Gladiators

Naruto shifted a little as he stood by his fellow gennin in front of a very large crowd of civilians, ninja, Daimyo, and future clients. It was there job to secure future clients for their village.

However, not a single gennin was in it for the clients. Every single one of them was there for a their own personal reasons.

Some were there for a mission of utmost importance, others to prove themselves, to kill, for fate, for revenge, and because they were afraid of their mother. Any guesses who for the last one?

Naruto looked over the competitors closely. Shino was looking at nothing in particular just staring with no expression on his face. Shikamaru looked bored and was grumbling a bit, but Naruto couldn't hear the words.

Gaara was grinning with anticipation for the battles to come while his brother and sister kept glancing at him. Although, he would be taking glances at him too if he was right by him.

Sasuke was right next to him with a smirk on his face, eager for his fight against Gaara. Naruto was quite surprised that both Kakashi and Sasuke had arrived on time as he was sure Kakashi would wait until the last moment.

The one he wanted though was at the other side of the line of ninja. He stood there with a proud arrogant look on his face that made Naruto want to shove a kunai down his throat.

He had studied the Juken by having Hinata come at him with everything she had. Although she was a little better than the arrogant jerk and tended to get Naruto quite a bit.

It was worth it thought Naruto as he thought about all the training he had done over the month with Shikaku, Zeratul, Jiraiya, and Kyubi a bit. The damn Fox was just being a jerk and all Naruto wanted was to get along.

Anyway back to the contestants they were still missing one and that was the Kusa Gennin. Probably got killed doing something stupid like attacking Gaara…yeah that was probably it.

That Gaara was probably even more psychotic than Zabuza and that was saying a lot. However, beneath that maddened face was deep loneliness that Naruto was quite familiar with.

The proctor from the second exam landed in front of the participants and looked them all over before starting with his speech.

"The eight of you are the only ones who shall be participating in today's exam. The other contestant was found dead earlier this month inside Konoha. The rules here will be the exact same as they were during the preliminaries. Now we will get these exams started as early as possible." Said Hayate as he looked to the stands.

"The first match is between Neji Hyuga and Naruto Uzumaki! All other contestants are to return to their seats and await for their match!" he declared.

"Do you think Naruto will be alright?" asked Ino to Chouji as they watched the contestants walk up the stands.

"Yeah, I think so. I mean Naruto has definitely gotten better from the academy. Remember when he took us down all by himself?" said Chouji as he munched on some chips.

"Of course Naruto is going to be alright! That knuckle head doesn't know when to quit and he's fighting for his girlfriend!" laughed Kiba as Hinata blushed beside him.

"Shut up Kiba! Don't you see that your embarrassing Hinata? But, it is kind of romantic if you think about it." Said Ino as she got hearts in her eyes.

"You're one to talk." Mumbled Kiba as Hinata was blushing quite a bit.

"What do you think Hinata?" asked Chouji.

"I know Naruto will win." She whispered out to Chouji that made him smile.

"That's good to hear." Smiled Chouji.

"Of course Naruto will win! The Dobe is able to even give Sasuke a good fight!" yelled Sakura.

"I thought you didn't like Naruto?" asked Ino.

"Well things change Ino…he helped me a bit this month and even got Sasuke to start talking to me. Although I have no idea how he did it." Said Sakura as Ino looked at her with jealousy.

"So why has Sasuke been better since the chuunin exams?" asked Chouji.

"I think he believes that if he acts like Naruto then he will get stronger or something like that. I actually saw him smile a few times over the past month when he came back for the weekends." Said Sakura as the others gasped in surprise.

Meanwhile by Tenten and Lee.

"He doesn't stand a chance against Neji. Neji is a prodigy that has proved himself on many occasions in the past. This kid doesn't know what he is getting himself into." Said Tenten.

"I don't know Tenten…Naruto is burning with 'Flames of Youth'! I wouldn't put it past him to at least make this quite the fight to see!" said Lee loudly.

"Maybe…" said Tenten.

With the Hokages.

"So a Hyuga versus a civilian born Ninja huh? I hope this Uzumaki can at least put up a little bit of a fight before losing." Said the Kazekage.

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that Kazekage-Dono. I have seen Naruto train on many occasions and it would be a surprise for him to go down without a fight." Said the Hokage.

"Interesting…what gives you such confidence in his abilities?" asked the Kazekage.

"He is currently the apprentice of my one student Jiraiya and is learning from the Nara clan in their abilities." Said the Hokage making the Kazekage's eyes widen.

'He is Jiraiya's new apprentice? It might be smart to postpone the invasion to see how strong the brat is! Also he might have the shadow bloodline that the Nara's have if he is learning from them.' Thought the Kazekage.

"Then I guess this will be a very good fight then." Said the Kazekage.

"Indeed it will be Kazekage-Dono." Said the Hokage. 'Or so should I say Orochimaru…'

Back on the stadium floor.

"You should just give up Uzumaki. Fate has decreed that you will lose here today." Stated Neji.

"As if…if I remember correctly you are only here because of a lucky attack." Said Naruto as he smirked at Neji.

"Luck had nothing to do with it. I was fated to win and so I did." Stated Neji.

"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night. Hinata beat you in the Juken and made you look like an amateur." Naruto mockingly stated.

Neji glared at Naruto with such hate it made many civilians flinch. However it had no effect on Naruto as he was used to worse glares than that. "You should watch your tongue peasant.

Naruto just smirked back and got into his taijutsu stance and waited for the proctor.

"Are both contestants ready?" asked the proctor as Neji got into his juken stance an nodded.

"Very well! Naruto Uzumaki vs. Neji Hyuga…Hajime!" shouted the proctor as he jumped back.

Neji wasted no time in charging at Naruto and was upon him before he could respond. Naruto's eyes widened as palm strike landed upon his chest before he could react.

Neji smirked in victory as he had defeated the boy in jus a few seconds after the match began. However, his smirk became as scowl as Naruto exploded in a mass of black energy.

