Naruto couldn't help the splitting grin that overcame his features as he stared around at the enormous crowd of people gathered. They were all here for him! Or, at least, that was how his slightly inflated head was thinking at the time. In truth many of the people gathered in the enormous stadium had come to watch all the prospective Chuunin fight. For many, it was the highlight of their year, for others it was a good time to relax or get some time off from work. Many would splurge their savings on the pot, the weeks leading up to the event filled with speculation on who would win.
There were many nobles and high-ranking people of the elemental nations' political system interspersed with the crowd, many of their pockets lined with tickets. The Fire Daimyo was even present, sitting in a specifically constructed box for him and any of his invitees. They were here to see the new crop of talent so that they could get a better idea of the various villages' strengths for when it came time to hire Shinobi. Finally there sat the Hokage up in his own platform, smiling down at the single Konoha team that had made it this far.
Four teams in total had made it to the final round, One from Sunagakure, another from Amegakure and a third from Takigakure. It had surprised many that the only major villages to make it to the finals had been Konoha and Suna, especially considering that teams from both Kiri and Kumo had entered. The news only made Hiruzen smile; he considered it a way to show that Konoha had not been weakened since the Kyuubi attack. Now all he needed was for the single leaf team to show off their abilities to reinforce that notion.
A hush overcame the crowd as a single Jounin made his way into the main ground of the arena, smiling happily as if he was walking to his favourite restaurant, not about to initiate a fight. He stopped in front of the four assembled teams who had also stopped chatting amongst themselves. He smiled again, making Naruto think he seemed far too happy for the position he was in, it actually creeped him out just a little. From the way his friends' faces turned, they were thinking the same thing.
"Alright guys, time to show what your villages are made of." He got a few grins from the Ame team at that which in turn only brightened his own smile. "Now, contrary to past years we felt that the number of people who made it through didn't quite warrant a preliminary round. However, there are still enough of you that one on one fights could take the majority of the day. Instead, so we don't bore our kind patrons and nobles, we'll be having team fights, three on three." A few of the Genins' eyebrows rose at this while once again the Ame team grinned deviously.
"Alright first up will be Konoha and Ame, then we'll have Suna against Taki before the winner of each match face off against one another. Remember, the fights will go on until I stop them or all the members of one team are unable to continue. Like the last round killing is alright here but only if necessary, no need to go and scare all the people who came to see you fight right?" He finished his semi-question with a sickeningly sweet smile that seemed all too genuine, another reason all the Genin found themselves taking a step back from the man unconsciously.
"Alright, Konoha and Ame stay here, the other two teams will go to the competitors box until this match is over." He grinned pleasantly again "Good luck guys and have fun" With nothing more he disappeared in a Shunshin to the other side of the arena with his arm raised up. The two Genin teams left in the arena looked at each other warily, taking in what they could of their opponents' abilities.
"You should have stayed in the academy brats; I don't know how you made it this far, but you're no match for us!" Naruto raised an eyebrow but smirked slightly as he turned away from the shouting Genin, already having gathered what he could. The one who spoke seemed to be the pseudo leader of the team, or at least, he was the brashest. He towered high for his age, dwarfing his two teammates with the muscles to match, clearly shown off with his ripped, sleeveless blue kimono.
An umbrella was slung over his back. From the one encounter team Ensui had with an Ame missing-nin, they knew it was full to the brim with Senbon. Other than that, he had no visible weapons. He could have more hidden away in his clothes and it was likely he was armed to the teeth. Naruto remembered a time when they had to fight against an annoyingly agile Kunoichi from Kiri who had a tendency to hide her weapons in surprising, and embarrassing places. So much so that she had eventually managed to give them the slip. To this day, Naruto and his team hadn't told anybody about that particular encounter or risk a heavy blush.
To the right of the 'leader' was a much shorter girl who nonetheless carried the same smug air about her, the kind members of a powerful clan tended to hold. He was just lucky Shisui and Itachi weren't like that or his time as a Genin would have been near-unbearable. She wore a flowing robe that, due to its impracticality in movement, probably made her a Genjutsu type. Naruto couldn't help noticing though that beneath her rather haughty attitude she was rather beautiful with her flowing black hair and large green eyes.
