Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Living Behind a Mask ❯ Training Month & The Finals ( Chapter 5 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

By: Specula

A/N: Yo! I'm back after finishing my latest chapter of the Biju series. Ok, it seems once again, I overlooked some details. One, No one likes Naruto for who he is in this fic. Sarutobi, Iruka and the old man at the Ramen store just feel sorry for him. According to Naruto's personality in this fic, pity is worse than hating him. What does he have left in this village? Sasuke. Everyone treats Sasuke with respect, but only because of his family name and they feel sorry for him. The fan girls are pissing him off to no end. What does he have left in this village? Naruto. See where I'm going with this? Also, Jiraiya will still take on Naruto as his apprentice just for a bit because in this story, Jiraiya feels he's failed Arashi and let Naruto's mind rot, so he's trying a last ditch attempt to fix it. Also, I've discovered a major discrepancy between the anime and manga. In the manga, regualar chakra is YELLOW in colour, not blue like it is in the anime. How would I know? Check the issue where Jiraiya first talks to Naruto about Kyubi. Naruto says it himself. Just a reminder, this fic will only REALLY be concerntraiting on Naruto and Sasuke's parts of the story until after the time skip, which will be soon, possibly within the next 3 or 4 chapters. After the time skip, other people will come into play more prominent roles than they do now. ATM, I'm pretty much cutting all unnecesary things that don't relate to Naruto and Sasuke's actions. Please read the bottom A/N, as they contain a personal request to my reviewers. As a warning, anyone who repeatedly ignores the request will not have their reviews answered. It's not a huge request, mainly just an attempt to keep the AN of each chapter to a manageable size.

OMG, GROSS!: I have an announcement to make. I officially hate the Naruto anime until the fillers end. The new ending song is absolutely atrocious. And do you know what they're portraying Lee to be doing next episode? He's finally turned to the dark side and become a homosexual. Target? Naruto. That's what I could gleen from the trailer. There's not much else that someone asking someone to 'be their first' could mean without having homosexual intentions. I really don't want to download the next episode. Can someone download it for me, and tell me if Lee really does mean... You know? If he doesn't, which I have a sinking suspicion he won't, please tell me ONLY that he's not homosexual, not the story line of the episode. Thanks!

Also, this chapter will feature Naruto learning the Rasengan and the basics of Hiraishin before the finals. Want to cry saying 'Naruto could never learn that much in that much time'? Don't. In the anime/manga Naruto learnt the first stage of Rasengan in less than 72 hours. And he had no clue what he was supposed to be doing until 30 or so seconds before he completed it, which means he did it first try once he knew. The second stage took him 8 days to learn when he also had no clue until the last try. The last part took him 7 to 9 days, it's uncertain as to the exact amount, but it's somewhere inbetween that. Once again, once he understood how to do it, he did it first try. Technically, I could have him learn it in three goes, one of each step, if he was a super genius of Itachi's level and it'd still be logically sound. Rasengan isn't actually that tough a jutsu if you think about it. I'm not that cruddy though, so he will learn the Rasengan in 6 days. Don't like it? Then you can't accept logic. Hell, if you don't like it, don't even read! Simple! As for Hiraishin, he'll learn the basics of it, such as the concept and also what the special kunais are made of and how to make them, but he won't understand how to execute it for a while, probably several years. It maight actually take less time, but by the time he makes his first appearance after the time skip, he'll have learnt it, with some slight modifications to suit him. He won't be able to do it in time for the finals though, as I'm not going to have Naruto suddenly turn into an unbeatable powerhouse before he even faces Itachi and Kisame. Now that's out of the way, time for the comments/suggestions/reviews:

Kyuubi-Sama: Hmmm? Want to know? If you use your imagination, I'm sure you could guess. Everyone who has a lvl 2 cursed seal turns them more into what they appear to be or what their moves involve. Jibouro is a huge guy who uses power, and his form bulks up his muscles and makes him lose fat, which none of the others do. Kidoumaru gains a third eye, making him get closer to the number of eyes a spider has, Tayuya summons demons, and so she grows horns, Sakon is a duel headed, duel bodied parasitic sadistic bastard, and he manifests into a demon like form, Kimimaro, a self labled monster, grows a tail and extrudes bones everywhere, Sasuke is willing to sell his soul to satan, so he grows huge demonic wings. Care to have a guess as to what Naruto's going to look like? If you can't, then you'll just have to wait and see! :P

Conceptor: Well, the Sand/Sound invasion is going ahead as planned, but it will still be cut short for the same reason it was in the official story. After all, wouldn't be much fun if the second Sasuke got there, Orochimaru takes over his body, would it? Also, like in my Bijus story, I'm NOT going to have Naruto learn to summon frogs. Frogs and Naruto REALLY don't go togther in this story, after all, they could snitch on Naruto when Jiraiya summons them after he does. Foxes it shall be. The way Naruto will sign the contract will be a little different to my last story, and slightly less believable, but it's the only way I can think of to get Naruto to sign the damn thing. Basically, they'll both fight Gaara as per usual, but when Gaara goes full Tanuki form, Kyubi will drag Naruto down and demand he sign the contract, more to save her own hide than his. During this chapter, Naruto will learn the Rasengan instead of the summoning technique during the training.

MasterSprtn117: Well, if you really want to know, it's probably because a group of us don't like Yaoi. Also, female vixens in human forms have a reputation for being... Very seductive, to say the least, even outside the Naruto-verse. Chuck the fact that she's queen of the demons into the mix, and you got yourself one hell of a temptress. No need to explain further.

firareth3: I've sent your answer via PM.

Dragon Noir: The first part of your answer is at the top of this chapter. As for the pair going to Ocochimaru for power, I might have them start with him, ditch him and go on to learn from others. You know, come to think of it, each village is relatively weak. They concerntraite on only one type of elemental jutsu, while Nukenins can learn them all. Nukenins also aren't forced to conform to their own villages social and fighting standards. Hyugas and Uchihas are forced to learn their family Taijutsu styles. Both are very effective, but they both have huge weknesses. What better way to create the ultimate taijutsu style than to fine the best parts from a wide range of them and work for several years to blend them into your own style, which no one can counter? This is why I belive Nukenins are so strong. The 'pain' of being alone really does help you develop true strength, it would seem. Naruto's not an exception to this rule. He relys on a beings power that would rather kill itself than fight for another, but since it's stuck in Naruto's stomach, it doesn't have much of a choice than to help the boy. About the Kyubi holding back the seal, what would you say if the Kyubi didn't want to? After all, it helps turn him into a REAL monster, and frightens the shit out of people, which is what she wants to do. In essence, she's living her life through Naruto, training him to be able to finish the job she couldn't. The only thing about the seal she's going to stop is it erroding his free will. But your idea is a suitable one in theory, however, finding a believable way of turing it into reality will be tough. Very tough. No one's been able to fix the cursed seal before. But then again, from what I can work out, they're not even trying. Anko doesn't even have an evil sealing method on her cursed seal. Kyubi's no medical expert, but I'll see what I can get her to come up with. I'll let you in on a secret. Kyubi's secretly modifying his growth to turn him into her ide of a perfect 'mate'. Cursed Seal lvl 2's going to help as well. And for the love of kami, don't use that jutsu again. It's too cute...

