"Talking"
"Thoughts"
"SCREAMING/YELLING/SHOUTING"
"Jutsu"
"Tailed Beast talking"
"Tailed Beast Thinking"
Sound Effects
Date & Time
|Location|
[Flashback]
[+]
Chapter 14: Preliminaries Conclusion
[+]
*Previously*
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!"
[+]
|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.
[+]
*Chapter 14 Begins!*
Names began to flash through the Screen before landing on two names that shocked everyone from Konoha.
Sakura Haruno vs. Ino Yamanaka
The two shocked kunoichi proceeded to the floor.
"This is going to be troublesome." Shikamaru sighed, leaning on the railing.
"Those two are going to fight to see who is truly worthy of Sasuke-kun." Kiba said smirking.
Said Uchiha shivered slightly, the act being noticed by his teammates and sensei.
'I kinda feel sorry for teme.' Naruto thought knowing that Kiba was somehow right.
[+]
|Arena|
"I never thought that I would have to fight you, Sakura."
"Me too, Ino."
"Well on the bright side the issue of who deserves Sasuke can finally-"
"I have no intention of fighting you over Sasuke." Sakura said, cutting her opponent off.
"WHAT!?" Ino shouted, the others on the balcony were also thinking the same thing.
"I didn't reach this stage just to fight over one boy." The rosette continued stilling shocking everyone, "No, I'm here to show that I'm a competent Kunoichi of the Leaf Village."
In the balcony all Konoha shinobi either had their jaws connected to the ground or were staring at Sakura in surprise except for Kurenai who look down at her student with pride.
"So you're no longer interested in Sasuke?" Ino asked feeling slight nervous all of the sudden. 'What happened to you Forehead?'
Sakura nodded negatively, "No, but my shinobi career comes first before anything else." To Ino's surprise, Sakura removed her headband that she had been using to hold back her hair, and tied it properly around her forehead. Shaking off her surprised state the mind walker did the same.
"Fourth Match… Begin!"
Sakura rushed forward and threw a punch aiming at the blonde's head. Ino dodged the punch and retaliated with a low spin kick knocking the rosette off her feet. The Haruno immediately got back up and traded punches, kicks and strikes with the Yamanaka.
The two then backed away from each other and threw shurikens which cancelled each other. Sakura made some hand seals and her opponent was surrounded by flower petals, Ino blinked as the petals surrounded her in a small tornado. [1]
'A Genjutsu! Really Forehead?' Ino thought before muttering 'Kai'. The genjutsu was dispelled but her opponent was nowhere in sight.
The blonde was taken by surprise when her opponent yelled behind her.
"CHHAAA!" Ino jumped out of the way of Sakura's punch. The punch connected with the ground, leaving a good sized crack on the ground. Ino eyes widen at the sight.
'How did she get so strong?'
Sakura frowned seeing that she had missed but that changed into a smirk as she performed the 'Snake' hand seal. The girl suddenly exploded into a couple of cherry blossoms. Ino frowned as she knew this was another genjutsu and she was right as a very large cherry blossom appeared underneath her.
Before she could react the blossom quickly swallowed her whole then exploded, Ino yelled in pain as she was thrown across the arena floor. [2]
[+]
|Balcony|
"Kurenai what did you to her?" Kakashi asked the female jonin after watching how Sakura was dominating the fight.
"I guided her on the path to being a competent Kuniochi." Kurenai said happily, "Plus she does have a knack for genjutsu so I couldn't resist not teaching her a few things."
'I can't believe this is the same girl that I rejected for Hinata when Hokage-sama first assigned teams.' The Cyclops thought now rooting for the Haruno.
[+]
|Arena|
"There is no way you're stronger than me!" Ino snapped, "How are you stronger than me, Forehead?"
"Four months ago, my Team accepted a C rank mission: We were to escort a client to the Land of Hot Springs and return back. The mission was a success but on our way back we were ambushed by a group of bandits and I almost lost my life just because I couldn't defend myself, if Kiba and Shino hadn't come to my aid I won't be here today." Sakura recalled, "After that day I spent countless hours training both physical and mentally with my teammates and Kurenai-sensei," She paused then stared at her opponent, "Now tell me Ino why wouldn't I be stronger than someone who worries about boys and growing her hair."