It was in fact shadow chakra, it fell to the ground and slid across the ground until it passed into the shadows of a tree.

"Such speed…it has greatly increased from last month." Said Naruto as he walked out from behind the tree.

"Substitution…" stated Neji.

"Not quite…I've been here since my shadow entered the arena." Said Naruto as he made a hand sign and created two shadows of himself.

"Numbers will do you no good." Stated Neji as he activated his Byakugan.

"Don't worry I don't just rely on my clone jutsu like I use to. I have more than enough to beat you here today." Said Naruto as his two shadows surrounded Neji.

"What are you waiting for then?" asked Neji.

"For all the pieces to be set into position." Said Naruto as he smirked at Neji.

"It doesn't matter as fate has decreed me to win this match." Said Neji.

"Fate has nothing to do with us Neji. We choose our own destiny!" shouted one of Naruto's shadows as it threw a kunai at Neji.

Neji simply leaned his head back simply dodging the kunai as his smirk widened.

"I hope that isn't the extent of your strength. Otherwise this will be done quicker than what I believed." Said Neji with such confidence it made Naruto want to gag.

"Don't worry It isn't even a fraction of what I can do." Smirked Naruto as he made a few handsigns before sucking air in through his mouth.

"Futon: Great Breakthrough!" shouted Naruto as he blew out a concentrated blast of air at Neji.

Neji ducked down underneath the blast of air and charged at the real Naruto in an attempt to attack the blonde. Naruto himself jumped high into the air and ran through a few more seals before sucking in more air again.

"Futon: Drilling Air Bullet!" yelled Naruto as he shot out four concentrated balls of wind at Neji.

Neji jumped and weaved his way through the balls of wind that made mini craters when they connected with the floor of the arena. 'Have to avoid those…if I get hit he might be able to break a bone.' He thought.

"Is that all your going to do? Run away from me and launch these weak jutsu at me?" asked Neji as he glared at Naruto who was perched in one of the few trees.

"No not running…more like testing your limits and seeing any weakness in your form. My two shadows are both analyzing anything you do. What they see…I see." Said Naruto.

"Is that so? It still has nothing on the Byakugan, while you can see me from any direction…I see all of you from my one perspective." Said Neji.

"Thanks for the lesson! It's not like I haven't lived in Konoha all my life and didn't know that already." Said Naruto with sarcasm laced in his voice.

Neji got ready to charge Naruto before he saw the two shadows of Naruto charge at him from the corner of his eyes with kunai drawn.

The clones took no time at all to reach Neji and quickly started to engage him in close combat. Neji took at two of his own kunai and started to block blows from each of them.

Maybe in another world where Naruto never took his training seriously he would be having trouble against Neji. But this was not that world and Naruto was much more competent and was making the Hyuga feel nervous.

The real Naruto watched from the trees with a smile on his face as he engaged Neji through proxy of his clones. It basically was him as he saw through their eyes and controlled what they did.

Discreetly he made a single handseal and smiled wider as he jumped from the tree and charged at Neji.

Neji saw Naruto approach through his Byakugan as he fought off the two shadows.

"Futon: Exploding Air Bomb!" yelled Naruto as he jumped into the air and launched a massive ball of wind at Neji.

Neji's eyes widened to extreme proportions as Naruto's shadows fell apart and slithered away from him across the ground. Neji quickly focused his chakra as the ball of air came upon him.

The ball of wind exploded with such force that everyone in the audience felt the blast of the explosion. Dust kicked up around the stadium from where the explosion hit the ground.

Naruto eyed the cloud of smoke as his two shadows reformed around him identical smirks on all three faces. It didn't take long for the dust to clear and when it did Naruto could make out the form of Neji standing in the crater made from the explosion.

Neji had a few cuts on his body, but overall the damage was at a minimal compared to what one would believe.

"I was wondering if you knew that technique." Said Naruto.

"So you knew I would dodge that attack? I shouldn't be surprised since you've been working with a clan traitor." Grinded out Neji.

"Funny coming from the Branch Member attacking the Heiress of your entire clan. If I am not mistaken, by the laws of the clans of Konoha she has authority to call for your death." Said Naruto.

"That is exactly what makes her weak as a leader of the clan! One so weak should not be allowed to be the head of the Hyuga!" shouted out Neji.

"And you claim that is weak? To show compassion to her family she is too weak to be the Head of your clan? You make me sick! She loves you like a brother and you show nothing more than utter hate for her!" yelled Naruto in anger.

"She killed my FATHER! If she wasn't so weak then she would still be here! All of those Main house members are responsible for his death! They forced him to die for my Uncle against his will! It was his fate to die that day and nothing could be done to stop it!" yelled Neji.

"How can you possibly believe that is was Hinata's fault that your father died! She was three years old at the time and had only just started to learn the Byakugan?" questioned Naruto.

In reply Neji glared at Naruto with as much hatred as he could muster. 'Who is he to question me? I am part of one of the greatest clans and he is nothing more than an orphan who got lucky in passing the exams.' Thought Neji.

"Let's see what is better…the Byakugan or the Boidoririsu (1)?" said Naruto as his two shadows merged into the ground and flew towards Neji.

Neji charged back at Naruto and jumped over both shadows and continued to Naruto. Just before connecting with Naruto he felt his foot get gripped. He looked back and saw a mass of black connecting to his foot.

Neji twisted his leg out and jumped high into the air as black tendrils came out of Naruto's mass of black shadows on the ground. They followed him high into the air and stopped just a millimeter short of reaching Neji.

"It seems your shadows do have a range after all." Said Neji.

"True…at least during the day. It doesn't really matter as they have a range greater than you." Said Naruto as his shadow tendrils flew at Neji again.

Neji skillfully evaded the tendrils and used the Gentle Fist to disrupt the chakra in the ones that came too close. Meanwhile, Naruto was flying through a long sequence of handseals that was noticed by only the upper level ninja in the stadium.

"So he is using that jutsu." Stated Shikamaru from the contestant box.

