Opening - Haruka Kanata by Asian Kung-Fu Generation
Naruto woke to the sound of rain pouring down on his freshly repaired roof. At first, it was a pleasant sound, soothing, and he wrapped himself snugly in his blankets, relaxed and comfortable.
Then a flash of lightning lit up his bedroom through the window, and thunder shook Konoha. Naruto groaned loudly, and sat up to check the time.
A second flash of lightning lit up the face of the clock in his hand, and the thunder drowned out his cry of shock. "Ah, crap!" he roared, and threw himself out of bed. "The exam!" He threw on his bright orange jumpsuit, and his father's haori, then checked his ring and lunged for the kitchen. The third stage of the Chuunin Exam starts in eight minutes. I gotta get going!
He grabbed a package of dry instant ramen and made for the door in a flash, opening it just before he opened the door. The rain was falling in an ungodly downpour, and Naruto winced. "Dry ramen," he muttered, "isn't that bad, but dry ramen soaked in cold rainwater..." he shuddered, and closed the door, then opened the packet of seasoning that came with the ramen, and poured the powder over the dry noodles, still in the packaging. It took him less than a minute to wolf it down, and then he was out the door, leaving the empty package on the floor.
X
Gaara, meanwhile, glanced up at the sound of a third thunderclap overhead. "I... truly hate the rain," he declared quietly.
"At least we'll be fighting inside," Kankurou replied, nodding up to the ceiling.
Gaara nodded subtly in response. If we were battling outside in the rain, my power over sand would be halved or worse. Not at all a fair test of my power against Naruto's... which reminds me... where is he? "Where is he?" he growled quietly.
Temari and Kankurou were to his left, with Hinata and Kiba to his right. If Naruto were to arrive, he would immediately come here to join us, Gaara noted grimly. And he isn't. He's late.
"Gaara," someone whispered from behind him. Gaara hadn't heard the man approach; hence he must have been a Chuunin or Jounin, judging by the silence of his footfalls. "Hokage-sama sent me to let you know your match has been postponed. Naruto Uzumaki isn't here."
"Ah... so he took up my offer. Good." Ever so briefly, Gaara cracked a smile. "Are the other matches still random?"
The Chuunin nodded, though Gaara couldn't see him. "Yes, although Hokage-sama initially wanted to match the Oto Genin against opponents best suited to defeat them, for instance-" he stopped abruptly, glancing up at the names flashing over a screen behind the Hokage. They stopped on "-Tenten and Dosu Kinuta," the Chuunin finished. "Footage from the Forest of Death showed the nature of his arm weapon, and that along with his skirmish with Naruto led us to conclude that a metal weapon can block his attacks."
"So 'Tenten' uses weapons, then," Gaara concluded. "No last name?"
"That's right," Tenten replied as she walked past him. "I have no clan name. Is that such a big deal?"
"So you're Tenten..." Gaara flashed what he hoped was a friendly smile. "Block his attacks, every single time, with a metal weapon. Never dodge."
Tenten gave him a confused look. The hell was up with that psycho smile? "...Uh, thanks." she stepped forward to confront Dosu, who hadn't been informed that she was a weapons specialist, hence didn't know what he was in for. He pulled back the sleeve over his right arm, revealing his weaponized bracer.
She reached for one of her storage scrolls and pulled out a jian, a weapon designed similarly to Orochimaru's Kusanagi, then readied herself to wield it in melee combat. Normally I prefer throwing these weapons, but a jian's one of my better melee weapons, and this guy... let's see. He fought with Naruto Uzumaki before the first test. His bracer hit Naruto's sword and gave off a loud ringing sound. After that he retreated. I think it's a safe guess to make, that the ringing sound is his weapon, and hitting Naruto's sword made it unusable. And that Suna kid told me to block with a metal weapon...
"So, I've been meaning to ask," Tenten began out loud, "What's with that arm thing?"
"Why should I tell you?" Dosu replied warily.
"Come on. One weapons expert to another."
"Begin," Hayate Gekkou commanded.
"I'm better off just showing you." Dosu lunged, and Tenten's eyes widened. She dove forward as well, and slammed her sword into his bracer to stop whatever attack he'd been about to use. "...Damn it, another one who can block it," Dosu muttered, inaudible through the clanging noise that startled all of the spectators. If I pull my punches, I can still hit her with the sound wave. He retreated several yards, then moved to punch the air between Tenten and himself.
That's not good! Tenten thought frantically, and threw her sword aside, then screamed, "Substitution!"
