Welcome back for an update for Senju Scion. I hope you are liking it so far. I know I enjoy writing it. Let's touch on some housekeeping then dive in as quick as can be so that we can start looking at the next portion of the first chunin exams. A quick note as well. Pretty much this entire chapter is made up of the various matches of the last segment of the chunin exams. So expect a heavy focus on the fights.
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Anyway let's get into it, shall we?
Chapter Six
The Show
The last month had been a strange fusion of harsh training for Naruto and his teammates as well as unnerving mind games with the other competitors. As it was, the whole team had more or less secluded themselves onto the Senju estate for the duration of their month-long training period.
The Hokage had explained that the matches in the tournament would be completely randomized so they could even end up fighting one another. So they had to be careful to keep some of their training a secret from one another. Thankfully each of them was less than inclined to try and peek in on one another's training like that.
After getting details about what they had encountered in the second stage Hiruzen had made it clear each of his ringers would be receiving specialized training from an individual sensei. Honestly deciding who would teach who had been rather easy as well.
For Minako, no one was a better fit than Jiraiya. The developing apprenticeship that had begun when she had been assigned to him only strengthened as Jiraiya worked with her to both develop her basics to a level few others could imagine and turn her natural talent for fuinjutsu into a very real threat.
Kushina was a little bit harder. In the end, her former Jonin sensei was also determined as the best choice for her. Unlike with Jiraiya and Minako however it was primarily because Kushina was comfortable enough to share details of his family's most closely guarded secrets regarding what they were capable with their unique chakra and Kushina's even more unique chain constructs. With further training in the use of her core Shinobi skills including the use of blades, smoke bombs, and projectiles she was becoming very well rounded.
Lastly Naruto was more or less fought over between Tsunade and Orochimaru. Hiruzen had played with the idea of taking over his training himself but it would have looked terrible for the Hokage to do such a thing and he was effectively swamped with preparations for the public portion of the event itself. Instead he eventually settled upon Orochimaru for the sole reason that she seemed the best capable at helping him develop his mokuton further without trying to simply recreate the exact same techniques that Hashirama had once used. Tsunade wasn't exactly pleased, but she did concede as long as it was Orochimaru helping him. She even made sure that they had all the scrolls her grandfather had left behind and joined in to heal her son anytime he needed so that he could train even longer than he would normally be able too. Not that she didn't do the same for the girls.
With a rough idea of at least the abilities of their fellow Konoha team in the tournament as well as a basic idea on the capabilities of Kumo's team, the three of them worked themselves harshly and impressed even the likes of Orochimaru with their growth over a single month's time. They didn't have the time to completely incorporate new aspects of course, but their abilities would be extremely refined by the time they stepped into the arena.
The Hokage demanded as much.
So today, as the newly built arena was filled with a roaring crowd, the twelve combatants entered and stood proudly before the collected audience.
From his perch on a raised platform Hiruzen gazed down at the young genin preparing for battle. On either side of him were representatives from Kumo and Kiri, the only other villages to have contestants make it this far. They hadn't sent their actual kage, trust between the villages was nowhere near stable enough for a village leader to step into another's center of power. Perhaps one day they might, as Hiruzen dreamed, but currently such a thing was little more than wishful thinking.
The Third Hokage signaled the jonin acting as the tournament proctor stepped in front of the twelve gathered contenders and used a minor supplementary technique to allow his voice to reach the entire stadium.
"Welcome to the third and final leg of the joint Chunin Exam. Before you all are the twelve finalists for this exam. Four full teams of genin. I will be the acting proctor for the exam and act as both judge and referee for the matches. While I will decide the victors and losers of specific matches, only those leaders among their own villages who are watching will decide on the promotion of the fighters to the rank of chunin. Your win or loss here will not decide your promotion, but the more matches you claim victory in, the more opportunities you have to achieve a promotion. That being said, there will be no debate or argument to my rulings. Am I understood?" The proctor asked the gathered genin.
After a series of nods and grunted affirmatives, he pivoted to point at a screen above the back wall of the arena.
