Previous Translations: Yorokobi - Pleasure/Delight/Joy

Yokubo - Desire/Lust

Kajo - Excess

Shifuku no Kurushimi - Blissful Throes/Blissful Suffering

Tatakainouta - Song of Battle

Zeitakuna Kutsu - Luxurious Torment

Hentai-ryu: Erokenho - Pervert Style: Erotic Fist Art

Konton - Chaos

Kanzen - Perfect

Henka - Change

Harakainokeru - Dispel

Aka-en - Red Flame

Aoi-en - Blue Flame

Kiiro-en - Yellow Flame

Orenji-en - Orange Flame

Tankoshoku-en - Pink Flame

Maho - Magic

Chishiki - Knowledge

Unmei - Fate

Nozomu - Hope

Hoho no Chenja - honestly this one is a mess, but roughly means Changer of Ways

Ryuketsu - Bloodshed

Chikara - Strength

Meiyo - Honor

Budo - Martial Arts

Ikari - Rage

Jumon - Incantation

Himitsu no Sewanin - Secret Caretaker(Keeper of Secrets)

Sento - Combat

Same no On'na - Shark-Woman

Maebure - Harbinger

Shibari no Ashikase - Binding Fetters

Kanpeki - Perfection

Reikan - the closest English word would be Inspiration, but it specifically refers to 'a divine creative impulse'

Sekkyo-sha - Preacher

Aijin - Lover

Kaen Hosha-ki - Flame Radiator (Flamer of Tzeentch)

Himeiwoageru - Which Screams (Screamer of Tzeentch)

Shikkan - Disease

Ai - Love

Zetsubo - Despair

Mi Haito - Undivided/Not Divided

Shibo - Aspiring

Koki - Exalted

Chakra no Bato - Coruscating Chakra/Chakra of Coruscation

Gyokai - Industry

In case someone somehow doesn't know, Hi - Fire

Don'yoku - Greed/Avarice

Yokuatsu - Tyranny/Oppression

Yami no Chichi - Father of Darkness/Dark Father

Raimeiton - Thunder Release, what Naruto has decided to name his mix of wind and lightning chakra

Shuryoju - Hunting Beasts (same word for plural or singular), an alternate name for Fiends of Slaanesh, best word I could find for them

Konton no Omo - Lord of Chaos

Kemonojin - a very jank way of translating Beastmen into Japanese, basically would mean Animal-Human

Gyumao - Ox Demon King

Eiyu - Hero

Gyumahime - Ox Demon Princess

Kajomahime - Excessive Demon Princess

Renkinjutsu - Alchemy

Naruto was bored, but he stayed around the square to be with Hinata. Sasuke stayed to keep an eye on the competition, so of course Sakura stayed to be with him. The Uchiha was getting a few looks, although he wasn't the first scout to wipe out the entire enemy team. Kakashi counted his winnings, eighty-four thousand ryo wasn't much considering the wager he'd put down, but thanks to his own reputation and the reputations his students were starting to get few people bet on Nomu's team.

Gai was clearly growing impatient, but Asuma was just chatting with Kurenai and making small talk. Kakashi could tell the Sarutobi was trying to cheer up the kunoichi jonin since she couldn't drink with her mask in place, but the smoker still had a glass of whiskey for himself. Thankfully Kurenai wasn't too bothered, although she was starting to get into the competitive spirit a bit and wanted to see how her team did too.

"Team Asuma versus team Shirou!" Arahashi announced loudly, Kakashi was amazed by the lungs on that man and wondered if he was using ninjutsu to make his voice carry. Asuma jolted in surprise, wondering who his genin were up against.

Ino stepped into the ring to face off against a Kusa genin who was at least twice her age, the kunoichi of that team too, "You honestly have no idea how convenient this set up is for ninso." the Yamanaka began with a smirk, "But with how you apply make up I'm guessing you don't know much of anything? If you can't manage that I wonder how bad your shurikenjutsu and ninjutsu is? Are you some kind of brawler maybe? I'd ask about bukijutsu but I doubt you could handle anything interesting." the young blonde went off, prompting wide eyed and slack jawed looks from the audience.

Arahashi was so surprised he was a second late in interfering when the Kusa kunoichi leaped at the younger girl while palming a kunai. Ino lunged in and delivered an uppercut that launched her opponent flying with the force of it, winning the match via ring out before the proctor had officially started.

Asuma blinked owlishly, as wide eyed as anyone as he wondered when Ino's taijutsu had gotten so devastating. Then to flex on her opponent Ino used iryoninjutsu to seal up a cut on her left arm the young woman she'd knocked flying with one punch had managed just before being sent flying thanks to superior reach and a weapon advantage.