The entire building was so silent that it could rival a graveyard.
"THAT'S IT." Ino cried out, before cutting her long hair with her kunai much to everyone's surprise. She threw the hair on the ground, scattering it all over the place.
"I'm going to end this right now. I'm going to make 'I give up' come directly from your mouth." The Yamanaka said, making her family's signature hand seal.
"I understand your desperation, but that is useless, seeing as all I have to do is avoid it." Sakura said, already knowing about the jutsu her opponent was about to use. "Then you wouldn't be able to return to your body for a few minutes and the proctor would be forced to call the fight." Sakura tried to move, only to find out that she couldn't thanks to Ino's hair that lined the ground.
"You can't escape from me now." Ino said before calling out her jutsu, "Mind Tr-" She stopped when she noticed that her opponent wasn't panicking instead she had a smiley expression on her face but that soon turned into a glare.
A giant Sakura lookalike suddenly rose up from behind the trapped one, Ino took a step back in fear as Inner Sakura glared at her.
"WHY YOU LITTLE!" She shouted before bring her giant hand on Ino squishing her. [3]
[+]
Everyone apart from the Jonin-senseis, proctors and Hokage didn't quite understand what just happened, Ino was one jutsu away from winning but then she freezes up and cries out in fright before collapsing.
"Winner: Sakura Haruno of Konohagakure." Hayate announced after the blond girl was discovered to have fallen unconscious.
"Well that was-"
"Interesting." Hinata suggested and Naruto nodded in reply.
"It looks like Sakura's taking her shinobi life seriously." Atsushi said turning to his raven-haired teammate. "Is that right Sasuke?"
"So it seems." Sasuke answered assuming his bored expression.
"Does that mean you're going to say yes when she asks you out again?" Naruto snickered catching on where Atsushi was going.
"Hell no!" Sasuke frowned, "She may have gotten better but she still has a long way to go."
"Come on now, everyone still has a long way to go even you." The Uzumaki pointed out.
"Naruto-kun's is right, Sasuke." Hinata supported, "We all have room for improvement." She added.
"You know that they're right." Atsushi joined in.
Sasuke huffed then turned to Naruto, "I thought you wanted to go out on a date with her?"
"I haven't asked her out in 4 months, plus we don't really go together." Naruto replied, 'I can't believe it took both Areku-san and Atsushi to force me out of my obsession with her.' He thought feeling embarrassed about the fact.
[+]
Tenten Higurashi vs. Temari Sabaku
The two kunoichi wasted no time as they got into place on the arena floor. They both stood relaxed as if they had no cares in the world.
"Fifth Match: Begin."
No words were exchanged as Tenten immediately jumped back and ran a wide arc around the Suna kunoichi before taking out a few kunai and throwing them at the older girl. To the surprise of her teammates and herself she completely missed.
"Impossible..."
"Sorry girlie but you won't hit me with aim like that." Tenten just huffed and began tossing more weapons at Temari. All of them got deflected and at the end of the metal rain, Tenten was left staring Temari whose fan was now open partway. "This is the first moon, there are two more. When you see all three this match will be over."
Konoha's weapon mistress gritted her teeth and took out a pair of scrolls. "I was planning on saving this for the main matches, but it looks like I won't be able to hold back." Getting enough distance she balanced the two scrolls in front of her as she made hand signs.
"Ninja Art: Twin Rising Dragons!"
The scrolls erupted into the air as a pair of twisting dragons between which Tenten appeared amidst the double helix. Channeling chakra into the scrolls as they spun, weapons began to appear in her hands as she started a new rain of steel aimed right at Temari. The shower continued for only thirty seconds, but by that time hundreds of weapons of all types and varieties were littered across the ground with Temari standing in a small clearing amongst them. "I'm not done yet!" With tremendous effort she used the strings connected to each weapon and pulled them all back into the air before swinging her arms forward causing all of the weapons to crash down again, but all at once this time in a near solid sheet of pointed metal. There should have been no dodging the mass, but as Tenten landed she glared at the lone figure in the middle of the field of metal.
