The Red Flash Chapter 70 (Blood in The Air)

Fuu

The sound of glass breaking could be heard everywhere around her, and as everything went white, Fuu opened her eyes again, and to her surprise, they were both standing back at the preliminary field. Fuu looked around, seeing everyone looking confused, before she turned to look in front of her to see Ikano vomiting on the floor, which wouldn't be that disgusting knowing a Ninja sees worse, but what caught everyone's attention was his saliva, which was dark.

What is this in the first place? What is causing him to vomit like that?! Naruto saw his sister's worried expression, he narrowed his eyes at her, thinking that he had never heard of this bloodline before. His sister's palms were gripping the railings very tightly, as her legs moved uncontrollably.

Lulja, on the other hand, appeared to be more surprised than anything else, as her eyes were drawn to Fuu and analyzed her.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes, she had never heard of this kind of injury.

As Naruto's thoughts drifted away, Ikano slowly rose to his feet, despite the fact that Fuu had numerous opportunities to strike him, but she didn't.

Ikano looked at Fuu as he wiped the dark substance from his lips with his sleeve.

When Ikano brushed off the dust from his clothes, he said, "You break my Genjutsu, it has been years since someone has been able to overcome it."

Fuu didn't say anything except that she was prepared to continue fighting, but Ikano raised his arm in the air.

"I forfeit"

Silence and confusion followed, but as Hayate walked into the center of the field, he was able to overcome his shock and focus on the task at hand.

"Ikano Āegenka has forfeited, and the winner is Fuu," he declared, which was immediately followed by cheers from Naruto, Team Taki, and even Yugito, who was cheering for her fellow Jinchuuriki.

Fuu, on the other hand, was the only one who did not participate. "Why?" Immediately, she demanded as Ikano attempted to walk away, his Sapphire eyes looking back at her with a puzzled expression.

"What's the point of giving up? You still have a lot of chakra left, so you can fight for a while longer!" Fuu demanded to know why.

Ikano smiled at her, and it was a genuine smile. "Let's just say you opened my eyes to something," he replied before walking away to rejoin his group.

His sister came up to him and checked on him, her eyes meeting his, which were filled with concern.

"Do you think you're all right, little brother?" Ikamana was the one who inquired.

Irrespective of the tone of his voice, he said, "I'm fine, sis. I haven't felt this good in quite some time." He laughed as he said this.

With a smirk on his face, Ikano said, "And stop with that little brother, you're only 39 seconds older than me."

When Lulja approached them with a raised brow, his twin sister responded, "No, that's not happening, and I will end up reminding you even in your dying bed."

"Good fight down there, despite the fact that you stood there the entire fight not moving, and instead fought on your own little dark world," she said boredly, hoping that whoever would be in this match would be someone worth it.

Ikano didn't say anything as he looked at the girl with the green hair.

"You worried me, Ikano, and you will have to make up to me later," his sister said, a smirk appearing on his face as he spoke...

Naruto

He smiled as Ashara congratulated Fuu at winning, their teammate just gave her a high five before falling back to sleep, his face resting against the railing.

Fuu turned to look at Naruto who smiled brightly at her.

"You did wonderful Fuu-chan, despite not actu..." Naruto was silenced as Fuu crushed her lips against his, taking literally everyone by surprise.

It was a small, chaste kiss, but it still managed to bring a deep blush to both of their faces. It was over almost as quickly as it began, with both of them jerking back as if scalded. Fu turned her face away in embarrassment.

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, however, his mind was so disjointed that he couldn't even form a proper sentence. "Fu... I... uhhh... What..."

Fu turned back to him, uneasiness coursing through her as she struggled to tell him how she felt. Her heart wouldn't stop beating as she tried to voice her feelings. "Naruto... I... I like you... I mean..." The green-haired girl closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before opening her eyes and staring into the redhead's cerulean pools. "I want to... I want to be with you."

Naruto's eyes widened in astonishment at Fu's admission. He was about to say something when he noticed that literally was everyone looking at them. He touched her shoulder before they Sushin away.

