Genin Takedown - 7

"Ah well...there was only a 50-50 chance of getting the real one anyway..." Naruto muttered, wishing to have finished the true Kiba.

It left many genin and jounin alike stunned. The Hokage himself, who had been watching aloofly, looked to Jiraiya with a disapproving smile on his face.

"What the heck was that?" Sato blurted out loud, "Naruto-kun just totally annihilated Akamaru!"

"The Rasengan..." Hinata clarified for her team. She was in awe, despite having seen it before. Sato gave her an astonished look, wondering how she had known.

"You..." Kiba's voice was a low growl, stitched with rage, before he attacked Naruto again, "Gatsuuga!"

He hit Naruto full-force, sending him crashing to the floor. After a short, painful tumble, Naruto stood again and wiped the blood from his arm, as Kiba slowed and turned around to attack again.

The blonde cringed at the gash running up his arm, bleeding freely, 'He's pissed alright...but I'm not out of ideas yet!'

Naruto created half a dozen more clones as Kiba came back at him, howling in outrage. Two clones were devastated by his assault, but one lucky clone got behind Kiba as he slowed and managed a fierce, unexpected kick that sent the Inuzuka boy upward. The remaining clones followed through with the attack, leaving no room for Kiba to counter.

Naruto leapt above his shadow clones and hit Kiba squarely in the face with one final kick that knocked him down to the concrete floor. Drops of blood splattered as Kiba made no move to get up.

Hayate didn't have to examine Kiba long to know that he was no longer able to continue fighting, "The winner of the match is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Ha ha! Yes! I knew I'd come out on top!" Naruto's ecstatic chatter followed thereafter as he then returned to the balcony. All the while, Haku and Jiraiya cheered ecstatically for the blonde while Gaara opted for quieter congratulations.

"Open your eyes now." Sasuke instructed, knowing the battle had ended in her favor. He himself had expected Kiba to be defeated, though not by such a powerful display.

Exhaling, Sakura opened her eyes and smiled at Naruto's victory, "I know Kiba-kun will be okay."

"For the most part..." Kakashi interjected, finding the interaction between his two remaining students curious, "Though the technique Naruto used against Akamaru was for Kiba, so you can imagine the pain the little fellow is in right now."

She frowned, hoping the small puppy would be able to recover from the blow.

Passing by Team 8 up on the balcony earned Naruto an onslaught of congratulations. Sato remained blissfully unaware of the blonde boy's suspicious look at the two, short blades he had with him, "Awesome fight, Naruto-kun!" Shino, who stood recovering beside his silver haired teammate gave a nod to him in his usual quiet way, though it seemed more approving than previous ones.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Er...thanks," He tried to be polite, "Hey Shino, your fight with Fuzzy-brows was pretty cool."

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata was wearing a bright smile, "You should take this..." She held out a small container to him which he regarded quizzically.

"Oh, thanks Hinata-chan!" He grinned at her, accepting it, "What is this stuff?"

Kurenai was also smiling, "It's a healing ointment, Naruto. Go ahead and use it, you've earned it."

Down below, medic-nin escorted Kiba and Akamaru away. Upon rejoining his team, Naruto was already rubbing the ointment on his already-healing wound, amazed by its effects. He then smirked at Haku and Gaara, "So what did you think of that?"

Jiraiya patted Naruto's head again, "I'd say all of your training has paid off."

Haku nodded in agreement, "It really has, Naruto-kun. You did very well." Personally, seeing his teammates' performances only made Haku more nervous of his own match, 'I just hope I don't make a fool of myself, not after Naruto-kun and Gaara-kun have won.'

To Haku's dismay, his name appeared on the board readout a minute later. It was funny, he thought, how he could stress over something until the time finally came to act. His teammates were clearly pleased and wished him luck before he went down; doing a last-second count of how many senbon he had with him.

"The next match will be between Abumi Zaku and Haku." Hayate announced as the contenders proceeded out to the middle of the floor. Naruto cheered fanatically from above, and like he, many Leaf genin were pulling for Haku.

