The Finalists Stand
Team ten was in hiding in the forest. For some reason this round was much harder than they had thought it would be. In the beginning they had done well and only had had bad luck with finding only a team with another heaven scroll like theirs. They had still pocketed it as having a spare would be smart as Shikamaru pointed out. But now everybody seemed to be after said heaven scrolls. They had listened to three other teams thanks to Ino possessing a mouse and spying on them from under a bush. Shikamaru knew that probably the two that they had were either the last two in the forest or very close to being the last. It was making this whole exercise much more dangerous. They had relied on stealth to stay undetected so far. Now they were really glad that the senseis of the rookie teams had set up so many different challenges to help them develop their skills and had trained them extremely hard. Especially in the weeks following the failed mission to capture Naruto. It had been a major blow but also a much needed wake-up call and Shikamaru rather had it that they had been forced to see reality in a safe training mission than in real life where it would have cost them their lives. The hard training had been the deciding factor in them being able to stay alive. The only way to be safe would be getting an earth scroll and heading to the tower. But at the tower there would be several other teams that would be waiting to intercept them.
Well, in regards to trapping an opponent nobody could compare to a Nara.
"Ino, Choji, we should get to the tower and ambush one of the teams that are waiting there to ambush other teams." Shikamaru declared. "For some reason there are very few heaven scrolls left in the forest, so any team we come by should have an earth scroll if they even have a scroll left. Something happened, even if we can't tell what yet. The longer we stay here, the more dangerous things will become."
"Ok Shikamaru. What's the plan?" Choji asked.
"We will stick to the shadows. I have a technique that will make others overlook us as long as we stay in the shadows. My father taught it to me just before the exams. It's similar to a genjutsu. In this forest are more than enough shadows for us to get to the tower quickly. We sneak up to a team that waits for an un-expecting team to come by and knock them out quickly. While I can't attack while keeping the jutsu going, you and Ino don't have that handicap. Ino, you did some work with paralysing poisons after being hit by Naruto, didn't you?" Shikamaru addressed his blond teammate.
"Yes, I wanted to know how he could paralyse me with a simply senbon hit. Turned out that my mum was an expert in the area and she taught me some of her secret techniques. I have a supply of senbon needles with paralysing poisons with me. That was also the only kind of poison she would let me use until I have built up some resistance to my own poisons." Ino answered.
"Good. We will use them to paralyse any team we come across and take an earth scroll. Then we will go to the tower ASAP without foregoing stealth. If we do this right we will be out of this troublesome forest before dawn." Shikamaru said.
Ino and Choji nodded and the three took off keeping to the shadows. Shikamaru was now very glad that Asuma had also worked on their chakra reserves with them, otherwise using the shadow concealing jutsu wouldn't have been an option at all.
It was finally the fifth day after the second round had started and the last team to have arrived at the tower, team ten, had only made it with one hour to spare. Getting through the lines of teams that had taken to ambush others at the tower had been hard and taxing on Shikamaru's chakra reserves. But they had made it by stealing the scroll that they needed from an Ame team. The last ten metres to the tower had been hard on them as there hadn't been any shadows to hide in anymore, but they had managed by a creative combination of a mass shadow binding jutsu, Choji carrying a log towards the entrance of the tower while Shikamaru kept the other teams bound who tried to intercept them, and a quickly executed replacement technique through the door that Ino held open. Shikamaru only hoped that he could rest a bit now. He was exhausted after using chakra constantly for hours.
There were only four teams that had passed this round. Teams seven, eight, ten and the Suna team. If you considered that twenty teams had started this round it were a lot of teams failing this stage. From the brief conversation that they had had with Naruto they found out that team seven had been the cause for the lack of heaven scrolls in the forest. They had taken out a lot of teams and collected so many heaven scrolls that it limited the number of teams that could pass down to five overall. With team ten having two heaven scrolls as well it was down to the four teams in the room. They were all assembled in lines facing the Hokage and the jonin senseis of the passing teams. On top of that there were the proctors for the exams.
