Chapter 6: The New generation

Naruto awoke on the morning of the exams with Haku latched onto his arm. Haku hadn't slept in her own bed since Naruto returned from training with Danzo and Naruto thought it was a nice way to wake up. Hinata arrived shortly after Naruto's clones finished preparing breakfast. The trio ate and readied themselves to leave. Haku gave Naruto a kiss goodbye and even kissed Hinata on the cheek as they left for the final stage of their exams. She was going to the tournament to watch so she was meeting up with Sakura before joining the rest of Sakura's friends from her class in the academy.

Sakura and Haku were quickly progressing in medical ninjutsu and soon became friends. Sakura had even given up on Sasuke and was training hard to be a medical nin after being dropped as a genin. Hinata and Naruto met up with Shino before continuing to the stadium. Naruto had given his team bijuu chakra suppressing seals he'd found in his study because there were 2 other jinchuriki in the exam and the genin of team 7 were confident in becoming chunin. Once the stadium was packed and and the arena was buzzing with anticipation. All the genin were there, assembled in a line in the center of the arena for all the spectators to see. The Hokage calmed the crowd to give the opening introductions to the exam. Naruto took this time to observe those in attendance. He could see the symbols for at least 4 daimyos.

One front the land of fire, the land of cloud, the land of wind, and the land of stone. Looking towards the kage box he saw the raikage, the tsuchikage, and the Hokage. He was surprised to see no Kazekage, but it was none of his concern. Naruto could see lord's, dignitaries, and ambassadors en masse to see the deadly new generation, as they were categorized. Naruto's eyes lingered on one of the raikage's guards. It was a tall muscular black man with blonde hair and 6 swords on his back.

Naruto sensed a familiar chakra from the man and Kurama made discovering it easy by explaining that the man was the jinchuriki of the 8 tails. Naruto's sensory ability was hard to focus at long distances due to the amount of people crowded around the arena. Once the Hokage finished his opening speech that Naruto barely heard, Genma began explaining the rules of the exam while enhancing his voice with chakra like the Hokage before him. The exam would consist of four rounds. There would be 6 matches in the first round, 2 matches in the second round with two genin receiving a bye, two matches in the third round and then the final two genin in the fourth round.

The rules were explained once again, but Naruto paid no attention because they'd be the same as in the preliminaries. Genma finished his instructions and found the tension between the genin almost palpable. He felt some strong killing intents being bounced around and even as a jounin he was starting to sweat so he decided to begin the tournament. "First match, Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki vs Rock Lee. All other competitors, make your way to the contestants box."

Naruto took a deep breath to gather himself. Danzo had beaten the idea of keeping his composure into Naruto by harshly correcting him when he allowed his bloodlust to take control of him. Naruto's fighting style worked with the recklessness that his bloodlust brought but Naruto would still make mistakes. He'd learned to keep his need to improve his chances of survival in check. Naruto unsheathed furaijin assuming his kenjutsu stance and gave Lee his emotionless expression. Lee assumed his strong fist taijutsu stance and looked at Naruto seriously.

"You caught me off guard last time, but it will not be as easy now. I will prove that hard work is enough to overcome a natural born genius. Today I will show you and everyone watching the youth of Rock Lee." Stands. Haku, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Kiba, Tenten, Choji, Asuma, Kakashi, Yamato, Guy, and Kurenai were all seated near the contestants box and were eagerly anticipating the upcoming fight. "Let go Lee! Show everyone the burning youth running through your veins." Guy shouted to the dismay of those around him.

Tenten asked him a question hoping to distract him from his display of youth. "Guy-sensei, do you think Lee will be okay? I heard that kid and his team killed almost half the teams in the second stage, was that true?" The gathered genin had heard the same thing but never had any confirmation like the jounin did so their attention was firmly on Guy.

"It was very unyouthful of them but yes tenten. Team 7 was responsible for the death of 16 genin teams but don't worry, Lee is prepared." Guy started his response hesitantly but finished it with his good guy pose featuring a scary bright smile and a thumbs up gesture. Tenten hoped it wasn't true but with the rumors confirmed, her fear for her teammate's life grew despite her sensei's assurance. Haku could see how scared Naruto's peers were of him but Haku knew Naruto wasn't aiming to kill Konoha shinobi.

He'd had somewhat of a different mentality since his training and Haku felt he was more levelheaded. Stadium. Genma saw both genin in their stances and signaled for the match to start before using a shunshin to create some distance. Once Naruto heard the signal he used a normal jolt step to appear next to Lee, slashing his blade horizontally that could've cleaved Lee's head off. Lee ducked and struck out with a lightning fast kick that was blocked by a chain coming from Naruto's side. Lee was forced to retreat as more chains shot out to impale him from Naruto's back as Naruto kept spinning. Naruto completed his spin and used another jolt step to close the distance.

Lee was put on the defensive dodging a barrage of slashes and retreating to avoid the chains lashing out from Naruto's blind spots. Lee tried to get within Naruto's gaurd but was having trouble avoiding the unpredictable chains that battered him, even when he avoided the pointy, comma like, tip. Naruto was impressed with Lee's ability to avoid his kenjutsu style and figured without his recent kenjutsu training that Lee would be able to find an opening. Naruto figured he'd up the ante to see how good Lee really was. Naruto activated his seigan to better control his next technique. Naruto left an opening with his chains prompting lee to strike. Using a jolt-step to pivit, he slashed at his opponenet's arm, forcing Lee to retreat. Naruto channeled futon chakra into his sword and then focused raiton chakra into his chains.

Lee saw Naruto's sword glow white and saw electricity dancing across his chains and knew it was trouble. All his speed meant nothing with Naruto's kenjutsu style. He'd done his research and knew Naruto could sap his chakra if the chains impaled him so even if he could get close, more chains were ready to impale him. Lee did a series of backflips to avoid a thick rope of chains that had expanded quicker, than he thought was youthful, before looking at his sensei.

Guy noticed Lee's look and gave him a thumbs up for permission to do what Lee needed to do. Lee hastily removed his leg weights and tossed them towards the charging Naruto. Naruto thought the leg weights could just be swatted by his chains easily but found out he was wrong when the chains barely stopped the weights in their tracks and Naruto ran into the heavy projectiles. Naruto was halted in his place, protected by a chain shield but reeling from the impact as the two leg weights thrown by Lee fell to the ground in front of him with a loud boom. Dust was being kicked into the air and Naruto sensed Lee running around erratically and almost faster than he could track, almost.

Kage box. The raikage was a large muscular black man with blonde hair wearing white and purple kage robes. He was seated on the right of the hokage with the tsuchikage on the Hokage's right. The tsuchikage was very short and older than Hiruzen by a few years which meant he was ancient in shinobi years. He was bald and had a white, gray beard and always carried a hardened expression. Each Kage had two guards. One seated in front and one standing behind their respective Kage. Hiruzen had Jiraiya and the still pissed off Tsunade accompany him as a show of strength.

The three Kages were intently focused on the match for their own various reasons. "Hokage-sama, the Namikaze boy's kenjutsu style is vicious. I'm hoping he lives up to expectations, especially his team's display of brutality in the exams." The raikage, A, said. "Naruto is a prodigy of the leaf village. He tends to overdue it sometimes but he will bring pride to konoha." Hiruzen responded. "With all due respect Hokage-sama, overdoing it, is an understatement but it's in the past. He'll have to fight my granddaughter in the second or third round and we'll see if he's as strong as you claim."

The tsuchikage, Onoki, added in a grumble. Onoki had sent two teams of chunin along with a team of two chunin and his granddaughter, who's a jounin level shinobi who were supposed to do a clean sweep of the exams. Instead most of his shinobi were killed by the Namikaze brat. Onoki had clearly instructed Kurotsuchi to kill him in their eventual matchup. It was the only way many in his village would not call for war. In the arena, Lee had used his leg weight distraction to test out his speed without his weights.

Lee was moving at his top speed and was sure only a hyuga or uchiha would be able to track him. After moving to different spots of the arena and allowing Naruto to see him, Lee attacked Naruto from his back right side hoping to get a quick knockout. Naruto sensed Lee running around at a speed Naruto could keep up with but didn't feel the need to. He honed in on Lee's racing chakra signature until Lee charged him from behind. Naruto used his improved raiton jolt-step to quickly move away and sent a wind slash to where he'd been.

Lee was able to avoid the full brunt of the slash but received a large gash on his back. Lee began running again to avoid the wind slash that followed and attempted to hit Naruto in his blind spot again. Once again Naruto sensed the incoming attack and jolted away, sending another wind slash at Lee. Lee earned himself a cut down his arm for his efforts. With a yell of "Youth," Lee began a barrage of high speed attacks that Naruto repeatedly sensed and dodged, sending wind slashes or barrages of chains before Lee could reach him. Lee fought through the pain of the cuts accumulating over his body and continued to try to find an opening. So far, he'd only landed a glancing blow on Naruto before being battered by his chains. He didn't understand how Naruto could go from remaining still to moving faster than Lee and was even more confused about how Naruto could track him.

Naruto would stand still looking forward no matter where Lee ran and would always dodge in time. Lee created distance between him and Naruto and observed his stoic opponent. After a closer look, Lee saw half of Naruto's eyes glowing a dark blue. It looked as if the dark blue would encase the light blue of Naruto's iris and Lee wondered if he had some kind of doujutsu. "How can you always find me, does it have something to do with your glowing eyes, my youthful opponent." Lee asked even though he didn't expect a response.

Naruto was having a growing respect for his opponent because he'd yet to see the green spandex wearing genin utilize his chakra. Naruto was at his limits of tracking Lee. If the boy got any faster, Naruto would have to fully use his new jolt-step and go on the offensive. He had a question as well so he'd answer the genin's before he improved his chances of survival. "I have a doujutsu called the seigan. It boosts my sensory abilities to normally unreachable heights. There's nowhere you can run in this arena that I couldn't track you.

Now before I use you to improve my chances of survival, why aren't you using chakra? Are you holding back on me? I will use you to improve my chances of survival if you're holding back on me." Naruto said eager for his answers and to continue the fight. "Naruto-san, I cannot use chakra, my body produces it but I'm unable to mold chakra and doctors can't fix it. That is why I will defeat you who truly is a prodigy. I will show them the youth of one they said would never become a ninja," Lee responded loudly.

Stands. Guy was nervously biting his nails watching Lee have so many close calls and take so many cuts. He knew of Naruto's doujutsu but didn't know his sensory abilities were really that strong. It was like Lee was fighting a Hyuga and Naruto was only getting started. "How is Naruto tracking Lee when I can't even track him with an aerial view and what's up with his eyes. Is that some kind of doujutsu?" Shikamaru asked the gathered jounin who looked at Yamato for an answer.

"His doujutsu heightens his sensory ability so much that he can accurately place every chakra signature near him. It's basically like the hyuga's 360 vision but with his senses." Yamato said. Shikamaru took in the information and tried to paint a mental picture of Naruto's strength but he needed more answers. "Haku, how is he moving so fast after just standing there?" Sakura said to Haku. "It's a technique he created, it's a modified shunshin that's more controlled and refined. Naruto-kun isn't trying too hard right now, I think he's bored." Haku responded thoughtfully.

