20 The Finals

Shino Vs Kankuro

Kankuro admitted defeat to reserve his strength. As the Canon goes, the sand still planned an attack. But Orochimaru was the one behind it. The 4th Kazekage is long dead.

And with that match gone we move on to the next.

Naruto Vs Neiji

Now this fight was a little bit different from the Canon. When I say it's different, only the battle. But not the talk no Jutsu. Neiji was unable to block Naruto's pressure points, Naruto didn't experience hell with Kuro for nothing. Although he's unpolished, he learnt how to deal with an enemy with taijutsu. Coupled with his shadow clone which was hard to tell which is the real one since he distributed equal chakra to each of them. Naruto didn't need to dig up a hole just to get Neiji's guard down. He overwhelmed him with numbers. When Neiji deployed the Hakkeshou Kaiten Naruto was charging up his fist. After the execution of the Jutsu Naruto took the chance to deliver the fist in a single moment. The real him was never part of the many clones he sent to attack. He was further away waiting for the right time to charge the jutsu so Neiji won't know. When neiji rotated, that was the perfect chance. And with that the talk about how he is going to change the branch's fate once he becomes Hokage was stated by Naruto. Along with the acknowledgement that Neiji was indeed a genius. It was Naruto's victory.

He was congratulated by Sakura along with Kuro. However kuro didn't went with them back to the crowd, it was his battle next.

"kuro Sensei Good luck!" said Naruto which made kuro almost fell down.

"Uhm Naruto! Can you take out the my name and just call me sensei? it feels weird when you say it like that" 'Its definitely weird! although its not the same spelling but if you read it aloud it sounds the same. I am not a yellow octopus damn it.!'

"huh? whatever you say sensei." Naruto was confused. In fact Sakura was also about to do the same.

"Sensei I wish you good luck too!" says Sakura.

"hmmnn thanks. My disciples. This fight should be interesting, you both shoud observe carefully" says kuro at them while also talking inside his head. 'Jiraiya, Tsuna. Please don't blame me later. Your students came to me and I didn't force them alright!'

"Hey Sakura. Why did you call kuro your sensei? Don't tell me he also trained you in hell? I mean his specialized taijutsu? or am I imagining things?" says Naruto

"I agree with you it was hell. I don't know what came to my head to even ask him. And I also don't know how to feel about it. Should I be grateful or mad.? I can feel both right? it's okay right?" Sakura answered

Naruto who was listening was already shaking. "Let's not talk about it anymore. I don't feel so good thinking about it."

"Agreed. Should we warn Sasuke kun? He is going to train with him too after the chunin exam right?" Sakura asked a little concerned about Sasuke.

"Sakura, if we tell Sasuke about it he will be on guard and he might not feel the same way as us. Do you really think it would be fair for both of us?" asked Naruto

"Sigh. I'm sorry Sasuke kun. But everybody must feel the same to be fair" and so Sakura and Naruto decided not to spoil things for Sasuke on how kuro trained them.

Kuro Vs Temari

"It has been awhile Ms Temari. I hope you had a good stay in our village." kuro started a conversation

"It was fine. Look, I respect you. But let's not chitchat while on the Arena. I would be grateful if you don't pull your punches just because I'm a girl." Temari was serious going against kuro. She admired this opponent of hers the first time in the tower during the 2nd round of the exam. And even more so by what he showed on the preliminaries.

"Hmmn So if we're not on the Arena it would be fine to chitchat? I would love that. what do you say we chat later on after this?" teased kuro with a bright smiling face. 'I don't know why but teasing her just feels right. Sorry shikamaru I know both of you are destined together. I'm not trying to take her from you and nothing's going on'

"Enough! Let's get this started! Ref what are you waiting for?" Temari was beet red and furious.

"Then, let the match begin.!" the ref signaled the start of the match. it wasn't Hayate anymore. He already died.

"Wind release: Air current wild dance!" Temari initiated the attack as soon as the signal was done.

kuro countered it with his own.

"Fire style: Great fireball jutsu" kuro continued supplying chakra for the ball and only stopped when the wind jutsu was already cancelled.

"why did you stop it? You could've overpowered me and won.!" exclaimed Temari

"I'm bot satisfied with it. Why don't you show me more on powerful Jutsu? If I deem it good enough then I will end this match." declared kuro

The crowd was surprised by his confidence or is it arrogance?

"Then just stand there so I can make you regret saying that" Temari was preparing a big Jutsu. She was pretty riled up by kuro this time.

"Wind release: Kamaitachi no jutsu" Temari's released a powerful jutsu. By manipulating the huge gusts of wind created from her fan, she was able to create a kind of vacuum to capture kuro. But inside the vacuum where the opponent's body is supposed to be sliced ​​by thousands of wind blades while their bodies are twisted around Kuro was in flames appearing and disappearing.

The crowd was in an uproar at the sight of this Jutsu and the ninja inside it.

"He's finished" were Kankuro's words

"No, I can still feel him" said Gaara

"what? are you saying he is still alive inside that Jutsu?!" kankuro was shocked and asked Gaara again which he only got a nod

'What monster. I knew he was strong but not this strong' Kankuro thought

"Shoka Gijutsu: Zenhin-en! and Totsugeki.!" kuro started running in the same direction as the vacuum was going. The jutsu was then slowly turning to flames then a moment later it was cancelled. The wind vacuum was gone and what showed next was kuro with a tattered shirt and pants.

