Chapter 57: Finals Part III

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

"Hmm…."- Bijuu

Chapter 57:

Finals Part III

Sparks were flying everywhere in the arena at the moment. After the sudden power up by both kunoichi, none of the civilians could keep up with any of the movements made by the kunoichi at this point. The same could be said for most of the genin and even some chunnin present. Kushina and Mikoto were moving that fast.

With said kunoichi, both had a kunai in hand as they clashed with one another throughout the arena. In the beginning, Kushina had been slower than Mikoto. But with Kurama's chakra now in the mix, her speed had gone considerably up, even being faster than Mikoto now. The difference wasn't large enough to where Mikoto couldn't keep up, though, especially since the dark haired girl had subconsciously unlocked her regular mature sharingan. So while Kushina was slightly faster and had more power behind her attacks, Mikoto had more grace and fluidity in her movements. As a result of this, neither girl could get the advantage over the other. They were evenly matched.

"Something's different with Mikoto now," Tsunade observed, her brown eyes narrowed. "Her movements have…..changed."

"That's because her sharingan has fully matured," Kagome answered, her eyes also narrowed. "She unlocked it right after Kushina unleashed this…..power."

Tsunade looked at her in surprise. "What? But she's only thirteen! Even you were fifteen when that happened to you!"

Kagome nodded with a frown on her face. "Yes. But like I told Kushina, Mikoto has always been highly skilled, even in our clan. So I'm not surprised that this has happened. But this also means that Kushina doesn't have the upper hand with that power of hers like she must have been expecting. I guess that saying is true, after all. A shinobi does grow best when in actual combat."

Tsunade didn't respond, her attention being drawn back to the fight down below.

Both kunoichi appeared right in the center of the arena once more, sparking flying in between them as their kunai clashed with each other. Kushina's violet eyes met Mikoto's sharingan ones, Kurama's red chakra still shrouding her form.

The redhead gritted her teeth, trying to push Mikoto back. But not one to be outdone, the Uchiha stepped back, making Kushina tip forward in slight surprise. Seeing her opening, Mikoto instantly crouched down, sending a sweep kick down towards Kushina's feet. Seeing this coming, Kushina jumped up slightly before sending a powerful kick of her own straight for Mikoto's face. The kick connected, making Kushina grin as Mikoto fell backwards. Thinking that she now had the advantage, Kushina lowered her guard for a moment, to which Mikoto came rushing back towards her, sending a punch for Kushina's cheek once more which had the redhead stumbling back.

The intense confrontation died down for the moment, both girls panting heavily as they continued to glare at one another.

"I didn't think Kushina had this kind of power," Emi muttered from her seat, her eyes wide in complete surprise. Even if she wasn't able to keep up with the fight anymore, the blonde knew that her friend was still putting immense pressure on Mikoto. It was more than she could do, that was for certain.

Tsume for her part was gritting her teeth in frustration. While a part of her did feel happy for Kushina being this powerful and being able to keep up with Mikoto, it only served to remind her just how weak she was compared to the two. It annoyed the crap out of the Inuzuka.

Kuromaru was whimpering softly from within Tsume's hoodie. The ninja dog could perfectly sense Kurama's chakra. And it scared him a little.

'Kura, what is this!' Kushina screamed in her mind with frustration. 'How is Mikoto still able to keep up with us!? I was close to her speed before. With your chakra, I should have surpassed her already!'

"Yeah, that's true," Kurama began, his crimson eyes narrowed. "But it seems like you weren't the only one who received a power up back there."

'What do you mean by that?'

"You mean you haven't sensed it yet?" Kurama asked before shaking his head. "Nevermind. But my point is that the Uchiha's moves have changed from before. They're more on point."

'And what does that mean!?'

Kurama sighed. "You're just like-oh, forget it. Those annoying eyes of hers have different stages to them. From what I noticed before, she only had two tomoe in each one. Now that I've taken a closer look again, it seems like she has three now."

'And what?'

"Damn, brat, I knew I should have made you read a book or two during our training! But as I was saying, there are stages to the sharingan. And it seems like she's attained a full mature sharingan now."

Kushina was silent for a couple of seconds. '…Are you telling me that Mikoto hadn't even been at full strength until now?'

"That's exactly it. But all isn't lost. She just awakened them, so she hasn't completely mastered them yet. That doesn't mean she won't be tough to take down, even more so than before. But fear not! For the great Kurama is here with you! Hahaha!"

'Cut that out already. What do you have in mind?'

Kurama hummed. "Well, we didn't have time before….but now, there's no choice. And we have to do this the old fashioned way. You wouldn't be able to handle my full power right now…."

Kushina frowned, wondering what the bijuu meant by that. But she wasn't able to dwell on it too much as Mikoto charged towards her again.

