Chapter 25 - The Long Awaited Battle

9 Days Later

The Arena for the final phase of the chunnin exams was all set. The stands were full of people from all around the world, all waiting for the chunnins to show their talent. All the 9 gennins were standing in the arena right before Kiritsugu Emiya [Naruto in disguise].

The Kazekage and the Hokage were sitting together, watching over the arena with 2 guards from each side. In the stands were the jonin sensei, nobility and other important people from across the world.

Kiritsugu then gestured the chunnins to take off the curtain from the brackets that he had drawn. As the curtains fell, everyone got a surprised look on their faces.

"What is this bracket? Does this mean that only one of us will be promoted?" Rui asked.

"Quite the contrary. You see, all nine of you have proved yourself to be worthy of being promoted to chunnins. But a final selection is needed to have you show your maximum potential." Naruto said.

"And that is why, in this final phase of the chunnin exams all of you will pass except one. And the one to lose will be banned from the chunnin exams for the next 3 years." Naruto said. "In this final phase, the winners of each match will drop out and will be promoted to chunnin while the loser will proceed to the next round."

All the gennin were in utter shock, save for Gaara. All they need is just one win, and they will be promoted to chunnin, but if they fail and loose until the very end then they will not only fail the exam but will also be banned for 3 years.

"There is one more thing that I want point out. As you can see, number 301 will only get 1 match, and that will be the final match of the Chunnin Exams." Kiritsugu said.

"And why is that?" Kai asked.

"Because while all of you were giving the exams, you were assigned points based of various criteria. And you, number 301, have scored the lowest point out of all the examinees, hence you will get only one match." Kiritsugu said.

"I see." Kai said.

"Alright now, the first match of the first round is between Neji Hyuga and Sasuke Uchiha!" Kiritsugu announced.

"Rest of the examinees are to wait for their matches in the waiting area." Kiritsugu said as others left the arena.

"This will be fun." Sasuke said as he stretched his arms.

"Now, take your stance… and BEGIN!" Kiritsugu said as both Neji and Sasuke jumped away from each other.

"Let's skip the warmup." Neji said as he activated his Byakugan.

"Bring it." Sasuke said as his Sharingan flared to life with a crimson glow.

Both of them dashed at each other to engage in a hand-to-hand combat. Every attack that one launched was either blocked of dodged by the other one. Both of them seemed to be evenly matched. After yielding no results from the fight, Sasuke jumped away and weaved series of hand seals in mid air.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke said as he blew out a massive sphere of fire at Neji which he barely dodged.

"Eight Trigram Air Palm!" Neji said as he launched the vacuum strike at the airborne Sasuke, sending him all the way to the other end of the arena.

"That was impressive." The Kazekage said.

"Indeed it was. The Hyuga clan considers him a prodigy, and he always proves them true." Hiruzen said.

"I would like to see who wins this fight. Both are really skilled ninjas." The Kazekage said.

Sasuke then stood up from the ground. He had to figure out a way to get near Neji in order to land a strike. Sasuke then made a hand seal and 4 shadow clones of Sasuke appeared beside him. The four of them then dashed at Neji together, closing the distance between them in a matter of seconds.

"Eight Trigram Palm Rotation!" Neji said as he rotated on his axis to form a sphere around him, dispelling all the shadow clones and throwing away Sasuke again.

'Tch, My attacks won't work on him and he is good enough to wear me out.'

Sasuke then bit his thumb and applied the blood in palm as he made some hand seals. "Summoning Jutsu!" Sasuke said as he summoned a pair of foxes, twice as big as him.

"Summons? I didn't knew you had any." Neji said.

"I got them just last week." Sasuke said as both the foxes dashed at Neji from the from Sasuke from the back, trapping him in a pincer attack.

Neji, being trapped from both sides, decided to take care of the summons first as he dashed at the foxes. But as got in their range, one of the fox attacked Neji with its claw in the blink of an eyes which he dodged by the a hair length. But as he jumped away, the other fox tried to attack Neji.

Having nowhere to run, Neji used the Vacuum palm to deflect the incoming attack. "This was a bad decision. The teamwork of the foxes are too good. I must take out Sasuke before he gains the upper hand." Neji thought as he immediately changed his target and dashed at Sasuke who himself was coming towards him.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Jutsu!" Sasuke said as he launched a massive fireball at Neji that suddenly burst into multiple small fireballs. All of the fireballs then surrounded Neji and dived at him all at once.

"Eight Trigram Palm Rotation!" Neji said as he yet again spined on his axis and deflected all the fireballs that were coming at him. But much to his surprise, as soon as he ended the rotation, a fire dragon engulfed him from above before he could even react.

