Chapter 25 - Chapter 24

In a special box set aside for the visiting kage and their guards, four of the five powerful village leaders sat up top watching attentively along with Mifune, "The teams in the final round are comparably young this year. Other than Kirigakure's representatives, Amegakure's, and Iwagakure's of course." The calm, even tempered samurai general commented.

The Raikage, a large, burly dark-skinned man with slicked back white hair and a mustache and goatee let out a barking laugh in his ceremonial robes, "If you don't get promoted young and get over that hump early it's hard to go far in our line of work. Two of those kids down there were trained by my younger brother and Samui herself should have gotten promoted last year. She was too heavily injured to continue into the combat test after the survival portion of the test."

"How unfortunate." The Kazekage said. Under his hat he had spiky auburn hair and a stern look on his face as he looked down at all of the genin walking away from the field to head up to their viewing area, "But Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara are the absolute best in Suna without question. I even considered sending them and only them to make a point, that the quality of our shinobi can overwhelm any odds."

A bit his tongue at mentioning that those overwhelming odds ended with them in the easiest bracket of the tournament as Hiruzen spoke up instead, "Raikage-dono where is the sensei of your team in the upcoming match?"

"Killer B has his own responsibilities in addition to teaching Omoi and Karui." A explained, "He's Kumo's guardian by my decree. He can't really leave."

At that, the Tsuchikage let out a scoff, "What a waste of such a powerful shinobi." The Tsuchikage was a very short old man with a rather bulbous nose and a smirk on his face, "You two were very infamous as the A-B Duo. Weren't you two supposed to be unbeatable when fighting together? I guess that's as good a use for a jinchuuriki as any I've thought of though."

A clicked his teeth loudly in irritation. That was his brother the Tsuchikage was talking about, "You should watch how you talk about people Onoki." He said evenly, "I believe we should pay attention to the fights now."

XxX

Down on the field the proctors decided to referee the one-on-one fights one at a time, with Jei being the first to do so from a neutral starting point in the Zen-garden. Over on Team Gai's side of the field, it seemed like Neji was going to walk over first, but before he could do so Lee raced out ahead of him and came to a stop right in front of Jei, much to Neji's chagrin apparently as Tenten palmed her face at Lee's exuberance, "Okay… I'm guessing you're first up for your team."

"Yes proctor-san. Rock Lee at your service and ready for combat!" He said, giving a thumbs up and a smile, complete with glistening white teeth.

"Show everyone the power of your youth Lee!" A very distinctly 'youthful' voice shouted over the low rumbling of the crowd anticipating the first match.

"Hey sit down and stop yelling weird guy! That jumpsuit of yours is disturbingly tight!" A spectator nearby the first shout said.

Jei scratched his bald head awkwardly at Lee's rather eccentric demeanor. He turned his head to see Karui walking towards him rolling her shoulders out as a rudimentary way to get her arms loose and limber, "Looks like it's time to get this show on the road. The first round match, fight one: Rock Lee of Konoha vs Karui of Kumo! Are both competitors ready?" He asked, looking at Lee who had slipped in his special stance and Karui who had gotten into her own ready position, getting nods from both, "Begin!" He yelled before jumping away.

Before the last syllable left Jei's mouth, Karui's hand was on the hilt of her katana and drawn in a quick slash directed at Lee, "Kumo-Ryuu Omotegiri (Cloud-Style Front Beheading)!"

Lee immediately leapt backwards out of the range of Karui's strike before getting back into his stance, "You have a very quick draw of your weapon Karui-san. With that blade you have extra reach on me." He said with a smile on his face.

Karui held up her sword defensively, prepared for Lee to attempt to use a jutsu as a ranged attack. What she most certainly didn't expect was for Lee to run right for her faster than she had anticipated, 'What the hell?' She thought to herself as Lee launched a high kick at her, 'Idiot.' She lifted her sword, prepared to cleave his leg off if he was really stupid enough to attack her like that, 'Who attacks a person with a sword using just taijut-?'

"Konoha Senpuu (Leaf Whirlwind)!"

Instead of the high kick she had been anticipating it had been a feint, which allowed Lee a clear shot at her body with a kick that drove deep into her ribs and snatched the wind right out of her lungs. Karui was sent backwards, sliding across the sandy ground before coming to a stop against one of the meditation rocks. She hopped back up to her feet but moved too fast for her own body's good and hurt her ribs even more with an overextended movement, 'Wow that kick was heavy!' "I could have cut your leg off just now! For Kami's sake why didn't you use a jutsu you lunatic?"

Lee let out a laugh, "I wish that I could, but I am completely unskilled in the use ninjutsu or genjutsu, thus I am forced to rely solely on taijutsu. If you haven't noticed this before you would have by the time I defeated you."

"Yeah right." Karui said as she held her sword up with one hand while gingerly holding her ribs, 'Damn it, I need Omoi! He was fast enough before he messed my ribs up, and now I'm even slower.'

"Please surrender." Lee asked her, "I would rather not hurt a maiden such as yourself for no reason, even in the chunin exams."

"You talk too much." Karui said in return, trying to mask the fact that Lee kicked like a horse and she was injured, 'One damn hit!'

Lee frowned but if nothing else respected her decision to continue the fight as he once again closed the distance against Karui. Karui put her back against the rock she had hit earlier to cut off an avenue for the faster Lee to get a better striking angle on her. Taijutsu skill or not she still had a sword, and if anything came near her in the form of an attack she would slice it clean off. As an example, Lee attempted to come in from the side opposite the hand she was holding her katana with, her wounded side. Once he got close enough to reach she let loose a horizontal slash with both hands that almost birfucated Lee.

Lee jumped back with a frown, having suffered a rip in the front of his jumpsuit and a shallow cut on his torso. Karui stood at the ready, at this point beginning to get down Lee's timing and moving tactics. With a hard look on his face, Lee reached down the neck of his jumpsuit for an object, getting a feeling of alarm from Karui, 'Duh! Of course he's armed!' She thought as she made to rush him before he could brandish whatever wicked weapon he had to supplement his taijutsu, 'There's no way someone that can only use taijutsu would only try to fight like that against a swordsman.'

She however stopped mid-stride and faceplanted in the dirt once she saw that Lee had not picked up a weapon, he had grabbed a notepad from inside his suit and was steadily flipping through it, "Now what did Tenten's advice say on beating sword-users or any kind of specialized weapon?"

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Karui shouted, sitting up on her knees from her faceplant, "Who does things like this?"

Tenten banged her head hard on the metal railing in the competitor's observation area. Luckily she was wearing her headband and the metal plate on the cloth kept her from hurting herself before she even got to fight, "Goddamn it Lee, you're in the middle of a fight! Put the notebook up and disarm her okay!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, getting Neji and many of the other nearby Konoha genin to cringe at the volume of the perturbed girl's voice, "Now hurry up already!"

"Ossu!" Lee dropped his notepad back into his jumpsuit and snapped to an involuntary salute and before Karui could hop back to her feet from her knees Lee was already on her.

She let off a vertical rising slash as a defensive measure, but Lee spun to her injured side and sent out a hard kick that she had to relinquish the grip on her weapon to block. Even then she had to bite back a groan of pain as it still hurt. A shine came to Lee's eye as with a stiff backfist right to the sensitive inside of the wrist that was still holding onto the sword forced Karui's grip to slacken and she dropped the sword. With another wide-sweep of the taijutsu-specialist's leg he sent the sword sprawling off into the nearby stream cutting through the very middle of the field.

Satisfied that he had broken the back of her offensive capabilities, Lee looked down at her and spoke, "There, I have disarmed you Karui-san. Please surrender and get yourself some medical treatme-."

Unfortunately for Lee his chivalry was seen by Karui as him thinking she was weak. Thus surrender was currently the furthest thing away from her mind at the moment as she quickly sprang to her feet in front of Lee with a look of anger in her eyes as she already had her right arm held straight out and drawn far back, "Rariatto (Lariat)!"

She stepped forward hard and hit Lee with the mass of her entire arm right across his collar area, dropping him to the ground head over heels with enough rotation for him to land face-first. After making contact, Karui collapsed to the ground holding the arm used in the attack and her entire right side in pain, "Son of a bitch that just made everything so much worse!" She managed to stop writhing in pain to get back to her knees to look at Lee, "At least I knocked that bastard ou-… How the hell are you still standing after that?" She snapped once Lee was standing back up looking no worse for wear other than the dirt and sand covering his face and clothes, and the slight stumble when he got to his feet.

"That was… that was…" Lee said to himself lowly before suddenly grinning, "Such a powerful physical attack!" Lee said happily, "I can only imagine what it could have done if you weren't injured!"

Karui looked utterly stunned but grit her teeth and stood back up, ready to fight again until a hand set itself on her shoulder and stopped her, "Wha-? S-Samui-chan what is it?"

