Naruto: Senju Resurrection

Chapter 30

Naruto was excited. The Final Round was finally upon them. He stood in the centre of a massive arena along with six of the victors in the preliminaries. Dosu and Sasuke was still missing. Naruto assumed Sasuke would be late since he was training with Kakashi. One should always expect lateness from him. Neji was in for a shock. That's for sure! So was the rest of Konoha, for that matter. He had gotten the ok from the Hokage, via Jiraiya, to show off in the matches. Of course, there was a possibility that Jiraiya made up that ok, just to stir up some chaos. But Naruto didn't care. He was ready to flex his mokuton muscles. Naruto wondered what had happened to Dosu, though. He doesn't seem like the person to be late. 'I guess it doesn't matter. It is not my problem if he doesn't show up,' Naruto thinks as he places his hands behind his head. Although there was one outlier, the proctor for the preliminaries was not with them down in the arena. If Naruto had to guess, it was some other Tokubetsu Jonin covering for the coughing Gekko Hayate. He was taller than Hayate and was chewing on a straw. Otherwise completely unremarkable. He did have hitai-ate as a bandana. But with the village mark on the back of his head instead of the front.

"Everyone, thank you very much for coming to the Konohagakure Chunin Exam. We will now begin the Final Round matches for the eight who made it through the preliminaries!" The Hokage spoke up from his booth. Naruto could see that it had three bodyguards in it. One for the Hokage and two for the Kazekage. There were two throne-like chairs in the centre of the booth. One was empty because the Hokage welcomed everyone, and the other the Kazekage himself sat in. The Kazekage had a similar clothing style to the Hokage, but they were deep blue instead of red highlights. Naruto couldn't help himself as he sent the man a cold gaze. What kind of a father sends assassins after his own son?! But the overwhelming bloodthirst from his left soon shifted his view to an outraged Gaara. "Please watch until the end!" The Hokage ends his brief speech.

"My name is Shiranui Genma, and I will be the proctor for the final round. I have to tell you something before we start the matches. Look at this," The Tokubetsu Jonin say as he pulls a bracket from within his flak jacket. "There was a slight change to the tournament. Check who you'll be facing one more time," Genma adds, looking very bored. Everyone looks intently at it. Dosu was missing from it. So it meant Shikamaru didn't need to fight one more fight than everybody else and got moved up to fight that Temari girl right away. Everyone else still had the same fights scheduled as before. "Can I ask you two questions?" Naruto asks the man. "What?" He answers in the same bored voice. "Sasuke still hasn't come. What would happen if he doesn't show up? And what happened to the previous proctor?" Naruto asks.

"In case a competitor does not arrive by the start time of his match... They will lose by default! Also, he couldn't attend due to various circumstances," He says as he flicks the straw in his mouth. "Figures..." Naruto sighs. 'He better make it...' Naruto thinks. "Listen up, you guys. The terrain is different, but the rule is that there are no rules—the same as the prelims. The matches will continue until one or the other dies or acknowledges defeat. However, if I judge that it has been settled, I'll stop the match there. Arguments will not be allowed. Understood," Genma lays down the law. Everyone nods.

"So the first match is... Senju Naruto vs Hyuuga Neji. The rest can leave." Genma says, and everyone except the two left immediately. Naruto and Neji took their positions on either side of the proctor.

"Sakura... I know you're worried that Sasuke won't make it in time, but you should cheer for your other teammate. He is the one who is going to fight first, you know," Ino says to her friend who sat next to her. "Yeah... I know. But I have told you how Kakashi-sensei is... So I can't help but worry," Sakura answers. "But you're right, Naruto needs support as well," Sakura says as she slaps her cheeks to get rid of her funk. "Good, because I'm worried... Neji seemed crazy strong when we were in the forest," Ino says worriedly.