"Talking"
"Thoughts"
"SCREAMING/YELLING/SHOUTING"
"Jutsu"
"Tailed Beast talking"
"Tailed Beast Thinking"
Sound Effects
Date & Time
|Location|
[Flashback]
[+]
Chapter 17: It's all falling into place
[+]
*Previously*
Match 1: Neji Hyuga vs. Hinata Hyuga
"You are within my field of divination Hinata-sama." Neji declared as he lowered himself into a particular stance, one that every Main branch Hyuga knew.
Hinata's eyes widened as she recognized the stance. 'What! First the Rotation and now-'
"Gentle Fist!" Neji began as he dashed towards Hinata. "2 Pal-AARGH!" Just as he was about to initiate the technique, Hinata back flipped kicking her feet upwards and nailed him right in the jaw with a Gentle fist enhanced kick which staggered him.
'What?! She incorporated the Jyuken with her feet.' Neji thought before he spat some blood.
"You're within my range of divination Neji-niisan." Hinata declared as she assumed a particular stance, "Gentle Fist!"
Neji could only stare in shock as Hinata assaulted him with a barrage of Jyuken strikes.
"2 Palms!" She struck two chakra points on his torso.
"4 Palms!" Another two landed.
"8 Palms!" Four more strikes.
"16 Palms!" Her hands blurred another eight more strikes.
"32 Palms!" Sixteen more strikes making it thirty-two.
"Eight Trigrams: 64 Palms!" Hinata finished with a Jyuken strike to the chest which sent Neji flying backwards. The elder Hyuga hit the ground hard then rolled for a few seconds before he finally came to a stop. With the technique complete, Hinata knelt down panting heavily: a sign that she still needed to work on the technique. 'Please let that be it.' She thought.
Neji weakly groaned as he struggled to get back up but couldn't, "No, this can't be!"
"The winner of the first match is Hinata Hyuga of Konohagakure!" Genma declared as the stadium erupted into cheers which made the poor girl blush in embarrassment.
[+]
Match 2: Shikamaru Nara vs. Temari Sabaku
The Suna Kunoichi sighed as she swung her fan once more. She was starting to get tired of just blasting the trees, lucky for her Shikamaru countered as his shadow darted towards her again but stopped at the mark.
Temari sighed at the failed attempt and was about to comment when she saw a small circular shadow appear on the floor, she looked up and saw that Shikamaru's jacket was floating in the air tied to a kunai. Quickly realizing what her opponent was up to, she looked down and saw Shikamaru's shadow speeding towards her after it connected with the jacket's shadow. She quickly jumped back a great distance until the shadow stopped.
"Nice try." Temari said as she landed. "But you'll have to do better than that in order to beat me."
Shikamaru sighed as he mentally marked that plan as a failure. He pulled out several kunai with explosion tags and threw them at Temari from behind the tree. The Suna Genin batted them away with the wind, but some tags still landed on their target which was the ground in front of Temari creating a smokescreen. Temari was about to use a wind jutsu to disperse the smokescreen when she noticed that she couldn't move.
'No!'
"Shadow Possession Jutsu is a success!" Shikamaru smirked as he lowly released his hand, forcing her to drop her fan. He then walked them both until they stood 6 feet away.
"I guess you win again." Temari said accepting her defeat.
"I guess." Shikamaru shrugged which she also did.
The two then stood still for a while…
"Well are you going to finish it?" The fan user asked.
"Oh I will but first." He grabbed the hem of his shirt which Temari mirrored and began to lift up slightly.
"What the hell are you doing?" Temari yelled her face colored red. The audience chuckled at the antics of the Nara while his teammates, family, friends and Sensei were left speechless or had their mouths gaping.
"Just kidding." Shikamaru said letting go of his shirt which made his opponent relieved as she mirrored the action. The Nara then lazily glanced around before raising his hand.
"I forfeit." He declared canceling his jutsu.
Temari rolled her eyes as a collective gasp was heard from the audience. 'Why am I not surprised?' The fan user thought.
"Winner: Temari Sabaku of Sunagakure!"
[+]
*Chapter 17 starts now!*
|Chunin Exam Stadium, Konoha|
"BEGIN!"
