Chapter 50

Last Time:

"Hajime!" Hayate yelled and jumped out of the way.

Now:

Choji wasted no time in jumping back and getting distance from himself and Vee. "Partial Expansion Jutsu!" He yelled as his hand grew to gigantic proportions. He then tried to swat Vee away, only for Vee to avoid the gigantic swipe by sliding under it. "Come on, I'm sure you can do better." Vee taunted, making Choji fume. "I'll show you!" He yelled and began channeling large amounts of chakra through his entire body. "Super multi Size Technique!" He yelled and released the chakra. His clothes began expand as his body grew to enormous proportions.

"This is interesting.." Naruto muttered and unsealed his collapsible bow. "You're going down!" Choji confidently said to Naruto. "We'll see.." Naruto shot back. Choji tried to slam his giant fist on Naruto's form, only for Naruto to back flip away from the punch. Naruto then jumped up on Choji's fist and began running up his arm. "What are you doing?!" Choji demanded as he tried shaking Naruto off his arm. As soon as Naruto got to Chojis' shoulder, he unsealed and explosive arrow and jumped. In mid air, Naruto fired the arrow to Choji's forehead and shot it, watching as it embedded itself into the Akamichi's forehead.

"That's not going to be enough to take me down!: Choji yelled as he raised his arm and slammed it down to where Naruto was falling. "Boom!" Naruto yelled. Choji was sent flying backwards by the impact of the arrow buried in his forehead exploding. Choji slammed his head hard against the Arena's ceiling. The impact made him fall to the floor and release the chakra from his Super Multi Expansion Technique. As Naruto was falling, he quickly made a shadow clone and had him toss him to the wall, where he used Chakra to stick to the wall. 'That was close..' Naruto thought as he looked at the downed Akamichi.

"I don't think he can get up, proctor." Naruto said as he slid down the wall. Choji had a large gash around his face and severe burn marks on his face. "Due to the opponent's inability to continue, I declare.." Hayate began, but was cut off as Choji got up. "I will.. not lose!" Choji said as he unsealed several Kunai attached together by a length of ninja wire. "Choji-san, let me ask you something." Vee said, getting the attention of Choji. "Are you sure you can continue? If I'm accurate, then you haven't seen much but the basic D-rank missions most Genin see." Naruto deduced as he saw Choji's hands.

They had blisters that seemed to come from manual labor, not from handling weapons. "Just because you are prepared for something doesn't mean you're ready for it. Do you honestly believe you're ready for the next step in your ninja career? You're rash, easy to anger.. If you do pass these exams, you will be put in charge of teams of ninja. Are you ready to lead, or will you exercise submission until it's your turn to take charge?" Naruto asked the young Akamichi. Choji looked at Vee, then smirked. "I'm not ready, but I'm not going to throw the fight either!" Choji yelled and wrapped the Kunai around himself.

Naruto watched as the big boned boy jumped upwards and yelled; "Spiked Human Bullet Tank!" The Akimichi's body grew to grotesque proportions, making him turn into a complete ball of human flesh. 'Shit, those Kunai are going to be trouble.' Naruto realized as Choji began charging at him. H quickly went through a series of hand seals as the giant meat tank closed in on him. The meat tank then collided against where Naruto had been standing, kicking up a gigantic cloud of dust.

~ In The Stand ~

"Is Vee-kun ok?" Samui asked Yugito as she watched him getting smushed. "He's come back from worse." Yugito shot back in an amused tone. "Are you watching the same fight we are?" An annoying voice behind them asked. They turned to see Ino Yamanaka standing behind them with a 'holier than though' attitude about herself. "Your friend just got squished by Choji!" She said, making Samui giggle. "Boyfriend, actually." Yugito corrected her, making the girl blush. "Fine then, your boyfriend," Ino said pointing at Yugito, "And her friend just got squished!" Ino finished.

