Adrik couldn't help but feel concerned behind his mask that he put back on. He immediately recognized Orochimaru's presence and revealed it to the Hokage, but the only order that he received was to continue gathering information. The old man himself didn't seem keen on giving any further orders. For now, all he can do is keep track of Orochimaru, who happens to be disguised as the jonin sensei of the team from Sound. He couldn't say he wasn't impressed with the team as they managed to pass even when they were down a scroll with two members unconscious. The Hokage stepped forward as he saw the last genin enter the room.
"Thank you all for coming and congratulations on making it this far in the Chunin Exams. The reason you are all here is simple. Far too many genin have passed to move on to the third and final part of the exams. To solve this issue, each of you will be called down to fight in one-on-one matches to decide who proceeds. Before that, however, if you feel as if you are unable to compete further, I will not deny you the right to drop out."
Some murmurs came from the crowd of genin. They turned around to face Kabuto as he raised his hand with a disheartened smile.
"Kabuto Yakushi, you wish to drop out?"
Kabuto nodded and bowed to the Hokage.
"My team and I only arrived several hours before, so we already aren't in great shape. I've spent too much chakra to continue, but I am sure my teammates can go on."
The Hokage nodded and everyone watched as Kabuto began walking out of the room. Adrik walked over to the Hokage and whispered to him.
"Lord Hokage, he's lying. His chakra is at mostly full capacity. I've already told Ibiki, I don't trust Kabuto. His chakra levels are at a jonin level and he knows more than he should as a genin."
The Hokage nodded, unnoticed by everyone but Adrik.
"You already have a tracker on him?"
Adrik nodded silently.
"Stand by for now. I still need you here."
Adrik nodded again, stepping back to stand next to the various jonin in the room, one of which stepped forward with a harsh cough.
"Lord Hokage... If I may?"
The Hokage turned his head back and gave a small nod. The jonin took his place and cleared his throat.
"Now... I, Hayate Gekko, will be... your proctor for these... 'preliminary' matches... Behind me is a... screen with everyone's names... on it. Come down to the arena... when you see your name."
The genin all nodded, most from the Leaf being concerned at how many times Hayate coughed trying to get that out.
"Other than that... you and your teams... can all head up to the... standings to spectate."
The genin all nodded and walked up the stairs to the spectators' area. Each team of genin was joined by their respective jonin sensei. Team Seven waved as they walked over to where Zabuza and Haku were standing.
"Hey, No-brows Sensei. I thought you weren't on jonin duty for another few months?"
Zabuza shrugged.
"The Hokage is letting me spectate since I'm still technically your guys' Sensei."
The three genin nodded before jumping out of the way of a blur that shot straight towards Zabuza. Everyone was surprised when Tenten got up in the jonin's face with stars in her eyes.
"Oh my God, you're Zabuza of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist! It's such an honor to meet you! When did you become a Leaf Ninja?! Can you train me?! Is that the real Executioner's Blade?! Does it really repair itself with the iron from the blood of your fallen enemies?!"
Zabuza put a hand up to stop the girl, to which she quickly apologized.
"First, thanks, I guess. Second, about just under two months ago. Third, no. Fourth, yes. Lastly, yeah, but that's supposed to be a bit more of a secret."
Everyone was even further surprised that Zabuza managed to keep up with Tenten's barrage of questions.
"S-Sorry, it's just that I've heard so many legends about the weapons carried by the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. It's been a dream of mine to see one in person. It took me a while to recognize you since I never expected you to be a Leaf Ninja now."
Zabuza nodded.
"You see, I've always wanted to become a Weapons Master, and- uh, can you just sign this for me, please?"
Tenten brought out a small notebook.
"Tenten, you are embarrassing us. Hurry up. Lee and Guy Sensei are already waiting."
Neji dragged Tenten away, still carrying the notebook. She looked downtrodden as she would have to wait for the autograph she wanted. She glanced at her notebook before deciding to put it away, which happened to be a good decision as she saw Zabuza's autograph on the inside of the cover. She gasped happily before hugging the notebook to her chest, still being dragged away by Neji. Zabuza laughed to himself.
"Never thought I'd have any fans in the Leaf. Gotta say, giving out an autograph is something I never expected in my lifetime."
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura decided not to pay any mind to their sensei as they waited for the matches to start.
