~*****~

Shikamaru and Kin are next to battle, and they both enter the arena. Hayate stepped forward. Naruto, Ino, and I started cheering for our lazy friend.

"You got this, Shikamaru! You can win this no problem!" I cheer loudly. Shikamaru just remains in his uncaring position and shakes his head in embarrassment.

"Yeah! Here we go, Shikamaru! Make that little girl cry!" Ino cheers.

"That's a little dark, isn't it?" I mutter, hearing Sakura hum in agreement.

"Ready?" Hayate asks. "Seventh match; Shikamaru and Kin. Begin!" Hayate jumps away.

Shikamaru immediately goes to use his Shadow Possession Jutsu. "It's all I've got." He states.

"You're not trying that stupid shadow thing again, are you?" Kin taunts.

Shikamaru growls. "Shut your mouth!" I flinch backwards. 'When has he ever lost his cool in a split second like that? Shikamaru's a prime example of a leader with a level head.' "Ninja art: Shadow Possession Jutsu." His shadow starts to expand.

"It's that all you know? If that's the only trick you've got, this is going to be easier than I thought." Kin claims, throwing two senbon with little bells attached to the ends of them. Shikamaru ducks and they hit the wall behind him.

He looks over his shoulder. "Bells?" He hums, then scoffs. "Oh, please. Not that old trick. Let me guess; Next, you'll throw senbon with bells and senbon without bells at the same time. I'll react to the bells and while I'm focused on dodging them, I won't notice the silent needles coming at me. Am I right?" He scoffs again. "Good luck."

"You sure talk a lot, don't you?"

"Now, I know to be careful to just all the senbon, not just the ones with the bells." Shikamaru claims, until he hears the gentle jingle of the bells. "Huh?" He turns his head to look at the senbon already lodged in the wall. "Threads?" In that moment, Kin throws two senbon at him. He's hit, and he flies back a bit.

"Shikamaru!" Ino shouts.

"Well ,that didn't take long." Naruto states. I slam my fist onto his cranium. "Ow! What was that for, Ren?" He whines.

"Just watch, moron. He's not done yet." I simple state, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Huh?"

"One inch higher, and that would've been a fatal hit." Shikamaru groans, tugging out the senbon in his arm. He throws them to the ground with a grunt. "Okay, now I get a turn!"

"Sorry, that was your turn." Kin states, tugging on the threads once again.

Shikamaru falters just a bit. "Wh-What the- What's going on?" He stutters. He falls to his knees.

"You see, you don't ever ask for whom the bell tolls, because it tolls for thee." Kin explains with a cocky smirk. "This bell sends off a peculiar sound vibration that travels to the outer and inner ear, then directly to the brain. First comes paralysis, and soon you'll start hallucinating." Shikamaru grunts again and attempts to cover his ears. "It won't work. You can't block the sound out once it's inside your head. It's useless." She pulls out three senbon. "You can't move your arms or legs, and you don't which one of us to throw your shadow at. You're finished. I'm going to cook you nice and slow over a hot fire." Kin taunts.

"You think it's that easy, huh?" Shikamaru retorts. Kin throws her senbon and they hit three points on his arm.

"That was three, next time I'll throw five." Kin keeps taunting. "Each time a couple more until you end up looking like a hedgehog."

"Stop playing games, why don't you?" Shikamaru snaps.

"Hm?"

"If you're so tough, get it over with. Stop wasting my time." Shikamaru complains.

"I'm sorry. So you're not a fan of my slow and painful method, huh?" Kin's smirk widens. "Fine, suit yourself. We'll do it the quick way then, and painful." Then, that smirk falls. I chuckle and lean against the railing.

"Looks like he found a way." I hum. Naruto grunts in confusion. "Just watch."

"Wh-What's wrong?" Kin yelps, her arm slowly moving downwards. "I can't move my arm!"

Shikamaru chuckles. "It looks like my lame shadow jutsu was a success after all."

"But- You haven't thrown any shadows." Kin retorts in confusion. "No way! I made sure of it!"

Shikamaru chuckles once again. "You really still don't see it?"

"Huh!? What do you mean?!"

"Look at that thread you're holding. Don't you find it a little strange it would cast a shadow at this height?" Shikamaru asks. 'Now's not the time to be sassy, Shikamaru...' I shake my head with a chuckle. "Of course you didn't notice it because you were concentrating other things, like killing me."

"The shadow spreading out around me and I didn't see it coming!"

"Right. I stretched my shadow out along the line of that thread and followed it all the way back. Now I'm attached to you." Shikamaru states, holding up his arm to prove his point.

"Now we mirror each others movements, so what?" Kin retorts. "Cute trick; but what do you gain by it?"

"Man, you're annoying. Shut up and watch." He pulls out a shuriken, and Kin does the same.