Tenten, who overheard the two medic nin, wondered how Haku would even know what she was talking about. "What do you mean bored, even if he's winning it looks like he's barely avoiding Lee. How would you know?" Tenten was slightly on edge with her teammate fighting Naruto and didn't want a non-ninja bad mouthing her teammate. "Because I live in the Namikaze-Uzumaki compound and sometimes train with him. I can tell he's bored because his attacks are routine and he's just going through the motions. He'll end the fight when he sees all that Lee has since he doubts there will be much competition here. He told the Hokage he would try not to kill Konoha nin so I doubt he's too interested at the moment." When Haku finished speaking she noticed most of the surrounding ninja looking at her but luckily the fight got interesting and the attention returned to the arena.

Arena, Lee hoped Guy sensei would forgive him for breaking his promise but all of Lee's words would mean nothing if he couldn't even scratch Naruto. Lee resolved himself to open the 8 inner gates. The inner gates removed the body's limiters and granted an extreme boost to physical abilities for a cost. Lee had hoped he wouldn't have to go past the third gate but he knew he wouldn't win unless he went full strength. He also didn't want Naruto to use him to improve his chances of survival, Lee had a hunch that it meant to kill.

"First gate, Gate of opening." Lee screamed as his skin began to steam while Naruto watched with his seigan. "Second gate, gate of healing" Lee screamed before his wounds began to rapidly heal. Naruto could see the chakra gates being opened as he focused his seigan. He watched as Lee's chakra began to swell and flow at increasing speeds. "Third gate, Gate of Life," Lee screamed and his skin grew increasingly darker shades of red. Naruto could feel the pressure coming from Lee's chakra and knew the weird genin would be substantially stronger, but how strong would he be. Naruto couldn't hold back the hungry smile on his face, Danzo's teachings be damned.

Stands. "Guy, you really taught him the inner gates? It could kill him," Kakashi said with a small hint of urgency. "And that genin will kill him if I didn't. Lee's worked too hard to have it all taken away now and he knows the risks." Guy said somberly. "There's no way Naruto can stand what Lee's about to give him, I can feel Lee's chakra from here." Said Kiba. "Naruto-kun, won't lose to freaky brows." Said Ino, which made Haku grit her teeth. Haku ignored those around her when she saw Naruto's smile. Now Haku feared for the genin's life too.

Arena. "Fourth gate, Gate of pain" Lee screamed as his veins looked ready to burst from his skin. Naruto knew playtime was over. He could se the density of Lee's chakra was once unrestrained and Lee wouldn't have to physically control his chakra for it to enhance his physical abilities. His chakra was leaking through every pore on his body. Naruto created 50 shadow clones who enacted his distraction tactic with his improved raiton jolt-step. In a burst of speed, Lee disappeared on the spot. Everytime Naruto or his clones used a raiton jolt-step there was that electrical snapping sound and the arena erupted in snaps and puffs of smoke as Naruto clones dashed around looking to catch Lee off guard.

Lee was slowly but surely destroying the clones but his body was quickly receiving the stress of opening the gates. By the time Lee destroyed 30 of the clones, his muscles were torn and his bones were developing stress fractures. Naruto was amazed by Lee's speed and knew it'd only be a matter of time before Lee destroyed his clones and caught him so Naruto developed a quick plan. Lee pushed through the pain to dispel the last 20 clones in a blink of an eye before charging the last Naruto. Lee appeared behind Naruto after he'd landed from a jolt-step and kicked him in the back before Naruto's chains could react. Naruto went flying but was met by Lee who'd used his speed to appear in front of Naruto.

Lee sent a strong punch to Naruto's midsection sending him flying the opposite direction causing Naruto to drop his sword. Lee continued his barrage without giving Naruto time to recover or even land. He landed heavy hits but at times felt like he was hitting metal. With every attack, his muscles tore a bit more but he was in control of the match. Feeling the stress on his body become overwhelming, Lee kicked Naruto high into the air and followed with more kicks to propel the blonde higher. He came down and jumped to follow Naruto and wrapped the bandages from around his arms to around the still rising Naruto. Lee's jump matched him with Naruto's momentum and in a wave of pain, Lee activated the 5th gate, gate of limits. He was in too much pain to speak so he just yanked on his bandages and brought Naruto towards him before grabbing him and beginning to spin as they fell to the ground.

They gained speed as Lee guided his genin package to its defeat. Just moments before impacting the ground, Lee jumped off an instant before Naruto shot out chains from all sides of his his body. The chains extended all the way to the arena walls and caught the blonde out of his fall. The chains stiffening, safely suspending him mere inches off the ground. He released his chains and fell the last few inches. His body was in more pain than he'd felt in a long time. Broken ribs easily and he was sure he'd broken a few more bones he couldn't even name. Although kurama could heal him, blunt force trauma was painful. Naruto was slow to get up.

Lee landed amidst what should've been a cloud of dust, barely holding onto consciousness while waiting to see if his final attack was enough. He couldn't believe Naruto had found a way to stop his fall. He had to finish the fight before his body was overcome with pain and its injuries. He disappeared from his spot before reappearing behind Naruto. When he was inches away from knocking the genin out, he saw the glint of steel from the side of his eye forcing him to dodge. Lee dodged a diagonal slash from another Naruto before sending a roundhouse kick to its head that had apparently dispelled it since it disappeared.

He turned his attention back to the real Naruto who'd attempted a last ditch slash that Lee ducked under before sending a spinning low kick that completely took Naruto off his feet. Lee followed up by using all his strength to punch Naruto square in the abdomen. He expected to feel Naruto's body be smashed deep into the ground but instead Naruto's body gave way and became a bright blue. Lee's fist impacted the ground creating a large crater as he fell right into a discharged lightning clone. The resulting shock nearly fried Lee's brain and left his head steaming.

Lee laid on the ground and couldn't believe he'd lost. All the training with guy sensei and he still wasn't there. Lee couldn't take that reality and forced himself to his feet and assumed a stance. Reaching his limit, he passed out there where he stood. Naruto approved of Lee's fight and determination, and wouldn't kill him, on purpose. The moment Lee stood, Naruto jumped high in the air and performed "Kaiton great fireball jutsu" Lee heard Naruto's voice from behind him, woke up and turned around to see a massive fireball that blocked out half of the arena from his vision. Lee tried to move but he crumbled to the ground instead, helpless before his inevitable fiery death.

The giant fireball roared through the air before impacting Lee's location with a fiery explosion. The jutsu had so much force it left a large crater. Just as Naruto had expected, Guy was able to pull Lee out of the way before he was completely consumed. The two were lying on the ground near the arena wall with serious burns. Genma appeared next to Naruto in a shunshin with a glare. Genma had tried to save Lee but was too slow and got burned before being forced to retreat. "Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki." he announced.

Stands. The Konoha group were in a mix of confusion and shock. They saw Lee land some strong attacks and was about to end the fight before he seemed to start fighting a ghost enemy for a short exchange. Then he was shocked by a lightning clone substitution before Naruto was hurling a ridiculously large fireball at Lee. "Asuma sensei, what happened? Was that a genjutsu? Naruto never weaved hand seals," Ino questioned. "It was definitely a genjutsu, but I have no idea when or how he casted it." Asuma said with a shrug. "Kakashi, what'd you see?" Asuma continued, motioning towards Kakashi's sharingan. "Naruto did it with his seigan. Not like the sharingan but possibly just as effective." Kakashi said as if in thought.

The surrounding konoha nin went bug eyed, including Yamato. "How'd he do that? I wasn't aware that Naruto could even perform genjutsu." Yamato interjected. "He slowly leaked chakra from his eyes as he dashed around the arena while Lee was destroying his clones and by the time Lee began his final attack to finish naruto, I'm sure he was already caught. The chakra Naruto had released invaded Lee's system and lingered in the area making it harder for Lee to notice or dispel the genjutsu. It should've been dispelled with the degree of pain Lee was in if he noticed but it was so subtle and didn't affect much until it was needed. Idk what Lee saw, probably another opponent or if naruto was smart, a shadow clone.

Either way it worked and allowed Naruto to substitute with a lightning clone while lee was distracted." Kakashi explained. Kakashi had many questions at the moment, though he wouldn't ask about Naruto's sword just yet. It looked like a remade Norazashi, but this only led to where the Raijin no ken was. Haku was surprised to hear that, she wondered how much Danzo could've taught Naruto in just three weeks. "I'm assuming you didn't know he could use katon ninjutsu either, and his affinity must be high to nearly effortlessly send such a big fireball." Kakashi asked Yamato who Nodded. "I hope lee and guy sensei are alright." Tenten said. "That was actually a smart move to keep a genjutsu so subtle and to use it at the perfect time. I didn't know he had such a tactical mind. Especially with his reputation." Shikamaru added, finding the victorious blonde to be an interesting enigma.

Kage box. "Hokage-sama, I'd believe you were hiding another uchiha with your genin's display of genjutsu and katon ninjutsu, but his eyes, although peculiar, aren't red. He even fights with just as much cunning as strength." A said. "Yes, to allow a strong opponent to destroy himself while waiting for the final blow is a wise strategy." Hiruzen said. Jiraiya was wondering how the hell Naruto had a high fire affinity and could utilize genjutsu when the briefing from Hiruzen gave no indication of Naruto being able to do either at all. Onoki was silently stewing in anger. His genin and chunin were supposed to take over the exams and show the strength of the hidden rock. He loathed the Namikaze brat and his family. His village would celebrate when Kurotsuchi killed the final Namikaze.

Arena, Genma called the next match, "Gaara no sabaku vs Sai." Gaara had taken to constantly glaring at Naruto while leaking killing intent. Even from the arena he paid little attention to Sai and was glaring at Naruto who occasionally glared back but usually acted as if Gaara didn't exist. Genma started the match once both contestants were ready and Sai immediately drew a bird on a scroll and flew high into the air to avoid Gaara's sand. Contestant's box. Naruto appeared next to Hinata and Shino moments before Gaara was called to the arena.

"Good job Naruto-kun." Hinata said glowingly. "Yes, that was a very logical strategy to deal with the speed of that genin. I am surprised to see you use genjutsu and katon ninjutsu though." Said Shino stoically. "My training was intense and I learned many ways to improve my chances of survival," Naruto said with an emotionless expression. Naruto had recently become more open with those close to him but now wasn't the time. Hinata assumed Danzo had a hand in Naruto's entirely new skill set. Arena. Sai was dropping ink lions and birds to attack Gaara but to no avail.

Sai was able to avoid Gaara's sand but Gaara soon took to the air on a cloud of sand and brought his sand with him. Sai was hard pressed to avoid being crushed by Gaara's aerial attack. He had one more shot before leaving the psycho jinchuriki alone. Sai did his best to avoid Gaara's sand before creating a giant bull with wings. The bulls would be able to land a heavy hit in the air or the ground. The bull flew towards Gaara who simply allowed himself to fall to the ground with his sand as cushion. The ink bull flew back around and made a mad dive towards Gaara. Gaara stood with his sand ready and intercepted the bull a couple meters away. The collision created a loud boom and dust was raised all around the stadium while the ink bull splattered like a balloon.

Gaara was unharmed and waited for the dust to settle before continuing his aerial attack with more ferocity. Sai wouldn't take anymore risk and was forced to forfeit. He'd been told to not give his life in the exams while gaining as much intelligence on the future generations of enemy forces. Gaara was infuriated and continued his attempts to kill Sai, but the ink user flew out of the arena completely. Naruto paid close attention to the match and more importantly Gaara. Naruto didn't care much about Gaara's abilities but he wanted the genin's chakra. Gaara's special chakra used in his sand was complicated and Naruto would need some of the chakra in his hands to fully understand it.