The vanguard of the Kusa team up against Konoha's cell ten was visibly sweating, "What the fuck is up with these kids from Konoha?" he wondered, even though Ino didn't look as monstrous as Kakashi's genin the young kunoichi gave off an air of malicious intent that clashed with her amused smirk, "Tch, brats always do seem to lose their minds when they get too powerful for their pants." he grumbled, stepping into the ring.

The leader of the team seemed much older than his team mates, "I recall you letting such power get to your head once upon a time." he said in a reminiscing tone.

"Yeah that's why I recognize," The vanguard spoke as he took a stance against Ino, "kids really are twisted, sadistic little brats, you should mature another ten years at least before someone like you gets to be chunin." he scolded.

Ino frowned, considering if she should ruin his speech by taunting him, "Cry about it." were the words she chose, even she was surprised that was the taunt for this man. The Kusa genin charged, unveiling a chain with weighted kunai on each end and swinging them at Ino. Given what she'd already revealed the Yamanaka leaped back and tossed shuriken, not wanting to risk an injury she couldn't fix.

The thrown metal stars were knocked aside easily enough, then the girl made a hand sign and leaped into a chain. The assembled genin audience stared at the most blatant and obvious kawarimi any of them had ever witnessed, the log had actually even appeared before connecting with the chain. Then Choji was there and slammed a fist the size of the older genin's torso into the genin's head, sending that genin flying out of the ring. The old man of the team raised an eyebrow, "Well, that was underhanded." he commented.

"Yes, thank you, I am a genius." Shikamaru agreed with a nod, arms crossed confidently. Neji wondered when the Nara had come up with that strategy and passed it on to his team members, Ino looked smug and not annoyed which only confirmed it really was the plan of the young genin for his kunoichi teammate to use kawarimi in such an obvious manner as a distraction for Choji. A few people wondered if that was a planned contingency, or if the Nara had somehow planned the entire fight from start to finish.

Shikamaru was ready to jump in and save Choji if needed, but the plan was to let the Akimichi try to take down the enemy leader unless they were up against another Konoha team, or Gaara's team. Choji recalled the note his friend had passed him and shrunk his arm back down to normal size, while he knew he didn't have to win, he wanted to.

The old man genin considered his options, he knew he was mediocre, as far as raw talent went, but he'd lived a long while in the profession for a reason and considered his opponents. He recognized the clan markings, and wondered when Yamanaka became taijutsu specialists who could use iryoninjutsu. He couldn't help but feel that was oddly familiar for Konoha, but focused on trying to finally pass the exams, "Just now, Akimichi-san saving that kunoichi counted as her loss, not a tactical retreat, correct?" he asked.

Arahashi considered it for a moment before nodding, "That is correct!" he agreed loudly, "Anyone allowed to interfere on behalf of their teammate may do so, but doing so forfeits not themselves as instead the teammate needing to be rescued is removed from the cue as if defeated!" he explained at length.

Shikamaru couldn't help a smirk at those words, not faltering his confidence even as the old man brandished a katar against Choji. The Nara could easily assure his friend's victory, but instead watched first to see if the chubby genin needed help at all. The Akimichi was standing his ground confidently, palming a kunai in response to the katar as Arahashi stepped back again, "Begin!" he announced.

Choji dodged a jab from the katar and stabbed up at his opponents face as a feint, gripping his opponents arm with his left hand as he pulled back, avoiding his opponents attempted counter and tossing the man to the ground with his own momentum. Shikamaru smirked as the Akimichi hopped back and took up a defensive stance, the chubby genin had seen enough monsters get up to be cautious of his opponents.

However the old man took his time getting back up, sighing as he did and rolling his shoulders, "Hm, so you're one of the soft ones, or did you notice?" he questioned, taking a defensive stance with his blade held at the ready.

Choji frowned in confusion, "Notice what?" he asked, Shikamaru guessed immediately but didn't speak up.

"I was hoping you'd attack while I was down, guess the thing about Konoha being full of softies is still mostly true." The old man answered plainly before tossing a pair of shuriken at Choji and then disappearing from sight with shunshin. The Akimichi dodged the shurikens easily enough, able to catch sight of the old man as he reappeared and parry the thrust of his katar with a swing of his kunai as the rotound genin stepped back face his stance to his opponent.

Then Choji stepped back again, goading his opponent to chase as he swapped weapon hands, using his kunai to knock aside the old man's katar again but earning a cut on his forearm as he made a seal of confrontation and kicked out with his left leg as it expanded in size to slam the old man bodily back from the gigantic kick's force. The Konoha genin swayed a bit off balance until he returned to normal size and stance, but this gave the old man enough time to collect himself as well.