"Don't get distracted now!" the Uchiha girl roared, her kunai clashing with Kushina's again.

The redhead gritted her teeth, trying her best to overpower Mikoto once more.

'This really is a stalemate!' Kushina thought in frustration. And that wasn't what she was aiming for here. No. She had to defeat Mikoto. There was just no other way.

"Brat, get ready. This might sting a little."

Kushina was barely able to register Kurama's words before she screamed out in pain, feeling as if her whole body was on fire.

Mikoto for her part narrowed her sharingan eyes as she instantly jumped back. With her eyes, she could see a huge surge of chakra erupting from within Kushina's body. And it was much more potent than anything the redhead had released so far.

This only infuriated Mikoto even more. 'Just what kind of power is this!?'

Kushina looked down at her body several moments later, taking notice of how Kurama's chakra looked much more stable than before. It was surrounding her just like a cloak. She also noticed how her new chakra cloak had one tail swinging happily behind her.

'What is this…..?'

Kurama grunted. "I'm giving you one tail's worth of my power…but it won't last long. Even with your Uzumaki toughness, your body has no absolute resilience to my chakra yet. So you'll be bombarded with a lot of pain. But this is the best that I can squeeze from the seal right now. So it will have to do."

Kushina smirked. She could feel even more powerful than before. 'Don't worry, Kura. This is enough…..'

Up on the stands, Kaito narrowed his eyes. All around him, the audience was astounded as to what they were witnessing. So was he honestly. But he was still much more curious about something else.

"This is completely different from Naruto's transformation," he muttered.

But his father heard him quite clearly. "Yes, it is. But unlike with Naruto, Kushina's seal isn't exactly completely opened. And from what I have seen before, Naruto's transformation is much more potent than this one. I'm guessing that Kurama has kept in mind that Kushina still can't handle such a thing. And one tail is also the most that he can slip through the seal for now."

"You and your overprotective nature," Kazumi said with a sigh, making Arashi laugh sheepishly.

Down below, Mikoto growled. "Just what the hell are you, Kushina!?" she screamed out. "This chakra…..it's like nothing I've ever seen before!"

Kushina chuckled, her now crimson eyes meeting Mikoto's sharingan ones. "You're not the only one with special abilities, Mikoto. Besides, this shouldn't matter to someone like you, right? After all, I'm just a weakling who relies on others. Nothing like you who can do everything by herself."

Mikoto's lips formed a thin line. "Always with a comeback….forget it. Talking will get us nowhere. If you want to prove yourself against me, then come. Let our firsts do the talking from now on!"

Kushina growled. "You got it!"

Getting into a defensive stance with her kunai still in hand, Mikoto prepared for the redhead's impending attack. But instead of rushing at her, the redhead merely sent her freed hand forward, her chakra cloak hand shooting straight for Mikoto.

The Uchiha's eyes widened, not having been expecting this. But reacting on instinct, the girl jumped up into the air, dodging the chakra hand with a great show of agility. But Kushina was soon up in the air with her, her speeding having increased even more than before. In face of such speed, Mikoto's eyes could track Kushina. But her body wasn't fast enough to react in time as Kushina sent a powerful punch with her other hand, her kunai from before no longer present.

The Uchiha was promptly sent to the wall, her whole body screaming out in pain. But Kushina was soon on top of her again, another punch ready.

The audience was treated to a sight similar to what Mikoto had done to Karura in their earlier match. Only that this time it was Mikoto on the receiving end.

"This is the end then, Mikoto!" Kushina exclaimed as she continued to pummel the Uchiha through the wall with a third punch ready. But the Uchiha's body soon turned into a poof of smoke, leaving no trace behind.

This only confused Kushina. 'What!?'

"Dammit, another clone! And she must have put more chakra into this one than the others!"

But Kushina's mind was going back through their match so far. Even during their high speed clashes, the Uchiha had still made a shadow clone somehow. That was just…..unbelievable.

Kurama on the other was annoyed. 'Damn blond…..why did he have to teach her shadow clones of all things? She's added them nicely to her attack strategies. And this only makes this that much more difficult for us here!'

But their troubles continued as three more Mikoto's sprung from behind the trees a moment later, all heading straight for Kushina.

'I'm not dealing with this!' Kushina thought before letting out another massive roar which was also enhanced with Kurama's chakra. The three Mikoto's were sent flying back to the other side of the arena, all disappearing into more plumps of smoke.

Feeling her shinobi senses kicking in, Kushina looked up into the air just in time to see another trio of Mikoto's heading straight for her, this time with their hands together into the ram seal.

"Time to end this, Uchiha!" Kushina roared out as she lunged straight for the dark haired girl before Kurama could warn her otherwise.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!"

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!"

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!"

