"Talking"
"Thoughts"
"SCREAMING/YELLING/SHOUTING"
"Jutsu"
"Tailed Beast talking"
"Tailed Beast Thinking"
Sound Effects
Date & Time
|Location|
[Flashback]
[+]
Chapter 13: Some Answers
[+]
*Previously*
The team and the rest of the Genin watched as the Naruto pounded Zaku into a bloody pulp, but didn't kill him as he fell unconscious from the damage his body received both from the Uzumaki and the pill.
Once sure that his opponent was down, Naruto's red aura disappeared as he searched Zaku for a scroll.
After a minute, "Hey Guys they have an Earth Scroll!" Naruto announced before turning around to view his still stupefied teammates.
"Umm… is something on my face?"
[+]
*And we continue*
The males of Team 7 face palmed after hearing… no scratch that… almost everyone present face palmed after hearing that.
"You took down that thing in less than 15 seconds and you go spoil the mood by saying… anyway welcome back to the land of living." Atsushi said with a sigh.
"Sorry about that-" Naruto paused before glancing around, "Ah, you five can come out now." Naruto called out to the surrounding forest.
Team 10 awkwardly stumbled out of the bushes; Tenten stepped out still staring at Naruto in disbelief while Neji stared on with a calculative gaze.
"Naruto… umm we were just stopping by." Ino nervously said.
"Okay."
"H-hey Naruto, when'd you get so strong?" Choji asked hesitantly.
Naruto shrugged. "I honestly don't know."
Lee who had been surprisingly quiet all through the whole exhibition spoke next, "Yosh! Naruto-kun that was an incredible display of your flames of youth! Please fight me next!"
The blonde was about to reply but then recalled what happened to Sasuke, "Hehe… maybe when the exams are over."
"Tenten, Lee we should get going." Neji spoke up gaining his teammates' attention. The Hyuga's eye then wandered until they settled on Hinata before turning into a glare. The girl become immediately became uncomfortable under said gaze, Naruto noticed this and glared back at Neji but the Hyuga merely raised a brow and then jumped away.
"Ah! Hey Neji! Wait for us!" Tenten yelled before jumping away after him.
"Yosh! Until next time Naruto-kun!" Lee gave a big thumb up and a sparkling smile before he too vanished into the trees.
Seeing that Naruto had taken care of Team 9, Sasuke turned to Team 10. "You need anything?"
Ino sent a flirtatious smile at the Uchiha, "You wouldn't have an Earth scroll that you spare, hmm?"
Sasuke regretted asking.
[+]
|Elsewhere|
The Storm trio was busy dashing through the forest cautiously while searching for an enemy team.
"It's been over an entire day since we battled against those Kusa 'Genin' and we haven't spotted at least one team." Banri whined before Himari basked him on the head with her bo-staff.
Eito chucked as he watched the two, "On the bright side no one has spotted us too."
"But still."
"Maybe we wandered into an-" Himari was interrupted by a loud scream which came from close by. "Did you hear that?"
"We should go investigate." Eito said.
"And if it's a trap?" Himari asked.
"That's why we should move with caution." Banri answered, with that said the three gripped their weapons and headed towards the direction of the scream.
[+]
Some minutes earlier
Once Team 10 were sent on their way Naruto felt the questioning eyes of his teammates on him, sighing the Uzumaki turned around to address the problem.
"I know that I have some explaining to do especially to both Hinata and Sasuke."
"You omitted Atsushi, Naruto-kun." Hinata pointed out which made Sasuke sigh.
"That's because Atsushi already knows what he's talking." Hinata turned to the Kishida who nodded scratching his head in embarrassment.
"Em… Sorry but we weren't sure you two were ready to handle the truth."
The Uchiha snorted while Hinata became more confused, "What truth?"
"The truth that I'm-" Naruto was interrupted by a loud scream, "What was that?"
"Hold on a minute, let me check," Hinata said as she activated her Byakugan. Looking around, she soon located the source of the scream, "There's a Kusa Genin about 27 meters from here and she's being attacked by a wild bear."