Finally the team was complimented by an average-looking boy to their leader's left. However, Naruto knew better than to assume somebody's abilities based purely on appearance. The way his fingers subtly twitched towards his many pockets led the redhead to believe he was eager to begin. His overall appearance gave Naruto the idea he was the up-close and personal type, further helped by the boxing tape wrapped around his hands and lower arms. Other than that there wasn't much to notice; slightly unruly brown hair, calculative black eyes and clothes that were obviously more for practicality than anything else.
He noticed that the other team were sizing them up just as much as he was and it made him wonder what they saw. He passed the thought over as he turned away, searching through the crowd until he spotted what he was looking for, Anko waving as she sat next to her Sensei. The leader of the other team seemed so irritated by the redhead's lack of attention towards his opponents, that he began to draw a Kunai out of his pouch. Luckily for him, at that very moment, the Jounin threw his hand down, initiating the match.
As if a switch had been flipped in each of the three Konoha Genin they suddenly span around, each unleashing their own barrage of Kunai. The move was so fast and synchronised the Ame Genin had some difficulty dodging, or in the case of their leader bringing his umbrella around to bat the projectiles away. Naruto absently noticed that thanks to her bulky kimono the girl managed to get hit by a glancing kunai thrown by Shisui.
Not willing to let up in their assault the three took on a well rehearsed and battle-honed tactic with Shisui and Naruto rushing forwards as Itachi stayed back, continuing to offer support with the occasional barrage of Kunai. As they ran Naruto felt the trace amount of his opponents chakra try to invade his mind in an attempt to put him under a Genjutsu. He scoffed at the attempt, knowing that Itachi would be insulted if he didn't manage to break out of such a weak technique. Even as he thought this a few chains seemed to break out of the earth, each with a pointed tip solely aimed at him.
Before the phantom implements could even get close he suddenly disrupted his entire chakra system before flaring it back, stronger than ever. Instantly, the illusion was broken, surprising the girl who had attempted to cast it. In her surprise she found it difficult to react, as Naruto closed the distance between them so hastily he seemed to vanish in a Shunshin. Flickering back into existence right of her, he lashed out with a strong kick meant to hit her in the stomach. She blocked with both of her bony arms, once again surprised by the ferocity and power behind the blow that forced her back a little.
However, what she really didn't expect was for Naruto to suddenly twist his body, using the leverage he already had on her body to raise his other foot and deliver a powerful scissor kick to her back. The girl cried out in pain, obviously not used to fighting up close like this; it was painfully apparent she had become overly reliant on her teammates. In a surprising move, she managed to spin her body around, catching Naruto off guard for just a moment. However, she missed her opportunity to capitalise on that instability. Naruto grounded his feet and disappeared in a burst of speed again.
The girl just glanced around fearfully, trying to predict where Naruto would appear next without success. The last thing she saw was the second shadow merged with her own in front of her before a swift chop had her knocked out on the ground. Naruto sighed at the lack of fight the girl had put up, expecting more from his first real fight with people his own rank apart from his teammates. He glanced around to check on his friends, noting that Shisui was currently engaged in a hectic Taijutsu match with their leader, while Itachi had already managed to subdue his opponent with a subtle Genjutsu that had the boy believing he was fighting an army of undead.
Content to allow his teammate to finish on his own Naruto settled for tying up the girl as he watched Shisui fight from the corner of his eye. The Uchiha grinned as he ducked under another fast and powerful low, his Sharingan easily predicting the next movement, allowing him to subtly divert the next punch away from himself. Taking advantage of that and unintentionally borrowing a move from Naruto, he kept a hold of the loose arm as he spun around, lashing out with his fist at the last moment to catch the large Genin in the side of the head.
The Ame Shinobi seemed dazed by the blow, but otherwise unhurt, made clear as he rushed back into the conflict. This time, he had brought out his umbrella, using the reinforced implement as a makeshift sword with surprising skill. It was enough to keep Shisui on the defensive and far enough away the he couldn't engage with Taijutsu again. Naruto was about to go in and help his teammate before the Uchiha jumped backwards, hurriedly running through hand signs before finishing on tiger.
