Chapter 51 Elimination

Everyone was thankful for the rest they got, although they soon had to go into the main chamber, there was a huge statue with what looked like an area. Above there were observation areas, it was pretty dark tone to the place as well. Naruto could see the other teams that had made it, the Sand, Sound and Mist teams were here alone with several other teams from his village.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata said going over to him with a hug. She had been worried when she had left him in the woods, but seeing him here put her at ease.

He gently hugged her back, "Hey there Princess, by the way thanks for the scroll. I promise to pay you back."

"Well there is something, I'll tell you later okay?" She asked him knowing that she had to bring him over to her father soon. He made it clear that the first break they had, she was to bring him home for a dinner so he could talk to him.

"Hey Naruto, looks like you lost the bet," Kiba grinned as he walked over to him. "We've been here for about three hours now."

"Crap," Naruto muttered. "Okay first chance I get, I'll get you one."

"No hurry but looks like we got to line up." The other boy said as everyone was gathering. So they all got into their teams and lined up. There were many other ninja from the village here, but in front of it all was the Hokage in his official white robes of office and hat.

"I'm glad to see you all here," the Hokage said to everyone. "Although you should all congratulate each other on your success, it would seem that too many of you passed this test this year."

"Huh, what the hell does that mean?" someone asked.

"For the final round there are only a certain number of spots," the Hokage went on to explain that they would even held the exams. How the true meaning were showing the skills of each nation without actually fighting wars.

A new ninja, a sickly looking one that seemed to cough a lot showed up. He introduced himself as Hayate explained things further. He was the proctor for the third exam but it would seem that too many had made it through. Since so many important people were coming, they needed to show only the best. Meaning that, they had to weed them out even further. So they would hold elimination rounds, two people would be randomly picked and then they would fight. The winners would move on to the third and final stage.

That didn't go over very well for most of them, but it wasn't like they had a choice. So they had to just deal with it, it would seem.

Everyone took their places up in the stands, usually against the railings there as they waited for the names to show up on the screen by the statue. Everyone was anticipating their challengers although Team 7 knew they would have the hardest time. Sasuke wasn't sure what that mark would do, it was already hindering him, Naruto still felt really off thanks to that thing on his stomach, and Sakura she still felt the aches and pains from that fight with the Sound team.

"I wish dad was here for this," Naruto said out loud with a sigh. He really wanted to have his dad here to see him, to make him proud.

"Well then just look behind you," a familiar voice said. Naruto and everyone else turned around surprised.

"Dad! I thought you would still be in the hospital?" Naruto asked seeing his father. Although Kakashi was on crutches and looked tired, he didn't seem to be in any pain. Anko was also standing next to him, her arm was still in a sling but otherwise she looked fine as well.

"Oh don't worry, me and Anko were cleared, right?" Kakashi said to her.

"Of course," She said giving a huge smile.

-Konoha Hospital-

Nurse Mai was just one of the regular medical staff, she was making her usual rounds at the hospital. She was checking on one of the new patients that had been brought in at this time. Mai knocked on the door to announce herself.

"Mr. Hatake, are you awake?" She asked. She didn't hear a sound so she assumed her patient was sleeping. She opened the door to the plain hospital room, he was the only one in a bed at this point. The covers were pulled up leaving only his silver hair poking out. She looked at the clip board to see what his status was.

"Chakra exhaustion, that can be very dangerous," she said to herself and she went over to him. "Mr. Hatake it's time for your medication."

She shook him but he didn't move, "Mr. Hatake, are you okay?" She pulled the covers back and screamed. There was a life size looking scarecrow with a crewed drawing on the face of it. She took a moment before, this time, screaming in rage as she threw the clip board.

"I hate ninja patients!" She yelled out. They always had a nasty way of leaving the hospital before they were medically cleared. If people thought doctors were the worst patients then they never met a ninja. They always thought they were so tough and could take anything. To make matters worse this was the third one this month that had escaped.

"What's going on!?" Another nurse asked as she ran into the room. She saw the scarecrow and sighed. "Not another one, we just lost the female that was brought in with him as well."