Temari just smirked as she stood with the second moon of her fan showing. "Shall we end this little game?" Twirling her fan in front of her, Temari vanished into thin air.
Tenten looked around frantically until a shadow overlapped her. 'Shit!' She looked up into the air to see Temari grinning down at her from on top of her fan. She was surprised that she hadn't attacked when she had the chance but it seemed that wasn't her plan.
Instead Temari landed right back where she started still with the same grin on her face while the fan was completely unfolded showing all three moons.
"Ninja Art: Wind Scythe Jutsu!"
In the small arena the attack rounded on itself and soon Tenten was lifted into the air in a small whirlwind that began cutting into her clothing. The larger problem wasn't the chakra laced wind though, but rather the vacuum inside the cone. With the lack of air she was quickly rendered unconscious before Temari released the jutsu causing the kunoichi to fall toward the ground. Temari wasn't satisfied with that though as she held her fan to the side and 'caught' Tenten on the end of her iron fan, the not so soft landing causing Tenten to cough up blood before she passed out. Still not satisfied Temari threw Tenten out towards her own weapons intending to impale the girl upon her own hoard. Luckily the girl's teammate was able to jump down in time to save her from an even more painful landing.
"Is that any way to treat someone who tried their best?" Lee glared at the Suna nin along with Neji who was up in the stands scowling a bit as well.
"Shut up and take that weakling out of my sight." Lee sped forward and attempted to attack Temari, but was blocked by her fan. "Now now that wasn't nice. It's as expected from a ninja from such a soft village though."
"Lee! Calm down." The green spandex clad Jonin-sensei of the boy landed behind his student.
"...Hai Gai-sensei."
"Temari stop messing around with that idiot and his guardian." Gaara's cold voice came from above.
"Winner: Temari Sabaku of Sunagakure!"
Once Tenten was taken away by some medic, the next matchup was decided.
Shikamaru Nara vs. Kin Tsuchi
[+]
|Arena|
The two competitors proceeded to the floor. "Man, this is troublesome. I didn't want to have to fight a girl." Shikamaru said.
"Don't worry, I'll make it quick." Kin said.
"Sixth Match: Begin!" Hayate announced.
'Hmm, I saw Dosu's ability, but I don't know what hers are.' Shikamaru thought. "Oh well, Shadow Possession Jutsu!" His shadow shot out towards Kin. She dodged his attack, flinging a few senbons towards him. Shikamaru dodged them easily and tossed a kunai back in response. The Oto kunoichi avoided the kunai and threw two more senbon: one with a bell and one without a bell. Shikamaru was able to avoid the senbon with a bell easily but the second senbon had managed to hit him in the knee. The Nara winced in pain.
"How did…" Shikamaru finally noticed that the second that hit him had no bell. 'She threw two with bells at first so that way I would use my hearing to avoid the senbon and, therefore, would get hit by the silent one. Not bad…'The Nara proceeded to pull out the senbon and grab another kunai. 'But now that I know your trick, this'll be easy!'
Kin proceeded to toss more senbon: one with a bell and one without a bell each time. Shikamaru, now aware of her strategy, was able to avoid each senbon she tossed. After a few seconds of dodging, the Nara tossed a shuriken at the kunoichi. The weapon hit her in the side. Her eyes widened and she hissed in pain. Blood dripped out of her side as she took out the shuriken and tossed it away.
"Heh. I know what you are doing. Next you'll throw one with a bell on it and one without a bell. My attention will be drawn to the bell, and you'll get me with the other needle." Shikamaru said, exposing her strategy.
Instead of being annoyed the Sound genin just smirked then made a hand gesture with some wire, causing a bell to sound from behind the Konoha genin.
'What?! Behind?' Shikamaru thought, turning around to see the same bells making the sound, 'String?'
Kin took advantage of him while his back was turned and threw more senbon. Shikamaru was hit hard and fell to the ground. After pulling himself up, his head started to spin. A loud ringing pain then entered his ear and seemed to affect his brain.
