"The Greatest Idea Ever"
By Quick-n-Popular
Disclaimer: "Naruto" and its characters do not belong to me.
A/N: Thanks to everyone for their support of this idea of mine. It means a lot.
Chapter Seven: A Revelation and a series of Grudges
Not too long after Naruto and his team had arrived had some of the other Chuunin hopefuls came in. Luckily, the number of teams that Orochimaru had killed were less than what could have been.
Later, Kakashi had came and informed Naruto and Sakura that Sasuke was doing better and that he would still be able to finish the exams. When Sakura pressed their sensei on what that seal or mark was on Sasuke, he wasn't very forthcoming.
"It's serious but not too serious, so the two of you shouldn't worry." Was his reply.
The time spent afterwards was just in congratulations for the rest of the Rookie 9 for making it past the second stage of the exam. Naruto was relieved when he spotted Tenten and her team relaxing in another area.
On the fourth day, the groups who passed the second part of the exam were being ushered into an open arena where, to Naruto's surprise, his kenjutsu teacher Hayate Gekko was there and informed the mass of Genin on the next part of the exam which he was to be the proctor. The first half of the third part if these exams was a preliminary one-on-one match between each of the exam takers. The second half of the third exam, was the final part of the exam and it was the continuation of the one-on-one matches.
However, he let one piece of information be known that none of the Genin had expected.
"Even if you win these matches, there's a chance you might not be promoted to Chuunin." Hayate coughed and cleared this throat before continuing, "You're being judged for your efforts in the ENTIRE exam. So, it's possible that no one will be made Chuunin this year. Keep this in mind."
Having said his piece, Hayate nodded to some Konoha Chuunin members in attendance and they handed out lots with numbers on them to the exam takers and soon a board on the wall announced the number of those fighting.
While a Genin from Ame faced against one from Kumo, Naruto's sleeve was tugged and he turned to Sakura who was whispering into his ear.
"There's a team from Kiri that's pointing at us and whispering at us over there."
Naruto, surprised, looked around until he finally saw what Sakura was talking about. The three from the Hidden Mist seemed to be in a discussion as they looked intensely at them. Then, one of the Genin nodded to the others and had started walking up to Naruto and Sakura, or, more specifically, Naruto himself.
The boy was as tall as Naruto, had blue spiky hair, black rimmed glasses that connected to some ear-protection muffs, some gray and white camouflage pants, and...he had a large two handle sword on his back that made Naruto think of Zabuza.
Without preamble, he asked Naruto: "You're Naruto Uzumaki, aren't you?"
Naruto nodded, "Yeah, that's me. Who are you?"
"Chojuro." The boy replied before shifting his stance and made a slight bow, "I personally want to thank you and your team for handling Zabuza-senpai and the others. The Mizukage also sends her thanks on this was well."
Sakura wordlessly nodded while Naruto just reminisced about the man and Haku before shrugging to Chojuro.
The boy from Kiri then said, "Mizukage-sama also would like to talk to you about something regarding your mother, Kushina Uzumaki, at some point, Naruto-san."
Sakura looked to her male teammate who she noticed suddenly went rigid, "Naruto?"
Before anything more could be said, Hayate announced the next number of the lot pairs and Chojuro excused himself as it was his number that had been called.
Sakura watched the boy go before turning to her teammate who still seemed to be in a state of shock.
However, Naruto soon snapped back to reality and looked around him for Chojuro before Sakura indicated to him that he was in the arena fighting Kiba.
Turning he saw the Genin from Kiri getting attacked by Kiba's four-legged technique where the Inuzuka's teeth and claws on his hands elongated and he started fighting with the ferociousness of a wild beast.
"Is that sword of yours just for show?" He asked Chojuro while the Kiri Genin tried to dodge one of Kiba's swipes.
"I've been instructed not to use it here." Chojuro replied.
Kiba didn't say anything more as he then activated his next jutsu with his partner Akamaru, which turned them into a rolling buzz-saw and knocked Chojuro to the ground before he held a hand up and announced his defeat.
A crowd started to gather in front of Naruto and Sakura blocking their view and when Naruto moved around them he found that Chojuro had left the arena. Looking around, he couldn't see him nor his teammates anywhere so he frantically started moving about the attendees in an effort to find the boy and learn what he knew about Naruto's mother whose name he now knew.