"Why do they keep doing this?" Mai asked.

The other nurse just sighed and shrugged, "I have no idea. God, I hate the paper work for this."

-Forest of Death Tower-

"Well I'm glad you're both here then," Naruto said but then he looked serious. "Hey dad can I talk to you about something?"

Kakashi noticed the serious look and nodded, he wasn't sure what was up but he limped off to the side as Naruto went over to him. The other two members on the team were wondering what was going on, especially Sakura. She noticed that Naruto pointed to his stomach and she guessed it was due to whatever had been bothering him. He then looked around and turned his back to everyone when Kakashi said something. He pulled up his shirt and Kakashi took a look. Then he pulled it down and they exchanged a few more words.

Even if she knew how to read lips she couldn't tell what they were saying with the masks on. She sighed, this was just one more question that had started to show up with her team mate.

"So what do you think dad?" Naruto asked him in a hushed tone.

Kakashi thought about it, he knew seals but he wasn't a seal master. "At the moment I can't do anything, but I do know of someone in the village that can help you out."

"Really? Well that's great...I just hope I can pass this part with this stupid thing screwing with me."

"Hey look they're showing the first match." Ino said loudly enough for everyone to turn to look.

Hinata Hyuga vs Neji Hyuga

Everyone looked at the cousins as the two of them shared a look. Both didn't look like they wanted to fight the other but they had no choice in this. Both silently went down to the arena both looking like they wished they had a different opponent.

Both were standing across from each other and only waited until the Proctor told them to start. Hinata was nervous about this, she knew the kind of skills that Neji had, plus she didn't want to fight him. He was family and the closet thing she thought of as a search brother to this world.

"Go for it Hinata-chan I know you can do it!" Naruto shouted out and she felt the warmth of his voice flow into her. She felt more confident as she took her fighting stance as did Neji. With the Proctor declaring the start she moved in first. She struck out with her fists, her eyes activated. She would have to end this quick and fast if she wanted to beat him, if this dragged out she would lose.

Neji activated his own eyes as, he was surprised to be put on the defensive. Normally that was Hinata that went into the defensive. He had to admit she had more fire in her now, and he had a feeling why that was. He laughed on the inside, Naruto always did bring out things in Hinata that no one else could. He had to keep his guard up and when he saw an opening he threw an attack to her arm.

She backed away feeling the pain of the hit but quickly got back into her fighting stance. Neji felt a pang of regret. True he had spared with her many times, but in this the winner would be the only one to continue on. Both of them would want to go on and give their fathers something to be proud of. For a branch member to go to the finals on his first try would be something his father could be proud of.

But he also knew that Hinata had it tougher, being from the main branch meant she was under a lot more pressure to perform. He could always take this tests again, it's not like someone expected him to win. The truth was that she might want this more than he did.

Hinata continued to fight but it wasn't an easy battle. Then she finally saw an opening, Neji always kept up one of the strongest defences she had seen to see an opening like she was now was nearly unheard of. She struck out hitting him in the ribs and he backed off. She blinked, that shouldn't have happened, she was waiting for a counter attack but he didn't. It was then that she knew what was going on, he was going easy on her.

She decided she couldn't play it that way, so the next time he struck out, she lowered her defences and took a hit to her face.

"Hinata!" Neji froze when he hit his cousin. He hadn't meant to hit her that hard like that. "Why did you do that?"

"I won't win like that," Hinata said as she got up. "Please, don't go easy on me."

Neji looked a little guilty at her as she had caught what he was doing. He saw the look in her eyes and knew that she wouldn't let him win like this. He mentally sighed as she got back into his stance and waited for her to do the same. This time either one held back as they fought.

Up in the stands Naruto watched h is girlfriend fight, he had no idea that she was so limber. Bending backwards to dodge Neji's fist was very impressive. And a little hot, although a bit too young for it to be used, he did file that away for future use.

