Next chapter is up!

Also, did you know I was the first Jinchuuriki stories on Wattpad? A follower told me and I felt really happy.

Onto the official start of the Chuunin Exams!

~ Wolfie

________________________________

Faking smiles and confidence, driving miles to capture this excitement.
We don't have to talk, we don't have to dance,
We don't have to smile, we don't have to make friends.
It's so nice to meet you, let's never meet again

~ We Don't Have To Dance by Andy Black

The Jinchuuriki Alliance (Naruto Fanfic) Chapter 32 - Prepare For The Worst

Silence reigned over the large arena as the two male Shinobi stood in silence, staring at each other with hardened expressions on their faces.

It was common knowledge that in a battle, the one who moves first would be at an advantage, although it injures pride for not being able to stay still and patient. Many Shinobi knew this, however, civilians didn't know this, so they were muttering to themselves and their peers, wondering why the two ninja, who were meant to be fighting against each other, were motionless.

"Why don't they just fight?" A bulky civilian male questioned, his patience wearing thin. "I came to see a fight!" Many civilians murmured in agreement.

A few seats away, Akane rolled her eyes and turned to look at him. "This is why you are a civilian, and we are ninja." Hinata muffled a snicker with her hand and giggled softly, while Sakura laughed loudly.

~*~*~

Eventually, Kaoru couldn't wait anymore, he wanted the fight over and done with.

Plus, he knew that Sena was quick. Very quick. He was a Taijutsu user who relied on his speed to beat his opponent, so thinking about it, if Kaoru moved first, he would be able to outrun the shorter brunette.

Kaoru's Genjutsu worked when an opponent makes eye contact with him, so he assumed that Sena was already susceptible to his Genjustu. He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.

'No.' Kaoru thought. 'He's not looking at me.'

True enough, Sena was looking at Kaoru, but not into his eyes. Sena was staring in the middle of Kaoru's eyebrows, which granted the illusion that he was looking at him, but in reality, if he continued looking where he was looking (the forehead), he was safe from the Genjutsu.

"Interesting." Kaoru spoke with a smirk.

The clown-marked Kiri ninja jumped forward and flipped his cards out, and in a split second threw them at Sena, aiming for all areas of his body, his head, torso and legs. Thinking that it would be easy, because Sena was simply just standing there, staring at him with a blank expression, he thought that it would be simple.

The silhouette of Sena vanished a split second before the cards made their way to impale him, and Kaoru was on guard for an attack from behind as he felt a tiny disruption in the air a few metres away from his back. Spinning in the air, he dropped to the ground and boosted himself on the concrete and threw a punch at the shorter boy. Sena, again, vanished in a split second and from the other side of Kaoru, threw a barrage of kunai and shuriken at the clown.

Kaoru caught two kunai, and used them to block the other shuriken that was attacking him.

"I apologise for not looking into your eyes, I know it's rude." Sena said with a smile, politely. "However, I know that if I do, I will be caught in your Genjutsu." He justified.

Kaoru raised an eyebrow in amusement, "Humans are strange creatures." He said to Sena. "We demand obedience and submission by enforcing eye contact." The wind slowly pushed his dark hair into his eyes, until he flicked his head to the side and his locks were caught behind his ear. "I take no offence."

"I'm glad to hear that." Sena replied curtly.

~*~*~

"Yagura-sama, I have never seen a ninja fight with cards before." Hiruzen noted.

Nodding, the young Mizukage answered, "Yes, the cards are artifacts from Kaoru's family history. He had them restored to suit his needs, I believe."

"The young Sena boy is also very talented." The Kazekage commented. "And I think he is still wearing wrist weights, A-sama?"

A leaned back in his seat, "Well, they are both talented for their age, we shall see if they are good enough to become Chuunin as the fight progresses."

The other Kage's nodded and continued watching the fight. All enjoying a bit of action and calculating in their minds if they would make good Chuunin.

All except the Kazekage, who was in reality; Orochimaru. He was timing his invasion silently.

~*~*~

Sena threw a punch at Kaoru, who ducked and they both jumped away from each other, releasing an array of weapons at each other.

The Taijutsu user pulled an invisible string as weapons from every direction attacked Kaoru, who was surprised for a second, and then span with a kunai and blocked them all, the wind from his spin forced them all away from his body.

They paused to stare at each other, calculating their other moves, trying to see in the future for what else would occur during their fight.

Kaoru sighed, "It's just..." He ran a hand through his hair, "A bit disappointing."

A breath was audible, "How so?" Sena questioned curiously, eyes still on Kaoru's forehead.

Kaoru pursed his lips with a mocking sad expression. "Because you're going to look at me eventually."

The ground rumbled under Sena's feet, and his eyes widened as he jumped up and away. 'I didn't even notice-!'

The sounds of metal cutting through the air filled Sena's senses as he pulled two kunai out of his pockets. He winced at the ugly CLANG as the attacking Fuma shuriken hit his kunai. Sena grit his teeth as he pushed his arms out and made the massive shuriken fly away from him.

