Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Shinigami no Naruto: Power of the Soul ❯ Preliminaries ( Chapter 17 )

Inner Hollow speech

Normal speech

 

Chapter Seventeen: Preliminaries

 

The three teams split up once Iruka left, using the short time until the start of the Final Examination. They were able to wolf down a quick meal and give proper care to their injuries. Everyone looked up at the ceiling when a male voice sounded from the speakers built into the tiles. “All Chunin Examinees, please report to the central chamber for the start of the Third Exam.” Looking at one another, they rushed to gear up and get to the room where they had entered the tower.

 

Once again covered up head to foot, Naruto and the two girls counted seven teams in the room, counting themselves. Standing before the assembled genin was the Hokage, flanked by the first two exam proctors and the varied jounin-sensei lined up behind him.

 

The Hokage cleared his throat and spoke to the group of genin. “Congratulations on everyone here passing the Second Exam. I will explain the Third Exam in a moment, but before I do so, I would like to give the true reasons for the administration of the Chunin Exam. While the public reasons are to promote peace and friendship among the allied countries and to raise the level of shinobi, these are nothing but a facade for the true reasons. Do not be fooled, these exams are nothing more than a replacement for open warfare among the allied countries. If you were to go back twenty years, you would find a world where alliances were worth less than the paper and ribbons they were signed on. In order to prevent wasteful fighting, the Chunin Selections Examinations were created.

 

“While these tests do decide who among you are deserving of promotion, these tests serve yet another purpose. Each one of you are here to prove the strength of your country. The stronger shinobi a country has, the higher its prestige becomes, enabling it to charge more per mission and therefor receive more missions. If a country proves itself to be weak by entering weak ninja, they will consequently lose clients. The strength of a country is based in its ninja, and the true strength of a ninja only comes out in mortal combat. Now I will turn the rest of the speaking over to the Third Exam proctor, Gekko Hayate.”

 

A sickly jounin landed in front of the Hokage. “Hello everyone, I am the third proctor, Gekko Hayate. But before we move on to the last exam, there is something else we need to do. There will be many important citizens in attendance, including daimyos and village leaders, and their time is limited. So, there will be only a select few people allowed to fight in front of them. These people will be selected by a series of single-elimination, one-on-one fights. Anyone who feels they are not up to the challenge should quit now. From this point one, you are all fighting for yourselves, so your disqualification will not affect your teammates.”

 

Having made it this far, most thought that was a stupid question, after all, who would give up with the end in sight? However, Kabuto, the seven, now eight time veteran, raised his hand. “I am sorry proctor, but I used too much chakra trying to get through the forest. I seriously doubt that I could make it to the finals without getting seriously hurt.”

 

“Well, if you say so Kabuto-san. There is no dishonor from avoiding a fight that you know you are going to lose.”

 

“Well, see you later then Naruto-kun.”

 

“Is there anyone else who wishes to withdraw?” Nobody did, so he continued. “The preliminary matches will consist of ten one-on-one, individual matches. That means from this point on, you are fighting only for yourself. These matches are no-holds-barred, ending only when one combatant, is rendered unconscious, incapacitated, dead, or I say so. That being said, do not rely on me to end a match soon enough. If you feel that you are overmatched, admit defeat quickly.

 

“Now, the matches will start immediately, so let's show the object of fate.” As he said that, some of the paneling above the giant hand seal withdrew, revealing an electronic score board. “Each of your names have been entered into the board, to be shuffled and matched up randomly. The winners of the ten matches will proceed to the finals, so fight hard. First up is Nara Shikamaru of Konoha and Yamanaka Ino of Konoha. Will everyone but the named competitors please retreat to the balconies.”

 

Once Hayate, Ino and Shikamaru were the only ones remaining on the ground floor, Hayate dropped his had, shouting “First Match: START!” and quickly got the hell out of the way, lest he be caught up in some right off the bat action.

 

“You know that you are too lazy to win this fight Shikamaru. Plus I already know all your trick from training as kids, so you might as well give up now.”

 

“I would if I wouldn't get more grief than even I can deal with from my parents. And besides, the future is not set in stone.”

 

“Hmph. Whatever. Let's just get going already.” Following her words with actions, Ino hurled three kunai at Shikamaru, forcing him to dive to one side. Coming out of the dive in a crouch, he dodged another barrage of kunai. Throwing his hands together, he created five dust clones. The three Shikamarus split up, one going left, one right, and the third staying in the middle. Once Ino was in the center of the half dozen Shikamarus, they started circling the blonde woman. Tensing in anticipation of a shuriken barrage, she frowned as the clones just kept running around.

 

Ino had known Shikamaru for years, and was well aware of his genius. So she was understandably wary when Shikamaru didn't attack, sensing a trick or trap of somekind, not incorrectly. So when Shikamaru and his clones started to close the ring, she tried to leap out of the tightening noose. However, Shikamaru was not willing to let her escape so easily. The clones broke the holding pattern that they had been maintaining, going directly for the girl.

 

Slashing with a reversed kunai, she only narrowed her eyes when the first three clone dissolved into smoke. Jumping over the remaining three clones, Ino formed the pair of seals for her clan's signature technique and targeted what she hoped was the real Shikamaru. Her spirit flew out of her body to inhabit a clone. The clone's fragile chakra matrix collapsed when she entered it, sending her spirit right back to her body. But she knew she had gambled and lost as she saw a Shikamaru forming the final seal in the Shadow Imitation Technique.

 

Ino reentered her body only a heartbeat after Shikamaru's shadow connected with hers. She felt her body be forced into the slouch that Shikamaru held himself in. Ino applied every fiber of her will to resisting the urge to raise her hand to signal her defeat. Given the way that Shikamaru was trembling to hold the technique, all she had to do was outlast him, and she should be good.

