Chapter Text
Chapter 4
“Welcome to the final stage of the Konoha chûnin exams!” announced the Hokage with a sound amplifying ninjutsu. “The rule is not to kill intentionally. When the match is finished, the participants must stop fighting or they will be disqualified and imprisoned if someone dies.
“Watchers, enjoy the show! Contestants, the tournament begins! The proctor, Genma Shiranui, is here to referee the matches, listen to his instructions!”
Genma walked to the center of the arena and called for the first match.
“First match! Samui, Karui and Omoi from Kumo versus Rock Lee, Tenten and Neji Hyûga from Konoha!”
The contestants jumped into the pit, teams facing each other.
“Team fight or duels?” asked the proctor.
“Duels,” voted the Kumo team together.
“Team fight,” voted Tenten.
“Duels,” decided Neji and Lee.
“The majority agreed on duels! Choose which member of your team will fight first. Once the fight starts, only one member of each team can be in the fighting zone at a time. You can only change fighters each time someone is defeated or surrenders.”
“I’ll go first!” exclaimed Lee enthusiastically.
“I’m first!” declared Karui, impatient.
“Contestants not fighting, please leave the fighting zone.”
They walked out of the limits of the duels, which were smaller than those of team fights.
“Ready? Fight!”
Lee rocketed towards Karui, but his kick connected with a lightning clone that shocked him and paralyzed him. Karui appeared out of a body flicker with her sword charged with electricity and placed it to his throat.
“Wha…?”
“Rock Lee is eliminated! Next fighters! Kumo team, do you want to switch?”
Tenten stepped into the arena as a chûnin dragged Lee away.
“I’ll keep going!” exclaimed Karui.
“Ready? Fight!”
Karui charged with a body flicker, but Tenten had anticipated and jumped over her, throwing five kunai around the area where the Kumo kunoichi landed. A fire cage appeared from the five weapons, trapping the dark skinned girl.
“Ha! If you think I can only fight at close range…!” mocked the redhead.
She made hand signs, opened her mouth and a lightning bolt sped towards Tenten, who slammed a scroll to the ground. The bolt got absorbed into the scroll and she rolled it before storing it away. She pulled out two giant scrolls and unrolled them in the air, unsealing a storm of weapons.
“I give up!” shouted Karui. “Not dying for an exam…”
“Karui loses by forfeit! Next fighters! Konoha team, do you want to switch?”
“I’m fine!”
She deactivated Karui’s flame cage and the girl left the fighting zone, replaced by Omoi, who discarded his lollipop.
“Ready? Fight!”
Omoi disappeared from Tenten’s view and she was short of flame barriers, so she simply pulled on a chakra string, drawing a mace to her. She grabbed it and intercepted the attack only thanks to her instinct, the shock pushing her three meters backwards. Her opponent disappeared once more and she used strings to pull a storm of metal around her. To her surprise, Omoi reappeared inside the safe area and placed his blade to her throat.
“How did you…?”
Her weapons fell to the ground.
“Tenten is eliminated! Kumo team, do you want a switch?”
“I can continue.”
Tenten walked out and noticed a kunai on the ground.
‘Did he throw a kunai inside my weapon storm before using substitution on it? I didn’t even notice…’
Neji stepped into the fighting zone as Tenten left it.
“Ready? Fight!”
Neji put his guard up, activating his byakugan. He could follow Omoi’s body flicker enhanced movement and dodged the electrified blade before neutralizing the Kumo shinobi’s arm with a few finger presses. Right after, he pushed his opponent with his two hands, expelling chakra into Omoi’s torso, sending him fly with a few broken ribs.
Genma moved a flag, signaling his intervention. He went to check on the Kumo shinobi.
“Omoi is eliminated!”
A chûnin removed him from the fighting zone and Samui replaced him.
“Ready? Fight!”
Samui disappeared even for Neji’s eyes. He decided to use a heavenly rotation to block her attack, but it caught nothing and right after, when he was disoriented, Samui’s fingers struck his back, sending lightning signals that caused damage and paralysis. Neji fell to the arena floor.
