I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, I'm just a fan I enjoyed the anime but I love the fanfics even more, they made me fall for the whole franchise.

Chapter 52

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes watching Naruto and Hinata make their way to their team. He wondered what that situation was about, did the Yamanaka heiress start having second thoughts and why did Naruto seem so close to Hinata Hyūga?

'It must be a team thing.' Hiruzen thought but the scene was not leaving his mind any time soon. Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed, this was beginning to feel like a bad idea but it was a 12-year-long plan and before that, it was another 24-year-long plan together it was a long 36-year plan. The third Hokage looked to the blonde who will one day change the elemental nations.

"The child of prophecy." Hiruzen said in a whisper but he did not mind if he was heard, nobody would know what he was talking about and no one would question him on the slip of the tongue. Hiruzen Sarutobi had known about the prophecy since Jiraiya his pupil told him about it many years ago.

A boy born of blood and carnage, hair as yellow as gold and eyes as blue as a clear sky. Born of red and yellow, Kushina Uzumaki represented blood and a yellow-haired bringer of death by the name of Minato Namikaze, Minato Sarutobi, Minato Senju.

'Nobody will ever forgive me for what I did, not Tsunade and not Naruto but for the leaf Village it had to be done.' The third spied on the next contestants, Shino Aburama and Zaku Abumi stepping into the ring.

What was Sarutobi supposed to do? The prophecy spoke of a great evil that would one day plunge the world into chaos. A new ninja war, bigger and bloodier than its predecessors, and the only person who could stop it was the blonde standing with his team, watching the match in interest while Gekkō explained the rules.

Minato was a dutiful Shinobi before anything else, all the man ever wanted was to feel accepted by a village that adopted him. 'He didn't know better.' Hiruzen sighed. Minato Namikaze was raised as an orphan, that simple fact made him the kind of person you could count on, he only wanted to be acknowledged so he did everything to please others.

Hiruzen used that mindset to turn Minato into the perfect Hokage, thinking him to be the child of the prophecy the great toad spoke of. Tsunade was the last of her clan, the last Senju, and had yellow hair, after her brother and lover's death she became withdrawn, she did not want anything anymore she was sad and vulnerable, and Hiruzen to the chance to make an 'investment'.

'I am a terrible leader.' Hiruzen told himself and he accepted that assessment wholeheartedly. He made many mistakes in his life. Things he did in his youth as a leader who did everything for his village and people were coming back to haunt him in his old age.

'Please forgive an old man's blunder Tsunade and come see little Naruto, maybe you can connect to him.' Hiruzen Sarutobi knew he had no right asking Tsunade Senju to do anything, he did something terrible to her thinking she would one day birth the child of prophecy. She was born with blonde hair, her grandmother was Mito Uzumaki, a red hair, and her grandfather Hashirama Senju a bringer of death on the battlefield, her being the last of her clan only cemented his thoughts on the matter.

Minato Namikaze was thought to be the child of prophecy with his growth in strength only cementing those thoughts in Hiruzen. Sarutobi did explain to Tsunade why he did what he did and told her of the prophecy but she wanted nothing to do with it. When she heard his words she cried, asking him how he could betray Tobirama like that, how he could betray Hashirama like that, and how he could betray Mito like that. She left the village a year later and never stepped foot back inside, saying she would rather die than ever reveal to the world what happened.

She did not return when Minato became the hero of the leaf, she did not return when he became Hokage and she was definitely not returning when he sent her a missive of his death. She had warned him that his goals would lead the blonde to an early grave, but he did not listen.

The match began with the Aburama releasing his bugs to his sides sending them in intervals to prob at his opponent's defenses while the sound ninja ran wide evading the insects. Jiraya was heartbroken at the news of Minato's passing but when Hiruzen showed him Naruto, Jiraiya understood the significance of his visage alone.

