Life's Wild Card

Chapter 1

Hello everyone, sorry I have been gone so long. I'll be honest, working at my job has left me drained and I lost my muse, I didn't really WANT to write as I just looked at it as more work to do. It became hard to just get my ideas onto the screen. Still, I have been lurking around the site, just reading stories that interested me. I still respond to most PMs as well. But with the recent events going on with the Virus, I felt a bit better. Still, I am what is considered an Essential Employee since I work at a credit union, so I still have my job. However, most of you don't so I figured I would help relieve some of your boredom with my stories. I know I have been gone a while and I understand if some of you don't want to read my stuff, but I and my creative spirit are back. I figured I would try again.

So this and 'The Other Box' are what I have in store. Please check out both.

Enjoy.

XXXX

Bored blue eyes stared onto an arena that they were meant to fight in. By they, that would be him and the other participants of the chunin exams. He didn't fully remember entering, but the Façade had and that is what irked him, among other things.

Ever since he had awoken, it had been one head-scratching situation after another. He had to find his teachers, not the scarecrow that was Kakashi, who seemed disinterested in everything, but claimed to be his teacher. GAH! What was going on! Nothing was making sense! Memories of his past and the Façade were clashing and it hurt his head. However, he at least knew who he was. He was Naruto Uzumaki, a ninja of the Hidden Leaf.

At least something good had happened while he was gone.

As soon as he woke up in the thoroughly destroyed clearing that he knew was caused by his Razor Wind Jutsu, many things happened which lead him to where he was now, in this arena. He knew he had to fight at one point, something he had been always prepared to do. But now he knew he was forced to fight thanks to the words of the Hokage, who looked older now. Huh, that much time had passed? Terrific.

Those bored eyes watched a boy named Sasuke Uchiha walk down into the area to fight some unremarkable shinobi with a covering over his mouth and dark glasses to cover for his identity even though he was a shinobi of the leaf. Right, sure he was. But apparently Sasuke was his teammate along with some pink-haired girl named Sakura Haruno. She was annoying from the little time he knew her.

He grunted to himself as he thought back to how he awoke, his Façade connecting a few things for him as those memories surfaced.

XXX - flashback- XXX

Angry blue eyes glared dangerously at sickly yellow slits for eyes that belonged to Orochimaru of the Sannin, not that he really knew that for he never paid attention in the academy. All he knew was that this man had done something to Sasuke and thoroughly freaked out Sakura.

"Ah, the Kyuubi Brat." The Sannin said pleasantly as he blocked Naruto's kunai with his own hand like it was nothing, no, like HE was nothing. "So good of you to join us, but I have no use for you. Begone!" Before Naruto could react, the Snake Sannin slammed a glowing blue fist into his gut, making him feel far weaker than he should. Then, he was easily flung into the waiting maw of a giant snake, that quickly slithered away, causing Sakura to cry out, knowing that there was nothing that she could do as it went on its way.

XX

Almost to the snake's strange stomach, Naruto raged and fought with all his might, no matter how weak he now felt. He didn't know it, but that seal that Orochimaru put on him was glowing and interacting with another seal on his chest. Both pulsed angrily as he fought the snake and their effects.

Suddenly Naruto built up his chakra to a level that increased with every minute that could rival most jonin and spoke a jutsu that he had never used before. Like it had just come to him. It felt familiar though, like an old friend.

"WIND STYLE: RAZOR SPHERE!"

With that bellow, the wind both inside and outside the snake picked up and the giant beast knew this was its end, for the next moment, it was gone in blood and gore inside a steadily growing sphere of violent wind with Naruto in the middle, his form all splayed out and his eyes different, one white and the other with golden spinning circles around the pupil, almost looking like an atom. The two glowing seals pulsed one more time before it looked like they dissolved, his eyes going back to normal as well. In that moment, the sphere exploded, sending those violent cutting winds everywhere. The sound echoing all over the Forest of Death and the rest of the village, like a bomb going off. And with it, hurricane-force winds that pelted all the chunin exams participants for all but a brief moment, but still enough to do a lot of damage.