"Are her teammates around?" Atsushi asked.
"No and she appears to be injured." Hinata answered.
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go help!" Naruto said.
"You sure this isn't a trap," Sasuke asked the Hyuga.
Hinata shook her head, "There is nothing suspicious in the area so this can't be a trap."
With no further arguments, the Team 7 leapt into the trees.
[+]
|Elsewhere|
The Arashigakure Genins were hidden among the trees as they observed the situation before them. They had come upon a Kusa kunoichi and saw that she was backed against a tree while clutching a scroll as a large bear stalked towards her.
"Ok Himari you know what to do." Eito said, the female nodded before channeling some lightning to her bo-staff.
They didn't know that someone else had the same idea.
[+]
(Team 7)
"Ok Hinata now seems like the perfect time to test that jutsu we have been working on." Naruto said to female teammate, Hinata nodded before coating her hand in chakra giving it a whitish glow.
'He never told me that he was helping her with a justu.' Atsushi thought as he and Sasuke paid close attention to what Hinata was doing.
Sure that she had gathered enough chakra on her palms, Hinata clapped hands together before slowly separating them.
A ball of white chakra began to form between them.
Hinata continued to part her hands as the ball grew between them, once the chakra ball had attained the size of a softball the Hyuga stopped and glanced at her blond teammate, Naruto nodded then pointed at the bear.
Hinata nodded and aimed the ball at the target not knowing that someone else was also aiming for her target.
[+]
"Lightning Style: Thunder Spear!"
"Eight Trigrams: Chakra Bomb!"
Just as the Lightning coated staff shot out of Himari's hand, the chakra bullet shot out of Hinata's.
The Spear impaled the bear on its right side almost causing it to cry out in pain before the chakra bomb collided with its left and exploded, the bear died instantly from both attacks.
The Kusa kuniochi blinked in confusion at what just happened and trust me she wasn't the only one.
"Is it just me or did you guys see that?" Banri asked.
"Someone is coming out." Himari pointed out, "Wait isn't that Atsushi?"
"Banri, Eito and Himari it's ok to come out, we aren't here to fight." The Kishida on Team 7 announced as he and his teammates stepped out of the bushes.
Seeing that they have been discovered the three jumped out and joined the Konoha Genin, "How did you know that it was us?" Eito asked curiously.
Atsushi pointed at Hinata, "After launching her attack she activated her byakugan and told me your descriptions."
"Wait… so that white ball thingy came from her?" Himari asked staring at the Hyuga who was now blushing thanks to all the attention being on her, "Damn, that was awesome."
"Why thank you." Hinata said trying to suppress her blush.
"Anyway." Sasuke spoke up, "How did you-"
"We heard a scream and decided to investigate." Banri answered before the Uchiha could ask.
Naruto on the other hand went for the Kusa kunoichi, "Yo." He greeted.
"Gah! Take the scroll! Just don't hurt me!" the girl cried as she shoved her scroll forward.
"I don't want your scroll and we already have a Heaven scroll."
"Did someone say Heaven scroll?" Eito said, the question catching everyone's attention especially his teammates as their eyes landed on the Heaven scroll that the red haired had.
Seeing them eyeing the scroll, the girl immediately tossed it at Storm genin, "Here take it just leave me alone." She cried.
Banri caught the scroll before turning to his teammates, "So what now?"
Naruto answered, "You guys head over to the tower."
"You aren't going to hurt her, are you?" Himari asked concerned for the girl.
"Why would I want to hurt someone from the same clan as I."
"WHAT?" The rest of team 7 chorused.
"You are an Uzumaki? But I thought I was the last one?" the Kusa kunoichi wondered.
"I think that's our cue to leave." Eito said with his teammates nodding in reply, the three soon left heading towards the tower.
"After I read up on how our clan was destroyed I thought that too." Naruto answered.
"Read up? Didn't your parents tell you and how come your hair isn't red?" the girl asked.