X
Adrik walked over to where Team Seven sat watching Sasuke utterly dismantle one of Kabuto's teammates, Yoroi Akado, who had the ability to drain the chakra of whoever he touches. That doesn't exactly come in handy when you're hit in the back by a volley of small fireballs. Adrik stopped and leaned on the wall next to Haku, taking off his mask and clipping it to his utility belt.
"Excited?"
Haku looked over at Adrik and shrugged.
"It depends. If the other teams from our village are as strong as Sasuke's opponent, no. The Sand Team seems to be the only outlier. And if the Sound Team was taken out by you so easily and they couldn't even defeat Sakura at her lowest point, again, no."
Adrik shrugged.
"Well, you never know what could happen."
Haku sighed.
"I suppose so."
The two looked back down at the arena as Sasuke was named the victor. His broken and busted tanto still managed to draw blood as it was pressed against the back of Yoroi's neck.
"Winner, Sasuke Uchiha!"
Hayate pointed his hand towards Sasuke. The dark haired teen sheathed his tanto and walked off to rejoin his team. As he approached, Zabuza spoke to both him and Naruto.
"Remind me to help you two get some sturdier blades."
The two nodded dejectedly as they clung to their beat up weapons. Haku turned to Adrik with her eyebrows raised.
"Their weapons weren't even dented during their training with father. How did that happen?"
Adrik sighed.
"Bad fight with an even worse enemy. My help wasn't worth shit either."
Haku nodded slightly, taking a few moments to look Adrik over. It was clear that he was rather disappointed at his inability to help his friends in such a situation.
"Well, if it was that bad, then I'm glad you four made it out as well off as you did. And I'm sure you helped as much as you could. You may even be the reason they're able to stand right now."
Adrik nodded with a sigh as Haku's hand brushed against his.
"Maybe I need to start training harder than before."
Haku immediately shook her head.
"Don't. Training takes time, Adrik. If you push yourself too hard, you will only end up getting hurt for no good reason. Besides, you should lay up on the training if anything."
Adrik raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
Haku looked at him with concern.
"You barely see any of us for more than a few minutes every day. Naruto sees you practically limping home every night. You're not even eating lunch with us anymore."
Adrik looked at her with his eyes widened slightly before looking down in thought. After a few seconds, he realized his last memory with Haku or the members of Team Seven that weren't Naruto was of his training with Zabuza, most of the time just being one of his Water Clones. It was the same with the other teams as well. He would rarely interact with anyone other than the jonin senseis unless his training directly involved them, like his spars with Lee.
Adrik was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even hear the next match start, which was between Zaku Abumi and Shino Aburame. His head snapped towards Haku when he finally noticed she grabbed his hand.
"I know this isn't the time nor place, and that it's an important mission, but surely you and the Hokage can come to some sort of compromise, right? It hardly feels like you're around anymore."
Adrik stared at Haku for a moment before sighing. He nodded to her.
"I'll ask him later. And I'm... I'm sorry about that. I guess I just didn't notice earlier."
Haku let out a small grin.
"Apology accepted. Just... be better about it... please."
Adrik nodded, returning Haku's grin with one of his own.
X
"Winner, Kankuro of the Sand!"
Hayate pointed to Kankuro, the second oldest between the three siblings that make up the genin team from Sand. As was a part of their village's ninja studies, Kankuro was a puppet user. He used his puppet, once bundled on his back, to serve as a trap, capturing his opponent, Misumi Tsurugi, and breaking many of his bones. Misumi was Kabuto's other teammate and had an ability that helped him contort his body to the extreme. Just like Yoroi's fight with Sasuke, however, this special ability didn't help him whatsoever.
Oh, and before their fight, Shino was deemed the winner of his. The method was rather... brutal. Everyone present decided it would be best to ignore that they saw Zaku's arms explode.
"Ino Yamanaka! Sakura Haruno! Please, come down to the... arena!"
Hayate coughed out the names of the next two genin. Sakura sighed as she walked down the stairs to the arena, completely ignoring Ino's taunts.
Once the two kunoichi were in position across from each other, Hayate put his hand up.
"Are the... two of you ready?"
After seeing them both nod, he chopped his hand down and jumped back with a shout.
"Begin!"
Ino smirked as she made hand seals.
"Stay right there, forehead! Time for you to take a little nap!"
Ino completed her hand seals.
"Mind Transfer Jutsu!"