Dragoon Knight: Um... Let me check... 'checks description'. Sure seems it. As explained last chapter, I REFUSE to have an underage relationship in any of my fics. You'll just have to wait until after where the manga time skip would be for the real action to start.

Chibi Strawberry: Go FemKyuxNaru! Best pairing out there besides FemDemon Container OC x Naruto! Anywho, glad you like it.

Ashen Rose: Ah, if it isn't my new favorite reviewer! Well, if you think they're scary, you should check out the nartuofan forums and check out the blackgai fan club. As the name suggests, its a well... African/American Gai. Not that I'm saying I'm racist, not by a long shot, I'm just saying that I'm used to the Gai from the Anime/Manga. When you look at the picture, you expect caucasian skin, but then you see very dark coloured skin, and you're eyes do a quick retake. It's really just a guy cosplaying. Hats off to him though, but the number of people in the fan club is quite startling. Next question: Well, take a guess as to what Hinata did against Neji's ultimate jutsu, the boring monologue of doom. 'Thanks to the fan club for the name, I've done a tribute in this chapter to you!' She quit before the fight started. The other matches were the same result as they were in the Manga/Anime. I don't think either of them will want to go back to the Leaf after they leave. Killing Itachi will be very close to the end of this story. Basically, Naruto and Sasuke's life goals are this: 1: Get power from anyone they can. 2: Kill Orochimaru. 3: Kill Akasuki. There's a possible final one, which is to get rid of Konoha, but that will depend on Konoha's reaction to them leaving. Should Konoha leave them alone, they'll leave the leaf alone. They constantly pester them, they'll eventually destroy it. This decision I'll leave up to you guys in a vote, which will be up shortly. Well, why didn't they send any other Chunin or Jounin in the anime/manga? Konoha's shinobi resources were stretched thin, and that was the best they could do. I'm going to have Kakashi back them up, which is what'll make them use their Cursed Seal forms. The girls and Shino could never manage that, but Kakashi is a different story. As for Naruto's match with Gaara, it's coming next chapter. Naruto will still change Gaara's view on life, but it'll be subtly different to the way it was done in the manga. I had a HELL of a time figuring out how to do that, but I think it works. Find out next chapter. No, Naruto wasn't there. Shikamaru stopped him long enough to get Gai's attention like during the real anime/manga. He broke up the fight. Jiraiya? Well, he'll probably go back to the normal things, but he'll probably give up writing perverted novels because his guilt from not being able to stop Naruto weighs on his mind. Rasengan Naruto learns this chapter.

Dobe-Teme: Well, as answered in Ashen Rose's reply, yeah, Hinata gave up before it started. As for beating the shit out of Neji, hell yes. I've made Naruto convey my own theory, which gave him all the fuel he needed.

wolv youkai: I'm not sure. The only reason I think Orochimaru has done one seal at a time is because there's never been two people to mark at once. I'll do a bit of research into it and see if you're right.

To all the others: Thanks for the reviews!

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Legend:

'...thoughts...'

“...normal talk...”

'...Biju thoughts...'

“...Biju Speaking...”

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Living Behind a Mask:

Chapter 4:

Training Month & the Finals:

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A Few Days Later, Outside a Heavily Guarded Hospital Room:

Naruto and Sasuke had been placed in the same room under heavy guard. Kabuto had broken in once, but had been foiled by Kakashi, although the sneeky sound nin had actually escaped. Kakashi had no idea what to do. He knew he should train them, but both at once would be a serious handful. Sasuke's sytle suited his own, plus having a set of Sharingan helped. He decided there was only one man who could help Naruto, and Kakashi had overheard two very angry woman saying a man of simmilar discription to the man in Kakashi's mind had been spotted peeking into the local women's hotsprings, just the sort of thing this man was known to do. Kakashi planned a clever ruse ask Ebisu to teach Naruto the water walking exercise at the hotsprings, claiming Naruto hadn't leant it yet, which was very easily believable. He hopped that Naruto's real teacher would be there to take over, although he would have loved to see the initial exchange between them. Taking Sasuke from his bed the moment the Uchiha woke up, they dissapeared for a month, with no word from either of them. When Naruto woke up, he saw a note from Kakashi saying he'd taken Sasuke to train, and that he'd found him an even better teacher than he could be, explaining that he would be here shortly after he alerted the hospital staff he was awake. Naruto sighed, pressed the buzzer and saw a very angry looking nurse storm in, just managing to keep herself from asking what the 'demon' wanted. Naruto stared cooly at her, betraying no emotions.

“Where is he?”

The nurse had no clue what he was talking about, but decided he must be talking about Sasuke.

“Uchiha-San was-”

“I don't mean Sasuke, I mean my new 'Sesnei'.”

The nurse really had no clue what the boy was on about when the door opened, revealing the Tokubetsu Jounin, Ebisu. Naruto sighed.

'How the hell could Kakashi possibly think this closet pervert is way better than him?'

'I can tell you right now he's not. His power levels are way below Kakashi's.'

'Think Kakashi's got a trick up his sleave?'

'Possibly, kit.'

Naruto got out of bed, finding he was still in his clothes. He stared at Ebisu.

“Let's get moving.I don't know what Kakashi-Sensei couldn't teach me that you could, but I want to see.”

Ebisu was used to this kind of rudeness from Konohamaru, but coming from the demon, it was unacceptable.

“You will address me as Ebisu-Sensei-”

“I'll address you by that title if you actually manage to teach me something I don't already know. If you can't, you're not really a teacher, are you?”

Ebisu hated to admit it, but the boy had a point. You couldn't really call someone a teacher if they didn't teach you something you didn't know. Luckily, Ebisu was confident.

“Very well. Let's go to the hot springs.”

Once they arrived there, Ebisu walked towards the hotspring.

“We're going to learn water walking.”

Naruto facefaulted, but got up and started leaving. Ebisu was puzzled.

“Were are you going, Naruto? Don't you want to get stronger?”

“I won't be fooling around with you. I already know water walking.”

“Prove it.”

Naruto stopped. He really hated when people underestimated him, so he stormed back, and continued storming onto the water, much to Ebisu's dismay.

“Happy now?”

Naruto picked up a faint giggling noise from his left. He turned to see a white haired old man giggling as he looked through a hole that led to the women's baths. Naruto saw his opportunity to get rid of his arrogant 'teacher'. Naruto pointed.

“That old man is commiting a shameless act! Stop him!”

Naturally, Ebisu took the bait. He ran at the man, screaming about people commiting shamelsss acts in his presense. The old man turned around and summoned a frog. Naruto became interested in this. The frog smacked Ebisu with it's tongue, knocking the man out cold. Naruto knew he was weak, but this was a joke. Naruto looked up at the man in interest. Suddnely, something clicked.

'White hair... Perverted... Frogs...'

“Jiraiya?”

The man looked at the kid who was staring at him oddly. He smiled.

“That's me! Let me introduce myself!”