Kushina didn't let the Uchiha favored jutsu stop her advance, concentrating Kurama's chakra to her arms as she planned on ramming through.

Mikoto, who was mixed in within the three, was not expecting this. But not one to back down, she pushed her whatever remaining chakra she had left to her fire technique along with her other two clones, the combined fireball becoming even bigger than before. And unfortunately, it wasn't much. Shadow clones took a lot out of her. And she had created a lot throughout the finals already. But it didn't matter right now.

This was the final clash.

Kushina gritted her teeth, feeling her the skin of both of her arms start to burn. But she couldn't back down now.

"Brat, don't! You've already reached your limit! You can't-!"

Whatever the bijuu was about to say was stopped as the backlash of Kushina pumping all the chakra Kurama had given her to her arms exploded around her and Mikoto in a big way. The explosion was enough to create a giant cloud of dust that covered the entire arena, making the two kunoichi disappear from the line of sight of all who were watching.

Rasa's eyes were wide as he looked at the aftermath of the match happening in front of him. These two girls…..they were much stronger than he had anticipated. Neither one had backed down. No matter how powerful the other one had seemed, they had gone against one another with everything they had. But in the end, there could only be one winner. Who would it be? The sand wielder waited for that answer with impatience as the cloud of smoke began to die down.

Minato was also having similar thoughts. Kushina's speed near the end…..it had reached his own. He didn't know how, but the redhead had pumped out enough power to match his speed. And equally as amazing, Mikoto had been able to handle it well enough.

'These two…just how powerful are they!?' Minato thought in pure amazement.

'Hmm,' Hiruzen thought with a calculating look as he gazed down at the arena. This match had certainly been flashy. But who would come out on top? Regardless, both girls had shown enough potential. They were certainly going to be on the forefront of the new generation, that was for sure.

The rest of the audience's thoughts differed from each individual. But they all wanted to see who would come out on top in the end.

Thankfully, they didn't have to wait for too much longer as the cloud of smoke finally disappeared to an extent that they could see what had become of Kushina and Mikoto.

And it wasn't anything that they had been expecting. Both girls were down on the grown on their backs, both panting heavily. Kushina's arms were covered in burns while blood dripped down from Mikoto's lips.

"H-how are you still conscious?" Mikoto asked with aggravation.

"I could a-ask you the same thing," Kushina said return with a scowl.

But both girls knew that they could no longer move. So they could now only verbally assault each other. Sort of.

The chunnin soon appeared on the scene, hands in pockets as he gazed down at the two fallen kunoichi. He could tell that neither girl could move. They were also both completely exhausted. Not that he could blame them. Their fight had been something that he had not been expecting out of mere genin.

But since neither could move anymore and both were still conscious, this only meant one thing…..

"Since neither participant is able to continue, this match is hereby declared a draw!"

'This can't be possible…..'

"Are you okay, honey!?"

"Yes! For the hundredth time, kaa-san, I'm okay! And stop poking me already, Kaito!"

"Can't help it. You were amazing out there. And show your older brother some respect!"

"I will! When you earn it!"

"T'ch. When did you get so feisty, huh!?"

"Now, now you two. There's no need for this arguing."

"Not now, tou-san!"

"Not now, tou-san!"

Mikoto's eyebrows twitched as her ears picked up all of the commotion. She still couldn't move, so she could only lay on her bed as the Uzumaki family continued to bicker amongst one another.

"It looks like you went through hell."

Mikoto's gaze went from the ceiling to Karura who was now standing over her, a hand on her hips and an amused grin on her face.

The Uchiha frowned. "This was nothing….."

Karura chuckled. "Not from where I'm standing. I guess that redhead was a much tougher opponent than I had given her credit for. I'm guessing that was your mistake too."

Mikoto scowled. "What's your point anyway? Or are you here to make fun of me?"

Karura shrugged. "There would be no point of me trying to make fun of you. As much as it irritates me, I did lose to you in the end. So I have no room to talk. I'm only making observations here. You made the exact same mistakes I did. And that's why you landed in the same position that I was in. Doesn't feel good, does it?"

Mikoto didn't respond. Even now, she could make out Kushina's voice in the background as said redhead continued to converse with her family. What surprised Mikoto the most was that there wasn't any sense of bitterness in the girl's voice. That only irked Mikoto even more since she herself was feeling bitterness right now. She had trained hard all this time. Trained to be the best. But she had lost. Even if the match had technically been a draw, to Mikoto it was a loss. Anything but victory was a loss. And yet, Kushina was handling the situation a lot differently from her.

"No, it doesn't," Mikoto replied after a couple more seconds of silence. "I didn't think I would be defeated here of all places…."

Karura sighed. "I guess you and I have much in common, after all. But now let me return your words to you, Uchiha. You do have the capacity to be even better. But for that, you're going to have to make some changes from now. Just like I will too. Even if we don't get promoted to chunnin, we were both able to get something out of this exam."