As Sena exhaled from the force of the large, four bladed shuriken attack as he appeared behind Kaoru and ducked to sweep the clown off his feet. Kaoru grabbed Sena's leg and threw him, using chakra as a force of strength. Sena back flipped in the air and landed softly on the ground.

The Taijutsu user felt a shiver crawl up his spine as he turned around, faced with Kaoru, who was standing in front of him with a warped and cruel grin. "Boo."

Sena momentarily forgot about the phrase 'eye contact', as he turned to lift his arm to punch Kaoru and jump away, until he felt that he couldn't lift his arm at all.

He was trapped in the Genjutsu.

~*~*~

The audience stopped and stared at the impending fight in the arena.

"He's not moving!" Someone shouted out.

"Why isn't he moving?" Another civilian wondered out loud.

All of the Shinobi sighed and placed their heads in their hands in complete and utter defeat.

"You would think that civilians would know, maybe, a little bit, about ninja techniques." Kotetsu chuckled, turning to look at Izumo, who was rolling his eyes.

Hinata, who was with Sakura and Akane, fiddled with the banner that they had put onto the ground while the other fights were occurring. "W-Who do you think will win, S-Sakura-chan?" She asked.

Sakura exhaled, "Well, Sena is in Kaoru's Genjutsu, so I think it will be over soon."

Akane nodded and propped her chin on her fist. "Kaoru's going to win."

~*~*~

Sasuke leaned his head on the wall behind him. "I've never really tried Genjutsu." He said out loud.

Naruto raised an eyebrow in amusement, "You're an Uchiha." He said. "Uchiha's are known for their Genjutsu." He let out a laugh while Sasuke shrugged.

"I was never taught Genjutsu before the massacre."

Naruto didn't question how easily Sasuke brought up the Uchiha massacre. It was interesting how, in the past, he spoke of the massacre with a low voice and anger. But now, he seemed calmer.

Sasuke still hadn't forgiven Itachi, though, for murdering his whole family, but he did know that Itachi loved his family with every inch of his heart, and the real question that haunted Sasuke's mind was, 'why?'

"You should learn, you have the Sharingan, maybe you can ask Kakashi to teach you." Naruto pondered, his eyes still on the fight in the arena.

Sasuke shook his head, "Nah, Kakashi doesn't use much Genjutsu," He replied, "Maybe I can ask Kurenai instead. You know, Team 8's Sensei." With Naruto's nod, Sasuke drew his eyes back onto the battle in the arena too.

~*~*~

'You're in my Genjutsu.'

Sena clawed at his throat, feeling vines grab him and twist their way around his body tightly. He coughed and gurgled, attempting to draw out his chakra to force his way out of the vines.

He widened his eyes as he looked around him, there was nothing but pitch black in his peripheral vision. His pupils dilated and his teeth grit as he was dragged upwards by the vines. He pulled and thrashed around, quickly he was thrown upside down, and a tree appeared behind him, as he hanged from the strong branch.

He couldn't breathe.

He couldn't breathe and he was upside down and his blood was rushing to his head and-

'The Hanged Man has a few meanings.' Kaoru's voice spoke smoothly in the dark-coloured universe. 'It reflects a need to suspend action,' the voice continued.

Sena felt the vine around his leg tighten as he used all his core strength to arch his back and lift himself to the vine around his ankle. He fiddled with it until a force dragged him back down to hang with his arms limp.

'But it also simply can make you hang from the tree for ten years.' Sena felt his body start to heat up and his brain felt like it was on fire. 'Each second in reality is a month in my world.' He couldn't take it.

He lifted his hands and attempted to get out of the Genjutsu, "Kai!" he spoke, with his hands in the correct sign.

Nothing happened.

~*~*~

In reality, the audience were staring at Sena's immobile figure, and Kaoru was smiling at him. Sena's blank eyes were still staring at the dark haired clown.

With a grin, Kaoru lifted a card; a picture of a man, hanging upside down from a tree was drawn onto it. He looked up to the audience and smiled. "Le Pendu," He said, his lips curling into a smile, "The Hanged Man."

The cards that Kaoru had were special. They were specialised tarot cards, which had his chakra in them. When he caught someone in his Genjutsu, he could choose which card he wanted to draw the victim into. Sena was caught in the 'Le Pendu; The Hanged Man' card. There were others, of course, such as 'La Mort; Death', and 'Le Diable; The Devil'.

It was great fun.

Tilting his head, Kaoru smiled and let go of the tarot card in his fingers, and allowed it to flutter to the ground. As it fell to the ground, he mouthed a word and it burst into flames as it burned and dropped to the ground.

As the card burned to a crisp, Sena's knees gave way and he fell in a crumpled heap to the ground. Eyes still half open, with his pupils dilated and his mouth ajar. His head hit the floor with a sickening CRACK as the ground beneath his head broke a little bit.

There was nothing but silence.

Genma raised his hand, "Winner; Kaoru of Kiri!"

Kaoru shut his eyes and smiled in content from his win. He let out a breath and started walking forward to the competitor's box.

Suddenly, a cheer was heard from above. Kaoru looked up and was met by loud clapping and the whole arena was shouting and cheering for him. He stood in shock and silence as every member of the audience grinned and smacked their hands together, appreciating his skill and his win.

