Teams 7 and 8 recover the battle and Team 7 takes the scroll the Sound Genin left behind, because Naruto says they'll be able to make use of it. Naruto taunts Sasuke, saying his team couldn’t handle the Konohamaru Corps, much to Kiba’s irritation and Hinata’s dismay. That and the brief scuffle, however, turn out to be Naruto’s way of telling Kiba somethingff
As Team 7 leaves, Shino calls Naruto out on lying to Team 7 about their having an Earth scroll, and Naruto admits that he wanted Sasuke to get to a Medic-nin quickly (although Sasuke’s problem involves something more complex than that), and reveals that he told Kiba to get Sasuke to Kakashi, knowing that Sasuke wouldn’t believe the “dead-last.” Team 8, knowing that they are more likely to get the scroll than Team 7, sets about the task of finding an Earth Scroll.
That opportunity comes fairly soon, as they encounter some Mist Genin. Naruto summons some clones, ands Manabu does likewise. Apparently, the Mist Genin use some form of acidic grenades, and Manabu’s clones are acidic as well, an interesting concept to have the clones harm the enemy when destroyed.
Hinata, using a somersault she learned from Naruto, takes out one of the Mist Genin. Shino’s insects then attack the other, and Naruto punches out the last remaining Genin. Naruto is pleased with the outcome of the battle, and realizes that Orochimaru clearly was no mere Genin (although several hundred chapters later, and after arguably surpassing Orochimaru in power, Naruto’s still a Genin).
Of course, having acquired a scroll, Team 8 knows that they have to get to the tower with it, worrying about how many teams are staking out the tower; Kabuto mentioned that it mainly happens toward the end, which presented a risk and opportunity for canon Team 7, which only had one scroll.
Naruto decides to forgo stealth, and uses a Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu as a diversionary tactic. It ultimately succeeds, although he ends up losing most of his clones in the process, and having many memories drilled into him as a result such as giving Gaara a noogie(although Gaara should have gotten done already, since he cleared the test in an hour, and Canon Team 8 took about a day to do it), or mooning Neji, which is fairly amusing. Shino is slightly injured, though, and Naruto is concerned about Neji's decision to go after the Hinata-clone.
Team 8 meets with Kurenai and reports their findings, including their encounter with Orochimaru, although at this point, only Sasuke and Sakura should know about Orochimaru.
As Iruka double-checks the list of participants, the medic-nins see to Team 8 and tend to their wounds.
After a nap, the preliminaries begin, with all of the canon finalists, save for the Sound Genin, present. With Kabuto dropping out, that makes 17 participants, with eight matches and one person having a bye.
Naruto points out it’s strange that all the rookies passed and almost no one else did, which I agree is fairly strange; the only non-Leaf ninja (not counting Kabuto’s group) were the Sound and Sand Genin, both groups being party to the plan to invade. Kurenai points out the political purpose of the exams, as showing which country’s ninja were strong.
The matches then begin.
Round 1: Yoroi vs. Chouji
Yoroi pushes Chouji’s Berserk Button, causing him to charge forward with Meatball Tank(oddly enough, this jutsu is referred to by its English name; I prefer the Dub’s “Human Boulder”, though) and injure him. Despite draining some of Chouji’s chakra, Yoroi suffers another direct hit and is knocked out. Chouji wins.
This was fairly good; Chouji was one of the few protagonists who lost without a chance to shine, although his turn came in the fight with Jirobo.
Round 2: Tenten vs. Temari
The round, being from canon, goes about as well as you can expect for Tenten, with Shikamaru offering the same assessment about how Tenten is doomed. All of Tenten’s attacks are deflected, and Temari finishes her off with a whirlwind, winning the round. Naruto ponders that people don’t always get good matchups, which he realizes is how things go.
This was a fairly one-sided fight, and similar to canon, but I suppose this happens.
