"Winner: Naruto Uzumaki!" And with that, cheers erupted for the battle they had just witnessed. Among the Konoha citizens and shinobi, many had begun to reevaluate their opinions of Naruto, his comment about his mistakes and how it affected him, as well as his control of the Kyuubi's chakra and good sportsmanship, giving them a bit to think about.

Naruto looked up in amazement. He wasn't used to having such large numbers of people praise him, not to mention that many of them were the same villagers who'd been cursing his name not too long ago. He smiling widely before returning his attention to the task at hand and carrying Lee over his left shoulder to where the medics who called to him in the stands since the entrance to the arena was currently a few feet underwater.

"Great show, kid!" Anko yelled, standing up with her hands funneled around her mouth.

"Well, I hadn't expected to see all that here." Haku commented. "I wonder if that chakra was connected to..." He trailed off, and those in the know guessed he was referring to the Rinnegan.

Zabuza, knowing what he was talking about, shook his head. "Nope, that was something else entirely... and together... that kid might just grow into the strongest shinobi since Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha."

Gai stared at Lee as Naruto handed him to the medics.

"Gai?" Kakashi said, drawing his attention, but he didn't look away. "While I still disapprove of you teaching him that jutsu... thinking on it, I can understand why you did. He's willing to give his life for his dream... isn't he?"

After a moment, Gai replied, "Yeah... that's the kind of guy he is." He turned to his rival and said, "That's one hell of a team you've got there, Kakashi."

Kakashi eye-smiled. "I know. I'm quite proud they've come this far."

"Well... that was certainly a striking opening for this year's exam, wouldn't you say?" The Kazekage turned to his counterpart.

"Oh yes. I knew those two wouldn't disappoint." The Third replied with a smile. 'You've grown a great deal, haven't you Naruto? "This should prove to be an interesting opportunity to see our Genin's capability to adapt. They now have to deal with an entirely different battlefield. I wonder how some will turn this to their advantage."

"Indeed." The Kazekage nodded. "Although, I must say this is unfortunate. This is likely the worst possible terrain for our most prized genin; Gaara to fight in... from what I understand he made quite the... spectacle, during the preliminaries. I can't help but wonder if this was intentional."

Hiruzen smiled fondly and shook his head. "I wouldn't put it past Naruto." He then turned to his counterpart. "So, what was your opinion of the two combatants?"

"Hmm..." The Kazekage began contemplatively before beginning. "The older boy, Rock Lee was it? He's certainly skilled with taijutsu. I've only seen a few others his age that can compare to his abilities in that art, but I notice a distinct lack of ninjutsu or genjutsu. If I recall..." He looked to the Hokage. "Would I be correct in assuming that he is incapable of using nin or genjutsu, or at the very least has no talent in those fields?"

The Third Hokage sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Yes. Sadly, he in unable to apply chakra in an outward manner. It brought him no end of ridicule in his academy days."

"That alone would have prevented him from becoming a shinobi in our village. I myself mandated that all aspiring shinobi who are found to be so limited are to be dropped from the program. After all, is our ability to wield the various ninja arts not part of the reason we are called ninja?"

The Third frowned at those words, believing any who had the heart and the desire to fight for their home and loved ones had the right to at least try at it. "But..." He continued. "I think perhaps I may have been a bit too hasty, after seeing what that boy is capable of. Nevertheless, the words he spoke before his final maneuver cement my judgement: 'I will not be the only one who loses here'." His gaze went to the two genin, Naruto just leaving to return to his teammates. "While the willingness to take such risks and make a sacrifice when needed are important traits for a shinobi, to do so when there are alternatives isn't. He was too hasty to use something as costly as the Eight Gates, never mind that he opened so many. I can't in good conscious recommend him for promotion."

Hiruzen nodded at that, having similar opinion on the matter. Lee was strong, yes. Strong enough that he could easily qualify for the position were that the only requirement. That said, he didn't seem to think ahead. Had he won fighting the second round would have been nearly impossible for him. He didn't seem to have any alternatives to opponents he can't defeat with physical prowess beyond using techniques that would leave him crippled, ensuring he'd have to rely on his team to defend him if it were an actual mission. A team which may well comprise of genin where every member could be essential.

