Chapter 49

Last Time:

"Hajime!" Hayate yelled, then jumped away.

Now:

Shikamaru quickly jumped back and threw a volley of Kunai to Omoi, who quickly jumped away. Shikamaru quickly moved into his concentrating stance and made the rat hand seal with his hands. His shadow wasted no time in going after Omoi, who quickly retreated as far as he could. Omoi suddenly felt his back against the wall and the shadow still gunning for him, but it stopped a few feet before it would reach him. 'So it's got some kind of range…' Omoi deduced and threw a fire chakra shuriken to Shikamaru's head. Shikamaru severed the flow of chakra to his shadow and jumped away.

As soon as he landed, Omoi was after him with a Kunai. He quickly made several Bunshins and ordered them all to charge, with himself leading the way. Omoi saw the various Shikamaru's charging at him and withdrew his blade. 'Wait, something's off about them. But what..what?!' Omoi wondered as he inspected the incoming Shikamaru's. 'That's it!' Omoi realized and sheathed his blade, running straight for the clones. Everyone thought he was running to his death, only to see him run right through them.

"How did you figure it out?" Shikamaru's voice resounded through the stadium. "No shadows." Omoi responded, making Shikamaru smirk and drop the genjutsu he cast around himself to avoid the detection. "You aren't bad." Shikamaru said, then fired a volley of slow moving kunai. Omoi unsheathed his sword and got ready to parry them, only to see them all connected. 'Shit, he's using the Kunai as transit for his shadow!' Omoi realized and went through a series of hand seals. "Lightning Style! Flash Bomb!" Omoi yelled out, illuminating the whole stadium with a large flash of lightning. While he may have been inclined to fire and earth, he was still proficient in lightning.

The entire audience, as well as Shikamaru, were forced to look away as the large flash engulfed the whole arena. When they opened their eyes, Omoi was right under Shikamaru. With a powerful earth chakra enhanced uppercut, he sent Shikamaru flying upwards. He then charged earth chakra to his kunai and began to throw them, only to feel his body stopped. He looked up to see Shikamaru holding the rat seal looking dead at him. "Checkmate." Shikamaru said confidently, making Omoi fume. "NO! Not this time!" Omoi yelled as he slowly began moving his arm, trying to force free of the shadow technique.

'Impossible! He shouldn't be strong enough to break free!' Shikamaru internally yelled, but watched as Omoi shot various shuriken at him. With no mobility in mid air to dodge, he closed his eyes and waited for the feeling of cold metal slicing through him. He was suddenly hit in the stomach by large boulders, slamming him away. Since Omoi was still attached due to the Shadow Binding technique, Omoi was slammed backwards into the wall, knocking him out. Shikamaru was slammed into the arena wall by the earth chakra infused shuriken and knocked out cold. Hayate waited for a second for one of them to get up, but none of them were moving.

"Due to a double knockout, this match is a draw!" Hayate yelled out, and the audience in the balcony erupted in cheers. This was how a Ninja fight was to end in a draw, not like the fight between Sakura and Ino. Asuma quickly shunshinned to retrieve his student and turned to see Omoi being picked up by Vee. Asuma gave a small salute and shunshinned away. Vee smirked, put Omoi over his shoulder, and shunshinned back to the balcony.

~ Balcony ~

Vee slowly set Omoi down in front of Samui, who got to treating his wounds and bruises. "How did you manage to pull that out of your hat, Omoi?" Samui whispered under her breath. "He's got a strong will. Most people wouldn't have been able to break free of the Nara's technique." Naruto muttered under his breath, then turned to the Arena. "But where did the boulders that crushed the Nara come from?" Yugito asked, curious about where they materialized from. "They weren't boulders." Naruto replied and took the shuriken holster off Omoi's unconscious form.

"They were shuriken overloaded with earth chakra." Naruto replied and channeled chakra to the holster, making the scattered weapons disappear from the arena and reappear in the holster. "You did good Omoi." Naruto said and slipped the holster into Omoi's ninja pouch. "Will Hiruzen of Konoha and Kiba of Konoha please come down?" resounded through the stadium. Naruto looked up and quickly went to the railing. 'Lets see how you've grown, little brother..' Naruto thought and watched the fight.

~ Hiruzen vs. Kiba ~

"Alright Akamaru, let's take him down!" Kiba yelled excitedly as he hopped down into the field. Hiruzen shunshinned to the field, standing in a calm stance, if somewhat leaning to his right side. 'Are you injured?' Vee wondered. "Alright Akamaru, let's go!" Kiba yelled and charged Hiruzen with a kunai. Hiruzen quickly withdrew his own and charged at Kiba. They both clashed in the middle of the Arena, Hiruzen's kunai overpowering Kiba's. "Now Akamaru!" Kiba yelled. Hiruzen quickly looked to see the small dog turn into a small twister and charge at him. "It's Over!" Kiba yelled and jumped away.

Hiruzen went through a series of hand seals and his hair began growing, wrapping around him and spikes forming and hardening like steel. "Ninja Art: Needle Jizo!" Hiruzen yelled. "Shit, Akamaru move!" Kiba yelled. Akamaru quickly changed his trajectory in order to avoid slamming into the strong, steel like hair and crashed into the cement floor. ""You're going to pay for that!" Kiba yelled and charged at Hiruzen. Hiruzen quickly ducked under one of Kiba's slashed, sidestepped a vicious downward slash, and ducked under the last slash.