Naruto was so lost in thought he missed the announcement of the next match but saw Kurotsuchi and Temari make their way to the arena floor. Kurotsuchi jumped over the railing and landed gracefully in the arena while Temari glided down on her fan. Once both genin were ready, Genma signaled for them to start the match. Temari smirked before goading her opponent. "You're a cute little Kunoichi aren't you, it's a shame you'll be done by the time you see all three moons on my fan." "I'll make this quick, I have a Namikaze to kill." Kurotsuchi responded before charging at Temari.

Temari was caught off guard with the iwa kunoichi's speed but was able to unfold her fan a single moon and swing it before kurotsuchi could get too close. Kurotsuchi covered her face with her arms as a gust of wind hit her dead on. She'd reinforced her body with doton chakra so she only received minor cuts. Temari saw Kurotsuchi take her attack head on and unfolded her fan a bit more and sent another blast of air at Kurotsuchi. Kurotsuchi quickly went through hand seals not intending to take a stronger wind blast head on. Kurotsuchi raised a doton rock wall slab to block the incoming wind.

The jutsu raised a large thick slab of rock for defense. It's a stronger version of the doton mud wall that Kurotsuchi used often. Temari saw her attack be blocked and sent a barrage of cutting gusts of wind towards the wall of rock and slowly began to break it down. Temari saw Kurotsuchi dash from behind the rock wall and charge at her so Temari unfolded her fan completely and prepared to send a strong slicing gust of wind at the iwa kunoichi. Before Temari could act, her shinobi senses screamed, move. Jumping to the side, Temari avoided another Kurotsuchi that erupted from the ground but was unable to avoid the other Kurotsuchi who'd appeared behind her in a burst of speed. Kurotsuchi kicked Temari towards her rock clone who'd covered its fist with rock clone who'd popped out of the ground slammed a powerful punch into Temari's stomach, knocking her out due to the pain.

Genma called the match in Kurotsuchi's favor and Kurotsuchi used a shunshin to appear in the contestants box where she glared at Naruto as if he was the protagonist to her life story. Sasuke was fuming at the lack of attention he was getting from his opponents and was determined to show the superiority of the uchiha. Kages box. "Tsuchikage-sama, your granddaughter is very skilled indeed. She handily defeated the yondaime Kazekage's daughter who was said to be a strong futon user with high potential as a shinobi."

"She's the pride of Iwa, she may even take my hat one of these days. Her doton affinity is nearly unmatched." Onoki said with a grunt. She completely outclassed her opponent though I'd like to see more of her abilities against a less one-dimensional opponent." A said. Tsunade watched the girl carefully after she'd heard her comment about killing a Namikaze. She also made a note to watch the Tsuchikage and his guards to ensure they didn't try anything with Naruto.

Arena, "Neji Hyuga vs Hinata Hyuga," Genma announced. Neji smirked at Hinata before smugly walking down the stairs to the arena. He never even noticed the devious smile on Hinata's face. Hinata gave Naruto a smile before unveiling her unique water shunshin. Hinata disappeared leaving the amount of water you'd find in a teapot, slashing on the ground and appearing in the same fashion down in the arena. Neji arrived and took his stance across from Hinata with Hinata doing the same. Genma signaled for the match to start and jumped back.

"I've waited for years to have the opportunity to rid the clan of such weakness. You and your family's weakness are the reason my father is dead. You will not make it out of this match alive. Hinata-sama" Neji said with venom lacing his voice. Hinata sighed before responding. "Neji, you've blamed me for your problems, for your hate of the main branch of the clan, and for the hate of your fate that you love so much. I'm not the timid, shy, or weak girl I used to be. I no longer doubt myself, and I've trained my ass off to prove I wasn't who the clan painted me as. Your problem is that you've never done the same. I was four when I was kidnapped and had no part in the fallout with Kumo, yet you've always blamed me." Hinata said.

"If you weren't weak and got kidnapped and if your father owned up to his actions, I would still have mine. That's what it means to be a branch Hyuga. We're nothing but the main house's slaves and sacrifices while our clan is seen as the most noble. You're no different than all the other main house hyuga and I'll put an end to your fate here." Neji spat out.

"You know Neji, I've never treated the branch house poorly and I've always opposed the seals that tie the branch house to the main. And have you ever thought that maybe your fate isn't as sealed as you believe. No, Neji, you've never even tried to defy your fate but I'll show you what it is to defy fate. I was supposed to be a shy, useless, weakling destined to be branded and sent to the side branch. Naruto was destined to die from the people of this village yet he's here and attempting to rebuild his clan. I'll show you what it means to defy fate and when you have the will, I'll show you the means." Hinata said confidently, causing Tsunade and Haku to smile.

Neji was tired of hearing Hinata's foolish words and charged her, engaging in a taijutsu battle. Neji sent a flurry of jyuken strikes towards Hinata's vitals and tenketsu but wasn't able to land a hit. Neji wasn't used to fighting a jyuken style that avoided and dodged his strikes with swift and flowing movements. Neji might be fast but his style wasn't most effective when fighting an opponent who seemed to dance around him. Neji was forced to readjust his stance with almost every strike to properly perform his jyuken.

Hinata had found a way to use her high water affinity that was further heightened by her hyoton bloodline, to make her movements faster and more fluid. Hinata's flexibility was almost inhuman and allowed her to dance around Neji's strikes making it seem as if he was trying to hit water. After a couple minutes of playing with Neji, Hinata decided to go on the offensive. After dodging two of Neji's jyuken strikes, Hinata positioned herself to Neji's left side and let loose a lightning fast barrage of jyuken strikes that closed off 6 tenketsu.

Neji was getting worried because he couldn't land a single hit on Hinata despite him going faster than he probably ever has. When Hinata closed off 6 of his tenketsu in the blink of an eye, Neji knew he needed his ultimate defense before she continued her attack. Neji expelled chakra from all his tenketsu as he began to spin. Hinata saw Neji expel chakra from all his tenketsu and knew she'd be caught up in his rotation if she didn't act fast. Hinata used a jolt-step to create distance as a large dome of chakra erupted around Neji. Hinata was impressed at the size of his heavenly rotation jutsu but she'd recently learned a jutsu that she knew would be able to counter it.

Hinata used the remaining time for Neji to stop spinning to feel out for any water beneath the stadium and found a large pool of groundwater beneath him. Since she'd gained the Hyoton bloodline she could sense water and even control it without the need of a jutsu or hand seals to a certain extent. As Neji finished his rotations he studied Hinata who was still in range for his strongest attack. Hinata knew her clan jutsu and figured the only options Neji had left was an air palm or an 8 trigrams 64 palms.

The latter jutsu was a main branch jutsu but so was rotation and one way or another, Neji knew it so she figured he might know the other. She also knew she was in range but the Neji wasn't fast enough to catch her. "You're in range of my divination, this is over Hinata," Neji said as he entered a special stance. Neji lounged at Hinata with surprising speed and launched a barrage of jyuken strikes at his cousin. Hinata was prepared and had already molded chakra into her stomach in preparation for a jutsu Haku created based on her rotation.

With Haku's and Hinata's high suiton affinity, it only required a ram hand seal. Hinata shot a compressed torrent of water from her mouth before expelling chakra from the tenketsu on her right leg forcing Hinata to spin rapidly. Hinata's attack sent a torrent of water in a circle around her that sent Neji flying backwards due to the intense water pressure. When Hinata finished her attack, her surroundings were soaked and Neji was getting up while breathing hard. Following her momentum, Hinata ran through a set of hand seals and thousands of water senbon were created from the water. Hinata could've used hyoton needles but it'd take more chakra and this was just a diversion.

Stands, "There's no way Neji's being beaten like this, and what's with a Hyuga using suiton ninjutsu." Said Tenten. "Hinata mastered her own form of the jyuken that puts Neji at a disadvantage. She knows his style but he doesn't fully know hers. I'm pretty sure she only trains with her clan to show her progress every now and then but she'd known suiton ninjutsu before she graduated from the academy. If Hinata had more chakra she could probably give Naruto a run for his money." Yamato answered. "I'm glad I didn't make it, this exam just would've been troublesome." Shikamaru added.

Hiashi was seated elsewhere with Hinabi and the hyuga elders. "The boy crosses a line," an elder said. "He will be punished but more importantly, are we sure it is wise to allow such a promising Hyuga heir to be married into another clan? She not only has a unique jyuken style, but she has a suiton affinity I've rarely ever seen. Her suiton jutsu would even be fitting for a Hyuga." Another elder said. "I will handle Neji, and the honor of the Hyuga clan would be on the line. We've already offered her hand in marriage to a prominent clan of konoha. We would receive negative political backlash if we rescinded the engagement without proper reasons before it was even announced." Hiashi said before returning his attention to the arena.

Arena, Neji saw the thousands of water needles surrounding him. He began his rotation just in time to defend from the barrage of water needles. Hinata had been waiting for Neji to activate his rotation and allowed her jutsu to play out while she ran through hand seals and sent chakra into the ground below to the water. As her Needles stopped attacking Neji, Hinata muttered, "suiton, geyser eruption." A powerful geyser of water erupted from the ground directly beneath Neji. Neji's rotation was forced to a halt and the pounding force of the water rocketed Neji into the air.

Hinata ended the jutsu and allowed Neji to begin to fall. Jumping to intercept her cousin, Hinata sent a barrage of jyuken strikes at her dazed cousin, cutting off over 20 tenketsu. Neji fell to the ground like a lump of potatoes breaking his leg and dislocating his shoulder in the process while Hinata landed gracefully on her feet. Taking out a kunai and holding it to Neji's neck, Hinata spoke quietly so only Neji could hear. "If you're sick of your fate, come see me and Naruto when I move into the Namikaze-Uzumaki compound. I'll need a plan for the whole clan but we can start somewhere."

Neji was confused on exactly what she'd meant, but didn't get much time to think it over before the ring end of Hinata's kunai was slammed into his neck, sending Neji to a land of sweet dreams. Genma appeared next to Hinata with a shunshin and shook his head. She didn't need to knock him out when she had a kunai to his throat after he was already unable to move. Genma knew for sure team 7 was responsible for most of the deaths in the forest. He didn't need the anbu's report to come to that conclusion, they were brutal. Hinata used her water shunshin to appear next to Naruto giving him a cute smile. "Why do I feel like you did something other than win your match?" Naruto said suspiciously. Hinata giggled and said, "I'll tell you later Naru-kun." Hinata's nickname for the big scary blonde earned him snickers from the genin in the contestants box.

Naruto did his best to not scowl but he restrained it to a twitch in his upper lip. "Good match," he grumbled out. "You fought well, Hinata-san," said Shino. Hinata just smiled at her teammates while they all ignored the death glares they were getting from Gaara, Kurotsuchi, and Yugito. Sasuke was getting impatient but held firm with a smug uchiha smirk. Arena, "Shino Aburame Vs Yugito Nii," Genma announced. Naruto looked at Shino and offered him some advice. "Remember, the seal will only work if she's using its chakra but if you wait too long, it might be too hard to get close." Shino had already been told by Naruto about the blonde's burden and was informed of the other jinchuriki in the exams the day before the finals.

Yugito was the first to appear in the arena via shunshin but was quickly followed by Shino via bug shunshin. Once both genin were ready, Genma signaled for the match to begin. Kage box, "Yugito is quickly becoming the most promising of the young generation. Kumo expects her to win." Aye said confidently. "Yugito looks sweet, yo, but will burn leaves for kumo. Bakayaro. Konoyaro." The raikage's guard Bee said with weird hand gestures. "Damnit bee, not here." Aye growled while those in earshot released a simultaneous sweatdrop. "She must first defeat my granddaughter in the finals," Onoki chimed in. "My money's on Naruto and Hinata." Tsunade said proudly. "Although, I usually wouldn't want to follow my dear student in betting, I believe she's right. It won't be easy to defeat either of them as I'm sure they have a lot left up their sleeve." Hiruzen added which earned a laugh from Aye and Jiraiya.

