Chương 30: CH 30

Shino walked out calmly from the back with his hands in his pockets as he moved up to Anko in a calculated manner. Anko elbowed Naruto in a teasing fashion, "Well well now wonder-gaki. How are you going to handle this one?"

'No clue… with those bugs on him I won't be able to hide. I wouldn't be surprised if he had one on me already.' Naruto spoke under his breath as Shino drew close, "I'll let you know when I figure it out myself."

Shino stopped in front of Naruto as Anko looked between them, "Fourth match, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Shino Aburame! Hajime!"

Shino snapped his arms out in his taijutsu stance as did Naruto out of obligation. Naruto stared him down intently as he could feel Shino doing the same from behind his sunglasses. Both boys simply waited for the other to move in order to prepare a counter.

After a few minutes of no movement Naruto moved back quickly as Shino released his swarms of insects at him. Beginning his retreat from Shino, Naruto's mind was running a mile-a-minute trying to come up with a good plan to beat Shino, 'He won't move, all he has to do is get those damnable bugs on me and he can beat me. He might not even be standing there anymore, it could just be a Mushi Bunshin (Bug Clone). This is one of those situations where I wish someone was underestimating me.'

Naruto kept on his heels as Shino kept sending his kikaichu out at him, 'What can I do? I can't get close or I'll get swarmed. There's no way I can surround him with kunai to trap him after he's already seen it. Come on, what else do I have up my sleeve?'

Naruto tossed out shuriken in a probing move. Shino simply raised a wall of insects to block easily until Naruto clapped his hands together, "Fuuton Repuushoo (Wind Release: Violent Wind Palm)." The gust coming from Naruto sped up the spinning shuriken and cut right through the wall of bugs. Shino took the hit and turned partly into bugs.

The real Shino then appeared from the tree nearby and sicced more of his bugs on Naruto. Naruto's eye gleamed as he judged the distance between him and Shino and simply rushed him.

Naruto had closed the distance by simply bullying his way through Shino's wall of insects and continued storming towards Shino. Shino attempted to latch the remaining bugs he had on his person onto Naruto, but the drain from the few amount of insects was similar to taking a bucket to scoop out a lake. Naruto viciously rocketed his fist into Shino's face. Naruto's punch dropped Shino cleanly as his kikaichu retreated into his body to help run damage control.

Anko wandered over with a grin on her face, "Shousa, the miracle gaki, Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto sighed as he picked himself up and walked over to Anko who was still grinning, "That was an ugly win gaki. Your right hand is pretty nasty."

Naruto settled himself in his usual waiting position, "A win is a win. Shino was my worst possible match-up and I'm just lucky that he was just a rookie or else I would have been screwed and had to step it up. He needs to learn more techniques."

Anko was getting interested in this kid, "So you're saying the rest of the fights will be easy?"

Naruto smirked, "They'll all be easy, that one was just tough by comparison to what the majority of them will be."

XxX

Shikamaru watched the medics carrying off Shino and had to let out a groan, "How troublesome… He fought four of us and he still isn't tired yet…"

Neji who had been silently appraising Naruto's fighting since the start of the test looked out at the boy in a thinking fashion, "I lost to him last time, and now it seems as if he has only grown in leaps and bounds since then, and he has yet to even draw the sword on his back yet."

Tenten who had been next to her teammate throughout the proceedings was amazed by how well he was fighting, "Where did all of this come from? No one has even touched him yet. I wonder who could be next?"

Rock Lee had fire in his eyes, "Oh were it not for my injuries I could test my own youth against Naruto-kun's considerable flames! I will seek him out for a spar once I recover and I cannot I will do 500 fingertip push-ups, and if I cannot do that then I will-."

"Lee enough." Neji stopped that train before it got rolling, "We've seen four fights and I still can't pinpoint a viable set label for him. If I had to call him anything I would say he is a mid-to-close range specialist."

Tenten smirked at Neji, "Wow Neji, I don't seem to recall you trying to analyze Naruto's fighting style the first time you two fought."

Neji gave her a small smirk back, "That's why I lost the first time."

Sasuke was standing alone gnashing his teeth as he watched Naruto basically sleepwalking through his matches, 'When is it my turn? I want my opportunity to fight the dobe. Itachi wanted something with Naruto. All of that emotion in his face, it was all directed at him! He barely considered me at all! If I can beat Naruto then it will prove that I deserve Itachi's notice more.'

The genin all had their attention drawn as Shizune arrived to summon the next one for their turn against Naruto.

XxX

Naruto and Anko were in the midst of a short conversation as they waited for Naruto's next opponent, "So your style consists mostly of you slowing your enemy down and picking them apart by striking at the throat, groin, and other 'soft' areas?"

Anko nodded with a gleeful look on her face, "Yep, it's really unpleasant. Want to see?"

Naruto unconsciously grabbed his groin, "Nope, I'm good. Who's next?"

Anko pointed at the tunnel to get him to look.

Naruto followed her line of vision to see Tenten entering from the tunnel, "Okay, number five… Let's do this."

Tenten walked up to Naruto and faced him down, "I'm pretty nervous about this. You aren't a pushover Naruto. I might not win this but I'll give it my best shot!"

Naruto slid into his stance, "And that's all you can really do in the end. Don't sell yourself short, anyone can beat anyone."

Anko raised her hand, "The fifth match, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Tenten! Hajime!"