The Hokage then addressed them and congratulated them to passing the second round of the exams. He also explained the true meaning of the chunin exams to those that had passed. It was a replacement for the wars of the past to keep balance between the countries. Then he proceeded to explain the last and final round.
"From here on, you don't fight in teams anymore. In the finals you will face one opponent at a time. The decision if you are promoted depends on how you present yourself in front of the audience in which there will be our most important clients. It will also be the event that will start the reign of the next Hokage." The Sandaime said surprising everybody except the jonins and team seven. "Yes, I have decided to finally retire again. You are the first ones to be told who my successor will be; the rest of Konoha and the dignitaries will be informed tomorrow."
Kakashi stepped forward.
"As you probably all know this is Kakashi Hatake, he is the Godaime Hokage." The Sandaime said and the genin and jonin of Konoha bowed to the chosen successor of the Sandaime.
The Suna nins were surprised by the announcement. This complicated the plans for the invasion massively. They hadn't expected to have to fight against a young and powerful Hokage. They would need to talk to the Kazekage as soon as possible. Perhaps they should rethink their involvement with the planned invasion. Kakashi Hatake had managed to rise to S-rank in all bingo books over the last six months since he had taken up a genin team which was now participating in the finals of the exams. It was unheard of that a ninja could bring a team to the finals of the chunin exams in such a short time and become an S-ranked ninja at the same time. They couldn't underestimate this opponent.
"Thank you for the show of respect." Kakashi said seriously. "As the next Hokage I will now explain just how the finals will go. As Sandaime Sama said we will test you in one-on-one fights. It will happen in a tournament. Therefore you will all draw numbers now which will tell you which opponent you will face in the finals. Step forward one by one, draw a piece of paper and tell us your number."
The first ones to go were team ten who stood to the right, next were teams eight, seven and last the Suna team.
"I have three." Ino announced.
"Seven." Choji said.
"Troublesome, I have eleven." Shikamaru announced.
"Two." Kiba declared happy to be in the first fight.
"Ten." Shino stated.
"Four." Hinata said and looked at Ino who would be her opponent.
"One." Sakura said.
"Six." Sasuke announced.
"Nine." Naruto said looking at Shino.
"Five." Kankuro announced.
"Twelve." Temari said.
"Eight." Gaara ended the process.
"Very well, then this are the pairings for the finals. First match is Sakura Haruno vs. Kiba Inuzuka, second match will be Ino Yamanaka vs. Hinata Hyuga. Third match is Kankuro Sabaku vs. Sasuke Uchiha. Fourth match Choji Akimichi vs. Gaara Sabaku. Fifth match Naruto Namikaze vs. Shino Aburame and last but not least Shikamaru Nara vs. Temari Sabaku." Kakashi called out the pairings. "You get one month to prepare for your fights. You don't know anything about your opponent's strengths and weaknesses, so you should prepare accordingly. Do you have any questions?"
"I have one." Shikamaru said trying not to show his surprise at the revelation of Naruto's new surname. "If this is a tournament, can only one of us become a chunin?"
"No, that's not the case. You will be judged on your abilities during your fights. Theoretically if you fought well and your qualification was acknowledged, you could be promoted even if you lost your first fight. But more fights will of course give you more opportunities to show your abilities." Kakashi answered.
After that there were no more questions and the teams were escorted out of the tower by their respective senseis. Team seven stayed behind.
"Alright, over the next month I will be busy preparing to take over the position of Hokage, so I don't have the time to train you for the finals. I have arranged for a teacher for each of you who will help you with your respective strengths. Naruto, Jiraiya Sama will return tomorrow to start your training and will meet you at your usual training ground." Kakashi told his blond student and got a nod with an indicated smile in return. "Sakura, you will be training with Shizune, the apprentice of Tsunade Sama. She is a high class medic nin. We could convince Tsunade Sama to let her come here for the month to train you."
Sakura was very happy to hear that she got to train under an apprentice of the famous Tsunade Sama. What Kakashi didn't say was that they had offered Tsunade a lot of money to come back, knowing that she had a lot of outstanding debts to pay. While she had refused, she had offered Shizune's service in her stead, which they had accepted as at least the next best option.
