Chapter 3: Naruto the Enigma

All the genin who knew Naruto in the arena just stared at him all thinking the same thing, 'how the hell can Naruto do that'. The Hokage looked back at Kakashi who was staring at at Naruto with his visable eye wide answering the Hokages unspoken question. The Hokage looked back at Naruto and thought 'if Kakashi didn't teach him that, how the hell did he learn it'. Just then Hayate pulled out a piece of paper and pencil and started to write something, then when he finished he said "will Shino, Dosu, Shikamaru, Kankuro, Gaara, Tenten, Neji, Sasuke, and Naruto please follow me".

The nine contestants followed Hayate into another room. When they were all in the room Hayate looked them over then said "congradulations you've all made it to the final rounds, which will be held in one month, you will be informed of your opponents within the week". And with that Hayate left in a swirl of leaves, leaving the 9 finalists by themselves glaring at eachother. Sasuke, Neji, Shikamaru, and Tenten were all looking at Naruto who just stared back. Sasuke was the first to speak as he said "Naruto were did you learn all that". Naruto looked at Sasuke with a blank expression and said "none of your business, teme".

Sasuke growled and said "it doesn't matter, you cant defeat me anyway". By now everyone was listening Naruto and Sasuke's conversation, and Naruto said "we'll see about that, teme". Gaara looked at Naruto and said "i will kill you to prove my existance, and to make mother happy". At this Naruto stared at Gaara and then said "you can try, but you will not succeed". Gaara smirked and walked away followed by kankuro, and soon after everyone went there separate ways.

Gaara walked up to his sensei Baki and Temari with kankuro behind him. None of them exchanged any words, but instead just walked up to there temperary appartment. When got there they walked in and closed the door, then Baki said "Temari because of you loss you will have to somehow sneak into the stands, and join Gaara, Kankuro, and myself for the start of the invasion". Temari lowered her head and said "understood", and walked out the door. Baki looked back at his 2 other students and said "i think the only ones that you might have to worry about are that Naruto kid, as well as Neji Hyuuga and Sasuke Uchiha".

Kankuro smirked and said "well it doesn't matter they'll all be dead soon anyway". Baki frowned at this and said "maybe not if Gaara gets injured, and i know your going to say its impossible but it just happened not even 3 hours ago". Kankuro sighed and said "i guess your right, but-" Kankuro stopped when Gaara walked out of the room and both Baki and kankuro looked at eachother each knew what the other was thinking. 'We better keep an eye on him', and they both started following him.

Kabuto walked through the forest outside of Konoha, looking behind him periodically. After a few minutes he stopped at a small clearing and a man wearing the robes of the fourth Kazekage stepped out from behind a tree. Kabuto looked at the man and smirked then said "you can take off the disguise, Orochimaru-sama". Orochimaru chuckled and said "how very perceptive of you Kabuto, and how are our plans coming along". Kabuto smirked and said "the fools don't suspect a thing, and preperations are soming along smoothly". Orochimaru smiled and said "the sand must be getting over confident if they haven't realized that there precious Kakekage is dead".

Orochimaru frowned when Kabuto looked off into the distance, then said "Kabuto is there something you wish too tell me". Kabuto looked at his master and said "i did as you said and kept an eye on the uchiha's team, but...". Orochimaru Naruto his eyes and said "but what". At that moment Kabuto sighed and then looked Orochimaru in the eye then said "it seems the information i have on the demon child Naruto Uzumaki's abilities are dreadfully wrong".

Orochimaru stared at Kabuto then said "do explain". Kabuto nodded and said "it appears that not just my own but everyone in the leaf villages information on Naruto's abilities have been dreadfully wrong, he was supposably the worst of the rookie nine and dead last in the academy". Kabuto paused then continued "but in the forest of death and during the preliminaries he showed exeptional talent and ability matching that of even Sasuke Uchiha". Orochimaru's eyes widened in suprise and he said "that is interesting indeed, well anyway continue to keep an eye on the Uchiha". Kabuto nodded and disappeared, leaving Orochimaru to mull things over.

Naruto walked down the street with his hands in his pockets, it had been 4 days since the end of the preliminaries. 'I wonder who i'll be facing in the finals, i-' but Naruto was cut off from his thoughts when and anbu appeared in front of him and said "Naruto Uzumaki, the Hokage wishes to speak with you". Naruto just nodded and they headed off towards the Hokage tower at a fast pace. The anbu glanced at Naruto and thought 'hn, i cant believe this kid can keep up with me' then looked back ahead.

