Previously:
Naruto and his team would discuss their objective for the next task, only for Chojuro to appear and brief them on the other Mist team in the exams. Naruto reflected on his time immediately after the battle with Yagura, specifically, how Ameyuri was saved, before the group would go to seek out the Sand team. Mei would send word to the villages with successful Genin, with many also receiving reports from their own Genin. Naruto and Ameyuri would meet with the Sand team, with Naruto seeking information about Gaara, only to find out he was Kazekage. Naruto would then give the Sand team an ice sculpture to allow them to pass the next stage of the exams. Sasuke would then approach Karin and ask her about her opinion on Orochimaru and leaving him, before asking about Naruto. Karin would realise too late that she wasn't in fact speaking to Sasuke at all, but rather, Naruto in disguise.

Disclaimer – I don't own anything from the Naruto anime/manga. All I own are my original characters and plot twists.

'Talking'

"Thinking"

'Heavily demonic voice'

'Fox talking'

"Fox thinking"

*expression*

Jutsu

Flashback

Chapter 12 – Foes of tomorrow

It was now three days since the conclusion of the previous stage of the exam and the prospective Chunin were gearing up for the next stage. The two teams of Genin from the Leaf were the first to arrive back at the site they were told to be for the second task of the exams. Lee had one of his jumpsuits "stolen" while a scroll of Tenten's weapons had been "stolen" by the other team.

'I want that scroll back by the way.' Reminded Tenten, as she had done twice already that morning.

'Not to worry Tenten! I will ensure your weapons return to you unharmed.' Responded Lee once again.

'We'll be sure to give you back your jumpsuit as well.' Said Ino.

'That is entirely unnecessary, I have many spares, please, wear it during your training. It will allow your Power of Youth to burn brightly.' Said Lee, giving Ino a thumbs up.

'Oh I could never do that, it means so much to you Lee. I'll just have to earn one on my own.' Replied Ino feigning sadness, which Lee took as genuine.

'Oh, that looks just like my colour.' Commented Fu, startling the two groups, as she suddenly dropped down in front of Ino.

Fu inspected it a bit closer before humming to herself.

'Actually, it's a bit darker than I was expecting it to be.' Said Fu, further appraising the outfit.

While this was going on the Sand team also arrived, looking around for someone.

'Is he here?' Asked the male of the group.

'I don't see him, Mikoshi. Do you, Yukata?' Asked the brunette of the group.

'Nope, why are we looking for him again anyway, Matsuri?' Asked the dark-haired girl.

'Because we need to find out who he is and why he knows Gaara.' Explained Matsuri.

'Don't look a gift Shukaku in the mouth. Doesn't that mean we shouldn't look into why he is helping us?' Questioned Yukata.

'You can't just trust him so easily though. The fact that he knows Lord Kazekage… it is strange that he seems to know him on a first name basis, especially being a foreign ninja who we have never heard of before.' Said Mikoshi.

'Where did you get that?' Asked Karui of the Cloud team, as they approached the Sand team.

'We stole it, what concern is it of yours?' Said Matsuri, moving to hide their sculpture from view.

'Oh yeah, so you're telling me you got one over on that blond punk?' Questioned Kauri.

'Yes.' Added Mikoshi, as he also moved to stand in front of Yukata.

'An ice sculpture huh? Doesn't look stolen to me.' Continued Karui.

'Well they stole it fair and square, nothing further.' Said Naruto as he arrived, walking over to the two teams.

Karui turned to face the blond, only to repeatedly blink in shock at the fact that they were carrying one of the other participants as a hostage.

'You stole a person?' Questioned Karui in disbelief.

'Not stole, borrowed. Isn't that right, Karin? Oh wait, I forgot, your lips are sealed.' Laughed Naruto.

Karin was currently held with a rope of Wood that was tied to Naruto's waist. In addition to this, a small seal tag was placed over her mouth.