"My parents died the day I was born and my father's genes are apparently stronger than my mother's." The blonde answered.
"Naruto-kun does that mean you know who your parents are?" Hinata asked softly.
The blonde nodded, "Yes but I will tell you all once we are in the tower," He turned to his clan member and introduced him, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, so what's your name?"
"Karin." She answered. Naruto turned to his teammates who picked up the memo.
"Atsushi Kishida."
"I'm Hinata Hyuga."
"Sasuke Uchiha."
"So Karin." Naruto began, "Wanna join Konoha?"
"But then I will become a missing-nin?" Karin pointed out.
"Not actually." Sasuke spoke up.
"Huh?" The Uchiha rolled his eyes at both Uzumakis.
"We are inside the Forest of Death in a survival test. Kusa will most likely think that you and your team perished inside here and they will eventually forget about you, allowing you to live a life here without fear of being discovered."
"That actually sounds like a good idea!" Naruto said with a large grin.
"But what about your teammates?" Hinata asked the Uzumaki female.
"Those bastards died against some angry Suna guy with a gourd," Karin said, "I told them that he was too strong for them but they didn't listen."
"Did he have dark red hair and black rings surrounding the eyes?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes."
"So they must have encountered Gaara after Naruto sent him flying." Atsushi muttered.
"YOU KNOW THE GUY?!" Karin screamed.
"Yeah we met before the first exam, blood-thirsty fellow."
"You're telling me."
"But I don't remember sending him flying though." Naruto said, "The last thing I remember was Orochimaru slamming my gut."
"You mean that you don't remember using a wind jutsu to send him flying? You practically saved Sasuke and I from that maniac!" Atsushi almost yelled.
"Sorry but I'm coming up with a blank."
Sasuke sighed, "Forget it, the dobe isn't going to remember and we should probably be heading to the tower." He turned to Karin, "Can you walk?"
"No, I sprained my ankle." She replied.
"Then you need to be carried." The Uchiha said.
"I can help with that," The male Uzumaki made a hand seal, "Shadow clone Jutsu!" Two clones of Naruto puffed into existence and carried Karin.
"Hey watch the ankle." The red haired protested.
"Yeah yeah." One of the clones grumbled.
"Ok Naruto and Hinata in the front, Karin and the clones in the middle then I and Atsushi in the back," Sasuke ordered, "Hinata make sure that your byakugan is active until we arrive at the tower, we can't afford to be ambushed.
Once in formation, Team 7 and Karin set out.
[+]
An hour later
|Central Tower|
"So what are we supposed to do now?" Naruto asked.
"I think we have to open the scrolls," Hinata said.
"But the proctor said that we shouldn't open the scrolls," Karin said.
Atsushi shook his head and told her, "She said not to open the scrolls UNTIL we reach the tower."
"But just in case send some shadow clones to open them." Sasuke told Naruto.
"Worth a shot," Naruto said as he made two Shadow clones. The clones took the scrolls and quickly opened them up while the rest of Team 7 stood back. In a puff of smoke, Iruka Umino stood before them.
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted in surprise.
Iruka gave a large grin and said, "Wow, you guys were the fourth team to arrive, and the second team from Konoha as well. And it's only the second day!"
"Ha! I knew we were awesome!" Naruto shouted as he pulled his teammates into a group hug, with the Uchiha trying to escape.
"So who's your new friend?" Iruka asked as he looked at Karin.
"Oh yeah," Naruto realized as he remembered his new cousin, "This is Karin, she's an Uzumaki and I'm sure that Jiji will want to make sure."
The chunin nodded in understanding.
"Iruka-sensei?" Hinata began, "Which teams arrived before us?"
"Well, Team 8 broke the record arriving here within the first two hours, the second team was from Suna with a redhead carrying a gourd and that was all for yesterday. The First team for today was a team from Arashi."
"That must be Eito's team." Atsushi said.
"Friends of yours?" Iruka asked.
"He met them during the first exam." Naruto answered.
"Hmm okay then but I have to ask you guys a question?"
