A/N: Now this story has reached garnered more than 400 favs! Thanks a lot for the support ladies and gentlemen, I am truly honored. In the last chapter we had the 'fated' fight between Neji and Naruto. Now we will be moving on. Also, special thanks to GBAboy313 for his continued support and encouragement as well as beta-editing this story, buddy thanks to you the quality of the story has gone up significantly. As we are talking about me and GBA, we have a number interesting fics planned which will be coming out within this year, stay tuned for them. Also, special thanks to my OJ creator Naruto30. If anyone wishes to have suggestions regarding original jutsus for their Naruto fics, I suggest them to contact "Naruto30", trust me you will not be disappointed. Also he has written a Harry Potter fic titled "His Mother's Last Words", for which I do beta-editing, to any Harry Potter fans here, I suggest checking the said fic out, you may find it among my follows/favs.
Now on to the chapter, wish you all a good read.
CHAPTER 13: THE FINALS CONTINUE
"Next fight, Sasuke Uchiha of Konohagakure and Gaara of Sunagakure. Both genin please step into the arena." Genma announced.
Luckily for Naruto and Hinata, by the time, Sasuke had stepped out of the contestants' box, the two lovers had ended their kiss. The Uchiha looked at his blond rival whose attention was rather focused on the Hyuuga girl standing before him, who surprisingly had a normal happy face instead of a crimson one.
'Don't tell me this idiot actually got hooked up with the Hyuuga' Sasuke thought. The last Uchiha had watched the blonde's fight and was impressed (though he would never admit it). 'He's actually improved, he played around the Hyuuga prodigy. I want to test my strength against him. Naruto, now I really want to fight you.'
Naruto suddenly saw Sasuke looking at him.
"Don't you have a fight Teme? Or I am so handsome that even you feel like staring at me?"
Sasuke struggled hard with himself to not pummel the blond into the ground then and there. Inside Naruto's mindscape Naruto's parents were having a great laugh at the Uchiha's expense while Hinata was fought hard not to giggle, she had to settle for giggling with her hand covering her mouth. Sasuke's eyes twitched and a vein popped on forehead.
"Never mind that, I remember that just before the prelims you said you wanted to fight me. Then you better win this one cuz I want to fight you too." Naruto said with a smirk. One Sasuke replied with his own before walking off. Naruto never had noticed that Gaara also had his eyes on him for some moments.
'He is strong. He has to be eliminated' the redhead from Suna had thought.
*In the arena*
Sasuke and Gaara kept staring at each other with serious expressions and tension was felt in the air.
A lot of shouts of "Go Sasuke-kun!" "Sasuke-kun's so cool!" "He's so handsome!" were being heard all across the stadium. Both genin paid it no mind.
"Are both fighters ready?" Genma asked and he received a nod from each of the contestants.
"Hajime!" saying that he jumped back.
Contemplating their own action and wishing for the other to make the first move, both Gaara and Sasuke stood there for several seconds while staring at each other, they didn't even lift a finger. Even before the start of the fight was announced, Sasuke had activated his Sharingan.
'His chakra levels are massive, much more than my own. I have to finish him quickly, otherwise he will outlast me.' Sasuke thought.
Sasuke suddenly rushed at Gaara with binding speeds and launched a flurry of punches and kicks at the redhead, his speed and moves were very similar to one certain green spandex wearing genin with thick eyebrows.
In the stands, Gai looked at Kakashi,
"Oi Kakashi, those are Lee's moves, did your student copy them and use his chakra to increase his speed?"
Kakashi nodded.
"Sasuke expressed interest in using Lee's moves, since Lee made a quick work on him just before the start of the exams and also Lee was actually able to do damage to Gaara in the prelims, so I allowed him to copy those moves and trained him on them."