"Is this some type of explosive jutsu again?" asked Shino from beside him.

"No, this is perhaps the only jutsu that he knows that is totally made for support." Said Shikamaru.

"That's a surprise. I was positive that the Dobe only used Jutsu that exploded or did something cool." Said Sasuke as he walked up beside them.

"Don't worry it is still pretty cool, but he has only done it once and it was on a very small scale." Said Shikamaru.

Neji was fairing well against the shadow tendrils as he slowly made his way to Naruto. He wasn't blind and easily saw the handseals that were being made at this very moment.

Just then a tendril wrapped around one of his wrists and pulled it away from his body. This opened him up to being wrapped up along every limb of his body by the tendrils. 'This won't stop me!'

"Kaiten!" yelled Neji as he spun in a large dome of chakra while dispelling the shadow tendrils.

As the Kaiten dispelled and Neji walked out. He saw that Naruto was done and was holding a black ball of energy in his hand.

"Too bad you have already lost Neji. I wonder how good of a fighter is when they lose their eyesight! ENDLESS VOID!" yelled Naruto as he slammed the ball of black energy on the ground.

The ball of energy exploded in a bright flash and started to cover the ground in a mass of black shadows that flew across the entire stadium before climbing to the top of the arena. The only thing people could see were each other as the mass of shadows covered everything in pitch black.

"Now for the final touch!" shouted Naruto as the shadows at the top of the arena began to flow across the top of the stadium. Slowly the sun was blocked from view as people began to scream in panic from the darkness that was slowly starting eat at last remaining sunlight until the sun was completely covered and darkness fell across everyone's sight.

Neji looked everywhere with his Byakugan in the perpetual darkness that now surrounded him and everyone else. The screams had stopped as everyone struggled to hear the match.

"So Neji…how does it feel to have your eyesight gone?" whispered Naruto right into Neji's ear.

Neji spun around and lashed out in Naruto's direction only to miss. "Where are you?" shouted Neji in anger and panic.

"I'm disappointed…aren't your eyes supposed to be all seeing or is that only a myth?" asked Naruto.

"Shut up! You think you are so special don't you? You are nothing more than a failure that is unable to achieve anything! I heard about that mission of yours…the one where those two missing nin died." Stated Neji as he spun around in the dark.

"What do you know of that? Muttered Naruto.

"That both of them died due to your inaccessibility to change. You failed them as you will fail again. You will never be able to change…that is your fate and you should just accept that!" declared Neji.

"You don't know anything…in the past three months I have changed beyond what you can ever imagine. My fate is what I make it! I will never allow someone else to decide my fate again! I will rise above it and shape my own being!" declared the voice of Naruto loudly through the mist.

"Got you…" smirked Neji as he charged where he believed Naruto was only to miss a palm thrust.

"Missed again…" said Naruto as he slammed his fist into Neji's face.

Neji got back up slowly and tried to find his bearings in the darkness surrounding him.

"How do you like the Endless Void, Neji? It completely covers the world in darkness, so thick that no light can shine from it. Only one who is in sync with the Void has any chance to navigate." Said Naruto again from below Neji.

Neji jumped back only to be grabbed by the back of the head and slammed into the ground. The crowd heard the slam that had just occurred and involuntarily shuddered at how hard it sounded.

Once again Neji was crawling back to his feet after taking such a hit. Thankfully he couldn't see, cause he was sure that he'd be seeing three Naruto's and they wouldn't be clones.

"I am going to break you of your ideas of fate Neji. One way or another you will be leaving this battle with a new understanding of life." Said Naruto.

"Coward…get rid of this technique and we will see who fate is with today." Growled out Neji.

"You mistake me Neji I am not going to defeat you with this technique…oh no that won't do. I only pulled this one out in order for you to feel what it would be like blind. It's obvious that it worked as your knee's are shaking and your heart is beating erratically." Taunted Naruto as light broke through the Void.

Slowly, but surely the darkness ebbed away and Neji and Naruto were revealed to the crowd once more. Neji had blood trickling down from his lip and a cut on his forehead.

Naruto had come away completely unscathed from the battle so far and was smirking with confidence of plans to come ahead.

"You should've kept that technique on longer." Stated Neji as he got into his stance.

"I don't need it anymore." Said Naruto as he charged at Neji.

Neji waited until the right moment and dodged the first attack only to be grabbed at his feet by a pair of hands that were sticking out of Naruto's shadow.

Then came an entire body out of the shadow with its fist cocked back. It let loose its attack and slammed into Neji's gut sending him up a few feet off the ground.

However, the shadow holding his feet didn't let go and brought him back to the ground and to Naruto's spinning back kick. It connected and sent Neji flying to the other side of the arena with a dark bruise on his face.

"You have no chance to win this match Neji. I'm not even at full strength right now and you can't beat me. What makes you think that you will win this match." Said Naruto as he walked over to Neji.

"I won't lose to you." Growled out Neji as he stood up.

"Then give me your best technique." Said Naruto as his shadows extended way from him in a massive black formless shape.

"It's already done…you are in my field of divination!" declared Neji as he charged at Naruto with even greater speed than he had before.

Neji launched his attack at Naruto's chakra points, but it was for nothing as Naruto's shadow shot up out of the ground and deflected every single attack Neji launched. Soon Neji's attack was done and Naruto hadn't taken a single hit from the his attack.

"How?" asked Neji as he jumped away from him.

"How did I deflect an attack that is said to be unavoidable at such range? It was easy after having someone demonstrate it on me all month." Smiled Naruto.

Neji glared at Naruto, but noticed out of the corner of his eyes two clones form a triangle around him. "Futon: Drilling Air Bullet!" yelled both clones and Naruto.

Knowing he couldn't dodge Neji did the only thing he could do and started to spin around in a rapid succession while releasing chakra. All three bullets of air hit the sphere of energy that was shielding Neji and dispersed on impact.

Neji stopped spinning and looked back at where he thought Naruto was and was surprised to see that Naruto was there anymore. "IT'S OVER!" shouted Naruto.

