Blue eyes opened up once the first dregs of sunlight hit Ino's face, stirring her from her rest. Underneath her was Naruto… right where she left him, only now she had gotten closer to his shoulder than his chest and he now had a pillow stuck over his face as it was turned to the side, still sound asleep, "I hope I'm not the reason that's there." She said while removing said pillow from his face lest he actually wind up smothered for real.
Hey, while accidentally killing her teammate by way of pillow was worst case scenario it wasn't her fault that a pillow just felt cumbersome while she was sleeping on his chest. That heartbeat was comforting.
She was obviously more comfortable than she thought because she had managed to intertwine her legs with his. He was never to know that, and it was lucky that he slept so heavily as she freed herself from him and got up out of bed… because what was she possibly going to say, something even more awkward than the practice of getting him in there last night in the first place?
They still had hours before their fight so instead of kicking Naruto awake as was her first instinct she yawned and opened the blinds. That would eventually get him up… and if he wasn't up in thirty minutes or an hour then she'd do something about it.
Looking back at Naruto as the sun hit his face, Ino smiled when he cringed at the sunlight and turned over in the bed to shield his face, "At least you got over how weird it was sleeping with me fast enough." She then did a slightly provocative pose, not that he was even awake to see it, "But then again why wouldn't you enjoy it? I was there after all." She stopped her pose to hold her torso slightly. The day-after lag of taking an injury was there in full force and she could feel the dull throb of the hurt that Lee had put on her.
With that, she opened the door to the room and walked out to find a fully dressed and ready Shikamaru sitting on the couch where Naruto was supposed to be sleeping, at least to the best of his memory, "Hey." Shikamaru greeted, surprising Ino that he was actually awake at a very un-Shikamaru-like hour, "I think Naruto ditched us for a bit because I didn't see him or any sign of him when I got up this morning."
"Oh he's in there." Ino said, pointing her thumb behind herself into her room with quite the pleased look on her face, "He spent the night with his beloved Ino-chan… one wonderful night he'll never forget." She let out a satisfied sigh as she plopped down on the couch next to Shikamaru, "He just couldn't keep his hands off of me."
Red quickly sprang to Shikamaru's face as his mind dropped to the gutter almost immediately upon Ino's utterance of her statement, "A-Are you serious?" His head slowly turned towards Ino's room where the door was open and he could see a lump that was still in the bed… obviously Naruto, "You can't be serious."
Ino gave him a dry look while inwardly she was laughing, "Well… look around. Goldie-kun's in there, I came out of there just now, there's no way I'm ever sleeping on a couch unless the couch is the best option available. Put the pieces together Shikamaru." She then added something in an attempt to go for the proverbial knockout, "He was a complete gentleman if it makes you feel better. He didn't do anything I didn't want him to do and he didn't force anything on me." That was true… however it still sounded wrong. And that was Ino's intention all along, because it was still about to get worse, "It was actually more comfortable than I thought it would be. I don't know what people talk about saying that the first time sleeping with someone hurts. It was like we were a perfect fit."
And that was all Shikamaru could take before he collapsed on the arm of the couch with blood dripping from his nose.
Nodding to herself for a job well done, a cat-like smirk on her face, she got up and headed for the bathroom to get ready for the day. She'd wake both Naruto and Shikamaru up after she was done.
As she walked back into the bedroom and grabbed her toiletries she wondered how well the same trick would work on Asuma.
XxX
The final day of the exams had come and many vendors and merchants were up bright and early to pack up their things, prepared to leave immediately to return home once the event came to an end. Until then those that had tickets once again packed the arena prepared to watch the last matches up close and personal. Those without once again crowded the main plaza of the village outside of the arena to watch on the screen out there as well.
"There's no way I'm losing today's wager!" Tsunade chirped brightly as she and Shizune made their way back into the arena they had just been in the day before, "It's so easy. All I had to do was heap the cash on the dark horse team. It'll make back what I lost and then some!"
Shizune was surprised at hearing that from her master, "That means you're betting on the Konoha team with Uzumaki Naruto on it? Wow Tsunade-sama, I thought you didn't believe in him to win."
"Oh I don't." Tsunade said matter-of-factly, getting Shizune to sigh at her lack of logic in this situation. Why bet on someone you don't believe can win? That's asinine, "But we're already in the red anyway, so if he loses we'll just be further in debt. If that team wins the whole thing though then consider our debts cleared with a nice little chunk to go into our pockets as well. The sucker's bet isn't such a sucker move this time."
Shizune merely smiled as they made their way to their seats through the rows, "I'd like to think they can win. It would be nice for a change wouldn't it? I thought they were good kids and they seem to be rather good shinobi as well."
In response to her assistant's thoughts and hopes on the matter, Tsunade frowned heavily, "It doesn't matter how 'good' they are or how 'nice' it would be for them to win Shizune. That's not the way things work in this world. The odds are against them here. Even if they win the first one then what will they do with the second fight? You saw that team."
"It isn't a bad thing to hope for good things to happen." Shizune said. Tsunade had been like this ever since she had left Konoha with her all those years ago. It was really depressing most of the time to hear how she didn't think anyone with an actual goal could do it, or if anyone felt that they could do something impossible she would just cut into them, "There's always a chance." Not hearing anything out of Tsunade it was evident that the conversation was over, eliciting a sigh from the dark-haired woman.
XxX
(Konohagakure no Sato – Exhibition Stadium)
Aside from the wanton violence from Gaara on Akadou Yoroi that had ended yesterday's viewing experience the stadium was buzzing over the possibility of if the last remaining Konoha team could win. The seats were filled again with even more people down on the field itself with blankets and the like spread out so that they could sit on the ground and watch.
Hanabi was barely able to hide how excited she was as she was nearly bouncing in her seat waiting on the fight, "Father, do you know anything about Naruto-oniisama?" She looked around and thought of something from yesterday, "A lot of people seem to know who he is, more than they did Neji." A frown then came over her young face, "But they don't really seem to like him either."
At least not until the fight started. Her ears weren't terrible in place of her eyes being so good. Yesterday Hanabi was able to decipher quite a bit of the conversations going on around her even though there was nothing really definite in what was said. There were more than a few mean-spirited tones of voice though. Naruto's performance in the comeback was impressive enough to win a good deal of spectators over by the end however.
Hiashi would have to later ask his daughter about how she knew Naruto, and what necessarily he had done to get her buzzing about him so much. Until yesterday Hiashi hadn't even been aware that Hanabi even had any friends outside of the clan, and even they couldn't really be classified as her friends. Yet she somehow ran smack into Uzumaki Naruto out of the blue and cheered for him over her own blood, albeit Neji wasn't necessarily close to her. Still, she brought up a point that was a sore subject for many. Not necessarily him in particular, but among many others in the clan; why did people inherently dislike Naruto? This was her question, and he couldn't answer it.
"It… is not my place to say." Hiashi responded to the little girl with a serious expression, "It is something of a personal secret that very few are privy to." Very few her age at least. Every adult within a 50 mile radius of Konoha seemed to know about it, "It seems as if he is changing the opinion of many though. The people don't seem to despise Uzumaki Naruto as much any longer."
"Who hates the Boss?"
A bratty male voice said, and… wait did his daughter just growl? She definitely activated her Byakugan on reflex, that much was clear for him to see. They had been sitting by the aisle, and Hanabi hopped right out of her seat, turning up the steps and pointing her little finger at the one that had spoken, "What are you doing here Kono-baka?" Hanabi asked, and indeed it was Konohamaru with Moegi and Udon in tow, "Don't tell me you skipped school and snuck in here! And you call yourself Naruto-oniisama's number two, he'd never excuse that!"
Oh, if only she knew just what Naruto was willing to excuse and condone. Someone had a little bit more to learn.
But Konohamaru jumped to take the bait, "I came here because I heard that Boss kicked so much ass yesterday he was going to do it again today!" He took on a victorious look and rubbed his nose, "Heh. It wasn't really that hard to convince Iruka-sensei that it was a good idea to come and watch today."
Moegi got close to Konohamaru's ear to whisper to him, "But Konohamaru, yesterday at the end of class you held onto Iruka-sensei's leg and almost started crying in the middle of class to get him to take us all out here for the end of the contest."
Konohamaru sputtered and was only thankful that Moegi had been quiet enough to keep Hanabi from hearing that… and then he saw her smirk… because her Byakugan was on and she could clearly read lips.
"Who is this girl Konohamaru?" Udon asked, pointing at Hanabi who had turned her Byakugan off due to just wasting chakra at that point.
"A scoundrel apprentice of the Boss!" Konohamaru shouted, stepping forward and shaking a fist at Hanabi, "She doesn't even know any of the Boss's secret techniques or anything and she thinks that she's his number two!"
At this point Hiashi could only raise an eyebrow at Hanabi's ongoing interaction with these random kids. Once again he had to wonder how on earth she managed to meet them, or at least how did she meet Konohamaru since he was the one she was arguing with.
