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TheWateringWizard- I'm replacing the mystery of who Naruto's dad is with a mystery of who his brother is and the sword Naruto uses belonged to his brother before he died. All I'm going to say for now is It's he's not Naruto's biological, he adopted him when Naruto was six and Naruto doesn't know his real identity since he's an ANBU going by the name of 'Kitsune'.
Chapter 9: Preliminaries - Part 3
Naruto watched as the last of the cleaning crew left the arena after fixing it. He still couldn't get the bloody form of Lee out of his head, he knew Gaara was strong but strong enough to break Lee, the student of Might Guy, was unbelievable. He's seen what Lee can do and this red headed boy treated him like a toy and then threw him away when he was bored.
The blue eyed boy was so lost in thought, he completely missed the next match-up and Kiba's yell of triumph, until Kakashi tapped him on the head with his book before pocketing it again.
"Naruto, your match has been called." Kakashi said to his student, who turned his head to look at the board.
'So I'm up against dog-breath huh? This should be interesting.' He though as a mischievous grin came to his face that send a shiver down everybody he's pranked before's spines. Turning his head to an unnerved Kakashi, he put on an innocent face that would fool most.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei, I seem to have ran out of kunai. Would you mind letting me borrow you're weapon pouch for a while?" He asked and Kakashi could only nod while sweating bullets at the tone Naruto used when introducing plans for some new inventions. Because his attention was on hoping Naruto would show mercy on his opponent, Kakashi completely missed the prankster taking of the pouch on his right leg and jumping down to the arena.
Facing his opponent with cock grin, Kiba pulled his ninja hound, Akamaru, out of his jacket and placed him on the ground. "Why don't you just give up now idiot, it will save both of us some time and you a lot of pain!" the brown haired boy exclaimed only making the red tip haired boy's face light up in a face splitting grin.
Looking between the two boys, Hayate got ready to begin the match. "Are both contestants ready?" He asked to which both boys nodded their heads and moved into their respective stances, Kiba getting on all fours and Naruto bringing his right arm to the newly acquired pouch. "Begin!" He exclaimed before jumping away.
Seeing Naruto flip open his weapon pouch and putting his hand in, Kiba got ready to dodge kunai and shuriken but fell over when he pulled out an orange book title Icha Icha Paradise and began reading.
:-:
Up in the stands Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise as he looked down to see the pouch he always uses to store his book in was gone, everyone soon began to follow Kakashi's example of widening their eyes when they heard someone laughing their gut out, that's not what was surprising though since almost all the adult shinobi let out a small laugh. What was surprising was who the source of laughter was, standing next to Kakashi pointing to the arena, clutching his stomach and tears in his eyes was Sasuke Uchiha, Sharingan active to forever remember the reaction of everyone in the room.
:-:
Back in the arena Naruto gave a small chuckle when he heard Sasuke's full blown laughter while Kiba was flabbergasted that his opponent pulled out a book when he was supposed to be fighting him. Shock quickly turned to anger and he charged at his opponent.
Naruto seeing Kiba charge at him out of the corner of his eye just tilted his body back and fell, but when his back hit the ground he was enveloped in a swirl of black and the next second he was nowhere to be found. Naruto however looked at the crystal filled abyss around him, this was his realm, a world created by a bloodline he activated when he found out his brother died, he was 10 years old back then.
Floating around the abyss the blond went from crystal to crystal, each one connected to a different shadow in the real one. He noticed that when he came back from his mission to Wave Country the distance he could travel using the Shadows drastically increased. Finally finding a suitable spot to jump back into the arena, Naruto placed his hand on the crystal and warped out of the abyss.
Back in the arena everyone stared wide-eyed at the ground where Naruto fell through the ground. Kiba just stood confused and began looking around.
"Where the hell did you run off to, loser?" He yelled as he couldn't pick up on the blonde's sent or hear him anywhere. Hearing Akamaru yelp in surprise behind him, he spun around and saw Naruto in the shadow of the viewing platform pinning the white dog to the ground and still reading his orange book.
"Where the hell were you?" Kiba asked baffled that his opponent completely disappeared from his senses then just reappear like it was nothing.
Naruto, following the example of his sensei, looked up from the book boredly and answered with two eyesmiles, which freaked everybody out.
"Oh, I was just around."
Infuriated by the simple answer, Kiba charged the blond who forgot about his captive and flared his chakra, accidently pushing a surprised Akamaru into his Shadowrealm. Kiba came to a complete halt as he saw his partner disappear.
Naruto just looked between the ground where the dog was held and Kiba with wide eyes, his shock quickly turned to embarrassment as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head and looked to a sweating Kakashi.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei, now would probably be the best time to test if other things can survive in the Shadows, huh?" he asked while ignoring Kiba's scream of fear and anger.
"I would say so, Naruto." The jounin replied to his student who was again enveloped by the shadows and disappeared once again.