Hinata's eyes widened, as Tenten swapped places with her sword, which shattered from Dosu's properly applied sound waves. That's the same jutsu Naruto-kun and I came up with! But how could she use it, without a doujutsu?
Dosu grimaced, remembering Naruto switching with Kabuto during their fight. "You remind me more and more of that blond kid with the sword," he noted, irritated.
"That jutsu you're using only travels in one direction," Tenten noted. "Otherwise I, along with everyone watching, would be pretty badly hurt right now. Weird, I thought sound waves went in all directions. You must be controlling them."
"So you've figured it out," Dosu replied grimly. "Yes, we use sound waves as a lethal weapon-" he paused, and swore under his breath.
Tenten blinked; at first she didn't get why he was upset, then she clued in. "Ah, so your teammates use sound-based jutsu too!" she called loudly, grinning.
"...Bitch," Dosu muttered.
Okay, so I can dodge it at long range and block it at close range, but whenever I go to make an attack against him, I have to move straight at him, or maybe throw my weapons. Both leave me open for a moment, to his sound attack... But we learned in the first test that taking risks is a huge part of being a ninja. If I want to win, I've got to attack him!
Tenten gritted her teeth, and whipped open her scroll of weapons, flinging a collection of roughly two dozen assorted blades at Dosu, who grinned under his bandages. He whipped his Melody Arm forward, using the sound waves generated by it to shatter these tools as he had with the jian. "Forgive me if I'm stating the obvious," Dosu began, "but this weapon of mine is an ideal defense as well as offense; you can't win."
"Pfft. If I was using elemental jutsu you'd be screwed," Tenten replied. "Fire would be great. I can see through a bluff that obvious."
"Are you being obnoxious for no reason, or are you trying to make me lose my cool?"
"Neither. If you actually beat me, I wanna make sure any of my friends you face know the weaknesses of that weapon you're carrying. Even if I don't make Chuunin, I still want Neji and Shino to move up, and if I can help them..." Tenten shrugged.
Then, without warning, she whipped a kunai at him as she began her next sentence. Dosu dodged, but the blade scraped past his bandaged cheek, drawing a thin line of blood. "That's why I'm shouting out any weaknesses I notice in you! I'm hoping someone clues in!" By this point, all of the Genin watching were taking mental notes, while still watching Tenten's battle with fascination.
"Interrupting yourself in the middle of your own speech to attack," Dosu noted. "It's startling, how few ninja think of that." He punched forward, and Tenten nullified his sound wave with a thrown shuriken before it left his arm, following up with a yari spear. Dosu's visible eye widened, and he lurched to the side to dodge.
Gaara said quietly to Temari and Kankurou, "Dosu's movements are stiff and forced. He's almost certainly injured under those bandages."
Hinata, within hearing range, flashed an active Byakugan. "Ah, you're exactly right, Gaara-kun. It's his spine; most of it's fused together in sections of three to four vertebrae. It doesn't damage his spine, but his flexibility is severely limited."
"It's cool, how perfectly matched these two are," Temari noted. "Each can easily counter the other's ability, and they're locked in a complete stalemate."
"For now," Hinata replied. "Tenten's carrying several of those scrolls; a mass attack with her whole arsenal would be too much for Dosu to keep up with."
Tenten, meanwhile, was thinking along similar lines, and had produced two more weapon-filled scrolls. She knelt and laid them on the ground in front of her, holding an ordinary kunai in her teeth in case Dosu attacked while she was left open.
"You're laying your weapons down," the Oto Genin noted. "Does that mean you're giving up?" Perhaps her whole purpose here was to reveal my abilities to her friends. No, she seems confident in her abilities and clearly wants to become a Chuunin. She's not surrendering, so why lay down her arms?
Dosu swung his Melody Arm again, prompting Tenten to whip the kunai between her teeth at him. Dosu, however, grinned as he felt the sound waves properly leave his arm just before the kunai struck. Tenten recoiled and nearly collapsed, crying out in shock and pain. "...Interesting... it seems the damage to your inner ear isn't enough to knock you down. A full hit from my Melody Arm should have completely destroyed your sense of balance, therefore your ability to stand. You should be on the ground, disoriented."
I'm not gonna get another chance! I have to finish him! Tenten grasped the twin scrolls at her feet, snapped open the wax seals on them, and leapt high into the air. The scrolls, which were shockingly long for such a small size, twirled around her, revealing the hundreds of small seals within. Each seal contained a different weapon and Tenten had practiced throwing each one. She noted with excitement that she could maintain her balance in midair, despite the pain. Shortly after Dosu had finished speaking, her hearing had failed completely, leaving her with only a muffled ringing in her ears.