Gaara to his credit dodged most of the punches and also launched his own set of punches and kicks at the Uchiha. Gaara was fairly decent at Taijutsu, of course nowhere close to the level of Lee or a Hyuuga but still decent. However Sasuke's Sharingan made his taijutsu useless. Not a single one of Gaara's attacks connected as Sasuke effortlessly dodged them. However Gaara hadn't even begun to use his sand and Sasuke also had a few tricks up his sleeves.
"You are good, Uchiha." Gaara said with an expressionless face. The fifteen minute long Taijutsu brawl didn't put any signs of exhaustion on his face. Sasuke on the other hand was a bit winded but he was also far from exhausted.
"So are you." The Uchiha replied.
Suddenly sand rushed at Sasuke with binding speeds. The Uchiha didn't fret. He dodged the sand spears. His Sharingan and Kakashi's training were showing its results.
Suddenly Sasuke saw a small window of opportunity and took it immediately.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke yelled, going through quick hand-signs and launching a majestic ball of fire towards the redhead. Gaara quickly defended himself with a wall of sand. Sasuke then noticed something. A few small pieces of glass on the sand defending Gaara just after the impact of the fireball.
'Of course, sand becomes glass when you heat it sufficiently' the Uchiha thought.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Sasuke yelled making the all too familiar hand-sign Naruto loved waving and another Sasuke popped into existence. Now it was Naruto's turn to stare at his sensei.
'So sensei taught him the shadow clone, it will be interesting when I fight him.'
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" the Sasuke clone yelled, releasing the blast of fire towards Gaara who raised a sand wall in response.
"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!" The original yelled, releasing numerous small fireballs from his mouth. The two fire jutsu combined and released an even bigger blast, as the flames died down, Sasuke saw small portions of glass on the sand wall.
Gaara discarded the glass from the sand and again had it rush towards Sasuke who immediately began dodging it.
"Sand Spears!" Gaara yelled and suddenly the sand took the shape of spears and rushed at Sasuke, aiming to impale him. Moving backwards, Sasuke dodged all the spears and even ran up on the wall of the arena and Sasuke saw that after a certain height on the wall, Gaara's sand didn't reach him.
The Uchiha released a deep breath and seriously looked at his opponent. As much as he hated to admit it, he was coming to terms with the fact that this was an opponent he may not be able to defeat.
Now he just had one trick left in his sleeve.
'Kakashi was right in predicting the fight would come to this. How is he so strong? I have to be fast, I've got a maximum of one or two shots at this and with his defense, this might be my only chance.' Sasuke thought.
He then weaved a certain set of hand signs and everyone in the arena heard the sound of the chirping of a thousand birds and Sasuke's hand became engulfed in lightning.
"Kakashi that's…" Gai said in recognition and the copy ninja nodded.
"Yes I taught it to him and considering who his opponent is, I was sure he would need it." Kakashi responded and Gai nodded.
'Isn't that the Chidori? So sensei even taught him that.' Naruto thought with a serious expression. In his mindscape, Minato and Kushina couldn't help but worry about that particular jutsu being used against their son again.
'Ooh Sasuke-kun is so coool' thought Sakura, Ino and every other Sasuke fangirl present there.
Sasuke carefully looked at Gaara and then rushed at him as fast as he could. At first, the Suna genin tried to attack him using the sand, but the Uchiha dodged everything thrown at him with ease and kept rushing forward, his lightning engulfed fist even cut through the sand thrown at him.
Just a moment before he could be struck, Gaara encased himself in a ball of sand. Sasuke rushed to Gaara and stabbed his hand through the sand cocoon as forcefully as possible. His hand went in and a scream was heard.
The Uchiha was not the one that screamed.
'H-he managed to hurt Gaara!' Temari thought horrified.
Suddenly the sand fell and everyone saw Sasuke's hand stabbed into Gaara's shoulder, and yet the redhead had gripped the hand
"You must be really strong and skilled to have been able to hurt me like this. No one has ever done it before." Said Gaara in a monotone voice. His pattern of speech sent a shiver down Sasuke's spine. Before he could retract his hand, Sasuke's lower body got covered in sand which started to squeeze him, making him scream. Gaara just watched him suffer with an expressionless face.
