Naruto looked at each of his competitors carefully. He was trying to see if anything was obvious from their training. Neji had some additional bandages covering his face and his hair looked shorter than before as if a good chunk had been chopped off. Gaara didn't look any different nor did his brother Kankuro. Tenten looked meaner somehow, her clothes hadn't changed at all but she now had bandages covering the lower half of her face in a way that reminded him of Zabuza and her hands were wrapped almost to the elbow in bandages as well. Shikamaru looked lazier if anything except for the new stitches binding a long cut from his right cheek down his neck and under his shirt. Shino looked exactly the same except he now wore wrap around sunglasses that seemed to have light glowing ominously from beneath them, most likely some kind of genjutsu to intimidate the other competitors. Sasuke was dressed exactly like an ANBU in black pants, combat sandals, a sleeveless black shirt, gray combat gloves, bracers, and a combat vest over top of the shirt, the only thing missing was the animal mask and tattoo on his arm. It gave some hints but nothing overt.
Naruto's appearance had changed a bit as well. Gone was the all-orange track suit replaced by loose black pants with an orange stripe running the length of the sides up to the hip. Matching that was a black skin-tight short sleeve shirt with the orange stripe continuing up his waist and onto the chest to the neck while the orange stripe widened and covered his shoulders and sleeves entirely. His wrists and hands were wrapped in black tape up to his elbows. In the middle of his back was the white Uzumaki clan symbol. His two pouches were around his leg and on the back of his hip. And finally, wrapped around his forehead was his prided headband which now had a black cloth instead of blue but the metal plate gleamed in the late morning light all the same.
"First round, Uzumaki Naruto versus Hyuuga Neji," called the proctor Hayate. He was now missing an arm and an eye which was extremely different from the first test but other than that he seemed fine if a bit sicker than usual.
Naruto took his place in the arena for the start of the fight while Neji did the same and all the other finalists went to the designated waiting area.
"Hajime," said Hayate, followed by his standard weak cough.
Neither Naruto nor Neji moved an inch as they studied one another.
"Byakugan," said Neji calmly activating his doujutsu, followed by him flinching and shying away as if he'd just been hit with a flash of light.
"What's wrong?" asked Naruto with a smirk. He'd known this would happened from having sparred so much with Hinata. It wouldn't last but he still enjoyed the effect. "A little too bright for those magic eyes of yours?"
Neji sneered. "Having a lot of chakra does not change the fact that you are now and will always be a loser."
Naruto frowned. He wanted badly to retort that SIPA had changed everything but he'd been warned before that here and in view of the public that SIPA was not to be mentioned. "If you say so. Anyway, we're here to put on a show for all these fans. Try to last more than five minutes would you?"
Neji snarled at that and charged in angrily.
Naruto smirked as he let Neji hit him. "Boom," whispered a voice from behind Neji that caused his eyes to widen as the Naruto he just struck exploded with a massive concussive force that sent him tumbling across the ground. Neji managed to roll up onto his feet as he skidded to a stop. He was singed and bruised a little but not hurt as he'd managed to shift his momentum away from Naruto before the clone detonated.
Naruto meanwhile was sitting down with his legs crossed laughing while slapping the ground a dozen meters to Neji's left.
Neji threw a brace of shuriken at the sitting Naruto who didn't move. On taking the shuriken he exploded too. "Hmph, are cheap tricks all you're capable of?" taunted Neji, unable to locate Naruto which honestly made him slightly nervous.
Naruto rose up out of the ground with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. "I'll have you know there is nothing cheap about my tricks."
Neji smirked and struck an arm forward and said softly, "Hakke kusho."
Naruto's eyes widened slightly as he suddenly felt like his insides were being crushed. "Shit," he mumbled as he substituted with a hidden clone. He drew on a little of Kurama's chakra to heal the damage he hadn't been prepared for. "Note to self, don't stand still for this guy."
Naruto suddenly did a leaping roll to dodge the attacking Neji. He then shifted quickly at Neji with a spear hand to his ribs which forced the air from the older boy's lungs momentarily. But Neji countered quickly closing a few tenketsu on Naruto's extended arm.
Neji smirked thinking he had the upper hand. Naruto's extend arm rolled upward and brought a back fist down on his nose breaking it harshly causing Neji to stumble backwards grabbing his face stunned.
Naruto didn't let up on his advantage and pressed his attack. "Futon: renkudan no jutsu."
