Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (either manga or anime!); the wonderful Masashi Kishimoto-sensei owns all rights. However, the plot and Namiko Uzumaki are mine!

Chapter 9: Preliminaries, Part 1

Namiko had taken Kurenai's advice to heart and spent the last three days resting her body and reading some more. Since Naruto hadn't come home, she could only assume that his team had been in the Forest of Death until the last possible moment. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura didn't back down.

On July 6th, Kurenai collected and led Team 8 to one of the indoor training centers for the next part of the Chuunin Exams. The building was just one large, open room with a balcony area for viewing. Viewing what, Namiko was curious to find out.

All the genin were lined up in the middle of the room, facing a "stage" of sorts with a large screen behind it. Multiple jounin along with Sandaime Hokage were standing on the stage, talking amongst themselves in hushed tones. Namiko took this time to look around and see who had made it.

She smiled when Team 7 walked in and stood next to them; she was relieved to see Naruto only looking a little worse for wear when he stood next to her in the front row. He gave her a bright smile when he saw her and a thumbs-up, and she winked at him with a bright smile of her own. She saw Team 10, as well as Team Gai. She leaned forward to look closer at the other teams, noticing the teams from Oto and Suna were there.

Anko's voice suddenly bellowed through the room, "Alright, now pay attention. Hokage-sama will explain the third exam to you. So listen carefully, maggots."

Hiruzen stepped forward, clearing his throat before addressing the genin, "Before we begin, I want to explain something about the test itself. The true purpose of these exams is to raise the abilities of the shinobi and increase friendship between allied nations. Yet they're also a representation of the battle between allied nations.

"If we look at the history, all of the countries that we are allied with were once neighboring nations that continuously fought for power. These exams provide a place where shinobi can carry the pride of their nation on their backs and fight against other ninja for their very lives.

"This exam is to be conducted under the watchful eyes of a number of distinguished guests, including rulers and nobility of various lands that the nations each serve. If a shinobi performs outstanding skill, those distinguished guests will be quick to commission work from that shinobi's nation.

"The strength of a country is derived from the strength of its village, and the village draws strength from the shinobi who live there. The greatest shinobi only emerges amid a life-and-death battle!"

A man flashed down in front of the Hokage. "Sandaime, if you don't mind handing the rest of the proceedings over to me, Gekko Hayate, proctor of the third exam."

Hiruzen nodded. "Go ahead."

Hayate coughed several times before turning towards the genin. "Before we begin, there's something I need you to know. We still have too many applicants and we'll need to have a preliminary round to reduce the number of participants."

Murmurs filled the arena. Hayate coughed heavily again. "Anyone who doesn't feel up to the challenge, either physically or mentally, can walk away. Just take a step forward."

"Well, I'm out of here," said Kabuto with a wave of his hand.

Hayate looked over the clipboard in his hand. "Yakushi Kabuto…okay, you can go." He looked back up from the clipboard after crossing off Kabuto's name. "Oh, and I forgot to mention it, but from here on, you fight as individuals…not as members of teams."

Namiko's eyes went wide. 'Should I drop out?' She paused for a moment before setting her mouth in a determined line. '…no, I told Hinata that I wanted to be like that strong kunoichi, and that's what I'm going to do!'

Hayate coughed heavily again. "Last chance to drop out. If you aren't in good physical condition, you should drop out now for your own safety."

Namiko felt Sasuke's chakra flare dangerously behind her even without her chakra senses active. She whipped her head around to see Sasuke standing behind Naruto, clutching his shoulder.

Sakura had noticed too and whispered just loud enough for Teams 7 and 8 to hear, "Sasuke-kun, if you're in pain from the mark…maybe you should quit too…"

"What mark?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Sasuke-kun got bit by that freaky snake person, Orochimaru." Sakura was upset with the whole situation and leaned over towards Sasuke. "Please, ever since you got that mark, you've been in pain. Withdraw! I'm…afraid for you." She paused before raising her voice. "You're in no shape to fight, Sasuke-kun!" When she realized how loud she was, she quickly clamped her hands over her mouth.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and hissed back to her. "Shut up. Not another word about the mark. This pain is my burden to bear alone. This is more than a test to me, and finding out my true strength is all that matters now. I won't turn from the path that leads to my dream, no matter how painful it may be."