"What about the uchiha, Hokage-sama. I hear less than ten survived the massacre and the one in these exams was a genius." Onoki said. "Sasuke is strong indeed and a genius in his own right but Naruto is a rare prodigy and Hinata is a genius mentally and with her kekkei genkai. She may surprise you the most though Naruto is a jack in the box himself. You'll never know how strong they are until you see it." Hiruzen replied sagely. Tsunade was still furious with Hiruzen but was pleased with the way he spoke of Naruto.

Arena, "Since you took the lives of Kumo teams in the forest, you'll die here and any of your teammates unfortunate enough to face me." Yugito said with a high dose of killer intent. "You will not kill me. If it is logical, I will forfeit. It's unfortunate your teammates didn't have the same option." Shino said, giving the most logical response. Yugito took it as a mock on her dead teammates and charged shino. Extending the nails on her hands and her feet, Yugito sent slashes and razor sharp kicks at the Aburame. Shino removed his tanto and began to dodge Yugito's attacks trying to find an opening. Shino saw one and slashed at Yugito's midsection forcing her to retreat. Shino sent a cloud of bugs at his opponent forcing her to create more distance in an attempt to avoid his bugs.

After a quick set of hand seals, Yugito performed Katon mouse hairball jutsu and spat out a large hairball in the shape of a rat that was covered in blue flames. The flaming rat shot through shino's swarm of bugs and continued on towards shino. Shino swifty dodged and was caught off guard when the flaming rat separated into over a dozen flaming hairballs that began following him. Shino tried his best to dodge and avoid the flaming hair balls but a few had caught him and left nasty burns when they exploded on contact. His bugs were still chasing Yugito so he had to get rid of her jutsu first. Shino channeled a bit of his old blood kekkei genkai and created distance from the flaming hairballs.

He quickly ran through a short set of hand seals before performing, doton mud wall. The remaining hairballs exploded against the mudwall destroying it in the process. Yugito was watching as her jutsu progressed while avoiding Shino's bugs and was positioning herself to be able to charge Shino with his bugs out of the way behind her. She managed to get ahead of the bugs as soon as her jutsu collided with shino's mud wall and she used a burst of speed to appear behind the rubble. Yugito saw Shino taking cover behind the wall and slashed her claws at his head intending to slice it to pieces. Her claws cut right through his head but Shino dispersed into a small cloud of bugs that attempted to swarm Yugito.

Yugito jumped away to avoid the bugs and when she landed she sensed an attack from below but was too late. Shino jumped from the ground and slashed his tanto aiming for Yugito's neck but only gave her a shallow slash across her collar bone. The cut didn't bleed too much but Shino knew that it wouldn't stop any time soon. Shino's bug closed in on Yugito from behind and in a feat of acrobatics, she flipped high into the air and over shino's incoming swarm. Yugito ran through more hand seals before sending three more mouse hairballs in Shino's direction. The mice dispersed into dozens of small hairballs that began tracking Shino. Shino was forced to mold more of the chakra to be able to outmaneuver the hairballs but the solution was only temporary and even though he was able to withstand a high amount of the chakra. He wouldn't risk losing his logical thought process.

Shino saw Yugito attempting to maneuver herself around his bugs again and couldn't afford to fight her with the hairballs around so he took out a few smoke bombs and crushed them onto the ground before forming a quick set of hand seals. Yugito saw Shino drop the smoke bombs and thought the konoha genin was stupid to believe she needed to see him for the jutsu to follow. Her jutsu was honed onto his chakra signature. The hairballs all converged into one point inside of the smoke and created a large explosion spreading dust in the air. When the dust settled, Yugito saw Shino nowhere to be found. She looked around until she sensed a presence coming from the ground forcing her to jump into the air.

The same trick wouldn't work twice she thought, so Yugito sped through hand seals and sent a blue fireball at Shino who was coming out of the ground. She saw the Shino disperse into bugs before being engulfed in her flames and restrained the urge to panic. She couldn't find Shino until her senses told her to dodge just quick enough to avoid a fatal diagonal slash to her back. Shino had dived underground with his doton hiding like a mole jutsu, to get away from the hairballs but still received heavy burns on his legs that he'd healed with his kekkei genkai.

He used a bug clone to attack from the ground while he hid in plain sight with a cloaking jutsu he'd learned from Yamato-sensei. Shino attempted to end the fight with a slash to Yugito's spinal cord but only left her with a long shallow cut. Shino immediately sent another slash at Yugito as he followed her retreat. Yugito was able to parry his tanto with her nails and they engaged in a furious kenjutsu battle. Yugito was surprised to be getting pushed back by an Aburame, and she even received a few cuts from the quick genin who didn't seem as fast early on in the fight.

Yugito used her close ranged fighting experience to gain the upper hand by withdrawing her claws on her left hand when Shino raised his tanto to parry it. Shino overextended with his tanto and Yugito used this chance to lash out with a vicious flurry slashes with her nails. Shino's bugs swarmed at Yugito in an attempt to get him some room but Yugito jumped back and went through hand seals before sending a large blue fireball at Shino and his bugs. At the last moment, Shino substituted with a log but still received heavy burns.

On one knee, Shino quickly looked towards the proctor before croaking out, "I forfeit," then he collapsed. Yugito didn't accept his forfeit and sent another fireball towards the downed Shino. Genma had been on the other side of the arena behind Yugito but still charged towards Shino. The blue fireball was ripped apart the moment before it impacted with Shino, courtesy of Naruto. Naruto had jolt-stepped to Shino the moment he saw the fireball coming and sent a wind slash straight through it. Yugito narrowed her eyes at Naruto but relented when Genma threatened to disqualify her. "The hyuuga's next," Yugito said before returning to the consonants box. Naruto had faith that Hinata wouldn't lose to anyone but him so he ignored Yugito and returned to the contestants box when Shino was carried away on a stretcher.

Kage box, "Your genin is quite skilled and her reflexes are impressive, Raikage-sama. Shino did an admirable job as well, he's better suited to fight from the shadows and put up a great fight against an opponent that specializes in open combat. His use of tactics and stealth may have been enough if his opponent wasn't so much stronger, though his knowledge of when he's outmatched would be crucial as a chunin." Hiruzen said sagely. "I agree Hokage-sama, Yugito should have fought more mindfully but your genin was very cunning in his attack strategies. I believe he'd be a good fit for chunin." A replied respectfully. Your thoughts, Tsuchikage-sama," said Hiruzen. "The kunoichi is powerful but could fall to a lesser shinobi if she doesn't think more thoroughly but she would be fit as a chunin. The Aburame was skilled but as you said, is better at fighting from the shadows or in a less open environment. He would be a fine fit for chunin as well." Onoki said which earned him a nod from his fellow kages.

Stands, "Damn Yamato, what kind of training are you putting these brats through? Shino is strong for a genin, not to mention his teammates. It's a shame he had such an opponent." Asuma said after a heavy drag from his cigarette. "I only taught Shino and put the team through regular physical training. They train on their own even though I've offered. I'm sure you know this by now but there's more to Naruto and Hinata that meets the eye and Shino is steadily improving and catching up." Yamato replied with a slight tinge of resentment. He wanted to be a part of Naruto's and Hinata's development so he could say he trained them but they always dodged the training.

The gathered konoha group were stunned to say the least. "How strong are Naruto and Hinata really? Shino would be the strongest if he was on our team and it seems like those two are on a completely different level," Shikamaru asked. "Hinata is chunin level with the skills she's shown but I know she hides some of her abilities like Naruto. Naruto was nearly strong enough to meet jounin standards when he first became genin. Since then, he's only gotten stronger and I have reason to believe he's only shown about half of what he can do. He has more chakra than anyone in the village by a decent margin and Tsunade senju level chakra control. Maybe we'll see some of what he can really do in these exams, I only hope he doesn't get too excited." Yamato replied after a moment of thought. "How'd he learn that genjutsu? It seemed to be a b or an A-rank jutsu casted with no hand seals. How'd he even find a genjutsu like that?" Kurenai thought out loud. Kakashi had been thinking the same and Naruto's movement seemed more refined but Sasuke was taking the arena and he'd have to think about it later.

In the arena, Sasuke stood opposite Omoi, the last two competitors in the first round. Sasuke was eager to prove he was the strongest in his generation. No longer would he be second to the Hyuga and the crazy blonde, he would beat them both today, sasuke thought. Omoi observed Sasuke carefully. The raikage had stressed the importance of showing Kumo's strength in the exams. Some of the best young shinobi from the elemental nations would be on display and all 5 daimyo's from the 5 great nations were in attendance.

If he lost, his village would be seen as weak. If his village was seen as weak, they'd receive less missions. If they received less missions the village would implode financially. If the village imploded financially, they'd have to go to war to prove their strength. If they went to war thousands of shinobi including some of his friends would die, Omoi thought to himself. Genma signaled for the start of the match and Sasuke immediately removed shuriken from seals on his wrists and threw them at Omoi. Omoi abandoned his thoughts and removed the long sword from on his back to deflect the incoming shuriken.

Sasuke appeared beside Omoi in a burst of speed, having used the shuriken as a distraction. He sent a roundhouse Kick to Omoi's head but it was blocked by Omoi's forearm. Omoi took a step back and jabbed his katana towards Sasuke's midsection. Sasuke sidestepped the blade and landed a glancing blow on Omoi's chin but was unable to avoid a horizontal slash from Omoi's katana. Sasuke received a shallow cut on his thigh but it wouldn't hinder him. Sasuke activates his Sharingan showing 3 tomoes in one eye and 2 tomoes in the other. After making them spin slowly for a little intimidation, Sasuke goaded Omoi. "I hope that isn't all a little Kumo shinobi could do, you have no chance under the might of an Uchiha."

Omoi wanted to respond but opted to focus on the match seeing as he didn't want to be the catalyst of the 4th great shinobi war by dishonoring his village. Sasuke was annoyed at the lack of reaction but still intended to back his words. The young Uchiha's who'd survived were there watching him with their special anbu overseers. Sasuke took out two kunai and charged Omoi. Omoi was prepared to defend and met Sasuke in the middle. After a short kenjutsu exchange, Omoi was forced to jump away to create distance. He couldn't win up close, the uchiha was faster than him and predicted his every move. His sword became a disadvantage when Sasuke could so easily get past his guard and he was left with cuts, most deep and some shallow across his upper body.

Sasuke was just playing with Omoi and he gave the kumo genin a smirk before charging him again. Despite infusing his katana with raiton chakra, Omoi was once again overwhelmed by Sasuke which culminated in a roundhouse kick to his head sending him flying. Sasuke just waited for Omoi to land and recover with a smirk. As Omoi recovered and returned to his feet, he began to hate that smirk on the Uchiha. Omoi quickly sheathed his sword and ran through hand seals before placing his hands on the ground and said, "raiton live wire." To Omoi's shock, not even a second after he said those words, Sasuke said the same and both genin sent arks of electricity through the ground that collided in the middle.

"Thanks for the new jutsu. Any more to share?" Said Sasuke as if he was genuinely grateful. Omoi kept his cool but inwardly was lost on what to do next. Removing his katana once again, he decided to try his best with kenjutsu instead of teaching the Uchiha more raiton ninjutsu.

