A/N: Hi. I'll be honest, I dislike this story because I screwed up the characters fundamentally - but I want to see it finished and those of you who took the time to read, review, and follow me for this long probably want to see it done as well. So, I'll be working on this 'till I'm done. I had gotten away from Naruto's circus beginnings and I don't remember why. I'll be returning to those presently.

Chapter Seven

A Magic Trick

A gentle breeze rustled through the leaves of training ground twelve as the morning sun made its cumbersome journey up the sky. Naruto stood a few feet away from the Fifth Hokage, his so-called friends having abandoned him to the company of the mute Hokage. Sasuke had gotten bored of waiting and had shuffled off to go find something to entertain him. And Jango… Well, Jango was off doing whatever it was Jango did when he wasn't within Naruto's eyesight. Which could have been absolutely anything. The man was slightly touched in the head, always had been. Naruto just hoped he didn't cause too big of an incident.

So, here he was, alone with the Hokage who'd agreed to proctor the match. They were waiting on her apprentice to arrive so that they could begin the test. Apparently Sakura was prone to bouts of rebellion. Naruto had done some digging into Tsunade's charge and had discovered that she had briefly been considered for the post as Hokage on terms of power alone. However, she apparently had anger issues that had disqualified her for the position.

It would seem as though Sakura Haruno was a bit too much like her master for the council's liking.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give you a more personal welcome, Naruto." The Hokage apologized, withdrawing a small flask from inside the sleeve of her tunic. "I haven't been in this position long and sometimes the clan heads forget that. Truthfully, I can't wait to get rid of the position. I only took it because Heruko isn't ready and… Well, never mind that."

Naruto was curious and had the sneaking suspicion that this wasn't something he should just let go. It was her fault for letting something that obvious slip like that.

"It's no problem, honest. I suppose we're alike. I didn't really want to be a clan head at first either. But what were you saying?"

Tsunade shook her head, blond hair waving gently with the motion. "Nothing important. It'll all be over shortly anyway. Heruko may or may not be instated before then. Just sit tight, play your part, and everything will come out just fine. Truthfully, I'm surprised you're even here. Finding you was rather unexpected, though Jiraiya does have the tendency to produce the impossible."

Naruto felt the corner of his mouth twitch downwards into the beginnings of a frown. That had not helped. If anything, he was even more curious now than before. But pressing the issue wouldn't get him anywhere and annoying the proctor and ultimate decision maker on his status as a ninja would not be a very wise course of action. He'd have to take her advice and keep his mouth shut. For now, that is. Between him and Jango, they could come up with something.

"Anything I should know about?" Tsunade asked as she took a swig from the bottle.

"In terms of fighting?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade grunted in the affirmative, taking another pull from the flask. Just how much was in that bottle anyway?

"Nothing I don't do my best to compensate for." Naruto said with a smile. Back in the circus, his smile had been on more than one poster, people seemed to enjoy it. Made it light up the room, they said. It was slightly amusing to be told he was a human light bulb.

"Fair enough. Just don't blame me if you get blown up because I thought you could handle it."

"I'll be fine." Naruto said while simultaneously praying that none of them used fire. It was a highly embarrassing weakness of his. "I've got a plan."

"About time they got here." Tsunade grunted, eyes panning over to the entrance to the training ground.

Naruto turned to follow her gaze, an eyebrow rising involuntarily when he saw the duo walking towards them.

Sakura was everything the rumors had made her out to be. Bright pink hair that cascaded down her back like the leaves on the tree her name's sake was drawn from. She had a strong jaw in which a delicate pipe hung loosely from full lips; emerald eyes sparkled with the intensity of jewels in the sun. She was dressed in a loose-fitting black yukata with white trim and an Uchiha fan just above the left breast. The robe's length ended just above the ankle, slit at the sides to allow for flexible movements.

"So Heruko wasn't joking when she said that she'd be willing to drop her appointment and proctor the match." Tsunade said in a resigned voice. Apparently, news of their familial dispute had already begun to spread. If there was one thing faster than a ninjas speed, it was their gossip.

Naruto felt a jolt of annoyance. His sister was being annoyingly persistent and it was really beginning to get on his nerves. While he could understand her anger, even sympathize with her position to some extent, if she was going to put her future in danger just to pursue this vendetta then he was going to end it as soon as possible. Their father was dead, indirectly his fault or not.

Naruto's mouth thinned to a fine line as he steeled his resolve. He was going to lead this house. Jango had been right. He'd been too willing to be pushed around and, like his element, gusting about trying to find a peaceful resolution to his problems. That won't work this time.