None of the combatants moved an inch.
For Sakura because she was severely at a disadvantage with this match up and Eito because he wanted to see what new tricks his opponent had on her sleeves.
A minute had passed and yet no movement from either combatants, the audience was beginning to show signs of restlessness.
Eito's right hand went towards his back and Sakura tensed.
"Thunder Strike!" Eito called releasing a bolt of lightning from his katana.
Sakura slammed both hands on the ground, "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" the defensive wall shot up and blocked the attack, "Earth Style: Earth Flow Spears!" The ground in front of wall crunched before a series of earthen spikes spouted towards the Kishida who leap out way, firing another lightning bolt which the pinkette dodged.
"Fire Style: Flame Missile!" Sakura abandoned ship (or in this case ground) just before the fireball hit resulting in an explosion. "Water Style: Water Bullets!" Eito followed up the previous attack by spitting some globs of water at the moving Haruno. Sakura dodged the projectiles then tossed a couple of kunais which her opponent deflected with his Katana.
Sakura smirked then made a hand seal, activating the explosive tags on the kunais surrounding the Kishida.
'Oh crap.' Said Kishida thought before…
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The tags exploded blasting Eito backwards, seeing an opportunity Sakura leapt towards her opponent while channeling some chakra to her fist.
"CHHAAA!" The punch connected with log reducing it to splinters, Eito who substituted himself at the last second witnessed the log's disintegration and flinched.
'Close combat is definitely out of the question.' The red-haired Kishida noted sheathing his sword.
"Earth Style: Stalagmite!" Eito deserted his previous position just before the giant spike could impale him.
"Lightning Style: Laser Gun Barrage!" Two beams of lightning sped towards the rosette.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" The defensive wall rose up but couldn't withstand the lightning attack as the beams exploded violently against it blasting the Haruno backwards.
[+]
|Observation Box|
"Kurenai-san, I didn't know you knew Earth Style." Areku said.
Kurenai nodded negatively, "I don't, Sakura trained under her father this last month."
"Her dad was a shinobi?" Kakashi raised a brow.
"Apparently yes, he was a Genin until retirement a year after Sakura's birth." The red-eyed beauty answered.
"A Genin? You're saying that he never got promoted?" Asuma asked.
"Actually he turned down all promotions even though he was Jonin level." Kurenai answered then focused on the battle just as Sakura stomped on the ground creating a series of earthen spikes which sprouted towards the kishida.
"Hmm I wonder why?" Areku mumbled as Eito swung his sword creating a series of lightning arcs which destroyed the spikes.
[+]
|Battle|
"Water Style: Water Bullets!" Eito spat out more globs of water at his opponent, Sakura angered at not landing a hit on the Kishida charged onward punching her way right through the water projectiles and landed a chakra enhanced punch on Eito's gut, the receiver was sent flying backwards landing besides Sakura's previous made stalagmite.
Seeing that katana user had yet to recover himself, Sakura made a hand seal causing the stalagmite to explode into shards, Eito noticed this late and got impaled on his thigh, the Kishida gritted his teeth in pain then made some hand seals.
"Kishida Secret Art: Fire Clone Jutsu!" A miniature explosion occurred on each side of the Sankugan user. A perfect copy of the Kishida stepped out from each smoke cloud and made some hand seals. "Fire Style: Flame Bullet Barrage!" Both clones spat out multiple fire balls at the girl.
'I just made things difficult.' Sakura thought before slamming both hands on the ground, "Earth Style: Earth Dome!" She was immediately surrounded by earth in all directions. The fireballs exploded against the dome but didn't breakthrough, 'I'm running low on chakra.' Sakura thought as she was starting to pant heavily.
"Thunder Strike!" She heard before the front section of her dome gave way, She look up at her opponent who was standing a bit shakily due to his injury but other than that he was perfectly fine.
'Think! Sakura think!' Eito channeled more lightning to his sword as swords of his clones caught fire.
"Tri-Elemental Combination-"
"I forfeit." Sakura interrupted.
Eito blinked then sighed in relief, 'Finally… a second there I would have revealed my trump card.'