"I am not a scoundrel apprentice." Hanabi replied haughtily, "And you say Naruto-oniisama has taught you his secret techniques, he obviously hasn't taught you the good one." Her eyes filled with admiration as she remembered the force of Naruto's jutsu that hurt her eyes and how Konohamaru most definitely didn't know how to do it. Yes, he was most certainly magnanimous to keep such a jutsu out of the hands of those that would abuse its awesome power, "He has more wisdom than to teach such a powerful jutsu to an oaf that would use it in the street to harm innocent bystanders."
"I am not an oaf!" Konohamaru disputed, "Take that back!" He made to walk down the steps but missed the placement of his foot. He would have fallen down the stairs had he not been grabbed by the back of his scarf and lifted into the air. He breathed a sigh of relief, but paled when he realized who was holding on to him.
"You thought it was okay to just run off from the classes Konohamaru?" Iruka said, holding the boy up with a look on his face that promised that repercussions were going to be paid soon, "You can't run up into the stands and bother others. You're representing the class and the Academy when you pull stunts like that." He rubbed the bridge of his nose as a stress reliever, "Honestly, I didn't figure I'd have anyone near as troublesome again after-."
"-After Naruto graduated?" Konohamaru offered up hopefully, getting nods from Moegi and Udon who had also heard Naruto tell them of the things he had gotten up to when he was their age.
Iruka gave Konohamaru a shake and a stern look, "I brought you here so that you would all pay attention and watch what could be you one day if you work hard enough. These are genin out there fighting. That's what you'll be once you graduate too, and if you're talented enough you could be the next rookies to make it in the exams. Now back to the field with the rest of the class and if I have to look for you again you don't want to know what I'll have you do."
Despite the speech, Iruka was pretty much going to take his class anyway as a surprise because he had really wanted to see Naruto on the first day. Scheduling wouldn't allow him to do so, and then when Konohamaru started the desperate begging yesterday the other teachers thought it would be a good idea to tag along and take their classes too… all of them. So the entire Academy was out on the field watching the exam conclusion.
It was going to be hell keeping watch over those little bastards for too long if the matches didn't start soon. Ahh, the joys of teaching.
"Excuse me."
Iruka's attention turned towards Hiashi as the man remained in his seat, unaffected by the argument between the kids. Iruka looked towards him as Hanabi sat back in her seat next to her father, "Yes Hyuuga-san, I apologize. Konohamaru is a little something of a troublemaker." He cleared his throat before speaking again, "I hope he didn't cause too much trouble."
"It's fine." Hiashi said, looking at Hanabi, "I believe it was just as much Hanabi here as much as your student." Hanabi had to fight the urge to pout at getting in trouble because of Konohamaru, "I believe it's about time she enrolls in the Ninja Academy so that she can learn to interact better with others."
Hanabi stared wide-eyed at her father. Was he really going to finally put her in the Academy? That would have been great. She wondered why it had taken so long in the first place. She could have been enrolled at the end of the last semester.
Iruka nodded and looked down at Hanabi, giving the little girl a smile as he kept speaking to Hiashi, "Of course, I don't think that would be any trouble at all. If you don't mind stopping by the Academy after the exams are over we can get most of her paperwork and things handled then. I hope you're in my class." He finished to Hanabi before excusing himself to make sure Konohamaru was heading back down to the field and not bothering anyone else in the crowd.
XxX
(Tetsu no Kuni – Chunin Exams Arena – Private VIP Box)
Gato didn't even know why he was still in Tetsu no Kuni. The hits he had put out on Team 10 hadn't ended with some of those little bastards dying miserably, and the Oto genin team that had fought Team 7 failed. Still, watching Fuu smash the Uchiha and the Akimichi into paste was satisfying. So maybe the fact that the second Konoha team was fighting against that girl and her single remaining teammate that day kept him around? And hey, if they won that match too then they would just get squashed by the homicidal kid with the sand in the finals. So either way he'd get a touch of fulfillment out of the day's proceedings.
"You have company Gato-sama." One of his masked Otogakure bodyguards said, knocking on the door from outside, "It's an important guest."
"I'll be the judge of that!" Gato said as he gripped the cane he possessed with a hidden sword inside in preparation for the door to open, "Let whoever it is in already!" Having already dodged death from Kakashi and his brats once before he now had a mixture of bravery in the face of frontline odds and a newfound cowardice for unknowns. It was strange, but at least the squads of Oto shinobi that Orochimaru gave him to command as a gesture of good faith were efficient guards. Good at dirty work too.
"Now, now Gato… that's not a very hospitable attitude for one to have." That voice made Gato's blood turn somewhat cold at the sound of it… and this was supposed to be his business partner.
"Ah!" Gato jumped up from his cushy chair and ran to the door to find Orochimaru already inside with the door closed behind him, "Orochimaru, what brings you here to the exams? I thought you were busy budgeting the funds I fronted you."
Orochimaru moved past Gato, delighting in the cowardice of the man once he realized he was in the presence of his undisputed better, money or not… and it wasn't like Orochimaru himself had a shortage of it. He commandeered Gato's chair, taking a seat where the man once sat without even asking. What was he really going to do about it? Nothing at all, "What can I say Gato? It was far easier to appropriate the needs than I thought it would be, and I do love a good show. Why? Are you not happy to see me here?" His tone was pleasant enough, but like everything else he said there was an air of danger to it.
"That's not it at all, I was just under the impression that we weren't going to meet up and speak again until your other business had been squared away." Gato said, not really caring about the loss of his seat now that one of the most dangerous men that had ever lived happened to be right there in front of him, "Aren't you worried about the samurai or any of the other ninja getting wind of you being here?"
A laugh came from Orochimaru, "Aside from you there is only one other person aside from the guard outside that even knows I'm in this country, and it should stay that way. This is a private box isn't it?" Gato moved into his field of vision nodding furiously, "Then there isn't a problem at all. I'll merely slip out with the crowd after everything is over."
Well it wasn't like they were looking for him anyway, just trouble in general. And with all of the people moving about the village it wasn't like it would be hard for him to hide if he really wanted or needed to.
Attempting to regain his composure, Gato adjusted his tie and went over to the bar section of his box to get himself and Orochimaru something to drink, "Well it's good that you're here anyway. I've come across some opportunities for your village to get a lot more work. It's something I thought you'd be interested in. So I figured, why not bring it up the next time we saw each other?"
"Do tell." Orochimaru said. Despite his sarcastic, apathetic response it couldn't be said that Gato didn't know his way around a deal… and if he was stupid enough to double-cross him it wasn't like Orochimaru was going to venture out for anything other than his own direct interests, the man would be dead before all of the chips even fell. Gato had little to nothing on Otogakure anyway. No info on any bases or anything.
"The Mizukage's manpower is starting to run dry." Gato said as he brought Orochimaru the glass that he had been pouring over at the bar, "His little civil war is costing him way more than he's gaining by trying to kill bloodline users. They're picking him apart from the shadows since open war would still be outright suicide. It seems he's looking to outsource since the losses are starting to pile up. There are so many islands in Mizu no Kuni they're difficult to find."
'Bloodline users…' Orochimaru thought with a shine in his eye that Gato couldn't see, "I'll take that into consideration Gato. Thank you for the input." If he found a way to get the Mizukage to allow him to lend assistance then he would have free reign to capture any bloodline users his forces wound up coming across in Mizu no Kuni. Maybe he could even find another gem like Kimimaro.
The possibilities for advancement in this situation were massive. It wasn't just something that he could ignore. And aside from that he needed allies and pawns… the Kazekage wouldn't even let him close enough to hear him out.
XxX
(Competitor's Box)
"Stop doing sit-ups and calm down Naruto." Shikamaru said from his place on the bench as Naruto was banging out said exercises nonstop for no apparent reason. It was as close to having a strategic conversation with Rock Lee as Shikamaru figured he would have anytime soon, "I never thought I'd ever say this, but I don't think you have the room to be wasting your energy today."
The second his eyes opened and his foot hit the floor that morning Naruto was on and buzzing. It wasn't a panicked or nervous thing; it was like time was rolling by too slowly for him so he made up for it by keeping himself busy with random things. And while the fallout from Ino's joke on Shikamaru slowed him down for ten minutes so that he could clear his name and explain, something that became way easier when Ino's laughter could be heard from the bathroom, he had pretty much been like that all morning.
"I'm warming up." Naruto said, refusing to stop.
"I think you're about as warm as you're going to get." Shikamaru quipped in return before holding his hand out, "Did you do what I asked you to yesterday?" Instead of getting a verbal answer, Naruto tossed a scroll from his windbreaker pocket at Shikamaru, "Excellent. But we've got to get far enough in this for me to actually think of using it."
