I'm thinking about doing a fanfiction where Naruto is able to use Senjutsu early on in his life, as for how I'm going to have him with the Tenseigan I still have no idea how I'm going to make that work, but I'll think of something. Also on another note, Celestial Being and Journey Through Kanto are not abandoned so don't worry.
The finals for the Chūnin exams continue on. After Omoi forfeited the match to Yugito Nii the next match up is between Shikamaru and Temari, but the Nara heir's motivation is non-existent. What will he do? Forfeit or fight?
Shikamaru sighed as he stared at the floating clouds in the sky looking bored out of his mind. Why was he here again? Oh yeah, his sensei signed them up for the Chūnin exams. Why was he about to fight another girl? Because Naruto threatened to toss him down here with the help of his clones. After years of observing the blonde he knew that wasn't just some empty threat, it was a promise. Dammit. Why couldn't he just watch the clouds as much as pleased without having to be bothered by something as pointless as the Chūnin exams, and to add insult to injury he had to fight another girl, but not just any girl it was the same girl that dominated Tenten and showed no mercy at all.
'This is such a drag. Of all the people they could have paired me up with it just had to be her. Just look at that face, I recognize that kind of expression anywhere. My mom would use the same look on dad whenever she was pissed off.' Shikamaru thought trying to figure a way out of this situation but knew there was none.
Temari was glaring at her opponent, 'What's with this idiot? He's got that stupid look on his face.'
"Next match between Temari Sabaku and Shikamaru Nara…begin!" Genma announced getting out of the way.
Shikamaru sighed as he once again looked up at the sky to stare at the clouds watching them float freely without a care in the world, 'I wish I was a cloud…that way I won't have to do anything.'
Temari slammed her fan down, "What's with that stupid look on your face?"
Shikamaru reluctantly turned his attention back to her, "This is way too troublesome. Why did they pair me up with another girl, and of all girls why did it have to be you of all people?"
A tick mark appeared on her forehead.
Competitors Box
Naruto shook his head, "He said that out loud and to her face. Genius or not that was stupid to say."
"Shikamaru-san…" Hinata sighed.
Stands
Ino smacked the palm of her hand to her forehead, "That sexist idiot…"
Choji munched on his chips merrily, "Shikamaru's always been this way, so it's really not all that surprising."
"But still." In sighed.
Tenten was frowning at Temari, "She's no pushover that's for sure. I still can't believe she managed send all of my weapons flying like that."
"It was a bad match up Tenten, had it been someone else your victory would have been absolute." Neji tried cheering her up.
"Thanks." She smiled.
"Yosh! Neji-kun and Tenten flames are burning brightly!" Lee exclaimed.
Tenten pulled on his cheeks with a blush on her face, "Shut up, Lee!"
Neji didn't bother to stop her either. There are just some things that are better left unsaid.
"Is Shikamaru even gonna be able to win against her? The guy's too damn lazy." Kiba said looking uninterested.
"You shouldn't underestimate Shikamaru," Choji told Kiba seriously which took everyone by surprise, "Naruto told me something once back when we were all in the Academy Naruto told me something."
"What did he tell you?" Sakura wondered.
"He said, "If by any chance I go up against Shikamaru there's a chance I'd lose unless I can manage to trick him into doing something stupid and manage to win." Choji quoted.
All the rookies began to think about the blonde's words regarding the Nara heir and his hidden potential. If Naruto says is true then Shikamaru might be a prodigy just as much as Sasuke and Neji.
Asuma smiled having heard what Choji said, "Naruto's spent a lot of time around Shikamaru to know enough not to underestimate. His opponent shouldn't underestimate him either."
"What do you mean?" Kurenai questioned.
Asuma turned his smile to her, "Believe it or not Shikamaru's IQ is 200, meaning he's a lot smarter than he's showing. He's a smart young man he just needs some motivation."