"Fire release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" To the Ame Shinobi and spectators' surprise an enormous ball of pure flames erupted from Shisui's mouth. It was massive, even for some watching Jounin, a truly impressive jutsu for one so young, even if he was an Uchiha. The single remaining Ame Genin tried to appear unfazed as he opened out his umbrella. When the sphere of heat finally dissipated, the boy was standing in an enormous crater. His umbrella was slightly singed, his body sweating from the incredible burst of heat, but otherwise he was undamaged.
"Wow, pretty pathetic fireball if it couldn't even touch me, now let me show you why I was the Rookie of the year in Ame!" The boy suddenly threw his umbrella high up into the air before jumping up and grabbing a hold of it again. "Ninja art: Rain blood drops!" He began to spin furiously, looking like a small tornado as he continued to spin in the air, held aloft by the umbrella. Out of nowhere senbon began to rain down from him in numbers that seemed unlikely from such a small umbrella.
Soon enough the entire arena was completely covered in the deadly metal implements and as he landed, a little winded from the attack, he huffed. The arena was in complete silence as everybody looked at the five bodies lying on the floor. Even the other two Ame ninja hadn't been spared from the slaughter; they just lay there, bleeding slowly. Finally the last standing ninja grinned victoriously, a smile that was wiped from his face as all five bodies puffed out of existence.
To his surprise the Konoha team suddenly rose from the ground like it was water, suddenly very thankful Ensui had seen fit to teach them the 'Earth release: Hiding like a mole technique'. Naruto had the girl he was fighting slung over one shoulder while Itachi had his opponent in a similar position under his arm.
"You know, people like you, people who abandon their teammates - they're worse than trash." The Ame ninja was too tired to hide his annoyance at their survival as he huffed in apparent indignation.
"If they were weak enough to lose to brats like you, then they didn't deserve to live." Both Naruto and Shisui's eyes twitched dangerously while Itachi even seemed slightly riled by the comment. Before anybody else could react, Shisui vanished in a technique very well-known to the Jounin in the crowd. Nobody was left unsurprised as he reappeared in a similar flicker of movement behind the Ame Genin, crouched down in a ready stance. The other Shinobi could only widen his eyes before he was launched into the air by a particularly vicious kick.
He was rightfully frightened when Shisui flickered into existence above him, his leg raised and a snarl on his face. He brought it down in one fast kick that sent the unfortunate Genin into the ground, a huge plume of smoke and debris following his impact. When it finally cleared it revealed a very much unconscious and badly hurt Ame Genin laying in a crater double his own height in diameter. After the stunned silence in the audience lasted for a few seconds, a single clapping Jounin soon turned onto an enormous round of applause for the entire Konoha team.
Naruto just smiled happily even as the unconscious girl on his shoulder groaned, waking up from her forceful departure into the land of sleep. The three Genin, each now carrying their own unconscious passenger, quickly made their exit to the competitor box to let the other teams fight. Naruto set his charge down against the wall as his teammates followed suit, only paying slight mind to the fight going on in the arena between the Suna Shinobi and the Taki ninja.
"So, how'd you think we did?" Naruto just grinned at Shisui as the gesture was returned in kind.
"I caught a glimpse of a few Nobles as we left the arena, they looked pretty impressed." Shisui just smiled to himself at that, happy he managed to leave an impact on the judges. Itachi however seemed more thoughtful, his attention on the fight at hand as he tried to take in their potential opponents' abilities to prepare against them. As far as he could tell the Suna Shinobi seemed to be using mainly earth techniques to subdue their opponents, one even was attempting to use some rather weak wind techniques. The Taki Shinobi however seemed to use solely water techniques, as befitting of the village they hailed from.
"We shouldn't let the victory go to our heads; we still have other opponents to face before this is over." Naruto just sighed with a small smile on his face, looping an arm over his team mate's shoulders.
"Come on Itachi; just enjoy the victory for once. If we can face A-ranked missing-nin, then a few Genin shouldn't be trouble." Itachi sighed with his eyes closed. Sometimes, his friends were a bit too overconfident for their own good.
"Just don't underestimate our opponents." Naruto gave a conceding nod with a quirk of his lips as the three turned back to the arena, only to find that the match was already over. Shisui's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the speed the match was fought at.