Jiraiya struck a dramatic pose, and started his long winded speech on how he falls for no women's feinie whiles, and that he was the legendary sennin of some mountain or other. By the time Jiraiya, had finished, he saw the boy was asleep. Jiraiya sweat dropped. He smacked the boy on the head, waking up with a start. Naruto looked around in mock grogginess.

“Huh? What time is it?”

“How much of that did you hear?”

Naruto looked at him, rubbing his eyes for effect.

“Up to the part where you said your name.”

Jiraiya face faulted. He'd heard absolutely nothing of it. Jiraiya sighed and turned his back to go.

“I'm off. Be a good kid and take him to the hospital.”

“I'm not doing anything for him.”

Jiraiya stopped and looked at Naruto.

“Why not?”

“Because he's just like the rest of the damn villagers. He thinks I'm nothing more than a piece of trash.”

Jiraiya looked at Naruto with full interest now.

“Why is that?”

“Why do you care? If I told you, you'd just act like the rest of them.”

“Try me.”

Naruto sighed. He knew this guy had a deep connection to Yondaime, so he went for it, hoping Jiraiya would be different than the rest.

“Yondaime sealed the Kyubi in me when I was born. The entire village needed something to take their anger out on, and they chose me. Almost all of them hate me, and a few pity me. However, only one actually accepts me. Frankly, I would have been happier if Yondaime let Kyubi finish the village off.”

Jiraiya was shocked to say the least. He had his suspicions, but what Naruto had just said confirmed it. What the hell had Sarutobi been doing? Naruto turned to leave.

“Naruto! Where are you going?”

“Why does it matter to you? If you have to know, I'm going to train.”

Jiraiya sighed. He decided he might as well go for it.

“What if I take over your training? I can teach you some cool jutsus.”

Naruto stopped and his ears perked at the word jutsu. Jiraiya smiled as Naruto turned around.

“What exactly did you have in mind?”

Jiraiya smiled and he hopped onto the roof.

“Take him to the hospital and then meet me near the waterfall several kilometres south of here!”

Jiraiya jumpled from building to building and the frog that had been sitting there the whole time poofed out of existance. Naruto dragged Ebisu unceremoniously to the hospital's front door and left him there before charging back to the meeting spot. Jiraiya was there as promised, peeking through some bushes giggling. Naruto walked up and stood over him, casting a shadow over Jiraiya's note book, causing him too look up to see Naruto standing over him. Jiraiya smiled uneasily and got up, leading Naruto over to the creek. Jiraiya looked at him.

“Have you ever used Kyubi's chakra before?”

Naruto suddenly shuddered.

“Yes.”

Jiraiya wanted to get an understanding of what happened so as to teach Naruto this jutsu the best way possible.

“What happened.”

Naruto looked sullen and put his head to the side.

“I... Don't want to talk about it...”

Jiraiya sighed, pushing for an answer.

“Come on, I need to know if I want to teach you this jutsu.”

“I.... Commited a massacre...”

This was not the answer he was expecting. Not by a long shot. It also didn't answer Jiraiya's question he had meant to ask, so he had to keep pushing.

“What did it feel like when you release the chakra? Describe everything. Leave out the bits of your actions, just describe what it felt like.”

“I felt so bloodthirsty... I also had no control over my actions or senses. I can't put the feeling into words...”

Jiraiya nodded.

“Were you experiencing any extreme emotions at the time you release it?”

“Yeah... I thought my brother had just died. He's the only one important to me. When I lost him, I didn't care what happened, I just wanted them dead. So I let Kyubi take over my body. When I regained control...”

“Ok, I get the idea. Well, it seems that for a transformation, you need to be experiencing extreme emotions, however, I think it's still possible to draw on Kyubi's chakra without being taken over.”

“I know, but I don't like doing it. I only do it if I have to.”

Jiraiya nodded, standing up.

“Alright, I'm going to teach you the Kuchiyose no Jutsu.”

“No thanks, I don't want to have anything to do with frogs.”

“But frogs are great! I mean, they're-”

“I'm sure they are. It's just what they symbolise that makes me want to have nothing to do with them.”

Jiraiya sighed. He had one idea left, but he doubted the boy could learn it in a month.

“What about this then?”

Jiraiya formed a spiraling ball of chakra on his left hand. Naruto recognised it immediately.

“Rasengan...”

Naruto thought over the pros and cons of learning the jutsu. The villagers would be severely pissed off that one of their almighty Yondaime's trademark justus had been past onto the 'demon boy', but it would come in handy for his goals in life. Naruto nodded.

“Sound's good.”

Jiraiya sat back down.

“We'll need some training materials. Get me a small number of water ballons.”

Naruto nodded and headed into town again, finally finding a place that would let him buy the damn things, even if it was at 3 times the normal price. It was a small price to pay for learning a powerful jutsu. Naruto returned with the water ballons. Jiraiya filled one up with water from the river and held it in his palm.

“Naruto, you remember when I showed you the full Rasengan right?”

Naruto nodded.

“What did you see?”

Naruto thought about it.

“You initially condensed a huge amount of chakra into a single point, and then let it radiate out, while pumping more into it. It got faster and faster the longer you held it.”

Jiraiya nodded.

“Exactly. This jutsu has to be learnt in three stages. The first stage is rotation. Watch.”

Naruto watched as a large number of points on the surface of the water balloon poked outwards before the balloon burst, spraying water everywhere. Jiraiya smiled.

“Do you want an explination of the principals, or do you want to just try?”

Naruto had a fairly good idea of what Jiraiya did to make the balloon pop. He should be able to get it by the end of the day.

“I'll just try it.”

Jiraiya smirked, before filling another balloon with water and tossing it to Naruto. Jiraiya looked at Naruto confidently.

“That jutsu took three years for the Yondaime to create and master.”

Naruto looked back, nonplus.

“It takes far less time to learn something already known than it does to be the first one to find it out through experimentation.”

Jiraiya conceeded the point to Naruto. Even he had learnt it in a fortnight. Jiraiya left Naruto to try various methods of getting the balloon to pop, with guidance from the Kyubi. By about three in the afternoon, Naruto was getting damn close. Spinning chakra in many differing directions was not something ninjas did often, if at all. Finally, Naruto managed to eas another spin into it and the balloon finally broke from the stress, water flying everywhere. Naruto looked at Jiraiya, who was still peeking at the girls bathing at the waterfall. Naruto growled, picking up a water balloon, filling it with water before holding it over Jiraiya's head, careful not to let his shadow show. Naruto rotated his chakra throught the water and the balloon poped all over Jiraiya, who spluttered and looked to see Naruto staring at him.

“First stage complete.”

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2 Days Later, Back at the Waterfall:

Jiraiya had told Naruto to go home, collecting a bunch of rubber balls for training the next day. Naruto had returned with a bagfull from the same store. Again, the woman charged tripple price. Naruto made sure to get her back later with a prank or something, but for now, he needed to train. Once he arrived, he found Jiraiya actually meditating, and not peeking. Jiraiya opened his eyes as he saw Naruto approach. Jiraiya made a 'pass it to me' motion with his hand, so Naruto threw a rubber ball at him. Jiraiya held the ball out in front of him.

“First step was rotation. Second is power. You have to make this ball pop like this.”

