-Preliminary Fights – Tower in the Forest of Death-
The waiting period dragged on for teams 12 and 13 as teams continued to trickle in. Ruto made contact with the Sand team and had another discussion with Gaara, during which he confirmed that he would work on Gaara seal during the break. This earned the Sand team's cooperation and tentative trust due in large part to Gaara wanting to finally sleep. The Ame team was the only team from Ame to make it through, much to the consternation of Amie, which she vented to Ruto about. Ruto still didn't know why the kunoichi was so locked in on him.
Konoha team 9 entered the tower at the end of the third day and Ruto finally got to meet Hannabi. Turns out that the elders already marked her with the Caged Bird Seal and locked Hinata in as the clan heir. Ruto thought that the girl was nice, and it was clear that she was scarred by the seal. Ruto whispered that if she listened to her mom then she wouldn't have to deal with the seal for much longer, which earned him a tearful hug from the attractive kunoichi. Hannabi told Ruto about her struggles with fitting into team 9 after their previous kunoichi died on a C-ranked mission gone wrong. Overall, the petite kunoichi poured her heart out to a shadow clone of Ruto that was just waiting for Gaara in the cafeteria.
Konoha teams 7, 8 and 10 all entered the tower on the morning of the fifth day looking like the forest had chewed them up and spit them out. Ino and Sakura looked completely disheveled with sticks and leaves in their hair. Turns out that the two Ame teams worked together to fight teams 7 and 10. After the intervention of team 8, they discovered the stack of scrolls next to team 7's campsite and made their way to the tower. Ruto couldn't stop Hikari's incessant laughter when he heard the story.
At noon on the fifth day, all teams were summoned to the arena that was located on the first floor of the tower. The Konoha teams were on one side of the balcony while the visiting teams were on a balcony on the opposite side of the arena. On the Hokage's balcony, Ruto noticed a big camera and he asked his mother what that was about. Turns out, after Ruto told her about his encounter with Root in the forest, Shina told the Raikage, who threatened to take it to the daimyo. When Shina found out that there would be prelims, Ai instructed her to demand it be televised. Fugaku was forced to concede; thus, a TV crew on the Hokage balcony.
Ruto also noticed Danzo, two more old farts and a couple of the clan heads watching the prelims in person. There were also 20ANBU hiding in the shadows around the arena, which the Kumo contingent wrote off as a normal protection detail with this many foreign shinobi. The jonin sensei were able to join their teams for the event, which Shina was more than happy about. She asked Ruto why Amie was hovering around him, which prompted Samui and Mabui to pull her into a private channel. A giggling Shina returned to the squad channel and started to give Ruto a headache.
Fugaku stood up to address the genin and began rambling on about the purpose of the chunin exams and the importance of representing your village well. He told the genin about the supposedly random selection of matches and introduced the proctor, Shisui Uchiha.
Shisui jumped down into the center of the arena and laid out the ground rules for the fights. It boiled down to killing being allowed but frowned upon. The matches would be over when the proctor calls it or when the enemy is no longer able to fight. Pretty generic duel set up.
The board spun and introduced the first match as a fight between the great Sasuke Uchiha and Hinji of Ame. The two contestants made their way to the arena while Ino and Sakura screamed their little fangirl heads off. This really annoyed the real kunoichi, who promised pain or death to all fangirls.
Shisui started the match, and the first thing Sasuke did was activate his Sharingan and smirk.
"You should forfeit, you no-name peasant. There is nothing you can do against the might of the Uchiha. Consider it a great honor to lose to me."
Tayuya's whole rant over the team comms needs to be censored for the sanctity of my readers. It left both Kumo teams bent over the railing, laughing their asses off. Ruto added to the hilarity.
"Oh no, watch out everybody! If you don't bow down before me then I will look at you really hard with my monkey marbles! If that doesn't work, I will squint and look at you even harder!"
Atsui couldn't help himself, so he added. "If that doesn't work, I will sick my fangirls on you! If that doesn't work, the pink-haired on will pee on you!"
The whole Kumo contingent didn't pay attention to the fight, thus, they didn't notice when Sasuke used a move he stole from an allied shinobi to end the fight. They didn't really care though. They just wanted a piece of him in the finals. The next match was decided and Mabui and Kankuro were called down. Ruto pulled his mask up enough to give her a passionate kiss before he told her that Kankuro was riding his puppet. By the time she jumped down into the arena, she understood what he meant. Ruto looked up when he felt eyes on him and noticed that Amie was looking right at him with lust in her eyes. He shrugged at her and turned to watch the fight.