Yamato nodded in agreement, "That's true, and since he's going up against Temari there's no telling what he'll do."
"Should be interesting to watch then." Asuma said.
Arena
Temari wasted no time in coming at Shikamaru since he wasn't moving, lifting her fan in the air she slammed it down right where Shikamaru was standing causing some smoke to appear and cracks in the ground. Once the smoke cleared up it revealed Shikamaru was gone.
"What?" Temari looked around.
"Ninpō: Kagemane no Jutsu (Ninja Art: Shadow Possession Jutsu)!" a voice announced from behind the pigtail wearing blonde kunoichi forcing her to jump away quickly having seen a black shadow stretch out towards her.
She managed to get some distance and use her fan to create a line in the ground to prevent the shadow from coming anywhere near her. 'That was close! I need to keep my distance from him as much as possible so I don't get caught by his shadow. Lucky for me his shadow jutsu seems to have a limit as to how far he can stretch it.'
Shikamaru having seen his jutsu failed to capture her hid back in the trees where he was partially hidden by the shadows the trees created to conceal him from Temari while he thought of his next move.
'I figured she'd do that, even created a line in the ground to determine how far I can send out my jutsu. She's not the type to go down without a fight either, so this match could drag out longer than I want it to. Troublesome.' He did a pose and closed his eyes thinking of his next move.
Competitors Box
"Shikamaru's the type to think of everything like it's a game of Shōgi," Naruto spoke, "This is just another one of those instances where he sees this match as a game of Shōgi. Two pawns are trying to checkmate each other using their own individual skills."
"So Shikamaru-san has a chance of winning against Temari-san?" Hinata questioned.
"Actually this match could go either way. Shikamaru or Temari could win, but with Shikamaru he might be able to pull off a win intentionally or unintentionally." Naruto smiled.
Hinata giggled, "That's true."
"There's a possibility Shikamaru could be victorious in this battle." Shino added his two cents.
"Yep." Naruto agreed.
Stands
"Neither of them are moving." Kurenai observed.
"Shikamaru's trying to think of what his next move will be," Asuma explained, "I told you his IQ is 200, so its possible he's already thought of what possible moves he's going to use against Temari in order to back her into a corner and win this match."
Kurenai gave him a shocked look, "That's…incredible. If he's so smart then why in the world does he act so lazy?"
"He's a Nara Kurenai." Asuma reminded.
"Right…" she had forgotten that some of them are lazy, including Shikaku when he feels like it.
Arena
Shikamaru snapped his eyes open having thought of several strategies in how to deal with Temari, all he was waiting for is…
Temari didn't want to waste anymore time and came at the Nara heir making him smirk. That was what he was waiting for. She slammed her fan down on the ground once again right where he was only to see he was nowhere in sight making her look around again.
"Up here."
Looking she saw the smirking Nara looking down at her with his hands in his pockets, "Just what I was hoping you'd do." He said as a shadow began to crawl down forcing her to jump away from him to get some distance.
'Dammit! He was counting on me charging at him so he could get me close up to use his jutsu on me! Sneaky bastard!' she thought getting far enough but her eyes soon widened when she saw the shadow almost get her as it stretched out far again taking her by surprise, 'What the hell?! But how?!' she backed up some more and was finally far enough to wonder how the hell did he manage to stretch out his shadow. She had opened her fan and used it to shield her and create another line in the ground, 'How the hell did he manage to stretch it out some more?!' hearing something fall to the ground she peaked her head out and saw how he did it. A kunai! 'He used a kunai to make it stretch out some more! If I hadn't moved quick enough he would have gotten me!'
"Temari above you!" Kankuro's voice shouted alerting her.
She looked up and saw a jacket floating above her making her eyes widen as the shadow stretched again forcing her to once again move back to avoid getting caught.
"You won't escape!" Shikamaru said having appeared out in the open once he saw her open her fan up and was stretching out his shadow to try and capture her.