"Winner of third match: Eito Kishida of Arashigakure!" Genma declared, since the victor wasn't a Konoha nin said victor got the least number of cheers but that didn't bother him as canceled his fire clones then limped over to the pinkette.
"Good fight." He commented offering the tired girl a hand, "You completely surprised me with those Earth jutsu but you don't seem to have the chakra reserves for a lengthy fight." He then added.
Sakura smiled weakly, "Yeah, I was still working on that… and sorry about your leg."
"Ah don't worry about that, it will be treated." Almost on cue some medical ninja approached them with a stretcher. "See."
[+]
|Waiting box|
"…I did have a feeling that Eito would win." Naruto said with a slight sigh.
"Well it is difficult to beat a Kishida in a ninjutsu battle." Himari stated before waving to her victorious teammate who was being treated.
"We'll now begin with the fourth match. Will Rock Lee and Sasuke Uchiha please come forward?" Genma stated loudly.
"YOSH! Finally, it is my turn to fight!" Lee shouted, gaining all attention from the other combatants and any nearby spectators. The bushy-browed genin then immediately jumped from the balcony and landed gracefully in the center of the battlefield where he started to jump up-and-down as he eagerly waited for his match to begin.
"…Hmph." Sasuke shook his head in response to Lee's excitement.
"Teme." Naruto called gaining the Uchiha's attention, "If you want that fight between us then don't lose this one, you got that?"
"Hmph, just may sure you beat Gaara." With those words, Sasuke started to walk out of the waiting room heading towards the battlefield; the rest of Team 7 watched this interaction before turning to their blond teammate.
"Was that necessary?" Atsushi asked with Naruto nodding in reply.
"Yea, it was."
[+]
|Jonin observation box|
"So… what are your predications for this match?" Asuma asked the others, taking a break from his cigarette thanks to a glare from Kurenai.
"My youthful pupil is going to emerge victorious! We've spent hours each day devoted to improving his skills! There is no way he is going to lose against Kakashi's star pupil." Gai proclaimed as he did his standard 'nice guy' pose.
"Is that so Gai?" Kakashi said as he closed his book, "Then how about a bet?"
Gai grinned, "If Lee wins then you will have to wear this," He instantly produced a green spandex from thin air, "For an entire month!"
The Cyclops cringed at the mental image before shaking it off, "If Sasuke wins then you will have to read the first five chapters of this book," The masked wearer shown him a book with the title 'Icha Icha Paradise'. "…In front of a live audience."
Gai grimaced, "That's extremely un-youthful Kakashi but since you're my eternal rival I accept." The two shook hands while the other Jonins inched away from them not wanting to catch whatever 'disease' the two have.
[+]
|Battlefield|
"You know, I've been looking forward to this match since our last one before the exams." Sasuke told Lee with a smirk. "I underestimated you back then but that won't happen this time."
"I hope so or I won't to be able to take you on at your strongest. It won't prove anything to anyone here if we don't fight each other with all we got." Lee informed the Uchiha as a grin of his own developed on his face.
"Then let's get right on with it." The Uchiha stated confidently as he got into position.
"YOSH!" Lee exclaimed in agreement as he got into position to charge to Sasuke as soon as the match started.
Sasuke activated his dojutsu to reveal a two tome Sharingan on each eye which spun half a circle before coming to a halt.
Seeing that both were ready to rumble Genma raised his hand into the air, "Fourth match between Rock Lee and Sasuke Uchiha… BEGIN!"
Sasuke quickly jumped backwards and began to make hand seals, "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
The Uchiha released a giant fireball from his mouth heading for Lee. The taijutsu specialist proceeded to dodge the fireball and rushed towards the Uchiha. He attempted to punch Sasuke, but the Uchiha managed to block with his arm previously coating said arm with chakra to lessen the blow. After blocking Lee's attack, Sasuke continued to jump backwards while making another set of hand seals. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
Sasuke released five miniature fireballs that flew directly towards Lee. Lee moved quickly and dodged all of the oncoming attacks before charging Sasuke once again.