Neji looked up in surprise and noticed Naruto falling towards him at a rapid pace with a sphere of glowing blue energy in his hand. Knowing that he only had time to do the Kaiten again he started spinning.

"That won't help! Rasengan!" yelled Naruto as he slammed the sphere of blue energy into Neji's own dome of chakra.

For a few moments the techniques fought for dominance with each other while emitting a loud grinding noise. Suddenly Neji's dome of energy collapsed under the strain of Naruto's attack and exploded in a shower of energy.

Naruto jumped out of the cloud of smoke with a few scratches covering his body and dirt on his face from the attack.

The cloud slowly dispelled and revealed a heavily injured and barely conscious Neji laying in a crater from the attack. Naruto walked up to the injured ninja and looked at him with sadness.

"You and me are more alike than you know. I too have a seal on me that labels me as a monster in most of the village. If fate was set in stone then I would be nothing more than a beast wanting to kill for fun." Said Naruto sadly as Neji finally closed his eyes and let sleep take him.

"The winner of the match is Naruto Uzumaki." Declared Hayate as a quarter of the stadium clapped for the boy while the others were unsure of what to do.

Naruto walked up to the contestant box as the medics came out to tend to Neji. He passed Sasuke on his way up and wished him luck, but he knew that the chances of him beating Gaara were low.

He joined both Shino and Shikamaru up in the stands while the two congratulated him on his victory.

"What was that technique Naruto?" asked Shino curiously.

"Which one Shino? The Void technique or the Rasengan?" asked Naruto.

"I guess you can say both." Said Shino.

"Oh well the Endless Void just creates an area effect barrier that keeps things out like light and keeps things in such as noise. On a person who relies on his vision so much it can be deadly." Said Naruto.

"Interesting…that wouldn't work against a sensor though since I could still tell where you were the whole time. What was that Rasengan exactly?" finished Shino.

"It was a technique that took the 4th Hokage three years to make. I was able to finish it in two!" claimed Naruto with a big smile as Shino's eyes rose a bit at this.

"That's only because you have trained nearly every hour for the past month." Said Shikamaru boredly.

"It seems you already knew this Shikamaru." Stated Shino.

"I only did because Naruto's been exchanging techniques with our clan for the past month." Said Shikamaru.

"When are they going to start the next match?" they heard the shout of Kiba from across the arena.

"He does have a point." Agreed Naruto as Shino nodded his head.

"Calm yourself it is starting now." Said Shikamaru.

Sasuke and Gaara stood 10 meters apart glaring at each other as if willing the other to yield under their gaze. For many of the civilians Sasuke was their hero and were showing their support through banners and cheers.

As soon as the proctor had started the match Sasuke had launched shuriken at the immobile Gaara, but his sand intercepted them well before hitting him. In response Gaara started launching balls of sand at Sasuke who dodged them quite easily.

"Mother wants your blood Uchiha!" shouted Gaara as he launched another wave of projectiles twice as fast as before.

This time Sasuke was hard pressed to dodge the attacks and was rolling around just barely dodging the attacks that were getting closer and closer. Thinking fast he unsealed two demon shuriken and threw them at Gaara.

Both shuriken were deflected to both sides of Gaara and they flew behind him. However, Sasuke smirked with victory as he pulled wires attached to the shuriken.

Both the shuriken changed directions and started spinning around Gaara while the wires wrapped around Gaara's stunned body. The sand tried to come up and block the wire, but it was too late as Gaara's body was completely wrapped up.

"Katon: Fire Dragon Technique!" yelled Sasuke as he launched a dragon made of fire along the likes of the shuriken. The flames quickly consumed Gaara and soon one couldn't' make out anything in the raging inferno.

When the fire did clear there was nothing left, but a glass statue of Gaara left behind. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he looked around for the sand gennin, suddenly his eyes widened as he jumped high into the air to avoid tendrils of sand that broke through the surface of the ground.

Landing a few meters away he saw Gaara rise from the ground with the sand spinning around him like a storm. The glare that he held was more than enough to tell Sasuke that he almost had him.

Sasuke smirked in response of the glare and charged at Sasuke with speed far greater than what everyone else assumed. Gaara's eyes widened as he felt his sand take a blow from behind him.

Turning quickly he saw Sasuke quickly disappear once again before sensing yet another blow from behind. Then another and another before they suddenly stopped and Sasuke appeared in front of Gaara once again twenty meters away.

Gaara turned back toward him and glared once more.

"You are just as fast as that other kid. But you will need more than speed to defeat me." Stated Gaara.

"Don't worry I have more than enough techniques to defeat you." Said Sasuke with a smirk as he crouched down ready to attack.

Gaara in response sent a giant wave of sand at Sasuke who disappeared once more and appeared right under Gaara ready to strike. Luckily for Gaara some of his sand was just able to divert the kick, but was unable to stop Sasuke from sweeping his legs out from underneath him.

"How can there be two ninja from Konoha alone that can get past Gaara's sand?" asked a shocked Kankuro.

"If there are two gennin who can hurt Gaara then what can the Jounin here do?" asked an equally shocked Temari.

"Sasuke isn't even going all out right now. This might be his best speed, but he hasn't even activated his Sharingan yet. I think he wants to prove he can win without using it." Stated Naruto loudly enough for the siblings to hear.

"That's impossible!" declared Kankuro.

"Believe what you want, but this match is about to get interesting." Said Naruto as he turned toward the match.

Sasuke had been hits in on Gaara, but not on the level that Lee had. He wasn't fast enough to continue with the attacks like Lee, but he was fast enough to get away from the sand after attacking.

"Time to use it." Whispered Sasuke as he closed his eyes and activated his Sharingan.

"Yes, you will prove my existence Uchiha!" yelled Gaara as the ground around him cracked and more sand rose from the cracks.

"Katon: Great Fireball!" yelled Sasuke as he launched his signature attack at Gaara.