 

After a few moments of Shikamaru struggling to raise his hand, she felt the mental pressure shift on her arms in the opposite direction in a flash. She was only able to watch in horror as Shikamaru used her downward resistance to snag her her fingers on the hem of her shirt, to the absolute shock of everyone watching, rip her shirt off, revealing a pair of very nice breasts. Ino's cheeks were flooded with blood, her embarrassment causing her control to slip for a critical moment, letting Shikamaru make her tap out.

 

Shikamaru released his control as soon as she did, allowing her to use her arms to try to preserve whatever modesty remained to her.

 

“You bastard,” she growled at the other ninja.

 

“Sorry Ino-chan. At least this way I didn't actually have to hit a girl.” Hayate belatedly called the match, letting Ino run into the attached infirmary to find something to cover herself up with.

 

The board whizzed through pictures of the testees again, settling on “Sabaku no Gaara of Suna and Yamoto Suki of Kiri, please come down!”

 

The named ninja did so and set themselves for combat. Hayate started the match, jumping out the way quickly again. Suki set the tone for the fight quickly, testing her opposite's defenses. To any other observer, Suki and Gaara just tried to stare each other down, but to Gaara, the black haired woman slunk her way over to him. When she came with in arm's reach, Suki bent down to look Gaara in the eye, incidentally giving him a eyeful of cleavage.

 

“Hello there Gaara-kun,” Suki greeted, drawing the honorific into a drawl. “I am Suki-chan.” However, that was as far as she got before Gaara's sand covered her in the Desert Coffin, contracting to reduce the Kiri kunoichi to a red paste. Gaara turned to return to the balcony, dissatisfied at the ease of which he had killed the woman, only to feel her hug him from behind. Suki put her mouth to Gaara's ear and whispered, “now that wasn't a very nice thing to do Gaara-kun. I barely got to introduce myself before you killed me. It is only polite to let a person tell you their name before you kill them, wouldn't you agree?”

 

Gaara whirled in surprise and thrust a hand out, once again capturing and killing the woman. But when she just appeared behind him a third time, he narrowed his eyes in realization. “Genjutsu. That is the only way that you could have survived my Desert Coffin.” Raising his hands in a seal, Gaara focused and muttered “kai,” freeing himself from the illusion.

 

Refocusing on his opponent, Gaara flung an arm out directing his sand to attack Suki. Eyes widening in panic, her hands blurred through three seals and spat a stream of water that quickly widened into a wall, blocking Gaara's sand. Some of the wet and clumpy sand made it through though the water had slowed it down enough that Suki was able to avoid it.

 

The battle progressed in this manner for some time, Suki tying down more and more of Gaara's sand by using a startling variety of water techniques to weigh the stuff down. But the effort was telling, and by the time that she had started getting the odd shot through his Shield of Sand she was panting and was not moving as fast as she did at the beginning of the match. She had to constantly remain on the move, because while the wet sand was sluggish, that made it no less dangerous should it get on her.

 

Suki stared in shock and resignation as Gaara recalled all his wet sand back to himself and dried it out by compacting it into sandstone.

 

Dammit dammit dammit. She was an infiltration and assassination specialist, not a heavy combat specialist. She had only needed another two minutes before she would have been able to disable the guy completely, but she simply did not have the chakra reserves for this kind of a fight. Resigning herself to the fact, Suki raised her hand and said “proctor, there is no way I can win. I forfeit.”

 

Hayate nodded. He had been monitoring the girls chakra levels throughout the fight and knew that she had enough chakra for maybe another four or five techniques, less depending on the chakra required. “Winner: Gaara.”

 

OoOoO

“Third Match: Hyuuga Hinata of Konoha versus Hyuuga Neji of Konoha!

 

“What an unexpected pleasure, to face you in sanctioned combat, Hinata-sama. But as a Branch House member, I feel it is my obligation to offer you at least one chance to forfeit. You have changed some recently, but you are still my inferior. No matter how much you may wish it, there is no way that you have gained enough skill to defeat me. Your fate was determined at birth, and no matter how hard you struggle, you will never be able to change. So I say for the last time, forfeit now and I will not be forced to harm you.”

 

“Neji-nii-san, I cannot do that. I have decided to become someone that Naruto-kun can be proud of, and to gain strength so that I don't have to rely on his. This has become my way of the ninja, and like Naruto-kun, I have resolved to follow my words with an iron will. So we fight.”

 

“So be it. Just keep in mind that I cannot be held accountable for what follows.” Neji barely paused long enough to activate his Byakugan before he was on Hinata. Hinata had already triggered her own eyes, as she well knew the speed with which Neji could activate his. Neji was on her almost before the last word was out of his mouth. Hinata winced as she felt Neji connect with his Jyuuken, but was able to prevent him from dealing any crippling blows. Hinata knew that she would never be able to outmatch Neji in Jyuuken, but it was all she could do to keep him from shutting down her main tenketsu. Her arms were stinging with the couple of hits that he had landed despite all of her efforts otherwise.

 

Finally, she was able to break Neji's attack routine by deflecting a two-fingered strike targeted at a tenketsu on the side of her neck that would hamper all chakra going to her left hand. Bounding away with several backflips, Hinata tried to catch her breath. Neji seemed content to use the opportunity to continue to taunt Hinata some more. “As I said before, no matter how much you have trained, no matter how much you have changed, it will never be enough.”

 

Up in the balcony, people were starting to edge away from Naruto. He was gripping the balcony rail so tightly that he drove all the blood from his hands, turning them white. The snarl that was quietly bubbling up from his gut had an animal quality to it that unnerved even the veteran jounin, causing some of the foreigners to plan the best way to escape from the tower should he lose the tenuous hold he had on his temper. Naruto yearned to scream at the arrogant bastard that Hinata was not weak, that anyone could change themselves if they wished for it enough, but recognized that this was a fight that Hinata had to win for herself, and would not appreciate his interference.