The old man charged Choji and swung again, this time Choji leaped backwards with a throw of his kunai at his opponents legs to make the ram seal in mid air. The old man caught the thrown weapon on the blade of his katar as he leaped after the much younger genin to either finish him or knock him out of the ring, he chose the blade method as it was faster and left no room for Choji to counter, but the chubby genin had made his seal for kawarimi and the blade struck log, he landed near the edge of the ring, his edge of the ring, and found he couldn't move.

Then the old man was made to start walking, almost not hearing what was going on behind him in his confusion, "Sorry to make you step in, Shika." Choji said as he walked to the leave the ring, "But he was really good, and your plan worked perfectly, 'lure him to the edge and use kawarimi'." the chubby genin laughed as Shikamaru walked into the arena, his shadow connected to the old leader of the enemy genin cell forcing the older genin to leave.

Shikamaru was pretty sure there were at least two genin reserves back in Konoha older than this guy, "Yeah," he agreed, "I would have had to change plans if your victory over the enemy vanguard didn't confirm I could jump in without announcing myself." he pointed out as he high fived Choji on their way past each other, continuing to walk until the old man was forced out of the arena, "The fact ring outs are a thing helps." he added dryly with a smirk.

Arahashi was surprised the latest iteration of Ino-Shika-Cho was so capable in one on one fights, especially the kunoichi, but more startling was how tactical and analytical their leader was. The proctor didn't think that position was purely for his phase of the exam after that display, "The genin of Asuma Sarutobi's cell win with some interesting strategies! Onto the next match! Team Samui versus team Gendo!" he announced after he pulled out another two slips of paper.

Naruto noted the only Kumo cell to participate heading up to the ring and started paying attention, he recalled the village had a not so flattering history with his family, both Uzumaki in general and Hinata more specifically. Sasuke was scanning the thinning crowd and realized there were still two teams from Amekagure present, Taki and Kumo having apparently only sent one team each. Given that information, the Uchiha was curious about the Kumo genin, he'd noted they were lightly armored and all armed with swords, two of them even being katana.

The scout of the Kumo cell was the younger male, the other two being closer to Neji's or Tenten's age, and he unsheathed his ninjato and took a defensive stance. He was up against a Kusa kunoichi his own age holding a tanto. The young girl was dressed in a simple white yukata and was paler than most, with shoulder length dark hair and green eyes.

Sakura couldn't help but glance at Ino as the Yamanaka walked past her with her team, she recognized that taijutsu and wondered when Tsunade had started training the blonde kunoichi personally. Naruto was more interested in the Kumo nin's opponent, as she was attacking her opponent and taking advantage of her shorter weapon to get inside his guard with rather dangerous maneuvers. The green eyed kunoichi even used kawarimi properly to land counter attacks.

It seemed she may win on death by a thousand cuts until the Kumo genin disarmed her, tripped her, and held his blade to her neck. Naruto had decided the girl was pretty and felt his ire towards the young Kumo shinobi rise but that was the end of the match. The blonde didn't pay as much attention as the remaining Kusa genin were all defeated one by one by the kenjutsu of the Kumo genin. Sasuke glanced to his blonde teammate only to see the hermaphrodite staring at the green eyed kunoichi, the Uchiha sighed and hoped his teammate didn't try to kidnap another Kusa kunoichi.

The young Uzumaki watched the Kusa team leave before he heard a familiar name, "Team Roshi versus team Kurenai!" Arahashi announced, turning Naruto's attention to the ring as his future wife hesitantly removed herself from his side to get up into the ring. As her opponent entered the ring Hinata got into her modified Juken stance against a muscular young man with a Kusa hitai-ate dressed in taijutsu gi and shinobi sandals. Sasuke was starting to get a sense for how many teams were participating, from his observations, Konoha had sent four teams, Kumo, Suna and Taki one each, Amegakure had sent three, and Kusagakure as hosts were at thirty teams.

This made for a total of one-hundred and twenty contestants to start with, much less than the hundred and fifty-three who participated when Konoha had held the exams but still a decent enough crowd. By the end of the first phase there would only be sixty genin, in teams of three that was twenty teams. The Uchiha figured Kusa had just let all their reserve genin group up, from the performance they had allowed those a bit less impressive than their own elite enter.

Unfortunately for them, Konoha had really sent their strongest genin to date. Mostly finalists from the last chunin exams even, although that also included the Suna genin, and apparently the Kumo genin were adepts with kenjutsu. The Uchiha glanced at Fu, wondering why Taki had sent the overly friendly young kunoichi, her teammates were clearly the older and more experienced genin.