‘Why can’t I get revenge for my father? Why is she so fast? She can’t be a genin! Kumo has already betrayed Konoha in the past, they probably sent a jônin without an official rank to humiliate us once more! Bastards!’
“Neji is eliminated! Karui, Omoi and Samui win the first match!” declared Genma.
A chûnin evacuated Neji to the infirmary and Samui left the pit.
X
“Wow! That Kumo kunoichi can’t be chûnin!” commented Naruto. “She moved as fast as Zabuza, maybe faster!”
“She’s clearly a jônin, probably an unranked one,” confirmed Sasuke. “Kumo bastards, sending their elite into the Konoha chûnin exams to make our village look bad…”
“That’s foul play!” added Sakura.
“Well, technically we beat Zabuza,” admitted Naruto. “We’re also overqualified…”
“But we’re clearly inexperienced genin while she’s older and probably has completed a lot of high rank missions already,” retorted the pink-haired girl.
“Second match! Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha from Konoha against Kankuro, Temari and Gaara Sabaku from Suna!”
“It’s our turn to shine!” exclaimed Naruto.
“I don’t feel like fighting the redhead,” admitted Sakura.
“Don’t worry, I’ll fight him. You two fight the big bro and sis, at least they won’t try to kill you.”
“I want to test my new power on Gaara,” said Sasuke.
“Don’t waste your life to prove a point,” criticized Naruto. “He can crush you from super far away with his sand, I can resist physical attacks far easier than you.”
“I take the guy,” decided Sakura.
Sasuke was left with the big sister.
The teams faced each other in the pit.
“Team fight or duels?” asked Genma.
“Team fight,” decided everyone.
“Then you can use the whole arena. No intentional killing. Ready? Fight!”
The proctor left the close vicinity, not eager to be caught in a jônin level fight.
Naruto grew his bone wings out and started his flame reactors amplified by wind, propelling himself from the arena floor in a jump and flying super fast around the Suna team to come from their back and divide their attention. Temari sent a wind gust to try and deviate his trajectory, but he made a cartwheel out of the way of the ninjutsu and drew Gaara’s sand towards himself. As the demon host from Suna started chasing him, he knew that they would win.
Gaara pursued him in a sandstorm, his killing intent sent in waves. Naruto had landed in the mountainous terrain, not far from the sand desert area, lulling his opponent into a false confidence. As his opponent sent his sand toward the blonde and drew more more behind him, Naruto stomped the ground, creating a wall of rocks, before slamming his palms on the ground, summoning a three meter-tall toad. As the sand collided with his wall, he clicked his tongue in a way he had been using during training to signal the next move.
The toad spat oil on the wall and Naruto set it ablaze with a constant firestorm, melting the rocks. The high temperature changed the rocks into lava and Naruto jumped from the toad’s back to the ground before the elemental combination to have a better grasp on it as he used his chakra to direct the now dangerously hot liquid. Gaara’s sand turned into glass while Naruto’s mass of lava rushed towards him.
Suddenly, the sand user disappeared from Naruto’s view.
“Behind you!” shouted the toad.
“Thanks, Gama-bro!”
Naruto turned around and his motion pulled hard on the lava , giving it momentum. The boiling liquid encircled them, blocking Gaara’s attack before flowing over it and rushing toward the redhead. The boy protected himself with sand, but the lava formed a cocoon around him and he would suffocate soon. The blonde waited for five minutes, to be sure that his opponent couldn’t breathe fresh air for a while in his very small cocoon before releasing him. The glass cocoon fell and broke on a cliff, freeing the boy.
Genma came to check his vitals and nodded.
“Gaara from Suna is eliminated!”
Chûnin rushed to kart him to the infirmary.
X
Meanwhile Sakura trapped Kankuro’s puppet in a barrier of metal gates, quickly removing his best weapon from the fight.
“Fuck!” he exclaimed.