As soon as the match started, Mabui channeled lightning chakra to her feet and blade and blurred forward. The audience gasped as Kankuro was split into ten pieces. Ino and Sakura shrieked while the others paled a bit. Then the genjutsu broke and the body turned into splintered parts of wood. Kankuro could be heard crying from inside the bandages about how his favorite puppet was dead. Mabui just held her sword to the heaving pile of bandages and Shisui sweat dropped before calling the match.
Ruto smacked her on the ass when she returned to the balcony, which earned him a really cute 'eep'. She leaned onto his free shoulder and sighed contentedly. Samui said she better get the same treatment when it is her turn to fight, which Ruto readily agreed to. The next fight was determined by the spinning board of destiny and Tayuya cheered. She jumped down into the arena and waited for Sakura to join her. It was decided that she shouldn't kill the pink banshee, she did more damage than good to the leaf.
The match began and Tayuya just sat there completely relaxed, waiting to see what the so-called kunoichi would do. Turns out she threw some weak ass kunai, created two bunshin, tried a straight up taijutsu attack and got a hard smack on her ass for her efforts, which sent her tumbling. The banshee got back up and screamed how she would fight for her Sasuke-Kun before charging in again. Tayuya drew her blades this time and blurred forward to meet the girl, she refused to acknowledge her as a kunoichi.
The result of this trade was Sakura's top being shredded, including her bra. There were only minor cuts where Tayuya's strikes landed, but the real damage was spiritual and mental. The poor girl's shirt and bra fell to the floor and gelatin pads rolled onto the arena floor, which Tayuya stuck with her wakizashis and held up for all to see. Sakura was a crying mess on the arena floor and Shisui called the match. Fugaku rubbed his temples on the balcony and cursed that he gave in to the pressure of clan politics.
The comms in the masks of the Kumo contingent were indecipherable over the laughter. At this point, Konoha knew that they must have radios or something in their masks because they were repeatedly bending over in bouts of laughter with zero external communication. The next match was called and the Kumo contingent got serious for the first time. Their heads turned to look at Samui, who was busy snogging Ruto. After a pinch on her butt, Samui lowered her face mask and walked down into the arena.
Ruto and company watched this match very closely. They acknowledged that if there were any shinobi in these exams that was strong enough to give each of them a challenge, it would be Amie Hattori. It seemed like it was a common sentiment because the whole room grew quiet, everyone leaned just a bit further over the railing and all distractions ceased to matter. The two girls approached each other in the center of the arena, both putting a bit more sway than usual into their hips. Before Shisui could begin the match, an interesting conversation ensued.
"Well, Samui-Chan, it seems like fate favors me. Before I get to fight Ruto in the finals, I get to prove to him that I can best one of his chosen women." The overflowing confidence in her voice carried a weight that stated she could back up those words.
Samui, for her team's sake, performed a rat seal and her ankles, wrists and chest glowed with a vibrant blue before fading out. "There you go, Amie, I just showed you that I respect you as an adversary. Now, demonstrate your resolve and see if you are cool enough to win." Samui's ice blue eyes seemed to glow under her mask.
"Demonstrate my resolve you say? Okay then, Samui-Chan, let me show you my resolve." Amie then shed her raincoat which made a sizeable dent in the floor when it fell. She removed her rebreather mask and shook out her long black hair. Underneath the raincoat Amie wore a skin tight black body suit that hugged every inch of a very athletic and femininely shaped body. The upper C, bordering D, cup breasts looked like you could bounce a nickel off of them. Her toned posterior even caused Ruto to gulp. On top of the body suit, light armor pieces were attached to the forearms, outer bicep, shoulders, chest plate, thighs and shins. The armor was a glossy black that seemed to pull light into it. The free flowing, midnight black hair was tucked into a ponytail that tickled her nearly perfect posterior. The hair fell over two crossed, mid-length kodachis with midnight black handles and sheaths. Two black bangs framed an angelic face with a little button nose, but her eyes gave her the aura of a fierce warrior as the violet irises contrasted sharply against the black pupils.
Samui, for her part, cocked her hips and started giving Amie a golf clap, which diffused some of the tension in the room. "Most impressive, Amie-Chan. Now, let's see if you can stand up to the might of Kumo."