Naruto stopped doing sit-ups and turned to face his lazy friend, "Hey, why are you still with us in going on in this thing?" He asked, "I mean, isn't it too much trouble in your mind to keep fighting even though you know who we're facing?" Shikamaru was watching the same matches that Naruto saw. He more or less figured that he would have opted out of fighting at all or tried to convince one of them that they didn't need to go any further.
"You'd normally be right…" Shikamaru admitted as he shoved the scroll from Naruto into a pocket, "But I heard what Gaara said to you, and if he was going to come at us anyway if you dropped out or lost, just to get back at you, then we'd might as well just go and face him and Fuu anyway." Beating Fuu would all depend on the match type that wound up happening. If it was a team battle then it was as good as over, even though she still had one teammate to assist her. If she won the coin toss and if she picked one-on-one matches then things would get way more difficult to secure a Team 10 victory.
Naruto smiled from his place on the ground at Shikamaru, "Thanks. And I promise everything will be fine. There's no way we can lose, and I won't let either of you two get hurt out there." In his mind it was still his job to keep them safe. It would probably always be that way to him.
"Oh shut up and worry about yourself." Shikamaru remarked gesturing his head over to the other side of the room where the Suna team stood, "I'm not the one being threatened with a sandy death over here, it's you. I'll manage." He then frowned thoughtfully about something, "Just remember what I said yesterday. Don't be stupid, and if you get stuck somewhere that you can't get out of just surrender."
"Fine." Naruto grumbled. Promising to surrender implied that they would lose. They were not going to lose, thus Shikamaru's request held no weight or importance. At least that was the way Naruto was looking at it.
"He'd better surrender now then."
Fuu appeared in the doorway of the room, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed over her chest. Her hands were still bandaged from the burns she had suffered yesterday, but at least outwardly it didn't appear to bother her any, "…Because otherwise he isn't going to be able to get out of getting himself hurt… by me."
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her, "I thought you said you didn't want to fight in this thing in the first place. Why are you still going now that what's-his-face is dead?" Maybe if he could get her to quit without ever even fighting her things would be way easier. An unmotivated opponent was an easy one to overcome.
"Because even if he's dead or not…" Fuu stated in return, "It doesn't matter. People are still watching me, and if I stop fighting now I'll be in major trouble with the village. It's my job… the only job they want me for, to beat everything in Takigakure's path. So sorry about your luck, but me quitting without fighting to win first isn't an option." She then turned to head down to the field when a comment stopped her.
"Good luck."
She turned around to see Naruto extending his hand from the ground towards her, "You really don't seem as bad as you try to make yourself out to be, so just good luck. Hopefully some of us get promoted from this." Honestly, he'd settle for all of them not being dead at the end of it. That would be great for him.
Fuu just stared at the outstretched hand before shaking her head, "You really want me to break that hand don't you?" She then returned to walking back towards the stairwell to head to the field.
Naruto sighed as he reeled his hand back. He figured it wouldn't be as easy as just trying to assure someone like her that not everyone was out to get her the way she seemed to believe they were. And the fact that they were about to fight didn't make it any better either. It was almost like Haku and Zabuza all over again except this time it wasn't an ambush that they would be getting in return.
"Come on." Shikamaru said as he got up from the bench, "Let's go wait for Ino by the bathroom and get this over with." Naruto got up from his place on the ground to follow.
XxX
"Are you nervous Hiruzen?" Onoki asked the Hokage as they were once again taking their seats in their own section to watch, "Your kids have big trouble coming their way you know. They might just end up like your other rookie teams that had to fight the girl from Taki." If he was being sniping about it was probably because the news broke that Naruto had wound up killing one of Iwa's genin in the first round.
Excuse him if he was a little sore at the loss of a genin that had made it so far in the exams.
"That team is full of more surprises than you know Onoki." Hiruzen replied cryptically with an even expression on his face, "If I were you I wouldn't bet against them just because of the girl's past performances. None of the teams Konoha managed to get to the finals are the same."
"Still… same or not Taki has more or less smashed them all." A commented, scratching his chin, "For being so young their jinchuuriki is a very talented fighter." She wasn't as strong as him, but that wasn't a good comparison. He had decades to get himself to the peak of physical strength the hard way, she did not. And being the Nanabi jinchuuriki took one very important thing away from her growth and development as a direct fighter, something needed to become a truly elite hand-to-hand combatant.
"It doesn't matter in the end though." The Kazekage said, sounding rather pleased with the ending turn of events, "No matter who reaches the final match of the tournament they will be unable to overcome Gaara. He's Sunagakure's prize shinobi… our secret weapon."
Yeah, they could all tell that resources were pumped into making Gaara powerful. By 'resources' it was more accurate to say 'Ichibi no Shukaku'.
If Suna didn't have a boost of business after this exam was over then there was something wrong with those watching.
"What in the world did you do to that boy?" Onoki asked with a raised eyebrow.
"What I felt was needed." Was the simply reply from the Kazekage, "The bastard daimyo wants to budget cut our village… he'll come crawling back after the victory today." He looked towards Hiruzen, "I sincerely hope your Konoha team wins so the final victory comes over the village he outsourced work to. That is the outcome that I would prefer."
Hiruzen knew that was directed at him. But when work was sent your way would you turn it down just because another village would have been more convenient to take it instead? He had a village's well-being to look out for as well. But this was why the unified chunin exams existed, to vent issues between villages and to attract attention from all possible clients.
In other words the entire spectacle was one big international pissing contest.
Hiruzen wouldn't even bring up the fact that Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari had the inarguably easiest route to the finals period. It would make it that much better if (when) Team 10 found a way to win.
Hey, even though he was a wise old man that wished to end conflicts without bloodshed he still had his pride and pride in his ninja, and this was a rather controlled environment for settling issues. He'd get diplomatic over the whole outsourcing issue later.
"If that's the matchup that you desire Kazekage-dono then I'm certain my genin won't disappoint you." Hiruzen said, putting his pipe to his lips before lighting it, "If your children are really that talented that you are certain of them then you'll understand if I feel the same about my own young shinobi to overcome these odds."
XxX
(On the Field)
"Taki team picks the coin toss. Heads or tails?" Sekka asked, holding said coin out, prepared to flip it in the air.
"Tails." Fuu said, watching intently as the coin was tossed into the air. A smirk came across her face as it hit the ground, tails up, "One-on-one matches." That way she could pick them off one at a time. With Dorobou being gone she couldn't sit back any longer and let him fight to cover up her disenchantment. Even if she didn't feel like it she would have to or else.
"I'm first."
All eyes suddenly turned to Houki, still bandaged up from the beating injuries he had suffered from Chouji just yesterday. He had a stern look on his face, his visage set in determination as he stared down Team 10, "I want to fight first Fuu." He looked at her, choking back his fear at the jinchuuriki girl, "Can I fight?"
Her orange eyes just stared back at him before she shrugged and started walking towards the competitor's box, "If that's what you want I don't care. I'm in no hurry. Just don't embarrass yourself again cannon fodder. Everyone can see you and pay attention one-on-one."
Before anyone could say anything else, Shikamaru grabbed both Ino and Naruto's shoulders and pushed them back while simultaneously walking forward, "I guess I'll fight you then." Shikamaru said, rubbing the side of his neck. Houki nodded and set himself in a ready position while Shikamaru stood there with his hands in his pockets, while looking casual he was still more than ready to go.
'If it's one-on-one then there's no reason for Naruto to waste a single bit of chakra until Fuu fights.' Shikamaru thought to himself as Naruto and Ino gave him pats on the shoulder for support, 'Ino's still hurting from yesterday so there's no way either of us would let her fight anyone one-on-one in her condition. She's definitely not 100%.'
Even though one couldn't see through the bandages that she kept on her body, the way Ino moved around in the morning showed that she was still hurt even if she was able to effectively hide it in public. It was why she had been in the bathroom for so long when they had been in the competitor's box, so that she could double or triple-wrap her body. Anyone paying attention that was accustomed to Ino's normal style of dress could see how thick the wrappings were from normal.
Sekka stood between the two of them, Shikamaru stood a distance further than normal from Houki, but the Taki genin didn't seem to care one way or another, "Are you both ready?" Sekka asked, getting a pair of nods from both genin, "Semifinal round matchup, fight one: Nara Shikamaru of Konoha vs. Houki of Taki! Begin!"
For a moment the two just stared at each other. Shikamaru was doing so in an effort to size the seemingly underwhelming Taki ninja up, but he couldn't find anything really threatening about him. He was just a normal genin.
As the match began in the Zen-garden, Houki immediately made his way to the top of one of the rocks and looked down on Shikamaru. Instead of taking Shikamaru's lazy outlook the way he should have taken it, as Shikamaru just being Shikamaru, he took it as Shikamaru's opinion on his performance in the finals taking physical form in his expression, "I know I'm not the strongest guy around… I'm not even close to being the strongest genin in Takigakure… but I'm sick of looking pathetic. I'm not going to make our village look pathetic anymore."