Ino blinked and her eyes widened as she doubled over from a punch to the gut via Sakura's glowing green fist. She could only watch helplessly and in pain as she was launched nearly to the other side of the arena where she rolled to a stop. Or perhaps she wasn't in pain as it was clear she was very much unconscious.
"Uh... Winner, Sakura Haruno!"
Hayate sweatdropped as he pointed his hand to Sakura. She wordlessly walked back over to rejoin her team as Asuma hopped down to pick up his unconscious genin. While her teammates, sensei, Haku, and Adrik congratulated her as they did with Sasuke, everyone else looked at her with a new fear in their minds. Off on the other side of the stands, Orochimaru frowned as he remembered every time he was hit with punches just like the one Sakura performed. He shivered slightly as he could still feel the sting from each hit.
X
Everyone cringed as Temari was declared the winner of her match against Tenten in a rather brutal display. With her Wind Style attacks, she completely disarmed Tenten, both figuratively and literally. Adrik couldn't help but feel bad as the girl was rather fun to be around. Lee took it the hardest, though, as he had to be talked out of getting into a fighting stance to face Temari, the oldest of the trio of siblings from Sand.
As Tenten was carried out of the room by the medical ninjas on standby, Adrik walked over to Lee.
"Hey, man. How are you feeling?"
Lee turned to him with a frown.
"Frustrated. I feel as though I should have done something, yet I know it would only cause more problems."
Adrik nodded. He patted the older teen on the shoulder.
"I'll go check on her. You just focus on winning your match."
Lee nodded and bowed gratefully.
"I would very much appreciate that. Thank you, Adrik!"
Adrik nodded with a small grin as he walked off after the medical ninjas.
X
Shikamaru sighed to himself as his victory over Kin Tsuchi of the Sound Team just meant he would have to continue further in the Chunin Exams. He hasn't had the chance to go cloud watching in over a week and was craving his fix of laziness. He looked up as the next two names were called on his way back to his team. He looked over at Naruto who started heading down to the arena and patted him on the shoulder.
"Good luck, man. Kiba's a troublesome one."
Naruto grinned back with a small thumbs up.
"Don't worry, I'll figure somethin' out."
Shikamaru nodded as he continued on his way.
X
"Are you ready?"
Hayate chopped his hand down after Naruto, Kiba, and Akamaru nodded in confirmation. Well, Akamaru barked while the two genin nodded.
"Begin!"
Kiba smirked towards Naruto.
"You should just give up, loser. Me and Akamaru outclass you, just like we always did."
Naruto smirked as he drew his beaten up katana.
"Well, things are different now."
Kiba laughed as he pointed at Naruto's sword.
"Yeah, they sure are! You brought a broken butter knife to a fight!"
Kiba laughed some more with Akamaru looking away in embarrassment. Naruto frowned slightly as he pointed his katana as his opponent.
"Maybe you're right..."
Kiba stopped laughing and looked at Naruto, slightly confused as he didn't think asking his opponent to give up would actually work.
"I'll bring a sword that's in better condition next time. I mean, if you still want to fight me after the ass whoopin' you're about to take."
Kiba snarled as Naruto sheathed his katana, his smirk reignited. Naruto brought his hands up in a single seal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Ten clones appeared and Kiba chuckled.
"You're still using clones? I mean I know they weren't your strong suit, but mastering them now is kinda useless."
Kiba brought out a kunai and threw it at one of the clones. His grin died down as it caught his kunai, something a clone shouldn't have been able to do as they were only illusions. The ten Shadow Clones grinned at Kiba as they all rushed towards him, making him panic slightly.
Kiba was unable to keep up entirely with the onslaught of attacks from the clones. Though he could block a few hits, there were much more than a few that got through. He popped one clone only for another to appear and take its place. Kiba grit his teeth as he was knocked away by an uppercut from one of the clones. He landed in a crouch and looked back up at the Narutos with a snarl. He looked down when he heard a small bark. He nodded to Akamaru, pulling out a soldier pull and feeding it to the dog.
Kiba stood up and went through hand seals as Akamaru turned a shade of red.
"Beast Mimicry: Human Beast Clone!"
As Kiba shouted out his jutsu, Akamaru began to change. In a matter of moments, standing next to Kiba was a more feral looking Kiba. The original Kiba went through more hand seals.
"All Fours Jutsu!"
He and the transformed Akamaru got on all fours as the original became practically identical to his partner. They rushed towards the Narutos from either side, managing to pop three of the Shadow Clones in a combined attack. The two Kibas jumped back and circled the Shadow Clones once more before going in for more attacks that managed to pop all of the clones.
