7

Chapter 6: Running the Gauntlet

The people that wandered into the chunin exam stadium for the test they were informed was going to happen were surprised to see one Naruto Uzumaki, already sitting down in the center of the arena, decked out in a dark red muscle shirt and pants, hitae-ate as a belt, seemingly in a meditative state. As more and more people filed in a smattering of comments regarding why the 'demon brat' was here and what the test was exactly.

Naruto was seated under the tree in the arena currently resting. The five days of pranks prior to this were him actually training himself. He had been neglecting the basics of his ninja arts in exchange for power and jutsu, something he blamed on his other side. After fighting Kabuto and remembering how he used to be he remembered the words told to him in his fomulative years, "The ninja with stealth and surprise on his side should be able to win without ever using a single jutsu."

He had spent the days progressively stepping up the difficulty of his pranks, and much to his delight he had never been caught once, even when deliberately provoking a response that alerted others of his direct location… Except for the pranks on Sasuke, no test was intended… That was purely for him, it was just sheer fun.

Around 9 o' clock the familiar bear masked Anbu of Tsunade's arrived next to him. Naruto stood up to properly greet the man, "Hello Kuma-san. Baa-chan send you to get me again?"

The Anbu nodded, "Yes, Hokage-sama would like to know if you would like her to tell you the rules of engagement prior to the beginning of your test?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, she'll just end up explaining it to everyone after they all arrive anyway, there's no need to make her do it twice so I'll just wait."

Kuma nodded and shunshined out of Naruto's space, leaving him to continue meditating until he would inevitably end up being interrupted again. The next interruption occurred at around 9:30 when Kurenai led her team into the arena. Naruto's focus was broken by Kiba loudly bragging, "Oh man, we're all fighting Naruto? What did he do to piss the Hokage off like that to get this to happen to him?"

Kurenai looked over to Naruto who waved back at her in indifference before returning to his meditation. She looked down at Kiba, "Kiba, do not underestimate him here. He already defeated you once already, you shouldn't do the same thing twice in this instance."

Kiba smirked in confidence, "He got in a few lucky shots last time. This one won't last nearly as long, me and Akamaru will knock him out before he can start playing his games."

The Kyuubi scoffed in Naruto's mind, "What a loud mutt. I hope you fight him first so you can shut him up and I don't have to hear him bark anymore." Naruto smirked slightly, 'Calm down Kyuubi. They'll all get my point in a few minutes.'

Shino looked over at Naruto who was still seated under his tree, "Kurenai-sensei, I don't understand why we're all fighting Uzumaki-san in the first place. You said all of the teams would be participating, that is illogical. Why would all of the teams be needed to fight just him?"

Kurenai looked at her sunglasses-sporting genin, "The Hokage gave him this option last week during a meeting and he took it. I don't understand just why it's happening in the first place but all you can do is fight him at your best."

Shino nodded, "I wasn't planning on doing anything other than that."

Kurenai looked at Hinata who was trying her best to look anywhere but at the blonde sitting under the tree, "Hinata. You will probably have to fight him too. Don't let anything cloud your mind on this. If you don't fight him seriously then there is a good chance that he will defeat you."

Hinata nodded, but her mind was a wreck, 'I have to fight Naruto-kun. I-I can't possibly bring myself to do anything to hurt him. What would I do if I injured him? Would I ever have a chance with him then?'

Soon after the entrance of Team 8, Asuma brought his own genin team into the fold, with Shikamaru leading the pack, "This is so troublesome. Why are we here? You got all gung-ho today about dragging us to the arena."

Asuma took a drag of his cigarette as he brought his genin over near Kurenai, "You're here to fight Naruto. He'll be taking you all on one at a time so it shouldn't be too much trouble if the order works out the way it should."

Ino looked over to her fellow blonde sitting under the tree, "Naruto? Why would we all be fighting Naruto? What's the point? He might be able to beat one of us, maybe two but that's pushing it. There's no way he can beat our entire team."

Kurenai chimed in, "He's not really fighting your entire team, he's really supposed to be fighting everyone, your team, my team, Gai's team, and Kakashi's other kids." Seeing the stunned looks on the faces of Team 10 she glared at Asuma, "You didn't tell them this was happening?"

Asuma shrugged, "Like Ino said, there's no way he could beat anymore than two of them at the most."

Shikamaru muttered out another 'troublesome' while Choji stood next to him eating chips.

XxX

Naruto was now analyzing his upcoming opponents. He noticed that Shikamaru and Shino were subtly doing the same of him and he mentally groaned, 'Man I hope the dumb, stupid ones fight me first so I can get them out of the way. No matter when I fight Shino or Shikamaru it's going to suck because they're already thinking on how to beat me. I hope I get someone like Kiba or Neji first, they might still underestimate me and I can just run right through them.'

Kyuubi was seemingly getting excited as the time for the fights drew nearer, "Hey kit, are you going to use the trigger?"

Naruto paled, 'Hell no I'm not using the trigger! Not here in front of all of these people, and not on genin! Are you insane? That would kill them!'

Naruto could feel the grin on the Kyuubi's face, "I know."

Naruto shook his head free of thoughts just as an unmistakable shade of green entered the scene.