The pissed Suna shinobi started to use his throwing weapons with chakra strings, attacking Sakura from mid range in a very unusual way thanks to his control on their trajectory. The girl dodged backwards, throwing kunai at him. At some point, she mixed a kunai with an explosive tag into a flurry of weapons, catching him by surprise. The damage knocked Kankuro out, his leg bloody.
“Kankuro is eliminated!” announced Genma.
‘I have to go and help Naruto!’ she thought, deciding that her ability to disturb the seal was more important than her fear.
X
Sasuke could read Temari’s movements like a book and had no trouble dodging out of the way of her wind attacks. When she started to slow down, he harassed her with lightning arrow that she deflected with smaller wind techniques, but soon she was exhausted and his shot hit her right hand, disarming her and paralyzing her.
“Temari is eliminated!”
Sasuke looked around, but Genma lifted his hand.
“Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha from Konoha win the second match!”
‘It was easy…why didn’t he let me take the strongest one?’
They gathered in the fighters’ stands and Sasuke looked at Naruto, noticing that he only had a little dust on his clothes, no scratches, no traces of fighting.
‘How did he win without taking any damage?’ he thought.
“How did you win?” Naruto asked Sakura first.
“I trapped his puppet in a barrier and then we fought with throwing weapons. He was controlling them with chakra strings, but I hid an explosive tag in the middle of several kunai and knocked him out. And you?”
“That’s great! I didn’t think you’d go this far with so few abilities!”
“Thanks for your unwavering trust…and you? How did you beat Gaara without a scratch?”
“I turned his sand against him.”
“You can use sand?” she wondered, surprised.
“Nope, but I can turn it into glass. I trapped him in his own protective cocoon and suffocated him for five minutes. He’s at the infirmary. And you, Sasuke?”
“You suffocated him? Why did no one think of that beforehand…? Oh, maybe because sand turns into glass between one thousand five hundred and two thousand three hundred Celsius grades? How did you even do that?” pushed Sakura.
“Lava, very very hot lava,” he replied.
Sasuke clenched his fist.
“How did you learn to use lava in one month?” he asked, pissed.
“I already knew fire transformation, I only had to learn basic earth transformation and some toad oil to make the fire more effective, burn longer. With the amount of chakra I have, I simply used it to make super hot fire and melt the rock wall I was using to block Gaara’s sand. He trapped himself by making a cocoon.”
Sasuke felt jealous of the speed at which Naruto was improving. At that rate, he’d become a jônin right after the chûnin exams. He had learned three elements and yang release in six months after coming out of the academy without the level of an academy student! How could Sasuke compete with that? It was unfair! He’d been training all his life and Naruto had completely outclassed him in six months! Hell, Naruto was probably getting stronger than Kakashi, the best ninja in Konoha after the Hokage, considering that the Sannin were either retired, traitors or wandering the world most of the time…
“Tell us how you defeated Temari, Sasuke,” encouraged Naruto.
“I exhausted her by dodging her wind attacks, she was pissed and lost her cool, attacking recklessly. When she got tired, I harassed her with lighting arrows until I could get a clean shot to her hand, disarming her and paralyzing her. I won’t waste my chakra for someone on that level.”
“That’s great, Sasuke!” acclaimed Sakura with doe eyes.
He turned away from her and she lost her smile.
“Would some gratitude kill you, asshole?” Naruto taunted Sasuke.
“I wanted to fight Gaara but you stole my opponent. How am I supposed to improve if I can’t fight strong opponents?”
“The dead don’t improve, asshole. Gaara would’ve killed you.”
Sasuke glared at him, his Mangekyô sharingan spinning. This caused an unexpected reaction in Naruto. He felt anger bubble inside him and suddenly, they were pulled into a sewer.
X
“What’s happening?” asked Sasuke, his surroundings changed despite not being in a genjutsu.
Naruto was also surprised. But a wave of heart stopping killing intent came from behind him, passing through them and forcing them to their knees, breathing with difficulty. This was even worse than Orochimaru and Zabuza put together!