The Genins paid attention.
"Did you by any chance encounter the rogue Sannin Orochimaru?" Seeing them tense up was more than enough to answer the question, "I see then… Hokage-sama and your sensei will be waiting for you."
An ANBU agent suddenly appeared and lead the five away.
[+]
Some minutes and a couple of explaining later
'I'm too old for this.' Hiruzen thought after he had dismissed Team 7 and Karin. He, Anko and Kakashi had listened to the five genin as they retold their encounters in the dreadful forest of death.
Now he had 5 things to worry about:
- The Chunin exams.
- What Orochimaru is planning for Konoha.
- Gaara being a Jinchuriki.
- Karin's defection to the Leaf village.
- And finally the safety of Team 7.
The second and fifth would bother him the most out of the bunch but there no way he will allow Konoha or any of its valuables to fall into his wayward student's hands.
[+]
(With Team 7 and Karin)
Hinata noticed that they weren't escorted back to the usual resting rooms of the tower and judging by the body language of her male teammates (and Karin) they also noticed this, seeing their tensed expressions the ANBU decided to explain.
"Due to recent discoveries and events, Hokage-sama deemed it fit that you guys be located to a more secure room which will be under constant watch." Seeing them relax the ANBU continued before stopping in front of a door.
"We're here." He said before opening the door revealing a fairly large room, its walls were colored dull white with a sliding window on two of the walls. The room seemed to be made for 6 persons judging by the fact that it had three bunk beds.
"As you know all competitors aren't allowed to leave the tower until the second exams are over, if you are hungry the cafeteria is just below this floor. You are free to leave this room at anytime of the day except nighttime." With that the door was closed shut but not locked.
"Well Naruto…" Atsushi began, "It's time to come clean."
Seeing that it couldn't be delayed anymore, Naruto told them everything about himself and at the end of the day he was glad he did.
[+]
3 days later
August 30
As the end of the exam neared, everyone in the tower proceeded to the main hall in the tower, as instructed to meet with the proctors of the exam.
The timer stopped showing the second portion of the exam had concluded. All the candidates who passed the exam were now standing in a large arena-like room. On a stage in front of them, stood the Hokage, proctor, and the jonin-senseis for each team.
"First off, congratulations on passing the second exam." the Hokage announced.
The candidates looked around to see which teams had survived the deadly stage: The Rookie 10, Team 9, Kabuto's team, the Sand Siblings, the Storm triad and the Sound trio.
'Wow, 25 participants out of 91. I was expecting to cut them in half, but I was expecting single digits.'Anko thought to herself. 'I guess Ibiki was right, there are some outstanding ones in this group.'
'No wonder they nominated them'the Hokage thought to himself, looking over the rookies. 'For all of them to make it this far is surprising to say the least.'
"Hokage-sama will now explain the third test." Anko announced to everyone. "Please listen carefully."
"I will, but first there is something I would like you to know. It's about the true purpose of these exams." the Hokage said. "Think about it, why do we have many different countries here if each village could hold their own chunin exams for their own ninja?"
Everyone took a few moments to think about what the Hokage was saying. "To promote friendship between countries?" the Hokage asked. "I don't want you to be confused by these exams' true meaning. In reality, this is a replacement for war amongst countries." He received many startled looks from the crowd.
"War?! What does that mean?" Tenten said to her team.
"If you go back in time, current allies were once enemies who fought each other for control." the Hokage explained. "In order to prevent fighting, this is the stage these countries chose to do battle on… That is the purpose of these exams."
"What?!" Kiba blurted out. "Isn't this thing for deciding who becomes chunin?"
"It is a fact that this exam decides who has what it takes to become chunin." the Hokage explained. "But this exam has another side… Where shinobi of each village risk their own lives to protect their lands' prestige, there will be leaders and influential individuals watching the third exam, many of them come from countries that are clients of shinobi. If the strength of a country is clear, that country will receive more clients, and if seen week, they will lose clients. Not to mention, it will send a message to other villages that 'our village has much power'. The strength of a country is the strength of the village. The strength of the village is the strength of the shinobi. And a shinobi's true strength is born only through life-risking battles."
