Here @riojiyo131, your trusted writer.
You can now get early access to chapter 61 on my Patreon. You can also read up to chapter 10 of my other story, Naruto: Satoru Senju.
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"Fifth match."
"Tenten, Temari, step forward," announced Hayate Gekkō.
Tenten and Temari stared at each other, neither showing any concern about a possible defeat or disqualification from the Chūnin Exams.
When the match began, Tenten jumped back while Temari remained in place, hands on her hips.
On her back rested a gigantic, still-closed fan.
"Go, Tenten!" shouted Lee from the stands.
"Believe in yourself, Tenten!" Guy also yelled, with the same energy.
"We support you, Tenten!" continued Lee, raising his volume more and more. "Give it your all!"
Guy looked at him with pride and shook his head, amused.
"You're doing well, Lee! But you must cheer for your teammate with even more passion!"
Lee looked at him with shining eyes full of emotion and nodded firmly.
"Understood, Guy-sensei!"
Naruto covered his ears from the other side of the stands to avoid hearing them. Even from a distance, their voices were impossible to ignore.
Because of that, Naruto didn't catch what Tenten and Temari said right before their match started.
Although, like with Ino and Sakura... he couldn't care less.
All he wanted was for his turn to come. He was itching to beat Kiba up.
"How dare that idiot lay his eyes on my girlfriend?"
Last time, when he joked about Orochimaru, it was just that: a joke. But now Kiba was actively courting death.
Hinata is his, no one else's! And Naruto had decided he was going to teach Kiba a lesson — the hard way.
He shook his head to focus and turned his gaze back to the fight.
Tenten was the first to attack.
She jumped towards Temari and threw several shuriken.
Not a single one managed to get close to her.
Tenten's eyes widened in surprise.
"How is it possible that I missed? I never miss!" thought Tenten.
But she soon noticed the trick: the gigantic fan on Temari's back.
Tenten pulled out a scroll and quickly unrolled it.
In a puff of smoke, all kinds of ninja tools emerged, flying at high speed toward Temari.
She smiled, almost amused, and barely lifted her fan.
The tools stuck into the ground around her. None even grazed her.
Tenten stared at her weapons, incredulous.
Temari, unhurried, fully opened her fan.
Throughout the fight, Tenten continued pulling out ninja tools, but none managed to get close.
She even tried to control them with chakra threads for a surprise attack — to no avail.
Temari easily deflected every attempt, wielding her massive fan, until one particularly strong gust sent Tenten flying through the air.
"Third Star," Temari murmured before disappearing from her spot.
Tenten, disoriented, looked around for Temari.
Then she saw her: floating atop her fan, gliding through the air like a feather with a mocking expression.
She landed in front of Tenten with an arrogant smile.
"Weasel Sickle Technique!"
Blades of cutting wind shot out from Temari's fan.
Tenten couldn't dodge in time. The gale engulfed her, as if she were trapped in a storm of invisible blades.
The attack tore her apart. In a single move, Temari had defeated her.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, watched from the stands, frowning.
It was the second time the Sand Ninjas had defeated — no, crushed — the Leaf Ninjas.
He didn't like that one bit.
He decided then that he would assign extra surveillance to the ninjas from the Hidden Sand Village, just in case.
Hayate, wasting no time and showing little concern for Tenten, approached and declared Temari the winner of the Fifth Match.
Naruto raised an eyebrow. Temari hadn't "finished off" Tenten, unlike how she did in the original timeline.
Temari's gaze drifted toward the stands, right where he was.
Temari frowned before looking away.
Was Temari afraid of him... because of what happened the day they met?
Naruto smiled with satisfaction.
If she was afraid of Gaara, her own brother and the Ichibi's Jinchūriki, it made sense she would also fear him, the Kyūbi's Jinchūriki.
Although, of course... he knew that wasn't the real reason.
Temari wouldn't be intimidated just because someone carried a tailed beast.
Gaara was a different story.
And as for the fear she seemed to feel toward him...
"Maybe it's because of that killing intent I showed her? Even more intense than Gaara's?"
Naruto wasn't sure, but it was the only explanation he could think of.
Because Temari didn't "finish off" Tenten, Lee didn't intervene, and Hayate quickly moved on to announce the next match.
Of course, not without first clearing the arena, now littered with scattered ninja tools.
...
Shikamaru Nara vs Kin Tsuchi
"Tch, looks like it's my turn... what a drag," Shikamaru walked toward the combat arena, sighing, hands in his pockets.
Ino, who had partially recovered from her match against Sakura, stayed silent, leaning against the wall of the stands, slightly downcast.
Asuma, at her side, glanced sideways at Ino while smoking, before returning his gaze to the arena.
It was clear that Ino had been affected by the defeat at Sakura's hands, though she would never admit it.
As for Chōji... the boy leaned against the railings of the stands, watching Shikamaru while eating a bag of chips.
Honestly, it seemed like Chōji was more affected by seeing the bottom of his chip bag than by his teammate's match.
Nearby was Team Dosu, where Dosu himself warned Kin to stay alert, given they didn't know Shikamaru's technique.
Team Dosu had no information about the Nara Clan's Shadow Possession Technique.
Since Shikamaru never fought them in the Forest of Death, Kin never learned what his technique was.
Thus, they didn't know they had to be careful — and that would be a problem.
Unfortunately for Dosu, Kin was a very overconfident girl.
"Don't worry about me. He doesn't even look strong. He's probably a weakling."
Within a few minutes, both fighters stood in the arena, facing each other.
Shikamaru looked at Kin lazily.
"What a drag. And it had to be against a girl..."
Shikamaru scratched the back of his neck, bothered, not even bothering to look at Kin directly until the match started.
Kin clicked her tongue at Shikamaru's comment.
"Do you think that just because I'm a girl, I'm weak and easy to beat, is that it?"
Hearing her comment, Shikamaru sighed in frustration.
"It's not that... but it would be a hassle to explain it to you, so think whatever you want."
Naruto, from the stands, looked at Kin with disdain.
"Dammit, that girl is one of those empowered feminists... It's weird she isn't whale-sized or has rainbow hair... It's like they mass-produce them in Chinese factories."
Both Sasuke and Sakura looked at Naruto, confused. Even Kakashi himself gave him a confused glance.
Meanwhile, Kin, hearing Shikamaru's comment, felt her blood boil with rage.
Naruto, overhearing the conversation, burst out laughing, amused.
Even though the men of the Nara Clan are considered geniuses, they're prone to laziness and are hard to motivate.
As a curious fact, they tend to be attracted to strong-willed women.
Currently, Kin thinks Shikamaru is a sexist and assumes, from his comment, that he sees fighting a girl as a waste of time, and is thus underestimating her.
But Nara men actually hold women in very high regard, and as a result, voluntarily submit to their female partners.
Naruto plans to applaud Shikamaru for it on his wedding day with Temari.
He could never submit like that to his own partner. It's simply not in his nature.
Besides, he couldn't imagine Hinata ever yelling at him.
Surely, Hinata would be one of those women who stay silent when they're angry.
Which, honestly, is even scarier when you think about it...
Naruto shook his head, realizing he was getting off-topic, and looked back at the arena where Hayate stood with his hand raised.
Hayate quickly dropped his hand, signaling the start of the match.