In the contestants box Naruto and Hinata were watching Sasuke carefully in the event Hinata faces him in the next round. "Seems like his sharingan's matured more and he's quicker than before. You shouldn't have too much of a problem with him, you'll still be faster, you'll have more chakra reserves with the arm shields, and you're far more intelligent." Naruto said plainly. Hinata resisted the blush Naruto's praise was bringing on and nodded. "Don't forget my suiton ninjutsu Naruto-kun," Hinata said with a giggle.

Naruto sensed a chakra construct slowly making its way towards him and he turned to see a small ink snake. He immediately knew it was a message and he took out a blank scroll that the snake jumped onto morphing into words. Danzo had informed him of a few covert ways he'd contact him. This was a message delivered by Sai. One of Danzo's root anbu. The message requested Naruto to kill Kurotsuchi, the tsuchikage's granddaughter. Naruto set the scroll ablaze with a flash of katon chakra. Hinata gave Naruto a questioning glance but Naruto shook his head. He'd decided that he'd keep some things involving Danzo a secret for the moment. Hinata furrowed her eyebrows but relented.

Omoi charged at Sasuke who threw a barrage of kunai that were easily dodged. Omoi resumed his charge and delivered a combination of precise and quick strikes but was unable to hit Sasuke. He continued his attack until Sasuke tripped on a rock creating an opening for Omoi to strike. Omoi sent a downward diagonal slash towards Sasuke who surprisingly never attempted to dodge. Sasuke's face was full of surprise as he was slashed all the way through with Omoi's katana which caused a collective gasp from the packed stadium. Omoi knew something was wrong by how easily he slashed through Sasuke and was proven correct when he received the shock of his life by the lightning clone he'd just destroyed.

Omoi was momentarily paralyzed as the electricity made its way through his body eliciting spasms for a few seconds. Sasuke used this time to send a fireball towards Omoi who didn't have enough time to dodge. Sasuke had switched with a raiton bunshin when he threw the kunai at Omoi and he'd waited for his trap to spring. Omoi saw the fireball coming from his left too late and reinforced his body with as much chakra as he could to withstand the flames. In the aftermath of Sasuke's jutsu, Omoi was passed out with heavy burns but nothing fatal. Sasuke looked over to the young surviving uchihas and gave them a nod before returning to the contestants box via shunshin. After Omoi was taken away by the medics Genma made an announcement to the gathered audience.

"In the second round there will be 2 matches, one from each side of the bracket. This means one genin from each side of the bracket automatically moves onto the semifinals. After a short intermission, the competitors will be randomly chosen and the second round will begin. Kage box, "though arrogant, Sasuke is quickly becoming a fine asset to the village. I hope to see more of his abilities in the next round but he is definitely strong enough to be a chunin." Hiruzen said proudly.

"Yes, he is indeed talented though, I too, would like to see more of his abilities before I confirm that he is fit for chunin. As for Omoi, I can't give a promotion after such a showing, I expected more." A said firmly. "I wonder who's stronger the Hyuga or the Uchiha," Jiraiya mused. "My money's literally on the Hyuga, everyone thinks the cocky uchiha would win." Tsunade said, which earned a chuckle from Jiraiya.

Contestants box, despite Naruto and Hinata ignoring the glares and killing intent aimed in their direction the tense atmosphere only thickened as the number of genin was cut down by half. Gaara looked like he was ready to attack Naruto if the crazed look in his eyes were any indication. Yugito glared at both Naruto and Hinata but aimed most of her killing intent at Hinata. Kurotsuchi was intently focused on Naruto while projecting her own killing intent. While Sasuke was brooding at the appearance of no one seeing him as a legitimate threat. Naruto was barely holding in his need to improve his survival and ki started leaking from him in heavy doses. Hinata wouldn't be outdone and released a surprising amount of ki for a girl with a soft smile on her face.

Every minute of the intermission, the tension and ki coming from the contestant's box rose which made it uncomfortable for spectators seated close by. "There's no way that's coming from genin," Ino said nervously, feeling the killing intent coming from the near contestant's box. "None of the genin in that box are anywhere close to genin level in strength. Those are chunin and jonin level shinobi, don't let the rank confuse you. That's why so few survived the forest and so many important figures are in attendance." Kurenai said seriously.

"She's right and with the hostility coming from that box, I doubt they'll all make it out alive." Asuma said. "Do you think Hinata and Sasuke will be okay? I don't think anyone competing can beat Naruto." Sakura said believing Naruto would do the killing, not the dying. Haku snickered, which gained curious glares in her direction. "Anything to add Haku-san," Kakashi asked with an eye smile.

"Hinata won't lose to anyone but Naruto. She's stronger than most of you know and even their 'special' opponents won't be able to take her down." Haku said. "Hinata's strong but do you really think she can beat Sasuke or that Gaara guy?" Choji said in between bites from a large chip bag in his hands. He was heavily bandaged and using a crutch to walk from his injuries in the forest. Haku just smiled and nodded, a response wasn't needed. Most of the genin wondered what Haku meant by 'special' opponents but didn't ask. If she was going to tell them what she meant by special then she would've. The jounin were all informed of the jinchuriki coming to the village.

In the arena, Genma magnified his voice to get everyone's attention. "Settle down please, Now the second round will begin with Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki vs Sabaku No Gaara." The crowd cheered outrageously as this was one of the most anticipated matchups. Gaara and Naruto appeared in the arena via shunshin and immediately released a heavy killing intent. Gaara was barely holding it in, Shukaku was screaming for Naruto's blood. Naruto wasn't much better, Gaara would improve his chances of survival and Kurama only egged him on. Apparently, Kurama and the one tailed beast shukaku, had a longtime grudge.

"Mother wants your blood" Gaara said, his voice gravelly with an eerie smile on his face. "You and Mother will improve my chances of survival," Naruto said firmly, his eyes gleaming at the challenge before him. "Yes Uzumaki, make me feel alive!" Gaara screamed as all his sand left the gourd on his back and even the gourd itself became sand and Gaara sent spiraling tendrils towards Naruto. Naruto needed no invitation as his chains were already rocketing forward towards Gaara. Genma was trying to believe the kind of power he was feeling from the two genin when they started the match without him. He still felt obligated to start the match and signaled to begin though he knew it was pointless.

Chains met sand in a battle of dominance and though Naruto could create hundreds of chains, some sand still made it through and once there was enough, Gaara could use it to get through his guard. Naruto let his chains dissipate and he jolt-stepped away to avoid the incoming sand. Naruto unsheathed furaijin and channeled futon chakra before he disappeared and reappeared next to Gaara. Gaara knew Naruto was fast but all he heard was a snap before Naruto appeared to his side swinging his blade towards his chest. Gaara's sand tried to block Naruto's horizontal slash, but it only slowed it down as Naruto sliced through Gaara's sand and left a shallow cut on Gaara's chest. Gaara had moved away just fast enough to avoid any kind of deep wound.

Naruto sent another slash towards Gaara but sand slammed into his side before he could connect. Naruto was thrown to the side but adjusted in the air to land on his feet and was gone in another jolt before the sand could engulf him. The crowd cheered. Naruto was feeling that hit, his ribs were bruised, possibly rebroken but only for now. Gaara felt an itchy pain on his chest and reached down feeling something warm. It was his blood, Gaara never bled. Naruto's sword had cut straight through the dense layer of sand he covered his entire body with like it wasn't there. How could this happen, the manic redhead questioned himself.

"My blood. This, this is my blood. My.. Mother I know, he will pay." Gaara said manically before infusing more chakra into his sand making it stronger and quicker. Naruto tried to use his speed to get past Gaara's sand again but Gaara was prepared. As soon as Naruto moved, Gaara shot up spikes of sand from the ground in a circle around him. Naruto appeared next to Gaara just in time to receive a spike of sand impaled a few inches into his shoulder. Naruto quickly lashed out with his chains forcing Gaara's sand to defend and giving Naruto time to jolt away. Sand followed him but Naruto continued to use his speed and chains to evade. Gaara wasn't a pushover, as he'd expected.

Stands, "Battle of the psycho maniacs, shit, we need to train bud." Kiba said to Akumaru who barked in affirmation. "Get him Naruto-kun" Ino screamed to the annoyance of Haku. "Maybe Naruto's finally met his match ay Yamato," Asuma said. "Maybe, but we have to see exactly what Naruto can do, I'm sure he'll surprise us and it seems his new sword can penetrate Gaara's sand quite easily, though getting close won't be." Yamato said after a second of thought. Kakashi wondered if Yamato knew about the sword and shot his shot. "Yamato-san, where'd he get that sword? I've only ever seen one white sword before and this one seems unique." Kakashi inquired.

"I'm not sure, I've never seen him use it until now, maybe his neighbor knows more." Yamato said because he wanted to know as well. The two jounin looked at Haku who's been listening to their conversation along with most of the surrounding Konoha group. Haku sighed because after this she knew she'd be the Naruto interpreter. "It's called the Furaijin No ken, he had it made a few months before the chunin exams. I won't say anything else but what I will tell you is that his sword is possibly the greatest sword ever made. He hasn't shown even half of what he can do with it. Even so he said hasn't come close to realizing its full potential." Haku said proudly.

"My grandfather said that sword would be a legend of its own," Tenten added. The gathered Konoha group was in awe at the sword commissioned by a genin. Kakashi was one of the smartest ninja in konoha and it was obvious what Naruto did with the two swords. "But how?" Kakashi thought out loud. The group looked at Haku but she imitated Naruto's emotionless expression. "How what? Do you know how he made the sword?" Asuma asked. Yamato's eyes widened when he figured it out. "No how he did it, I don't know because the seals involved are nearly impossible to replicate without intricate knowledge of its functions and a level of sealing master above even Jiraiya. But, I think he combined the Norazashi with the Raijin no Ken, but this sword doesn't have any raiton component so I'm not sure. Contestants box. Hinata winced when Naruto received the wound on his shoulder and hoped he'd stop playing around and get serious but she also knew he'd be healed in a couple minutes.

Arena. Gaara smirked at Naruto and Naruto smiled back, it was time to up the ante. Naruto deactivated his sword and channeled raiton chakra inside. The sword glowed blue and began to cackle. "I will be the one improving my survival Gaara," Naruto said, before he started cackling, sounding almost as manic as Gaara. Naruto channeled a more condensed burst in his jolt to go faster. He appeared in front of Gaara with his sword infused with extra raiton chakra. Naruto stabbed the sword towards Gaara's shoulder and when the sand lounged at him, Naruto discharged the raiton chakra around the blade and it momentarily blew the sand back. Naruto's sword went straight through Gaara's shoulder and Naruto retreated with another jolt before Gaara's sand could attack.

Gaara screamed as Naruto used his seigan to observe the Genin. His wound was already healing and to Naruto's surprise, he'd been so caught up in his bloodlust, he hadn't noticed all the chakra his opponent was leaking into the ground. Naruto found out why when tendrils of sand erupted from all around Gaara and began a relentless attack on Naruto. He was forced to jolt around the arena in an attempt to find an opening, but more and more sand was coming from the ground. The added sand multiplied the range of Gaara's attack. After minutes of dodging and a few too many close calls, the sand stopped rising from the ground. It'd begun attacking him in larger quantities.

Naruto had an idea and he just needed to stay around one side of the arena to make it work. Naruto began to jump and flip over the sand while occasionally sending bolts of raiton chakra from his sword to avoid Gaara's sand. It took a daring mix of acrobatic maneuvers and timely jolts to gather most of Gaara's sand into one area of the arena. Naruto took a few hits but never allowed the sand to catch him and for his plan he used a shunshin to appear on the other side of the arena with the sand between him and Gaara. He created a shadow clone and they blurred through hand seals.