“LET ME OUT! I’LL TEAR THESE CURSED EYES APART!” roared a beast.
Naruto turned slowly to look at the source of this malevolent aura. Two red eyes were glowing in the darkness of a cage. An orange snout appeared from the depths of the prison.
“How is it…? …You too…?” tried to ask Sasuke, still trying to breathe normally.
“The…Nine-Tailed…Fox…”
“I’LL RIP YOUR EYES OUT! LET ME OUT, MORON! THESE EYES ARE THE REASON I’M SEALED INSIDE YOU! AN IMBECILE WITH THESE EYES KILLED YOUR MOTHER TO EXTRACT ME FROM HER SEAL AND FORCE ME TO ATTACK YOUR STUPID VILLAGE! IT’S THE FAULT OF THESE CURSED EYES THAT YOU’VE LIVED A MISERABLE LIFE! WITHOUT THEM, YOUR PARENTS WOULD BE ALIVE AND YOU’D BE HAPPY! LET ME DESTROY THEM BEFORE HE USES YOU FOR HIS STUPID GOALS!”
“What…? It’s because of an Uchiha…? Is that why they were all killed…?”
“What do you spit with your stupid mouth?! My brother assassinated them to test his strength! He told it to me looking me in the eyes! He can’t have lied!”
“WHO GIVES A DAMN ABOUT YOUR FAMILY ISSUES? JUST DESTROY THESE EYES, BRAT, BEFORE HE USES THEM TO UNLEASH ME ON HIS BROTHER AGAINST OUR WILL! THE UCHIHA ONLY SEE THEIR OWN INTERESTS! MADARA WAS JUST LIKE THAT! TRYING TO USE ME TO DESTROY THE VILLAGE HE CREATED BECAUSE HE COULDN’T HAVE THE POWER HE DESIRED! THEY’RE ALL ENTITLED FOOLS WHO DESERVE TO BE BLIND!”
“Use you against…Itachi…? Is that possible…?” wondered Sasuke.
“Don’t tell me…you’re even…considering it…?” asked an indignant Naruto. “I’d gladly help…if you ask…but I won’t…let you control me…!”
“…Why would I…want your help…? I’ll kill him…with my own hands…! It’s…clan business…!”
“Oh… Would you rather die than use an external source of power to reach your goal…?”
“Yes!”
“Then WHY DID YOU ACCEPT THE TENGU’S CONTRACT? You’ve clearly already accepted an external source of power, what keeps you from coming for more when you realize you’re too weak?”
“…I’m not like that!”
“You’re exactly like that! You’ve given up your sanity for a short term power that will cause you blindness and that will drive you completely mad! You’re no better than Madara and the guy you blame for your clan’s massacre! Your petty revenge is going to cause even more tragedy, yet you blindly pursue it! What is the life of one mortal in a world full of life? Your clan is the embodiment of all the wrong of this miserable ninja world! You’re blaming others to justify your own sins! All the same! Humans must die before they can destroy the world with their stupidity! And it starts with the Uchiha and their damn eyes!”
Kyûbi’s giant claw passed between the bars of his cage, twenty centimeters away from reaching Sasuke’s face. The dark-haired boy recoiled brusquely and disappeared from the seal.
“Is that true? Did you really attack Konoha because you were controlled by a Mangekyô sharingan?” asked Naruto.
“Yes, I’d love to destroy your miserable village of morons who use the gift of chakra to kill everyone they don’t like, but that night I didn’t attack by my own choice. Like Madara, that masked Uchiha wanted to use me to do his dirty work in his place. If I find him, I’ll rip him a new one!”
“How was my mother?”
“A bitch who chained me to a Stonehenge and kept me from moving by piercing me with stakes! I’m glad she died after I was extracted from her but I’d rather have killed her myself for daring to treat me like that!”
Naruto fell silent. He was unable from thinking at that moment, too overwhelmed by everything he’d just heard.
Suddenly, he felt pulled out of his own body and the scenery changed.