As soon as the signal was given Hinata stepped forward and activated her Byakugan, her hands making the tiger sign as her third arm reared back. With a shunshin she was on her opponent, swinging her third palm to her opponents torso. The young man blocked with his right forearm but winced at the burst of chakra ripping through his keirakukei, "Damn, so that's Juken, huh?" he mused as he hopped back, "Strange, I heard you were the timid Hyuga, did Jinpachi mistake your cousin for the girl somehow?" he wondered.

Hinata hadn't expected the young man to have such information on her, she vaguely recalled Jinpachi had been at the last chunin examinations, having given up against Sasuke in the preliminaries to the third phase. She was pulled from her musings as the older genin tossed a pair of shuriken at her, she palmed a kunai and knocked one into the other to deflect them off to her left as she weaved right, stepping back with her left leg as the young man charged her while weaving hand signs.

The young kunoichi was forced to hop back as the Kusa genin used Doton no Jutsu to lift spikes of earth from the ring, snapping one spike of rock to use as a makeshift club. Hinata formed a Rasengan with her left hand and destroyed the club as it approached her, landing lightly on her feet and stepping in to jab at the tenketsu in the older genin's arms before placing her kunai at his neck, "Kurenai's scout wins over Roshi's!" Arahashi declared before any need to deliver a lethal blow was given.

The Kusa genin looked like he wanted to argue, but left the arena without doing so as the vanguard of his team stepped up. The Konoha jonin were all surprised to see Hinata using the Rasengan, Kurenai especially hadn't been aware of it. Kakashi hadn't realized Naruto was openly teaching the ninjutsu to members of his harem and considered how terrifying Haku would be with it.

The next genin up was the kunoichi of Roshi's genin, a young woman with auburn hair pulled up in a bun and attire that vaguely reminded Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura of Orochimaru and his lackeys. The three were suspicious for a moment until they recalled that the Sannin had disguised himself as Kusa genin and this was likely just common fashion in Kusagakure no Sato, and that Orochimaru had adopted it for whatever reason. Maybe it was comfortable, Naruto could ask Tayuya if he wanted to be certain.

The Kusa kunoichi displayed an aptitude for Futon no Jutsu, forming a scythe of Futon chakra and preparing to charge Hinata who simply made two hand signs and focused her Inton chakra through her Byakugan, startling the enemy kunoichi with a genjutsu. Then Hinata used another shunshin to get behind her opponent while the older kunoichi was breaking her genjutsu before delivering three swift simultaneous strikes with bursts of chakra to the tenketsu of the young woman.

The Kusa kunoichi started to fall before her teammate, the last member of Roshi's team and a muscular young man with a thin mustache dressed in dark grey pants and a white qipao with shinobi sandals frowned at Hinata, "A Hyuga who uses ninjutsu and genjutsu? Quite the interesting subject aren't you?" he mused, curious.

Hinata smiled, "Oh right, I suppose I do still carry the name Hyuga for now, but I'm betrothed to join another clan." she answered happily, "Everyone should get used to calling me Hinata Uzumaki really." she announced proudly.

The final member of Roshi's cell handed his unconscious team mate to an iryonin and took a defensive taijutsu stance, which made Hinata falter a moment as she wondered what her opponent was up to. Arahashi was curious but figured this looked like another case of a scout wiping the entire enemy cell, "Begin!" he announced and the kunoichi hopped back to evade her opponent dashing in to sweep at her legs, then he stomped in a low stance and threw his right fist out, pulling back as Hinata made to strike it aside and having her counter backhanded by her opponents left hand leaving her open to take a sandal to the cheek.

Hinata hit the ground shoulder first and rolled to her feet, "You're lucky those sandals are rubber." she grumbled quietly, taking a defensive stance against her opponent. The young man dashed in again and did a hand stand to kick at her guard, surprising the kunoichi further but she'd trained with more intense fighters and thrust her palms out to catch his feet and her third arm lashed out to disable his left leg before he managed to twist out of her grip and flip away.

The final genin of Roshi's team was clearly favoring his right leg and considered his position, "I must concede." he said after a moment with a sigh. Hinata was surprised at how little morale the young man had after that injury, she was certain any of the Konoha ninja at the exams would keep going despite such a handicap.

"Yeah! Go Hinata-chan!" Naruto cheered happily, grinning widely at the victorious kunoichi. Shino hadn't expected to win so handily, nor had Kiba although the Inuzuka was more disappointed he didn't get a turn this phase.

