Naruto : Chapter 82

The crowd was close to boiling. This was the fight everybody had been waiting for. The fight between Gaara Sabaku and Naruto Namikaze.

Both the sons of the respective Yondaime of their village, even if Naruto hadn't been known as such until one week ago. They stood opposite each other, Naruto with a calm look on his face, Gaara with a crazy look.

Many among the audience were watching very closely, hoping to report to their superiors just how strong the son of the Yondaime Hokage really was. Rumours were flying around why he had been revealed now for the chunin exams.

The only hidden village of the great five that hadn't sent spies was Iwa, as they had been stopped long before they could reach Konoha.

The ANBU were keeping an eye on the one Kumo spy and the Kiri spy. So far they had simply gathered information and not acted against Konoha.

And as there were no detected other ninjas from their villages, pending the upcoming invasion, the ANBU were instructed to not bother them.

The results of the chunin exams were common knowledge after a few weeks anyway and this way it would work as a demonstration of strength to both Kumo and Kiri.

...

"Mother will soon have your blood Namikaze," Gaara said.

"It is sad that Suna isn't able to properly do a seal. Without the voice in your head that you believe to be your mother's you could have been a decent bloke," Naruto answered sadly.

"So you know; that makes it even better. I will kill you and prove my existence. Your blood will be very tasty for mother," Gaara crazed.

Naruto just shook his head and went into his stance. In the back of his mind he thought back to the orders that he had been given prior to the finals by his sensei, the new Hokage.

...

Flashback

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke stood in front of the Sandaime and just crowned Godaime Hokage and waited for being given their special orders for the upcoming finals.

They all knew that something big was up. And as the team that the Godaime Hokage had trained they would be under close observation by everybody. Not to mention that they would be prime targets.

"Well, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, you have impressed me with your passing of the second round and the reports from your trainers.

We now have a good opportunity to promote the finals all around the elemental nations. We have some well-known names in the fights, especially a high number of clan heirs, not to mention that we revealed Naruto's true identity, so many will be attracted to come and watch.

This should bring good business to the village. Not only for the fights but also in the months to come when the employers will send their missions out. From all the twelve finalists nine are from Konoha. That is a very good result for us.

I am especially pleased that none of the Oto ninjas have made it to the finals. From what we could find out, Orochimaru founded that village and now there is no reason for his ninjas to stay here to spy while we can't refuse to let them stay.

"Thanks to interrogating captured spies we have a pretty good idea what Orochimaru plans to do during the finals. An invasion of Konoha has been set up by Oto and Suna. We don't know why Suna agreed to this plot, but their ninjas are to be treated as enemies," Kakashi stressed the importance of the point.

"During the first round of fights none of you will have to face Gaara, who has been confirmed as the jinchuriki of the Ichibi by Jiraiya's spy network.

The only one of you that has one of the three Suna finalists as his opponent is Sasuke. I expect you to make sure that he isn't a problem during the invasion," Kakashi said.

"I'll make sure of that, Hokage Sama," Sasuke said looking proud to have such an important task.

"We can't predict how the fights against the other two will go, but I think that we can be sure that Gaara will defeat Choji. Shikamaru might be able to take out Temari.

If not, we'll make sure that in the second round Sakura will fight Temari and Naruto, you'll be the one to fight Gaara no matter what. We'll manipulate the pairings so that our goals are met," Kakashi revealed and the three genin nodded.

"That will be the hardest fight for you, Naruto," Kakashi said seriously. "Not only is Gaara dangerous, I'm sure that he's going to be Suna and Oto's trump card. No ally would send an instable jinchuriki into a chunin exam.

Therefore you are ordered to eliminate the threat he poses to Konoha with all methods, Naruto. This is an S-Rank mission. Do you understand?" The Hokage asked.

"Yes, I do," Naruto stated.

He didn't like killing but he would do it if it was necessary.

"We can't afford an open assassination attempt against the son of the Kazekage, but in the finals killing your opponent can happen. We are prepared for a worst case scenario, in other words a total invasion with superior numbers being against us.

"Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, we will need all the ninjas we can get to push invading forces back, so I want you to make sure that you don't injure your opponents from Konoha too badly. Show your skills but remember you are up against our shinobi. We can't risk heavy injuries.

When the invasion starts, don't show any mercy to anybody with a Suna or Oto forehead protector. Naruto, I want you to be ready to unleash the Flying Thundergod on any attackers after you neutralised Gaara as a threat.

Let's show them why thinking that they could defeat Konoha is folly," Kakashi said and his students confirmed their orders.

Flashback end

...

Hayate took over.

"The last fight in the first round of the chunin exam finals. Gaara Sabaku of Suna versus Naruto Namikaze of Konoha. Begin," He announced.

...

Jiraiya was hidden in the shadows of the arena roof near the kage lounge. He was there to give additional protection against whatever plans the Kazekage might have concocted with Orochimaru.

While they didn't know where Orochimaru was hidden, they knew that the two Hokages would be among the main targets of an invasion, alone to prevent them from interfering with the attacking troops.

For now he would watch the fight of his godson. After the cool start, they had managed to establish a working relationship with each other. Naruto had longed for a family for all his life and even if he was mad that his godfather had left him behind in a village where the majority of the inhabitants hated him, he wouldn't deny himself a family for the future.

And Jiraiya had done all he could to make up for his absence. So he now had a perverted uncle, a wise grandfather and an annoying little brother. Konohamaru somehow grew on you once he got over his ego. His family might be unusual and not his by blood, but it was his nonetheless.

Jiraiya knew that it wasn't easy for Naruto to be ordered to kill Gaara, but the threat he presented to the village was too big to be ignored. Naruto knew that he could have ended like Gaara easily. So having to kill a fellow jinchuriki was really hard on him.

If only he could place a five elements seal, then they could take him prisoner. But with the annoying sand armour that option was not available. And they had spied intensively on Gaara to find ways to take out the trump card Orochimaru planned to play in the invasion.

...

Naruto jumped back from Gaara to have enough space to evade the sand the boy would undoubtedly unleash. Well, Gaara would be in for a surprise there.

The hidden mist jutsu, which he had learned with the help of Jiraiya and a scroll about the technique from Kakashi sensei, was out of the question for an opponent that wasn't dependent on sight. The sand could sneak up on him in the mist, so he wouldn't take away his own advantage.

It was for the same reason he hadn't used it against Shino. His bugs could come from any direction. But it would come in handy later during the invasion to take out large numbers of opponents quickly.

While he jumped and ran around Gaara, he used his sensor abilities to try and find any weaknesses in the boy's sand defence. He could feel the chakra that was in the sand. It was even. He also knew that Gaara was using the ground to his advantage.

Well, he would show him, what danger a water elemental with a shitload of chakra could pose to him. He flew through a chain of hand seals and finally unleashed his jutsu.

Thankfully there were hidden water reserves under the arena. Pulling all the water he needed from the air would have been exhausting. And he would need the water storage seals for later probably, so if he could save them, all the better.

"Giant Waterfall jutsu." Naruto called out and unleashed tons of water upon Gaara and the whole arena.

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