The next fight, according to the list the attending Chunin had been carrying, was Uchiha Sasuke vs Kintua Dosu. However, his name was not even announced. Were they trying to buy time for him to get here? While Saul was collecting his winnings, instead of Sasuke, Hiruzen spoke another name of interest.
"The second match will be Uzumaki Naruto vs Gaara of the Sand! Naruto is a rookie Genin, he was last place among the academy graduates. Yet now, he is here. Fighting among the finalists of the Chunin exams. Under the tutelage of the Copy Ninja, Jonin Kakashi Hatake, his potential has exploded! Naruto has already completed a "B" rank mission along with his team. He is not to be underestimated.
Fighting him is Gaara, the so-called demon of the sand. As he is not a Konoha Ninja, I do not know much about him. Yet his team broke through the forest of death in record time, surpassing the previous record by over 10 hours! Reportedly, it was mostly thanks to him that their team was able to perform such a feat. And like all his missions... He completed it without suffering a single scratch."
Naruto stared at the silent ninja in front of him, standing there with a gourd slung around his back. He himself carried a gigantic Fuma shuriken, but... What the heck was he carrying that thing around for?
"Oi! No brows!"
Gaara glanced up at the animated Naruto emotionlessly. He could not lose control. Yet. Now was not the time.
"What."
Naruto grinned. "Lets have a good match, alright? No hard feelings no matter what happens."
The red haired man did not respond, merely glaring at Naruto.
"Let the match begin!"
Gaara's sand floated up from his gourd, hovering eerily around him. Naruto summoned clones. Ten, twenty, one hundred, five hundred. The stadium was in an uproar! They had never even seen anything like this!
"Take this!"
Twenty or so clones spun their bodies and with all their strength, threw their gigantic Fuma shuriken at Gaara. Since the man had never taken a scratch, he should be able to at least handle an attack like this!
The shuriken all pierced into the hovering sands, one by one, with quiet *thunks*. Gaara was covered in a shell of sand.
"Is that all?"
With a wave of his hand, the sand covering his body exploded outward, sending the gigantic shuriken flying back from where they came. Naruto's face fell as multiple of his clones were instantly dispelled.
"Hey, that's not fair! I was afraid I'd genuinely hurt you or something. If that was too easy for you though, then... How about this?"
A bunch of Naruto's sent chakra into their legs and jumped up, spinning with the gigantic Shuriken. In this way they practically formed a dome all around Gaara, blotting out the sun. Nobody could see what the hell was happening.
"Is that really Naruto-san?" Hinata spoke aloud, looking at the scene below with disbelief. "When in the world did he learn how to do something like this?"
Saul however, was proud. That's my boy, Naruto! Good job!
The absolute avalanche of Shuriken was no longer as simple to block as a 'mere twenty' had previously been. The qualitative difference in numbers had led to an exponential increase in the strength needed to block the attack. Even Gaara did not hold much confidence in his so-called 'absolute defense.'
Gaara quickly made a hand seal, and the ground beneath him turned to sand. He sank underground quickly as the literal wave of metal and death pierced into the ground above him. Sand and dirt flew everywhere.
Naruto examined the area jam packed with shuriken. He didn't 'see' anyone buried beneath the sea of sand and metal, so he figured Gaara was still fine.
"Where are you, no brows! Come out and fight me!"
An eye made out of sand floated up from the ground, its gaze fixated on Naruto.
"Hey!"
Naruto jumped up and grabbed the eye, which seemed to be trying to float up and watch him from the sky. Naruto glanced at the bloodshot eye in his hands curiously.
"Can you actually see from this kind of thing? It looks kind of scary, dattebayo."
Suddenly, arms of sand reached up from out of the ground and grabbed Naruto by the legs. It wasn't so simple to hold someone with Naruto's strength, however. He kicked off one arm, sending it scattering back into sand. Right as he was about to remove the other it suddenly clenched down.
This dispelled Naruto's clone. The other Naruto's, offended and angry, crushed the only thing they could see of Gaara's, the offending eye. There was nothing but silence in the arena for a moment, but then multiple bloodshot, red eyes began floating up from the ground. They all glared at a Naruto as they floated up into the sky. Suddenly, multiple hands began bursting up from the ground, grabbing at any nearby Naruto and crushing them immediately.
What the heck was he supposed to do against this? He couldn't travel underground! The Naruto's that were left made a hand seal and flickered up to stand sideways, directly on the gigantic walls of the colosseum. As he watched the once dirt floor of the arena become converted into massive, deadly waves of sand flowing beneath him, Naruto crossed his arms in thought.
Sometimes Naruto was an idiot, but... Even he wasn't stupid enough to go down there. Was that guy really even a Genin? How the hell did he have so much chakra? And then Naruto looked to the multitude of eyes floating in mid air, gazing at him from the skies. That had to take a bunch of Chakra, right?
*Tsk*
Naruto would have to use 'that' move. He didn't have any way to deal with this on his own anymore.
Biting into his thumb, Naruto drew a pattern of blood into his hand and pressed it down on the colosseum wall.
*Poof* "Yo."
The reddish orange toad smiled at Naruto, but the blonde haired ninja was quickly moving up. Gamakichi felt a sense of weightlessness as he began falling!