Naruto and the anbu appeared in the Hokage's room minutes later, and Naruto noticed not just the old man but Kakashi, and a tall man with long white spiky hair that he did not know. Hiruzen looked at the anbu and said "leave us" in a commanding tone. Naruto knowing what this was about said "i assume this is about my performance at the preliminaries". Hiruzen nodded and said "that, and one other thing which i will get to later".

Hiruzen looked down at a peice of paper and then back at Naruto and said "it has come to my attention that you used some very high ranking jutsu in the forest of death and during the preliminaries, and there have been no records of using them prio to the exams". Naruto smirked and said "let me put it too you frankly, Hokage-sama, ever since you scolded me for writing on the fourths monument everything you've seen of me has been fake and i have trained and trained to get as strong as i am now".

Naruto paused then said "all in all the little prankster you once knew is gone". Hiruzen frowned at Naruto and said "i can assume then that you have not shown us all you abilities yet". Naruto nodded and said "you haven't seen anything yet", then looked at the man with white hair and continued on saying "who's this guy".

Hiruzen glanced at Jiraiya who said "hey kid, names Jiraiya of the sannin, nice to meet ya". Naruto's eyes widened and he said "sanin huh, and your a seal master right, can you help me control the nine-tailed fox's power". Everyones but Naruto's eyes widened, for as far as they knew the kid knew nothing about the nine-tailed fox being sealed within him. Kakashi was the first to speak "Naruto how did you know about the nine-tailed fox". Naruto just grinned and said "i figured it out", then thought 'with a little help, thank god for Zabuza-sama'.

Jiraiya smirked and said to Naruto "hey kid i'll teach you how to use the fox's chakra if you sign the toad summoning scroll, its a double win" and finished with a thumbs up thinking "i think Minato would want his only son to sign the toads scroll'. Naruto put his hand to his chin in a thinking pose then said "ok, i'll do it".

Hiruzen smiled and said "ok Naruto your dismissed". Naruto nodded and left with out another word. Hiruzen waited a moment then said "Jiraiya keep and eye on him for me, will ya". Jiraiya sighed and said "so this is what the sanin are reduced too , watching over kids, sure i'll do it". Hiruzen smirked and said "of course you will because it was an order". At this Kakashi took his leave, Jiraiya following soon after, and Hiruzen growled menacingly at the paperwork in front of him.

Naruto walked down the street with hid hands in his pockets and thought, 'what to do, what to do'. He was so deep in thought he hadn't realized that he was walking to his appartment until he was already at his front door. When Naruto looked up he said "hn, might as well rest a bit", and with that said he opened his door, went into his room and layed down on his bed. Naruto looked up at the ceiling and thought 'i wonder how Zabuza-sama is doing'. Naruto's eyes widened and he said "what would Zabuza say if he saw me laying around when i would be training", and hopped out of bed.

Naruto ran down the street with one thought in mind "head to team 7's training ground'. When he arrived he said "now what to do first, how about some stretches", and with that Naruto started stretching. Elsewere in Konoha Tenten and Hinata were walking down the street talking "so Tenten your in the finals huh". Tenten nodded and said "yeah, i can't wait to find out who my opponent is".

Hinata smiled and said "so your confident that you'll win". Tenten frowned and said "i'm not so sure, i mean there are a lot powerful opponents i might have to face". Hinata nodded then said "i'm sure you'll-" but stopped when she saw Sakura and Ino walking towards then in a serious conversation. When Sakura and Ino were right in front of them Sakura turned to Hinata and said "Hinata i know this is kind of sudden but when you watch Naruto have you ever seen him use the kind of skill or jutsu like in the preliminaries".

Hinata blushed since she had not known that anyone had seen her spy on Naruto, then realized something and said "no i haven't its kind of odd isn't it". Sakura nodded and said "i know, even on missions with Kakashi sensei he never showed any talent or skill". Ino looked at Tenten and said "hey Tenten how about we go find Naruto and ask him, since your in the finals and you might have to face him".

Tenten thought about it for a minute then said "sure, why not", and Sakura smirked and said "in that case he's probably at our teams usual meeting spot in the training grounds, and knowing him he's training". With that said the 4 girls headed off to find Naruto. Just like Sakura said they found Naruto at team 7's training grounds. But instead of asking him what they wanted to know they decided to hide in the tree's and watch him train.

