This is my first story. Don't hate for no reason. Will take fair criticism though.

I do not own Naruto or anything related. That goes to Masashi Kishimoto


CHAPTER 27


Naruto took a deep breath as he walked out onto the arena. He heard the crowd boo as he walked out but taking another breath he forced himself to focus on the battle ahead of him. He knew he couldn't take too long or he would be too exhausted for any remaining matches, but regardless he stood across from the psychotic ichibi jinchuriki.

Seeing the two competitors standing across from each other, glaring into each other's eyes he explained the rules once more, "Remember everything but lethal force is accepted, however when I say the fight is over, you stop immediately, do you understand?"

Naruto nodded in affirmation but Gaara continued to glare at his opponent.

"Do you understand?" The proctor repeated.

This time Gaara grunted but the proctor accepted that as confirmation so he shouted, "Hajime!"

After the proctor shunshined away Garara spoke, "I don't care what the proctor said, mother will have your blood!"

Not allowing any other comments Gaara stuck his hand out, commanding the sand to rush forward. Naruto quickly dodged to the side but the sand continued to chase him. Gaara grew more irate as Naruto kept dodging so sticking his other arm out he sent a second wave of sand to chase Naruto.

Out of the corner of his eye Naruto noticed the incoming sand so he quickly unsealed a kunai and explosive tag from his left wrist, attached the tag to the kunai, and threw it at Gaara. The sand blocked the kunai without Gaara's influence, making it fall to the ground, but when Gaara heard a sizzling noise below him and looked down to see an exploding tag, set to explode he crossed his arms in front of him. This forced the sand to stop chasing Naruto and form a shield to protect him from the explosion.

Naruto used the explosion as a distraction to unseal a scroll from his forearm, unfurl it on the ground, and make the ram hand sign. 'Kai'

As water began to flood from the seal and into the arena Naruto went through more hand signs until he shouted, "Suiton: Suishoha!"

Instantly the water was no longer splashing around the arena but seemingly alive as it rose into eight pillars following Naruto's hands as he rose his arms high above his head. As the sand that was surrounding Gaara began to fall Gaara glared at his opponent and once again, stuck out both arms directing the sand into two streams. However as a quick counter Naruto directed four of his pillars of water to crash into Gaara's two and turning it to mud. Gaara tried to control his sand but was angered when he struggled to even lift it.

Naruto took the remaining four pillars of water and gathered them into one blob of water. Slowly moving his arms closer together he began to compress the water. And just as Gaara began to take more sand from his gourd, Naruto thrust his hand forward and the water blasted forward as well. Gaara tried to protect himself with a simple sand blockade but the pressure of the water began to drill through the sand. This forced him to constantly resupply sand to the shield until he heard the water stop to which he dropped his sand shield. However, Naruto was right in front of him charging forward with a swirling blue ball of chakra in his palm.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted as he pressed his hand forward. Some sand came to protect Gaara but it was too thin and Naruto's Rasengan just drilled through it and directly into Gaara's stomach. There was a few seconds between when the Rasengan made contact and when Gaara began to react by coughing up some spit. Looking down Naruto noticed that his Rasengan had burrowed through a layer of sand before coming in contact with Gaara, but regardless he pushed his Rasengan until he drilled through Gaara's shirt as well. The second he saw Gaara's skin Naruto let the Rasengan disperse and pressing his hand to Gaara's stomach he shouted, "Gogyo Fuin!" '

And instantly a small purple flame appeared on each of Naruto's fingers, and when he pressed them to Gaara's stomach a black seal engraved itself into his gut. Instantly Gaara's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed to the ground. The crowd remained silent except for a few rouge cheers. Naruto unsealed another kunai from his wrist and pressed it to Gaara's neck and no sand came up to protect him. When Gaara remained unconscious, much to the shock of the other Suna-nin the proctor reappeared and shouted, "Naruto Uzumaki wins by knockout."

First it was a few clapping viewers that grew into a small cheering crowd, until the entire stadium was cheering on the blond. Waiting for the applause to end the proctor spoke once more, "This ends the first round. We will now have an hour break before resuming the matches."

Naruto smiled as he walked out of the arena, and was enveloped in a hug by Hinata.

-in the Kage Booth-

Up in the Kage's booth was the Hokage, but watching the matches with him was the Kazekage wearing a similar garb to the hokage, though the kage hat was green instead of red.

"I expected my daughter to win, but not in that fashion," The Kazekage commented.

The Hokage chuckled, "Never underestimate the laziness of a Nara. I don't think I will promote him though."

The Kazekage nodded, "I wouldn't either, though I might not promote my daughter. She definitely could have thought of a better plan than just throwing wild attacks at a target of which you do not know the location. However, I do understand that it might not have mattered in comparison to the Nara boy."

"True, so no recommendation for either?"

"Well my daughter will have a second chance against the Hyuga girl, so she has a chance to redeem herself."

"Understandable. What did you think of the Hyuga match?" The Hokage asked.

"The boy's judgement was clouded so I wouldn't promote him but the girl peaked my interest. I thought the Hyuga only used Jyuken, but as they Hyuga boy claimed, that isn't true."

"I agree with that sentiment however, I will hold off on promoting the girl. I want to see how she does against your daughter."

The Kazekage nodded, "I can understand that. And your thoughts of the third match?"