XX

Hours later, those same blue eyes awoke, but they were different somehow like someone else was behind the wheel. Naruto dragged himself to a nearby stream to wash himself off, noticing his orange clothes were nothing but rags thanks to the stomach acid of the snake. However, he just looked at the color with confusion.

"Why are my clothes orange?" he asked no one in particular before his eyes widened briefly in panic. "Why do I sound older?" Looking at himself in the water more closely this time, he was indeed a few years older. Early teens if he had to guess.

Slowly his mind came out of the fog as he widened his eyes again and got up too quickly, and about fell flat on his face. "Where are my teachers?" then his eyes narrowed in anger as he unconsciously traced a scar that ran up and down his left eye. "Where is Danzo." He growled in anger. Oh yes, it was coming back now, he was defending his teachers from Danzo, which gave him that scar. After that though, everything was a blank.

"UGH!" Naruto clutched his head in agony as memories flooded his mind in a complete jumble. Impossible, he had led another life! Of that he could at least see. Panting, he looked back at his reflection and saw that the eye with the scar was briefly different in his stress. An eye he knew too well, the eye of one of his teachers. The unmistakable eyes of the Sharingan. "Shisui's eye?! Just what is going on? What happened?!"

"No! I have to calm down, my teachers would kick my ass to the next village if they saw me now." Naruto reasoned, calming his breathing down as he took stock of his situation from his jumble of memories. "Right, so I am in the Forest of Death, meaning I am part of the Chunin Exams…which means I am a full Shinobi like I wanted." Another pulse and his face grew annoyed, at himself. "Too bad I was an idiot!" No! He was no fool like the memories showed him. It wasn't him. Those memories had to be fake. They were just a Façade.

As soon as he reasoned that, he looked himself over and grimaced. He had to get better clothes before he ventured further into the forest to look for what he could only assume were his teammates. No…the Façade's teammates, if they could be called that. Walking back into the clearing he woke up in, he saw the destruction that he recognized as one of his more powerful jutsu. "Hmm, not only has my body grown but so has my power. I guess having it locked away for so long built it up to this point. I will have to get used to both."

The blond sighed to himself as he began the process of looking for the remains of the snake his jutsu had killed. There wasn't much as the violent winds had even shredded the bones and scattered everything. It was enough, especially considering that this might have been a summon of sorts. Odd how it hadn't gone up in a poof of smoke. He got to work making snakeskin clothes, a skill he picked up when he was younger and he preferred the forest to living in the village. Crafting a pair of pants and a shirt with the skin was annoying and offered little protection, but they would have to do. A plus though was that they helped him blend into the forest more so that was good, even if had to go barefoot.

Next, he went about collecting the bone fragments, those seemed to be sharp enough to use as weapons at least. The next moment though, he heard the creaking of the trees he destroyed and looked at the edge of clearing to see the massive head of the snake, barely intact before it crashed to the ground. Inspecting it, he grinned darkly. Yes, the fangs were still usable, they would make great weapons.

XX

After searching ground zero of his reawakening, he made a small camp in case his potential teammates were still alive and looking for him. Heh, that was doubtful. They never shied away from showing how much they disliked his Façade's presence. So here he was, trudging through the Forest of Death for better gear and people in general.

To his luck, he heard a scream in the distance and roar. His first interaction with someone new after so long and he was to save them. He couldn't see that going wrong. "Oh joy." He mumbled.

XX

Karin was a bit small for her age, not nearly as tall as her teammates once were, but that sometimes actually helped her. Not this time. After being saved by some handsome guy from a bear after getting separated from her teammates in this damn forest, she thought she was in the clear, only to find them dead and being eaten by two tigers.

