Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Yu Yu Hakusho. I've said it a lot not haven't I? Man how many times do I need to tell everyone I don't own this stuff?...Oh until I finish this story...right.
"Talk" Character talking.
'Think' Character thinking.
"Talk" Jagan talking.
'Think' Jagan thinking.
"Talk" Tailed Beast talking.
"Think" Tailed Beast thinking.
"Man, what a ripoff. You know what I always say abut puppet-users?" Inari complained.
"That they suck wood." Susanoo said.
"Inari, please don't ruin the event with your ravings regarding the Puppet Brigade." Amaterasu said to the fox deity before sipping upon her wine. "But I will admit, the first two fights were pretty lackluster. That Dosu boy won his fight in under a minute, and Shino won by forfeit. So far this is a pretty boring start to the Chunin Exam Finals."
"I think the tenth Chunin Exam was the boring one!" Fujin shouted.
"Na-uh it was the twenty-fifth, it was weak!" Raijin seconded.
A quiet sigh escaping her mouth, Tsukuyomi flicked her right hand to tape both the ogre's mouths shut. "Honestly you two, it doesn't matter if it's boring or not. You're ruining our good time with all your screaming."
"Thank you Tsukuyomi." Shinigami said before turning his terrifying gaze back towards the screen. His fellow Gods were right about one thing, the start of Konoha's latest Chunin Exam Finals were pretty lackluster, boring, disappointing even. But when he saw Naruto walking into the arena, a large, toothy smile erupted on his face. "There he is, there is my boy! Ladies and gentlemen my Avatar is up next, he's gonna put on one hell of a grudge match!"
"Wouldn't a grudge match be him losing to Temari, and having some sort of rematch?" Susanno lightly remarked before he began to dig into his large bucket of popcorn.
"I mainly think it's Naruto doing this for his lovely panda girl. I vote for him to win." Amaterasu said.
"I vote for Temari." Tsukuyomi bet against her sister. That drew the eyes of her friends. "Nothing against him, but Temari is more refined than him. Plus he holds back too much, he barely used the Jagan Eye, the Darkness Flame, or even his Kurashingan. Plus his opponent has a variety of wind ninjutsu and he doesn't have anything to really counteract them."
Tearing the tape off his mouth, Fujin gritted his teeth in pain before he was able to talk. "I will have to go with the wind girl for obvious reasons."
Raijin obviously took offense to that. Tearing off his tape he stated to speak. "Fujin you bastard! If you're siding with her, I'll side with Shinigami's boy!"
"I'll side with Naruto, I like the kid, and he has the Kyuubi in him. And...well you know why I'm voting for him." Inari said with a slight snicker before he started gnawing on a giant turkey leg.
"Well that being said I will have to put my money on the girl. Sorry Shinigami old pal, but it's just a gut feeling." Susanno apologized to his old friend.
"No apologies necessary, that just means I will get a chance to gloat when he is standing victorious!" Turning back to the screen, the God of Death looked intently at his young Avatar. "Come on kid, you're stronger than you know. Do not hold back."
"All right Blondie, this is the big moment. This is what you spent the entire month killing yourself over. Now what the heak are you going to do to beat her? Because I don't even have the faintest clue." Ishikawa said from within Naruto's mental mindscape, or in this case near Kyuubi's cage.
"I'm curious about this myself," Hayate admitted, the specter was sweating bullets from being near the Kyuubi's cage, how did he get roped into coming into his students head? Damn Stone shinobi. "I trained you with everything I know, you haven't mastered them by any means, but it's a start."
"Perhaps you hairless apes missed something," Jagan snidely said.
"Aw shut up you giant eyeball, we didn't miss nothing!" Ishikawa protested.
"How about all of you shut up. I did not wake up from my nap to hear you three bicker." Narrowing his red slitted eyes in annoyance, Kyuubi waved his nine tails in agitation. "I don't know what the ningen is up to, but he will not fail."
Wow, Ishikawa couldn't help but gain a little bit of respect to the nine-tailed pain in the ass. He was actually being supportive for once.
"Because if he fails, I will not hear the end of him complaining about it."
Never mind.
Back in the stands most of the Genin who lost their preliminary rounds were looking upon the arena with anticipation. Kiba was sitting next to Hinata with his faithful companion Akamaru resting on his head, Tenten was sitting next to the former Hyuuga, Ino was surprisingly next to the bun-haired girl, while their respective Jonin sensei's were sitting on the ends of their small group.
"It seems I'm owed twenty ryo, Asuma." Kakashi remarked to the bearded Jonin.
"Don't rub it in Kakashi," Asuma lightly rubbed the bridge of his nose. Choji's fight was not exactly what he was expecting. "I should have had a more direct hand in his training."
"You honestly should have. I spent the entire month working with Shino and his father in his training." Kurenai said before slightly deflating. "I just wish he could have had a chance to show off his skills to the judges."
"If all goes well, he will get a chance against his next opponent. He will show his Flames of Youth!" Gai happily bellowed, much to the other spectators irritation.
"Yes, I'm sure he will." Asuma dryly replied. Turning his head towards Kakashi, he said. "Nervous about your student? Rumor is he's going against the Kazekage's eldest child."
"I am not worried at all. Out of all my students Naruto has pushed himself to the breaking point, not that Sasuke and Sakura haven't, but he always takes the extra step, especially when he has a point to prove." Kakashi lightly replied.
"Ha! Knowing Naruto he trained himself into the ground every single day and had to be dragged back home." Kiba laughed with Akamaru barking with his owner.
"As far as I know he only took one full day off during the whole month." Tenten revealed only a part of her experience during her time with her favorite blonde jinchuriki. What happened during the hospital escape was, well private, for obvious reasons. "It was only for thirty minutes, but both him and Sasuke came into the shop, and I could see the difference in him compared to a month ago."
"He looked tired but stronger." Hinata seconded.
Frowning towards the arena, a visibly put off Ino bit her lower lip. "Who do you think will win the whole thing and become Chunin?"
"That really depends, even if you lose you can still become a Chunin. It all depends on what they do during their fights." Gai wisely said as he looked into the arena. Besides Lee's match, he was also looking forward to looking forward to seeing Naruto and Sasuke's progress. While Gai was never a prideful man, he did want to boast that he helped train the newest Chunin.
Back in the arena Genma looked at the two Genin and announced the next fight. "The third match of the Chunin Exam Finals, Temari of Sunagakure versus Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure. Ready...Fight!" Genma raised his right arm, sharply dropped it, and jumped far away from the two combatants.
Immediately snapping open her giant folding fan, Temari immediately went right in for the kill. "Wind Style: Wind Scythe Jutsu!" Swinging her fan at full force, the blonde created a violent, slicing gale of wind struck Naruto head on, and he went flying into the small forested area. When there was no movement for several seconds Temari scoffed, "Is that really all you got? Looks like you're all bark and no bite."
"Dude, what the hell are you doing?" Ishikawa shouted at a roughed up Naruto. His vest has a few cuts in it, he was covered with small scratches and had a few twigs in his hair. "You got knocked around like a ragdoll within the first second of the match!"
