Enjoy the chapter this week!
"...and now the moment you've all been waiting for. We've had disqualifications, breakdowns, and ninja fights that broke down into two children screaming in each other's faces."
Kiba flushed a dark red as he glared at Choji, who was nonchalantly chowing down on potato chips.
"But we've finally reached the climax. And whatta' you know, it's the two brats I hate the most- "
The Hokage cleared his throat.
"I mean wonderful children...Uzimaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke! Don't kill each other now." That last part was announced in a cheerful manner, but the callous look on Anko's face made it clear she would have no qualms killing them herself.
"Now...begin!" Anko said.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Vapor materialized out of thin air before drifting away, revealing two human figures. The clouds of smoke billowed away. Two identical Naruto look-a likes stood next to him, standing resolute in orange jackets and blue sandals, staring down Sasuke.
"You didn't strike me to the studious type, Naruto. But to be able to use a Jutsu of that caliber...perhaps I underestimated you." Sasuke combed his hair, attempting to appear uncaring.
Anko could sense a slight tremble of anticipation in his figure despite the act.
Three black commas danced on his pupils before forming the week-known sharingan. Sasuke cast off his cape. It fluttered to the ground like a leaf upon the wind.
"But that still won't help you win against me!" Sasuke shot forward, unsheathing his sword and brandishing it.
One of Naruto's shadow clones had been tensed up, its entire body coiled like a spring.
The instant Sasuke moved, it leapt onto the other clone's back and was propelled when its fellow clone stood up abruptly. The first clone soared through the air, arms and legs flailing, until its hands joined together and formed hand seals.
Another shadow clone sprang into being. Still in midair, the shadow clone grasped its creator by the ankles, holding on tightly, before throwing it towards Sasuke, increasing acceleration.
Sasuke's sharingan perceived an object darting through the wind and falling, heading straight for him, and his sword deflected the kunai before his mind caught up.
The shadow clone attempted to stab again. Sasuke blocked, but as he did, sparks flying, the other duplicate landed. Sasuke pushed away the one he had been fighting and then attempted to slash the newly arrived double. His blade sunk into the shadow clone he had intercepted first. The clone grinned, before wrapping the member of the Uchiha clan in a suffocating bear hug.
Naruto's uninjured look-alike gave some sort of signal to Naruto before it dropped the smoke bomb.
Sasuke's sight was obscured. Lightning gathered around his palm before spraying the clones in front of him with a pepper of chakra bullets.
Meanwhile, upon seeing the signal, Naruto picked up his shadow clone that had stayed behind and caused it to hurtle through the air with a flick of the wrist.
Sasuke strained to see through the chemicals in the smoke bomb, his head tilting to look behind him. A hand parted the air, then the entire Naruto double emerged, punching Sasuke in the chest.
Sasuke clutched his heart, having not expected a frontal attack after the previous one had failed.
"Rasengan!"
Sasuke had no idea what was going on. I disposed of all the other clones, the only other is in front of me...wait! The original still exists!
This realization hit him an instant before Naruto's Jutsu did.
A sphere formed through hardened chakra and shrunken down into a fist-sized ball of destructive energy collided fully with Sasuke's back. Sasuke coughed up blood while thinking, He attacked me from the front twice to take my mind off of flanking or sneak attacks. Is this seemingly stupid kid actually as smart as Shikimaru!? Uchiha Sasuke almost collapsed, but broke his fall with his knee. I can't give up now. If I don't defeat even this dumbass...how can I defeat Itachi!?
Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hair from behind. His fingers slipped through individual hairs, allowing him to get a good grip. Naruto slammed Sasuke's head to the ground.
Sasuke bucked, knocking Naruto off balance. Seizing his chance, Sasuke jabbed an elbow into Naruto's side, and when Naruto backed off, kicked the Uzimaki clan member in the jaw. Hands clapped together to form signs, and Sasuke yelled out, "Housenka no Jutsu!"
Flames hot enough to turn nearby leaves to crisps changed into a fiery, mythical Phoenix of legend and roared into Naruto's face. Naruto scampered away, just barely dodging.
Naruto turned, kunai in hand, only to nearly be speared by Sasuke's chidori.
Gotta' retreat!
Uzimaki Naruto turned tail and jumped, feet hitting against the concrete wall. Naruto began running up the wall, faster than the wind in his attempt to avoid injury.
"You coward!" Sasuke shouted, the words he uttered echoing in Naruto's ears.
He chased after Naruto by gliding with his curse mark. "Unlike a true ninja, who at times, must indulge in a tactical retreat, you are just plain old running away. And you are the least talented ninja I've ever seen! The only Jutsu you know how to use is the fucking shadow clone Jutsu. How much longer are you going to disrespect the 4th Hokage this way, eh, Uzimaki Naruto...son of Minato!"