Naruto's brow furrowed before he snapped back at Sasuke. "Why are you trying to act so cool? Can't you see how worried Sakura is?"

Namiko piped up. "Sasuke's stronger than you both think. Mentioning the mark to the jounin is his choice, but I'm pretty sure they already know. You should trust him more."

Sasuke locked eyes with Namiko for a split second in a silent thank you before looking at Naruto with a smirk. "Naruto, you're one of the ones I want to fight the most." Naruto's eyes widened…he and Sasuke had sparred many times but to be in a major fight like this to see who was truly stronger was enticing and quite the compliment as well.

Hayate cleared his throat to keep from coughing. "Alright then, the preliminaries start now!"

"NOW?!" Kiba and Naruto exclaimed in unison. Naruto continued to speak, "With no break at all?"

Anko spoke firmly. "That was one of the reasons it was important to get through Stage Two with time to spare. Quite a few teams were done ahead of schedule and they got the chance to recover. Your slowness will cost you, but it also serves a point. You may not get the chance to recover before being thrown into battle if you're on a real mission."

Naruto glanced over at his sister and Team 8. It was obvious that they had the chance to recover. All three of them were in clean clothes and their injuries had healed or were bandaged properly. Meanwhile, his own team was covered in dirt and had more than their fair share of cuts and bruises.

"The preliminaries," began Hayate before coughing yet again. "will be individual combat matches, as though this was part of a tournament. As there are twenty participants, we will have a total of ten matches. The victor of each round will advance to the finals which will be held in one month, on August 1st.

"This is no-holds-barred combat. Each pair of competitors will fight until one of them is unconscious, too injured to continue, dead, or admits defeat. Since we don't want a bloodbath on our hands, there may be times when we may step in and end the match, but don't count on it."

Hayate motioned to the large screen behind him. "At the beginning of every match, we will display the names of the two participants competing in that match. Not to hurry things along, but let's begin and announce the first two competitors."

All the genin held their breath as they awaited the first pair of names. The screen rotated through the names of all the genin before landing on the first two names.

Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yoroi

Sasuke smirked to himself. 'Hn, right off the bat, huh? This will be a piece of cake.'

Everyone but Hayate, Sasuke, and Yoroi had started to move to the viewing sidelines. Kakashi hung back for a moment to speak to Sasuke. He faced away from Sasuke as he spoke, "Sasuke. Whatever you do, don't use the Sharingan."

"So you know about it…" Sasuke smirked.

Kakashi ignored Sasuke's comment. "If that mark on your neck gets out of control, your life could be in danger."

"I figured…"

"Just so you know, if it gets to that point I'll have to step in and stop the fight." Kakashi kept walking towards the stairs. "Good luck."

Sasuke's eyes widened. 'Stop the fight? I'm not letting that happen. This mark seems to respond to my chakra and it gets a little stronger every time I use it. If I use my chakra carelessly, the mark could take over my psyche. I've got to fight without using my Sharingan, and even my own jutsus are off limits.'

Kakashi walked towards Sakura and Naruto who were standing next to Team 8. Both Sakura and Naruto looked worried about Sasuke. Namiko picked up on their nervousness as well and leaned over to them. "Sasuke's smart, he'll find a way around using the mark."

Sakura bit her thumb in nervousness. "I hope you're right."

Namiko stared at the Uchiha on the arena floor. 'For my own peace of mind, I'm going to keep an eye on his chakra. It's a good excuse to practice anyhow.' She activated her chakra sensing and tried to focus on just Sasuke and Yoroi to not get distracted by some of the more intimidating chakras like Gaara's.

Hayate stood between the two genin "Then, if you're ready, you may begin."

Yoroi pressed his hands together. "Oh, I'm ready."

Sasuke stepped back and into a defensive stance. "So am I."

Yoroi crouched down and his right hand began to glow. He reached into his hip pouch and pulled out several shuriken as Sasuke pulled a kunai out of his own weapons pouch to deflect the shuriken.

Sasuke yelled as the curse mark flared for a moment, causing him pain, and launching him towards the ground. 'Great, already?'

Sasuke looked up just in time to see Yoroi right in front of him. He rolled out of the way as Yoroi punched the ground. Sasuke stuck a kunai in the ground and spun around to kick Yoroi in the leg, then used his leg to get Yoroi by the neck and grabbed his right arm.