The fight continued but it was soon apparent that Hinata was outclassed, Neji always trained his hardest to push himself to the limits and then go beyond. It was one of the few reasons that he was glad that Gai was picked to be his sensei. Sure he was strange and the training could be insane but it helped him out. Although Hinata did train hard, she had to split her time between her duties as a main house member.

Hinata was breathing hard as she tried to get up from another hit, Neji was getting more and more hits through her defences. She was slowing down and was getting tired. Neji saw her struggling to get up, although she knew she couldn't win she was still pushing herself refusing to get up.

"Please just stay down," Neji told her. "If this goes on then I could end up hurting you very badly."

"I...won't give...up."

She stood up on unsteady legs. Neji knew that if this continued on he would do serious harm, the gentle fist style took time but it was designed to break a person apart. Now all her injuries were starting to add up and he couldn't continue. He wanted so much to make his father proud, but he could never look the man in the eyes again, if he put Hinata into the hospital. The role of the branch family was to protect the main house.

He let his guard down as he started to raise his arm, "Proctor..."

Hinata's eyes widened as she saw what he was doing, he was going to give up. "Neji-neesan what are you doing?"

"I won't allow myself to harm you anymore, I'm supposed to protect you not hurt you. I'm sorry but I can't let you continue on like this. Even if it means giving up on my goal."

Hinata didn't want to disappoint her father or Naruto watching, but Neji was going to remove himself. She didn't want to win like this, she couldn't claim a victory by this. Only that she didn't lose, but still it seemed like a cheap way to go on. She wanted to get into the finals on her own merits and her own strength. If she couldn't do that, did that mean that she deserved to go on?

Neji turned to the proctor who was waiting for him. "Proctor I would like-"

"I give up!"

Everyone turned to see Hinata with her arm raised. "Proctor I forfeit."

"Hinata-sama, why?" Neji asked her.

She gave him a sad smile, "Because you deserve it more than me. I'm not ready, I know that now. I want to go on with my own strength and now, you're stronger than I am."

Neji looked at her in shock but quickly got a small smile on his face as he shook his head. He loved his cousin but her big heart might get her into trouble one day. He went over and put out his hand, she smiled as she shook it. "I look forward to when you are stronger then."

Hinata smiled up at him and nodded.

Naruto sighed, although he was proud that she stuck by her morals and her pride, he had been looking forward to seeing her in the finals. Well he would just congratulate her anyway on how well she fought.

Kin Tsuchi vs Shikamaru Nara

"Hey Shikamaru," Sakura said to him as he passed her by, "watch out for her bells. They make this genjutsu that messes with your balance. Also her knee and wrist should still be weak."

"Alright, thanks." He nodded as he lazily made his way to the ground floor. He studied the girl and she did seem to favour one side. Although he hated fighting girls, well he hated to fight period but girls even more so. When the fight stared she seemed to start with her bells and Sakura had been right about them. It wasn't easy to figure out a way around this but he did come up with a plan.

This time her bells created clones of her, or at least the illusion of clones. There was one senbon with a bell on it somewhere but he couldn't exactly go after it. She was throwing more of those damn needles and they really hurt going in. He kept her distracted with talking as he got his shadow jutsu to nab her. He made it look like it was the shadow of a thread and so she would then copy his movements exactly.

He got her into the right position, with her being too close to the wall while he was in the middle of the arena. They both drew out a kunai each, both threw it and both dodged by bending backwards. Too bad for Kin her head slammed into the solid wall with enough force to knock her out. It was a short match but that was all.

"Wow, he's a lot smarter than I thought," Sakura stated as she was next to Ino.

"When you can get him off his lazy ass he can actually come up with some neat stuff," Ino told her best friend. "So, whose next?"

Sasuke Uchiha vs Kabuto Yakushi

"Sasuke," Kakashi said getting his attention. "Don't use the mark, you haven't had the time to fight it and I could seal it to help, but we didn't have the time for it."

"Listen to him kid," Anko said in a serious manner. "At this point it will search control you if you do."

"Alright then, I guess it's the hard way," the boy said as he reached for his katana. He would have to use his sword and fighting skills as using chakra seemed to bring out the damn thing.