"Naruto on the other hand... I don't believe I've seen enough to offer a verdict, but so far he's made a good impression." The Kazekage stated, "He must have a lot of chakra considering that display at the end, and yet he mostly focused on shadow clones and sealing jutsu, in the former case the chakra of the clone returns to its owner upon destruction, while the latter requires little chakra to use so long as the jutsu doesn't involve creating constructs. He paced himself fairly well all things considered, aside from flooding arena. And even then, he reacted quickly to escape from the Primary Lotus, which otherwise would have ended the battle.

He paused for a moment. "And as for what he revealed at the end..." He broke off his musings to chuckle. "Well, there isn't much else one can do when faced with that kind of technique unless there's a truly insurmountable gap between them and the user in skill or physical ability, baring the use of a barrier jutsu or the like, and he did try an alternative. It was impressive that Lee was able to find him if that jutsu is what I think it was. The fact that his determination was born of a desire to protect his comrades also counts in his favor. He will likely do everything in his power to prevent a repeat of the mistake he mentioned. He should have tried to neutralize Lee at the beginning but... provided he hasn't shown all he's capable of, I would say he may be a decent candidate."

Hiruzen smiled with pride, knowing full well he still had some tricks up his sleeve. "My thoughts exactly."

"This new generation is quite promising... and yet, this wasn't even the fight that everyone's waiting for. The prodigies of the Hyuuga and Uchiha clans are set to battle... and after that, they'll be facing our Gaara."

"He looks a lot like you, that boy." Hiruzen said.

The Kazekage nodded, "I'm quite proud of him. He's grown to be the perfect weapon for our village. I look forward to seeing how he stands against a prodigy of one of the greatest clans of Konoha. It should do wonders for our village's standing."

Naruto leapt into the fighter's booth and was immediately met by Sakura. "Way to go out there, Naruto! I thought it was all over when Lee used that second Lotus."

The blond rubbed the back of his head. "I would've been if I didn't have an ace up my sleeve."

'Besides the Rinnegan...' "Speaking of that..." Sasuke began. "What the hell was that chakra?"

"I'll tell you later, ok?" Naruto replied. Sasuke grunted in response, clearly not happy with the answer but unwilling to press it, especially in front of rivals.

"T- that was amazing, Naruto." Hinata congratulated him.

Naruto smiled. "Thanks, Hinata."

"Yeah, it was impressive and all..." Kiba said, unable to deny the blond's growth after that display. "But did you have to flood the arena? Geez, now we all have to fight in that." He shook his head with a grin. "You just have to cause trouble wherever you go, don't you?"

"What did you expect?" Sasuke commented with a smirk of his own.

"Well, I am Konoha's number one prankster." Naruto answered with a grin, habitually moving his right arm only to wince at hiss in pain, as he grabbed his shoulder.

This drew concerned looks from some of the other Konoha genin. "What's wrong?" Sakura asked, stepping forward.

"I think I dislocated my shoulder back there at the end."

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Sakura asked with a frown as she walked to his side, felt the bones and confirmed what he'd said. She placed one hand on his shoulder and the other on his upper arm, doing her best to maneuver the bones into place, thought the grinding of the bones caused the Rinnegan bearer to screw one eye shut. After a few moments, she looked to his eyes and said, "I think I got it. Hold still."

When he nodded in response she forced the bone back into place, drawing a grunt from Naruto. He winced as he rubbed his shoulder, shifting it around experimentally in spite of the persisting ache. With his eye still closed, he managed a smile in her direction. "Nice work, Sakura. Thanks a lot."

"Don't mention it."

Temari grimaced as she stared into the flooded arena. 'This is bad...' She turned her head slightly and gave her younger brother a worried glance. 'This is probably the worst possible place for Gaara to fight... Sure he can avoid the water easily enough, but if he's forced in or his opponent uses water jutsu...'