"Leaf Hurricane!" Lee jumped towards Sasuke with a series of kicks attempting to high kick him in the air. The Uchiha avoided them, and then avoided another, lower kick that Lee attempted to make on him. The elder genin proceeded to try and land a punch again on the Uchiha. Sasuke blocked all of Lee's attempts to punch him and tried to place more distance between the two, but Lee kept rushing him. The Taijutsu user made sure that the two genin were always in close quarters of each other.
"Dynamic Entry!" Lee's feet connected with his opponent's chest and Sasuke was sent backwards. The Uchiha recovered quickly and performed a series of back flips creating some reasonable amount of distance between the two.
"You're avoiding close combat." Lee noted. "A different strategy to how you fought last time."
"It's your specialty." Sasuke answered then brought his hands to his black shorts and raised them slightly, revealing a set of weights on his legs. "However, I guess this is getting nowhere if we keep fighting like this," He started to untie them, "So why don't we make this interesting!"
Lee quickly glanced into the stands and looked for his sensei. The Jonin in question nodded at the silent question being asked, Lee then turned to Sasuke with a grin as he reached down for his own leg weights. "Very well then! Let's see how your speed compares to mine!" Lee exclaimed as he took off his weights.
Both Lee and Sasuke dropped their weights at the same time. The resulting weight from both of their sets crushed the earth, creating craters.
[+]
|Waiting Box|
"…That's a lot of weight." Naruto mumbled as he stared at the craters.
The entire waiting area was silent as they watched the taijutsu fight between the two competing genin. Both Sasuke and Lee were moving extremely fast and were in engaging in fast-paced combat. Each of them was blocking each other's attacks while subsequently trying to land a hit of their own. All competitors were impressed with the speed and strength of both fighters even Gaara was impressed judging by the shaking of his gourd.
'When did Sasuke-kun get so fast?' Sakura thought as two fought each other with impressive speeds. '…He's so cool!'
'I have to fight one of these speed demons?' Eito thought before staring at his bandaged leg, 'Kami must really hate me.'
[+]
|Battle|
"You really have gotten faster." Lee complimented as he sent a punch which was blocked.
"Of course I have. I worked day and night to reach this level." Sasuke replied, attempting to kick the spandex-wearing genin.
"I'm glad to hear that you are one of those who accept that hard work and dedication are what make a True Shinobi!" Lee smiled as he blocked Sasuke's kick, "For that I respect you Sasuke-kun, you're an amazing opponent but this is where our match ends!" With that declaration he disengaged and made eye contact with his jonin sensei. Gai simply nodded his head, giving Lee approval to use it.
The green clad Genin smiled then quickly dodged a nasty haymaker from his Uchiha opponent, said Uchiha scowled as he didn't expect to dodge Lee that were distracted.
Lee jumped backwards and came to a stop with his eyes closed while crossing his two arms over his chest. "Gate of Opening: Open!" He declared, opening the First of the Eight Gates.
Sasuke's Sharingan eyes widen in shock and slight fear as chakra began to radiate from the bushy-browed teen restoring him to his prime.
"Gate of Healing: Open!" Hearing that declaration Sasuke began to make hand seals as Lee's injuries began to fade.
"Gate of Life: Open!" A chakra shockwave occurred as Lee's blood flow increased and his adrenaline surged, the Genin uncrossed his arms and charged towards the Uchiha.
'Done!' Sasuke thought just before Lee appeared before him.
"Leaf-" Lee stopped as Sasuke in front of him disappeared in a twirl of leaves, 'What! Where did he go?'
If Lee was observant he would have noted that his vision was hazy for a few seconds before returning.
[+]
'W-what's happening to me?' Lee thought as his chakra shroud from the Gates began to fade, 'Why do I suddenly feel so weak?' His surroundings started to spin giving him a feeling of nausea in his stomach.
Soon his eyelids began to feel heavy…
[+]
|Waiting Box|
'Genjutsu!' Sakura realized as soon as Lee started to sway, the rest of the combatants seemed to have realized the same thing.
'Bushy-brows' Naruto thought feeling sad for the boy, these past weeks that he had spent training with the two beasts of Konoha had revealed some interesting facts like the one going on now.
Lee was totally defenseless against genjutsu.
[+]
Genma mentally counted up to ten and Lee still hadn't broken the genjutsu placed on him.