Round 3: Kiba vs. Shino
A grudge match ensues, although Kiba and Shino haven’t formed a rivalry from being on a team. Kiba activates his All Fours Jutsu, but Shino proves fast enough to fight back. Shino remains unimpressed as Kiba activates his Man Beast Clone technique, but Kiba manages to coordinate his and Akamaru/the clone’s attacks, and goes on the offensive with Fang Over Fang. Despite this, Shino manages to wound Akamaru, enraging Kiba, then drains his chakra with his bugs, defeating him.
This was quite entertaining, and made use of Shino’s new jutsus. Kiba remained a fairly credible threat, which was good to see.
Round 4: Misumi vs. Shikamaru
Misumi wraps himself around Shikamaru, but Shikamaru bluffs, saying his kunai is coated in poison and the Village Council cut funding to the hospital, resulting in their not stocking that antidote. As Misumi springs away, Shikamaru distracts him with shurikens, catches his shadow with Shadow Possession jutsu, and forces him to hit his head on the ground by imitating him and causing his flexible body to follow suit. Shikamaru then wins.
This was a decent fight for Misumi being one of the “throw-away” contestants, who only came in to have Kabuto get a team.
Round 5: Hinata vs. Neji
It’s clear that this is unlikely to end well, although Naruto and Hinata hold out hope.
Neji begins his pre-battle Breaking Speech, claiming that Hinata has never defeated him before and cannot defeat him now, but Hinata manages to resist it this time. Part of this could be because Neji doesn’t do any of the following: 1)Assess Hinata’s psyche and tell her that she’s not just a poor ninja, but not even a ninja at all, 2)Make assumptions about Hinata’s motives, or 3)Use his Byakugan to seek out the subtle tells and vulnerabilities Hinata has. His speech here is dismissive, but nowhere near as brutal as the one he gives to her in canon.
Another thing is missing; Sakura’s shock that two members of the same family are fighting against each other, and assumption that it will be hard on them. Naruto doesn’t know the full story, or even very much about the main and branch families’ conflict, but he can tell already that the Hyuuga family is not a happy family.
Naruto grinds his teeth, but says nothing in response, so after establishing that she will not back down, Hinata goes on the attack. Like in canon, Hinata seems to be holding off Neji, until he finally gets all the chakra points on her arms sealed, which prevents her from using Gentle Fist (and somehow disables the Byakugan).
In spite of that, Hinata declares that as a Leaf ninja, and a Hyuuga, she Does. Not. Give. Up. She goes on the offensive and drops her weights. She manages to put him on the defensive, and Naruto starts to cheer for her, but Kurenai disapproves.
While Hinata apparently gets a hit in on Neji, he also hits her with his Gentle Fist, apparently putting her down for the count, but she rises again. Neji, apparently finding her unworthy of attacking with Gentle Fist, hits her a few more times, and wonders why she’s going so far, since she’s a failure. The battle-ending exchange in which Neji accuses her of being a failure, only for her to accuse him of being the one who can’t accept his destiny ensues, followed by Neji’s attempt to kill her, the Jonins stopping him, and Hinata collapsing.
Before we move on to the aftermath of the match, there are a few issues to address here. The first has to do with the altered matchups. To review what we know, three of the finalists- the Sound Genin are no-shows, leaving three people (Chouji, Shikamaru and Shino) without their canon opponents, and with Kabuto gone, one person will not have an opponent.
There are three approaches.
- The Closest to Canon. Put two of the three against each other and give the third a bye. This is a workable solution, but it doesn’t show much of the altered continuity that would be shown here.
- Starting From Scratch. Give the seven remaining pairs of people new opponents, and possibly even give the bye to someone who didn’t make it through the preliminaries in canon. Most of the rounds were fairly interesting and entertaining, even though my favorite character (i.e. Hinata) didn’t make it through, but this creates new possibilities. You can have Hinata fight against Tenten, who trained alongside Neji, and see how Hinata holds up to Neji in her mind. You can have Shino vs. Kankuro earlier than in canon. You could have Sasuke face Lee without the benefit of his Sharingan. The list goes on.
