Chapter 19: Tiger Fist VS Strong Fist!

"A rabbit, Hari?" Asuma exclaimed a bit hysterically. "Out of all the animals you can give to your student as partners, why in the world did you give him THOSE rabbits from Training Ground 44?"

Hari didn't answer right away but continued to stare incredulously at the menacing animal on the arena. He didn't expect this but he should have since this was Haku. Like Naruto, the kid never did anything normal. He wondered if magic had that affect on people…nah!

"I didn't know." Hari said lamely. In all honesty, he didn't know about the rabbits since Haku was quite vague when he asked for his permission. Even if he was drunk at that time, all he processed while under the effects of alcohol was "Permission to proceed with my pet project, Hari-sama."

Hari should have remembered how Haku said 'pet' with a manic gleam in the teen's eyes. He thought it was a harmless pet, like a dog or something cute and fluffy since Haku had a penchant for those. However, he was sadly mistaken if the large armed-to-the-teeth rabbit in the middle of the arena was anything to go by.

"You didn't know that Haku, your student and a member of your clan I might add, commandeered six giant rabbits from the most deadly training ground in the entire Elemental Nations and trained them to fight on top of their natural abilities as predators, not to mention arming them like a shinobi?" Kakashi deadpanned. "It's proven, Hari. You're crazy!"

"Well, there's nothing wrong in using the rabbits in Training Ground 44 as partners, you know." Hari defended himself, as well as Haku's penchant for anything remotely cute even if they were on the dangerous side. Besides, living on the edge adds a certain zest to his life, a trait shared by the rest of the Mahora clan.

"Granted there is nothing wrong with it, Hari-san," Kurenai pointed out. "However, there's something morally wrong about training the animals in that forest as partners. From what I heard of your exploits, you can easily give Haku a summon animal if you really want to."

"True but there's nothing wrong in using the resources available to Konoha, Kurenai-san." Hari disagreed. "Sure, I can easily give Haku an animal partner with the Summoning Contracts I have in my possession but why do so when Haku can choose his own partner from the gifts the Shodaime Hokage left to our generation."

This caught everyone short. What gift was the Mahora clan head talking about?

"Gifts?" Asuma, Kurenai, and Kakashi asked in unison. The Jounins within hearing range were curiously listening on the conversation.

"Yes, gifts." Hari said with a nod. "I studied the animals in the forest while I was trying to discover the complexities of chakra compared to my clan's mahoujutsu. According to my thesis, which you can find in the library by the way if you're curious about it, the Shodaime Hokage infused so much Nature Chakra into the creation of the forest that the plants themselves absorb and release chakra in different amounts. This resulted in the animals within the boundaries of the forest to evolve as they absorb the chakra these trees give out. The combination of physical and spiritual energy mutated the animals so they're bigger and stronger than those outside. Add to the fact that they had to survive with other predators around, you get a bunch of gigantic animals that can even bring down an ANBU with numbers on their side."

"So you're saying that we have those giant animals in Training Ground 44 because of the Shodaime?" Asuma asked with some disbelief. This was definitely new since no one took the time or the effort to study the mutations in the Forest of Death. They weren't suicidal or crazy enough to try. Heck, even Orochimaru with his penchant for human experimentation didn't try it out.

"Correct. If you don't believe me then you might want to let Kakashi scope out the animals there with his Sharingan or ask a Hyuuga to do it with a Byakugan or two. The plants and animals there have varying chakra levels in their system. I theorized that the animals there were able to use them via instinct, subconsciously augmenting their deadliness and fighting prowess." Hari said with a shrug. "This is the reason why I allowed Haku his pet project. As long as they don't run wild and killing people, I don't mind if he had an army of them sealed up in that scroll of his."

"How did he train them then? As far as I'm concerned, those animals in the forest view humans as a food source. I doubt they would be willing to be trained by a human." asked Kurenai.

Hari shrugged.