'What the…' Shikamau fell to his knees and gripped his head tightly.
All of a sudden, there were multiple versions of Kin standing in front of him. All of them looked identical from each and all were holding senbon.
"You're hallucinating right now. My bells produced a specific sound wave that is affecting your brain. You probably see multiple versions of me and you're motor control is failing." Kin taunted. "This match is over for you!"
Shikamaru shook his head in defiance. 'This is just a genjutsu. Come on!'
The Nara looked over at all the Kin's. He soon noticed something: one of the versions of Kin was standing near a small blood puddle.
'That must have dripped onto the ground after I hit her with my shuriken!' He realized before proceeding to make a hand seal.
Kin was about ready to throw a few more needles into Shikamaru, but found her arm unable to move. "What?!" she said.
"Heh, Shadow Possession Jutsu is finally a success." Shikamaru said, analyzing Kin's facial expression. "You haven't noticed it yet? A string at that height doesn't make a shadow." Kin looked down to see two shadows coming off of her string and connecting to her shadow. "I can change the shape of my shadow. So I made it real skinny to make it look like the shadow of your string." Shikamaru then pulled a shuriken out and aimed it at Kin. Because of the jutsu, she mirrored the same thing.
"Are you crazy?!" she called out. "If you attack, we will both get hurt!"
"I know." Shikamaru said. "We'll just keep throwing shuriken to see how long we last. Shurikens were thrown and as they got really close to the competitors face, Shikamaru quickly bent backwards to dodge it, causing Kin to do the same. However, she slammed her head on the wall behind her, knocking her unconscious.
"Heh, one down." Shikamaru said, returning to an upright position. "If you're a shinobi, then you have to fight with knowledge of your surroundings. The distance to the wall behind you was what got you? I used the shuriken to keep you from noticing how close you were to it."
"Winner: Shikamaru Nara of Konohagakure!" Hayate announced.
[+]
"Yeah Shikamaru won!" Ino (Who regained consciousness during Tenten and Temari's fight) cheered out as her teammate returned to the stands.
Naruto however wasn't concerned about that, he was concerned about Atsushi who wore a sad expression as the Sound girl was carried away to the medical ward.
"Everything ok?" Naruto asked.
"Huh?" Atsushi said, coming out of sober state.
"You seemed kind of down because the Sound girl's defeat." The Uzumaki pointed out, "You do know that her team attacked us in the forest."
"I don't think that she wanted to… At least not willingly." The Kishida said, mumbling the last part. "She still has those pills but she didn't use them then or now-"
"Will Shino Aburame and Sasuke Uchiha please come down for the Seventh Match!" Hayate announced.
Naruto's right eye twitched after hearing that, "Oh come on, the teme gets to fight before me!?"
Sasuke smirked at the blond before descending the stairs.
[+]
Shino Aburame vs. Sasuke Uchiha
|Arena|
Both boys were already on the arena floor sizing up each other.
'His taijutsu wasn't that good in the academy but if I engage him in only taijutsu his bugs will drain my chakra, guess I have no choice but to use Moeruken then.' Sasuke thought.
'Sasuke is well versed in fire style jutsu… this could a problem!' Shino thought.
"Fighters ready?"
Sasuke brought his hands to form a hand seal.
Two insect spheres formed above Shino.
"Seventh Match: Begin!"
"Moeruken: Body Flare Armor!" The Uchiha's body promptly caught fire surprising everyone except his teammates. "Flame Shot!" Sasuke punched the air in front of him shooting a miniature fireball towards his adversary.
Shino dodged this then gestured to his insect spheres to attack, the spheres flew towards the Uchiha while dodging the miniature fireballs sent their way, unfortunately one of the spheres wasn't lucky and got hit. The other got close to the Uchiha but was repelled by the flames surrounding his form.
'Just as I suspected, this is the worst case scenario for me.' Shino thought. 'My hive can't get close or they will be burned by that jutsu of his, but if they can't catch him then I can't win.' Shino contemplated several ideas that came to mind but he couldn't come up with one that wouldn't get his hive damaged in some way.