This, of course, made her scream out in horror which led her to now, hiding from these huge beasts of prey. Normally yes, they were already big, but this forest was all kinds of messed up and these two were far bigger than they should be, giving her teammates enough trouble that they were no match.

She thought she was hidden up in a tree, so when the tigers seemingly left, she nearly panicked when they shook her tree. Soon, they lost interest and went back to their meal. She was just a snack for them. So imagine her surprise when a bored-looking blond with clothes that looked like they were made of snakeskin, casually walk down the path to see the two tigers enjoying their meal, paying him no mind. That right there kind of pissed her off, but thinking about it, he seemed to have taken the path that was not downwind…and he didn't scream like she did.

"Bummer, seems I was too late." The blond grumbled to himself, ready for anything these two large cats would throw at him. It seemed the snakeskin he wore was temporarily masking his scent, so he was ignored.

That wasn't for long. Why? Because a roar shook the forest around him, making everything go silent. It would seem that the smell of blood had attracted other beast of prey and boy was it big. It was bigger than the tigers! It was a massive lion with a multitude of scars dancing on its body, painting a picture of its life.

Oh and it was looking directly at him, masked scent be damned.

"Nope." Naruto said out loud as he started walking away, sending general confusion throughout all parties. That stunned silence was enough for Naruto to look right at Karin in the tree she was in to a say, "You should run." Before his slow walk shifted into an all-out sprint as the giant cats made chase.

XX

"YOU WERE GOING TO LEAVE ME TO DIE!" Karin screamed in rage as the blond sitting across from her in his camp, calmly eating his lion meat in peace, sporting a new look. Including the snakeskin clothes, he now wore his kills proudly. The furs of the giant cats now an extra layer of protection with the tiger heads acting as shoulder pads and the lion head acting as a hood and cape extension. It was kind of badass.

"Seeing as I was unsure of my current power, I offered you the advice of running." Naruto stated.

"Could have fooled me!" the redhead raged. "You took them down easily with those giant white weapons." Ah yes, the fangs of the giant snake. Useful tools in taking down giant cats with the venom still on them, it was only right to use them as makeshift arm swords that now hung on his belt. "You only helped me because they nearly got me and I screamed for your help. You would have left me to get eaten alive like my teammates."

Oh yeah, great first impression. A voice at the back of Naruto's head sounded, which made him almost wince. It seemed that the bleed between the two personalities was going to be a problem. Before, he usually didn't care about people…well other than his teachers.

Sighing in resignation, the furred blond stared at the redhead, making her flinch. "What's done is done. You are here now, so eat your meat before it gets cold."

"R-right." She said timidly, a rather odd shift in her personality if you ask him, but he was trying not to care, but the Bleed was making that difficult. Ugh!

"Naruto." He said.

"What?" the redhead asked with big eyes.

"I said my name is Naruto. I figure I should give you my name since you will be with me as we make our way to the center of the forest. The sooner this part of the exams are over the better and you can get back to your family."

"I guess that's fine." The girl replied dishearted. Was she really that weak? Oh who was she kidding, she knew that answer and his offer of help was the best thing for her. "Karin…Karin Uzumaki."

Naruto's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before they went back to their unfeeling bored look. "Hmm, so I guess that makes us some form of relation then. I too am an Uzumaki."

"Huh? But you don't have red hair." She countered with surprise and bit of hope. "Most Uzumaki have red hair."

"I never said the relation was perfect," Naruto stated as he took another bite of his meat, contemplating this new information.

XXX -end flashback- XXX

Naruto barely watched as the Uchiha wiped the floor with his chakra absorbing opponent, quite literally. But with a dark power that he had observed in the Forest of Death. He would have to look into that, maybe.

As he leaned against the wall away from his team, he turned his head to the left to see Karin still next to him, having not left his side ever since their family relation was known between them. It was kind of nice to say that. However, he frowned when he noticed a small blush on her face as she stared the Uchiha with awe. Hmm, another Uchiha fangirl…terrific. He and the distant voice thought with annoyance for different reasons. After this exam was over, he would need to take care of the Bleed his Façade was causing.