Now, they were in a room nearby. Naruto turned his attention back at Fuu.

Finding it hard to voice his thoughts due to his shock and the emotions coursing through him, he asked, "Why would you... want to be with me?"

Now that she had said it, she knew there was no backing out. The fear of rejection, the fear that she may have ruined her relationship with her fellow Jinchuriki dominated her being as she answered his question. "I've admired you ever since I first saw you. And my admiration only grew when I found out you were like me. That you stayed cheerful and happy, and had such a strong will, despite living the same life I had. Your resolve, your drive to never give up and the fact that you and Ashara showed me that I could still be happy. During all the time we spent together, your drive, your goals became mine, and I realized that I wanted to spend more time with you. That I wanted to keep sharing and facing the good and the bad, together."

Fuu waited with bated breath, hoping that Naruto would return her feelings. "When I met you. I want to be together with you and... I really like you too, Fu."

Fu was stunned. She'd never thought a day like this would come. She stood perfectly still for a moment before her arms swiftly wrapped around his neck, tears, now of joy, rolling down her face. The pair melted into their embrace as they were consumed with a passion they'd never experienced before while.

Pulling away, they shared another heated kiss, Naruto's tongue licked her lips as she opened her mouth, a moan escaped her as she felt weightless, her hands going through his golden hair, melting on the kiss.

Later

Naruto and Fuu soon returned, in the arena was Gaara's brother fighting someone, the moment they returned, Kakashi gave Naruto his famous one eye smile, Sakura gave him a smile, while Sasuke just looked down in the arena not bothering to greet him.

Sarutobi watched his surrogate grandson with pride, while Jiraiya was giving Naruto a thumbs up, while making a ridiculous dance.

Chatting "That's my boy", Tsunade grew a tick mark but made a mental note to have a harmless discussion with the green hair girl later.

"Congratulations, Fuu. I'm happy for you," Chomei said smiling for her little girl, slowly becoming a woman.

"Nice one brat, but you're still a loser for waiting until she made a move," Kurama taunted him with a smirk.

Naruto got annoyed as his eyes meet Ashara, who was blushing at seeing him but mouthed 'Later' at him.

Naruto just nodded as they focused on the fight, holding hands, Fuu felt funny in her stomach.

The fight ended with Kankuro winning, killing the enemy, much to the disapproval looks from almost everyone.

After the arena was cleaned, the screen showed two new names.

Akadou Yoroi vs Uchiha Sasuke.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, it was the teammate of Kabuto's team. "Looks like it's your turn, Sasuke. All the best," he wished the boy luck.

"Good Luck, Sasuke," Sakura cheered.

Back in the arena, Hayate raised his hand before shouting. "Hajime!"

Yoroi placed his hands in a seal, "Let's do this!"

Naruto closely paid attention to the match. After Yoroi had placed his hands in a seal, his left hand had begun to emit a blue aura of chakra as he took off in a sprint towards Sasuke.

Sasuke, for his part, simply stood still with his Sharingan active.' It might be a problem due to the Sharingan, But no matter, I will win anyway,' Yoroi panicked at first, then relaxed, continuing his assault. As soon as Yoroi threw his hand forward, Sasuke blocked it. However, he was shocked when he could feel his chakra leaving him.

"I have the ability to absorb another person's chakra through my jutsu. You don't have a chance," Yoroi said smugly. Sasuke grit his teeth and immediately lashed out, forcing Yoroi to disentangle from him.

Sasuke stood at a distance, breathing heavily. He had deactivated his Sharingan. 'Dammit! I was too careless! I can't afford to lose any more chakra! I have to finish this fast, or I risk exhaustion from his jutsu!' he thought furiously.

Yoroi gazed at Sasuke, feeling smug about his apparently easy victory. However, that feeling soon disappeared when Sasuke seemed to disappear as well, right in front of his eyes. However, the jonin and Naruto saw that Sasuke had just moved incredibly fast, crouching in front of Yoroi and delivering a kick to the boy's jaw.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. 'That cannot be his speed. But that kick....Sasuke copied Lee, didn't he? Not bad at all.'