The clone thought, katon blazing fountain, and sent a roaring torrent of concentrated flames towards Gaara. Simultaneously, Naruto thought, futon jetstream, and sent a condensed funnel of swirling wind that combined with the flames making them glow white hot. The flames swept across the arena scorching a path of devastation. Gaara could feel the heat the moment it was created and sent every grain of sand to create a defense. Naruto's jutsu collided with the sand and the searing heat melted the sand into glass but Gaara kept pouring in more sand. Naruto kept up the jutsu, raising the temperature until his clone dispelled. The spectators in the stands were sweating as the heat radiated around the stadium.

Most of Gaara's sand was encased in a thick layer of glass. It looked almost like a frozen title wave. Naruto could see that Gaara was still making more sand and after maneuvering around the title wave, he saw Gaara with very light sheen of glass covering his skin. His skin peeled off, which turned out to be a fake layer made of sand, and Gaara had burns on his real skin. With a growl, Gaara released the sand trapped inside layers of glass sending shards around the arena. Naruto was even cut by a couple before he was able to defend himself with chain shields. Gaara's next barrage of sand was erratic and seemed to come from all sides. Naruto was hard pressed to dodge all the tendrils coming towards him but was able to steer clear. He'd be lying to say he wasn't on the defensive.

In his attack, Gaara had scattered clumps of sand all around the arena and after a few hand seals, the sand raised into the air and compressed into shuriken. There were hundreds and they were twice the size of normal shuriken. Naruto recognized this attack style and refused to lose to a strategy he'd once used. He quickly switched his sword from its raiton form to its futon and swung his sword in a full circle around him releasing a massive amount of the chakra he'd stored in the blade. A raging tornado with Naruto at the epicenter erupted around Naruto, just in time to block the seemingly limitless barrage of sand shuriken.

The sand shuriken shattered or ricocheted throughout the stadium and occasionally the stands. Naruto kept pumping out futon chakra until Gaara's jutsu ended. He switched furaijin back to raiton chakra then went through some one handed seals for his original jutsu. It was a copy but he'd made it his own and wasted a lot less chakra. Naruto charged a dangerous amount of chakra into furaijin. The pooled raiton chakra should've discharged but he'd learned the jutsu to withhold the chakra.

Preparing to thrust his sword towards Gaara's location, Naruto adjusted his raiton chakra to match the strength of the tornado wall and thrusted his sword forward and through the wall of cutting winds. To Naruto's delight, the raging winds contained within his tornado wall wrapped around a spear of lightning, condensing, and rocketed towards Gaara. This was Narto's furaijin spear. The jutsu whipped up winds across the whole stadium and shot bolts of lightning as it traveled at an ungodly speed towards Gaara.

Gaara raised the biggest sand defense he could muster but it wouldn't be enough with such short notice. At the last second, he used all the sand he had to push him as far away from the path of the jutsu as possible. Naruto's jutsu carved a wide, deep crater through the ground of the arena on its way towards Gaara. Sand, shards of glass, wind, and lightning filled the air in a harmony of chaos. Gaara was caught in by the edge of the jutsu and was ejected into the stadium wall despite. The jinchuriki hit the wall with a resounding boom and was buried deep in the concrete while Naruto's jutsu crumbled the arena wall and nearly continued all the way through ten feet of stone.

Kage box, "I've heard that the tsuna genin's defense was nearly unbreakable but the young Namikaze's sword seems to have no problem at all, and those jutsu. I'm inclined to believe either you or the warhawk Danzo trained him. The combination jutsu's using shadow clones is your signature and if I'm correct that combination fire jutsu was used by you and Danzo against a large contention of Kumo shinobi in the second shinobi world war." A, said to Hiruzen. Hiruzen was thinking the exact same thing and knew exactly where Naruto disappeared to for three weeks, or atleast to who.

"Naruto-kun has always been talented, he's received training from some of the best shinobi to come from konoha. And I agree that his sword does seem to be quite powerful." The third Hokage said without giving out too much information. Tsunade and Jiraiya had millions of questions running through their heads and Tsunade was poorly restraining the intention to recripple Danzo. "I wonder though, how much the little Namikaze would have in the tank when this match is over. Those jutsu he's used surely cost a great deal of chakra for a genin and none have been effective enough to decide the match, possibly. " Onoki said, he smirked inwardly because his granddaughter would have an easier time killing the young Namikaze.

"I assure you, he's just getting started." Tsunade retorted proudly, which earned her questioning looks but she said nothing else. "The sand jinchuriki looks unstable. Will Namikaze be able to handle a rampaging Jinchuriki? The jinchuriki may endanger those in the audience," said Akatsuchi, Onoki's nephew and one of his guards. "We are prepared in case of any rampaging jinchuriki's I assure you," said Hiruzen. He'd stationed anbu close to the stage in case there was any danger to the audience.

Stands, "What the fuck is going on," sputtered out a wide-eyed Asuma with a recently dropped cigarette in his mouth. "Sensei, I'm considering reporting you for recommending us for these exams. You sent us to die!" Ino screamed. She was seeing first hand why everyone died in the forest, again. Her teammates couldn't argue with her and Asuma didn't want to either. "These exams were important, too many big names. You had to compete, you all did. If it makes you feel better, many of us would've died too. If we'd encountered shinobi this strong and willing to kill on our first chunin exams, we wouldn't be here." Kurenai spoke seriously because these weren't any normal genin fighting.

Haku snickered and slowly started chuckling which earned her plenty of strange and questioning glances. "My mentor was Zabuza Mumochi, the demon of the hidden mist. He killed his entire graduating class of over a hundred in their graduation ceremony giving him his nickname for the village nicknamed the bloody mist. Stories like this are less common than you think. The greatest shinobi are baptized by blood. Your own first hokage received his full clanhood after nearly decimating a whole clan once his team was killed in enemy territory." Haku informed those around her. The younger audience gasped and looked at her with disbelief. "She's right, they're well known stories in the shinobi world and what you saw in the chunin exams is just the beginning of another one. Meet the demon of the leaf and the demon of the sand," Kakashi said with an eye smile, though his voice was grave.

Arena, Naruto was slightly out of breath but he still had most of his chakra. Gaara fell out of the wall and onto the ground. He struggled to his feet. His bones were cracking and multiple were broken, his body was spasming with electricity though nothing was fatal. The tsuna genin implored his 'mother' to speed up his healing and croaked out, "You will not kill me Uzumaki," gaara said before sand began surrounding him.

Gaara's sand piled around him creating a dome, growing denser and denser until Naruto even had trouble seeing through with his seigan, though he still could. Naruto used this time to plan his next move and sense out what his opponent was doing. Naruto could see chakra pooling on Gaara's arm and back similar to how his sand's chakra looked but denser and more malevolent. Kurama told Naruto Gaara was transforming with Shukaku's chakra. Naruto focused his senses until felt the sand genin's emotions.

Fear, pain, anger and many other emotions Naruto himself had felt. Naruto felt Gaara's need to kill him because of Shukaku's influence and the red head's relation between killing and surviving. Naruto's bloodlust lessened somewhat when he realized he was fighting another version of him, someone like him who'd had it even worse. He couldn't sense any positive emotions for anyone and most people thought of their loved ones when their death was a possibility. Naruto figured he'd be worse off than Gaara if he'd never had Hinata and the Ichiraku's but he had a fight to settle. Naruto appeared closer to Gaara's ball of sand, already bluring through hand seals before channeling three times the usual chakra for raiton execution ball.

He sent a dark blue, sparkling ball of destruction towards Gaara and watched as it exploded against its surface after being unable to burn through. Gaara's defense must've been strong because Naruto had intended to blow up everything inside as well but only a large piece of the dome wall was destroyed and Naruto quickly sent a strong bolt from furaijin at Gaara before it closed up. He assumed it hit when Gaara let loose a high pitched scream.

Naruto felt a spike of chakra and was caught off guard at Gaara's new speed and barely had time to cocoon himself in chains before Gaara slammed a sand covered right arm with a strange blue pattern across it into Naruto. Naruto was thrown backwards but didn't release his chains as Gaara hit him again which sent him flying further back. Naruto tumbled on the ground and didn't have time to right himself before Gaara appeared behind him and sent a crushing kick to his back. Naruto added a layer of chains to his cocoon when the crazy tsuna genin began his barrage. Gaara laughed and reassured his mother he'd give her Naruto's blood after he had fun while continuing his onslaught.

Naruto was taking too much damage, and the hits were strong. Even through his chains, Naruto was dazed but he wasn't close to being done. Naruto found an opening when Gaara through his head back to laugh and substituted with a clone to take the next hit while he got a moments breath. Naruto settled himself and prepared for the raging jinchuriki.

Gaara appeared in front of him and he slashed his sword towards the incoming arm, cutting off half of it. He saw a large tail made of sand connected to Gaara's back right before it was slammed into his gut, propelling him backwards once again. Naruto sent a large bolt towards Gaara that seemed to only stun him for a moment but enough time for Naruto to recover and switch his sword to the futon variation. He was beginning to be worried with how much chakra his opponent had mixed into the ground, no doubt creating sand but he could do nothing about it for now.

Naruto charged at Gaara and dodged his repaired shukaku arm before flipping over Gaara and slicing off his tail. Naruto followed his slash with two more quick cuts that left deep cuts on Gaara's back. Naruto was about to retreat when the tail he'd cut off slammed into him from behind, sending him directly towards Gaara who sent a vicious punch that sent Naruto flying.

"Now, mother will have your blood,'' Gaara said before jumping up high onto the arena wall. Gaara raised his monstrous hand and loosed a blood chilling laugh. Tons of sand shot up around the entire arena. It nearly reached the spectators before crashing back down to the arena. The sand to covered the arena completely for over 12 feet deep and Naruto was nowhere to be found under the new landscape. Gaara continued to laugh while closing his hand slowly. "Sand desert burial," He said in a deep gravelly voice. The sand in the whole arena instantly compressed to half its height, compressing everything withing with tons and tons of pressure, and the crowd fell silent. Gaara's laughter the only sound filling the stadium and a barren compressed desert covering the arena floor. Naruto, nowhere to be found, presumably crushed.

Contestants box. Hinata was surprised at Gaara's speed and held her breath when she saw Gaara raise a desert and seemed to crush Naruto but she didn't really think that'd be enough to beat her fiance, or at least she hoped. Kurotsuchi watched Gaara's attacks as if she was watching the greatest show on earth. She even hoped Gaara killed him, even if she couldn't. Then she changed her mind. Namikaze was hers to kill. Yugito felt pity for her fellow jinchuriki who seemed so far off the deep end. Even though Bee rapped everytime he spoke, she and he were sane, something she couldn't reliably say about these two genin. She also wondered if she could hang with the two foreign jinchuriki. Nibi said it was a quick way to lose a few lives but the Kumo kunoichi had more faith in herself.

Stands, the gathered Konoha group were in awe at Naruto's show of kenjutsu and Ninjutsu along with his furaijin. Kakashi had all but confirmed his suspicion about the sword. They couldn't believe how strong the Tsuna genin was and were more than worried for their own mentally unbalanced genin. Asuma dropped the cig from his mouth at Gaara's barrage and once again at the giant sand desert burial. Ino cheered at a pitch that made Shikamaru say troublesome enough times that it'd be troublesome to count until things went bad and was now openly crying.