 

Meanwhile down in the arena, Hinata took the chance to draw her rapier zanpakuto and settled in a stance that looked like an altered Jyuuken stance. Neji just smirked.

 

Hinata leaped forward, tip of Minazuki rending the loose jacket that Neji wore, but missed flesh. Neji was forced to take the fight a little more seriously, especially because Hinata, knowing that she could not beat him at close-quarters, was keeping him out of arms reach.

 

Neji pirouetted away from a long thrust, accepting a stinging cut along his back aiming a Jyuuken strike at Hinata's heart on the far side of the twirl, which Hinata evaded by turning her thrust into a rolling lunge, passing under his outstretched arm. When she returned to her feet at Neji's back Hinata quickly released her shikai, freeing her hands to form the three seals for Fire Release: Inferno. When she had expended her breath, she saw that Neji had evaded her blast of fire by sticking to the underside of one of the balconies.

 

“You are a Hyuuga, yet you have to fall back to using a Fire Release technique? Just more proof that you are unworthy of the title of heiress.” Summoning every iota of speed he possessed, Neji was face-to-face with Hinata, noses nearly touching. “So this is the ability that you have become so proud of? Well, what happens when I take that from you too?”

 

Hinata was stunned by the lightning speed with which Neji had used that she could couldn't react until Neji had curled his fingers around the inside of Minazuki and tore it from her skin.

 

The scream that was ripped from Hinata's throat sent chills down everyone's back as she collapsed to her knees clutching her chest. Eventually the scream died out but Hinata did not rise, continuing to pant and claw at her chest.

 

“Call it Proctor-san. Hinata-sama has lost.” Hayate looked between the upright Neji and the curled up Hinata and was about to agree, but the words froze in his throat when Hinata's aura changed.

 

Every gaze was riveted to the hunched over Hinata as malice so thick one could choke on it poured from the blue-haired woman. Hinata removed the face mask and glasses, revealing mutated eyes. The white sclera had turned obsidian, and her iris had shifted to a sickly yellow. “Neji-nii-san, you're fucked.” And Neji was not inclined to disagree. The voice that came from behind that seemingly innocent mask bore no resemblance to Hinata's natural tone and timbre, being halfway between a gutteral growl and insane scream.

 

And for the first time in the fight, Neji found himself truly on the defense. Hinata had thrown herself headlong toward her reverted zanpakuto, cradling it lovingly for a pair of seconds before unleashing her rage on Neji. Whoever this was, she bore no resemblance to Hinata, beyond the superficial. Her entire style of combat shifted, abandoning any pretense of defense, ignoring any blow that Neji managed to land on her, attacking with wild abandon. An insane laugh bubbled up from her throat as she threw Neji back time and time again, desperately avoiding that devastating blade.

 

“Where is all that arrogance you were showing earlier Neji-nii-san? Where is that strength? Weren't you just saying that I could never beat you, no matter how I tried? Weren't you just saying that I could never change? Huh? Well aren't you going to ANSWER ME!” The last two words came out in a throat-rending scream as she mercilessly cut and slashed at her cousin. Neji was wondering what the hell was going on, what had happened to cause such a radical shift in personality. He began to resort to ever more desperate maneuvers to dodge her attacks. Even so, the other-Hinata was even more than he could handle. He jerked his head out of the way of a thrust, opening his cheek to the bone instead of losing an eye, but her downward slash caught him completely off guard, digging a trench into his shoulder, slicing through skin and muscle. Apparently Hinata had activated some sort of Raiton jutsu at some point because along with the cutting pain, the muscles in his whole left side jerked from the electrical charge that her sword carried. Stars dancing in his eyes, he still managed to connect with a sloppy Jyuuken strike to her kidney with his opposite hand, Hinata shrugging it off despite the muscle-locking agony the attack was supposed to induce.

 

But as he continued to run from his berserking cousin, he developed a plan. He doubted his sensei would be pleased, but the situation was rapidly spiraling out of control. Hinata was honestly striking to kill, and she only seemed to get stronger as time progressed, somehow linked to the flower-like mask that seemed to materialize out of nowhere, slowly covering more of her face.

 

The other-Hinata was not limiting herself to kenjutsu and taijutsu either. She made liberal use of a technique that allowed her to shoot bolts of lightning out of her fist, as well as using the fire-breathing jutsu again. That lightning-shooting jutsu hurt like a sonovabitch the one time he got tagged by it. After that he made sure to stay way the hell away from that. He almost lost his head to the follow up slash, but his legs chose a good time to fail, and so only lost a foot of his hair, instead his whole head.

 

The other-Hinata's relentless assault was stopped as abruptly as it began before Neji could do a single thing. Neji had just body flickered away from a two-handed chop that would have splattered his brains all over the floor when Hinata halted. He listened in shock as Hinata, the Hinata he and everyone else know seemed to be arguing with the second berserker personality, voice shifting as the two personalities vied for control.

 

“Stop interfering in my fight!”

“What the hell are you talking about? You are the one that is interfering!”

“Dammit dammit dammit, get out of my body!”

“Come on, just let me keep fighting. We are winning, can't you see that?”

“I don't care. I will not allow you harm my FAMILY!” And with a surge of effort, Hinata tore the mask from over the left side of her face, what seemed to be darkness solidified covering the part of her face where the mask had been, thin tendrils extending to the back side of the mask, melting away as the mask shattered in Hinata's grip.

 

“Sorry about that Neji-nii-san. Where were we before we were interrupted?”

 

Whatever had happened, Neji was not stupid enough to not take advantage of Hinata's new weakness. Rushing forward, Neji was able to regain the upper hand in the fight. Whatever had happened with the mask and the other-Hinata, the strength she had displayed was entirely gone. He was able to recover his arrogant smirk as Hinata was once again stumblingly slow and almost frighteningly easy to read and avoid.