XxX

Gai, glistening smile included, ambled into the stadium with Rock Lee on crutches, an uncaring looking Neji, and Tenten who actually waved at Naruto. Eyes widening, as he didn't really expect that, he gave her a small smile and waved back to her.

Kurenai was still mad at Asuma for taking this so casually, "Gai, I hope you informed your students about what was going on today."

Gai gave her a thumbs up, "Of course I did. It would have been a crime not to let my adorable students know that they would have an opportunity to fight today. My only regret is that Lee-kun here could not have a chance to test his flames of youth against Naruto-kun!"

Neji ignored the continued ramblings of Gai and Lee and looked over to the placid blonde under the tree. Taking note of his new look and the sword strapped to his back Neji narrowed his eyes, 'Why are we all here just to fight Naruto?'

At 10:24 on the dot guess who managed to find his way into the arena. Being dragged by Sasuke, Kakashi let out a nervous eye-smile, "Sorry we were almost late. I accidentally covered both my eyes with my headband this morning and by the time I thought about it I was on top of the Hokage Monument."

Sasuke growled at the excuse while Sakura shook her head, "Then you should have seen the massive banner up there telling everyone about this."

Kakashi smiled at her, "Ah, but I did, that's why I found you two remember?"

Tsunade, with Shizune behind her arrived with a dead-pan expression on her face, "This isn't the kind of thing that I'm going to have to get used to with you Kakashi is it?"

Kakashi smiled at her, "No, no… I'm usually much later."

After a round of face-faults all around Tsunade straightened up and faced the audience, projecting her voice to be easily heard, "Ladies and gentlemen of Konohagakure no Sato, today we have a special attraction for all of you. You will get to see some of the most prominent genin in this village pitted against one lone genin in today's battles."

She pointed out to the tree where Naruto had long since stood up and begun loosening up, "The sole genin in question is Naruto Uzumaki!"

A chorus of boos rang out among the audience until Naruto used the technique Tsunade had used to project her voice, "Aww shut the hell up! You miserable bastards…"

Tsunade sweat-dropped at Naruto's dismissal of the crowd, "Right… Well then, the rules will be as follows. A one-on-one bout between Naruto and one of the genin to be selected by their sensei. If Naruto can defeat the opponent he is matched with he will be matched up with the next, and so on, and so forth until he is either defeated or runs through them all." She finished with a smirk.

She motioned for someone to walk over, "The proctor for the bouts will be Anko Mitarashi." Anko came from the back smirking at the genin whose fights she would be refereeing. She turned to look out at Naruto, who was still stretching, 'Alright gaki, you've talked a big game and Ibiki seems convinced, let's see what you've got.'

Tsunade turned to the jounin who were conferencing amongst themselves, "So have you decided who is first?"

They all nodded as Asuma stepped and whispered their decision in her ear. Tsunade nodded and re-projected her voice, "The first bout will be Naruto Uzumaki vs. Sakura Haruno! All others clear the arena immediately!"

All of the other genin and their sensei's made their way to the waiting area to watch the proceedings along with Tsunade.

As they cleared out it left Naruto standing out with Sakura and Anko. Naruto sighed and looked at Sakura, "Do you really want to do this? You can always just quit now."

Sakura glared at him, "Are you saying that I'm too weak to fight you? I'm the same ranking as you, and I graduated at the top of the class, you were dead-last."

Naruto's eyes didn't leave her, "I didn't say you were weak, you did, you're just weaker than me. And about the academy… I guess I could say, that everything I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarden."

Anko looked between them, "First match, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Sakura Haruno. Hajime!"

XxX

Tsunade looked at the jounin as Naruto and Sakura moved close to Anko to begin, "Why did you choose Sakura to lead off?"

Kakashi looked at her lazily, "Well we figured that while Naruto probably would more than likely win against her we were banking on him taking it somewhat easy on her due to her being on his team and all."

Asuma nodded, "It's common knowledge that he had a massive crush on her in the academy and even when they were assigned teams. We thought that this would force him to take some damage before kicking it in high gear to actively finish her."

FWAP!

"Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki!"

"WHAT!"

XxX

Naruto looked down at the unconscious Sakura at his feet and then at Anko who was poking her with a stick. Anko looked up at Naruto and grinned widely, "Damn gaki, what was that for?"

Naruto shrugged, "What? That was a love-tap! She just came rushing in with that academy cookie-cutter style of taijutsu, and she had her guard so wide open. It was a jab! Who knew she had the chin of a 5 year old narcolepsy patient?" Anko burst out in laughter at the casual way he handled that.

Medics came out and carried her off quickly, clearing the arena once more.

Naruto shook his head at the results of his first match. He looked up to the jounin with a dead-pan expression, "What the hell was that? I really hope you've got more for me than that or you can just mark me down as winning this whole thing right now!"

Anko tried to calm herself down from her laughing fit, "Kakashi, that was pathetic. Was she supposed to actually do something out here against him? I don't think she could beat an academy student fighting like that."

XxX

Tsunade had to laugh at how easily Naruto dealt with his 'crush' as she saw the jounin looking on in surprise. Kakashi rubbed his visible eye, "I… didn't think it would be that fast."

Asuma chuckled at Kakashi's expression, "Why, what happened? I blinked and I missed it."

