125 The Chunin Exams - 51

For a moment, a hush of silence befell the crowd of gathered genin and a majority of them looked around, waiting for someone to speak up.

Just as it looked like the moment would pass within nobody speaking up, a single hand was raised into the air.

"If it's alright, I'd like to call it quits here," one of the oldest in the crowd declared, an older teenager, more of a man really with grey hair said, "I've not shook off the injuries I received in the forest yet, and don't think I can amount to much here and now."

Surprise surprise, it was Kabuto.

'Which conveniently brings us down to eighteen genin in total.' Daiki mused. While he'd been having a laugh besmirching Kakashi's reputation, he hadn't been idle and had taken the time to count the opposition.

There were currently nineteen genin in total within the crowd, he specifically being the odd man out.

He'd wondered how things would progress on that front, if someone would get a free pass or have to fight twice or even if there would be a fight of three, a little mini battle royal.

'That's kind of disappointing.' Daiki sighed inwardly as Hayate accepted Kabuto's withdrawal from the next round.

He had actually been somewhat hoping he'd get to fight against two people at once. Unless he fought Lee using the gates or Gaara, there wasn't really anyone here that could give him a challenge or a fun fight. Fighting two at once though, like Neji and Sasuke together, might have been fun.

Naruto of course, kicked up a big fuss.

"Kabuto, what the hell!?" the blonde cried out, "What's up with you quitting? After making it all the way here too!"

"Naruto-kun, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but those guys we fought before beat the crap out of me," the older genin replied, "And ever since that scuffle with the sound ninja back at the first exam, I've been deaf in one of my ears, my balance is totally shot. There's no way I could take on any of you guys here in the state I'm in, especially in fights where killing is allowed."

"..Oh….I see." Naruto visibly bit his lip, his shoulders slumping.

"Don't mind it Naruto-kun, I'll try again next time," Kabuto laughed and pat him on the shoulder fondly, "You just do your best, I'll be rooting for you!"

Naruto perked up at his words and grinned, "Alright, just watch me then, I'll blow right through this part and be one step closer to being Hokage!" he declared happily.

As Kabuto laughed lightly and happily along with Naruto, Daiki found, he had to grit his teeth to stop from making any sound, '…This is frustrating to watch.' he thought.

Because he knew Kabuto was just toying with Naruto and manipulating him, where as Naruto was being utterly genuine and thought of the older genin as a friend who'd risked his life together with him.

He felt like he was watching Kabuto make a total fool of Naruto in front of everyone. And while he and Naruto weren't exactly close or anything, it was still beginning to piss him off.

Daiki watched as the grey haired genin turned to his teammates and had a hushed conversation.

Even now though, Kabuto was fully on guard, he wasn't showing his mouth to anyone, he'd positioned himself so that his face was partially blocked by his teammates and his arms.

A guard against lip reading, his hand blocking the sound from echoing outwards and being heard, muffling his voice.

"You guys can take it from here, especially you Yoroi, with your abilities this part should be a piece of cake," Kabuto informed, "It's the perfect opportunity for a show of real, brute strength. Considering how you resent my recent promotion over you, I'm sure you're itching for the chance to make a show."

To bad for Kabuto, the Shinkugan was not so easily fooled.

"Hmph, you may think you're our lords favourite, but don't push it you brat." Yoroi scoffed back at him.

Kabuto merely shrugged, smiling lightly at him, before turning to give Naruto a light wave goodbye, and proceed to make his way through the crowd of genin and leave the huge room behind.

"Probably a smart choice on his part, if he can't handle this, then he isn't ready to be a chunin." Tenten mused.

Daiki shrugged and didn't comment himself.

He already knew after all, that cunt was as strong as a Jonin before he was a teenager.

And was perhaps the person currently the closest in the world right now, to actually being in a place to achieve Tenten's dream of being just like Tsunade. The guy after all, was the best medic nin in the world right now after the busty blonde Senju.

"Alright, seems like nobody else is going to pull out, good, makes things simple," Hayate mused aloud, "There's eighteen of you left, that means there's going to be nine bouts of one on one battles, and the victors of those matches will proceed on to the real third exam, and as explained before, this will be no holds barred combat, each pair will fight until one side is either unconscious, admits defeat or dies."

A few shivered noticeably at the emphasis he put on the word 'dies', the weight of what was going down really dawning on them.

Daiki was just getting tired of all the repetition, how many times did they have to hammer it in that they could die here?

He'd been prepared to kill for the village and possibly die, had died even since he left the academy. The whole point of being a shinobi or kunoichi was fighting and killing for the village.

Anybody who didn't get that, didn't deserve to be here. People could whine and make all the heartfelt speeches they wanted, but as things were right now, this world ran on that logic.

Killing and death were as common as breathing.

Hayate reached into his supply pouch then and withdrew a small device, looking like a remote.

He pressed something on it, and then there was an audible grinding noise as the wall behind the two huge stone fists slid up to reveal a large dark screen.

"This electronic score board I've brought out will display the matches," Hayate explained, "At the start of every round, we will display the names of both combatants competing against each other, once the two are displayed, everyone else should make their way up to the railings above."

He pressed another button on the remote and the screen lit up. A moment later, letters appeared on the screen, though shifting and changing at rapid speeds.

Until a second later, they stopped and displayed two names.

Akado Yoroi vs Uzumaki Naruto.

There was silence again for a moment, before-

"Woohoo!" Naruto cheered, pumping his fist into the air, "I get to go first!" he hollered in celebrating.

"…Yeah," Hayate shrugged, "Alright, beyond the two listed, can everyone else head up to the platforms above?" he asked.

Daiki shrugged and did just that, he simply turned and jumped up through the air and landed above.