Naruto's birth fit with the prophecy so well that they had to make plans and execute them to a tee. Minato Namikaze's loyalty to the village came from the fact he had no family of his own so he took the whole village as his one big family and Konoha as his family's big home.

Naruto was supposed to be the same, his struggles, loneliness, and triumphs were supposed to awaken in him a will of fire even superior to his father. Hiruzen thought it was a given the blonde would one day want to become Hokage so he too could one day have a big family in the form of a village.

'With the child of prophecy on the side of the leaf village we would win the war and the village could continue to prosper.' Hiruzen thought. This thought was the driving force that made him believe he was making the right decisions. Everything for his beloved village.

The cogs were all set in place, the machine was moving and soon the prophecy would come true. It was inevitable with Naruto's birth, Hiruzen only wished he wasn't around to experience another war.

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Shino did like a party and came in a crowd his airborne insects buzzing around in a coordinated attack towards the evasive Zaku and his crawling bunch crawled towards the sound genin. Yes, they were slow but these guys only needed one thing and that was a chance to latch onto someone's feet and begin a colony with the chakra he has provided each one of them over time.

The first batch of airborne insects had their orders and a formation to move in. The bugs were not a very organized squad they were insects but they got the idea. The first couple thousand were the first to attack from the left the others already moving up to come down on the enemy like a hammer.

The sound genin slid to a stop and Shino's insects missed him by millimeters. Shino brought his right arm down sending the signal for the ones above to come down. Zaku leaped back with Shino's insects colliding with the pavement making up the bottom level of the big hall.

"Hn, your weak leaf nin, and I will prove it." Zaku said before dashing toward Shino at great speeds. The Aburama sent another barrage of flying insects to defend himself from what he thought to be a frontal attack. "Yah!" Zaku exclaimed jumping up and high over the insects and showing his great leg strength before he turned in midair and began throwing a barrage of shurikens at Shino.

"Useless." Shino stated calling upon more insects that revealed themselves from his clothes coming in the way of the thrown projectiles. Many kikaichū got torn to pieces in the assault of the sharp ninja tools but they served their purpose with Shurikens clanking on the floor losing their momentum in the sea of insects.

Zaku had a problem now he was airborne and Shino's insects were making a detour toward him. Zaku had spiky, black hair and dark eyes. He wore a beige shirt with two black stripes and three prints of the kanji for death (shi) down the front. His forehead protector had an attached happuri under the cloth rather than connected to the metal plate and he wore a snake-patterned scarf around his neck.

'Snake, Rabbit, Horse, Boar.' Zaku went through hand seals in mid-air before placing his right arm in front of him and calling out his jutsu.

"Decapitating Airwaves!" Zaku Abumi used chakra to generate energy within his elbows, which he emits from a hole in his palm using a tube implanted in his forearm. The energy is a mixture of sound waves and airwaves, with the ratio between the two differing depending on what Zaku intends to use this technique for.

For example, 100% airwaves and 0% sound waves are enough to shatter stone. In other uses, it can repel incoming projectiles, soften the ground for use as a cushion, and knock over people but its power weakens sharply over distances.

Shino jumped to the left, his insects getting blasted back toward him with pressurized air from the sound nin. Zaku laughed in glee landing on his feet and began shooting out a barrage of airwaves at the Aburama now on the defensive.

Shino was not a speed freak like Kiba when he was on all four but he did not slack off on the concept, especially with a sensei like Kurenai and because their squad specialized in scouting and recon so speed was a given.

"What's wrong freak? hahaha, you leaf weaklings are the freakiest people around aren't you." Zaku mocked making most leaf nin watching the battle groan and roll their eyes at the diss, it was always like this with these foreign genins.

"My art may be disturbing to you but at least I don't have pipes sticking out of my hands." Shino said matter-of-factly dodging another barrage before sending out bugs to fly wide and take Zaku's attention off him.

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"Hokage-Sama, miss Yamanaka has left the building." An Anbu in a porcelain mask with bear markings came forward in a bow next to the seated aged man and whispered in his ear. The third nodded before moving close to the man's ear and giving his orders with the man nodding and disappearing in a Shuushine to complete his given assignment.