"Ishi...it was somewhat apart of my plan. I first needed to get to this forested area, granted I didn't mean for it to happen this way, but it'll work." Getting to his feet, the blonde rubbed the twigs out of his hair, and crossed his index and middle fingers together in the familiar cross shape. "Get ready Temari, I'm coming for you."
Back in the middle of the arena Temari was impatiently tapping her foot on the ground. For thirty seconds after blasting that annoying Leaf shinobi away, she looked towards Genma. "Proctor, call the match. My opponent was not even worth a warm up."
Her words would come to bite her in the ass when the masked face of her opponent burst from the ground and headbutted her. Blood immediately leaked from her broken nose, Temari gritted her teeth to hold back the pain and swung her giant fan like a club. It impacted Naruto, only for him to disappear in a small cloud of smoke.
Naruto burst from the ground behind her and kicked her right in her lower back, but it too was struck by the fan and dispersed in a cloud of smoke. She was then assaulted on both sides, getting dealt terrible punches to her face and the back of her shoulder blades. Temari once again destroyed them with her fan, and a savage kick.
"Is that all you got? These rabbit punches are nothing to me!" Temari spat out a mixture of spit and blood. Gripping her fan, she was prepared to anticipate his next attack and bash his stupid masked head in.
"Rabbit punches? Bullshit I can see the blood from here!" Naruto popped his head out of the ground, and immediately ducked back into the safety of the earth when Temari swung her fan down like a hammer.
"Seriously, don't you have anything else up your sleeve besides that damn fan?" Popping up in a different place, Naruto once again to taunt her, before once again retreating into the earth when Temari tried to bash his head in.
"Aw, you don't. I think you need it to use your jutsu." Once again he dived back into the earth and emerged from another spot. "Holy shit, I'm right!"
"Shut up!" Temari angrily screamed. She smacked the area where his head was, only for him to disappear once again. "Irritating pest!"
"I prefer to be called a cockroach. They are much harder to kill you know, I once saw Sasuke use a fire jutsu on one, and it shrugged it off and scurried away."
Stopping to calm herself Temari saw that Naruto actually had the audacity to create six holes where his head was sticking out of. And upon realizing that she was trying to hit him with her fan, she realized that he purposely set up a Whac-a-Mole game in the middle of their fight. That caused the Sand kunoichi to scowl in anger. "You little punk, you've been making me look like a fool!"
"More like we have been." Five more clones popped up from the holes created barely a minute ago. "Good luck finding the real me, with your crappy pounding skills we'll be here all day!" All five gave her the finger and disappeared into the earth.
"The earth will not save you." Slamming her giant folding fan into the ground, Temari's hands flew through the snake, dragon, and finally bird hand seals respectively and picked up her fan and swung it at the ground. "Wind Style: Cyclone Scythe Jutsu!" Creating a more powerful version of her Wind Scythe Jutsu, she created many air currents collided to create vacuum pockets that carved deep scars into the earth itself, creating a giant trench that extended from her position in the arena, all the way to past half the forest and to the arena walls.
"Holy shit." Genma breathed out. That was one destructive wind ninjutsu, he could only hope that the kid was all right.
Panting from exertion, Temari had a triumphant smirk on her face. Sure, she used one of her trump cards earlier than she wanted, but the end result was well worth the price of having mild chakra exhaustion. "Not so tough now."
"Wind Style: Cyclone Scythe Jutsu!" Temari barely had a chance bring her fan in front of her body to block the blunt of the attack, instead of a powerful gale this was shaped like a blade. Her mind was racing, trying to figure out exactly how her very own jutsu was used against her?
Five clones burst out of the ground while she was in mid-thought. One clone punched her in the face, all five yelled out, "U-ZU-MA-KI", three of the other clones kicked her into the air. Then, while being launched in mid-air, the last clone assaulted her with a somersaulting heel drop while yelling "Barrage!" The top of Temari's head split open from the heel smacking into hit, and she crash landed into the unforgiving ground.
But Temari was not one to take a beating lying down. She definitely earned some points from the judges when she rose to her feet only seconds after the pummeling she received. Ignoring the blood falling down her forehead, the older kunoichi grit out. "That is going to be your last shot."
"You gotta find the boss first, and trust me, he's fighting smart for once!" One of the clones exclaimed.
"Dude, don't go disrespecting the boss. He may not be the sharpest kunai in the set, but he's got street smarts at least." A second clone rebutted the first.
Gripping her fan, Temari swung it with all her might, creating slicing air that turned the clones into nothing but smoke. A pair of hands then shot out of the ground to grab at her ankles, but Temari forced chakra into her ankles and jumped high into the air, once again swung it with all her might. "Wind Style: Wind Scythe Jutsu!" Manipulating her wind chakra into the form of the gale, she created a tornado to dig into the ground instead of enveloping her opponent.
Naruto barely managed to make a tactical retreat back into the forested area. Emerging from the ground he greedily sucked in air. "Damn, Kakashi-sensei's Headhunter Jutsu didn't work out for me. Neither will that Gale Palm and Water Fang Bullet...oh if only I stored a lake full of water into a scroll." Hindsight was certainly twenty-twenty. No matter he still had a handful of tricks that he polished up during his training with Jiraiya and a few tricks he learned from Zabuza.
"Blondie, word of advise do not blow your load too soon. Save all those jutsu you stole from me for a bigger fight. You're probably gonna have to fight against the lazy kid next fight, and probably Lee, Sasuke or that Gaara kid after that." Ishikawa instructed the blonde.
"I honestly don't know about that, but you're right about me using your jutsu too soon." Going over his options, Naruto knew that water ninjutsu was a no go, and he could only use a few earth ninjutsu. Well, he did just copy a pretty kick ass jutsu. "So that just means I am going to have to fight like a bastard." Thanks to the Kurashagan he saw Temari using her hand seals plain as day and he once again ran his hands through the snake, dragon, and bird hand seals. "Wind Style: Cyclone Scythe Jutsu!" Without the use of a fan the jutsu wasn't the terrifying gale that Temari specialized in, but he changed the shape of the wind to that of a blade for one powerful space killing jutsu that he thought up on the fly.
Seeing her own jutsu, though bastardized coming at her once again, Temari decided to pull out her biggest, and most devastating jutsu just to not only survive, but to try and eliminate a threat to her village's mission. Cutting open her thumb on the fan itself, she ran her blood over the width of the fan and swung it with all her might. "Summoning Jutsu: Quick Beheading Dance!" In a cloud of smoke a giant, white-furred weasel wearing a black vest with red trimmings and a dark green eye-patch covering his left eye appeared carrying a large sickle that was almost as long as himself.
To the astonishment of the crowd, Temari's fan whipped up a tempest and her summon rode the wind, and slashed through Naruto's stolen jutsu. But it did not stop there, her jutsu sliced through all those trees Naruto was hiding behind, and even carved a deep scar into wall of the arena.
"Holy shit." Genma openly said what was on the audience's minds. If it weren't for the fact that the arena walls were created thick for just this reason, he feared that several people would have taken a spill into the arena.
