talking: Ya' know
thinking: Ya' know
jutsu: Flying Raijin Jutsu
Tailed Beast talking: Damn you 4th Hokage
Tailed Beast thinking: Damn you 4th Hokage
I don't own Naruto or any other manga/anime in any way shape or form. (sorry for not disclaiming in the last chapter.)
story has some slight x-overs.
Chapter 7: Chunin Exam: Quarter Finals
Tsunade, the Elders, the Councilman, and the Foundation's ROOT were all restless as to what was going to happen. They knew something was going to happen. Something big. Why? Because Danzo had gone missing. He mysteriously vanished from his home a month ago, and had no leads as to what had happened. There were suspicions as to who was behind his disappearance. Even Tsunade had to agree to these suspicions. Only Naruto, leader of the resurrected Hidden Whirlpool Village, would be able to get in and out of the Leaf Village. But only thing against this theory was that Naruto never had the opportunity to place a marker on Danzo.
And no one else had a chance to do so either. And unless the knew how to use the 'Flying Raijin Jutsu!', they couldn't mark anyone either. Not without a marked kunai anyway. But even with all these theories, they couldn't find the proper motive for Naruto to do this. Not good enough to break their alliance at least. But without any evidence, they couldn't do anything to Naruto and his village. They were utterly helpless in this situation.
All this was giving Tsunade a headache. It was the day of the Chunin Exam Finals. She was in her seat in the Kage's booth, with Shikaku standing behind her, waiting for the Kazekage and Naruto. One team from each of their villages managed to pass the Second Stage of the Exams. With only nine contestants passing, there was no need for a preliminary round to be held. Despite this, Konohamaru forfeited his place in the finals. The reason he gave was that he wanted to become a Chunin, but he wanted to pass with his own original teammates.
Therefore, only two Leaf ninja, three Sand ninja and three Whirlpool ninja. Their names were Hinata Hyuga, Sai, Hansuke Furutani, Hyousuke Ikeda, Yoko Yoshinaga, Ran Moori, Shinichi Kudo and Honoka Chikara. All were told to be at the stadium a month later, and they were. Waiting for the matches to begin. Before leaving to prepare for the finals, they were to draw lots to decide who they would face.
The results were as follows:
Match 1: Hinata Hyuga vs. Shinichi Kudo
Match 2: Honoka Chikara vs. Hansuke Furutani
Match 3: Yoko Yoshinaga vs. Hyousuke Ikeda
Match 4: Ran Moori vs. Sai
The finals were to begin in a few minutes. Gaara had finally showed up. He greeted Tsunade as he came to his seat. "Greetings, Lady Hokage." Gaara greeted, accompanied by his siblings.
"Greetings, Lord Kazekage." Tsunade replied. "It's been sometime, hasn't it. Six months, I believe."
"Yes. The last Chunin Exams, when some of our ninja made it to the finals." Gaara said.
"Sounds about right. You wouldn't happen to know where Nar... I mean the Hidden Whirlpool's leader is, would you?" Tsunade asked.
"Yea. I'm right here, Granny." Said Naruto, as he appeared with his guides beside him. "May I introduce Natsu Chikara and Yusaku Kudo. My guards, and the fathers of two of the Hidden Whirlpool contestants."
Natsu and Yusaku bowed to both of the Kage, receiving a nod from them in return. "It's good to see you, Naruto. How have you been?" Tsunade asked.
"I've been fine. Just had a couple headaches from my Council over the past month or so. Mostly over the state of war with the Hidden Stone." Naruto answered. "Anyway, how about you two?" Naruto asked, as he sat down in his seat next to Gaara.
"Same for me. Headaches from the Council, but not about war of course." Tsunade replied, with a nod of agreement from Gaara.
"I see. Well, I suppose you should kick this thing off. Huh, Granny." Said Naruto.
"Would you quit calling me that?! You brat!" Tsunade growled.