A condensed ball of air impacted with Neji's chest and shot him spinning into the air where he was brought to an abrupt stop upon impacting the wall.
Naruto smirked this time and leaped forward to drop an ax kick on the downed Neji and end the fight.
Neji however managed to land on his feet after hitting the wall. He forced himself to focus just in time to see Naruto's incoming ax kick. "Hakkesho kaiten!"
Naruto cursed as it was his turn to tumble through the air after bouncing off the near invisible wall of chakra Neji had suddenly created. Naruto landed on his feet and slid to a halt.
Neji fixed his nose rather roughly then charged Naruto again. "Hakke rokujuyon sho!" he almost yelled as he charged Naruto hoping to put and end to the fight quickly.
Naruto frowned in concentration. He knew he wouldn't be able to dodge or block based on how close Neji now was to him. He knew this would be the greatest test of his control in using Kurama's chakra. "Help me out here Kurama," he whispered to himself hoping the fox heard his request.
The first two hits were like a jack hammer to Naruto's arm and abdomen but Kurama's chakra healed it instantly and vanished just as quickly. Naruto smirked as the next set of strikes came in once again unable to be blocked but Naruto's focus was completely on controlling Kurama's chakra to heal the attacks as they came.
Neji continued his assault absolutely confident this would be the end of the loser he was fated to crush. Naruto had surprised him, no doubt. But fate was on his side now.
The last sixty-four strikes were vicious in Naruto's opinion but his ability to draw on and suppress Kurama's chakra was surprising even him as the attacked tenketsu were re-opened even as they closed and yet no hint of Kurama's chakra seemed to impact or affect the crowd or assembled shinobi.
Neji's attack finished and he was struggling to catch his breath so it came as a hell of a surprise when Naruto charged forward inside his guard and hammered his chest and stomach with fists and ending with an uppercut that lifted Neji off his feet and landed him very roughly on his back unable to catch his breath.
"His ribs are broken and so are his nose and jaw. He'll be unconscious from lack of oxygen in a few minutes and dead a few minutes after that unless you call it right now," said Naruto wiping the dirt and sweat from his brow and face.
"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" called Hayate in mild disbelief that was followed by loud and rapacious applause from the audience.
Naruto smiled at the sound and gave a wave to them all as he left the field, nodding to the medics collecting Neji.
BREAK
"Damn!" said Kiba in an exaggeratedly long drawn out voice. "Naruto fucked him up."
"Kid's got talent," said his sister Hana from next to him.
"But why didn't he use that other ability like he used on me?" asked Kiba about the kyuubi chakra.
"That has to be kept quiet from the civvies," answered Sakura from the row just in front of them.
"At least he won anyway," said Kiba with a grin. "I really want to fight him again now. Except without him using that ability."
"He'd still whoop your ass pup," said Hana putting her brother in a headlock and giving him a noogie.
"Naruto really has gotten a lot stronger," said Ino in disbelief.
"Yosh!" shouted Lee excited. "I cannot wait to spar against Naruto-kun again. His flames of youth make my own look like flickering embers."
"Lee-kun my most youthful student. We shall have to increase your training one hundred times... no one thousand times so that you shall never feel as if the embers of your youthful flames could ever be extinguished!" shouted Gai.
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee-kun!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee-kun!"
"Look away everyone!" shouted Hinata urgently burying her head inside her jacket and covering her head with her arms. Where she found the courage to shout the warning she didn't know but she was extremely glad she did.
"Gah, my eyes!" cried out someone in the crowd.
"Medic!" shouted another person from around that area of the first call of pain.
BREAK
"Second round, Nara Shikamaru versus Tenten."
"Troublesome," mumbled Shikamaru as he stepped over the balcony down to the arena floor. Tenten did the same, minus the comment, landing in a crouch next to him. They both took their places for the fight though Shikamaru was much more sedate about it.
"Begin!" called Hayate from his place near the wall.
Tenten opened with a volley of kunai and shuriken which caused Shikamaru to leap backwards quickly and get as much range as he could just in case these were the kind that went boom.
Shikamaru ended up sticking to the wall of the arena in a crouch while the shuriken and kunai detonated. He pulled out a pair of trench knives from his pouch and put his fingers through them ready to fight the girl.
