"Hmm, Naruto-sama, what is this?" Haku asked, uncovering a paper written in Naruto's chicken scratch calligraphy, while cleaning out Naruto's small desk full of assorted garbage, crumpled papers, and ramen cups.

"Oh, that, thats nothing, nothing at all" Naruto stammered, trying to pull the paper out of the raven haired woman's hands.

"Ooo, let me see" Tenten chimed in.

For a few seconds, the brown ninja read, then exclaimed "I know what this is!"

"No you don't" Naruto stammered, still trying to take the paper from the bunhaired kunoichi.

"Yes I do its the paper Iruka-sensei made us write in our first year of ninja academy about what we wanted to be when we grew up" Tenten explained.

"I said that I wanted to surpass Tsunade and become a great kunoichi" the bunhaired girl continued.

"Thats interesting, but when I think about it, writing a paper on a topic like this... for ninja training... Its pretty stupid..." Haku commented in an offhanded sort of way.

"Now that I think about it, it really doesn't have anything to do with being a ninja" Naruto and Tenten concurred.

"Read it anyway," Tenten said, her voice betraying her excitement.

"Why bother, its probably all going to be about his dream of being hokage" Shikamaru commented as he opened the door to Naruto's apartment.

"Huh, Team eight? What are you guys here for?" Tenten asked.

"(sigh) Even though its troublesome, we came to give Naruto back his giant Kakashi training dummy" Shikamaru responded, jabbing his thumb towards Choji as he brought in the said dummy.

"Didn't I lend that to Mega Fuzzy Brows?" Naruto asked.

"Yah, we happened to meet him near here, and that bothersome woman offered to take it to him, which is why Choji and I are carrying it" Shikamaru responded in his 'its such a drag' voice.

"Hey what are you reading?" Choji asked, setting down the dummy and pulling out a bag of chips.

"Its Naruto's essay, the one about what he wants to be when he grows up" Tenten explained.

"Ooo let me see!" Ino chimed in.

"I'll read it aloud" Clearing her throat, Haku read aloud "My name is Uzumaki Naruto.

In the ninja academy, they all call me dead last, no good, Naruto baka."

Sweat started appearing on the back of Naruto's head and continued to grow and get bigger as Haku went on.

"They say I'm a disgrace to the village, the worst shinobi ever, and the scourge of mankind..." Haku continued.

Tenten sweatdropped.

"They may call me that, but Iruka-sensei says that even if I'm a no good trouble making brat now, I can change." Haku read off the page

"I think so too, so I want to be a giant crimefighting robot when I grow up, the end" Haku finished.

With the exception of Haku, everyone in the room, including Naruto sweatdropped.

"Wow, that was... interesting" Ino said, hesitantly, trying to break the silence.

"Yah, er interesting" Choji agreed.

The rain cloud on top of Naruto's head turned into a thunderstorm, as depression sunk in, Oh man, they're all going to think I'm an idiot...

"Thats so cute!" Haku said, smiling geniunly at the blond jinchiruki.

Naruto sweatdropped even more, hearing a girl he kinda liked, tell him his dream as a child was cute.

Oh man, my stupidity is showing... Naruto thought.

"Naruto, (giggle) I don't mean to bring this up, but your stupidity is showing" Tenten whispered to the blond ninja.

It kinda pisses me off to here someone else say it... Naruto thought inwardly.

"That was beautiful Naruto-kun, (sniffle) especially the 'giant' part" Lee cried, wiping the stream of tears with his bandages.

Suddenly, everyone in the room turned to the spandex clad ninja.

"Lee, when did you get here?" Ino asked.

"And when are you going back?" Shikamaru added.

"Shikamaru!" Ino scolded, obviously annoyed. Without a second thought, the blond girl, smacked the pineapple head ninja lightly on the side of the head

"What a drag" Shikamaru sighed, as Choji chuckled silently, taking another chip from a bag and eating it.

"Well, I was just doing my regular four hundred laps around Konoha, when on my three hundred and fourty seventh, I heard everyone assembling in this Naruto's apartment, and I rushed over here to renew the flames of my youth" Lee cried "Youth!"

"Youth" Gai cried, breaking the segment of one of the walls to Naruto's apartment "Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

This time everyone in the room sweatdropped.

"Someone's going to pay for this wall right?" Naruto asked.

"Youth!" the two beasts of Konoha screamed as everyone but Tenten and Haku began to filter out of the rather cramped apartment.

"Seriously, someone's going to pay for this right?" Naruto asked, Haku and Tenten.

Silently, the two patted the blond ninja's shoulders and left the apartment, leaving Naruto alone.

"Seriously, guys?" Naruto said, this time a little louder "Guys!"

Naruto sighed "Why me?"

Author's Note:Hey guys, sorry it took so long to update, really. Its been almost a year since I've updated. I blame no one but myself, my school, and Kishimoto. Myself for being lazy, my school for lots of papers, and Kishimoto for making the last fourty or fifty something chapters about Sasuke. Honestly, all this attention on him and the lack of scenes with Naruto in it have just made me really uninspired. In truth, I finished writing this chapter like two months ago, but I wanted to wait till I finished the rewrite, which is now done.

