Because I Met You

Chapter 41: Preliminaries Part 5

"He won't be opening his eyes for a while, referee."

Kiba says smugly. That can't be it! Come on!

"Man, he's weak..."

Kankuro mumbles. Is he really going to fall after one blow without even doing anything? Kiba's turned his back completely to Naruto. He really does believe that Naruto's completely knocked out. But he's not! He's getting up!

"What?!"

Kiba has his head turned towards Naruto now. He really didn't expect that, did he?

"Don't underestimate me!"

His eyes are full of determination. I grin at his resolve. Now I'm totally rooting for him! He has to win this!

"Go! Naruto!"

Sakura cheers. I'm so tempted to cheer with her, but that's... I don't feel that I have the right, considering what Sunagakure is planning to do.

"Saying that as you bleed?! Stop acting tough!"

Kiba's dog, Akamaru, barks in response to his master.

"I let you hit me to test your strength."

Naruto's full on provoking him right now.

"You should stop acting tough too. Use your dog or whatever."

Kiba frowns in rage.

"You'll regret that!"

He then starts running towards Naruto, Akamaru in tow.

"Let's go, Akamaru!"

Akamaru barks once again in response. Kiba then throws smoke bombs, enveloping the area in a thick smoke. I can't see anything that's going on. All I can hear is Naruto getting beaten up. He probably can't see anything in there either. How come Kiba's hitting him, though? Is it that weird transformation he went through earlier? Maybe it elevated his senses. Maybe, like a dog, he's able to smell where Naruto is.

Naruto then reappears from the fog, but Akamaru attacks him, forcing him back in. Kiba then gets out of the fog and waits for it to be over. The fog then dissipates and reveals a knocked out Naruto and a barking Akamaru. Akamaru then runs to his master.

"Haha! Yes! Great job! You did it Aka-"

Then the unexpected happens. The dog bites Kiba's arm! In a poof, 'Akamaru' transforms into Naruto.

"You fell for it!"

"You! With Transformation jutsu!"

That was such a good transformation that I couldn't even tell it wasn't the dog!

"Damn it! I wasn't paying attention! Where's Akamaru?!"

Naruto then stopped biting Kiba's arm and started making gagging sounds.

"You stink of dog!"

A clone of Naruto then appears holding Akamaru by the front legs.

"Akamaru!"

That's a shadow clone! He's so much better than I expected.

"He has good timing with his jutsu."

Temari notices.

"He's better than I thought."

Kankuro states. I glance at Gaara and notice a small smile at the corner of his mouth. He was also secretly rooting for Naruto. Kiba finally looks serious now. He throws what looks like a food pill into Akamaru's mouth. Almost instantly after swallowing it, Akamaru starts growling and getting bigger. His fur also reddens and he manages to get out of Naruto's grasp.