Temari however was not letting her guard down. Twice already her opponent had used the ground to his advantage, she she was not going to be caught off guard by him again.
"Looking for me?" Naruto's voice said next to her. Temari's eyes widened in alarm and she quickly shut her fan, and swung it like a baseball bat, only to hit nothing but air. "What the? Ventriloquism Jutsu!" Turning back towards the forested area, she saw the blonde troublemaker bursting from the destroyed forested area. He was covered in dirt, had twigs tangled in his hair and a few deep scratches on the areas on his body that wasn't armored. He was silent, his mask boring holes in her head, and that katana of his unsheathed to strike at her.
There was no time to unfold her fan to use another of her jutsu, her summon Kamatari dismissed himself after his work was finished, so that left one option. She swung her fan like a club, she did the mental calculations, her fan was heavier than the sword he was carrying, best case scenario; if they collided head on she could easily shatter the blade, worst case; he would slice into her fan, damaging it, but she would simply twist her fan and break his sword in two. Either way she would get rid of a pesky weapon, and go on a brutal counter attack while he was in the open.
But that did not happen. When their respective weapons struck each other, and Handanryoku sliced through the fan cleanly like it was wet paper. Temari watched in disbelief as half her weapon tumbled through the air and plopped ten feet away onto the ground. She was then headbutted right in the face by the masked face of her opponent causing her to stumble back from the pain of her broken nose.
Naruto however was not done with her, not just yet. "Leaf Whirlwind!" Using the simple, yet efficient attack that had Naruto kick at Temari's leg and knocking her off her feet with a swift rotating kick. "Leaf Rising Wind!" Using the technique he learned from Gai, Naruto kicked Temari as she lost her balance, and she was sent up into the air like a ragdoll the blonde Genin sheathed his blade and jumped after her. Practically appearing high above the Sand kunoichi he spun forward with his right leg extended and violently impacted Temari right in the stomach, "Spinning Heel Drop!"
Temari lost the wind in her lungs along with her consciousness as she fell to the earth and violently crashed into the unforgiving ground. She showed her tenacity by stubbornly trying to get up, she was battered, bruised, and lost her main weapon, but she was not going to give up.
Naruto however landed next to her and placed Handanryoku sharp edge at her throat. Breathing heavily, the blonde glared at his downed opponent. "I win."
"Winner by technical knockout, Naruto Uzumaki!" Genma announced the the crowd. The cheers actually shook the arena.
Gritting her teeth, Temari turned her head to the side. "Yea, you did. Good going avenging your girlfriend romeo."
Naruto's mask thankfully hid some pink flushing to his face. "You were in my way to becoming Chunin, teaching you a lesson was just a bonus." Sheathing his blade after cutting his left thumb, he extended his right hand.
Taking the offered hand, Temari allowed her opponent to help her to her feet. Rubbing her lower back, the Sand kunoichi winced from the pain. "I don't know how you managed to managed to replicate my jutsu, but it will never happen again."
"You shouldn't have been so slow to use your hand seals. For a person who has a wind affinity like myself, I will capitalize on it."
Temari sincerely doubted that. She had her suspicions, but in the end it wouldn't matter. "Watch your back, when you face my brother you'll need it."
"He still has to beat Sasuke." Naruto replied.
"That won't be a problem for him." Her warning about her brother being nice and clear, Temari made her way back to the contestants box with Naruto following behind her upon drinking in the praise from the cheering crowd.
"Haha! Yes! That's my Avatar, you naysayers doubted me, well now you all can suck it!" Shinigami jumped onto his desk and pointed at all the losers with a victorious laugh.
"Yea, yea, laugh it up fang-face. I was wrong." Susanoo waved off Shinigami's bolstering with a good natural wave of his hand. He was a big enough God to admit he was wrong, and took the God of Death's victory dance in stride.
Tsukuyomi, however, was a different story. She lost all her regal composure and pointed at the dancing God. "That isn't fair Shinigami! You had to of intervened somehow, there is no way your Avatar could've won against someone who had far more experience than him!"
"Grow up dear sister of mine, Shinigami did no such thing. Naruto just turned out to be the better fighter this day." Amaterasu didn't hide her victorious smile as she watched the blonde wave at the crowd.
Inari could only clap his hands in glee as he watched the shinobi he bet on drink in the much deserved praise. "Ha! I'm glad I bet on the right guy. Also Tsukuyomi you ought to lighten up, otherwise you'll end up squabbling like those two fools." He gestured to both Fujin and Raijin trying to strangle each other like Homer Simpson strangling his son, it honestly caused him to laugh harder.
Straightening her posture, Tsukuyomi took up her glass of tea again and drank it. "I will accept this defeat, but don't expect me to like it."
Susanoo lightly shook his head from his sister's dramatic reaction. Turning back towards the screen he looked at the contestants. "Now the next match is that Nara kid versus that Rain kid. Who do you think will win that match?"
"Shikamaru of course."
"The Nara!"
"Of course Shikamaru."
"The lazy one."
"Of course it's going to be Shikamaru."
Susanoo lightly sweat-dropped. "Yea, that's what I thought too."
In the Hokage's viewing stands, surrounded by his faithful bodyguards Raizo Namiashi and Toru, Hiruzen could not keep the triumphant grin off his face. Naruto did him proud by not only winning his fight, but was also courteous to his former opponent. "That's two of your children that are out of the competition. She fought well though, you should be proud Rasa."
Rasa, the Yondaime Kazekage wore the standard attire of the Kazekage which consisted of a loose fitting green kimono with a white collar, and the signature hat with the kanji for 'Wind' on it. He scoffed from the match. "Temari did not fight well enough, she lacks discipline and training. I will make sure that she won't lose in such a manner again."
Hiruzen visibly frowned. Rasa had been one of the more ruthless Kage's he had ever known in his lifetime. The man had a completely utilitarian mindset and a terrible habit by putting "value" on his shinobi. After Hayate's dying report, the Sandaime was fully prepared by the man's upcoming betrayal with his former treacherous student. "She is still young Rasa, as I recall you weren't the most grand shinobi when you were a Genin."
Rasa narrowed his eyes at the Hokage. "I was one of the best shinobi in my village."
"As I recall, it took you three tries to become a Chunin."
"Because my teammates kept dragging me down. Once I dropped them in the Chunin Exams I never looked back." Turning back towards the arena, the Kazekage commented. "Though that Genin, Uzumaki was it? How did he utilize one of my daughters jutsu in an instant. The last I heard only a member of the Uchiha Clan could copy jutsu."
"I can assure you Naruto is not related to the Uchiha Clan, he is extremely proficient in using earth and wind ninjutsu, I would go so far as to call him a prodigy." Hiruzen lied, Naruto was obviously more than that, but he was not going to reveal anything to the Kazekage.
"A prodigy, huh?" Thanks the the long face mask Hiruzen failed to see a creepy snake-like grin.
The stands however were completely different. Among the cheering crowd, Ino was looking at the arena with her mouth wide open. Between the forest getting chopped down by Temari's unforgiving wind ninjutsu, and Naruto's sheer unpredictably, for the first time in over a month she was actually glad she was beaten in the preliminary rounds. "I can't believe it...Naruto won, how...when did he get so strong?"