 

“Whatever that power that you had, you should never have let it go. With it, you had a chance of winning, but without it, you haven't a prayer.” Neji winced and gritted his teeth as he used his left hand to grip the blade of Hinata's sword, letting it stick in the flesh of his palm. Shoving his hand down the length of the blade he clenched his hand into a fist, trapping Hinata's sword arm. He lashed out with his right hand, intending to tap a trio of tenketsu on her chest. He was caught by surprise when Hinata caught his wrist and pulled it out so that he struck the air under her armpit. Hinata clamped down with elbow, now having trapped both his arms, she did something totally unexpected. Pulling her head back, she caught Neji on the bridge of his nose with the hard frontal bone, doing maximum damage to Neji while doing minimum damage to herself. She lashed out with a knee to his groin, making every male (including Naruto) wince at the power behind the blow.

 

Hinata finally released Neji's trapped arm, letting him fall back. Neji instantly fell back, going to one knee, using a hand to prevent him to falling on his face.

 

“Are you ready to give up Neji-nii-san?”

 

“And lose to a failure like you? Hah, don't be absurd.” His stance was a little wobbly when he regained his feet, but he didn't let that slow him much as he assumed a stance that had anyone familiar with the Jyuuken widening their eyes.

 

“You are within the field of my divination. Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.” Hinata managed to block the first two strikes, but her defense faltered as Neji only sped up. Hinata was barely aware of Neji counting his strikes off for the lancing pain that she was being subjected to. Hinata's eye widened as a horrible pain lanced through her chest, her heart fluttering arrhythmically as Neji's attack finally ran out of steam. She opened her mouth to speak, but was unable to do so as her mouth filled with blood. She tried to keep her grip on Minazuki, but Neji was able to twist it out of her hand and toss it aside.

 

Pushing herself back to her feet, one arm wrapped around her chest, she lifted her other arm in a weak parody of a Jyuuken stance. “Give up now while you have the chance Hinata-sama. You have been fighting against your own nature since the moment you were born. But your destiny is set in a material far greater than stone the instant you enter this world. That is destiny. You have but to say 'I quit' and your suffering will end.”

 

“That is not true Neji-nii-san. To me, it is obvious I am not the one in the greatest pain. You are the one that is lost in the the destiny of the Main and Branch Houses.”

 

Neji, enraged, ignored Hayate's command for him to stop. The only thing he saw was Hinata's death for implying that he was the weaker one. Hinata barely had the energy to flinch as he rushed in for the killing blow, only yo be halted as... hatred did not begin to describe this feeling. It was more than bloodlust, it was a lust for his blood. He saw his death a dozen ways, a kunai to the throat, a pair of hands crushing his throat, a blade plunging into his chest. He blinked at the feel of warm wetness on his throat and realized Naruto had been restrained by the Hokage himself from ripping Neji's throat out with his clawed fingers by a hairsbreadth. Even Gai, legendary for his speed, had missed Naruto's movement. Even to his eye, there had been no discernible movement, he was on the balcony, then he was on the ground, nothing in between.

 

Neji stumbled backwards in a belated attempt to remove himself from those unnatural eyes' sight.

 

Neji walked away towards the stairs as Naruto struggled against the Hokage to go after him. Having put some distance between himself and the other boy, he seemed to regain some of his bravado. “Naruto-sama, there are two things I would like to tell you. First is that such emotions like your anger at the injury of a teammate has no place in the heart of a shinobi. Second is that in the end, a loser is a loser, as Hinata-sama has proved just now. If you want to kill me, then make it to the finals. We shall see who is right then.”

 

Naruto hauled against the Hokage again, trying to get at Neji. “Naruto, if you attack Neji right now, I will have no choice but to disqualify you. If you wish to fight him, do as he says and do it in the finals. Besides, I think that Hinata needs you right now.” Naruto jerked his head in a sharp nod and the Hokage let him go. Walking back to where Hinata's blood was pooled on the floor Naruto wetted his hand with it.

 

“Hyuuga Neji, Hinata has never laid a hand on you or thought ill of you. She sees you as an older brother, but you ignore her and take your hatred of the Main House out on her. This is inexcusable. You will pay in blood for every drop of hers you have spilled twice over. Should you ever touch her again, your life is forfeit.” Drawing his sword with his hand, he drew it over the fleshy part of his inner arm and palm, coating the silver steel in both his and Hinata's blood. Leveling the crimson blade at Neji, Naruto gathered all the killing intent and reiatsu he could muster and released it all at Neji. “I swear by the blood staining the sword of my soul, though you may think that you hold the leash to my killing intent because you are a Konoha shinobi, all you will find is a bolt of lightning in its place. When we face each other in combat there will be no mercy for you, for I will only rest when I taste your blood.” The effect of Naruto's speech was only enhanced by his slitted red eyes and black kimono and hakama that materialized when he released his reiatsu. Neji turned away from Naruto to hide the tremor of fear that spilled into his eyes.

 

OoOoO

 

Up in the balcony, Tenten turned to Neji's teammates. In as cheerful a tone as she could manage, Tenten said “I might want to start picking flowers for your teammate's funeral if I were you.” Privately, Ino and Lee agreed.

 

OoOoO

 

Having delivered his promise, Naruto turned and knelt beside Hinata, smoothing her hair away from her forehead. “Na..Naruto...kun, was I a...able to change, even... even a little?”

 

“Hush, love, hush. Don't speak right now. You did spectacularly. I couldn't be prouder of you than I am now. You were magnificent.” He punctuated that remark with a kiss on her forehead. A gentle smile spread over her features as she lost the fight to remain conscious. Naruto sent a shadow clone with the medics and returned to his place up on the balcony to wait for his turn to fight. He had never wanted someone's blood as badly as he wanted Neji's at that moment. He was roused out of his red study when he heard Sakura's name be called to the floor, along with a name he was unfamiliar with, Tsurugi Misumi.