- A mixed approach. This is what this fic does, keeping four of the matches the same and changing three. In the end, four pairs have their canon opponents, seven people do not, one person makes it to the final round when he didn’t in canon, and one person doesn’t make it when he did.
And yet, I have to ask- why was Hinata one of the ones stuck with her canon opponent, possibly the second worst one for her after Gaara, the one who would have killed her? Some of the fic’s fans say that this fic gives Hinata more to do than in canon, and while I can’t argue with that (if largely by making her a main character), I believe that it isn’t necessarily helped by giving her an opponent she’s doomed to lose against.
Shino screams for medics, and Neji looks on, angry rather than smug like he was in canon. Naruto is eager for a fight, and Shino, noticing this, asks Tenten what sort of flowers would be appropriate for Neji’s funeral. Shino then returns to the arena to get intel on the competition, not unlike what Sasuke wanted to do.
Naruto ponders the situation, wondering whether his actions were wrong, and why Hinata’s cousin would try to kill her. The last thing he’s in the mood to do is fight. Kurenai approaches him, and tells him that if he doesn’t go in for his match, he’ll be disqualified, Neji will think he’s a coward, and Hinata will blame herself, which gets Naruto to the arena.
Round 6: Ino vs. Sakura
The round takes place off-screen and ends in a Double-KO. This is unsurprising, as well as understandable, since Sakura’s relevance to the story is very limited here. It also serves a purpose in resulting in there being eight contestants, like in canon, which is a good number of contestants for a tournament.
Round 7: Naruto vs. Sasuke
Sasuke taunts Naruto and Hinata. Naruto punches Sasuke in the face. Sasuke is knocked out. Naruto wins the match.
Yes, that was it. Granted, it’s highly condensed, but that was all the key points.
A good portion of the reviewers cheered at this, apparently because they don’t like Sasuke. But however cathartic the fight is, and however better off Naruto is than in canon, it still seems implausible that a single punch would down Sasuke, not to mention a wasted opportunity for an entertaining match. Sasuke also seems needlessly cruel in insulting Hinata.
On a minor note, notice that Hinata’s not here to cheer Naruto on. In canon, she couldn’t cheer for Naruto against Kiba because she understandably thought that Kiba would get upset (and one Naru/Hina essay found that to be a point in her favor, since she cares about her friends). Here, she can cheer for Naruto, since Kiba’s a fellow ninja, but not one she’s on close terms with; only Shino would present a problem, and he has some idea of how she feels about Naruto.
As Naruto rejoins Kurenai outside the infirmary, the next and final match happens off-screen. This was a good touch, since Chouji vs. Dosu was a bit of an anti-climactic end, although it does make a certain amount of sense to have Lee’s final match one in which he’s still uncertain about his opponent (if Chouji and Dosu went ninth, he’d get Gaara by default), or the order in which he will go (he doesn’t want to go last, but gets his wish when it’s a 50-50 chance). In any case, it’s good to have the most exciting match last...
...or it would be, if we actually got to see it.
Round 8: Gaara vs. Rock Lee
Essentially the same fight happens here that did in canon, but entirely offscreen. This is somewhat disappointing, since it was an epic fight, and Lee is a somewhat more important character here. The difference here is that Guy saves Lee before he’s crippled, although it’s implied in canon that while his left arm and leg are the worst, the damage from the shards of bone is especially bad.
Naruto hears that Kankuro got a bye, but is pleased to hear he’ll go up against Neji, with the drawing happening off-screen. The chapter ends.
The author points out that with the chapter at 11,000 words, but wanting to survive until the new year and avoid presumable Internet Backdraft, he chose to include Naruto’s match. Bibliophile, the author’s beta reader, agrees.
What I Liked
- The charge on the tower.
- Yoroi vs. Chouji.
- Kiba vs. Shino
What I Didn’t Like
- Hinata still gets beaten, this time without gaining anything from the fight.
- Gaara vs. Rock Lee is entirely offscreen
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