Temari clicked her tongue having finally gotten enough distance where the shadow couldn't reach her. She didn't have time to relax though as she saw kunai fly right past her and explode causing smoke to appear and cloud her vision, "Trying to prevent me from seeing you, huh? Well two can play at that game!" declared, "Ninpō: Fūsajin no Jutsu (Ninja Art: Sandstorm Jutsu)!" she used her fan to generate a gust of wind that layered the surrounding area in a blast of sand blinding Shikamaru forcing him to jump back this time to regain some part of his vision which worked as he covered his eyes so no sand would get in them.
"You're done!" Temari declared only to find she couldn't move much to her shock, "Wh-What?! I can't move!"
Shikamaru smirked, "Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession Jutsu) successful."
"What?! How?!" Temari exclaimed.
"I'll let you look behind you." Shikamaru looked behind him forcing Temari to do the same. Her eyes widened when she noticed a gaping hole in the ground, "If your confused I'll explain it to you. When the match first started you slammed your fan into the ground causing the first hole in the ground to appear." He allowed her to look forward again and she noticed the first hole she created which was right in the middle of them.
'How did I miss that?!' she thought.
"As for that second hole in the ground I made that myself when I threw that explosive kunai at you. You probably thought I was using it to obscure your vision, which is about half right because I wanted to make sure you couldn't see me or the hole I created." He explained.
Temari was flabbergasted, 'He planned all of this?!'
Shikamaru sighed as he made the following hand signs, Dragon → Tiger → Rat "This is too troublesome, but I have to do this," he said, "Ninpō: Kage–Kubishibari no Jutsu (Ninja Art: Shadow Strangle Jutsu)." The shadow below Temari started crawling up her aiming right for her neck shaping into a hand to try and strangle her, "Nothing personal, but will you forfeit? I don't feel right strangling a girl to death."
Temari couldn't move nor was she in any position to deny his request either. There was only one thing to do in this situation, and that was forfeit.
"Proctor I forfeit." Temari said in a defeated tone. Her pride had taken a big blow today, and she would surely never forget this match either.
Genma appeared before them, "Winner by forfeit, Shikamaru Nara!"
With another sigh Shikamaru released Temari going over to get his jacket before walking away, "Good thing too because I'm out of chakra. What a troublesome day this is."
Hokage Booth
Hiruzen smiled, "Interesting. I was expecting Shikamaru to forfeit, but I guess he decided to end it in his own unique way."
A looked at the old man, "What kind of ninja forfeits as soon as he has his opponent backed into a corner?"
"Obviously you've never been around a Nara." Hiruzen joked.
A thought about it before agreeing with that assessment, "You have a point."
Kazekage/Orochimaru chuckled.
Stands
Kiba stared down at the arena in complete shock, "He won…he actually won…"
Choji smiled, "I told you."
"Alright! Way to go, Shikamaru!" Ino cheered.
"Take that you wind blowing blonde-" Tenten ranted before her mouth was covered by Lee and Neji knowing whatever she had to say would not be good.
"Wow, Shikamaru's something else." Sakura said.
Asuma smirked, "You see? I told you."
"Yes you did." Kurenai sighed with a smile.
Yamato smiled, "He may be lazy and unmotivated but he has the skills to become a Chūnin."
"Yeah~!" Bee agreed.
"Shikamaru's flames of youth are burning bright!" Gai yelled in excitement.
Zabuza had a tick mark on his forehead, "Will you shut the hell up already?!"
Haku sighed as Anko laughed her ass off at Zabuza's expense.
Competitors Box
Naruto smiled having sensed Shikamaru walk back over to them, "Nice work, though to be honest I was expecting you to forfeit."
"I was going to but then remembered what my mom told me if I even thought about it." Shikamaru sighed.
"What did she say?" Hinata asked.
"She said she'd ban me from playing Shōgi ever again if I so much as forfeited the match." Shikamaru grumbled.