"Don't know. But if I know Haku well enough then he used one of the techniques in one of my books to get it done. Quite ingenious if you ask me." He mused before a thought occurred to him. "That's an idea. I'll ask Haku about it and see if I can replicate the process. Think about it, with those animals at our beck and call, it would bolster the village's defenses with them running around. Wouldn't that be fun?"

Everyone who saw Hari's manic grin coupled with his declaration shuddered, especially those who knew of Hari's penchant towards sadism.

The Suna shinobi who heard that shivered. They were so screwed.

Naruto looked at his opponent with a bit of incredulity considering what Rock Lee was wearing and how the teen was an exact duplicate of Maito Gai, the premier Taijutsu expert of Konohagakure no Sato.

But despite the Genin's outfit, he knew that Lee was a genius of hard work and had taken to Gai's teaching like a fish to water. Thanks to Hari's training, he could somewhat identify a person's fighting prowess by observing their physical traits.

The deep concentration in Lee's eyes spoke of mastery in fighting, though a few pegs lower to being a master.

The contraction of muscles spoke of hours and hours of fighting and training or a combination of both.

Naruto's eyes strayed to Lee's leg warmers since he knew that the boy was wearing weights considering who his sensei was. After all, Hari followed the man's advice in training his team. He just didn't know how much weights Lee was wearing.

The blonde inwardly grinned since he had his own version of limiting his own power to avoid giving anything away. On the back of right hand was an intricate seal in the shape of a star inside a circle drawn out of seals. In the middle of the star was the number '3' meaning that his restriction was at maximum. Naruto knew that he would be removing the seals that kept his powers at bay just to bring Lee down.

"This is going to be a tough fight for me." Naruto said with a grin, his teammates looked at him in question. "Lee is literally Gai's apprentice and you know powerful the man is in terms of hand-to-hand combat. Lee might push me enough to deactivate my restrictions."

"You have a point there." said Kenji as his eyes strayed to Lee who was having a deep conversation with his sensei. He saw the Genin grin widely and giving the spandex wearing Jounin a thumbs up. "You might have to take this seriously, bro."

"Well, no use talking about it. Let the show begin." said Naruto before throwing himself off the rails, totally foregoing the stairs, before landing beside the proctor. Lee did the same thing since the boy was practically vibrating with excitement.

"YOSH! THIS IS GOING TO BE AN EPIC MATCH!" Lee declared with fire burning in his eyes. Naruto couldn't help but grin at the boy.

"You got that right, Lee. Let's give it everything we got, alright?" asked Naruto, gaining a nod of agreement from his opponent. He turned to the proctor who was looking at them in amusement. "You might as well start the match, proctor-san. This is going to get ugly."

"Knowing who your respective senseis are, I don't doubt it." the proctor said wryly before addressing the crowd. "MAHORA-UZUMAKI NARUTO VERSUS ROCK LEE! HAJIME!"

The proctor exited the arena just in time because Lee and Naruto immediately starting bringing out the heavy punches and kicks as the two utilized all their taijutsu skills to bring the other down. Punches and kicks were either blocked or dodgeD, while some attacks met that resulted in shockwaves and sounds of exploding tags going off. They sped through different attack routines, utilizing the floor, walls, and ceiling to their advantage. Throughout the match, everyone except for a grinning Gai and Hari, had their jaws on the floor as they saw the destruction of the once clean arena because of two Genins.

"Leaf shinobi are nuts! They are destroying the place with their punches and kicks alone. We are so screwed." Kankuro thought, having a bad feeling about the coming invasion.

"Mother wants their blood! Lots and lots of blood!" Gaara thought with a sadistic grin that made those around him take a step back.

Naruto blocked a kick that would have connected to his chin as Lee used his amazing speed to get under his guard. He grabbed the offending appendage before swinging the taijutsu-using Genin around a couple of times before letting go, throwing the boy away. However, Lee flipped to right himself, feet impacting the wall causing it crack before using it as a springboard to launch a fast kick.

"Dynamic Entry!"