"Ino, if there is one thing I learned about Naruto, it's never, ever underestimate him." Kiba said with Akamaru barking in reply. "I mean, seriously did you not see his fight with Neji?"
"I was unconscious." The blonde protested. "And besides this is Naruto we're talking about, I mean he's...he was supposed to be..."
"The dobe, the class clown? Ino, how about you open your eyes. This is not the same Naruto you used to see every day in the academy." Hinata spoke up, to everyone's surprise her voice had an edge to it. "If you weren't busy fantasizing over Sasuke you would see the real world around you."
"Easy there peepers." Tenten calmly patted the back of Hinata's hand.
"What the...how dare you assume-" Ino was cut off by by Tenten who gave the girl a pointed glare.
"Yamanaka-san, I suggest you stop right there. Just because you're blonde does not give you a reason to act like one. I suggest you shut up, think carefully about what exactly has happened this past month, and shut up again."
The Jonin would have said something, but Kakashi was busy trying to prevent Gai from shouting about the Flames of Youth at the top of his lungs. Kurenai and Asuma were also physically holding the man down.
Kiba did not hold back in laughing right at Ino's face. "Ha! They sure showed you up!"
In the contestants box, Temari immediately went to her own corner with Kankuro honestly looking flabbergasted, Gaara didn't look like he cared one way or another. Naruto was greeted by a stoic Shino who nodded at him, Dosu who raised an eyebrow, Shikamaru gave him his usual dull look, Sakura gave him a smile, and Lee gave him a thumbs up. Sasuke however got into his personal space and began to question him.
"Dobe, what the hell was that?" He demanded.
"That was me winning teme." Naruto replied.
"No, that jutsu you used. I know that Kakashi-sensei did not teach it to you, and I know Zabuza and Jiraiya didn't."
"No, Zabuza only taught me the Ventriloquism Jutsu in the final week. It was a good distraction for me to get in that final hit."
"Don't dodge the question dobe. Tell me, what did you do?" Sasuke was not going to drop this. He knew what he saw, Naruto copied that jutsu somehow. And there was only one way he could do it, and right now his mind was screaming at him saying that it was impossible, that his teammate did not share his kekkei genkai. But the Uchiha could not fight the feeling in his gut.
Looking Sasuke right in the eyes, Naruto spoke to him. He was not trying to brush anything off, he spoke to his teammate with utmost seriousness. "Sasuke, now is not the best time to say anything with all the eyes and ears around us. When the exams are done, I will come clean. Just focus on your fight with Gaara...he's supposed to be like me."
Gritting his teeth, Sasuke stayed quiet. He knew what that meant, Gaara was a jinchuriki like his teammate, but unlike Naruto he acted like a monster than an idiot. "Fine, but you are not going to wiggle yourself out of this one dobe."
"I'm not wiggling myself out of anything." The blonde then looked to see Oboro heading towards the arena, Shikamaru sluggishly followed after him. "Now this is something I have been curious about. How do you think Shikamaru will win?" He said, voicing his question out loud.
"His opponent will more than likely fight dirty like he did with Ino." Shino said. He remembered how the Rain Genin broke away by what looked like sheer luck from Ino's wires and kunai, and then beat her black and blue causing her to pass out.
"He will more than likely try to use mind tricks as well as that Haze Clone Jutsu of his, if teammate was any indication." Sakura seconded.
"The problem is what Oboro has learned this past month. I am not an expert on Amegakure, but not knowing what your opponent is capable of is the main cause for death for shinobi." Dosu commented. When he got several looks wondering why he joined in the conversation, the older shinobi scoffed at them. "For all I know I might fight that Rain bastard, I'm going to keep a close eye on the both of them."
Down in the arena, Oboro's rebreather may have been covering his smirk, but Shikamaru could feel the smugness radiating off him. "So I get to fight you now, this will be easier than when I beat that stupid girl. What a lucky day that was."
"Funny, you teammate Mubi bragged that he would have an easy match, how did his head heal up?" Shikamaru dully asked.
"He healed up just fine. I'm glad you brought that up, because now I'm going to destroy you, and that pink-haired harlot for what you did to my teammates."
"You will have to beat me first."
"Oh boy, this is going to suck." Genma sighed in exasperation. Raising his right arm up he announced the fight for latest fight. "For the fourth match we have Oboro of Amegakure versus Shikamaru Nara of Konohagakure! Ready...fight!"
Genma barely had a chance to jump away before Oboro unleashed a hail of shuriken. The lazy Genin barely had enough time to get his own weapon up to block the throwing weapons. Undeterred Oboro took out his own kunai and sprinted towards his opponent with the intent of cutting him to ribbons.
Instead of standing his ground and fighting, Shikamaru did something that came to no surprise to his friends. He turned tail and ran his lazy butt towards the forested area.
"What the? Are you fucking kidding me!?" Oboro demanded.
"Ahaha! Asuma your Genin is such a coward!" Aoi laughed uproariously, he was clutching his sides from how much they hurt from laughing. "My Kami, this village has gotten even worse since I defected."
"What a loser." Kagari said.
"Kick his ass Oboro!" Mubi shouted into the arena. "Bash his fucking head in!"
"I'll do you one better, this month I've been training is going to pay off." Oboro brought his hand into his hip pouch and pulled out a scroll. Opening it, a torrent of water erupted from it and flooded the arena until it came to his ankles. "Lets see you hide from this you coward." His hands flying through the ram, snake and tiger hand seals. "Water Style: Black Rain Jutsu!"
Thanks to the water flooding the arena, Oboro created a flammable black mist that formed into a small cloud. The small cloud then became larger due to the amount of chakra he poured into it, using up more water in the process. He then forced the cloud to move above the destroyed forest let it the technique rip, covering the entire forest in black flammable oil.
"I hope you lived a eventful life. Because when I am done with you, there won't be any remains left!" Pulling out a kunai, Oboro wrapped an exploding tag around the hilt. He then threw the projectile weapon into the the wrecked, oil-soaked forest, and watched in glee as it blew up and set fire to the entire area.
'Son of a bitch! What the hell is wrong with these Genin!?' Genma mentally screamed. What sort of psychopath set a forest on fire to get at his opponent in front of thousands of people?
"Hey ref, how about you call it. There is no way he survived this!" Oboro laughed before out of the corner of his eyes he saw something snaking towards him, causing him to jump through the muddy ground until it stopped several inches away from him. "What the hell?"
"What a drag. I almost had you." To the surprise of the crowd, saw Shikamaru slowly pull himself out of the ground, or more specifically the area carved up from some of the surviving holes Naruto himself made during his match. He was soaked to the bone, covered in mud, and looked extremely disgruntled, but he was alive and well.
"How did you survive that? I roasted you alive!" Oboro demanded.
"Thank the troublesome blonde with the funky mask." Shikamaru muttered. Releasing his jutsu the lazy Genin slowly pulled out another kunai. "That won't happen again."