The two entered the clearing, Heruko's lips stretching up in a smile as she caught Naruto's eye. She knew she was about to get her way, and by kami Naruto would make her regret her choice soon. He wouldn't harm her. He'd taken a promise never to harm family again. But there was a way he could still win this without touching her.

Heruko was dressed in a green Jounin's combat vest and baggy black pants over which she wore the flowing mantle of the Hokage's candidate. White on red, the cloak had both her clan symbol and the symbol for fire embroidered into the fabric. She also had on a belt bristling with tri-pronged Hiraishin kunai.

"That's quite some aura you've got going there, Namikaze." Tsunade observed gently. Naruto winced and pulled back on the dredges of blue chakra that was leaking from his skin. "You might just pass this test yet. Still, I wonder if it's enough to tackle Heruko. She's taken after her father."

"That's fine." Said Naruto, not bothering to hide his new resolve. "I got mother's side of the family, and that should suffice."

"So you're Naruto Uzumaki." Sakura commented musingly, drawing up to the Hokage and Naruto. "You're shorter than I thought you'd be."

It was an unfair assessment. He was slightly taller than her. By an inch or two.

"Sorry I failed to live up to your expectations." Naruto returned with a broad smile, extending a hand.

Sakura shook it, demonstrating a grip that belied her small stature.

"I take it you blew off your meeting with the Yakamura family, Heruko?" Tsunade said, addressing her fellow blond.

"Hardly, Lady Hokage." Heruko replied stiffly. "I postponed the meeting for family matters. Ventus is seeing to the rearrangements. Since I'm here, I could-"

"Cut the sweet talk, kid." Tsunade said irritably with a pained expression. "Honestly, you're beginning to sound a lot like that mummy."

"Lord Danzo is a wise man."

"Pah, say what you want and have done." Tsunade said, taking yet another swig from her flask as Heruko frowned in disapproval.

"I would like to proctor-"

"I'll fight you, Heruko." Naruto said, cutting her off. "I'll take on the both of you for my exam."

"That would hardly be-" Heruko didn't get to finish that sentence either.

"To hell with propriety. I've dealt with it enough since arriving here." Naruto ground out. "I'll take on the both of you. Use whatever excuse you like. A hunter-nin must expect random occurrences or what not. I don't care. This way, we both get what we want. Two birds, one stone."

Heruko's grin could have swallowed planets.

"I, Uzumaki Heruko, accept the challenge." She said, forming the academy duel sign with her left hand.

Naruto mimicked her motions and then turned to look at Sakura, who, for her part, looked completely lost in the face of their domestic dispute. Shaking her head, she too made the duel sign and added in a small bow. "I, Haruno Sakura, accept this duel." She said before straightening up.

The formal opening challenges completed and accepted, Tsunade crossed over to the edge of the clearing and raised her hand, "Since this is a two-on-one match, the terms for victory is for Namikaze Naruto to subdue or strike what would be a fatal blow to either Haruno Sakura or Uzumaki. Begin!"

Line Break

The Hokage's hand dropped through the air, starting the match.

"I used to live in a circus, you know, spent a lot of time there." Naruto said cheerfully before either of his opponents could move. He pulled a deck of cards from his sleeve, and slowly began shuffling them; hand over hand, cutting the deck. "I was an entertainer, alternating between a story teller and magician. Whatever struck my fancy, really. Being a ninja was a shoe in."

"What's the point of this?" Heruko asked in a bored tone of voice as she began scrawling seals in the air faster than Naruto could ever compete with. Iridescent lines burned into the air as her finger whizzed through the motions with expert grace.

"The point," Naruto continued, theatrically tossing the cards upwards and letting them scatter to the ground, "Is that every magic trick has three parts. The first part is to show the audience something ordinary - in this case me, let them inspect it, get a feel for it, maybe even touch it to prove that it is normal, which of course it probably isn't."

Naruto leaped forward, even as three circular orbs of translucent golden chakra burst into existence behind him, tiny runes of delicate script gyrating in the core. He hadn't been joking when he said he'd taken after his mother. He'd inherited a portion of her bloodline. It wasn't nearly as powerful as hers. He couldn't generate the chains in his body, nor did he possess nearly the range she did, but he could create within boundaries.

Forty-two feet. Naruto thought as he closed the distance between him and the girls, one of his orbs writhing in the air, twisting and elongating before eventually settling on the plain sword. That's as far as I can create at the moment. And I can only hold each construct for a few minutes at best. More than enough time. Naruto caught the blade in an open palm extending behind him as he ducked low to the ground.