Seeing that his opponent wasn't going to make a move anytime soon, the Uchiha ran at his opponent disappearing in a burst of speed. Shino's eyes widen as he looking around, but as he turned towards his left a punch greeted him before sending the Aburame spiraling backwards.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Shino recovered quickly and rolled out of way then raised his hand.
"Proctor, I wish to forfeit." He informed.
'WHAT? He's forfeiting already?' Sasuke thought slightly disappointed.
"Are you sure?" The bug user nodded, "Winner: Sasuke Uchiha of Konohagakure!"
[+]
|Balcony|
"WHAT? SASUKE HAD AN EASY WIN!" Naruto shouted out, causing his teammates and sensei to cover their ears.
"Naruto-kun, please not so loud." Hinata said, glaring a bit. The Blond immediately apologized for his outburst.
"Actually Naruto, Shino forfeited because he didn't want to lose any more of his insects to Sasuke's fire attacks." Kakashi explained, "Sasuke had the advantage before the fight even began."
"Fine, I hope I'm next." The Uzumaki mumbled.
"I don't think so." Atsushi said pointing towards the screen. Naruto read the next two names and frowned.
"Are you kidding me?"
Rock Lee vs. Misumi Tsurugi
"YOSH!"
Everyone turned their heads to face the direction of the noise. Rock Lee was practically jumping up and down in place, a large smile on his face.
"I didn't have to wait too long at all!" He exclaimed happily and loudly.
"That's right Lee! Not long at all!" Gai, his sensei, shouted back with equal intensity and volume. "It is now your turn to show everyone here the flames of your youth! Go Lee! Make me and your teammates proud!"
"YES GAI-SENSEI!" Lee nearly screamed as he jumped off the railing, not even bothering to take the stairs.
Gai looked down at Lee, pride beaming in his eyes while Neji acted as he if he didn't know them.
Misumi Tsurugi took the stairs down and reacted much more calmly to the news of his fight. He stood across the arena from Lee, who was already in position to fight.
"Misumi-san, is it? Let us have a wonderful fight." Lee stated to his opponent.
"Hmph, Sure." Misumi responded with a scoff as he got into position of his own. "Better be ready freak, because I'm going to take you down hard."
Hayate raised his hand. "Eight match: Begin!"
Misumi charged, making the first move. He attempted to land a punch on Lee, but the spandex-wearing Genin blocked the blow with his arm. Misumi's arm then stretched. It wrapped itself around Lee's arm before he could react.
"What?" Lee gasped as he struggled to pull himself out.
His attempts were fruitless as the elder Konoha genin had wrapped his entire body around him. A part of his stretched out arm went to Lee's neck and began to squeeze.
"I can dislocate any of the joints in my body and then, using my chakra I can soften my skin and then stretch it." Misumi explained his technique with a smirk. "Surrender now kid. Or else you're going to end up with a broken neck. Wouldn't want that, would you?"
Due to the way Misumi had tangled himself around him, Lee was unable to move his arms and legs to break free. The spandex-wearing genin, however knew of another method to break free. He made eye contact with his jonin sensei. Gai simply nodded his head, giving Lee approval to use it.
"I'm afraid I have to decline Misumi-san." Lee responded as he closed his eyes. "Gate of Opening: Open!"
Lee's body was now able to utilize one hundred percent of its strength. Using this strength, he was able to now finally move his arms and pull Misumi and his stretched limbs off him before the elder genin could even react. Misumi was sent backwards, his eyes wide.
"H-How did you break free?" He questioned.
[+]
|Balcony|
"Gai! Did you really teach a Genin such a dangerous technique!?" Kakashi yelled.
Gai's gaze never left the arena as he spoke to Kakashi. "Taijutsu is the only way for Lee to become a shinobi. He showed a great talent for it and is skilled with it."
"How many of the Gates can he open?" Kakashi asked.
"Five." Gai told him.
"Kakashi-sensei, what is he talking about?" Naruto asked.
"I've heard about that before." Hinata closed her eyes, trying to think where she had heard it. She soon realized what they were and her eyes went wide. "Wait, aren't those the eight central points in a person's chakra pathway system?"