 

Reiterating his rule, Sakura and Misumi faced each other, jumping away when Hayate yelled “Fourth Match: Start!”

 

Neither combatant moved for several long seconds, weighing and measuring each other before they got down to the reason they were there. Rushing together, the two engaged in a fierce taijutsu exchange that left Sakura wincing as Misumi had managed to snake a fist under a parrying arm and connect with her short ribs. Before the mission to Wave, she would have never been able to keep up with this guy. Even so, with several months hard work, she was barely able to keep the bespectacled boy from landing a serious blow. Sakura dodged to the side and formed five seals, directing her chakra into the stone floor under Misumi's feet. “Earth Release: Split Earth Turn Around Palm” was heard a second before the solid stone floor liquefied into a pool of viscous mud with an audible “schloop.”

 

Unfortunately, Sakura's aim had been off by just a bit, so instead of trapping Misumi, he was easily able to leap over the pool and land safely on solid stone. “Hah, I think you need to go back to the Academy. Your aim is atrocious. You could definitely use the remedial target practice.”

 

“That might be true had I been aiming to trap you. Earth Release: Mud Indulgence” The pool of mud rippled for a moment before a river of mud exploded out of it. Misumi had only started to whirl to face this new threat when he was caught flat-footed. Misumi had only enough time to blink before the mud plowed into him, lifting him up bodily and driving him into the wall with crushing force. The earth did not fall apart or dissipate upon impact, instead retreating to coil around Sakura.

 

Hayate moved over to inspect the masked genin, pronouncing Sakura the winner when he found Misumi out cold.

 

The medics swooped in to cart Misumi off while the board sorted through the remaining fighters, deciding who should fight next. The names finally settled on “Kenji Kenji of Kiri versus Rock Lee of Konoha.”

 

Lee grinned like a maniac when the bearded Keni settled into a taijutsu stance. The words “Fifth Match: START!” were out of Hayate's mouth when Kenji was knocked ass over teakettle before fetching up against the opposite wall.

 

“You're a fast bastard,” but Kenji matched Lee's grin and then some. He wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth and reset himself when his head stopped whirling. This time, Kenji was ready for Lee's blitzkrieg rush, deflecting the first three punches and catching a roundhouse that would have likely thrown him through to the next room. Kenji added his momentum to Lee's, slinging him face-first into the wall behind him. Everyone sweatdropped when Lee bounced back, an impression of his face driven into the wall, but otherwise unharmed. What followed had every person there except Gai (who eyes were literally on fire at the sight of someone that could keep up with his Lee) cringing. Gai wasn't too bad, once you became accustomed to his eccentricities, as much as one who wasn't Lee could, but flaming eyes, that was a whole 'nother level of weird.

 

Pinballs didn't have anything on the taijutsu contest going on down there. Kenji had learned to stay the hell out the way of Lee's punches, as well, to be frank, they were fucking scary. His kicks too for that matter. Hell, Lee was cratering the damn floor, and he hadn't even removed the weights that were obviously under those god-awful orange leg warmers.

 

So Kenji ran like a girl, getting the odd potshot into his body core and head when he could. He was sure his right arm was at least fractured, if not broken, from those three punches he had made the mistake of blocking at the very beginning of the match.

 

Kenji was running as fast as he could from Lee, when he changed direction abruptly, rocketing in to bodyslam Lee before Lee could realize what the hell had happened. Kenji didn't let up for an instant, following up with a flying roundhouse that sent Lee into the nearest wall. Kenji was on him just as Lee caught up with what Kenji had done, but Kenji was determined to press his advantage as long as he could. Lee raised both his arm in anticipation of some kind of super-strike, but Kenji, utilizing his superior height, leaned over Lee's guard and headbutted him. Seeing stars (damn the boy had a hard head!) Kenji automatically followed the unexpected maneuver with an uppercut that launched Lee into the air. Following Lee up, he sent the Second Green Beast of Konoha hurtling straight back down.

 

Panting, Kenji leaned on his knees as he waited for the dust to settle. He hoped that his barrage had put Lee down, but he feared otherwise. And sure enough, a battered-looking Lee rose again, looking even more excited than before. 'Jeeze, if this guy gets any more excited, he is gonna cream his pants.'

 

Lee launched himself at Kenji once again, leading with a right hook that Kenji ducked under, leading into a solid shot to Lee's gut. That took a bit of the fire out of Lee as Kenji leaned back and sent Lee skyward once again as Kenji flipped backwards, catching him under the chin with a foot. Not stupid enough to give Lee the chance to recover again, he charged into the dust cloud Lee threw up with his landing, only to be bounced back as he used his face to hit Lee's foot. Lee's foot won and Kenji tumbled a dozen feet back.

 

His vision was still obscured by flashes of light, but he knew whatever those twin thooms were, he was probably in deep shit. Well, deeper. And sure enough, it turned out that Lee had taken off the leg warmers, and the weights that they had covered. Kenji barely had time to blink when Lee was on top of him. If Lee was fast before, he had nothing on himself now. Kenji could barely raise a hand to block a kick before he was thrown forward from a punch to his spine.

 

“I GIVE! I GIVE!” Kenji shouted when he could breathe again. Lee halted his kamikaze rush and screamed about the Flames of Youth that everyone tried to ignore as Kenji was carted off.

 

The board buzzed, Hayate announced “Inuzuka Kiba of Konoha versus Akamichi Choji of Konoha!” The two ninja descended to the floor, eying each other all the while. They had attended the Academy together, so they knew a lot about the other, which could make for an interesting fight.

 

“You do know you are going down, don't you Choji?”

 

“I want to get promoted too Kiba. Don't expect me to go easy or withdraw without a fight.”

 

“Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you.”