"If memory serves, you started calling me 'brat' before I started calling you 'Granny' when we first met." Said Naruto.
This earned a tick mark on Tsunade's forehead, but only because Naruto was right. Taking a deep breath, Tsunade stood and walked over to the railing to address everyone in the stadium. "Welcome all, to the Final Stage of the Chunin Exams! Before us stand eight contestants, who have conquered the trials before them in order to make it this far! They are the best of all the ones who have entered the Exams this time around. Now, without further delay, let the Finals begin!" Tsunade yelled, for all to hear.
That was the signal for Genma Shiranui to kick things off. He turned toward the contestants, and began speaking. "Alright. These fights are anything goes. The fight continues until you're either knocked unconscious, killed or you give up. I'll step in and stop the match if a situation seems hopeless, but don't count on it. Now, the first match is Hinata Hyuga of the Leaf vs. Shinichi Kudo of the Whirlpool. Everyone else, go to the contestant booth." Genma ordered.
Needless to say, everyone complied. Hinata and Shinichi now stood across from each other in the middle of the stadium, ready to start their match. Genma raised his right hand, signaling the two combatants to get ready. No sooner had they got into their stances, had Genma started the match. "Begin!"
Hinata quickly charged in toward Shinichi, with her Byakugan active. Shinichi immediately jumped back, in order to keep his distance, and started hand-signs for a Genjutsu. Hinata stopped, having a sudden feeling of vertigo, causing her to stumble slightly. "Ugh. I hate this Genjutsu." Hinata thought, as she made the 'Ram' hand-sign to release the Genjustu. She then had to immediately jump back to avoid Shinichi's jumping ax-kick.
-Kage Booth-
"That's an interesting Genjutsu. And it seems to effect and active Byakugan." Said Shikaku, commenting of the effect it has.
"That's right. It's not a Genjutsu that effects sight, but somewhere along the lines of touch. It basically gives someone a sense of vertigo, to the point of making the one under it's effects feel like they're about to throw-up. Which actually does happed from time to time, if the jutsu isn't released in time." Said Yusaku, giving a brief explanation.
"I see."
-Match 1-
Upon dodging her opponent's attack Hinata charged right back toward her opponent, going into a ferocious offensive. Shinichi was focusing his chakra to his feet, trying to stay out of Hinata's reach. He managed to dodge to his left and make a powerful leap backwards.
Stopping quickly, Hinata made a familiar hand-sign. Creating a 'Shadow-clone'. Which surprised everyone in the stadium. It was rare that a Hyuga would use any jutsu, aside from their Clan techniques.
-Kage Booth-
"Gee. I wonder who could've taught her that jutsu." Said Naruto, sarcastically. This caused Tsunade and Shikaku to look at him in shock.
"You taught Hinata the 'Shadow-Clone Jutsu'?" Tsunade asked. "When?"
Naruto just glanced in Tsunade's direction. "Pervy-sage and Hinata came to visit my village a couple of times. Hinata trained with her mom, a couple of the Clan head of my village and myself. I figured the 'Shadow-Clone jutsu' would be a big help for Hinata. She can't make nearly as many as I can, but she knows how to use them to her advantage." Naruto explained, focusing back on the action.
Tsunade couldn't help but agree with Naruto. "Huh. Teaching a jutsu to someone who was from another village, technically a hostile one at the time, is a risky move. But since it's originally from out village, I can't really complain. And he did help make our village a little stronger. Heh." Tsunade thought.
-Match 1-
After making the 'Shadow-clone', Hinata charged straight for Shinichi. While Hinata-C went to flank his left side. Shinichi was then back on the defensive, no longer having time to perform hand-signs for a Genjutsu. Shinichi managed to stay out of range of Hinata's and Hinata-C's strikes for about ninety seconds, before suddenly being knocked to the ground with some of his major chakra points sealed. "Oof."