Both girls glanced at Ruto before turning their gazes to Shisui and giving him meaningful nods. The match that followed set the new standard for what a kunoichi fight should be. Amie took the initiative and launched herself at Samui, the Kumo group estimated that she moved at Samui's unsealed speed, around mid jonin. Samui sank into her cat's claw taijutsu stance and countered Amie's opening. The girls proceeded to blur around the arena, trading punches and kicks, flowing freely between offense and defense. The sound of metallic knuckle dusters hitting hardened armor resounded for a full five to ten minutes without slowing down. Nobody was paying attention to the time because the match was all anyone could focus on.
Amie threw a mule kick, which Samui avoided by hopping back, and there was a temporary lull in the battle. Amie panted a little bit and a small blush appeared on her cheeks. "You are truly a woman worthy of such a man, Samui-Chan. How about we take this fight to the next level?" Samui nodded at the request and both busty teenagers drew their respective swords. All male's in the audience watched with rapt attention at the tightening of the fabric the movements made. Showing just a bit more cleavage and compressing the heavenly mounds in a tantalizing way.
A collective gulp was heard around the arena and then an old man wearing a red happori with long, white, spiky hair fell down from the ceiling and crashed into the center of the arena. The man was holding a small, hand-sized notebook in one hand and a pencil in the other. He was giggling perversely and had a nosebleed to match. Shisui sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Lord Jiraiya, please clear the arena."
This seemed to snap the man out of it, he jumped to his feet, wiped the blood from his nose and disappeared in a blur. Lady Shina growled audibly at the man's presence and Ruto went over to put a calming hand on her shoulder. He watched the rest of the amazing fight while holding his mother's hand in an attempt to keep her calm.
After the old perv cleared the arena, Samui and Amie returned to their kenjutsu opening postures. Amie with dual kodachis and Samui wielding a Katana/wakizashi pairing. Once again, they engaged at high jonin speeds and an elite jonin level kenjutsu match began. The girls moved with a deadly grace as they lunged, dodged, spun and bent around each other's blows. A massive smile could be seen on Amie's face as she escalated the fight further by coating her kodachis with wind chakra. Samui instantly infused her blades with her lightning element in response, but she was at an elemental disadvantage. Once the blades were coated in their respective chakras, Samui was forced to disengage and try another tactic after her wakizashi was cleaved in half by the slicing power of a dual, downward swing of Amie's kodachis.
Samui began dodging Amie's strikes while weaving through hand signs. She used a 'raiton – beast tracking' to disrupt Amie's offensive advantage. Amie made short work of the two lightning beasts that flanked her, but this created an opening. Samui appeared behind Amie and locked her in a half-nelson before Samui was stabbed through the stomach. Everyone gasped as they thought the beautiful, blonde kunoichi may have just been killed. However, Samui burst in a cloud of lightning that sent half a million volts of electricity into the Ame kunoichi.
Amie's body convulsed and jolted, but she was able to barely dodge a lightning covered kunai that the reemerged Samui slashed her with. A big gash in Amie's bodysuit appeared from her left hip to right breast along with a trickle of blood. This caused most of the men watching the fight to spout copious amounts of blood from their noses. Returning to the fight, the near death experience allowed Amie to regain control of her body and she began forming her own hand seals while dodging slashes from Samui's electrified kunai.
Amie waited until Samui closed the distance again before she unleashed a massive cloud of purple gas directly into Samui's face. Tsunade, who was watching the fight at a bar in Tanzaku Guy, gasped when she recognized the poison jutsu of Hanzo the Salamander. Samui was caught by surprise and inhaled a sizeable amount of the gas and instantly regretted it. The gas burned her lungs and caused her to break into a fit of coughs. She dropped her kunai and fell to her knees when she felt a sword held execution style to the back of her neck.
Ruto saw this and was stopped from launching himself into the fight by Shina, who called for extra help from Atsui and Omoi. The massive frame of Ruto struggled to break free as Amie looked directly into his eyes. The smug black orbs with purple irises pierced through Ruto's mask and locked with the electric azure blues. Time seemed to freeze as a mental threat with the whole weight of Ruto's soul was given, "Do that and I will destroy everything you love and hold dear." Amie shivered and broke eye contact with Ruto before looking to Shisui, who could no longer stay in the poison-covered arena.