"Heh, no it won't. In fact you just gave me an idea." Smirking under his rebreather, Oboro went underground, literally he dove under the muddy ground. No more than ten seconds later copies of him began to emerge from the ground.
"Me and my big mouth." Sighing Shikamaru knew that this was a clone technique. He first threw his kunai and it went through three of them. "Heh, keep wasting your chakra. They cannot harm me." Not a second later Shikamaru was slugged in the back of his head, it caused him to face plant in the mud and he hand to roll to the side to prevent from getting stomped on. He then lashed out with a kick and impacted the kneecap, he expected a crack as the knee was shattered, but instead he was splattered by water.
"I hate this guy. I hate this guy so much." The lazy Genin muttered before he stood to his feet, another kunai coming to his hand, he spent the next minute playing a game of cat and mouse with the clones. Some would turn into water, others would simply be phased through. It wasn't until he dealt with his third Water Clone before he got cracked in the back of the head by what felt like steel.
His vision was swimming from the hit, but it did not stop him from tactfully retreating. There was going be a lump the size of a goose egg later, he knew it. He released the kunai and hit Oboro holding kunai, the ring slightly blooded from the hit. But it turned into water upon impact.
'All right calm down, this guy is going to try and tire me out. And he is arrogant, he wants to finish this personally. I need to buy my time.' He actually eyed the mud and saw the actual footsteps his opponent was making. The Nara mentally sighed, some days he really hated his profession. 'This is going to suck.' That was his last thought before he was forced to defend himself against one of the clones.
"He is expending too much energy." Sakura commented, frowning as she watched Shikamaru slice through another Haze Clone.
"No, this is something else." Sasuke said, looking at the fight closely. He wasn't using his Sharingan, but after watching Oboro fight, he realized the guy was hoping of an easy win. Minus using that interesting jutsu earlier that fight, he didn't use a whole lot of chakra.
"Hmm...perhaps he's going to pull a Naruto original." Naruto said, watching as a clone turn to water. Damn, he really wished he could get the hand seals for that...wait where the hell did that come from?
"Acting like an idiot?" Sasuke dryly asked.
"Pulling a prank?" Sakura seconded.
"Looking ridiculous?" Dosu added.
"Perhaps he's...no, they covered everything you are Naruto." Shino dully commented.
"Unyouthful!" Apparently Lee was not fond of name calling.
"No you jackasses. Playing into an opponent's weakness." Naruto the watched as Shikamaru took a nasty right hook. "Ohhh that's got to hurt."
'That hurt.' Shikamaru thought to himself as he fell to the mud once more. He was not exactly feigning exhaustion, getting his ass beat was taking the energy out of him. But it could have been worse, he could have hit those haze clones at full swing, but instead he barely swung his arms. Shikamaru was not going to waste his energy hitting something that didn't leave a footprint, the water clones however were something different.
The lazy Genin saw a bunch of clones approaching his downed form, the black steel of their kunai's menacingly nearing him. Damn, it was now or never. Before they got too close, Shikamaru reached into his hip pouch and pulled out a flash bomb and threw it high into the air. "Don't blink."
The entire crowd screamed out when the bomb went off, many had to close their eyes to try and spare their retinas from frying. A lot managed to do it in time, some weren't so lucky, especially those who were watching it on live tv.
Oboro was definitely not one of the lucky ones to close their eyes in time. Unlike Kagari who kept his eyes covered with his sash around his face, he opted to have eyeholes in his and that came to bite him in the ass. He let out a scream as his eyes were burned by the bright flash.
"Got you, you vindictive bastard." Placing his hands in the rat seal, Shikamaru had his clan's infamous jutsu fly towards Oboro who was clutching his eyes in agony. "Shadow Possession Jutsu successful."
"Graa! You son of a bitch...when this jutsu ends I am going to beat you senseless! Luck is supposed to be on my side!"
"No, it's your unlucky day." Shikamaru moved right right hand to his kunai pouch and pulled out his last kunai, Oboro, also being right handed did the same. The lazy Genin dropped it and went to his kunai pouch again, but unlike Oboro his was empty and he forced the Rain Genin to press the sharp edge against his throat. "Checkmate."
Genma immediately stepped in, Oboro was done, but the Rain Genin was not going to admit defeat. He called it by raising his arm. "The fourth match has ended, winner by submission is Shikamaru Nara!"
The crowd cheered after the fight was called, it may have been one-sided for a time, but in the end the Genin from their village won the fight and sent the Rain Genin packing, and Aoi was at a loss for words.
Hiruzen finished his clapping and rose up from his seat. His eyes were squinting from the flash bomb earlier, and focused a little bit of chakra into his vocal cords to announce to the audience. "To everyone, we are going to have a thirty minute intermission. Those who didn't close their eyes in time, please get them checked out. To any medical shinobi in the crowd, I implore you to check everyone that comes to you."
"Don't tell me you forgot to blink, Hokage-san." The Kazekage said, his voice sounding disappointed.
"It was one of my village's Genin fighting, why would I even blink?" The older man said before departing. When he was out of sight he pleasant demeanor dropped as he rubbed his eyes, but it was not from the flash bomb, it was out of general exhaustion, he was getting too old for this position. "Just hold on a little longer Hiruzen, you have to make it through today."
Back in the competitors booth Naruto was giving Shikamaru a hard time. "Geeze Shikamaru, what was that, a fight or a mud wrestling competition?"
"Troublesome blonde, I'd like to see how you could have beaten him." Shikamaru sighed in irritation.
"I would have burned him." Sasuke said.
"I would have kicked him hard." Lee replied.
"My insects would have drained his chakra." Shino intoned.
"Clone barrage." Naruto simply said.
Shikamaru gave them all a dull glare, and pointed at ever single one of them in an accusing manner. "You come from a clan of fire-users, you're a stamina freak of nature, your insects are unnatural and scary, and you're just an unnatural chakra monster."
'Harsh.' Ishikawa said.
'But pretty truthful.' Hayate seconded.
Thankfully the Genin Shikamaru insulted had some thick skin. Sasuke mainly scoffed, Lee gave him the good guy smile, Shino of course was silent; or brooding no one could really tell with him, and Naruto gave him the finger. It was certainly a typical day for the rambunctious Genin.
Ten minutes passed by since the break was called, and the crowd was getting a little antsy, the exact same could be said about the Genin, especially the ones who had yet to fight. Gaara was looking at Sasuke, envisioning his blood coating his sand, but Sakura was pacing back and forth nervously when it came to fighting Lee.
Naruto took notice of this and leaned on the wall next to his pink-haired teammate. "If you keep that up you'll dig a hole in the ground."
"Sorry, but I'm nervous. I'm going up against Lee, all he did was punch that Yoroi guy once and he few across the arena and broke his entire ribcage. One punch and I am done!"
"Sakura-chan you're over thinking this. Listen, Lee may be stronger and faster, but if you can outsmart him and prove to the judges that you can outwit an superior opponent, you could very well be a run in to become a Chunin." Thank you Hayate-sensei for the sage advice while they were training in the past week.
"But what if I lose?" Sakura frantically asked.