Tenten smirked seeing knives. She liked weapons and she knew that the boy was probably trying to draw her in for something she wouldn't like but she also knew she couldn't help herself. She bit her finger drawing blood which she pressed into the left palm causing a seal to light up on the bandages. From the seal, she drew out a ninja-to. The blade was navy blue in color and covered in seals.
Shikamaru clicked his tongue in annoyance at her using a different weapon from the preliminaries. "I don't suppose you'd just tell me what that sword does exactly?"
Tenten smirked beneath her bandages. "Kurai Ao-chan (little dark blue) is my newest toy. I'm sure he can't wait to meet you."
"Oh well, it was worth a shot," said Shikamaru as he released the chakra holding him to the wall and began a jagged rush at the girl and her sword.
Tenten swung the blade quickly but was blocked by one of Shikamaru's trench knives easily enough and held in place as they struggled for advantage.
Shikamaru frowned as small cuts started appearing on his arm that was blocking Tenten's sword. He sighed deeper when drops of blood began to leak from the small cuts and were drawn inexplicably towards Tenten's ninja-to.
Tenten's smile grew beneath her bandages as she saw her thirsty little sword go to work.
Shikamaru cursed under his breath as he understood now what that blade of hers did. With a massive effort Shikamaru pushed her off and back. With his other hand he sliced at her with the trench knife missing by quite a bit.
Blood suddenly spurted from Tenten's abdomen as a chunk of her shirt and stomach vanish into a black void of some kind. "Kagesetsu (shadow cutter) success," said Shikamaru sadly.
Tenten dropped to a knee holding her stomach. "How? You didn't even hit me."
"Chakra streaming," answered Shikamaru. "Your back was to the sun so all I had to do was cut through your shadow."
"Heh, you win," said Tenten with a grimace.
"Winner Nara Shikamaru!" announced Hayate.
"Your sword is a nasty piece of work by the way," said Shikamaru as he assisted Tenten to the medics.
"I haven't completely mastered it yet. If I use too much chakra it could literally drain you in a minute or two. I took too long trying to slowly build up the chakra to put you down," explained Tenten as she leaned heavily on Shikamaru.
"Probably should have stuck to what you know best. Still, you managed to surprise me and knock away all my strategies. I appreciate you holding back on not killing me though," said Shikamaru.
"Same here," said Tenten with another grimace as the medics jostled her while they prepped to begin her treatment.
BREAK
"Wow, I'm kind of surprised that Shikamaru did that well or fought that hard. He didn't even try to shadow bind her," said Ino in her seat next to Sakura.
"It was good. Tenten's sword was nasty though," said Sakura mildly impressed but also slightly disgusted by it.
"I'd bet the risk to her is just as great as it is to whoever she attacks. I'm sure you didn't notice but Tenten had matching cuts bleeding through her bandaged arms," said Kakashi thoughtfully. "I'm sure as she gets more used to that blade it won't happen but for now it's a true double edged sword so to speak."
"Tenten-chan's weapons are most youthful but very dangerous," said Gai seriously. "I'm looking forward to seeing what she can do with my nunchaku."
Kakashi froze and slowly turned to look at Gai. He was completely pale, maybe even a little green.
"Are you sure that's wise?" asked Kakashi stuttering slightly. "I mean, won't that interfere with your youthful taijutsu mastery?"
"Hmm, you speak wisely my rival," said Gai.
Kakashi felt relieved instantly, too bad it wasn't to last.
"However, it is never harmful to have a back up plan," said Gai with a firm and convinced nod.
Kakashi fainted dead away.
BREAK
"Be careful of his poisons Shino," said Naruto to his comrade. "They will most likely be lethal this time."
"Thank you for your concern but I have taken this into account," said Shino.
"And make sure you put him down so he won't get up for at least a few hours if not permanently," said Naruto grimly. He didn't like having to give that kind of recommendation but he knew what was coming soon and he knew that it may be necessary.
"Proctor," called Kankuro from the edge of the balcony. "I forfeit."
"Shit!" exclaimed Naruto in a hiss to Shino.
Shino seemed to buzz irritably at that announcement.
Naruto looked at who was around him to make sure he could talk to Shino with some privacy. "Can you drain him anyway? Be subtle, I don't want him to realize he's being drained."
Shino raised an eyebrow over his glasses at this request from Naruto. "I can, but why?"
"Do you trust me?" asked Naruto. "If you do then trust me now."