"Winner, Amie Hattori of Amegakore." Shisui called and Amie immediately pulled a vial out of one of her pouches that she gave to the coughing Samui. Samui downed the antidote and her coughing eased. Ruto slouched into his mother's embrace and received brotherly pats from Omoi and Atsui. The sight that greeted the viewers once the poison mist cleared knocked out more male shinobis than the remainder of the fights. Both girls' uniforms were in tatters, and they were showing more skin than either of them intended to.
Samui's uniform was torn in the back from her right shoulder to left ass cheek, which was the image of goddess-like perfection. Amie had multiple tears in her bodysuit that resulted in a clear view of some underboob and provided a glimpse of very toned and sensual thighs. The results came in and Sasuke, Shika, Kiba, Kankuro, Omoi, Atsui, Chouji and Neji all gained nosebleeds powerful enough to make them pass out. Most of the named males received subsequent blows to the head to further their unconscious conditions from nearby kunoichi.
After clearing the arena, Shisui wiped a trickle of blood from his nose, scooped the white-haired pervert off the floor and threw him back into the kage balcony. Once that was handled, he called for the next two contestants. Sasumi scoffed as she used a fire shunshin to appear in the arena and waited with her arms crossed for her 'competiton'. Ino sauntered down the stairs and prepared herself for the fight. After Shisui's signal, the blonde felt like she needed to say something.
"As one of Sasuke-Kun's fiancées, I am going to win this match and prove that I am worthy of him." The prissy tone incensed Sasumi but she remained professional.
Sasumi scoffed and remained with her arms crossed under her chest. Ino lost her patience and formed a loose diamond with her thumbs and pointer fingers before calling out 'shintenshin no jutsu'. Sasumi blurred a meter to the left of her initial position, arms still crossed, and watched as the 'kunoichi' fell to the floor. She took advantage of the backlash of Ino's missed jutsu to walk over and place a kunai at her throat. She was promptly declared the winner before she glanced at Ruto and went back to her spot on the balcony. Ino came to a minute later and hung her head in disgrace as she took the walk of shame. Fugaku pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed again. If he didn't rely on the support of the Yamanaka clan, then he would cancel this weaklings engagement to his son. (A/N: I hate doing this to my girl Ino, but when I thought about an Uchiha ruled Konoha, I couldn't convince myself that her development would be any better. In fact, the only outcome I saw was Ino becoming more of a fangirl at this point in the story. Apologies to Ino fans, but I also didn't feel like writing a super long fight.)
The Kumo teams' shoulders were shaking again as a barrage of insults about the so-called kunoichi of the leaf flew freely once more. That was until the next match was called, a match they were actually interested in watching. Hinata and Hannabi Hyuga walked into the center of the arena. Both girls demonstrated the grace and posture befitting their noble upbringing.
"Little sister, I recommend you forfeit. I was already chosen as the heir, and you should respect your new, lower station in life." Hinata's cold words betrayed the normally kind mask she wore.
"What is wrong, big sister Sama, scared to fight me in a fair fight?" Hannabi retorted in a cold tone tinged with rage.
Shina shook her head in sadness for what her old friend and teammates must be feeling. She couldn't imagine being forced into Hitomi's position. She would have murdered every single clan elder before she let them put such a disgusting seal on one of her own. She couldn't believe Hiashi had pitted his twin daughters against one another, but this gave her the resolve she needed to get those two out of Konoha. She would remove that cursed seal and provide a new home for one of her best friends.
Shina gasped audibly when after a short juken fight that Hinata was losing, Hinata was holding her hands in a strange seal while Hannabi writhed in agony on the ground. Lee was holding an enraged Neji back while Guy had knocked out the Hyuga heiress with a single chop to the back of her neck. Kurenai shook her head in disappointment as she collected her team member while Guy tended to a panting and crying Hannabi. Hinata was announced as the winner due to outside interference, but that victory cost her the chance of escaping this village with the others.
Ruto held his mother's hand and squeezed it in a comforting manner. He could tell she was shaking with rage because of the Caged Bird Seal and the fact that one twin sister used it against another. He asked Mabui to take over for him as his name was called to enter the arena. He jumped down off the railing and landed lightly on his feet. He watched the boy and his puppy jump down from the opposite balcony with a cocky grin on Kiba's face.