Suddenly, a slight shimmering of light appeared. Revealing a third Hinata. "I actually made two 'Shadow-clones', but I had one hide under a 'Camouflage Jutsu'. And while two of us attacked, the other waited for a perfect time to strike." Hinata explained, dispersing her clones.
"Winner, Hinata Hyuga!" Said Genma, calling the match. The audience gave Hinata a round of applause for her performance.
-Kage Booth-
"Told ya. Heehee." Said Naruto, with a wide grin.
"That was actually quite well thought out, despite being such a simple plan. But 'Shadow-clones' still take up a lot of chakra." Said Shikaku.
"Yea. But with Hinata's chakra control, that's hardly an issue. Look at her, she's not even breathing hard. She's still got plenty of fight in her for the rest of this tournament." Naruto countered.
Tsunade and Gaara, with their guards, took a look down at Hinata. And saw that Naruto was right. Hinata wasn't breathing hard at all.
-Stadium Floor-
With Hinata and Shinichi having left the battle field, Genma proceeded with calling the contestants for the next match. "The next match is Honoka Chikara of the Hidden Whirlpool vs. Hansuke Furutani of the Hidden Sand. Get down here."
A few minutes later and the two were ready to fight. Honoka was in a basic boxing stance, while Hansuke had his puppet mimicking her stance. The puppet looked like an adult human's skeleton, carrying a five-foot scythe, with a fifty centimeter blade, on it's back.
"Begin!" Genma called.
Hansuke immediately jumped back leaving his puppet in place, while Honoka just stood there. Waiting for Hansuke to make the first move.
Honoka was also analyzing her opponent. He seemed to be about too years older than her, putting him at fourteen. And needless to say, he had an interest in the 'Puppet Master Jutsu'. Which meant that he was obviously a long distance fighter. So all she had to do was get close, and disable his arms a little. She didn't want to risk attacking the puppet, since she didn't know what kind of traps to expect.
After about thirty seconds, Hansuke got impatient and commanded his puppet to attack. His puppet grabbed the scythe on his back and swung toward his opponent.
Honoka saw this coming, but didn't bother dodging. Instead, she used on of her Clan's techniques and took the blow head on. "Iron Body!" She said, as the puppet struck. The scythe's sharp edge connected against her neck, but instead of slicing through it, it simply shatter.
Hansuke wasn't expecting to connect, but he realized something was wrong when his puppet's scythe suddenly stopped as if it sounded like it connected with metal. Moving his head to the side, he saw that the scythe hadn't hit metal at all, but his opponent's neck instead.
-Kage Booth-
Naruto groaned, as he watched Honoka take the blow to her neck. "I really hate that technique. Did you really have to teach it to her Natsu?" Naruto asked.
Natsu just smiled as he replied. "What? Would you prefer her to be have been beheaded just now?"
*Sigh* "No. I just remembered how much I hated it when you used that technique against me during training." Naruto replied.
"Just what kind of technique is that?" Gaara asked surprised.
"It's a technique that causes the body to imitate iron. It's actually quite effective, even against chakra enhanced blades, Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. And it's extremely difficult to get past." Natsu answered, not revealing the technique's weaknesses or how it works.
After the explanation everyone, who didn't already know about the technique, looked back toward the match with slightly shocked expressions.
-Match 2-
"Heh. Surprised?" Honoka asked, seeing her opponent's shocked expression. "You should be. And now, it's over!" "Shave!" Shea called out, suddenly disappearing and reappearing right in front of Hansuke. "Finger Pistol: Four Shot!" She called out, striking with her index fingers at Hansuke's forearms and hands. She hit the part of his hands in the meaty area between the thumb and index finger on head hand. And as the techniques said, she struck four times. Each time she penetrated his skin and muscle. She then took a step back, and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to the left side of her opponent's head. Knocking him out in the middle of his screaming.