He got quite a few stares, before everyone began following his lead. Moments later, the Hokage and the staff were at the very end of the rooms platforms, where as, the konoha genin and their jonin sensei joined Daiki.

…And the sand trio made their way up to the opposite side, their sensei Baki joining them.

The only ones left standing below were Hayate, Naruto and an older genin, easily in his twenties wearing full purple, his headband attached to a bandana, a piece of cloth covering his lower face and a pair of dark shades hiding his eyes.

As it turned out, the ones to land nearest Daiki, was Team eight, Kiba, Shinoi, Hinata and their sensei, Kurenai.

"Naruto's up first, huh?" Kiba noted, leaning over the railing beside Daiki a grin on his face, "This should be quick."

"You're not wrong," Daiki agreed, "This is a complete mis-match, Naruto will dominate this fight."

Kiba blinked, "…What?" he asked, taken aback.

"You seem sure of that," Kurenai input, raising an eyebrow at him, "Yet from all I've seen of Naruto, he's one of the least impressive here."

Ah Kurenai, once again proving that specializing was a horrible move and being wrong as always.

'You'd think you'd have learned by now after what happened last time.' he used the jutsu Fu taught him to direct his message straight into her head.

Kurenai twitched.

Hayate called for the beginning of the match.

"Do you really think Naruto-kun will win?" Hinata spoke up at his side before he could have fun poking at Kurenai.

"Just watch," Daiki shrugged, "Something tells me this match will be over quickly."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the match began in earnest. Naruto burst forward in a rapid sprint, rushing towards Yoroi.

The shades wearing traitor was quick to respond with a volley of shuriken, which Naruto hastily deflected with a drawn kunai.

It kept him back long enough though for Yoroi to make a few hand seals, a visible aura of chakra forming around his hands

'Hmmm.' Daiki observed with interest. With his ability to see chakra clearly and his heightened analytical abilities with the Shinkugan, he was able to just what the man was doing for his technique.

The chakra over his hands, connected to his tenketsu within his hands, seemed to be working almost like a vacuum.

'So he basically just slurps up chakra like a vacuum cleaner.' he mused. He already had his chakra absorption seal, but learning that technique might not be a bad idea either.

At the very least, it wouldn't hurt.

From what he saw though, the rate of absorption, or rather the strength of the vacuum effect, seemed to be dependent on the chakra capacity of the user.

Yoroi didn't seem all that impressive chakra wise.

'I wonder, could I apply it to my whole body rather than just my hands.' Daiki mused as Naruto, seeing the technique, quickly formed a very familiar hand seal.

A split moment later, a huge puff of smoke erupted around him, before he burst out of it, four more Naruto's rushing beside him.

"A few measly clones? Wrong choice of move kid!" Yoroi barked a laugh and rushed forward to meet Naruto and his clones.

Two clones reached him first and Yoroi narrowly slid between a pair of punches aimed for each side of his face, his palms touching the shoulders of the clones.

Only for nothing to happen.

Yoroi paused in shock, "What's with this stupid amount of chakra?!" he gaped.

He obviously expected the clones to dispel from having the chakra drained. And to his credit, if it were really any normal person, the amount of chakra drained even from those light touches would have fucked the clones over.

…Too bad he was up against the worst match up for a chakra absorber.

The two clones didn't miss their chance and grasped his arms, locking him tight in place.

And thus he was unable to dodge as the other two clones reached him, one went low, sliding forward and kicking his ankles from beneath him, while the other uppercut the man in the chin, at the same time the clones holding him let go.

He went straight up, a grunt of pain erupting from his mouth.

The real Naruto came in quick for the finish, jumping off the back off the clone that landed the uppercut, he shot up into the air just slightly above Yoroi and clasped both hands together.

Then he brought them down in a powerful hammer blow.

Yoroi shot down like a bullet, slamming into the ground hard enough to crater it and just lay there, not a sound coming from him.

He was completely unconscious from that quick three part combo.

"…Akado Yoroi is unable to continue, Uzumaki Naruto is the winner." Hayate declared after a moment.

Silence.

"Oh yeah!" Naruto pumped his fist into the air and cheered as his clones erupted into smoke and dispelled.

He wasn't at all bothered by the silence and the various people now gaping.

"…What the hell…" Kiba goggled.

"Told you." Daiki shrugged, shooting a smirk back at Kurenai.

Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"Wooh, way to go Naruto!" Sakura cheered loudly.

"Yeah woo!" Naruto pumped both hands into the air, displaying piece signs with both, a smug smile on his face, "First match and first win, I'm the man!"

He probably would have stayed there celebrating if not for Hayate ushering him up above and medic nin carrying a stretcher appearing in a shunshin to carry away Yoroi.

"…Naruto-kun has come a long way." Hinata noted, a pleased smile on her face as she watched him ascend up the stairs.

The blonde cockily swaggered his way over to Team Seven, walking right passed Team Eight and Daiki, he only paused briefly to grin at Daiki challengingly before continuing on.

'What?' Daiki blinked.

…Shouldn't Hinata have tried to give him some medicinal cream right about now? Sure he didn't take any hits in that fight, but he was still looking pretty trussed up from his time in the forest, even if any external wounds had long since been healed.

He looked at the Hyuga girl who returned his gaze, smiling gently at him. His brows furrowed and she gave him an odd look.

"I wonder who's next." he played it off, musing with a shrug.

He didn't have to wait long to see, because Hayate was already in the process of choosing the next match up.

He wasn't at all expecting the names that appeared.

Yurei Daiki vs Yamanaka Ino.

"Oh c'mon are you kidding me!?" Ino's voice shouted in disbelief from along the platform.