"On that screen will appear the contenders for each match as the fights are completely randomized. Our first two fighters will be…Minako Namikaze of Konoha and Yukumi Himaya of Konoha. All other fighters please move to the observation room until your name is called." The Proctor declared.
The contestants trailed off toward one of the doorways in the arena wall while Minako and Yukumi took position. Hiruzen frowned slightly at two Konoha shinobi facing one another but truth be told it at least lent some believability that he had in fact ensured the matches were random and thereby fair in the tournament.
Minako stood across from the other girl and frowned slightly. Besides knowing that the tan dark haired girl was an earth style user she didn't know all that much about her abilities or fighting style. Like Minako she was a civilian born shinobi and even a war orphan but was roughly four years older than Minako herself with quite a bit more experience under her belt as a result.
"Minako, Yukumi, on my signal the fight will start. Are you ready?" The proctor asked.
"Yes." Minak said as she lowered her center of mass and licked her lips to wet them as the crowd rapidly picked up in volume as they waited for the action to begin.
"Let's do this!" Yukumi called out with a grin.
"Very well! Match One start!" The Proctor cried.
The audience roared only to quickly drop off in excitement as both girls stood stock still and stared at one another.
"Just to let you know, no hard feelings. Alright?" Yukumi said with a friendly smile.
"Yeah, same to you." Minako somewhat awkwardly replied.
"Lets not keep the crowd waiting then. I'll make this quick." The older girl said with a smirk before running through some hand seals rapidly.
Minako recognized the seals even if the older girl clearly had enough practice with her techniques to cut out several of the seals one normally needed. She all but melted into the ground and disappeared below it's surface as if the solid earth had become water.
The blonde tensed. She had prepared for this. Perhaps not as much as some of the more threatening opponents, but with Jiraiya as her sensei, she had been trained to take on an earth user. She had actually even been trained to take on this specific technique. So there were tiny almost imperceptible tells of where her foe was located beneath the ground.
The tiny ripple across the ground, almost like a tiny little wave was the only real warning she had before Yukumi burst from the ground with a blow meant to knock Minako out in a single hit. Minako was the fastest of her generation though. Much faster than Yukumi was as well.
The tan girl dove back into the ground as Minako easily stepped around her attack. It was hardly a moment later that she burst out of the ground again, only for Minako to once again dodge around her and try to counter.
It should have been easy enough. The main weakness of Yukumi's technique was that she couldn't see what her opponent was doing, only sense their position. However as Minako's kunai moved forward to land a wound, Yukumi tightly grasped the younger girl's wrist and began pulling her down toward the ground as well.
Minako's eyes widened as the other girl's plan to trap her in the ground became clear. It was too slow though. Without the use of hand signs Minako managed to substitute herself and escape the move, instead reappearing in the small clump of saplings along one side of the arena.
Yukumi clenched her teeth but said nothing as she moved back into the ground and picked up speed for another round of attacks. This time however it took a little longer for her to reach Minako on the other side of the arena. So as Yukumi broke the surface of the ground this time she found herself caught in some sort of barrier. One that forced the earth to solidify behind her.
"Sorry, but I took your idea and decided to make it quick." Minako said with a cheeky grin as Yukumi realized she was in fact completely trapped. She couldn't see what Minako was doing while she was underground, her reflexes were usually fast enough to make up for such an advantage, but if the trap was already set before she surfaced, it didn't matter how quick her reflexes were.
"Winner Minako Namikaze!" The proctor called out as Minako released Yukumi from the trap.
The audience applauded. The show of techniques to the primarily civilian audience was something, though it was hard to really call what they had seen a fight. Neither girl had really landed a blow on the other and it ended with a pretty obvious looking trap.
"Next match, Atsunami Imakira of Kiri and Tomoe of Kumo, please step into the arena now." The Proctor called.
As Minako rejoined her teammates they happily greeted and congratulated her.
"Her earth jutsu was more advanced than we expected." Naruto commented in regards to Minako's former opponent.