 

“Sixth Match: START!” This time Hayate's caution was warranted, as both genin activated the jutsu of their choice. Kiba, with his Beast Human Clone and Four Legs Technique against Choji's Multi-Size Technique and Human Bullet Tank. The two Kibas were easily able to dodge the ponderous charge that Choji aimed at them. Watching as Choji banked, heading back to the the Inuzuka, Kiba winced as Choji grazed the wall, digging a trench a foot deep while barely slowing him down.

 

Grinning, Kiba and Akamaru waited as Choji reoriented on the pair. Waiting until the last possible second, Kiba and Akamaru jumped to opposite sides of Choji, trailing an arm to claw him as he passed by. But the technique was not called the Human Bullet Tank for nothing, as the nail were torn from his fingers. Eyes widening in shock, Kiba and the reverted Akamaru turned to keep track of Choji, instinctively clutching their wounded appendages to heir chests.

 

Choji had not escaped unscathed though. His Human Bullet Tank started wobbling as soon as he passed Kiba, and quickly destabilized enough to send him tumbling in an uncontrolled roll, straight into the wall. Hayate seeing Choji's bloodied sides and the swirls that had replaced his eyes quickly called the match. It took five medics to get Choji on the stretcher, but once he was clear of the combat area, Hayate called “Sabaku no Temari and Higurashi Tenten” down.

 

Naruto slipped an arm around Tenten's waist and kissed her cheek before whispering “good luck Ten-chan.” Tenten blushed slightly as some of the ninja frowned at her, but her focus was on the blonde woman across from her. Judging from the life-sized fan she was toting about, it would be a better-than-even bet that she was a wind user.

 

“Well, crap,” Tenten muttered. Temari just smirked, either having heard her comment or guessed it. While she was not as wholly dependent upon her ranged weapons as she might have been before graduation, she was primarily a long-range combat type. And Temari was most likely her worst match up.

 

“You guys know the rules. So don't do anything against them and you will do fine. Seventh Match: START!”

 

Temari seemed content to just stand there as Tenten whipped a medium-sized scroll out and unleashed a wave of very sharp steel. Temari brought her fan up and flicked it open, deflecting Tenten's projectiles with contemptuous ease. “Please tell me you have more than that at your disposal. I am going to be very disappointed if not. A one-trick pony like you has no right to even think about chunin if that is all you have.

 

Her fears confirmed, a plan was forming in Tenten's mind. Drawing another medium scroll (no sense in wasting ammo after all,) she unsealed the weapons held within while circling the other woman. Again, Temari blocked her attacks, starting to scowl at Tenten. Her irritation turned into full blown anger as the brunette fired yet another scroll at her. This was really getting slightly ludicrous. The girl should just give up is this was all she had. She would run out of ammunition before she ran out of chakra.

 

Temari was so focused on her own thoughts that she almost missed the ten pound weight that had not been deflected by the half-hearted gusts pf wind she had been using. Temari's scowl turned into a slight grin. Maybe there was more to this girl than firing off scrolls of shuriken and kunai.

 

Tenten sighed mentally. Well, she hadn't really expected the attack to work, but it was worth a try. When the Suna-nin fired a gust of wind at her, she seemed surprised when Tenten replied with a Blade of Wind, parting the gust safely to each side. The two kunoichi stood there for a few seconds, analyzing each other, searching for a weakness in the defenses they had seen so far.

 

Temari broke the stalemate by whipping her fan in a horizontal sweep releasing a blade of wind so dense that it warped the light passing through it. Tenten countered by lashing out with the sickle end of her released zanpakuto, once again parting Temari's gust. The wind attack was only a distraction because Temari quickly followed up with a thrust with her iron fan. The follow-up caught Tenten by surprise, but she was able to catch the fan by clutching the chain between her fists. Twirling under the deflection, Tenten looped the white chain around the end of the fan and dragged it to the ground.

 

The unexpected downward force caused Temari to stumble slightly, giving Tenten on opening, which she used to drive a kick into Temari's side. Temari's breath left her in a whuff, but she maintained enough thought to retaliate with a backhand that stunned Tenten long enough for her to free her fan.

 

Both girls retreated to their repective corners to catch their breath and strategize. It was clear by now that Tenten was not the superior of the two wind manipulators, so it was time to use the element she was good with. Releasing her shikai, Tenten sheathed her sword and made three hand seals. The ground trembled momentarily before a fully-formed dragon made of stone erupted from the ground a few feet in front of Tenten. Tenten wasted no time in sending the dragon after her opponent. Temari tried to divert the dragon, but she might as well have been spitting on the thing for all the effect her gusts and cuts were doing. Hopping up on her fan, Temari quickly got out of the way and started circling the weapons mistress.

 

Tenten fired the odd kunai up at the blonde without any real hope of hitting her, waiting for Temari to slow down, mess up or tire out. When it became obvious that she was going to do none of the three, Tenten grimaced and prepared to reveal one of the abilites that Urahara had taught them. Gathering reishi (spirit particles) under her feet, Tenten made a chakra-enhanced jump at Temari, which she avoided with disdainful ease. But she was quick to look over her shoulder when she did not see the brunette land again. Temari couldn't do anything but gape (along with everyone that was not Naruto) as Tenten followed her, running in midair.

 

She was barely able to bank to one side as Tenten threw the weighted end of her white kusarigama at her. The displaced air nearly upset her, but with deft manipulation of the air current she was riding on, she managed to stay airborne. What the strange Konoha-nin was doing defied every law of chakra manipulation that she had ever heard of. First of all, she didn't seem to be using chakra at all, but that aside, there was no column of air gusting to keep her up, nor was there any sort of platform extending from the nearest balcony. It simply seemed that Tenten decided that gravity simply did not apply to her.

 

One thing that Temari noticed immediately was that she was not actually flying. It was more like she was standing on some sort of invisible platform, as ridiculous as that sounded. Temari really could not do anything to regain the offensive wile airborne, unlike Tenten, so she reluctantly returned to solid ground. While she could attack, Tenten now held the high ground, quite literally.