"Sasuke, you will be training with Yamato, an ANBU captain." He informed his last student who looked pleased to hear that. "Now remember, there will be no allies in the finals, but I don't want you to regard any Konoha ninja as an enemy. Give your best no matter who you have to face, even if it is your best friend. But don't use any crippling moves against ninjas of Konoha."
All three nodded seriously.
"Naruto, both your identity and my new position will be announced tomorrow, so you might want to take measures to not be mobbed." Kakashi told him.
"No problem, sensei. I can vanish completely if I want to." Naruto said confidently.
The other two members of team seven knew just how true that was. They had after all done a training mission that showed them exactly how good Naruto was at staying hidden.
The Raikage sat in his office reading the announcement of the finalists of the chunin exams. He had to read it twice to fully grasp the information. Not only had Konoha finally published the long-awaited photo of one Naruto Uzumaki, even if he was really Naruto Namikaze, son of the Yellow Flash, they had also announced that Kakashi Hatake was chosen as Godaime Hokage. This was really big news. How he wished that he could watch the finals in person, but Konoha had put up high security measures and without a team of Kumo genin in the exams he could hardly rectify going to see them. Perhaps he could have a spy infiltrate as part of the delegation the Daimyo would undoubtedly take with him. He called his assistant in to arrange said spy in the delegation.
The Mizukage looked interestedly at the pictures of the finalists in the Konoha chunin exams. She had to admit having the son of the Yellow Flash in the finals was very good for publicity. Many clients would travel to Konoha just to see that boy in action. On top of that the heirs of the major clans in Konoha were in the finals. It would attract a lot of interest and if the genin of Konoha, all interestingly rookies from the data that was published about them, gave a good show of their abilities, Konoha would get many missions. But at the moment she wouldn't act. Keeping Kiri neutral was for the best for now. They had a lot of rebuilding to do after the civil war. They had lost a good part of their military and while the rebels had won there were still remains of Yagura's troops that simply didn't want to accept the change. Others while not that hard-headed needed time to work together with bloodline limit holders again. Years of mistrust were hard to overcome.
Orochimaru raged reading the announcement of the finalists. Not only was his old sensei giving the position that should have been his to the Hatake brat, no, the son of the man that had been chosen over him for the position of Yondaime was in the finals. He was one of Sasuke's teammates. The boy would be a problem and to his annoyance Kabuto hadn't reported back yet. He would have a serious conversation about the quality of the information that Kabuto had collected. It was obvious that the Sandaime and the future Godaime thought that the boy was ready to be announced as his father's son, which meant he had to be at least low jonin level. Otherwise the chance for assassination attempts being successful was too great. He wondered if he could get Iwa to join in the invasion now. Having more manpower would be massively useful.
In Iwa the Tsuchikage was laughing his ass off. Many wondered why he had started to laugh like that when he had read the announcement of the participants of the Konoha chunin exams. Most of the ninjas of Iwa that read that the son of the Yellow Flash was participating wanted to kill the boy. The Tsuchikage didn't want to do that. No, the reason why he was laughing so hard was that the old monkey Sarutobi had managed to pull this stunt off. This was the first time that anybody had heard even a whisper about a son of the Yondaime Hokage. No, it would be completely foolish to act on grudges against the boy's father. He would put the boy into the bingo books with a warning. He wouldn't stop any of his ninjas if they came across the boy during a mission, but if the boy was anything like his father you didn't want to get on his bad side. Stories of the merciless Yellow Flash were told on mass during the third war. There was a reason that Minato Namikaze got a flee-on-sight warning in the bingo book. He normally didn't bother you if you stayed away and he was deadly in a fight.
Oh being the leader of Iwa would be interesting the next few years. The boy had to be strong to be revealed now. Perhaps he should offer a reward for the ninjas that could catch him alive. Offering a reward for his death would be bad as it would distract his ninjas from their missions. He knew the grudges against the Yellow Flash ran deep, but it was long time that the dead were let rest. War was nasty and even if Minato Namikaze had been the one to kill most of their troops, in war ninjas and civilians alike died. Those that survived needed to go on with their lives. And blaming the son for the deeds of a father the boy had never known was stupid to the extreme.