'I don't suppose that seal is permanent, it would sure make my life easier.' Commented Suigetsu, as he arrived with Sasuke.

'I mean, nothing is really permanent, even death isn't permanent.' Commented Naruto.

The two teams from Rain and Rock eventually arrived, shortly followed by the other Mist team, before Ao himself arrived.

'Now then, I can see all of you have an item that wasn't your own… so we will now proceed to the next site of the exams.' Said Ao, pausing briefly when he saw Naruto had stolen a person.

'Wait, how do you know we all stole something?' Asked Sakura.

'I know. Let's go.' Said Ao, before walking off.

'See, that wasn't so bad.' Said Naruto, as his rope of wood retracted from Karin.

Karin slowly ripped the seal tag off her mouth, before edging away from Naruto, back to her team, silently.

'Naruto, how could you kidnap a person?' Asked Ino, as the group of Leaf Genin walked to catch up with Naruto's team.

The teams were scattered into groups as they all followed Ao. The two Mist teams followed directly behind Ao, with Naruto's team a bit behind the other Mist team. On Naruto's left were the Leaf teams, while to his far right was Sasuke's team. The Waterfall team was at the very back, with the two Rock teams in front of them. The Rain teams were on the far left, eyeing the other teams suspiciously. The Sand team was a bit behind Sasuke's keeping an eye on the Sound team, as well as Naruto out of the corner of their eyes. Lastly, right behind Naruto's team was the Cloud team, also keeping an eye on Naruto.

'I mean, how do you know she doesn't have some kind of kidnapping and bondage fetish, Ino?' Retorted Naruto, causing his fellow blonde to splutter in disbelief.

'I don't think a real kidnapping counts as sexual foreplay.' Retorted Ino.

'Anything is foreplay if you try hard enough, Ino.' Said Naruto, before looking over to the Cloud team and winking at them.

'See.' Said Naruto, causing Ino to sigh.

'Naruto, Naruto. Why did I expect you'd somehow be mature after all these years?' Said Ino pityingly.

'I'm pretty sure I've gotten more action that you have, Ino. Especially if you're also still saving yourself for Sasuke.' Said Naruto, causing the blonde to look at him in shock.

'With who?' Exclaimed Ino in disbelief.

'Hinata of course.' Said Naruto, causing the Hyuuga to turn completely red in shock.

'Just kidding.' Teased Naruto, as the group recovered from his joke.

'So you haven't had any experience, as I expected.' Said Ino, recovering from Naruto's quip.

'Yeah, not unless you count fooling around with my teammate.' Said Naruto, causing Ino to stand stock still.

'What?' Exclaimed Ino.

'Oh yeah, I gave her a lot of wood.' Winked Naruto, causing the normally composed blonde to blush.

'I don't think she appreciated being on her back so much, but it was a good experience for both of us.' Continued Naruto.

'In fact, it was all going well until our third wheel joined in.' Said Naruto.

'I aim to displease.' Commented Kushimaru in amusement.

Meanwhile, Ino's brain was slowly melting to pieces, joining Hinata, who was basically catatonic at this stage, shuffling forward absentmindedly.

'Now then, you will all enter single file into this building.' Said Ao, turning to stop as they arrived at another building.

This building looked like a domed coliseum and was approximately three stories high. The building was a soft shade of blue and decorated with wave motifs around the rim, before the domed roof met the structure.

'I hope that the previous task hasn't soured any relationships, as for this next task, you will need to battle in teams which are not your own. To begin with, all of you will be separated and directed to a room in the building. There will be four rounds, the first will feature two-on-two battles between participants, the next will feature three-on-three battles, the third will feature one-on-one battles and the last will feature a battle of the remaining members of your original team. You need to win at a minimum two rounds, and you must win either your original team battle or your one-on-one battle. Failure to do so will lead to your Chunin exam ending here. Furthermore, losing two fights consecutively will automatically trigger elimination from the Chunin exams. Lastly, the leaders of your villages will be arriving shortly, however, these battles will also be recorded and shown to them and the Daimyo, after which, they will then determine your opponents for the final round, which will take place at this location two days from now at noon. Now then, any questions?' Asked Ao, only to receive dead silence in return.