'Shit, I can't get out of this! If he continues, he will crush my bones like he did to Lee. No, I can't let that happen to me. If I get crippled or die here, how would I be able to kill HIM? No I can't die here like this, I can't die unless I kill HIM. I need to be stronger.' Sasuke thought and then he remembered Kakashi's words.
*Flashback, 8 hours ago*
Kakashi and Sasuke were making their way towards the village. They would have preferred to go back a little late but an ANBU came with an urgent summon from the Hokage in a serious security matter.
"Sasuke, even with all the training we did till now, Gaara is still a very tough opponent for you and it is very much possible that he will defeat you." Kakashi said to him emo student without even looking back. Sasuke only tsked in response.
"Look Sasuke, although the Hokage called these exams a war, there is still a difference between an actual war and the chunin exams. Here nothing bad would happen to you if you surrender in a fight. So if at any point you feel like you won't be able to win whatever you do and not giving up will only get you killed or crippled for life, then for all intents and purposes forfeit! It is much better to live and fight another day than die in vain." The silver haired jonin explained. Had he looked back, he would have definitely seen the Uchiha glaring daggers at him. Sasuke didn't reply.
*End of flashback*
'Why do you have to be right about everything Kakashi?' Sasuke thought in frustration. He felt the pain of his lower body being crushed, a little more and his bones would crack.
"I forfeit!" Sasuke yelled and suddenly the grip of the sand loosened. A deathly silence followed his declaration. Gaara released Sasuke from the sand and the latter fell on the ground panting. Every single one of his fans still couldn't believe that the Uchiha could be defeated.
'Sasuke-kun…defeated…no way!' Sakura thought with her eyes widened, on her left, Ino also thought the same thing. Kakashi let out a sigh.
'At least, you didn't let your ego get you killed Sasuke, you need to understand that there are some situations, where running away with your life is the best possible option.' The copy-nin thought.
'He acted with a cool head, throughout the fight at least and gave up to save his life when he ran out of options.' Thought most of the Jonin and the judges of the exams.
In his mindscape, Minato also explained the same reasoning to his son, who seemed to be a bit irritated at not getting to fight the Uchiha in the next rounds.
'Only if our boy knew that these exams will soon turn into a full-blown war' thought his parents.
"Winner by forfeit, Gaara! And with that we conclude the first round of the finals." Genma announced.
"After a thirty minute break, we will have a three–way fight between Temari and Gaara of Sunagakure and Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure to decide the winner." The proctor announced.
"I forfeit, there's no way I can fight those two!" Temari shouted from the stands. The Suna kunoichi was annoyed and frustrated at doing so but she was no fool. She was also afraid of the boy that happened to be her little brother. The redhead had always been cold towards everyone around him. Most of the time he would operate like a…machine…with no emotions. He had never shown a single drop of emotion when he had killed. One can easily be very afraid of a mentally unstable super powerful being but a completely cold blooded and emotionless killing machine is an even more terrifying prospect. Both Temari and Kankuro had no doubt that Gaara could kill them without any hesitation. Withdrawing from the fight was a very logical choice. Also it made sense for Temari to conserve her strength for the upcoming invasion, which could begin any moment.
In the Kage stands, the disguised Orochimaru was confused. Kabuto was supposed to be present near him, disguised as an ANBU but for some reason he wasn't. The Snake Sannin had also not heard anything from his right hand man since the last two days. The regular reports before that hadn't indicated anything out of the ordinary. Everything was going according to the plan. Even if the Jonin-sensei of the Sand siblings was nowhere to be found.