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet!" Sasuke said as both the foxes that he had summoned dived into the flame to finish Neji. But as the fire died down, instead of Neji, an incinerated log of wood was lying there.

"Eight Trigram Sixty Four Palms!" Neji said as he appeared from under the ground and before Sasuke could comprehend what just happened, Neji delivered the finishing blow and knocked out Sasuke with a swift series of blows.

"The Hyuga kid is quite ingenious indeed. He used the Fire Dragon as a cover to dig the ground and reach his target. And whether it was intentional or not, but he made the Uchiha focus on his clan techniques and not consider other techniques." The Kazekage said.

"Of course, he is. But Sasuke put up a good fight too." Hiruzen said.

"Match Over! And the winner is Neji Hyuga. Sasuke Uchiha will proceed to the next round. And as per the rules, Neji Hyuga is now officially promoted to the rank of Chunnin." Kiritsugu announced the match.

xXx

"Well, atleast he has improved his skills with Fire Release. And not to mention his summons." Fugaku said.

"Don't worry, he will win the next round for sure." Mikoto said.

xXx

"So, why do you think he lose?" Shisui asked.

"He presumed victory before the match was called and let his guard down." Itachi said.

"No. His every action was perfect. But despite that he was not meant to win this match." Shisui said.

"How?" Itachi asked.

"Because Neji was the worse opponent he could have faced in this whole exam. He has the counter for Sasuke's every move. And Sasuke didn't used the Shiden on him because it could have crippled Neji for the rest of his life. And as for Genjutsu, he has full understanding of his Byakugan abilities." Shisui said.

"So you are saying that Neji was the perfect counter for Sasuke. What about Gaara and Lee." Itachi said.

"Well, Lee could be taken out by Genjutsu without even moving a finger and Sasuke would definitely use Shiden on Gaara. And you have first-hand experience of how powerful that jutsu is." Shisui said.

"I see." Itachi said.

Somewhere outside the Village Walls

Six sand shinobi were sitting on a large seal, each of them having a scroll in their hand and waiting for the orders. The other sand shinobi were standing there, guarding them. Suddenly a squad of Sound Ninjas shunshined before them.

"How are the preparations going?" The leader of the Sound Squad asked.

"All according to the plan, we will be ready in about 10 minutes." The Sand Ninja said.

"Good. Do it as soon as you receive the signal." The Sound ninja said before he shunshined away.

xXx

"Looks like I will get to finish what I wanted all those years ago." Tobi said as he dropped the kunai he was holding.

"Seems like it." Kisame said. Both of them were standing on the outer wall of the village. The had just slaughtered two squads of Konoha Ninjas who were stationed there.

"Danzo did his job well enough." Obito said.

"Yeah. I wonder if there was any barrier to begin with?" Kisame said.

"Oh, there were quite a few. One of the best one I have ever laid my eyes upon. I am wondering how did he managed to undo the seals. It doesn't make any sense as these barriers were far more complex than he could comprehend." Tobi said.

"Well, whatever, He did his job, that's all that matters." Kisame said.

"Guess you are right. How long do we have to wait again?" Tobi asked.

"10 minutes." Kisame said as he started unwrapping his Samehada.

Chunnin Exams Arena

"Alright, now for the next match of the first round, Temari of the Sand and Haku Yuki, enter the arena." Kiritsugu said as both the participants entered the arena.

'Hurry Up and Come back faster. We have to move in 10 minutes.' Temari remembered Kankuro's words as she entered the arena.

Both of them now stood before each other. "Let's end this quickly." Temari said.

"I don't plan of lingering a fight either." Haku said.

Temari then unfolded her War Fan and waved a powerful gust of wind at Haku. Reacting to the incoming attack, Haku immediately weaved a series of hand seals and formed a wall of Ice before her.

"Ice Release: Ice Wall." Haku said as she formed another set of hand seals and this time the wall of ice transformed into countless spikes that attacked Temari. But she easily blew them away with her fan. But much to her surprise, Haku unrolled two scrolls on the ground as large amount of water started flowing out of it. In a matter of few seconds, the area around both of them got covered with water that rose to their knees.

"I suggest you surrender as you can no longer defend from my attacks." Haku said.

"As if. I can attack you even before you can complete making you hand signs." Temari said but much to her surprise, a spike to ice protruded out of the water and stopped at a hair's length from Temari's eyes, all in just a second.

"You fool. I don't need hand seals to manipulate water into ice, I only need them to conjure Ice using raw chakra." Haku said.