"Yes, each Gate grants you a burst of power, and by opening all of the Gates you can gain a power far greater than any of the five Kages."
"But it has a setback right?" Atsushi interjected.
Kakashi nodded, "Correct, the more Gates you open, the more your body is strained. Prolonged use of the Gates can lead to the tearing of your muscles. And once you open the final Gate... you die."
Sasuke added that to his mental list of techniques he won't want to learn right after Naruto's sexy jutsu.
"You shouldn't have done that Gai, are you trying to kill your own student?!" Kakahsi shouted.
"You know nothing about Lee!" Gai retorted. "He is determined to become a wonderful shinobi using only Taijutsu... and I am going to help him achieve it."
[+]
|Arena|
Upon breaking free from his constraint, Rock Lee undid the bandages on his arms. He then rushed forward to the still-shocked Misumi and delivered a strong kick upward into the elder genin's jaw. Misumi was sent flying into the air. Lee then jumped up and wrapped his bandages around him and his stretched out limbs. Once Misumi was wrapped up, Lee grabbed him and began their descent spinning all the way.
"Primary Lotus!"
BOOM!
The two Genin made contact with the arena ground, filling the arena with dust. Once the dust cleared, Lee could be seen standing in the middle of the arena breathing hard. Misumi, however, was lying on his back, unconscious.
"Winner of the eight match: Rock Lee of Konohagakure!" Hayate called the match as he motioned for medical assistance.
Even though he was tired Lee couldn't hide his excitement. "YOSH!"
"EXCELLENT WORK LEE!" Gai shouted down to his student.
"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee shouted as he rushed back upstairs.
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
"EVERYONE LOOK AWAY!" The warning came just in the nick of time as the two hugged creating their Sunset Genjutsu of Youth.
[+]
Himari Kishida vs. Choji Akimichi
"Alright Choji, if you win this, I'll take you out for an all-you-can-eat buffet," Asuma said.
Flames appeared in the boy's eyes, "Bring on the BBQ!" Choji roared before racing down the steps and standing across from Himari who drew her bo-staff. The Akimichi's worries and fears about his opponent long forgotten.
"Are both fighters ready?"
"Yes"
"Yeah!"
"Ninth match: Begin!"
"Expansion Jutsu!" Choji called as he pumped chakra through his body making it expand.
'How is making yourself fatter going to help?' Himari thought tightening the grip on her staff.
"Now to win that BBQ!" Choji exclaimed before his limbs and head retracted into his body, "Human Boulder!" The Akimichi propelled himself forward, rolling like giant boulder.
Himari's eyes widened as the green human boulder came barreling towards her. She leapt out of the way then run as Choji just turned to follow her. Himari took out a few kunai and threw them at the Konoha Genin, they just bounced off of him as he was moving too fast.
"Never thought that I had to use this," Himari said as she paused then made a few hand seals and took in a deep breath.
"Fire Style: Hidden in Smoke and Ash Jutsu!" She exhaled a dark powder which immediately filled majority of the arena forming a smokescreen. The powder messed Choji's sense of direction causing him to crash into a wall. Choji reverted back to his normal size and pulled out.
"This is just like Sensei's jutsu!" Choji said after looking around.
"Really?" Himari voice asked coming from all directions, Choji tried to pinpoint his opponent's location but the powder wasn't helping. "Sorry big guy." He heard before a hand gripped his shoulder, "But I have to win."
Choji couldn't reply as an electric current was passed into his body knocking him out, Himari used a wind jutsu to disperse the smokescreen so that everyone could see.
"Winner: Himari Kishida of Arashigakure!"
[+]
Team 10's spirits dropped after seeing their teammate unconscious especially their sensei, the chain smoker was certain that the big-boned boy would win once given the right motivation.
The Screen lit up with names.
Neji Hyuga vs. Banri Kishida
Eito and Himari turned to their teammate with worried expressions; the boy in question paled once confirming that his opponent was indeed a Hyuga.
"Proctor I wish to forfeit." He said.