Samui gave her usual casual look to her fellow Kumo kunoichi and shook her head frowning, "It's not worth it Karui. You can't defeat him with just taijutsu without your sword. Don't get injured anymore than you already are. That last attack was your best move without your sword and look at him." Lee was simply standing there, staring curiously at the hold-up, "I know how to defeat him so I'll fight him and Omoi and I will help advance. You just rest and get medical treatment."

Karui looked saddened at being forced to quit, but Samui had a point and as loathe as she was to admit it she had a damn good one. With one good half of her body to use she wouldn't be dealing any damage to Lee, she'd just get hurt worse and ruin their chances next round if they were to even advance.

"Due to teammate stoppage Karui is eliminated!" Jei said before pointing to Lee, "Rock Lee wins match one!" The crowd cheered for Lee who began to run around and wave to the people, "Two minutes until the second battle begins!"

Lee looked over at the stands where his teammates were and pointed down, indicating a question of staying out there. Tenten nodded and looked at Neji who had a scowl on his face. She frowned and nudged him with her elbow, getting a nod out of Neji as well.

Meanwhile Samui was helping to escort Karui over to a medic-nin team to get her off of the field. After doing so, Samui took her time in walking back towards the neutral area where Lee was standing and waiting patiently.

XxX

In the booth with his peers, A sighed to himself, 'Karui… too hotheaded. You knew you were hurt. You could have used your left arm and left side to deliver the move instead of your injured dominant side but you lost your cool. Bad judgment girl…' He had some positivity though, "Samui won't lose the next fight though. She's intelligent enough to have gotten more than enough information to win than she needed."

XxX

"Oh Lee you made me so proud!" Gai shouted, much to the chagrin of the other spectators, "Burn on Lee! Your Springtime of Youth is just beginning!"

Kurenai, Asuma, and Kakashi were nearby and were all trying to make it seem as if they weren't with him… and failing though due to the fact that they all had on Konoha headbands signifying that they most certainly did.

XxX

Jei had switched out with Sekka to ref the next match, "Fight two: Rock Lee of Konoha vs. Samui of Kumo! Begin!" He then leapt away to allow them room to begin.

Samui didn't directly engage Lee with her tanto. She didn't even attack him. She already knew that he would be faster than her, not even taking into account her sizeable for her age bust, and she didn't feel like seeing if they could double as cushions to absorb a taijutsu beatdown.

Lee was immediately in hot pursuit especially once he saw that Samui wasn't as fast as Karui was. Before he got close enough to begin attacking, Samui tossed a set of shuriken at Lee that he managed to dance around in avoidance.

Stopping on her back foot while Lee was weaving through her metal stars, Samui spun around to deliver a high spinning back kick once she had estimated where Lee would be in front of her once he finished dodging shuriken. A wide-eyed Lee managed to get an arm up to block and even managed to react accordingly when Samui spun forward to react with another kick. Another block resulted in Lee looking up to make eye-contact with Samui and to his surprise she had been making hand-seals, 'She uses her legs to keep attention in taijutsu combat so that she has her hands free for forming seals!'

"Boukun no Seishinbyou (Tyrant's Psychosis)." Samui said before jumping back and getting her distance from Lee to make sure her stratagem would work, "Let's see you even touch me now."

Lee more or less started shadow-boxing/kicking/fighting with nothing but air, seemingly enjoying himself. Samui calmly watched him before speaking up, "Please call the fight proctor." She asked, "Do I need to prove that I could kill him or is this enough?"

As Sekka took her words to heart he looked at Lee who looked more serious now, and every now and again his body would jerk as if he were taking damage. Eventually his body jerking violently was all that occurred. He fell to the ground as if he were knocked there and Samui drew a fistful of smaller than average kunai, holding them at the ready, "He won't be able to defend himself from this if I throw these."

XxX

Up in the competitor's box, Neji stared at Samui with a hard look in his eyes, "Get Lee out of there, he's done." He could feel Tenten turn to him questioningly, "She caught him in a genjutsu and neither of us are down there to help him out of it. Tenten nodded and drew a kunai that she threw, landing at Lee's feet as he had gotten back up to continue taking his fake-beating.

XxX

Sekka took that as teammate intervention for Lee's safety and called the fight, "By way of teammate stoppage the winner of the fight is Samui!" In response to his call of her as the winner, Samui made the ram seal and muttered 'genjutsu kai' to release the technique, leaving an exhausted looking Lee to drop to the ground in a heap.

Samui just sighed and stood with one hand on her hip as she waited for her next opponent, "He was just as bad at genjutsu as he said he was, though I don't know why he openly admitted such. No talent indeed I guess."

XxX

Neji shook his head as he walked down from his position in the viewing balcony, "Lee cannot break effectively used genjutsu due to his lack of natural talent in chakra manipulation. It was simply his fate to run into an opponent that could take advantage of this. Just like it's my fate right now to face the only team of Kumo ninja to make it to the finals."

Tenten stared at Neji's form as he disappeared down the stairs to head to the tunnel and let out a sigh. He didn't even discuss which one of them were to go next, "…Come on Neji, don't lose your head here. It's a test. Don't let your gripe with Kumo mess this up."

"His fate?" Tenten turned her head to Naruto who was standing with Team 10. He was leaning on the railing and looking down at the arena as Lee stood up on his own power and shrugged off medical attention to come up to the viewing area, "I'm so sick of him talking about that crap. It's the only thing I've ever heard him say out loud since we met. Lee was just unlucky… and you guys just wound up drawing these guys in the first round." He said, gesturing his head to Omoi who was just out of earshot, watching the field intently in preparation for his turn just in case.

"It's… complicated." Tenten said lamely, "It's a long story and it isn't my business to tell it. It's personal to Neji."

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Exhibition Stadium)

The massive screen set up for long-range viewing of the event had the camera fixed firmly on Neji as he entered the arena through the tunnel. Hanabi had more or less been sitting on her hands watching the fights until Neji's face popped up signifying that he was next up, "Why does he look so mad?" Hanabi asked no one in particular. Though it would be hard to tell if a Hyuuga was angry unless they were extremely upset, even a Hyuuga as young as Hanabi could tell if one of their ilk was mad by the subtle nuances in their gait or face.

"This could be bad." Hanabi looked up at her father Hiashi who was seated right next to her, "He still hasn't let go of his anger and hate after all of these years. This could be an issue for him today."

Hanabi blinked at Hiashi, "Why? I thought Neji was supposed to be the strongest of our generation." That was what she had constantly been told when he was training her, it was also what she had seen when Neji took to sparring with other Branch House members.

"He is." Hiashi admitted to his daughter as the camera showed Neji facing off against Samui, "His bloodline runs stronger than your sister's, even yours. He could surpass all of the other members of the clan one day myself included at the rate his skill improves. But his hatred of the Main House will stunt his growth, as will his fatalistic belief in fate."

Hanabi was rather surprised by that. She didn't know Neji hated them, she had never really had a conversation with him though because he was so much older. Wasn't he her cousin? Why would he hate her or the Main House? Maybe the clan's juinjutsu? But all she knew was that it was meant to protect the bloodline and was placed on Branch House members of the clan.

XxX

(Tetsu no Kuni – Chunin Exams Arena)

Genma stood between Samui and Neji as the young Hyuuga seemed to be staring a hole through Samui who just looked back impassively, "Are you both ready?" He got a pair of nods as his response, "Fight three: Neji Hyuuga of Konoha vs. Samui of Kumo! Begin!" He then jumped out of the way, even though neither of them immediately moved to fight.

Samui's even gaze gave way to a shifting of her lips before she spoke, "You seem to have a problem with me despite the fact we've never met before. It's not just because I'm an opponent either."

"I would like to say that the matter isn't personal… but I'd be lying to you if I did." Neji said smoothly as he moved into his family taijutsu stance, "Since the ones truly responsible for your village's crimes are out of my reach I'm afraid that you and your remaining teammate will have to do."

Samui rolled her eyes at Neji's declaration, "An aimless revenge kick. That's really not cool you know. What did I ever do to you? You know, besides getting ready to defeat you and everything?"

"Like I said…" Neji said as his Byakugan activated, "I can't reach the ones I truly have issue with from your village for one reason or another, so I'll make the best with you. I hope you don't believe that you'll defeat me as easily as Lee. Your genjutsu won't work on these eyes."

"I know." Samui said, drawing her tanto and holding it forward and at the ready.

"I'm sure you do." Neji said, a spiteful tone hidden somewhere in the sentence as his eyes narrowed on Samui.