Kabuto however had other worries. He was here to work for Lord Orochimaru, he had been his spy among the Leaf for years now but this proved to be a problem. For years he had been down playing his skills but the Uchiha wasn't at his best. Things would get out of hand and either Sasuke might end up killing him, or he would have to show his true talents. Well maybe there was another option, he didn't need to progress in this to serve his master after all. Maybe it would be for the best, he needed to help with the plan.

"Proctor." Kabuto said before moving. "I don't have the chakra to fight so I'll have to withdraw."

"You sure about that?" Hayate asked coughing a little. Kabuto nodded in replay and the Proctor was forced to make Sasuke the winner."

"What the hell!?" Sasuke yelled out. "He's giving up without a fight?"

"Well maybe this is for the best." Kakashi said relieved. Sasuke however hated to 'win' like this. He felt embarrassed about this and scowled at the white haired teen across the gap.

Zaku Abumi vs Shino Aburame

This fight had been pretty one sided, even though Zaku was injured he still tried to fight. The air canons in his one working arm were nasty, but Shino was ready. He knew now the kind of attack this genin used, plus he relied on it too much. A ninja that relied too much on a single technique ran the trouble of it being your biggest weakness.

Shino made sure the Sound genin's attention was all on him, while he used his bugs to get into the pathway of the working arm. There was a tube in there and over the course of the battle more and more insects would build up until it was blocked. With it plugged, the next time the boy tried to use it, he had a backfire effect. With his arm practically destroyed it was easy for Shino to finish the boy off.

He covered him in bugs and drained just enough chakra to make sure he couldn't move.

Naruto Hatake vs Yoroi Akado

"All right here I go!" Naruto yelled out as he jumped down to meet one of Kabuto's team mate. For some reason both him and the other guy wore these all black clothing with dark glasses like Shino's but with this strange mask. It was just a piece of cloth that covered the lower face unlike his own mask.

The proctor began the match and Naruto decided to try out his wind techniques.

"Wind blade!" He yelled out after finishing his hand signs and with a flat hand made a slashing motion. Although this was something he had been working on, the effect was not what he wanted. Instead of a super dense thin line of razor air slicing at his opponent, all he got was a nice little breeze.

"Ah crap," Naruto muttered as his chakra was more messed up then he thought.

Yoroi just laughed, "What the hell was that supposed to be?"

"Shut up, I'm having an off day okay?" Naruto said annoyed as he tired his favorite jutsu. He managed to create a total of five clones. "Alright guys this time we got to get this right."

"You got it," one clone said as they all reached for the blade on their backs. They all drew the chakra blade that belonged to the White Fang himself.

Since he couldn't trust his chakra at the moment he was going to do it the hard way, but thankfully with his grandfather's sword and his clones it might make things more interesting. The clones came at his opponent as he was wondering what kind of ninja this other masked genin was. Yoroi turned out to be pretty quick on his feet as he managed to dodge Naruto's attacks. The other boy pulled out a kunai as he would use that to parry the blades coming at him.

The boy turned out to be better than most as he slowly started to cut down Naruto's clones. Finally only the real one was left and now Naruto was attacking. Yoroi had a few close calls, even a small cut on his arm from when he had lost sight of one of the clones during the earlier attack. If the boy could make anymore clones than that, he would have been in serious trouble.

But now he had what he was waiting for, Naruto thrust with his blade and the other boy went to block. At least that's what it seemed, he parried the blade and moved in closer. He grabbed Naruto by the writs and bent his arm back as he kept moving forward. He placed his weapon arm into Naruto's elbow, now Naruto's arm holding his sword was bent back and had the kunai of his opponent dangerously close to his face. The hold was in place but he was sure he could get out of it, he just wondered why the guy wanted to get so close.

Yoroi grinned as he managed to get a hold of the genin, he would drain the boy of all his chakra. Already he could feel the power flowing into him, he grinned to himself. The boy was rich in chakra, more so than anyone he had ever drained before.