Kurenai was proud of her student's growth, Hinata might not be quite the taijutsu specialist Neji was but she'd actually adapted ninjutsu and genjutsu into her style rather well and in the end had proven her mastery of fundamental Juken at the minimum. The jonin only thought it was a shame Kiba and Shino didn't get a turn, but she knew the final phase was traditionally a tournament anyway so as long as they made it that far again and nothing went wrong they'd have a much better opportunity in future.

Sasuke noticed there were less teams than he expected, he wondered how many had simply left after winning, he noticed some teams had split up, like the first round winner only the scout who had fought remained to watch the fights. The Uchiha set the thought aside from now, trying to focus on the matches, but now that Hinata and Naruto had won the blonde wanted to celebrate with ramen.

"Aw come on, wait for me at least?" Fu asked with a pout, Hinata raised an eyebrow as she wondered why they should, but the blonde just laughed.

"Yeah sure! I am getting hungry though y'know." Naruto agreed but pointed out he didn't want to wait around for too long.

Sasuke stared at Naruto until the blonde noticed, "Why the hell do you bond with strangers so fast?" he asked bluntly.

"I dunno." Naruto answered truthfully with a shrug, the two not paying attention until they saw Gaara approaching the ring.

The auburn haired sand manipulator was apparently the scout, Sasuke wasn't sure how that logic checked out but he supposed the Suna cell just wanted a wipe of the enemy team with Gaara's raw power. Then the Uchiha noticed Gaara's opponents were one of the remaining Amegakure cells, something about that set off alarm bells in Sasuke's head.

The Uchiha wondered why that mattered, his team had fought an Ame cell, but now that he thought about it they'd been decent enough for genin, and each one had looked strangely at Naruto. He couldn't blame them really, the blonde was downright weird. But still, this team was giving Gaara the same look. Sasuke frowned, wondering if something was going on, Amegakure was a suspicious place as far as he recalled.

To those who had last seen Gaara at the previous Chunin Exams held in Konohagakure no Sato the auburn haired genin was a surprise, first his gourd became a cloud of sand that hovered around his shoulders like a cloak before lurching forward to form a suna bunshin that lashed out to throw a pair of suna shuriken from it's still forming left hand, a kunai of sand formed in it's right hand before it disappeared with the use of Suna Shunshin no Jutsu.

A spray of loose sand across the back of his neck was all the warning the Ame genin got, barely enough to dive away from the suna kunai. But a tendril of sand from Gaara's mantle caught the Ame genin and became another suna bunshin, tossing the older genin into the ground so the first suna bunshin could drive the kunai of hardened sand into the torso of his opponent.

"Baki's scout has won!" Arahashi announced quickly, dashing to stand over the injured Ame genin and shoo the suna bunshin off as the on call iryonin rushed to provide assistance. Sasuke was downright terrified by that, Gaara had honed his control and efficiency it seemed. Three copies of the youngest son of the late Kazekage stood to face the vanguard of the Ame cell. Sasuke noticed that aside from colors, the Ame genin were all dressed similarly, likely some kind of uniform.

The Uchiha couldn't help but feel that was suspicious, he also noticed some Kusa cells had genin younger than their teammates, so Kusagakure apparently thought to bring along their star rookies or something, likely pairing them with reserve genin from the performances so far.

Gaara made short work of the remaining Ame genin, showing off the new methods he'd devised for using his sand, strangely enough he seemed far more aggressive but much less bloodthirsty. Oddly content with proving his victory rather than needing to kill, Shikamaru noticed the other boy really had changed and wondered what Naruto had said to get such a response. Both the Nara and Uchiha were considering the Suna genin's new fighting style, Neji was also considering it and they all noticed that Gaara had less sand to defend himself with those bunshin fighting up front like that.

The next few matches were more boring, even Sasuke had trouble maintaining focus. Fu and Naruto had clearly gotten bored as well, the two discussing ramen because the blonde was getting hungry, but the topic veered into spices, then somehow into drugs and the blonde was describing how the combat drugs Maemi made him worked. Everyone with basic iryo knowledge who overheard understood that he was talking about some kind of central nervous system stimulant, and a few were able to figure out he was talking about a compound of methamphetamine and cocaine.

Fu was simply fascinated, taking it as small talk. Maemi took a moment to lament that her mortal master was being so loose lipped about what could have been a secret weapon. Eventually, late in the day, Arahashi spoke a name that team seven thought was familiar, "Team Shibuki versus team Oboi!" the proctor announced loudly, brandishing the two slips of paper.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as Fu went up against an Ame genin, dressed similar to the others but closer to his age than the older Ame shinobi. Fu looked eager to begin, hopping from one foot to the other with her guard up. Aoki silently praised Sasuke's ability to detect schemes as he noticed the final Ame genin cell focused entirely on the orange eyed kunoichi tomboy from Takigakure.