"What do you think Ibiki-Kun?" Ibiki looked over at the Hokage before looking back at the display of strength of the genins fighting each other.

"The sound genin is overconfident in his moves, his jutsu is something I have never seen before but I can imagine a snake was involved." Ibiki gave his assessment of one Zaku of Otogakure. The third nodded and waited for the man to continue which he did.

"The Aburama is well adapted in his clan jutsus but it seems that is all he is good for, he lacks speed and technique, I would assume his physical strength is lacking as well but he cannot be blamed." Hiruzen listened and nodded at that assessment thinking along the same line as the Head Torturer. The Aburama clan were sticklers to their belief that their insects could solve all problems.

Anko who was doing her best to not maim the gaki ogling her from a distance watched on in interest in the proceedings of the match. The first match was in her words 'too sappy' for her tastes she wanted blood, gore, and screams so she held high hopes for the Aburama boy to deliver due to past experiences fighting alongside members of that clan.

"If they can kill each other before Gekkō can stop them I would consider the survivor Chunin worthy In my books." The sexiest mistress of Konoha revealed to the people in hearing range who were Ibiki Morino and Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"That is why your opinion is left in the second phase." Morino told Anko who simply yawned and patted her backside with both hands, making the soft tissue being held by the tight mini skirt jiggle. Hiruzen gave a belly laugh when the big bad interrogator looked away from Anko's body and growled.

Anko smirked, it worked every time.

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Sakura was confused and rightfully so, she didn't understand what was going on with her friend. Ino was okay whenever she saw her, but why cry when Naruto told her he fell in love? Sakura thought it was so sweet that he would say it in their match and in front of everyone.

She spied Naruto to her left standing with both arms folded on the railing with his head placed above them while he watched her teammate's match. Kiba as well looked confused by what happened but he seemed quick to push it to the side and cheer Shino on.

"Kick his ass Shino!!" Sakura sighed Kiba was such a Baka, but at least he was cheering for Shino. Sakura couldn't bring herself to cheer, her conversation with Sasuke Uchiha the day before still fresh in her mind.

She spied Hinata next to Naruto a fidgeting mess with a frown on her face that occasionally just turned upside down into a smile that she would kill immediately. It returned 5 times in the amount of time Sakura looked at her, the pink-haired genin balled her fists if she were to fight Hinata she would do her absolute best to win.

Sakura watched the Aburama make an insect clone before he and the clone ran at Zaku who was occupied with some insects bothering him by buzzing around his form. The two Shino reached Zaku and body tackled him with great force throwing him off his feet to tumble backward.

"Yeah!" Kiba screamed in joy, Kurenai Sensei smiled and gave a little clap to congratulate the Aburama in her own way.

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Zaku tumbled and twisted on the floor before placing his hands on the pavement and pushing himself upward to stand on his feet. The sound nin growled at his opponent before placing both hands in front of him, palms facing Shino who was already running wide knowing what that gesture meant.

"Let me see you dodge this freak. Extreme Decapitating Airwaves." Zaku molded a large amount of chakra performing a stronger version of the Decapitating Airwaves technique, having greater power, range, and coverage angle. Zaku Abumi emits a high-pressured mixture of sound waves and airwaves from the holes in the palms of his hands into the area ahead of him.

Shino lost sight of Zaku, momentarily blinded as the air and sound quickly traveled forwards, carving up the ground and reducing everything in its path to dust. The sheer destructiveness of this technique prevents it from being used in quick succession, as it places a great burden on Zaku's arms as could be seen by his gritted teeth.

Shino was quick to go through hand seals 'Boar, Monkey, Dragon, Ram, Dog' before calling out insects by the thousands with each one ready to die protecting an offspring left behind to start another colony of thousands.

