Chapter Sixteen: the preliminary rounds

After Naruto and Gaara returned  back to the tower within the forest of death, both Shukaku and Kurama pulled their hosts into their mindscapes to begin their training.  The began with teaching their hosts how to use their chakra.  For Gaara it was easier considering both he and Shukaku possessed the same type of chakra nature of earth and wind.  It was much harder for Naruto because of the number of tails Kurama possessed and the vast difference in their chakra natures.  Naruto mainly wind and fire chakra (yes I know that Naruto doesn't possess fire chakra but because Kitsune's possess fire attacks, I made it as a part of his chakra nature) while Kurama possessed yin and yang chakra.  So the older Kitsune began to work with Naruto on hand to hand combat as he came up with a way for Naruto to pull him from out of the mindscapes.  Kurama allowed a scroll to appear before Naruto.

"Kurama what is this?"

"The first ever fox summoning contract.  Before I was sealed away, I had children as they exist out in the world.  I got a hold of some my children and even grandchildren creating a one of a kind summoning contract.  They want to meet you and are willing to help out in any way that they can." stated Kurama.

"So what do I have to do?" asked Naruto.  Kurama opened up scroll which had details about the contract and a list of names  included Kurama's.  There were eleven names that Naruto didn't recognize.

"First bite into your finger drawing some blood and sign your name.  After you sign your name place your fingerprints from each finger under your name." stated Kurama.  Naruto did as instructed Kurama had instructed as he signed his name.  Kurama taught Naruto the hand signs as he allowed Naruto to practice them before he allowed to summon them from beyond the mindscape. 

*Naruto my kids and grand kids are able to shapeshift their forms as they all of will look much like you do right now.  So you might to summon them when no one is around.  To summon me, you have to pump some of my chakra and call out my name.* Kurama told his host.

Finally by the fifth day about half of the teams remained.  Sarutobi stood with the team captains of the leaf behind him.  The team captains for the other passing teams to his left and the proctors for the exams to his right.

"Congratulations on everyone who made it this far.  Since there is still a lot of people left, we are going to do a preliminary round to see who moves on to the final rounds.  First let me explain the reason for the chunin exams.  It is to booster relations with other villages.  And to prevent wars between the various nations.  Now not everyone will become a chunin so don't feel bad if you don't become a chunin right away.  Your captains and village can promoteyou even after the exams.  Now before we begin with the match ups, is there anyone here who wishes to resign?"  Only one person bothered to raise their hand as they were far too injured to continue on.  Sarutobi could sense everyone else's determination as they didn't back down from the challenge before them.  "Alright then......  Let's begin!" Sarutobi stated after the injured ninja left the arena.  The old bear demon nodded his head to the proctors.  The proctor whom stepped forth was known far and wide.

"All right you maggots.  I am the proctor for this round Zabuza Momochi.  During these matches the only way that you can move on is if you knock out your opponent, kill them, or they surrender and admit defeat.  For the demons competing, you are not allowed to use your demonic powers.  This is a test on your ninja capabilities and skills.  If you are caught using your demonic powers, you will be disqualified.  Now that you all understand the rules, let's begin!" a board appeared behind Zabuza as it began to run through the names until it landed on Sasuke Uchiha vs Yoroi Akado.  "Will Sasuke and Yoroi remain on the arena floor.  The rest of you can go up to the observation deck to watch until your name is called."

The arena floor was cleared out as the only people remained was Sasuke, Yoroi, and Zabuza.

*You better win this Sasuke!* Naruto stated telepathically to his mate.

*I plan on it!* replied the Tengu.

"You both understand the rules?" asked Zabuza.  Both Yoroi and Sasuke nodded their heads as Sasuke folded his wings behind his back.  Both shifted their weight into fighting stances.  "Ready?.....  Begin!" stated Zabuza ask he leapt out of the way.  Sasuke leapt back as he activated his Sharingan while Yoroi charged forward.  Sasuke's eyes could see a strange chakra surrounding Yoroi's hands.  When the two collided, Sasuke could feel his chakra being drained.   Sasuke managed to kick back putting some distance between him and Yoroi.

'I won't be able to rely on my chakra and I can't use my demonic powers.  I guess that I will have to rely on my fighting capabilities.' Sasuke thought to himself.

"Give it up.  You already know that you can't win!" stated Yoroi.

"It ain't over yet!" replied Sasuke with a wild grin on his face.  Sasuke moved quickly vanishing from Yoroi's sight before suddenly appearing behind the older teen.  Sasuke kicked Yoroi into the air as he leapt up hiding behind the older human.