The ball started morphing hideously before exploding, releasing swirls of chakra. Jiraiya continued his explination.

“This step is harder than the first, because there's no water, meaning that you can't feel your chakra as well as you could in the first step. Give it a try.”

Naruto picked up a ball began applying the knowledge of the first step. Practically nothing happened. Naruto expereimented like this for 2 days before he finally came up with an answer.

'Oh. My. God. How could I have not realised this earlier? I have to compress a huge amount of chakra to a single point and then release it.'

Naruto held the rubber ball and began trying to focus the chakra to a single point. However, keeping the point exactly the same down to the milimetre was hard, to say the least. Naruto sighed.

'I need a marker of some sort...'

Naruto realised he had none, and Jiraiya only used a pencil for his notes, and so thought about what he could do. Kyubi came to the rescue.

'I can put a mark on your hand. It'll hurt a bit, but it'll be permanent.'

'Don't have much of an option right now. Go for it.'

Naruto was aware of his hand tingling. The tingling became a burning sensation, which Naruto barely managed to contain himself from howling in agony from. Smoke came off his hand, indicating that indeed it HAD been burnt. Naruto looked at his hand to see what the mark looked like. Much to his chargrin, it was a simplifed fox's head.

'That's not funny.'

'Deal with it, Kit.'

Naruto sighed and picked the ball up again. The Kyubi seemed to have thought Naruto had forgiven it for the massacre, and was getting back to it's more boisterous self. In hindsight, burning the imprint on had indeed been a good idea. He could still feel the pain slightly, which also gave him an internal indication of where to gather the chakra. Naruto began pumping chakra into the fox's head on his hand, which he could have sworn glowed blue and began pumping as much chakra into it as possible. The ball morhped hideously before it exploded, sending dirt and small pebbles flying. Jiraiya looked up at this, smiling.

'Your son's a genius just like you, Arashi.'

Naruto smiled at his handy work when he heard the 'clip clopping' of Jiraiya's footwear on the rocks undeneath him. Naruto smirked confidently at his new Sensei.

“At this rate, I'll have the Rasengan mastered in another three days.”

Jiraiya luaghed.

“The last stage is far more difficult than the other two combined. I'll tell you what. I'll make you a bet.”

Naruto liked bets. He never lost.

“Go on.”

“If you master the Rasengan by 6 pm three days from now, I'll teach you the basics of one of the most powerful jutsus Yondaime invented.”

“If I lose?”

Jiraiya turned his back and prodded his index fingers together, getting a nosebleed.

“You have to walk around in your Sexy no Jutsu form with me for an entire day.”

Naruto face faulted. The stakes were high indeed. Naruto was starting to seriously regret using his specialised henge to get Jiraiya's attention yesterday. However, Naruto had never lost a bet, and he wasn't going to start now.

“You're on, Ero-Sennin.”

They shook hands to seal the deal and Naruto was getting impatient.

“What do I need for the final stage?”

“A hell of a lot of regualr water balloons. No water this time.”

Naruto nodded and pulled one out of his pockets he had left fro the first step and gave it to Jiraiya. Jiraiya took it, blowing it up and then sealing it.

“Watch carefully.”

Jiraiya held up the balloon. Nothing happened before Naruto understood.

“You're... You're doing the complete Rasengan in there...”

Jiraiya nodded.

“Exactly. The aim is to add the rotation from the first step and power from the second, combining them into the final form. You have to maintain a thin layer of air between the edge of the Rasengan and the inside edge of the balloon. Good luck, you'll need it.”

'We'll see about that, you perverted freak.'

'For once, I agree with you.'

Naruto immediately ran back to the village, getting a huge punch of balloons. This time, the lady charged him quadripple the price. Naruto was really going to make her pay for that when he got the time, putting the thoughts for a prank out of his mind for the moment and decided to use the rest of the afternoon to train. Going to a little used section of forest near his house, Naruto began practicing, failing every time. However, he was determined to get it right and continued training till the early hours of the morning.

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Just Before 6pm, Three Days Later at the Waterfall:

Jiraiya looked at his watch. The kid had two more tries left before the deadline. Jiraiya was already thinking of fun things to do with a cute naked girl following him around when he saw Naruto try again. Naruto was close to gettingit, there was no doubt about it, however, he hadn't made the tiny final discovery that would ensure mastery of the Rasengan. Jiraiya wasn't surprised when the balloon burst, sending chakra everywhere. Naruto looked at Jiraiya for the time, and saw him holing up a single finger.

'One more try...'

'Make it count.'

'Thanks for the moral support, furball.'

'Furball' said nothing, as Naruto suddenly had an idea. It was his last hope, but he had nothing better to go on, so he prepared. He decided to try it without the balloon this time, much to Jiraiya's interest. Naruto started forming the Rasengan, imagining the balloon still surrounding it. Naruto talked himself through his mantra.

'Focus...And... Retain.'

Naruto had decided to sync his focus and retain cycle to his breathing. Focus the chakra with the breath in, retain it with the breath out. Jiraiya watched amazed that not even a single bit of chakra escaped the Rasengan. Jiraiya timed it, letting it go on for thirty seconds to make sure.

“Alright Naruto, you win.”

Naruto drove the Rasengan into the nearest tree, keeping his focus long enough to put a 'flag' of sorts to mark his victory on the tree. Jiraiya smiled.

“Well done. First thing's first, tomorrow, you're going to get out of that tacky orange jupsuit and get some decent clothing.”

“Do you even know why I wear it?”

“It makes you look like a target.”

“Exactly.”

Jiraiya raised his eyebrow. Had this kid gotten a screw lose or something?

“How is that a good thing?”

“The point is, I wear this to stand out. People think I'm stupid because I wear bright clothing. They usually find out that I'm smarter than they are when they find the orange clad blonde standing in front of them with a kunai in their stomach.”

Jiraiya had to admit, it was a clever stratergy. However, he was not letting up.

“I don't care. Keep a little of the orange if you want, but change your clothes. The design looks like something those green spandex wearing freaks would design.”

That settled it. Naruto was NOT wearing anything that could possibly be designed by those disease ridden wierdos. He still wanted to keep some orange to maintain his 'Look at me! Look at me! I'm a bimbo!' appeearance, but he would change it.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&a mp;&&&&&&&&&&&

Next Morning:

Naruto immediately went clothes shopping. To save time, he used Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to scout all the stores, hoping that one store would let him in. Not suprisingly, it was the same store he got his old clothes from. The Naruto clone looked through the store's clothing racks, and eventually found a jumper and pants set. The jumper had a small, neck hugging black turtle neck collar with the top Â¼ of the jumper being black. The bottom half was orange, as were the pants. 'If you still can't imagine it, think Naruto's clothes after the time skip' Naruto bought two sets and paid the regular price for them. He left the store with his clothes, quickly going to his appartment and getting changed, before running to meet Jiraiya at the usual place. When he got there Jiraiya gave him the 'once over' and sighed. The boy could have gotten worse, but it was acceptable. Jiraiya got off the tree he was leaning against and pulled out a kunai. It wasn't just a regular kunai, it had three points and an orange tag wrapped around the handle. Jiraiya held it up to Naruto for inspection.

“Recognise this?”