"It was but we knew that our opponents would have tricks up their sleeves. She was pretty one dimensional still though. I don't think she had much to offer beyond that subterranean voyage knockoff." Minako replied.
"Still sucks you had to go up against a fellow leaf nin. If these things are really completely random like the old man said, then we might even end up fighting each other." Kushina chimed into the conversation.
"If we do, we'll just try to make a good show." Minako said.
The trio fell into silence as they turned to Naruto was clearly focused on the Kumo girl as she stepped into the arena across from her opponent. Naruto had been a bit focused on her since his month long training began. After the Hokage and his mother had practically forced the information about what had happened in the second stage out of him, Naruto had clammed up tightly about his interaction with the kumo nin. It had obviously weighed heavily on him, but much to his teammates' and family's dismay Naruto wasn't about to talk about how Tomoe had essentially pushed him into killing a comrade.
Instead Orochimaru had used the obvious discontent the boy had but couldn't properly articulate to spur him into harsher and harsher training during the month break. Now that the tournament was here, he couldn't help but focus on her. He wanted a rematch badly.
"We should use this as a chance to get some idea of what to expect from the kiri competitors. They are the only ones we have only names for." Minako said pulling Naruto's attention back a bit from the narrowed focus he had on the Kumo girl.
"Right." He said quietly.
Down in the arena the proctor jumped back as the second match of the tournament began. Tomoe did not disappoint. She was still incredibly fast and clearly well versed with her blade as she crossed the open ground of the arena toward her foe in a single blur of speed.
Before she could reach Atsunami though she had to dodge a brace of senbon and shuriken aimed at kill spots though. The speed and accuracy that the kiri girl used her ranged weapons sent the crowd into a roaring applause as several weapons sparked while being deflected by Tomoe's sword.
"They're both so fast." Kushina said as they watched the girls maneuver faster than most of their audience could keep up. Minako made a slightly sour look but didn't say anything. She had some other tricks up her sleeve after all and those two weren't on her level of speed. Not when she really cut loose.
"Come on Tomoe! Finish this already!" The shorter of the two remaining kumo genin shouted.
"Relax Kai. Tomoe has far more stamina than that girl. She can't run away forever." The tall blond boy from Kumo said with a confident smirk.
Down below Tomoe heard her teammates and decided she would pick it up a notch as she started to weave some handsigns, only to stop as she realized that she wasn't the only one planning on changing things up a little bit.
A thick mist began filling the arena and Tomoe realized too late that her opponent had been building up the mist for exactly this the entire time they had been playing their little game of cat and mouse.
"She's got her that easily." Naruto said in a slightly annoyed tone.
"What, just realizing that Tomoe was more than you could have really handled in the end kiddo?" Kai asked rudely.
Naruto didn't reply but Kai's own teammate did.
"He wasn't talking about Tomoe. She never got her technique off. She has to be able to see what she is aiming at for it, but that hidden mist jutsu made that impossible." The Blond boy explained to his teammate only for all of them to pause slightly as a bloodcurdling scream echoed up from the arena followed by a rapid series of weapons piercing flesh.
The audience fell silent after the scream and watched as the mist dissipated and stared in slight shock at the scene that was revealed to them. Tomoe's weapon had been forced out of her hand by a senbon to her wrist that had paralyzed her entire hand. Her injuries only began there though.
"She made her into a pincushion." Kai snarled in outrage at the sight before them.
Tomoe laid on the ground at Anatsumi's feet as she trembled in agony. A veritable arsenal of weapons were embedded into her body, the most severe being a shuriken buried into her right eye.
"Winner, Anatsumi Imakira!" The proctor declared as medics raced out to gather up Tomoe and the Kiri genin simply walked back toward the doors up to the arena once more.
"I wonder why sis didn't just kill her?" Anatsumi's obvious twin said flatly as the audience let out a smattering of applause, less than pleased that the hidden mist had blocked sight of whatever was happening in the last moments of the fight.