"Winner, Honoka Chikara!" Genma called, ending the match. He then quickly called for the medics to tend to the injured Sand Genin. And soon the battleground was once again empty, which meant that Genma had to announce the next two contestants. "Yoko Yoshinaga of the Hidden Sand vs. Hyousuke Ikeda of the Hidden Sand. You're next. So get down here."
A couple minutes later, and the two contestants were in the middle of the arena and ready to fight. Yoko had two small battle fans, and she held her arms straight out. She had her left hand toward her opponent/teammate, and her right arm pointing opposite him.
Hyousuke held himself in a boxing stance, but with his right hand next to his kunai holster.
Seeing that they were both ready, Genma raised his right hand and brought it down. "Begin!"
"Wind Style: Wind Clap Jutsu!" Yoko called, bringing her right hand in front of her. Clapping her fans together, she created a shockwave that headed straight toward Hyousuke. Hyousuke saw this coming, and jumped high into the air dodging the jutsu. Yoko then spun in a full circle, waving her fans and aiming her next attack toward Hyousuke. "Wind Style: Double Wind Sythe Jutsu!"
Hyousuke saw two tunnels of wind coming right for him, but he just smirked and made a hand-sign of his own. "Wind Style: Wind Ball Wall Jutsu!" Hyousuke called, forming a wall of wind all around him. To everyone watching, it looked like a ball of wind surrounded him.
Yoko's jutsu clashed with Hyousuke's, causing them to cancel each other out. Hyousuke landed on the ground, ready, waiting for Yoko's next move. Yoko however wasn't dumb. She knew Hyousuke was waiting for a chance to get close, and engage her in Taijutsu. And her only chance to counter him, was actually a dirty move that she knew could possibly damage her friendship with her teammates. But she couldn't just stand there, waiting for him to attack her. So she had no choice, but to attack first.
So, she jumped back to gain some distance. But Hyousuke didn't let that happen, he jumped forward to reduce the distance between him and Yoko. This continued for a couple minutes, before Yoko got fed up with it. She charged forward, ready to strike Hyousuke with her left fan. Hyousuke smiled, knowing that Yoko get short tempered when she doesn't get a chance to use her Ninjutsu. He easily blocked her strike, but he was suddenly hit with a lot of pain originating from between his legs.
Yoko had struck Hyousuke between the legs with her right foot, causing Hyousuke to fall to the ground, curl into a ball and hold the injured area.
-Kage Booth-
"Ouch! That was uncalled for." Said Naruto, barely resisting the urge to cover his own privates.
"I... agree." Stated Gaara.
"Maybe, but considering her frustration in the match I can hardly blame her. Especially considering I had to do the same thing to a certain lecher I know, during my time in these exams." Said Tsunade. "Besides, I personally think that that was the move that made me a Chunin in the first place." Tsunade joked, causing the others to sweat drop.
-Somewhere at a hot spring-
A certain man with long white hair was doing his "research" from a tree, when suddenly he let out a large sneeze. Said sneeze alerted the women in the hot springs, but they just figured that it was someone from the men's side of the bath.
-Match 3-
Yoko quickly calmed down and realized what she had done. "Oh no! I'm so sorry Hyousuke! I..I just lost my cool and lashed out! I'm so, so sorry!" Yoko said, dreading what she had done.
"Winner,..."
"Wait! I forfeit. I shouldn't have done what I did. And, if I lose my temper like that, then I shouldn't be trying to be a Chunin. At least not this time around." Said Yoko, wanting to make up for what she did.
Hyousuke was too busy fuming over the pain he still had. So he had no idea what was being said.
Genma took a moment to decide on what to do. But he still quickly came to a conclusion. "Winner, Hyousuke Ikeda! Since Yoko Yoshinaga forfeited the match before I officially declared her the winner!" Said Genma, giving a brief explanation on his decision. He didn't have too, but he figured the audience (some of which had scoffed and argued the decision) needed some shutting up. And so no one would bother him later about it.