Yoroi was sent flying with the force of the kick. When Sasuke appeared below him, Yoroi instantly recognized the maneuver as the shadow dance. He had no time to be shocked at all.

"Shishi Rendan!" Sasuke executed a devastating three-hit combo, with the last hit involving smashing Yoroi into the ground with such force that the boy was knocked out instantly. Sasuke stood back, breathing heavily and a scowl on his face. 'I can't believe I was pushed so far by this guy. I should have been able to defeat him no time at all!'

Hayate checked if Yoroi was knocked out. When he was, he stood up and announced Sasuke's victory.

Team 7 and Konoha in general cheered for Sasuke, almost.

Sabuko no Gaara Vs. Misumi

Oh man, Gaara's been getting more edgy as that girl Jinchuuriki's match ended. This can't end well, though Kankuro, Temari, and their sensei Baki.

Gaara sand shushined down to the floor with a hungry look in his eyes, Misumi smirked arrogantly, seeing as how young the boy was he would easily be beaten.

"The fifth match will now begin. Sabuko no Gaara of the Sand versus Misumi of the Rain... Hajime." Hayate announced.

Misumi ran at Gaara and punched at his face. But to his and everyone's shock, save Naruto, Yugito, and Bee, a wall of sand suddenly appeared in front of Gaara, shielding him from harm.

"Mother want's your blood!" Gaara stated darkly as the sand rushed at Misumi, who was too shocked to dodge it.

The next thing they saw was Misumi in the air, cocooned in sand.

"Yes, refresh our sand with your blood!" Gaara said with a hungry smirk, he held up his open hand before forming it into a fist and said, "Desert Burial!"

Misumi screamed in pain as the sand started to get tighter and tighter, there was an explosion of blood and the scream ceased.

Choji turned green and threw up in his bag of chips, Hinata fainted, Neji stared at the boy with surprise but quickly schooled his features, Lee gapped, Shikamaru stared in shock and horror. Karui's eyes narrowed, as did Samui and Omoi's. Naruto, Fuu and Yugito were shocked but weren't as surprised as the others, Naruto looked at Gaara as he calmly walked back to them.

Gaara stared at him, Fuu and Yugito who, to his surprise, didn't stare at him in fear or horror, he instead saw.... Pity.

Gaara's face contorted in confusion, wondering why they cared about him before Shukaku told him that they were trying to have him lower his guard by pretending to care.

A group of assistants cleaned up the bloody floor, the board started to move again, as all the Konoha genin who had yet to go held their breath. Finally realizing they could easily die if they were paired with a certain person.

Haruno Sakura of the Leaf Vs. Karui of the Cloud

Sakura gulped and trembled, seeing as she had just seen a very gruesome death at the hands of a foreign genin, not to mention how all the genin from Kumo seemed to be powerhouses compared to them.

Karui groaned, "No fair, why do I get schreechy!?" she complained as she banged her head against the rail.

"Don't go to hard on her, just take her out fast without revealing your skills," Samui advised.

"Pft won't be hard, look at her. I bet if you breathed on her wrong she'd break into a million pieces," Karui scoffed.

"Try not to do that, brother will make us catch Shishi for the rest of our lives if we increase his paperwork because some dumb bimbo couldn't hold her own against one of us and people complain or something," Bee said with a shrug but everyone, even Ko and Samui who hid their emotions well compared to everyone else, shivered at the thought of catching Shishi everyday for the rest of their lives.

Karui nodded and jumped over the railing and landed on the ground before walking towards the center of the ring, she tapped her foot on the ground impatiently as Sakura took the stairs.

"The sixth match will now begin," Hayate said, "Haruno Sakura versus Karui of the Cloud. Hajime."

No one moved, Karui just kept tapping her foot impatiently.

Sakura was tense as she waited for Karui to attack her, "well?" Karui suddenly asked.

Sakura jolted when she spoke making Karui and the Kumo ninja roll their eyes, "well what?" Sakura asked confused.