"Well, Ruto, this is my chance to prove that I am the alpha around here." The dog yipped in agreement as it stood next to the boy's heels.
"Oh, okay then, Kiba-San, good luck with that." Ruto said with a deadpanned tone.
Kiba growled before spouting off at the mouth. "What's so good about a guy that won't even show his face in public? Those bitches that chase you around should be with a true alpha like me."
A dark aura began to appear around Ruto. "Excuse me, I don't think I heard you right. What did you call my girls?" His tone became dark and menacing and sounded like a growl. Amakaru whimpered at his master's heels.
Kiba smirked, "I think you heard me. Those bitches that chase you around should be mine. I am the true alpha of Konoha."
"Sochi, don't kill him, Tsume used to be a friend of mine. Maybe a slight maiming and fierce beating, but don't kill him." His mother's voice came in through his receiving seal.
Ruto let out a slow, deep breath. "Kiba-San, you get one free shot. I recommend you make it count because after that I am going to shatter you and that false confidence your filled with."
Kiba scoffed, "Whatever, mut (mut is the Inuzuka equivalent of bastard), you couldn't take a hit from a true alpha."
Ruto sat on the ground in the lotus position. He looked at Shisui. "Would you start the match already? I am struggling to contain my anger and I don't think you want me to blow up this whole tower."
Shisui sweat dropped before calling out, "Hajime."
Kiba took a battle-ready stance and waited for Ruto to do the same. "What? Too scared to fight, mut?"
"Take your free shot, Inuzuka-San. If you keep talking, the price will be your life." Ruto replied coldly.
Kiba tossed a pill to Akamaru before putting another pill in his mouth. The duo began to look more feral, and a small chakra aura could be seen around them. Kiba got down on all fours and jumped in the air, spinning like a drill along with his ninken partner. He cried out, 'Gatsuga', fang over fang, as he spun toward Ruto. Ruto didn't move, he remained in a lotus posture as the duo slammed into his position before rebounding to a spot across the arena.
A small cloud of smoke dissipated and showed Ruto sitting there with minor scuffing on his slick vest and mask. He had reinforced his body with chakra to the point that the 'Gatsuga' didn't hurt all that badly. Ruto brushed off the scuff marks and stood up. "That was it? One free shot and that's what you do with it?"
Kiba snarled and launched into another 'Gatsuga' but this time he ran smack dab into an explosion of electric chakra. Ruto used a move he developed, 'raiton – stun grenade', where he condenses lightning chakra in his body before expelling it from every tenketsu. The result was an expanding sphere of electric blue chakra that originated from his body. The chakra ripped apart the hardened floor and slammed into the approaching Inuzuka duo, which halted their advanced and sent them flying.
Before Kiba could slam into the wall, he felt an electrifying and fiery pain shoot up his right arm just before his back collided with the wall. Ruto could be seen tossing something in the air before he destroyed it with a beam of lightning. Ruto looked casually at the crater in the wall that the Inuzuka boy was trying to climb out of. Sparks of residual lightning chakra would periodically shoot off the boy. Kiba eventually pulled himself out of the wall while clutching his right hand.
"I recommend you stay down, pup. I showed mercy by not taking your whole hand, but I am afraid you will need to learn how to use your left hand for those perverted activities I assume you're so fond of."
Kiba looked to be on the verge of shock as he continued to cluck his right hand to his chest. It wasn't even bleeding because the lightning chakra cauterized the wound. "Fuck … you … batstard. I bet your father and whore of a moth…"
Everyone in Kumo knew that insulting Ruto's father meant you were in for a world of pain, simultaneously, insulting his mother meant death. As the words left Kiba's mouth, a wind covered claw ripped his fur jacket open and left four deep gashes across his chest. The ninken partner, Akamaru, lunged at Ruto, was caught by the masked shinobi's right hand before a burst of electricity knocked the puppy out. He put the puppy down by his wounded master and walked away.
Shisui called the match and medics ran out to collect the bleeding Inuzuka boy. Ruto used a lightning shunshin to appear back on his balcony. His girls hugged him, and his mother put a comforting hand on his shoulder. They all understood how enraged he was, and how much he was struggling to contain that rage and anger. His Hanyu blood demanded blood from the petty human that insulted his mates, mother and father.