As the next fight started between an Aburame named Shino and some cocky little prick with his arm in a sling, he thought about what his future would hold with having family near him. He wasn't sure he wanted Karin to go back to the Hidden Grass with her only family in her dead mother as well as her teammates. From what he could guess, neither did she.

A shuffling to his right reminded him of his other tag along as she made herself comfortable on the floor, an annoyed blush on her face as she rubbed her broken leg. He smirked to himself at her prideful nature. It seemed she was not used to getting help from others.

XXX -flashback- XXX

"This is gross!" Karin shouted to her walking companion. The reason for her current freak out was because Naruto had fashioned a weapon for her in the form of two giant paws from one of the tigers.

"I cleaned them off," Naruto replied in confusion. "Be at least happy that I am giving you a close-range weapon to fight potential targets should the need arise." He made his case as they made their way through the forest the next day, having given up the thought that his teammates were searching for him. Not caring or they were injured.

Probably both.

"Still, it is gross." Karin wined, she was going to complain more when Naruto held his hand out to stop her and make her silent. She noticed that someone was ahead of them, but they were hobbling and looked to be in pain.

That turned out to be true as the figure fell in a pained scream belonging to a girl. They slowly made their way over to her to see that she had the normal red and brown garb of a shinobi from the Hidden Stone Village. She also had short black hair and bright pink eyes.

Huh, so Hidden Stone was in this exam too? Interesting.

He would have to ponder that later because she noticed them and chucked a kunai at him, which he caught with surprising ease. It must have shocked the girl because she was angry, but while looking right at the floor. "What do you want?" She said weakly.

Staring at the girl for a moment and then at her leg, nodded to himself. The damn Bleed was at work again. He should just leave her to die in this damn forest, after all they were technically enemies, both exam wise and village wise. She seemed like she already resigned herself to death. But…he couldn't just leave her like this. The Façade's memories screamed for him to be better. So he grabbed a couple of nearby sticks and some leftover animal fur he still had on him to make a splint for the girl's broken leg, much to her shock.

"What are you doing? Why are you helping me?" The girl asked in that weak voice, confusion and anger mixed in.

"Because someone else could have gotten it wrong." The blond found himself saying. "I am no medical ninja, but I know enough first aid to get the job done."

Karin smiled at the sight. This act of kindness is what told her the truth. Naruto was a true Uzumaki to her. Her mother had told her about their clan. They were kind, but strong. However, it was their random acts of kindness that was their downfall. With each show of their power, they became feared. It just goes to show, no good deed goes unpunished and the Uzumaki paid the ultimate price in the ninja world.

The girl stared at Naruto like he was nuts. "Like medic ninja are useful anyway. I bet they can't even fight."

Naruto chuckled darkly at a secret he only knew. "I wouldn't be too sure of that. After all, these people have an intimate knowledge of the human body, I am sure they could cause damage that way. Besides, Tsunade of the Sannin proved that notion wrong anyway."

"Whatever!" The girl replied with an embarrassed blush. "Who are you anyway?"

"I am Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto replied as he finished with the makeshift cast on her leg.

"An Uzumaki huh? I guess that would make grandpa happy." The girl replied solemnly, not wanting to elaborate any further. "Name's Kurotsuchi, don't you forget it!"

"Very well, I won't," Naruto replied as he got up and held up a hand for her to take.

She reluctantly took it to get herself back up and then slapped him away. "I can take care of myself now thank you very much!" Naruto stared at her before shrugging and starting to walk off. He heard her grunt with exertion as she tried to walk and nearly fall. She didn't though thanks to catching herself on a nearby tree. Looking back to the blond as he walked away and the hesitant redhead with him, she grimaced and swallowed her pride. "Wait…I need help."

"What was that?" Naruto asked with a smirk as he faced the opposite direction.