A few minutes later, Genma called down the final two contestants of the Quarter Finals. "Ran Moori of the Hidden Whirlpool vs. Sai of the Hidden Leaf. It's your turn." Genma called.
Soon the two were ready for combat. Ran was standing in a horse stance, putting a little more weight on her right foot than on her left foot. She had her left side toward Sai. Her right hand was palm up, placed just below her heart. Her left hand was palm toward Sai, placed parallel to her left knee. Sai had his feet shoulder width apart, and his right hand ready to reach behind him and his left hand read to guard against an attack. "Based off of our last encounter, she's relies heavily on Taijutsu. This won't be too difficult." Sai thought, as Genma raised his hand.
"Begin!" Genma called, waving his hand down again.
Ran charged forward, ready to deliver a brutal left side kick. Only for Sai to jump back, and gain some distance. He kept jumping back until he was on the wall, and he quickly climbed it. Sai was fully aware that his opponent was running behind him. He stopped and quickly pulled out and unraveled a blank scroll, pulled out the brush on the side and began drawing pictures.
-Kage Booth-
"Drawing in the middle of the match? Must be part of some weird Ninjutsu." Said Naruto, receiving nods from everyone else.
-Match 4-
Ran saw what he was doing and stopped, deciding to see what her opponent was up to. Sai then unleashed his jutsu. "Ninja Art: Super Beast Scroll!" Large lions, made of ink, appeared from the scroll and headed down the was toward Ran.
Ran wasn't discouraged though, as she quickly fought of the large beasts. In a barrage of punches and kicks, the ink lions were turned into ink puddles that fell to the arena floor. She then turned her sights on Sai, and charged. Only to be unable to move anywhere. She looked down and that there were numerous ink snakes were holding her in place. They quickly slithered up her body, squeezing her as they did so. She tried fighting them off, but she couldn't as they managed to wrap around her arms and legs.
"I placed an 'Explosion Seal' in my snakes. I have no problem with killing you. So, I suggest you forfeit." Sai warned, meaning to follow through with his threat.
Ran however just smiled. "Yea, I know. You don't have any problems killing your fellow Leaf ninja either. Considering you tried to kill Hinata Hyuga and Konohamaru Sarutobi during the Second Exam. Both of whom were your teammates for And that's all I'll say. For now. Proctor, I surrender." Said Ran, receiving disbelieving looks and outburst from the audience.
-Kage Booth-
"That's quite a bold claim. I'd say she was lying if I hadn't heard it from Kakashi himself." Said Tsunade.
"I'm surprised your village has people like that, Lady Hokage." Said Gaara.
"Unfortunately, Sai is a member of the Hidden Leaf's Foundation. The Foundation is run by Danzo Shimura. That's just the kind of thing Danzo trains his shinobi to be. As detestable as it sounds." Said Tsunade, speaking every word with venom.
"The main reason Ran even brought that up, is so that Sai wouldn't be promoted no matter what. But he'll likely continue to try and take on Hinata, just to fulfill his self assigned mission." Said Naruto, surprising Tsunade and Gaara.
"That's an unusually smart thing to say. At least coming from you, that is." Said Tsunade, with a smirk. She couldn't help but throw a verbal jab at the brat when she could. Village Leader or not.
"You think these two would follow someone like me, if I just stayed the way I was back in my Leaf Village days?" Said Naruto, giving Tsunade a smirk of his own.
"Touché." Tsunade replied, never losing her smirk.
-Match 4-
"Winner, Sai." Said Genma, although it sounded a bit forced this time. He was aware of Sai's background. But he didn't think he'd kill, or attempt to kill, a fellow Leaf ninja.
That's chapter 7. I hope you all like it. As I stated at the end of 'The Rise of The Elemental Sage's chapter seven, I'll be attempting to alternate between this and my 'Elemental Sage' story. Anyway, please read and review.