Naruto turned to eye the girl that had spoken. Like Anatsumi she was an unassuming girl. A tiny thing barely older than himself and dressed and made up with make up to almost look like a doll with long pure black hair. Unlike her sister this girl had the handle of a sword of some type peaking over the shoulder of her violet yukata.
The Kumo ninja barely restrained themselves from picking a fight in the stands from what Naruto and his teammates could tell. Or rather the blond boy, Mozoi, barely restrained his teammate Kai.
Luckily the proctor's voice brought their attention back to the arena.
"Next Match, Kai Hyakuwa of Kumo and Arihana Imakira of Kiri, please step into the arena." He shouted.
"Perfect." Kai snarled as he leapt out into the field from the observation booth.
Arihana took her time and made a show of high fiving her sister as they passed on another as if tagging into the fight. Despite her cheerful appearance as she initially stepped into the arena, it quickly faded under the intense atmosphere that Kai was helping to create.
The boy was practically oozing killing intent. Enough to impress Orochimaru from her place in the stands, if only because of his age. Still, the girl from Kiri didn't falter in the slightest as she stepped up into place across from him. The audience fell silent for this match. Kai was clearly itching to crush his opponent, but the confident stance and way she casually tapped at the hilt of her sword made it clear that this wouldn't be a simple victory if she had anything to say about it.
"Both combatants ready?...Begin!" The proctor leapt out of the way and neither opponent wasted any time.
Already the thick blinding mist that both twins seemed to prefer fighting in spilled across the arena. The crowd was less than thrilled by being blinded once again, but the two combatants in the arena weren't at all concerned about their approval. Things were a little personal for this fight.
From where he sat with Tsunade and Orochimaru, Jiraiya eyed the thick fog below as he felt the change in the air itself. A pulse and a section of the mist seemed to thin and evaporate to reveal the Kumo nin as his muscles bulged and his body seemed to engorge itself with energy.
"What the hell?" Tsunade mumbled.
"It is almost like a cheap version of the Eight Gates." Orochimaru added.
"No. There are practically none of them left, but that is a hidden technique. I knew I recalled the name Hyakuwa from somewhere. One of the tiny handful of Kumo based clans. They can circulate their chakra in such a way to make it become denser and denser. It's ridiculously hard on their bodies though. Most of the clan died out in the first war because they over used the technique." Jiraiya said.
The boy below continued to stand there as his body seemed to bruise from the inside out and his veins bulged across the surface of his skin. As he continued to seem to build up his power though Arihana broke through the mist directly behind him with an overhead swipe of her blade. It carved a path through him, but shockingly he didn't even flinch.
Arihana herself seemed to freeze for a moment since her strike didn't cut as deep as it should have and the wound seemed to already be healing.
"What the hell are yo-" She began before rapidly backpedaling out of his reach and fleeing into the mist.
Kai simply frowned but continued to stand still and wait for her to try again. And try she did. Only now, Arihana had no intention of sitting around after making an attack. She came at him from a different direction every time. Faster than he could currently block or counter, but still never strong enough to properly break through whatever technique he was using to increase the durability of his body so much.
"She has no real power behind her swings. No wonder she relies so much on the mist and her speed." Mozoi scoffed as he continued to watch the fight below.
"It's like she's just a mosquito biting him." Kushina mumbled as Kai simply continued to take blow after blow with little reaction or pain.
"Normally he'd be carved up, but whatever he is doing isn't just making him more durable. Its stopping him from losing too much blood." Naruto said as he eyed the boy below.
Mozoi smiled as he, Minako, and Naruto came to the same conclusion at once.
"Kai's already won." They simultaneously said.
As Arihana made another approach, Kai had been gauging her timing each time, and without even turning to look his arm snapped out to clothesline the girl as she tried to make another pass. The sudden, rock solid blow sent her end over end and allowed him plenty of time to grab a hold of her long silky hair.
He smashed her roughly into the ground before following it up with several devastating blows to the body.
"It increases his strength as well." Naruto said with a focused stare.
"Your sister fucked up my teammate pretty bad. Don't worry though, I think your eyes are too pretty to mess up. Still need some payback though." He said with a loud and sadistic voice.
