CHAPTER FIVE
"Alright everybody, the board behind me will display the name of the two contestants that will begin the preliminary." Hayate Announced. "The rest can go up and wait for their turn"
The board blazed through names before finally stopping on two. The others went up to observe, Gaara giving Naruto deathlike glares all the while. The glare did more damages to others than the person it was intended for, and with the atmosphere that was hanging over the remaining participants, there was great fear for both Naruto and Gaara, Gaara's was understandable, he was demonstrating immense killing intent. Naruto on the other hand they could not understand, he can't have fought them all in the forest, that was physically impossible.
The first match quickly ended with Sasuke as the winner. The match continued undisturbed after Sasuke was taken away.
Several matches took place after the first. Teams from different village partook, with the team from kumo presenting a better display.
"Since we have an odd number, the last person will be passed automatically," Hayate informed. Several murmurs of disagreement followed.
"Hayate" The Hokage called the jounin to the side. They spent a few second discussing what to be done.
"Okay" Hayate returned to the ring. "Raise your hand if you do not agree with our judgment"
Gaara was the first to raise his hand; mother will have his blood no matter what. The backlash of his fight with the brow kid had long worn off. Several hands followed, of those, one belonged to Neji.
"What do you want him to do?" Hayate asked
"Fight us all" Dosu, a half-mummy replied, Naruto humiliated him back in the forest, he would take his revenge. "At once" he added.
"Any objection?" Hayate asked, expecting Naruto to disagree with that resolution. "Can the participants come down to the stage" he finally said when he saw no objection.
"I'll pass this up" Shikamaru said. "Troublesome people"
Up in the Spectator ring, "Neji will you really join?" Tenten asked concerned. She could still remember the injury Lee sustained the other day. Neji ignored her as he continued to walk down the steps.
Hiruzen looked to Naruto to see what expression he had and was not surprised to see the blank look etched on his face.
"Ready?" Hayate asked. No one gave a reply. They mean payback
"Start" Hayate shouted, before quickly jumping away.
Sand quickly burst forth before anybody could make a move; it was starting to get clear that not everybody that volunteered would participate.
Naruto stood his place as the wave of sand crashed on him.
"Naruto!" Sakura shouted concerned, although Naruto could hold his own, what they saw of that Gaara kid was scary.
The maniacal smile was back on Gaara's face; Gaara just merely raised his hands before closing his palm in a crushing motion. The sand dune over Naruto suddenly compressed in a swirling manner, the sound of crushing metal emanating from within the churning earth.
"Blood, Blood, Blood!" the undertone continue to escape Gaara's lip
A ripple appeared at the other side of the stage before an unharmed Naruto walked out of it, it strangely feels like he walked out of invisibility. The ripples never had any color, as if it was the air itself was making the ripple, because they could see behind it perfectly.
"Sunset is approaching" Naruto said fully out of the ripple.
The sand construct broke apart to reveal empty space
"I don't miss sunsets." That utterance brought the attention back to Naruto
"How do you know that?" Sakura asked looking around, there was no outside view from the big tower, and everything was electricity powered.
Others like Shino, Temari and Kankurou all decided to stay out of the fight for various reasons best known to them.
Dosu moved in to attack, his mummified form moving in the manner of a mole on ground. Dosu jumped then swung his left hand down on Naruto, which Naruto deftly dodge to the side.
The hand on contact with the ground released a highly compressed air, which blasted the earth around it in all direction. Naruto jumped several steps backwards to avoid any stray chunk.
"So the tool has uses other than music," Naruto said landing softly, then immediately had to jump away as another sand arm crashed on the spot.
"Any other thing it can do, I didn't have time to check back at the forest," Naruto continued as if he was not just interrupted by an unstable Jinchuuriki.
"Allow me to show you," Dosu said, suddenly disappearing then appearing in front of Naruto. The musical instrument suddenly started spinning, tiny wind lasers shot out of its holes with high-speed. Just before it could reach Naruto even at the close range, he jumped back, a large arm of sand burst through the position not even a millisecond later. That did not deter the lasers as they just pierce through the sand like a hot needle through butter.