The Uchiha had no idea what was going on, but watched curiously as Fu opened the fight with the tiger seal then clapped her hands and exhaled white powder that caught the light and shined brightly like a miniature localized flash bang. Sasuke flinched from the bright light, noticing after the fact that the whole thing was just to blind the Ame genin so Fu could bodily toss him out of the arena and to the ground, even showboating her victory as Naruto cheered.

Sasuke rubbed the bridge of his beak, exasperated with his blonde teammate and still confused about what Ame was up to and how they could have rigged the slips of paper like that, if that was what was happening. Although the way things had happened and what he'd observed the Uchiha would be surprised if that was not what was happening, actually if he was right that meant Fu was similar to Naruto and Gaara in some way.

Sasuke realized as Fu managed to overpower her second opponent, that he had no idea what Naruto and Gaara even had in common that Ame would be interested in. The Taki kunoichi managed to get her older and larger opponent in a headlock, forcing him to surrender due to his position as the Uchiha tried to figure it out. He supposed Naruto and Gaara both had bakemono locked inside them, but as far as Sasuke knew the Suna genin had an ikiryo named Shukaku who controlled sand locked inside him that he could access the powers of while Naruto had the Kyubi no Yoko, which was considered the strongest Chakra no Bakemono in existence and was said to be able to flatten mountains with a swing of its tail.

That seemed like a bit of a power gap, but now that Sasuke thought about it, Shukaku had manifested as a rather large tanuki. As the Uchiha was realizing the last chunin examinations finale had been a metaphorical tanuki versus kitsune grudge match and he was reconsidering Shukaku's power level the final remaining Ame genin tossed his umbrella and unleashed a hail of senbon, Naruto looked livid as the force off the senbon hitting the ground around the startled kunoichi obscured the damage dealt to the girl.

Kiba winced, then he got a sense that he'd seen this before as the smoke cleared to reveal a cocoon of silk the same color as Fu's hair riddled with senbon. Shino raised an eyebrow, wondering what manner of defensive ninjutsu that was. Then the cocoon split open and Fu stepped out, sighing with relief, "Holy crap that was close!" she laughed nervously.

"What the fuck?" Sasuke asked, then he saw the red chakra as insectoid wings burst from the girl's back and she leaped to fly in order to deliver a flying right side kick to knock her opponent off balance and then twisted down to deliver an uppercut to his solar plexus that knocked him out of the ring. The Uchiha had no idea what that was, he immediately assumed it was anything between an ikiryo, yokai, or chakra no bakemono locked within her keirakukei by Fuinjutsu. His Sharingan could see that much thanks to Aoki helping him evolve it.

Sakura was just confused, but recognized that red chakra was not normal and turned a glare on Naruto, "You're a weirdness magnet." she accused bluntly, Sasuke nodded in agreement immediately. Hinata took offense to that but kept it to herself as she silently shifted a glare between the blonde's team members.

Kakashi was surprised Taki had sent such a powerful genin with such weird abilities, "You guys aren't using Eiyu no Mizu for this, right?" he asked.

Shibuki scoffed, "No," he said, the only chunin besides the Kusa proctors in the room, "we're using what your Shodai-sama gifted us." he answered vaguely, which explained everything to Kakashi.

Naruto grinned as Fu returned to their group, "My magnificent self is getting ramen!" he decided, "See ya, Tenten-chan." he added with a wave as Hinata and Fu followed the blonde out of the square.

"Hey Sasuke-kun-" Sakura began bashfully.

"Later, I'm watching the rest of these fights." Sasuke interrupted bluntly, the pink haired kunoichi was giddy because it wasn't a no. It was practically a yes, the Haruno genin was on cloud nine.

Tenten waved as Neji smirked, "I suppose that one doesn't need to see the competition unless he wants to specifically humiliate them by aping their jutsu like he's got the Sharingan." the Hyuga prodigy muttered, recalling the methods Naruto had used to beat him. Sasuke wasn't sure how he felt about that remark, he'd heard Naruto had beaten Neji's Juken with a rip off Juken but that just sounded absurd. The only reason he believed it was because he'd seen Naruto using the rip off Juken and realized he could do it too, it was easier than chakra threads by a lot.

Sasuke also found it wasn't really worth the effort, between the Rasengan and the Juken, the Uchiha guessed Hinata was pretty much out of stamina. Naruto could afford to spam chakra intensive jutsu, he had the raw power of a chakra no bakemono at his command. Sasuke had a Juin that drained his chakra to create more potent chakra in esoteric ways he didn't fully understand and Aoki had trouble explaining, something about energy in the wind, so he could afford a couple of precise strikes thanks to his evolved Sharingan.