Karui spread her arms wide, "I'm letting you have the first shot."

Sakura's eyes widened, "Why would you do that? You lower your chances of winning."

Karui burst out laughing, "h-hey what's so funny?!" Sakura demanded as she glared at the laughing Karui.

"N-Nothing but, oh man do you honestly think you can beat me?" Karui asked, she wasn't being arrogant. In fact she was being blunt, Sakura had no chance of beating her.

"It's funny because you have no chance against someone like me, look at you," she waved her hand at Sakura with a bit of disgust, "you're a fan girl, I bet you've never trained at all outside of team practices, you're pathetic, a weakling!" Karui spat out, "Instead of training when you have free time you probably instead spend time putting on make-up and making sure your hair looks pretty. You only care about your looks and the guy you have an obsessional crush on, I barely know you two but I can see that the emo asshole only see's you as a weakling." Karui said angrily.

"Shut up," Sakura yelled. Despite wanting to ignore it, she knew she was still weak compared to a real Shinobi, that was clearly shown in the Forest of Death.

"I on the other hand, like Yugito and Samui, train my ass off everyday, We don't care about our looks because we have better things to do instead of brushing our hair till it shines or putting on pounds of make-up, I bet you refuse to eat food because you're on a diet like that other fangirl Samui beat! If you actually trained as hard as us you would find out quite quickly that you could actually eat more and still be in shape because of your training! I train so I can protect myself, my friends, my family, and my village. You on the other hand, are a useless excuse of a kunoichi!"

"Damn Karui's going off on her," Ko muttered to Yugito.

"I agree with her," Yugito's face curled up slightly in disgust, "she's an awful excuse of a Kunoichi who gives the ones who actual try to train and become strong a bad name. Tch, shame I didn't get to fight her I'd would have shredded her eyes out." She fumed.

Sakura clenched her teeth, grabbing two Kunai from her pouch, she knew she had no way of winning this battle, Should I give up? she asked herself, slowly raising her hand.

If you fail, then stand up and go fail again

Sakura raised her arms again, she saw that the Kumo Kunoichi wasn't taking her seriously.

Sakura breathed in and out before adding as much chakra as she could to her feet, only one chance, she thought before she suddenly rushed at her, Karui was completely taken aback by her speed, thinking she had only low Genin Speed. Karui immediately dodged to her right, but Sakura reached her as her Kunai stabbed her left arm, Karui winced in pain before her eyes turned furious, she had underestimated the bitch...

Sakura's eyes widened but had no time to do anything as Karui's fist punched her square in the jaw, making the girl fly back and skidded across the floor before stopping in a dazed heap.

As Sakura feebly lifted her head up, she suddenly saw the bottom of Karui's boot as she kicked her in the face making her slam into one of the walls and sticking in it.

As Sakura slowly fell out of the hole in the wall and collapsed to the ground near unconscious, she gulped as Karui stood over her.

Karui punched her square in the face, making her finally fall into unconsciousness.

"Tch let you off easy," Karui said as she walked back up to her friends who stayed a good distance away from the still angry girl.

"Winner, Karui of the Cloud." Hayate announced with a small fit of coughs.

The assistance took Sakura to the infirmary, Sasuke looked concerned, while Karui was checked her wound on her arm.

Naruto had to give it to Sakura, she used Karui's overconfidence against her, causing her a wound, he knew she didn't win but at least showed that Sakura was finally taking her job more seriously.

"Wow that student of yours has quite the temper," Kakashi said as he looked at his Icha Icha.

"Karui is like a hot headed girl, but if you succeed in getting her enough angry then she'll make you scream in pain so much it'll make your blood curl," Killer Bee responded cheerfully.

Nara Shikamaru Vs. TenTen

"Defeat Him my youthful Student," Gai suddenly cheered followed be a Lee who was crying tears of joy.

TenTen just cringed at their strange ritual of cheering.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru said as he saw his name on the board.

"Come on Shikamaru," Choji said with support, "you can fight and win."