'In that case, enter and follow your allocated Jounin's instructions.' Said Ao, before leading the group of Genin into the building.

'Man, this exam sounds like a mess. Teaming up with random people. That's a recipe for disaster.' Commented Naruto.

'Since you know half the people here, I doubt it is going to be that much of an issue for you.' Said Ameyuri.

'Maybe, but I doubt they are the same as they were when they were Genin.' Acquiesced Naruto.

The group then came upon the Jounin, who swiftly walked up to a Genin each and directed them to a room. Once inside, the participants entered the room which had three more doors, one against each wall. Following this, a deep rumble was heard as the rooms moved around, before a door glowed. Taking the obvious cue, Naruto opened the door and stepped out into a small room. It would be wrong to call it an arena, as the actual space in it was limited, only a few square metres in size. Someone long ranged like Tenten would struggle in a space of this size, while someone like Lee would dominate. Funnily enough, that is who Naruto saw standing across from him. Looking to his side, Naruto saw one of the Sand Genin, the brunette of the group.

'Huh, Ameyuri wasn't joking, I know everyone in this room.' Said Naruto aloud, before turning to the Sand Genin.

'I don't actually know your name though…' Said Naruto, leaving his sentence hanging for a reply.

'It's Matsuri.' Said the Sand Genin.

'You must be fun at parties.' Joked Naruto, confusing the Sand Genin, as he clapped her on the shoulder.

'Uh, it was a joke, never mind.' Said Naruto, before assessing his two opponents.

'So, since I have the insider info here, we are dealing with a Taijutsu master and a long-ranged weapon user adept at sealing, so which one do you think you can handle?' Asked Naruto.

'Either I suppose, I use a Rope Dart and Wind Ninjutsu.' Said Matsuri.

'I see, in that case, you probably shouldn't face Lee, he'd probably destroy you, no offense. Wind Jutsu though, that might help you against Tenten. I don't know what a Rope Dart is, but if you can block or deflect things with it, that would also help.' Explained Naruto, to which Matsuri nodded.

'Well then, Lee, up for a spar?' Shouted Naruto, grabbing the attention of the other two.

'It would be my honour!' Said Lee, causing Naruto to smirk.

'In that case, no Ninjutsu on my part. That doesn't mean I'm going to be going easy on you though.' Said Naruto, before he unleashed the full brunt of his chakra, bulking up significantly as a light green aura surrounded him.

'I wonder if we are going to get a signal to start fighting though.' Said Tenten.

'Probably, but it helps to be ready, better open those gates, Lee. You should probably get ready too.' Said Naruto, turning to Matsuri at the end.

Matsuri nodded and pulled out a handle, with a metal dart attached to a long piece of rope, wrapped tightly around the handle.

Ao's face was suddenly projected on a screen, which appeared on the wall.

'This two-on-two fight will last for ten minutes. To win you must knock out, kill, or force a surrender from your opponent. A draw will be declared if a team is not victorious by the end of the fight. Begin.' Said Ao.

'Well Lee, better open up those gates, because I'm coming to knock them in otherwise.' Declared Naruto, before the aura around him swelled and his muscles strained.

In response to this, Lee's skin turned red and he started to emit a green aura himself, as visible spirals of blue chakra encircled him. The ground under the two cracked as they shot at each other, Lee swinging down a right-legged axe kick on Naruto, who caught the leg with his left hand, the ground cracking under his feet from the strain. Naruto quickly brought his right hand up and locked it over his left, trapping Lee, before giving a mighty heave, as he slammed him over his shoulder into the ground. Lee used his hands to stop his face from meeting the concrete suddenly, before he twisted within Naruto's grasp, his right heel slamming into Naruto's jaw and momentarily stunning him, allowing Lee to leap back.