Some chapters have been lengthened, some cut, some new parts added. I think it makes the story less choppy, but at the same time I like choppy manga, like XXXholic or Mirai Nikki, where it cuts off in abrupt parts which sort of jostles you and makes you wonder. I recommend rereading Descending Heaven again or reading the summaries, so you don't miss to much, but its your choice. Well either way, I hope you like this all new chapter. As always please read and review, especially any plot holes I might have missed when I rewrote the story, thanks.

Summary: In the last chapter, Naruto and Tenten uncovered the grave of the Kyuubi. The Kyuubi using the last of its strength, showed the two its final fight with the Fourth, revealing Naruto's heritage and revealing the zanpakuto of his father. Naruto decides to give his father's heirloom to Tenten in order to replace her broken sword. Tenten in gratitude leaves to train in the wilderness before the chunin exams. Meanwhile, Naruto and Haku work on water walking. After a week of intense training, Naruto is able to master the technique, allowing him to create his very own kenjutsu technique, the Gyakudou. While training, Naruto discovered team ten had been captured and set off to find them. Deep in the Konoha forests, Haku and Naruto discovered a sound shinobi camp. Using their combined skills they subdued most of the shinobi. Inside, they are able to find Hinata and her teammates, inside the coffins. Just as they are about to exit, a masked ninja blocks their path. Using the Gyakudou, Naruto is able to defeat him, however another sound ninja, the former guardian of the north gate, Kuro no Kaze, intervenes. Using his wind chakra enhanced super speed, he easily overpowers Naruto until Naruto fights back using his shikai. After regaining conciousness, Kaze attempts to attack again, this time with his cursed seal. In response, Naruto attacks again with both his shikai awakening and the Gyakudou, however it is evaded at the last second by Kaze. Just when Kaze is about to finish off Naruto, the blond ninja starts to emit a white chakra, wind chakra, in a style similar to Kaze's black wind chakra. Barely concious Naruto commits his entire chakra reserves to one final attack. The two winds collide at top speed, destroying the clearing and creating a huge dome of black and white wind. When the maelstrom finally clears, Kaze finds Naruto unconcious, but just as the sound ninja was about to walk away, a huge cut erupts from his shoulder, and the two shinoibi pass out.

--

Only the worthiest of flowers bloom in the dessert.

Quickly, Clare swung her claymore at the injured yoma, and with one smooth movement, the beast was awestruck as purple blood seeped out slowly first, before a fountain of purple liquid sprayed out from the beast.

She stopped her movement, and turned around, reflecting silently on what she had just done, while the townspeople just stood in awe by the incrediable display of skill they had just witnessed. A foul corpse now lay before their eyes, a monster who no longer move with its body now severed in two, now lay in a pool of purple blood and urine.

"Soon, a man in black shall come and collect ..." Clare was about to say, but the pale eyed woman paused, and instead, walked silently away from the accursed place.

--

As Naruto stood up, his chakra changed from its normal pale bluish color, instead it becoming white with a tint of purple, and began pouring out from the boy, pooling around his feet.

"I'm not done yet..." Naruto whispered his blue eyes betraying his exhaustion and pain.

"Excellent Gaki!" Kaze laughed "I never expected to fight such a wonderful opponent in this pit of hell!"

Kaze readied himself, his black wind chakra flaring around him"Come at me, bwa-ha-ha-ha-...!"

"Kaze!" Naruto yelled running towards Kaze, the white wind chakra encasing the blond ninja.

"Gaki!" Kaze said, running at the blond ninja, his black wind chakra, becoming an aura around him.

The two met at the center of the clearing, creating a maelstrom of black and white winds. The two feirce winds circled around each other, uprooting whole trees in the process.

As suddenly as it came, the dome of swirling wind died down and vanished. Doubled over, but still standing in the middle of the crater was Kaze, panting hard, his eyes shut. Before him was an unconcious Naruto, his sword reverting back into a katana. Seeing the blond ninja Kaze laughed.

The sound ninja laughed and laughed, his voice resounding hollowly in the empty clearing, drunk with his victory. The sound ninja brought up a tanned hand to his face, whiping away some sweat. The black cloaked ninja looked at his hand, to his shock he saw blood coating it. Kaze laughed as his vision turned crimson and a large cut erupted from his shoulder, blood spurting out of it.

Laughing weakly, as darkness rushed to meet him Kaze thought, Good one, gaki...

--

Naruto woke up in a fit, adrenaline rushing through his veins from the fight he had seen, as clear as if he were right there watching it "W-What just happened?"

Then the blond ninja looked up and saw a white ceiling. Breathing deeply to calm himself, he noticed a too-clean almost stifling smell, and he could hear faint whiring fans, circulating dead air through the room.

"The hospital" Naruto concluded, flopping back down on his bed "again..."

"Naruto-sama, you are awake" a voice said devoid of emotion, enough to tell the blond ninja, that it belonged toHaku.

Naruto looked around the room, checking the windows, his bedside table, and under his blanket before finally asking "Haku-chan, where are you?"

In a swirl of water, wind, and smoke, Haku appeared kneeling before Naruto's bedside, her body bent so much that her long black hair touched the ground "My deepest apologies, I've failed you Naruto-sama"

"Haku what are you doing? Get up" Naruto asked.

"I don't deserve to be your servent Naruto-sama, I failed to protect you once again..." Haku said, still not looking at Naruto.

"Its ok Haku-chan, really." Naruto told the girl, waving his hands in front of him.