Hikari pulled him into the mindscape, threw him on the couch and initiated an aggressive make out session. She was turned on by his casual display of dominance and she didn't want his anger to overtake him. Now wasn't the right time to reveal himself to the world. Hikari kept him there, lip-locked for nearly half an hour before she felt his anger subside. He finished the session with a peck and nibble on her bottom lip before he thanked her and went to rejoin the others outside of the seal. Hikari collapsed on the couch in a panting mess. She wanted nothing more than to ravage him for seven days and seven nights, but the promise to do so in the real world restrained her demonic urges.
Ruto snapped back to awareness as Omoi forced Shikamaru to surrender after using a lightning jutsu to disrupt the shadow user. The light broke the shadow tendril that nearly immobilized him and Omoi landed a lightning palm over Shikamaru's heart. The boy was immediately knocked unconscious and suffered a minor heart attack. The medical team would be able to heal him, but the fight was over.
"What did I miss?" He asked the team through the communication seal.
"Gaara crushed the guy from Ame in sand and the fan girl blew away the fat boy." Tayuya summarized.
"That means it is my turn to fight, this is going to be hot!" Atsui practically shouted through the seal.
"Damnit Atsui, must you be so loud?" Mabui chastised the hot-blooded male.
"Good luck, brother. Lee is a fierce taijutsu opponent, do not hold back." Ruto added while using his pinky to clear out his ears.
Atsui mimicked the excitable Rock Lee as he jumped over the edge of the balcony. Both boys took up fighting stances, but Atsui held up a hand.
"Lee-San, I wish for a truly hot-blooded fight. Please remove your weights and I will do the same."
Lee punched a fist into the air. "That is most youthful of you, Atsui-San. It is clear as a sunny day that your flames of youth burn brightly!" Lee then proceeded to remove the weights from his ankles and wrists and he casually tossed them to the side of the arena, where they proceeded to shake the arena and leave a small crater.
Atsui's body glowed blue in the five normal spots before he took a taijutsu stance. Guy cried loudly from the balcony and Ruto heard the word youth mentioned twenty times in the same sentence. Shisui sliced his hand down through the air and started the match.
What ensued could only be described as a master class of the taijutsu arts. Lee used the Goken, strong fist style and Atsui answered with his own taijutsu style he calls 'Flame Fist'. Normally, Atsui would encase his arms and legs in fire chakra when using this style, but it seemed like he didn't want to destroy his youthful opponent. For a full 15-minutes Atsui and Lee blurred and clashed around the arena. Small shockwaves, grunts and the sound of flesh blocking flesh filled the arena. The Kumo and Ame teams wore looks of respect while the Konoha teams were completely shocked by the display.
The jonin level taijutsu battle came to a brief halt when Lee jumped up onto the head of the Hashirama statue.
"Yosh! Astui-San, my eternal rival. Your flames of youth burn with the most youthful brightness! I am going to pour fuel on my flames of youth, you should do the same!"
Atsui simply nodded as he watched the greenclad boy cross his arms. He gulped as he watched Lee open four of the eight inner gates. He made a few hand signs before his arms and lower legs were encompassed in flames. The taijutsu battle continued at an escalated level, sizeable shockwaves shook the arena and caused my bits of the ceiling to break off and rain down on the arena. The fight left craters everywhere, fire and raw chakra clashed in explosions of dominance and the fight raged on at a ferocious pace for seven or eight minutes.
The fight came to a head when Lee kicked Atsui in the chin, blurred behind him, wrapped him in bandages that were on his wrists and slammed him into the ground headfirst. As the dust cleared, Atsui was crumpled into the ground headfirst, and his flame armor was flickering weakly. Lee lay next to him, heavily burned on the wrists, hands, forearms and shins that he used to block Atsui's attacks. Internally, Lee's muscles were shredded from the intense match that overtaxed Lee's system. Both boys laid on the ground unconscious as Shisui declared the match a draw.
Shino ended up forfeiting his match to Neji Hyuga after a talk with his sensei. He claimed that the loss of his kikaichu colony was not worth this attempt at promotion when such fierce opponents would be waiting for him in the finals. Kurenai accepted his reasoning and lamented that the one good shinobi she had in her squad would not be joining her when she left for Kumo.
Since all of the matches were over, the winners were called down to draw numbers out of a box. After everyone drew a number, Shisui addressed the group.