"What the hell are you doing?" Naruto asked as he struggled to get out of the grapple hold.

"Taking your chakra for my own," he said to him.

Naruto's eyes widened as he tried to struggle free, but not for the reasons that the other guy might be thinking. Yoroi chuckled as the boy tried to free himself but it was no use. The flowing life energy was going into him. Then suddenly something happened, the power changed. Suddenly his body felt like it was on fire, like the chakra was trying to burn him from the inside out.

He screamed in pain as he pushed the boy away from him. He was clawing at his own skin as the burning didn't stop.

"It's burning me! What is this power, what the hell are you!?" He yelled out at him. No human should have chakra like this. "You're not human! You're a monster!"

He continued to scream and thrash until his body went limp. No one spoke as the proctor went to check on the boy, he was unconscious and he quickly called for medics to be brought in. They carried him off quickly leaving Naruto to look around. He could see various looks around him, confusion being the most of it.

Then he felt something else, he saw that Gaara was looking at him now. There was something in those dead eyes, like he was looking at interesting prey, or maybe recognition, maybe both.

"Mother wants his blood," Gaara said mostly to himself as his search brother and sister gave him a look. They both knew what this would mean, that Gaara would want to kill that Naruto guy now. Hopefully they could make him wait until the finals.

Up in the stands Sakura knitted her brow together, there was something going on now. She looked around and saw everyone was just as confused. Actually, check that. Only the genins were confused, the adults didn't look as surprised.

"What the hell was that all about?" Sasuke asked seeing what she was seeing.

"I don't know," she said quietly back. "Do you think they're keeping something from us?"

Sasuke wasn't sure but he felt like there was something going on. There were too many mysteries going on about Naruto lately that he could ignore. They noticed the he was very quiet as he was making his way back up the stairs, he wasn't even looking at anyone. It was odd to see him like this, Hinata went over to him but he didn't seem to respond. Something was really bothering him, Sakura could tell if not even Hinata could get through to him.

Misumi Tsurugi vs Sakura Haruno

When Sakura saw her name she knew that she couldn't think about the mysteries about Naruto anymore. She prepared herself as she went to face off with the team mate of the person that Naruto had just put into the hospital. Like Yoroi, he was dressed in the same outfit.

"I have no idea what you're blond friend did to my team mate but you'll pay for it." The older genin told her.

Sakura felt a little nervous as she took out her tonfas, she wasn't sure what this genin was capable of as she had never seen him before. She decided to wait and see what he would do first, the older boy came at her and she prepared herself. He took out kunai and went to attack her, she dodged and slammed her tonfa into the elbow joint to break it. But to her surprise it didn't break, it actually gave but there wasn't anything solid there.

The momentary surprise gave him a chance to slam a fist into her stomach, she grunted as she took a step back and brought up her other weapon to defend against his blade. But then she felt another blow, which was confusing as she was out of his range. At least she had thought as much as she felt something grab around her ankle. She looked down and was surprised that one of his arms was wrapping it self around like a snake.

She slammed her metal weapon onto the flesh but it was like hitting rubber.

"That won't work on me little girl," Misumi said as he pulled and she was taken off her feet. She landed onto her back and then was taken into the air as he whipped her up like a chain. She was slammed back into the ground but kept the grip on her weapons. One of the things she had been trained to do, was never let go of your weapons unless you wanted to.

She felt the arm gone and quickly forced herself to roll and get some distance. She managed to get up only to see him smirking at her.

"My joints can be dislocated at will, plus my body then stretches out. You can hit my body but you're only hitting soft flesh. The odds of you hitting any of my bones are very small."

Sakura knew she was in trouble now, he had the range on her and she couldn't hurt him at this distance. Suddenly his arms shot out at her again and she was put on the defensive. That's how her fight went as she kept dodging his arms trying to think of a way to attack. She tried shurikens but he only dodged them. But sooner or later she had to make a mistake and while dodging one arm another managed to hit her in the kidneys.

Staggered she was easy prey as his arms wrapped around her entire body now.