Naruto saw the attack coming and channeled a bit of chakra to his hands. He met Lee's devastating kick with a double palm thrust.

"Double Tiger Palms." he shouted as he felt Lee's kick on his palms before shoving the compressed chakra out through them. Not prepared for the counter, Lee practically flew through the air. However, Naruto capitalized on this as he used a carefully-timed Shunshin to appear on top of the flying Genin and rammed both of his feet to his stomach resulting in a spectacular crash on the floor that resulted in sizable crater to form, adding more damage to the already destroyed arena. Naruto grinned in triumph but wasn't prepared when Lee quickly recovered from that attack and did a handstand-twister move that hit him on the face, throwing him back. He righted himself and landed on the floor, skidding to a stop a few meters away from the Genin who just jumped out of the crater, looking worse for wear.

Naruto already felt his face healing. "That was a smooth counter there, Lee." he complimented the boy.

"Your flames of youth are burning strong, Naruto! Gai-sensei warned me to take you seriously at the start but I didn't heed his words. Now I know what he meant. You are a formidable fighter and it would be an insult if I give it my all." Lee exclaimed before taking off the weights on his legs. He threw it to his side causing the floor to cave in when it landed because of its weight. Quite a lot of jaws dropped at the sight of the crater with the weights in the middle of it.

Naruto whistled when he saw the damage the weights caused. "Those must have been quite heavy. I'm curious, Lee. How heavy are they?" he asked curiously.

"Five hundred pounds…each!" Lee declared proudly.

"Wow. I think your sensei is more sadistic than my sensei." Naruto said with some amazement causing some Jounins to nod in agreement.

"Since I decided to give it my all, Naruto, I think you should do it too." Lee suggested since he knew that his opponent was holding back.

Naruto nodded. He would extend the same courtesy. It was only fair to do so. He raised his hand in front of his face showing the seal on the back of his hand. "I thought I wouldn't need to use this but I guess I don't have a choice. Since you let go of your weights, I will do the same. Mahora Restriction 3 and 2: Release!" the number three shifted to the number one as a burst of chakra erupted from Naruto before it died down as if nothing happened. The blonde immediately felt his body as light as a feather and his muscles no longer feeling constricted. "There we go. I removed the Gravity and Resistance Seals."

"What are they?" Lee asked curiously. The two fighters didn't notice it but everyone was hanging on to their words.

"You saw the number three in the middle of the pattern right?" Naruto asked making Lee nod. "You see, this is what is called a Mahora Limiter Hari-sensei made for me. It is a safety measure since I can't control my strength sometimes especially in battle. It has three settings. Number one seals off half of my chakra. Number two limits my strength by half. Number three, the last setting, decreases my speed in half. Right now, my strength and speed is at its maximum while my chakra is half. I'm not worried about it since I doubt we would be resorting to jutsus. I know you can't use chakra, Lee, so I made it a special point for this to be a taijutsu-only match. Not that I'm underestimating you but I want to see how far I've come in my personal style by testing it against a taijutsu expert such as yourself."

Rock Lee looked at Naruto for a few seconds before a large grin appeared on his face.

"YOSH! YOU ARE DEFINITELY AN HONORABLE SHINOBI, NARUTO! I PROMISE YOU THAT I WILL GIVE YOU MY ALL IN THIS FIGHT! YOSH!" screamed Lee at the top of his lungs causing those with sensitive ears to cover them lest their ear drums explode. Without warning, Lee disappeared from his perch using pure speed with Naruto doing the same.

With the speed of their taijutsu battle, only some Chunins and Jounins were able to see what the two were doing. However, those who didn't see were able to feel the shockwaves and hear the sound of flesh hitting flesh. The arena was taking another beating since quite a lot of chunks of stone were being turned to dust due to the intensity of the fight.

Naruto got punched in the jaw strong enough to slam into the wall with tremendous force, almost breaking through the reinforced concrete.