Naruto snorted, "Well the threat worked."
"She wasn't saying that to be threatening." Shikamaru deadpanned.
"Your problem." Naruto said unsympathetically.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru grumbled again.
Hinata giggled at them, while Shino said nothing and simply observed as he waited for his match to start. Temari came back to the competitor's side and glared hard daggers at the Nara heir but Shikamaru could honestly care less about it.
Arena
"For the next match, Kankuro Sabaku and Shino Aburame come down here!"
Competitors Box
Kankuro clicked his tongue, 'My match just had to be right after Temari's. Anyway, I can't risk showing my skills here and out in the open.' And with that he raised his hand, "Proctor, I forfeit!"
Shino raised a brow at that but said nothing.
Arena
"Winner by forfeit, Shino Aburame!" Genma announced.
The crowd started booing Kankuro would just stood there not really caring about it all that much. He had to stick to the plan.
"Final match will be against Gaara Sabaku and Sasuke Uchiha!"
Gaara materialized down to the arena using a Suna body flicker waiting for his opponent to show his face. Genma could feel the bloodlust coming off from the kid and had to suppress a shutter that travelled down his spine, but managed to ignore it in favor of wondering where the hell Sasuke Uchiha was.
"Sasuke Uchiha get down here now or you will be disqualified!" Genma yelled.
The crowd was starting to get anxious and started yelling demanding to see Sasuke Uchiha go up against Gaara Sabaku seeing as how some made bets on him except the foreign ninja who only came to see Naruto and weren't impressed by the 'Last Loyal Uchiha.'
Hokage Booth
A was starting to pissed off, "Hiruzen, will you please shut them up?! At least disqualify the Uchiha brat or something!"
Jiraiya nodded his head in agreement.
Hiruzen was considering it, "You're right Raikage-sama, though instead of disqualifying Sasuke I have another idea."
A and Kazekage/Orochimaru gave him a confused look as they saw the old man stand up and address the crowd making them go quiet, "When a shinobi doesn't show up for their own match it is a sign they have no respect for the Hokage or the village!" he declared making everyone shut their mouths and not say a word, "Though I will not disqualify Sasuke Uchiha I refuse to wait on him to appear nor will I make his opponent wait for him either. In Sasuke's place to fight Gaara will be Naruto Uzumaki!"
Competitors Box
Naruto's eyebrow twitched, "Did he just say what I think he said?"
Hinata gave him a nervous smile while Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders in response, "Looks like you'll be taking Sasuke's place until he shows up."
"I'd rather not, but since he already announced it I might as well get down there and get this over with." The blonde said summoning a shadow clone to help him down to the arena where he was standing before Gaara with not too happy expression as he sent the clone away, 'Might as well get this over with. Sasuke better get here before Genma announces we can begin.'
Kurama and Gyūki were snickering at the blonde's misfortune, "Suck to be you." The fox teased.
'…Whatever.'
Genma looked to the crowd and saw some who had no problem with Naruto going up against Gaara, but there were those who weren't all that interested wanting to see Sasuke's fight instead. He looked at the blonde seeing he didn't really care and looked bred out of his mind, 'Kid looks like he has no interest at all.'
Gaara grinned at Naruto, "Uzumaki…"
Naruto sighed gripping his blade, "Let's just get this over with already."
Genma raised his arm in the air, "Final match between Gaara Sabaku and Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki…"
Naruto's eyebrow twitched when the man used his full name, 'I'm getting sick of him using my full name like that.'
Before Genma could start the match a swirl of leaves interrupted revealing Kakashi and Sasuke standing back to back trying to look cool. Naruto could care less though for some of those that were cheering that Sasuke showed up. Kakashi gave an eye smile to Genma who didn't look impressed one bit, "Sorry about that, are we late?"
"Obviously Kakashi, Hokage-sama decided to let Naruto fight Gaara in Sasuke's place." Genma stated.