With that, the Suna girl turned away from Mikoto's bed before heading for hers. She had said everything that she had wanted.

As for Mikoto, the girl remained silent, letting Karura's words float in her head. They were soon joined by Naruto's and Minato's.

The Uchiha closed her eyes.

Even through all of the things that were being told to her at once, Kushina was still able to glance over to Mikoto. Unlike her, Kushina had Kurama with her. So her speed of revival was much faster. But the redhead wasn't focusing on that. No, the Uzumaki girl was still fixated on her match against the Uchiha. It had been the toughest fight she had ever been in. And even though some part of her was disappointed that she hadn't been able to come out on top, she had still managed a draw against the powerful Uchiha. It was also the first time that Kushina had seen Mikoto so vulnerable. It really did give her a somewhat different perspective of the girl now.

Kushina also noticed Hikari glancing over her direction with obvious amusement, making the redhead mentally pout.

"Huh. Look who's still standing. I'm surprised your arms didn't blow up back there."

Kushina resisted the urge to roll her eyes. 'Yeah, good to hear you again, Kura. But what happened back there? I thought you said I could handle that much of your power!'

Kurama sighed. "You still don't understand? I did tell you that we weren't even able to train with a single tail of my chakra, did I not?"

'Yeah, but-'

"And now you see what can happen when you have no control! You can thank those Uzumaki genes of yours that you were even able to endure five minutes in that state without proper training. But when you concentrated my chakra in one area, you weren't able to maintain control for too long. Especially since your head was only filled with thoughts about pummeling the Uchiha to the ground. Not that I would have minded, of course…."

'Alright, alright. I get it. No more being reckless with your chakra. I'll take it slower next time. I promise.'

Kurama huffed. "I'll be holding you to that, brat. But for now, rest. The exams are over for you."

A sudden explosion of shouts from outside drew the attention of all the occupants in the room. It only made Kushina sigh wistfully, though.

'I guess it's time for the final match…..'

Minato versus Rasa. Kushina only regretted not being able to witness it for herself. But she would get the full account from Tsume and the others later.

For now, she needed some rest.

Sarutobi couldn't help the grin that appeared in his face as both Minato and Rasa walked to the center of the arena. The crowd was in another round of excited screams. Not that Sarutobi could blame them. After the last match, everyone was in high hopes that this would be just as good if not better. With the sudden draw from before, this was the final match of the Chunnin Exams, after all.

It was obvious that Minato was the preferred of the two. But that mostly had to do with Rasa being an outsider honestly. And given what he had seen in the preliminaries, Sarutobi knew that this match could go either way. So it was bound to be interesting.

His eyes were certainly going to be open here.

"Alright, you two, I hope I don't have to remind you of the rules. And with the draw from the previous match, this is the final match. Winner here wins the tournament. Understand?"

Both Minato and Rasa merely nodded, their eyes never leaving each other.

The chunnin sighed. He could already feel the determination flowing in the air. But this was the final time that he would be introducing a match for this Chunnin Exams. It was certainly a bit saddening, the chunnin mused before letting those thoughts drift away. The audience and the participants were itching to get things started.

"I hereby announce the final match: begin!"

The crowd erupted into another set of cheers. But neither boy payed attention to that as Rasa began to gather his sand around him. And with the addition of the sand that he had created last time, he had plenty to spare.

But if Minato was intimidated by this, he didn't show it as he looked at Rasa with a serious look.

"I can't say I'm surprised to be standing against you, Namikaze," Rasa began. "Although I hadn't thought that it would be in the finals."

"I guess nothing is ever certain," Minato replied with a simple shrug. "Besides, things did turn more exciting. That last match has made me pumped up!"

Rasa sighed. "Honestly, all of you Konoha shinobi are idiots in one shape or form. Even you. That certainly makes this less…..interesting."

Minato chuckled. "Oh? I guess what Shikaku said is true. You guys don't think much of us."

"That's because there isn't any need to think that you're something you're not," Rasa retorted. "I've seen your arrogance before. Just because you came out on top in the last war you believe yourselves to be the better. Well, I'm here to tell you that you're not. A new era is starting. And I will lead Suna to greater heights than before, squashing Konoha like the bugs you are."

Minato frowned. "But we're allies-"

Rasa snorted. "What? That treaty? Do you honestly believe that such a thing will last? Didn't your history lessons teach you anything? The only consistency in this world is inconsistency. It won't be long before that treaty falls apart, and we're back to slitting each other's throats. That's the way of the shinobi. But if you can't understand something as simple as that, then you're a bigger idiot than I thought."

