Naruto: The Next God of Shinobi

Chapter 49: Finals, final part

Everyone watched with baited breath as the dust covered the area. They were excited and wanted to see who won the fight. It was just so exciting. Who won this match? Was it the Hyūga prodigy or the mini-Gai? The anticipation was killing some people. Once the smoke cleared, they could see that both boys were on the ground. They laid unmoving and were beaten up. Lee's leg and arm were not bent the right way. Neji's chest was exposed from two impact marks that were there. Everyone could see the red welts.

Genma waited for a while before calling the match. He was about to call this a draw, when the most amazing thing happened. Neji and Lee were finally moving. Through sheer will, both teens forced themselves to their feet. They ignored the pain that was shooting right through them. They faced each other and it looked like they were going to continue their fight. However, after a while, Genma noticed that neither was moving forward. He made his way over to Neji was barely standing. He could see blood coming out of his mouth. He checked on Lee and saw that he was unconscious.

"Sensei, I can no longer continue. I will like to surrender." Neji stated. Genma just smiled at the boy before facing the crowd.

"Due to Hyūga Neji's forfeit and Rock Lee's unconsciousness, this match is declared a draw." Genma said. Neji looked surprised and saw that Lee was indeed unconscious. He began to chuckle but it hurt greatly to. The medics made their way to the two. Gai arrived to help Lee while Tenten checked on Neji. She yelled at him and Lee for going so far. The crowd cheered for the two teen males of Team Gai.

XXX

"Holy shit, that was intense." Jakken said. Everyone was watching as the two got carted off for medical assistance.

"Yeah, I need to up my training a little. I had a plan for either one of them but even I have doubts that I would have defeated either one of them. Still, Lee must be smiling on the inside. He might not have defeated Neji but he fought him to a draw. That's an accomplishment." Yakumo said. Naruto just nodded at the explanation. He then looked around and saw Gaara walked pass him. The two locked eyes and Gaara gave him a hard glance. He continued on his walk to the grounds to fight Sasuke. Naruto could only wish Sasuke well because he was going to need it.

XXX

Gaara arrived on the grounds and made his way to the center of the field. He folded his arms and waited for Sasuke to enter. After a while, there was still no sign of Sasuke. The crowd was starting to get annoyed and restless. They demanded that Sasuke would show himself. They wanted to see Sasuke fight and they wanted to see him fight now.

When it looked like Genma was about to disqualify Sasuke, he appeared with Kakashi in a swirl of leaves. The crowd cheered for his arrival.

"Are we late?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, you are. I was about to disqualify your student. You're lucky he's the last match of the first round. Let's hope that the wait was worth it. He has a lot to live up to. These finals were pretty exciting." Genma said. Kakashi looked around and saw that field was in ruins. His lone eye widen at the destruction.

"Oh wow, you're right. Well, don't let me keep you." Kakashi said. He vanished, leaving Sasuke to face the demon that was Gaara. Kakashi appeared next to the other jōnin. "Hey guys, what'd I miss?"

"Good Kami, will you ever be on time?" Anko asked.

"I don't know. Will you go back to wearing the fishnet thing?" Kakashi asked.

"Why, you want to see my breasts or something?" Anko asked with a grin.

"If you two are done flirting, what took you so long Kakashi? If Sasuke had got disqualified, pops would have demoted you to genin." Asuma said.