Kiba looked around as he felt it was way too easy to dispatch the clones and the original Naruto was nowhere to be found. His instincts were proven correct as Naruto burst from the ground behind the transformed Akamaru, catching him by surprise with a hit to the back of the neck that knocked him out. Akamaru let out a whimper as his transformation was reversed and hell to the ground unconscious.
Kiba cursed to himself as his partner was taken out of the battle. He reared himself back as Naruto turned towards him. Kiba sped forward, spinning in the air faster and faster as he approached the blonde genin.
"Fang Over Fang!"
Naruto was hit by Kiba's drilling attack, sending him flying back with the air knocked out of his lungs. Kiba stopped and stood protectively over Akamaru, his back turned on Naruto who was planted firmly in the concrete wall of the arena. Kiba turned around with wide eyes when he heard a popping noise. The Naruto in the wall had disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.
Kiba looked around for his opponent, only to find nobody in sight. He even waited for the ground to erupt around him but nothing came.
"Come out and face me like a man, Naruto!"
Kiba looked around for any sign of the blonde teen, but still couldn't find anything. He looked straight up as he heard a distant sigh.
"Really, do you just not know how to look up, dog breath?"
Kiba snarled as he saw Naruto standing upside down on the ceiling high above the arena.
"Scared to fight me, huh?! Come on down so I can kick your ass for what you did to Akamaru!"
Naruto frowned down at him.
"You're the one who brought him into a fight. But, if you say so..."
Kiba waited for Naruto to come down as he said he would but was confused when he didn't move. His eyes widened as he heard a shout come from right behind him.
"Wind Style: Gale Fist!"
Kiba turned only to be hit by Naruto's wind wrapped fist that send him flying. Funnily enough, he just so happened to get planted in the exact same part of the wall that he put the Shadow Clone in not even a minute earlier. The Naruto on the ceiling jumped down and landed next to his clone, giving it a fist bump before it disappeared.
"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki!"
Hayate pointed his hand to Naruto. He smiled as he heard the applause from his teammates, Haku, and Adrik. His smile softened as he saw Hinata sending him a small grin. Naruto looked back over at Kiba and walked over to help him down from the wall. Kiba thanked him silently before looking away in shame that he lost the fight. Naruto spoke as Kiba carefully picked up the still unconscious Akamaru.
"It was a good fight, Kiba. I'm lookin' forward to the next one."
Kiba stared back at Naruto for a second before returning the teen's smile with a grin of his own and nodding.
X
Naruto had lost his smile the moment he heard who would be fighting in the next match. If there was one thing he knew about Hyuga Clan members, it was that Hinata was one of the very few nice ones. Neji, however, seemed to be the exact opposite of Hinata. He hadn't even spoken to the older teen and he already knew Neji was a pompous prick. He didn't pick up on what the older teen said to Hinata as they passed each other on the way to the arena, but based on Hinata's expression, it wasn't nice.
Hinata looked up from the floor as she felt someone grab her hand before she could make her way down the stairs. She blushed slightly as she looked up at Naruto.
"Don't worry about a thing, Hinata, you'll do great."
Hinata smiled at Naruto as he gave her a reassuring grin. She nodded and began heading down to the arena again with a burst of newfound confidence.
Hayate raised his hand up as Hinata and Neji got into place.
"Are you ready?"
The two Hyugas nodded silently.
"Begin!"
Hayate chopped his hand down and jumped back. The two Hyugas got into their clan's opening stance for their fighting style. Naruto had learned from Hinata it was called the 'Gentle Fist'. Upon hearing more about it, he understood why. With the Hyuga Clan's dojutsu, the Byakugan, they could clearly see a person's chakra network in a nearly perfect 360 degrees around themselves. The Gentle Fist is a fighting style where the user pushes their own chakra through their fingertips into the chakra points of their opponent, effectively shutting down their ability to release chakra from those points. While it is painful, it doesn't cause much damage to the human body and an opponent's chakra points can eventually reopen on their own. But Naruto hadn't yet seen what it was like for two users of the Gentle Fist to fight each other. He had a bad feeling about it, though.
"Lady Hinata, this is your final warning before we begin for you to forfeit. I have no intent of holding back if you wish to proceed with this match."
Neji's response came in the form of Hinata activating her Byakugan with a single hand seal. He sighed before activating his own without hand seals, trying to hide his smirk.