Haku had only noticed once they were facing off that his opponent, a Sound ninja, had both of his arms in slings. The dark haired boy frowned, unable to stop himself from being sympathetic, 'He's been this badly injured and he's still competing? This exam is brutal! I don't know if I want to be the kind of shinobi who preys on the weak...'

"Begin." Hayate's voice seemed distant.

"Before we begin, I would advise you to withdraw," Haku suggested to his opponent, "There's no sense in a struggle that will only worsen your injuries."

"He's awfully nice to his foe..." Shikamaru muttered, finding Haku's nobility rather impractical. This was an opportune battle, an easy win! It was only because Sasuke had gone a bit overboard in the Forest of Death when Sakura had been ambushed. Zaku would never make that mistake again.

Zaku, not in the least dissuaded, glowered at Haku, "Save your pity! You think I can't fight? Heh! It looks like I've got some movement in this arm..."

Zaku's left arm shuddered out of the sling, his glare still focused on the dark haired ninja, "I'll win this match yet!"

Haku, though surprised, decided that if there was no convincing him that his opponent would have to learn the hard way.

Sakura felt anxiety creep over her as she watched Haku face off against one of the Sound ninja who had ambushed her team days before, 'That's the one that Sasuke-kun throttled...' She remembered vividly how Sasuke had woken from his coma and used an inhuman sort of power to scare off the team of Sound nin.

The pink haired girl frowned, stealing a glance at the mark on her teammate's neck, 'What happened back there…it definitely has something to do with that weird mark. What did Orochimaru want with Sasuke-kun?'

Haku began by throwing six senbon at his opponent, who raised his shaking arm up to defend himself, "Slicing Sound Wave!" The sound waves he emitted knocked the needles away before they even came near him.

Haku's eyes widened, 'I've never seen a jutsu like this! Pressurized air is coming out of the hole in his hand...' He frowned, 'It is both strange and problematic.' He held back, deciding to learn more about his foe before attacking again.

"That's it? Out of tricks already?" Zaku was becoming increasingly confident, "I'll end this match right now!"

The Sound shinobi fired continuous jets of air from his hand, chasing Haku around the arena. Fortunately, he was agile as ever and easily avoided the sound waves. His senbon were utterly useless against an enemy who could knock them away without even trying.

'It's futile to get nearer with those blasts...I'll have to use a jutsu.'

Haku formed hand seals and above on the balcony Orochimaru smirked.

"Demonic Crystal Ice-" As he drew on his chakra, Haku slammed into some sort of painful inhibitor, disabling the jutsu. He stumbled, his breath stolen from the immense pain shooting through his neck, 'What's happening-?'

The remainder of Team 2 was immediately concerned. Naruto turned to Jiraiya, "What's he doing? Is he still sick or something?" Jiraiya frowned to himself, unsure of what had stalled Haku.

The dark haired boy's pause cost him, "Slicing Sound Wave!" Zaku's attack hit him fully, barreling him over. Haku's head was spinning and he was completely disoriented by the blast. His dark hair splayed over his shoulders as he tried to regain his bearings.

"Haku-kun..." Hinata looked on, immensely worried. She was also aware of the troubled expressions both Naruto and Gaara wore.

"Haku-kun! Come on!" Naruto barked from above, "You can take this guy!"

The dark haired boy stood again, shaken, desperate to find a way to fight back, 'What's happening to me? It's this thing...' He touched the seal on his neck, trying to understand how it worked, 'It won't let me draw on my own chakra.'

Zaku, though unsure of what had slowed his opponent, continued to fire sound blasts at him. Jiraiya frowned, certain that something was wrong, 'Haku...if you've gone into this fight in anyway impaired you'll have me to answer to!'

Haku kept moving, trying to come up with a solution, 'There's got to be some way I can counter! This mark, it's as if it-' He avoided another sound wave, but could still feel the sting where the air had sliced near his shoulder.

In that moment his desperation was great enough for him to draw on the cursed seal, even if he hadn't fully meant to. Orochimaru watched, delighted, as black scales began to creep up the boy's neck and cheek, and a dark chakra radiated off of him as he slowed, feeling rejuvenated.