It had no affect like he predicted to get past Gaara's sand. But he didn't have any time to think on this as multiple tendrils of sand were already after him.

Thanks to the Sharingan he easily maneuvered around the sand on his way to Gaara to engage in close combat. Right before reaching Gaara though he was forced to jump back as a massive wave of sand rose up in front of him.

Quickly he jumped back narrowly avoiding the wave crashing into the ground he just was at. The wave followed him quickly and he was jumping back constantly avoiding the sand.

It was quite comical to see Sasuke get chased all around the stadium by Gaara's sand…at least Naruto was thinking that. Sasuke, however was not amused as the amount of sand Gaara had was keeping him back.

Sasuke ran up the wall as high as he could get and crouched down as he stared at Gaara's body.

Gaara glared at the Uchiha from down on the ground before summoning all of his sand to form a twister around him. This made many people stare at him in wonder of what he was about to do.

"My mother shall have your blood Uchiha!" screamed Gaara as he sand around him compressed into a dense shell of sand.

"What is he doing?" asked Kankuro as he stared at Kankuro in shock.

"He knows he can't do that yet!" said Temari in response.

"What do you think they mean by that?" asked Naruto to Shino and Shikamaru.

"I think it means that something big is going down today. Be ready at a moments notice…that may be all it takes in the end." Stated Shikamaru as Naruto and Shino nodded in agreement.

"You really think that you will be able to protect yourself in that dome of sand? It's time I showed everyone my own new technique." Sated Sasuke as he went through a few hand seals.

Lighting covered his hand as a loud sound filled the stadium. It sounded like a bunch of birds chirping at a rapid pace and caused some people to cover their eyes.

Meanwhile with the jounin of the groups. "You taught him that move Kakashi?" asked Gai with a hint of anger at Kakashi.

"It was the only technique I could afford to give him Gai. I taught him a few defense jutsu, but this is the only attack one that I believe could help him." Explained Kakashi.

"Aren't you afraid that he might misuse the technique?" asked Gai.

"No…not anymore at least. Ever since the Forest of Death he has got much better. I even got him to state that he would ask for help from me when it comes to taking on his brother." Said Kakashi.

"That's impressive considering how he's lived his life since that day." Stated Asuma after overhearing the conversation.

"Yes it is and I think it is all because of Naruto." Said Kakashi with an eye smile.

"This is the end!" yelled Sasuke as he charged down the wall at the immobile ball of sand with his Sharingan spinning.

His hand cut through the wall and dirt leaving a trail behind him as he drew near to the ball. A few feet from reaching the ball three spikes shot out of the sand, but thanks to his Sharingan he was able dodge them and slam his fist right through the sand.

Silence spread through the stadium as Leaf nin had their eyes wide, Sand nin hidden in the crowd were pale, and Gaara's siblings looked ready to cry at the sight before them.

Blood was slowly running down Sasuke's arm from the dome of sand as he smirked in victory. However, that wasn't the end of Gaara or the match.

"What is this warm substance?" came Gaara's voice. "Is it blood? MY BLOOD! MY BLOOD!" screamed Gaara as the dome of sand started shifting wildly.

Quickly Sasuke pulled his arm out and jumped back narrowly avoiding the arm of sand that now was sticking out of the dome. "I WILL KILL YOU UCHIHA!" shouted Gaara as the rest of the sand morphed around him covering half his body in sand and giving him a tail and a very large arm.

The worst parts about the transformation were the eyes that were now yellow and shining with madness. His smile was sadistic and promised death to all that stood in his way.

Before he could react Sasuke was slammed by Gaara's fist as the crazed gennin disappeared in a large boost of speed. Sasuke recovered and threw three kunai at Gaara, but the gennin raised his sand arm up and blocked the attack.

Sasuke followed the kunai in and attempted to get behind Gaara, but the gennin wasn't willing and used his tail to smack Sasuke back away from him.

"SAND SHURIKEN!" yelled Gaara as he launched a bunch of bullets of sand at Sasuke.

Sasuke had no time to do anything, but cross his arms over his chest and take to full impact of the attack. Blood dripped down his arm as he uncrossed them and stood up to face Gaara.

'I guess I will have to use the Chidori to finish him.' Thought Sasuke as he made another one.

Sasuke didn't waste time and charged Gaara again at full speed intending on winning the fight. Gaara charged himself intent on ripping Sasuke apart.

The two passed and Gaara's sand arm was completely severed leading Sasuke to smirk in victory, but it soon changed to horror as Gaara just grinned and grew his arm back.

"Die!" yelled Gaara as he was upon Sasuke before he could react. The result of this blow would knock Sasuke clear across the arena and into the wall creating a crater a foot deep.

Gaara approached Sasuke as the black haired gennin struggled to get to his knees. Judging from the blood coming out of his mouth he was suffering from internal bleeding and would likely be able to fight much longer.

Sasuke slowly stood back up and faced Gaara. Said jinchuriki had a sick grin on his face as he raised his arm and slugged Sasuke into the wall again and again.

Just before the final blow could be dealt, Gaara felt himself become immobile. He glanced down at his feet and saw his shadow connecting to a large man in the arena.

"The match is over! Gaara of the Desert is the victor!" called out Hayate as many in the crowd were stunned by the fight.

"NO MOTHER DEMANDS HIS BLOOD!" yelled Gaara as he struggled against the shadow at his feet.

"Gaara that is enough! Stand down now!" yelled the Kazekage in a deep voice.

Gaara looked at his father and growled for a second before the sand on his body slowly started to fall off his body. Soon he was back to normal except a hole in his shirt from where Sasuke's Chidori had injured him.

He turned around and shunshined up to the contestant box where he gave Naruto an evil grin. Meanwhile, medics were rushing Sasuke off the battlefield trying to heal his injuries.

"Naruto be careful of Gaara…something isn't right about him." Said Shikamaru.

"I know, but Gaara and I are more alike than you know Shikamaru." Said Naruto as Shikamaru's eyes widened upon the revelation that Gaara is a jinchuriki.