The atmosphere flipped when Gaara engaged in his last barrage of attacks culminating with a newly formed compacted desert. "There's no way he survived that, our team saw Gaara squeezing the life out of genin like they were grapes in the forest." Tenten said. "What kind of chunin exam is this? He's an army killer," said Kurenai exasperatedly. They were all bug-eyed except for Haku. Ino was screaming "No." Kakashi, Yamato, and Sakura were able to notice Haku's calm expression even though there was a slight reaction. "Do you know something, could he be okay?" asked Sakura, breathing hard from the rollercoaster of a match. Haku just smirked and pointed at something within the newly created desert.

Arena, Gaara's laughing ceased when he saw what looked like the tip of some wooden structure. Naruto had recovered to perform his improved mokuton great bunker. Hinata had theorized it'd be stronger if his pyramid was directly around his dome and the smaller the better because it'd be denser with his chakra. He'd completed the jutsu just in time to not get crushed and feed Gaara's so-called mother. He hurt everywhere but he fully planned on draining the sand fucker, as kurama called him, until every wound on his body was healed.

The crowd seemed to breathe again when they noticed something protruding from the newly formed mini desert. Naruto ran through more hand seals feeling the need to end things before Gaara went too far with his biju. He could sense all the anbu surrounding the arena waiting to intervene if either of them lost it completely. "Mokuton deep forest emergence," his voice boomed. Thick trees, vines, branches, and leaves erupted from the sand extending across the entire arena changing the new desert into a dense forest. Most of the arena was quickly obscured with a dense canopy hiding the two contestants. Naruto sent a clone to show himself to Gaara and draw him off the stadium wall, deep into the forest.

The task was easy and Gaara was soon crashing through trees to get to his fleeing clone. Naruto used consecutive jolt steps to reach a high enough point on the arena wall. Gaara wasn't the only one with widespread jutsu. Naruto quickly summoned a b-rank toad named Gamatsori. He'd spared with this toad and knew it had oil to spare. Gamatsori appeared in a puff of smoke and observed the scene. "Naruto-san, what do you need of me?" The toad said in a gruff voice. Gamatsori was about 8 feet tall with a large gourd on his back held by a large orange rope over a blue sleeveless vest. "Give me all the oil you can, then you can leave. Spread it across the arena please."

Naruto said politely. Gamatsori grinned and took the gourd off his back before taking a big chug. A second later he was drenching Naruto's forest with oil that seemed to come endlessly like a waterfall. Naruto couldn't help but be excited about what he was about to do. Naruto sent a few fireballs across the forest setting it ablaze as his summon returned to mount myoboku. Naruto was in awe of the burning forest he'd created. He boosted the flames around the stadium with a futon great breakthrough forcing anbu to erect barriers to protect spectators from the heat. He enjoyed his masterpiece, so much so that he jumped off of the wall and directly towards where he knew Gaara was, searching for him.

Naruto used his chains to grab onto some of the flaming trees and slow his fall. He immediately clasped his hands together gathering chakra and then slammed them onto the ground. He could control his forest to an extent and the first thing he did was create a small clearing for himself. Next he sent burning trees and new growth towards the now charging Gaara.

Gaara obviously had heavy burns that were healing and his whole upper body looked like what he'd expect Shukaku to look like. Gaara's head looked sort of like an animal and his eyes were yellow with a star in the middle surrounded by yellow dots. The blue markings ran along the sand coating his body and his transformation was progressing. Naruto bashed and battered Gaara with his trees, roots, and vines, never giving him time to recover or plant his feet.

He tried but couldn't crush the rampaging jinchuriki because it was sending futon air bombs and bashing through the tree's before he could do enough damage. Naruto could keep his attack up but he would only push Gaara to transform further and Kurama was warning him about letting Gaara fall asleep and fully transform. Most other shinobi would've been dead by now but Gaara could heal and his sand transformation protected him. Naruto sent every burning tree he could at Gaara before running through a long set of hand seals.

Danzo was one sneaky bastard, he had copies of Hashirama's mokuton scroll and allowed Naruto access to more than a few to study. He'd specifically had his clones master his next jutsu in preparation for Gaara or Yugito. Gaara was pummeled by the mass of burning trees sent his way and the burns he was sustaining were accumulating despite his healing and he was ready to let Shukaku free. Gaara made a ram seal and was about to activate his forced sleep jutsu but was interrupted by vines that whipped at his hands and a burning tree stump slamming into his abdomen. He was just getting angrier when he heard Naruto shout, "Mokuton tenth edict on enlightenment."

The wood, already surrounding Gaara, shot out tree trunks, thick branches, and vines binding Gaara's hands and feet while forcing him to the ground. Gaara hadn't completed his jutsu in his momentary confusion and began breaking branches in an effort to release his hands. Naruto pumped more chakra into the jutsu as more branches shot out to restrain Gaara while creating enough of a clearing that he wouldn't burn or suffocate. Usually for this jutsu, pillars would be used to suppress a jinchuriki but Naruto had something Hashirama didn't. Adamantine chakra chains.

The chains themselves could suppress and restrict bijuu chakra to a point, it's how his mother helped his father seal Kurama. Combined with his chains, the wood restraining a jinchuriki and possibly a bijuu itself would be more than enough. In fact, with Naruto's chakra chains channeling Mokuton chakra, he could possibly suppress more than bijuu chakra and more efficiently than Hashirama himself.

Naruto sent out his chains to restrain Gaara with his mokuton and when he was secured, Naruto ran forward and placed his palm on Gaara's head. Once again his jutsu was unique from Hashirama's, and Naruto began suppressing shukaku's chakra. Unlike Hashirama, he could personally flood Gaara's system with mokuton chakra. Shukaku and Gaara fought the jutsu putting Naruto's skills to the test. Naruto intensified his focus and his seigan glowed violently, they put up one hell of a fight but Naruto was eventually able to suppress shikaku's chakra though he'd be lying if he said it was easy.

Kage box, "The Konoha party were beyond worried during Gaara's assault and Tsunade would've been down in the arena if it wasn't for her trust for the boy she'd just met. He was family, even closer than most people thought and she saw something in him that made her believe he could move mountains. Onoki was enjoying the show thoroughly until Naruto revealed his mokuton defense and then his large jutsu.

"Mokuton!" Aye, exclaimed, "how! Was he a ninjutsu specialist this whole time? I would've thought his main focus was close ranged kenjutsu." The buff Kage grumbled. Onoki was seething and making ten different plans for killing the Namikaze if his granddaughter failed. The damned kid Namikaze was strong. Tsunade was relieved to see him survive and already knew but was still surprised to see the capacity of which Naruto could use mokuton. Jiraiya and Hiruzen already believed Naruto possessed the kekkei genkai and were now receiving their confirmation. The scale of which he could perform his ninjutsu both excited and worried them. "Naruto has many talents and I believe he'll be the one victorious once we find out what's going on in that burning forest." Hiruzen said proudly, using the chance to flout the strength of his genin. The dense brush, flames, and smoke made visibility near impossible for anyone other than a hyuga.

Stands, "Mokuton!" seemed to be a common shout from the stands and the konoha group. The gathered jounin could barely believe their eyes. Kakashi, who'd worked with Yamato for years, hadn't even seen the former anbu captain perform something of this level. Yamato could, now, but it'd take too large a chunk of his chakra to be practical. "Yamato-san, did you teach Naruto mokuton? And if I'm correct, Naruto's able to channel all 5 chakra natures like hokage-sama." Shikamaru asked, pointing all attention to Yamato. Since Yamato's mokuton was upgraded he'd been publicly announced as a mokuton user so most shinobi knew. They were told he had a similar mutation to the shodai.

"No, this is my first time seeing him perform mokuton ninjutsu and I only knew he could manipulate wind and lightning before today but he's used lightning, fire and wind. When you add mokuton which is a combination of water and earth then yes, I'm sure he can perform jutsu in all 5 basic elements. It seems like he has more secrets than we know at this point." Yamato said honestly. "Then how," said Ino with stars in her eyes. Everyone looked at Haku who sighed before replying, "It's not my secret to tell." By the looks the ice user was getting, Naruto would receive a litany of questions when everyone got a chance.

"The gaki can summon toads? And how does he do all these combination jutsus? I'd think my old man or Jiraiya was teaching him." Asuma said once again looking at Haku. "The Namikaze-Uzumaki clan are contracted to the toads and as far as I know they haven't trained him. His combination jutsu are something he does on the fly. Mixing jutsu is like second nature to him, it's all chakra in the end and Naruto-kun is finely in tune with chakra. Haku said after a sigh but still fondly of her favorite blonde. The kind and fondness of how she spoke didn't go unnoticed to Ino and Kurenai.

Yamato was beginning to visibly be depressed at his own student being able to perform mokuton yet never coming to him about it. "He's truly a genius, like his father, and what's troubling is he's more gifted, by far." Kakashi added as if in thought. "It's not troubling, it's scary. Imagine how strong he'll be in a few years." Kurenai said with a shiver running down her spine. "Strong, maybe too strong and that could be dangerous." Asuma finished.

Arena, "Kit, I want you to do something for me and you'll probably be able to save this gaki from shukaku in the process," Kurama said to Naruto. "Really, Now? And why do you think I want to save him? He should improve my chances of survival like everyone else." Naruto replied internally. "Dammit you prude brat I can feel your emotions and I know you see him as yourself. You won't kill him because you believe he deserves better, just like you. Your mask won't work with me gaki, now channel my chakra through your seigan.

I can help you enter Gaara's mind and your seigan can do the rest." kurama retorted. Prude? Naruto didn't quite understand but he did want to help Gaara, the sand Genin was too unhinged, and his village was probably at fault. Naruto felt like Gaara might as well be his long lost brother by how similar they were. Also he'd already won so he figured this could count but he would improve his chances with survival with whoever else he faced in the tournament. He wouldn't fight Hinata, private spars are one thing but an all out fight for spectators is another.

Naruto felt a trickle of kurama's chakra enter his system and channeled it to his seigan. His seigan took on a purple glow and the rest of his eye was red with a black slit shaped pupil. Naruto leaked chakra from his eyes to forcefully enter Gaara's chakra system and a moment later, he found himself in Gaara's mindscape. Gaara's mindscape was a desert with poor lighting, there was no sun but he could still see well enough. Naruto looked around and first noticed Kurama towering over him with a devilish smirk.

Naruto doubted Kurama could harm him before he flooded his system with mokuton chakra so he just kept surveying the mindscape. Although Kurama wouldn't admit it, he was disheartened at Naruto's lack of fear of him, the gaki should be shaking in his shinobi sandals but Kurama needed his help so he'd let it slide. Naruto then noticed a large sealing circle with a redhead boy curled up into a ball sitting safely inside. Naruto was trying to understand the mindscape when Kurama spoke. "You're looking at the seal holding Shukaku inside of Gaara.

The seal is insignificant compared to yours so it barely protects the brat. Shukaku's able to terrorize him to his heart's content, although I doubt he can do more than enhance negative emotions and drive Gaara crazy through constant whispers." Kurama said, answering the questions he knew Naruto would have. "So what did you want from me and what do I do about Shukaku?" "Listen well gaki we don't have all day. When your father sealed me in you, he sealed my yin chakra into the belly of the shinigami. I'm still the strongest bijuu but I'm incomplete and your seigan may be the only solution. You won't be able to reproduce my yin chakra but you should be able to funnel all of shukaku's to me. From there I'll use his chakra as a base to recreate my own. It won't be perfect but it'll be enough and your body will still be able to contain me. Next you must bind Shukaku with your chains and mokuton. The gaki will still be able to channel some of Shukaku's chakra but the crazy tanuki won't be able to influence or speak to him unless Gaara somehow releases him." Kurama said quickly.