"The matchups for the finals will be as follows: Match 1 – Ruto Maki vs Amie Hattori. Match 2 – Mabui vs Neji Hyuga. Match 3 – Hinata Hyuga vs Tayuya Maki. Match 4 – Omoi vs Subaku no Temari. Match 5 – Sasuke Uchiha vs Subaku no Gaara. Sasumi Uchiha will advance to the second round.
You will have one month to prepare yourselves for your fights. The more opponents you defeat, the more likely you are to earn your promotion. The tournament will start at 10am on the fourth Saturday of October. Foreign teams, you are allowed to use your designated training fields and are expected to follow the same rules as before. Now, you are dismissed."
The genin cleared out of the arena, grabbed their things from their rooms and left the tower. The Kumo contingent grabbed Atsui from the infirmary and Shina slapped a healing seal on him. Ruto provided the chakra to heal Atsui before the group left the forest of death and returned to the hotel. They all met up in Ruto's room, performed another bug sweep, and then sat down to discuss the exams thus far.
Shina led the discussion. "Okay guys, good job thus far. Samui and Atsui, hold your heads up high. Those were two magnificent battles. Samui, there was no way to know that she knew her father's poison mist jutsu. That also tells me that she inherited the Salamander contract. There is no shame in losing to such an opponent. Atsui, Rock Lee was on our list of prospects and is a master class taijutsu user. To hold your own against four inner gates is no small feat, great fight."
Naruto pulled Samui closer to him on the bed and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Atsui received many 'good job' slaps to his shoulder and back. "So, what's the plan now, Ka-Chan?"
"Naruto, you will use your kitsune illusions in one week's time to infiltrate the Uzumaki and Namikaze compounds. You will secure everything of value into master scrolls and set the master security seals to absolute lockdown. During the invasion, we will detonate the seals and erase the memory of the Uzumaki and Namikaze clans from Konoha's territory."
"Why not just leave the security seals up? Won't it give it away if we blow the compounds up?" Darui asked.
"Maybe, but I don't want my ancestor's legacy to continue to be tainted by this village. There will be no proof and it could easily be blamed on Orochimaru's goons." Kushina responded.
"What did the Raikage say about the exams so far? I bet he was pissed about that Root team." Samui asked.
"Indeed, he was. That is why the prelims were televised. You guys put on a really good show. Naruto, be careful going out into the village. Inuzuka will likely target you now that you maimed one of the clan leader's children. Ai also told us to keep our guards up. He is sending Yugito and Shi for extra support and training, since Omoi and Tayuya won their matches."
"Ka-Chan, what happened to Karin and that Kin girl?" Naruto asked with excitement.
"I used the break in between the forest of death and the preliminary round to extract them. A team collected them, and they should be getting back to Kumo soon. Ai will send a message when they arrive. Karin is family and that poor Kin girl had it extremely rough. I offered her a room in our home after I vetted her." Kushina responded, softening her tone when talking about Kin.
"Thanks for doing that, Ka-Chan. Uzumakis don't leave family behind. Do you know if Kusa bought the story about her death?" Naruto asked hesitantly.
"Well, Ruto, I wanted to talk to you about that. This year was marked as the bloodiest chunin exam in history thanks to your … extracurricular … activities. You did a good job not leaving traceable evidence, but you will be the prime suspect. During the second phase, 9 Konoha teams, 2 Sand teams, 1 Oto team, 1 Taki team, 1 Kusa team, and 1 Ame team were killed with no bodies left behind for the seven teams you took out. I wouldn't be surprised if we are forced to answer to the Konoha council."
"It's alright, Ka-Chan. I will tell them the truth. We killed one Oto team and one Konoha team en route to the tower. They don't have to know what my clones did. Well, aside from team 7, nobody survived to tell them about my clones except Kin and Karin." Naruto responded nonchalantly while shrugging his shoulders.
"Alright, get a good night's rest. Training will begin in two days. We will train in the morning and then do mission prep in the afternoons. Good job you guys, we are proud of you." Kushina ended the meeting, put her mask back on and walked out the door accompanied by Darui.
Team 13 went back to their room to rinse off in the shower before bed. Naruto, Samui and Mabui took a group shower that got a little rowdy. Naruto finally let go of his control and let out his pent-up lust on the two beautiful, busty kunoichi. It started in the shower for thirty minutes before moving to the bed for another two hours. It ended with Samui and Mabui smiling contentedly as they snuggled into either side of Naruto.