Naruto : Struggle Of Childhood

Ties

Naruto watched without too much interest as the match between Shikamaru and Kabuto drew to a close. While Kabuto seemed like he could have easily won, he just threw the match. Shikamaru seemed to have noticed this too because when Kabuto was 'knocked unconscious' Shikamaru gave him a very strange look. Kabuto was carried off by medics, and Shikamaru walked off to join Ino, still looking a little confused.

Truthfully, Kabuto confused Naruto as well. Why would he have gone through all the effort just to throw the match? It just didn't make sense unless he was working for someone. Naruto had a feeling that he didn't know about Hakumei, but then again, he had just been there to give Team Kekkei Genkai information about their opponents and kind of warn them to get out of the tournament. It seemed that Kabuto had done whatever it was that he had wanted to do, so he had gotten out of the whole thing quickly.

Naruto looked over at Neji, Hinata and Gaara. All three of them had to win, and they had to do it in a way that didn't get people to recognize them. The ones with the biggest problems were Gaara and Neji. Both of their techniques were recognizable. Gaara couldn't even turn off his power. No matter what he did, the sand would rise up to protect him.

Also, because of the fear that the villagers of Suna had had for him, Gaara would be easier to recognize than Naruto, who was basically just ignored, would be. Gaara had family here, and they would have had to have seen him at least a little. Gaara had once mentioned that he lived away from his real family with his uncle. Naruto had to admit he thought that that was one of the dumbest plans that he had heard of. It was kind of like begging Gaara to become a homicidal maniac. Then again, that might have been what Gaara's father had wanted anyways...

Hinata would have the easiest time of all of them. She could activate the Tenshi Byakugan beneath the genjutsu. That made her able to use it, but she still couldn't use the Juuken. The Hyuuga family technique was just too obvious. Hinata had her own tricks though, so she would probably be fine.

Neji might have some problems. The Byakugan couldn't be activated, and most of his techniques used it. They really hadn't planned for a situation like this. All of Naruto's dreams of invading Konoha had involved an attack and marching down the main street in full Hakumei uniform.

Although deception and stealth were some of the things drilled into them mercilessly, this wasn't something that anyone had anticipated. Naruto only hoped that that didn't come back to haunt him.

He kept up a bored face as he watched the computer sort through names of the remaining people. Naruto noticed as Haku began to back away and slip out. Apparently, he was going to do a little snooping. The least that he could do was pretend that he wasn't noticing.

Finally, the pinging sound reached Naruto's ears and he looked up to see the new fighters' names.

Haru vs. Tenten

Naruto blinked at the pairing and looked over at Neji, who was looking completely unconcerned. Neji slowly straightened himself from his position of leaning around the rail and sauntered downstairs into the area. Tenten stiffened when her name went up and a she walked down quickly, looking nervous. She was walking stiffly, looking over at Neji a few times and biting her lip. Naruto wondered just why she looked so nervous.

Both faced one another in the arena as Hayate looked between them. He coughed a little and began the usual pre-fight speech. Neji had his arms crossed and looked rather uninterested in the entire thing, but Tenten was looking like she wanted to just attack with everything that she had and to be done with the whole thing.