"I said I need your help ok!" Kurotsuchi shouted annoyed at the very fact that she needed his help at all. Her grandfather would be laughing at her if he saw this situation. It was ridiculous! Damn that blasted wind that forced her off her course and land in an awkward position, breaking her leg! "I am tired and weak and need your help to get to the tower!"

"Very well." Naruto stated. He was right next to her again, but with his back to her. "Get on." Kurotsuchi hated feeling weak, but she had no choice other than to accept his help. So she let herself on his back to be carried.

She still felt vindictive too for even needing his help. "I still think you are an idiot for helping me."

Naruto sighed, "This is going to be a regular thing with you, isn't it?"

XXX -end flashback- XXX

The blond smirked to himself as when he looked down at her, she looked away with an annoyed blush on her face, she was still pissed off that she needed his help to get anywhere. After their odd introduction, they had started to learn more about her. Like Karin, she lost her team to the forest. Not to the animals but to other Konoha ninja that had a beef with her village for one reason or another. Her only saving grace was the hurricane-force winds he created in his reawakening that blew them away but put her off course to the point she fell and broke her leg. That was something he would not let her know that it was his fault. Good thing the medics got her a better cast and once this part of the exam was over, they could help heal her better.

They also learned that her grandfather was the Tsuchikage, but Naruto didn't care, something the girl took to heart. People back home didn't talk to her in fear of incurring his wrath. So she was alone. Well, she had her teammates, but they were dead now.

It was also thanks to her and Karin that they were even able to get into the tower at all. It seemed that Naruto's teammates had given the scroll they had to Orochimaru as a peace offering, but he just destroyed it. That saved a lot of time and they got a day's rest in the Tower for the rest of the exams.

Of course, Karin and Kurotsuchi were barred from participating any further in the exams, but there was no rule that they could not watch the preliminaries. Plus, they kept Naruto company. After all, he liked their presence better than his own teams'.

It seemed his Façade's memories were correct and they cared little for him. He kept to himself and left them alone, something they took notice of but didn't comment on. However, their jonin often eyed him, catching on to there being something severely different about him. Naruto would have to keep an eye out for him.

Looking back to the arena, it seemed that he had completely ignored Shino's win and the next battle entirely, with the puppet user winning his own match. So who was next? Paying more attention, he noticed it was between his female teammate, Sakura, and some other blond, Ino, if he remembered correctly. A fight between two fangirls? Heh, that would just result in a slap fest probably. Not worth paying attention to.

However, it made him think back to how he encountered his teammates. They were being attacked by the sound team and Sakura was struggling by herself, so team 10 came to her rescue. But Sasuke woke up and put that team down easily. It was interesting to watch, even if Sasuke was using that dark chakra. Thankfully Sakura managed to calm him down. He would have helped them if that need arose, but other shinobi were watching from the trees, so he doubted anyone needed his help.

So then he made his presence known, shocking everyone at his change of clothes, the strange scar over his eye, and then his personality. For her credit, Sakura was happy to see him alive after being eaten by a giant snake, but that soon turned to anger that he chose then of all times to come back. She did what she normally did with him and tried to punch him in the face. He put a stop to that by merely catching her fist, freaking everyone out. Usually he just took the punch but not anymore. He was no one's punching bag, even voicing as much.

He called her annoying for it before informing them to follow him to the tower, daring the others to try and attack him. They never moved a muscle against him as they walked away. His team didn't even ask who their tagalongs were until they were in the safety of the tower.

Huh? Done already? Naruto thought as he heard the announcement that Ino had won. It seemed that while he was lost in thought, Ino made Sakura quit by getting in her mind. The girl's willpower to continue on faltered when he didn't even cheer for her, which would have boosted her confidence a bit.

"That was pathetic." Kurotsuchi growled out next to him. "Makes the rest of us Kunoichi look bad."

Naruto nodded, he had to agree. Something Kakashi noticed of his student with a narrowed eye. This was defiantly not like the blond.