"But why do you say stuff about being for friendship?" Tenten asked.
"I said in the beginning, I don't want you to confuse the purpose of this. By losing life and establishing balance, this is the shape of friendship in the world of shinobi." the Hokage stated. "Before we begin the third test, I will tell you one more thing… This is not just a test. This is a life-risking battle, with your dreams and country's prestige on the line. I'd like to explain the third test but…"
"(cough) actually, I apologize for the interruption Hokage-sama. From here on, as referee, will you please allow me." a sickly looking ninja said, appearing before the Hokage. The Hokage agreed. "Hello everyone, I'm Hayate. Before we begin, there is something I would like you to do. It's a preliminary round for the third test. To decide who gets to participate in the main event."
"Preliminary?!" Many people questioned in unison.
"Due to the first and second tests seemingly being far too easy this year, (cough) (cough) we have too many people remaining." Hayate said. "According to the rules, we may have a preliminary round to reduce (cough) the number of participants for the third test. As Hokage-sama said, there are many important individuals arriving and (cough) time is important. Now that is said, if there is anyone who feels like they cannot participate in a preliminary match now, (cough) (cough) please step forward now and you will be removed."
Kabuto promptly raised his hand.
"You're leaving Kabuto-senpai?" Sakura asked.
"Unfortunately yes, I'm low on chakra and because of that I would be able to put up much of a fight." Kabuto said as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
"Anyone else?" Hayate asked as Kabuto left the hall.
Neji turned to his cousin. "Hinata, you should also back out. I must admit that I am impressed you made it this far, but if you continue, something bad will surely happen to you."
Naruto who was close heard every single word and had to be restrained by Atsushi before he did something will regret… or maybe not.
"Thanks nii-san but I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself, I'm a shinobi after all." Hinata replied sending a mild glare at her cousin, the latter gritted his teeth but didn't reply.
"Now (cough), if there is no one else, we are going to begin the preliminaries" Hayate announced. "Since there are 24 entries now, we will have 12 matches (cough) (cough). Each match will be a one-on-one battle with the match ending when one fighter is dead, (cough) unconscious, or admits defeat."
"Now please (cough) direct your attention to the screen as we (cough) move on to the first preliminary matchup." Hayate said as names began to flash on the screen…
After some seconds two names were selected.
Eito Kishida vs. Yori Akado
"Now, these two entrants come forward while the rest of you, please proceed to the balconies above to watch the matches." Hayate announced.
[+]
|Arena|
"Are both fighters ready?" Hayate asked once everyone else was on the balconies. The proctor received a nod from both combatants, "First preliminary matchup between Eito of Arashi and Yori of Konoha begin!"
With that the match began. Yori made a hand seal and a blue chakra aura surrounded his hands. Eito drew his katana waiting for his adversary to make the first move which came in form of thrown shuriken. The Kishida deflected the projectile with his trusty sword then charged slicing his opponent in half only for the latter to crumble in dirty.
'An Earth clone?' Eito thought before he was suddenly gripped from behind. Yori had the boy in a bear hug before moving his hand to the boy's chest, a blue aura appearing on the hand. Eito suddenly felt his chakra reserves slightly begin to drop.
"You're stealing my chakra." The Kishida said.
"So you finally noticed." Yori replied in amusement but that soon turned to confusion as the boy suddenly stopped struggling. "Why did you- Aarrgghh!" Yori cried out in pain dropping Eito as if he was hot iron.
"So you finally noticed." Eito said mockingly as Yori tried to cool down his hands which were now colored blood red.
"W-what did you do to me?" Yori asked gritting his teeth in pain, his hands felt as if they were being burnt by a fire jutsu.
"You brought that upon yourself by stealing a Kishida's chakra." Seeing everyone's confused expressions he explained further, "The chakra of a Kishida is unstable and very aggressive, once introduced into the chakra network of a non-Kishida it reacts violently causing unbearable pain and death if not immediately flushed out."