As Temari instinctively tried to step back from the spike in front of her, three more spikes protruded out from the remaining sides only to stop just before her. "Have you reconsidered your decision?" Haku asked.

"I-I give up." Temari said as the spikes suddenly turned back to water.

"And we have a winner. Haku Yuki wins the second battle of Round 1 and Temari of the Sand proceeds to the Round 2." Kiritsugu announced the match.

"Now before the third battle of the first round we will have a 5 minute break." Kiritsugu said as he took the scroll that Haku had used earlier and sealed the water back into it. After that he used the earth release jutsu to revert the arena back to normal.

With the Sand Siblings

"I think we should be going." Kankuro said.

"Yes, you are right. Let's go, it should start any minute now." Temari said.

"Hnn.." Gaara said as he shunshined away followed by Temari and Kankuro.

xXx

In the stands, an ANBU Black Ops ninja wearing a black cloak emerged from the shadows. As he stepped forward, he glanced at Naruto who was disguised as Kiritsugu, before making a set of hand seals.

"Let's begin!" The ANBU said as suddenly everyone in the Arena started falling asleep. Simultaneously, a red flare was shot in the sky from near the Arena.

xXx

"That's the signal, summon it now!" The Sand shinobi said as suddenly a three headed gigantic serpent popped up before them. It hissed at the shinobi who had summoned him before charging at the village.

As the serpent charged forward, it destroyed everything that came in its path, quickly reaching to the wall.

"What is going on? Why is the barrier not reacting to this abomination." A Konoha Nin said.

"Stop talking and alert the Hokage about-" Before the ninja could finish talking the snake slammed into the wall destroying it in the process and killing everyone stationed there.

xXx

"Well, guess it is about time." Kisame said as he made a set of hand seals and blew out a literal lake that he managed to make into a shape of a bubble and it engulfed one fifth of Konoha, crushing everything that it hit.

"Water Release: Exploding Water Shockwave Jutsu!" Kisame said as the water bubble stared moving towards the Hokage tower, albeit it was considerably slower.

"And there he goes. I should get moving too." Tobi was as he disappeared into a swirl in air.

xXx

"A Genjutsu?" Naruto said as he noticed everyone in the stands was sleeping except for the Ninjas. As he realized the situation, he dropped his disguise and transformed into his old self wearing the same white kimono with red bands the cuffs and collar.

Suddenly an explosion occurred at the place where the hokage were seated. As the dust settled, Naruto saw the Kazekage holding Hiruzen hostage with a kunai at his throat. But suddenly, four Sand Ninjas jumped around the Kages and erected the Purple Ray formation barrier.

"So, this was the Snake's plan." Naruto muttered as he used his Lightning Shunshin to appear before the Barrier that contained the Hokage and Orochimaru.

"Oi Snake, what kind of suicide attempt is this?" Naruto said.

"My Naruto-kun, aren't you fast enough?" Orochimaru said as he let go of Hiruzen and jumped back to make some distance between them.

"Erecting the Purple Ray Formation to isolate Hokage-Sama? You should know that I can break this barrier without any effort." Naruto said.

"Naruto! You must go and help other in keeping the Sand and Sound Ninjas outside the village. I can take care of myself." Hiruzen said.

"Are you sure? Because from your former student looks quite confident that he can take you out." Naruto said.

"Don't underestimate me. I may be old but I can still protect my village." Hiruzen said.

"Okay, I believe in you. Just don't die." Naruto said before a purple lightning fell on him as he shunshined away from there.

"Kukuku… How foolish can you be, Sarutobi sensei?" Orochimaru said.

"What are you talking about?" Hiruzen said.

"Honestly, I was stiffened when he offered help. But you sent him away." Orochimaru said.

"What is wrong with my students. All of you just keep underestimating me." Hiruzen said.

"It is not that I am underestimating you, but the thing is that I have acquired a much greater power that I had yearned for years. And as it stands now, I am far more powerful than you, even more than Jiraiya and Naruto-Kun." Orochimaru said.

"Oh, is it like that? Then I would like to see that power myself." Hiruzen said.

"I can't show it you just like that. Why don't push me to my limits, then perhaps I will." Orochimaru said.

Somewhere inside the village

"What is the situation?" Itachi asked.

"Sand and Sound village have joined hands and attacked us together. There are around 30 thousand in number, all either chunnin or Jonin." Naruto said, who was sitting there in a lotus position trying to sense the situation.

"Are there any noticeable enemies that we should be wary of, other than that shark like guy who is controlling that giant water bubble." Itachi asked looking the Water Bubble that Kisame was controlling.