Naruto shook his head so Jiraiya began explaining.

“This is the kunai that allowed the Yondaime to use Hiraishi no Jutsu. Do you know the principal behind the jutsu?”

“No, that was a very closely guarded secret.”

“True. Well, Hiraishin is a mixture between two types of jutsus. You know what Hiraishin did, so take a guess as to how it could be done.”

Naruto thought about it for a while.

“Obviously, it requires a high rate of movement... So it may involve something like body flicker... However, the only faster way to move than body flicker would be to-”

It hit Naruto like a ton of bricks. Hiraishin was essentially a Kuchiyose no Jutsu crossed with the Shushin no Jutsu. Yondaime was able to summon himself. This must have showed as Jiraiya was startled to no end that Naruto had been able to figure out what no one else had without being directly told with a tidbit of information.

“How the hell do you summon yourself?”

Jiraiya looked thoughtful. It was hard to explain without telling the secret of how to do it, not that it would have mattered to anyone else, but with Naruto, there was a distinct possibility he would be able to do it. Even Jiraiya couldn't do it.

“Well, how do you normally summon something?”

“By sacrificing some blood, forming the hand seals and pumping chakra into it.”

Jiraiya nodded.

“Take a good look at this kunai.”

Jiriya passed it to Naruto, who caught it deftly and began examining it. Now, Naruto considered himself his year's expert on seals with obvious reasons, but this was way out of his league. He'd never seen a seal so intricate. He looked back up to Jiraiya for an explination.

“As you said, to summon, you need to sacrifice some blood, form the hand seals and use chakra. What if you could somehow premake a seal that already had all of those in it?”

Naruto agreed, although it would be insanly dificult, it was theoretically possible. Relooking over the seal, he noticed that the seal centered around three very distinct parts. The Kanji for 'blood', 'seal' and 'chakra'. What really surprised Naruto was that there was also several kanji surrounding each one that represented things usually associated with summoning contracts. In essense, this seal was like a summoning contract, the signature of the person who signed it and the method for summoning all in one. This seal was in one word, incredible. Naruto wasn't surprised that no one had been able to copy the jutsu. Jiraiya looked at Naruto, seeing that he was appreciating the true way this jutsu worked. However, for each person who could even perform it, the seals would have to be altered dramatically for it to be useable. Jiraiya smirked, catching Naruto's attention.

“Arashi had once mused that successfully changing the seal so another family member could use it could be the equivalent of the Uchiha right of passage into manhood by learning the Goukakyuu no jutsu for his family.”

“That jutsu is nothing compared to this...”

“That's Arashi for you.”

Naruto looked over it a final time before pocketing it and stood up.

“Does the kunai itself have anything to do with the seal?”

Jiraiya shrugged.

“Arashi never told me. He said that the kunais were made of a special alloy of two metals, aluminium and titanium, for strength and also to lighten the weight. He told me that there was no 'secret ingredient' in the kunais themselves, but I'm not sure if the shape of it has anything to do with the kunai's abilities.”

Naruto nodded as he shoved the information to the back of his mind for later processing and focused on the next thing.

“So, got any other cool jutsus?”

Jiraiya sweat dropped.

“I've taught you enough for now. Go train yourself. I'd suggest trying better to harness the Kyubi's power for when you need it. Later, Naruto!”

With that, Jiraiya 'poof'ed somewhere else, leaving Naruto to his own devices. Naruto decided to take the super pervert's advice and try harnasing Kyubi's power WITHOUT going on a killing spree.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&a mp;&&&&&&&&&&&&&

3 Weeks Later, at the Stadium:

The feudal lords, head ninja and other important guests had all arrived and the last of them were taking their seats, anxious for the matches to start. The only participants that weren't there were Naruto and Sasuke. The examiner 'Does anyone actually know the guy's name? The guy always chewing on the senbon?' took stock of the 6 Genin in front of him. Shikamaru had a question.

“Oi, what happens if Naruto and Sasuke don't make it in time?”

“They'll be disqualified.”

“How troublesome...”

Shikamaru suddenly became aware of a human shaped shadow hanging over him. He turned to look at the shadow. It led towards the stadium wall and dissapeared, meaning that whatever the shadow belonged to was standing on top of the stadium wall. Shikamaru looked up, covering his eyes from the sun to see the sillouette of a figure. The figure had spikey hair, and struck a confident pose. The figure flickered out of existance, and reappeared in between Shikamaru and Neji, who had conviniently left a space for him. They all looked at him warily, to which he paid no notice. He was more interested in the crowd. Naruto turned to Shikamaru.

“Yo, Shikamaru, who am I fighting?”

“Me.”

Naruto turned to see a very confident Neji.

'Perfect, just perfect. Now I get to humiliate him and the entire Hyuga clan in front of the world.'

The Examiner turned his head to them.

“Oi, you three. Look at the crowd. You're the main stars for this play, so look the part.”

They looked back to see that every single set of eyes had been focused on them. The examiner turned to them.

“Take a good look at this.”

He held out a piece of folded paper which he deftly unfolded with a single finger. It was the tournament bracket. Everyone but Naruto seemed very interested, why, Naruto had no idea.

“There's been a change in the match ups. Check again to see who you're going against.”

They did so. Naruto saw that he faced Neji, then the winner of Sasuke and Gaara's match. He had it tough. Beating Neji shouldn't prove excruciatingly difficult, but it was the next match that worried him to no end. Kyubi had almost instantly picked up that Gaara was the container for Shukaku when Naruto first saw him. Naruto was drawn back to reality as the examiner folded the piece of paper and put it into his jacket.

“Although the terrain is different, the rules will be the same as the preliminaries. One-on-one, no rules. I will stop the match if one of you become unable to continue, give up or die. First match is Uzumaki Naruto VS Hyuga Neji. Everyone else, please go back up to the waiting room.”

Gaara led the way, and everyone else followed. Finally, just Naruto and Neji were left. They stood opposite each other, Neji looking smugly confident, as one would when victory is assured. Naruto scowled at Neji.

“It looks like you want to say something.”

“You can't win.”

Neji smiled and activated his Byakugan.

'His eyes tell me he is totally confident in himself. He is not hesitant at all.'

“This will make it all the sweeter when you realise the true reality, I will enjoy seeing...”

Neji became accutely aware of snoring coming from Naruto's direction. Nejo looked to see Naruto feining sleep while standing up. It was a fairly convincing act, too. When Naruto heard Neji had stopped, he looked up at Neji.

“So, have you finished your clan's ultimate jutsu yet?”

Neji raised an eyebrow, clearly not following the blonde's train of thought. Naruto explained.

“From what I've been able to work out, the Hyuga seem to enjoy talking their opponents to death. I'd say they've perfected it into the clan's ultimate jutsu. The boring monolouge of doom no jutsu.”

Neji's eyes twitched at the insult, however, he lowered himself into his Jyuuken fighting pose. The examiner announced the first match.

“Then, the first match... Begin!”