"Damn. He definitely hits hard not to mention that speed of his. Despite getting rid of the restrictions, he is still faster." thought Naruto as he extricated himself from the wall before his sixth told him to dodge. He did so just in time to avoid a powerful kick from Lee that completely destroyed the wall he vacated a few seconds ago. Seeing the opportunity that presented itself, Naruto grabbed Lee's arm before slamming him on the floor and throwing him up into the air to initiate one of his style's combos.

"Tiger Meets Heaven!" shouted Naruto as he jumped after Lee and hitting the boy's stomach with a powerful uppercut the propelled him further up into the air. Before he could escape his range, the blonde grabbed Lee's leg, twirled him a few times over his head before throwing him back to the floor with so much strength that it caused an explosion, rocking the chamber due to force of collision. Not done, Naruto freely surrendered himself to gravity's hold towards a groaning Lee and flipped to slam an axe kick on the Genin's stomach. "Tiger Grounds Earth!"

Naruto jumped out of the somewhat deep crater and landed in front of the proctor who was looking at the carnage that two caused during their match. "I hope that ends it." the blonde said with a sigh. He knew for a fact that if he brought out some of more interesting combos, things would get bloody big time. He refrained from using incapacitating blows and avoiding Lee's critical areas since he didn't want to put the boy in a hospital under intense conditions. Sure, he would be roughed up a bit but not hanging to life by a thread.

Before the proctor could announce the winner of the match, he felt a large surge of chakra coming from inside the crater. Both he and Naruto went to see what caused it to find Lee surrounded by an intense wave of chakra that made Naruto gasp.

"Holy shit. I thought Lee couldn't use chakra!" exclaimed Naruto in surprise though he was not speaking to anyone at the moment since the proctor made a special point to go back to the safety of his perch since he knew that the fight was going to go up a notch. He saw Lee's hair stand on its end and his skin tone changed to a darker hue. He saw the veins and muscles bulging from the surge of chakra running through the boy. "This is going to get ugly." he muttered to himself as he prepared for a long and painful fight.'

Back in the stands, Hari couldn't help but enjoy the battle before raising an eyebrow when Lee did something that he only heard from rumors. The boy was opening the Hachimon.

"Damn. I knew Gai was a sadistic bastard in training Lee but I didn't know he went to this extent." Hari said with a chuckle, happy that this fight was going up a level. It was hard to find good entertainment these days.

"What do you mean, Hari?" asked Kurenai. She could feel an intense wave of chakra coming out of the Genin in the middle of the crater but this chakra was more attuned to the physical body instead of any jutsus. She knew of Rock Lee's inability to use chakra but how come the boy was channeling huge amounts of it that shouldn't be impossible for him.

"Gai taught Lee how to open the Hachimon." Kakashi answered, his voice was both amazed and angry at the same time. "He shouldn't have taught such a deadly technique to a Genin."

"And why is that, my Eternal Rival?" asked Gai when he joined the Konoha Jounin instead of staying with his Genins in the other side of the arena.

"You know what I mean, Gai. The Hachimon is a forbidden technique. Opening them has its consequences especially to a Genin no matter how much you trained him." Kakashi rebuked but Gai didn't back down.

"Lee is my student, Kakashi, and I will do everything I can to help him in his goals. I know the risk of opening the Hachimon, after all, I am the one who discovered it, but he knows the risk and he wouldn't take it too far."

"Would someone please explain what the Hachimon is?" Kurenai asked in an exasperated tone, stopping Kakashi's retort to Gai's declaration.

"Hachimon or the Eight Celestial Gates" answered Hari, his eyes not leaving the Genin powering up in the middle of the area. His own student, Naruto, was observing the boy, possibly using his own senses to assess the danger level. "are the limiters built into the human body. The main function of the Hachimon is to limit a person's chakra, protecting them from the backlash of such power coursing through their Chakra Pathways. There are a total of eight of these limiters in the human body, each blocking a certain amount of chakra from being used."

"So? As far as I'm concerned, these gates are handy since chakra is a shinobi's asset." asked Kurenai with a raised eyebrow. She didn't know what the problem was.