"Even if you lose, you can still win. And if you don't make Chunin, Team Seven is not just going to break up like that. Sasuke and I will support you until the next exams, just don't give up." Naruto said giving her an encouraging thumbs up. "You're apart of a team full of badasses after all, and badasses look after each other."
Despite herself, Sakura couldn't help but feel her face turn a bit pink and feel giddy at the same time. After her mother went to prison, and her father abandoned her, Sakura's month of training was a roller coaster of emotions. Aunt Akira, uncle Korega and her sister Sakari took her in, gave her a home full of love and support. They asked her how she was doing on a daily basis, supported her efforts, and helped her work through some self-doubt issues. Then there was Kanpo-sensei, a real uncompromising man when it came to her medical training, and she did not even want to think about what Kakashi did during their team sessions. She could actually feel herself improving during that entire month, but she was still a long way from beating Lee. But Naruto giving her that pep talk gave her a much needed confidence boost.
"Thanks Naruto I needed that."
"Not a problem. Well while we're waiting, I think I'm going to get something to munch on. You want anything?"
"Ah, no thank you. But thanks for asking." Sakura gave him a sincere smile, a complete opposite of what she would have done several months ago.
Naruto honestly did not miss her fist pounding into his skull, a smile was much better than getting punched. He turned away and headed down the tunnel that separated the contestants from the populace. As he rounded the corner, the blonde bumped against someone. "Oof, sorry about that."
"After what you did, I expected a gruff attitude." Tenten playfully said.
"Tenten? What are you doing here, aren't you supposed to be in the stands?"
"I was, but with the small intermission I decided to use the ladies room. I then saw someone with a creepy mask and a swagger in his step coming my way, so I decided to ambush you." The weapon proficient kunoichi said, leaning against the entrance with her head slightly cocked. "You were good out there you know."
"Half my plans fell flat on their face." He remarked with a bashful look on his masked face. "I'm just glad I got her to the point to where she became arrogant so I could deal the finishing blows."
"And copied one of her ninjutsu." Tenten dully said.
Naruto scratched the back of his head in response to that. "Yea, I am going to have a lot to explain when the exams are over. Ugh, Sasuke is going to be pissed, or happy, I really don't know."
"Well I for one am happy that you're moving to your next match. Hinata and I will be cheering for you."
"Thanks. Speaking of which where is Hinata, isn't she with you?"
"It might come as a surprise, but girls don't always do things together Naruto." A sly smile then came to her face. "Plus if she was here I wouldn't be able to do this." Before Naruto could even blink, Tenten reached under his mask, pulled it up to expose his face, and leaned in to kiss him fully on the lips.
Naruto's mind shut down during that time, and the two specters following him looked on in a mixture of amusement and surprise.
"Uhhh..." Susanoo dumbly said.
"Wow." Inari commented with a wag of his tail.
"Daww!" Both Fujin and Raijin exclaimed
"Well it is about darn time, I was getting tired of this will they won't they crap." Amaterasu crossed one slender leg over another and grinned seeing the romantic sight before she turned towards her paler sister. "And you said that it wasn't going to happen. You're on a real losing streak today Tsukuyomi."
The Moon Goddess did not say anything, though her glaring daggers at her sister spoke volumes about how she felt.
Shinigami only leaned back against his comfy chair and looked at the screen. As a deity he saw billions of people fall in love before in his very long life, and he had the job to reunite them when they died. Even if he broke the rules where their souls would forever reside just so they could spend eternity together, Kami hadn't caught onto his meddling yet, and he hoped it stayed that way. "Heh, enjoy it kid. You never forget your first."
Hey it was definitely better than them bickering over how messy Shikamaru's match was.
After Tenten ended the kiss, Naruto's expression resembled that of a gaping fish with wide ayes and an open mouth. His brain shorted out and was rebooting, and when it finally came back to fully functioning he saw the bun-haired girl giving him a cute smirk. "Whoa. I did not see that coming."
"You never know with me. Go out and do your best Naruto-kun, Hinata and I are rooting for you." Giving him a wink, the kunoichi from Team Gai returned to her seat.
"Dude, if I could high five you right now, I would." Ishikawa said after she departed.
"Ishi, I'm still confused about all this. I mean, is this a yes or a no to the harem thing?" Naruto blankly asked.
"I think you should not worry about that right now." Hayate informed his student. "Right now you got to worry about your next fight, lets not forget what the Kazekage and Orochimaru have in mind for the village."
That caused Naruto to put his mind on track once again. Hayate was right, Orochimaru had allied himself with Sunagakure for some sort of Sand-Sound Alliance to try and destroy Konohagakure. The problem was no one knew when it would happen, Kimimaro informed them that it would happen during the Chunin Exam Finals, but because he failed to report in he was unaware when exactly it would happen. And Hayate only discovered that Baki, the sensei who came with Temari's team was apart of the conspiracy.
For an entire month while he was getting himself ready for the finals, Naruto had been trying to go over when it would happen, and how. And so far all he knew that it would happen during the final exams, the how was possibly during Sasuke's fight. After all if you were to try and destroy a village, why not use a jinchuriki?
His hunger forgotten, the blonde returned back to the competitors booth just in time to see Sasuke's match start. "I'm glad I didn't miss this, come on Sasuke lets hope that month of training paid off."
"Is Sasuke-kun's opponent really that dangerous?" Sakura curiously asked.
"If anything Gaara is one of the more dangerous Genin of our generation." Shino explained to the pinkette. "His sand is his ultimate shield, when I saw Hinata-san fight against him nothing even got close to hitting him. And the things he did to those Rain Genin...it's too horrifying to even recall."
"But this is also Sasuke we're talking about!" Lee said. "He has grown not only in strength but also speed. Plus his kekkei genkai has never been something to sneeze at."
"It takes more than a fancy kekkei genkai or whatever the Uchiha has up his sleeve. That Gaara kid is a killer, he really has no qualms in spilling blood. If anything he enjoys it more than anything else in life." Dosu surprisingly said as he glared down at the arena. He then clutched his right eye, growling in displeasure.
"Whoa, are you okay? Sakura-can, any chance you could use your medical training to take a look at him?" Naruto turned to his teammate.
"Don't you dare, I'm fine. I just pulled something when I fought against that fat Genin." Dosu eyed Shikamaru, knowing that he insulted his teammate. "No offense of course." Hey, no one could accuse Dosu of being the nicest guy.
Shikamaru only grunted in reply, offense was taken, but it was too troublesome to deal with it right now.
Down in the arena, Genma was visibly sweating. Gaara was barely holding back his bloodlust, and Sasuke himself was observing the sand-user with a dull look on his face. But inwardly the Uchiha was giddy in anticipation, finally he was going to test himself against a strong opponent. He honestly couldn't wait.
"The fifth match we have Sasuke Uchiha of Konohagakure versus Gaara of Sunagakure! Ready...fight!" Genma barely managed to jump away before Gaara's sand lashed out all around them, causing Sasuke to back flip away before the heavy sand crushed him where he stood.