"Quit Moving!" Kiba yelled. Hiruzen smirked and jumped back, making a series of hand seals before landing. He was covered in a poof of smoke, but as it cleared it didn't seem like anything happened. "You got one shot, Kiba. And to be a good sport, I won't retaliate." Hiruzen said, then faced his back towards him. "Alright Akamaru, let's show his what we can do!" Kiba said excitedly and tossed a soldier pill to the small dog while he popped one. "Four legs technique!" Kiba yelled, the chakra overload making his features more feral and making him sink to four legs.

Akamaru began glowing red, his fur growing shaggier and his features growing more feral. Akamaru then jumped on Kiba's back and began charging chakra. "Man beast clone!" Kiba yelled as a poof enveloped himself and Akamaru. When the smoke cleared, two feral looking Kibas stood in the place of the small boy and his dog. "Alright Akamaru, let's go! Twin fang over fang!" Kiba yelled. He and Akamaru became spiraling twisters and charged at Hiruzen. 'What's your plan, Little brother?" Naruto wondered as he watched the fight. Kiba and Akamaru grew closer and closer, but Hiruzen didn't seem to be moving.

"It's over!" Kiba yelled confidently, only for him to slam against Hiruzen and for Hiruzen to disappear into a cloud of smoke. 'Interesting, a mix of a shadow clone and a substitution..' Naruto thought as Kiba and Akamaru landed on the ground. "Where are you, coward!?" Kiba demanded. "Earth Style: Swamp of the Toads!" A voice yelled out. Kiba turned to see Hiruzen sitting on a tree branch looking down at him with a box of matches in his hands. "Come here so we can finish this!" Kiba demanded and tried to move, only to find his feet glued to the floor.

He looked down to see himself and Akamaru stuck in a small pool of a tar like substance that smelled heavily of oil. "What the hell is this?" HE demanded as he tried to move. "That's a variation of the "Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld." Instead of mud, I use the oil from my toad summons. Extremely flammable, if I mix in chakra, extremely sticky. And if I throw a match in, extremely fatal." Hiruzen finished and lit a match. "Your call Kiba." Hiruzen said in a calm voice. "Damn you…" Kiba muttered. "Proctor, I forfeit." Kiba yelled out loud.

"Due to a forfeit, Hiruzen of Konoha wins!" The proctor called. Hiruzen released the jutsu and Kiba smirked. "Good job, dead last." He said with a friendly smile. "you too, kibble breath." Hiruzen shot back.

~ Balcony – With Naruto ~

"He's good." Samui muttered. "Yea, he's definitely good at strategy. Strong too." Naruto muttered as he saw his brother head back to the balcony, slightly stumbling. "Yea, but if he was trained by the best, he's extremely lacking." Yugito muttered. "Yugito, feel for his chakra." Naruto whispered to her. She closed her eyes and felt his reserves, making her eyes widen. "What about his chakra? He's got average reserves for a Chunnin." Samui said out loud. "That's the point Samui, He's an Uzumaki. When they're born, they have the reserves of a genin. By the time they finally hit genin, they have extremely large reserves.." Naruto informed them.

"Not only that, he's like..me." Yugito muttered. "You mean.." Samui began. "Exactly. He's the jinchuuriki of the nine tailed beast. His chakra levels should be through the roof, yet they are barely at Chunnin." Naruto replied, making his team look at him in shock. "And you neglected to tell us this why?" Samui demanded. "Didn't really matter. He was still favored for training while I was left to rot." Naruto replied. "Well, with good reason!" Samui shot back. "I completely agree, he had a good reason to be trained." Naruto replied in a calm voice.

"But my parents had no reason for letting him completely engulf their lives. They had no reason to toss me to the side. They had no reason to disown me. Not in favor of him, not after what happened to me because of him." Naruto replied. Samui quickly shut up. It was one thing to favor a son who needed it, but it was another to toss another son away. "Then do you hate him?" Samui asked cautiously. "A part of me does. He's the reason why all of this happened, he's the reason why I was neglected and thrown away." Naruto admitted.

"But another part of me loves him for it." Naruto said. "Because without him, I wouldn't have met any of you. I would have been the Kage's 'good little son'. I wouldn't be who I am. I wouldn't have met my true family." Naruto realized. "Will Vee of Kumo and Choji of Konoha please come to the arena?" Hayate asked out loud. "We'll finish this later. I promise I'll answer any questions you have." Naruto said as he jumped to the Arena. 'Just what are you hiding, Naruto-kun?' Samui wondered as she watched him jump down.

Yugito stared as Naruto jumped into the Arena. 'I'm going to figure out just what happened between you and your family Naruto-kun. Even if it's the last thing I do!' She internally affirmed herself. She had enough of secrets being kept from her. She was determined to unravel the life of Naruto Romanov, even if it took her a lifetime. She cared for him and wanted to be able to relate to him on a deeper level, not just on the surface. And there'd be hell for anyone who tried to stop her. She quickly got up and went to Samui. "We need to talk." She whispered. "I'm listening.." Samui whispered back.

~ Arena ~

"Are you ready?" Hayate asked Chouji, who continued to snack on his chips but nodded. "Are you ready?" Hayate asked Vee, who unsealed his sword and sliced the air. "Hajime!" Hayate yelled and jumped out of the way.

A/N: I know, not a lot of people expected Shikamaru to be booted out of the finals! And I bet fewer expected me to put Vee up against Choji!