Arihana screamed but he was already in action before she could manage to get out her surrender. One after another he broke her limbs. First her arms. Then her legs. A loud cracking sound, like that of a breaking tree branch.
Only those from Kumo cheered as the match was called in his favor and Arihana was carted away by the medical team.
Kushina grimaced but kept up a serious front with her teammates. They had all seen worse, and while the civilians seemed stricken by such a brutal sight, the shinobi gathered knew that the boy had been surprisingly lenient if he was getting payback for his teammate. After all Arihana's bones could be mended far easier than Tomoe's eye could be replaced.
Wisely the proctor left them little time to dwell on the gruesome scene from the last match and instead called up the next contenders.
"Next match is Mujiro Ebiyuki of Konoha versus Shihiro of Kiri. Please make your way into the arena now."
Naruto watched as the two competitors headed down. The boy from Konoha was likely the oldest in the finals and had a bit of weight to his name, just nothing like Naruto and his fellow prodigies did. Mujiro was talented with fire jutsu though and like Naruto and his teammates was already slated to have earned his chunin promotion before the exams. The Hokage simply liked to stack the odds in his own favor.
His opponent, Shihiro was the stark opposite of his own teammates. Where Atsunami and Arihana were small, petite, and doll like, Shihiro was just as big and tall as Mujiro despite being closer to Kushina and Minako's age than Mujiro's. What's more the boy looked menacing. His teeth were filed down to sharp points and his eyes looked almost animal like. He didn't seem to carry any kind of weapon or tool besides the basic shinobi kit though. That stood out in it's own way when every competitor in the exam seemed to have something they were geared toward.
However Naruto thought of himself. He didn't carry a weapon or piece of equipment along because he was a ninjutsu focused fighter. The same was true of Mujiro, and Naruto expected that the same could be said for Shihiro.
As the fight began, he was proven right. Finally the audience had a battle that they had been looking forward to. Massive showy displays of ninjutsu as fire battled water for dominance in the arena. Shihiro had the elemental advantage, but unlike the boy from Kiri, Mujiro had several additional tricks up his sleeve as a mix of kunai and paper bombs began entering the fight.
It was showy, and honestly extremely wasteful of chakra on both sides. Naruto and Minako couldn't help but frown at such wasteful techniques as both boys treated the event like more of a showcase than anything else. Kushina on the other oohed and awed at the display. She was a bit less tightly wound than her teammates were after all.
Slowly but surely though, Mujiro began to win out. The addition of explosive tags and a larger chakra reserve than his opponent gave him the win and eventually Shihiro simply passed out from the exertion of using so much of his chakra.
A small intermission had to be called as the proctor and other staff cleaned up the arena enough for it to be used again. Showy and wasteful they may have been but jutsu like what Mujiro and Shihiro had been throwing around could be extremely destructive as well.
"There's only two matches left of the first round. A fifty-fifty chance we have to fight one another." Kushina worriedly pointed out.
Naruto pulled Kushina and Minako aside to talk out of earshot of the others.
"Maybe. Although I think that maybe Lord Third wasn't completely honest when he said that the matches are completely random. Look how they worked out. The Kumo and Kiri shinobi tore each other apart. And Mujiro looked to be at a disadvantage to Shihiro but he had a much larger chakra reserve and from what I heard, his first team saw action against Kiri during the war." Naruto explained.
"But Minako fought a Konoha shinobi as well and even if we don't face off against each other there is only one non-Konoha nin left in the round." Kushina replied.
"True, but Naruto could be right. I might have been the worst match up for Yukumi outside of that boy, Mozoi. I had her beaten in speed, and I could use sealing tags without her even being able to know. It was like the win for the first round was given to me. That all being said it makes it look like Konoha is being fair and random." Minako said.
"Exactly, and if you take into the last two matches possible. I am the best bet against Mozoi. My chakra is too dense and if I use my Mokuton properly he can't do anything to me. It forces me to use the mokuton but also ensures my victory." Naruto said with a glance toward where the Third Hokage sat and watched.