"Are you certain?" Hayate asked and received a nod, "Winner: Neji Hyuga of Konohagakure!"
"First Sasuke now Hyuga-teme gets an easy win!" Naruto said clearly unhappy about the situation. Atsushi had a look of sympathy and understanding on his face which Sasuke noticed.
Elsewhere Neji had a smirk on his face, 'Just as fate had decreed.' The Hyuga thought.
Names flashes on the screen.
Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kiba Inuzuka
"HA HA HA! It's like we've already won, right Akamaru." Kiba cheered.
"Shut up mutt!" Naruto said as he leapt down into the battle ground.
"Good luck Naruto-kun!"
"Complete the Quad!"
"…"
Hinata and Atsushi turned to Sasuke, the Uchiha sighed before saying. "Dobe, don't lose!"
'Naruto eh.' Kurenai mused, 'Sorry Kakashi, but he can't beat Kiba!'
[+]
|Arena|
"Heh, Akamaru stay out of this, I won't need you to defeat this idiot." Kiba boasted.
'Oh I will show you who's an idiot.' Naruto fumed mentally, formulating different scenarios in which the Inuzuka left the arena in pain. "Are you done talking? Because I will like to end this ASAP."
"Oh don't worry about that, I will be nice and end this in one punch." Kiba proclaimed while Naruto tch'd in reply.
"Fighters' ready?"
"Yea!"
"Believe it!"
"Eleventh Match… Begin!"
Kiba crouched down on all fours. "Ninja Art: Four Legged Technique!" Kiba's appearance began to grow more feral than he already was, it seemed similar to Naruto's when using the Kyubi's chakra. Once the transformation was complete, the Inuzuka immediately launched towards Naruto in a speed he thought the blond wouldn't be able to follow.
"It's over!" Kiba yelled swinging his claws at his opponent's face but something he never expected happened… Naruto dodged it then upper-cut him in the face before landing a spinning kick into his stomach.
Kiba stunned and surprised was launched back to the other side of the arena.
"What's wrong mutt? Feeling tired already?" Naruto taunted.
Kiba got up and glared at the blond, "Lucky hit but that won't happen again!" He wiped some blood off his mouth, revealing just how hard he had been hit. "Akamaru!"
"Bark!"
Akamaru jumped at Naruto at the same time his master did, they started off with a flurry of quick pounces before coming at the Uzumaki with a barrage of hit-and-ran attacks but to their surprise Naruto avoided all solid connects. Seeing that their tactic wasn't working Kiba and Akamaru ceased their onslaught and backed away.
"You sure have gotten better dobe but it ends now!" Kiba said, pulling out two red pills. He tossed one to Akamaru while he ate the second one. Akamaru turned an inflamed shade of red before jumping on Kiba's back.
"Man-Beast Clone!" Akamaru disappeared in a puff of smoke taking up Kiba's appearance.
"Man-Beast Taijutsu Secret Technique: Fang over Fang!" Both Kibas launched themselves forward twirling at impossible speeds.
Naruto just flashed through some hand seals, "Wind Style: Wind Wall!" Several jaws dropped as an invisible wall of wind appeared between the Uzumaki and twirling duo. The jutsu put a stop to Kiba's and Akamaru's attack, forcing them to crash back onto the ground.
"Ugh… What the hell was that?" The Inuzuka asked, as he and Akamaru stood back up.
"It's a wind jutsu, It's knocked you on your ass and gave you a couple cuts." Naruto replied, chuckling a bit. Kiba looked himself and Akamaru over, and sure enough there were cuts in his clothes and a few cuts on his body. There were also shallow cuts on Akamaru as well. "You see Kiba, I'm pretty much getting bored of our fight." He began weaving hand seals, "So I'm going to end it, Wind Style: Drilling Air Bullets!"
Naruto fired off four blasts of air, two for each of his opponents. Kiba and Akamaru quickly got up and jumped out of the way before charging once more. Seeing them charge, Naruto grabbed something from his pouch and took a deep breath, once the two were close enough the Uzumaki threw two stink bombs on the ground.