Naruto cheered from the sidelines. "Hey! Sasuke's got him!"

Yoroi wasn't going down easily though and turned his glowing hand on Sasuke's chest. Dread filled Sasuke as he felt his chakra suddenly drain. 'What is happening? My chakra is being sucked out of me!' Yoroi lifted his arm out of Sasuke's grip and slammed it against his chest, knocking the wind out of Sasuke and leaving him gasping for air on the ground.

"Sasuke!" Sakura yelled out, tears starting to fill her eyes.

Yoroi jumped back before charging towards Sasuke. Sasuke sat up just as Yoroi's glowing hand made contact with his head, shoving him to the ground again. Sasuke pushed at his arm, but soon his own arms dropped to the ground.

Namiko leaned slightly over the railing, voice barely above a whisper. "He's draining Sasuke's chakra…it's like he's trying to get him to activate the mark." Her brow furrowed as she started to open her mouth to yell for him to get away but stopped when Sasuke kicked Yoroi several meters back.

"You son of a…" Sasuke sat up slowly and Yoroi stood, evaluating Sasuke from afar.

"So, you still have some strength left. Don't worry, I'll make this short and sweet." Yoroi activated the glow in his hand again as he ran towards Sasuke who was standing up. He swung his glowing hand wildly, desperately trying to make contact with Sasuke again.

Sasuke felt Yoroi graze his hair and he almost fell forward and past him. Anything to get away from that glowing hand. 'I don't have the speed to keep away from him and I don't have a chance at a close-quarters fight. I've got to end this fast.'

Naruto was getting irritated and yelled out to Sasuke, "Come on! What was that? You call yourself an Uchiha?! You're letting this goon walk all over you! Stop messing around and get a move on!"

Sasuke turned to look back at Naruto and noticed Rock Lee standing nearby. A light bulb went off in the Uchiha's head. 'That's it!'

"I'll teach you to turn your back on me! Big mistake, it'll be your last!" Yoroi charged towards Sasuke again, glowing hand ready to make contact.

As he swiped his glowing hand at Sasuke, Sasuke did everything possible to avoid being touched. Sasuke suddenly disappeared from Yoroi's view, and the next thing he knew, Sasuke had kicked him in the face from below. As Yoroi flew through the air, Sasuke leaped up after him. He struck Yoroi in the back and just as he was about to make his next move, the mark again pulsed and started to spread. Sasuke coughed up blood as he fought against the mark. 'No, not again!'

"No, no…" Namiko whispered to herself as she felt the mark activate. She saw the flames start to creep across his skin and alarm filled her voice as she called out to him, "Sasuke, you've got to fight it!"

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as he pushed against the mark. 'I won't let it take over. No way!' His eyes snapped open as the flames of the mark started to fade.

Kakashi saw the mark fade and his visible eye widened. 'It's fading…?' Kakashi eyed the redhead for a moment before turning his attention back to his student.

Sasuke smirked with confidence. "Let's get this over with!" He twisted his leg, kicking Yoroi once in the side before using his arm and clotheslining him in the neck. Sasuke slammed his arm again into Yoroi, this time in his chest, knocking the air out of him before twisting yet again, using his leg to slam Yoroi into the ground. "Lions Barrage!" Sasuke knocked Yoroi so hard into the ground that he tumbled back away from Yoroi, flipping over onto his stomach.

Hayate walked over and knelt next to Yoroi lying unconscious on the ground. "Well, this one's had it." He turned to see Sasuke starting to sit up, wiping the blood from his mouth. Hayate stood and gestured to Sasuke. "I'm declaring this match over. As the winner of this preliminary round, Uchiha Sasuke advances to the finals."

Cheering erupted from the Konoha ninja. Sasuke sat on the ground, panting for breath. Right as he was about to fall over, Kakashi flashed down to stand behind him, keeping him from collapsing. "Well done, Sasuke." Sasuke gave a small smile at the compliment.

Naruto yelled out as he leaned over the railing, "Hey Sasuke! You won! But explain to me why you're the one who looks like you lost!" Naruto cackled and Namiko smacked Naruto in the arm, hard. "Ouch! Imouto! That was rude."

"No, your comment was rude," she hissed at him.