Neji was leaning against the wall, crossing his arms. 'So in the end, fate was against you Lee...' While he could see the effectiveness of the technique, in fact he was quite certain that any of the other genin would have been powerless against it, including him, he'd wound up against the one opponent who could actually counter it. Combined with the way it damaged him, and the outcome was a forgone conclusion. 'I pity you... even now, you still don't understand. Something must have been holding that boy back at the academy, something he's since overcome, and so now his true potential has been unveiled for all to see.'

He briefly looked to the blond before his gaze returned to where the medics were taking Lee away. 'This was always his destiny. But you... Even had you won, you would have had no chance of progressing past the next match, or becoming a chunin. Fate has decreed that you can only advance... by falling on your own sword. Our destinies are set in stone... nothing can change them.'

There was a cry of pain as moments before the body of a Suna shinobi hit the forest floor, wide unseeing eyes staring at the sky.

Standing over him was a tan clad leader of Konoha's ANBU. Turning his head, he took stock of how others had fared. The ground was littered with around two dozen bodies, some Suna, some Oto, and a few his own compatriots either from the standard shinobi corps or other black clad figures from the ANBU. He frowned at the last, it was never easy seeing one's own comrade's fall but thankfully, there weren't many. Only an unlucky few had died on their side, despite the fact that they'd been outnumbered.

And that was thanks entirely to the white haired figure clad in red and green, pushing a captured Oto shinobi to the others who hauled him away after the Sannin had slapped a cursed seal on them.

The ANBU turned his eyes to what lied beneath his feet, glaring at the enormous summon circle beneath them. The Sannin had found this group, six Suna shinobi with mixed sand and sound shinobi guards working together on a Combined Summoning Jutsu, something meant to allow weaker shinobi to summon large numbers of high class, perhaps even boss summons, and brought them along to make sure no one escaped and alerted whatever others there might have been, while others spread the word of the impending betrayal back in Konoha.

This was all the proof they needed. They knew someone had to be working with Oto for Orochimaru to be as confident as he seemed. From what Jiraiya had said, the man was supremely arrogant but even he wouldn't try to attack a major village with only a minor one, not without a powerful ally or a trump card.

It was obvious now which it was.

Jiraiya walked over and joined him, also staring down at the seal. The Sannin's mind dwelling on what could have come out of this seal.

"So, did you get anything?" The ANBU captain asked him.

The toad summoner nodded, crossing his arms. "Yeah, it was about what you'd expect. They were planning on summoning just about the biggest snake there is short of their boss and use it like a battering ram on the wall, and while we were running around like headless chickens trying to deal with it they'd storm the village while agents who slipped in with the VIPs attack from within." He shrugged. "I doubt that's all there was to it, and no doubt they've got back up plans."

"I can't believe Suna would work with Orochimaru..."

Jiraiya nodded, knowing what the man meant. He knew the younger shinobi wasn't referring to their betrayal, which was far too common in the shinobi world to be all that shocking. Rather, it was the fact that they would work with a man who was notorious for betraying everyone who put any amount of trust in him. He spent time as Danzo's lackey in ROOT, which was a betrayal of his sensei considering they had basically opposite philosophies and the War Hawk was suspected of working against Konoha as a whole for the sake of his ideal. He then betrayed Danzo and the village completely. He proceeded to join a criminal organization, which he stabbed in the back to go work for himself, and that's not even getting into all the clan's he made promises to since, only for their people to wind up on his lab table.

Work with Orochimaru, sooner or later you were going to get burned.

Still... "I can believe it." Seeing the Anbu's masked face turn to him, he elaborated. "They don't advertise this, but Suna's getting desperate. The Feudal Lord got it in his head that it would be a good idea to outsource most of his business after the last war... and guess who he's been sending it to. From what I know, I'd say they're getting dangerously close to bankruptcy."

The ANBU made a grunt of acknowledgement at that.

"But that doesn't change the situation for us." The Sannin continued, turning to the village, glaring at where he knew the stadium was. 'And if Suna's involved... then right now sensei's sitting right next to one of the ringleaders...' It went without saying they couldn't alert him without doing the same to the enemy. 'Be careful, old man...'

Unaware of the intentions of the man sitting next to him, Hiruzen watched as the people in the seats awaited the next stage in the exams. Beside him, his counterpart stated, "They're restless, aren't they?"