"You must be insane!" Kin yelps. "If you throw that shuriken at me, you'll just be attacking yourself!"

"Makes it kind of interesting, doesn't it?" Shikamaru asks, reeling his arm back for a throw.

"You wouldn't. You couldn't!" Kin all but pleads.

"Yeah? Like a game of chicken. Let's see who ducks first!" Shikamaru snaps, throwing the shuriken. Kin throws hers as well all the while calling Shikamaru crazy. Shikamaru leans backwards just in time to dodge, but poor Kin didn't expect the wall to be there, and gets knocked unconscious by the Lazy Genius. "And that's what I call using your head." Shikamaru jokes. He flips back onto his feet. "The wise shinobi carefully scouts the physical layout of the battlefield and never loses his sight of his position on it. That was her problem. I made sure she was so busy focusing on me, she didn't notice the wall inches behind her head. So when we both dodge backwards, kabong!" I smile and shake my head. "Now who's hearing bells?"

"Winner of the seventh match; Shikamaru Nara." Hayate declares.

"Atta boy, Shikamaru!" Ino starts screaming. "I told you that was good luck!"

"Wooo! Go Shikamaru!" I cheer besides her. "You were right about the good luck kiss, Ino!" Ino just holds up the peace sign before continuing to cheer.

Lee started chanting for his turn while Naruto groaned. "Even that lazy bum won. When am I going to get my turn?"

 "Alright, moving onto the next match." Hayate declares. The board starts shuffling again. I smile brightly at Shikamaru as he resumes his spot besides Ino and I, yawning tiredly. I giggle and look back upwards as the board finally picks a pair.

Naruto Uzumaki

Vs.

Kiba Inuzuka

"Yeah! It's here!" Naruto screams in excitement. "At last! The moment I've been waiting for! Finally, I get a chance to show what I've got!"

"Look at that! It's us against the kid!" Kiba shouts happily. I snort and throw a sideways glare at him. "Hey, Akamaru! I think you and I just won the lottery!" Akamaru barks in reply.

Lee groaned unhappily as Naruto kept cheering. "I am going to die of old age before I get my turn..." He moped. "I just want a chance to show Ren what I am made of. She's going to get tired of waiting...." Lee continued, making me flinch and shiver. "All I want is a chance, is that too much to ask?"

"Looks like you've got quite the fanbase, huh?" Ino hums, looping her arm around my shoulders, shoving Shikamaru back towards Choji. He complained with a groan and stood by his friend.

"Huh? Fanbase? It's only Lee who does this kind of stupid stuff." I reply nonchalantly. She grunts, her entire body lurching forward in shock. I shake my head and push her face away as I cheer on Naruto. "Good luck, Naruto! You've got this in the bag!"

"Do you best!" Sakura adds, both of us grinning happily at the excited blond.

"You know it, guys!" Naruto replies happily. He clenches his fist tightly. "It's my time to shine!"

~*****~

"Now, the eighth match..." Hayate called as Naruto and Kiba stood across from each other in the lower arena. "Naruto Uzumaki, Kiba Inuzuka." We all stared in anticipation.

"I've been waiting forever for this! Sorry Kiba! Don't take it personally if I blow you away!" Naruto trash talks.

And of course, the hot headed Kiba gets riled up. He growls a little. "That's what I was just gonna say! Only not so politely! Right Akamaru?" He asks to the adorable puppy in his jacket.

"Oh yeah?! Well, talking's easy! Let's see what ya got to say at the end of the match!"

"Tch, little squirt." Kiba grunts, setting Akamaru down gently.

"Wait a second! What's the puppy doing here! He's just gonna get in the way!" Naruto screeches.

"Deal with it! I never go into battle without Akamaru!" Kiba retorts. Akamaru barks in reply.

"C'mon, isn't that against the rules or something?!" Naruto asks angrily.

"He sure isn't getting any quieter." I sigh. Sakura nods.

"No. Like Shino's bugs, they are apart of each other. He is within the rules." Hayate explains.

"Ehhh..." Naruto groans. "Whatever! Fine with me! I do my best work with a handy cap!"

"HA! We'll just see about that!" Kiba snaps. "Akamaru, you stay right here and leave all this to me." Kiba explains to his dog, whom barks in reply.

"Go on, Naruto! You can't lose to this jerk!" Sakura screams.

"Yeah! Show him what you've got!" I add in a shout.

Kiba flinched a little as I cheer on Naruto. Kiba shook his head for a moment before raising his fist. "Look, I feel sorry for you. So I'm gonna finish you off with one shot, 'kay?"

"Yeah? Is that right?" Naruto mocked. "Man, you're even dumber than you look if you think you can beat me!"

"You sure talk tough for such a little squirt!" Kiba retorts.

"When you're ready, you can begin." Hayate says.