X
Back in the Konoha arena, it took Naruto a short while to come back to his senses. He was surrounded by ANBU and seals were drawn around him. The stands around him had been evacuated.
“Naruto Uzumaki, are you back with us?” asked one of the masked ninjas.
“…Yes.”
“Come with us. The exams have been paused until we know what happened here and if it’s safe to resume your participation.”
Naruto wanted to back talk, but the ANBU worked under direct orders of the Hokage. For now, he would have to cooperate. He followed them into a room that had been secured with barriers. The old man was waiting for him inside.
“Naruto, what happened between you and Sasuke Uchiha?” asked the village leader once the room was close.
“He was being rude towards Sakura, so I told him to show some gratitude. He accused me of stealing his opponent, he wanted to fight Gaara to improve. I replied that the dead don’t improve.”
The old man nodded in agreement.
“When I said that Gaara would’ve killed him, he looked at me with these eyes…and then…we were pulled into a sewer with the Kyûbi…”
The Hokage’s eyes grew wide.
“What happened?”
“He reacted violently to Sasuke’s eyes. His killing intent nearly caused us a heart attack… He called it the Mangekyô sharingan and he said that it was the eyes that allowed Madara and the masked man to control him, to force him to attack Konoha for them. He really hates the Uchiha and the Mangekyô sharingan… He wanted me to let him free just so he could tear Sasuke’s eyes apart from his body…” Naruto shivered.
“How is it possible? No one can prove it, it’s just rumors…”
“He said that the masked man extracted him out of my mother after she gave birth to me, that it killed her and that he forced him to attack the village. He even said that he wasn’t against the idea, but he didn’t do it by his own will…”
“…It seems believable…but don’t trust the demon too much, okay, Naruto? Demons are liars and he’s ready to say anything to get free.”
“I think he was scared of being controlled again. He told us Sasuke would try to control him through me to achieve his goals… I don’t want to be controlled… I don’t mind helping him kill Itachi, but I don’t want to be forced to do it by mind control…”
“And we are going to make sure this never happens. From now on, stay as far away from Sasuke as you can get, choose duels over team fights and don’t meet Sasuke’s gaze. On my part, I will make sure he is watched at all times and that he does not get any opportunity to control you and the Nine-Tailed Fox.”
“My mother…the demon told me that she chained him to a stone and used stakes to pin him to it so that he couldn’t move…”
“Your mother did what she had to in order to not let the Kyûbi take control of her. She was fierce with her enemies but gentle to her friends and family. She loved you, Naruto.”
“…But she treated him like…like Sakura treated Gatô, and that man was a rapist, a slave trader and a dictator…”
“And the demon has killed thousands of people. Is it any better?”
“…I don’t know…”
“You don’t have to do the same as your mother, as long as you can keep him inside.”
Naruto nodded and the Hokage opened the door.
“Let’s go back to the tournament. I offered a small refreshment during this small inconvenience to avoid negative repercussions. Now, every ninja who knows what a demon host is knows about you. Prove them that you are not what they are afraid of.”
“…Yes…”
X
“How was this little conversation with your demon host?” asked Ônoki, the Third Tsuchikage.
“Fine, he was a bit disturbed by his teammate but the issue has been solved. My demon host is perfectly stable. Until now, he had never met the beast nor used its’ power.”
“How weak of Konoha. A weapon is meant to be trained and used, not wasted.”
“Thank me the day you remember that Konoha could have unleashed its’ tailed beast onto your ninjas.”
“Ha! I hope for you that your successor won’t be a weak willed man like you or I’ll eat your village alive.”
“Naruto didn’t graduate the academy, he earned his headband on a secret mission. His team failed their genin test. And now he’s close to Kakashi Hatake’s level, he even more more destructive power. He only lacks the body speed to face opponent of his temporary team leader’s level. I think my successor is far from weak willed, thank you very much. If your granddaughter meets him in the semi-finals, let’s bet on who will triumph.”