Sakura and Heruko reacted instantly the moment Naruto's feet left the ground. Heruko stepped back allowing Sakura to take the front, assuming an attack-defense pattern. Sakura grunted, lifted a hand and slammed it into the ground.

"Earth style: First Execution." She growled through teeth clenched on her pipe.

The ground just in front of the medic's hand burst into motion. With a grinding, cracking sound like an avalanche, the earth lurched forward taking on the shape of a massive double bladed scythe made of stone, easily twelve feet across and seven high.

Trusting to his weapon's strength, Naruto swung his blade. Chakra creation met stone and for a brief instant they struggled. The stone cracked and Naruto passed through the center of the jutsu only to be brought up short by a smirking pink haired Hokage's apprentice.

She used the size of the jutsu to obscure her movements. Clever. Naruto thought with a smirk of his own.

Naruto tried to cut to the left but found two kunai Hiraishin kunai in flight on either side of where Sakura stood, thrown by Heruko when she moved to the rear and cutting off his exits.

This is going to hurt.

It did. Naruto allowed his body to fall slack to lessen the expected blow just as Sakura whipped forward and delivered a bone crushing right jab to his mid-section. He choked on his own spittle when he crashed into the ground and felt five of his right ribs crack and give under the overwhelming strength Tsunade's apprentice meted out.

"That wasn't too hard." Sakura groused as he straightened up from her punch, frowning at the broken gasping Namikaze cradling his chest in the hole. I thought he'd block or something. Even a Kawarimi would have been acceptable."

"He is a genin after all." Heruko muttered stepping up beside her friend. "Still, I remember him being better than that."

No sooner had the words left Heruko's mouth Sakura was forced to duck as a playing card infused with wind energy shot where her head had been a half-second before. The missed card buried itself in a tree on the edge of the clearing, digging in to where only a small tip peeked out from inside the bark.

Blinking in surprise, Sakura and Heruko traced where the card had been thrown from and found Naruto still standing in the middle of where he'd scattered his cards.

"The second part of a trick is called 'The Turn.'" Naruto said, splaying his arms wide with a confident smile, displaying no sign of injury or wear. Even his orange duster was clean. The orbs behind him and the sword were gone without a trace, though their previous presence could be still be felt where they had been created. "The Magician takes something ordinary and makes it special, turns it extraordinary. Now that I've gotten your attention you, as good and upstanding ninja, will be looking for the secret and how I pulled off my little trick… But you won't find it, because you're not really looking for it. The audience never really wants to figure out the trick because then it wouldn't be special. The audience wants to be fooled. Ninja are no different. It's why they always ask how the trick is done."

"What the hell are you talking about, Namikaze." Sakura said, withdrawing the pipe from her mouth. "I hit you. I felt it. That was no Kage Bunshin or any other type of clone I'm familiar with."

"It doesn't really matter how you managed to pull off the trick." Heruko said grimly, stepping forward and withdrawing another pair of tri-pronged kunai with the Hiraishin seal wrapped around the hilt. "I can move faster. It's time I showed you just how strong I've gotten since you left."

Naruto's arms dropped like a marionette with its strings cut. Slowly, he crouched down and picked up two cards from the ground, turning them over in his fingers so that they could seem them. Two aces.

"From this point on I intend to finish this quickly." Naruto said bitterly, his face losing all traces of humor as his hair bled from a bright blond to a deep crimson. "A magician's main tool is his ability to control the pace of his trick."

A wave of toxic energy flooded the clearing, a force of unadulterated, inhumane malice that made the hair on Heruko and Sakura's neck stand on end, eyes dilating as their bodies pumped adrenaline through their system. It was the primal aura a predator gives off when he's backed his prey into a corner.

There was a dull crack of bone as Naruto smiled beatifically, showing elongated canines warped by tainted chakra that tried to force it's host's body match that of it's owner.

"Finish this already. I have meetings to attend." The Hokage called from the sidelines, looking nonplused by the air of polluted chakra.

Naruto threw the two aces, with Kyuubi enhanced power they shot across the clearing like bolts fired from a launcher. This time, Heruko took the forefront, stepping in front of Sakura who had leapt back, unprepared for the wave of noxious chakra.

"Transposition seal: Release." Heruko called, reaching out with who hands to catch the thrown cards.

The moment the cards touched her hands a matrix of black lines erupted from where cardboard met flesh, jittering scrawl extending to where she'd drawn the seal when the duel had started. Both cards vanished.