XXX

The next two fights were rather interesting. Sure the matchup between a wind user and a weapon user was severely one-sided, but it showed that not all of the women in Konoha were weak girls pinning after one guy.

He also thought that the fight between Shikamaru and Kin of the Sound was interesting as well. It showed just how clever Shikamaru was, making him wonder if the lazy genius would figure out what happened to him or not. The lazy had been staring at him quite a bit more than usual after all.

But finally it came to his fight.

Naruto Uzumaki vs Kiba Inuzuka.

"HA! This will be over quick! We got lucky Akamaru!" Kiba boasted as he and his hound made their way down to the arena. He was a boastful guy, but even he had been wary of Naruto's new look. He knew something had happened in the forest, but he wasn't sure what.

As soon as Naruto got down to the arena with him he boasted some more. "You might as well give up you idiot. You were the dead last in the academy after all. You can't beat me." Kiba smirked cruelly at the blond. "In fact, I'll just become Hokage in your place! How about that?"

Naruto merely smiled. "Go ahead then Kiba, take that Façade's dream, but you have to beat me first." The mention of his Façade brought the order generation's attention on him. Now they knew something was up with him. "But can you do it?"

"Quit acting tough you idiot. Your new look won't do much here!" Kiba growled as the proctor told them they could fight.

"Who's acting?" Naruto replied with a smirk as he unleashed his killer intent that the whole room felt, but the older generation knew this was something different as Kiba fell to his knees, panting with wide fearful eyes. "Do you like it? Intent of the Predator is something I picked up in the forest. It makes you feel that primal fear we all have of the beast that hunts you in the night. I got the full blast of it from these cats I am wearing."

The fear was that much worse for Kiba because of his connection to the animal kingdom thanks to Akamaru. It made him want to turn tail and run, he was hyperventilating so much. Surprisingly it was Akamaru that brought him out of it, making him calm down. "T-that was not cool!"

XXX

"He shouldn't have done that," Kakashi muttered as he stared at Naruto.

"Why not?' Sakura asked, still a little pissed that she lost her own fight, if it could be called that.

"You shouldn't ever use something like that against a comrade, no matter the situation." Kakashi explained. He knew something was up with Naruto and he couldn't rule out that it was because of the two ladies he was hanging around, but he felt that wasn't it. This Naruto was another person altogether. One look at the Hokage showed that he too thought the same, but the old man seemed to have an air of recognition around him.

XXX

"I am sorry, but I don't care. It is a fight, after all, I am just glad that wasn't enough to take you out." Naruto grinned. The anticipation of having an actual fight was exciting! He would get to test the limits of his older body now. Fighting animals was one thing, fighting a human was another. "So…let's get wild!"

"Fine!" Kiba growled as he tossed a pill to Akamaru and the dog got bigger before they both performed the man-beast clone, the both of them looking like feral versions of Kiba. "Let's see you survive this!" Clearly the fear from earlier had provoked him and made him go all out.

"Good." Naruto replied with a smile, "You are taking this seriously." He took out the makeshift arm blades that he made from the snake fangs and momentarily grimaced. He knew these weren't going to survive the fight. They were severely damaged by the giant cats.

"FANG OVER FANG!" Kiba screamed as the duo spun towards him with such violent force that Naruto had to sidestep to get away from them. The blond anticipated the Inuzuka to bend back around to try and strike at him again. As soon as the spinning duo struck, Naruto blocked with his bladed arms in an X formation. When that happened, he heard the crack of the fangs before they shattered to pieces, causing everyone watching to have anxiety to certain degrees, but Naruto had planned for this. He saw that the attack had slowed down to a point that he was able to grab the duo by the arms before flinging them away.

Getting back up, Kiba eyed him wearily. He was now seeing that there was something seriously different about his old classmate. "How the hell do you even know when to do that." He asked as he rubbed his arm, a little sore from the throw.