Kurenai looked at Kakashi suspiciously, "Kakashi… That looked like a strictly academy attack. Have you taught her anything since she was on your team?"

Kakashi thought about it, "Define 'anything'."

Tsunade sighed, "Alright that was a waste of an introduction… Who's next?" Shizune handed Tsunade the order that the jounin had written out, "Okay, Ino Yamanaka! Get down there."

XxX

Naruto squinted to see Ino coming out to face him next. Naruto grumbled under his breath, "So I'm getting all of the weak ones first? Okay, let's deal with that." Naruto hadn't moved an inch from his first fight so he simply stood and waited for Ino to take her position.

Ino looked at Naruto smirking at him, "I'm not as pathetic as Forehead Naruto. Just give up, you won't beat me." At a glance Ino realized that Naruto's blue eyes were boring into her own without a hint of response.

On the inside however, one could find Naruto rolling with laughter alongside the Kyuubi, 'She really thinks she can beat me! Are you kidding me? Hey Kyuubi are you ready?'

Kyuubi stopped laughing at the behest of its container, "Anytime kit. Go for it."

Anko raised her hand up, "Second match, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Ino Yamanaka! Hajime!"

Ino tensed and waited for Naruto to move, but it never came, "Aren't you going to fight me Naruto?"

Naruto shook his head, "There's no point for me to attack you, it would be overkill seeing as how no matter what you did I could beat you in one move."

Ino gritted her teeth, "Oh yeah?" She brought her hands up in the famous sign of her family.

XxX

Inoichi Yamanaka who had come to watch the fights alongside his teammates felt his heart stop when she made that sign, "Ino no!"

XxX

"Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind-Body Switch Jutsu)!" Naruto didn't move as Ino let her spirit fly into his own. Upon contact Naruto slumped over.

XxX

Kiba shook his head and laughed as he saw Naruto go limp, "He actually stood still and let Ino hit him with that move? He was watching during the chunin exam like the rest of us, he should know what it does!"

Shikamaru nodded, "I was worried at first. I didn't know how Ino was going to get him to hold still to hit him with it, but he did most of the work for her."

Asuma however wasn't so confident, 'Oh Ino that was not a good idea…'

XxX

Anko walked over to Naruto's slumped over body and poked him in the head, "Hello? Which one of you brats is in there?"

Naruto stood up straight, "It's me. Ino is in there being 'entertained' in the confines of my mind."

Anko shook her head, "That's mean gaki. You know why that isn't safe don't you?"

Naruto scoffed as he took out some ninja wire and walked towards Ino's body, "Well it was her own damn fault. No one told her to try and mind-rape me, but she did anyway. It's not my problem that the only jutsu she knows isn't a battle jutsu." He began tying her up casually, "Call it."

Anko nodded, "Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki!"

After hearing that Ino broke out in a scream as she returned to her own body babbling about massacres and torture and all kinds of things. Naruto raised an eyebrow as the medic team escorted her off, 'Kyuubi what the hell did you do to her?'

Kyuubi was batting its tails in a pleased fashion, "Well kit, you told me not to kill her or maim her so I simply 'directed' her to some of your older memories. You know, tried to show her just what a real shinobi is."

Naruto felt like rubbing his temple, 'What older memories?'

Naruto knew the Kyuubi was having fun with this, "Just all of the fun ones. Like that time at Kuminari no Kuni for example..."

Naruto blanched, 'Kuminari no Kuni! Do you know how many of those motherfuckers I killed back there? You showed her ones like that? I think you might have given her PTSD or something? You know they'll blame us for that right?'

Kyuubi chuckled, "Well you did let me do it, so I think technically it is our fault anyway."

Naruto ambled back over to Anko, 'I hate you…'

"Love you too kit."

XxX

The jounin in the waiting area all had grimaces on their faces. Naruto intentionally allowed Ino to use Shintenshin no Jutsu on him knowing that he had something of a natural defense for it. Kakashi looked at Ino being carried away, "Well that's two down and he didn't even have to do anything to win…"

Kurenai was a bit more upbeat about the whole situation, "Well at least next match I know he'll have to fight."

Asuma looked at the fight order and nodded, "There's no way he gets out of this one without some damage on him."

Tsunade glanced at them briefly, "Send whoever it is down then."

Kurenai walked off to fetch the next genin to fight.

XxX

Naruto was once again standing by Anko who was looking at him, "You know gaki, if you actually want to get promoted from this then you're eventually going to have to, I don't know, fight?"

Naruto smirked at her, "You're just bored."

Anko waved her arms childishly, "You're damn right I'm bored! You haven't moved twelve steps since this whole thing started. I expected some action, you've just ended up fighting two little girls that I could beat while I was hog-tied."

Naruto frowned, "Well yeah, they suck. That's why I didn't try fighting them. Why waste energy beating them when I could let them beat themselves?"

Anko pouted, "I wish someone would come out here to kick your ass so I can enjoy myself."

Naruto chuckled, "Keep on dreaming snake lady. I'm doing this to prove a point if you didn't know. I'm proving that they can't beat me, that kind of implies that none of them are going to get a good fight out of me."

Naruto noticed someone coming from the tunnel for his next fight.

XxX

Choji and Shikamaru watched Ino being carried off after Naruto was declared the winner. Choji was watching in shock as Naruto had shrugged off her family technique like it was nothing, "Shikamaru, what just happened? Ino hit him with Shintenshin didn't she?"