Before Naruto could move, a matching matrix appeared to his left and right, and the vanished cards burst from the seal plunging into Naruto's gut.

Heruko blinked when no blood leaked from the wound. A second later, Naruto burst into smoke, the dark aura vanishing with him.

"The audience never claps at the second stage. Because making an object do something once isn't enough; you have to transform it one more time. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call 'The Reveal'."

Heruko turned to find a battered Naruto, the Naruto who looked exactly like the one who'd been laying on the ground, holding a nine of hearts card humming with wind chakra next to Sakura's neck.

"Sorry, Heruko." Sakura apologized weakly. "It seems I've been spending too much time in the hospital. I wasn't ready for that kind of chakra and got slow."

"I win." Naruto said smiling and wiping a bit of blood from his lip, wincing when he stretched too far and aggravated his still mending ribs. "You really pack a punch, Sakura."

Line Break

"Win by capture, Namikaze Naruto." Tsunade announced grandly.

"How'd you do it?" Heruko asked, a sour expression crossing her face. "That wasn't Hiraishin."

"No." Naruto agreed, dropping to the ground, tentatively poking at his side.

"I'll heal you." Sakura said, kneeling down beside him and reaching for his shirt.

Naruto let her pull his shirt up to reveal a large angry purple splotch where she'd nearly split him in half with her blow. Naruto winced as she probed at his side with one hand, green healing chakra glowing in the other. He marveled at the beauty of the chakra for a moment. Healing was a skill far beyond his control. His chakra was too tainted and corrupted to ever use something as useful as healing. He envied her for that.

"Then how did you do it?" Heruko pressed him, folding her arms under her chest and staring down at him imperiously.

"The secret impresses no one. The trick you use for it is everything. If I tell you how I did it, it'll ruin the mystique."

"Not bad, Namikaze." Tsunade said, coming up to stand beside her apprentice. "Sakura got you pretty good with that blow." She observed.

"Yeah." Naruto said, wincing once more as Sakura pressed on another tender spot. He suspected that she might be enjoying this a bit too much.

"I take it you used Seals to decrease the ratio of size to partials?" Tsunade asked.

Naruto made a dissatisfied face that would have made any Uchiha a run for his money. He didn't like it when someone figured out his tricks without asking. It was a pride thing.

"I suppose since you had backseat seating you saw how the trick operated?"

The Hokage nodded, a smile playing on her lips, clearly knowing and enjoying Naruto's annoyance. It was then Naruto decided that Tsunade was a very cruel person.

"I don't suppose we can keep it a secret?" Naruto asked hopefully, looking up at his fellow blond.

"Gotta put something in the report." Tsunade informed him with mock regret.

"I don't suppose 'he was clever and good with cards would work'?" Naruto offered leadingly. "It's short, sweet, has an air of mystery that ninjas so enjoy…"

Tsunade shook her head in the negative. "Not in official reports they don't. Speaking of which, I'll need details to put in your personal files.

"Damn," Naruto swore under his breath, making a note to not do that. Really, a ninjas ability in very readable and neat print that could be looked at by anyone clever or sneaky enough to walk through the front doors and look like they belonged. Leaning back against the tree, which elicited a squawk of disapproval from Sakura, Naruto blew his hair out of his eyes and said in a louder voice. "Hardly the best stage to show off, but it'll have to do."

The tree was a nice one, after all.

"The first part when I threw the cards was key." Naruto started, three pairs of eyes observing him with differing levels of attention. Heruko's was by far the most penetrating of stares.

"It was obvious you intended to use them for something." Sakura said, moving up a rib.

"Exactly. That's why I had to distract you. That's what magic is, really. A game of distraction and illusions."
"You used genjutsu?" Heruko asked, raising an eyebrow. "I never detected one."

"That's because he didn't." Tsunade said, withdrawing her flask once more and turning it upside down to find nothing in it. Frowning, she tucked it back into her robe and continued. "The Kyuubi's chakra running through him makes injecting his chakra into others undetected impossible. Anyone with half a brain and semi-operable nerve endings would feel his intrusion and their systems would try and purge it automatically."

"Rub it in why don't you?" Naruto asked, giving the Hokage a flat look. "And isn't this my story? You're ruining the presentation."

"Sorry." The Hokage apologized, turning to leave. "I'll be off then. I already know how you did it. Hanging around my clown of a teammate Jiraiya taught me something after all." With a wave and an over the shoulder, "Bye," she vanished in a Shunshin.

"Pretty agile for a drunk grandma." Naruto noted dryly.

"Don't let her hear you call her that." Sakura said warningly. "You think I hit hard? She'll knock you off the planet."