"Which leaves me against Nawaken Hyuga. Even if he manages to get close enough to land a blow and block a tenketsu or two…" Kushina realized.
"Just like mom taught you. Having a second source of chakra in your body allows you to force open your tenketsu again. It will hurt but between how dense your Uzumaki chakra is and your tenant…he can't beat you." Naruto continued to explain.
"And that's if he gets past your chains and other offensive tools." Minako added.
"Woah. Now I see why your mom and Orochimaru are always calling him a manipulative bastard. The Hokage really is a crafty old monkey, isn't he?" Kushina said a bit in awe.
"Well he is called the Professor." Minako said with a shrug.
"So it will either be me versus Mozoi, or you versus Nawaken." Naruto says as the screen flickered through the names before revealing the two next competitors.
"Next Match Naruto Senju of Konoha versus Mozoi of Kumo! Will you both please step down into the arena." The Proctor bellowed, getting a massive bout of applause at the idea of a Senju stepping into the ring.
"Good luck, Naruto." Minako said with a grin.
"He'll need it." Mozoi called over his shoulder as he walked just in front of Naruto down into the arena.
As the two blonds stepped into position facing off against one another Naruto was already preparing himself for the fight to come. He knew that the Hokage wanted to publicly display him and his mokuton here. Rumors of his actions against the Hidden Sky had circulated but many seemed to contend they were just that, rumors. Here on a stage that he had chosen, Hiruzen wished to display his new generation of shinobi in the making.
Perhaps it was a spark of petty childishness, but Naruto suddenly felt like he didn't want to do just as the Hokage had planned. Clearly the man had manipulated things to play out just as he wanted, and while he did have to acknowledge it was all in the best interest of Konoha, such manipulation of himself and the girls he considered his closest friends didn't exactly make him happy.
So instead of ending the fight quickly and simply crushing Mozoi with a grand showing of his mokuton as he had been trained over the last month, Naruto decided to attempt a more basic victory. After all, if it failed he could fall back on his mokuton and give the Hokage what he wanted after all.
"Begin!" The proctor cried before leaping out of the way a moment before Naruto shot across the arena ground toward his opponent just behind a brace of Kunai he had let loose a half breath before he began his charge.
He felt his teeth grind together as a smirk came to Mozoi's face and the older boy simply spun around both the kunai and the followup strike from Naruto himself. He continued to avoid and dance around Naruto as the younger genin picked up his pace and rapidly pursued him in a spiraling motion at the center of the arena.
"You have so much chakra that I literally can't avoid seeing your every move coming. The tiny little pulses as you try to change direction. The subtle shift as you try to pivot and catch me off guard. All, far too predictable." Mozoi taunted, unknowingly making several Uchiha in the stands, especially Fugaku Uchiha very uncomfortable. Such predictive sight was their sort of trademark.
Mozoi's ability was similar to the predictive nature of the Sharingan. Though it didn't rely on sight and didn't give any of the plethora of other advantages the clan's vaunted eyes did. It was still a bit intriguing to see such an ability put to use against the likes of a Senju. Almost like an echo of an era long past.
"Surrender kid. I don't want that mother of yours trying to off me for hurting you here. I don't really get why but I can tell you are trying to avoid using that special gift of yours. It's the only way for you to win so just give up. I'm sure you are one of those that will get the promotion either way. After all, everyone knows how much Konoha cozies up to you clan kids." Mozoi continued to taunt Naruto while not even bothering to draw his own weapons.
It was beginning to get under Naruto's skin. He wanted to be able to prove he could do it without his mokuton now. Show the Hokage he was more than just a new edition of his great grandfather.
Mozoi's smile faded from his face as he barely managed to avoid a strike from the child confronting him. His chakra was pulsing almost randomly now and there was simply so much dense power there even the tiniest fluctuations was like someone waving their hand in front of his face.
He almost felt like he was suffering from a bout of motion sickness as he focused on the boy's chakra.