Kakashi's eyes widened in shock while Sasuke looked enrage they arrived late no thanks to Kakashi. Before any words could be said the blonde walked away much to their confusion, "Next time don't waste everyone's time and actually show up to your match." He made another shadow clone to help him get back up to the competitors box leaving a stunned Kakashi there.
Competitors Box
Naruto sent the shadow clone away as he appeared next to Hinata who gave him a worried look, "Are you okay?"
"I'm annoyed." Naruto told her.
"You look annoyed." Shikamaru said.
"In any case Sasuke Uchiha finally showed up to his match." Shino stated.
Naruto was massaging his temples, 'I'm not even gonna bother with warning him about Gaara either. Sasuke's a big boy and can take care of himself.'
Stands
Kakashi appeared in the stands giving everyone his famous eye smile, "Yo."
"Kakashi-sensei, your late! You missed everything!" Sakura yelled at him.
"Oh?" Kakashi said looking intrigued.
Yamato didn't look at him as he spoke, "Naruto won his match against Kurotsuchi, but before they started fighting the girl revealed his full heritage out in the open to everyone."
Kakashi's eyes widened, "What?!"
"Yo! Nine-O kicking ass and taking names, fool, ya fool!" Killer Bee rapped.
Asuma sighed, "How is that you missed out on Naruto's match? I get that Sasuke's your favorite student Kakashi but don't you think both Naruto and Sakura deserve your attention, too?"
Kurenai nodded her head in agreement.
"I don't prefer Sasuke over Naruto and Sakura." Kakashi told him.
Zabuza snorted, "Yeah, keep telling yourself that." He high-fived Anko as soon as he said that.
Kakashi didn't say anything as he let his lone eye fall on Naruto who was conversing with Hinata and Shikamaru, a part of him felt really guilty about not training Naruto or Sakura for that matter. Her match against Ino during the Preliminaries was his fault because he didn't try to knock that fangirl state out of her head and Naruto dominated his opponent without his help.
Arena
Gaara still kept his eyes on Naruto not even seeing Sasuke as a threat. The red head couldn't understand why, but there was something about the blonde that drew the sand user towards him. Whatever this feeling was he wouldn't ignore it anytime soon. A wall of sand blocked an incoming punch from Sasuke towards him making the re head turn his attention to the Uchiha.
"Keep your eyes on me!" Sasuke told him.
Gaara narrowed his eyes at the boy his sand already coming at him forcing Sasuke to retreat back to avoid getting caught by his sand using his nee speed that was similar to Lee's something both Gai and Lee noticed.
Stands
"Kakashi, did you by chance teach Sasuke about Lee's Taijutsu style?" Gai asked calmly surprising the Jounin around him.
"Well…I figured he needed some speed to help him against Gaara's sand." Kakashi explained.
"I see." Gai nodded.
Zabuza snorted, "I'd be pissed off if I were him."
"That's just how Gai is," Asuma commented, "I don't even think I've seen him angry."
"Me neither." Kurenai said.
"Go Sasuke-kun!" Ino shouted forcing Kiba to cover his ears.
"Seriously Ino I'm sitting right here!" Kiba complained.
Choji chuckled at Kiba's misfortune.
Lee was staring down at Gaara with an intense stare making his teammates look at him; both of them knew Lee wanted to fight Gaara again, but there's a chance he might not get to since people believe he may never become a ninja ever again.
Sakura said nothing as she stared down at Sasuke her face filled with worry, and how couldn't she not worry? Gaara had fought against Lee whose speed was too much for Sasuke to handle even with his Sharingan, yet the sand ninja had used his sand to block Lee's advances each time. Even when the Genin opened the Eight Gates tossed Gaara around like a ragdoll the sand ninja didn't even looked all that fazed by the assault nor injured as he willed his sand to crush both Lee's arm and leg.
'Please be careful, Sasuke-kun!'