 

Temari found herself in the odd position of being in the complete opposite position than she was in at the start of the match, where she was the one on the defensive, unable to get a counterstrike in. She had no idea how draining that technique was, but Tenten had been maintaining it for several minutes now without batting an eyelash, so outlasting her was an unlikely prospect.

 

Leaping aside from another Cutting Whirlwind Technique that Tenten threw at her, she leaped onto her fan once again and launched herself at Tenten. It wasn't until that Temari was practically on top of her that Tenten realized that Temari was not aiming herself in her direction, but aiming herself at her. Temari's flying shoulder tackle caught her in the midriff, throwing the pair of them to the ground. Tenten was seeing stars and was having trouble regaining her breath, as Temari's knee was planted firmly right under her ribcage.

 

“She is done for. Call it Proctor-san.”

 

“Like hell,” Tenten wheezed. Arching her stomach and swinging a leg up to catch the now-off balance Temari by the throat, and pulled back as hard as she could. Temari's pigtails were of very little use in cushioning her head from swift contact with the stone floor and as quick as that, Tenten was on top. She didn't bother casting about for her zanpakuto, instead drawing one of her last unsealed kunai and pressed it to Temari's jugular hard enough to break the skin. “Don't ever count a live enemy out,” she rasped. “Forty-third ninja rule. You should do better to remember them.”

 

Hayate glanced between the two kunoichi for a moment, giving Temari to pull off a comeback, but she just lay there, Tenten's kunai drawing a slow trickle of blood. Nodding to Tenten he called out “Winner: Higurashi Tenten.”

 

Naruto whooped and jumped to help Tenten back up to the balcony where she sat down with her head between her knees, feeling sick from Temari's knee to her gut.

 

Naruto was not given much time to congratulate her on her victory because “Hyuuga Naruto versus Akado Yoroi” were the next names thrown up by the board. Giving Tenten one last rub on the back, Naruto descended from the balcony to the arena opposite Yoroi. Yoroi's body language practically screamed “get the fuck away from me!” And after seeing what Naruto and his teammates could do, that was not a bad idea. He briefly toyed with the idea of simply forfeiting, but were Orochimaru to find out, he would be displeased. So as scary as Naruto was, Orochimaru scared him more.

 

The words “Eighth Match: START!” were barely out of his mouth when a red-eyed Naruto was on him. Naruto's simple katana morphed into a obsidian zanbato as it screamed out of the sheath. Throwing himself to one side as the obscenely huge blade crashed down where he had been not a quarter-second before, he was quickly reconsidering his resolution not to throw the match. Orochimaru, mercurial bastard he was, might spare him were he to explain his situation properly.

 

Before he could make a decision, the choice was taken from him. Preparing to lunge for the boy to activate his Chakra Absorption Technique, the air seemed to thicken, coagulate around his body, morphing into a heavy mud-like consistency. While he could move, it was at a snails pace, and only when he focused every particle of his will to doing so. A blink later, Naruto was standing off to one side, holding that monstrosity of a sword out, his throat cupped between two of the reverse-pointing claw-spikes.

 

“Twitch and you are dead. Give it up now.” Quickly glancing at Hayate, he threw every iota of fear he was feeling into the look, hoping that Hayate would call the match.

 

Raising his hand, Hayate nodded to Naruto calling out “Winner: Hyuuga Naruto.”

 

Nodding to the proctor, Naruto swung his sword away from Yoroi's throat, letting the other ninja drop to his knees in relief. Naruto didn't even look in the direction of the stairs as he passed through the doors leading to the attached infirmary. Tenten, or Anko if it came to it, could watch the last two fights. Right now, the only thing on his mind was checking up on Hinata.

 

Hayate watched the blonde sheathe his blade and walk into the infirmary without a glance back. Shrugging, he announced the next match: “Uchiha Sasuke versus Aburame Shino. Ninth Match: START!”

 

Up in the balcony, Kakashi had warned Sasuke about using his Sharingan lest he lose himself to the curse seal on his neck, and by extension any of his ninjutsu, as the curse seal tried to draw out any chakra in his body to use. Shino on the other hand, was not burdened by any such limitation. Sasuke narrowed his eyes in suspicion as the Aburame heir seemed to be content to just stand there, waiting for Sasuke to make the first move. Lunging forward, Sasuke obliged him by way of a right footed roudhouse kick. Shino raised his left arm and caught it the kick on his forearm quite easily.

 

“You are not fighting at full capacity Uchiha-san. It would be wise to withdraw now and try later, when you can fight at full strength.”

 

“Are you mocking me? I am perfectly fine, Aburame-san,” Sasuke replied through gritted teeth. Lowering the foot, Sasuke followed up with a series of punches that drove Shino back on his heels. But no matter how he struck, Shino calmly accepted his attacks without response. Activating his Sharingan, he tried to ignore the sharp spike of pain radiating from the three-tomoe seal on his neck. Now with the limited precognition his two-tomoe Sharingan afforded, he was finally able to get a couple punches in past the stolid bug-users defense.

 

Almost as soon as he activated his Sharingan, he felt an unusual drain on his chakra, apart from the tension that the curse seal was already exerting. Realizing what had happened, Sasuke leaped back away from Shino.

 

It was hard to tell, high collar and dark shades, but Sasuke could swear that Shino actually smirked at him. “So you finally noticed. I planted my kikaichu on you when I was just standing still, waiting for you to attack.” Wincing as the pain from the curse seal redoubled and the exhaustion that was slipping in as the bugs kept draining his chakra drove him to one knee, he glared at the other boy. Unable to think of any other option, he relaxed the effort of will that it was taking to prevent the cursed seal on his neck from activating. As soon as he did, the flame-like tattoos had covered half his face and left arm. Letting a sneer twist his lips, he rose easily to his feet, ignoring the kikaichu that were falling off his back. Shino, to his credit, his his surprise well, sliding into a defensive stance, readying himself to accept whatever manner of attack that Sasuke offered.