The sound in the stadium was deafening.

Indeed, this was a strange match with skills unseen before, and to ninja and civilians alike, it was very entertaining to watch.

Kaoru realised that his mouth was open in awe as he was staring at the spectators. He shut it and then ducked his head down, a blush going over his cheeks, he hid his eyes with his hair and walked slowly to the other competitors.

A stretcher was called for Sena, who was still unconscious, and they whisked the brown-haired boy up and pushed him away from the arena grounds, into the medical centre.

"He'll be fine in a few hours!" Kaoru yelled after the medic-nins.

He made his way to the box where the other ninja were and once he entered the room; Akihiko and Haru instantly grabbed his arms and hair, ruffling it and grinning, telling him continuously 'good job!' and 'nice match!'.

Naruto and Sasuke watched with a small smirk as Kaoru got flustered and eventually slapped their hands away, telling them that he wanted to sit down and they should 'get the fuck out of his way otherwise he'll get Le Diable to burn them in hell.'

"Hey!" Naruto yelled. The three Kiri ninja stopped and turned to look at him, Naruto smirked, "Good job." He said. And he meant it, Kaoru was strong, and he beat Sena in a good match. It was definitely an advantage that he had the Kiri ninja on his side, and the Jinchuuriki's side.

Kaoru grinned, "Thanks!"

Haru stared at Kaoru's grin and silently grabbed his arm. At Kaoru's surprised yelp and expression, Haru dragged him away from the room.

"Where are they going?" Fuu tilted her head and asked curiously.

Akihiko cringed, "You don't want to know." He said, shivering.

Naruto raised his eyebrows exaggeratedly and patted Fuu's head, while she tilted it and glanced at the blonde Jinchuuriki with a questioning expression.

Naruto shook his head and looked at Sasuke, who was blinking with a blank face. Naruto watched as Sasuke's face slowly went pink in embarrassment. Naruto laughed at him and his innocence.

"Oi," Genma walked into the room. "Fuu and Akihiko, you guys are up." He left the room.

Fuu straightened her head and a grin crawled across her face. She turned to look at the silver haired male with a smile. Akihiko just stared at her with a blank face, nodding in respect.

"I don't want to hurt you, Yagura-sama told me that you are part of the team." Akihiko spoke.

Fuu nodded, beaming, "I am! I'm a Jinchuuriki too, I don't want to hurt you either~"

'Jinchuuriki, do you hear me?'

The two Jinchuuriki in the competitors' box blinked and glanced at each other, registering Gaara's voice in their minds.

"Gaara." Naruto said out loud, notifying Sasuke and the Kiri team. He then connected to the mental link and said in response; 'What is it?

'What's happened?' Yagura's voice resonated in all the brains of the Jinchuuriki.

'Are you okay?' Yugito questioned.

Fuu looked worriedly at Naruto.

"Fuu! Akihiko!" Genma yelled again. "Get to the arena!"

Naruto and Fuu refused to move before they heard Gaara's response. Akihiko was prepared to leave but there was obviously something wrong with the people he was supposed to be guarding.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked in curiosity. "Did something happen?"

Akihiko glanced at Haru and Kaoru, and then back at the blonde Jinchuuriki. "Is everything okay?"

"I don't know!" Naruto growled in annoyance, snapping at the other ninja.

'I'm okay.' Gaara replied quickly. Breathing a sigh of relief, Naruto nodded at the other ninja in the room in reassurance. 'But I need to inform you all of something.' He reported.

Leaning on the wall behind him, Naruto narrowed his eyes, 'Go on.'

'Orochimaru sent out the signal,' The Shukaku Jinchuuriki said gravely. 'The invasion is going to occur in one minute.'

OMAKE! (If anyone gets what this reference is from, I will love you forever)

'What's happened?' Yagura's voice resonated in all the brains of the Jinchuuriki.

'Are you okay?' Yugito questioned.

Fuu looked worriedly at Naruto.

Naruto and Fuu refused to move before they heard Gaara's response. Akihiko was prepared to leave but there was obviously something wrong with the people he was supposed to be guarding.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked in curiosity. "Did something happen?"

Akihiko glanced at Haru and Kaoru, and then back at the blonde Jinchuuriki. "Is everything okay?"

"I don't know!" Naruto growled in annoyance, snapping at the other ninja.

"Fuu! Akihiko!" Genma yelled again. "Get to the arena!"

Naruto growled loudly and punched the wall, leaving a massive crack in the concrete, effectively silencing everyone. "Shut up! Everybody, just shut up! Don't move, don't speak, don't breathe! I'm trying to think! Kaoru, face the other way, you're putting me off."

Kaoru stared with an incredulous expression, unbelieving and shocked. "What, my face is?"

"Everybody, stay quiet and still." Sasuke spoke in a calm voice. "Kaoru, turn your back."

Kaoru rolled his eyes, "Oh, for Kami's sake..."

"Your back! Now, please!" Sasuke yelled.

Kaoru sighed in defeat and turned around, facing the wall. He was so confused.

"Wait..." Haru blinked and then tilted his head. "What the fuck?"