Naruto almost released the chakra he had been sending to his feet. How does he know all that?
Sasuke must have seen the expression on his face changed, because he summed up the jinchuriki's thoughts perfectly. "You must be thinking..how the fuck does he do that? Well, I know this as a result of my time with Uchiha Itachi, my elder brother!"
Elder brother? Naruto gasped.
"And also my soon-to-be-husband- "
Sakura cheered.
"That was a joke by the way. Only idiots would think that would become a reality," Sasuke continued.
Sakura frowned.
"Anyway, as I was saying, my brother was an ex-Anbu agent, so he was well informed of the inner mechanisms driving this village of Konoha."
The Hokage face-palmed. Leave it to Itachi to tell the secrets of the second-most important and powerful nation of the Ninja world to a middle-schooler.
"And what he found was that you, Uzimaki Naruto, are not only the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails, or Kyuubi, but that you are a spy for a foreign nation known only as...the Soul Society!"
Naruto stopped running.
Sasuke laughed. "What? Tired of being the bitch of the village? Is what I said actually true, are you a spy who is trying to launch an attack on the Soul Society!?"
The Hokage's eyebrows had been rising during the conversation, but at the mention of the Soul Society he became angry. Who the hell told Itachi about the Soul Society! That's a secret passed down from Hokage to Hokage, no one else is supposed to know about that. Not only that but it's impossible for Naruto to be the spy, I already had sneaking suspicions about a spy, and it's definitely not Naruto. Then Sasuke smirked when he thought no one was looking and Sarutobi understood. He knows it isn't Naruto. But he's hoping to ostracize Naruto even further by getting the village into thinking that Naruto will betray them! Don't let this get to you...Naruto!
Naruto's fists clenched.
Sasuke paused. "You hear that?" Sasuke cupped his ear. "It's the people of Konoha talking about how they knew it all along. I mean you ARE pretty suspicious."
Kakashi could hear the whispering. Next to him a jonin said, "I always thought Naruto was weird as fuck and now he's a spy? Why is he still in the- "
Kakashi slammed the back of his hand into the jonin' cheek, knocking him unconscious. The jonin' friends all had shocked looks on their faces, but Kakashi was only thinking about Naruto: If Sasuke uses subterfuge like this to get you to admit defeat...you can't call yourself a ninja anymore, Naruto! Kakashi got up and almost leapt onto the field when Asuma caught him by the arm.
"Let go of me!" Kakashi ordered. "I'm going to murder that little punk- "
"Sit down Kakashi," Asuma admonished, pulling gently.
"Why should I? All of Sasuke's allegations are just ridiculous!"
"If you take a look at Naruto...you will see that he has enough rage for an entire village's worth."
Kakashi didn't believe him, and the look on his face showed that. Then he examined Asuma more closely, peering into his eyes, in an attempt to gauge Asuma's emotions, and decide whether or not he was joking. He saw the sweat pouring down from Asuma's spiked-up hair.
Then he realized that he had been sweating as well. Forgetting his fury for a moment, Kakashi wondered, Why am I sweating...? I haven't been nervous enough to do that in a decade!
Kakashi found his answer in Naruto's tense form.
Fists clenched, Naruto shook, not even trying to contain his complete and utter rage.
Naruto's blue pupils glistened, dilating, and as they did, the lens of his eyes shrunk into a minuscule black spot.
Then it rapidly expanded, and as Naruto's eyes warped into unrecognizable slits, a presence seemed to enter the stadium, and the air thickened into a viscous-feeling soup.
The air started to solidify, gathering in a cloud around that vaguely resembled...
"Tails..." Breathed Kakashi. "The chakra around Naruto is transforming into tails!"
Naruto roared, "Sasuke! You bastard, Sasuke!"
Inside Naruto smiled. Hey Kurama, imma' need some of your power, okay?
It only shifted its position behind the gate. Then it asked, Why are you pretending to be so mad?
Naruto didn't answer.
Kurama snorted.
Naruto felt a surge of chakra, filling up with it like a bottle overflowing with water.
Sasuke had been continuing his tirade despite visibly shaking in his sandals, " -and also, the only Jutsu you know is the one for creating shadow clones! Why don't you get yourself a new resume, you fag!"
Naruto actually became angry. "You bastard..."
Hand seals flowed as Naruto's fingers flashed, stringing together their signs. Then the member of the Uzimaki clan bit his thumb, drawing blood.
Sasuke gasped, recognizing the sequence of moves. "Is this...your trump card?!"
Naruto slapped the ground with both hands, palms down. Seals grew on the soil, spreading out as inky black marks. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
The smoke cleared. A ram, its horns touching the ceiling, overshadowed Sasuke with its huge bulk. It tilted its head downwards slightly, then charged.
