Chapter 51: A Sudden Challenge

Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 51: A Sudden Challenge

After the two groups of genins left for the third floor, the two "seniors," who were in reality secret instructors, went to hide behind a fake wall and continue their job.

"Those Kakashi's and Guy's prized students… man, that Uchiha boy is quite something, as all the rumors say. He easily blocked my attack," one of them said.

"Urgg… damn it!" The other one grunted in pain while clutching his leg.

"What happened to you?"

"He broke my foot…"

"What?" He had missed what his partner was doing, so he had no idea what had happened. "Did you attack the Hyuga? There was no need to test that one...he is a genius."

"No, it wasn't Neji Hyuuga… I saw the Uzumaki boy being distracted and wanted to teach him a lesson…"

"Uzumaki?... That annoying brat who is always pranking the civilians? That one broke your foot?" He could not believe what he was hearing.

"S-shut up!" He got a bit embarrassed now that he thought about it.

Uzumaki's reputation was truly terrible, not just as an annoyance but also as being one of the least talented genins from his generation. Being hurt by someone like that was very humiliating.

"He must have hit me in the wrong spot by chance. You better not tell anyone about this!"

"Haha! Fine, I won't tell, but… you can't continue your job like this, so you better go to the hospital. I'll do the rest of the vigilance by myself."

"Damn it all…" The instructor limped away. "You are going to pay for this… Uzumaki."

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"Are they really doing this now?... seems like a bad idea all around."

Naruto saw as his teammates prepared to fight against that green-suit boy from before.

"Uchiha Sasuke! I want to test my techniques against the so-called 'genius' of this year," Rock Lee said with determination before turning his gaze towards Sakura and giving her a wink.

"He keeps winking at you," Naruto pointed out.

"Shut up!" Sakura became embarrassed. "He looks so lame…"

"You are an angel, Sakura!" Lee yelled and sent a kiss to her.

"Ahhh! Stop doing that already!" Sakura exclaimed. "Sasuke, just beat this guy, please."

"That won't be so easy…." Naruto muttered. With a quick glance, he could tell that, despite his strange appearance, this boy was well-trained in martial arts.

"You are a fool for challenging me after learning I am a Uchiha…" Sasuke stared at Lee.

"You would think that... but I will tell you this…. right now, I am Konoha's strongest genin!" Rock Lee said with confidence.

Sakura glanced at the clock. "We only have twenty minutes left."

"I'll only need five," Sasuke huffed before beginning his attack.

"Yes, go kick his ass!" Sakura exclaimed.

Naruto gave the other two a passing glance. His teammates were the girl from the weapon shop and some Hyuga guy that he was not familiar with.

Sasuke and Lee began to exchange blows at close range.

"You are not going to win in taijutsu against that one…" Naruto commented, but no one seemed to be paying attention to his words.

It became clear that Rock Lee had the advantage after a short while.

Sasuke then received a powerful punch to the face that pushed him back.

"Oh no!" Sakura cried.

"Hehe… fine, this gives me a chance to practice it," Sasuke said.

Naruto noticed some change occur in his teammate, and when Sasuke lifted his eyes, they could all see what it was.

"The Sharingan!" Sakura gasped.

"You finally awoke it, huh?..." Naruto said. 'It is a bit different than Kakashi's one. This one only has two tomoes instead of three…' There was no detailed information about the Uchiha signature bloodline ability, so he could only speculate about this.

"Now Sasuke is going to win for sure!" Sakura celebrated.

"Not really…" Naruto said.

She snapped her head to him. "How can you say that?! He is your teammate! Don't you want him to win?"

"This has nothing to do with that… for what we learned from Kakashi, the Sharingan allows you to analyze jutsus at instant speed and even copy them. But that green-suited boy has used nothing but pure taijutsu the whole time. Unless there is some hidden use for those eyes that I am unaware of… it won't help him much."

Both Sasuke and Rock Lee turned to glance at Naruto.

"Nonsense! He has been using something to get past my defenses. And I will find out now!" Sasuke shouted before charging at Rock Lee.

"Yes… you will see," Lee remained in his usual posture and waited for him.

Before Sasuke could react, Lee had already kicked him into the air.

"That guy was right." Lee jumped after Sasuke. "My techniques are neither Ninjutsu nor Genjutsu, but pure Taijutsu… there is no secret for your eyes to reveal."

"Uh oh…" Naruto saw what Lee was doing and got a bad feeling.

It looked like he was positioning himself to grab Sasuke from behind while still in the air before smashing him down, head first.

'Even if Sasuke survives that, he is going to get seriously hurt… that may ruin my chances at this exam. I can't let that happen.' Naruto pushed as much chakra as he could into his legs…

No one saw him disappear from his spot, but they did detect him when he appeared right beneath Rock Lee and grabbed one of his legs.

"What?!" Lee shouted in absolute shock. And he was even more surprised when he tried to move his right arm and found that his bandages had become stuck on something.

"That's enough, Lee!"

After hearing that voice, Lee immediately abandoned his attack and used his stuck bandages to push himself aside.

Seeing this, Naruto let him go and grabbed Sasuke instead.

He landed on the ground while holding his teammate on his shoulder, while Lee hit the floor a short distance away.

"A turtle?...." Naruto stared at the new arrival.

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