Over the next month all the genins in the finals were really busy, even Shikamaru. He had realized that if he hadn't learned the shadow concealment jutsu there would have been only one outcome of the second round; his team would have died and that scared him more than anything else. He realized that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he allowed any of his comrades to die if he had the power to prevent it. He had wanted to become an average ninja to have an easy life. But the additional work he had been forced to do by Asuma and his father had saved their lives in the Forest of Death. So here he was, reading up on the next family jutsu that he was set to learn. On top of that he was doing physical training together with Asuma, Ino and Choji every morning. He needed speed against a wind user like Temari to escape her long-range jutsus that she would undoubtedly unleash with her war-fan.
Similar things were going on with team eight. They did physical training in the mornings and training with their clans in the afternoons. Even Hiashi Hyuga was impressed with the achievements of his daughter. She had developed well over the last six months and that she had managed to qualify for the chunin exams finals after only six months of being a genin was impressive. She had also asked him for help with developing a jutsu based on kaiten. She had flat out told him that she didn't have the necessary chakra reserves to pull off kaiten, but she had way better chakra control than most other Hyugas and therefore she had thought up a new jutsu that was similar in its defensive abilities. He had told the children of the clan including her sister Hanabi to help Hinata with her training by throwing blunted kunai at her to defend against them. He was curious if she would manage to finish her new jutsu before the finals started. He was a bit disappointed that Neji hadn't passed too, but that was the result of not being fast enough to get the right scroll. It was a risk that was always present in chunin exams and he would have another chance in six months. Neji's team had collected most of the remaining Earth scrolls in the forest, but sadly no Heaven scroll.
Shino was working massively as he had got the hardest opponent of them all. Naruto was jonin level, there was no doubt about it and normally he wouldn't be able to beat him. He would need to think of something to take him by surprise. So he had conversed with his father what could work. He had got some secret clan jutsus that might work, but Shibi had warned him that Namikazes were famous for their speed. Even without his Flying Thundergod jutsu Minato Namikaze had been incredibly fast. So Shino was also training in his speed to be able to at least doge fast attacks. Shibi had called in a favour from a jonin called Gai who had arranged for Shino to regularly spar with Rock Lee, a genin a year older than him. The boy couldn't use chakra for nin- and genjutsus thanks to malformed chakra coils, but he was incredibly fast. It was perfect to work on taijutsu and speed against the boy, even if his mannerisms were really taking time to get used to.
Kakashi had called Naruto to discuss some things with him. He knew that he needed to keep contact with his team, especially Naruto and Sasuke. It had been the intention of the bonding he had done over the last six months. And he was happy to say that Naruto had opened up to him at least a little bit.
"Hello Naruto, how is your training with Jiraiya coming along?" Kakashi asked.
"Hello Kakashi sensei. My training is going well. We are mostly working on cooperation with the toads and some special jutsus." Naruto said. "We also think that once I have mastered cooperation with the toads to a certain level they might allow me to sign my clan's summoning contract next to theirs. Gamabunta said if I could prove that I was worthy of the help of the toads and was willing to use both summoning clans equally he wouldn't void my contract with the toads because the second one is a clan contract and the summons operate in different areas than the toads."
"That's good to hear, Naruto. If I may ask, which animal was the summoning partner of the Uzumaki clan?" Kakashi asked.
"It's sea-gulls. Being an island nation having scouts in the air was invaluable and they also weren't hindered by the sea that surrounded Whirlpool Country." Naruto answered. "The biggest ones as far as I read in Mum's journal were about as big as doubly to triple the size of a large eagle. Most of the bigger ones also could use water jutsus and speed attacks. All of them were able to use wind jutsus which makes sense with them being birds."
"That sounds indeed useful. And it wouldn't clash with the abilities of the toads." Kakashi agreed. "What kind of jutsus are you working on? You already had a really impressive repertoire."