"Clever little shit." Mozoi growled as he finally dropped his hand to the hilt of his sword and drew it free to shift to more offensive combat.
"Not clever enough, I guess." Naruto gritted out with annoyance at himself. He stamped a foot on the ground and spun away from the swing of Mozoi's sword as several roots burst free from the ground around both of them.
"Getting impatient?" Mozoi asked as he cut through two of the plants and leapt over another to begin pursuing Naruto.
"No, I just know my limits for now." Naruto said as more and more plants began springing forth around the two of them and the dense chakra Naruto had began to pump into all of them in a continuous stream to keep them strong, healthy, and under his control.
Mozoi suddenly realized what the boy was doing then. He couldn't distinguish the chakra of Naruto from his plants at all. It was almost frightening for him to rely on his actual eyes in a fight. The difference was very clear as well. Naruto slipped between two thick vines and appeared before Mozoi. He saw him, but the reaction to seeing him instead of sensing his actions caused the slightest of hesitation. The briefest moment of surprise.
That was plenty of time for any shinobi worth their headband.
He coiled around the older blond's arm and twisted, flipping him over his back and into the waiting vines that coiled up and trapped Mozoi. It was over quickly but Naruto didn't look pleased by the results.
As he was called the victor Orochimaru smiled down at the boy quietly stalking back toward the competitor box. The plants he had spawned wilted and withered until they all died, but it was clear now just how powerful naruto would be in the future.
The audience roared in excitement and approval for the showing. Those from other villages eyed him intently and worriedly considered his abilities. Even those among Konoha looked at him as if he was the second coming of Hashirama. Some people who had seen him around the village since his birth. They forgot Naruto and saw only Hashirama reborn.
There were a few who saw something else. Kushina and Minako simply saw the boy they cared about pull out a victory after seeming to play around for the first few minutes of his fight. Jiraiya and Tsuande looked proudly down at their son, though Tsunade could recognize that he had identified and tried to avoid doing as the Hokage had manipulated him to do. She would talk to him about that after all of this exam business was good and handled. Hiruzen saw the future of Konoha. A child still being forged into the shinobi he would one day be, but the future nonetheless. One with the mental ability of Hiruzen's predecessor and the sheer power of Konoha's founder.
Only Orochimaru saw into what Naruto was currently struggling with. The disappointment that he couldn't end the fight exactly how he wanted and the annoyance that he was not where he wanted to be with his other shinobi skills. She often shared similar emotions. She knew that little gleam in his eye better than anyone else.
She would take that little flicker of emotion and run with it. Naruto would be her apprentice, she wouldn't accept no from anyone in regards to that. When that happened she would get her chance to make him into something the world couldn't possibly prepare for. She didn't see Hashirama, or Tobirama Senju reborn. She saw everything that Naruto Senju could be and she couldn't stop the nearly face splitting smile that crossed her face at the thought of it.
Another intermission was needed to clear away the debris caused by Naruto's fight. However the last match of the first round was soon set to begin, just as Naruto and Minako had said, Kushina stood facing Nawaken Hyuga. A side branch boy that was considered only slightly less of a prodigy than Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga.
Just as Naruto had predicted the Hyuga didn't stand a chance. It was a bit humorous to Kushina really. The boy had been so arrogant and so confident in his win he had tried to lecture her. She hadn't needed to worry about him closing any of her tenketsu. Her fight was the shortest so far.
After all, Kushina wasn't like Naruto. She didn't care about how she won. She wasn't filled with a brief notion of petty obstinance. She simply attacked with her Adamantine Chains and waited for Nawaken to realize that his gentle fist wasn't capable of severing the constructs, even if they were made of chakra. He simply wasn't strong enough yet to break through her unnaturally dense chakra.
With her return to the competitor box a short break was allowed for the audience to spend their money on snacks and the like while the competitors took a moment to recuperate if need be for the next set of matches.
Once the break had finished though, the screens once again ran through the names of the competitors to 'randomize' the fights.
"You think these are pre-determined too?" Kushina asked her teammates.