No one said anything. No one moved a muscle. They didn't even breathe. One breath might shatter the moment. Naruto decided to start things off by throwing a trio of kunai at Neji, who deftly blocked them. However, while Neji's concerntraiton was on the kunai, Naruto body flickered directly behind Neji and aimed a punch at the back of his head. Neji blocked it with ease, before turning around and continued dodging Naruto's attacks. Just as Neji got inside Naruto's guard, aiming for a shoulder strike to close a major tenketsu, Naruto body flickered back to roughly where he had started. Naruto looked at Neji with feigned interest.

“Now you see, you have no chance-”

“Neji, do you ever learn? This fight isn't over until you're laying on the ground, not being able to move a muscle, and believe me, that's the way this fight is going to end up. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!”

The entire arena was filled with solid Naruto clones. Everyone in the crowd was shocked. This Genin had used a Jounin level jutsu better than most Jounin's who could use it could? This kid was full of suprises. Each clone pulled out a kunai and readied themselves. Neji had to come back with a smart answer.

“But there is only one real one.”

The naruto clones smirked.

“GOOL LUCK FINDING IT, TEME!”

“Come if you wish.”

“WITH PLEASURE!”

The clones moved as a mass and surrounded Neji, exchanging blows with the lavender eyed boy. Neji quickly dipatched a large group of the clones, before he charged for one in particular, giving it a vicious attack to the heart. The clones started poofing out of existance. Neji looked at the one he had stabbed and smirked.

“The more the clones attacked, the more one stood out. You feared your tenketsu being attacked, so you stayed back. You're the real one.”

The Naruto on the end of the stab managed a sigh.

“Again, the Hyuga's 'all-powerful' Byakugan fails.”

The 'real' Naruto poofed out of existance, revealing it was a clone. Neji flintched at the fact that his flawless analytical skills had been so easily manipulated. He noticed from his near 360 degree vision a single Naruto figure attacking.

“You'll have to do way better than that, Hyuga!”

The punch connected with Neji's face, or so people thought. Naruo immediately noticed what was happening and body flickered away as Neji did his family's signature absolute defense. Naruto reappeared behind Neji.

“Interesting. That move is supposed to only be taught to Hyuga head family successors. I doubt they'd teach it to you, just because you're the 'genius' of the Hyuga clan. Meaning you worked it out for yourself. Show me, what else have you figured out?”

Neji prepared for his next jutsu.

“You are within range of my Divination: Jyuukenpo: Hakke Rokujuuyonshou!”

Neji charged at Naruto, who did nothing. Naruto was secretly liking where this was going. Although it would hurt, it'd let him get to the point he wanted this fight to go.

“Nijshou!”

“Yonshou!”

“Hashou!”

“Juurokushou!”

“Sanjuunishou!”

“Rokujuuyonshou!”

Naruto flew back with the hint of a smile on his face. Naruto landed on his stomach and started laughing weakly, causing Neji to look at him.

“What a scary jutsu. However, would you like to see one that's even more scary?”

“You can't. You don't have any chakra.”

“No normal chakra, no. However, I have a backup supply.”

Naruto slowly struggled to get to his feet. Neji watched amazed as he did. Naruto breathed heavily and stared at Neji coldly.

“However, before I show it to you, I want to ask you something on behalf of the Hyugas.”

Neji looked interested.

“What would that be?”

“What have you as a clan actually done for Konoha? And don't give me that crap about gracing us with your presence.”

Neji thought about it. What shocked him the most was that without something along the lines of what Naruto had said, he couldn't think of anything. For the first time in Neji's life, he had nothing to say. He drew a big. Fat. Blank. Nothing. The Hyuga's had essentially done nothing for Konoha. Neji looked at Naruto with a rather disturbed look on his face, which made Naruto smile.

“Now, let's go over all the problems you've caused us. First, you've segrigated yourself from society. Second, you almost restarted the war between the leaf and the cloud. And finally, the most disgusting thing of all: You stayed in your manor when the Kyubi attacked.”

Everyone was completely wrapped in Naruto's accusations of Konoha's most powerful family. Neji was about to bite back, when Naruto painfully held up a hand.

“Hear me out. Have you ever been to the war memorial for those who fell at the hands of Kyubi? If you have, you'll notice something. There is not one single name from either the Hyuga or Uchiha clans on it. The Uchiha, however had a valid excuse. They were the city's police force, and thus were completely taken up with evacuating the village civillians to safety. The Hyuga had no such excuse. I don't care how 'elite' your clan is, it's impossible to go up against the lord of the demons and not lose a single life, especially considering your fighting style. The only reason your clan is as powerful as it is today is that it lost no one to the Kyubi. And for some reason, your twisted minds think that's some sort of reason to become as arrogant as you have. You Hyugas are an eyesore. However, I'm willing to let you relive the situation on a watered down scale. Let's see how you would have faired.”

Naruto imediately closed his eyes.

'Can you try to manifest the chakra into something recogniseable?'

'Easy.'

Naruto formed a ram seal and began a low growl as he bent his knees. Chakra started leaking out of Naruto. However, this chakra was not blue. It was red. Blood red. Naruto's growl turned into a roar as the chakra filled his system, flooding him with power. Neji was trying to understand what the hell this was when the chakra made it's first manifestation. Neji and anyone else who had Byakugan could see that the chakra inside Naruto's body had formed a monster's head. The chakra wrapping around Naruto began manifesting in a visable way for everyone else to see. First, a tendril grew out of Naruto's tailbone. The tendril thickened and lengthened, before being quickly joined by 8 more. The chakra tails whipped wildly in the air while Naruto looked at Neji very smugly.

“Can you see them?”

Neji flinched, which Naruto took as a yes.

“Then let's step it up a notch.”

Naruto put his hands out to his sides and closed his eyes as the chakra tails wrapped themselves around him and finally reentered his body. Nothing happened for a moment, until chakra started seeping up from the ground, surrounding Naruto in a barrier of chakra that looked suprisingly like a flame flickering in the wind. 'Like it did when Naruto fought Neji in the main matches in the anime/manga.' Naruto had one final request to his tenant before the battle started.

'Could you try manifesting the tails as well? They were cool.'

'You're still a kit in some ways... Fine.'

Naruto growled once more as the chakra tails returned, while he was still maintaining the aura. Naruto decided to drop to all fours for effect. He could tell Neji was scared beyond words so Naruto decided to rub it in a bit more.

“Neji, this is only a chosen manifestation of the chakra. If I wanted, I could pull out a hell of a lot more. But for this match, this will do. Let's go.”

Naruto bounded towards Neji with incredible speed, tails flicking everywhere as he went. Neji just managed to dodge the swipe as Naruto body flickered out of the way of Neji's return strike. Neji looked through his almost 360 degree vision for any sign of the blonde, and saw him out of the corner of his vision racing along the stadium wall. When Neji turned to look at him, Naruto jumped off the wall and straight at Neji, launching three shuriken at the Hyuga. Neji used a Kaiten to block them and pick them up as they fell to the ground, adding three of his own, hurling all six of them at Naruto with a warcry. Naruto made no effort to dodge, and simply swiped each one away with a different tail, much to Neji's dismay. Naruto was about to reach Neji when he body flickered directly behind him and aimed another punch to his head. Neji just avoided it by jumping sidewards and pulling out a kunai, which Naruto mirrored. They both threw the kunai at each other. The kunai hit in the middle, and they both jumped into the air, catching their kunai and jumping at each other, trading a mid air blow before coming to a rest. Neji looked up at Naruto as he began speaking.