"The Aburame had the right strategy, but sometimes pure power is enough to over come the best of strategies."

"That is very true. The Aburame did show decent capabilities in his clan jutsu and doton. I might consider him for promotion."

"His strategic mind would also be a great boon. But I'm not so sure about Rock Lee. His strategies seem to consist of punch it until its defeated."

"Agreed. Then what of the last match?"

"I didn't expect the Uzumaki child to win," Kazekage admitted.

The Hokage raised an eyebrow and asked, "Is that a recommendation for the Uzumaki?"

"Yes actually. Many of my jonin struggle to deal with Gaara's sand. Whenever he has an outburst I am forced to deal with it so I never thought that Gaara could be defeated by a mere genin."

"Interesting. Do you plan on promoting your son?"

The Kazekage shook his head, "No, clearly he isn't as skilled as I thought if he lost to a mere genin."

"So a recommendation for the Uzumaki but not for Gaara."

"Correct." The Kazekage nodded then asked, "Would you mind telling me where the restroom is."

"Of course. It is one flight down the stairs to your left then make a right. That restroom is reserved just for you."

"Thank you Hokage-dono." Calmly the Kazekage walked to the restroom, and once inside he locked the door behind him, but instantly his calm demeanor transformed into barely contained rage.

'That damn Uzumaki brat! I didn't think he could seal away the biju. What am I going to do now!?!'

Pacing the length of the room the Kazekage tried thinking of a new plan when suddenly a cloaked figure appeared in the room.

"Master, you have not yet given the signal. What is wrong?" the cloaked figure whispered.

Quickly the Kazekage pressed a finger to his lips indicating silence, then began to communicate through hand signs, "The ANBU might be listening in."

"I apologize my Lord," the cloaked figure signed.

"That is not a pressing issue, however the Uzumaki boy sealing away the biju is."

"What will you do my Lord?"

The Kazekage masked his angered sigh by flushing the toilet but then signed, "I will not be able to unseal the jinchuriki myself as I am forced to remain by the Hokages side and I do not have the time to teach someone to unseal the biju. So I do not know."

"Will we still proceed with the invasion?" The cloaked figure questioned.

"Of course." There was a pause, as the Kazekage needed a minute to think, then he continued, "Find a way to bring Gaara to me by the end of the finals. I will unseal him just as we begin the invasion but before I fight the Hokage. Are the troops ready?"

"Yes, my Lord. The Suna and Oto nin are waiting for the signal outside of the village walls."

"Then wait for my signal. You may go," The Kazekage directed.

"Of course." And with a little bit of smoke the cloaked figure disappeared. Opening the restroom door the Kazekage calmly walked back to the Kage booth, once again ready to judge the performances of genin."

-Participant's Waiting Area-

In a room within the stadium the four remain fighters were waiting for the matches to begin. On one side Hinata was sitting on Naruto's lap as they conversed animatedly over each others matches while across the room Temari attempted to glare a hole into Naruto's skull and Lee "rested" in the corner of the room by doing pushups. But after a few minutes Temari had enough of simply glaring at her fellow blond and decided to walk up to him and tap him on the shoulder. Naruto turned his head, "Yes, Temari-san?"

"What did you do to my brother?" Temari seethed.

"Why do you care?" Naruto asked, his smile from talking to Hinata slowly fading.

"Because he's my brother," she retorted, " and the last time I saw him sleep he turned into…"

As Temari slowly quieted Naruto rose an eyebrow, "Turned into what?"

Temari crossed her arms, "None of your business!"

"Then what I did is none of your business, now let me flirt with my girlfriend in peace."

A small blush appeared on Temari's cheeks, though it was smaller than Hinata's. But Temari continued regardless, "No! I want to know what you did to my brother!"

Naruto sighed, "It doesn't matter. If you have a problem then lets hash it out if we both make it to the finals. But right now we have a break so rest, relax, and get ready for your next fight."

"Fine!" Temari seethed, "But when we get to the finals, I will beat you to a bloody pulp." Temari turned around and stomped off.

Turning back to his girlfriend Naruto's smile reappeared, "Now where were we?"

"You were going to tell me what you did to Gaara but now I fell that I should be worried about our upcoming matches." Hinata responded.

Naruto grinned, "Look, I know the only reason you kept to your mixed jyuken style fight with Neji was to prove a point. And you did. So you're going to prove another one."

"How?"

"You're going to start the match only using your mixed Jyuken. What did you want to call it?"

"Nagareken. The Flowing Fist. But why?" Hinata asked.

"You'll will be at a disadvantage, because of this. So after about of minute of struggling through the match, start using jutsu. This will show the Hyuga clan that the taijutsu is not enough."

"Are you sure Naruto-kun?"

Naruto sighed, "You are going to get hurt. And the clan won't like what you're doing. So following my plan is completely up to you. But maybe some of the more open minded Main Branch members, of which I know there are little, might begin to change their mind. Just know I will love you regardless."

Hinata gave a soft smile at Naruto's statement and kissed him on the cheek, "I love you too Naruto-kun."

Naruto was about to kiss her back when an announcement was made, "The hour break has ended, "Will Sabaku no Temari and Hyuga Hinata please make their way to the arena!"

To be continued...


Sorry for the late post. I will try to post every one to two weeks. Thank you for reading.