Naruto had just finished his warm ups when he noticed 4 people watching him from the tree's. Glacing in there direction faster then any of the 4 could detect he saw Sakura, Ino, Hinata, and...Tenten. Naruto blushed slightly and started to get nervous, he had recently realized that he liked Tenten more then a friend and now she was watching him. Naruto's hormones toom over and he thought 'they want to spy on me huh, well i'll give them something to see'. And with that he took off his shirt, revealing his perfectly toned and muscular torso.

Tenten just stared at Naruto's muscular torso and started to get turned on, then thought 'damn he's hot, wait what am i thinking i could be facing him in the finals, but he's so hot'. The 3 other girls were having similar thoughts (yes even Sakura and Ino). Naruto smirked noticing the girls wide eyes and then started his 3rd most advanced taijutsu form. When Naruto finished he said "just wondering when you girls plan on coming out from behind those tree's".

All four girls blushed and they thought 'he knew we were here the whole time'. Hinata was the first to move and jumped down in front of Naruto followed by the other 3. Naruto looked at Sakura, Ino, Hinata, and Tenten in turn, but when his eyes fell on Tenten he noticed that she was looking away from him. Naruto smirked and said "hey Tenten, why are you looking away".

Tenten looked at Naruto and said "well isn't it obvious, your ugly". Naruto smirked again and said "oh, is that why your turned on", knowing he was taking a chance by saying this. Success. Tenten turned beet red and said "i, i, i dont know what your-" but stopped when Naruto disappeared then reappeared right behind her and snaked his arms around her waist. Naruto moved his lips to her ear and wispered "are you turned on yet".

When Tenten heard him whisper in her ear her heart started to beat much faster, she was definitly turned on. Naruto let go of her then put on his shirt and walked away leaving the 4 girls standing in shock.

It had now been 6 days since the end of the preliminaries, and Naruto was walking down the street. He had just found out that he would face Sasuke in the first round, and was totally pumped. He had wanted to beat the snot out of the Uchiha for awile now. Naruto was brought out of his thoughts when that guy named jiraiya appeared in front of him.

Jiraiya smiled and said "hey kid, you ready for training". Naruto grinned widely, he had been waiting for this, then said "you bet, lets get started". Jiraiya nodded and started to walk to an unknown place, and Naruto followed close behind. The 2 stopped walking when they came to an open area with no one around.

Jiraiya turned to Naruto and said "first i'm going to teach you the summoning jutsu". Naruto frowned and said "but i want to learn how to control the nine-tailed fox's chakra". Jiraiya nodded again then said "i know, but the summoning jutsu is an awesome technique". Naruto sighed then said "ok, fine".

Jiraiya smiled then bit his thumb drawing some blood, did some handsigns, and slammed his hand on to the ground. There was a puff of white smoke and after a moment it disappeared revealing a toad a little larger then jiraiya which held a scroll in its mouth. Jiraiya took the scroll from the toads mouth which dissapeared after, then turned to Naruto.

Naruto waited patiently for Jiraiya to speak. Jiraiya put the scroll on the ground then opened it, revealing 2 names. Naruto looked at the names, the first one was jiraiya, and the second one was none other then Minato, the fourth Hokage. Jiraiya looked at Naruto then said "Naruto just sign your name in blood on one of the slots then stamp your finger prints. Naruto nodded and bit his thumb, wrote his name, and stamped his finger prints on the scroll. Naruto smiled and thought 'awesome, i just signed a summoning scroll'.

Naruto stood in the center of a giant arena along with all the other finalists. He was perfectly calm, probanly because he knew no one here was on his level. One thing was bugging him though, were was that guy named Dosu, 'must of dropped out' he thought. There proctor for the finals Shiranui Genma pulled out a piece of paper, opened it, and showed to the finalists. "There has been a slight change in the match ups, so look here to see who you will face".

Naruto looked at the paper and saw that he was still facing Sasuke in the first round then looked away, that was all he needed to know right now. After a minute Genma put the paper back in his pocket and said "will everyone but Naruto and Sasuke head up to the finalist stands". Once everyone was out of the arena but Naruto, Sasuke, Genma loked at them both and said "are both of you ready". They both nodded so Genma said "begin".

Sasuke smirked and said "even though you showed some new tricks in the priliminaries you still have no chance of beating me, and who ever taught you those jutsu must be even more stupid then you thinking that it could help you beat me". After hearing the last part rage filled Naruto and he snarled saying "i originally was going to just make you quit the match after i beat you bad enough, but now i'm going to destroy you".