"Y-you're… bluffing." Yori said barely trying to fight back the intense pain.
"Stick around for the next 10 minutes then see whose bluffing."
[+]
|Balconies|
"Atsushi, is Eito-san telling the truth?" Hinata asked, glancing at her Kishida teammate who nodded sadly.
"Yes, Yori has 9 minutes to seek medical attention or he's a dead man."
[+]
2 minutes later
|Arena|
"Yori-san please surrender, you won't be able to handle the pain anymore." Eito said with slight concern.
Yori was about to make a retort but was cut off by another cry of pain, the 'fire' had spread to his arms heading towards his shoulders, "Proctor I give up."
"Winner: Eito Kishida of Arashigakure!" Hayate announced as Eito walked upstairs to his team while Yori was carried away by medical nins. "The second match will begin now." He stated as the screen lit up.
All eyes were focused on the screen again. A minute passed before the screen stopped on stopped on another two names.
Zaku Abumi vs. Atsushi Kishida
"You have got to be kidding me." The Kishida groaned while Naruto patted his back.
"Hey look on the bright side." The Uzumaki began, "You guys finally get to finish what was started in the forest."
"Not funny Naruto, what if he takes one of those pills again." Atsushi complained.
"Actually he doesn't have any." Hinata said staring at the three Oto Genins with her byakugan, "The girl is the only one who has one."
"Well then that evens the odds and I may actually be able to win if I use that new jutsu Areku-san taught me." Atsushi said before heading down.
[+]
|Arena|
Zaku chuckled as Atsushi joined him on the battleground. The Kishida noticed this and frowned, "Something funny?"
"I'm just thinking of the ways I can use to beat your punk ass face into the ground." Zaku answered smugly.
"If I remember correctly back at the forest it was your punk ass face that was beaten into the ground." Atsushi said placing an arm behind his back while the other went in front.
Zaku grit his teeth as he glared at the boy in front of him, "That was because your teammates interrupted."
"Well they aren't going to interrupt this time and to be honest they won't need to because I'm not losing this fight." Atsushi replied glaring back.
"Then I'm going to have to prove you wrong." The Oto genin smirked wiggling his right arm a bit.
"I like to see you try."
Hayate looked back and forth between the two Genin before raising his hand.
"Second match… begin!"
Zaku made the first move, charging towards Atsushi. He removed his right arm from his sling and threw a punch at the Kishida's face. Atsushi used his left arm to block the punch then used his right arm to land a haymaker on Zaku's left cheek, knocking him backwards a few feet.
The Sound genin got up to his feet and noticed that his opponent was charging, smirking he pointed his right hand at the Kishida. "Decapit-" Zaku was cut short as Atsushi suddenly disabled his chakra weights closing the gap between them within a nanosecond and landing both of his fists which were coated in lightning onto his gut. The Sound genin was sent flying backwards until he hit the arena wall and coughed up blood.
"Didn't you say you were going to beat my punk ass face into the ground?" Atsushi taunted as the Oto nin got back up on shaky legs.
"Fuck you…" Zaku hissed in response as he pointed his right hand at the Kishida, "Extreme Decapitating Airwaves!"
A powerful blast of air was fired directly towards Atsushi who already weaving some hand seals. "Earth Style: Earth Dome!" the blast collided with the Earth barrier creating a dust cloud. Zaku smirked thinking that he landed a hit, that soon turned into a look of confusion as the dust cloud lifted revealing three Atsushis.
[+]
Sasuke blinked as he watched this with his Sharingan, "Are those…"
"Yep," Naruto answered, internally chuckling at their shock expressions.
"But Atsushi shouldn't be able to perform that jutsu, his chakra reserves are way smaller than yours Naruto-kun and shouldn't be able to handle that much clones!" Hinata pointed out.
"Atsushi did say that his clan's chakra is unstable." Kakashi began, staring at the Kishida intensively, "Because of that I think his chakra reserves have the ability to stretch themselves whenever the user uses a jutsu beyond his current reserves."