"Insect Jar Technique." The technique Shino performed is capable of protecting against attacks by using kikaichū to fly in a dome shape at high speed, similar to the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven. While proving defensive, a sufficient amount of explosive force can break through it.

Zaku laughed when Shino's dome was destroyed and the bug boy was sent flying, flipping backward 4 times before colliding with the far-off wall on the side of the arena where the sand siblings were located above.

"Hahahahahahahah…… do you see the power of a sound ninja stupid bug of Konoha!" Zaku turned around laughing in hysteria arms stretched out and a manic aura surrounding him. He opened his mouth to speak more boasts but he heard ragged breathing behind him and he looked back to the boy on the opposite side of where he sent him.

Shino's clothes were in tatters, his right arm held on his left hand for support, having sprained it at the elbow when the air pressure suddenly reached him and pushed the arm back too fast. His ribs felt like they were ready to collapse and he thought they might.

"I have not yet fallen, I can deduce that move is a once-a-day attack, you have lost already. My insects have been draining your chakra for a while now. You were so busy throwing jutsus around you never noticed the depletion." Shino's voice was hoarse but he still gave a long-winded speech to Zaku who gritted his teeth in anger only then realizing that he was low, but he grinned anyway.

"I should end this quickly then." Zaku built up his chakra again, now with a smile on his face that spoke of how much Shino's suffering would mean the world to him. "Die, Decapitating Airwaves!" Zaku exclaimed building his chakra in his elbows and molding it before shooting out the pressurized air.

"It is over." Shino said turning around and giving Zaku his back who looked panicked at the fact his arms were inflating like a balloon.

"What… did….AGHHHHHHHH!!!!" Zaku's cry was only an octave lower than the sound his arms made bursting from the elbows, his right arm flew up and knocked into the ceiling above before falling back down on the floor 5 feet away from the screaming genin squirting blood occasionally. The left arm flew in Shino's direction turning like a windmill ready to collide with his head but he moved his head to the side as he walked and let it fly over his shoulder, colliding with the side of the wall where the leaf nin stood above and leaving blood on the wall.

Zaku was down a second later unconscious from all the pain. A squad of medic ninjas came rushing into the room and collected the downed boy who bled out on the floor from the stomps now making up his left and right arm which were collected as well the limbs were beyond repair.

"Winner. Shino Aburama of the Aburama clan!" Gekkō Hayeta bellowed. The sound nin was skilled in the proctor's books but his behavior was not one a genin should have. That kind of behavior belonged to veterans who even when boasting can keep an eye on their surroundings.

Zaku never noticed when the slower and smaller insects crawling around the room latched onto him and began their trek toward his arms and into the pipes in his palm. His biggest weakness was in plain sight obvious to everyone in the room he should have taken measures to cover them up.

The next match was revealed to the participants and it was something that had many looking on in shock.

"Let us all do our best Kiba-San." Shino told his teammate when he reached him and patted the dog boy on the shoulders.

"The next match-up will be Kiba Inuzuka of the Inuzuka Clan vs Sasuke Uchiha of the Uchiha clan will the contenders please step into the ring." Gekkō called out with Kiba gulping before looking to Sasuke who only looked at him like gum that got stuck on his ninja shoes. The Inuzuka growled and jumped off the railing, landing on all four before looking up at his opponent.

"Whatever." Sasuke said to no one in particular and made his way to the ring at a leisurely pace using the long way to get there, his hands in his pocket and eyes locked on Kiba. Akamaru whimpered because Sasuke's eyes looked at him and his best friend like prey.

Authors Notes

There we have the second fight of the Chunin Exams Shino's match-up with Zaku was a crazy coincidence I started writing the chapter with the first Sound ninja I remembered in mind and that bro came up.

The third seems to be hiding even more things, what does he mean by Namikaze, Senju, and Satutobi when mentioning the fourth Hokage? Find out next time on a different telling.

Short chapter but I know you don't care much for Shino next match a one sided rivalry that Sasuke wants no part of...