'The only logical explanation is that those two were caught. Which means Konoha is well aware of the invasion. But the question is how much do they truly know. It is highly unlikely that they know I am disguised as the Kazekage. Only Kabuto, Kimimaro and the Sound Four are aware of that fact. If captured, Kabuto is capable enough to break his way out through Konoha's T&I, even if it's Morino Ibiki himself interrogating him. So the most they could know is that the Sand and the Sound have joined forces to attack Konoha today. Not a big deal! I did think they would find that much out. The absence of that Suna-jonin is a small hindrance but the rest of it is going according to the plan. Kukuku! Nobody can stop me from destroying this foolish village and extinguishing its idiotic Will of Fire today!
But that fox brat has interested me. Back in the forest he was barely a brawler and only had Shadow Clones. He didn't have any technique or skills as a ninja, only guts and stamina! Completely and utterly worthless. But today he looked like an entirely different person. The way he toyed around with that Hyuuga kid was interesting. He also showed strategic thinking, mastery of an A-rank jutsu and some elemental jutsu as well. To learn all that in a month is difficult. Even for me. I should wait to see how he stacks up against Gaara. Maybe I can give this boy a cursed seal as well. Then I will have not only the Sharingan but also the Kyuubi no Kitsune at my disposal as well. Oh the possibilities! Kukuku' thought Orochimaru with a smirk.
Back in the contestants' stands, Naruto's expression became grim as soon as his match with Gaara was announced. The blonde had seen how merciless the Suna redhead could be while not showing a bit of emotion. He couldn't wrap his head around how someone could be so cold-blooded like that. He was pulled out of his thoughts by a very familiar gentle touch on his shoulder.
"Hey Hime!"
"Why are you so worried Naruto-kun?"
"Well you see, I have to fight Gaara now. He's like me, a jinchuuriki. He contains the Shukaku, the One-Tailed Tanuki."
Hinata raised her eyebrows at that. It made sense considering how skilled and powerful, the redhead was, compared to the rest of the genin present there.
"But the thing is-"
"You can't wrap your mind around how could he be so cold blooded and emotionless, isn't it?" Hinata completed for him, earning a nod.
"I see the same pain and loneliness in his eyes that I have experienced my whole entire life till now. But it seems, he's had it even worse. It also terrifies me to think that I could have been like that too."
Hinata shook her head and placed her hand on her boyfriend's cheek.
"I would have made sure that you never went down that path Naruto-kun, no matter what and I will continue making sure of that. Don't worry Naruto-kun, you'll do well this time too."
This time, Naruto smiled.
"Hinata-chan, you always know how to cheer me up, don't you?"
"So do you for me, Naruto-kun." Hinata replied with a cute smile of her own. The pair then started getting closer to each other for a kiss but suddenly the door slammed open and a very, very frustrated Sasuke walked in. The last Uchiha paid no mind to his teammate or the Hyuuga girl. He just sat down on a bench with a dark look on his face. The blond did want to say something to his rival-cum-teammate but he couldn't get the right words for it.
"Sasuke" the blond called his teammate and received a Sharingan glare and a very dark look in response.
"You should just mind your own business. I don't need sympathy from the likes of you. Save those for that weakling of a girlfriend you have."
This time, Naruto was pissed. Nobody was allowed to insult his most precious person.
"Just because you are mad because you had to forfeit a fight doesn't mean that you get to insult anybody you want. I wanted to say that you fought well and I still want to fight you with everything I've got. But keep that attitude of yours in check, because if you insult Hinata-chan again, I will forget that you were my friend, teammate, and rival and that won't end well for you." Naruto warned with a glare of his own.
Just then Kakashi entered followed by a little distressed Sakura. They saw Naruto and Sasuke glaring daggers at each other. Then Hinata held Naruto's arm gently and the blond calmed down.
'Well, well, who would have thought that our No.1 unpredictable knucklehead ninja and the shy princess would be together so quickly? You aren't as dense as you look like it seems. Naruto, Hinata might be the best thing that happened to you. I won't have to worry too much about you now. These two look really cute together.' Kakashi thought.