"Shadow Dancing Leaf?" questioned Yoroi.

"Not quite as this is a technique that I came up with!  Lion's Barrage!" Sasuke stated as he kicked Yoroi several times before slamming the human back down to the ground.

"Yoroi is knocked out cold.  The winner of the match is Sasuke Uchiha!" announced Zabuza.

Team Seven cheered loudly as the medics came to get Yoroi off the floor.  Sasuke opened up his wings flying up to the balcony as the board began to go through the names.  It landed on Zaku Abumi vs Shino Aburame.  The Tsuchigumo and the human from the sound village made their way down to the arena floor.  Both of Zaku's arms were in a cast as this made the spider demon question on just how the human planned to fight.  The spider demon could hear a very light hum that seemed to come from Zaku's arms.

"Are you both ready?" Zabuza asked as they both nodded their heads.  "Begin!"  Shino leapt back away from Zaku as he laughed at the spider demon.

"Sorry......  But you are a dead bug!" yelled out Zaku as he brought his arms out of the slings.  The casts on his arms fell off revealing thousands of holes in is arms.

"Technically I am not a bug, but an arachnid."

"Arachnid..... bug...... spider.....  I don't care.  You are dead to me!" replied Zaku.  When he tried to activate his sound cannons, it failed.

"Sorry but I already won this match." replied Shino as he snapped his fingers.  Small bugs began to pop out of the holes in Zaku's arms.

"What the hell?" asked Zaku in shock.

"Those are special insects that my clan holds within special webs.  Parasitic insects love to feed on chakra." stated Shino.  Zaku let out a scream before a horde of insects swarmed all over the sound ninja.

"Winner of the match is Shino Aburame."

The board ran through the names landing on Kankuro vs Misumi Tsurugi.  Both men came down once the arena floor was cleared.

"Both opponents ready?" asked Zabuza.  Both nodded their heads.  "Begin!"  Kankuro took off a large object that was on his back placing it on the ground.

"Let me do you a favor and end this quickly." stated Kankuro with a smirk on his face.

"Not if I end it first!" replied Misumi as he charged at Kakuro throwing a punch.  The sand ninja blocked it only to have Misumi's arm snake around Kankuro's body.  Misumi began to snake his body around Kankuro holding the sound ninja in a bind causing Kankuro to drop the object that he was holding onto.  "Don't bother struggling because the more you struggle, the tighter I squeeze.  I could break your neck if I wanted too.  Why don't you give up?"  Kankuro didn't reply causing Misumi to break his neck.  Suddenly you could hear the sound of what sounded like glass breaking as Kankuro's head turned completely around.  Wooden arms snaked out wrapping around Misumi as the thing that was holding him wasn't Kankuro but rather his puppet.  The real Kankuro revealed himself to be within the object that was on the floor. 

"I guess now it is my turn." stated Kankuro as the puppet tightened its hold on Misumi.

"Stop......  I give!" yelled out Misumi before he passed out.

"Cause his opponent can no longer continue, the winner of the match is Kakuro."

The arena floor was cleared off as the board began to go through the names.  It landed on Sakura Haruno vs Ino Yamanaka.

"Go get them Sakura!" stated Naruto as his teammate went down to the arena floor.  The ape-like girl leapt down from the observation deck landing on the arena floor.  Sakura made her way down as she faced off against her best friend.

"Both opponents ready?" asked Zabuza as the two girls nodded their heads.  "Then begin!"  Both Sakura and Ino leapt back as the two girls took their headbands off tying them around their foreheads.  The two girls then charged at one another throwing punches and kicks.  Ino held back some of her strength as she knew that if she used her normal strength, she could hurt Sakura.  The two girls leapt back as they both reached for their shuriken and began to throw them at one another.  Neither seemed to make any head way during their combat.  But Ino had a ninja wire attacked to one of her shuriken as it wrapped around Sakura tying up the human girl.

"Mind Body Switch!" called out the Satori as her mind transferred into Sakura's.  Ino planned to use her clan's technique to make Sakura forfeit the match.  Sakura somehow managed to break free of Ino's control.  The two girls then charged at one another both punching each other in the face with all of their strength resulting in a double knock out.

"Both Ino and Sakura have been knocked out so, both girls do not move on."

Both Kakashi and Asuma came to collect the unconscious girls as the board behind Zabuza began to go through the names.  This time landing on Tenten vs Temari.  Both girls came down smiling.