"Since Rock Lee is unable to continue, the winner of the fourth match is Sasuke Uchiha!"
The crowd cheered loudly: louder than the three previous matches. Sasuke smirked as he started to walk out of the arena. Just as he was exiting the battlefield, he however turned his head back to look at Lee who now had Genma breaking the genjutsu on him. The Uchiha felt a bit guilty at using Genjutsu on the boy, if it had been an all-out taijutsu fight Sasuke knew that he would have lost pretty badly.
'…I'm sorry Lee but it can't be helped.' The Uchiha thought before leaving the arena.
But one thing was for sure, Lee had earned the respect of Sasuke Uchiha.
[+]
|Obsevation Box|
"Genjutsu…" Gai frowned as he watched a deflated Lee exit the arena.
"Gai… Gai… GAI?"
"Huh?" The blue beast turned his attention towards his eternal rival, "Did you say something Kakashi?"
The silver-haired's visible eye went wide as the rest of the Jonin sniggered, "…I probably deserved that." Kakashi muttered.
Gai quickly caught up on what he had said and chuckled, "Forgive me Kakashi I didn't mean to say that." He apologized.
"Nah its okay… and the bet is off."
"But you won?" Gai protested, "Your student beat mine!"
"I know, but that isn't the reason why I'm calling it off." Kakashi replied.
[+]
|Waiting Box|
"Congrats teme!" Naruto said as Sasuke rejoined them.
"Hn." Was the raven-haired's normal reply.
"…I will never understand the relationship between you two." Atsushi muttered while Hinata giggled lightly.
A few more minutes passed before Genma spoke up to the crowd of people. "It's now time for the next match. Will Naruto Uzumaki and Gaara Sabaku please come forward?"
Hinata, Atsushi and Sasuke both stared at their blonde teammate. Naruto put on a neutral expression on his face before he sighed and shook his head. "I guess it's time."
"Naruto-kun… Be safe, okay?" Hinata requested. The Uzumaki nodded in response and after some encouragement from his Kishidan teammate, he headed towards the stairs.
Before he descend he felt a hand on his shoulder, turning around to view the owner of said hand he was surprised at who it beyond to, "Sasuke?"
The Uchiha retracted his hand then gave the Uzumaki the smallest of smiles, "Just don't die down there because if you do..." He left the threat hanging.
Naruto chuckled lightly, "Trust me I have no plans of dying today." With that the two brought their hands close for a quick handshake…
"Will you get down here already so I can paint the floor with your blood." Gaara growled impatiently from the arena.
"Yeah yeah I'm coming." Naruto shot back then exchanged a brief eye contact with Uchiha before descending the stairs. Sasuke glared at the Suna boy for the interruption then returned to his position.
"Do you think Naruto can beat him?" Sasuke turned his attention to his left and was slightly surprised to see Sakura standing there. The Haruno had actually been there the entire time but since she was a lot quieter than how Sasuke remembered he didn't notice her.
Seeing that she was still expecting his answer he gave it to her, "I know he can."
[+]
|Battleground|
"There he is. Kill him for he is the only thing standing between you and your existence."
"Yes mother." Gaara answered before focusing on the Uzumaki standing 15 feet away opposite him, "Ready to die Uzumaki?"
"At your hands? I think I will pass." Naruto replied before growling a bit, "And stop calling Ichibi your mother, he's a male for Kami's sake."
"Don't insult mother, Uzumaki!"
'He has lost it.' Kurama could only agree with his container.
"Fighters ready?" Genma asked. None of the combatants gave a reply, the amount of tension and killing intent between the two Jinchuriki was so great that not a single person in the entire stadium dared made a sound.
'Kai!' Naruto muttered inwardly deactivating his chakra weights, Kami knew he would need all the speed he had for this match.
"Fifth matchup between Naruto Uzumaki and Gaara Sabaku… Begin!"
Naruto jumped backwards and tossed four shurikens, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The shurikens in a puff of smoke become forty. Sand shot out of Gaara's gourd and formed a wall blocking the projectiles before they could reach him.