"True, the more chakra a shinobi has, the better his edge in battle would be." Hari agreed before a frown appeared on his face. "However, opening the limiters in the human body has its own risk and opening the last gate means death to anyone who does, giving them only ten minutes at most to use techniques that no Kage could hope to match. Taijutsu Masters know the consequences of opening the Hachimon and only use it as a last resort or in a life and death situation. Aside from the fatigue afterwards, a person who opens more than three of the eight gates suffer problems not limited to muscle damage, broken bones, or damaged chakra pathways due to the strain of having that much chakra coursing through their system. Despite being a powerful asset in battle, the Hachimon is a double-edged sword. The human body is not designed to handle that much power that is why Kami created us with a limiter of sorts. If Lee uses the first two gates with his current body, he would be suffering from physical exhaustion and some muscle problems. However, if he opens, let's say, the fifth gate then you can kiss his shinobi career goodbye."

That brought Kurenai up short. She leveled Gai an accusing stare but the Taijutsu Master met it with equal intensity.

"As I told Kakashi, Lee is my student and I will help him achieve his goals." Gai told them, his tone lacking the enthusiastic 'Youth' he kept preaching to the masses. "Lee was called the dead-last in the Academy since he couldn't use chakra. Because of this, he couldn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, limiting his shinobi prowess by a large degree. I saw Lee's potential as he trained day and night in a secluded training ground and finally decided to take him in as an apprentice. He knows the power granted to him by the Hachimon and he knows the risk. He is giving everything in this fight and I will not stop him. Doing so is a clear disrespect to his abilities."

"You know, Kakashi, Kurenai, Gai is right. Despite the Hachimon being a forbidden technique, Lee is responsible enough in its use. The restraint he showed in not opening the gates at the start of the match to overpower his opponents clearly shows the boy's discipline in using this power." Hari praised the boy making Gai grin. "Besides, I can easily take care of Lee's injuries if he goes overboard." he turned to Gai. "After the match, bring your student to the hospital wing. I'll make sure that he won't suffer a backlash that would hinder his shinobi career."

"Thank you, Hari-san." Gai said with his usual enthusiastic smile.

"No problem, Gai. Glad to be of help. It would be a great disrespect to lose such a talented shinobi over something trivial." Hari said dismissively causing Kakashi to gawk at him.

"Opening the Hachimon is not a trivial matter, Hari." Kakashi pointed out.

"It is to me, Kakashi." said Hari in a bored tone. "I know all about the Hachimon and studied its effects and drawbacks. I know how to treat the boy if worse comes to worse. Besides, you know my reputation. Do you think I can't heal Lee short of his opening the last gate with what I'm capable of?"

"Fine. Who am I to doubt the Shinobi of Life?" Kakashi grumbled. He couldn't deny the fact that if anyone can help Lee, it was Hari. Heck, the Mahora Clan Head practically healed a Konoha shinobi who had a hole through his heart due to an Iwa ambush. Who was he to deny his capabilities as a healer?

"Glad we understand each other." Hari said with a smile. "Now hush. I want to see how my student would handle this."

Back in the arena below the Jounin sensei's perch, Naruto prepared himself for an intense battle. He could feel Lee's energy climb to unimaginable levels. He could clearly hear the boy's words as he stood in the center of the crater, dense chakra busting out of him in a blue pillar of energy.

"Seimon: Kai!" Lee's energy output doubled as his skin turned red.

"Shoumon: Kai!" Naruto gaped as the chakra around Lee intensified.

"Tomon: Kai!" was all Lee said before disappearing from his perch to appear in front of Naruto, landing an uppercut on the blonde's chin causing him to fly into the air.

"Such strength." Naruto thought as he felt the sharp pain caused by Lee's attack. Lee wasn't done though since he was pelting the blonde with intense blows as they climbed higher. Naruto was under throes of pain, his healing factor failing to catch up to the powerful attacks the taijutsu-using Genin was raining down on his body.