"No its not, you could have died..." Haku yelled, almost hysterically, tears coming down her eyes "Naruto-sama, if you died, I-"

Naruto could tell from her red eyes she'd been beating herself up over it for quiet awhile. Caringly, the blond ninja placed his hand on Haku's head and ruffled her hair a bit. When the ice ninja looked up as if questioning Naruto, the fox jinchiruki, in a very unNaruto-like fashion, the raven haired teen's delicate chin with his hand and brought her puffy red eyes up to his clear blue ones.

"I'll never abandon any of my precious ones" Naruto said, his voice serious "that includes you Haku-chan, understand?"

"Hai, Naruto-sama" Haku responded, wiping the tears from her face"I understand"

"Good... besides I'm the idiot who tried to take on that guy by myself" Naruto said grinning his fox grin.

"Naruto-sama..."

"Daijobu(don't worry), Haku-chan, I don't die that easy..." Naruto continued, giving the thumbs up sign.

"Hai, arigato, Naruto-sama..."

--

Soon thereafter, Naruto was released from the hospital in full health. After a few short weeks of training the chunin exam had finally arrived for all the contestants. Two months had passed since the beggining of the chunin exams. It seemed the morning arrived almost too soon for its applicants. That fateful morning, the tension in the stadium could be clearly felt by all the contestants, that is... except Naruto.

"Damn it I overslept!" Naruto screamed in his apartment, jumping out of bed "Haku why didn't you wake me!"

"Hmm, what?" Haku mumbled, still clutching onto Naruto's chest.

"Ahh, Haku-chan, what are you doing in my futon?" Naruto asked.

""Hmm, warm..." Haku mumbled.

"And more importantly, what did I do last night!" Naruto asked almost hysterically, hands covering his eyes "No we couldn't have..."

Slowly through his fingers, the blond ninja peeked at the state Haku's clothes were in.

Her hairs all ruffled and messy, not a good sign...

Slowly, Naruto's eyes slid down Haku's body from her cute face, to the alabastor skin of her throat.

No hicky marks, good sign...

Her yukata is still mostly on... Naruto thought, his eyes lingering for a second on the black haired woman's assets. She was a very healthy B-cup and still growing if he was any judge of it.

Come to think of it, ever since Haku had started sleeping over at Naruto's apartment, she had taken to removing the bindings over her chest, wearing them only during missions so they did not impede her fighting ability. Even after all this time living together, seeing 'them', still gave Naruto a strange jolt, that he wasn't entirely comfortable with.The raven haired beauty had said it was because that they were becoming too confining for her, but Naruto secretly knew it was just to aggravate him.

Shaking his head clear of such thoughts, Naruto continued his peeking. His eyes ran down the sleeping ice kunochi's well toned legs and soft curvy thighs, just a little more... until finally he arrived at his destination. Hesitantly, Naruto slightly moved one of his fingers from his eyes. Slowly, he opened his eye halfway, then all the way open.

Naruto gave a big sigh of relief. Through the corner of his eye, he could tell, Haku was wearing plain white panties under her yukata, a sign they didn't do anything Tenten'd make them regret later "Yatta! Panties!"

On the other hand, Haku was wearing only panties. Suddenly Naruto's face contorted, and a small trickle of blood ran down his nose.Staunching the blood with a tissue, Naruto gently shook the girl awake "Haku, what are you doing in my futon again!".

"Ano... Gomen Naruto-sama, I-I don't know what came over me. Its just I was feeling really cold, and you were so warm, so I decided to lay down next to you for awhile, but before I knew it, I fell asleep" Haku apologized.

"Arrg Haku" Naruto half whined under his breath, frustrated.

"Gomen nasai, Naruto-sama, I forget my place..." Haku apologized again this time with puppy dog eyes and pouty lips, "I won't do it ever again."

"(sigh) Thats ok Haku-chan, just ask me next time before you do it ok?" Naruto sighed.

"Of course Naruto-sama!" Haku responded happily.

As Haku took her leave of the bedroom, Naruto could have sworn he heard the raven haired woman giggle.

Naruto sighed again. He really hated it when she pulled the super sorry, puppy dog eyes trick on him. Sometimes it made him wonder, just who was the master, and who was the servent. Quickly packing his ninja gear, and grabbing a cup ramen, Naruto left for the stadium the chunin exams were being held in, a whimsical Haku close behind.

--

"Listen here brats" Genma ordered.

Among the genin there were Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Lee, Neji, Shikamaru, and bringing up the rear, Naruto. The sound ninja, Sasuke and Tenten were still acounted for.

"Because of an unfortunate incident involving a rogue ninja squad, all three sound ninja have been disqualified. In addition, Kankuro has forfeited. Taking into account the sound ninja's disqualification and Kankuro's forfeit, the new matches will be...

It will be Hyuuga Neji vs Rock Lee

Sabaku no Temari vs Ame Tenten

Uzumaki Naruto vs Uchiha Sasuke

Nara Shikamaru vs Sabaku no Gaara

"And the first match will be Uzumaki Naruto versus Uchiha Sasuke" Genma, the new proctor announced to the crowd.