 

Dashing forward, Sasuke seemed to lose his footing and fall into a graceless slide at the Aburame's feet. Shino of course was wary of a trick, as well he should have. However, his reflexes were not up to outpacing Sasuke's Sharingan. Even as he began to retreat, Sasuke went into a handstand, pistoning both his arms and legs, putting his whole body weight into sending Shino into orbit. Before Shino had e to do anything other than blink at the unexpected attack, Sasuke was behind him, using the Shadow Leaf Dance to strike him from behind, before sending Shino hurtling earthward with a brutal axe kick.

 

Shino shook his head to clear his vision when he was able to stand up straight. Carefully comparing this new well of power that Sasuke was apparently drawing from against his own chakra reserves and the fact that his favored tactic of draining his opponent of chakra before moving in for the coup de grace was proving ineffective, he weighed his chances of emerging victorious from this match.

 

“Proctor-san, I find it improbable that I could emerge victorious from this match without sustaining crippling injuries. I forfeit.”

 

Hayate nodded in respect to Shino and the two boys limped to alcove leading to the medical facilities to let the medics there examine their injuries. Kakashi intercepted Sasuke on the way, looking uncharacteristically serious, told the medics that he would take care of Sasuke himself.

 

The whirring of the board was completely superfluous, as there were only two people who had not fought at this point.

 

Hayate had not even called their names before Sabaku no Kankuro and Kaiyou Sora were descending to the area floor. Letting the two competitors ready themselves, Hayate cried “Tenth Match: START!”

 

Kankuro slung the bandage-wrapped bundle off his back as Sora formed a single seal. Those who remained of Teams Nine and Seven immediately recognized the Hidden Mist Technique. If Sora was trained anything like Zabuza, then Kankuro could be in deep trouble. It was impossible to see anything of what was going on in the arena, other than the odd retort of wood cracking and the sound of water splashing.

 

Ten minutes into the fight, an explosion of chakra, not unlike the killing intent that Naruto had unleashed on Neji earlier, swamped the room, sending the thick fog into chaotic swirls. There was a meaty thud, audible despite the muting qualities of the fog. Things fell silent for another couple of minutes before the a sound somewhere between a scream and a gurgle heralded the dissipation of the fog.

 

When the fog had cleared enough so as not to obscure sight unduly, everyone was able to see Sora, slightly bloodied, holding a kodachi, (although where the hell she had drawn that from was a complete mystery,) and a very bedraggled and unconscious Kankuro. “You might want to hurry. He is going to need treatment for a drowning victim as well as CPR.” The medics nodded in her direction as they rolled Kankuro over onto his side. Several sharp strikes to the back had Kankro vomiting up an astounding amount of water. Semiconscious and with his face paint running, he was removed to the infirmary for further treatment.

 

“Will everyone that has passed the Preliminaries please come down to the arena floor to be addressed by the Hokage.” Hayate stepped back, allowing the Hokage to take center stage as every gathered before him.

 

“Congratulations one and all for advancing to the Final Exam. Now, I would like to let you all know that the Third Exam is not going to be held immediately, but in exactly one month. The reasons for this are that time is needed to gather all the lords and leaders of the allied ninja world for this Exam. And also to allow you to prepare for what is going to be the most grueling test yet. Up until this point, you have been fighting strangers, people who have no clue as to your abilities and have no idea of yours. After today, this is no longer true. There were fighters here that were badly injured in there fights, so to be fair, this one month is given to allow those who were wounded time to recover and allow you to think about your potential opponents and develop strategies to counter them, as well as develop now powers of your own.”

 

Kurenai stepped forward with a box filled with paper slips, offering one to each person. When all nine competitors had drawn one, (Kakashi filling in for Sasuke and Anko in for Naruto) Ibiki, the examiner from the first test wrote what numbers everyone had drawn.

 

“And now, allow me to reveal the matchups for the Final Exam tournament.”

 

Hyuuga Naruto vs Hyuuga Neji

 

Sasuke Uchiha vs Rock Lee

 

Shikamaru Nara vs Kaiyou Sora

 

Tenten vs Sakura Haruno

 

Gaara vs Kiba Inuzuka

 

OoOoO

 

A/N: A note about the fights: they were completely random, I had my brother pick numbers out of the air (without him knowing why as he is a Narufan like me) to keep it completely random, sans the Hinata/Neji and Tenten/Temari fights.

Ditto with the Finals, sans the Neji/Naruto fight.

 

Yep, you guys dont get to see Sora-chan in action yet. I am saving her for the big stuff.

 

Lee and Kenji was kinda fun to write. That is kinda how I see it turning out with Lee going up agains any other taijutsu specialist. Kenji is good, but Lee is in a whole 'nother dimension when it comes to taijutsu. Since the rather disasterous (for Team Seven) Wave Mission, Kakashi has gotten his act together and actually started being a sensei. Having his own students so thoroughly trashed like they were, even the Uchiha genius, is bound to be a sobering experience.

 

No it was not the Body Flicker that Naruto used to get to Hinata, for those who were wondering. If you can't figure out what it was, it should be revealed for good in the next chapter or two.

 

Spoiler Warning

 

I quote Pirazy on the Fanfiction Forum when I say that Kishi made a booboo when he named a few of the villages. Because Raikage-sama is clearly actually the GARkage from the Village Hidden in I'm-gonna-fuck-you-up. Dude stuck his fucking arm through Ameratsu (sp? The super black fire...) to punch Sasuke out. That single action there just put him up there as The Most Badass Character, followed closely by Kirabee (cuz he has the balls to rap during a fight) and Orochimaru (need I really explain why?)

 

Spoiler End

 

Anyhoo, read and review guys!