"Mostly wind and water jutsus. The wind-jutsus I mostly create myself now because there aren't many out there that are known in Konoha. It's not that much of a surprise because wind elementals are really rare. I think of the currently active ninjas in Konoha only Asuma sensei has it and of the retired ones I only know of Danzo Shimura." Naruto mentioned.
"How did he take your little visit at the ROOT headquarters by the way?" Kakashi asked.
"It went better than I thought. We managed to come to an agreement with which we can both live. I think he is highly amused, even if he would never show that, ROOTs don't have emotions after all and that crap, with how I manage to confuse all people and still don't get noticed when I don't want to. He tries tracking me, but I normally easily lose the one he puts on my trail. Though the ink-user isn't bad. Gave me some problems until I found a way to slip away from his trailing me." Naruto commented grinning.
"You honestly enjoy tricking them, don't you Naruto?" Kakashi asked amused.
"Of course I do. Do you know how boring it can be if I only get to deal with the lazy chunin and jonin of the village? I could outthink the chunin with nine and it only took until I turned ten to force grandpa Hokage to send jonin after me after a flashy prank because I didn't figure out how to do chakra suppression before that and therefore Iruka sensei could find me with his sensor abilities. When he couldn't sense me anymore no chunin could find me, which caused that finding me was being upgraded to a jonin mission." Naruto said proudly.
Kakashi could only shake his head. He knew that Naruto was a prodigy, but it was a slap in the face of the village military to have this pointed out so directly. Naruto had been a sabotaged academy student with eight. It showed how much the village needed to improve if a then probably genin level boy could get away from ninjas that held a higher rank than him. Well, the chunin had been forced to go to boot camp with Gai to make up for deficiencies and the jonin were given to Anko, who gleefully saw to that task.
"So, do you plan to use your Dad's signature jutsus for the finals?" Kakashi asked.
"Probably. It depends how much I am pushed. Shino will do all he can to at least force me to take him seriously. Not that he can really do much as I have too much chakra for his bugs to take from me. They will be full before I truly notice it. But he is smart and will come up with some good strategies. I'm really looking forward to it. Shikamaru and Temari will also be interesting opponents, depending on who wins the fight. Shikamaru normally should be able to outthink Temari, but if he doesn't want to face me he might quit after having shown his skills. He got a major shock in the second part of the exams when towards the end his team had the last remaining Heaven scrolls. He realised that being too weak can get you and your team killed and as much as he likes slacking off, he wouldn't do that at the cost of others' lives." Naruto analysed.
"True. We can expect high-class fights. The one I am a bit concerned about is Choji against Gaara. We have confirmed that Gaara is the Ichibi jinchuriki and it is concerning that he was sent here while Orochimaru is about to launch an attack against the village. We aren't sure yet if Suna is involved in his plans, but their economic problems would make them an easy target for Orochimaru." Kakashi informed Naruto.
"Don't worry. If Gaara goes too far I will get Choji out of there the last moment. I won't allow Gaara to kill any of my comrades. The other rookies have proven to me that I can count on them in case I need backup, so I will return that favour when I can." Naruto said, knowing his sensei would be happy to hear that. "You are aware that I have long figured out the plan to let me connect more to my peers by doing that cross-over training with the other rookie teams and even the rare sparring matches with Gai's team?"
Kakashi chuckled.
"I told the Sandaime that you would. You are too smart to not notice something that obvious. Though it wasn't only for your benefit, but theirs as well. By letting them see your level they were more motivated in their training to not fall back too far behind you. Some would have complained a lot more about the harshness of the training they had to do if they hadn't seen what they could face by having to go up against you. Which I guess was your intention." Kakashi said.
"Maybe. I prefer having capable backup instead of hindrances. And some of them never did anything wrong to me at the academy. Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba even hang out with me sometimes when we skipped classes." Naruto said. "That was quite nice."
Kakashi suspected that there was more to Naruto's plans, but for now he didn't ask more. He first needed to earn more of the blond's trust, which took a lot of time. But that he revealed as much as he did was already a success.