Shikamaru nodded, "Yeah, she hit him head-on, she was in there good. He must have a strong will like Sakura had to break out of it or something."

Choji nodded, "But what about all of that stuff she was screaming? Slaughters, tortures, beatings? What does all of that stuff mean?"

Shikamaru watched Naruto retake his spot, "I don't know but we have a real concern right now. We don't know who's fighting him after this. Look at him, he hasn't had to do anything at all and he's already won two fights."

Asuma walked up behind them and placed a hand on their shoulders, "Don't worry guys, he's fighting Kiba next. Even if he doesn't lose, Kiba will wear him down enough for the next fight."

XxX

Kiba was smirking as he set Akamaru down beside him, "Finally, time for my rematch Naruto! You won last time, but you can't do it twice, I'm getting my win back!"

Naruto said nothing and looked to Anko to start the fight, "Match three, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kiba Inuzuka! Hajime!"

"Shikyaku no Jutsu (Four Legs Technique)!" Kiba crouched down on all fours as his features became even more feral. This was all well and good for about three seconds until a blue shinobi sandal implanted itself under his chin and sent him flying backwards.

Akamaru ran to his master, barking frantically as Kiba slowly pulled himself to his feet. Kiba shakily stood up, "Yeah, yeah, I'm alright boy, he just caught me off guard." He looked up to reveal that Naruto was nowhere in sight. Kiba chuckled before jumping out of the way as a pair of hands broke through the ground he was standing on.

Kiba laughed as he dodged the hands, "I thought I told you last time! I can smell you dobe! You can't sneak up on me!" His gloating was cut short as a sharp pain in his back sent him flying forward. Looking up from the ground he saw Naruto standing with his leg extended in a kick. He turned towards the underground figure to see the hands explode into smoke.

Kiba stood up and glared at him, "I had your scent! Where were you? There was no way you could get the drop on me!"

Naruto lowered his leg and gazed out coolly at Kiba, "You should quit out of principle. If this was a real fight then I would have killed you just now." Kiba growled at Naruto while he just looked at him, "Just because you can identify that I'm in the area means jack shit if I'm too fast for you to pinpoint my location."

Kiba hurriedly grabbed a pill from his pocket and threw it at Akamaru, remembering his opening troubles when it came to moving too slow. The little dog turned red after swallowing the pill while Kiba provided him some of his chakra, "Juujin Bunshin (Man-Beast Clone)!" Kiba pulled out his smoke bombs and threw them at Naruto, engulfing him in smoke, "Remember this Naruto! Well here we go again!" Kiba and the transformed Akamaru ran at the smoke and jumped towards it, "Gatsuuga (Dual Piercing Fang)!"

After the twin drills tore through the smoke until it dissipated Kiba and Akamaru stood in the smoke, sans Naruto, dumbfounded… and surrounded by kunai.

Naruto came from his spot in the tree over to them. Kiba saw him walking up with his hands in a hand-sign and tried to charge and attack him before running into an invisible barrier that threw him back and numbed his body, "What the hell is this?"

Naruto made some more hand-signs before stopping halfway through the last one, "You should surrender. This is going to suck for you."

Kiba bared his teeth at him, "Answer me! What did you do!"

Naruto shook his head, "It's not what I did, it's what I'm going to do. Last chance, I'm not supposed to really be trying to kill you guys and this jutsu has the potential to do it."

Kiba and Akamaru just kept trying to break through his barrier. Naruto shrugged and made the last hand sign, "Your funeral, "Raiton: Denki Hokai (Lightning Release: Electric Implosion)."

The electric prison glowed white within until it was blindingly bright before the sounds of sharp crackling rang out. Naruto held the final hand-sign for ten seconds before he finally released it, revealing Kiba and Akamaru both unconscious and suffering from electric burns.

Naruto walked over and picked up his kunai as Anko checked Kiba and Akamaru's vitals. She sighed in relief upon finding they were still alive and looked at Naruto who was pocketing his kunai. Naruto shrugged, "What? I asked him if he wanted to surrender. Did he think that anything I did from that point wouldn't mess him up?"

Anko gave him a dry look, "You know you kids aren't supposed to kill each other out here."

Naruto gave her one in response, "He's still breathing isn't he? If I wanted to kill him you could have replaced those kicks I landed at the start with my sword."

Anko shook her head and smirked, "Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto glanced at Kiba being placed on a stretcher and returned to the center of the arena, "And that's roughly one-third of them down." Naruto turned up towards the jounin and gestured towards Kiba who was being carried off, "Get the point yet? Because before I could swear that you all missed it!"

XxX

Kurenai was stunned. The first time Naruto beat Kiba it was surprising. She had thought it impossible then, but now more than realized that he was capable of it. It was how easily he beat Kiba this time around, Kiba didn't lay a finger on him the entire time.

Kurenai clutched the order sheet as she marked off Kiba's name. Tsunade noticed that the crowd was perplexed. They had all been told that Naruto had no talent as a ninja and here he was decimating the best ninja in his class, all of whom except one belonged to prominent clans.

Kakashi moved closer to Tsunade, "Tsunade-sama, it seems like you expected this to happen. Is there something that you know that we all don't?"