Meanwhile, Sasuke had come to the event and his number was announced along with his opponent, Rock Lee.
"Yosh!" Lee called out before jumping into the arena before facing Sasuke who looked determined.
"Uchiha-san, let's have a youthful fight. I'm eager to show to you my hard work." Lee said, passionately before going into a stance.
Sasuke made no reply but his Sharingan doujutsu was activated and he rushed in almost at the same time as Lee who became a blur.
Sasuke was being treated as a human punching bag as Lee's kick's and punches connected without Sasuke being able to retaliate much less defend himself due to how slow his body was to counter against Lee's onslaught. However, the mark on Sasuke's neck pulsated and soon it spread across his body and face and he now had the power to build the speed to match the teen. Before he could connect though, Lee had jumped away and his sensei called out to him.
"You can take them off, Lee!"
Everyone had a quizzical expression at this but Lee just grinned enthusiastically. Leaping onto one of the statues of the arena he lifted up his pant legs to reveal some weights that were wrapped around his ankles. Taking them off and dropping them, everyone murmured in surprise as the weights fell to the ground with a thunderous boom, making the ground shake. Lee then seemingly vanished before attacking Sasuke once more, his speed now tripled than what it once was.
Sasuke, on the defensive once more, tried to jump away and perform a fire jutsu but before he could Lee kicked him up into the air. The air in his lungs burned as he soared and then Lee appeared next to him, wrapping him up with the extra bandages on his arms before the two of them were dropping down to the ground and Lee started spinning the two of them at a fantastic rate before jumping away from Sasuke as he collided with the ground and had blacked out.
"Winner: Rock Lee" Hayate announced as a medic nin came and took Sasuke off of the arena.
Lee had tears of joy streaming down his cheeks as he gave an emotional thumbs up to his sensei, who nodded back in return.
Naruto who had seen the final moments of the fight (having paused from looking for the Kiri boy and was stopped from using Kage Bunshins by a Chuunin who directed him back to the stage) felt a conflicted surge of emotions regarding seeing his teammate get beaten. Looking to his other teammate, Sakura who looked worriedly after the Uchiha who was being carted off.
However, she had little time to think of her crush as her number came up and the person who she was to face, Kin Tsuchi from Oto, was looking at her with barely masked contempt.
"You got this, Sakura-chan!" Naruto smiled as he gave her an encouraging push into the arena.
Sakura slightly stumbled but made her entrance in a cautious manner as she scoped out her opponent. The girl was a little taller than her with shoulder length black hair but her eyes were as warm as a snowstorm. As soon as they were squared off, she talked to Sakura in a harsh manner.
"Are you sure you want to be here, Princess? Unlike you, most Kunoichi come to these things to show off their prowess and not by trying to imitate a cheap whore, like you are."
Sakura bristled and she took out a kunai as she waited for Hayate to start the match.
"Are you two ready?" Hayate asked. Seeing their nods he signaled the start of the match.
The Kunoichi from Oto threw something that went by Sakura's head and soon she fell to the ground disoriented and an image of the surrounding walls closing in on her. Her lessons at the Academy came back to her as she realized that this was a genjutsu. Before she she could make a move to dispel the illusion, a tremendous pain came from the top of her head, causing the genjutsu to crumble and Sakura now felt Kin holding her hair up in a strong grip pulling the hair up viciously as she had a foot placed on Sakura's back causing more pain to her head.
"I'll bet you're actually pretty proud of this hair aren't you? Seeing how much attention you put to your looks makes you that much more of a failure as a Kunoichi." Kin, then, drew a kunai in her other hand and made to end the match. However, before she could, Sakura swiped her own kunai through her long locks, cutting her hair off and surprising the Oto nin. Rolling and then getting back into a fighting position, Sakura then did a leg sweep, succeeding in knocking Kin on to her back before Sakura placed her kunai tip against the girl's jugular vein.
"Winner: Sakura Haruno"
Most of the Konoha Genin in attendance gave an applause to Sakura's comeback especially one Ino Yamanaka who had a conflicted look on her face.
Once Sakura had came back to Team Kakashi's group (looking a little subdued), the next pair was announced.