Naruto closed eyes as he smiled in mirth. "Now Kiba, why would I go and tell you that? You will find that I am full of surprises, for example," he suddenly snapped his eyes open with knowing grin. "Ninja Art: Enslavement of the Slain!" Naruto walked backward as the animals that made up his clothes made seamless transitions off his body and rushed towards Kiba, ready to maul him to death.

"What the fuck?!" Kiba shouted as he defended himself.

XXX

"Impossible, how is he doing that?" Kurenai asked with wide eyes.

"What's that?" asked a curious Kakashi as he too tried to figure out Naruto's jutsu. This was something he never displayed before and it concerned him.

"This is genjutsu, but is affecting a wide area, us even!" the illusion master replied, catching the others' attention as they attempted to break it on themselves to see what was really going on.

Kakashi did the same with a wide eye. "To affect that much area, you would have to have massive chakra!" he replied, breaking it as well to see Naruto just standing there with a smirk, and he was spinning his finger around for some reason. Oh right, this was Naruto he was talking about.

"This is something most genjutsu's master spend their whole lives trying to do and he just makes it look easy!" Kurenai replied with an annoyed look.

Kakashi just chuckled, "Still as unpredictable as ever. I guess it is to be expected that he could do something like this. After all, he does have a lot of chakra. As to how much…meh, I never checked." That was something the others caught and looked back to the blond in shock. He really was surprising!

XXX

Both Kiba and Akamaru winced in the man-beast forms. These beasts…no, monsters were too much for them. Once the giant cats cornered them, the large snake ensnared the duo, steadily squeezing the life out of them. "UGH! This is unreal!" Kiba screamed in horror, the pain from his wounds were intensifying with each constriction that snake caused. So focused on that pain, he screamed in agony until he felt himself fall to the ground. He and Akamaru had unconsciously broken the genjutsu by merely forcing on their pain and let the chakra do the work.

Seeing this, Naruto frowned. His teachers taught him about genjutsu and he thought he created a very powerful one, but if Kiba could break it just like that, it meant that his control over this special genjutsu had weakened over time.

"What the…" Kiba skittishly replied as he looked around him to see those long-dead animals gone, like they were never there. It was then he noticed that his wounds were still there and they hurt like hell. "What? Why are my wounds still here if that was an illusion?!" he shouted, trying to reason mostly to himself, but everyone heard it.

"That is a simple one." Naruto replied, catching their attention as he leisurely made his way over to Kiba in a slow agonizing way that freaked Kiba out. "If one believes that hard they are that wounded or dead in a dream, it becomes that way in real life. The same could be said for my special illusion technique, especially if they are getting blasted by the emotion of fear like you have been dealt with." Naruto smirked cruelly at the fear riddled boy. "And you just look hysterical, looks like I have to put the dog down." With that, he did a throwing motion with his finger, but it seemed like there was nothing there until the other Kiba that was Akamaru was knocked back on his back, back to a dog and looking bloody.

XXX

Temari narrowed her eyes from next to her brothers. "That was wind jutsu."

"Huh? How can you tell?" Kankuro asked.

"Didn't you see him before? He was twirling his finger in the air. At first I thought it just meant he really didn't care about that boy's wounds, but I saw the air shift a bit, like it had begun to spin. He threw nearly invisibly rings of sharpened air." Temari replied. It was enough to say that the male blond was dangerous in his own right and with the way Gaara was staring at the blond, it was concerning.

XXX

"Akamaru!" Kiba shouted at his friend, but got no response. The very thought of losing his best friend since he was little was horrible. He didn't want to be alone. So it was of little surprise when that fear turned to rage, directing it right at the blond who didn't look like he cared one way or another. "You'll pay for that!" Kiba roared as he used a single vortex of fang over fang to plow right through the blond, like he drilled a hole through his very being.