"Uhh, did anybody catch what happened?" He didn't see the two confused shakes his friends gave in the negative, his eyes glued on the scene. The Suna Shinobi lay on the ground, one completely unconscious while the other two were rolling on the ground, their eyes screwed shut in pain. Itachi narrowed his eyes, trying to examine what he could from the scene but drawing a blank. It looked like the effects of a flash bomb but more severe and nobody in the audience seemed affected.
"Intriguing." Naruto had similar thoughts as he gazed down at the arena, watching with a critical eye as the Suna team was carried off. Finally, they were called up and each vanished, reappearing in the centre of the arena in their own unique way. They found that arriving in two flashes of speed and a flock of crows had the tendency to put their opponents off. It seemed ineffective against the Taki Shinobi but Naruto at least took that time to examine them.
The one standing in the centre reminded him of the other 'leader' of the last group they fought. He was tall with broad shoulders and the muscles that spoke of a lot of intense training. However he differed from the other boy as is face held none of that same arrogance; to the contrary he seemed quite kind and pleasant. He had a dull, dirty blonde mop of hair that almost hid his light green eyes. He wore a dark green shirt with a darker brown coat slung over the top a while his forehead protector was displayed in a similar way to Naruto's own.
To his left and right stood two girls, one his age and one that seemed much younger. The first had a shock of white hair that stretched down her back with two long bangs that framed the sides of her face and complimented her shining blue eyes. She wore a light blue dress that seemed deceptively restricting for her line of work as well as two boot-like sandals. The sleeves of her dress fanned out at her wrists, covering her hands and keeping whatever she was holding hidden.
The last girl was the most intriguing with green hair and the most startling pair of orange eyes he had ever seen. However, the more surprising thing was that she seemed even younger than him team, possibly up to two years younger. In comparison to her teammates, she seemed rather shy, as if she didn't feel she belonged with them. Naruto also managed to catch that every time either of her teammates would look at her it would be with either a dense glare or face-wrinkling anxiety. She looked up and for a brief instance their eyes met; just looking into her incredible orange eyes he saw loneliness and pain, the likes of which a girl her age shouldn't have experienced. Was she trying to evoke his sympathy? He wouldn't relax around a strange team like Taki's now.
Before he could dwell on it the match was started; this time instead of rushing in like they had before the team decided to remain back and let their opponents come to them. Just as they hoped the two older teammates rushed forward, both running through simultaneous hand signs before holding out their hands.
"Water release: Water-cutting sword!" Instantly water coalesced from the surrounding moisture into two long swords made entirely out of water. Taken by surprise Shisui had to jump back from their attack, having nothing he could use to defend against the larger boy. Itachi managed to jump in before his friend wound up in a difficult situation, his tanto already in hand. Naruto on the other hand was grinning as he finally got an opportunity to test a technique he had been steadily working on recently. Running through his own hand signs he extended his hand in a similar manner to the Taki Shinobi.
"Wind release: Blade of wind!" An almost invisible blade materialised in Naruto's hand, flickering slightly as he fought to stabilise his chakra in the technique. Luckily, his practise with the Rasengan greatly improved his control over the difficult shape manipulation technique, unfortunately, he could still only hold it for a minute at maximum. He met the slash from the older female member of the team, the surprise evident on her face when he parried her attack with seemingly nothing. That surprise seemed to carry over as his blade just seemed to melt through her own, forcing her to jump back or be slashed across the chest.
She looked at Naruto warily, trying to distinguish his blade from the surrounding air while Naruto tried not to show how difficult maintaining his technique was. Knowing he was running out of time, the redhead shot forward with his weapon extended. The Taki Kunoichi tried to block but once again his own blade just phased right through her own, this time managing to nick her on the arm before she dodged away. Finally, Naruto released the jutsu, finding it too difficult to maintain his chakra flow any longer.
In the brief lull he sent a glance to see how his friends were doing while the Kunoichi was making sure he still didn't have his wind blade. Itachi was currently in a fierce Kenjutsu fight, finding it difficult due to the water-cutting sword's ability to simply pass through his own. He was having to use the flat of is tanto to divert the blade instead of blocking it directly which forced him to adapt his still rather fresh sword style. Luckily his Sharingan's predictive abilities kept him at his much more skilled opponent's level. Even now he was subtly weaving a complicated Genjutsu to keep the man occupied.