Naruto wasn't all that worried about Sasuke since the Uchiha can think on his feet when the situation calls for it. Gaara's sand has two elemental weaknesses, fire and water. When water comes into contact with sand it makes it soggy and unusable, as for fire well he wasn't quite sure with that but he knew fire dominates sand, well Gaara's sand anyway. If Sasuke actually thinks about using his fire jutsu as a line of defense then he might have a chance to stall Gaara's sand strike, even use it against the red heads sand defense.
But here's the problem with that.
Sasuke's arrogance.
Sasuke's arrogant nature overrides his rational thinking, prime example was the very first C-rank mission turned A-rank they took in Nami no Kuni. When Zabuza showed up and insulted the Uchiha clan Sasuke threw all rationality out the window and almost did something stupid had he not stopped him. There's a limit to how arrogant a person can be, and in many cases arrogance can lead you to an early grave and that's especially true in the ninja world they live in. He couldn't blame Sasuke though, if anything the villagers share the blame for his behavior and how he treats people around him like they're beneath him. When the Uchiha Massacre happened everyone pampered him like a prince and never scolded him whenever he did something wrong, placing him on a pedestal and saying he could do no wrong because of his Uchiha blood. There's a huge difference between Sasuke and him though, unlike Sasuke he was scorned and loathed by both the shinobi and villagers of this village despite him being the son of the beloved Yondaime Minato Namikaze (aka-The Yellow Flash) and strongest kunoichi Kushina (aka-The Red Hot-Blooded Habanero). Having experience nothing but hardships in life made him a better person and able to understand others who have experienced the same hatred and prejudice as he suffered, and since he was a Jinchūriki he understood how the rest like him felt to be ostracized simply because your different. Now that it was out he was the son of the Yondaime and his wife Kushina Uzumaki the villagers would probably try to pamper him and treat him like some kind of prince like they do Sasuke every single day, well…he wanted no part of it. He'd been working hard since the very beginning and it was going to stay that way. Being pampered and having things handed to you on a silver platter means you cant grow as a person in his opinion, and that's not what he wants. He's not Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki.
He's Naruto Uzumaki. The same person before and now.
From within his mindscape he could feel pride rolling off of Kurama in droves with respect coming off from Gyūki as well. He was who he was, and that was never going to change.
The battle between Gaara and Sasuke felt like it was going to drag on with the Uchiha finally gaining enough speed to get through the sand ninja's defense only to have another layer of sand block his path once again making him clench his teeth. Gaining some distance between himself and the sand user he latched himself onto the wall of the stadium before doing some familiar hand signs that some Jounin recognized.
Ox → Rabbit → Monkey:
Gai's eyes widened having recognized the hand signs, "Kakashi! Did you really teach him that jutsu?!"
Kakashi eyed Gai out of the corner of his eye, "Yes I did. Because he's a lot like me."
Sakura looked confused, "What is it? What kind of jutsu is that?"
"It is known as Chidori (One Thousand Birds)," Gai started explaining, "Its an A-rank assassination jutsu that was created by Kakashi here."
The Genin all had wide eyes as Gai explained what kind of jutsu Sasuke was using.
"While I am in no position to tell you how to train your students teaching him that jutsu is very dangerous Kakashi." Gai said seriously.
"Says the person who taught his own Genin how to open the Eight Gates." Kakashi retorted.
"That's different and you know it!" Gai yelled.
"Yeah? How?"
"I have faith and complete trust in Lee to know he won't just open the gates as much as he wants as a last resort everytime or use it to show off!" Gai stated.
Lee had tears streaming down his eyes, "GAI-SENSEI~!"
Neji and Tenten both face palmed at his actions. He was just too much sometimes.
"Do you have something to say Gai?" Kakashi's tone sounded dangerous making some of the Genin there uncomfortable.
Zabuza was munching on some popcorn, "This is getting good."
"Pass me some of that." Anko said watching the scene herself.