"He's both our boyfriend." Samui corrected her, making Ino blush redder. "Wait..but you…you.." Ino began stuttering. "Shh, just watch." Samui said and pointed at the Arena, making Ino shut up.

~ Arena – After the Dust Cleared ~

Choji slowly got to his feet and looked around. There was no sign of Vee anywhere at all. "Where are you.." Choji muttered under his breath. "Since there is no sign of Vee anywhere, I declare.." Hayate began, but was cut off as a pair of hands reached up from the ground and grabbed Choji's ankles. He was then pulled down to the floor, being buried up to his neck as Naruto jumped up from the ground in one piece. "Earth Style: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique!" Vee yelled out. Choji tried to move, but found himself thoroughly disabled by the technique.

He looked up to see Vee pointing an exploding arrow at his head, signifying the end of the match. "Call it." Naruto said to the proctor. "The winner of this match is Vee of Kumo!" Hayate yelled out, making the crowd erupt into cheers. He smirked in his helmet, took a bow and turned to Choji. He quickly grabbed the boy and pulled him up, freeing him from his earth prison. "Good match." Vee said to Choji and extended his hand. "Yea, you too." Choji said and shook his hand, the adrenaline quickly leaving the boys body. Choji collapsed, but was quickly grabbed by Vee and handed to his Jounin sensei.

~ With Ino and the Girls ~

Ino stuttered as she witnessed the end of the fight. "How the hell did he pull that off?" She demanded as she saw Vee heading towards them. "Like I said, he's gotten out of tougher scrapes before." Yugito whispered into Ino's ear in a teasing tone. "Or maybe he's just that good. You'll never know." Samui whispered at Ino, making her fume and stomp away. "Did I miss something?" Naruto asked as he approached his team. "Just a girl who thought you were going to lose." Yugito said in an amused tone. "Oh, ye of little faith.." Naruto mused as he took a seat.

"Who's fighting next?" Naruto asked. "Gaara from Suna and Rock Lee of Konoha are the only ones left." Samui responded. "We better pay attention then. If worst comes to worse and we have to fight Gaara, we need to have some basis of his skill." Naruto said as he headed to the railing. Rock lee was literally vanishing in an impressive display of speed and attacking from all sides of Gaara's form. 'Hmm… I wonder..' Naruto thought as he moved to the side of the railing to get a better view of the battle. "What's the matter Vee?" Samui asked.

"Interesting.. The sand that's defending Gaara from all of Rock lee's attacks." Naruto pointed out to Yugito and Samui, making them turn to see. "Yea, he's controlling it." Samui said. "Wrong. Look at Gaara's eyes. He can't keep up with Lee's sheer speed." Naruto replied. "Then it's automatic." Yugito said. "Exactly. From what I can tell, it's automated, probably controlled by the Bijuu sealed in him." Naruto said. "Then we're going to have our hands full with this one." Samui said. "Exactly. Automated defense, I can only assume he's got an arsenal of sand jutsu, but he doesn't seem to have any type of taijutsu." Yugito said.

"Exactly, but his sand more than compensates for it. He's extremely slow, if the fact he's staying still is anything to go by. Plus, he carries sand in that gourd of his, it's probably extremely heavy." Naruto said as he saw lee drop his weights then vanish from almost everyone's eyes. "Pfft. The weights Bee makes me wear are heavier." Yugito said, unimpressed. "If you think that. I'd hate for you to have to wear mines." Naruto replied, making her blush in embarrassment. "Are you still wearing them?" She asked curiously. "Of course. I always wear them, only losing them in the most extreme situations." Naruto replied.

"What are you guys talking about?" Samui asked as she kept an eye on Lee, seeing the young Genin break through Gaara's defense. " He wears a lot more weight than any of us, even Bee when he's training. And he always has weight on him. Ankle weights and his vest is weighted." Yugito informed Samui. "That's good, because we're going to need sheer speed to take this guy down." Samui said and pointed to the fight, where Lee had finally broken through Gaara's defenses and sent the Genin flying. "Indeed." Naruto replied, then saw Lee go into his Reverse Lotus. After they had landed, Gaara collapsed into a pile of sand.