Suddenly Naruto appeared running through the crowd and landing on the rail of the stadium. The blond ninja was wearing his orange jacket like a cape with the sleeves waving in the wind, underneath was a dark green shirt with a red konoha symbol on it. On his hip, attached by a black leather belt was Clare. He had the rest of his usual gear as well, orange pants, kunai holster on his right leg, and a headband tied around his forehead with a blue cloth. Haku, dressed in her usual hunter ninja garb, minus the mask, which had been broken by Naruto in the land of the waves, stood ominously next to him.

Gathering chakra into his legs, Naruto lept down into the stadium's center, flipping in the air and landing fourty feet away.

"Ooh ya! Where is that teme?" Naruto yelled "I'm going to take him down!"

"Go Boss!" yelled Konohamaru from the cheering section, along with Moegi, Udon, and his everpresent tutor and closet pervert Ebisu. Between the three of the academy students they waved a far too bright orange banner that said, 'Go Naruto' in black letters.

Spying the Konohamaru corps from the arena floor, Naruto gave a thumbs up in their direction.

"It seems that Uchiha Sasuke is not present." Genma said, obviously bored "Under the normal regulations, he would be disqualified, but due to special circumstances, his match has been delayed till last."

"Meh... Thats cool, I wouldn't want to win by default anyway." Naruto said crossing his arms above his head and, joining Haku back in the stadium seats.

"Instead, the first match will be Ame Tenten vs Sabaku no Temari" Genma explained to the crowd.

As soon as the words left his mouth, a leaf chunin shunshined down to the arena floor whispering something into the brownhaired proctor'sear. Sighing, Genma announced once again "It seems Ame Tenten isn't here either, so-"

"I'm here!" a voice said. A voice belonging to none other than Tenten. The bunhaired kunoichi ran down the aisle towards the floor. Just by chance, Naruto and Haku were sitting on the seats next to stairway, as she passed them time seemed to slow.

"I knew you'd make it." Naruto said.

"Of course" Tenten replied.

"Go kick some ninja ass out there," Naruto said "I'd wish you good luck, but-"

"Won't need it" Tenten said, giving the thumbs up sign and grinning.

"Right" Naruto agreed, also giving the thumbs up sign.

And suddenly time swung back into full swing. Tenten ran and in one swift move, somersaulted over the guard rail and onto the floor below.

"Hmph" On the other side, Temari unfolded her giant fan and threw it, into the air, floating on top of it like a glider, quickly landing down on the stage floor.

"Damn, that was a cool entrance!" Naruto commented, his arms crossed in front of him.

"This is going to be a tought match for Tenten, that girl with the fan is strong" said Haku.

"Are you ready, Temari-san?" Tenten asked, smiling confidently, drawing two sawedged kunai from her pouch.

"Hmph" Temari said, smirking cockily, her giant fan unfolded behind her.

"Sabaku no Temari vs Ame Tenten, ready... Hajime!" Genma said, rather halfheartidly as he played with the senbon in his teeth.

Immediatly, the two ninja leaped away from the other, creating distance between the two kunoichi. Testing to see how good she was, Tenten threw her kunai towards the blond ninja, who a expected, parried easily with her fan's edge.

"You should just go home little girl, I know all about those weapons of yours, and you don't stand a chance of beating me" taunted Temari.

Tenten smirked "You think so, lets see about that."

Placing her hand into her shuriken holsters, Tenten pulled out eight shuriken. Warily, the bunhaired kunoichi threw the meatal projectiles towards the sandy haired kunoichi, who smirked and deflected the throwing stars with her giant fan, while pretending to yawn from boredom "You know you could try to make this interesting."

Returning the grin, Tenten pulled out sixteen shuriken "Two times shuriken!" and threw the metal projectiles to to the left and right, so that they span towards Temari, blocking her in either direction. The blond haired girl dodged backwards, narrowly avoiding the metal projectiles.

On the other side of the ring, Tenten threw a few smoke bombs towards the distracted kunoichi, creating a cloud of black smoke.

Temari put a hand up to her mouth, coughing. Then holding her breath, she swung her giant fan, blowing away the smoke.

"Soushoryu(Twin Rising Dragons)!Tenten yelled some fourty odd feet up in the air, and the twin scrolls encircling her shot out a massive wave of kunai towards the sand kunoichi.

(The jutsu's name might be wrong because I honestly couldn't find the name of the technique, I did it off memory, I looked on wiki and everything but it didn't list it, its the one she uses in the anime, if it is wrong, just tell me the correct name in a review and I'll fix it)

Temari smirked as the weapons rushed towards her at blinding speed Ninpou: Dai Kamatachi (Ninja Art: Great Slashing Wind)" and with one swing of her fan, the entire wave of kunai was blown back along with Tenten into the arena's side, the weapons catching the bunhaired kunoichi's body.

"What? When did she?" Temari asked as the bunhaired girl started to flicker in and out of vision, as if she was on a bad tv set and her outline was fuzzy.

Suddenly the impaled Tenten and the kunai littering the floor vanished, leaving the ring completely empty, save Temari..

"Real shinobi look beneath the underneath" Tenten said, from behind Temari, a kunai to the suna kunoichi's throat.

"Wow, Tenten-chan's really gotten good! Even her genjutsu is better than before." remarked Naruto.

"Indeed" replied Haku.

Suddenly Temari disappeared as well, into a puff of smoke "I could say the same thing to you, try looking underneath this."

"Dammit, where is she" Tenten asked looking around, her hands closing around two kunai handles.