"Anyway I wonder what he's up to because he hasn't used this jutsu for about 3 months now." Naruto said, eyes still watching the fight.
[+]
|Arena|
Zaku was snapped out of his confused state just in time as the Atsushis pointed their fists at him calling out their next attack.
"Lightning Style: Laser Gun Barrage!" Six beams of blue lightning sped towards the sound genin who then smirked as he raised his two hands above his head.
"Spiraling Wind Dome!" Air shot out of device on his hands forming a miniature hurricane around him, the beams of lightning were effectively neutralized by the hurricane.
Having cancelled out his opponent's attack, Zaku dispelled the hurricane and smirked before saying, "Your lightning attacks won't work on me greenie."
The Atsushis in front of him didn't reply instead they puffed into smoke.
"What the-" Zaku could finish his sentence as he felt something grab his legs before dragging him into the ground.
The Sound genin sunk into the ground of the arena floor. His whole body was underground with the exception of his head and in front of him was the person he so wanted to kill.
"How do you like my Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!" Atsushi asked with a proud smirk on his face.
"Winner: Atsushi Kishida of Arashigakure!"
[+]
Orochimaru disguised as the sound team's sensei frowned at how Zaku was defeated, Dosu looked at his male teammate with a look of disappointment, while Kin… in fact the girl wasn't even staring at her teammate instead she was staring at his opponent with a look of admiration and something else. She felt justified that her idiot of a teammate had got finally his ass handled to him after the pain he inflicted on her after she refused to ingest the special pill.
[+]
"So he finally did that jutsu." Kakashi noted, smiling internally as Atsushi rejoined them in the balcony.
"Took you long enough." Sasuke said with a small smile.
"Sorry about that." Atsushi replied rubbing his head sheepishly, "Anyway make sure you guys win your own fights, I can't be the only one representing Team 7 in the finals."
"Hn, I am not going to lose. There are too many strong people here that I want to beat, especially you Naruto." Sasuke replied glancing at his blond teammate.
"In your dreams teme, if we somehow have to fight each other either now or in the finals I won't hold back." Naruto said smiling at his teammate who hn'd and turned away but with a smile on his face.
Atsushi shook his head while Hinata giggled at the two antics.
"Kurenai-sensei?" Sakura called gaining her jonin-sensei's attention, "Why wasn't Atsushi addressed as a Konoha Shinobi?" The rest of the rookies also paid attention as they were also curious.
"He isn't from Konoha." Was the simply reply from the female jonin.
Kiba blinked, "I don't get it." Kurenai was about to explain but was beaten to it by Naruto.
"His family are ambassadors to Konoha that's why he was addressed by the village his representing."
The Inuzuka stared at the Uzumaki with a bewildered look, "Oi dope did you understand half of what you just said?"
The blond clenched his fists in anger until Sasuke placed a hand on his shoulder, "He isn't worth it." Naruto nodded mentally thanking the Uchiha.
The screen lit up and began to flash through names
[+]
Kankuro Sabaku vs. Hinata Hyuga
"Go get him."
"Show that make-up freak what you're made of."
"Don't lose."
Hinata nodded at her teammates before descending the stairs.
Kankuro smirked as he saw his opponent walk down the stairs. "Looks like I get a weakling."
Temari scoffed, "It's an attitude like that makes you lose all the time."
Kankuro rolled his eyes, "Oh please, she won't even last three minutes against me."
"Kankuro," Gaara said in a cold voice, "If you lose, consider your existence finished." Kankuro paled then raced down to the arena before standing across from Hinata.
"Are both of you ready?" Hayate asked.
"Yes," Hinata replied.
"Yeah," Kankuro said.
"Third match begin!" Hayate said before jumping away. Hinata instantly activated her Byakugan and entered the Jyuken stance. Kankuro merely took the wrapped bundle off of his back and placed it next to him.