Attacking a Hyuuga head-on was suicide and anyone with any world knowledge would say the same, thus even with the tanto, Samui was rather hesitant to attack, instead choosing to drop back and get her distance from Neji who was in hot pursuit from the start. Samui ran towards the stone bridge spanning the stream and dodged an attempted palm strike from Neji by jumping onto the stone ledge railing, forcing him to jump up there as well to give chase.

Samui then jumped off of the bridge towards the stream below and threw a handful of shuriken at Neji as she anticipated him trying to follow her. The Neji that had attempted to jump down after her proved to be a regular Bunshin as the weapons passed right through him. The real one jumped down moments later and both Neji and Samui landed on the surface of the water, staying above the surface by way of water-walking.

"No place to run." Neji said as he moved towards her to attack.

"At least not yet." Samui said quickly, more to herself than to him as Neji closed in on her. Just as he got within range to begin hitting her with strikes Samui lashed out with her tanto to keep him back. It was short enough to make some people believe it would be easier to get close and directly engage her, however it was long enough to make them realize what a fatal mistake that really was… usually too late for anyone to learn from though.

Neji backed away after Samui's surprisingly swift swipe at his head with her tanto, "I'm surprised. I figured you would have had a supplementary mission from your kage to harvest my eyes while I'm still alive in this battle. Or maybe you're hoping for a match against my cousin in the hopes of more leeway in chances to do so? I would assume your leaders have learned from their last mistake to assure that they have the actual Hyuuga they're looking for the next time around."

"Harvest your eyes?" Samui said, managing to sound rather disgusted with the thought of having to take eyes from a body, either living or dead, "That's just very uncool. You're a strange person. You certainly like to talk about what you think my superiors think about your clan."

Neji gave her a bitter smile in response, "It's not very hard when your father's life and body is handed over to them on a silver platter to appease them. There was simply no need for it. Your Raikage's attempt at treachery and subterfuge failed and he simply couldn't take it. His ego would have had him risk war simply to assure he got one over on Konoha… and to make sure he truly obtained the secrets of the Byakugan. Too bad he failed in that respect as well. I suppose that makes my father some kind of hero or martyr." He then looked down in anger, "…But a fate like that for him… all it makes him is destiny's victim. How easily it could have been his older brother who was truly the target sought after by your village instead."

XxX

In the area set aside for the visiting kage, A ground his teeth at the reminder of the incident nine years past and the failed attempt to bolster Kumo's power. Hiruzen simply stared down into the arena at Neji unflinching, though he couldn't help but feel something for the boy, 'Hizashi's son… this is what you've been lead to believe after all of these years. One so young shouldn't ever feel hatred like this, it can twist you into something ugly.' He honestly couldn't expect him to let it go either though. How could he have? He had no closure whatsoever.

XxX

"It seems you have your reasons for hating Kumo." Samui said after lending an ear to Neji's short explanation, "I won't sit here and tell you not to, but I'm not exactly going to let you vent on me either."

"I wouldn't expect you to." Neji admitted freely, "However, one can fight their fate all they like… it still won't change a thing in the end!" Neji moved forward to attack Samui again as she did so as well.

Samui attempted to outright stab Neji, but he simply guided her weapon and her arm past him without being touched. Samui let out a quiet growl at being parried so smoothly and halted herself to deliver a back sweep to Neji's legs, a sweep he cleanly jumped over before spinning in the air and delivering a kick that sent her sliding across the surface of the water before submerging.

She didn't immediately resurface, hence Neji simply stood patiently and waited her out, "You won't be able to hide from my eyes down there." He said as if she could actually hear him. And he was right. He could see her… he could clearly see her making hand-seals, and he didn't particularly want to find out what they were for, thus he quickly got himself out of the moat-like stream. It was a good thing he did too, because a moment later the entire surface of the water crackled with electricity, "I should have known a Kumo ninja would have a technique like that."

Samui emerged from the stream and back on solid land, dripping wet from having been underwater, yet she didn't even make to wipe the water from her face, "That was very fast reaction time to escape Raiton: Yokuatsu no Houden (Lightning Release: Oppressive Discharge). But then I guess you could see my hands and didn't feel like leaving it to chance."

'She almost trapped me.' Neji thought to himself, 'I was too overzealous and followed her down into the stream area without thinking through the possibility of an elemental attack.' He almost let out a sigh, 'Well this round is a bust for me as far as I'm concerned. I played directly into her hands.' "I've been going about this the wrong way. This is an exam, not an opportunity to project my anger at your village's older brood onto you." Neji said, surprising Samui and Genma with his admittance to such, "The best way to get your village back at the moment for their crimes would be to just crush your team and eliminate you from contention."

That was more like it.

Anticipating a charge, Samui threw a set of shuriken at Neji to try to manipulate his movement pattern, but Neji dodged in an unexpected manner. Neji jumped between the shuriken and twisted his body in a way that the rotation kept him from being hit. When he landed, he was free and clear to approach her from any angle he wished, which he immediately did without delay. There was no wasted motion in his evasion, unlike her throw which was over-extended.

A downward slash of reaction from Samui saw Neji seemingly poke her in the wrist with two fingers, stopping the swing in its tracks, 'He finally got through my guard!' She thought in a near panic. From the look on his face he wasn't intending to let her escape it again. Before she could even respond she violently coughed up blood without warning, splattering some on Neji's unflinching face.

Looking down, Samui saw that in addition to using one hand to stop her attack, Neji had used his other hand to jab two fingers directly into her stomach. With his abilities, the internal damage inflicted was palpable. Looking back up at her arm and wondering why she could no longer feel it, Samui looked up and saw a straight trail of small red dots trailing the back of her arm all the way to her wrist where Neji had apparently stopped the attack.

"You lose." Neji whispered to her before jabbing his fingers deeper into her stomach, attacking further with his Juuken and causing more internal damage than previously. Samui dropped to the ground, her weapon dropping from her hand before she fell. Neji turned and walked away before Genma even called the fight as the medics were already rushing in beforehand.

"The winner of match three: Neji Hyuuga!"

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Exhibition Arena)

Neji stayed out for the next bout with Omoi, and even with the boy's longer weapon reach to use to keep Neji at a distance it didn't do much good. It was fast, and the only solace a Kumo supporter could take from it was that at least Neji left Omoi in better condition than he did Samui.

As the fight was called and a cheer went up through the arena in Konoha at seeing one of their teams advance first, Hiashi frowned deeply at the smirk on Neji's face that the camera captured as he momentarily took in the cheers in the exam stadium before heading back to the observation area, "So much talent… and yet all of that potential may never truly be achieved."

Hanabi could only look between her father and the screen that was depicting Neji's victory. He had all of that anger towards the Main House and Kumo for his father's death… but she was still missing something. Wasn't it the Branch Family's inherent duty to protect the secrets of the clan?

Before she could get too much further into thought on the matter the screen showed a graphic of who would be fighting next according to the tournament brackets and her face lit up, "Yes! It's onii-sama's turn!" Once her father turned to look at her strangely due to the outburst she shrank back demurely as if it never happened.

XxX

(Tetsu no Kuni – Chunin Exams Arena)

Neji had made his way back up to the viewing area without a word and stood calmly next to Tenten and Lee, but not before sparing a glance at the other competitors. His eyes made it to Team 8 and stopped on Hinata. He seemed to be staring a hole into her, managing to intimidate the timorous girl before Kiba and Shino stepped in front of her, the former growling warningly at Neji.

Instead of further exacerbating the situation, Neji's eyes simply turned back down to the field.

Kiba still kept a glare on Neji before turning around to Hinata, "It's alright. Don't worry about that prick. Let him try and do anything to you, he'll be in for a nasty surprise." Akamaru barked from the front of Kiba's jacket supportively. Hinata nodded, albeit reluctantly.

Kiba frowned before turning to look at Shino. There was an unspoken agreement between them; that there wasn't any way in hell that Neji was going to get to Hinata over his stupid grudge as long as they were around.

XxX

(On the Field)

Team 10 and the Iwa team had already gone down onto the field for their match. They had the rest of the round to worry about Team Gai, for now they had their own opponents to deal with. For the faceoff prior to the coin flip the mal intent from the Iwa side of things was obvious enough that all three of the proctors stood present to ensure no premature fireworks, "Heads or tails." Jei asked the Iwa team.

"Tails." Hisashi said, not dropping his killing intent that clearly wasn't working on Team 10. If anything it just made them all look more determined than before.

Jei flipped the coin and looked down once it hit the ground, "Heads." He pointed at Team 10, "Pick the matchup. One-on-one or team battle?"

"Team battle." Shikamaru said without hesitation or a moment needed to even think about it.

All three proctors nodded, knowing that all three of them would be needed on the field to keep track of what was going on and to keep some semblance of order here. Jei projected his voice over the arena so that he could clearly be heard, "First round match, one team battle only! Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha vs. Hisashi, Misaru, and Jun of Iwa!"