She never heard her own voice call, "Twin Rising Dragons," but she saw the barrage of weapons she let fly. She spun opposite the intertwined scrolls, grabbing and throwing blades out of whichever seals first neared her fingertips. At first, Dosu was able to keep up, and he smashed dozens of flying weapons to pieces with his sound waves, but he started missing a few, and that was enough.
The impact of the first weapon he missed, an odd triple-bladed kunai with a navy blue handle, striking his ribs, was enough that he was thrown off-balance and started missing more, distracted by the pain. By the time Tenten landed, he was a mess, and had resorted to blocking with the gauntlet itself to avoid any fatal hits. "Damn it," he growled. "Of all things... why did it have to be a blade specialist?"
"This fight's pretty much over," Tenten replied. "Both of us still have more weapons, but..." she clasped her hands over her ears. "Neither of us is in any shape to use 'em," she finished weakly.
"That's true," Dosu agreed, glaring down at the deep stab wound in his right bicep, still filled by a javelin. "It's just a matter of time now. My wounds are clearly worse than yours, and I'm likely to bleed out in under a minute. I forfeit." Or rather, I'll live to fight another day. I'll kill you when Orochimaru-sama invades.
Hayate ended the match. "Dosu Kinuta has forfeited. The winner is Tenten," he announced.
Tenten beamed, and stepped toward the stretcher being readied for her, inevitably turning her back to Dosu.
"Perhaps I shouldn't wait after all," the Oto Genin decided, and turned to his right. He was unable to use the muscles in his arm, but by spinning his entire body he managed to whip his Melody Arm with enough speed to create an attack.
Do what Naruto Uzumaki would do.
Dosu's eyes widened as his fist slammed into a wall of sand, which parted in two a moment later to reveal Gaara. The Suna Genin stepped through the opening in his sand construct, approaching Dosu, who slowly began to retreat. "Running away won't save you," Gaara noted grimly, and held out his open right hand, reaching for the Melody Arm. "Stop, or I'll amputate your right arm at the elbow."
Dosu froze. He was immediately stripped of his weapon and escorted from the building by four Chuunin. Everyone present noted that as the gauntlet was removed, a large stream of sand poured out of it and Dosu's sleeve. Gaara hadn't been bluffing. Said Jinchuuriki then turned to Tenten, who had watched the exchange with wide eyes. He approached, forced a smile, and said, "Congratulations on your victory."
"T-thanks..." she replied with a slight tremor in her voice. "Why did you...?"
"Save you from that attack?" Gaara shook his head sadly, and his forced smile faded. "Looking back, I'm not sure why. But I know there was no reason not to save you."
Tenten blinked, and tried to think of a response, but it was too late. The medics carried her away, leaving her to wonder what the hell was going on in that boy's head.
Gaara, meanwhile, made his way back to the spectators' balcony. His smile was gone, but inside, he was content. Yes, I'm certain. That's what Naruto would have done. He would have saved her. Kankurou and Temari watched him return to where he'd been standing between them, in total shock. Meanwhile the screen showing names for the next match was randomized again.
"It's Fate," Neji proclaimed with a smirk.
Hinata Hyuuga vs. Neji Hyuuga. Hinata read the screen, and glanced down at the arena, where Neji was already standing. He noticed her watching, but didn't bother to hide his smirk. "...I see," Hinata whispered, and turned to the stairs. Neji-nii. I don't want to do this, but I can see that you do.
"Hinata-sama," he began politely while she arrived, with his smile gone. "You must know you can't win this fight. Forfeit the match, and I won't have to hurt you." he activated his Byakugan, and added, "You're destined to be weak. You should just accept that."
Hinata shook her head. "No, Neji. If we fight, I'll win. And I'll have to hurt you."
"Don't make me laugh," he replied coldly, showing no trace of laughter. "I'll tell you one last time. Surrender, now."
"Gekkou-san," Hinata addressed the proctor. "Please signal for the match to begin."
Hayate nodded, and called, "Begin."
Neji lunged forward, aiming a volley of Gentle Fist strikes, but Hinata had already begun her backward leap, putting herself at a proper ninjutsu range. "You're retreating?" Neji asked incredulously.
Hinata blurred her fingers through a sequence of seals, and replied, "Water Release: Water Bullet." Neji dodged the attack, not knowing it had little force behind it. Hinata's chakra control allowed her to lower the jutsu's power to a ball-shaped splash.