Minato was silent for several seconds before he finally let out a sigh. "I can't say you're completely wrong. But you're not completely right either. There is much chaos in the shinobi world. But it's up to us, as the next generation, to address those problems and to better them so that our homes can prosper. What you're doing is repeating the mistakes of our ancestors. And where shall that lead us? We will only end up back where we started, seeing our comrades and families dead at our feet. Is that what you want to bring to Suna? That is something no leader ever wishes upon those who follow him."

'I can see it now,' Sarutobi thought with a surprised look as he gazed down at Minato. 'I can see the future Yondaime in him…..'

Rasa scowled, more sand erupting around him. "Enough. You can spew as many pretty words as you want. But at the end of the day, they're just that. So come, Namikaze. Come so that I may show you the fruitlessness of your words."

"So be it then," Minato said in return.

There was another pause before sand sprung all around Minato's feet. But the blond disappeared into a blur in an instant and reappeared up along one of the walls of the stadium, looking down at Rasa.

"So you had already been applying your lightning to your feet," Rasa commented as some lightning sizzled around said feet. It had prevented Rasa's sand from getting him.

The blond shrugged. "Do you honestly believe I wasn't going to account for you pulling something like that before the match even began? Besides, that would make things so boring."

Rasa sighed. "You're too flashy."

Minato chuckled. "Are you really one to talk?"

"No, I guess I'm not," Rasa admitted before he narrowed his eyes. "Be that as it may, this match is already my win. This whole terrain is on my side. Step one foot here and you'll surely meet your end. You have nowhere to go, Namikaze!"

"Keep telling yourself that!" Minato said in return, throwing a barrage of shuriken for Rasa. But they weren't normal shuriken. They were engulfed in lightning.

"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"

Rasa t'ched as he saw the shuriken multiply even further as they neared towards him. In response, the auburn haired boy brought his sand in front of him, effectively shielding himself from the shuriken. Even covered with lightning, the tools weren't able to penetrate the gold sand.

Rasa smirked at this until he felt a sudden presence behind him.

"You're wide open!"

For the first time in a long time, Rasa was met to a fist in the face as he turned around. He felt himself flying in the air, hitting the ground roughly.

Itsuki observed this with a grin. 'Told you, didn't I? But you never do listen…'

Rasa scowled as he looked up towards Minato who was now back on the ground and looking at him with a small smirk.

'This guy,' Rasa thought in annoyance, 'he used those shuriken as a distraction so that he could sneak up on me. Even so, this speed…..t'ch, I guess it isn't something that I can deal with lightly. It's completely different than with that Aburame from before. But no matter. I won't lose.'

Minato wasn't able to celebrate his victory for too long as more gold sand shot out from the ground in even more quantity than before.

'He's really not going to give me any ground,' Minato thought with a chuckle as he jumped back.

"This is the final match," Rasa began as he stood back up. "I have no need to hold back anymore!"

Landing on top of one of the trees, Minato looked up as a big wave of gold sand suddenly formed in the middle of the arena. The blond could no longer see Rasa either. But the Namikaze wasn't worried about that for the moment. No, he needed to find a way to dodge this monstrosity.

"Holy shit," Kagome said with wide eyes as she gazed as the gold sand. "This brat has a hell of a power!"

Tsunade could only nod in agreement. The only question here was just how Minato was going to get out of this one.

'Simple jutsu aren't going to cut it here,' Minato thought, forming a plan as quickly as he could. 'I would only be wasting my chakra.' With those lightning engulfed shuriken from before, Minato was already certain that the sand Rasa kept near him was much stronger than the rest of the sand. That mostly had to do with defensive reasons. But because of that, he would need a jutsu with lethal enough power to break through that sand. And right now, he was only certain of one jutsu that could pull off something like that. It would be a huge gamble, though.

'That's just how it is, I suppose,' Minato as he inhaled deeply.

'What are you planning, blondie?' Itsuki wondered as he watched how calm Minato appeared in face of such an overwhelming technique. As much as Itsuki hated to admit it, it was something that even he wouldn't be able to come out of unscathed. So then, what would Minato do in face of such a thing.

As if on cue, the sand wave shot down straight for the blond's position who stood perfectly still. To everyone, it was like the blond was meeting his impending doom head on.

But just before the sand reached him, Minato suddenly sprung into action, jumping straight for the sand wave with his hand stretched forward. Just about everyone leaned forward, wondering just what the blond was thinking of doing. And to everyone's amazement, a blue sphere suddenly appeared in the blond's hand. The sphere clashed with the sand a second later.

"Rasengan!"

And to everyone's surprise, the sand was no match for the sphere, clearing a straight path for the blond.

'What the hell!?' Itsuki thought with wide eyes. 'That sand isn't as strong as the one he keeps next to him, true. But it isn't this weak either. Even so, to think that with that single technique he tore through the whole wave just like that! Just how strong is it….?'