"Heh, so you're angry." Naruto replied as blood gushed from his mouth and the wound in his chest. He turned his to look at a recovering Kiba. Who by now saw what he did and was horrified that he just about killed a fellow leaf ninja. But the way Naruto was looking at him was scaring him to death. "The fear of losing someone close to you is horrible. You will be forever stuck with that feeling of loneliness that it can be unbearable." He said, speaking from the heart this time before his smile became something that looked insane, the blood on his teeth just making it worse. "Bye"

In a poof of smoke, the blond was gone!

Kiba heard a light shuffle behind him and as he turned his head slightly, he saw the blond looked fine and a bored look on his face, that horrible intent was back, paralyzing him "But I have been alone all my life." He said before tapping Kiba on the spine, sending him into a world of pain and agony as he screamed.

Naruto noticed the sickly looking proctor of the exam finally coming towards him with a question on his lips, so he spoke before being asked, "A useful lightning jutsu, isn't it. Disruption attacks the nerve system directly, causing all nerve endings to fire all at once and your own bioelectricity to turn against you. It basically makes you a useless pile of pain on the floor."

Hayete nodded nervously at the as he watched Kiba writhe in agony. "How long with it last?"

"A few seconds at best." Naruto said with a shrug. "I only tapped him with it, so no long-lasting effects will happen to him. Now if my hand lingered…" he left that to the imagination, making a shiver go down Hayete's spine.

"Just goes to show that use of the lightning style and a bit of medical knowledge can go a long way." Naruto replied with a carefree smile as he cast a quick look at Kurotsuchi up in the stands, like it was an inside joke. Said girl just scoffed, muttering he was just a show-off. Turning back to the proctor, he asked, "So you going to call it or what?"

After a coughing fit, Hayete nodded. "Naruto Uzumaki is the winner!"

The blond nodded before walking over to Akamaru's downed and bloody form and carefully scooped the puppy in arms. He internally breathed a sigh of relief when he found the puppy was still alive, the wind attack just hitting spots that bled a lot but did no real damage. Just stunning the dog.

Walking over to a recovering Kiba, he carefully gave the puppy back to his stunned partner. Naruto's carefree smile returned as he said, "He'll be alright. Good fight." Kiba just nodded dumbfounded as the blond walked away.

As Naruto made his way back up to the stands, his carefree smile turned in a frown. His physical skills had diminished, feeling sore from merely catching Kiba and tossing him away was not acceptable. Nor was his control over his chakra, he had intended to only throw one wind disc, not 5. And normally, his genjutsu was unbreakable to low-level ninja.

In short, that display was pathetic. It might have been impressive to some, but not to his standards. He would need to work on everything later on that much was for sure. Back to the way he used to be.

Then there was the trouble with the Bleed of the two personalities. He was taught to fight without emotion, but the Façade wasn't. The combination seemed, bloodthirsty….almost psychotic. That needed to be taken care of.

XXX

After the rest of the matches were done and over with, that left ten contestants left. Sasuke, Shino, Kankuro of the Desert, Ino, Temari of the Desert, Shikamaru, Naruto, Neji, Garra of the Desert, and Dosu of Sound.

It was still a lot, so Hayate mentioned that the final exams would be different this year. There would be a few 3-way battles so that they wouldn't take up the nobles' time. The battles ended up being:

Naruto vs Neji vs Shino

Kankuro vs Ino vs Dosu

Temari vs Shikamaru

Sasuke vs Gaara

With that, everyone was dismissed for their month-long training session, but before Naruto could leave, the Hokage confronted him. "Naruto, come to my office, it is time we talked and bring your new friends."

So…it was finally time to learn the truth.

XXXX

So, what do you think? I know it is ANOTHER freaking chunin exam start, but it works for my idea. Still, I have always hated writing the Chunin Exams' second stage...so I rushed through it. Anyway, yes, this IS a crossover story, but when I get to the actual crossover, I will consider publishing it over there.

If you have any suggestions or thoughts, let me know in a review, please.