Sasuke called back to Naruto from the ground. "Shut up, dobe…"

Several medical ninja took away Yoroi and another came over to Sasuke and Kakashi. "You should come with us so you get the best possible treatment."

"You have no idea what you'd be getting yourselves into, I'll handle him," said Kakashi, then bent down toward Sasuke, speaking loud enough for only him to hear. "You're going to come with me right now and I'll seal away the curse mark."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Can't this wait? I want to watch everyone else compete."

"No!" stated Kakashi firmly. "This is spreading like a disease and it's already close to the point of no return. I let you have your way once and it's made you greedy."

Hayate's voice boomed through the arena. "Okay, our next match is…" He looked over at the screen as the names shuffled.

Abumi Zaku vs. Uzumaki Namiko

Sasuke's head whipped around to look at Namiko. Her face was like a frightened deer. Sasuke turned back to Kakashi. "Please, just the next round."

Kakashi studied Sasuke for a moment before glancing up at Namiko. She was frozen in place as Kurenai bent down to whisper something in her ear. Kakashi wasn't blind and could tell there was some sort of connection between Sasuke and the redhead, and he sighed in defeat. "Fine. The next one only. Let's go." He led Sasuke slowly up the stairs to where Naruto and Sakura waited.

The second Namiko saw her name on the board, time stood still.

The fact that she knew the person she was up against terrified her. He was skilled and if he could get a good hit in with those air tubes of his, she was as good as done. She watched Zaku start to walk down to the arena.

Kurenai bent down to whisper in her ear, "Take a deep breath. You'll be okay; he's injured already, so maybe you can get him to surrender. Dig down deep and exude confidence."

Kiba overheard what Kurenai was saying and interrupted, "Just act cocky like your brother!"

Namiko looked over at Naruto as he came over to her and gripped her shoulders. "I know I said you should've quit, but you've come this far. Heck, you finished the second round days before us! Use your brain, and you can do this! I know you can, dattebayo!" He pulled her into a strong hug, almost bone-breaking, before hesitantly letting her go.

Namiko took a big breath in blew it out forcefully. "I can do this, right?" She turned and saw Hinata next to her.

The Hyuuga girl smiled sweetly at her. "You can do this for sure, Namiko-chan. N-N-Naruto-kun is right."

Namiko quickly hugged her friend before starting down the stairs. As she was headed down the stairs, Sasuke and Kakashi were coming up. Blue-violet eyes locked with black for a moment before Sasuke gave the faintest smile and nodded his head once at her. Namiko took a deep breath in again and smiled back.

When she stood at the bottom of the stairs, she closed her eyes for a moment to collect herself. 'I can do this. I've got to be confident like nii-chan. People believe in me.'

She walked over and stood in front of Zaku and Hayate. Hayate cleared his throat, sending him into a coughing fit. "Okay, are both of you ready?"

"I'm so ready," said Zaku, both arms in a sling.

"I'm ready." Namiko eyed Zaku carefully.

Hayate took a step back and signaled the start. "You may begin."

"How exactly are you going to fight like that?" Namiko gestured to his sling. "Sasuke broke both your arms."

"Oh, don't worry," he said, pulling out his left arm. "This one still has some life in it."

"I'm not going to go easy on you because you're injured. You should forfeit."

Zaku scoffed. "Speak for yourself, shorty." He raised his left arm and aimed directly at her. "Slicing Sound Wave!" A blast of strong air hit Namiko with full force, knocking her back towards the wall.

She stood up slowly, flipping her long braid behind her. 'Good thing Kurenai-sensei braided my hair today to keep it out of my way.' She brushed the dust off her shorts and shirt. "You're going to regret that." She rushed forward, swinging her leg and knocking his feet out from under him.

Zaku hit his back hard on the ground. He sprang back to his feet and grabbed some shuriken from his hip pouch, slinging them towards her. She dodged with ease thanks to her speed and the occasional teleportation jutsu. 'I could just keep dodging until his chakra runs out, but that would probably take a while. How do I end this? I'm not strong like Naruto or Sasuke.'

She kept dodging as Zaku sent every attack her way, both shuriken and his sound attacks, as she tried to formulate a plan. 'Naruto told me to use my brain...and he's injured… I don't to fight dirty, but it may be necessary.'

"Too afraid to attack me, pipsqueak?" taunted Zaku. "It's not like you're big enough to make a mark on me anyway."