"I suppose, I would be less troublesome if I just forfeited."

Tenten didn't waste any time, as she threw multiple shurikens at the running Nara, as he desperately and narrowly dodges her impeccable accuracy.

He had to remind himself to thank Asuma for the intense physical training he received to improve his speed and stamina, otherwise he would be an easy target for the bun-haired girl.

Shikamaru managed to dodge the last shuriken with a sloppy back-flip and throw several shurikens at Tenten, but they were easily intercepted by her own, as she then follows up by throwing more projectiles at him, some even managed to cut his arm and shoulder.

Tenten decided to end the match quickly, so she can preserve her energy and not give away too much of her skills, so she leaped high into the air, and took out a sealing scroll from her pouch.

Tenten then opened the scroll, revealing several storage seals written in them, as she unsealed multiple weapons at a time, and threw them all in rain of steel towards the stunned Nara, all from shurikens, kunais, senbons, short swords, and sickles.

Knowing dodging was impossible, Shikamaru made several hand-seals and slammed both his palms on the ground.

"Earth Style: Multi Mud Wall!"

Several large walls of earth suddenly emerge from the ground around of Shikamaru, just as the flying weapons were about to collide, shielding him from Tenten's attack.

Most of the Jonins were shocked that Shikamaru was able to use a strong defensive elemental ninjutsu when he is only a Rookie Genin, but they could tell it was quite taxing for the Nara, as he was lightly panting.

Tenten then landed on the ground, surprised but annoyed that none of her weapons was able to hit Shikamaru. She still has a couple of tricks up her sleeve, but she hopes to not waste them on a preliminary round, when she plans to save them for the finals.

'That was too close. That last Jutsu took a lot out of me. I only have enough chakra for 3 more ninjutsu attacks. This is such a drag. I need to plan my move very carefully, if I want to win this stupid preliminary.' Shikamaru thought, as he remained hidden behind his earth walls, away from Tenten's line of sight.

'This is getting annoying. I thought this was going to be an easy fight. I mean, this guy doesn't even look that impressive, not like Neji or Naruto. But then again, Lee is almost as strong as Neji and he looks like Guy Sensei. Plus, the fact that he can perform elemental ninjutsu proves that he is no joke. I might have to use my trump card after all.' Tenten thought in frustration.

But her train of thought was interrupted when she saw a shadow coming around the earth-wall, and towards her in full speed.

Not willing to stand around and find out what the shadow was gonna do to her, she quickly leaped away, but the shadow was still chasing her around like a snake.

She was having some trouble finding her footing, since so many of her discarded weapons was still on the ground beneath her feet, but she still had nothing to worry about, as long as she remained vigilant.

But suddenly, Tenten tripped and lost her balance when she 'accidently' stepped on the handle of one of her discarded short swords, which surprised her greatly, since she NEVER in her career as a Genin of Konoha, done something as clumsy as tripped before.

'What the hell! I could've have sworn that my feet weren't going to be near that sword! What just-'

Her train of thought was broken once again, when she suddenly felt her body completely paralyzed.

"Shadow Possession Success." Shikamaru said with a smirk, as he finally stepped out of his cover behind the earth wall.

"What is this?! Why can't I move my body?!" Tenten demanded to know.

"You don't know? Well this is my clan's secret technique. And I rather not disclose its secrets to everyone here, if I'm going to fight them in the future, even if its troublesome." Shikamaru said with a tired sigh, as he walked towards Tenten, and in turn, making her walk towards him as well.

Tenten angrily narrowed her eyes at the drowsy Nara, but then a thought came to mind when she realized something.

"You did something, did you?! When I was trying to avoid your shadow, I suddenly tripped, which is something I would NEVER do! So what did you do?!" Tenten demanded, with venom in her voice.

"Hmph, so you noticed, huh? Well....."

EARLIER

'That was too close. That last Jutsu took a lot out of me. I only have enough chakra for 3 more ninjutsu attacks. This is such a drag. I need to plan my move very carefully, if I want to win this stupid preliminary.' Shikamaru thought, as he remained hidden behind his earth walls, away from Tenten's line of sight.