With the match, Minato's eyes picked up Rasa's surprised form down below him the moment that he tore through the wave, his Rasengan dissolving.

Coming out of his surprise a moment later, Rasa narrowed his eyes before he brought his hands forward, willing more of his gold sand for Minato. But Minato's speed came through for him as the boy evaded the sand with such grace that it was almost like he was performing some sort of dance in midair.

This only served to aggravate Rasa even further. The blond was making all of his moves ineffective thanks to that speed of his. The Namikaze's reactions were just too fast.

"Don't think this is over, Namikaze!" Rasa growled as more sand began to form around him.

'That idiot is losing control,' Itsuki thought with a sigh. 'He's feeling the pressure already. He can't score a single hit. This is the first time I'm seeing him like this.' It was certainly an interesting sight for Itsuki. Rasa was always cool and collected. Now? He was full of rage and emotion. It was the complete opposite for sure.

But even for Minato, all of the sand did prove to be a bit too much for him. Rasa was using all of his reserves to create an actual mini desert inside the arena. It was why the blond was forced to propel himself back against one of the walls, panting slightly as he gazed down at Rasa.

'This isn't something I can tackle head on,' Minato thought, looking down at all the sand. 'I have to admit, though. I didn't expect him to be able to do this much….'

'This Rasa boy has incredible skills,' Sarutobi thought with a nod from his seat. 'To be able to do this much…well, Minato my boy, what will you do now?'

'No, taking his attacks head on is the only way to go about it,' Minato said to himself, continuing with his analysis. 'In this situation, I have no way to go around. It's either take his attacks head on, or to just surrender right now. Or maybe somewhere in between...'

Crouching down, Minato look at his hands, an idea already formulating in his mind. It was the only way.

Getting tired of waiting, Rasa growled softly before he shot another wave of his sand straight for Minato. Said wave shot tendrils of sand for Minato as well.

But having already expected this, Minato evaded them easily enough as jumped for the air again.

"Is his only strategy dodging?" Kagome asked with a raised eyebrow. Tsunade didn't reply as she had no answer to that.

Reaching for his pouch in midair, Minato shot another barrage of shuriken straight for Rasa. Unlike last time, though, these were normal shuriken.

Rasa scoffed as he noticed this. Another wall of sand appeared in front of him, shielding him from the shuriken like they were nothing.

Itsuki smirked when he saw this. 'You sneaky son of-!'

Feeling confident, Rasa took a step back in surprise a moment later when the sand wall in front of him suddenly exploded. 'What just happened!?'

His brain suddenly reminded him of something, or rather someone, he had lost track of. And so far, Rasa had learned that losing sight of the Namikaze for just even a second was absolutely deadly.

And that was absolutely the case as the blond appeared right behind him, another Rasengan in hand.

"This is the end."

Turning around as quickly as he could, Rasa wielded all of his sand to protect him. But Minato's speed surpassed his sand's by a large margin, something that had already been proven since the beginning of the match.

"Rasengan!"

Rasa felt the whole world shatter around him as the Rasengan hit him dead on.

To the audience, it was like they were watching an even stronger version of what they had witnessed Minato do to Hikari. Which was accurate honestly.

Minato stood calmly as he watched Rasa impact through the wall. But instead of what happened with Hikari, the sand wielder actually went through the wall instead of stopping.

'So you were able to figure out the true weakness with the sand,' Itsuki thought with a whistle. It was simple honestly. Even if the whole terrain had been covered in sand which Rasa could use as a weapon at any time, a great advantage indeed, the sand itself had no will. Rasa had to command the sand for it to be of any threat. Minato must have picked up on that as the match dragged on. That was why he had set up that distraction with the shuriken with the exploding tag in them, something that Itsuki's eyes managed to pick up on right before the sand had engulfed them. And given Rasa's arrogance, it was certain that the sand wielder wouldn't have anything of it until it was too late. With Rasa's attention elsewhere, Minato had been freed to move around the boy before finally hitting him dead on with that powerful new jutsu.

'I guess this is over then…..'

Sarutobi stood up from his seat with a smile as the chunnin announced Minato as the winner of the tournament. The crowd erupted into another set of cheers while Minato basked in his accomplishment. It was well deserved honestly.

But now the Chunnin Exams were officially over with Minato as its winner.

"I can't believe this," Kushina said with a sigh as she, Tsume, Emi, and Hikari all sat inside Ichiraku Ramen with a bowl of ramen in front of them all. "I wasn't able to go up against Minato!"

Tsume rolled her eyes. "Give me a break! I wasn't even able to pass the preliminaries. And you don't hear me complaining!"

"Still, Kushina has a point," Emi said with a sigh of her own. "It would have been amazing if one of us had won…."