"This is it, Naruto. I will show you my ultimate technique!" shouted Lee as he appeared behind the blonde as the bandages on his arms flew out and wrapped around his opponent putting him in a tight grip. Naruto could feel him spinning with Lee guiding his movement as both of them turned into something akin to a drill, his head forming the tip as they headed straight to the ground. "Omote Renge!"

"I need to get out of this fast!" thought a frantic Naruto as he channeled every bit of his chakra into his last resort. The technique wasn't complete yet but he needed to use it now since he couldn't budge an inch due to the bandages. "Dance of the Slicing Winds!" he screamed as he used every bit of wind chakra his body could create. A burst of wind flew out of his body as miniscule chakra blades starting floating around him. The bandages didn't stand a chance as it was shredded by sharp blades of solidified wind.

Lee's caught on to the technique and immediately disengaged his attack, avoiding mortally wounded by the unknown counter. He landed at a safe distance from the blonde who was able to flip to land on his feet, observing the various green tornadoes floating around Naruto as his body was cocooned by potent green chakra.

"Damn. That was close." Said Naruto as he channeled a bit of Kyuubi's chakra to reinforce his healing factor. He couldn't use the bijuu's chakra in battle but he could safely use small amounts of it to reinforce his body or to up his healing factor to extreme levels. Even now, he could feel the bruises and wounds healing while his energy reserves slowly replenished.

"I'm surprised you only used my chakra to heal yourself." Kyuubi told his container in their limited mental connection.

"It's not battle ready yet. I need a few more months of training to have the focus needed to use your potent chakra in a fight. Hari-sensei already promised training after the exam so I can truly use it without being distracted." Naruto mentally replied to his tenant.

"Suit yourself." Said Kyuubi with a shrug. "Congratulation on finally activating your clan's technique, kit. Good luck."

"Thanks." replied Naruto before focusing his sights on the wary Genin in front of him. "Considering that you are now using chakra, albeit physically, I think its fine time to really show you my true power, Lee." He told the boy as he channeled a bit of chakra to the limiter on his hand. "Mahora Restriction One: Release!"

Similar to Lee's opening of the Hachimon, Naruto's chakra burst forth from his body in a pillar of potent blue energy. Naruto felt exhilarated as the full force of his chakra flowed through his pathways, revitalizing his body while boosting his physical strength. Hari already explained to him that a limiting his chakra was like limiting his body's overall performance. Since chakra is a combination of physical and spiritual energy, he was physically weakening himself with the first limiter.

"I think it's time that I show you what I can really do, Lee." Naruto said calmly, the chakra around him still swirling menacingly like a cloak. With that said Naruto blurred out of sight to appear in front of Lee, his palm already on the boy's stomach. "Tiger Palm Wave." He murmured as a wave of pure chakra flew out from his palm that threw Lee away like a rag doll while damaging some of the muscles in his stomach. He toned down his output to avoid damaging Lee's internal organs but it would still hurt. He used his boosted speed to appear behind his opponent, his palms already connected to the boy's back as he used both his physical strength and chakra to perform his next attack. "Double Tiger Palm Thrust!"

Lee couldn't describe the pain in his stomach and back as his opponent attacked him with two powerful taijutsu techniques combining both physical strength and chakra. He screamed in pain as he flew forward but saw Naruto appear in his path, his fists on both his hips glowing blue with chakra.

"Tiger's Rage!" shouted Naruto as he started raining chakra enhanced punches on Lee's front, breaking bones, bruising muscles, and damaging internal organs causing said Genin to twitch like a doll as blows upon blows were rained down on his at speeds he could barely keep up. As a finisher, Naruto cocked his right fist back, the glow of chakra intensified. "Go to sleep, Lee. Tiger Uppercut!" his chakra-charged fist slammed on Lee's chin throwing him high up into the air to crash into the ceiling before falling down to the earth, unconscious. In a show of sportsmanship, Naruto caught Lee in a bridal carry since he didn't want to the boy to suffer any more damage.