Kiba starts with his Ninja art of beast mimicry, jamming  his elbow into Naruto's gut and sending him flying backwards. Sakura gasped out in shock as I leaned over the railing, staring down at my friend. "This little guy's gonna be out for a while." Kiba hummed confidently. "You can call the match." He hummed to Hayate.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." I hum lightly, propping my hand on my hip.

"Thought as much," Shikamaru hummed.

"Oh, Naruto, that was embarrassing." Lee adds.

Sakura looked over at me, her brow creased. I gave her a soft smile and giggled a bit. Her lips turned upwards into a smile and we both looked back down. Kiba grunted a bit and started walking away, but Naruto shocked him by getting up. "Told you," I hum mockingly. "Don't under estimate Naruto Uzumaki."

"Don't ever, don't ever! Under Estimate Me!" Naruto says with conviction. A chill runs up my back as I smile at him.

"Yeah!" Lee cheers.

"Atta boy, Naruto!" Sakura cheers.

"Yeah yeah, tough talk! Look at yourself in the mirror! You're a mess!" Kiba retorted.

"Ha! I just wanted to see what you've got!" Naruto mocked. "Frankly, you hit like an old lady! You have a better chance of winning this if you send that puppy into fight for you!"

"You're gonna regret that." Kiba growls. "C'mon, Akamaru!" Akamaru barks in response. They both run in, and Kiba throws smoke grenades. A smokey cloud covers the area where Naruto stood. Naruto ran out of the cloud and Akamaru bit onto his arm, sending him back in. As the smoke cleared, Naruto lay on his side with a perky Akamaru sitting besides him. I smiled lightly as I gazed at the two. 'So, that's your play, huh? Kind of cold, isn't it?' "Yeah! This fight is over!" Kiba calls excitedly. Akamaru runs towards him, and starts growling half way through. "Good doggie! Way to g-" He stops as Akamaru leaps forward, latching his teeth onto his arm. Everyone gasps in shock. "Hey! Akamaru, what're you doing?!" Kiba asked in shock.

"Surprise! Gotcha!" I hear Naruto's voice call. In a cloud of smoke, Akamaru disappears and Naruto reappears.

"You used a transformation jutsu!" Kiba exclaims, as if it were the last thing on earth Naruto could do.

"What, do we look like we've been slacking off or something?" I ask Sakura, a hint of annoyance in my tone. She shrugs lightly and chuckles at my annoyed face. He pushes Naruto off, and he starts spitting a little.

"You smell even worse than the dog!" Naruto screams.

"Huh? What'dya do with him!? Where is he?!" Kiba screams, looking around.

Naruto starts giggling, holding up Akamaru by the front paws. "Right here!"

Kiba looks ready to burst by now. "Woah, is that really Naruto?" Ino asks in shock. "Who would've thought, that Naruto would be a match for Kiba!"

"To balance a transformation jutsu, and a clone jutsu at the same time. There's no way he should be able to do that." Shikamaru comments.

"That was amazing, Naruto!" I shout. "Excellent work!"

"I don't know what happened, but this ain't the Naruto we used to know." Shikamaru mumbles. He looks over at me and I flash a peace sign with my best 'I told you so' look. Naruto and Kiba swap trash talk for a moment before Kiba calms himself down and flings a food pill at his dog and eats one himself. Akamaru starts growling, and his fur turns dark red. He lets out a roar and kicks off of Naruto.

"Food pills, huh? He's going for the kill." He uses his beast mimicry again, and this time, it's his Man Beast Clone. His entire aura changes to that of a wild animal.

Both of them leap up and go to attack. "On all fours! Jutsu!" They both cry. Naruto leaps back, avoiding that monstrous attack.

"They're fast. He needs to keep on his feet." I say gently, gripping the railing a bit. Naruto does a good job, but he leaps into the air, and Kiba uses his Fang Over Fang attack. Naruto hits the ground, spitting out blood before flopping onto his face. He grunts and starts saying he will be hokage.

"And how are you gonna do that laying flat on your face!" Kiba asks, laughing heavily. "I got news for ya! I'm gonna be hokage!" He suddenly says. I narrow my eyes a bit. He keeps laughing at Naruto as he struggles to get up. "Come on! Do you really believe a weakling like you could be Hokage?" Kiba asks. "You must be weak in the head!" He starts laughing again.

'You're wrong.... Naruto isn't weak. He's been through much more than you have. Loneliness, pain, rejection.... But he's always believed in himself. He never gave up, and his determination alone is enough to get him through anything...' I grit my teeth a bit, glaring down at Kiba. 'No one respected Naruto, but he's trained harder and longer than any of us had.' I shook my head a bit as he started standing up.

"On your feet, Naruto!" Sakura called.

"You got this, Naruto!" I shout.

"Sorry, but... You can forget about being Hokage." Naruto says after a moment. "Because I'm.... the top dog around here."