"Ninjutsu. So you're too afraid to face me with taijutsu, then."
Hinata closed her eyes for a moment. "I know you're more skilled with the Gentle Fist than I am, and I won't pretend that's not true. That's why I won't let you land a single strike on me." she held out her hands, palms-up at her sides, forming a sphere of volatile chakra in each hand. "Rasengan," she named it, and Neji realized she hadn't turned on her Byakugan.
His doujutsu, however, showed him just how much chakra was packed into each attack, and he involuntarily took a step back. "What... is that?"
"I... can't..." Hinata mumbled, and the chakra orbs dissolved back into her body. "Using that jutsu would kill you. I can't believe I even considered it... I have to hold back."
Neji's pale eyes narrowed in anger. She's going to hold back? His fingertips gave off a soft glow of blue chakra. On ME? He blurred forward, reaching for her tenketsu. Not good enough!
"Water Bullet!" Hinata called, and Neji dodged another three small projectiles, continuing to close in. "Water Dragon Bullet!" she added, and a serpent of water, fifteen feet long, rose from the floor behind her. It hissed and wrapped itself around Hinata in a protective circle. Neji, unfazed, stabbed the dragon with several Gentle Fist strikes, destabilizing the chakra flow within so that it collapsed.
Hinata cut through the falling torrent of water with a three-foot-long stave. Neji instinctively blocked, which resulted in a fractured left forearm. What is this? He asked himself incredulously, then dodged another swipe of her weapon, cradling his useless arm. Some kind of weapon... "Fine. So your range is increased a little. I can still dodge your attacks, and even block them now that I know you have such a weapon."
Hinata triggered her Byakugan, and imitated Naruto's kenjutsu stance. "Why is this so important to you? What did I do to make you hate me?"
"I don't hate you," Neji replied. "But you're destined to be weak... and you're a Main House Hyuuga. This is a chance to spit in the face of the Main House, and I'm going to take it." He dashed forward and jabbed at her abdomen with his chakra-laced fingertips, only to have each strike slapped away by the gold-lined staff. If there's a weak point in the wood or metal, a properly focused chakra burst might crack it... The next moment his arm touched the side of the stave, he released a spike of chakra from a tenketsu in his arm.
The two steel blades lined with gold filigree sprang out of each end of the weapon, and Neji's belly received a shallow scrape from the tip of the blade. Hinata's thick white coat caught on the blade at her hip, and she twisted out of the way, resulting in a small rip in her coat. "What the hell... is that thing?" Neji mused, stepping back.
If I retract the blades, odds are Neji-nii will end up triggering them again. I should just keep them out. Hinata shifted her grip so that she wielded the staff with two hands as a spear. "Neji-nii... I'm sure you've thought many times about what the Hyuuga are doing wrong." His eyes momentarily widened. "I thought so... We only use taijutsu rather than applying our chakra control to ninjutsu, we never take up a weapon like this one, even though it would go so nicely with the Byakugan... we apply a juinjutsu to three quarters of our clan and torture them with it."
"What are you saying?" he growled, having briefly forgotten his attack.
"I won't make the same mistakes our family is making, Neji-nii. And you don't have to make them either. I swear, I'll be the next head of the Hyuuga Clan, and I will end the Caged Bird Seal. When that day comes, The Main House will ask for the Branch's forgiveness. I will too... will you forgive me?"
"Stop talking like this," Neji snarled as his anger began to rise. "You won't save yourself from me, not unless you surrender."
Hinata sighed out loud, remembering her recent encounter with Kurama. When someone's outlook on life is challenged, they don't take it well, she realized, and they'll fight to hold on to their beliefs. "I'm sorry. I can't do that. I have to win here, and as much as I wish it wasn't against my cousin... I'm going to defeat you."
The Branch House scion increased the chakra flow to every part of his body, which Hinata could clearly see. "Eight Trigrams, Revolving Heaven!" he roared, and spun violently, pouring chakra out of his entire body.
Hinata began reacting just before the jutsu formed, since she knew it was coming. She tightened her right-hand fingers around the staff, pressing it back into the ring with a slight pulse of chakra, and leapt away from Neji as he began to spin. She formed a Rasengan in her right palm, and shoved it out in front of herself in an attempt to counter the Revolving Heaven. The two spheres of whirling chakra ground violently against each other, both distorting slightly away from the point of impact.
After a few seconds, both attacks gave out. Hinata's Rasengan destabilized and exploded in her hand, sending her flying, as well as Neji since his defense had simply died down around him. Both Hyuuga picked themselves up, groaning but still ready to continue the battle.