Shisui on the other hand had taken advantage of the fact the last member of the opposing team seemed to just be holding back, doing nothing. However, while he rushed at her with harsh and brutal, yet swift and precise attacks, she dodged every one. Her movements weren't particularly fast but she had a strange airy grace as she seemed to almost dance around his blows. What made it worse for the Uchiha was that she wasn't even trying to counter-attack so his Sharingan became less helpful.
Returning to his own fight he frantically moved to the left just as the Kunoichi thrust at him with her sword, barely dodging the attack before he sent three very swift punches along her arm. They weren't particularly damaging but they were enough to disrupt her concentration and force her to abandon the technique. Now sword-less, she was put on the defensive as Naruto came at her in a blur of red, moving much faster than her body could react. He was admittedly holding back but he didn't want to seriously hurt the girl, just incapacitate her.
Unfortunately, that gave her the opportunity to pull out a kunai. Getting close to her with pure Taijutsu was now going to be much more problematic. He sighed as he pulled out a kunai of his own, drawing gasps from the few Shinobi present who knew what the unique design meant. Of course, he didn't know the Hiraishin as his skills with seals weren't anywhere close to his father's level, but he used the kunai anyway to get a feel for them when that time came.
He re-engaged the Kunoichi, deflecting or blocking her attacks but never offering any of his own above a simple scratch along the arm or a nick on the chest. Finally he grew slightly tired of the fight and disappeared in a blur of red again; this time, he just appeared behind her, lashing out with a curt kick to the back of her head. To his surprise the girl in front of him simply melted into a puddle of water, the Kunoichi having apparently substituted herself as soon as he disappeared. She smiled victoriously as she appeared behind him, stabbing him in the side with her kunai.
To her even greater surprise, the redhead in front of her also disappeared, but in a cloud of smoke. She was too surprised to defend the blow to the back of her head, dropping to the ground without any more fight. Naruto looked around again to check on his teammates only to find Itachi had subdued his in the same manner as before, while Shisui appeared to almost be dancing with his opponent. The Kunoichi he was fighting finally noticed that both her teammates had been defeated and jumped back, looking between the three of them fearfully.
"Please, I don't want to hurt you."
Shisui just scoffed in irritation as he attempted to close the distance between them with a Shunshin. The mint-haired girl surprised him though when he appeared behind her; he was suddenly blown back by an unseen force while Naruto and Itachi looked on in amazement. Protruding from the girl's back were a set of insect-like wings that left many in the audience, save those from Takigakure, in awe and silence. With one quick flap she had sent Shisui flying back from the gust of wind she created.
"I'm sorry about this." She started to fly up into the air, keeping her audience and her opponents amazed that she could actually fly. "Hiding in scale powder jutsu!" Suddenly the girl exhaled an enormous mass of fine powder particles into the air, even as the three Konoha Genin looked on in wonder. Suddenly all the particles seemed to glow before they caught the light, blinding all three Shinobi in the arena yet somehow leaving the audience unaffected. Both Itachi and Shisui fell to the ground in pain, their sensitive Doujutsu being overloaded by all the light.
Naruto winced in pain as he closed his eyes, but didn't fall; instead he focused on his ears, trying to find the Kunoichi through his other sense. For her part the girl seemed surprised that Naruto could still stand and immediately targeted him first. However, to her even greater surprise, as soon as she flapped her wings once his head snapped around in her direction at the same moment his arm did. Three of his kunai immediately shot from his extended hand with perfect accuracy. Everybody in the audience was left astounded as they looked on at the Taki Kunoichi pinned to the arena wall with a kunai in each wing and one protruding from her thigh.
When Naruto's vision finally returned he saw the proctor call the match, but not before the arena had once again erupted into a massive round of applause. He helped Shisui to his feet before doing the same with Itachi, both heavily disoriented by their temporary loss of vision. They looked around themselves, or at least the two Uchiha appeared to, in fact they still couldn't see properly. The crowds were in an uproar of cheering, praising their performance to the highest degree. The three of them just soaked it in with grins, even Itachi was smiling lightly.