'That really hurt more than I was expecting.' Commented Naruto, moving his jaw from side to side, as he rubbed his left cheek with his right hand, left still clenched to his side in case of a quick attack.

'You have certainly gotten stronger Naruto and while it is brave of you to engage me in Taijutsu, it is also foolish. I truly respect your abilities, but I have honed my Taijutsu prowess even more intensely since we last met.' Explained Lee.

'Hmm, well then, you've already taken on one ultimate defence, care to test yourself against another?' Asked Naruto, as small pink lumps started to form along his arms and shoulders.

'Bring it.' Said Lee simply, before the two rushed each other again.

While the sounds of fists and flesh were meeting on one side of the room, the other side was filled with noisy metallic clangs. Matsuri was feeling immensely pressured to keep up with Tenten's constant barrage. When Naruto had mentioned sealing was one of Tenten's skills, she hadn't fully appreciated what that meant, however, as the multitude of weapons piled up along the floor, removing what little space Matsuri had left to manoeuvre in, she truly came to appreciate the applications of sealing.

'It's too bad for you that the last time I fought a Sand Kunoichi my weapons were rendered useless, so I had to learn of a way to combat that.' Said Tenten.

'What do you mean, you haven't landed a hit on me yet?' Said Matsuri questioningly.

'Yet.' Echoed Tenten ominously.

Tenten suddenly threw a large green scroll into the air above Matsuri, and a plethora of weapons suddenly materialised in the air above the Genin. Matsuri quickly twirled her weapon around her, deflecting the initial barrage of the weapons as they rained down, only for the harsh grating sound of metal against stone to grab her attention. Matsuri's eyes quickly darted around and noticed all the weapons which had been thrown previously were starting to move. Being a Sand ninja, Matsuri instantly noticed the technique.

"So many chakra strings at once. This is beyond even our head puppeteer Kankuro, who is the Kazekage's brother. From a Leaf Genin, this is unbelievable." Thought Matsuri in shock.

Not only were there now weapons above and to her sides, Matsuri was also trapped in the confines of the small room. She had at best three steps back before she would be against the wall, meaning she was about to become a pincushion.

'Wind Style: Great Breakthrough.' Said Matsuri, momentarily stopping in her efforts to deflect the tools falling from above, for a chance to try and launch the encroaching tools back.

'Not going to happen.' Said Tenten, raising her hands up and bringing them out to the side, appearing to be a conductor.

The majority of the tools evaded the wind jutsu and the few that did not, were quickly redirected. Tenten then brought her hands back down and the numerous blades all rushed Matsuri again. Once again, Matsuri felt a cold sense of dread engulf her, seeing her own death approach her. Matsuri prepared her Rope Dart again, but at this point, it was more to protect herself from sustaining a vital injury than from defeating the attack.

'Oh wow, I didn't expect things to be this bad, sorry for getting you into a match-up like this. Gaara would kill me if he found out I let one of his Genin die.' Said Naruto, appearing in front of Matsuri and giving her a smile.

'Watch out!' Said Matsuri, as the rain of metallic death approached them.

'Oh, don't worry, I'll protect you.' Said Naruto confidently, looking back at Matsuri over his shoulder and giving her a smile.

Matsuri was awed at Naruto's calm demeanour, before the entire world around her disappeared into a cluster of pink, leaving only Naruto and her, with a small patch of concrete beneath them.

'Neat huh? I'm actually pretty curious to see if Gaara's defence has gotten stronger, since I think this is pretty special too.' Commented Naruto, as the faint sound of metal striking the pink structure echoed through the dome.

'What is it?' Asked Matsuri.

'Coral, made super hard and strong with chakra.' Said Naruto, before the onslaught of sound stopped, leading to Naruto releasing the jutsu, the coral slowly shrinking down before disappearing. The only trace it had ever been there, were the holes in the ground through which it had erupted.

