Chunin Finals I

It was finally the day of the finals and all the participants were already in the stadium. Naruto was the first one to notice that there was one person that hasn't shown up for the finals of the Chunin exams.

"Hmm? Where Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"That mummy guy isn't here either." Shikamaru said.

"Sasuke is probably finishing the last bit of his training. His fight is probably one of the ones that the spectators most want to watch." Hiroki said.

"Hey, you guys over there." Genma said as he looked at the three that were talking.

"Throw out your chests and show our faces to the spectators."

Everyone then heard the crowd cheering crazily while they looked up.

"You guys are the stars of this final round!"

Not long later, Hiroki notice the Kazekage walking up to his chair right next to Hiruzen's as the two greeted each other while talking about their shinobi. Not long later, another Kage walked towards them. It was Mei Terumi, the fifth Mizukage of Kirigakure.

"Ah! The new Mizukage has joined us. Welcome to Konoha." Hiruzen said as he smiled at Mei.

"Thank you. Fortunately, I finished dealing with the important tasks at Kiri in time for the finals of the chunin exams." She said as she smiled at Hiruzen and sat down on the chair to his right.

Back to the contestants of the finals, Hiroki had a smirk on his face as he noticed that Orochimaru's expression had changed.

"Everyone, thank you very much for coming to Konoha's Chunin Exam. We will now begin the final round matches for those that made it through the preliminaries. Please watch until the end." Hiruzen said as he laced his voice in chakra and then sat down as the crowd cheered again.

"I have something to tell you before the match. Look at this." Genma said as he took out a piece of paper that showed the tables of the final round.

"There was a slight change to the tournament. Check who you'll be facing one more time."

Hiroki noticed that everyone was wondering what had happened to Dosu.

"Listen up. The terrain is different, but the rule is that there are no rules, the same as the preliminaries. The matches will continue until one or the other dies, or acknowledges defeat. However, if I judge that it has been settled, I'll stop the match there. Arguments will not be allowed. Understood?" Genma asked as he looked at everyone and saw that they didn't have any questions about that.

"So the first match is Naruto versus Neji. You two remain and the rest of young to the waiting room." Genma said.

Hiroki was the first one to begin walking away as the others followed behind. He then stopped and looked back at Naruto.

"Naruto, go hard, but don't kill or maim him. He's still a shinobi from Konoha." Hiroki said.

"Yeah, yeah. I won't do that. I'll just clobber him enough to make him regret the words he said about me and Hinata." Naruto said with a serious face as he looked at Neji.

Neji, who had been sent to the hospital at the time in the preliminaries after Naruto punched him, didn't underestimate the blond anymore. He knew that fight wouldn't be easy.

After the participants walked to the waiting room, Haku approached Hiroki.

"Who do you think will win?" She asked.

"Naruto." Hiroki said.

"You have faith in your teammate. And I know firsthand that he will win too." Haku said. She had suffered against Naruto when they fought on the bridge in Nami no Kuni.

"Not only that. Naruto has always been working hard. He's getting stronger by the day. Not to mention that his inherited some amazing abilities from his parents." Hiroki said.

"Huh? What do you mean? Isn't Naruto and orphan?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah, he is, but he still had parents. Unfortunately they died on the day he was born." Hiroki said as he looked down at the stage and saw that the fight was about to begin.

"Fight!" Genma said.

Naruto got into his stance and dashed towards Neji with his fastest speed and punched the Hyuga, who could only defend against Naruto's strikes. He had activated his Byakugan even before the match had started as he became serious. Naruto saw that Neji was barely being able to defend, lowered the level of the tags on his limbs, increasing his striking speed.

Neji who was receiving the strikes, noticed the change of speed and grit his teeth.

"I'm not going to lose!" Neji yelled as he began rotating his body as he coated it in chakra.

Naruto seeing that, stepped back as he sensed that Neji was using a technique. Neji's body was inside a dome of chakra that spun along with him. As Neji rotated, Naruto threw a kunai and saw that the dome repelled it as it came in contact with the dome.

"That's an interesting technique, Neji. But it won't be enough to stop me." Naruto said.

Neji stopped rotating as the dome disappeared.

"This is more than enough to stop you." Neji said.

"Is it so? Let's see about that." Naruto said as he made a few shadow clones and the clones ran towards Neji. Neji began rotating again as the clones threw shurikens and kunais at him and they were repelled over and over again.

"Enough of this!" Neji said as he stopped his rotation and then dashed towards Naruto who stood in place.

"Hakke Rokujūyon Shō" Neji said as he began striking Naruto and closing his tenketsu points.

"Proctor, it's over. He won't be able to continue fighting without any chakra." Neji said as he turned away.