“You're... Confident about close combat right?”

Naruto held out his right hand and everyone was shocked as the Kyubi's chakra began forming a sphere on his hand. They were even more shocked at the noise it made. Few people recognised the jutsu. The Hokage had the most vocal reaction.

“That's Yondaime's...”

Naruto smiled as the jutsu completed and charged forward at Neji in a blind charge, jutsu at the ready. Naruto smiled and said just loud enough for Neji to hear.

“Kyubi: 1. Hyuga: 0.”

Neji started the Kaiten and got it working just in time for the Rasengan to connect with it. Naruto called out his jutsu as he shoved it at Neji.

“Rasengan!”

There was a blinding flash of light and a massive explosion that covered the entire stadium. Everyone was gasping at the sheer force of the explosion as it settled down. Once the dust settled, they saw Naruto and Neji both in craters, not moving. Neji was the first to stirr, as he slowly got up and wobbled over to Naruto's form.

“The Hyuga's would have indeed-”

Neji was cut off when Naruto appeared from a hole in the ground behind him and kicked him straight into the ground, finishing of Neji's sentence for him.

“Lost.”

Naruto picked up Neji and hurled him at the side of the arena, slamming him into the wall, leaving Neji to slide down and collapse on the ground. Naruto walked up to him.

“Where's all your bravado now, Hyuga? Face it. Your clan is weak. They have nothing to be prowd of, yet they are. I'm finished with you. Examiner, this match is over.”

The examiner looked over Neji, and confirmed that this match was indeed over.

“Hyuga Neji is unable to continue. Winner, Uzumaki Naruto.”

Naruto dispelled the chakra and stood, glaring at his fallen opponenet. As Naruto expected, he got nothing. No claps, no cheers. He smiled silently to himself as he returned to the visitors box, where everyone was staring at him in some form of fear. Except Gaara. Naruto looked at Gaara and smiled evilly.

“I look forward to fighting you. That is, assuming you can beat my brother.”

Gaara stiffened, barely controling his bloodlust. Unfortunately, Sasuke had not shown up yet. After a quick word to the Hokage, the examiner looked at the crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen, one of the contestants has not arrived yet. Therefore, we will be putting his match last.”

This was met with a chorus of boos and groans. The examiner looked at the contestants box.

“Next match is between Kankuro and Shino. Both of you, get down here.”

Kankuro stiffened and called over the railing.

“Examiner! I forefit!”

The crowd was now on the verge of causing a riot. The female from the sand trio brought out her fan and created a small gust of wind before riding her fan down to the stadium floor. Once she was there, she exchanged a few words with the examiner before he looked back up at the examiners.

“The other guy, get down here. Nara Shikamaru, that's you.”

Shikamaru was mumbling to himself about 'fighting women' and 'troublesome' when Naruto picked him up and hurled him into the stadium.

“Get it over with, Shikamaru, you lazy ass!”

Shikamaru hit the ground and stayed there. After a while, people started shouting, throwing things at the boy. Temari growled and charged him.

“If you're not going to attack, then I will!”

“Oi! We haven't started the match yet!”

Temari ignored the examiner and slammed the closed fan into the ground. Much to her dismay, Shikamaru wasn't there anymore. He was standing on top of two kunais he had driven into the wall nearby.

“This is troublesome, but I have to do it.”

Temari unleashed a whirlwind at him at point blank range, devistating part of the wall. Shikamaru had naturally gone, causing Temari to smirk.

“You're good at running away, aren't you?”

Temari released whirlwind after whirlwind at the trees, slashing them. After a few moments, Temari noticed a shadow heading straight for her. She jumped back, scoring the earth with her fan, marking where it got to it's furthest. Both of them analysed the situation. Shikamaru assumed his 'thinking' pose. After about five minutes, he put one hand in his ninja pouch, retrieving a kunai. Temari smirked.

“Looks like your a bit more determined now.”

Teamri snapped open her fan and let lose another storm of chakra infused air. This one lasted for quite some time, as evident by how many packets of chips Chouji had gone through since the gust was unleashed. Temari let it die down, with no sign of the lazy pinapple haired boy.

“How much longer are you going to keep running?”

She let loose a short, sharp gust, which kicked up a large amount of dust. The dust cleared around one particualr part, revealing a kunai coming straight at her. She dodged it, blocking another one with her fan and she saw the shadow coming for her again. She smirked and stood there. She realised almost too late that the shadow would pass the line, so she jumped back, the shadow barely missing her foot.

“Good insight.”

“So you were killing time, waiting for the sun to set and increase the wall's shadow line to increase the surface area of your own shadow. When the sun starts to set, shadows grow. Right?”

“Yup.”

What Temari failed to notice was the second phase of Shikamaru's plan was about to be set into motion. Kankuro saved her.

“Temari! Above you!”

Temari looked up to see Shikamaru's jacket and forehead protector acting as a parachute for a kunai. Temari looked back down to see the contraption's shadow was about to expand enough to catch Shikamaru's shadow in it, thereby extending it's shadow further. She jumped back, dodging the extended shadow tendril, until she came to a rest in between the holes in the stadium ground caused by Naruto. The shadow stopped just short of her, and she slammed her open fan into the ground, giving her some cover. She started forming some seals for a Bunshin when she lost control of her body. She gasped and Shikamaru smirked.

“Kagemane no Jutsu finally succeded. I'll show you what's behind you.”

Shikamaru turned his head for Temari, who mirrored the movement. Behind her, his shadow had indeed captured her, but not in the way she had expected. He had used Naruto's hole to extend his shadow to catch her from behind. Shikamaru walked towards her, which made her walk towards him. They met, and raised their hands. Everyone was waiting with baited breath, before something unexpected happened.

“I give up.”

Everyone still held their breath, but for an entirely different reason. They were trying to understand those three words. People quickly broke out into shouting and booing, not even hearing the explination Shikamaru was giving Temari. People quickly started getting restless for an entirely different reason. This was the battle of the Uchiha survivor vs some unknown Suna kid. The Hokage allowed five more minutes of waiting before Sasuke would be disqualified. As the last few seconds counted down, a swirl of leaves filled the middle of the stadium. Naruto smiled, knowing exactly who it was.

“About time you made it, Sasuke. You were less than a second from being disqualified.”

“We were late for a reason Naruto.”

The leaves settled down to reveal Kakashi back to back with Sasuke, who was sporting a new one pice black Uchiha suit. 'I'm not going to explain the new clothing. Go look at the episode for yourself if you don't know.' Sasuke looked at Naruto.

“You won you match.”

It wasn't a question, it was just stating it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Naruto nodded and jumped down, walking up to Sasuke.

“Watch it. Gaara's like me. He's the Ichibi's container. I wouldn't be surprised if he has full control over it's powers.”

Sasuke nodded, and Sasuke looked up at Gaara.

“Get down here.”