Tsunade grinned smugly at Kakashi, "Why Kakashi? Isn't he on your team? Shouldn't his jounin sensei have an idea of what goes on with his students?"

Kakashi was not in the mood for games, "Tsunade-sama, seriously. This Naruto is nothing like the one I was conditioned for when he was assigned to my squad. Something has happened and I can tell you know what is going on."

Tsunade turned to Kakashi and gave him a serious look, "Listen Hatake, all I am at liberty to really say about the matter is that Naruto has rediscovered his potential. This is the real Naruto, if you want to find out about him then go and ask him yourself. If this keeps up he won't be yours to command for much longer anyway."

XxX

Naruto immediately put his game face on when he realized who he was to fight next, "Okay, pop-warner time is over, time to get serious…"

Shino walked out calmly from the back with his hands in his pockets as he moved up to Anko in a calculated manner. Anko elbowed Naruto in a teasing fashion, "Well well now wonder-gaki. How are you going to handle this one?"

'No clue… with those bugs on him I won't be able to hide. I wouldn't be surprised if he had one on me already.' Naruto spoke under his breath as Shino drew close, "I'll let you know when I figure it out myself."

Shino stopped in front of Naruto as Anko looked between them, "Fourth match, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Shino Aburame! Hajime!"

Shino snapped his arms out in his taijutsu stance as did Naruto out of obligation. Naruto stared him down intently as he could feel Shino doing the same from behind his sunglasses. Both boys simply waited for the other to move in order to prepare a counter.

After a few minutes of no movement Naruto moved back quickly as Shino released his swarms of insects at him. Beginning his retreat from Shino, Naruto's mind was running a mile-a-minute trying to come up with a good plan to beat Shino, 'He won't move, all he has to do is get those damnable bugs on me and he can beat me. He might not even be standing there anymore, it could just be a Mushi Bunshin (Bug Clone). This is one of those situations where I wish someone was underestimating me.'

Naruto kept on his heels as Shino kept sending his kikaichu out at him, 'What can I do? I can't get close or I'll get swarmed. There's no way I can surround him with kunai to trap him after he's already seen it. Come on, what else do I have up my sleeve?'

Naruto tossed out shuriken in a probing move. Shino simply raised a wall of insects to block easily until Naruto clapped his hands together, "Fuuton Repuushoo (Wind Release: Violent Wind Palm)." The gust coming from Naruto sped up the spinning shuriken and cut right through the wall of bugs. Shino took the hit and turned partly into bugs.

The real Shino then appeared from the tree nearby and sicced more of his bugs on Naruto. Naruto's eye gleamed as he judged the distance between him and Shino and simply rushed him.

Naruto had closed the distance by simply bullying his way through Shino's wall of insects and continued storming towards Shino. Shino attempted to latch the remaining bugs he had on his person onto Naruto, but the drain from the few amount of insects was similar to taking a bucket to scoop out a lake. Naruto viciously rocketed his fist into Shino's face. Naruto's punch dropped Shino cleanly as his kikaichu retreated into his body to help run damage control.

Anko wandered over with a grin on her face, "Shousa, the miracle gaki, Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto sighed as he picked himself up and walked over to Anko who was still grinning, "That was an ugly win gaki. Your right hand is pretty nasty."

Naruto settled himself in his usual waiting position, "A win is a win. Shino was my worst possible match-up and I'm just lucky that he was just a rookie or else I would have been screwed and had to step it up. He needs to learn more techniques."

Anko was getting interested in this kid, "So you're saying the rest of the fights will be easy?"

Naruto smirked, "They'll all be easy, that one was just tough by comparison to what the majority of them will be."

XxX

Shikamaru watched the medics carrying off Shino and had to let out a groan, "How troublesome… He fought four of us and he still isn't tired yet…"

Neji who had been silently appraising Naruto's fighting since the start of the test looked out at the boy in a thinking fashion, "I lost to him last time, and now it seems as if he has only grown in leaps and bounds since then, and he has yet to even draw the sword on his back yet."

Tenten who had been next to her teammate throughout the proceedings was amazed by how well he was fighting, "Where did all of this come from? No one has even touched him yet. I wonder who could be next?"

Rock Lee had fire in his eyes, "Oh were it not for my injuries I could test my own youth against Naruto-kun's considerable flames! I will seek him out for a spar once I recover and I cannot I will do 500 fingertip push-ups, and if I cannot do that then I will-."

"Lee enough." Neji stopped that train before it got rolling, "We've seen four fights and I still can't pinpoint a viable set label for him. If I had to call him anything I would say he is a mid-to-close range specialist."

Tenten smirked at Neji, "Wow Neji, I don't seem to recall you trying to analyze Naruto's fighting style the first time you two fought."

Neji gave her a small smirk back, "That's why I lost the first time."

Sasuke was standing alone gnashing his teeth as he watched Naruto basically sleepwalking through his matches, 'When is it my turn? I want my opportunity to fight the dobe. Itachi wanted something with Naruto. All of that emotion in his face, it was all directed at him! He barely considered me at all! If I can beat Naruto then it will prove that I deserve Itachi's notice more.'

The genin all had their attention drawn as Shizune arrived to summon the next one for their turn against Naruto.

