Root Operative, Kitsune (A Naruto what-if Fanfiction)

Part 4

"Congratulations on making it to the final portion of the exams. However, there are too many of you right now, so to cut some numbers we're going to have a Preliminary round.

From this moment forward your teams will be disbanded until the exams are over, so if anybody feels unable to continue, you may give up, and your teammates will be unaffected by your choice.

This machine here will randomly pick two names for each round, those names will be required to fight. The first to admit defeat or can no longer continue will lose. The proctor for the third round, Gekko Hayate..." The Hokage gestured to a Jonin beside him who stepped forward.

"will have the right to stop the match if he believes that one of the contestant's life is in danger. You may take it from here, Hayate. Good luck to each of you!"

"Ahem, now as Hokage-Sama has said, anybody that feels that they cannot continue, raise your hand, your name will be noted and you may leave, your teammates will be unaffected."

Naruto watched with decreasing interest as the fights went on and on. He compared each round to toddlers slapping each other. 

Sasuke kicked the shit out of his opponent with a Taijutsu move he called Lion's Barrage. Sakura managed to trick Ino with Clones and an Earth Jutsu, it seemed that she took his advice and took training more seriously. Shikamaru had outsmarted Shino but got bored, so he gave up. Kankuro displayed his talent as a puppetmaster and nearly crushed his opponent's bones. Kabuto had placed Choji under a Genjutsu. Hinata tried her hardest but lost to Neji.

"Tenten of the Leaf vs Temari of the Sand,"

Naruto watched with humorous eyes, as Temari bullied Tenten into the Hospital. "How boring you were," The blond kunoichi commented as she walked back upstairs.

"The eighth round will be selected now," The machine started to pick through the remaining names left. "Inuzuka Kiba vs Kitsune"

"Alright, we lucked out, Akamaru! We got some loser, this'll be a walk in the park."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Kiba jumped down from the balcony, his animal familiar joining him.

"Begin!" Hayate announced before jumping back.

"Man Beast Clone!" Kiba shouted as he and his dog turned into a more animalistic form of himself.

"You'll have to do better than that,"

"Fine! Fang over fang!" The two Kiba's combined into one and started to spin like a twister, aiming straight for Naruto, who just disappeared in a flicker.

"What!? How did you dodge that?" Kiba demanded as he looked to the ceiling, smelling Naruto's scent above him.

"I guess you missed, Puppy!" Naruto stopped channeling Chakra into his feet and dropped from the ceiling, allowing the momentum to fuel the force of the kick he landed on Kiba's head, landing the Inuzuka into a wall.

"Didn't hurt..." Kiba attempted, but it was cut off when Naruto just sighed before taking out his sword.

"I hate people like you, you're all bark no bite, quite literally for you. You're strong, on par with most of your classmates, it's just your misfortune that you were selected to be my opponent." He held the blade dangerously close to Kiba's jugular and waited for Hayate to call the match in his favor.

"Final match-up, Rock Lee vs Gaara of the Desert."

Naruto watched with excitement as Gaara proved to be a worthy adversary, he just seemed to toy with the Leaf ninja. Lee had gotten the upper hand when he dropped his weights, but Gaara proved to be stronger and more clever.