"How could he beat Sasuke like that?" stuttered Sakura in horror as Ino herself looked scared at what just happened.

"Damn…does Naruto even have a chance against someone like that?" asked Kiba in shock and horror, unaware of the fact that he was scaring Hinata.

'Please be safe Naruto.' She pleaded as she looked at Naruto standing alongside Shikamaru.

"Well you know what that means then Shikamaru!" Naruto exclaimed as Shikamaru looked at him in shock.

"I don't know Naruto…I think I might just surrender." Said Shikamaru boredly.

"Nonsense Shikamaru! Some kuinoichi actually take their training! I'm sure she isn't as easy as you think she is!" yelled Naruto as Shikamaru looked at him in confusion by what he said.

"Why did you sa…" started Shikmaru before being interrupted.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!" screamed Temari as she glared at Shikamaru with absolute hate.

"You dic…" started Shikamaru again before Naruto kicked him over the edge of the railing.

"Have fun Shika!" yelled Naruto as Shino chuckled silently.

"That was quite evil of you Naruto." Said Shino.

"He needed a reason to fight…now he is fighting for his life against an angry female. If anything motivates him this would be it." Said Naruto with a smile on his face.

"I'm sure it will work." Stated Shino as they watched Temari stalk across the arena with hate in her eyes.

"Is it safe to assume that you won't believe me that my friend said those things just to make sure you came at me to kill me?" asked Shikamaru hopefully.

"I am going to rip it off and feed it to a weasel." Gritted out Temari.

"Ehh…troublesome." Said Shikamaru.

"The third match will be between Temari of the Sand and Shikamaru of the Leaf! Hajime!" declared Hayate as he disappeared just in time to miss the huge wave of wind that was heading at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru jumped back behind a large tree to shield himself from the attack. "Damn that Naruto." Cursed Shikamaru.

"Get out here and fight like a man!" yelled Temari as she heaved her large fan up again and launched a second attack.

The winds buffeted the tree Shikamaru was behind and he could feel cuts being formed in the tree when they impacted, but luckily it held firm. He made a handseal and sent his shadow out to capture his opponent.

Temari saw the shadow quickly approaching and jumped back to avoid it. For the next few seconds the two played something similar to tag. That was until the shadow suddenly stopped a foot away from Temari.

"So that is the range of your attack." Stated Temari as she made an indent in the dirt.

'As long as I stay here there is no way for him to get me.' Thought Temari as she attacked Shikamaru's tree. Only this time there was a different result as the tree collapsed due to the pressure of the attack.

Shikamaru rolled out from underneath the falling trunk and jumped to next while narrowly avoiding yet another attack that was a bit weaker than the last.

"Stop running!" yelled Temari as she took yet another wave at Shikamaru.

"This girl is crazy!" said Shikamaru as he made a sign with his hand and closed his eyes in thought.

'Where the hell is he?' thought Temari as she lost sight of her pray during her last attack.

Just then a glint from the tree line caught her attention as a kunai raced toward her throat. Quickly she brought her fan up an blocked the attack, but it did it's job as Temari didn't notice Shikamaru appear in front over her aiming to attack her.

Temari was caught surprised, as Shikamaru was just a few feet from hitting her with his face. However he wasn't quick enough as Temari dropped her war fan and summoned two smaller fans and attacked with an even quicker jutsu.

The blades of wind cut into Shikamaru for a second before he suddenly blasted apart in mass of black matter similar to the blonde gennin from earlier.

Her eyes widened for a second before feeling a powerful punch to the face by Shikamaru who had used the clone to get in close. She flew a few feet back before stopping suddenly due to her movements being restricted.

She glanced down at her feet and saw her shadow connected to her opponents shadow by a thin shadow between the two. She couldn't believe that it had been so easy to beat her.

"How?" asked Temari.

"Frankly I don't know. I believed you would see through the clone and be ready for me to attack. I guess you thought I was to scared to engage you in close combat or I was too lazy. Either way I got in close and captured you." Said Shikamaru boredly.

In the stands many of the jounin were quite impressed on how Shikamaru had easily disabled his opponent quickly. Even more surprising was that it was a Nara who had won this quickly.

"Never seen a Nara do so much in so little time." Stated a jounin in the crowd.

"That's for sure. He displayed some impressive speed and planning. I wouldn't mind that kid as a chuunin or that Uzumaki kid. Both were able to win their matches with very little damage taken to them." Stated another jounin.

"What did you think of the Uchiha?" asked the first Jounin.

"His skills are at chuunin level, but his tactics need a little work. I'd say by the next exams he would be ready to be a chunnin, but we will have to wait and see." Said the second one.

Back on the match Shikamaru had grabbed the a kunai on his left thigh and was slowly walking towards Temari, who was waling towards Temari without a kunai in her hand.

Finally they were standing a foot apart staring at each other…well Temari was more like glaring, but I'm sure you get the picture. Shikamaru raised his Kunai up to her throat and held it there for a few seconds.

"Surrender or I will kill you." Demanded Shikamaru.

"Screw you." She gritted out in response.

"So be it." Said Shikamaru as his shadow began to slowly crawl up her body in a shape of a hand.

"I'm not going to kill you…but I'm not going to allow you to help your village later today during whatever you have planned." Said Shikamaru as his shadow began to strangle the gennin.

Her eyes were wide with fear after finding out that he knew, but she could do nothing as her throat was closed by Shikamaru's jutsu.

"Winner is Shikamaru of the Leaf!" declared the proctor as everyone in the crowd cheered for Shikamaru's quick victory.

'Damn! Temari and I were supposed to protect Gaara during the invasion! I can't afford to use up any chakra now!' thought Kankuro.

"Will Shino of the Leaf and Kankuro of the Sand get down here for the next match?" called out the Proctor.

"What do you think he is going to do Shino?" asked Naruto.

"Logically it would be safe to assume that he will forfeit to save his chakra if an invasion were to take place." Stated Shino.