"What kind of jutsu was that...?" Neji muttered as he stood. "A new Gentle Fist jutsu? It's a close-range ninjutsu-"
"No." Hinata formed a second Rasengan. "It's not, I can throw one."
Neji saw her pull her right arm back, and immediately resumed his defense. "Revolving Heaven!" The jutsu in Hinata's hand, he noticed, was spinning in the opposite direction to his Revolving Heaven.
Deactivating her Byakugan, Hinata reached into her left-hand coat pocket and pulled out a shuriken to throw. I can perform two Rasengan at once, but I can only throw one at a time. Neji-nii proved that won't be enough to break the Revolving Heaven... she threw her shuriken and shouted, "Substitution!"
Neji's line of sight was blocked by his own jutsu, but the Byakugan let him see in all directions, from all directions, not to mention its ability to see through objects. It was, in effect, an all-seeing eye, so he clearly saw Hinata teleport to the edge of his Revolving Heaven, slamming her right-hand Rasengan into the wall of Neji's chakra. What is she up to? Was she bluffing about throwing that thing?
Hinata's left hand formed a second Rasengan, and she thrust it into the dome as well. "Twin Rasengan!"
The floor where Hinata's and Neji's attacks met began to rip apart. First the green tiles cracked and shattered, then the concrete beneath crumbled into chunks that were in turn thrown around by the three spinning orbs of chakra. Then the foundation of wood and earth beneath the floor was torn at, as Hinata's two Rasengan cut through Neji's defense.
She stepped through the wall of chakra, noting it was similar to a wind-based jutsu. This was her first time seeing a Revolving Heaven from the inside, since chakra glowed when viewed with a Byakugan, thereby obstructing her view from outside. She noted with surprise that the air inside was nearly still; the Revolving Heaven was hollow. Neji was still spinning and glowing as he poured out blue chakra to fuel the dome.
With his Byakugan, he saw her approaching, inside his Revolving Heaven, and doubled his output of chakra, using brute force to create an outward-blowing wind without the Wind Release. Hinata was pushed backward a few paces, and the inside of the Revolving Heaven tore at the back of her coat, but she pushed forward against the wind. If I had've been pushed any further, this jutsu would have picked me up and thrown me, probably across the arena.
She pushed the rest of her chakra into her two Rasengan, then pressed her hands together, melting both Rasengan into a single one twice the size, which she held with both hands. It acted as a partial shield against Neji's wind, spinning it away from her and letting her approach more quickly.
Neji knew it was over; he realized it when she got within six feet of him, but he continued to spin and expel chakra in desperation until her Rasengan shrank down to its normal size and slammed into his chest. His Revolving Heaven came to a stop as he was thrown out of it, revealing Hinata to the audience, standing at the jutsu's center. Everyone, even the Hokage, was gaping at the scene in total incomprehension.
Hinata watched Neji's chakra network continue to flow, and she focused her Byakugan to see his internal organs. He was in no danger of death, and she sighed in relief upon seeing that. "...Neji Hyuuga is unable to continue the match," Hayate Gekkou declared. "The winner is Hinata Hyuuga."
"...How?" Neji mumbled, half to himself, still laying immobile on the floor. "How did you... get that strong? You were weak. You were supposed to be... How did you do it?"
"I became this strong because I chose to," Hinata panted as her Rasengan finished fading. "And I'm going to get stronger. I didn't and still don't believe Fate can hold us back. It's always pushed both of us forward!" she took a single step toward Neji. "Look at you. You're a prodigy, one of the most promising ninja Konoha's seen in decades, and you think Fate is some inevitable brick wall that's going to stop you, maybe kill you for trying to defeat your destiny, right?"
"...That's exactly right," he replied angrily.
"Whatever gods are up there," Hinata continued with an upward glance, "I don't think they like to see people held back. They want us to find the full extent of our potential, and live up to it. Whatever being or beings created this world, they want us to excel and make ourselves, if not them, proud."
Neji closed his eyes, considering this. "What's the potential you're trying to live up to? What goal could push you this hard?"
"A lot of things. I need to be strong to lead the Hyuuga Clan. I want to be strong for myself, of course. And I want to be there when the next Hokage is crowned, standing at his... at Naruto's side. I'm at Naruto's level right now, and I won't ever fall behind him. Yes..." she smiled. "I think that's what drives both of us so much. I want to always be there at his side, and I think the feeling's mutual."
"It is."