" Dai Kamatachi!" Temari roared as she swung her fan yet again, sending the bunhaired girl flying "Weaklings like you give kunoichi a bad name. I'd bet you only became a ninja because you like some boy, that Hyuuga kid or maybe the Uchiha, huh bitch?"

"Why is she badmouthing Tenten? Thats not playing fair" Naruto said, annoyed.

"Its a perfectly legitamate strategy Naruto-sama and by the looks of things its working. Being a good ninja isn't just about having flashy jutsu, though that has importance as well. A good ninja is calm and collected at all times. Tenten-san often loses her temper when she or things she cares about are insulted, as you often do, Naruto-sama."

"But I-" Naruto began.

"Naruto-sama, when one fights for their precious persons, they can be truely strong. I told you that when we first met and we agreed. When one fights for what they beleive in, one can exceed his or her limits, but at the same time, he or she wastes their energy up much faster than usual. Also, the angered shinobi is more suceptible to suprise attacks and genjutsu in particular."

"I see..." Naruto said.

"You are an exception, Naruto-sama because you had the Kyuubi's massive chakra supply and regenerative powers, however Tenten-san doesn't have that luxury..." Haku concluded, her voice even.

"Tenten-chan..." Naruto whispered, even more concerned.

Smirking Temari swung her fan, creating an enormous gust of wind. Gathering chakra into her feet Tenten narrowly dodged the blast by leaping to the side and in the same fluid movement, launched a wave of senbon back at the suna kunoichi.

Temari jumped into the air, evading the senbon and at the same time swung her fan again, battering the defensless leaf shinobi. Grimacing Tenten returned the favor by throwing kunai towards the blond ninja, who deflected them with kunai of her own.

When she saw Temari rear back for another swing, Tenten instinctivly dodged to the left, not noticing a paper bomb, near her feet. With one final crack the exploding tag exploded. Tenten crossed her arms in front of her, taking the full brunt of the explosion, which sent her flying. With a thud, Tenten landed face down in the dirt.

"This is pathetic... You're a disgrace, to your bastard parents, to your teamates, and especially to your village, give up, from the beggining you had no chance of winning" Temari taunted.

"My parents were proud shinobi...and so am I. I-I won't let you insult them, or me..." Tenten said, still on the ground, crying a little.

Struggling a little to stand up, Tenten said her throat dry as a bone, just barely a whisper "I'm a certified kunoichi of Konoha and I'll prove it right here..."

Silent, but smirking Temari drew a solid line in the dirt at her feet and stepped across it, a nonverbal challange.

Tenten put her hand to her chest, where her heart would be, a strange orange glow collecting there. Then opening her eyes, she drew back her arm as if to unsheathe a sword,

"Let's go! Kono Sora Akaku Somete(Stain this Sky Red) Amaterasu."

In Tenten's hand light slowly solidified, becoming a cross between a sword and a lance. Its blade was doublesided and was silver with an orange divider in the middle. In the very center halfway up the blade was a single silver hexagon. The handle was flat and around one and a half feet, without any wrappings so that the bare metal was exposed. At the other end was a very small dragonlike triangle shaped head with a orange zigzag pattern on it. The most remarkable thing about it, however was a large bright red sash attached to the lance.

"Sugoi, so thats Tenten's zanpakuto, its way different from mine or even Zabuza's head chopper cleaver, its barely even a sword..." Naruto remarked, amazed at the fairly futuristic weapon.

"Of course Naruto-sama, zanpakuto are physical manifestations of one's own soul, thus they are all unique. Tenten's seems particularly unorthodox though" Haku said.

"This is my shikai, sunlight heart." Tenten said, wrapping the red cloth around her right arm, like red bandages.

"Cute light show, but I'll warn you, its impossible to get anywhere near me with that thing" Temari said, arching back to swing her massive fan again.

"Here I come" Tenten rushed forward, straight towards Temari, Sunlight Heart pointed like a lance.

"A direct attack? Dai Kamatachi(Great Slashing Wind)!" the wind mistress yelled and a massive wave of air crashed against the bunhaired kunoichi.

Tenten struggled against the wind tempest, the wind scratching her arms and legs numerous times. Still, the kunoichi pushed foreward even as the feirce wind made mincemeat of her skin and clothes, until just before the bunhaired girl was about to reach Temari, Tenten was blown back by the ferocious wind.

Standing up even quicker, than the last time she was knocked to the ground, Tenten readied herself for another charge. Pointing her lance, Tenten charged once again"This time, I'll do it."

"I told you, direct attacks don't work, you must be either a masochist or as dumb as that stupid little blond dweeb from before..." Tenten smirked, as she sent another gust of wind towards the defensless kunoichi.

"Todokei!(Peirce), atashi no sunlight heart!" Tenten yelled.

"What the-" Temari asked, shocked.

As Tenten yelled, the end of the bright cloth became a bright yellow gold color, the color of sunlight, and suddenly Tenten took a step foreward, and then another, and then another, her speed increasing dramatically with each step "Nikko no Kire!(Sunlight Slasher)!" With a burst of energy, Tenten cleared the wind and rushed towards the suna kunoichi.

Temari gasped as the konoha genin cleared her wave of wind, the distance between the two shrinking rapidly. Seeing the blond haired girl in front of her, Tenten thrust out her lance.