Tenten vs Temari of Suna.
Tenten had watched the fights eagerly as she had seen some interesting matches. The Kiri boy who fought the Inuzuka had a rather unique sword on his back but much to her regret he did not use it and instead fought solely with kunai. She was happy for her teammate in his win against Sasuke Uchiha, though she wished that Neji could have congratulated Lee as well but, instead, was being his usual obstinate self. The fight between Naruto's female teammate against the Oto kunoichi could have been better but Tenten was satisfied that a fellow Konoha nin had won a match.
Now it was her turn. Judging by what she had observed of the Suna kunoichi and her team, they seemed all business and had a certain aura about them that they weren't to be messed with. Tenten recognized the battle fan weapon on the girl's back and surmised that her abilities were backed by wind jutsus.
Knowing what she was supposedly up against, Tenten was even more determined to come out on top.
"You got this, Tenten! Kick her ass!" Came a loud exuberant voice.
Tenten could only sigh at Naruto's enthusiasm but a smile was still etched on her face all the same.
"You idiot, did you really have to go and shout that?" Sakura reprimanded her teammate as Naruto looked on in anticipation of the match.
He had chose to, momentarily, stop with his search for Chojuro and had instead opt to cheer on his training partner. He was eager to see what she had up her sleeve in this fight against one of the three he had met with Konohamaru. Those three still rubbed him the wrong way.
The two Kunoichi stood stock-still when Hayate announced the start of the match. Then, Tenten started by, in a rapid pace, throwing shuriken at the girl and with no surprise saw them being blown away with a wave of the girl's fan. Seeing that a long range attack would be useless, Tenten took one of the scrolls on her side out and released a pair of sai weapons. Taking the three pronged weapons in hand, she charged at Temari who smirked as she slightly held her fan open to attack.
A strong gust of wind came and Tenten rolled to the side to dodge before continuing closing in on the Suna kunoichi.
Temari leapt back to increase the distance, but had to use her fan again to knock away several kunai thrown at her while she had leapt. Two of the kunai flew past her and pierced the wall behind her. Temari then heard a sizzling sound and looked behind her to see that those kunai had explosive tags attached to them. Immediately, she cast a wind jutsu that surrounded her body with a protective wind which shielded her as the wall exploded. When it settled she turned back to Tenten, coming to realize that the explosive kunai were a distraction. Temari raised her battle fan to protect her as the bun-haired Genin assaulted her with sai strikes.
Tenten combined her frontal assault with taijutsu mixed in as she tried a series of roundhouse kicks and leg sweeps while trying to jab at the Suna kunoichi's impeccably solid defense. However, Tenten was hardly at her limit and she unsealed her next weapon which was a halberd and she aimed the pike/ax hybrid weapon at the girl's shoulders and arm.
Temari then cast another wind jutsu and soared up and out of Tenten's reach and was about to mock the girl for her predictable attack when she suddenly felt a chain and weight wrap around her ankle, which interrupted her ego-driven speech. Looking to its owner, Temari saw Tenten holding a sickle at the other end. The girl then used a surprising amount of strength and pulled Temari from her jutsu and slammed her to the ground.
Tenten closed the distance, slid across the ground and then knocked the battle fan out of Temari's grasp before holding a kunai in a reverse grip, placed the tip of the blade to the girl's head near the base of her skull.
"Winner: Tenten."
Breathing heavily, Tenten got up and offered a hand to the Suna kunoichi who scowled at her before smirking and receiving the grip, pulled herself up before pivoting herself tripping Tenten when she bent at an angle which twisted her ankle and caused her to wince as she grasped it.
"Sorry, I'm just so CLUMSY. Enjoy your win, Konoha nin."
Temari then walked back to her team while Hayate had a medic nin come and help Tenten move off the arena.
"What a bitch." Sakura said frowning at the cruel, unsportsmanlike, manner Temari displayed.
Naruto scowled as he watched Kankuro laugh as he patted Temari on the back in mirth before the girl left the area.
Hayate then annouced the next number which to Naruto's surprise was his own and, to his pleasure, was Kankuro's as well.
As the two of them entered the arena, Kankuro noticed Naruto's dark look on his face and scoffed, "What's got your undies twisted, kid?"