All eyes turned to a rain-drenched Naruto, with the haori of the Fourth Hokage draped over his signature orange jumpsuit. Standing in the doorway, the late arrival grinned at Hinata and added, "That was amazing, Hina-chan."
She blushed very faintly, but kept smiling. "H-How long were you standing there?"
"When I showed up, you used the Water Dragon Bullet to block Neji and pull out that staff. It's not surprising no one noticed me; that whole match was freaking awesome!" he raved excitedly. "I do have a question though... the Water Dragon Bullet..."
Hinata realized what he meant, and nodded. "It's still heavy on my chakra, but when I used it in Wave, I used it several times in that dome. I can do it once or twice in a full fight, leaving enough chakra for a few Rasengan."
"Ah," Orochimaru murmured, disguised as an Oto Jounin. "So she did say Rasengan." Yes, I recognize that jutsu and its name... so Jiraiya taught it to her, hm? He and this girl, then, are now the only two people in the world who know it. Perhaps I should capture her, and wring its secrets out of her.
"So what took you so long, Naruto?" Kiba called from the crowd of spectating Genin
"I slept in," he admitted, and scratched his neck sheepishly. "Stupid alarm clock didn't go off..."
"Naruto," Gaara commanded his attention, and the blond boy turned to see where Gaara was looking. Gaara no Sabaku vs. Naruto Uzumaki. "They wasted no time," the Ichibi Jinchuuriki noted quietly.
Hinata jumped forward and wrapped her arms around Naruto, resulting in a few raised eyebrows among the spectators. "Don't lose to him, Naru-kun," she mumbled in his ear.
Naruto nodded, and hugged her back. "We became Genin together. We're gonna do the same thing as Chuunin, believe it."
Gaara used a platform of sand under his feet to float down into the arena. I told myself I would kill him if I beat him, but after what I've seen these past few days... the decisions I've already made... he watched Naruto approach impassively, while inside he was quickly approaching a choice that would change the rest of his life. He's already beaten me in one way. I can never go back to killing people for amusement, and... I don't want to. He's making me like himself. "...I've changed my mind," Gaara declared.
Naruto paled. "W-what do you mean? You don't want the seal?"
"No, I mean I'm not going to kill you." Gaara watched Naruto's face light up with relief, but he then released the entirety of the sand in his gourd. "At least, not intentionally."
"Begin."
Naruto immediately slipped his hand into the weapons pouch on his right leg, producing several Flying Raijin kunai and whipping them at Gaara, who easily swatted them aside with sand. The pronged blades clattered to the floor, and Naruto set his sights on one near Gaara.
The Hokage watched Naruto teleport to his opponent, and his eyes widened. Was that... the Flying Raijin Jutsu? No, the kunai isn't there any more. It switched places to where Naruto had been! So the rumors about a Substitution variant are true. Interesting...
Naruto produced his cutlass and swiped at Gaara several times, but each attack was deflected by sand. "Kenjutsu is useless against me," Gaara informed him calmly.
"Yeah?" Naruto dodged a small stream of sand that aimed for his left hip, then whipped his blade at Gaara again. "Wind Scar!"
Gaara sidestepped the six wind blades that were slowed by his sand. It's like Temari's Wind Scythe. He can focus it through a weapon, without hand seals... he unfolded his arms, and directed one of them toward Naruto's chest. I can move the sand with just my mind, but if I use hand gestures, it's twice as fast. Naruto slashed his cutlass at the new, larger and faster attack, deflecting it. He laughed as a thought occured to him. "What about this battle could possibly amuse you?" Gaara asked, curious.
"It's nothing," Naruto chuckled as he blocked another blast of flying sand. "Just, I read a manga once with a fight just like this. Except it was a katana, not a cutlass, and the other guy was using little tiny blades, not sand." he took a step forward, and raised his sword over his head. "This bit didn't happen in the manga though!" he shouted with excitement. "Wind Release: Wind Blade!"
Gaara directed the bulk of his sand upward over his head to stop the seven-foot ethereal blade Naruto had conjured. "Why are you so at ease? We're fighting."
Naruto swiped his massive weapon at Gaara again, and the Suna Genin decided to start backing away. His sand was better for long-range fighting, and that sword was dangerous. "But we're not trying to kill each other," Naruto replied. "So no hard feelings! Shinra Tensei!"
Gaara's eyes widened as he was thrown across the arena, with his sand collapsing into a pool in front of Naruto, who maintained eye contact with the now-airborne Gaara. The redheaded Jinchuuriki noted that his foe's Rinnegan was now active, and Naruto was grinning. He's actually enjoying this... But there's no killing intent, no thirst for blood. Gaara skidded to a stop on the floor, only barely injured. So... as long as I don't try to kill him, I'm free to enjoy this battle as well! He stood, and flashed his own grin, then took back control of the sand near Naruto.