At the last second, Temari dodged the lance's tip, so that it only scraped against her side, leaving a shallow graze, which tore of a peice of her pink blouse. Then with one hand, the blond kunoichi grabbed onto the lance and pulled, forcing the weapon's mistress of balance. "I won't let a third rate kunoichi like you make a fool out of me!" and with one hand, the blond girl swung her closed fan like a club intent on smashing the brown haired woman's head off. At the last second Tenten ducked the wild swing, and sweep kicked Temari, who backflipped over the leg, landing on the top of her own closed fan. Tenten seeing Temari, rushed towards her again and tried to stab the sandy haired kunoichi, only to hit air. Temari soumersaulted overhead once, landing a good distance away from the bunhaired kunoichi.

"Darn I was so close-" Tenten said, turning to face the sandy haired kunoichi once again.

"I understand what that strange weapon of yours is now..." Temari said, a little arrogant.

"What do you mean?" Tenten asked, her eyes serious.

"I mean I know what that thing around your neck is. Its a cloth that responds to your willpower. As your will to fight increases, that cloth disappears, creating that golden energy, which becomes power for you to attack me with. However, its not something you can do it indefinately, meaning you have a limit on how many times you can do it..." Temari said.

"H-How did you-"

"I know because once you charged at me, part of that cloth disappeared, its exactly six inches shorter than before." Temari remarked.

Smiling venemously, Temari continued "And, because it looks like that attack takes a lot out of you... judging by how heavily you're breathing right now"

Tenten stepped back an inch suprised, she hadn't noticed herself how hard she was panting after she had used her sunlight slasher.

Temari chuckled, clutching her injured side "Looks like I win. At this distance and with your condition, you shouldn't be able to dodge this" and the wind mistress held out one finger in front of her, then brought it toward her, as if she was pulling something.

Tenten gasped as she realized what Temari was doing, and the bunhaired girl jerked her body to the left, just as Temari's fan rushed right by her, right where Tenten's head was less than a second ago.

Grinning confidently, Temari caught the huge fan in one hand, not even wincing as she caught the massive weapon, revealing a single blue chakra string attached to her finger.

"That girls a monster!" Naruto said, wide eyed and mouth hanging open.

"Indeed, her physical stamina and jutsu are amazing" commented Haku "In addition, her tactical skills are tremendous as well."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"Temari-san was able to evade and counter Tenten's jousting attack with minimal injury to herself. Not only that, but she was also able to deduct the properties of her zanpakuto after only seeing it once. She will truely be a kunoichi to be feared." Haku commented softly.

"So what are you trying to say?" Naruto asked.

"I don't think Tenten-san stands a chance..."

"I don't think you're giving Tenten enough credit." Naruto said, crossing his arms "She's the strongest girl I know, and one of the scariest. I don't have a doubt in my mind, she'll definately win-ttebayo..."

"Hai, Naruto-sama..." Haku agreed reluctantly.

Tenten suddenly unraveled the cloth around her neck, grabbed it by the end in one hand and yelled "Energy Senkai(Release), Nikko no Senkou(Sunlight Flasher)!"Suddenly, the cloth became bright gold and the whole arena was enveloped by the huge burst of golden energy.

Caught in the blinding light, Temari sheilded her eyes, "Damn, she still had a card like this in her hand."

"Peirce, Ore no Sunlight Heart!" Tenten yelled as she ran through the light to meet Temari.

"What's with the ground? Damn it." Suddenly the brown haired kunoichi stumbling and finally skidding to a stop, her feet unable to find purchase on the ground for some reason.

"What's going on, why did Tenten-chan stop?" Naruto asked, as the sunlight cleared from the stadium.

"It looks like Temari was prepared, she knew Tenten was saving some trick for later." Haku explained.

"She read the entire move, before she was blinded by the light, Temari was able to swing her fan again and alter the terrain, so Tenten wouldn't be able to run through it, she made the entire floor into sand"

The once unremarkable battleground was transformed. The floor was covered in sand, and what few trees that managed to survive the gusts were now smothered by the sand too.

"Fūton: Mugen Sajin Daitoppa(Infinite Sand Cloud Great Breakthrough)" Temari said, fighting the urge to gloat, and losing "Its an advance form of the Daitoppa jutsu, instead of just a strong blast of air, any ground that the wind touches is ripped apart by the powerful winds into miniscule peices, effectivly forming sand."

"Why sand?" Naruto asked.

The suna kunoichi continued "Sand is quite different from the solid ground you're used to. When running one pushes against the ground, and in return, the ground pushes back, giving them the force needed to run. Sand, on the other hand, does not do anything like that. Because of its composition, it redistributes the force from your leg, giving hardly anything back. Thats why is so much harder to run on a beach than on dry land. Its also a lot harder for you to get a good footing in this hilly cover of sand."

"The only move you have that can possibly reach me is that rushing move. I've also neutralized your long range weapon attacks with my fan." Temari said cockily "In other words... this battle's mine."

Tenten gritted her teeth, frowning. As much as she wanted to admit it, that girl was right, she really didn't have any cards left to play.

"I'll end it right now, Kuchiyose: Kamatari!(Summoning Technique: Kamatari)" Temari said as she bit her thumb and smeared the blood over the top of her fan. Swinging her fan, suddenly the scythe blade weasel appeared in a puff of smoke, summoned by her blood smeared on the fan, and with another swing Temari launched the rodent with with tremendous force spinning force, creating for all intents and purposes a mini hurricane.