Namiko was getting irritated. Yes, he was easily a head taller than her, but he was being obnoxious. Plus, he had hurt Sakura and Lee. "You're really going to insult my height? You can't come up with a better taunt?"

"You're pathetic, just like that blonde loser that got knocked out by Orochimaru-sama."

Namiko's chakra flared in anger as she narrowed her eyes at him. "You can talk crap about me all day long, but you do not get to pick on my brother! He took down one of those creepy snakes all on his own."

Zaku practically cackled. "Aww, coming to your brother's defense? How precious...but you're still just a weakling like him. Girls shouldn't be shinobi. You're all delicate little flowers who can't do shit."

"You can think that, but you're wrong. Kunoichi are not weak in the slightest." Namiko tried to keep a level head, but her anger was starting to boil over. "I'm giving you a chance to surrender before I make you regret ever entering this exam…"

"Not a chance." Zaku belly laughed at her. "You won't be able to make a single mark on me."

She shook her head in amusement, giving a small laugh. "Don't say I didn't warn you…" She made the hand sign for the teleportation jutsu, popping out right behind him. She grabbed his left wrist and shoved him to the ground, placing her foot on his back. "Last chance…give up or lose use of your only good arm."

Zaku feigned confidence, but she could sense his nervousness in his chakra. "You wouldn't. You don't have the gall to do it. I told you before, you'll never go anywhere if you don't follow through with your threats."

"You," said Namiko pulling his arm tight behind him, "know nothing about me." In a split second, she bent her leg and slammed her knee into his arm.

A nauseating crack rang through the arena.

"So much for not following through with my threats…" Namiko gave a cheeky smirk as she dropped his wrist as Zaku's arm fell to the ground, forearm visibly distorted and unmoving. Zaku let out a guttural scream, writhing on the ground and unable to stand. "I told you I'd make you regret it." She stared coldly at the Oto ninja.

"Due to the fact that Abumi Zaku is unable to use his arms," said Hayate as he stepped forward and gestured to Namiko, "the winner of the second round is Uzumaki Namiko."

Cheers rang out as Namiko looked up at her friends. Her teammates and Kurenai were cheering, along with several others, but Naruto had an odd mixture of pride and a smidge of shock on his face.

Namiko turned to see Zaku being carted off by the medical shinobi. She felt a small pang of guilt. Part of her enjoyed the power she felt at getting revenge on him, the other part was horrified that she had sunk so low. 'What have I done? He may never be able to use his arms again…but it felt good to be able to shut him up. He deserved to be taken down a few pegs. It was kind of exhilarating…'

She started up the stairs and was greeted by Kiba and Hinata. Kiba clapped her on the shoulder and Akamaru gave an excited yip. "That was amazing!"

Hinata gave her a quick hug. "You did well."

"Yes, you did," said Kurenai as she walked up to her students. She noticed the conflicted look on Namiko's face. "That was smart thinking. Sometimes you'll have to do things that don't necessarily 'feel' good to get a job done. Don't worry, he'll survive…and you get to move to the finals." Kurenai smiled widely and patted Namiko's head. "I'm proud of you."

Now Namiko broke into a full smile. Adults rarely said they were proud of her. Only Iruka-sensei and Kurenai-sensei had ever said it, and it made her heart soar every time.

Namiko heard her being called from her left just before she was practically tackled. Naruto threw his arms around her full force, smushing his whiskered cheek against her freckled one. "Imouto! You did it! You get to go to the finals!" He picked her up and spun her around.

She shrieked in surprise and smacked his shoulders. "Nii-chan! Put me down!"

"Sorry!" Naruto set her down and grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

She lowered her voice only for Naruto to hear. "You sound surprised, did you think I couldn't do it?"

Naruto's expression softened. "I know you're capable, I just don't want you to get hurt."

A disdainful chuckle escaped her mouth. "I'll get hurt, but it's a good thing us Uzumaki are pretty sturdy and we don't go down without a fight."

Kakashi had been watching the Namiko's fight intensely. He didn't fail to notice the conflict on her face after her match. She had been forced into making a tough decision. He could tell she partially enjoyed the feeling of power from that fight and breaking Zaku's arm. Naruto was always upbeat and outgoing, while Namiko was more reserved and solitary. Her personality plus the kyuubi could be a dangerous combination if left unchecked.