Naruto ran down the corridor of the arena, calling for the Taki Shinobi to wait; the three young Genin just looked around in confusion before spotting the approaching redhead. The mint-haired girl, who was in the best condition despite her limp turned to see what he wanted while her teammates just continued on. Naruto stopped in front of her, smiling slightly despite her outwardly cautious appearance.
"Hi, I'm Naruto." He extended his arm out even as the girl just looked at it with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension. After a few moments Naruto just chuckled, looking between the two of them. "Uhh, you're supposed to shake it." The mint-haired girl's eye narrowed but she took his offered hand anyway, shaking it only once before pulling back. "Don't have much experience with people do you?" He chuckled again, only meaning it jokingly but immediately the girl's head lowered; the sadness was evident in her eyes despite her attempts to hide it.
"Oh uh, sorry about that." The girl just shook her head as she extended her own hand, this time when Naruto took it she shook for slightly longer and even managed a weak smile.
"No problem, it's Fuu by the way." Naruto just smiled before Fuu finally took her hand away. "So what did you want Naruto?" The redhead suddenly became slightly more serious, shocking the Taki Kunoichi with how quickly he changed his emotions.
"I couldn't help but notice, back when you used that wing technique, your Chakra it was, well..." he struggled for the words, knowing it would probably be a touchy subject for the girl if her reaction to the handshake was anything to go on "...you're a Jinchuuriki aren't you?" Fuu immediately took a step back, her eyes narrowed and posture defensive.
"Why? What does it matter to you?" Her tone said it all, any trust he had managed to garner in their brief exchange was gone, replaced by cautiousness and distrust. Quickly, Naruto waved a dismissive hand as he pulled up his fishnet shirt, channelling chakra so that his seal became visible. Fuu just stared at it in recognisable shock before looking back up to his sheepishly smiling face. "Y-You're one too?" Naruto just nodded slightly grimly but managed to keep a small smile on his features.
"I just wanted to check on you, we have to stick together right?" Fuu just nodded dumbly before blinking herself out of the slight stupor that overcame her.
"Umm, I have to catch up to my friends but, if you're ever in Taki I guess..." Naruto just nodded in understanding, his smile growing slightly.
"Likewise." Fuu managed to broaden her smile ever so slightly before she turned around to walk off, taking one last look over her shoulder at Naruto before jogging off to catch up to her team. Naruto watched her leave before sighing, he probably could have handled that better, but it turned out alright in the end. He had been sincere when he told Fuu he only wanted to check on her; he hadn't simply sat idle since finding out what he held within him.
He had researched Jinchuuriki and what he found had not been encouraging. Most were used as weapons while others were driven insane by their tenants. It was generally not a pleasant existence, especially considering many Jinchuuriki were seen as the Biju they contained and hated for it. Luckily for Naruto, it had been his father's wish that he be treated as a hero for what he contained. While it didn't quite extend that far, most didn't look at him any differently for what he held. He guessed it helped that he wasn't a baby when it was sealed or the people would have nothing to compare his behaviour to.
"Hey! There you are Naruto!" he turned only to get tackled by a flying hug from a purple blur.
"Oh, hey Anko." He said in a pleased murmur. She sat on his chest, straddling him with a grin as she poked him in the forehead.
"That was pretty impressive, mister Chuunin." Naruto just chuckled, accepting that fact that Anko probably wasn't going to get off of him anytime soon.
"Anko, you know that just because we won we aren't necessarily going to be made Chuunin." Anko just scoffed with a playful smirk.
"As if. After that performance, how couldn't you get promoted?" Naruto conceded a small smile before poking the straddling girl in the stomach.
"Just remember that'll be you next year." He was briefly saddened when he remembered the training trip Anko was about to leave on but he covered it well. She finally let him up and the two began to make their way out of the arena corridor to find Naruto's team and go celebrate their victory. However as soon as they did an ANBU operative dropped from the shadows, startling both of them.
"Naruto Namikaze, a message from lord Danzo." The redhead jut looked at the scroll the masked Shinobi offered before taking it, allowing the ANBU to once again disappear into the shadows.
"Danzo? The guy who's in charge of ANBU? What does he want with me?" Anko just shrugged as the two continued on with Naruto's eyebrows disappearing further and further into his hairline the more of the scroll he read.