"Why did she blow away all the sand after she went through all that trouble to create it in the first place?" Naruto asked.

"It seems that Temari-san was just buying a little time to set up this technique." Haku observed.

"Don't give up, Tenten-chan!" Naruto yelled, balling his hands into fists.

Seeing Naruto worried over Tenten, made Haku experience some mixed feelings. One part of her was jealous that her master worried over Tenten, and the other part wanted to comfort the worried blond ninja. Finally, the raven haired kunoichi rested hand over Naruto's reassuringly. Seeing the confused look on Naruto's face, Haku smiled "It'll be alright, don't worry..."

"Yah" Naruto agreed "Definatly"

Tenten gulped as she saw the minitorndao come barrling straight towards her, she could almost see the sand colored animal amongst the whirling tempest. Steeling herself, Tenten charged straight at the hurricane, yelling as more of the red cloth turned gold, "Maximum! Energy Senkai(Release)!"

Suddenly, the two forces met head on, Tenten's lance and Temari's hurricane. The hurricane tore at the bunhaired girl's clothes and the raging sand scratched her unprotected face and arms.

"Burst out! Watashi no Sunlight Heart!" Tenten yelled, and in an instant the whole cloth turned gold and vanished as if it were paper, reduced to dust. From the tip of Temari's lance erupted a massive wave of sunlight, that engulfed the entire stadium, blinding all the spectators.

"Its over" said Genma as he picked at his teeth abently.

"Who is it? Who won?" Naruto asked.

As the light cleared, the raging atmosphere full of tension had changed. A strange feeling filled the two contestants, the feeling one gets in the calm after the storm, after putting all their cards on the table.

"That chakra... its beautiful" Temari whispered, in a daze.

Finally, the sunlight cleared, revealing a battered, looking Tenten standing with sunlight heart an inch away from Temari's chest. Her beautiful brown locks had come undone in the hurricane and hung down to her shoulders, rustling back and forth in the light as the winds died down.

"Winner Ame Tenten!" Genma announced over the roars of the crowd.

"It was a good match..." Tenten said, lowering her zanpakuto, Amaterasu, disappearing in a flash of light. With a smile Tenten held out her hand to the suna kunoichi.

"Yah, whatever" Temari said, shaking her head to clear it. The blond kunoichi turned and walked away silently, ignoring the bunhaired kunoichi's hand, .

"Sore loser..." Tenten remarked.

"Awesome, great job, Tenten-chan!" Naruto yelled from the stands.

Tenten's face lit into a smile "Naruto-kun, arigato!"

"Ugh, they're making me sick..." Shikamaru said from the sidelines.

"Shikamaru!" Making a face that said he didn't understand women at all, Ino elbowed the pineapple head in the gut as Tenten shunshined back up to the section of the stadium where Naruto and Haku sat.

"Hey, how was it?" she asked walking towards the blond and black haired ninjas.

Suddenly, Tenten began to wobble a bit, her legs buckling underneath her. Before her legs gave out, Naruto appeared behind her, catching her by the small of her back, he helped her to the small medical center where they treated the contestants. Inside, he led her to a private room where she could rest.

"You tired Tenten-chan? You look like it." Naruto asked the bunhaired kunoichi smiling foxily, knowing full well the answer.

"Of course, I just need some rest, using all that energy sure takes a lot out of me..." Tenten whispered as they walked. Gingerly, the sore kunoichi sat down, holding back a moan of pain as she did "Arigato Naruto."

"Hey no sweat Tenten-chan. Just rest up here and you'll be fine."

"Ano sa... Do you think... I've become a better kunoichi, Naruto-kun?" Tenten blurted out, embarressed as soon as the words left her mouth.

"What are you talking about all of the sudden?" Naruto asked off guard.

Tenten poked her fingers together, mimicking a certain Hyuuga "Well I-"

"Tenten you're the strongest woman I know." Naruto said, showing his best fox smile.

Tenten paused for a second, suprised. A small blush appeared on her cheeks and she smiled "Arigato, Naruto-kun."

"No problem Tenten-chan, listen I got to get back my match might be next. I'll be back as soon as I beat Sasuke-teme's ass."

Tenten nodded back to the blonde whiskered shinobi.

"Yosh! I'm ready for my match, bring it on Sasuke!" Naruto yelled from the stands.

"Will Nara Shikamaru and Sabaku no Gaara come down." Genma asked, fiddling with the senbon in his mouth.

Naruto facevaulted, anime style.

"Whooo! Go get them Shikamaru!" Ino yelled from the stands, watching the lazy ninja practically throw himself over the rail into the ring.

"No, Shikamaru is going to give up." Choji said, to the right of Ino, as he munched on chips "Besides that Gaara's a monster."

"No see he's already down there, I'm telling you Choji, there's something different about him today, he's totally motivated. I think there's a good chance that Shikamaru's going to win." Ino said.

" Ino-pig...He's only down there because Naruto pushed him." Sakura pointed out, sweatdropping.

On the other side, Gaara descended from the stands on his platform of sand "I'll make you bleed."

Shikamaru winced as he picked himself up "Man, what a drag... This guy's a monster, they can't expect me to beat him."

"Contestants ready? HAJIME!" Genma said, signaling the start of the match.