Hari was waiting by the steps when his student came up with Lee on his arms. He could see Lee showing extreme signs of chakra exhaustion and winced when he saw some of the deformed muscles on the boy's body through the spandex. Naruto's last attack was quite powerful due to his upgraded strength but add chakra to the mix, it was a miracle the boy survive. It was quite obvious that his student toned down his punches or there would be a funeral instead of a healing routine.

"Great fight, boya." Hari praised his charge while levitating the unconscious Lee out of the boy's arms. He fired a diagnostic spell on Naruto before nodding. "You didn't suffer any lasting damage and would heal in a few minutes. Don't activate your limiter yet since you're healing. Put them back on if you feel that you're well enough. Understood?"

"Hai, sensei." Naruto agreed before looking at the unconscious Genin with a bit of worry. "Will Lee be alright?"

"He's not dead and that's alright in my book." Hari said with a shrug before beckoning for Gai to follow him. "Go back to your teammates and watch the rest of the match. I'll see you later when I'm done."

Naruto nodded before using Shunshin to go to where his teammates were, leaving Hari and Gai making their way towards the hospital bay with Lee floating in between them. He also sent Prongs the Patronus to Kakashi with a message to bring Sasuke with him so he could check out the boy's cursed seal and, maybe, discover a way to get rid of it.

Besides, with Anko's Cursed Seal barred from him, Sasuke's was the next best thing on the table for him to study.

Hari had Lee completely healed in a span of ten minutes since the boy just needed a dose of muscle restorer, large application of bruise paste that he left for the on-duty medics to administer, and a dose of pepper-up potion to speed up Lee's recovery by replenishing the boy's physical energy. When that was done, he left Gai to watch over his protégé while he led Kakashi to an enclosed chamber where a stunned Sasuke was. He placed the silencing ward around the room just in case someone was listening in on their conversation.

"Can you get rid of it?" asked Kakashi with a bit of worry as he watched Hari pull out a stick and waved it over his student. He hoped that the Mahora Clan Head could get rid of it since the one on Anko resisted any forms of removal despite Jiraiya's best efforts. If a Seal Master of Jiraiya's caliber could not remove the seal then maybe Hari could with his unique treatments.

"Hm, interesting." murmured Hari as he analyzed the result of the diagnostic spell he cast on the boy's Cursed Seal. He summoned a clipboard from the table in the corner before conjuring a pen and enchanting it to record his findings. "Orochimaru definitely knew what he was doing when he made this. He may be a criminal but he is a genius."

"What did you find?" Kakashi asked, interested in hearing what the Cursed Seal really was.

"The Cursed Seal is made up of two parts. An enzyme from an unknown source, artificial or otherwise, that can boost a person's chakra by flooding it with another form of energy. However, the energy from the enzyme is corrosive in nature that causes pain when used. I suspect that it might also result in a physical transformation of sorts if frequently used. The second part is the seal itself. I detected three major functions on the seal and all of them aren't good for the victim." Hari reported before looking at the floating clipboard that was slowly being filled. "The first function of the seal is to lower a person's willpower, forcing the victim to use the seal as often as possible. This also has the side-effect of making them more of a berserker if nothing else. The second function acts like a backdoor to give Orochimaru a form of influence on the person. This gives evidence to how Orochimaru was subjecting Anko to torturous pains when I confronted the man back in the forest. And three, the seal contains a piece of soul that I surmise is from Orochimaru himself." he said with some disgust since this was similar to how a Horcrux works. "I don't know the reason for the soul but if I have to guess, Orochimaru is capable of hijacking a person through the seal and possessing them. It's bloody Voldemort all over again!" he said the last part in exasperation.

"Vol-de-mot?" Kakashi asked in confusion.

"Voldemort." Hari corrected and explained when he saw the confused look on the Jounin's face. "Imagine Orochimaru with my bloodline. Same goal, same attitude." he saw Kakashi wince. "I already killed the idiot so that's nothing to worry about."