"Please tell me this isn't all you got?" Gaara asked before commanding his sand to shoot towards the blonde. Naruto immediately jumped out and made some hand seals for his signature jutsu.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Eleven clones puffed into existence, the clones and Naruto positioned themselves in such a manner that the Suna Genin was surrounded at all sides, the blondes tossed shuriken then…
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu! Wind Style: Gale Palm!" The Shuriken were multiplied then enhanced by the wind jutsu increasing their speed. Gaara's sand attempted to block everything but was unable to do so. Some wind-enhanced Shuriken managed to by-pass the defense and ended up hitting the Suna Jinchuriki, cutting him but only slightly thanks to his sand armor.
The original noticed this and frowned, 'Ok, Gale Palm isn't enough.' He tried to motion for the clones to try something else when…
"Sand Shower!" Gaara countered as multiple sand projectiles were launched and eight clones were unlucky enough to get hit, the remaining retreated towards the original as some sand was sent after them.
"Fire Style: Fox Fire Flame Bombs!" The Sand retreated and surrounded Gaara in a cocoon protecting him from the stream of orange fireballs that targeted him, once the flames died down the Suna Genin gained a confused expression as he was trapped in a Glass sphere.
"And that people is what happens when you superheat sand." Naruto informed in a lecture like voice to the audience who busted out laughing.
"Gaara! What are you doing? KILL HIM! KILL THEM ALL!" 'Mother' yelled.
"SAND TSUNAMI!" Gaara yelled clapping his hands together; sand exploded from behind him, breaking the sphere and creating a 20 ft tall tidal wave of sand, the greatest sand wave known to man.
"Holy shit." One of three remaining clones commented with the original agreeing with him.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Naruto released a large gust of wind directly towards the approaching sand. The sand stood still for a moment but some seconds later overpowered the wind.
"What?" Naruto gasped before he was grabbed on both sides by his clones and tossed high into the air just as the gigantic wave fell.
"GIANT SAND BURIAL!" Gaara slammed both hands on the sand causing it to shake for a moment before…
BOOM!
'It's over…. WHAT?' Gaara thought as Naruto graciously fell out of the sky landing on his two feet. The Uzumaki didn't have a single scratch on his body and that enraged the Suna Genin.
'That was a close one.' The Uzumaki thought, he was pretty sure Gaara's sand shouldn't be able to overpower his Wind Style: Great Breakthrough.
"SAND SHURIKEN!" Gaara made a throwing gesture, firing a multitude of sand shuriken.
Seeing the moving wall of sand projectile, the Uzumaki gathered some chakra in throat. "Wind Style: Lion's Roar!" Naruto's eyes turned red briefly before he bellowed a massive roar that disintegrated the shuriken to sand particles which fell harmlessly to the ground. Naruto mentally thanked Kurama for showing him that move.
"That was impressive, Uzumaki. I wonder what else you're capable of." Gaara commented then made another gesture at the Uzumaki. Naruto's sensory abilities kicked in and he jumped out of the way of a giant sand hand which would have crushed him.
"GIANT SAND BULLET BALL!" Like a loaded cannon, Gaara's gourd launched a large ball of sand at the currently airborne Uzumaki.
Naruto while airborne saw this and made some hand seals, "Fire Style: Fox Fire Missile!" He spat out a fox shaped fireball which collided with the bullet head-on destroying it. The Uzumaki landed on solid ground and barrel-rolled a couple of times avoiding some sand tendrils before assuming a stance with his hand in a cross hand seal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" In a puff of smoke a clone manifested beside him, "Fire Style: Fox Fire Flame Bombs!" Both Narutos spewed out a stream of orange fireballs, Gaara surrounded him in a dome of sand and like before it was glassified. But before Gaara could command his sand to shatter it, a Demon Windmill Shuriken tossed by the Uzumaki shattered it before disappearing in a burst of smoke revealing Naruto who slammed a chakra-enhanced fist into the shell-shocked Gaara's gut, sending the red haired Jinchuriki flying backwards.
[+]
|Waiting Box|
'Gaara was hit… That… can't be.' Temari shook her head, trying to register what exactly happened.
"That's brilliant!" Hinata complimented, feeling proud of her crush's actions.
"A bit risky but smart." Atsushi added, the rest of the combatants were also impressed by the move.