Naruto chuckled and instantly regretted it.

"What's taking so long?" Naruto wheezed.

"One of your ribs nicked lungs." Sakura explained. "I'm having to fight the Kyuubi's chakra to extract it. The demon is fast, but I'm faster. Ten more seconds."

"Continue your story." Heruko ordered.

"Please?" Naruto asked, meeting his sister's eyes.

"I can just read it in Tsunade's evaluation." Heruko pointed out.

"And you'll be in agony until she gets around to writing it. How long with that take? A week? If you're lucky?" Naruto asked innocently. The Hokage's reputation of loathing paperwork preceded her.

Heruko closed her eyes in silent resignation.

Naruto took that silence as a victory and continued his explanation.

"I knew you'd be suspicious of them. What person in their right mind wouldn't? The trick was to force you to focus on the cards I wanted you to and shift your attention to me when I was ready and ignore everything else."

"I don't follow." Sakura said, dropping her jutsu and pulling back. "If your trick was with the cards, that doesn't explain how you got… behind… oh."

"Exactly." Naruto said, pulling his shirt down and grinning from ear to ear. "Not so impressive now is it?"

"No, it isn't." Sakura said. "You were right. Now that you point it out, it isn't nearly as impressive. I should have seen it coming."

"You used Kawarimi." Heruko said stiffly, not amused. "That's what the hokage meant about Sealing. You have Seals on your cards that allow you to switch with them. You used that in combination with the Kage Bunshin. I didn't know dad taught you that technique."

"There are a lot of things you don't know about father." Naruto quipped with a false smile.

"There is one thing I don't get." Sakura said musingly. "When did you switch with the Kage Bunshin, and when did you create it?"

"From the very beginning." Naruto said, and then gestured to the pile of cards still lying on the ground. Three of them burst into smoke. "Before I came here, in fact."

"You cheated." Heruko said sourly, her face twisting in a rictus not uncommon with someone who'd recently swallowed a whole lemon.

"It's kind of in the profession, sis. We're ninja, the truth and fair play is a slippery slope."

"Don't call me that." Heruko snapped. "So, you charged in and got hit by Sakura, switched with one of your card clones and dispelled it the second you switched to make it seem like you just vanished. Then you feigned attacking us with the card when you were really just planting a clone."

"No." Naruto interrupted. "That wasn't a clone. The thrown card was the real me. The clone that released a bit of stored Kyuubi chakra threw me after I henged into a card. I was gambling on you guys to react to the clone's attack the same way you reacted to my first attack: with a formation."

"You used our numbers against us." Sakura pointed out. "We had the tactical advantage so there was no point in rushing in. We played defensively and you capitalized on it."

"Bingo." Naruto said, pointing a finger at her.

"So everything went to plan, then." Said Sakura.

"No." Naruto said heavily. "It didn't. I wanted to immobilize you with a restraining seal and then move on to sis, but I didn't realize that Heruko knew dad's relocation jutsu he used against the Kyuubi. I had to throw stealth to the wind after she dispelled it from a range like that."

"Well, it worked." Sakura said, grinning. "But it won't work twice. I'll be sure to have Tsunade whip me back into shape. I've spent too long working in the hospital for my own good. Gotta stretch these muscles every once in a while." Sakura flexed a slender arm that belied just how strong she was. "Then you and I will have a one-on-one rematch."

"Nah, I prefer to not fight." Naruto said, holding his hands up.

"This won't be a fight, it'll be for fun." Sakura said placatingly.

"Fun, I can do." Naruto said with another grin.

"Well, I'm off." Naruto said, rising to his feet. "I've got to go find Jango and make sure he isn't getting himself into too much trouble."

"I should get back to the hospital." Sakura said, following Naruto's example and standing up as well. "There's a patient there with cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts leukoencephalopathy."

"I'm going to pretend I understood what those stupidly long words meant and wish you luck." Naruto said blankly, giving her a thumbs up.

Sakura laughed and turned to leave the clearing. "Just making sure that you fully realize that I'm a medic as well as a fighter."

"I follow." Naruto said, waving to her as she followed her teacher's example and vanished in a swirl of leaves.

"I have a meeting to attend." Heruko said by way of excuse and vanished.

"I wonder if that was Hiraishin or Shunshin. It's hard to tell the difference at times." Naruto said to the empty air.

Turning, Naruto made himself the oddball of the testing group by being the only one to leave the training grounds on foot, the way nature intended.

End of Chapter Seven

A/N: I can only apologize for my poor combat writing.