"Gahh!" Kiba screamed. Both he and Akamaru (who had transformed back) were clutching their noses. Naruto had used their enhanced sense of smell against them and now that they were distracted he made another hand seal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The Uzumaki immediately created six Shadow clones, one restrained Akamaru while the rest went for Kiba. Before Kiba could even react, two Shadow Clones slid underneath him and kicked the Inuzuka in the jaw launching the dog lover upwards where the three other clones immediately began their assault.
"NA"
"RU"
"TO"
At the final stage, Naruto using his remaining clones as a springboard launched himself upwards just above his target and performed a spinning heel drop to Kiba's head, sending the feral looking boy shooting towards the ground, "Uzumaki Barrage!"
BAM!
"Winner: Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure!" Hayate called out as everyone apart from Team 7 came to terms that this Naruto isn't the same as the one whom graduated bottom of his class.
[+]
|Balcony|
Upon getting back to his team, Naruto was immediately greeted by Hinata who gave him a hug. The Hyuga had a large smile on her face.
"You did great out there Naruto-kun!" She told him, tightening the hug.
Naruto blushed a little before returning the hug. "Thanks Hinata-chan!"
"Alright I think that's enough public display of affection." Atsushi stated as he walked over to them, "So break it up you two."
Almost immediately after he finished his words, Hinata realized what she was doing and pulled away with a large blush on her face. Naruto's face was similarly red. Atsushi laughed at his two teammates.
"S-Shut up Atsushi." The blonde said with a scowl.
Sasuke came over and smirked slightly. "Nice job, now I definitely want to fight you dobe."
"Patience Sasuke, the finals aren't that far away." Kakashi said before adding, "Congrats on your win, Naruto."
The blond gave a foxy grin, "Thanks Kakashi-sensei."
"Now that the four of you qualified, the chances of fighting against each other are pretty high." Kakashi pointed out making Hinata, Atsushi and Naruto to frown, "Hey now don't feel gloomy, all you have to do is to prove your worthy to the Judges and the promotion is as good as yours."
The three perked up then nodded before turning their attention to the screen.
Gaara Sabaku vs. Dosu Kinuta
"So the Oto guy is going to be fighting him…" Naruto stated as he stared back-and-forth between Gaara and Dosu.'
"I have a bad feeling about this match." Sasuke said, knowing that Gaara was going to win in the most brutal of ways.
[+]
|Arena|
Hayate raised his hand. "Twelfth and final match: Begin!"
Dosu quickly put distance between him and Gaara then tossed two shuriken at Suna genin. The shuriken were immediately blocked as sand rushed out of the gourd on Gaara's back and defended him. The sand then immediately shot towards Dosu who rolled out of the way, avoiding the strike.
Dosu ran forward at Gaara and attempted to punch him in the face, but the sand blocked the fist. The device on Dosu's arm proceeded to release sound waves which were amplified and focused directly at Gaara's ears.
Gaara's eyes widened immediately as he started to scream in pain. The sound entered his ears and created a painful ringing noise. He clutched his ears tightly.
[+]
|Balconies|
"What the…?" Kankuro's eyes were as wide as Gaara's. "How is he doing that?"
"Gaara's being hurt…" Temari realized in panic.
'Orochimaru… Why is one of your brats trying to defeat Gaara? He should know that Gaara is needed in the finals.' Baki, the Suna jonin, questioned with narrowed eyes.
'What is that fool trying to do?' The sound Jonin (Orochimaru) fumed mentally.
[+]
(Team 7)
"Well, I guess that the sand can't block the sound." Sasuke noted.
"…Wow…" Hinata mumbled in disbelief. "This the first time he's been hurt?"
"Kurama says it isn't over." Naruto commented, his eyes focused on Gaara. "He's taking damage, yes, but that does not mean he's over."
[+]
A/N: Will be continued next time. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
[1] – Genjutsu: Cherry Blossom Blizzard (C-rank)
[2] – Demon Illusion: Flower Haze (C-rank)
[3] – Genjutsu: Mighty Sakura (B-rank)
Read & Review.
Next chapter: We need to prepare.
Total number of words: 6245 words
Jamesco1292002