Naruto 22

Inside the tower, three days later.

The second exam was now over.

Naruko walked back to meet up with her team and was now dressed in new clothes. She has a sleeveless red shirt and an intricately knotted red cravat, covered by a long trench coat decorated with buttons, which extends to her ankles, while below was cut in half. She is also wearing a black colored belt with a silver buckle. Underneath she still has her signature shorts.

They walked back down the stairs and joined everyone else in front of the Hokage in the arena. They all looked towards the Hokage who began his speech a moment later. Naruko tuned most of it out, looking at the others. Most of the people who made it through the forest were leaf ninjas, all of the rookies actually. There were a few stragglers but the only ones Naruko was interested in were the Sand ninja.

"Now, there are simply too many of you to move on to the final round. Therefore, we will be having a tournament-style preliminary round to thin you out."

"Preliminary round? What for, why does it matter that there are so many of us?" Kiba spoke up.

The Hokage cleared his throat and prepared to explain it to him.

"The final round of the Chunin Exam is to be held in front of several nobles of high prestige. The exam acts as a way for villages to show off their strength and appeal to potential clients. Because of the difficult nature of arranging so many influential figures in one place, the exams must be a short event. Are they any who wish to drop out now? The preliminaries will begin immediately and will now be one-on-one confrontations. Because of this, you can leave without having to worry about failing the rest of your team."

"Um…I'm going to quit." Kabuto said sheepishly.

'Hmm, Probably going to attend to his duties as Pedomaru's butt-buddy.' Naruko thought

Looking at the remaining genin, the Hokage made a brief nod.

"Very well, everyone else can join the jonin sensei's up at the stands.

"Hokage-sama, please let me take over from here." said the Jonin.

"Alright then, good luck everyone." He said as he went up to his podium to watch the fights.

"Alright. My name is Hayate *cough, cough* Gekko." Then a electronic board appeared on the wall behind him, "on this board, *cough, cough* the names will be chosen at random, so that means even your teammates are now your enemies. Does everyone *cough, cough* understand?" He asked. Everyone nodded with some wondering if the Jonin was dying of some unknown disease.

"Good, then let the battles begin. May *cough, cough* you please bring your attention to the board." Said Gekko.

Then names started to flash between each other till it finally stopped on two names.

"Will Sasuke Uchiha *cough, cough* and Yoroi Akado stay here. Everyone else please head to the stands."

Everyone went up to the stands, but Sakura gave Sasuke a good luck hug and ran up to the stands.

Naruko and Sakura went up to where Kakashi was standing and stood there. Naruko walked up to Kakashi and threw him a familiar green book to which he smiled and nod in return.

"Yo! Good job making it this far you two. I am very proud." Said Kakashi with an eye smile.

"Let the match begin!" yelled Gekko, as he jumped away from the fight.

"I'll finish you quick and easy." Said Yoroi, as he adopted a Taijutsu stance.

"Your cockiness will be your undoing." Said Sasuke as he got into a stance.

The two didn't move for a moment, but then Yoroi rushed at Sasuke, making him smile. To him, Yoroi was moving at a snail's pace. When he finally reached Sasuke, he attempted to grab Sasuke, only for Sasuke to disappear, surprising Yori.

Sasuke then appeared behind Yori and gave him a neck chop. Causing Yoroi to lose strength in his legs and entire body as he fell down unconscious.

"Winner! Sasuke Uchiha! *cough, cough*" said Gekko.

Sasuke then walked up to his side of the stance with the rest of his teammates. Kakashi looked at Sasuke and smiled.

" Great job, Sasuke. I've taught you well." He said.

"We both know you haven't taught us shit but I do appreciate the effort you put in." Sasuke replied getting a slight laugh from Kakashi.

"Indeed, but keep up the good work guys." Kakashi finished with an eye smile.

-Timeskip to Sakura's Match-

" Will Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka report to the floor (cough, cough)!" said Gekko.

The two came down and faced each other, ready for battle.

" Begin!" yelled Gekko as he jumped away.

"It's time, Sakura, to show Sasuke-kun and Naruko-chan that I'm stronger and better suit for them than you and your forehead." Said a cocky Ino.

Sakura only looked at Ino and then sighed.

"You know she'll never notice you, she barely notices me. I guess I'll tango with you for a while." She said calmly.

However, Sakura was far from calm. She was having a debate on the inside.

'What should I do? I don't want to hurt Ino, but then I don't want to lose. She's only focused on Sasuke-kun and Naruko, and she isn't worried about what's at hand. Ohhhhhh, What shall I do Inner me' she thought

'Kill the Child!' spoke Inner Sakura in a rather deep voice.

'Noooooo! I can't do that, she's my friend, I think' said Sakura.

'Who the fuck cares! That hoe over there is trying to take Sasuke-kun from us! Nobody does that to us, now do they! Now, bag that bitch' yelled Inner Sakura.

Sakura then got a fire in her eyes, Inner Sakura convinced her that Ino was just another enemy.

'Nobody touches Sasuke-kun other than MMMMMMMEEEEEE!...' thought a now crazy Sakura

'First, she roasts our forehead, then she tries to steal our Sasuke-kun. Now we're mad, we're really really mad and it's time for Ino to PAAAAAAYYYY!...' yelled Inner Sakura.