"There are quite a few. First we have Orochimaru who is fighting with Hokage Sama, then we have Kisame Hoshigaki controlling the Giant Bubble. There is that giant three headed serpent and near him is Kabuto Yakushi at the wall. The One tails' Jinchuriki is 4 miles in the west of that serpent, who is apparently trying to transform into it's release state." Naruto said.

"And then there is pretty strong guy from the Kaguya Clan, probably the last survivor. Other than him, I don't sense any strong chakra signatures, though someone might be trying to suppress it or is probably not arrived yet." Naruto said.

"Alright, and the ninjas are entering the village from the opening the serpent has created and from the main gate." Itachi said.

"So, what are the orders?" Naruto asked.

"You go and deal with the serpent and check the entry of the enemies from both the entrances." Itachi said as Naruto shunshined away.

"Now Inoichi-san, can you hear me?" Itachi said.

"Go on." Inoichi said.

"Tell Shisui-san and Gai-san to deal with Kisame Hoshigaki. And tell Jiraiya Sama and Kakashi san to deal with the One tail's Jinchuriki." Itachi said.

"Okay. What about the Kaguya?" Inoichi asked.

"Send Zabuza and his pupil to deal with him. Also tell the clan heads to protect the Hokage tower and the Hospital." Itachi said.

"Okay." Inoichi said.

xXx

"You heard that Kakashi?" Jiraiya said as he snapped the neck of a sound ninja.

"Yeah. Let's go then." Kakashi said as he killed the two Sand ninjas that had tried to attack him.

xXx

Naruto shunshined at a rooftop just before the three headed serpent. "Hm… How should I get rid of you?" Naruto said.

Suddenly multiple chains shot out from Naruto's back and wrapped around the snake's heads. "Now, how about this?" Naruto said as the blunt chains suddenly turned razor sharp and decapacitated the snakes right where it stood.

"That was easier than I had thought." Naruto said as he looked at the relived faces of the Ninjas around him.

"Thank you Naruto-Kun, you really saved our lives." One of the Jonins said.

"You're welcome." Naruto said as he shunshined to the broken wall.

More than 90 percent of the ninjas were entering the village thorough this cavity that the snake had opened. As Naruto reached the place, it was practically swarmed by the enemy Ninjas. And more than 20 thousand ninjas was waiting outside to enter the village while 2 thousand had already entered.

"Guess I will finally get to use that jutsu." Naruto said as he unsealed a beautiful bow with a golden string attached to it.

"Alright. Die you insulants." Naruto said as he released a single arrow from his bow. The twang of the arrow being released was itself strong enough to knock out everyone in its vicinity.

"Yang Release: Eclipse of Death!" Naruto said as the arrow that he had launched multiplied into countless arrows that rained down from the sky. The number of the arrows as so great that it made the noon appear like a new moon night.

In a matter of mere seconds, all 20 thousand shinobi were dead and gone. The blood from the shinobis dyed the soil red as the place became lifeless with a single man standing, that being Naruto himself. He then looked at the two thousand shinobi that had just entered the village, who were now looking back at him with shivering legs and dried throat.

"Good grief. I am not even trying and my kill count is already above 55 thousand. And after you, it will become fifty-seven thousand eight hundred and ninety six (57,896). This is not a count a 13 year old should have, even my friends are in single digits. " Naruto said as he weaved a series of hand seals.

"Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flames!" Naruto said as the sea of flames engulfed a large number of ninjas. Seeing the ninjas in the back row running away, Naruto used his chains to rise higher in the air as he formed an orb of lightning in his hand that he released into the sky.

"Lightning Release: Kirin!" Naruto as a gigantic Lightning Dragon descended from the sky to claim the lives of it's victims. As the light from the jutsu faded out, a wasted land revealed itself full of partly burned human carcasses.

"Guess my job here is done now." Naruto said as he bit his thumb and made a set of hand seals.

"Summoning Jutsu: Rashmon Gates." Naruto said as he summoned a single Rashmon Gate to cover the cavity in to wall.


Jutsu List:

1. Yang Release: Ecliplse of Death

Naruto shoots an arrow in the sky imbued with Yang Release. After the arrow reaches mid air, Naruto released the chakra in the arrow, creating thousand of arrows in an instant using Yang Release. The arrows then rain down on the enemies, killing thousands of enemies at one. The quantity of the arrows is so great that they cover the whole sky, resembling an eclipse hence the name. Naruto can also aim each arrow individually, to make sure it hits the target every time he shoots.