"It's over.." Naruto said as Gaara's sand began encompassing Lee's form. "You got to admit, that Lee did good. His Taijutsu is off the charts, well past Jounin Level." Samui said, making Naruto nod in agreement. He sighed and watched as lee tried to get away from Gaara's sand. "Shit.." Naruto said with a sigh and shunshinned to the Arena.

~ Arena ~

'No… it can't end like this.. Not like this..' Lee thought as he tried to crawl away. His Reverse Lotus had taken a lot out of him, and his body was finally feeling the impact. "I'm sorry Gai-sensei.." Lee muttered and closed his eyes. A hand suddenly grabbed his and with a quick pull, tossed him out of the death trap. He looked up to see the Genin from Kumo, Vee, staring down Gaara. "Due to interference, the winner is Gaara of Suna!" Hayate yelled, then turned to Vee. "You better have a damn good excuse for interfering, Genin." Hayate said. "You mean for doing your job, "Special" Jounin?" A voice said from the balcony.

Hayate looked up to see Gai staring down at him. "Gai-sempai, I'm sorry…" Hayate began, but was cut off. "I will take responsibility for the actions of this Genin. You will hear from Hokage-sama about your lack of action." Gai said, making Hayate sweat. "Hai, Gai-sempai." Hayate said. "Thank you for helping my pupil. I appreciate your help!" Gai said, giving Vee the good guy pose. "No problem." Vee said, waving him off. "You ever need anything, ask for me and I shall see if I can repay your kindness." Gai said, picked up the unconscious Lee, and headed to the infirmary.

"Will the remaining Genin please come down?" Hayate asked. Naruto sighed and headed to where Samui and Yugito landed.

~ With Samui and Yugito ~

"Will the remaining Genin please take a number from the box so we may match you up for the Finals?" Hayate asked through a cough. "Whatever happened to laying low?" Samui whispered to Naruto in an annoyed tone. "Hey, he gave it his all and there was a good chance he'd die. Part of being an Avenger is helping those who need it." Naruto whispered back and took a number from the hat. "We need to talk after this." Yugito replied and took her number from the hat. "Alright, will everyone please reveal your number?" Hayate asked.

"One." Hiruzen said. "Two." Neji said, then stared at Hiruzen. "Three." Gaara said. "Four." Kakashi said in place of Sasuke. "Five." Vee said. "Six." Temari said with a slight blush as she looked at Vee. "Seven." Yugito said with a cheeky grin. "Eight." Samui said in an amused tone, then looked to her rival. "Alright, the matches are as follows: Hiruzen VS Neji, Sasuke VS Gaara, Vee VS Temari, and Yugito VS Samui. You have a month long period to train and prepare yourselves for these fights. Make good use of what you have seen here today to prepare!" Hayate said.

"Why do we have to wait a month again?" Naruto asked Samui. "Like the Hokage said, these exams are a makeshift war. For the best, we get to be shown off like prize dogs." Samui said, making Naruto sweat drop. "What a nice way to put it.." He said, then looked to see everyone leaving. "We better get going back to Omoi and Karui." Naruto said and he and the girls shunshinned away.

~ With Omoi and Karui ~

"You guys ready to go?" Naruto asked as he shook Karui awake. "Ready to go?" "No." Karui responded. "But I'm always ready to haul ass." Karui finished with a wink. "Same here." Omoi said with a groan. "Good, we need to get going." Naruto said as he helped Karui up. "Where are we going?" Omoi asked. "To see the Hokage." Naruto replied cheerily. "What, are you crazy?!" Karui demanded. "How the hell are we supposed to get out if things go bad?" Karui demanded. "Shh, I have a plan." Naruto said, making everyone quiet down.

"Now, here's my plan.." Naruto said as everyone huddle up.