"Both opponents ready?"  asked Zabuza as the girls nodded their heads.  "Begin!"  Tenten jumped back away from Temari as she used her scrolls to unseal various weapons throwing them all at Temari.  Temari swung her large object that she held revealing it to be a fan.  Only one dot was shown.

"By the time that I open this up and reveal all three moons, I will have won this match!" stated Temari.

"It ain't over yet!" replied Tenten as she took out two small scrolls placing them on the ground.  "Twin Rising Dragons!" yelled out Tenten as she leapt into the air with the scrolls unraveling.  With a touch of her hand over the kanji on the scroll caused a weapon to unseal.  Tenten caused a rain of weapons to desend upon Temari.  Temari kicked open her fan causing wind to pick up protecting her from the rain of weapons.  Tenten wasn't done just yet as she landed leaping back into the air pulling on ninja string that was attached to all of the ninja weapons.  The ninja weapons flew up before Tenten directed them back down at Temari.  The sand ninja blew them all away as her jutsu caused Tenten to fly back into a wall knocking the leaf ninja out cold.

"Winner by knock out is Temari of the sand."

The board behind Zabuza began to go through the names as the medics came to pick up the unconscious Tenten while Temari made her way back up to the observation deck.  This time it landed on Shikamaru Nara vs Kin Tsuchi.  The Hakutaku sighed softly to himself as he made his way down to the arena floor. 

"Both opponents ready?" asked Zabuza.  The swordsman didn't get a reply as he leapt away from the two ninja.  "Begin!"  Shikamaru unleashed a long sigh once again.

"This is gonna be such a drag." he moaned.

"Come on and take this match seriously!" growled Kin as she threw some senbons at Shikamaru.  The demon dodged causing the needles to imbed into the wall behind him.  Suddenly Shikamaru collapsed onto one knee.  Attached to the senbons was bells which made a high pitch sound causing Shikamaru to see multiple of his opponent.  "Give it up boy cause you aren't going to win."  Kin didn't notice that Shikamaru had stretched his shadow along the wire connecting him to his opponent.

"Sorry but this match is already over.  Shadow Imitation." stated Shikamaru as his shadow stretched out showing that he had Kin caught in his jutsu.  Shikamaru reached for his shuriken as he threw them causing Kin to copy and do the same.  When he dodged so did Kin but she was closer to the wall knocking herself out.

"Winner by knock out is Shikamaru Nara." 

The medics came to get Kin off the arena floor as Shikamaru made his way back up to the observation deck.  The board began to shuffle through the names before landing on Kiba Inuzuka vs Naruto Uzumaki.  The Ookami let out a loud howl before he leapt off the observation deck down onto the arena floor.

"Good luck Naruto!" stated Sasuke as he quickly kissed his mate on the cheek.  "You better win this!" the alpha whispered into Naruto's fox ears.  Naruto made his way down to the arena floor.

"Are the opponents ready?" asked Zabuza.

"You better not hold back Kiba." stated Naruto.

"I wasn't planning on it!" replied Kiba.

"Begin!" yelled out Zabuza as he leapt out of the way.  Both Naruto and Kiba shook hands before leaping away from each other.  Both Kiba and Naruto made a single hand sign.

"Beast Mimicry: Four Legs Technique!" called out Kiba.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!" called out Naruto as he created ten clones.  To the untrained eye, you couldn't tell the real Naruto from a clone.  Even those with a doujutsu had a hard time figuring out which one was real from the fakes.  Even Kiba's keen nose couldn't tell the difference.  Kiba rushed in attacking the clones having them all go up in a puff of smoke that hindered Kiba's vision.  "Fire Release: Fireballs!" growled out Naruto as flaming fireballs rained down at Kiba whom was trapped in the smoke cloud.  Kiba clicked his tongue when he finally noticed the strange smell of the smoke.

'Shit!  This smoke is flammable!' cursed Kiba as the fire ignited the smoke creating a loud explosion.  Kiba howled in pain as his fur was singed and he was knocked out due to the blast.  As the smoke cleared, Zabuza couldn't help but to smile.

"Winner by knock out is Naruto Uzumaki!" called out Zabuza.  Everyone was shocked that an omega managed to overpower and knock out an alpha.  Sasuke was beaming with pride that his mate won.

Once the arena floor was cleared and the medics came to get Kiba, the board behind Zabuza went through the names landing on Gaara vs Rock Lee. 