Naruto, baffled, looked to an equally astounded Gaara and then to his sensei whose enraged face was turning many different shades.

Haku found the new chakra strange, but it didn't stop him from proceeding with his original plan, "Demonic Crystal Ice Mirrors!"

He had only created two ice mirrors, one stationed ahead of Zaku and the other behind him. They were tinted a pale indigo, with jagged edges rather than the smooth sheets of ice he was normally able to make.

It was enough to make Gaara speculate, "What is he doing? They've never looked like that before."

"Don't ask me!" Naruto scratched his head, as clueless as his red haired friend, "Something is definitely up!"

'What's happening to me?' Haku disliked his physical change, 'Orochimaru! He's got something to do with this!' He fought against it as he raced to the nearest mirror, Zaku still standing in total confusion, 'I...no...I won't let this mark control me. I won't!'

The dark scales that had formed receded after a short-lived internal struggle and by then he was safe inside his mirror. Naruto cheered as his friend vanished momentarily, and then reappeared in the reflection of the dark ice mirror; to the shock of nearly all watching, including the Sandaime.

"So you're gonna hide in there, huh?" Zaku spat, assuming it was some sort of trick, "I guess I'm just gonna have to smash that glass thing of yours then!" His right arm, in worse condition than his left, somehow lifted from his sling, and Zaku aimed both of his arms at Haku's image, "Slicing Sound Wave!"

The blast of air hit the mirror, but did not break it. It merely bounced back, slashing at Zaku with an equal force. Stunned by his own attack, the sound ninja fell to his knees in pain, leaving himself open to a counterstrike.

"I've never seen Haku-kun do something like this before!" Sakura was amazed, "This is an ability that can only be used with his Kekkei Genkai, right Kakashi-sensei?"

The silver haired jounin had temporarily stopped reading his book just to watch the match, "It is Sakura. No other ninja can use this jutsu, not even me." He paused, "It's a unique technique that I've never seen before." Kakashi pulled up his hitai-ate, exposing his Sharingan eye, wanting to get a better view of Haku's movements.

It was something that many of the Leaf genin could not see. Haku darted with an untraceable speed between his two mirrors with Zaku in the middle and landed senbon after senbon at his helpless opponent.

The sound nin was unconscious even before his face hit the cold floor, needles protruding from various pressure points Haku had targeted.

It was precision work that Tenten had only thought Neji capable of, or herself, but it appeared Haku was more than adept at incapacitating his opponents with his unique ability.

The dark haired boy stepped out of his mirror, dispatching it, and re-acquainted himself with the slower world. He looked up to Naruto and Gaara and smiled at their more-than-approving expressions.

"The winner is Haku." Hayate announced, his words followed shortly after by cheers from many of the Leaf genin. Among those satisfied with the battle were also the Sand team and Orochimaru, though Jiraiya was far from proud of his bright pupil.

Once Haku had returned to the balcony, the toad sennin didn't even allow his teammates to congratulate him, "Haku, come with me now."

He had been, at that moment, riffling around his gi in hopes of finding a replacement for his hair tie which had snapped during his fight. Haku as well as Naruto and Gaara were hushed by the deep anger that was audible in Jiraiya's order.

Although the dark haired nin had wanted to stay to see the remainder of the matches, he knew better than to argue with his mentor when he was angry, "Yes, sensei." He gave an unnerved parting look to his friends before following after their jounin instructor.

"What do you suppose Ero-sensei is so mad about?" Naruto inquired of his remaining teammate, worried of what fate was in store for Haku.

"It has something to do with that thing on Haku's neck." Gaara pointed out, still uncertain of what it did or how it had gotten there.

"You mean those black spots that showed up on him?"

The red haired nin nodded, "It was effecting his Kekkei Genkai during the match. It could be harmful in some way..." If there were any further issues, he could only speculate, "It's likely Jiraiya-sensei is going to remove it from Haku now."

"I sure hope he'll be alright..." The blonde muttered. The two didn't notice the new names that appeared on the overhead board as they discussed what had so deeply bothered Jiraiya.