"Very well. Your answer is clear."
The two stared at each other for a few more moments before rushing towards each other with their open palms reared back. Hinata thrust her palms forward only for her attacks to be matched perfectly. She continued with several more palm thrusts, each of which were blocked like the first two.
Hinata jumped back and let out a breath before rushing back in. This time, she attacked with her middle and index fingers on each hand for more precise strikes. Neji saw this and blocked each strike with his open palms. Hinata continued however, speeding up her attacks as much as she could. Neji's eyes widened slightly as one attack grazed his arm. In an instant, Hinata was sent flying by a palm strike to the stomach.
Neji was surprised when Hinata caught herself in mid air and immediately went in to try and land more attacks. His eyes narrowed as he put in more effort to negate all of the girl's attacks. Hinata grit her teeth as she noticed she was beginning to get further and further from landing an attack, no matter how hard she tried.
Neji batted both of Hinata's hands away and struck her in the right shoulder with another palm strike, sending her away again. Just like before, she recovered. This time, however, Neji sped forward before she could move, jabbing her in her left arm with his chakra laced fingers. Neji jumped back to avoid a palm strike and stared at Hinata.
"You are already down an arm, cousin. If you do not forfeit now, you will only suffer further harm."
Hinata panted as she held her limp left.
Adrik, now back with Team Seven after reaffirming Lee that his teammate would be fine, looked down to see Naruto tapping his foot anxiously as he leaned against the rails. It was clear as day that Naruto was worried for Hinata, especially since this fight had started terribly for her. Even so, he leaned over the railing to shout as he heard what Neji Said.
"Hinata, don't give in to a guy like him! You can do this, remember?! Don't let what he says stop you!"
Hinata and Neji looked up at Naruto. Hinata smiled and Neji scowled.
"This is a Clan matter. Do not get involved, Uzumaki."
Naruto frowned as he stared down at Neji.
"N-Naruto is right. I w-won't let you hold m-me down forever, N-Neji."
Neji turned back to Hinata with a barely hidden smirk.
"You are foolish to think you can win this fight, cousin. You had no chance from the start and I will prove it to you. Your fate is sealed!"
Neji rushed forward, making Hinata's eyes go wide. In the blink of an eye, he began attacking her. She tried to counter the attacks, but with only one arm, that was easier said than done.
"Two Palms!"
Two of Hinata's chakra points were shut down.
"Four Palms!"
Two more were shut down.
"Eight Palms!"
Then four more followed suit.
"Sixteen Palms!"
Hinata was no longer able to keep up her defenses, however much they had helped in the first place, as eight more of her chakra points were shut down.
"Eight Trigrams: Thirty-Two Palms!"
Hinata bared her teeth in pain as her right arm fell limply at her side, mirroring her left arm. She gasped as she was hit with a final palm strike to the chest, signaling the end of Neji's onslaught.
Naruto stared worriedly as Hinata landed in a roll, stopping before she could reach the wall of the arena.
"Come on, Hinata, get up..."
Neji turned to Hayate.
"She will not be getting back up, proctor. Call the match."
Hayate nodded and raised his hand towards Neji. He lowered it as Hinata twitched. Neji turned to his cousin and his eyes narrowed as he saw her slowly and shakily rise to her feet.
"I-I will not be your... weak c-cousin anymore, N-Neji. Th-There are people... who b-believe in me... People who c-care about me. I will not let them down."
Hinata painfully brought her arms up, though she could barely move them much more than that. She coughed up a bit of blood when she tried to speak. Neji stared at her for a second before sighing.
"Then I have no need to apologize. You have brought this upon yourself, Lady Hinata."
Hinata's eyes widened as Neji rushed forward much faster than before. In an instant, he delivered a chakra enhanced palm strike straight to her chest, sending her flying back and impacting with the wall.
Neji let out a breath as he turned around to face Hayate again.
"It is over now. You can call the match, proctor."
Hayate coughed as he stared at Neji for a second. He shook his head slightly as he pointed behind the teen. Neji turned and his eyes narrowed further, a small scowl appearing on his face.
"A-As I... s-said, N-Neji... I-I won't... give up... ever... again-"
Hinata was cut off by a rush of wind. In front of her appeared Neji, only he was held back by multiple jonin, those being Kurenai, Asuma, Guy, and Zabuza. And right in front of Hinata stood Naruto, his eyes glaring holes into Neji's very soul.