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow as from his jacket and shirt Houki pulled out a filled vial with some kind of liquid, "Um… what exactly is that?"
Houki had a nervous smile on his face as he held the vial up, "I heard that this stuff will kill you if you take it, but the power boost is amazing. You'll lose your lifespan equal to the amount you take to go with the boost of power you get."
'Not good.' Shikamaru thought, palming his face as he knew there was some kind of catch to fighting this guy, 'Why me?' He tried to stop him in some way by throwing a kunai at Houki to get him to drop the vial, but all he did in return was drink the water just as Shikamaru threw his weapon, "Fuck…" He then proceeded to tactically retreat because after dealing with Lee's Eight Gates and seeing Fuu's power-up he didn't particularly want to see just what whatever Houki took would do to him.
Chances were it would most certainly not be in the best interest of his personal wellbeing.
Once Shikamaru's kunai flew at Houki, he downed the entire vial of fluid in one gulp and his chakra seemed to explode and cloak his body, protecting him from the lazily thrown weapon, "You might actually be a better ninja than me in reality… but with this water it won't matter! If I can win at least one fight then I can save some face here!" He knew that Shikamaru had run away and jumped from his rock in the direction that Shikamaru had gone, landing on the ground and running towards Shikamaru who had made surprising ground on running towards the barren section of the field.
Houki seemed three times as fast as before as he tried to close the distance on Shikamaru before stopping and realizing something once he got close enough to see, 'It's just a clone.' He turned around to find Shikamaru's shadow barreling across the sand at him. In response he leapt to the side and evaded the jutsu to the best of his ability, 'Come on! I don't have the time to play hide-and-seek with this kid.' When his power ran out he would fall hard, thus he needed to eliminate Shikamaru in a hurry.
The shadow recoiled back into the depths of the Zen-garden and Houki realized that the shadow did nothing but trail along the ground. It was the only way he had ever seen the jutsu land. He jumped up onto the nearest rock in an effort to stave off Shikamaru's shadow until he could locate the younger ninja to defeat him.
In reality though, Shikamaru had pulled a Naruto and took to hiding under the sand. He had made a regular clone as a feint to occupy Houki's attention and then carved himself a hole underground to hide in like a sand rat, burrowing around to keep tabs on his powered up opponent and test for openings, 'I hate my job…' He thought to himself as the sand in his mouth continued to annoy him. He had eyes on Houki though, and that was what mattered, 'Does he only think my shadow works on the ground?'
There wouldn't be any other reason that he was standing up on the top of that rock as if it were a buoy in the middle of the ocean.
"Come on out and fight me!" Houki said as he formed three hand seals before a whip of water formed in his hand, "I'll make you come out if you still want to hide!" He cracked the water whip against another rock, leaving a deep gash in it where it had hit. Yeah, because that was going to make Shikamaru want to stop hiding; the knowledge that he was going to get hit with a whip that could leave a scar in rock once he came out.
'I don't think I will.' Shikamaru thought to himself from under the hiding spot in the sand as he manipulated his shadow into stretching towards Houki once again. The young man saw it coming right towards him, but noticed it stop the moment that it hit the bottom of the rock he was standing on.
A smirk came to Houki's face at the sight of the stopped shadow and it got even bigger once he realized that it was connected to Shikamaru himself, hence he could use it to find him directly. He could see where it had emerged from the sand and raised his water whip to give Shikamaru a lash with the chakra-constructed weapon. He froze in mid-swing however for absolutely no reason that he could think of.
"A lot of good that big power-up did you if you don't even have anything to back it up with." Shikamaru said, standing up out of his spot in the sand, the shadow sent that Houki could see taking a hold of him. In order to let Houki see the way that he caught him, Shikamaru turned his head to allow him to see that Shikamaru had stretched a shadow back around the width of the Zen-garden's rocks, "You totally blew your wad before there was even a reason to. I don't even think you're strong enough to break this jutsu."
'Damn it!' Houki thought as he couldn't budge an inch no matter how hard he struggled, 'Even after that it was still child's play for this guy to catch me! Was he even trying?'
"Maybe if you had crazy Rock Lee physical skills to begin with you could break this…" Shikamaru continued, scratching his head, "But you aren't anywhere near as good or as fast or as strong as he is… so whatever you drank to make you stronger is pretty useless in the end. Maybe I should have let Naruto fight you instead? Or Ino. Either one of them could have beaten you too, probably faster than I did."
Like fading adrenaline, Houki's power boost from his water eventually died down and the only thing keeping him on his feet was Shikamaru's shadow. Shikamaru bounced on the balls of his feet, forcing Houki to do the same on the top of the rock he was standing on. He then proceeded to jump directly up into the air as high as he could before dropping facedown into the sand. Houki was not as lucky to hit sand, instead smashing his face against the rock.
Shikamaru retracted his shadow and pulled himself out of the body-sized sand angel he had made for himself, sputtering and spitting grains, "Bleh, troublesome." He could see Houki laying facedown on the rock bleeding from the head, motionless, "He isn't dead is he?" They did jump pretty high and he did smash his noggin like a coconut on that rock.
Sekka rushed over to the downed Houki and decided to call it off, "Houki is unable to continue. The winner of match one is Nara Shikamaru of Konoha!"
Turning around to walk back to the competitor's box, Shikamaru spared a glance at Houki, "Steroid-water or not that was still easy." His eyes then turned up to where the others were waiting and saw Fuu already moving to head down, "…That won't be."
XxX
Once Fuu moved to take the place of her once again defeated teammate, Naruto wordlessly stood up to relieve Shikamaru. Ino kept her seat but watched as the two of them walked through the doorway heading for the stairs, "Good luck Goldie-kun." She said mostly to herself.
"You should hope he loses." Temari said, leaning against the wall near her bench, "You should get your other teammate to give up and you should too. If you don't fight Gaara it's better for you. Let that Fuu girl do it." She didn't know how set on killing just Naruto that Gaara was. Maybe if Fuu could get a good fight out of him it could get him to forget? Two jinchuuriki fighting each other would have had to be an intense encounter.
"I'm getting really tired of you saying that he should just give up." Ino said to the older blonde, "Maybe you should be telling Gaara to give up? Maybe you should give up? If we win this match you'll be in more trouble than you think you are."
Temari frowned but got up off of the wall and walked away, "I was trying to help you out, but if that's what you think…" If this girl was really dumb enough to think that they had a chance against Gaara then it would be her funeral.
XxX
"I thought you'd kill me if I got close to you." Naruto said as he and Fuu descended the stairs to head towards the entrance tunnel. He was lagging a few steps behind her as she was in the lead on the way out.
"We're heading out to the field to fight." Fuu returned evenly, "If you're that eager to get a beatdown then it'll happen soon enough. We'll see if you're still smiling and hugging on your little blonde girlfriend after you're paralyzed."
"Ino-chan's not my girlfriend, she's just a friend." Naruto said, glad that Fuu's back was to him so that she didn't see the blush that formed on his face at the thought, "And you'd really paralyze me on purpose?"
She nodded stiffly as they got off the stairs and started walking down the tunnel, "That way you can't ever hurt me again. You'd never be a threat. I could just kill you like I was going to originally if you don't want to live like that though." The way she spoke it was like she thought she was doing him a favor by giving him a choice in the matter. As if paralyzing him needlessly for just getting near her was a form of mercy on her part, "If you just surrender and go away I won't have to do either."
"That's not going to happen." Naruto said with a determined lift in his voice, "If I give up just because of fighting you I would give up whenever people that needed me were in trouble."
"Then do it for yourself." Fuu said as if it were obvious, "If you're really like me and you really have a biju inside of you, then the people around you don't know. I can tell. They don't look at you like they look at me or even at the Gaara kid. Once they find out and it's in the open you'll see where all of that helping people in need will get you. They'll turn on you just like that." She said with a snap, "I thought I had people that cared too. The Nanabi got rid of that. Our kind are destined to live like sub-humans. The only contact with others we'll ever get is when someone wishes to harm us. So get used to it." She said as they started walking out from the tunnel onto the battlefield.
As they walked out, Shikamaru and Naruto stopped in front of each other, "So…" Shikamaru said in greeting, "You sure you want to fight her?"
"Do you want to do it instead?" Naruto replied glibly.
"I'd rather not honestly." Was Shikamaru's honest answer. He didn't even want Naruto to do it. But it wasn't like Naruto or Ino would just quit, especially Naruto, "If you're going to go ahead and do this, remember what I said."
Naruto nodded and walked on ahead, rolling out his shoulder as a method of stretching out, "I won't forget." Shikamaru watched him take a few steps out onto the field before turning his own attention to getting back up to the competitor's box.