"Not to the same extent as the first round, but they will undoubtedly try to give us matches with advantage if possible. It won't be random but they will try to make it easy on us." Naruto replied a bit distractedly. He was still trying to decide on ways to more easily win without simply dominating his fights with his mokuton.
"Next Match, Kushina Uzumaki of Konoha versus Kai Hyakuwa of Kumo. Please take your positions in the arena." The proctor announced.
The three teammates shared a glance before Naruto and Minako both wished her luck. Kushina smiled and headed down to the arena floor where Kai had beaten her to the ground and was waiting with crossed arms and a bored expression. She took her position and nodded as the proctor asked if she was ready.
Truth be told, Kushina expected this to be her hardest fight of the tournament. She was intent on coming out on top though.
"Don't give up quickly, Uzumaki. I am still a bit worked up from my earlier fight, so I need a good fight." Kai said as he fell into a stance and already began utilizing the hidden technique that had been put on display in his first match.
"Same to you, cloud." Kushina bit back before quickly launching an attack with her chains that burst forward from her body like massive golden tentacles.
Kai's technique didn't just increase his durability and strength though. He moved faster than Kushina had seen anyone under the rank of jonin move and suddenly he was behind her slamming a fist into her back and pitching her forward.
She was well trained though and despite the pain and definite bruise that would form, she rolled with the strike and retook a combat stance while drawing the blade that her sensei had gifted to her.
"Gotta give me something, red." Kai taunted in his growling tone as he seemed to juice his body up more and more than he had before.
"I will." She replied before surprising him as her chains broke through the ground and snagged his ankle and kept him rooted in position as Kushina closed in with her sword.
"Just a repeat of the mist girl. That's- oh. That's surprising." The boy began to mock her until he realized the chains weren't just keeping him in place, but also siphoning away his chakra and working to suppress his jutsu.
"This match is mine!" Kushina howled as she brought her sword down across his chest. Except even now, while being drained of much of his chakra, Kai was able to tank the blow and it was far less damaging than such a strike normally would have been.
She swung again, coming back up from the downward swing she had made a moment ago, only for the same result. Kai grunted in pain, at least feeling her attacks unlike he had with Arihana earlier. Still he barely seemed fazed, and even more he barely seemed to bleed.
"You tried." He laughed as he gripped her sword by the blade and forced it from her own grip despite the cuts he gained on his hands.
Before she could move out of his reach he had flipped the sword around and buried it to it's hilt in her gut.
In the stands, several Konoha citizens were shocked and outraged, but none were close to being as worried and angry as Naruto and his family. Kushina was one of them after all. There was nothing they could really do about what had happened though. It was part of the exams.
As Kushina fell unconscious from being impaled, her chains faded away and Kai released his technique as he was declared the victor. Still, the fight had taken a lot from him and Kushina's strikes had been far more damaging than Arihana's had been. Coupled with the chakra drain she had used on him, Kai was in need of the medics almost as much as Kushina was.
Naruto kept his eyes glued to the boy as he was led back into the medical wing of the arena building. He wanted a shot at the cloud nin himself now. The feeling was admittedly a bit confusing to him, but he felt incredibly angry.
"Naruto." Minako nudged him causing him to turn toward her before following the direction she was pointing toward the screen.
"Next Match. Naruto Senju of Konoha versus Atsunami Imakira of Kiri. Please take your positions for the match!" The proctor called out.
Silently Naruto headed for the stairs. Any thoughts of trying to avoid doing as Hiruzen wished were gone. He wanted the match over quickly. The one he truly wanted to fight was Kai. This Atsunami was just an obstacle to that at this point.
And that is the end for today. I know, I know. Kind of a bullshit spot to end it on, but we will have the last of the tournament next chapter as well as the follow up to the chunin exams and set up for a time skip that will see all of our characters age roughly five years.
I hope you are enjoying it. I dunno how I feel about such a combat focused chapter. Normally I would have skipped the additional fights but I felt that since some of the characters would be facing our heroes it was important to see how our cast reacted to their possible opponents fights.
Anyway,
Till Next Time