see him with kunai or even shuriken, so Kakashi must have been correct about him. Even so, Naruto couldn't afford to underestimate him and decided to ask a more cautious question.
He asked his sensei, "So even if he's separated from his puppet he could still be a lethal force to be reckoned with, right?"
"Good idea, Naruto," the masked shinobi was a little shocked at his student's wisdom for once and nodded to him, but then he winked at his student after he noticed Kankuro lacked muscle mass, "But don't be so sure about that!"
Naruto smiled and chuckled as he felt his sensei's smile, "Heh!"
On the other hand, Naruto's teammate Sakura seemed a little bit worried about the other matches that were left. After she witnessed Sasuke kick that older man into the floor, Shino use insects to suck out someone else's chakra, and witness a man's entire skeletal structure be broken in front of her, she decided she needed a break from all the violence and made a retreat to the restroom. But not before she let her teammate and sensei know first.
"Excuse me. I have to use the toilet…" she said.
Naruto snickered at his teammate and teased her, "I know this one! If she were real rich, she would have said loo!"
The blonde-haired shinobi ducked down in time before Sakura was able to hit him. But she smirked and then she snorted when she tried to him him and made it obvious that all she tried to do was make Naruto flinch.
She soon smirked as she continued to walk to the bathroom, "You wait until next time, Naruto Uzumaki!"
Naruto chuckled at his teammate while she left and soon looked out at the arena and tried to decide the best course of action to defeat someone like Kankuro or Shino. But he was distracted when Rock Lee looked between him and Sakura and seemed a little bit lost and curious when he remembered that last week the kunoichi couldn't even stand her teammate until now.
"Naruto-kun, I don't understand," he started and then asked, "What was that about?"
The blonde-haired wizard tilted his head at Lee and answered him as he remembered the last week, "Oh… Sakura-chan's mother and father are on the civilian council so anyone could assume that she comes from a lot of money. So I like to tease her about it sometimes."
"Oh," the older rookie smiled and then he chuckled as well, "Hehahahahaha!"
All it took was one somewhat awkward chuckle and then Naruto and Lee started to talk. The blonde wizard found the somewhat older enthusiastic rookie fun to talk to as the two of them discussed the matches witnessed so far and the two of them told the other how it would have turned out for them had their names been chosen instead. Lee loved to kick their air with his flexible limbs as he told his tall tales and ideas, which made Naruto smile and soon told Lee how he would have handled Shino's insects of Sasuke's kick to the chest, but used his hands to demonstrate to Lee as he kicked the air for the millionth time.
As the two rookies started to bond, Kakashi and Gai both looked down at their students and watched them become friends in such a short amount of time. Kakashi smiled but seemed to show a sad or reminiscent look as well, while his rival Gai smiled and nodded to his best student and crossed his arms as he watched Lee show Naruto some of his boldest taijutsu strikes and kicks.
'Lee…' wondered Kakashi as he watched the rookies continued to talk and looked over at his rival, 'He reminds me of Gai when he was a kid…'
Gai sensei Kakashi looked at him, so he turned to face him and welcomed him with a wide smile and let those teeth of his shine in his face. Kakashi let a beat of sweat roll down his head and looked a little bit disturbed.
'OH NO… It's like he's created his own clone!'
Sakura soon returned from restroom and saw her teammate talk to Lee as she walked over to them with a more confident smile on her face. At that moment, Naruto and Lee both stared at the scoreboard and watched the roulette. Lee shivered with excitement and Naruto stood next to him and also shivered.
"Whoever is next must be one hell of a bombshell," commented the blonde wizard, "This whole Chunin Exam has been one after the next so far."
Kakashi smirked and teased his student, "You too, then, Naruto? You're the next bombshell I take it?"
"OI! I'm not a bombshell!" whined the small blonde-haired child before he looked more worried and admitted, "At least I don't think I am…"
Sakura snorted a little bit but then Kakashi looked at the scoreboard before he walked over to his student and rested his hand on her shoulder.
"Oh… I don't think now's the best time to laugh, Sakura," stated Kakashi.
He showed her to the scoreboard and had her look at the two newest names that were selected:
SAKURA HARUNO VS INO YAMANAKA
To Be Continued...
Ok, that was fun! Next time we will show Sakura and Ino's battle, followed with Tenten vs. Temari, Naruto vs. Kiba, and then Hinata vs. Neji! I can't wait to finish these because I've changed a lot of them! This chapter didn't have much work done to it except I focused a little bit more on how Sakura and Naruto have become more like close friends, deleted the useless confrontation scene in the bathroom between Sakura and Ino, and fixed the first three fights as far as spelling errors and sentence structures are concerned.
I'm working on the next chapter now, but I hope this one was entertaining. Please be sure to leave behind a review if you liked it and I'll make sure to work hard on the next chapter to make it better than this one! Later!
For the record, I watched Man of Steel and I liked it a lot. It was an extremely flawed film overall but I thought it was one of the best movies I saw over the summer (Iron Man 3 disappointed me a lot) and the best live-action Superman film I've seen since Superman II, it wasn't a classic but it was better than Superman Returns. I can't wait for and hope for the best in Superman vs. Batman in 2015! With luck it will be more humorous and more fun than Man of Steel.