Shino frowned behind his high collar but nodded anyway.
"Thanks," said Naruto. "I promise it will all make sense soon... I hope."
Down on the arena floor Hayate frowned and looked up to the Hokage who nodded. "Due to forfeit, the winner of the third round is Aburame Shino. Fourth round, Uchiha Sasuke versus Sabaku Gaara."
"Good luck Uchiha-teme," said Naruto to his teammate as he jumped down into the arena while Gaara vanished in a whirl of sand only to reappear. "Jerk couldn't even say thanks."
The two squared off on their individual start lines. Gaara with his arms crossed over his chest. Sasuke with his hand gripping tight his kodachi that was strapped horizontally across his lower back.
The cheer of the crowd was louder than when any of the other fighter stood across from each other. "Fight!" called Hayate loudly to beat out the din of cheers that inundated the arena.
Sasuke opened up with a giant fireball that didn't let up for almost 20 seconds. When it ended there was a shoddy glass wall that was still glowing orange from the heat. Gaara though had his arms held out in front of himself to control the sand.
Sasuke jumped backwards and shielded his face as the glass wall was shattered and shot at him like a million tiny glass missiles. His body armor absorbed the majority of the damage but he was quickly on the move from the sand that continued chasing after him.
Sasuke moved quickly and with purpose as he dodged the sand to the best of his ability firing off fireballs and electrifying the field occasionally to see if there was a magnetic factor to the control of the sand. It seemed to disturb it for a moment but not long enough for Sasuke to do anything about it.
Sasuke brought his hands together in a symbol Naruto knew well as he created a single shadow clone. The clone jumped backwards and up onto the wall where it began to harass Gaara with jutsu.
Meanwhile Sasuke decided to try a more directly assault and drew his kodachi channeling chakra into it causing it to glow orange and begin to spark at the same time causing the blade to change its glow blue as the flame came to life licking the air and sparking.
"Enton surasshu (blaze slash)," said Sasuke calmly before he seemed to vanish and reappear behind Gaara.
Gaara's eyes widened as he looked at the cauterized stump where his left hand used to be. Then he began to scream as his left hand seemed to disintegrate on the ground licked by blue flames and the occasional spark. As he continued to scream all the sand in the arena quickly drew towards him cocooning him in an orb of sand.
Sasuke barely turned to look in time to jump away from the newly formed orb as several sharp spikes protruded in his direction.
The clone continued to bombard the orb but was unable to make a scratch on it before it suddenly expired as the chakra that had made it ran out.
Sasuke meanwhile frowned and put his kodachi away. It didn't have the length to penetrate the orb as it wasn't much longer than his forearm and hand combined. Instead he started a series of hand seals before holding one hand out in front of him as it began to chirp loudly as lightning built up around it.
Sasuke charged the orb as fast as he could hoping the chidori would be able to pierce the orb deep enough to end the fight.
Sasuke got to the orb and he did pierce it and felt just the tips of his fingers pierce Gaara. The sand grasped his arm and began to form spikes but they quickly lost shape and began falling to the ground in clumps allowing Sasuke to leap away from Gaara and the orb.
Gaara was now bleeding from his shoulder from four small puncture wounds. "My blood... My blood... It hurts... Why does it hurt?" He started to tear up in shock and pain.
Hayate suddenly was next to Sasuke as Gaara's teammates suddenly joined him in the arena along with their sensei.
"Get him out of here. Try to get to a medic and get him healed. We'll need him if this invasion is to succeed," ordered their sensei Baki.
"Looks like I'll get that rematch after all," said Hayate drawing a sword with his only remaining arm.
"I was surprised to see you survived," said Baki as he drew his own sword.
"What's going on here?" asked Sasuke as his opponent fled the arena.
"We're being invaded," said Naruto as he and Shino joined Sasuke.
"Orders?" asked Sasuke of the jounin.
"Uzumaki-san is ordered to pursue the Sunagakure jinchuuriki. You and Aburame-san are to assist. His siblings are priority capture only targets, they are valuable hostages to the village," ordered another jounin that had joined them.
"Glad you could help out this time Genma," said Hayate, his eyes not leaving the Sunagakure jounin.
Genma nodded to Hayate, his eyes also fixed on Baki. "We'll deal with him. You three better get moving."
"Orders acknowledged," said Sasuke using his sharingan to follow their chakra trail.
Naruto sniffed the air once. "I've got the scent, let's go."