"Any last words runt?" Hisashi asked cruelly, though he didn't specify who it was directed at he was clearly speaking to Naruto.

"I'll say them when I actually fight someone I think can kill me." Naruto said, getting annoyed with this guy's attitude, "What's your problem?"

"It's my business…" Hisashi said lowly, "Maybe I just don't like your face? Maybe just looking at you pisses me off and reminds me of someone that knocked my clan from grace? Did you ever think of that?"

XxX

Hisashi's sensei had reported to the Tsuchikage that during the month of training Hisashi had kicked himself and his entire team into gear, forcing them to train harder than they had in quite some time. They had been entered due to their ages and tenure as genin, not due to their inherent talent. They were more or less expected to underachieve, and Onoki was actually quite pleased when word came that they had advanced to the finals; it meant that Iwagakure hadn't washed out of the exams and they had representatives for the finals. It also gave him an excuse for a vacation of sorts.

The 'underachiever' tag apparently died with a vengeance though once they came back to prepare for the tournament. Hisashi seemed driven, and wasn't going to let himself hold back any chance at victory. Neither his sensei, nor the Tsuchikage could understand why he seemed to be this way. He didn't like Konoha at all, but that was common, especially since Hisashi had been old enough to get some of the backlash from the end of the last war being seventeen years old.

But then Onoki saw Team 10 walk out onto the field and got a look at Naruto when the large screen hanging from the ceiling showed a close-up shot of Naruto's face… and he then proceeded to turn robotically towards Hiruzen… because he understood why Hisashi had been so focused.

"And you were going to hide the fact that he had a son for how long Sarutobi?" Onoki said, amused, "Ah it won't matter though. While the lot of us have a bone to pick with him of sorts, Hisashi's got the biggest one out of all of us."

Hiruzen knew that Onoki was referring to Naruto's parentage, but was keeping it quiet for whatever reason. The Kazekage and Raikage didn't seem to notice the gist of the conversation, or care about the bantering between the old fossils of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Either way, it didn't matter, "How so Onoki?"

"Hisashi's clan, they were slated as Iwagakure's protectors." Onoki explained, "The Mamori Clan… they ensured that Iwagakure stayed pristine and unconquered throughout all of the wars and conflicts our village endured since its inception. Until your predecessor/successor made up that little jutsu that gave him his epithet… and he made a mockery of the Mamori. Kekkai (Barrier) ninjutsu can't do much good when one can teleport in and out of the village at will as long as one of his little knives or formula tags were hidden somewhere."

Hiruzen nodded in understanding. He knew of this clan. Of course he did, he was 'The Professor' for Kami's sake, "Then why does he not go by his given surname?"

"They were vilified after the end of the war by the villagers and even their own comrades. The entire defense of the village was centered around their unique skills. Most of them saw a drop in their practical skills… some went into depression, became alcoholics… the fallout was terrible for them." Onoki said with a deep frown on his face, "Even so… Hisashi was treated horribly by the children in the Academy, usually by the direction of their parents. So much so that the moment he was able to he dropped his clan name. He would rather have no name than a bad one." He turned towards Hiruzen and shook his head, "Your little yellow clone down there could be in some major trouble… even if he inherited a smidge of his father's skill he doesn't possess his techniques."

XxX

In another private area elsewhere, Gato held a glass filled with wine up to his lips as he grinned evilly prior to taking a sip, "Goodbye Konoha brats… and good riddance."

XxX

Naruto growled angrily at the older genin, "What does any of that have to do with me?"

Hisashi snarled in return, "The same thing it has to do with me!" He turned to Jei, "Start the fight so I can kill this kid already!"

Jei frowned at Hisashi's attitude and looked between the two teams, the jawing now done, "Are you both ready?" Team 10 and the Iwa team both nodded, looking ready to move, "Begin!"

As soon as the words left Jei's mouth, all three proctors vacated the area around the teams. Shikamaru and Ino took a position slightly behind Naruto while Jun and Misaru moved to both sides of them in an attempt to pincer them in. Hisashi threw a handful of shuriken at the team, but Naruto blocked them with the flat of his quickly drawn machete. From the sides while Naruto had been busy neutralizing the projectiles, Shikamaru returned fire in a manner of speaking as he threw a kunai at Jun. The attack of Jun stopped so that he could make sure he dodged the attack from Shikamaru, thus the pincer attack collapsed and Team 10 slipped out the backdoor to get their distance back.

"Damn it, they're moving for the wooded area!" Jun yelled once he saw them backing off towards the forested side of the field, "Hisashi stop 'em!"

"I've got it stupid!" Hisashi yelled as he had been moving towards that side of the field since the fight had started and he had used his shuriken to get their attention. At that rate he would beat them to that section, but Hisashi's desire was not to give the field advantage to Team 10, especially by himself without his own team there to back him up.

Lifting his arms up, Hisashi took aim with them straight out, as underneath his brown poncho that covered his whole body the shaved-head genin revealed a device attached to his arms that seemed to fire a pair of long, hollow rods across the entire field, sticking high into the walls at the very ends. After firing the rods he quickly rolled through hand-seals before lifting his hand to fire one more rod directly at Team 10, "Catch this brats!"

Shikamaru turned his head and saw Hisashi fire the rod directly at them, 'That's too fast to block or catch!' "Scatter!" He yelled, getting Ino and Naruto to do just that to force the shot to miss them, stopping them short of reaching the forest. Ino attempted to return the favor with a handful of senbon, but Hisashi dodged them.

After avoiding Ino's attack, Hisashi made his real move, "Kekkai: Fushigikabe (Barrier: Wonderwall)!" Hisashi pressed his hands together and the rods that had stuck themselves in certain places let out a momentary glow before from the ground rose a massive wall the length of the field and the height of the walls surrounding the edge of the arena.

"What the hell?" Ino said as the wall blocked them off.

'Okay, we can still work with this.' Shikamaru thought, 'As long as we stay off of the rocky side then they don't have the field advantage even if we don't either.'

"Too slow you bunch of babies!" Jun shouted as he stood by the wall and made three hand-seals before delivering a punch to it, "Doton: Iwayado Kuzushi (Earth Release: Rock Lodging Destruction)!" From the top of the wall, large pieces began to crumble off and fall down towards Team 10.

All three of them quickly moved away from the wall and tried to move back towards the stream, intent on crossing it back towards the Zen-garden to get their backs off of the wall and to avoid the falling rocks. Once they tried to do so however, the third member of the Iwa team Misaru got in their way, holding a pair of curved kunai.

Naruto took the lead with his machete and clashed blades with him before stepping through and overpowering him with a hard front kick that sent him flying backwards, 'Gah! How does a kid five years younger than me and at least six inches shorter hit like that?' Misaru thought as he went sailing.

As they ran across the bridge, Shikamaru tapped Naruto on his shoulder and made a hand gesture that Naruto nodded in understanding to, a grin on his face. Naruto dropped back and slapped explosive tags directly over their path, armed to go off once something else came into their proximity. The team then disappeared around the corner pillar of the bridge and ran into the Zen-garden, taking cover behind the large rocks strewn through it.

Jun was the first of the team to reach the bridge and saw the explosive tags lining it, "Hah, do you really think we need a bridge to cross?" He said tauntingly before running along the side of the stream in order to jump it.

Hisashi and Misaru arrived to the stream in time to see Jun begin to jump over the stream, "No you idiot! Stop running ahead!" Hisashi shouted, but Jun had already taken off into the air.

Jun heard his teammate yell but it was too late to turn back then. He just had to stay put until they got over there too. That was easy enough. And then he looked down at his landing spot and saw a very long shadow stretching out from the side of the bridge pillar, "What the-?" As he touched the ground he found himself unable to move because of the shadow that was attached to his. Before he could even say anything about it, two needles hit him in the side of the neck, making him incredibly drowsy, "-Fuck…" He then fell directly backwards into the stream as he floated on the surface of the water.

"Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession Jutsu) complete. Good shot Ino." Shikamaru said from his and Ino's position hiding behind the pillar at the corner of the bridge. Naruto had instantly created two clones and Henged them into Shikamaru and Ino as decoys while the real ones hid just out of sight but able to launch an ambush on anyone trying to cross the stream, "You got him before anyone even realized that I caught him. Did you kill him?"

"Nope, he's just asleep." Ino said, holding more senbon in her hands at the ready, "I hit him in the neck though, that's why it worked so fast. Anywhere else and he could have fought it."

"Jun is unable to continue, he is eliminated!" Sekki said as he jumped down into the stream to check him over.

Misaru palmed his face at the proclamation of the announcement and the roar of the crowd, "You dumbass…" He muttered as he and Hisashi stopped at the edge of the stream to stare across it. Ino and Shikamaru were still hidden, and Naruto was still in the Zen-garden somewhere, "So now what? I don't think they're dumb enough to let you set up another barrier jutsu anywhere near them."