Gaara teleported down while Naruto and Kakashi left to go their separate ways. Kakashi went to the stands while Naruto went back to the waiting room. The examiner quickly covered the rules for Sasuke's benefit and then began the match. Gaara's sand immediately came out of it's gourd, making Sasuke jump back. Gaara clutched his head and began conversing to no one in particular. Naruto shook his head, muttering to the other contestans.

“Wow, he's conversing with no one. Shukaku really screwed with his mind.”

Temari and Kankuro looked at Naruto in fear, while Shino looked at him quizically.

“Shukaku?”

“The weakest demon lord, Sabaku no Shukaku.”

Temari and Kankuro were even more scared. Shukaku was the weakest? They'd hate to see what the strongest one was. Little did they know, they were staring at it's container right now. They turned back as Gaara clutched his head again, making the sand drop to the ground. He looked up at Sasuke, apparently more collected.

“Come.”

“Let's start.”

Sasuke flipped open his shuriken holster and flicked his wrist, releasing a pair of shuriken at Gaara. However, a wall of sand formed in front of him, stopping them. The wall of sand turned into a Suna Bunshin. Sasuke charged forwards, and the Bunshin released a wave of sand from it's chest, aimed straight for Sasuke. Sasuke jumped and released another pair of shuriken to counter the one's the Suna Bunshin had just thrown them back at him. Sasuke twisted his body around to sweep his leg at the Bunshin's neck, but the hands and arms took the damage instead, dissapating. Sasuke did some hand stand acrobatics and jumped back up, slamming his forearm into the bunshin's neck, who looked slightly surprised before getting a gleeful smile on it's face as the sand began to grow over his arm, attempting to trap it for a Sabaku Kyuu. Sasuke palmed the Bunshin's face with his free hand, making it explode. Sasuke took advantage of the break in Shield of Sand, running forward only to be met with another one. Sasuke smirked and body flickered away. Catching everyone's attention. Gaara analysed the movement, finding it overlayed EXACTLY with Naruto's unique Taijutsu style. Gaara only had a moment to appreciate this, as a punch connected with his face, sending him flying with the Shield of Sand trying desperately to catch up and soften his fall.

“That must be the Armour of Sand. Come.”

Gaara made no movement to do so, making Sasuke annoyed.

“If you won't come to me then I'll come to you!”

Sasuke charged forward, leaving a large trail of smoke behind him and body flickered out of existance right in front of Gaara's Sand Shield. Gaara tried to form a pair of sand waves to wrap around him, meeting at the back when he sensed Sasuke behind him, however, Sasuke deftly ducked underneath them, giving Gaara a strong kick to the chest, sending him flying into the stadium wall. Sasuke was still confident as ever.

“Is this all you've got? Don't hold back. I want to see how I would compare with Naruto, and you're the perfect person to test on.”

Sasuke ripped across the field and ran straight into a continuous ring around Gaara. Naruto smiled. He didn't know how Sasuke had seen it, but this was Lee's Secondary Lotus preparation. Sasuke had seemlessly intergrated it into Naruto's Taijutsu style, creating a completely unique style. Sasuke shot out of the ring and ducked under the ring of sand that had surrounded Gaara, flipping over to kick Gaara in the chin to get him off balance before standing up to grab him by the shirt and kneeing him in the stomach. Sasuke wasn't even panting, showing that the majority of Sasuke's training had been to increase his total stamina capacity. Gaara got back up and formed a ram seal, making the sand form a sphere around him. Naruto knew what this had to be, considering the faint traces of demonic chakra Gaara was emitting all of a sudden. Naruto screamed to Sasuke.

“Sasuke! Finish him now! He's going to bring IT out!”

Sasuke knew better than to ignore such a dire warning from Naruto, so he ran at the sphere and kicked it, finding that it was harder than any rock. Sasuke could feel a spike in killer intent and flipped back as a wall of spikes grew out of the sphere and pierced the air he had just occupied. Sasuke knew there was no point using Taijutsu or even low level Ninjutsu now. He had to go straight to the top. He ran back up the stadium wall and used chakra to stick to the vertical surface. He began forming three very familiar hand seals before gripping his wrist as blue chakra in the form of electricity began forming in his palm, emitting a chirping noise that grew in frequency and number. Eventually, Sasuke's hand was surrounded by the lightning and the chirping reached the pitch and number of chirps that gave the move it's name.

“Chidori!”

Sasuke dragged the Chidori down the wall, colliding with the ground sending a blast of rock and dirt everywhere as he came charging from it, dragging his move along the ground, Sharingan activated, howling a warcry. Sasuke dodged the spikes and shoved the Chidori straight into the sphere, puncturing it, leaving everyone to wait for the result.

“Blood! My own blood!”

Sasuke gritted his teeth as he tried to free his hand. He formed another Chidori and ripped his hand loose as a giant veined appendage made of sand came out after him, feeling around breifly before withdrawing. About a second later, Sasuke's hair flew back as he was buffeted by wind. This didn't bother him in the slightest. What did bother him was the eye he saw for a brief second. It wasn't human, that much was certain. At this point, Sasuke and Naruto noticed something. There was a hell of a lot of molded chakra being emmited from the crowd. They turned to see the entire area under the effects of a sleeping Genjutsu. Their heads snapped to the Kage box as it was covered in smoke. Both of them realised something. This was the start of a war. The Chunin exam was for all intents and purposes, over. Naruto body flickered down to Sasuke's side, while Temari and Kankuro went to Gaara's side. Baki joined the Suna trio while the examiner joined Naruto and Sasuke. Gaara clutched his head and fell to his knees.

“GAARA!”

Baki sneered.

“That's what happens when you try and change into your fully possesed state. Kankuro, Temari. Take Gaara and retreat for now! We can't do this without Gaara.”

“HAI!”

They took Gaara and lept up and over the wall. The examiner narrowed his eyes at Baki.

“You think you're going to have it your way?”

“I will make it happen.”

The examiner turned his head slightly, indicating he was talking to the boys while being able to watch Baki.

“Sasuke, Naruto. Sorry but the Chunin exam ends here. You're both already Chunin level. If you're Konoha shinobi, then be useful to Konoha.”

Naruto smirked.

“So, you want us to continue the fight and beat up that Gaara guy?”

“Don't go too far, though. It's the real thing.”

Sasuke looked both ways carefully, planning his best choice of exit from the stadium.

“It's the same thing to us.”

Both Naruto and Sasuke charged off in the direction the Sand trio had gone. Baki tried to stop them by throwing four kunais at them, but the examiner counted with four of his own, canceling the others out. Naruto and Sasuke lept over the wall and tore through the trees after Gaara's team. Little did either of them know that Shino was secretly watching them leave, forming a plan of his own.

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A/N: Ok, that's that chapter! Guys, your reviews with questions are coming in too fast. Almost the first 4 pages are reserved exclusivly for A/N and that number is growing with each chapter. I'm not usually a guy to stop you guys wanting to find stuff out, but could you please check the reviews and see if your question has already been asked? Chances are, I will have answered it if it's been asked already. Also, if you have more than 3 questions that require more than a yes/no answer about each chapter, please PM me them instead. I'm trying to keep the story of each chapter around 25 pages each. Thanks for understanding guys! Until next time, my avid readers!

Ja ne,

Specula.