Naruto leapt into the air away from the sand, and reached upward for the roof. "Banshou Tenin," he called, pulling himself into the rafters above the arena. If I'm gonna beat him, I can't hold back at all. He formed a few quick hand seals, and shouted, "Wind Release: Air Bullet!"
Gaara's sand caught the attack and exploded into a glistening tan cloud between the two Jinchuuriki. Naruto drew a kunai from his pouch and launched it through the cloud. "Shadow Shuriken Clone Jutsu!" he roared as it passed into the sand, and he used a Substitution on the original, then transformed into a kunai identical to the others. The result was Gaara's sand swatting several hundred kunai aside, all of which exploded into clouds of smoke. Naruto emerged from one of those clouds, and threw another kunai at Gaara. "Shadow Shuriken Clone Jutsu!" he repeated, and another thousand blades flew toward his opponent.
Gaara wrapped himself in sand, since the attacks were already closing in. He heard the impacts of the kunai against his Shield of Sand, and he murmured within, "Sand Coffin." he made a fist in each hand and crunched the weapons into pieces. All but one turned to white smoke, leaving the pieces of the original to scatter on the floor.
Gaara opened a hole in his cocoon, and immediately regretted it when he saw Naruto in the middle of swinging his sword at the Shield of Sand. "Wind Scar!" the sand wall shook from the impact, but it had never been pierced, and a C-ranked wind jutsu wouldn't be enough to crack it. Enough of this, Gaara decided. Naruto clearly isn't holding back anything but the power of his Kyuubi. Why should I hold back anything but Shukaku?
"Wind Scar!" Naruto repeated, not noticing a ball of sand condense in midair and become Gaara's Third Eye. Deep slashes were carved into the outside of Gaara's shell, but they smoothed over in a matter of moments. The Third Eye dissolved and joined the stream of sand Gaara forced through the floor, grinding the stone and earth below into a desert's worth of sand.
Naruto's Rinnegan showed him Gaara's chakra flowing throughout the floor, and he returned his cutlass to the seal on his ring, knowing his foe was up to something. Let's take a look at what's going on down there... "Earth Release: Earth Wall!"
Naruto yelped and quickly retreated away as he saw the slice of earth he raised was flowing with somewhat darker brown sand that reached out to attack him. An addditional hand seal sent the wall of earth sliding back into the floor. I can see his chakra throughout the entire floor! If he's doing this everywhere... "I've gotta get back into the rafters," he growled, and aimed his palms at the floor. "Shinra Tensei!" he shot himself high into the air, and perched once more on a support beam holding up part of the roof.
Moments later the entire arena exploded with sand, brown from the dirt and grey from the stones, reaching upward as dozens of clawed arms, all aimed at Naruto. Hinata, now standing amidst her fellow Genin, watched with wide eyes as Naruto dodged. Several missed attacks tore holes in the roof, and she realized with a start that Gaara intended to destroy the roof so Naruto would have nothing to stand on but the desert below. "Naruto! He's destroying the roof on purpose!"
Naruto's eyes widened, and he watched another arm of sand rip a massive hole in the roof. Through that hole he saw only blackness. Wait a minute... it's daytime outside, and raining... "Thanks Hina-chan!" he shouted, and leapt through the nearest hole in the roof. Now that he knew to look for it, he could faintly see Gaara's chakra holding up a thin barrier of sand to keep out the rain. On the inside it was damp, but it was better than letting the rain soak the entire battlefield. So water weakens his sand...
Six more sand arms ripped up through the roof to converge on Naruto, who just barely dodged this much larger Sand Coffin. "I know your weakness now, Gaara!" he called, and formed a few more rapid hand seals. "Wind Release: Erasing Wind!"
Gaara reinforced the sand dome with additional chakra, but it was still paper-thin, and Naruto's omnidirectional jutsu ripped it apart. The Konoha Jinchuuriki jumped into the air, and summoned his sword out of the seal on his finger. "Here goes," he murmured under the sounds of wind and torrential rain. "WIND SCAR!"
Gaara scowled far below, watching a good chunk of the weakened roof get ripped apart by the jutsu. That was more powerful than his other Wind Scars... more like a Wind Scythe, but what's he thinking? The rain he's letting through will slow down my sand, but as soon as he lands I can finish him with something as simple as a Sand Coffin. Unless...!