"Sasuke calm down." The copy ninja firmly ordered and the Uchiha just gave a groan in reply.
"Winning and losing fights is a part of our shinobi lives and I am sure you know that. Your career is just beginning you still have ways to go- "
"I don't need your sympathy, leave me alone and mind your own business."
At the same time, Sakura placed her hand on the brooding Uchiha's shoulder.
"Sasuke-kun, it'll be alright, I am sure you can defeat him again." The pink-haired kunoichi offered trying to console her crush, only for Sasuke to coldly slap her hand away.
"Leave me alone Sakura. You annoy me." He said in a very cold voice.
By that time Naruto was fuming. He was really annoyed by Sasuke's behaviour towards his sensei and teammate. Sure, his crush on Sakura was totally over but still he didn't like anybody insulting her like that and as he was already pissed off at the Uchiha for insulting Hinata.
"Sasuke, the world doesn't revolve around you." Naruto said in a stern and uncharacteristically serious tone. Sasuke only gave him a Sharingan enhanced glare in return.
Hinata's tightening of Naruto's arm, again calmed Naruto down. Just then Kakashi walked to the two.
"You fought well Naruto." The jonin said with an eye-smile as he patted the blonde's shoulder.
"Thanks sensei." Replied Naruto with a smile. At the same time Sasuke, seemingly having had enough left the room. A distraught Sakura looked towards the door through which her crush had just left. She would have followed him again, had he not talked her down and called her annoying just a few minutes ago. Then her gaze finally went back to Naruto. Suddenly Sakura realized that Naruto hadn't said anything to her. She actually thought that the blond would ask her out after defeating Neji decisively. However the closeness she observed between him and Hinata was something new and surprising.
The pink haired Kunoichi found herself jealous at the two all of a sudden. Till that point, Naruto had been something of a punching bag to her. Someone on whom she could easily take out all her frustrations of being rejected by Sasuke over and over. However that didn't seem to be the case anymore. Till that point, Sakura had never thought anything high about Naruto. Sure, she had caught only a glimpse of his potential but still for her he was a fool, the dead-last. So the happenings in the finals were an eye-opener for her. Naruto had managed to win his fight and Sasuke on the other hand had lost. All this frustrated the pink haired kunoichi even more. Naruto getting a girlfriend, even if it was just the meek Hyuuga heiress, was like salt on a wound.
"Hey Sakura! It might not mean a lot but I am sorry that you had to hear Sasuke's rant like that. Looks like he's brooding over his loss. The teme's always been a sore loser, he'll be back to normal soon." Naruto offered and his teammate could only look back with a startled expression.
Sakura blinked at the jinchuriki a few times,
"It's okay." She dumbly replied.
'Naruto's changed. He's changed a lot. He is not asking me out like he did before and what's with him and Hinata anyways. Don't tell me these two are together now. Well everybody except Naruto himself knew about Hinata's crush on him but that idiot, how that thick brain of his could understand those feelings, let alone even begin to start returning them is beyond me.'
"So, Naruto….are you…..you know…dating…. Hinata all of a sudden?" Sakura finally managed to ask. The question made Naruto's face redden up.
"Uh, yeah…well um…are you jealous, Sakura?" Naruto retorted back.
"THAT BAKA! What does he think mocking us like that? He only got that meek Hinata and is showing off. Sasuke-kun is miles ahead of him!" Inner Sakura screamed and a vein popped up on Sakura's forehead.
"YOU…" She screamed, raised her fist and brought it down on Naruto's head…Only for him to dodge her punch, grab Hinata and run out of the room.
"WAIT YOU BAKA!" A fuming Sakura screamed as she ran in pursuit of her blond teammate, only to be stopped by Kakashi.
"Well, he has a fight and it would make a really bad impression on our village if he loses against Gaara just because you knocked him out beforehand." The Jonin calmly explained. Sakura could only look at her Jonin-sensei with embarrassment.