From Hisashi's arm attachments two more rods emerged into his hands that he twirled in a testing manner before throwing one across the bridge. Once it landed, Ino and Shikamaru moved as far away from it into the Zen-garden as they could, knowing what the first rods had done. On the other side, Hisashi struck the ground with his second remaining rod as a small rippling trail of chakra began to cross the bridge. The ripple of chakra triggered the explosive tags, forcing them to explode without harming any of the remaining Iwa genin.

The bridge now clear and with Ino and Shikamaru in full retreat mode, Hisashi and Misaru ran across the bridge to follow up. When they did so however, by the time they made it to the middle of the bridge dozens of Naruto clones jumped up from the sides of the bridge from beneath the water prepared to attack.

"Holy shit!" Misaru said as the clones got closer. He had a kunai at the ready to fight off as many as he could, but Hisashi was faster and more prepared for this situation. The evidence came when Hisashi stabbed his rod into the ground and grabbed two more to surround himself and Misaru in a triangle formation, "Raiton: Gyaku Kaminari Shibari (Lightning Release: Reverse Thunder Binding)!"

A triangle of translucent blue energy formed between the rods just as Naruto's clones crashed into the see-through wall instead of converging on the remaining Iwa ninja. As the first wave of clones hit the barrier they were dispelled in a ripple of electricity that ran through the lot of them by way of conducting contact.

As the smoke from the clones dissipated into the air, Hisashi let out a laugh, "You don't have his skill after all! You don't fight anything like people say that bastard did! You can't get through any of my kekkai to get to me!" At the end of the bridge he saw Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru all standing together.

Naruto brandished his machete once more and prepared to charge the barrier to try and hack his way through it before Shikamaru grabbed Naruto and held him back, "What do you think you're about to do?" Shikamaru whispered.

A befuddled look came over Naruto, "I'm going to cut through the barrier. It can't be that tough could it? It's lightning-based, I'll just flow wind chakra through the machete and cut it."

"You won't get close." Shikamaru said quietly, "Your clones couldn't even touch the barrier without getting shocked. You'd have to use your new jutsu if you want your wind to break through that thing without shocking yourself, and I don't want to use out new moves until we have to." He looked at Hisashi and Misaru and they didn't look like they were willing to come out anytime soon, "Good thing we don't have a time limit."

Ino started impatiently tapping her foot on the ground, "Well what are we going to do, sit here? Come on, the longer they're in there the more time they have to think of something that can actually work." Naruto thought for a moment before blinking and moving to whisper an idea to Ino and Shikamaru. Ino looked at him strangely, "Are you sure? Do you really think you can aim it that well?" Naruto whispered to her again, "Okay… if you're that sure it won't matter."

Shikamaru had also heard the intended course of action from their jinchuuriki teammate, "Don't you think that'll put you at a disadvantage once it drops, three-on-two or not?" Naruto gave him a deadpan stare in response, "Fine, do it. We'll be ready."

Naruto grinned and then looked at Hisashi's barrier. Ino and Shikamaru cleared the way on the bridge for Naruto to have the space needed for whatever he was about to try. Naruto started out at the furthest end of the bridge and started running towards Hisashi and Misaru at a faster and faster pace.

Misaru held back a laugh, "What's he going to do, run his rock-filled head into the barrier?" Even Hisashi let out a laugh at that, "He can't touch the barrier himself or he'll fry."

XxX

In the stands, Asuma's eyes widened and he let out a chuckle as he saw Naruto run towards the barrier, "He's really going to try that bullshit attack?" That got the attention of Kakashi, Kurenai, and Gai as he continued to laugh louder, "I guess if there was ever a time for it, now would be it."

"What's he going to do?" Kurenai asked, "He has to know he won't even get close to touching it. The barrier isn't a person that he can flank or catch off-guard."

"Well his element is wind, and he can use chakra flow on his machete to increase its cutting power." Asuma said with a grin.

Kakashi nodded, "So he's got the type advantage over the barrier, but he still can't get close enough to hack through it."

That got another chuckle out of Asuma, "I didn't say he was going to hack through it, but let's just say those walls aren't going to stop this."

XxX

"What the hell is that idiot doing?" Sasuke asked as he saw Naruto charging towards the barrier with his weapon drawn. He thought Naruto was smarter than that. He had actually shown Sasuke some talent last time they had it out for a bit. There was no way this was that same Naruto, charging an electrified barrier.

Chouji had a bag of chips in his possession as he ate while watching the fights, "Shikamaru wouldn't let Naruto do this if there wasn't a reason for it." Shikamaru would never have let them do anything out of desperation like that.

Sakura frowned as she watched as well, "I guess so…"

XxX

Naruto let out a yell as he got close enough to make his move. Expecting a direct rush, Hisashi and Misaru were utterly surprised when Naruto quickly made a full 360 degree turn before hurling his machete at the barrier, spinning like a buzzsaw from the velocity it had been thrown with, "Straight from Konoha motherfucker, dattebayo!"

"Oh no way." Hisashi said just before the wind-coated machete sliced right through the barrier. The space inside, while sturdy and protective, was confined. Even when trying to move to the corners of the barrier, both Misaru and Hisashi were cut deeply by the attack that destroyed the barrier with the force of Naruto's throw and his element cutting through the defense.

Blood flew all over from the cuts as Misaru dropped to the ground screaming, his right arm barely attached as it had been cut all the way to the bone. Hisashi stumbled and held his body up against the side of the bridge, a deep wound in his left shoulder making it useless and unable to move. Blood fell freely onto the bridge as his fingers twitched uncontrollably from the nerve damage that he had clearly suffered.

"Damn it…" Hisashi said in a strained voice as he glared hatefully at Naruto, "…Damn it!" He shouted, using his good arm to obtain another rod that he used to charge Naruto, prepared to try and club him to death, "It's not fair!" Naruto was set to defend himself and end the fight when Shikamaru's shadow stopped Hisashi in his tracks and five senbon hit him in the chest in rapid succession, 'It's not fair… His pupils dilated and Shikamaru released him from his shadow, letting him drop to the ground in a heap.

A sigh came from Shikamaru as he stood up from his crouch and released his rat seal, "Will someone call this thing already before they both bleed to death out here?"

"The winners of the match and advancing to the next round: Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto looked at the damage that had just been done and walked over to where his machete landed. A team of earth manipulation specialists got to work on bringing down the massive wall cutting off a section of the field while Ino waved to the crowd and Shikamaru tried dragging her by her arm back to the tunnel to head up to the viewing area so that they could rest and plan.

Picking up the weapon from the ground and wiping the blood on it off in the dirt, Naruto looked up into the stands to make good on a promise and found Tsunade as she stuck out in particular with Shizune and Tonton. Eventually it was clear that Naruto was making exact eye contact with the two ladies and he grinned widely as if to say, 'You were saying?' Directed at Tsunade and Tsunade particularly.

XxX

Up in the crowd, Shizune looked towards her master slowly to ensure that no sudden movements would end with Tsunade's temper being lost at having her judgment getting shown up by some kid.

Tsunade merely looked down at Naruto from her seat with an even look on her face before she held up the stub that marked one of the bets she had made, "Hm, well at least I was right about them getting out of round one like I said they would." She said before shrugging, "They won't next round though, so it's fine."

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Exhibition Stadium)

"Yes, Naruto-oniisama won!" Hanabi shouted excitedly before once again realizing where she was, who she was supposed to be, and who exactly she was with once Hiashi looked at her as if she had grown another head. She once again went back to being quiet and trying to pretend that she didn't have a random, at least as far as her father was concerned, outburst. She did however have a victorious smile on her face, 'Hah, Kono-baka thinks he's onii-sama's number two. Well wouldn't a good number two have been here to see him win his fight?'

Too bad the Academy was holding class that day. Konohamaru would later curse the ammunition given to Hanabi once the war over who was Naruto's rightful 'apprentice' heated up. If he had been there that day he might have been able to nip the argument in the bud soon thereafter.

It was not to be however.

But next round Naruto's team was to fight Neji's team. That thought gave Hanabi pause. Neji was her cousin and clan member… she'd first met Naruto all of six days ago, and while he was infinitely cooler than Neji due to the fact that they had actually interacted in a positive manner, family was family… but then why did her family appear to grievously dislike the rest of them then?

Higher up in the stadium, also viewing the feed from Tetsu no Kuni on the screen, nother person was having thoughts of the spiky-haired blonde waving to the crowd, a crowd that seemed to openly be cheering for him (that must have been weird for him).

Jiraiya stood against the wall of the VIP box as two of Konoha's elders, his sensei's old teammates sat there watching the tournament in quiet contemplation, 'That was decent litmus test kid.' Jiraiya thought to himself about the first round win, 'Next round it's time to really see what you've got.'