"Hahaha. It'll take more than that to beat me." Naruto said as he made a hand seal and started using the Kyubi's chakra. Neji who was using his Byakugan, could see that Naruto's tenketsu points were returning to normal and that the color of his chakra had a different color. Naruto stopped focusing on building up his chakra and dashed towards Neji in a totally different speed as he became twice faster. Neji could see him, but couldn't react as Naruto punched him squares on the face, sending his towards the wall of the stadium. As the Hyuga hit the wall, spider cracks appeared due to the force that Naruto used.

"Use that some of yours again. I want to see if it can stop my Jutsu." Naruto said as he looked at Neji. His eyes now had the color of a dark orange-red.

Neji got out from the wall and he got into his stance. He was now feeling pain in some parts of his body due to the strong impact against the wall. He then grabbed some shuriken and threw them at Naruto, who dodged them effortlessly and appeared some distance behind Neji and threw some more kunais.

"His speed increased again." Shikamaru said.

"Kaiten!" Neji began rotating again as the dome repelled the kunais that Naruto threw. He noticed that Naruto was running towards him and didn't stop his technique.

"Rasengan!" Naruto said as he slammed the blue ball on his hand against Neji's dome, creating a large explosion and making a thick dust cloud rise, blocking everyone from seeing the outcome.

"What jutsu is that that Naruto used?" Sakura asked.

"It's one that he learned from his godfather." Hiroki said.

"His godfather? Who's that?" Sakura asked.

"It's a pervert that goes around on a big toad." Hiroki said as he chuckled.

"That jutsu... Yondaime-sama was know for creating it. How did Naruto's godfather teach it to him?" Shino asked.

"His godfather is Jiraiya of the Sannin. Also know for being the sensei of the Yondaime Hokage." Hiroki said.

"That explains it." Shikamaru said.

"He's even stronger now with that technique." Haku said.

"Yes, he is. And he'll be even stronger from now on." Hiroki said. He then looked at Sakura and saw that she had a certain look on her face. It wasn't a look of jealousy or dread. It was the look of wanting to better herself and become stronger. Hiroki nodded at that as he had a smile on his face.

After the smoke cleared, the crowd saw that Naruto was standing in front of Neji, who was down on the ground and bleeding from his mouth. The Hyuga wasn't able to move at all.

The two then started talking about the Hyuga branch family hatred and about destiny that couldn't change and all of that and also how Naruto who was known as a failure turned to be the one to beat a genius.

"Don't cry about destiny and say that it can't change. When I become Hokage, I'll change the Hyuga!" Naruto said as he looked at Neji.

"Winner of this match, Naruto Uzumaki." Genma said and the crowd cheered wildly.

Naruto heard the crowd cheering and applauding him and he became happy as he smiled.

"Get out of there already. There are more matches to take place, Naruto!" Hiroki yelled to Naruto, who jumped over to the waiting room.

"Hehe. I won." Naruto said with a happy grin and scratched the back of his head.

"I knew you'd win. I didn't know you would take that long to win though." Hiroki said as he made fun of Naruto.

"Damn you. I was clobbering him. That's why it took long. I could have finished it in a snap." Naruto said annoyed, making Hiroki laugh hard.

Not long later, the crowd started getting annoyed as the second match didn't start even after ten minutes had gone by. It was Sasuke's and Gaara's match.

"What is that teme doing? Why is he late?" Naruto asked.

"Kakashi is with him so everything should be fine. Let's just wait." Hiroki said.

Another Konoha shinobi shunshined to the stage as he began talking to Genma and then shunshined away once the two finished talking.

"Everyone! The candidate for the next fight has not arrived here! We'll briefly postpone this battle and stars the following battle ahead of it." Genma announced, calming the spectators down a bit.

"Then, on to the next pair. Kankuro and Shino Aburame. Come down." Genma said as he looked at the two genin at the waiting room.

As Shino was ready to jump down, Kankuro yelled out to Genma.

"Proctor! I abstain! I abstain. Please advance the matches!"

Shino looked at Kankuro and saw that he was a bit anxious. And could only wonder what he was anxious for if not the fight.

"Due to Kankuro'a abstention, Shino Aburame wins by default!" Genma said as the crowd started complaining and booing once more. This time, it was worst though.

"Ahem. Let's move on to the next one then. Shikamaru and Sakura. Come down."

Sakura and Shikamaru looked at each other and then headed down to the stage. Not long after, the two were facing each other. Sakura had a serious look on her face and Shikamaru had his lazy look as he scratched his head. He wanted to give up, but he didn't want to listen to his mother's nagging.

"Let the fight being!" Genma said.

"Goooooooo, Sakuraaaaa!" Naruto yelled loudly as he cheered for Sakura.

Sakura took out a Kunai from her pouch and stepped back, creating a distance between them. Shikamaru on the other hand, analyzed Sakura calmly as he made his first move. He threw some shuriken at Sakura and moved to the side. He saw her using the kunai to deflect the shurikens and threw more as he tried to catch her on a blind spot, but he could only grit his teeth as Sakura deflected them perfectly.