XxX
In the crowd, Asuma was steadily chain smoking to calm himself down somewhat. One-on-one matches didn't bode well for the health of whoever was going to fight Fuu, and he wasn't fool enough to think that it would be anyone other than Naruto. The kid seemed to have a self-destructive sense of honor that was hard to break. He was proven correct when he saw Shikamaru and Naruto switch out.
A sigh came from the man as he placed another cigarette in his mouth, prepared to light up when it was snatched from his mouth. He turned to the side to see Kurenai taking the seat next to him along with her students, including Kiba, though his head was thoroughly wrapped in bandages, "Hey. Kiba's up and about after just yesterday?"
"He was stubborn about it saying that he wasn't going to miss those lazy idiots of yours fighting in the semifinals." Kurenai said with a frown directed at her canine-compatible student who just grinned at her. She looked down and saw the cigarette butts littering the floor, "Stressed?"
"Nope. Just have a nasty craving." Asuma said dryly as Naruto marched over towards Fuu on the field to meet on the still ruined bridge that had been torn up yesterday, "Where's Kakashi and Gai?"
Kurenai noticed how Fuu noticeably tensed up the closer Naruto got as she answered Asuma's question, "Neji's awake and doing well, but Lee's muscles still need time to heal and treatment before he can think about moving around. Chouji's awake and eating, but Sasuke's still being kept under because of the pain he would be in if he were awake. Both of them are with their students."
Asuma let out a noise of understanding, "I rather like being the only Konoha jounin without a brat stuck in the hospital for something. I hope it stays that way today." He tried to place another cigarette into his mouth only to get it taken away again, "Oi!" He stopped his attempt to argue when he saw the stern look in Kurenai's lovely red eyes.
"Kiba is sensitive to smells, and I'd rather you didn't give him a headache with your lung poison while he's recovering from a head injury." Kurenai said, crushing the cigarette in her hand to get a furious set of nods from Asuma. The verbalization of a whip cracking from Kiba got both Asuma and Kurenai to glare at him to more or less tell him to mind his business.
Hinata turned her Byakugan on to get a better look at Fuu. She wondered if what she saw yesterday was really true. As her advanced eyes stared at the jinchuuriki girl on the field, Hinata could honestly say that her eyes weren't playing tricks on her yesterday during her match. In addition to the more intense than normal chakra Fuu had running through her system it seemed to permeate every inch of her being, not just through her chakra pathways. Turning her eyes to Naruto with a small blush on her face she let out a small gasp, "N-Naruto-kun has more chakra than anyone I've ever seen before." She had never actually tried to look at his chakra with her Byakugan before. She just rarely used it to get closer looks at him from further distances or to try and see him through objects in the couple of times she had observed him in the past, "Is that normal Kurenai-sensei? It can't be can it?" She asked as she turned her doujutsu off.
"It's normal for him." Kurenai tried to explain away without issue for the sake of Naruto's privacy. It wasn't much of an explanation, but with the fight about to begin it would probably do for the time being. Hopefully she would forget about it.
"Naruto himself ain't normal though." Kiba said, getting a bark from Akamaru in his lap, "…But if he gets tagged by that Fuu girl when she decides to get serious he should just lay over and stay down… one punch is all it would take." He had heard what had happened to Team 7 and counted himself lucky that he had actually lost quickly.
XxX
(On the Field)
"Ready to face the music?" Fuu asked, standing at the ready to defend herself. She was there to make Taki look good. Any less than actual effort and she would wind up paying for it later once it was time to leave. A part of her wanted to show Naruto just why her belief in herself as a jinchuuriki was better than his. The way hers was set up she would never get hurt again, because no one would ever get close enough to do it without paying the price first. He was setting himself up to be hurt intentionally, the fool, "Pray to Kami that you wake up again after I'm done, and if you do that it's with all of your body parts operating correctly."
Naruto didn't say anything as he looked towards Genma and nodded that he was ready.
'Good luck Naruto, you're going to need it.' The Konoha proctor thought to himself, "Semifinal matchup, fight two: Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha vs. Fuu of Taki. Begin!" And with that he got himself out of dodge.
Naruto immediately drew a kunai and threw it at Fuu, however all she did was let it bounce off of herself without even moving, "Hm. You're stronger than I thought you'd be. A little harder and that might have even hurt." After speaking her peace, Fuu grabbed a large chunk of concrete from the ruined bridge and chucked it at Naruto.
'Why did that look so easy?' Naruto thought to himself frantically as he jumped to the side to dodge it. It plowed into the ground preceding Fuu moving at him to deliver a haymaker of a punch. Naruto ducked it and felt the wind from the heavy blow pass over his head. Almost as a reflexive retaliation, Naruto returned immediate fire with a punch at Fuu's stomach, only to find that his fist didn't sink into her torso like it did for pretty much every other person he had ever hit in his entire life.
"Still didn't hurt." Fuu taunted before grabbing Naruto by the back of his windbreaker and lifting him over her head, choosing to throw him off to the side, tossing his body against the railing of the bridge that wasn't ruined. The grunt of pain that came from the boy once he hit the rail prompted her to attack again.
Naruto saw her coming at him and moved just as she punched the concrete rail. Instead of obliterating the whole thing the way Naruto had been led to believe she would Fuu simply cracked the concrete with the force of her fist. That was weird. He thought that she would hit harder than that. What she did to Chouji and Kiba pretty much made him think so.
He quickly got himself a few feet of distance from Fuu, sick of trying to do her any damage with taijutsu. It just wasn't going to be that easy for him. Not with her.
A growl came from Naruto's mouth at the somewhat smug look on her face. So there was no such thing as a feeling out process when it came to her. Even if she wasn't as strong as he thought she was at first, a punch from her was a showstopper to say the least. No fancy tricks today. If Fuu retaliated while he had a hold of her he was going to lose something important.
Fine, enough messing around.
"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu)!"
In the blink of an eye the bridge filled with clones of Naruto on both sides of the bridge surrounding Fuu from the front and the back. He noticed that her eyes widened to an almost alarmingly dangerous extent and thought that he might have made a mistake.
"Get away from me!" Fuu yelled angrily as her first instinct was to mercilessly batter the first thing she could reach, not stopping for a moment as she smashed her way through Kage Bunshin after Kage Bunshin.
When Fuu started violently lashing out at his clones, beginning to defeat them brutally by the droves with nothing more than her hands and feet without even being attacked first, he knew for certain that he had made a mistake. Naruto's Kage Bunshin began fighting back after initially being overwhelmed by Fuu's sudden outburst. No one he had fought before had ever just begun to attack his clones after he had created them. Assaulting them right off the bat was definitely something new and she definitely managed to rid herself of a good drove of them before they got with the program.
Even then though, each hit they landed did nothing but seemingly make her madder. The original drifted in with his clones and eventually maneuvered close enough to deliver a hard jumping ax kick that planted itself right on Fuu's shoulder and collarbone. That was a fight-stopping move, yet it did nothing to her and he was lucky that one of his clones were aware enough to Kawarimi with him before she backhand swiped at him to rid herself of the pest.
It was like she was swatting flies… and that just made Naruto as mad as Fuu seemed to be with dealing with the clones in the first place. He made his hand-seal again and created dozens more to take the place of the ones he had lost. They charged right into battle against Fuu and began to slowly mob her until she wound up buried under a multitude of clone bodies that seemed to pin her beneath them in a random dogpile.
As the original Naruto ran up to the pile it was revealed that it wasn't so random when he reached into it and grabbed the legs of one of his clones. Snorting like a bull he forcefully yanked that one clone out of the pile, only that clone was connected to another one, and vice-versa, and so on, until all of the clones were revealed to be holding on to the legs of another.
The momentum that Naruto had managed to generate dragging all of his clones out of the pile-up assisted him when he spun around in a direct 360, managing to spin the entire mass of clones like a huge whip, "You had those wings last round, well let's see how much your ass really knows about flying!" He yelled as the 'whip' of clones went end up into the air, holding on to the ankles of Fuu, "Bunshin Kusari no Karada Gachan (Clone Chain Body Slam)!"
Naruto wound up slamming his entire mass of clones along with Fuu off of the bridge and into the moat, dispelling them all and sending her in with a resounding crash that sent water flying high into the air. "Yeah, dattebayo!" Naruto shouted as the water from the crash fell all around, "Did you feel that one or what?" He then collapsed against the railing and shouted at the effort it actually took to haul those damned clones into the air, "Kami, that fucking hurt!" His arms felt like they were on fire.
XxX
The Raikage could only blink at the form of attack he had just seen from Naruto on the field, "Well that was… unique?" He wasn't going to say that he liked it out loud… even though he did. Honestly, if he had access to clones like that he probably would have thought about stealing that move for himself. Maybe he and his brother could work out some form of that move that worked.
Hiruzen let out a chuckle, even in the serious atmosphere of the battle currently underway, "He's a rather unique shinobi Raikage-dono."