*Meanwhile in Naruto's Mindscape*
"WHAT'S WITH THAT PINK BANSHEE, DATTEBANE?" Kushina screamed as Minato sweatdropped remembering his encounter with Sakura from the previous timeline. (Which Kurama had just shown to him.)
"Well….I thought she was a bit like you were during the academy but she's even worse" The fourth Hokage said rubbing the back of his head.
"Did you ever see me trying to hit people like that, just for joking? I only hit them when they bullied me. She's nothing like me. AND I WAS NEVER A FANGIRL!" Kushina retorted.
"Hai hai" Minato replied.
*In the real world*
"Phew! That was close." Naruto commented as he and Hinata ran out of the contestants' box till almost the entrance to the field. The Hyuuga only nodded in agreement.
'If she ever hits Naruto-kun again, I'll give her a fitting reply. What, no WHO does she think she is? I have had enough of Naruto-kun being her personal punching bag!' Hinata thought to herself.
"She seriously needs to stop that." She commented.
"Well…I am partly to blame for that as I ran around her asking her out earlier, I've really annoyed her a lot. Back then, I was really immature and I made her a goal in my rivalry with Sasuke. It was really idiotic of me to not notice what was always in front of me." The blond replied rubbing the back of his head.
"I was never really forthcoming towards you, so I am partly to blame as well. I really should have been more forward with you, we both needed that." Hinata replied with a sigh.
"We do have each other now, so that's no problem anymore and since that night at the hospital, you've been far more forthcoming than earlier."
"Thanks to you. Since becoming your girlfriend, all those inhibitions in me kind of vanished." Hinata stated with a giggled as she placed her palm on Naruto's cheek.
"TIME FOR THE FINAL FIGHT OF THE CHUNIN EXAMS. WILL GAARA OF SUNAGAKURE AND NARUTO UZUMAKI OF KONOHAGAKURE TAKE THE FIELD PLEASE?" Genma's announcement rang through the arena.
A lot of whispers were heard across the viewers' stands. In the Kage stands, the Hokage, the Raikage and the disguised Orochimaru were all excited to witness a fight between two jinchuuriki.
Naruto took a deep breath.
"Do your best there and remember that-" Hinata was cut-off as Naruto placed his own hand over hers on his cheek.
"You've always got me." He completed with a smile earning a nod from her.
The two then shared a brief kiss.
"Well, I'll be off then." Naruto said as he started towards the proctor where Gaara had already appeared via a sand sunshin. Hinata gave him an affectionate smile.
"You've already been doing great, I am sure you've got this one, Dattebane." Kushina said from Naruto's mindscape as Minato flashed him a thumbs-up.
"Kozo, for this fight you have to put everything you've got till now. We will be fighting another Jinchuuriki. Even if it's only Shukaku, the weakest one of us, still the container seems really skilled and you can't still use my full power so the fight will be pretty even. Don't hold anything back, understood?" Kurama cautioned and his host nodded.
"Understood loud and clear Kurama. No holding back. Enhance my network with your chakra, we have to match him by using both the chakra cloak and the gates." Naruto replied earning a nod from his Biju partner.
'What's Shukaku thinking, it looks like he has hardly changed anything after travelling back. If anything, this Gaara brat has become even more cold-blooded like those drones from that Danzo's foundation and why hasn't this idiotic Tanuki contacted me yet? He better have a good explanation or I will ensure he gets a really good ass-kicking.'
"Are both fighters ready?" Genma asked and earned serious nods from Naruto and Gaara.
"Well then HAJIME!" the proctor said before jumping back and leaving the arena to the two fighters.
A/N: And done, in the next chapter we will have the fight between Gaara and Naruto and then we will be moving on to the invasion. I hope you've all had a good read. Thanks again for all the love and support. See ya all in the next chapter.