The arms started to crush her body, she grunted out in pain as she couldn't breath at the moment. She knew that if she breathed out, she wouldn't be able to take in anymore air but her lungs were already starting to burn with the need for air from all the physical activity she had been doing.

"Go ahead kid, try and take a deep breath," he goaded her. "It will be over quickly, and if you don't I'm pretty sure your ribs are about to break anyway, then I'll just crush your internal organs."

Sakura hadn't thought that he was actually going to try and kill her, but this was the chunin exams. Even if he was a Leaf it would seem that killing fellow ninja happened. She needed to think, she hadn't been in a position like this, since that first real mission. The mission where she had killed a man, it was a painful memory but she had grown a little harder to it. She needed to think, she couldn't die here, she wouldn't die here she decided.

She couldn't use her arms or legs, so what did that leave?

There was one option, it wasn't glamorous but it might be effective. She looked down and opened her mouth as she quickly bit into the flesh near her mouth. She bit down as hard as she could, she could taste blood in her mouth and it wasn't hers.

He cried out in pain as his arms loosened up and she managed to slip out.

"Well that was effective," Anko smirked at her. "Girl knows how to fight dirty, I think I like her more now."

"Hopefully she can capitalize on it," Kakashi said as they watched on.

Misumi was cradling his arm seeing the blood flowing out of it, it wasn't too bad but it still hurt. He couldn't believe the girl actually bit him. He stretched his arms out, this time he was going to crush her limps and then wrap around her neck. He was going to finish her off quickly before, now he was pissed.

Sakura knew what to expect this time, but she also had been working on a plan. So far this guy only seemed to be able to extend his arms so the rest of his body had to be solid. She only had one chance, she carefully watched how they moved as she looked for her opening. The world seem to slow as her mind increased, and suddenly she saw it as clear as day. She jumped between the hands as she rolled forward. Letting her momentum carry her, she kicked off and managed to cover most of the distance. Sakura knew that he would bring his arms back it was only a matter of time of who was quicker.

Sakura saw the arms retracting but she wasn't sure if she would make it. She only had one chance, she put all the power she could into her legs and jumped forward. She threw one of her tonfas at her opponent. He took a moment to dodge it but that was what she wanted. He was now in her path and she thrust forward, hitting him in the solar plexus. There was no joint there, no way of him shifting or moving the parts of the body of his core.

He groaned in pain as his arms went limp, and he staggered back. Sakura wasted no time, she couldn't let him recover. She twisted her tonfa around and with the short end, jabbed it straight into his jaw. A large piece of bone that she knew he couldn't protect like his arms. His head snapped back as he staggered a few more steps. She kicked him in the stomach and as he bent forward she swung her weapon in an arc to catch him in the side of his skull.

He fell to the ground with her panting as her adrenaline started to drop off.

"Damn," Ino muttered to herself, she was glad that she wasn't fighting Sakura. Those weapons of hers may not look lethal but they were nasty.

Kakashi smiled as he could breath more easily now. He looked to Gai and Asuma, "Looks like I won the bet. All my genins made it."

"Maybe, but Ino and Choji still have to fight." Asuma said.

"And Tenten and Lee as well, you may not be the only one with their full team going through," Gai said to his eternal rival.

Anko smiled as Sakura made her way up to them, "Hey kid that wasn't bad."

"Thank you Anko-sensei." Sakura said feeling proud at how she had done.

"Nice going Sakura-chan," Naruto said a bit more normal again. Although he seemed a little down about his match but at least he seemed more like his normal self.

Sasuke looked at her and gave her a rare smile with a nod. She blushed a bit, he was actually proud of what she had done, her inner self was very happy about it but she kept her emotions in check. She gave a small smile and a nod back to him as she took her place with her team.

Next up Chapter 52: The Final Eliminations

So far here's the listing for the final matches:

Dosu Kinuta vs Choji Akimichi

Kiba Inuzuka vs Gendo Kaji

Tenten vs Temari

Ino Yamanaka vs Ami

Gaara vs Akuma

Kankuro vs Rock Lee