"Uzumaki has command," said Genma as the three began their departure.
BREAK: Back to Shikamaru and Tenten's fight
"Very interesting fights eh Kazekage-dono?" asked the hokage to his esteemed guest.
"Very interesting indeed. I was very interested in that blade your young kunoichi used. Where did she come by it?" asked the kazekage. "It strongly reminds me of one of the blades of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinn Shu."
"It is very interesting," said Sarutobi with keen eyes as he watched the fight between the Nara and the orphan Tenten. "I'm not sure where she got it." He suspected she made it but he was certainly not going to tell an enemy.
"I've never seen a Nara so direct in combat before," said the kazekage trying to draw information out of the man.
"Nor have I," said the hokage. "It is very unusual. His strategy though is solid. He knows he's dealing with a weapon user so I'm sure he planned this very carefully. With those exploding kunai and shuriken his decision to force her into close range is probably the best solution."
"Hmm," murmured the kazekage.
"Ah, see there," said the hokage pointing. "He's positioning her. Turning her back to the sun to give him her shadow."
"Ah, I see," said the kazekage. "Very clever."
The hokage nodded his agreement.
"What was that?" the kazekage nearly shouted seeing the Nara boy cut the shadow with the trench knives then see the girl get cut in the same place.
"I'm not aware of any such technique," said the hokage leaning forward. He too was interested.
"Was he using chakra flow on those knives with his shadow nature?" asked the kazekage hypothesizing but also asking.
"He may have been," said the hokage thoughtfully. "I am just as surprised as you."
"Very good fight though altogether," said the kazekage.
"Plenty of chuunin material in the two fights so far," said the hokage sounding pleased.
"I don't know that Hyuuga boy was fairly easy to enrage," said the kazekage. "The boy that fought him though is quite interesting. I was impressed by his strategy throughout the fight."
"True," said the hokage.
"That girl Tenten didn't use much strategy either but her skills were pretty sharp," said the kazekage.
"She has a little ways to go still but she is close. Her strategy against your daughter in the preliminaries was quite brilliant thought," said the hokage.
"So I've heard. My daughter was extremely displeased," said the kazekage flatly.
"I can imagine," said the hokage.
"Idiot," said the kazekage at hearing his son forfeit without even trying.
"That is very disappointing. I wanted to see what the young Aburame boy would do against your son's puppets," said the hokage with a shake of his head.
"I suppose it does not matter so much. This is the fight I think everyone is most excited about," said the kazekage. "I do fear though that the Uchiha clan may die out as a result of this fight."
"We'll see. Sasuke-kun has shown some great potential and has excelled in his training."
"Do the whispers I've heard of him training with your old rival bear any weight?" asked the kazekage.
The fighting below seemed to no longer matter. The hokage sat back in his seat and crossed his hands in front of his face. "You've pushed too far Orochimaru," said the hokage flatly earning a sharp look from the kazekage imposter. "That information is highly classified and the kazekage wouldn't honestly care in the slightest."
"I see," said Orochimaru not bothering to disguise his voice. "It was a risk coming here with as many of my plans that have gone poorly lately but what can I say. The chance to get the Uchiha's legendary sharingan eyes was too good to pass up."
"It's too bad you won't leave here alive. Your forces will be eradicated. Your Sunagakure allies will be crushed and sent limping home if we even allow any of them to live. Today you'll die and nothing can stop that now," said the hokage leaning forward again to watch Uchiha-san battle Gaara.
Orochimaru sneered at being dismissed so easily. "Really sensei?" he asked. "You really think I haven't been planning to kill you for years? You really think you or any of your lackeys can oppose me, you decrepit old fool?"
"We shall see," said the hokage. "Your jinchuuriki weapon down there isn't looking so good."
Orochimaru turned harshly to look at the fight below only to hiss angrily at seeing the Uchiha take his weapons hand. On the other hand seeing the boy's blade still aglow with enton chakra flowing through it couldn't stop him from getting excited about owning the boy.
"So, when are you launching this invasion of yours?" asked the hokage slightly disturbed by Orochimaru's licking of his lips while staring at the Uchiha boy.
"Ah, there is the genjutsu now," said Orochimaru springing into action and grabbing the hokage. He leaped up to the roof with his bodyguards forming a barrier around them.
"So foolish," said the hokage—except it was no longer Sarutobi's voice.