Ino wasn't ready when Sakura ran up to her and punched her midsection, causing her eyes to widen in pain. Ino couldn't fly away from the force of the blow because Sakura grabbed onto her legs. Then she proceeded to smash her into the floor.

The crowd watched as Sakura gave Ino the hands, while Ino couldn't do anything about it but take her beating.

"What! What did you teach her Kakashi?" asked Asuma as he looked on worried about his Genin's safety.

Kakashi looked away sheepishly knowing he didn't do anything except give her a few tips here and there. Most of the job was done by Naruko and her servants.

Before Sakura was about to land another punch, something called out to her.

"Sakura!" yelled Naruko looking down with some popcorn in her hands.

"Yeah?" she looked at Naruko eating.

"I'm not one to say this but please hurry up." she demanded.

"Sorry, Ino." Sakura said as she picked up Ino and punched her in the stomach again, only with so much force that Ino flew back into the wall and left an imprint on it.

"W-winner, Sakura *cough* Haruno." Said Gekko.

"I'm sorry, Naruko. I should have finished it earlier, but what she said about Sasuke-kun made me so freaking nettled." Said Sakura.

Naruko shrugged it off with a smile

"Oh, young love. No worries just try to speed up the process next time." Naruko said before she resumed eating her food while passing some popcorn to a few hands appearing from her shadow.

As the fight continued, Temari won with a landslide, and a few other fights went on.

"Will Naruko Uzumaki and Kiba Inuzuaka come down to the floor." Said Gekko.

"WWWOOOOOOOHOOOO! It's time for some payback let's go Akamaru!" yelled Kiba, as he jumped down to the floor, his trusted pup, Akamaru whined as he followed.

"May the match, *cough* begin!" yelled Gekko as he jumped away.

"I'm going to pay you back for last time and with interest on it!" Kiba explained as he got into a stance.

"So you are prepared for another beatdown served up yours truly." Naruko spoke up as she had her hands resting in her coat pocket.

"Bite your fucking tongue you bitch." Kiba spat out getting a laugh from Naruko.

"Oh, Kibbles. How many years has it been?" Naruko said with a smile on her face further aggravating Kiba.

"Fuck you, that nickname was never funny." he said with anger.

"Oh, Kibbles the dog doesn't like his nicknames. Kibbles the dog is being a sad lad." Naruko continued with her mocking.

"FUCK!" Kina exclaimed, face red with anger.

"Ahhhh~Only if we've had the opportunity to avoid all the sexual tension and anger management classes." chimed in Naruko.

"Excuse me-?!" Kiba started but was interrupted.

"Please we all know why your default emotion is angry is because you never got the hear 'Ahn! Kiba-san daisuki desu' Ka-kaka! You know, I mean, unironically." Naruko continued.

"Cut it out!" said a pretty nettled Kiba.

"That's right. It's a blast from your past with that sass and loli ass. Am I...moé enough for you?" Naruko said with amusement.

"Why can't you take this seriously?!" Kiba questioned annoyed and angry with her antics.

"Because that's what you want! And I'm not going to give it to you! That or my pussy." She stated with mock clarity before continuing. "But really, you're dodging a bullet there. Rows of teeth"

"For the Love of Ka-"

"Like a shark!" Naruko interrupted with a smile.

Kiba having enough of being mocked rushed at her in a burst of speed only to find himself eating dirt and feeling something heavy and sharp on his back

"You wanna give up know Kibbles, while I still want to not take you seriously. Because if I put in some effort. I WILL KILL YOU!" Naruko stated as she sat on his back with the swords she materialized poking at the back of his head.

Having no choice and scared of the possibility of dying he told the proctor he quit as Naruko jumped off him and walked back to her team dematerializing her swords.

"Winner, Naruko Uzumaki." Gekko said as he continued his job.

-Timeskip-

"Excellent work, all of you. You have proven that you are the best your village has to offer and in one month's time you will show it to the world." Gekko spoke up

"Well then, everyone else may choose. When everyone has a number, call them out in order." He continued

As everyone got one, the matches were stated.

"One" said Naruko.

"Two" said Neji.

"Three" said Gaara.

"Four" said Shino.

"Five" said Shikamaru.

"Six" said Temari

"Seven" said Sasuke.

"Eight" said Sakura.

"Nine" said Kankuro.

"Ten." Said John .

"Eleven." Said Jeff.

"Twelve" said Joey.

"The matches will proceed like this. *cough, cough* Round 1: Naruko Uzumaki vs Neji Hyuga. *cough* Round 2: Gaara of the Sand vs. Shino Abarume. Round 3: Skikamaru Naru vs Temari of the Sand. *cough, cough* Round 4: Sasuke Uchiha vs. Sakura Haruno. Round 5: Kankuro of the Sand vs. Jon Doe. *cough, cough* and Round 6: Jeff the boy vs. Joey. The Hokage will take it from here." Said Gekko as he jumped back as the Hokage walked up.

"Excellent work, all of you. You have proven that you are the best your village has to offer and in one month's time you will show it to the world."

"Why not have it now?" asked Temari.

"For two reasons. One, as I said before, it takes quite some time to gather so many influential people in one place like this. One month is used to prepare for the event. Second, the preliminary round may have revealed your trump cards or most of your techniques. The one month is used for you to learn new techniques to use against your opponents."

The old man nodded. "With that, we will meet at the stadium in one month's time!"