'You've gotten a lot more lethal Tenten. You would be one person I would hate to run into in a battlefield, but unfortunately, this isn't a battlefield and I'm going to end this now… since we have about one-minute left.' Said Naruto.

'You should probably stay behind me, Matsuri.' Warned Naruto.

Matsuri took a step closer to Naruto, now only two steps behind him as he made hand signs.

'Boil Style: Skilled Mist Jutsu.' Said Naruto, as he poured a large amount of mist from his mouth.

'Lee, Tenten, that mist will dissolve anything it touches, so you should give up now before it kills you!' Shouted Naruto.

In response to this, Naruto heard the tell-tale sounds of weapons being released and felt Lee's chakra output increase again, signifying the opening of more gates.

'Have it your way then.' Said Naruto, gathering raw chakra into his hands.

Two Rasengan came into life in Naruto's hands, before he opened his arms wide.

'Rasengan impact.' Cried Naruto, as he slammed both his hands into the ground in front of him.

The explosion that resulted was immense, blasting all the acidic mist directly at his opponents, while also sending a concussive blast of energy along with it. Naruto felt Tenten's chakra drop considerably after that attack but felt Lee's rise. Naruto once again gathered raw chakra, but had it envelope his right arm this time. The tell-tale features of a Rasengan started to form along Naruto's arm, but it seemed wrong somehow, swirling angrily instead of calmly within a shell of energy. If Jiraiya was present, he would say it was the second stage of the Rasengan taken to the extreme, which wasn't entirely inaccurate in this case. Out of the mist Lee rushed Naruto, appearing to be a ghoul from hell, his red skin peeling slightly from the mist, but also healing rapidly due to his usage of the Eight Gates. Blood was trickling down his nose, but was quickly being vaporised, in part due to the mist, but also Lee's chakra itself.

'Rasengan Lariat!' Roared Naruto, rushing Lee.

Lee saw Naruto's approach and tried to duck under the attack, only for Naruto to adjust mid-charge, angling his arm down and leaning to the side, catching Lee in the waist before he was flung through the mist and slammed into the wall. Naruto quickly let the mist dissipate, revealing a scene of devastation.

Tenten was huddled under the remains of an iron dome, her skin covered in angry red marks from Naruto's Boil Style. Lee on the other hand, was partially embedded in the wall from the waist up, his legs dangling in front of him and the aura of his gates faded into a wisp of smoke.

'I think that's our victory here.' Said Naruto, eyeing Tenten and Lee cheerfully.

'Sure.' Said Tenten tiredly, before slumping to her bottom.

Lee groaned as he forcefully pulled himself from the wall and gave Naruto a thumbs up.

'You have truly grown strong Naruto, I feel no shame giving you victory on this occasion, but I will grow stronger for our eventual rematch.' Agreed Lee.

Lee and Tenten then regrouped as Naruto approached them.

'Well, no hard feelings, this should help with that.' Said Naruto, placing a hand on each of their shoulders, before a green chakra crawled over their bodies, revitalising their cells and healing their injuries.

Both Tenten and Lee sighed gratefully as all their pain vanished. Once Naruto had finished healing the two, he turned back to Matsuri and started to make his way over to her.

'That was incredible.' Said Matsuri in awe, once Naruto had reached her.

'Really? I thought knowing Gaara you would have seen stuff like that before. I still remember his transformation. It was literally my biggest fight ever, well, at least that I remember properly.' Said Naruto.

'The battle is over. Return to your rooms for healing and preparation for the next battle.' Said Ao, appearing onscreen once again.

'Oh, I almost forgot.' Said Naruto, before placing a hand on Matsuri's shoulder before a green glow surrounded her.

'After all, I can't forget to heal my temporary teammate. Good luck in the next fight Matsuri and if you're against me, sorry in advance.' Said Naruto, as he headed off to his door.

'So that's what Lord Kazekage's friends are like…' Mumbled Matsuri, still taken aback at how casually Naruto was treating this all, as though it was one big game.