AN// Wow... Thirty chapters already... I am glad you all stuck through the rough beginning chapters of this to get this far. I am very, very proud of this fic. I want to say that I know that the beginning of this story is rushed and hollow. I started this in seventh grade with hardly any writing experience. I am planning to make a sequel sometime after this is finished, which won't be for quite a while yet. You guys are amazing, and I wanna give you all a way to nag me to update when I'm not on Wattpad. (I don't have the app so I don't get notifs till I log on)

Nag me here; [email protected] 

ONTO THE CHAPPIE

Shikamaru watched the indigo haired girl who was doing her best to be confident. Kankuro looked completely confident and smirked at the slightly shaking girl.

"You should go ahead and forfeit girlie. I don't know how you managed to become a ninja."

Hinata actually looked a little pissed.

"Kick his ass Hinata!" Naruto shouted.

The Hyuga girl smirked. Actually smirked.

"Byakugan!" Her soft voice somehow carried, and veins bulged around her eyes. 

Kankuro laughed. "Wow, you actually think you can beat me?"

Hinata said nothing, her pale lavender eyes growing narrow. It was different from when her father or Neji called her weak. When this stranger who had never even seen her fight before assumed she was weak, Hinata actually felt anger. She sunk into the stance of the Jyuuken.

She wasn't going to wait for him to attack.

She dashed forward ready to strike. Kankuro's grin grew wider, then became one of shock and Hinta heel-spun, jabbing her fingers into the bandaged bundle on Kankuro's back. A muffled grunt came from inside, and 'Kankuro' went limp, the sound of wood joints suddenly noticeable.

"Damn that stings!" The bandages flew off, and Kankuro stood rubbing his shoulder. He smirked and raised his hands. The limp 'Kankuro' raised an arm.

"What?!" Why couldn't he channel his chakra to his left arm?

"Y-you are within my divination! jūkenhō: Hakke Rokujūyon Sho!/Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms!"

Kankuro's eyes widened as he was unable to dodge the flurry of jabs. Each one ignited a spark of pain, and when they stopped he fell to the ground. "Wh....at the..hell..?"

"Hyuuga Hinata wins!"

Hinata walked over to Kankuro and quickly unblocked all of the tenketsu she had managed to block. When he was able to stand, she did something he didn't expect.

She bowed.

"Wha-"

"Thank you for the match Kankuro-san."

"Wha-"

"NEXT MATCH: Temari no Sabaku of Suna Versus Dosu Kinuta of Oto!

The two made their way down.

Hinata came up the stairs. Temari walked by her, and murmured something inaudible. Naruto tried to read the blonde's lips, but she was too far away. Naruto walked over to Hinata who had a small smile on her face. 

"Good job Hinata-chan!" She said.

"Thank you Naruto-c-san."

"What did Temari tell you?" The Uzumaki inquired.

Hinata smiled. "She s-said. 'That brother of mine deserved it'. T-then she said to s-stay away f-from h-her y-youngest brother G-Gaara."

Naruto frowned slightly. "She is right. For now at least. Try not to interact with Gaara-san just yet. He seems a bit... dangerous."

Hinata nodded and went to her team, where Kiba started shouting about how happy he was.

"Man Hinata you were amazing! You kicked that bastards ass!!"

Hinata flushed, and nodded.

Naruto turned to Shikamaru, who was watching the match lazily. She glanced at the match. Temari was confident too, just as Kankuro, but she was also cautious. Dosu was full of arrogance, until he was soundly beaten by Temari. The match hadn't lasted long, and Naruto sighed, waiting for the next matchup.

"Tenten Higarashi of Konoha versus Choji Akimichi of Konoha!"

Choji looked at the Tenten. She had scrolls and weapon pouches. He finished his chips and went down the stairs.

"Choji!" The genin stopped at the sound of his name. Shikamaru smiled at the Akimichi.

"You got this."

Choji grinned and looked a bit more sure as he entered the arena.

"Begin!"

Choji immediately did his expansion Jutsu and made to grab Tenten.

The bun-haired girl dodged and pulled out some kunai and shuriken. She threw them at the large hands, which shrank, dodging the weapons. Choji made the hand seals for his Expansion Boulder Jutsu, but had to stop to dodge the rain of weapons.

Tenten had used one of her smaller scrolls. She gave Choji no time to make hand seals, and soon he had no other choice than to forfeit, not wanting to collapse and get hit. He knew he needed to train more. He stared at the ground in determination. He would get stronger... after he ate.

Shikamaru gave Choji a bag of barbeque chips when he came up the stairs. "You did well." He said.

Choji nodded and went over to Asuma-sensei.

"NEXT MATCH: Shikamaru Nara of Konoha versus Kabuto Yakushi of Konoha!"

Everything seemed to have slowed down. Shikamaru met the eyes of Kabuto, who smirked and adjusted his glasses.

"Shikamaru." He looked to Naruto, who looked dead serious. He nodded.

"I know. No holds barred."

Naruto held his hand, gave it a squeeze, and let go.

Shikamaru called out to the shadows, and his features grew paler, and darkness seemed to emanate from him. He vanished in a flicker of shadow. He reappeared in the shade of the balcony. He glared at Kabuto, green eyes glowing.

"Begin!"

Kabuto dodged the shadows that raced towards him. The room dimmed, and all that could be seen of Shikamaru was his paled skin, which seemed to glow ethereally just as his green eyes did.

"Kageton: Kageryuudan!"  

A huge inky black dragon rose from the shadows, and Shikamaru rode on top of it. Kabuto didn't have time to move, and the dragon picked him up in its maw. Shikamaru slipped through the shadows, meeting Kabuto's eyes.