"My turn, Shoka Gijutsu: Totsugeki.!" kuro vanished in a blink of an eye and arrived at Temari's side but didn't know what to do, she doesn't want to hurt her ofcourse. Since she's gonna be one of the Sand Village's figure. So he did what he could only think of at that moment.

To everyone here's what happened. After the Vacuum was gone it showed kuro. Then kuro's hands and feet ignited with flames then he vanished. Then they heard Temari screamed holding her cheeks beet red. Then they heard Kuro spoke.

"Why don't you admit defeat since you've lost. I could have killed you right there 'ya know. So take it as payment for sparing your life hehe" Kuro was grinning from ear to ear at what he did and what he's doing. 'Why did I just do that? Why did I kiss her!!! Kill me please' his thoughts was screaming inside but he hold it in and acted all confident like a matured man would.

"I I- I give up! Arrgghh!" Temari gave up while kicking the ground and was about to leave but stopped when she heard kuro.

"So, since the match is over. We can have that chat later outside the arena right?"everyone was smiling at him some even laughed. Some girls were yelled feeling excited.

But Temari was not. She looked at Kuro with a sad look and shook her head left to right and walked away.

The crowd became depressed at the result. You can hear some girls saying.

"Awww poor guy.!" "yeah He was rejected" " and whats more in front of a lot people" "That's got to hurt" It all came from the crowd's discussion.

Kuro's thought ' What the fuck!!! That's what you get for teasing her. She's not the one you want anyway so I guess I'm still safe? but man how can I leave this situation. This is too embarrassing!'

Kuro just stood there in the Arena not moving.

The Hokage was laughing at kuro's predicament. 'Take that kuro kun. welcome to adulthood. you can't always be the one winning everytime. Hahaha'

Naruto and Sakura rescued kuro.

"Sensei.! it's okay you still have us. please return the next match will start in a moment!" Sakura and Naruto shouted at him.

That's the only time Kuro recovered and went to his friends/disciples without a care for the crowd.

Next match is Gaara Vs Sasuke

Gaara was already on the stage but Sasuke was not. They waited for him in accordance to the rule.

When a certain time period ended the ref was about to disqualify Sasuke but was stopped when Sasuke and Kakashi made an entrance.

'So he's finally here. Show me how far you've come without the curse mark Sasuke.' thought kuro while on the sidelines.

Unlike the Canon where sasuke was hindered by his curse mark. His training this time was a lot more successful because he won't loose control of himself if he spend a lot of chakra to train. It means he perfected the chidori just in time without restrictions. But still have limited amount of use per day.

Everyone was excited for the match except one person who knew what's going to happen. Kuro saw shino was spying on kankuro and Temari, 'He should be there later on to battle Kankuro. I'll just gather my disciples then. Kuro went over to Naruto and also gathered Sakura along with Shikamaru who was coincidentally around. The 3 Genin was wondering why they are currently having a secret conversation.

"My disciples and you Shikamaru. Do you guys trust me?" Kuro asked seriously.

The 3 Genin was surprised at the question but still answered.

"We trust you sensei"2x the 2 student answered together while Shikamaru simply nodded

"Good. You too Shikamaru that'll be enough. Listen closely, what I'm about to tell you is top secret. Don't ask me how I knew, just trust me on this. And I want you to prepare." He warned them and set up expectations. Then he looked at them seriously.

"The sand Village will attack at any given moment. But I want you guys to focus on something else entirely which is very important."

"Wha-" Shhhhh

He cut them off and continued talking. "I don't need you guys to talk right now. Just let me finish since we don't have much time." on the Arena Sasuke was charging up the chidori.

"I need you guys to follow Gaara later with Sasuke. Work with him to bring him down. Because if you don't, a lot of people are going to die. Listen closely now I will explain why. You see, Gaara is the Jinchuuriki of the one tailed bijuu. When I say he's a Jinchuuriki, it means he has shukaku of the Sand inside of him. Speaking of which. Naruto." Naruto's heart beat became faster. Ofcourse because he knew exactly what kuro meant. It means Gaara is the same as him.

"This is a top secret in our village. But considering that your my disciple I should let you know that I know. From the start when I offered you to be my first friend I knew. And I don't regret it. If fate replays it, I would still like you to be my first friend Naruto. Sakura as a fellow disciple, I expect you to keep this a secret and protect him." Sakura was shocked at what she's hearing, shikamaru is not doing better while Naruto was emotional.

"Sensei, Don't worry. This time, I will definitely protect my friends. This time I won't be useless." Sakura was determined.

"Shikamaru." kuro was just called Shikamaru but instantly got a reply

"What a drag. Yes yes I got it. So what's our plan on stopping Gaara?"

"Well regarding that, I will leave it to the team 7 members and appoint you as their leader. Sakura, Naruto make sure Sasuke understand that I said this. Tell him it's my condition for teaching him."

"What about you? what will you do that you're leaving this to us. surely you're going to do something important if the shukaku is not gonna need your attention?" asks Shikamaru who already has an idea.

"Correct! I will protect the Hokage! You guys will protect the village while I will protect it's leader. Understand?"

"Yes"2x Shikamaru and Naruto agreed but Sakura

"what about the Jonins? can't they protect the Hokage? besides, isn't the Hokage the most powerful person in the entire village? are you sure you're thinking this through?" asked sakura.

" Sakura, Kuro wouldn't be leaving it all to us and doing it himself to protect the Hokage if he knew that the other Jonin will be able to help. which means, he knows that somehow the Jonins will be incapable of helping." said Shikamaru

"Correct! Now play it cool and act normal when you get back to your seats. We will execute the plan as soon as the Sand's attack begins."

All 3 Genin nodded