"All right, time to do a little testing." Sasuke said to himself before pulling out a handful of shuriken and fling them towards Gaara's head. The metal projectiles did not even get close enough before the sand intercepted them.
"Fine, lets see if you can intercept this." Reaching down to his ankles, Sasuke took off his weights; replacements for the ones he lost in the Forest of Death a month ago, and the crushing sounds of heavy weights hitting the ground echoed across the arena. He then simply disappeared.
Gaara's eyes widened, he recalled when both he, and Uzumaki managed to sneak up on him before he managed to crush that Hyuuga girl. They were fast. Faster than both he, and Mother anticipated. The sand moved on its own, protecting his face from shuriken that came mere inches away from penetrating his skin. His sand moved again, stopping projectile weapons in their tracks, but he couldn't see his opponent.
"Sand Shower." Gaara growled in irritation. In a tight circle sand bullets shot out with a velocity of a gunshot, they shot off with succession of a sand bullet a second, each impacting the walls with harsh claps, but no sounds of agony filled his ear drums.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke roared from above him. Gaara barely had time to look up before he saw a roaring fireball flying down towards him, his sand swiftly moved to intercept it, and he was rewarded in seeing a good chunk of his sand turn into molten glass. A heavy weight then crashed through the glass, it was connected to the chain of Sasuke's kusarigama and it struck Gaara right in the face.
If this was a normal person, Sasuke would have won the match right then and there. But he was fighting against a jinchuriki, a individual who considered himself a monster instead of a human. The sand captured the chain and crushed it. When the weight itself fell to his feet, it revealed cracks upon Gaara's face, and the bloodthirsty glare that came with it.
As much as it pained him, Sasuke had to sacrifice his weapon to return to the ground. Using the momentum he jerked himself to the right and flew towards the ground, impacting it with a roll until he reached the arena walls. He of course didn't stand still, he once again ran his hands through the seals of the first ninjutsu he ever learned. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
A massive sphere of orange-white chakra erupted from Sasuke's mouth, the heat became intense as it flew towards Gaara, tearing up the ground before impacting the sand wall that turned it into molten glass.
"What a pest." Gaara scowled in anger. He wasn't getting anywhere with such a tricky opponent, and it made Mother furious. "I'm sorry Mother...I will give you his blood...yes I understand." He focused all his sand to completely surround him in resembling a cocoon. Seconds later a sand eye appeared above it to observe the Uchiha.
"He's a sitting duck now. Perfect." Reaching into his kunai pouch, Sasuke quickly tied some ninja wire to them, placed the six kunai between his fingers and thanks to Kakashi's training he channeled his lightning chakra through them. The Uchiha then bolted in circles around Gaara's sphere, throwing the kunai. The sand stirred and rose to swat them away, but Sasuke threw his chakra into the wire to manipulate them to have the lightning infused blades to penetrate deep into the sand sphere.
The crowd watched in anticipation, Sasuke manipulated his kunai's like a fisherman casting his lines. He managed to wrap the ninja wire around the sphere and place the wire within his mouth. Sasuke's hands flew through the required hand seals until it landed on the tiger seal. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" Breathing fire along the ninja wire, the crowd would watch it rush forward in a straight line until it engulfed the sand sphere.
Spitting out the used wires, Sasuke couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction. Captured in a tightly enclosed space Gaara should have been roasted alive. It wasn't the win he wanted, but Sasuke would take it. His sense of satisfaction was quickly dashed when the smoke cleared to reveal molten glass crumbling onto the ground, being replaced by even more sand that was being formed from what looked like the inside of the sphere itself.
"How...how the hell is that possible?" Sasuke activated his Sharingan and saw that the sand sphere was being reformed by the ground itself. Not noticeable to the naked eye, but he was particles of sand being separated from the earth itself to reform the sand sphere. "Damn it, he can simply regenerate his stupid sphere until I run out of chakra. How is he surviving the heat and lack of air though?" He couldn't see anything with his Sharingan, but then again it was probably a jinchuriki thing that he didn't know about. "Fine, I didn't want to do this, but lightning defeats earth. I wanted to save this against my teammate, but you will do."
Applying chakra to his feet, the Uchiha ran up the side of the arena walls until he stopped at the highest point. The tomoes in his Sharingan spinning wildly, Sasuke's hands flashed through eleven hand seals until he landed on the monkey seal. Gripping his right wrist, he poured his lightning nature chakra until it came crackling to life with white lightning and the sound of a thousand chirping birds echoed throughout the arena.
"Holy shit. What kind of technique is that?" Kankuro exclaimed.
"That looks like..." Naruto not so subtly placed his hand on the area between his stomach and heart was. He could never forget about a technique that ended his life the first time.
"The Chidori, holy crap." Ishikawa rubbed his eyes, he could barely believe what he was seeing.
Hayate looked towards the deceased Chunin, this was the first time he had ever seen his fellow specter look so spooked. "I guess that technique brought back some bad memories."
"I was only a kid during The Third Great Shinobi War. I saw a lot of casualties from that horrible conflict, the worst was seeing my old man coming home in a body bag with a hole in his chest." The deceased Kamizuru turned towards the Special Jonin. "I saw Blondie's memories, they were the exact same wounds. My little sister never had a chance to meet him, and my two brothers never forgave the guy who did it."
"I'm sorry, I can only compare it to losing comrades." Nothing else had to be said, nothing else could be said.
Back in the arena, Sasuke was focusing his attention down in the arena where his opponent was. He gritted his teeth and pumped chakra into his legs and bolted towards Gaara. The Chidori tore a long scar along the wall and the ground as he made his way towards his opponent, the sand came to life and tried to impale the Uchiha, it was only thanks to his Sharingan that he was able to miss the sand spears by mere centimeters. "Chidori!" Sasuke rammed his lightning covered fist into the sand sphere, slicing into it like a hot knife through butter.
The silence was deafening, the team from Sunagakure looked on in horrified disbelief. Gaara was said to have the ultimate defense, nothing had ever pierced it ever since he had been a little kid. But Sasuke exploited his lightning chakra's natural penetration properties and punctured through the sand like it was nothing.
"AAAAHHHH! MY BLOOD!" The silence was broken by Gaara's horrifying scream of pain and panic. Sasuke barely managed to pull his arm out of the sand sphere and backpedal away as a grotesque clawed arm made of sand with blue markings burst from the hole Sasuke made.
"This will not do. Time for Plan B." Hidden within the crowd, a one-eyed Kabuto placed his hand in the tiger hand seal before whispering. "Nirvana Temple Jutsu." Seconds later the entire arena was engulfed in what looked like white dove feathers.
"What the hell?" Kiba looked up and saw the feathers. "Hey Kurenai-sensei...what is goin'...on...uhhh..." He then slumped over in his seat with Akamaru falling asleep next to him. Seconds later many other shinobi and civilians began to fall asleep where they sat.
"Genjutsu!" Kurenai was the first to notice it. Placing her hands in the tiger seal, she channeled her chakra and disrupted the technique. "Release!" She was soon joined by her fellow Jonin, and thanks to Hinata both her and Tenten managed to escaped the technique as well. Kiba and Ino however weren't so lucky.