XxX
Naruto ripped the sleeves off of his blue long-sleeve undershirt to rub his arms in order to get the burning feeling out of his muscles, "I think I've got a hernia… what's a hernia?" He mused to himself absently. His 'intelligent' thoughts were cut off when from the water behind the railing he was sitting against it flew up in the form of a mini-tornado that quickly dispersed, "Oh crap… here we go."
Naruto jumped back to his feet and turned around to see Fuu slowly floating up to eye-level. Obviously her chakra wings were sticking out of her red cylinder on her back, and to go along with them her thin green aura of chakra was visible, "That actually hurt." She said, her now glowing green eyes staring at him in a glare.
"Um… sorry?" Naruto said, standing in a retaliatory stance with a look of confusion on his face.
"You will be." Fuu said before swiftly flying forward, delivering a punch that Naruto barely got his arms up to block to the best of his ability, "Keshi Gomufera (Eraser Blow)!" The only thing that saved his arms from being shattered on impact was the fact that in an effort to avoid full contact he jumped back. Instead of taking the piston motion of her timed punch moving forward he merely wound up taking the extended fist, but that was still enough to send him flying off of the other side of the bridge, skipping his body off of the surface of the moat like a stone.
He rolled on the surface of the water and stood up on it to try and mount a counteroffensive, but Fuu was already flying at him again. A quickly formed clone proceeded to shove Naruto directly under the water just before Fuu could slam into him, taking the heavy shot for its creator.
Fuu flew into the air and made a few diving passes like a hawk trying to catch a fish, but she hit nothing. Naruto had tried to dive too far down in order to escape her. That was fine though. She would wait him out for the time being. He had to come up to breathe sometime. And when he did she would finish him.
She believed that right up until Naruto rocketed out of the water like a missile aimed directly at her holding onto his machete. She didn't know if her emotionally dependant defense could stand up to a blade coated in wind chakra and she didn't want to find out as she dodged the flying Naruto. Shortly thereafter, more and more Narutos started flying out of the water in the same manner right at her, and like a good moving target, Fuu evaded the bladed clones to the best of her ability.
That wasn't the end of the attack though, because all of those clones had to come down. The original clone came down trying to slash at her and missed, landing back against the water, dispelling on impact. This was just a feint however, as all of the aerial clones began spinning their machetes by the chains, aiming directly at Fuu with the fan-like motion, "Suishinki Haretsu Bunkatsu-sen (Propeller Burst Splitter)!"
The wind blade cyclones spun towards Fuu, too close to run from and too near each other to evade with tactical dodging. Thus she crossed her arms in front of her body and face and took the attack. Her clothes started to show the damage, getting cut up by the blades of the jutsu, but her actual skin received no significant cuts. The worst she received turned out to be light abrasions.
However, it wasn't over yet. While Naruto thought the last attack would send her further down to the water it didn't matter in the end, because tons of clones pounced from the water and latched onto her tightly.
"Let go!" Fuu yelled, thrashing about as more and more clones grabbed onto her, starting to weigh her down, "I said let go of me now! I'll kill you do you hear me?" She shouted frantically as her wings couldn't support the weight anymore and began dragging her into the water, causing her to panic even more. Eventually she was submerged completely and bubbles floated to the surface before no motion was seen at all.
The water was still for a few moments before another swift tornado of water formed from the surface and Fuu flew back up with a shout of anger. Her drenched form flew high into the air, making a massive amount of hand-seals before dropping back down to the surface of the water, "Die! Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu (Water Release: Great Waterfall Jutsu)!" The water from the moat began to surge up in the form of a hard wave that lifted up and slammed into the bridge, breaking even more chunks away from it than yesterday.
And along with the wave that hit the stone bridge there was also the body of Naruto that did so before dropping to the water. Laying on his back he gasped desperately at the force he had just slammed into pure stone with, back and skull first. Naruto shakily dragged himself up to his feet on the surface of the water once again, slowly bending himself up straight, audibly cracking his back as he did so.
Fuu flew down at him forcing him to jump back and dodge her dive-bomb, but from the spray of water that resulted from her crash, she came out at Naruto attacking hand-to-hand again. Despite the pain running through his back, Naruto reached for his machete, but Fuu stopped him from even drawing it by holding his wrist. In response Naruto gave her a headbutt, but it wound up hurting him more than it hurt her.
An offended look due to his brazen attempt to harm her quickly gave way to a smirk on Fuu's face as Naruto staggered back, stunned at the solid bash of his head against her harder one.
"Ugh." Naruto shook the cobwebs off and placed the bottoms of his palms together to prepare for an attack he hadn't attempted to launch yet. He charged back forward at Fuu, but in her jinchuuriki form she was faster than him and smashed him hard to the side, sending him into the wall of the moat. He dropped from the wall onto his face on the water and floated there for a moment, 'If she won't even let me touch her then I can't hit Giga Shint-.'
There was no rest for the weary though, as Fuu grabbed him by one of his ankles and held him upside down in front of herself. A sneer broke out on her face and she slammed him against the moat wall, cracking it with the force she did so with.
Fuu placed her forearm underneath Naruto's chin, pinning him there by his throat so that she could get a good look at him. He tried to pry her arm from his throat, but she was still strong enough to hold him in place. She held him there in order to systematically deliver her punishment to him, starting off with a hard punch to the body that immediately had him coughing blood, "Still want to be close?" She asked rhetorically before slapping him hard enough to actually draw blood as it echoed out around the arena, "Still think I'm not a bad person?"
Naruto's eyes were starting to flutter, Fuu was steadily choking him in addition to the slow little amounts of spirit (and body) breaking abuse she seemed to be putting on him. Before his eyes could shut completely, Fuu grabbed his goggles and pulled them out, snapping them back on his forehead and slamming the back of his head off of the wall.
"Wake up." She said with a snarl, "I didn't say I was done yet did I? You were doing so well with your little tricks and surprise attacks. Don't you have anything else? Fight me like you mean it damn it! Fight me like a monster!" Fuu demanded angrily, "Prove what you said to me is true and that you're not just some lying, loudmouth faker!" She punched him, causing the crack in the wall to spider-web further.
XxX
Shikamaru wasn't looking directly at her, but in his peripheral vision he could see Ino's hands gripping the rail in time with every punch that Fuu hit Naruto with. He couldn't say that he blamed her either. He had already been hit more than anyone else they had seen her fight before and it didn't necessarily appear as if she was going to stop anytime soon.
Neither of them said a word to each other as they continued to watch, 'Come on Naruto.' Shikamaru thought to himself, 'I never thought this was something I'd ever have to hope for, but if you've really got the Kyuubi in you then now would be a great time to call it out the way Fuu is with hers.'
XxX
"Don't let her pummel you like that you little quitter!" Asuma yelled as he jumped to his feet, "Don't just sit there, get your ass free already!" He was about to jump down there himself, 'Naruto might be a jinchuuriki too, but he doesn't have a good handle on the Kyuubi's chakra. He hasn't had any time to even learn anything about it.' As far as he knew, Naruto didn't even know how to control it, 'You screwed up hard dad… what did you expect? He'd never end up having to use it?'
Hinata couldn't watch Naruto take the abuse from Fuu anymore and turned towards Kurenai to take her eyes off of the fight, Fuu had pummeled her in the first round so she had no idea how Naruto was taking it. Shino didn't visibly react, but he also had no idea of what it felt like to get beaten up like that.
Kiba though, was watching intently before Akamaru whimpered in his lap, "What's wrong boy?" Akamaru whimpered out a response to his master that got Kiba to widen his eyes, "Really?" The boy turned towards everyone else to relay the message, "Akamaru says he feels a smells a really nasty chakra. Something that isn't normal, and it's really strong… it's not Fuu either."
Asuma and Kurenai's eyes widened at the feeling coming from the battlefield. Compared to the original feeling it was muffled and muted beyond all reasonable comprehension so it wasn't nearly as oppressive and paralyzing as the original feeling. Still though, it was clear to them what the power was. Kurenai turned to Asuma with a questioning look as if to ask, 'Is that what I think it is?'
Asuma gave her a firm nod in return and turned his attention back to the fight, "Come on kid. Kick her ass already."
XxX
"Fight!"
CRACK
"Fight!"
CRACK
"Fight me you little bastard!" Fuu was about to punch him again when she saw an orange aura start to emerge from his body and she let her arm go limp to speculate until she realized what it was. She let out a satisfied chuckle before cocking her hand back to punch him again, "Now that's more like it…" She said before attempting to punch him again.
Said punch never found any contact with Naruto since he caught it in his hand that seemed to have the fingernails grow right before her eyes. A growl vibrated the forearm she held against his throat and she looked into his face to see that his eyes were red, his whisker-marks were thicker than they were previously, and his canines grew sharper as he growled at her, "Ero-sensei hits harder than you do."