Sasuke didn't have time to respond as Naruto appeared in front of him, punching him in the gut, and sending him flying into the wall of the stadium. Sasuke coughed up some blood and activated his sharingan, 'i'm going to need it if i want to keep up with his speed' he thought. Sasuke charged at Naruto and aimed a punch at his head, which Naruto side stepped and retaliated with a kick to the side. Sasuke jumped in the air dodging the kick to his side then brought an axe kick down on Naruto's head.

Naruto saw the axe kick coming and grabbed Sasuke's foot stopping the kick and then threw him across the stadium. When Sasuke got up he charged at Naruto one more time, only Naruto was ready. Naruto rapidly went through some handsigns then when Sasuke was 5 feet in front of him he put his hands out in front of him and said "wind style: great breakthrough jutsu". A powerful blast of wind slammed into Sasuke's chest breaking 2 ribs and sent him flying into the wall again.

After a few seconds Sasuke got up blood trickling down the corner of his mouth, and a look of contorted rage on his face. Naruto smiled, crossed his fingers, and summoned 20 shadow clones which ran at Sasuke. Sasuke ran at the clones while going through some handsigns then said "fire style: Dragon flame jutsu", and a stream of fire shot from his mouth destroying the clones.

Once the clones were destroyed Sasuke went through some more handsigns and put his hand to mouth and said "fire style: fire ball jutsu", and medium sized fire ball was sent towards Naruto. Naruto went through some handsigns again then said "water style" violent water wave" , and a large blast of water was shot from Naruto's mouth extinguishing the fire ball.

But Naruto wasn't done and went through even more handsigns then said "water style: water dragon jutsu", and a water dragon formed out of nothing, rushed forward at great speeds, and slammed into Sasuke's chest breaking 3 more ribs. Once again Sasuke was sent flying into the wall of the stadium, and Sasuke coughed up blood all over the ground. Naruto appeared in front of Sasuke, took out a kunai, and drove it into a Sasuke's gut ending the match as Sasuke fell to the ground unconcious.

Genma pointed at Naruto and said "winner, Naruto Uzumaki". By the end of the match everyone who knew Naruto stared at him in shock, and those who didn't were either cheering or frowning becuase they had just lost there bets. Genma rushed over to Sasuke and when he saw Sasuke's condition he immediatly summoned a medical team to take him out of the arena.

After Sasuke was taken out of the arena Naruto jumped up into the finalist stands, and leaned against the railing waiting for the next match. Naruto glanced at his right and noticed the rest of the contestants looking at him. He frowned and said "are you guys going to say something or just keep staring at me". At this everyone looked back at the proctor waiting for the next match.

They didn't have to wait long as Genma looked up at the contestants and said "will Tenten and Shino please come down to the arena, so we can start the next match". Tenten and Shino both jumped down into the arena and stood facing eachother. Genma looked at each in turn then said "begin". After about 3 minutes the match was over with Tenten declared the winner. Shino just couldn't avoid the continuous barrage of weapons, and by the end he had 2 kunai in his left arm and a sword in his gut.

Shino was rushed to the hospital and Tenten jumped back up to the other contestants. Genma looked back up at the contestants again and said "will Neji and Gaara please come down to the arena". Neji jumped down into the arena and Gaara disappeared into sand and reappeared across from Neji. Genma eyed them both and then said "begin".

Gaara made the first move as his sand rushed forward. Neji jumped to the side and threw some shuriken at Garra whose sand blocked the projectiles. Neji then rushed forward and attemted to hit Garra using his gentle fist fighting style, only to hit a wall of sand. The match contined like this until Gaara sent a wave of sand at Neji who was forced to use his rotation jutsu, deflecting and repelling the sand.

Up in the stands Hiashi Hyuuga was wide eyed. Back down in the arena Neji used the rotation 2 more times having no other way to dodge the sand, and was now panting. 'I can't believe i can't even get close to this guy, that sand is really annoying', Neji thought. Neji was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Gaara say "sand shuriken", and sure enough 10 sand shuriken flew straight at Neji. Neji barely managed to use rotation again and was now at his limit.

Just then a huge explosion was heard that shook the aren and Kankuro, Temari, and there sensei he assumed appeared next to Gaara. Up were Naruto and the others were Naruto looked up at were the Hokage was and what he saw almost made his heart stop. The third Hokage was being held hostage, with a kunai to his neck, on top of the building, by none other then Orochimaru. Then a leaf chuunin appeared in the arena and screamed "the sand village is invading", only to be killed right after that as a kunai impaled his head. Naruto's eyes widened.