'He... doesn't have any chakra!' Hinata thought as she took a good look at Kankuro. She then noticed strings of chakra coming from his body and going into the bundle where it had a faint blue glow.
She then used her Byakugan on Kankuro who was standing before her. She saw right through the disguise and found him to be a wooden puppet with four arms, shaggy hair, a tattered robe, and three eyes staring blankly back at her.
'So he's one of those Puppet Users from Sunagakure.' Hinata thought. 'And judging from how the bundle has chakra coming out of it, I can guess the user is hiding inside.' With that in mind Hinata dashed towards the puppet Kankuro. The latter tensed then tried to punch the Hyuga but Hinata turned on her heel dodging the punch before attacking the bundle.
"Gah!" the real Kankuro cried out as Hinata started to close his tenketsu (Chakra points). The puppet Kankuro fell to the ground as the real one jumped out of the wrappings to avoid any more damage. He already couldn't feel anything in his left arm as it took most of the strikes.
"How did you know I was in there?" Kankuro questioned as he glared at the heiress.
"My Byakugan saw that your puppet had no chakra network and that there were several strings of chakra attached to several joints on its body. I also saw that the strings were coming from the bundle that your puppet place next to it," Hinata explained.
"Tch, guess I actually got a good opponent," Kankuro muttered as he reached out with his right arm and sent out chakra strings to the puppet. Karasu rose up and shot a purple ball towards Hinata, the Hyuga channeled some chakra to her right hand.
"Fuzen Kaiten!" Hinata waved said hand in front of her creating a semi-spherical barrier. The ball crashed into the chakra barrier and created a purple smoke cloud.
Hinata noticed this and jumped backwards to avoid getting poisoned, thanks to her Byakugan she saw Karasu shooting out of poison cloud attempting to grab her. The heiress avoided the puppet's arms before using her Jyuken to destroy its chakra strings.
Without strings Karasu crumbled to the ground useless.
Kankuro who was on the other side of the poison cloud wondered why Karasu wasn't responding to his motions. The poison cloud soon lifted and he saw why but that wasn't the only thing he saw as Hinata started to charge.
Kankuro quickly moved side to side in order to avoid her attacks. Each time he tried to send some chakra strings to Karasu Hinata would destroy them. The older Suna nin was starting to get frustrated with this and decided to go on the attack.
He threw a punch at Hinata, but the dead weight of his useless left arm made him stumble a little, and Hinata capitalized on that.
She slid past the weak blow and began to deliver a number of strikes to his tenketsu. "2 Palms!" The Suna nin didn't stand a chance as Hinata rapidly closed off the chakra points in his remaining arm and legs.
"4 Palms!"
"8 Palms!"
"16 Palms!"
"Eight Trigrams: 32 Palms!"
Once done Hinata gently poked Kankuro on the forehead and the puppet user fall backwards towards the floor.
"Winner: Hinata Hyuga of Konohagakure!"
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|Balconies|
'Seems Hokage-sama was right, being on Team 7 did bring her out of shell.' Kurenai thought with a sad smile as she watched Hinata climb back up the stairs.
As Hinata rejoined her teammates she was immediately wrapped in a hug by an ecstatic blond.
"Congratulations Hinata-chan, I knew you could do it." Naruto cheered. Hinata blushed beet red then returned the hug.
"Ehmph… Naruto I can think you have congratulated her enough," Kakashi said before giggling perversely, "Or do you two want to continue this elsewhere." The two immediately separated blushing new shades of red with Naruto glaring at the Cyclops.
"Ero-sensei." He muttered under his breath prompting Atsushi to burst out laughing and Sasuke to develop a smirk.
[+]
A/N: And that the first part of the preliminaries, I hope this chapter met your expectations. I'm still deciding on whether may the other preliminaries the same as cannon or changing them, anyway hope you enjoined Eito's, Atsushi's and Hinata's fights. Eito's and Atsushi's explained more about the Kishida.
Next chapter: Preliminaries Conclusion.
Total number of words: 6059 words
Jamesco1292002