Down in the competitor's booth Hayate's eyes widened. "It's happening. Naruto! The siblings!"
"I see them! We need to get to the arena now!" Without waiting to see or hear a response Naruto jumped through the open space after Kankuro and Temari. He landed next to Sasuke who was holding his slightly bleeding right arm. "You okay teme?"
"I'm fine dobe, the damage is superficial." Getting to his feet Sasuke glared at the sand siblings as the sand sphere fell to the ground to reveal Gaara clutching his bloody right shoulder. "What's going on? My Sharingan is picking up a massive genjutsu."
"We're being invaded." As soon as he said that, there were several loud explosions that rocked the village. "How much do you have left in the tank?"
"I got plenty more chakra to spare, but I can only use the Chidori one more time today."
"Now that is a very cool jutsu. I'm jealous."
"I'm not teaching it to you, it's mine." Sasuke said with a smirk on his face.
"Like I want it, I can barely make a fireball. What makes you think I can use anything lightning related?" Naruto replied before he brought his hand to Handanryoku's hilt. "All right game plan. What do you got?"
"Kankuro has a full tank and a puppet with a lot of unknown weapons at his disposal. Your former opponent doesn't have her fan anymore, and my opponent is wounded, but unstable." Sasuke took several seconds before glancing at his teammate. "I hate to say this, but can you take Gaara? Your unique skills might be a better match against him."
"And who are you going to take?" The blonde asked.
"I'll take the puppet-user and the girl. If I take him out first I can take her down in a minute." Sasuke said.
"I don't think so." Shino suddenly appeared next to them. "Kankuro was my opponent, I have a right to fight him."
Gaara snarled at the three of them, sand whirled around him like a tornado. It actually pushed both Temari and Kankuro away from him, the jinchuriki howled in fury as the sand engulfed his entire upper right side. Blue vein-like markings covered that entire half of his face and chest, the pupils were a dull yellow while the iris was pitch black, and his ear resembled that of a tanuki's. The same monstrous arm that tried to tear Sasuke apart replaced his arm.
"Die...all of you will die!" Gaara screamed. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Inhaling air into his mouth Gaara let loose a terrible windstorm that struck the three Genin head on. Sasuke and Shino hit the arena wall with a terrible crack, Naruto however was blown away and went crashing, in all places the Kage viewing box.
"Ow...fucking Gaara. This is the second time I got blasted by a wind justsu...fucking ow." Naruto groused out in pain. Slowly getting to his feet he soon became aware that his entire back was wet, looking at the source he saw that it was freshly spilled blood. One black-haired, blue-eyed Leaf shinobi in the standard attire laid dead with his throat slashed, the other one had a weal-like scar on his face, running across the bridge of his nose and down across the left side of his face. He also had brown spiky hair, dark eyes and wore the standard attire of Leaf shinobi with the exception of black bandages and metal rings on his fingers. He had several kunai buried in his flak vest.
"Kid...ugh listen to me, Hokage-sama...he's facing Orochimaru!" Raido coughed out when he saw Naruto's masked face. "Go get help...Orochimaru is..." The older man lost consciousness.
The old man was going to fight Orochimaru. Naruto's eyes widened behind his Hannya mask. One of his targets wasn't too far from him and he was after his grandfather figure. This was an ample opportunity to fulfill one of the Shinigami's requirements. "Yea, I understand."
"Blondie, you're not doing what I think you're doing. Listen this is a Sannin you're going after, with the Hokage or not by your side it's still impossible...and you've run off. Dammit kid." Ishikawa sighed in dismay when his charge went running out of the booth and towards the roof. Unfortunately he was blocked by three masked robed figures, two in in black and one in white, they stood in front of some sort purple barrier.
"What the hell is going on here?" Naruto asked the cloaked figures. He saw the Hokage and what looked like the Kazekage standing across from each other. It did not escape his mind that Sasuke and the others were down in the arena with Gaara and his siblings, but he also had to remember that there were other shinobi out there. He knew Kakashi-sensei wouldn't let anything happen to his teammate.
"What does it look like kid? Hokage-sama was betrayed by the Kazekage, his bodyguards trapped them in this barrier." The white cloaked, dog masked Anbu Captain said.
"Well what are you waiting for? You're supposed to be the Anbu or something right? Can't you guys bust through it or something?" Naruto demanded.
The first black cloaked Anbu member wearing what looked like a deer mask gestured towards a black cloaked body that looked like it was set on fire. "That's what will happen if we get any closer kid. Kaba (hippo) learned that the hard way."
The final black cloaked Anbu member wearing some sort of bird mask looked at the barrier. "There is absolutely nothing we can do."
"Bullshit! You just watch I'm gonna get in there any make you all look like idiots!" Running down the building, Naruto's hands flashed through six seals before it landed on the tiger hand seal. "Earth Style: Stone Fist Jutsu!" When he reached the ground the blonde plunged his right arm into the ground, pulling it out it was encased in rock all the way up to his elbow.
"Kid what are you going to do? That jutsu I used was only good for giving someone a heak of a right hook!" Ishikawa yelled at him.
"Ishi you should know me better by now!" To the dead Stone Chunin's surprised he watched his young ward punch through the wall of the building. He then literally jumped and bashed through the ceilings, busting through the floors until he smashed through the roof, coincidentally he burst next to the Hokage himself.
"Naruto?" Hiruzen obviously did not anticipate his village's jinchuriki busting through the roof, especially with his right arms encased in rock. "I don't know what you're doing, but I need you to retreat! That is not the Kazekage it's-"
"Orochimaru, I know." Naruto clenched his fist seeing the pale face of the Snake Sannin in the Kazekage robes. "And I don't care, he's on the list. I've been training very hard, with the Kyuubi's chakra and you being a badass, we can cut the head off this invasion." He then activated his Kurashagan, and prepared to use Jagan to the best of his abilities, there was no way he was going to hold back any longer.
Orochimaru gave both Leaf shinobi a wide, snake-like smirk. Removing the Kazekage's hat off his head to reveal his full face his snake-like eyes flashed in a predatory manner. "The Gods are smiling on me today. Both the Kyuubi jinchuriki and the Hokage, this village will fall after I dispose the both of them."
"Oh no. Oh no, no, no." Inari exclaimed when he started to see shinobi start killing each other.
"This is not good." Susanoo agreed.
"Humans, they never learn." Tsukuyomi frowned in disapproval with both Fujin and Raijin nodding in agreement.
"Shinigami, I am so sorry about this." Amaterasu looked towards him, pity and sadness clear on her face.
"It's apart of my job, ugh...I just so glad I get their files upon death." It was just apart of his realm, he had to judge the souls and send them. This was going to be one hell of a doozy though, with his already large workload he had to deal with this. Turning towards the screen, he eyes both Naruto and Hiruzen facing off against Orochimaru. "Be careful boy. If you die I won't be able to bring you back."
Armageddon: Well folks, I'm a tad bit late on the ball here, but I think you all won't mind me giving you all a happy Christmas gift this year. I do hope you all have a good holiday!