XxX

Naruto and Anko were in the midst of a short conversation as they waited for Naruto's next opponent, "So your style consists mostly of you slowing your enemy down and picking them apart by striking at the throat, groin, and other 'soft' areas?"

Anko nodded with a gleeful look on her face, "Yep, it's really unpleasant. Want to see?"

Naruto unconsciously grabbed his groin, "Nope, I'm good. Who's next?"

Anko pointed at the tunnel to get him to look.

Naruto followed her line of vision to see Tenten entering from the tunnel, "Okay, number five… Let's do this."

Tenten walked up to Naruto and faced him down, "I'm pretty nervous about this. You aren't a pushover Naruto. I might not win this but I'll give it my best shot!"

Naruto slid into his stance, "And that's all you can really do in the end. Don't sell yourself short, anyone can beat anyone."

Anko raised her hand, "The fifth match, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Tenten! Hajime!"

Tenten immediately brandished kunai and began tossing them out at Naruto. In the blink of an eye Naruto drew his blade and blocked the projectiles before rushing in to attack. Upon seeing him draw his blade Tenten pulled out a scroll and summoned her own sword to engage Naruto with up close.

As Naruto and Tenten clashed swords he had to chuckle, "A katana… You just wanted that spar you asked me for didn't you?"

Tenten smirked, "I have to see if you're any good at swinging that thing around."

Naruto returned the smirk as he began pressing her back. Tenten planted her feet but ended up being pushed through the dirt, 'Gah, this strength… It's ridiculous! He might be stronger than Lee!'

Tenten lashed out with a kick as she chose to break off their contact that Naruto slapped aside with the flat of his blade, "That's your leg Tenten. Don't be so quick to attack, it pays to be somewhat patient."

Tenten growled and ran back in to trade steel with Naruto again. Every stroke of her blade was blocked or parried and Naruto refused to take advantage of the openings that followed. Tenten disengaged and stomped on the ground in frustration, "Why are you so good at this? You just got that thing last month!"

Naruto stood straight up and looked at her, "I told you I was an old hand at this. You use a lot of weapons, but have you mastered any? I'm no master, but I was pretty good at this, plus I'm faster and stronger than you, so I can do stuff like-."

Naruto vanished and slipped behind her quickly to knock her out with the handle of his blade, "-This." He caught her before she hit the ground and set her down gently, "You should have stuck with the long-range stuff. You would have lost anyway, but up close is almost tantamount to suicide against a guy like me, unless your name is Rock Lee or Neji, they're the only ones that can hang with me up close."

Anko pointed to Naruto, "Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki! …Man I am getting sick of saying that…"

Naruto smirked at Anko, "Well then convince the other five genin to quit."

Anko shook her head, "You took your sweet time with that one gaki, why not just do that from the start?"

Naruto shrugged, "Hey, I get bored too you know. She had a sword, I did too, it clicked… or clanged. Who's left anyway?"

XxX

Asuma was dumbfounded as he watched yet another genin fall by his hand, "What is he? How could he possibly be so good? He was just playing with her the entire time. No genin could possibly fight like that."

Kurenai checked Tenten off of the list, "Five down, five to go, this is absurd. He's running right through them all. He hasn't had a single fight that lasted more than five minutes."

Kakashi had gotten used to Naruto whooping ass on the genin and was still trying to sort out just what made him this way, 'Did Jiraiya do this during the month he was with him? What am I missing here?'

Asuma threw his hands in the air, "Send out the next one, there has to be someone who can beat him."

XxX

Naruto was mulling his potential opponents around in his head when his next one entered. Naruto saw the unmistakable expression of one Shikamaru Nara coming his way.

Shikamaru took a lax stance in front of Naruto as Anko looked at his expression, "Geez kid, could you look any more excited to be here? The seventh match, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Shikamaru Nara! Hajime!"

Shikamaru scratched his head and made his rat seal, "That's because I don't want to be here. There's no reason to fight here. At least during the chunin exams I had to fight to avoid getting hurt, to get my team to the next stages, and if I had been motivated, fight to get promoted. There's no reason to fight you, there's nothing to gain or lose. This whole thing is so troublesome…"

Naruto put his hand on his neck and rolled it around , "So… quit."

Shikamaru shrugged, "Alright, later." Shikamaru turned and headed back up the tunnel waving over his shoulder.

Anko blinked a few times, "Wow kid. Just… wow."

Naruto blinked at Shikamaru's retreating form, "Holy crap, I just took a freakin' shot in the dark. I had no idea that would actually work, I'm awesome!"

Anko snapped out of her stupor, "Right, well… Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki!"

XxX

In the stands, Choza Akimichi and Inoichi Yamanaka sweat-dropped at the results of the 'fight'. Choza looked over to his longtime partner Shikaku, "Your boy is more like you than you care to mention Shikaku."

Shikaku shrugged, "Hey, have you been watching this crap like I have? He didn't have a chance to win and he knew it. Naruto gave him a way out. The kid must be getting tired of this."

Inoichi nodded, "We've already determined that he can wipe the floor with all of our kids so why are we still here?"

Choza chuckled, "Speak for yourselves. He still hasn't fought Choji yet. There are still kids that can fight. This isn't over by a long shot."