"True…" ended Naruto as Shino started to walk down the stairs, but was stopped by Kankuro's voice.

"Proctor! I will have to forfeit my next match on personal matters to attend to! You can continue with the Semi-Finals!" called out Kankuro.

Shino returned to Naruto's side quickly enough as Naruto began to loosen the weights on his wrists and ankles. "I take it you really wanted to fight?" asked Naruto.

"That is correct." Muttered Shino as his hive began to buzz loudly.

"Don't worry you will have your match. Hopefully it will only be leaf shinobi in the finals!" joked Naruto as he jumped over the railing to stretch for his match.

'So Zeratul any ideas on how I can beat this guy?' asked Naruto as he began his stretches.

"I would suggest any trick you can think up to counter his attacks. Try attacking in unorthodox ways that ensure critical hits on him or you can wait for opening in his defense." Lectured Zeratul.

'Thank you! I will do my best!' thought Naruto.

"Will Gaara of the Sand come down to the arena floor to begin the first Semi-Final round!" shouted the Proctor.

Gaara obliged quickly and appeared in a sand Shunshin that Naruto had to admit looked awesome. "Mother will have your blood Uzumaki." Stated Gaara.

"I would like to see her try." Retorted Naruto.

"This will be the first match of the semi-finals! Hajime!" yelled the proctor as Naruto quickly made 5 shadow clones and sent them at Gaara.

The three clones split up with one going to the right, one to the left and one from the front trying to attack at once. This attack was easily repelled as Gaara's sand proved to be very adaptable.

Naruto received the memories and once again made some shadow clones, but he made about ten this time and sent them at the unmoving Gaara. Advancing three at a time the clones came at him.

The first three took the same approach as the first group, but the sand came up and blocked the attacks. The middle line was then there and used the first group as a stepping-stone to jump over the sand.

They descended on Gaara from above and started to go through seals. "Futon: Drilling Wind Bullets!" yelled the clones as they launched three dense balls of wind from their mouth.

Gaara's sand came up and blocked the three balls of wind, but the impact was felt as parts of the hardened sand cracked upon impact. The last group all took out kunai with tags attached and charged into the bottom layer of the sand.

The clones stabbed the kunai's into the sand and jumped high into the air to avoid the spikes now sticking out of the wall of sand. The last clone jumped high into the air using the last group as steps to get as high as it could.

The highest of the third group grabbed the last clone and started spinning the clone before throwing it at Gaara's sand shield. It was at this moment that the kunai at the bottom of the shield exploded causing the foundations in the sand to weaken.

The last clone was heading at the top of the shield that was right above Gaara like a missile. It made a sign and smiled in anticipation.

"Uzumaki Hellfire Missile!" yelled the original as the clone started to glow bright white.

BOOM! The explosion the clone made as it impacted with the top of the shield was massive and the entire crowd could feel the pressure that it created.

The cloud of dust that was created was so massive that no one could see Gaara and many were assuming that he had died in such an explosion, but some knew the truth. The dust eventually cleared to show Gaara on his knees with sand gathering around his body. His body itself seemed to be covered with small cuts and bruises.

Soon Gaara was in the shape of a monstrous raccoon about 4 times bigger than Naruto. The only part of it that wasn't at normal size were the legs which were covered with a thin layer of sand.

"This ends here Uzumaki!" yelled the transformed Gaara as he charged at Naruto.

"Damn!" cursed Naruto as he rolled out of the way of a massive fist that crashed into the ground he had just been standing on.

Naruto made two shadows and had them jump around Gaara to surround him. Gaara himself paid no attention to the clones and kept trying to attack Naruto, but thankfully Naruto had dropped his weights and was now a bit faster than Gaara.

Naruto threw a large kunai at Gaara, but Gaara easily blocked the blade with his arm and came upon Naruto. However, before he got far he was hit in the head hard by a large force.

It was in fact an air bullet delivered from one of Naruto's shadows that Gaara had neglected to watch. Gaara slowly got up and turned towards Naruto with a mad gleam in his eyes. The madness was even more defined with the cracks that were forming on his armor.

"Yes! Prove my existence Uzumaki!" yelled Gaara as he shot out hundreds of sand projectiles at Naruto.

"Crap!" yelled Naruto as he jumped behind a tree to shield himself from the attack. The projectiles impacted against the tree and tore through it quickly forcing Naruto move once again.

"Sand Breakthrough!" yelled Gaara as he shot a massive blast of wind and sand at Naruto.

The attack hit Naruto head on sending him crashing into the wall. Gaara laughed in madness as he approached Naruto's unmoving body.

When he was in striking distance he rose both of his fists up in the air at the same time to crush Naruto. However right before dealing the blow Naruto looked up at Gaara and grinned.

"Boom!" shouted Naruto as he started to glowing and blew up right in front of Gaara.

Gaara was blew across the stadium with Sand slowly crumbling off of his body. He got up slowly and tried to keep his balance, but the loss of sand caused him to stumble a bit.

"Gotcha!" yelled Naruto as he appeared right under Gaara's face in his shadow and shot up and nailed Gaara right in the jaw.

Gaara flew up into the air where three of Naruto's clones were waiting to attack. They all shot Air Bullets at Gaara from direct range sending him crashing into the ground.

Naruto landed a few feet away from Gaara panting hard from doing a whole lot of jutsu. However, this wasn't the end of Gaara as the boy started to slowly stand up as a large amount of sand surrounded him.

Naruto looked at Gaara in disbelief of how the gennin was able to take such a beating and still stand up and come for more.

'I don't have enough chakra to beat him…I guess I will just have to steal some.' Thought Naruto as he went through a set of hand signs.

"Void: Subjugation!" yelled Naruto as he slammed his hand on the ground. Suddenly tendrils shot out of Naruto's shadows. The black tendrils quickly wrapped around Gaara's body and began to have lines of red light appear on the tendrils.

Gaara screamed in rage and pain as he felt both sources of his chakra being sucked out of his body. It didn't take long for the sand to fall apart and for Gaara to be revealed.