Zabuza passed the popcorn over to her as Haku blinked in wonder, 'Now where in the world did he get that popcorn from?'
Instead of Gai speaking Yamato spoke up this time, "I believe what Gai is saying is that you favor Sasuke over both Naruto and Sakura, and while Naruto may not care about your laid back teaching methods I do."
Everyone looked back and forth between the two wondering if a fight was about to break out or something. Not good.
"Naruto gets more results training by himself or with other people than training with you," Yamato continued, "The one who taught him how keep a calm mind in situations was me, the one who taught him to value your comrades was Iruka Umino, the one who helped him improve his Kenjutsu skills was Zabuza Momochi, a missing-nin from Kirigakure no Sato no less."
Zabuza smirked still munching on his popcorn.
"What I'm saying is, Naruto got more training from us than he ever did with you. You didn't even bother to teach Sakura Haruno anything and it showed when she went up against Ino Yamanaka during the preliminaries it was sad to say the least." Yamato continued.
Sakura hung her head down in shame at that comment while Ino rubbed her back, but truth be told Ino felt bad herself for not giving her all during the preliminary round she didn't even train enough to improve her skills either, or lack there of anyway.
"As a matter of fact you could have given Sakura over to Kurenai who specializes in genjutsu or Anko for gods sake! Both would have been great tutors for her." Yamato said.
Kurenai and Anko beamed at the mention of their names.
Kakashi turned his attention to Yamato, "You might want to watch yourself Yamato."
Yamato stood up his gaze never leaving Kakashi's, "We're not in ANBU anymore…Kakashi-sempai."
The air between the two was thick and heavy, none of the other Jounin wanted to move from their positions and simply watched on to see what would happen next.
Asuma stood up slowly, "Now hold on you two, there's no reason to start a fight right now. Besides we need to focus more on Sasuke's match right now, alright?"
"Asuma's right, you both have to calm down." Kurenai said trying to calm them down.
Yamato and Kakashi kept their stares for a little while longer before they sat down and continued to watch Sasuke's match to the relief of everyone around them.
Sasuke came down from the wall charging at Gaara his speed increasing as he surged forward, "Chidori (One Thousand Birds)!" thrusting his arm forward he managed to pierce through Gaara's defense little by little actually getting him in the shoulder making it bleed.
There was stunned silence from Temari and Kankuro who couldn't believe Gaara actually got injured enough to draw blood. There was a sudden spike of killing intent as everyone around the stadium felt it coming off of Gaara in droves making some people feel uncomfortable.
"Blood…my blood!" Gaara made a crazed look before he sent a sand arm to punch Sasuke in the stomach sending him far away from the boy. Sasuke got up slowly holding his stomach as he watched Gaara's form change into something monstrous, half of his body became sand with him sporting a sand arm with claws and half his face showing a yellow eye and ears.
"Shit! Gaara's gone berserk!" Kankuro cursed.
"Gaara…" Temari said.
Naruto felt a spike in Gaara's chakra, 'This is not good.'
"Naruto." Kurama warned.
The blonde gripped his blade tightly in his hands, 'Yeah, I know.' Just then Naruto felt the air become distorted somewhat making him look around in confusion, 'Distortion? A Genjutsu!' "Kai!" he dispelled it, "What's going on?"
"You're being invaded that's what happening!" Kurama stated the obvious.
'Well thanks for that information.' Naruto deadpanned.
"Incoming! Enemies are headed right for you!" Gyūki warned.
'How many?'
"Five." Kurama told him.
Naruto felt all five of them surround him, "Can I help you?"
"You are to come with us so that we may take you to Orochimaru-sama." One of the ninja declared.
"I'll pass thank you, but your more than welcome to try and make me." Naruto invited them to try something. Not long after he said that all five of them came at him but he remained calm disappearing from sight taking all five by surprise, "Aka Senkō (Red Flash)." With a red after image he swiped his blade once before sheathing it again, as soon as he did all five ninja's lost their heads, arms, and legs before falling to the ground dead.