Gaara stretched out his hand, and as he did the sand rushed towards the pineapple haired genin.

"Kage Mane Jutsu(Shadow Imatation) succesful." said Shikamaru, and suddenly all the sand halted in front of Shikamar, way to close for comfort.

"I see, he used the shadow cast by Gaara's own wave of sand along with the wall's shadow." Asuma said, watching Shikamaru with interest.

"It doesn't matter, I know he's smart, but he can't possibly hold down Gaara for long." said Kurenai.

And true to her word, the wave of sand seemed to be shuddering, fighting off the effects of the shadow imitation technique.

"Shikamaru's a genius, I'm sure he knows that already." Asuma said, taking a puff from his cigeratte "which is why..."

"I give up!" Shikamaru called out in a loud voice.

"You!" Gaara said, trying to throw off the Kage Mane.

"He's given up, call down your sand or you'll be disqualified." Genma stated, flipping a senbon nonchalantly in the air.

"Fine" Gaara said, and with that, the sand retreated back into his gourd "My next opponent won't be so lucky."

Genma watched thoughtfully as the sand ninja made his way back to the stands.

Back in the stands, Naruto could barely contain his excitement "Alright my turn next!"

"The next match will be Hyuuga Neji vs Rock Lee!" Genma announced as the two genin faced each other, "Contestants ready? HAJIME!"

Naruto facevaulted, again.

"Well, Naruto-sama, they did say you're match would be last." Haku said gently, patting the dejected genin on the shoulder as the two other contestants made their way to the arena floor.

"It is good to see that you are well, Neji " Lee said, his body already shifting into his trademark fighting stance.

"Hmph, I heard a rumour that you had run away with your bushy tail between your legs, but it looks like you're back for another beating" Neji taunted.

Lee brushed off the comment, as only he could " Neji, even though I have never defeated you before, this time... this time, I'll defeat you! And prove that I too am a genius, a genius of hard work!"

"A genius? Of hard work? That has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard of" Neji said, scoffing.

In the stands, Hyuuga Hiashi and Hyuuga Hanabi sat side by side.

"Pay attention Hanabi, our Hyuuga bloodline, the pride of Konoha, runs thickest through Neji's veins" Hiashi ordered, his face grave.

"Hai Otou-sama" Hanabi responded.

Lee stepped backward, as if Neji's words had actually struck him "I'll show you the fruit of my hard work!"

--

Hey guys, I'm sorry that its been such a long time since I last updated, rest assured, I will finish this story even if it kills me.

I hope you like it so far, this chapter is all new, whereas the rest have just been condensed and modified. I hope you liked Tenten and Temari's fight, I was aiming for more on the short but sweet kind.

Read and Review as always

--character profile--

Tenten

The name of her spirit is Amaterasu, the shikai form's name being sunlight heart. For Tenten's zanpakuto, I basically modeled it after Mutou Kazuki's from busou renkin. How could I not, Kazuki is awesome, on a side note, so are Tokkiko and Captain Bravo. Its shape is really hard to explain if you haven't watched busou renkin, if you'd like google it, sunlight heart. Besides, Busou Renkin is a great anime and manga(one of my absolute favorites), I suggest everyone watch it. If not, just imagine whatever you'd like it to look like.

So basically Tenten's zanpakuto is as I described in the chapter, a combination of sunlight heart plus (the victor version) with the origional sunlight heart's cloth attached. I really did like the cloth for the first weapon, but I found the origional too clunky to be used by a cute girl like Tenten, so I chose to use the plus version as the main body for its more streamlined appearance.

Since its ability is pretty complicated, I'll explain it...

Besides the lance, Tenten's zanpakuto also consists of a large crimson cloth. This sash is a representation of Tenten's fighting spirit. It converts her will to fight into energy by burning the cloth, which is emitted as pure golden energy, the color of the sun. This energy can then be channeled in a variety of ways, such as increased speed or strength to peirce through tough armor, or a giant burst of light to blind enemies. The amount of cloth each burst of energy costs is equvilant to the power of the technique used, meaning the more power a technique uses, the more of the cloth is eaten up.

As Tenten's strength, stamina, and will grows, so does the cloth. At this point in the story, the cloth is about two times the length of her sword. Tenten can summon her weapon any time its needed by calling out its name and placing her hand on her chest, specifically where her heart is. It can then be retracted on command, ready to be used whenever she needs it, making it quite easy to transport. If it is taken from Tenten, she can summon it back to her hand. It disappears and reappears in her hand, think Sora's keyblade from Kingdom Hearts. Its also a constantly released zanpakuto, meaning it doesn't ever rever back into a katana, its shikai is always active, she must just summon it.

So far her zanpakuto stats are...

Initial Trigger to summon: soshite kono sora akaku somete(stain this sky red) by the way this line is from the first Shakugan no Shana opening, I stole it cause its cool.

Techniques:

nikko no kire(sunlight slasher)-The most basic of the attacks, uses up a small amount of her cloth's length for fuel. By burning the cloth, Tenten can increase the speed of her charge, enabling her to run faster than normal, which in turn increases destructive power a little.

nikko no senkou(sunlight flasher)-The second technique made possible by the cloth's energy, uses up a medium amount. Creates a giant burst of light that blinds the opponent and anyone in the surrounding vicinty.

Spirit:believe it or not Ammy from Okami

Bankai:?

--