When Naruto opened his eyes he looked around and saw a whimpering Akamaru slowly being enveloped by crystals.
"No! Stop it!" Naruto exclaimed and to his amazement, and Akamaru's relieve, the crystals stopped and began pulling itself of the dog. Slowly making his way to Akamaru, Naruto took him in his arms and again exited to the arena.
"Sorry buddy, I didn't mean to scare you like that." Naruto said as he rubbed the scared dog's fur.
Kiba was relieved when he saw Naruto holding Akamaru in one hand and tried to grab him but was intercepted by Naruto who quickly jumped away.
"He may be safe Kiba, but we're still fighting so I'll hand onto him for now." Naruto said as he made a Shadow clone to hold the ninja hound. "It's just you and me now." He continued and pulled his book back out with one hand and made a 'come here' motion with the other. 'This book is actually good, I'll have to get my own copy later.' He thought before jumping out of the way of another attack from Kiba.
"Stop running away, loser!" Kiba yelled as Naruto kept jumping out of the way of his attacks.
Naruto just sighed and grabbed Kiba's arm when he tried to punch him, he then kicked the Inuzuka in the stomach sending him reeling back. Naruto followed up with a leg sweep before punching the falling boy in the side, sending him flying into the opposite wall.
Kiba got up and charged Naruto again but to his surprise the blond disappeared in a puff of smoke and he stopped only realizing his mistake when he heard Naruto's voice from behind him.
"You know, Kiba. The first lesson my Sensei taught me was to never let your opponent get behind him. Anyway I'm getting bored so let's finish this with the strongest jutsu Kakashi-sensei ever used on me." Naruto explained in a bored tone.
"Hidden Leaf Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years Of Pain!"
:-:
Up in the stands, Gai was staring wide eyed at Kakashi. "My Eternal Rival, how could you teach your student the only triple S-rank jutsu in the Hidden Leaf Village? And you call me irresponsible for teaching Lee-kun to open the gates!" He yelled, causing everyone to stare in either fear, awe or surprise at this supposed jutsu that could kill the brown haired boy. Until they saw what happened next, that is.
:-:
Kiba could only stare on in fear as Naruto's finger inched closer to him, then pain overtook his entire body starting from his taint. The last thing he remembered before darkness overtook him was flying through the air and crashing into a fall again.
"Winner: Naruto Uzumaki." Hayate called after picking his face of the ground.
:-:
As Naruto reached the top of the stairs, he saw Sasuke rolling on the ground with laughter and Hinata covering her face trying, and failing, to hide her own laughter. When he looked at Kakashi he was surprised to find the man with tears falling from his eyes which he swore held pride in them.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei, here's your book back." He said as he held his hand out with the cyclops's pouch gripped in it. But was further surprised when his sensei pushed his arm back.
"Keep it, you seem to enjoy it and I have two more copies." The Silver haired man said with pride as he watched his student blush and wipe a crimson stream from his nose before he pocketed the book.
Everyone who knew the perverted nature of team 7's sensei, put their hands together and disrupted their chakra to dispel any Genjutsu.
:-:
After the medic-nins carried Kiba off in a stretcher the board called off the names of the only genin that haven't fought yet.
"Hinata Hyuuga vs Neji Hyuuga." The procter called as Neji already started descending the stairs.
Naruto saw Hinata stiffen at the name of her opponent being called and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"You okay Hina-Chan?" He asked worried.
"I-I d-don't think I c-can win t-this f-fight. I-I'm n-not a-as strong as y-you N-Naruto-kun." She stuttered out, tears threating to spill from her eyes.
"Hina-Chan, the only reason I didn't struggle much and won my fight against Kiba was because he has a temper issue and I used it against him. Of course my superior speed and bloodline helped a bit, but it was mainly using my opponent's weakness against them. I'm sure you can do the same with your cousin." He reassured causing Hinata to give a small smile.
"O-Okay, I-I'll do my b-best N-Naru-kun." She said missing Naruto's smile as she rushed to the arena.
:-:
Facing her cousin, Hinata could feel her small boost of confidence from Naruto slowly disappearing. Resolving herself to try her best, she looked Neji in the eyes with a determination that surprised the male Hyuuga.
"Give up Hinata-Sama. Fate has declared you a failure the day you were born. You will never be able to beat me." Neji said with venom as he took up the traditional Gentle Fist stance of the Hyuuga clan.
"N-No. I w-will win t-this match, N-Neji-niisan." She replied as she activated her Byakugan and went into the same stance, with the right arm with an open palm stretched out and the left arm coiled at the hip with a closed fist the right leg forward and the left leg pulled back, as her had.
Seeing the two Genin were ready to fight, Hayate began the match and jumped back to observe the impending battle.
"Begin!"
As the match began, Hinata charged her cousin and engaged him in a Taijutsu bout. A palm strike to his shoulder was blocked and countered with a strike to her abdomen. As she felt the blow connect she stumbled back and coughed up some blood before regaining her composure and retaking her stance.