"Your teammate pulled something dirty and, quite frankly, I don't like all three of you bastards." Naruto remarked.
Kankuro chuckled, "Aw, did my sister hurt your little girlfriend?"
Naruto drew out his sword and went into a stance, "She's one of my 'Precious People', and I'm going to make you understand that, dumbass."
Kankuro's smirk fell from his face and he took off the bundled object and placed it in front of him as Hayate then asked if both boys were ready.
After both nods, the match began.
Naruto created five shadow clones and they bore down on Kankuro and his bundle. However, Kankuro's mouth opened and a cluster of senbon needles shot out and pierced each clone in it's jugular, dispelling them in that very instant. Naruto did the same thing again, making ten clones this time but changed it up by performing the kawarimi (body replacement technique), to swap with his clones and get closer to Kankuro. Kankuro's mouth opened again, but Naruto bit his thumb and smeared the blade of his sword. Using the nodachi form, he closed the gap and swung at the Suna Genin.
Surprised, Kankuro made to take a step back but the length of the sword managed cut off his hand.
Naruto was surprised to see no blood coming out and that the hand made a clatter as it hit the ground, sounding as if it was made from something inorganic.
"Curses!"
The bundle on the ground came undone and Kankuro emerged looking upset.
Naruto, confused at first, could see the chakra strings coming from Kankuro's hands that were attached to the fake Kankuro that Naruto had been facing.
"You're controlling that thing, then. Is it a puppet?" He asked.
Kankuro glowered at Naruto, "You're about to find out, aren't you?" The hand that had fallen to the floor had risen and became a knife which was sent soaring towards Naruto, who managed to dive out of the way. The still remaining clones regrouped and performed Hayate's technique "Dance of the Crescent Moon", creating the afterimages which seemed to block Naruto from Kankuro's view.
"You're getting annoying, you damn Konoha nin." Kankuro had his puppet open it's mouth again and release it's senbon needles before he caught another Naruto creeping up from the side and swiveled his puppet to launch kunai from it's torso at the boy who dodged all but two which hit him in the arm.
Naruto suddenly felt ill and felt his left arm sag and fall limply to his side.'
"Oh my, you've been poisoned, haven't you?" Kankuro chuckled nastily.
Naruto was starting to breathe a little harder but he could feel some feeling start to come back to his arm as be it the Kyuubi or, maybe something else; he wasn't done yet. He watched as Kankuro and his puppet came closer, probably with the intention to end him quickly. However, when they were a mere three or four feet away, Naruto pushed chakra into his sword. With the blade erupting into flames, Naruto closed the distance, slashing and breaking into Kankuro's puppet.
The puppet burnt away Kankuro's image revealing a three-eyed long haired puppet that was now crackling and burning down into a husk.
"Karasu!" Kankuro watched in horror as his puppet was almost becoming kindling and he grabbed a kunai and launched himself at Naruto, "You Son of a Bitch!"
Naruto's left arm still not back to its usual strength, he managed to dodge Kankuro, whose attack grazed Naruto's leg and he could feel the poison again. When Kankuro came at him again, Naruto put blood on his blade again and, once turning it back into a nodachi, brought the blade to Kankuro's neck. Kankuro pivoted and threw his kunai at Naruto.
Naruto rolled out of the way and then, changing his sword back to its normal form, put it under his arm and used the shadow clones to close the distance on Kankuro aiming swords at his heart, head, and kidneys.
"Winner: Naruto Uzumaki." Hayate said with a satisfied smile on his face.
Naruto was evaluated by a medic nin to make sure the poison that Kankuro used had left his system before letting him return to the remaining matches.
Upon his arrival, he saw that the other boy who was Tenten's teammate was in the arena being restrained by four Jounin Instructors and also Hayate. Wondering what had happened, Naruto looked on the other side of the teen and saw Hinata Hyuuga lying on her side with blood coming from her mouth.
To be continued….
A/N II: One of the things that bothered me about "Naruto" was the fact that even the Raikage knew who Naruto's parents were, which to me meant probably all the Kage's knew. Which made me wonder why Iwa didn't make any move. Well, in any case, I hope you all are having a good night and that this chapter's enjoyable. I look forward to writing chapter eight, so until next tine.
Q-n-P