XxX

(Tetsu no Kuni – Chunin Exams Arena – Competitor's Box)

"He threw his own weapon?" Temari said to herself, shaking her head with a scowl on her face as Team 10 walked back into the box, talking amongst themselves, "What an idiot. He disarmed himself on a random gambit that wouldn't have worked if that guy had been smart enough to deactivate his barrier." In her mind if he had tried that on her she would have cut him to pieces. She would never relinquish her fan for such an absurd purpose.

Kankuro let out a laugh at how his sister seemed to be offended by Naruto's use of his weapon, especially since he used her own element in a flagrantly questionable way, "If it's stupid and it works then it's not stupid Temari. Blame the other team for it if you have to." He then noticed Gaara staring at Naruto intently, "Uh… Gaara? Is something the matter?"

Gaara didn't blink or take his eyes off of Naruto as he remembered the run-in with Naruto's clones in the tunnels of the mountains one month ago, "He got away." Gaara said coldly, "He pissed me off… and I didn't kill him."

Both Temari and Kankuro looked at each other with a nervous hint in their eyes. Gaara was either going to blow their chances of getting promoted by going out of his way to kill Naruto outside of the field or he wasn't going to get to vent his aggression on the boy that had brazenly attacked him with his army of clones, and this would mean that it would build up until Gaara killed a sufficient amount of others (hopefully not them) to calm himself because there was no way that particular team would make it to the finals. All they seemed really good at was running away.

And they didn't know just how many lives it would take to calm Gaara if it was to come to that… because Gaara had never fought anyone that he didn't flat out kill before. No one got away from Gaara.

It didn't look like Uzumaki Naruto would either. Whether it happened on the battlefield or elsewhere Gaara would get what he apparently wanted, Naruto's life.

XxX

(On the Field)

The time for the next match had come as Team 8 had already gone down to stand at the ready. Shino had been as stoic as ever while Hinata seemed a little fidgety in front of the audience. She did however smile and wave to the people all the while Kiba was soaking the whole thing up as if he had already won the round.

The team from Taki on the other hand entered in a completely different manner. The girl with the mint green hair and the orange eyes that wore white, Fuu, seemed to have a permanent scowl on her face as she looked around at the crowd on her walk out.

Dorobou, the young man with spiky black hair, the battered black cloak, and the strange green and red eyes seemed to lead the way, directing the girl and keeping her from stopping to scowl. Bringing up the rear of the team was the young man with the puffy brown hair and the black jacket, Mr. Average himself; Houki, and he seemed perked up just to be there.

As the Taki team made it out to face off with Team 8, before Genma could even open his mouth to address either team Dorobou opened his mouth and spoke succinctly, "Heads."

Genma paused for a moment, he was indeed about to ask them which side of the coin they wanted, but the cheeky punk could have waited three seconds for him to ask couldn't he have? Regardless of that, he flipped the coin and it landed heads, "Pick your poison then."

"Team battle. So we can get this over with in a hurry." Dorobou said again before turning to his teammates, "Unless you all have a problem with that?"

Houki shook his head rapidly in the negative with a fearful look on his face while Fuu just gave Dorobou a harsh look, "I couldn't care less. Maybe in a team battle I'll get lucky and you and the albatross here will die so I don't have to do this anymore." She said dismissively.

"Even if Houki goes and gets himself killed you'll still be stuck with me my love. And we'll still be going through with this tournament. You aren't going to duck the chance to raise your and my ranks this time like the last five times by letting a teammate die." Dorobou said tauntingly, managing to get a gulp of fear from Houki at the thought of being allowed to die just so Fuu didn't have to compete any longer, "I'm your soulmate remember? The one tasked with guiding you ever since we were in the Academy."

"You mean my handler…" Fuu said lowly with quite a bit of spite in her voice, 'But I guess he's right. Since we didn't run into anyone to kill the bastard during the survival test this time it's too late to duck out, especially since Taki can see what I'm doing in this arena.'

"All a matter of perspective my dear." Dorobou said evenly.

On the other side, Kiba paid attention to every word being said and loved what he was hearing, 'So they aren't even a really experienced team? That girl and that guy had teammates die on them five times so that they never made it this far before. Their teamwork is going to be so shoddy!' He grinned wolfishly and turned to Genma, "What's say we get this show on the road already?"

Dorobou raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Someone's excited aren't they?" He then decided to ask a quick question, "You wouldn't mind telling me of your natural elemental affinities would you? It's a bit of a hobby of mine to compare them to others."

"I'm afraid we can't do that." Shino said, taking his hands out of his pockets and setting himself in a ready stance, "Why? Because it would bear no advantage to us, nor does it particularly matter at the moment."

"Fair enough." Dorobou said before turning to Fuu, "Shall we take care of this together my beloved?"

Fuu turned away and walked from Dorobou and Houki, "Do whatever you want. Just because I have to be here doesn't mean I have to do anything."

The jaw of Houki dropped as he saw Fuu walk away from the Zen-garden starting point into the barren portion of the field to simply stand away, not concerned at all with the battle, "W-What? Fuu where are you going?"

She didn't answer, flipping him off before merely standing in a position of observation and scrutiny of the fight. Genma turned to her and when she didn't come back over she turned to Dorobou, "So she isn't going to fight?" There weren't really any rules saying that battles had to start in a single area, it was just unspoken that they would begin in the Zen-garden. But Fuu didn't look like she was planning on participating at all.

"Oh she's just fussy." Dorobou said, shaking his head with a fond looking smile on his face, "It's sort of difficult to motivate her to fight, but it should still be fine. We're ready." Houki seemed petrified at starting three-on-two but didn't voice this out loud once a glare silenced him.

"Whatever…" Genma said before projecting his voice, "First round match, one team battle only: Fuu, Houki, and Dorobou vs. Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Hyuuga Hinata! Begin!"

Akamaru immediately jumped out of Kiba's coat, ready to attack as Kiba made a ram seal prior to setting down on the ground on all fours, "Shikyaku no Jutsu (Four Legs Jutsu)!" Kiba's appearance became more feral as his canines and fingernails grew.

Small bugs began to leak out of the openings of Shino's clothes. Hinata activated her Byakugan and set herself in her stance.

Kiba tossed a pill to Akamaru who caught and ate it, his fur turning red before he jumped onto Kiba's back, "Juujin Bunshin (Beast Human Clone)!" Akamaru then turned into a perfect body double of Kiba, standing on his back.

"That's interesting." Dorobou said with feigned enthusiasm, "Let me respond to that with this." He formed a hand-seal, "Iwa Bunshin no Jutsu (Rock Clone Jutsu)!" Three wads of earth flew from his mouth and shaped into copies of Dorobou. All four Dorobou's looked at Houki and spoke simultaneously, "Don't just sit there, fight!"

Houki suddenly snapped into action and took aim at Hinata, thinking she would be his best chance at defeating one of Team 8. While he did this, the rock clones sprang into action and attacked Shino and Kiba, "Alright, here we go." He said to himself as he drew a kunai and ran towards Hinata, "Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Jutsu)!" Five copies of Houki charged at Hinata prepared to attack, yelling a war cry as he did so.

Hinata gasped audibly once she saw him coming but merely set herself in her ready stance, prepared for the advance, "Shoutei (Palm Bottom)!" She cried as she shot out one palm thrust at the charging Houki, hitting the real one effortlessly right in the chest while the others merely faded from view, "I'm sorry." She said as Houki's face was twisted in shock at getting hit so easily, "But I could see you the whole time."

His body completely paralyzed, Houki could barely squeak out his next words, "Oh… Hyuuga… duh." He said before falling forward as stiff as a board and laying motionless on the ground.

"Houki is unable to continue! He is eliminated!"

Well after so easily seeing through Houki's approach Hinata thought that it had to be a trick or some sort. She didn't honestly expect him to fall so easily. She expected a counter of some sort, or a dodge, hell at least a last second Kawarimi. One hit though?

Oh well, she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. At least she managed to defeat someone to help her team. With that thought in mind she looked around the battlefield to look at the remaining two Taki ninja and let out a gasp at what she saw. Their bodies were so strange.

XxX

In the stands, Kurenai almost let out a loud yelling cheer when Hinata put her enemy down. All of her hard work paid off. She didn't do so though because she was usually the one that kept her composure and if she cheered like a schoolgirl then Asuma and possibly Kakashi would call her on it and pick with her or Gai would claim her flames of youth were burning bright for her student.

Still she could see the apprehension on Hinata's face after the boy was evacuated from the field. Shouldn't have getting a win made her confidence rise? It seemed like it decreased once she took notice of the advantage they now had. But why?