"Useful indeed" Naruto said from behind the erected black arc. "But as I said, I don't miss sunsets." Before Dosu could ponder what Naruto meant, several strings shot out the wall with unseen speed. He only realized what happened after the strings started pulling him in. He tried to struggled against his binds but found it useless, as he could not even lift a finger talk-less of the whole arm.
Up in the spectator ring, Kakashi already found his way to the Hokage. "Hakage-sama, are you sure it wise to pit them against him? Isn't that too dangerous?" Kakashi asked from beside the Hokage.
"It was necessary," the Hokage said, his eyes fixed on the fight.
"How?" Kakashi asked in a much lower voice, while doing his best not to look suspicious.
"Tenzo was badly injured while watching Naruto, we suspect its Orochimaru but the forest had Naruto written all over it" Hiruzen replied. "It has been far too long since we've seen him in action, we need to know what more he's learned"
Kakashi spoke no further, He could see reason in what the Hokage was saying. A pity they had to use Genins.
"Sensei, what is wrong with Neji? He has been standing there all along," Asked a concerned Tenten, Neji couldn't have been placed in a Genjutsu, he had his Byakugan active.
"Waiting for an opportunity" Gai replied proudly, "being a ninja is not all about power," He said beaming with pride.
Naruto walked up to the bounded Genin, each step bringing a terrorized look on Dosu's face.
"Your hand..." Naruto said, tendrils bringing it to his eye level.
"Gotcha!" Dosu shouted, his mechanical arm whirring to life, ready to let loose lasers right on Naruto's face. "You may have my whole body paralysed, but this is not part of my body"
"Good to know" Naruto said, a sword appeared in his hand. Naruto wasted no time in severing the arm from the rest of the body. Naruto threw the body away from him so as to not get blood on his own body.
"Naruto!" Both Ino and Sakura chorused in horror.
Another wave of sand crashed on the spot Naruto was standing, silence followed as everybody waited to see the outcome of the collision. Naruto had been successfully avoiding the sand since the beginning of the fight.
"Where is that other boy?" Ino asked looking around
"He sank into a ripple" Chouji said munching on a bag of chips. When everyone had their attention on the fight, Chouji had most of his attention on the potato chips in front of him. He wa able to see Dosu sink into the ripple because his bag of chips was lined with the body.
The sands parted way once again to show its precious catch. The black orb at the centre unwrapped to show a mildly annoyed Naruto standing in it, the metallic arm not anywhere in sight. Still with the same agility he dealt with Dosu, Naruto whipped his hand out towards Gaaara, before pulling it back in. Before Gaara's defence could counteract, much larger tendrils pulled him towards Naruto. Naruto grabbed him by the neck to stop his descent, his right palm covered with the black shadow, Naruto plunged the hand into Gaara's chest, however, instead of piercing the skin like it was supposed to, it stopped advancing then suddenly peel open the sand-armour that layered Gaara's entire body. The same black hand suddenly started glowing silver at the end of each finger tip. Naruto wasted no time in hitting it on Gaara's Stomach, successfully locking the connection between Gaara and Ichibi. All the sands that had collected together ready to protect their master broke apart and fell to the ground.
"Samui" Karui said
"I know" Samui replied, they didn't need to be told to report this when they get back home. Omoi wouldn't be of any use at present as he keeps giving the blonde whistles of approval.
Naruto threw away the unconscious body of the Jinchuuriki, how pathetic, the previous Jichuuriki of Ichibi was far better than this.
"Now…" Naruto started to say, turning around, but was interrupted by the shout of "Jukenho:Hakke Rokujuyon sho(Gentle fist style: Sixty four palms)".Before Naruto could turn fully, Neji started demonstrating a long series of Jyuuken skill on Naruto, his fingers releasing a burst of chakra on each contact.
"I thought he had an ultimate defence," Temari said, though not meaning for it to be loud, it was still loud enough for everyone to hear. Some nodded in agreement while Gai looked on with approval.
"Gai, your student is really something else," Kakashi said back with Gai
"That's one more point for me," Gai said proudly.
"You shouldn't be so sure" Kakashi ended the conversation.