It was already well into the night with the exams having had ended just several hours earlier. The kunoichi had gone out to celebrate. And with Kushina being the one that had reached the farthest in the exam, she had chosen where they would go.

The others were sort of regretting that right now. Moving on.

"But you really did well out there, Kushina," Hikari said with a smile. "I mean, you stood toe-to-toe against Mikoto! Even if it wasn't a win, it's still impressive."

Kushina looked down at her bandaged arms. She had asked Kurama to heal her as quickly as possible. But the bijuu had refused, saying something along the lines of: "it's better to let your body heal naturally. Otherwise, you'd only be affecting your own growth."

The redhead had gone with it in the end.

"I still would have liked to have won," Kushina admitted.

"We all would have liked that," Tsume said with a shake of her head. "But there's only one winner. And that was Minato. For now anyway. I just have to train harder so that I can kick anyone's ass!"

Emi sighed. "Here we go again…."

Hikari giggled while Kushina smiled. Ah, it felt good to have such great friends. Even if Yoshino was missing. But according to Emi, the Nara girl had some business to take care of. Kushina had no idea what that business could be, but she could ask Yoshino once they met up again. For now, she would simply enjoy her time with her friends while they all awaited the results of the exams.

Kushina only hoped that Naruto returned soon.

"This isn't like you, you know."

Shikaku sighed as he looked at Yoshino who was standing in front of him. The two Nara members were standing in front of the academy, the same one that they had both attended.

"Yeah, I know. But there are some things that I owe you an apology for."

Yoshino raised an eyebrow. "Okay, now this really isn't like you at all."

Shikaku rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah I know. But I admit it, okay. I messed up today. And I know that I also hurt you because of it, even if it was indirectly. I also know that you only want to see me become something more than the guy who likes to nap."

Yoshino smiled. "Well then. It looks like you had a great revelation there."

Shikaku scratched his head. "Eh. Maybe. But I still don't know what you see in me, you know. I'm-"

"I already know what you are, Shikaku," Yoshino said as she walked up towards him until she stood right in front of him. "And even though you can cause me more headaches than I can count, you're also dependable when the moment calls for it. That was why I was so upset when I saw you throw your match away. It was like you were planning on throwing that part of yourself away too. And I didn't want to see that. But it looks like you learned your lesson in the end."

Shikaku shrugged. "What can I say? I guess I'm a better person with you around."

Yoshino smiled before she leaned in closer towards him with Shikaku doing the same thing until their lips met. It was their first kiss, and one that Yoshino would never forget. Neither would Shikaku for that matter.

The same could be said about both Inoichi and Choza who watched this from a nearby bush while trying to hold back their giggles. Well, Inoichi was. Choza was simply happy for his friend.

'I knew you had it in you, you lazy ass!'

"It seems like things didn't go like you were expecting, Mikoto."

Said Uchiha sighed as she leaned against the door to her apartment. She was wearing one of her usual extra large shirts which served as her pajamas basically. This one was white. Inside, Obito was already fast asleep.

"And how would you know that, mother? You didn't even come."

Mikoto's mother smiled sadly. "Yes. I have no excuse for that. Even if I were to give you one, it wouldn't help the situation any. But call it a mother's intuition."

Already knowing just why the woman hadn't come, Mikoto didn't dwell on it. Instead, she said, "Well, if you must know, then yes. I wasn't able to win."

The woman smiled. "Is that so? Who was the one to due you in then?"

Mikoto frowned. "Uzumaki Kushina."

"Oh my. Now that certainly is one big coincidence….."

Mikoto raised an eyebrow at this to which her mother dismissed. "Don't worry about it. Just some old tales passed down in our clan. I'll happily share them with you some other time. For now, I'm just curious about something else."

"And what would that be exactly?"

Her mother smiled again. "You're not as irritated as I had expected you to be in such a situation."

Mikoto sighed at hearing that. "It's…..nothing. Besides, there's no reason for me to feel irritated anymore. The exams are over. The only thing I can do is face forward and train harder so that next time I don't lose."

Her mother continued to smile, almost like saying "I already know what you really mean."

Now that irritated Mikoto.

"Alright. Since you're doing okay apparently, my visit was for no reason then."

Mikoto didn't respond. In all honesty, she was glad that her mother had come. The girl already knew that her father would have never shown his face in the finals. But somewhere in her heart, she had been wanting for her mother to disobey her father's wishes and come. Unfortunately, that hadn't happened. But at least it wasn't completely unexpected. Although that really didn't do much to make her feel any better about the situation.

But those feelings disappeared as her mother embraced her in a tight hug. "Just know that your mother is proud of you, Mikoto. You've become a strong young woman. And I'm positive that you will only become stronger from here on out."

Mikoto couldn't help but smile as she returned her mother's embrace.