Having his clone henge itself into a Demon Windmill Shuriken then tossing said shuriken and substituting with it once it had broken through Gaara's defense was pure genius.
"Well… he's always full of surprises." Sakura said with Sasuke nodding in reply even though his eyes never left the battle.
[+]
|Kage Box|
"That Uzumaki sure is an interesting fellow, Hokage-dono." Atoniji spoke up as he stared intensely at the blonde, "He kinda reminds me of the 4th Hokage."
Hiruzen chuckled lightly, "Really? I didn't notice." He then turned his attention to the 'Kazekage' who seemed to be glaring at Naruto, "Is something the matter, Rasa?"
"No."
"He's just annoyed that his son's defenses were breached, isn't that right?" The Yosokage asked with a slight smirk.
"I guess that must be it." The 'Kazekage' muttered but on the inside, 'There is no way that boy improved so much under that…' Then the Yosokage's previous statement hit him, he took a closer look at Naruto then mentally berated himself for not seeing it earlier. 'So Minato-kun did have a son.' He licked his lips slightly, 'Looks like Sasuke-kun isn't my only target after all.'
[+]
|Battle|
"Yes, Yes! YOU WILL PROVE MY EXISTENCE UZUMAKI!" Gaara shouted as he got back up, wearing a crazed look that strangely wasn't on throughout the match.
"Get ready kit." Kurama informed as Gaara made a hand seal.
The sand that had scattered across the battlefield came back together again and formed a larger, circular shield around the genin. Gaara became completely enclosed in the sand, unable to be seen.
"What… the…" Naruto mumbled in response at the sight.
"Just don't stand there and gawk, do something!" Naruto refocused himself and began to mold chakra in his lungs.
"Fire Style: Fox Fire Flame Bombs!" The flames sped forward and impacted the dome, after they died down it was revealed that they only glassified the first layer as the second layer was still made of sand.
"Huh… why didn't it work?"
"The second layer must be coated with Shukaku's chakra, if so then only my flames will be able to glassify it." The demon fox pointed out.
"…Kurama do you think that I in our one-tailed state will be able to breakthrough it?" Naruto asked.
Kurama closed his eyes in thought, "It should be possible." That was the answer the Uzumaki was looking for as he closed his eyes in concentration and called upon the demonic chakra. His appearance changed: whiskers become thicker, fangs grew from his teeth, his nails elongated into claws, red chakra flowed out forming two fox ears and a tail. Finally Naruto opened his eyes which were now red with narrow slits, his enhanced senses picked up some of the whispers among the audience but he ignored them as he had no time for idiotic fools.
'Okay let's try this out.' The Uzumaki thought as he charged towards the dome, channeling demonic chakra to his hands/paws. Just as Naruto reached the dome, he swiped downwards with his right claw creating a hole in the dome. Gaara hadn't notice that he was now visible to the world as he had his eyes closed while making a series of hand seals, Naruto promptly rotated 360 degrees and swiped at the Suna Genin's chest with his left claw.
Gaara snapped his eyes open as pain coursed through his body, he lowered his eyes slowly at the claw-like wound on his chest and then the feral-looking Uzumaki before him.
"That's… Blood… But it's mine." He mumbled to himself before he started screaming, "THAT'S MY BLOOD!"
The sand dome collapsed on itself, Gaara fell backwards still screaming in pain while Naruto jumped backwards dispelling his transformation but kept his guard up in case Gaara still had some tricks on his sleeves.
[+]
"Ninja Art: Temple of Nirvana Jutsu!" A genjutsu was immediately casted creating illusionary feathers which floated around the stadium putting both shinobi and civilian alike to sleep.
The Invasion begins.
[+]
A/N: Sorry about the month's absence, had a couple of things going on. Anyway this chapter marks the end of the Chunin exams. Hope you guys were impressed with the outcomes of the matches. Sorry Lee and Sakura fans but Sasuke and Eito had to win, unfortunately the Himari vs. Atsushi fight won't be happening.
Chapter 18: Konoha Crush!
Total Number of Words: 5270 words.
Suggestions are always welcome so feel free to PM me.
Have a pleasant weekend!
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Jamesco1292002