“Do you expect Kurotsuchi to win against a Jinchûriki who learned to use lava and toad summons in one month? Unlike Konoha, Iwa doesn’t change its’ Tsuchikage’s children into monsters.”
“But you changed your granddaughter into a weapon, with or without a tailed beast,” addressed a younger woman.
The leader of Ame was Konan, a woman in her late thirties or early forties with a face that didn’t seem to be a day over thirty. She had shoulder length blue hair with violet highlights decorated by a blue flower. She was wearing a long black coat with a high collar and red lining with a violet belly ANBU-style armor tightened by a black belt and had a piercing under her lower lip.
“All ninjas are weapons. The difference between a teenager with the power to kill a squad alone and one with the power to destroy an entire hidden village alone is what I am worried about. Only adults should be made into demon hosts.”
“Minato did not have another choice at his disposal since he sacrificed himself with the Seal of the Shinigami,” reminded the Hokage.
“Are you going to argue like old men until the night comes or will you resume the matches? I would like to see my son fight before tomorrow,” interrupted Konan for the second time.
“Yeah, you old coots, I’m very refreshed, let’s go watch our ninjas kick each other’s asses. If I can’t get any drink stronger than punch, I’d rather watch teenagers’ cat fights,” taunted Ay, the Fourth Raikage. “If Konoha need assistance to keep their demon host or their Uchiha in check, Kumo wild gladly offer its’ help. Give us one or the other in exchange, that’s all we’re asking for. A generous offer, don’t you think so?”
“It’s sad that such a strong shinobi is so deficient in mental ability,” mocked Mei Terumi, the Fifth Mizukage, a magnificent woman embodying the femme fatale trope. “An Uchiha in a village with two demon hosts is asking for trouble. This family should be exterminated to the last. Their bloodline is the reason for Kiri’s Fourth Mizukage’s madness. I’d be glad to assist Konoha in making sure the sharingan disappears forever.”
“Did your faction not support bloodlines? That was the reason for your rebellion against your mad predecessor, was it not?” asked the Kazekage. “Why would you help end a bloodline owning clan?”
“Because the Uchiha have caused a good portion of the issues with the world in the past seventy and a few years. They were a problem even before the foundation of the hidden villages, Madara betrayed his friends and clan, tried to unleash the Nine-Tailed Fox on Konoha for having different opinions than his. Then the Uchiha got isolated more and more into their clan district until they were massacred by their own heir. An Uchiha caused the civil war in Kiri. This clan is cursed.”
“Let us not jump to conclusions. The matches will resume soon. Let us go back to our seats, my fellow village leaders,” soothed the Third Hokage.
“Who will you bet on for this round?” asked Ay.
“I bet on Taki,” said the Mizukage. “They have a demon host in their team.”
“I bet on the new player,” said Ônoki with a smirk. “I feel something uncommon from the Oto team. The water boy did most of the work for the preliminary matches. And isn’t he from Kiri? Why would you bet against your own folk?”
“I know the Hôzuki clan’s strong points as well as its’ weaknesses. And I wold welcome him with open arms if he showed an interest in coming back now that the mad Mizukage’s reign has been ended by my forces.”
“I agree that something is suspicious about the team from Oto,” admitted Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage. “I feel something familiar yet corrupted in them. I wonder what causes this feeling…”
“I bet on Taki. Demon hosts are the strongest fighters and against the Oto team she can use her power without killing them,” declared the Raikage.
“I will abstain for this round,” decided the Kazekage. “There are too many unknown factors.”
“I bet on Oto,” said Konan. “I feel something vile in the members of their team. I think they have a way to fight imperfect demon hosts. The Kaguya clan is known for its’ bone release and its’ battle frenzy, Jûgo has yet to fight and Suigetsu Hôzuki can probably take both of Fû’s teammates by himself.”
“So two to one for Oto,” concluded the Hokage. “Let us see who is right. I follow my gut instinct.”
“Careful, at your age, your guts could let you down and stain the seat,” taunted Ay, getting a chuckle in response.