"Earth Wall!" Naruto cried as he fell, and a vertical slab of earth rose up from deep underground, cutting through Gaara's sand. Naruto perched atop the ten-foot-high wall, and set his sights on Gaara's sand cocoon. That sand he's using as a shield moved faster than the big sand tentacles, when he was using it to attack... It's just a stab in the dark, but I think that sand from his gourd is different. I'm gonna have a hard time getting through it... There's only one jutsu I can think of... He pushed his cutlass back into its seal, and began making another sequence of hand seals.
I recognize that... Shukaku growled in Gaara's mind. My own signature jutsu! "Drilling Air Bullet!" Naruto roared, and clasped his hands together into a single fist which he swung forward at Gaara. A much smaller version of Shukaku's creation, a ball of swirling, compressed wind, was launched forward from his hands to strike Gaara's Shield of Sand, which cracked like an egg.
Gaara was violently thrown back by the force of the jutsu, but he was unharmed. He immediately formed another cocoon from the sand he lay on, but the water interfering with his power, combined with the fact this sand was barely infused with his chakra at all, meant that Naruto's next Wind Scar ripped through it.
"I won't keep defending and cowering," Gaara growled in frustration, and formed the clone hand seal. "Multiple Sand Clone Jutsu!"
Two dozen angry Gaara replicas rose up out of the ground, and Naruto paled. I gotta finish this quickly. Something tells me he's prepared to make a hell of a lot more clones if I take these out without beating him.
But you've already used your most powerful jutsu, Kurama observed within his mind.
No, not my most powerful one; technically I know Chibaku Tensei.
Even if you could use it, which you can't, it wouldn't do anything to Gaara's sand. You'd be more likely to injure everyone else.
I'm still thinking, damn it, Naruto shot back, then paused. I don't know a wind jutsu for this, and my Deva Path jutsu aren't strong enough to shatter clones like these yet... Let's try something out. He drew back his sword and launched a Wind Scar at one of Gaara's clones. It made no effort to defend itself, and was sliced to pieces, only to reform with its arms still crossed, glaring at Naruto.
"Yep," Naruto decided quietly. "He's stalling." He's getting a much bigger sand attack, something that takes time to do.
Then why is he standing there without a shield, and not directing his clones to attack?
Naruto's eyes widened. You're right! He's still there! The original Gaara had made no attempt to conceal himself after forming his clones, or even blend in with them. "Why aren't you attacking me?" Naruto called, confused.
"What makes you think I'm not?" Gaara replied. Naruto turned around with eyes wide, but it was too late. Gaara had slowly, silently raised a tidal wave of sand behind Naruto, and it crashed down on top of him and his Earth Wall. Gaara nodded to himself contently. Even if he jumped away and reached the rafters again, his Earth Wall would have been crushed to pieces. I've won. "Surrender now or I'll crush you with a Sand Coffin," he called.
No answer. "I know you're still alive in there. I left you a bubble of air inside that sand. You have five seconds!"
Four seconds later, a twenty-foot-long arm of metal ripped free of the mountain of sand. Gaara's defenses tried to catch it and slow it down, but accomplished nothing. A five-fingered, clawed hand formed on the end of the arm, and wrapped itself around Gaara, lifting him up into the air.
Kiba nudged Hinata's elbow with his own. "Hey, did you know Naruto could do that?" She shook her head slightly, still watching the battle intently. "Didn't think so."
The sand mountain began to collapse at the base of the metal arm, revealing a person-sized capsule of the same metal, attached to the arm where a shoulder would be. It shattered into small fragments of dull grey metal, revealing a hunched-over and panting Naruto. The keeper of the Kyuubi raised the sword in his right hand and sprinted along the metal arm he'd made, stopping with the tip of his cutlass resting against Gaara's throat.
"I win," he wheezed.
"...How did you make this?" Gaara asked idly, glancing down at the giant metal hand that held him.
"Asura Path," his foe replied quickly, still out of breath. "Are you gonna surrender or what?"
"You're physically drained, out of tricks, and running dangerously low on chakra," the Suna Genin pointed out.
"Doesn't take much chakra to punch your lights out," The Konoha Genin fired back. "Unless you think your shield is gonna work in there." Naruto nodded to the hand holding Gaara. "And that just means I'll have to use this arm thing to crush you until you pass out."
Gaara considered this for a moment, then glared up at Naruto. "...I yield," he reluctantly decided.
"Gaara no Sabaku has forfeited. The winner is Naruto Uzumaki."
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