XxX

Tenten, who had woken up shortly after her fight with Naruto, looked at Shikamaru with a twitching eyebrow, "You quit…"

Shikamaru yawned as he made his way to the railing, "I didn't see any reason to fight."

Neji frowned at his attitude, "To prove yourself to all of the ninja and people in attendance. For your clan's honor."

Shikamaru looked over at Neji lazily, "There's no point. You might think all of that clan honor stuff is a big deal, but me, not so much. I didn't want to do this in the first place, and seeing how he's handled everyone else so far just solidified the fact that I really don't want to fight that kid."

Sasuke scoffed, "You're just too lazy to fight."

Shikamaru glared at Sasuke, "I did fight. I trapped him in Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possesion Jutsu) the second the fight started. When he rolled his neck he didn't show any resistance at all. My control over the technique isn't enough for me to keep a hold over a certain amount of brute force, the light out here was too much for me to use it effectively, it's around noon, and he didn't even blink. That jutsu is all I had on him, I couldn't have won."

XxX

Asuma was hitting his head on the wall, "Damn Shikamaru. I should have known he would do that shit. Why didn't I put him on sooner?"

Tsunade was hanging on the railing laughing, "Well at least he knows when he's outmatched, maybe he should be a chunin Asuma?"

Kurenai checked his name off, "Six down, four to go." Her eyes widened when she saw who was next on the list, "Oh no. I didn't think it would get this far."

XxX

"Jan-!"

"-Ken-!"

"-Pon!"

Anko pouted at the results, "You brat…"

Naruto slapped Anko's closed fist, "It's not my fault you always choose rock Anko."

Anko kissed her fist, "Ahh good old rock, nothing beats that."

Naruto sweat-dropped, "Yeah, sure… why not?" Naruto growled in frustration, "Kami! When's the next fight? I want to finish kicking everybody's ass so I can get my promotion and go home!"

Anko looked behind Naruto and turned him around, "Oh, Hinata's next I guess."

Naruto jumped backwards and set himself in his stance. Hinata shakily set herself in her Jyuuken stance and looked out at him, "N-Naruto-kun."

Naruto's eyes hardened, "Talk later, fight now. Come on Hinata, bring it on."

Naruto's eyes bored into hers. Analyzing everything he could find, stripping her bare, 'This isn't Naruto-kun. His eyes have never been so cold before. There's none of the warmth there was before, just strength, strength that I can't match!'

Anko noticed the fidgeting of the girl, 'This girl is going to get destroyed if she doesn't shape up. This gaki will be ruthless once the fight starts.' She lifted her hand, "Seventh match, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Hinata Hyuuga! Hajime!"

Naruto wasted no time and dashed in to deliver a hook to Hinata's body and a side-kick to her head, sending her to the ground quickly. Hinata laid on the ground with her eyes welling with tears, 'Naruto-kun. Could you really hurt me like this? What happened to you?'

"Get up."

Her eyes turned onto the boy in question who was patiently standing and waiting for her to get up to continue, "There is no way that that was enough to put you down so get up and fight me. Don't lay down and quit, I can accept that from Shikamaru but not you, I thought you had more in you than that."

He began pacing as she remained on the ground, "I remember watching you fight Neji, and I remember how you fought him. Yes, he was more skilled than you, but you showed fire, you showed that you have drive, and you showed that you have the courage to fight." He stopped and looked at her, "Not now I have to say."

She locked eyes with him again and tried to find the Naruto she had come to love during the days in the academy and again found nothing, none of the upbeat, positive, bright Naruto she had known back then. This one was serious, professional, with the eyes of someone who knew just what kind of world he was living in, the scar simply added on to that. She began to stir from the ground and looked at him defiantly, "You're not Naruto-kun…"

Naruto jerked an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

Hinata's eyes sharpened as she raised her voice, "You're not Naruto-kun! Naruto-kun never acted like this, never spoke down to people, he would never use techniques like he used on Kiba-kun. Who are you?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed at her insinuation, "Oh I get it. I don't have my head in the clouds and can see things around me for what they are so I'm not Naruto. I can find people's flaws and will actually comment on them openly so I'm not Naruto. I'm actually skilled enough to use more techniques than Kage Bunshin and they don't put me in direct danger so I'm not Naruto."

Naruto saw her falter with every word he made, "I know why you're so upset about it."

Her eyes widened, 'D-Does he really know? How did he find out?'

Naruto nodded to himself, "You probably saw me as I was in the academy and liked my never say die attitude, how I always got back up and shrugged off what everyone did and said to me. You figured, 'There's no way anyone can take all of that and still smile and keep on trying.' So you thought I was strong." Naruto saw her react as if solidifying his thoughts, "Well that statement would be accurate. No one can keep on going through all of that and keep smiling, unless you're brain-dead or something."

Her reaction was priceless, he jaw dropped before she began speaking rapidly trying to rescind the previous thought. Naruto raised a hand for her to stop, "This is me. I'm still strong like I was back then, I'm just not willing to take bullshit like I was back then. Taking people's shit and coming back for more with a grin doesn't make you strong, it makes you stupid and weak. The reason people like you and people like me tend to want to get strong is to prove others wrong to spite them, or to get strong enough that no one ever tries to fuck with you again."