He landed gracefully on the ground before trying to find where the other enemies were, "There are some near where the other Genin and Jounin are."
Kurama gave a vicious smirk, "Time to seek and destroy."
"Sounds good to me." Naruto said before disappearing again from the stands unaware that Shino, Shikamaru, and Hinata had woken up right after he killed those five sound ninja's.
"Naruto-kun…" Hinata said sadly.
Shikamaru clicked his tongue, "Shino."
"I've already placed one of my female insects on him." Shino told him.
"Thanks."
"What are you planning, Shikamaru-san?" Hinata wondered.
"You'll see."
Naruto appeared right when the Jounin and some Genin were taking down some of the sound ninja's. The sound ninja turned their attention to the blonde who already had his blade out, the blonde tilted his head, "There's a lot of you…oh well." he killed the first three in front of him before moving on to the others that were near the Genin wasting no time in ending their lives without any sort of remorse what-so-ever. He jumped in the air sensing two enemies tried to get him from behind before taking their heads clean off. Moving on he stabbed one in the chest before moving onto the other taking off their arms, legs and just plain cutting them in half. The last one was near Kakashi, having moved around the Jounin he cut the last one in half hearing a sickening sound before the body fell to the ground. With a sigh Naruto put his blade away, "That's that I guess."
The Genin and Jounin around him were left flabbergasted at the fact the blonde Genin killed the sound ninja near them without hesitation and didn't even look tired. The Genin didn't know what to feel seeing the person they went to the Academy with kill with a calm expression on his face as though it didn't bother him.
Naruto made a familiar hand sign, "Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu)." Multiple shadow clones appeared all around making more Jounin's jaws hit the ground all wondering the same thing.
'How the hell does he have all that chakra to create this many shadow clones?!'
"Group one help the civilians get to the shelters, Group two got help keep the enemies away from the hospital, Group three go to the Academy and assist the instructors there, and for the last group…if you encounter any enemies kill them." Naruto ordered.
The clones saluted all replying at once, "YES, BOSS!" and with that they did what they were ordered to do.
Naruto sighed wondering what he should do next, luckily Kurama helped him with that.
"Naruto, Gaara and his siblings have already left the area, go after them!" Kurama informed him.
'Direct me where to go!'
Having received directions from Kurama Naruto took off after the sand siblings not caring that Genma had prevented Baki from stopping and he ignored Sasuke's calls. He had a really bad feeling about this! He had to get to Gaara and now!
"Naruto!" Kakashi called out.
Shikamaru, Shino, and Hinata appeared followed by Omoi and Yugito. Killer Bee stood up, "Yugito go to Nine-O and do your thing, fool, ya fool!"
Yugito nodded and took off in the same direction Naruto did.
"Omoi assist!" Bee ordered.
"Understood." Omoi said.
"Asuma-sensei, with permission I'd like to go after Naruto." Shikamaru said.
"Me as well." Shino said.
"Me too!" Hinata volunteered.
Kiba stood up from his seat, the image of Naruto killing those guys still in his mind but right now that wasn't important, "I'm going, too!"
"I'd like to go, too!" Choji didn't hesitate to go.
"Gai-sensei, please allow me to assist Naruto Uzumaki in going after those Suna shinobi." Neji requested.
"I'm going too!" Tenten declared.
Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai couldn't help but feel pride for their students as they each volunteered to go after Naruto and help him. The Will of Fire burns brightly.
"Permission granted!" Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai allowed.
They didn't need to be told twice as all of them went after their classmate to help him out. Sasuke wasn't in the same area anymore so that could only mean he went after the blonde too. This was their home and they'd defend it without fail, and besides…they needed to show the blonde he wasn't alone anymore and that he can rely on other to help him out whenever he needs it.
For that is the Will of Fire!
Next Time: Birth of a Legend