"I understand taking his chakra, but isn't Shukaku like you, why are you telling me how to suppress him to such a degree?" Naruto asked suspiciously. "Shukaku's a delusional maniac. He's the reason the sage of 6 paths died. Shukaku was the only bijuu who refused to give the sage a portion of his chakra to allow him to survive our creation. Shukaku was the first to attack human settlements and led humans to the other bijuu with trails of carnage. He deserves worse." Kurama growled out.

Naruto had more questions but could ask them later. Searching the mindscape further, Naruto found a far out speck of chakra he assumed was the one tail. Naruto willed the chakra to come closer and soon a sleeping Shukaku appeared before him. Gaara's breath hitch when he noticed Shukaku's presence and he scooted as far away inside the sealing circle as possible. Naruto scowled at Shukaku before walking up and placing a hand on the tanuki's head and another on Kurama's paw. It took Naruto a while to completely identify the yin chakra Shukaku held.

When Naruto began absorbing and funneling it to Kurama, he felt a strain on his seigan he's never experienced. His eyes felt as if they were burning and the flame was intensifying. He tried to slow the process but it felt like he was trying to slow a waterfall with a bottle cap. He was only able to refrain from taking any yang chakra but the amount flowing through him to Kurama was almost unbearable. How long the process took, Naruto had no idea. It felt as if it took hours but he suspected it'd only taken a few minutes.

When Naruto looked at Kurama again, he noticed that it was much larger than it was before and Naruto would lie if he said he wasn't intimidated. Kurama noticed Naruto's emotions were somewhat more fitting towards a being such as himself and was pleased that the brat was shaken at least a little. Naruto returned his attention to Shukaku and decided to dive right into the next part. Naruto released the thickest chains he could make and had them bind Shukaku before pinning him in the ground.

Remembering he'd need his mokuton, Naruto created large wooden spikes that actually pinned his chains to the ground and Shukaku along with it. Naruto made his way through the sealing circle towards Gaara. The red headed jinchuriki seemed to panic as he came close. "St-stop, you will not kill me. I won't let you," Gaara said before raising his hands in defense. "Gaara, I'm not here to kill you." Naruto said calmly as he looked down on Gaara.

"I can sense emotions Gaara, and I know the constant fear and anger you feel on a daily basis. Never knowing who to trust, who's trying to kill you, or how you ended up in your situation. Like me, I know you've killed for your own survival and in that we are the same. We share the same burden of a bijuu, although yours was poorly sealed and no doubt intentionally messed with your sanity. I can't kill you, I need your help and in a sense you're like a long lost brother." Naruto continued.

Gaara calmed slightly while he listened to the blonde jinchuuriki. As he looked around he noticed the full extent of Shukaku's suppression and was silently glad to see the 9 tailed fox dancing around shukaku, occasionally hitting him with his tail. "What did you do to the Ikibi, one tails," Gaara said while still thinking over Naruto's words. "I took something from him for the Kurama, the kyuubi, and suppressed him completely so that he can no longer speak or influence you anymore." Naruto replied. Gaara nodded slowly wondering if it was true.

"How are you so strong, Uzumaki, you should not have defeated me, and why do you need my help?" Gaara said standing to meet Naruto's gaze. "I'm stronger than you because I have someone to fight for. I used to care only about my own chances of survival like you. But, I was lucky, I met a certain hyuga who became my friend and never once feared me. She helped me eat a balanced diet when all I could afford was ramen. She helped me pass the academy by teaching me what the academy teachers were too afraid or hateful to teach me. She was the first to show me real love and now we're engaged. There's ayame and teuchi who would give me free ramen when I was hungry. And now I have another friend in Shino. I no longer fight for my own chances of survival. I fight for them because without them, I could be worse off than you. And, I want your help ending the cycle of jinchuriki. We must be stronger before we act but in the future it'll be nice to have your help." Naruto said, letting his impassive expression take on a faint smile.

Gaara would lie if he said he didn't want something like that but Shukaku would always push him to kill those close to him and between Gaara's own paranoia and Shukaku's. Gaara would never have friends or a loved one, but now with Shukaku gone it was a possibility. Only problem was that there wasn't anyone who cared for him like the hyuga or teammate Naruto spoke of. "There's no one who I can trust or trust me or will be willing to love me in my village. I will have no friends, it is not possible." Gaara said somberly. "That's not true. For one Gaara, I'm now your friend. I don't fear you. And there's one more you have in Tsuna." Naruto said.

"Who?" "Your sister. I can sense her confusion towards you, she loves you but is scared to get close. She worries about you Gaara. Shukaku won't influence you anymore unless you release him so you will be able to build a relationship with her. You just have to show her that she doesn't have to fear you so it'd be best to stop threatening your siblings. I'll find a way to contact you when I have a plan if you're willing to help but for now I have to go. Friends?" Naruto finished and held out a fist towards Gaara and motioned for him to do the same.

Gaara looked at the fist like it was the strangest thing in the world but extended his own and bumped fists before Naruto. "Friends, but if you're misleading me, mother will have your blood." Gaara said seriously. Naruto chuckled before him and Kurama left the mindscape. When Naruto returned his attention to his surroundings, he sensed Genma cautiously making his way through the dense forest towards Naruto, well the forest that remained. Much of the man made forest was burned to ashes and some embers were still going.

Gaara was unconscious with a surprisingly peaceful look on his crispy, battered face. Naruto begrudgingly placed his palms on the ground and slowly retracted the deep forest while dispersing and absorbing his chakra. The arena was still covered with sand but it was hardened and easy to walk on due to Gaara's jutsu. Naruto took a moment to bask in the improval of his chances of survival and he didn't feel like his chances were improved very much. He'd allowed Lee to live, knowing his sensei was ready to intervene due to the spandex wearing Jounin's emotions. He just didn't think his sensei would wait so long so they both got burnt. He'd allowed Gaara to live and he didn't regret either but no more.

No more. Naruto Nami-Uzu would improve his chances of survival with someone worthy before the day was over. He'd tried numbers but now he wanted quality. Naruto was giddy when he thought of his next opponent. Kurotsuchi was the tsuchikage's granddaughter and her chakra told him she had a kekkei genkai and two strong affinities. Her chakra pool was surprisingly large, larger than most jonin and it was complex. Kurotsuchi was strong, Naruto figured she was sent in to be a ringer, the girl was around 15-16 and probably could've been or was a jounin.

Naruto was soon laughing maniacally at the prospect of continuing his father's work, as one might say. From what he knew of his father, his father killed over 1000 iwa shinobi, including the tsuchikage's son in the third shinobi war. Naruto was going to use the daughter of the enemy his father killed to improve his chances of survival, in front of the tsuchikage. No wonder Danzo wanted him to kill her, it was his right of passage. Naruto's laughter only grew louder which gave those in the crowd chills.

Genma thanked Kami when the trees began to recede, he'd come too close to the burning trees and the smoke wasn't helping. He found Naruto laughing coldly and wondered if he was even fit for duty, he looked like he needed a Yamanaka. He noticed that Gaara seemed to be badly burnt and battered and at first believed he was dead until he saw the faint rising and falling of his chest. Genma was slowly admiring yet loathing the brat who'd almost burnt him to a crisp twice that day. Naruto would end up with a senbon in the ass if he was forced to dodge anything else above room temperature, the chuunin exam proctor, genma, thought. "Shousa, winner, Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki." The crowd cheered outrageously at the conclusion of such an exciting match. Naruto was interrupted by the show of support but returned to the contestants box as if he never noticed it.

Kage box, "Float like a butterfly, sting like a jinchuriki. Mr. Nine won't be beat, he's the real number one if you ask me! Bakayaro! Konoyaro! Yo!" Said Killer Bee, the 8 tails jinchuriki. "Err, besides bee's eccentricities he's right. Namikaze is strong beyond his years, his chakra pools and control are no joke when combined with his ninjutsu arsenal, especially that mokuton." Aye said. "If only his sanity wasn't in question. It seems tsuna and Konoha tend to mistreat their weapons to their detriment." Onoki said tauntingly. "Naruto isn't just some weapon,'' Tsunade said and the atmosphere grew slightly tense but it didn't escalate beyond glares.\

"I agree with the slug princess, he is a shinobi. Though, Tsuchikage-sama is correct about the boy. He dances along the line of sanity and the tsuna genin is even worse off. It is truly a shame to see those who protect the village receive such treatment. Kumo's jinchuriki are hero's to its people," The raikage added receiving a nod from Bee and Tsunade. Hiruzen took the comments like they were strikes from a kunai but had to remain assertive, so he ignored them in favor of praising Naruto. "Naruto may have 'issues' but we're working on remedying the past in hopes of a bright future." Hiruzen responded. "Since the sand genin seems to be alive, would it be safe of me to assume that Namikaze can suppress jinchuriki with his mokuton?" A asked, now realizing the implications of the boy's abilities. Hiruzen wouldn't answer but he did smirk at his fellow kages. The raikage and tsuchikage took Hiruzen's silence and smirk as a yes.

Stands, "Unreal, this kid is a monster" Asuma said after lighting a new ciggarette due to his last being stepped on by kurenai when it fell out of his mouth. "Yamato-san, do you think you can beat Naruto in a fight?" Kiba asked. Yamato gave Kiba a glare that made Kiba feel stupid. "Naruto can use all the chakra packed jutsu he wants but he still lacks the experience and skills to beat Yamato. Yamato is a former anbu captain who's no longer an anbu shinobi. He's stronger, faster, more tactically advanced, and has honed shinobi reflexes that'd take Naruto years to achieve.

Naruto seems fast but it's a technique. He uses kenjutsu because his physical strength isn't the greatest. Anyone he can't blatantly overpower can force him into a disadvantageous situation due to his lack of experience. He's a powerful genin, but he has a long way to go against seasoned opponents." Kakashi said in Yamato's stead. The surrounding jounin nodded though they knew Naruto wasn't to be underestimated.

"How'd he learn so many jutsu and for so many affinities? Can he copy them like the sharingan?" Ino asked. "I'm sure it has to do with his seigan and his heightened ability to manipulate chakra but i don't think he can copy jutsu. Haku-san probably knows more I'm assuming." Yamato said dejectedly. Haku didn't want to give Ino any more reason to give up fangirling for Sasuke like Sakura just for her to start fangirling Naruto but she'd save Naruto a few questions. "Naruto-kun can't copy jutsu but he doesn't need to. He can manipulate chakra perfectly in ways we wouldn't understand. Nature and form manipulation are basic for him so most jutsu's will come to him quickly. He's actually amazing with what he can do with jutsu. He built a bathhouse in the compound that's identical to the one on the hot springs, in a couple hours, with a clone." Haku said while silently basking in the victory at Ino's look of complete and utter jealousy.

Yamato only got further depressed because it took him years to be able to build a house and he'd have to study the bathhouse and practice for months before being able to create a replica with mokuton. "Is Naruto mentally fit to be a shinobi? I mean no offense but he seems to lose grip of his sanity sometimes." Shikamaru asked. Choji grunted out his agreement between bites. Kakashi shrugged and Yamato sighed. "Naruto-kun is sane, he just gets a little 'excited' sometimes." Haku said embarrassedly. "I agree with Shikamaru's sentiments. It's a valid question." Kurenai said while raising an eyebrow at Haku's familiarity with Naruto and Ino was outright glaring at the girl.