Naruto pointed at her, "That's what you want. You want strength for the second reason. You do, even if it's subtle. You never want anyone to treat you the way Neji treated you during the preliminaries again, which by the way you act and the way you almost took it laying down must happen regularly. You want to be left to do things your own way, for those in stations above you to just let you be to live your life, but you quit. You saw me taking all my lumps in the academy and getting back up and you didn't want to put the work in anymore, you wanted to settle for the 'strength' to just deal with what life handed you, you didn't know that it's impossible for a human being to take that the way I did, and I became an ideal to you, an unreachable paragon."

Hinata looked up with tear-filled eyes, "No that's not true! It isn't… I looked up to you as someone to be like, someone to strive after-."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Like a paragon."

Hinata shook her head, "No, not like that. It's because I-I…. admire you."

Naruto caught on and spoke lowly, "You don't admire me Hinata. You admire the idea of me, or the old me I should say. If you had me then you thought that it wouldn't matter if you could never get the desire you had of just being able to deal, that if you had me that I could lend you enough of my own to get you by. Don't do that. I'm not your golden ticket, I'm not the answer to your problems, I'm just a guy with a sword and a whole can of whoop-ass."

He spoke up now, "If you want me to teach you how to fight, or how to get stronger, I can't do that, and I can't take your problems away from you. Do you know why?"

Hinata shook her head, tears were just about to fall. Naruto smiled sadly, "Because you can't respect someone that kisses your ass. Hinata, you didn't even try to fight my reasoning for why you thought you saw something in me, you were too afraid to go against me. What if that manifests again in something else later on and I'm not there for you to get a boost from? If you won't defend yourself to me, the person you admire, then how can you defend yourself against others when I'm not even there?"

Naruto sighed and ran his fingers through his spiky hair, "Enough of this. This really isn't the time or the place for this kind of thing. This is the time for a fight, now come, give me your best."

Hinata let tears fall from her eyes. Naruto had yet to slip into his uncaring phase before he saw them hit the ground, "Hinata!"

Her eyes floated up to him once more, "Prove me wrong then. Show me I'm full of shit. Take an actual step towards changing yourself and fight me damn it! Don't just go with the flow, your life won't let you do that! The things you need and want to accomplish in this world won't just come to you, no one's going to hand you the answers. Everything you want… it's there! So take it!" Despite the harshness of his words she looked into his eyes and saw something, concern, something that she had overlooked earlier.

The fox in Naruto's head chuckled, "Nice monologue ningen, you should write movie scripts."

Naruto inwardly sneered, 'Fuck you Kyuubi that was serious. She needs to get it together, life is way harder than this.'

Hinata looked shocked for a moment before she wiped her eyes and fell into her stance, activating her Byakugan to begin. Naruto motioned for her to come and she ran in quickly and began to furiously engage him with Jyuuken strikes, 'He's right. I need to show that I'm willing to change for good, not just when the situation calls for it. I'll show you Naruto-kun!'

Despite the potential damage the strikes could deal with just a touch, Naruto was still faster. He was blocking the strikes with the palms of his hands rather than letting her close off his teneketsu otherwise.

Eventually Naruto tired of blocking strikes and shot an axe-kick to her hand in the middle of a strike. The kick ended up breaking her hand. She drew it back and tried a second attack with her other hand, this time Naruto latched on and elbowed her in the wrist, breaking it.

Naruto jumped back as she cried out in pain. He simply stared her down, 'Okay… What are you going to do now? Will you walk away?'

Hinata hissed in pain of her now useless hands but soon set a defiant gaze on Naruto and charged back in to lash out with kicks. Naruto was pleasantly surprised with her last ditch attacks and marveled at the fact that she was flexible enough to launch certain kicks that he knew shouldn't have been possible for the angles he was moving to.

Naruto nodded to himself and slapped one of her kicks down to the ground and ducked down before delivering a rising palm-strike under her chin, sending her flying and slipping her into unconsciousness, 'That's better, now let's see if you can keep that spirit this time around.'

As her body hit the ground Naruto sighed and walked towards Anko who simply nodded, "Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto retook his position by Anko who was frowning at him, "Nai-chan is going to kill you when this is all over you know that right? She loves that little girl like a daughter."

Naruto looked up at Kurenai who was glaring heavily at him, he could have sworn she was trying to cast a genjutsu on him via eye-contact but he shook it off, "Well then I should never have had to do that. She should have gotten her on track way before she fought me here. Except for Tenten all of these girls need a reality check if my ass-kickings didn't already do it."

Naruto looked up to the box, "All of you guys suck! I hope the last three can show something here, I haven't even taken a punch yet! I guess I'm not the only genin that got shafted by their sensei here huh!"

Anko looked Naruto over, "Getting tired yet gaki?"

Naruto shook his head, "Nope, just getting warmed up Anko-san."

Anko grinned at him, "None of that –san stuff gaki, it's Anko-chan to you. You're one interesting kid."

Naruto kept himself limber waiting for his next fight, "Whatever you say Anko-san."

Jutsu List

Raiton: Denki Hokai (Lightning Release: Electric Implosion). B-rank Ninjutsu. Mid-to-close range. A branching technique from Raiton: Denkai. Causes a build-up of electric pressure within the conducting points in the shape of a dome. The pressure pushes down on the victim and combines with the electric nature of the jutsu to compress and shock the enemy.