Naruto's feet planted themselves against Fuu's torso before he pushed off hard, kicking her into the other wall hard enough to crack that one as well. Fuu glared at the growling Naruto and the two rushed at each other, delivering punches to each other that sent them flying back into the walls again.
Fuu was surprised due to the fact that she actually knew that an attack from Naruto in his current state would hurt, this would make her natural defense tougher… and it still hurt. The bruise on her cheek was evidence enough of that, "You… you hurt me again." She said in disbelief before gritting her teeth in anger, "You hurt me again!" No one had ever harmed her more than once, she never allowed it. Naruto had done it twice.
"And I'll do it again!" Naruto said, rushing at Fuu to deliver a punch. Fuu flew back out of its range, but a shockwave from the attack flew towards her and shoved her backwards again as if she had actually been hit. She saw him coming to attack again and this time her defenses were tough enough to walk through the shockwave, allowing her to grab a hold of his fist. With a firm hold of Naruto's hand, Fuu took off into the air before simply throwing him away from herself, sending him careening into the forested section of the field.
Fuu landed on the ground and began to walk through the forest to the spot where she had thrown Naruto, "You did it twice. No one's ever done it more than once." She said, almost trying to convince herself that it had happened, "Taki doesn't really have anyone strong enough to hurt me… not anymore. Those weak bastards can't do it. Heh, our village leader is a damn chunin-level ninja to boot. You know that water that Houki drank? That's their trump. It's more useful when the person that drinks it is strong… but without it they can't stack up to other real hidden villages."
A swift motion from her side gave way to Naruto leaping out to deliver a punch to her again. This time Fuu again caught it in her hand, "Nice story Fuu…" Naruto said, struggling against her rather crushing grip, "Does it have a point?"
"It does." Fuu said before she grabbed Naruto by his face and shoved/threw him backwards into a tree hard enough to crack it, "The point is that genin or not I'm technically one of the strongest ninja in my village. Period!"
Naruto let out a gravelly chuckle as he leaned against the tree, "That wasn't as hard as the other throw that you just did." His eyes looked up at Fuu, shining with mischief, "Your powers drift back and forth don't they? Between really strong and barely existent." He pulled himself off of the tree as the chakra blazed around his body like fire, "If you're in control of a fight you get weaker. That's why you didn't kill me when you had me caught, because you couldn't."
A frown came over Fuu's face at hearing Naruto try to break down her abilities. He wasn't that far off at all, "If I'm in control of the fight I don't need the extra power do I?" Another chuckle from Naruto didn't improve her mood, "What's so funny kid? Powers or not you're not on my level."
"Who says you're winning though?"
Several machetes flew from a formation all surrounding Fuu. She gasped at the sight of the flying melee weapons and tried to cover up like before when his clones assaulted her with their combined ninjutsu, but this time the steel plus the wind was something she didn't have the time to react to, and they cut her thoroughly in the places where they made contact.
Fuu stood in place, still covering up and shaking in place. The wounds on her body began to bleed, but if one were paying attention the injuries she received were nowhere near as bad as the one single gash that ended up taking Hisashi's life on the first day of the tournament.
Naruto and his clones dashed at her in an effort to try and take advantage of her momentary shock, seemingly from getting caught off-guard. But the reason Fuu stood in place without moving wasn't merely because of that, 'Again! He did it again! This is three times already! He keeps getting to me! All those years, no one ever even touched me and this brat keeps on hurting me! If even now, after everything I did to be tough, to keep everyone away from me… why does it keep happening?'
As the Kyuubi-enhanced Naruto clones closed in on her, Fuu threw one punch at the Naruto that she knew was the original and hit him flush, sending him rocketing through the woods a distance away. Fortunately his body avoided hitting any trees because he would have crashed right through it if he had. He felt nothing but fire in his chest as he could feel his ribs healing in a hurry. He tried to tell her before but she didn't believe him; he could recover from anything other than a fatal wound and in his current state that time of recovery became nothing short of unthinkable.
Getting up to his feet he staggered lightly as the sound of Fuu trying to decimate his clones rang out freely through his ears elsewhere in the forested section of the field. He could feel the last of his doppelgangers dispel and in time with that Fuu yelled again that she would definitely hurt him worse than he hurt her once she found him, "You coward!" She accentuated her insult with the angry uprooting of a tree that was chucked into the air.
But healing or not he was still losing a head-on fight and he wasn't dumb enough to believe that he wasn't. He just couldn't dole out enough punishment to bring her down. She was getting madder and madder, and she seemed to be getting stronger as she did. With that in mind he sat down on the ground and took a deep breath. It was simple. She just had more experience with her jinchuuriki form than he had with his. This was his first time ever being aware while using any of the Kyuubi's chakra in combat, the ease with which she slipped into her own free use of the Nanabi's chakra showed experience in doing so.
"I see you Uzumaki."
Naruto looked up to see Fuu looking down at him from above the trees surrounding him. Naruto quickly moved as Fuu dropped to the ground and smashed it with the impact of her body. Once she realized she missed she flew back up to catch up to him and try again, "You can't hide in this place for long, Konoha ninja or not!"
She was right and he knew it. The trees weren't as big of a tactical advantage against people from most villages over others, but he wasn't planning on hiding for long. He just needed to stay away from her long enough, 'This can work. But it's only going to work once. At least no one can really see well into the woods to find out what I'm doing.' He fished a single scroll out from his windbreaker and slammed it on the ground straight ways before beginning to run in a very wide circle. After going a good distance he slammed another scroll down the same way, 'I'm not going to win a shootout with demonic chakra.'
It didn't take Fuu very long to pick up Naruto's trail just as he slammed the second scroll down. He felt her buzz past him, narrowly missing him with a flying attack. Unfettered by her missed attempt to attack him, he was free to move along to one last spot where he slammed a scroll down prior to Fuu barreling into him with her entire body, lifting him off of the ground.
He wasn't dumb, he was well aware that this was exactly what had happened to Sasuke just before Fuu finished him in the last round. Much like Sasuke he could barely move his arms at all, but he was still able to struggle unlike Sasuke yesterday. Fuu was strong, absurdly so, but she was also confident that he was trapped. With that she flew directly up into the air, also just like yesterday, "I'm going to give you the same fair chance to live that I gave the other kid. You're supposed to be tough aren't you? You can take it." With that, Fuu turned them upside down and let them fall down towards the tops of the trees before letting Naruto go, "Keshi Gomu o Oshi (Eraser Press)!"
There was one move that Naruto knew he could do, and hopefully it was enough to keep from dying namelessly on an arena floor in a samurai country. A loud roar came from Naruto's throat and formed a wave of pressure that softened his landing more than considerably. He still hit the ground harshly after being cut with branches and debris marring his face and marking him up, but better to hurt than to die.
He could hear the hum of Fuu's chakra wings over the sound of the crowd wondering if he died on impact and decided that this was the best opening to finish he was going to get. He flipped over from his belly onto his back and sat up with a groan. Cracking his neck unhealthily to the side, he doggedly spit the blood filling his mouth due to lagging internal injuries and placed his hands together.
"Tora, Mi, Inu, Saru, Ushi." Naruto said in time with the hand-seals. Making the hand-seals was more of a cumbersome exercise with the claws hindering what he was used to. Brute force was definitely what he was meant for when using the Kyuubi's chakra but it was too late to switch up then. At that moment he saw a glow from the forest and saw Fuu walking towards him slowly, "Damn it…"
With nothing more than the formation of the ram seal, the green chakra around Fuu's body turned into a translucent shell that covered her body, "You're tough… but you aren't going to be getting back up after this." Her wings fired up one more time and seemed to be building power behind them to charge into Naruto with her intense green chakra shell, "You're fast, but you can't beat the speed of flight."
From three minutes to fifteen seconds… and Fuu had given him the fifteen seconds he needed to charge the jutsu, "Yeah, well you can't beat the speed of seal! Chakura Mukou Fuuin (Chakra Disabling Seal)!"
XxX
(Konohagakure no Sato – Exhibition Stadium)
"Fifteen seconds!" Jiraiya exclaimed suddenly, alerting Homura and Koharu from their nearby seats in the balcony, "The little bastard got it down to fifteen seconds already? He never told me that! Hah! I knew I was an awesome instructor!" He bragged to the Konoha elders.
XxX
(Tetsu no Kuni – Chunin Exams Arena)
Under the cover of the trees of the forest the sealing array spread out over the 50 yard circumference directed for the jutsu. As soon as it took hold and the pattern momentarily formed on Fuu's body, so fast that she didn't see it, Fuu's attempt to build up chakra to rush Naruto in a show of blinding speed and crushing force came to an abrupt end as the chakra exuding from her person just gave out and she fell from her hover onto the ground.
Part of her wondered what had just happened to all of her power. She was about to turn him into a smear on the forest floor, but she lost it all in a heartbeat. Then she realized that she had actually felt the fall. The little miniscule three foot fall to the ground had hurt.