"Can you blame them?" Hiruzen asked with a chuckle. "After that fantastic start, I'm not surprised. I must admit, I myself am somewhat anxious to see the next match... although..." He trailed off, garnering the Kazekage's curiosity. "It's a shame it must be fought between teammates."

"Indeed." the Kazekage nodded, "But all too often in this world, yesterday's friends can become today's enemies. It'll be a good lesson in this fact. Besides, at the very least this means we're less likely to see an accidental fatality."

"I suppose that is something."

The whole of the Hyuuga clan's leadership and many lesser members of the head and branch families had gathered together, watching as Hinata and Kiba jumped over the railing and into the arena in lieu of the still submerged entrance. There were always a fair number of observers from the large clans to report back to the rest of their families a detailed account of the exams, but both with the clan's dubious heiress and their greatest prodigy participating at once, the turnout had been particularly large.

Without looking away from the arena, Hiashi said to his youngest daughter, "Watch Hanabi. Your sister will soon prove her growth to the clan."

"Yes, Father." Hanabi said, the Head Family's unwritten code of conduct demanding that she display neutrality and not show how hopeful she was that Hinata would succeed.

Shino watched as his two teammates took their places, wondering which one would come out on top. He couldn't deny he was curious to see how they'd grown as the trio had been training with their clans. He looked on stoically, his father at his side.

"The next match is Kiba Inuzuka vs. Hinata Hyuuga." Genma announced, the two in question having taken their places.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but we're going to have a tough time matching the show Naruto put on." Kiba commented as he looked at the people in the stands before his gaze returned to Hinata and he smirked. "Let's show 'em what we can do Hinata." Akamaru barked in agreement with his master from his spot on the boy's head.

The blue haired girl nodded shifted into a fighting stance, the veins around her eyes bulging as her Byakugan blazed to life. He expression was blank. Unlike her teammate she didn't enjoy fighting, serious or not.

"And... begin!"

Kiba immediately kicked back and ran made the tiger hand sign as Hinata charged towards him, their movements sending ripples across the water. "Ninja Art: Beast Mimicry! All Fours Jutsu!" Wisps of chakra left his body as his appearance grew more feral, his fingers and canines sharpening. Placing a hand on the water's surface he blurred into motion, rushing past Hinata as she closed in on him and putting some distance between them.

"Akamaru!" He called out, his voice deepened into a snarl. The dog barked in response and leapt off of its perch as he slid to a stop, forming the hand sign again. "Man Beast Clone!" In a burst of smoke, Akamaru was transformed into a copy of the Inuzuka. "Sorry Hinata, but I know better than to try to go up against you at close range without bringing my A-game!"

And with that, the pair shot towards Hinata at the same speed. Hinata stopped and braced herself as they blitzed her from both sides. Hinata was able to block or parry their every attack, ducking under claws and side stepping punches and kicks. One of the Kiba's whether the real one or Akamaru, few in the audience could tell, came at her from behind, she swept the attack aside without even looking, barely turning away from the one before her knocked the clones arm up and it ducked under her retaliatory attack as the other made a swipe aimed at her torso.

Hinata bent her body backwards, letting the attack sail passed her face, and kicked at the Kiba in front of her, only for him to leap back to dodge. She planted her hand on the water and dodged the other's attempt to retaliate and lashed out with another palm strike. The feral shinobi weaved around the blow and Hinata launched herself into the air to dodge, flipping in midair to face Kiba.

The boy launched himself at her in a burst of speed as she neared the water's surface, ramming his shoulder into the center of her torso too fast for her to make a move to defend, eliciting a noise of pain from her. However, the boy let out a grunt of his own when her fingertips touched two spots on his back and chest, one at his lung and the other his kidney.

Kiba kneeled down as Hinata careened backwards, managing to catch herself and skip off the water before slowing to a halt. With the vision granted by the Byakugan, she saw the other one moving to attack behind her. She ducked down at the last possible second, letting him sail over her and delivered a palm strike to his sternum, knocking the him off balance and disrupting