Sasuke stood for a second, mouth wide open, before he shook his head and readied himself. "Shunshin no Jutsu!"
His body flickered, before disappearing from the ram's sight.
"Gamaramu, above you!" Naruto's voice echoed.
The ram slowly swiped up with its horns, clashing with Sasuke's sword. The force of the blow blew Sasuke back, causing Sasuke to activate his curse mark. Musty grey, crinkly wings sprung into existence, catching on the wind, allowing the Uchiha to glide to the floor.
"Suiton - Suishouha!" Naruto uttered.
Sasuke's sharingan alerted him to the fact that the Jutsu was a high-level and could potentially injure him with its damage. How does Naruto keep using these taxing attacks?! No matter, I simply have to prevent him from casting the Jutsu! Sasuke sprinted towards Naruto, seemingly skipping across the field because of his speed.
He's fast! Naruto exclaimed internally. But...
Gamaramu cut in front of Sasuke, who backed away, barely avoiding being sliced up by the gigantic ram's horns.
Naruto finished executing the hand signals. A large volume of water popped out of nowhere.
Naruto directed it at the wall behind himself, before quickly utilizing an earth Jutsu to create a wooden surfboard. The water bounced off the wall and gave Naruto time to cast the earth Jutsu, before crashing into the yellow-haired ninja.
Once the water hit the ram, it burst into smoke and dissipated.
He sacrificed such a formidable Jutsu to ensure that I could not interrupt this water style Jutsu of his! Surely this Jutsu must be the key to his victory, but how?
Sasuke contemplated running as the wave of water headed his way, with Naruto on top, but stood his ground. Electricity insulated his hand, crackling and chirping like a thousand birds. Then he thrust forward, and chidori split the wave in half, before dispersing throughout the water.
Naruto jumped off the board to avoid any chance of electrocution.
The Jutsu harmlessly spilled past Sasuke, soaking the ground.
"Was that supposed to kill me, Uzimaki Naruto?!" Sasuke asked incredulously.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto threw his clone at Sasuke, which punched Sasuke once before throwing its original at the Uchiha. Naruto shaved off some of Sasuke's hair with a kunai before slinging his double at Sasuke.
The flow of the battle moved away from their previous location and more to the edge of the wall.
The fifth time the tag-team gambit was executed, Sasuke blocked and counter attacked. Susano'o appeared, bashing both Naruto and his double, destroying the shadow clone completely.
Naruto lay in the dirt a couple yards from Sasuke, his head ringing. The previous anger from before had faded away like summer.
Sasuke's voice said, "You haven't answered my question: was that supposed to kill me?"
A puddle beside Naruto reminded him of his fallacy - he thought his plan was deep, but it was actually shallow as a puddle.
A tear dropped from Naruto's cheek.
I don't want to lose! A shadow clone came into being in a second and was destroyed by Sasuke just as fast.
"That's the only answer I need," Sasuke laughed, strutting forward with the audacity of a bright pink flamingo, his sword carelessly being spun around. "This is my victory."
Naruto's expression melted away, and instead was replaced by the smile of a young child at Christmas. "You read my mind!"
The moment the back of Sasuke's blade struck, Naruto bit onto it, his teeth clamping down, before he weaved hand seals.
Sasuke tried to move, but his arm was stuck in place.
The puddle behind the member of the Uchiha clan morphed. A face identical to Naruto's was slowly transformed from water into apparent flesh.
Naruto shook his head, and the tears Sasuke took for sadness were actually tears of mirth. The water clone spoke for Naruto. "You fell into my trap. I drew you to this part of the field, as it was filled with puddles."
"The tidal wave wasn't meant for me..." Sasuke realized.
"Yes. It was so the current situation could occur," Naruto explained patiently. "It was so I could win!"
The water clone and the shadow clone it had conjured up reached for the Nine Tails chakra within Naruto once again. A sphere of pure chakra was generated, and wisps of chakra spiraled away.
"Rasengan!"
IIIIIIIIII
The Hokage of the Sand village and one of the Anbu agents stared at each other.
Kabuto took off his mask and signaled.
The Hokage of the Sand Village gave a slight nod.
IIIIIIIIII
Both Hokage of the Sand and Hidden Leaf villages stood by Anko as she announced, "We will be holding the ceremony celebrating those who have passed the Chunin exams."
Then she stabbed the Hokage from the Sand village in the heart. "At least, that's what I would say if I was actually Anko. Unfortunately, my true name is Orochimaru..." Anko licked her lips. "And I have come to destroy both Konoha and the Soul Society."
End of Chapter 4
I'm sure you are wondering...wtf were those last two paragraphs? To that, my response would be: read the next chapter to find out hehe.