XxX

The opportunity was simply too great to not take advantage of. When Dorobou began taking on both Kiba and Shino he neglected to take notice that there had been a third wheel there at first. So after helping Kiba destroy one of the rock clones with their tandem technique, Akamaru immediately took Kiba's place as his body double while the original skulked across the field to get a good vantage point on the last Taki ninja who hadn't thrown a punch yet. They would have to defeat her eventually, and she didn't surrender, she just left the vicinity of the main battle. For all he knew she was waiting for her teammate to wear them down before stepping in.

It took a while, and the transformed Akamaru, along with Shino, had been unable to corner Dorobou to double-team him despite Shino sucking the chakra out of the remaining clones with his kikaichuu. The Taki ninja seemed to be more about bantering and dodging attacks than trying to find a useful counter.

Still, Fuu was vulnerable. She didn't even try to register Kiba's presence, and that meant that it was showtime. Kiba broke out into a run on the barren grounds before launching himself at her in a jump, "Tsuuga (Passing Fang)!" He began spinning at a frightening speed, looking more akin to a drill than a human being, and he was aimed right at Fuu.

Fuu heard him call out the name of the jutsu and turned towards Kiba with a gasp before crossing her arms in front of her face and body and shutting her eyes in desperation.

Kiba slammed into Fuu with his drill-like attack, however instead of overwhelming her with the oppressive taijutsu assault he was held in place as Fuu merely slid back across the ground, grunting with effort to hold him back with nothing more than her body. Eventually she began getting pushed uphill on the mountainous terrain of the barren zone and that lack of assistance for Kiba allowed her to take one hard step forward with a shove and a yell of exertion.

Kiba was knocked from his Tsuuga and sent rolling backwards down the hill, ending with him sitting at the bottom of it, dizzy from what had just transpired, "How in the hell did she do-?" He stopped asking questions when he saw Fuu nearly upon him from a straightforward charge, a look of pure anger on her face.

"Leave me alone!" Fuu shouted before delivering a driving punt kick to Kiba. Her entire attacking portion of her leg, all the way up from her foot to her knee connected with Kiba's front; either his chest or his face. Blood flew freely from his clearly broken nose and smashed face as he sailed at a low altitude across the ground before hitting it an rolling bonelessly, clearly unconscious and probably taking more damage from the nasty nature of the backlash from the kick.

"Kiba-kun!" Hinata shouted as she rushed over to try and help her broken teammate any way she could. Her eyes allowed her to see all of the broken bones he had taken just from one kick. She was beaten over to Kiba by Sekka and a group of medics who were already working on him, "I-Is he going to be alright?" Even Akamaru had ceased fighting to run over to his fallen owner.

Sekka frowned as he had been running a prognostic jutsu on Kiba's person, "He was pulverized. I don't think I've ever seen a genin produce blunt damage like that. He'll be fine if we get him out of here now!" The other medics began loading up Kiba on a gurney while Sekka stood up to address the situation to the crowd, "Inuzuka Kiba is eliminated!" As they hustled him off of the field Akamaru trailed after, the battle secondary to the health of his friend.

Hinata spared a glance at Fuu who was pacing around rather angrily, almost muttering to herself about that idiot and how he should have just left her alone… left her alone just like everybody else.

The thing she took notice of was the constant flow of chakra moving through Fuu's entire body. When Kiba had attacked her it seemed to flare up and turn her entire body in to a scorching blaze of chakra. When she had rushed after Kiba to attack him the same thing had occurred only lessened. Whatever that was Kiba's attack hadn't left a scratch on her. Whatever had just happened had to do with chakra and chakra flow. And that meant that this girl was her responsibility to defeat…

Meanwhile over with Dorobou and Shino the battle had come to a standstill. Shino hadn't expected the sudden finish that had befallen Kiba, and even though he found the boy a little overbearing at times he was still his comrade and friend.

"I told you that Fuu was fussy." Dorobou said, getting Shino's attention as he seemed to be amused by Fuu's reactionary actions against Kiba, "She doesn't like to fight, but that doesn't mean that she won't fight. She's far from a pacifist. Fuu would much rather prefer her own company to that of others… it even stretches out to the fact that she would lash out at her teammates and sensei at first when she started out as a ninja. I'm the only one she won't attack for certain. Because she is my soulmate."

"What could you possibly mean by that?" Shino asked, his bugs buzzing angrily in respects to his own emotions that he would not overtly show.

"I have been entrusted with carrying on a special kinjutsu from my village. More infamous than our secret weapon for what it wound up being used for in the past." Dorobou said proudly, "It would kill a lesser shinobi so only the strongest of prospects can receive it. The Jiongu (Earth Grudge Fear). Fuu realizes that this turns me into as much of a weapon as she is. I am just as inhuman as her. And like her my abilities are unnatural."

"Unnatural?" Shino said. All the while they had been talking he had been cutting off possible paths of retreat with his bugs from behind. There was no way he would be able to run without being swarmed with his insects. It was a good thing this person liked to gab so much.

"I won't tell you about my ability, but you've already seen Fuu and would guess it without much help. Fuu's marvelous body adjusts itself to necessary situations depending on the amount of motivation or emotion she feels at the time. If she is scared or angry her power is incredible. Tekiousei-Tai (Adaptable Body). A gift from her biju."

Shino raised an eyebrow at that, "Biju?"

XxX

In the competitor's box, Naruto's eyes widened before he palmed his face, "Oh no…" He sank his head down on the railing and shook it, getting the attention of Shikamaru and Ino who had heard the same, "You seriously can't be telling me…"

XxX

"Yes." Dorobou said, looking over to Fuu and blowing a kiss that she merely sneered at him for, "Fuu is the jinchuuriki of the Nanabi no Kabutomushi (Seven-Tailed Rhinoceros Beetle). She contains the beast within her body."

"Why you…" Fuu muttered lowly, shaking in anger with tears pricking at her eyes, "I didn't want him or anyone here to know that!" She shouted throughout the now silent arena, "Isn't it enough that you and those monkeys in Taki all know? No one here had to know that! I didn't need them looking at me the same way too!"

At that moment, Fuu was angry enough to punch the ground and cause a tremor that disrupted the footing of Hinata who was trying to attack her by surprise. The alarm on unknowingly averting an attack on her person turned to a feeling of anger at the fact that she was attacked again, "You didn't get the point when your mutt-faced friend attacked me? I said leave me alone!" Fuu picked up a piece of rubble from at her feet and flicked it at Hinata, hitting her in the forehead as she got back up and knocking her backwards ten feet with a red bleeding bruise on her forehead. She wasn't done with this little situation however.

Shino felt the fear creep into his chest at watching another teammate be hurt by something he had only heard rumblings about of being done in other countries. Fuu wasn't even letting her get up, simply kicking and stomping the downed Hinata, "Call her off." He demanded coldly as his bugs began to creep from their hiding places, moving in slowly and threateningly.

Dorobou began to laugh at Shino's threat until from under his cloak a mass of thick black threads emerged from his body and boosted him into the air as he jumped himself out of being boxed in by Shino, clearing the space clean over his head, "Sorry Aburame, but I've always wanted to see if these things could pluck and use more productive organs other than hearts and stuff. Let's start with Hyuuga eyes!" He shouted maniacally.

Shino immediately sprinted as fast as he could after Dorobou, sending out more bugs to try and latch onto him while he was in the air. In response, once Dorobou landed he sent a wave of his threads at Shino in a method of attack. Taking note of his claim of plucking out organs, Shino immediately called a mass of bugs towards him to swarm around his body rapidly in a dome shape, "Mushi Kame no Jutsu (Insect Jar Jutsu)." The attack was averted, but once the shield dropped Dorobou had reached Fuu, who was holding up a very beaten up Hinata by the collar of her jacket, "No…"

"You're so lovely Fuu." Dorobou said with a smile as he walked the rest of the way over to Fuu who merely glared at him, "Now let's see if I can take those eyes of hers." Fuu let out a disgusted scoff that he decided to address, "I'd never take anything from your exquisite body Fuu, of course. That would be a real crime."

"…Only because I'm still useful." Fuu said spitefully, still holding the unconscious Hinata up, "And she kept trying to attack me so I had to capture her. I'd never intentionally give you or the village anything you want."

"Stop!" Shino shouted as he could see the threads of Dorobou inching towards Hinata. The grin on the young man's face as he turned around to face Shino let the insect user know that there was only one thing he wanted at this point, "She can barely fight anymore. If we surrender would you let her go?"

"Hmm." Dorobou said in mocking contemplation, "I do want to see if Jiongu is compatible with taking Hyuuga eyes… but then again you're giving me a surrender. If I attack after you've done that then I'll probably blow my shot at a promotion for not being P.C… so yes. Surrender and we'll let her go."

"Fine, we surrender." Shino said without hesitation, "Now release Hinata!"