He'd save that for messing with Neji if he could though, call it petty but he wanted to brag about evolving his dojutsu to match the Byakugan in viewing tenketsu and he wanted it to be grand. Aoki oddly encouraged this, insisting such ritualistic displays could even be considered a cause for glory earned in the eyes of Kami. Sasuke thought that was a little strange, but he knew the Konton no Kami worked in strange ways.

"Shouldn't you brats be in the town square?" The chunin manning the ramen stand asked, he almost wished the profits were all his for the duration of the exams with the way the oxen yokai and three armed young kunoichi put away ramen.

Fu's team had left her with her new friends, and Shino had stayed behind to watch matches while Kiba returned to the room he and the Aburame shared to check the security of the place as it was approaching evening. Naruto swallowed his mouthful of ramen, "Nah, our teams all won, I'm sure Sasuke will mention anyone interesting later." he said with a grin, "He likes to brag about anything, even his information gathering, makes him a great informant." he laughed.

Hinata hadn't expected that level of insight from the blonde, and wondered just how much people underestimating him for acting so carefree. Fu just nodded as if Naruto had taught her a valuable lesson, which Hinata supposed he might have technically done that.

"So, you yokai grant wishes or something?" The chunin asked curiosly, having heard a drunk man insist it was true once.

Naruto considered it for a long moment, "Shrine." he said finally, returning to eating his ramen.

"Shrine?" The chunin asked, wondering what the lion pelt wearing genin was on about.

Naruto finished off his current bowl before answering, "A shrine of Kajo no Kami, Slaanesh-kaasama. My magnificent self has granted the wishes of Daimyo, Hime, and even humble carpenters and they have all granted shrines in exchange." he explained, recalling that technically the same even applied to Neji to an extent.

The chunin blinked slowly, "What?" he asked for further clarification, confused by what he'd heard. For one, Naruto was claiming to be the son of a Kami, and for two he was responding seriously to a question the temporary ramen chef had meant partially as a joke.

Fu nodded, "Yeah, we got one in Takigakure no Sato, the kids insisted that he and Shibuki-sama are true heroes." she explained, "So I'm friends with a hero of Taki!" she declared proudly. Hinata was glad to hear the use of friend, no other connotations to be had there.

Rock Lee was oddly disappointed, he was looking forward to getting a chance to prove his taijutsu, but Naruto had left. He felt a little guilty that he wanted to fight and beat team seven in the first phase, but more guilty he felt like defeating a team of Kusa genin was less impressive. Lee expected Neji to cause another wipe, they were more common than Arashi had expected as many teams had apparently thought to simply put their strongest fighters up first.

It was a risky tactic but it had worked for most, and it would probably work when Neji tore through whatever Kusa team was unfortunate enough to get paired against them. His team being the only team that wasn't from Kusa left, and much to his impatiant annoyance his team was in fact up last. The bowl cut young genin almost forgot this in his eagerness to show his stuff, but he stood right at the edge of the arena ready to jump in an a moments notice.

Neji stared down the Kusa genin his team was up against, the kunoichi was the youngest of this particular cell and had a strange weapon, a polearm with a crescent blade, like a sickle but more. The Hyuga was most concerned by her, but she was up last, the enemy scout was an older genin wielding a spear with red tassle on the end almost as heavily armored as Sakura. Armor wasn't much protection against Juken though, chakra tended to blow right through, at worst he might hurt his fingers on the lamellar but he was confident he could handle armed opponents without a weapon.

To prove this confidence he took a low stance and waited for his opponent to come at him, seemingly granting the initiative to the opponent with the longer reach. When the man got within range the Hyuga activated his Byakugan and spoke up, "You just entered my divination," he declared as he leaped past the thrust of his opponents spear, ignoring the grazing blow that cut through his shirt and grazed him under the right side of his ribs, and began his taijutsu combination, "two palms, four palms, eight palms," he intoned, striking rapidly in swift succession as he stepped after his stunned opponent, "sixteen palms, thirty-two palms, sixty-four palms!" he announced, his hands a blur as he finished the kata with the final palm strike pushing his opponent back.

Tenten frowned, "He really didn't need to go so hard so soon." she muttered, but Neji had been wanting to show that off for a while. Then he noticed Hinata, the only person who would appreciate the meaning behind the taijutsu, wasn't even there. The Hyuga sighed, but took a more neutral ready stance for the next opponent, this man pulling out a kusarigama that had farming scythes on both ends of the chain.