"Yosh.....  Finally!  I get to show everyone what I'm capable of!" stated a young teen dressed in  green spandex outfit with a bowl cut hairstyle.  He leapt off the balcony landing on the floor as he began to do some stretches.  Gaara descended using his sand.  Naruto went up towards the Tanuki once he was on the arena floor.

"Win this Gaara......." Naruto stated as the two demons shook hands.  Gaara nodded his head as he walked to the center of the arena floor.  As Naruto made his way up to the observation deck, he could hear an alpha's deep growl as an alpha's pheromone was released.  Gaara not being mated along with Hinata Hyuga went into submission.  Everyone looked up to the alpha's on the observation deck as the alpha whom was growling was Neji Hyuga as he glared at the human Beta.  Even Naruto whom was mated could feel the effects.

"Neji Hyuga.......  Stand down!" yelled out a commanding voice.  Sarutobi noticed what was happening to the omega demons in the room so, he stepped in to stop what was happening.  Neji's alpha presence seemed to lighten up as the alpha himself had no idea why he acted that way.  Sasuke went over to his own mate whom clung to the stairs shaking.

*It seems that Gaara may have found his mate.  The alpha within Neji thought that his own teammate was going to make a move on Gaara.* Kurama stated towards Naruto while helping him from the mindscape.  The human beta helped the Tanuki back onto his feet.  The other alpha's did the same to help out the omega's in the room.

"Sorry...... I don't know what came over me." Neji apologized bowing his head.

"It must be the first time you have set your eyes on your mate that your inner alpha was telling a human beta to back off from claiming your mate." stated Sarutobi.  Neji felt terrible as his alpha instincts also effected his cousin.  Neji felt as if he needed to make it up to Hinata and Gaara for his behavior.

Finally after the disturbance, the fight between Gaara and Rock Lee began.  Rock Lee for not knowing any jutsu except for taijutsu as he didn't possess any chakra at all.  Lee managed to slip past Gaara's sand defenses kicking Gaara up into the air.  Bandages wrapped around Gaara's body.

"Front Lotus!" yelled out Rock Lee as his and Gaara came crashing down to the ground.  Gaara cushioned the blow using his Armor of Sand.  Sand shot out of Gaara's gourde trying to grab Lee as the spandex wearing ninja jumped out of harms way.    Rock Lee then proceeded to take off the weights that were on his legs.  When he dropped the weights to the ground, they left a huge creator.  "First Gate of Opening......  Open!  Second Gate of Healing......  Open!  Third Gate of Life.....  Open!  Fourth Gate of Pain.....  Open!" yelled out Lee as his body turned red as he seemed to be filled with energy.  Rock Lee moved almost twice the speed as he did before beating Gaara to a pulp that his Armor of Sand couldn't protect him.  But opening up four of the eight gates took a toll on Lee's body that both he and Gaara collapsed to the ground.  Gaara allowed his sand to slither over towards Rock Lee whom tried to crawl away. 

"Desert Prison!" stated Gaara as the sand surrounded Lee keeping the spandex wearing ninja trapped.  With a single hand gesture, Gaara could crush Rock Lee.  "Surrender!" stated Gaara as he flexed his fist allowing the sand to tighten around Rock Lee.

"I give up." stated Lee.

"Winner by forfeit.....  Gaara of the sand."

Gaara allowed his sand to slither back into his gourde as medics came to get the two ninja clearing the floor for the next match.  The board behind Zabuza went through the remaining participants landing on Dosu Kinuta vs Choji Akamichi.  As soon as the match began, it seemed to be over just as quickly resulting in a double knock out.  Dosu tried to use his sound waves to disable Choji while the rather large Oni tried to use his body weight to roll over Dosu.  The two hit the wall hard resulting in the double knock out.  This meant the last match pitted two clan members and family against one another.  Neji Hyuga vs Hinata Hyuga. 

"Sorry but I forfeit the match." stated a soft shy voice.  Neji looked at his cousin in shock. 

"Hinata why?" he asked.

"I don't stand a chance against an alpha let alone I know that I am no match for your skills.  I am not strong like Naruto or Gaara." replied Hinata.  The omega Kirin was far too shy and nice in nature as the omega wasn't even the head for her main branch clan as her younger sister took that title.  Her parents gave her no choice but to become a ninja in order to stay with the main branch of the clan.  The other lower branch members of her clan treated her with the up most respect regardless if she was an omega or not. 

"Then the winner of the final match due to forfeit is Neji Hyuga."