Speaking of unchecked, he needed to seal Sasuke's mark before it had a chance to cause him permanent damage. "Sasuke. We need to go."

"Hn, fine," he said and started to follow Kakashi towards the stairs. When he saw Namiko, he nodded his head at her saying a muffled "good job" as they walked by. Namiko smiled softly at him before turning back to her brother and teammates.

Kakashi led Sasuke to a dark room somewhere in the lower part of the arena. "Take off your shirt and sit down in the middle of the circle." He placed several kunai in the ground around the circle.

"What is this? Some freaky cult ritual?" Sasuke quipped, doing what he was told anyway.

"Something like that," drawled Kakashi as he took a kunai to his own palm and started writing symbols with his blood in a web-like pattern around Sasuke.

Sasuke crinkled his nose in disgust. "Do you really have to use your blood?"

"Well, I've got to use someone's blood," Kakashi shot back, still writing quickly. "Would you have rather me use yours?"

He glared at Kakashi. "No, but it doesn't make this less weird. Where did you learn this anyway?"

"My sensei was an expert in sealing jutsus. He taught me quite a few after I became a chuunin." Kakashi finished writing. "You ready? This'll hurt, so prepare yourself."

Sasuke gritted his teeth. "Just do it."

Kakashi did a string of several hand signs. "Curse sealing!" He placed his hand over Sasuke's curse mark and the symbols written in blood began to be sucked into the curse mark. Sasuke screamed in agony, trying to stay conscious.

"There," said Kakashi as he stepped back. "that should do it. Next time the curse mark starts acting up, the seal should keep it in check. But remember Sasuke, this curse-sealing jutsu is only as strong as you are. It derives its power from the strength of your will. If that will ever weakens, if you ever begin to doubt yourself, the curse will be unleashed in all its fury." Sasuke looked back at Kakashi just before he collapsed forward teetering on the edge of consciousness.

The next couple of matches came and went…

Tsurugi Misumi vs. Kankuro

Namiko honestly didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the match until she used her chakra sensing and realized that Kankuro was a puppeteer. Now that her match was over, she felt a little more comfortable using her senses during the matches. Misumi never had a chance against Kankuro.

Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino

It was an interesting thing to see the two best friends and rivals go against each other. They spent a good amount of time trading insults and avoided using their full strength against the other at first, but eventually decided to take things seriously. What surprised Namiko was when Ino cut her hair short like Sakura's as a distraction, and then decided to leave her own body helpless by using her Mind Transfer jutsu to attempt to make Sakura forfeit. Sakura ejected Ino from her mind and the two kunoichi ended the fight in a simultaneous knockout.

TenTen vs. Temari

Their match was over far too quickly. Temari's fan easily overpowered TenTen's weapon style.

Nara Shikamaru vs. Tsuchi Kin

Shikamaru's lazy genius made for an entertaining match. His unique Shadow Paralysis jutsu made things fairly easy for him. Walking Kin backward until she hit the wall trying to avoid a shuriken was a creative use of his specialized jutsu. Namiko really couldn't wait to see how he used it during the finals.

There were only enough participants for three more rounds and Naruto was getting more and more anxious to go. "Come on…how much longer until I get to show my stuff?!" Naruto was gripping the railing, shifting his weight from side to side, trying to get out some of his extra energy.

"You'll be up soon enough, Naruto," said Kakashi, leaning against the wall.

"Um…" whispered Hinata.

Namiko leaned on the railing next to Naruto. "Just be patient. You're always so quick to jump into action."

"…guys?" said Hinata quietly, but no one was paying attention to her small voice.

Kiba piped up from Namiko's other side. "I agree with him though. I just want to go already!"

Suddenly, Hinata spoke up loud enough that she was just shy of yelling, "Guys!" When everyone turned to look at her with equally shocked faces, she pointed at the screen and spoke in her normal, quiet timbre, "Look…"

Namiko was the first to notice the board. "Looks like you two get your turn next…"

Inuzuka Kiba vs Uzumaki Naruto

A/N: I'm curious to know what you all thought of Zaku vs Namiko! Next chapter will finish off the preliminaries and finally meet Jiraiya! Thank you all for sticking with me as I write this. I appreciate all your support so much!

-Eriisu