Neji dived under the first swinging scythe to come at him, halting his momentum and back-flipping over the other coming from the opposite direction before dashing in and delivering two swift Juken strikes, following up with another four strikes as he stepped around his opponent in a circle. The Kusa genin might as well have been defenseless for all the good his guard did, the Hyuga smirked as he faced down the last Kusa shinobi.

The kunoichi was affixing a Fuin tag to her hitai-ate to dangle over her right eye, Neji's smirk faltered as he recalled his own teammates use of Fuinjutsu lately, a sense of foreboding coming over the Hyuga as he analyzed his opponent.

Aside from the obvious polearm and odd Fuin tag, the kunoichi seemed rather plain, light brown hair and dark brown eyes with lightly tanned skin. Then she moved, Neji almost panicked as he was forced on the defensive, evading the wild circular motions of the crescent blade used against him. The Hyuga was trying to figure out if the Fuin tag was significant or a distraction, which if it was the latter it had done its job well, and the Kusa kunoichi had a bored expression despite her erratic moves, spinning the polearm and practically dancing with the weapon to land glancing blows along Neji's arms as he tried to defend himself.

The Hyuga prodigy was used to training against a bukijutsu specialist, but there was something intensely different about his current situation and it took him a moment to pinpoint it. Intent, while Tenten attacked him with weapons with the intent of Neji getting better at defending against an armed opponent his current enemy had killing intent. He was also used to being fast enough to catch shuriken out of the air without cutting his fingers, but his opponent was alarmingly vicious considering she was attacking an unarmed opponent.

Given how dangerous the Juken was Neji supposed he couldn't blame his opponent, but he was baffled that Kusa had a genin of such caliber, it was almost a pity that she'd come up against Neji. As the Hyuga smirked, he prepared to spin into the Kaiten, when his opponent pulled back as if recognizing he was up to something. Neji frowned, wondering if the mere upward twitch of the corner of his mouth had been enough to alert his opponent to his next move.

Blood dripped down the Hyuga's arms, his opponent stepping back gave him a moment to check his damage, two long cuts on the back of his left forearm, a shallow cut under his left pinky, a pair of cuts that had come from one parry across his right index and middle fingers, and another long but shallow cut from elbow to wrist on the back of his right forearm. Including the graze he'd gotten from the Kusa's scout the pale eyed boy was starting to lose patience, he brought his right arm back as his right pinky and ring fingers curled towards his palm.

"Shifuku no Kurushimi!" Neji announced, surprising Sasuke and Sakura as he used a dark blue whip of chakra to return the favor of being carved up to his opponent, flicking drops of blood from the ends of his fingers as he did. The young kunoichi cried out in pain as she stumbled back, clearly not expected the Hyuga to have a mid range attack that cut her up even worse than he was. Neji still wasn't sure what the Fuin tag did but he lunged forward to finish the match before the kunoichi could catch her footing, even then she managed to catch his left fingers with the haft of her weapon before his right palm shot into her solar plexus underneath said guard.

The Kua kunoichi stumbled back breathlessly and Neji followed by sliding into a low stance and jabbing her in the right thigh with his left index and middle fingers, sending the girl stumbling further off balance and with another step forward the Hyuga hopped over the countering low arcing swing of the cresent blade of his opponent to deliver a right palm thrust, to her credit the younger genin managed to get her haft in the way but was still off balance and thrown to the ground as Neji landed light on his feet.

The Kusa kunoichi sighed, lifted her left hand to touch the Fuin tag she'd affixed to her hitai-ate with one finger. The tag glowed red, chakra flowing into it before the blood on her weapon started to glow. Then Neji's wounds started to sting, then they were bleeding heavier, "You know what, Fuinjutsu is terrifying." he decided bluntly, powering through how weird and wrong it felt to have his blood pouring out from his body.

He managed to lift and throw his shorter opponent much to her surprise, before he leaped to deliver one last palm thrust that sent her the rest of the way out of the arena boundry. There was a tense moment as the Hyuga stumbled and the girl caught the edge of the ring with her crescent blade, but the stone platform snapped under her steel weaponry and Neji managed to remain standing as iryonin moved to provide medical care.

"Well, what a finale," Arahashi mused, "I've seen Juken before, so I know that was impressive for a genin." he praised, "Gai's team advances to the second phase!" he added loudly, as his duty as officiator and proctor dictated, before turning back to the young Hyuga, "I didn't know you Hyuga had a whip ninjutsu though." he finished.

Neji smirked, "I learned that one from being Kajo no Ninso." he bragged, proud of himself for having incorporated it so smoothly into Juken. He was surprised to see Hinata using the Rasengan as she had, but he still felt confident he was better with Juken. He still needed more practice before he could reliably parry blades with his bare hands, but he'd get Tenten to help him with that when they had time.