"Traitor to the Leaf, you will die."

Kabuto's eyes were wide as a Shadow spike pierced his heart. "H-h....ow?"

Shikamaru's eyes glowed brighter. "Your chakra. Naruto is an Uzumaki. Her chakra sense is far superior to anyone else."

Kabuto coughed up blood, mint green chakra trying to heal the wound in his chest. He honestly looked scared to die, and Shikamaru saw a seal disappear as his heart stopped. He let the spike recede, and Kabuto's body fell limp. The shadows dispersed and Shikamaru walked up to the Hokage.

"If I may..."

The Hokage nodded and Shikamaru leaned down to whisper in his ear.

The Hokage's eyes widened. He nodded and Shikamaru vanished in a flicker of a shadow, reappearing next to Naruto, who just took his slightly shaking hand.

"Naru," Shikamaru whispered. Naruto turned her head towards him, and he laid his forehead on her neck, breathing deeply. He had killed someone who was under a seals influence... Kabuto was possibly innocent, just forced to help Orochimaru.

Naruto met the blazing eyes of the Snake Sannin. He was very angry. She smirked. You shouldn't have challenged me.

"Next Match! Kiba Inuzuka of Konoha versus Sakura Haruno of Konoha!"

Naruto turned to Sakura. "Show him that there is a reason you belong on Team 7."

Sakura nodded, braided hair being twisted smoothly up into a bun.

"I got this easy!" Kiba crowed, leaping over the railing and flipping before landing, Akamaru poking his head out of his jacket. The Inuzuka looked confident, and arrogance was radiating off him in waves.   

Sakura leapt over the railing and landed in a crouch. Her emerald eyes glittered in determination. She would fight her best. 

"Begin!"

Kiba smirked and dashed forward, immediately engaging in Taijutsu. The Sakura who graduated from the Academy would have been done for. But the pinkette had changed. She was stronger now. She held off Kiba's hits, and he leapt back. He made a hand seal and Akamaru jumped from inside Kiba's jacket.

"Man-Beast Clone!" Akamaru poofed into a copy of Kiba. Sakura's eyes flitted about, trying to come up with a plan. She had ninja wire, kunai, shuriken, first aid, and chakra with very limited Jutsu.

She tried to see if she had anything else. A plan began to become pieced together. 

She needed to isolate the two.

She dashed towards the wall, using her chakra control to her advantage to boost her speed. She wall climbed up and stood just out of reach. Stone was a part of the earth, so this should work. She didn't have a lot of chakra though, so she needed to be very concise with her control.

She made one shadow clone and felt the drain hit her like a punch. She ran at Kiba, her clone close behind. The Haruno made several normal bunshin to distract Akamaru. She pulled up her chakra, channeling it all into her next Jutsu. She had chakra pills but she wanted to prove that she didn't need to rely on them to perform well.

Her and her clone kicked up dust and laid the trap.

They touched down on either side of Kiba, who made to swipe at the girl. She ducked and slammed her hands on the stone, sweat beading her brow as her chakra left her.

"Doton: Doroku Gaeshi!" Both Sakura and her clone shouted. The clone immediately dispelled. Two rock walls had risen on either side and Sakura panted as she threw two kunai, both having ninja wire looped through. They pierced the top of the six-foot wall.

Kiba yelped as he was pulled off his feet and swung upside down. "Hey!"

He went to swipe at the wire and cut himself free, but froze as a kunai touched his neck. "Forfeit."

"No way! Akamaru get her!"

He looked to see that Akamaru was in a hole. Sakura had to get the stone from somewhere, so she made a hole Akamaru couldn't jump out of.

"Kiba, will you forfeit?"

Kiba growled, and Sakura reached into the hole and grabbed Akamaru by the scruff of the neck. 

"Hey! What are you doing with Akamaru?!"

Sakura pointed her kunai towards Akamaru. "Kiba. Don't make me." She forced herself not to show the dislike for pointing a weapon at an animal.

Kiba searched her for any hint that she was joking. She inched the kunai closer.

"Okay! I give up!"

Sakura pet Akamaru and set him down. She threw a kunai at the wire and Kiba hit the ground face first.

Sakura panted as she leaned on the wall. Her chakra was low. She would ask Kakashi-sensei to train her more. She needed to get stronger, to catch up to Sasuke and Naruto. She closed her eyes and took deep even breaths.

"You did good." Her eyes flew open, meeting onyx orbs. Sasuke just complimented her. She felt ecstatic. She wanted to squeal, but she was too tired, so she nodded, giving him a smile. 

"Thank you Sasuke-kun."

"Hn.

"You were amazing Sakura!" Naruto handed her a bottle of water.

"Naruto, I'm not physically exhausted. I'm just low on chakra."

"Yeah, but hydration is important. Not to mention that I was about to offer to treat you to Amnitsu later~"

Sakura's eyes lit up. "Wait, really?? Thank you Naruto-ch-" She cut herself off with a cough. Naruto just smiled.

"Next Match! Ino Yamanaka of Konoha versus Kin Tsurugi of Oto!"

Ino flipped her hair confidently. If Forehead was able to beat Kiba, she could take on this sound girl no sweat.

It was a close match too. Both ended up laying on the ground too tired to move. It wasn't that impressive. Ino had cut her hair to trap Kin, and Kin used her senbon genjutsu. Ino took Kin's mind over, only to find out Kin had trapped herself in the genjutsu and had to leave. Both were exhausted. It was a draw.

Shikamaru's eyes widened. There were only three people left.... Only one would get the free pass.

"Next Match! Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha versus______!"