"Ahhh, damn it!"
He pulled out his Tanto and stabbed it into the wall, making sure he didn't fall into the sea of sand below. A giant hand of sand reached out, trying to grab at the frog. Gamakichi's eyes widened in fear before Naruto flashed by just in time with the body flicker Jutsu, throwing him up towards the original before being grabbed by the sands and dissipating into smoke.
"What are you doing Naruto!? Trying to kill me?"
A tic mark appeared on Naruto's forehead. "Huh!? I just saved you! You idiot!"
"Idiot? Who's the one who thought summoning a toad in midair was a good idea!? You're the idiot, idiot!"
"Where the hell was I supposed to summon you, dattebayo!"
*Tsk*
Gamakichi put his head under Naruto's body and made a powerful leap, cracking the side of the wall beneath them. Soon after sand poured out from the cracks of the wall they had been standing on, before flooding out as a waterfall.
"Now we're even. So tell me, who is this guy?"
They both glanced at the arena below. The madly grinning Gaara was standing there, directly in the middle of the wildly shifting sands. His eyes were wide open with insane joy, excitement. His body, skin, clothing, all was completely unharmed. There was not even a scratch on him.
"Mother wants your blood, Naruto!"
The blonde haired man stood on Gamakichi's back, watching Gaara with a weary eye.
"He's my opponent in the Chunin exams..."
"This guy isn't out of your league?"
"You know, a lot of people might think that. But I'll never give up, believe it! That's my ninja way."
Gamakichi's red painted eyebrows lifted up in surprise. "So you've got a plan then! What is it?"
Naruto grinned. "That's why I summoned you, isn't it? Can't you come up with something?"
"Surrender. It doesn't have to be life or death, this is just a tournament."
"Never!"
The toad sighed. "Look, there is one thing we can try. But we'll only have one shot at this, alright? I'm still new to this technique."
"Alright, now we're talking! What do I have to do?"
"You'll have to find some way to keep him away from the center of the arena. If he's too close to all that sand of his, I'll have no way of getting him directly."
Gamakichi jumped again to another side of the arena, dodging a gigantic wave of sand that had come crashing down on their position.
"Go, Naruto!"
"Got it!"
Naruto created a bunch of clones and sent them charging along the sands towards Gaara, using the discarded Fuma Shuriken stuck in the shifting sands to move closer. They jumped from blade to blade.
"You're not getting away this time!"
One Naruto shouted as he leaped, preparing to punch Gaara in the face. The Demon's sand swatted him away like a fly. Gaara chuckled as he began floating with a platform of sand beneath him, now floating in the sky among numerous bloodshot eyes.
"I don't know which Naruto is the real you... But what does it matter if I crush you all?"
Gaara raised his hand as the entire arena began trembling. The very rock beneath them was becoming ground up into sand!
"Gaara!" Baki, his Jonin sensei, stood up and screamed. "Don't get carried away!"
The psuedo-earthquake stopped as Gaara's smile faded, glancing over at the Kazekage who now stared at him from eye level. Daring him to go too far. ...Now wasn't the time.
"Fine. This much should be enough."
A fiery light erupted from the toad, scorching the various eyes below as it headed up towards him. That didn't matter. No matter what approached, he'd be safe from everything. Soon enough, mother would hear their screams. Gaara clenched his fist and swung it back down.
"SAND BURIAL!"
Something wet splashed against his shield of sand. The flames hit him in the very next moment. Gaara wasn't too concerned at first, but...
"BOOM!!!"
At the exact same time, Naruto and Gamakichi stared at the gigantic fist like impression that had been made in the arena, sending an impossibly large wave of sand in all directions. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. No matter where Naruto went on the walls of the arena, he would not escape.
"Heh, Naruto. Looks like we have no choice."
Gamakichi, exhausted from his earlier Toad Oil Bullet and Flame Bullet combination, used the last of his strength to leap up and throw Naruto out of the arena and into the stands. Then right before the wave of sand enveloped him, he reverse summoned himself back into Mount Myoboku.
An indignant Naruto got up from the thankfully desolate area he had landed and looked up. His eyes immediately locked onto Gaara's, who still hovered in mid-air. The man was trembling, teeth clenched into a mad grin, as cracks lined his skin.
"Uzumaki Naruto! Disqualification by exiting the arena! Gaara of the Sand wins!"
Author's Note: Before anyone mentions him, Gamabunta is just way too big to be summoned in this kind of arena without destroying everything. The one Naruto summons was most likely going to be Gamakichi every time - as they were bonded by the summoning Jutsu. Due to the universal age up, Gamakichi is more capable than his canon counterpart at this point in the series.
That being said though, Naruto just has no way to penetrate Gaara's double layer of defense. They're both monsters who abuse practically infinite levels of chakra, but Gaara has way more deadly attacks and a much more sturdy defense. In a spar like this, where there aren't many stakes on the line, Naruto won't be able to access the Nine Tails chakra for assistance. He would have had a chance to win by ring out if he used his abilities more intelligently, but that wouldn't be Naruto at that point. I think this is the most likely way a fight between the two would go.
Anyways hope you all are enjoying the action - I found this fight pretty epic to write. I'll release another chapter sometime later today! Powerstones and comments please LOL