"I was wondering when you would attack" Naruto said standing limply opposite of Neji, his sun-kissed hair shadowing his face.
"You see with my eyes, I'm able to see through objects, so I can see the several seals on your body. Although I don't know what their true function is, I figured if I just disrupt your chakra flow they would be useless." Neji said, standing arrogantly close to Naruto
"You see now how weak you are, in front of my eyes you are nothing. Your fate is to remain a loser with others like you."
"Doesn't something seem fishy? I thought no Byakugan could see through anything Naruto owns.
"I was just wondering the same thing"
"Don't bother. I closed all your Tenketsu points" Neji said when he saw Narutio trying to raise his hand.
"What a foolish thing to do" Naruto spoke for the first time since Neji started bragging, his long manes starting to blow about wildly. With a loud crackle, the temperature of the room dropped several temperatures. The atmosphere suddenly got dense and it got a lot harder to breath. With another loud crackle, Neji was viciously blown away from Naruto, the already long hair of Naruto suddenly seem longer to those that could still manage their breath. A dark-grayish transparent orb appeared around Naruto before it blew outward, immediately after all the metals in the room started acting up. The atmosphere dropped several more degrees, as a violent blizzard blew throughout the tower. The rail that held the spectators started to bend at odd angles. Those that were swift enough quickly stick themselves to the wall, those that were not, fell to their death. Well, not exactly, but it was close. The floor from waist-level downwards lost all its gravitational attraction. Therefore making it so that all which fell into the range could never hope to hold his or her balance. Gaara's unconscious body was the first victim.
"What are you doing? I can't channel my chakra in his thing" Sakura somehow managed to say despite the oppressive atmosphere, thin sheets of frost baking her feature. "Stop it! Stop it Naruto!" she shouted. Apparently, she was part of the unlucky ones that fell to the floor.
"Stop it Naruto!" Kakashi said from up the wall, trying to use the advantage of his closeness to Naruto.
Instead of doing as expected, another loud crackle answered him, while Naruto looked on apathetically. The already disfigured banister got even more disfigured before detaching itself from the wall, and then fall to the ground. The few Genins floating about under, watched as their death approach with each pump of their heart. When the metal was only about a feet to crush them it stopped. Looking to the cause, they saw the Hokage standing on a long staff sticking out of the wall; he already had his Ninja gears on.
"This exam is over" Hiruzen said with a perfectly smooth voice, seemingly unaffected by the density of the room, much like Naruto.
"You are all weak," Naruto said, his vulgar tone not anything of worldly existence. The way he said it made them believe they have been wasting their whole life playing instead of training. All the while, the undercurrent of thousand hissing volts eclipsed the tower as the tendrils surrounding Naruto continued whipping about violently.
"And you" Naruto pointed to Neji, before Neji could open his filthy mouth he found himself plucked out of the air. The divine thrashing that made what Gaara did to Lee look like child's play followed.
"I said the match is over" The Hokage repeated.
"Weaklings" Naruto said before blowing away a part of the tower with a wave of his hand. Naruto walked off, taking along his repressive atmosphere with him.
Everybody took a lungful of air when he was finally gone. Several thuds followed when some fell on their butt.
"His Tenketsus were not channeling Chakra," Omoi said picking up his lollipop from the ground. Tiny shivers ripped through him.
"They were blocking it" Shikamaru figured.
Hiruzen brought out his opium as he stares at the icicle that hung from the ceiling. He diverted his attention to some shivering Genins on the ground, he must possess some kind ice nature chakra to make the temperature to drop that low. This was not what he had in mind. He was hoping Naruto would show more than just the shield, what outcome he got was beyond belief. That was too much chakra for even a Jinchuuriki.
"What happened here does not leave this room," Hiruzen said sternly, sending a sideways glance at the team from Kumo. He was not sure if that would hold when they get back to their village, but he had to try, it would not do if rumors started spreading already. Rumor of a ninja the Hokage could not control would be devastating to the village's pride.
"Your friend is nuts" Kiba said facing Sakura.
"How is that my fault?" Sakura defended herself, almost all the candidates were now looking at her with hatred in their eyes.