Soon the tendrils receded back to a healthy looking Naruto Gaara was completely out of chakra and barely conscious and Naruto was completely rejuvenated and ready for the next battle.

"How did you beat me so easily?" asked Gaara weakly as Naruto approached him.

"I was fighting for my village this battle. I know what you contain Gaara and I wasn't willing to let you release it in the village where you could hurt anyone." Said Naruto.

"Why do you fight for this village? I know what you contain. Mother and I can sense it inside of you…I can see the loneliness in your eyes. It was the same as mine…. why do you fight for them?" Asked Gaara.

"Because I never gave up to get their trust. I got friends and people to look past what I contain inside of me. During this past month I became part of a surrogate family and I found someone extremely precious to me. For her I would give my life." Said Naruto.

"Is that how you got your strength?" asked Gaara desperately.

"You can do the same Gaara. Your siblings still love you and will help you if they let you them." Said Naruto.

"I will see…proctor I surrender." Said Gaara as he passed out and was carried to the hospital wing.

Naruto smiled as the crowd cheered for him as he walked up to the contestant box. He eyed Hinata from across the stands and smiled at her making her blush a bit and smile a bit in return.

Up in the Kage box Orochimaru was steaming at the fact his weapon in the upcoming invasion had been defeated before the invasion had even begun. He had never once considered the possibility that the Uzumaki kid would even have a chance.

Now his invasion was a step behind and if he waited any longer then the chances of success would go down even further. He made a signal for the start of the invasion and waited for the explosions that were set to go off in five minutes.

"Are you okay Kazekage? I know your son was defeated, but he put up a good fight and deserves some praise." Said the Hokage.

"Yes, he does after all his opponent was very skilled." Said Orochimaru.

"To bad you won't be able to congratulate him on his match…Orochimaru." Said the Hokage as Orochimaru's eyes widened in surprise as he was forced to dodge a kunai thrown at him by Orochimaru.

"Shinobi of the Sand look at your false Kazekage! He is in fact Orochimaru and has tricked your village into attacking the leaf! Help us expel sound from the leaf's borders and we will assist you in finding your Kazekage!" declared the Hokage as many of the sand shinobi looked on in shock at the imposter Kazekage.

Meanwhile the Sound Shinobi in the arena began to attack the leaf shinobi after the genjutsu was put into affect putting to sleep all of the civilians. Suddenly one of the Sand Shinobi screamed in pain as he was run through by a sound nin causing the sand ninja to attack anyone despite what village they were from.

"How did you know it was me?" asked Orochimaru.

"I've known since you entered the box. You reek of snakes and death Orochimaru. You are a mistake that needs to be taken care of by me." Said Hiruzen.

"I would like to see you try Sensei." Smiled Orochimaru.

Down in the arena things were pretty messed up as the Leaf Shinobi used their superior teamwork to fight against both Sand and Sound. Naruto, Shino, and Shikamaru had quickly restrained Kankuro and were interrogating him.

"Why are you doing this?" yelled Naruto at the sand gennin.

"We were under orders from my father…but it seems it wasn't our father at all! I'm done fighting! I just want to make sure my sister and brother are okay!" answered Kakuro desperately.

"The sound forces are getting close to the Hyugas." Stated Shino as Naruto looked up in surprise.

It was true as the Hyuga had only half of their members still at the tournament after Neji had loss. However one that had not gone home was in fact Hinata and she was in a fight with a chuunin from sound at the moment.

"Damn…do you guys have everything under control here?" asked Naruto.

"We got it. Just go save your girlfriend already." Stated Shikamaru boredly.

"Right!" shouted Naruto as he jumped across the stadium while making hand signs.

"Void: Shadow Spears!" yelled Naruto, making Hinata's opponent look up at him before he was stabbed in the gut by three black spears coming out of his shadow.

"Naruto!" shouted Hinata happily as she hugged him.

"Are you okay Hinata?" asked Naruto in concern for her safety.

"Yes, I am. What's going on? Why did Sound and Sand attack us?" asked Hinata.

"It was all orchestrated by Orochimaru of the Sannin. Jiraiya-sensei learned that Orochimaru had killed the Kazekage and was acting as a puppet leader for Suna so he could use him to attack us." Came the voice of Hiashi Hyuga as he landed beside the two.

"So that was why the Hokage revealed Orochimaru to us all." Said Hinata.

"Yes it was and hopefully he can finally finish that snake off for good." Said Naruto with a smile.

"How did you know Naruto?" asked Hinata curiously.

"It was revealed at a meeting where all division heads were required to be present at." Said Naruto with a proud smile.

"Then why were you there?" asked Hinata in confusion.

"Well you see I made the argument that I'm a division on my own so they allowed me to be there. That kinda reminds me I have to help clear the streets of Konoha. Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu!" yelled Naruto as he made 1000 clones among the top of the arena.

"Thankfully I stole all that chakra from Gaara or I wouldn't have been able to do that." Stated Naruto as both Hiashi and Hinata looked at him in shock of the amount of chakra he had used.

Their thoughts were silenced though as a large purple barrier rose out of the area the Hokage was. It was at that moment that Naruto's head started hurting with visions of death and funerals running through his thoughts.

'What they hell is this?' asked Naruto in his mind.

'It is your first vision granted to you by the Void. It seems someone important will dies unless something is done to help them.' Spoke Zeratul.

'But who is about to die?' asked Naruto as he searched his thoughts. He saw Konohamaru crying with Asuma looking sad right next to him. It seemed as if the whole village had come to pay respects to this warrior.

'That can only mean one thing!' thought Naruto with wide eyes.

'That is correct Naruto. I can help you; I just need you to channel half your chakra into your center. I will handle the rest of the jutsu.' Said Zeratul as Naruto started to channel his chakra.

"Here it goes!" yelled Naruto as he began to glow dark blue.

'Void: Warrior of the Shadows!" yelled Zeratul as Naruto's chakra exploded around him.