Taking out three Senbon, Hinata threw them with pinpoint accuracy hoping for atleast one of the needles to hit their targeted pressure points but to her dismay Neji merely grabbed them out of the air and threw them back at her as she barley dodged the projectiles.
"To think you would go so low as to rely on weapons to beat me. You truly are a disgrace to the Hyuuga, Hinata-Sama." Neji spat as he charged at the unsuspecting heiress.
Neji went for a palm strike to Hinata stomach but she blocked and retaliated with a leg sweep which he simply jumped over, missing a following kick that made its way to his chest and sent him tumbling backward. Getting up Neji barley dodged a strike to his chest and took the painful chakra infused attack on his left shoulder, effectively closing the chakra pathways in the male Hyuuga's arm.
"I'll admit you're better than I thought, but it is still your destiny to lose here and mine to win!" Neji declared before activating his Byakugan and charging at Hinata for a second time. Feinting a punch, which Hinata went to block, Neji swept his opponents feet out from under her and struck the right leg of her falling form, closing her tenketsu and sending her crashing into the floor.
"An *cough* eye for an eye*cough*, huh *cough* Neji." Hinata joked, clutching her leg in pain.
Eyeing her opponent Hinata began to form a few handseals, took a deep breath and called, "Water Release: Water Bullet" before a ball of water shot out of her mouth and hit a unsuspecting Neji in the stomach and making him skid back a few meters and clutch his abdomen in pain.
Neji after recovering, barley blocked a kick to his head and retaliated with his own kick to Hinata's left knee, knocking it out from under her which caused her to fall to her knees. Seeing an opening in his downed opponent, Neji struck her left arm with a chakra infused palm strike, immobilizing it, and went for a kick to her head.
Hinata, seeing Neji's incoming kick, pulled out a Senbon and jammed it in a pressure point in her opponents right knee, making him lose his balance and missing the kick giving Hinata the opening to close the tenketsu in Neji's other leg causing temporary paralysis in both legs.
Seeing as they both now had no way to retreat they struck at each other with the gentle fist while kneeling on the floor, each hoping to gain the upper hand in their battle. It went on for a few minutes, where both opponents either dealt, blocked or received a strike, until both Neji and Hinata struck at their opponents neck, effectively rendering both opponents to lose consciousness.
Jumping down into the arena to check on the combatants, Hayate declared the match a tie. Jumping up to the Hokage he asked, "Hokage-Sama, what should we do with Neji Hyuuga and Hinata Hyuuga?"
Thinking for a few moments the aged Hokage answered, "They both showed great skill in their battle, Neji as a superior Taijutsu user as his opponent and Hinata as a superior Ninjutsu and weapons user as Neji. I say we pass them both onto the final round because I believe them both to have quite a lot more to show us."
Nodding his head and bowing to the Hogake, Hayate went to make the arrangements for the final rounds while the Hokage stepped forward and gained everyone's attention.
"I thank you all for participating in the Chunnin Exams and would like to congratulate the finalists on a job well done. I would also like to inform you that although you did not make it to the finals during the preliminaries, that does not take away from your chances at being promoted, your sensei's has observed your matches and it is up to them to inform you respective Kages of your current skill as well as recommend you for the rank of Chunnin. That is all I wish to say, everyone is dismissed but I ask that the finalist stay to find out who they would be up against in the finals." He announced before making his way down to arena where all the finalists, minus Neji and Hinata who is being transported to the Konoha Hospital for the damages done during their fight.
"Okay, you will all draw a slip from this box and call your number to determine who you whould be fighting in the final exam." Hayate announced as he passed all the participants with a box to grab a slip from, before giving it to Gai and Kakashi to draw for their students in their place.
"1!" Called Gai for Neji
"2" Called Naruto with a scowl on his face. During the fight that Neji guy really grinded on his nerves.
"3" Called Kankurō
"4" Called Gaara, causing Kankurō to pale
"5" Called Shikamaru
"6" Called Tamari
"7"Called Sasuke
"8" Called Shino
"9" Called Ino
"10" Called Kakashi for Hinata
"11" Called Dosu
"Okay so the fights will be as follows:
Match 1 -Neji Hyuuga vs Naruto Uzumaki
Match 2 -Sabaku no Kankurō vs Sabaku no Gaara
Match 3- Shikamaru Nara vs Sabaku no Temari
Match 4-Sasuke Uchiha vs Shino Aburame
Match 5-Ino Yamanaka vs Hinata Hyuuga
Dosu gets a free pass to the second round. Meet at the stadium in a months' time. Dismissed." Morino Ibiki, procter of the first test announced.
Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I tried to give Hinata a little character development in her fight with Neji by making her tie with him. From now is where my story slightly changes from the canon story.
Anyway, if you have any questions then please ask ahead . This is The_Dovabean signing of.
Bye.