Shikamaru then slowly closed his eyes, as the whole world slowed down around him, as his brain went into overdrive.

'Her advantage: My lack of long range attacks. My advantage: Her overconfidence. First, distract target. Use shadow to draw her towards the floor of discarded weapons, making her unbalanced. Caught off-guard but not unprepared, target will use her experience and skills in acrobatics to avoid the shadow at all cost. Second, apply sufficient amount of Earth chakra into the ground, resulting a small yet unnoticeable quake, thus causing said floor of weapons to move a tad, as she tries to avoid the shadow without noticing the ground beneath her. Third, once target is unbalanced, the shadow will catch her with ease, rendering her immobile.

Shikamaru then opened his eyes, as if he had only been gone for 2 seconds during his brainstorming session.

He then made a single hand-seal.

"Ninja Art: Shadow Possession Jutsu!"

Shikamaru then send out his shadow towards Tenten to execute his plan of attack....

NOW

As Shikamaru was recalling the process of his plan on making Tenten tripped, the bun haired girl and everyone else is still waiting for him to explain, with anticipation.

".........Its's too troublesome to explain." Shikamaru said with a tired sigh, making the bun-haired girl and everyone else sweat-drop at his laziness.

'Typical Shikamaru.' all the Rookie 9 including Asuma thought in unison.

"Tsk, big deal. So what if you catch me with your Shadow. All you can do is hold me here until your chakra runs out. All I have to do, is wait." Tenten scoffed, as she finally remembered hearing about the Nara Clan's shadow abilities, that only specializes in entrapment.

"I'm sure you would. To be honest, this whole thing is completely troublesome........but I didn't come this far to quit now." Shikamaru said with a hint of determination in his eyes, as he then made several additional hand-seals.

"Ninja Art: Shadow Strangle Jutsu!"

The shadow beneath Tenten's feet began to extend up her leg and towards her neck, as the edge of the shadow took the form of a 'hand'.

Tenten's eyes widened in panic when the shadow-hand reaches her neck, and began to squeeze tightly.

Tenten was now struggling to breath, as she was completely helpless due to the shadow paralysing her every movement. She was fighting hard to break his hold, but her lungs and brain were screaming at her to surrender, which she reluctantly did, before Shikamaru did something he might regret.

"I-g-ivve-u-u-pp" Tenten struggled to say her words before she passes out from lack of oxygen.

Shikamaru immediately broke his hold, and released his Jutsu, dropping the unconscious Tenten on the concreate ground.

Lee was about to jump from the balcony to catch Tenten before her head hits the floor, but surprisingly, Naruto beat him to it, which surprised everyone at how fast he was.

Her head landed on his chest, as Naruto slowly and gently lowered her to the ground, while Tsunade and her medical team rushes over to them.

Naruto noticed the hand-shape bruise on her neck, but luckily it was nothing serious.

He then subtly channelled his chakra in his hand and gently placed it on her bruised skin, making her squirm but immediately relaxed into it when it soothes her pain. Guy then approached them, and gave Naruto a thankful smile and thumbs-up for helping his student.

"Tenten has forfeit the match. Winner of the fourth preliminary round and advancing to the finals, is Shikamaru Nara."

As TenTen was taken away, the others prepared for the next match. Naruto waited for the next match, as they waited, Naruto saw the next two names on the screen, not liking it.

Ashara saw, her purple narrowing at him, at the Kumo Shinobi, he had tried to kill Naruto while he was unconscious and defenceless like a coward, she punched her palm, ready to kill him.

Ashara Uzumaki vs Gitago of Kumo

After Chunin Exam Arc ends, there will be Kiri Rebellion Arc and then Uzushiogakure Arc which ends this Story, after that is Shippuden.

Shippuden Story will be a Separate Story, but I would like to know in comments if I should continue in Shippuden or just focus on 'The Conqueror of The Shinobi World'.

Thank You For Reading my Stories.