"It's my turn now. Don't think I'll keep my distance." Sakura said as she threw the kunai she held at Shikamaru, lifted the seals on her limbs and dashed towards Shikamaru, quickly appearing in front of him.

"Sakura has become faster." Naruto said.

"Yeah. She has been doing physical exercises with Yamato. She increased the level on her seals by two already. She only needs to be careful to not let her confidence get the best of her." Hiroki said.

"How come?" Naruto asked.

"Shikamaru seems lazy and all, but he's actually someone very smart. He has a very high IQ." Hiroki explained.

"Has a high what now?" Naruto asked as he didn't understand.

"IQ, Naruto. It's a value that measures someone's intelligence and speed of their thinking process to solve problems." Hiroki explained.

"Really? He doesn't seem smart as you say." Naruto said.

Back on the arena, Sakura was punching towards Shikamaru for a while now and the Nara was having a hard time as he tried dodging Sakura's strikes, but most of them made contact with him, hitting his torso.

"Damn it, woman." Shikamaru said lazily as he jumped back over ten meters and made distance between the two.

"Kagemane no Jutsu" Shikamaru said as he half kneeled on the ground and made a hand seal. A completely black shadow started speeding towards Sakura's direction.

"Doton: Tsuchi Tou Tou." Sakura said as she slammed her hands on the ground and the surface started moving as a tremor was created and went towards Shikamaru.

"What?" Shikamaru said as he lost his balance and his shadow disappeared due to him taking his hands apart, breaking the hand seal.

Sakura took the opportunity and ran towards Shikamaru, taking advantage of the opportunity. She jumped and sent a flying kick towards Shikamaru, who rolled to the right getting out of the way from Sakura's kick. When Sakura made contact with the ground. A small hole was made due to the strength behind her kick. She then gracefully leapt backward with a flip and threw shurikens at Shikamaru, who took out a kunai and deflected the shurikens.

"Your friend has become stronger." Haku said to Naruto and Hiroki.

"I know, right. It's my first time seeing her fight like that." Naruto said with a happy smile.

"She better finish this quickly or she'll lose." Hiroki said, making Naruto look at his with a questioning look.

"Why do you say that?" Naruto asked.

"Sakura had only been working physically for a single month. Her body has a certain limit to what she can do and for how long. She has released her seal since the start. She's starting to breath with more labor." Hiroki said.

Sakura was beginning to breath with more difficulty. She knew that she had to end the fight as soon as possible before she became completely tired. They had been fighting for over twenty minutes now. She's never fought for this long before. She knew that she also had more fights ahead if she beat Shikamaru. She made a few hand seals and placed both hands on the ground as a Earth wall quickly rose under Shikamaru, surprising him.

Sakura went around the wall and quickly ran towards Shikamaru while preparing to punch him.

"Shanaroooooooooo!" Sakura yelled as she struck Shikamaru, but she didn't feel any impact against her fist. She then knew something was wrong as the Shikamaru in front of her dissipated into nothing. It was a simple clone and that made Sakura wary. When she felt a presence behind her, she tried jumping away, but it was too late. Sakura was unable to move even a muscle.

"Sigh. What a drag. You're really troublesome to fight. I can't believe you are the same Sakura from the academy." Shikamaru said as he walked out from behind a tree. Every move he made, Sakura mirrored it perfectly.

"Tsk. I was careless, but there's nothing you can do to win now. If you punch me, you'll also get punched. If you throw a shuriken or kunai, you will also get pierced if I get pierced. Sakura said as she looked at the Nara.

"Well, that's true. Why don't we call this a draw?" Shikamaru asked and looked at Sakura and saw she had a grumpy look on her face.

"Come on. We both are taxed and almost out of chakra already. I just want to rest and get done with this exam." Shikamaru said, trying to convince Sakura.

"Tsk." Sakura grit her teeth.

"Alright." Sakura finally agreed after thinking about it.

"As both fighters agreed, I declared this match as a draw." Genma said as he looked at the crowd as Sakura and Shikamaru jumped back to the waiting room.

"Shikamaru, Sakura. That was a good fight." Ino said as she walked in the room and greeted them. She was happy because that was the best result she could ask for since one of them was a team mate and the other was her best friend.

"Next match will be Haku Yuki versus Hiroki Uchiha. Would the two come down." Genma said as he announced the next match. The crowd started cheering crazily as the other Uchiha was going to fight against someone who also had a strong kekkei genkai.

"Well, shall we go then?" Hiroki asked as he looked at Haku.

Haku didn't say anything and only nodded her head and smiled with her lips as she jumped down to the arena.

As Hiroki was about to jump down, he saw Ino looking at him. He smiled at her and the jumped down.

"Good luck, Hiroki-kun!" Ino yelled as she cheered.

Hiroki and Haku were standing in front of each other and Genma finally declared the start of their fight.

"Let the fight begin!"