Chapter 26.Naruto vs Temari

On the day of the final stage, Naruto burst through the ground and knocked down Neji. He landed on the ground and said, "Once I become Hokage, I'll change the Hyuga, and you can believe that"

Someone from the audience screamed, "I acknowledge you my chief," but nobody heard it. After the match, Neji was taken to the medical facility where he met his uncle, and Naruto was ready to watch the next match.

The Kazekage was here to watch the matches. This time Konoha made sure if it was the feal Kazekage. Sasuke was there too. He was wearing a disguise and stayed with Tobi. He wanted to see how much Naruto had improved. The next match started as Shikamaru fought against Temari. Even though Shikamaru took control over her movements using shadow possession at the end of his match, he forfeited. In just two matches, two unexpected things happened. The next match was about to start. Dosu was walking to the ground. His leader was there. "Dosu, you know what to do, right?"

"Yes leader, even if I want to fight him I am in no way a match for that monster"

"Dosu, he's not a monster! This world made him into one"

"With all due respect leader, you saw what he did to that guy in green spandex. He's the one making the choices for himself. This world doesn't force him to do anything"

"Dosu, someone told me this guy can be better and I believe him. Just be careful"

Before Gaara could come down, Dosu went down to meet Hayate and told him he was forfeiting. "Kinuta Dosu is forfeiting. So, the winner is Gaara!"

Gaara was annoyed but he didn't care much because his target was Uzumaki Naruto. He wanted to fight him or more…kill him.

The fourth match started between Shino and Kin. Kin started the match by throwing senbons attached to bells. She thought she could confuse Shino. But Shino evaded her attacks just by stepping aside. While he was moving, Shino felt a senbon on his back. He didn't see that attack coming. That's when he noticed Kin was using wire strings to move her senbons. The bells started ringing. Shino fell on his knee. Kin used this opportunity to strike her opponent but her strings felt heavier than usual. Before she could react to that feeling her body was fully covered with insects. "What just happened?"

Shino got up on his feet and said, "I saw bells in your gear so I thought you'd try to confuse my hearing. So, I covered my ears with my insects and moved with my instincts. Once I found out that you were using strings, I acted like I was confused and sent my insect through…"

"The winner of the match is Aburame Shino"

Shino felt disappointed because Hayate cut his explanation before he could finish. He went back to his balcony.

Then Naruko descended to the ground for her match. She was smiling. Hayate waited for her opponent to arrive. His jonin leader Sakon came down to the ground and told Hayate that Jirobo didn't want to continue. Hayate announced Naruko as the winner. Jirobo was too scared to face Naruko again so he gave up on the tournament.

The semi-finals started. The first match was between Temari and Naruto. The second one was a triple threat, Naruko vs Shino vs Gaara. The audience was annoyed with too many forfeits. They were waiting for more action. Naruto came to the ground and he was ready to fight. Temari arrived with her giant folding fan. The match started as Naruto used shadow clones.

Twenty clones appeared beside him.

They all stayed as pairs for some reason. Temari was confused. She took her fan.

Naruto and his clones were making something. Temari swung her fan at Naruto.

The wind produced by her fan made a tornado and moved toward Naruto and his clones. Naruto and the clones finished with what they were doing and ran toward Temari's attack with Rasengan in their hands. They managed to stop her attack. "What was that?", Temari was surprised, and so were the Kages. "I want to know what he did there too! Hokage-sama, what did he do?", said the Kazekage Rasa. Jiraiya came to the balcony where they were watching. "Let me explain it to you!"

He crossed his arms as he watched the match. He continued to talk, "Naruto told me about his potential opponents and what they can do. So, I helped him find some ways to counter their attacks. For example, young Temari's Futon can be neutralised by Naruto who uses the same chakra nature with an equal effect. The trouble here for this particular attack is that he needs to attack in every direction. It's a good thing he can use multi-shadow clone jutsu"

Fugaku spoke, "So, Naruto added wind nature in his father's Rasengan. But it doesn't look that effective as an attack"

"Because he hasn't used the final version of that technique"

The match continued with Temari's attacks failing and Naruto and his clones countered them with ease. She was exhausted. "Seriously, how are holding up this much!"

"I don't give up until I lose, ya know", Naruto said as he was smiling.

"You bastard! I don't want to use this until the final match but I have no use"

Naruto quickly made more than a hundred clones. Most of them were sent toward the storm made by Temari. They were sacrificed to slow down Temari's attack, buying Naruto enough time to make the Rasengans he needed to stop the storm. He and his clones charged toward the storm. They manage to suppress the storm and disappeared quickly. With the smoke created by Naruto's clones, Temari couldn't see anything. She didn't have the strength to use another jutsu. She looked straight for a moment, just to face Naruto who leapt to punch her. Temari covered herself with her fan but it wasn't enough. She was knocked out. Naruto spoke, "No offence wind lady! I have to beat you to achieve my goal, ya know"

The medical staff came and took Temari to their facility. Naruto from the ground glared at Gaara who was watching everything from a balcony. He wasn't sad that his sister was beaten up but his emotionless face had a smile. As he looked at Naruto his smile and eyes widened.

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Meanwhile, outside an interrogation room, Saruto met up with Kushina who just arrived. "What's more important than watching my kids fighting Saruto?"

"I found a kunoichi from Kusagakure who refused to go back to her village"

"Huh? What does that have to do with me?"

"Please enter the room!"

Saruto opened the door and let Kushina inside. Then he left to the grand arena. Kushina entered the interrogation room. There she saw a girl in red hair just like her. She turned her gaze at Kushina. The weeping girl opened her mouth, "Ha…Hahaoya? Non! You're not her"

"You're from the Uzumaki clan, right?"

"Please I don't want to go back to my village! They are using me"

She ran toward Kushina and hugged her. Kushina patted her head. "It's okay. You will be safe here with me, ya know"

Karin felt nice. She felt like she was with her mother. She tilted her head to look at Kushina's face. With a pleasant face, she was welcoming her in her arms. 'Yes, this is my home. This is where I should be'