Dorobou looked over at Jei and Genma as both nodded and Genma gave the announcement, "By way of verbal surrender the winners, and advancing to the next round: Fuu, Dorobou, and Houki!"

The crowd reaction was more along the lines of light applause more than anything due to the revelation of Fuu being a jinchuuriki. Said girl released Hinata and let her fall to the ground before walking back towards the waiting area, glaring daggers at the audience as she could make out some of the conversation being made by the spectators, talking about her. Shino much to his credit paid neither Taki ninja any mind as he made his way to Hinata to make sure she was alright.

Dorobou walked fast enough to catch up to her and Fuu turned to glare at him, "When this is over and we leave this place… I don't care if you're the only person since Kakuzu that can perform the Jiongu. I'm going to tear you apart for this… and the village can do whatever they want with me afterwards if they find out."

"Keep that anger for the next round my love." Dorobou said, shrugging off Fuu's threat even though he was keeping a rather wide berth from her. He only said it to motivate her powers to fight. How she felt was of no consequence to him, she was never in a good mood anyway. If he was close enough to touch her she might lose the only inhibition she had against outright attacking him just like anyone else that got within reaching distance of her.

"Stay away from me." Fuu muttered irritably.

XxX

"I can't believe it." Kurenai said as she walked with Asuma through the bowels of the arena to head to the medic bay to tend to her students, "Takigakure brought their jinchuuriki here? Why? And how could a jinchuuriki be a genin?"

Asuma shook his head and lit up a cigarette, not getting any comments from Kurenai thus showing how worried she was, "You're saying that like Naruto isn't one too. Jinchuuriki are people Kurenai." She had the good sense to look shamefaced at that, "And even if one is really strong their village doesn't have to promote them. Remember that most jinchuuriki aren't exactly the most reliable in team situations, so how would one be promoted to a position to lead a squad? Naruto's actually the rare jinchuuriki that's stable. This is just a show of force for Taki to get them clients. Fuu isn't going to be promoted no matter what."

"That's terrible." Kurenai said before remembering what Fuu did to Kiba and Hinata, "She seemed so angry. Enraged, even when she had the upper hand on Hinata. How could anyone be so violent?"

"You're going to remember that aren't you?" Asuma asked, getting a nod from Kurenai, "Good. Could you possibly see Naruto ever being like that?" Kurenai shook her head, "And what does that tell you? You know how people treated him and he didn't end up anything like Fuu."

"It tells me that we are all very lucky that his will is so strong." Kurenai said with a frown on her face, "Because he has every excuse in the world to be the one who's angry like that girl."

Hey You're Not a Genius. Who Cares? Read This and You Won't Suck at Fuunjutsu (by Jiraiya)

Repeat after me: I am invincible

When your opponent lands a particularly nasty shot in some way and you don't die from it don't lay there on the ground in an attempt to clear the fuzziness away. This isn't a point spar and there's no standing eight count. I don't care how many bells are going off in your skull or how hard your body is screaming at you to stay down idiot, showing that you're hurt or that they did damage to you only tells your opponent, "I'm hurt. Please come hit me again, I think another good one will finish the job."

Do not give any tells. Never drop your combat stance. Dropping your stance is the first sign that you're on your last legs. If you can't even keep your body primed to defend itself in the most basic way you know how it's obvious that you can't go any longer. A perfect example of a guy that never gives any tells is Hatake Kakashi. You could run the kid over with a speeding ox-pulled cart and he'd probably pop back up with a look on his face like, "What, that's all you've got? Fucking pussy."

Kakashi's facial expressions are the best because half of the time it looks like he doesn't even know he's in a fight.

It's got to be the mask.

Note to readers… invest in a mask or something that can cover your facial reactions.

Jutsu List

Boukun no Seishinbyou (Tyrant's Psychosis). C-rank genjutsu, offensive, supplementary. The victim of this genjutsu will find themselves in an increasingly aggressive battle against a mental avatar of the current opponent. No matter the skill of the victim and the skill of the user the 'battle' will steadily turn from even-paced to eventually fully in the user of the genjutsu's avatar's favor. The victim will feel as if they are getting beaten up, injured, or wounded in some way by a combination of fighting techniques they have seen in the past so as not to compromise the user's actual fighting style.

Raiton: Yokuatsu no Houden (Lightning Release: Oppressive Discharge). C-rank ninjutsu, offensive. The user will make hand-seals and their body will release a sudden electric wave that will deliver a shock to anything caught close to it.

Kekkai: Fushigikabe (Barrier: Wonderwall). C-rank ninjutsu, barrier ninjutsu, supplementary. This jutsu is performed by setting the parameters of the jutsu with prepared markers. After the application of a flaring of the user's chakra the jutsu will raise up a sturdy wall made with tough, tightly compacted material. Depending on the size and structure of the field enemies can be pigeon-holed or completely blocked off from a direct frontal approach. The skill of the user also comes into play with this jutsu as well. A skilled user can create walls in quick succession to capture opponents and trap them with a finishing cover over the top of the wall, or it can be left open to bombard the trapped enemies from above.

Tekiousei-Tai (Adaptable Body). Taijutsu, fighting style, offensive, defensive, short-range, tailed beast skill. Through the influence of her biju, chakra is always flowing from Fuu's system through her muscles and joints to vitalize them. Through this method Fuu's body subconsciously adjusts its muscle density and solidarity depending on her mindset. The more emotion she feels, positive or negative, or determination towards an action she feels, her body responds accordingly at that moment, providing her with a boost of a physical nature. The reaction is unstable at best, however with time the user is able to determine the amount of power the body will attempt to use in certain situations and can adjust their fighting style and overall life in general to the ability. Has been compared to Tsunade's chakra enhanced strength, but it is far from the same. As long as Fuu is physically aware and her emotions are in play then the potential of this ability is incredible.

Ongoing Stats (Out of 5) Revamped

Team 10

Uzumaki Naruto

Ninjutsu: 3

Taijutsu: 3

Genjutsu: 1

Intelligence: 2

Strength: 3.5

Speed: 3

Stamina: 4

Hand-Seals: 1

Total Score: 20.5

Nara Shikamaru

Ninjutsu: 2.5

Taijutsu: 1.5

Genjutsu: 2.5

Intelligence: 5

Strength: 1.5

Speed: 2

Stamina: 1.5

Hand-Seals: 2.5

Total Score: 19

Yamanaka Ino

Ninjutsu: 2.5

Taijutsu: 2

Genjutsu: 2

Intelligence: 2

Strength: 1

Speed: 2.5

Stamina: 2

Hand-Seals: 2

Total Score: 16

Iwa Team

Hisashi

Ninjutsu: 2.5

Taijutsu: 2

Genjutsu: 1

Intelligence: 2.5

Strength: 2.5

Speed: 2.5

Stamina: 2

Hand-Seals: 2

Total Score: 17

Misaru

Ninjutsu: 1.5

Taijutsu: 1.5

Genjutsu: 1

Intelligence: 1.5

Strength: 2

Speed: 2

Stamina: 2

Hand-Seals: 2

Total Score: 13.5

Jun

Ninjutsu: 1

Taijutsu: 2

Genjutsu: 1

Intelligence: 0.5

Strength: 2

Speed: 2

Stamina: 3

Hand-Seals: 2

Total Score: 13.5

Team 8

Inuzuka Kiba

Ninjutsu: 1.5

Taijutsu: 2.5

Genjutsu: 1

Intelligence: 1

Strength: 2.5

Speed: 3.5

Stamina: 2

Hand-Seals: 1.5

Total Score: 15.5

Aburame Shino

Ninjutsu: 3.5

Taijutsu: 1.5

Genjutsu: 2

Intelligence: 3

Strength: 1.5

Speed: 1.5

Stamina: 2

Hand-Seals: 2

Total Score: 17

Hyuuga Hinata

Ninjutsu: 1.5

Taijutsu: 2.5

Genjutsu: 2

Intelligence: 2.5

Strength: 1

Speed: 2

Stamina: 1.5

Hand-Seals: 2

Total Score: 15

Taki Team

Fuu

Ninjutsu: 3

Taijutsu: 3

Genjutsu: 1

Intelligence: 2

Strength: 4

Speed: 3

Stamina: 4

Hand-Seals: 2

Total Score: 22

Dorobou

Ninjutsu: 3.5

Taijutsu: 2

Genjutsu: 1

Intelligence: 3

Strength: 2

Speed: 2.5

Stamina: 3.5

Hand-Seals: 1.5

Total Score: 19

Houki

Ninjutsu: 1

Taijutsu: 1.5

Genjutsu: 1

Intelligence: 2

Strength: 1.5

Speed: 1.5

Stamina: 2

Hand-Seals: 2

Total Score: 12.5