To the Semi-Finals

'The hell?'

Whilst training in the woods, Sasuke noticed a large smoke screen covering the path ahead, flickering through the forest, he arrived in front of the source.

A gigantic frog, red in color with a blue… Kimono? Sasuke neared it and spotted Naruto on top of the summon.

"Oh! Sasuke, right on time. Meet Gama Bunta, my summon"

The Summon narrowed his eyes, smoke releasing from the pipe in his mouth.

"My Summon? Who… The hell do you think you are!! How dare a stripling who can't even legally exchange Sake cups declare himself the master of me, lord Gama Bunta, the chief toad!?"

Sasuke sighed, he didn't want to deal with a scream session now. Activating his Sharingan, he restrained the frog in a Genjutsu.

Naruto also heaved a sigh as he got down from his summon, what a troublesome toad to handle.

'What!? How was he able to control Gama Bunta like that!? That's not possible... Unless... He has a fully matured Sharingan! Even still... The skill required to restrain one as such as the chief toad... Sasuke Uchiha... How frightening'

Far away from the scene, Jiraiya observed the situation with his binocular. Sasuke's 'peter tingle' rang, he shifted his eyes toward Jiraiya, who now had his pupils shrunk.

'THIS FAR AWAY!? Who the hell... Is this ki--... or should I say, Shinobi'

Smirking, Sasuke flickered back to his training center to continue.

After about 2 good hours of training, Sasuke went inside the village to buy some clothes, he walked out of the store with his new attire.

A half-sleeved, vantablack compression shirt with baggy, pistachio-colored pants, a black sash tightly wrapped around his waist to tighten the pant.

"This feels quite comfy"

Swinging his arms, which had visible muscles, he felt he could stretch to his limits. Cracking his neck, he went toward the exam center, it was time.

***

Even though Sasuke was only 12, he was already 169 Centimeters tall. In other terms 5'6.

The clothes fit him pretty well because of his height, the participants gathered in the arena.

It was roofless arena with thousands of spectators, citizens from every land present to witness the fights.

"Ahem, Ladies and Gentlemen, esteemed guests… welcome and heartfelt thanks for gathering here in Konoha. For the Chunin examination!! We will now begin the matches of the quarter-final, between the eight candidates who advanced in the preliminaries!"

After the third's speech, he announced the match-ups.

Naruto v Temari

Ino v Shino

Gaara v Lee

Neji v Sasuke

Ino glanced around, her eyes darting off toward Sasuke. Seeing his attire, She accidentally whistled.

Sasuke shifted his eyes toward her, Ino just turned her head away in embarrassment.

Smirking at the rare scene, Sasuke walked toward the spectator's seat for the candidates.

Temari and Naruto stood apart from each other, their eyes locking. The whistle blew, Temari waited for him to make his first move.

*Step*

Even though Naruto only took a step forward, his "killing Intent" pressured her onto her knees, her eyes widened.

Before Naruto could take another step, he was stopped by the Procter.

"That's enough... I announce the winner, Naruto Uzumaki!"

The crowd complained, it just ended like that? What a bummer.

"Y-You... Are you... *cough* t-the strongest in your team"

Temari managed to squeeze out those words, coughing blood, she glanced toward Naruto, who had his back turned toward her.

Naruto gazed at Sasuke before responding.

"Yes, I am"

Sasuke internally grinned hearing his reply, Naruto walked back to take his seat.

'Finally decided to break out of your shell, Ey, Naruto'

Sasuke's thoughts were cut off shirt as the next match-up was announced. Shino easily took the win, knocking Ino out with his bugs draining off her Chakra.

The third Match-up was announced. Lee and Gaara, It was a fierce battle, Lee had to reveal most of his cards to even come in 'equal' with him.

Though, Gaara took the win by a breath of hair. Lee retreated, he had luckily dodged the last attack attack [Sand Coffin] to come out mostly uninjured from the battle.

One thing he had learned from the fight with the demon of the mist, Zabuza. Was that, 'A true warrior knows when to give up'.

Like that, the last and Final match-ups were announced. Sasuke and Neji entered the arena, the atmosphere taking a turn.

"Now then... Match four... Begin!!"

Neji took on his stance. Sasuke, on the other hand, kept his hands inside his pockets.

"What is the meaning of this!?"

Neji was a bit displeased with Sasuke's behavior. It looked like his opponent wasn't even taking him seriously.

"Can you make a move already?"

Sasuke asked, his face stoic. Neji exhaled and Inhaled, calming himself. Neji then started to speak in confidence...

"I can't wait to see the despair in your eyes, when the truth finally dawns on you"

"What truth?"

"The truth that the Hyugas are superior to the Uchihas!"

Neji rushed forward, a palm strike ready to rip apart Sasuke. Neji's Byakugan activated, giving him 359° vision.

'What!?'

Sasuke slapped his palm away, before Neji could react, the Uchiha gabbed ahold of his hair and pulled him, knee-ing him right in the abdomen to send him flying backward.

"Urgh"

Neji spat blood as he got up with a groan, he changed his stance dramatically.

"8 trigram 64 palms, huh... Well, why don't I give you a taste of your own medicine?"

'What is he talking about...?'

Sasuke too changed his hands, they emitted blue Chakra, flowing through the air leaving a trail of blue, his hands stopped.

"Gentle fist"

Kicking the ground, Sasuke approached Neji in a zig-zag motion, his hands leaving a blue trail behind. The latter couldn't even utter a word before he was being brutally assaulted with a series of consecutive palm strikes.

Sasuke never intended to stop, he kept going on and on, blood spilling from Neji's mouth, Sasuke's hands were being enveloped by his blood.

Though, when he was about to give off the final strike, his hands were stopped by a familiar bushy-brow Sensei.

"I think that's enough"

Gai stated, his eyes drifting off to the bloody Neji on the ground. He heaved a sigh of relief and he inspected the Hyuga's pulse.

'Well, the Semi-finals it is'

Naruto v Sasuke

Gaara v Shino

'Well, Well, Well... This is gonna be... Interesting'

____

A/N: Should we do a crossover with Bleach? It seems fun to write, that's why I asked.

Btw, I'm ending this arc with the next chap, it's been dragging out for too long I think.