"That's good." Kakashi said with a sigh of relief.

"I know." Hari nodded in agreement. "Now, as far as I can tell, it is quite easy to remove the Cursed Seal from Sasuke but I need to run a few tests first to make sure I get everything right."

"Is the process dangerous?" Kakashi asked with a bit of fear in his voice.

Hari shrugged. "There are two ways to destroy it. The first is to kill the person carrying the seal." he said casually causing Kakashi to grind his teeth together.

"I will not allow you to kill my student." he exclaimed with a lot of anger in his voice.

Hari rolled his eyes before smacking the Jounin at the back of the head.

"Ow! What did you do that for?" asked Kakashi with a bit of whine in his voice as he rubbed the back of his head.

"You already know I don't take a life, Kakashi, so obviously, I'm not going to kill your precious student." Hari chided the man. "The second option is similar to an exorcism. I can drag Orochimaru's soul out of the seal but that would still leave the Cursed Seal intact but without turning your student into another Itachi or using his body in the future."

"But that still leaves the…corrosive enzyme on Sasuke every time he uses it." Kakashi pointed out.

Hari nodded in agreement. ""Correct. However, if I remove Orochimaru's soul then we don't have to worry about your student going all genocidal on us at the drop of a hat. I'm planning to study the enzymes to see if I can find a way to neutralize it safely without damaging Sasuke's chakra pathways. As far as I can tell, it is already spreading through the boy's body so removing it might be detrimental to his health." he said dryly. "Will you be training Sasuke for the month after this portion of the exam?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yes. I plan to train him to up his fighting capabilities. However, the training program would depend on who his opponent would be."

"Is that so? Well, that's your prerogative as his sensei. Anyway…"

What Hari was about to say was cut off when a medic entered the room in a panic, making his connection to the ward ping inside his head, making him wince.

"Mahora-sama! We have a patient in critical condition!" the medic shouted in panic.

Hari raised an eyebrow while following the frantic medic to the public ward. He saw Kurenai's student in one of the beds, blood gushing out of her mouth. She was having trouble breathing and Hari could see that this was serious.

"What happened?" Hari barked as he fired a diagnostic spell at the clearly-suffering girl. The result made him wince and curse.

"A Juuken strike to the heart." Kurenai answered coldly.

"WHAT?" Hari exclaimed in surprise and anger. There were only two Hyuuga in the exam so the culprit was Gai's student. He turned to the man who was looking at Hinata with anger, not directed at the girl but someone else. "Explain."

"Neji did this. I specifically told him to let go of his personal feeling during the exams but it seems he didn't heed my warning. How unyouthfu." Gai said angrily before turning to a furious Mahora giving him his well-known death glare. "You know his status in the clan, right?"

"Branch family member, Bird-Cage seal on the forehead. So?"

"He hates the Main Family for his father's sacrifice. Hizashi, Neji's father, took Hiashi's place when the Raikage asked for compensation for Hiashi killing the Kumo ambassador." Gai explained.

"Ah, so this has something to do with the attempted assassination of Hinata before I came to the village, correct?" nodded Hari as he sent some of his magic to Hinata to stabilize her body. He inwardly cursed since her heart was palpitating wildly making it hard for her to breathe. Add that to the various internal bleeding, closed tenketsus, and muscle damage; the girl was lucky to be alive.

"Yes. It seems that his hate on the Main Family centered on Hinata, clearly blaming her for his father's death since it was clear that she was the target that time." Gai replied in affirmative.

"That stupid boy." Hari fumed. "I suggest you teach your student a thing or two, Gai, or he will be facing me for this stupid hatred of his and trust me, you won't like what I plan to teach him if given the chance."

"You have my word on that, Hari-san." Gai answered solemnly though he was half-serious in having Neji spend a day with Hari just to teach the boy some lessons in common sense.

"Good. Now, let's get to treating Hinata. Time's a wasting." Hari said with a nod before firing a slew of healing spells at the girl to get her to rights.