That little revelation caused her to abruptly jump right back up to her feet and look at her scuffed knees, 'I don't get little baby injuries like that! What the hell did he do?' She looked at Naruto with a glare as he got up from his seated position, Kyuubi chakra no longer rolling off of him either, "What did you do?"
"No chakra." Naruto said plainly, "There's no more chakra for either of us to use to fight. All of it is just rolling through our pathways, that's it. It isn't doing anything else."
Fuu bit back a gasp. That meant that the coating of chakra that covered her body normally as the Nanabi's natural method of empowering her was null and void, "You can't do that! How are you going to fight me without any chakra?"
"I don't need chakra to fight." Naruto said with a shrug. It was true. None of his physical training really involved chakra so all of his strength was his own. Fuu couldn't say as much at all. But the lack of chakra also stopped Naruto's healing, and he was fighting the urge to hold his torso at the moment because he hadn't had enough time to recover from Fuu's crushing bearhug grab from moments before on an area that had been taking Fuu's full measure of offense all fight long.
Naruto started walking towards Fuu who was trying to get the normal feeling of her chakra back flowing through her skin to feel safe. Almost in a panic she was trying to draw upon any dredge of chakra she could find at all. Sadly she was getting nothing. Not having her special jutsu up to protect her was something she hadn't felt in over ten years. By then she noticed that Naruto was within five feet of her, "Get away from me!" She shouted as she threw a punch that hit Naruto right in the jaw. She smirked at getting such a clean hit until she realized that he had only taken one step backwards.
He had allowed her to hit him, mostly due to the fact that he really wanted to see if he had been right about turning the chakra use between them off. Without chakra on, Fuu didn't even hit harder than Ino did, 'She never had a choice but to train with her biju's technique on. There was never an option of even fighting without it.' A red bruise formed on his cheek that was going to stay there for a while, but he kept walking towards Fuu as she started backing off, "You're powerless aren't you? You can't fight like this."
"I said get away!" Fuu punched him again, and it snapped his head back, but just like that he looked right at her again, 'I can't even hurt him?' Having the shoe on the other foot was a very unnerving experience. Still though, she tried to throw one more punch that wound up being blocked.
Naruto sniffed slightly before blood started dripping from his nose, "Do you really think I'm going to kill you now when you can't even fight back?" He didn't come off as that sort of person, did he? Fuu didn't even carry weapons with her. She just fought using her body and her jutsu to turn her nearly invulnerable.
"Yes!" Fuu exclaimed, still looking like she was ready to do what she could to defend herself, "I'm not like you! I'm a jinchuuriki! You just want to be one of them don't you? If you kill me they'll cheer, and you'll be one of them until they find out what you are too… but they'll turn on you too in the end. We don't get peace, we don't get real care, all we ever get are people that want to use us and hurt us."
He could have killed her or knocked her out. He probably should have. Anyone else would have without even thinking about it.
But it had been said before, last night even; he wasn't fighting about the exams at this point. He was trying to prove a point, and he knew what he was trying to prove at last.
And so before Fuu's slowed reaction time could take notice he grabbed the older girl and hugged her tightly, ignoring her best attempts to overpower him and free herself, "W-What are you doing?" She said lowly, more in shock than anything else, "What, do you have a knife to my back? Are you holding me for one of your clones to kill? What are you going to do?"
"Nothing." Naruto said, holding back the blood welling up inside. Man he was never taking the Kyuubi's healing factor for granted again after this, "It's just a hug. I'm not going to hurt you anymore. There's no reason to. You can't beat me the way you are."
"You're lying!" Fuu yelled at him, shaking her head desperately, "There's no such thing! I'm not normal, I don't…" She stopped struggling and started shaking in his grasp, "Why won't you just kill me? That's what's supposed to happen. That's what they always said would happen if I was ever caught off-guard again. You're from an entirely different village! You're supposed to be my enemy more than anyone else! So why… why are you even doing this?"
"I don't know much about how they treated you in Taki… but you're not a bad person." Naruto said confidently as he could feel all of the fight leave her body, "You're just scared. But not everyone in the world wants to hurt you. Give someone a chance and you might be surprised." The way he was speaking was earnest as he tried to steady his own standing body with hers, "I know I was."
"Stupid kid…" Fuu muttered without much malice in her voice at all even though she tried to dress it up as such, "I'm not weak… I don't need anyone. Being alone made me strong." She said as if it were a repeated and practiced statement.
"Did it make you happy though?" Naruto could feel Fuu stiffen showing that what he said struck a chord, "When was the last time you actually felt happy? I don't think it was when you were by yourself."
Tears came to Fuu's eyes simply thinking about it, "Just shut up already. Shut up and go away…" She finally managed to push Naruto away once he let go, "What would you know about it?" She slumped against a tree and sank to the ground, hiding her face in her hands.
Holding his ribs, Naruto took a breath to bite back the pain rolling through him, "I know that it sucks being by yourself. And for a long time it'll be hard trying to find someone that you can trust… but when you do I promise it makes everything better. Just… don't give up alright? You're better than that. I promise that it'll be worth it in the end if you can find someone like that." He wasn't going to hit her again, not now. That would be needlessly adding injury to insult once he actually heard her sniffle.
"…Go away…"
She wasn't getting up, and there was no threat behind her words. He didn't have anything more to say either so he just started walking away as she requested. At that time Genma walked through the forest towards them and saw Fuu on the ground and Naruto standing and walking away, "What's going on? Are you quitting?"
Naruto looked at the proctor and shook his head, "If she wants to keep fighting I'll do it, but I'm not kicking her while she's down. Not right now." He didn't want to say that she was powerless. He just wanted to get out of the range of his seal array before he blacked out from internal bleeding so that the Kyuubi in him could get to work healing him.
Genma just looked at Naruto walk away and went over to Fuu, staying out of the range where she felt comfortable, "Are you going to fight or are you just going to sit there? Uzumaki said he's still ready to roll." Genma wasn't stupid and could tell that Naruto was most certainly not ready to roll, but he hadn't quit fighting. Despite being healthier, Fuu looked worse off than he did, "If you want to keep going you've got to show me something here."
Fuu just kept silent before looking up at Genma with puffy eyes, tear-stains on her cheeks, "I'm done." Her drive to fight was always shaky at best. Now she was powerless and the person that had the clearest opening to cut her to ribbons, clearer than anyone ever had, turned down the choice to actually do it when anyone in Taki would have jumped at the chance.
"Are you sure?" Genma asked again. He couldn't feel a scrap of that overbearing power she had before so the kid must have turned it off somehow. However Fuu never responded to his question, giving him all the answer he needed in this instance. One-sided inaction was grounds for surrender and she had refrained from continuing on. Thus he turned and left Fuu in the forest area as he headed back out into the open where everyone could see clearly, beginning his announcement of the fight before he reached the edge of the woods, "Fuu has chosen to surrender. The winner of match two is Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha! The winners of the semifinal round and advancing to the finals are Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino!"
After the announcement he wondered why the crowd wasn't cheering, jeering, something. Then he heard a dull impact off of the ground. As he made it outside he saw Naruto laying facedown in the dirt and understood why, "Oh… well that sucks. You alright kid?"
No response.
"Yeah… you're not alright." Genma said, the toothpick rolling in his mouth as he waved the medics over.
Hey You're Not a Genius. Who Cares? Read This and You Won't Suck at Fuunjutsu (by Jiraiya)
Live like a winner
There are two excellent ways to get yourself hurt on the battlefield. The first way is to step into a fight thinking that you're definitely going to get hurt. This mindset, which for easy reference we will call the pussy mindset, is usually due to a severe lack of confidence, and although I don't exactly know why, your prophecy will usually become a reality.
The second way to go into a fight is thinking that there is no possible way in hell that you can get hurt. This mindset, which for reference's sake we will call the king-of-crazy-oh-my-Kami-what's-wrong-with-this-idiot mindset, is usually a by-product of a bloated confidence, and personally I've seen too many of these overconfident idiots get toted away in bodybags. No matter how good you think you are there is always someone out there that can kill you.
As a ninja, for the sake of your longevity in the career, try to be somewhere in the middle. Realize that there is always obvious danger in what you do and map out the quickest route to a hospital with a medic named Tsunade… or really any doctor not named Jiraiya, or invest in some basic field medicine skills.
Don't dwell on it though. Dwelling on it is a sign that you need to rethink your job. Until you start puking your guts out before any important mission or battle it's not really a big deal to have some butterflies in your stomach, it's completely normal.
Jutsu List
Bunshin Kusari no Karada Gachan (Clone Chain Body Slam). A-rank ninjutsu, offensive. Naruto creates a huge amount of Kage Bunshin with the clones piling on the opponent. He then grabs one of the clones and pulls them out one by one. The clones proceed to latch onto each other to form a chain whip in order to slam the opponent down on the ground.