"You should also know that I support your relationship with that cute blond boy from before."

Mikoto blinked. "What? Minato? We're only teammates." Mikoto didn't catch herself acknowledging both Minato and Yoshino as her teammates now.

Her mother smiled as she leaned back to look at Mikoto straight in her eyes. "No, no, no. I'm not talking about him. The other blond. You know, the one in the orange and black outfit. Oh, and he has these adorable marks across his cheeks! Almost like whiskers even!"

Mikoto's world came to a halt. "W-what?"

Her mother raised an eyebrow, a look of confusion appearing in her face. "I saw you two walking out of some ramen stand weeks ago. You were blushing too. So I was certain that you had picked yourself someone…was I wrong?"

Mikoto was too shocked to say anything.

"Congratulations, you two. You are hereby chunnin from this point onward. I expect you to serve your village well."

Minato smiled. "You can count on us, Hokage-sama. Isn't that right, Shibi?"

Said Aburame readjusted his shades as he nodded. "Yes, that is correct."

The two recently promoted chunnin were each holding a chunnin jacket in their hands as they stood inside Sarutobi's office. They had been called here for some sort of meeting. Neither one had expected the meeting to be about this. But they weren't complaining either. They had at least accomplished their goals.

Sarutobi smiled as he gazed at the two boys in front of him. Out of all of the genin, these two had shown exceptional promise. While it was true that both Kushina and Mikoto were probably stronger than Shibi, it took more than brawn to be chunnin. And Sarutobi had been impressed with the Aburame ever since the preliminaries. Even though he hadn't won against Rasa, the boy had still shown exceptional skills in the match. It was why Sarutobi felt certain in his decision.

"You two are dismissed."

"Hai."

"Hai."

"There's no need to feel any shame, Rasa old buddy. I mean, even I lost against him. Not only that, but you also get Karura as your personal nurse! Isn't that an amazing deal!"

Rasa scowled, wishing that he could smash Itsuki's head with his sand. But Karura had already forbidden him from using any chakra as she had been told by the Konoha medical ninja.

Said girl was changing his bandages that were wrapped tightly around his torso, sighing as she heard her two teammates continue to bicker. They were back in their hotel room once more. One thing was certain, though: they had all changed. Their usual personalities were still the same. But Karura could feel that something fundamental inside them had taken a sudden turn.

Was it for the better? For the worse? Karura still had no answer to that. But she did know that, even if they weren't promoted to chunnin once they returned to Suna, they had at least taken something far more important out of this exam than a promotion. Although the promotion sounded nice too.

But Karura let those thoughts drift away as she continued with her work, all the while smiling as Rasa and Itsuki continued to argue with one another.

She could get used to this.

"It seems like things have finally ended here."

The lone girl wearing a black dress stood on top of the Hokage Mountain once more, toying with the umbrella in her hands. It had already been a month since she had last been up here, staring down at the village before her in a similar night like this one. Even the stars looked similar.

But she couldn't dwell on things here any longer. Nori was on the move again, this time with another plot in mind. A plot that she wasn't aware of. One thing was certain, though: with that man Orochimaru in the mix, it couldn't end well.

Instead of getting involved any further, though, the girl faced away from the village. The wind was changing. Another chapter was now closed, but a new one was about to open.

She disappeared in a burst of flames, leaving no trace that she had ever been there.

Sasuke felt his Rinnegan eye burn in pain, bringing his hand up towards it in an effort to lessen the pain. The Uchiha was also panting heavily. He stood all alone within a clearing inside a forest. Off to the side stood a simple campsite that he had built for himself. He was already in the Land of Earth. But he hadn't moved onto Iwa itself just yet. Oh, no. He had been rather busy trying to experiment even more with his Rinnegan. Even now, Sasuke was certain that there were many more things he could do with his Rinnegan that he wasn't aware of yet. But one such thing was dimensional transportation like Miyuki's and Nori's. He had gotten the idea after Miyuki had told him that the Rikudo Sennin had accomplished such a feat with his Rinnegan too. Unlike with theirs, though, it took more time and concentration. And chakra. But it was something at least.

And Sasuke knew he was getting close. But he couldn't lag behind for too long. The skirmishes with Iwa and Suna were still going on. And given how close to Iwa he was now, it wouldn't do him any good to tire himself out right now before he reached the village.

'I guess this will have to do for now,' Sasuke thought with a sigh as he made his way over to his small campsite. With how quiet he had been for the past month, Sasuke was sure that Naruto was expecting some sort of report from him soon. So it was time to finally infiltrate his second shinobi village.

Tomorrow, he would set out straight for Iwa. He needed to get to the bottom of a lot of things, even if the wielder of said information wouldn't like it.

And Sasuke would accomplish his mission at all costs.