Chapter 26: Chapter Twenty-Two: Salamander's Heir part two
-With Naruto and Mai-
As Naruto was spinning around and being cut up by Mai's tornado, he started to cry out in pain. But as he did, he could feel the curse seal activating and starting to spread throughout his body, as if reacting to his subconscious cry for more power. For just one moment, Naruto pondered at the idea in using the seal and its power to defeat Mai. But as quickly as that idea popped into his head, he remembered what he did to Haku and her team and how he had nearly killed them.
Not wanting to repeat of what had started to happen here, Naruto began to force the seal back, "No! I won't let you control me again, I will win this fight my way, with my own power!" screamed Naruto in his mind.
It was then at this moment that Naruto gripped his Katana tightly and started to draw a massive amount of Chakra from the storage seal, and channelled it to the tip of his blade and converted it into Wind, where he then swung his Katana and cried out "Idaina Surasshu-fū (Great Wind Slash)!"
As soon as he did this, a massive blade of Wind erupted from his Katana and slash through the tornado, causing it to dissipate. Although the Wind attacked continue to fly toward the catwalks on the side where most of the foreign Genin were, where it nearly hit Killer Bee and his team, who were barely able to move out of the way in time.
-With the Spectators-
"What the hell? Is Senju trying to kill us!" cried Karui, as she and the others picked themself up from the floor of the catwalk.
"Holy crap!" Omoi said suddenly, where when everyone turned to look, every Genin and nearly all of the Jonin eyes widened in shock. For where Naruto's attack hit, there was now a massive cut on the wall, as the Wind attack had cut right through the steel catwalk and made a scar like cut on the wall about four inches thick, which reached from the catwalk a couple of feet below it.
"That was close we could've been toast" rhymed Bee, when he saw what Naruto's attack did.
"How did Naruto do that? I thought he couldn't use his Chakra" stated Shizune in surprise.
"Chakra storage seals, that's only way I know how he could do that" replied Jiraiya before he turned to Kushina. "Did you teach him them?"
"Of course, since it always best to have something to fall back on."
"No way!" spoke Choji in disbelief, after seeing Naruto's Wind attack.
"Damn…I told the kid that he should try to improve that attack of his, but I didn't think he go that far" thought Asuma in surprise.
"Inconceivable…where on earth did that boy learn a technique like that!" thought a shocked Baki.
"How on earth did he do that?" thought Temari in amazement.
"What the hell is that guy" Zaku cried, while his team-mate Dosu just narrowed his one visible eye, as what he had just seen, proved that his instincts on Naruto we right.
"That's the way Naruto-kun" cried Ino, as the air she punched her fist into and continued to cheer for her crush.
"Whoa, looks like the brat has improved on that Wind technique of his" stated Jiraiya.
"Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama look the mark, it's receding" spoke Shizune suddenly, where when they looked, they saw that Naruto was back with his feet on the ground and the markings of the curse mark were indeed receding.
At seeing this Tsunade let out a sigh of relief, not only of Naruto getting out of the Wind technique, but also for resisting the seal.
"I don't believe it, he was actually able to push back the curse seal, with sear willpower" thought Anko in surprise, as it took an immense amount of willpower to do that.
"Hmmm…impressive, the boy does seem to have a talent in Futon" thought Danzo, as he stared at Naruto with a calculating stare.
"KuKuKuKu…most impressive Naruto-kun" thought the amused Snake Sannin.
-With Naruto and Mai-
At the same time, when everyone was recovering from their shock at what they had seen. Mai herself had still, not completely gotten over it, since she had been certain that Naruto was finished.
"Impossible…What on earth was that technique he used, I've never seen anything like it before" thought the girl, where she was only awakened from her shock when she heard Naruto cry "Surasshu-fū (Wind Slash)!"
Acting on pure instinct, Mai quickly jumped to her right, narrowly avoiding the deadly Wind slash. Although the attack was not as big or as powerful as the pervious Wind slash, the fact that was it able to make a shallow mark on the solid stone wall behind Mai, proved that it was still deadly.
"Shit, what kind of Wind technique is he using? Sofu (more formal way in saying Grandfather) was correct to be concerned about him. The fact that he is able to use a technique that is clearly A rank at his age, proves that he could very well become a formable threat one day, I need to kill him now and fast", thought Mai as she picked herself up. But as soon as she did, she was force on the defensive by Naruto, who slashed at her with his Katana.
For the next few minutes the two Genin fought each other in a fierce battle, where Mai activated the spikes of her fan to help defend herself from Naruto's attacks. Naruto other hand did his utmost to try and find or make an opening for himself to exploit and take out Mai quickly.
Eventually though, Mai was able to once again gain a little distance between then, where she took out some Suriken and threw them. After which she then quickly channelled her Wind Chakra into her fan, and used it to create Futon: Kyōfuu to enhance the speed, power and ability of her Suriken.
Seeing this, Naruto knew he had to act fast, so he quickly took out a kunai with an exploding note tied to it and threw it at the incoming Wind attack and projectile, where right before his Kunai could be blown back at him. Naruto activated the exploding note, causing it to explode, where the explosion cancelled out the Wind attack and blew away the Suriken.
Luckily for Naruto, he had just been far enough away to avoid any serious harm from the explosion, although was a little singed and was blown a bit back by the blast.
-With the Spectators-
"Nice going brat, that's using your head" commented Jiraiya with a smile.
"Well I give him this, he's certainly quick on his feet" commented Temari, as she was impressed with how Naruto negated the Wind attack.
-With Naruto and Mai-
Unfortunately what Naruto was unaware of was that, the attack just now was just another distraction, so to allow Mai to prepare her real attack.
For as soon as the smoke of the blast died down, he saw Mai with her fan in her mouth doing several hand seals (with both hands) at a speed that impressed everyone in the room. At the same time, Naruto also notice that she was now surrounded by a large volume of Water, which he had guessed, she had summoned from the scroll that was on the ground in front of her.
Seeing this, it wasn't hard for Naruto to guess that Mai was planning some kind of high level Water attack that required a large volume of Water. But before he could make any attempt to stop her, the young Ame Kunoichi finished her hand seal and thought "Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique)!" and created a massive Dragon made out of Water.
Upon seeing the large Water Dragon coming at him, Naruto tried to move out of the way, but found he could not, as Mai was able to have her Water Dragon follow after him, while still in its form.
"Fuck, I can't lose it!" thought Naruto, knowing he had only one option left, where he drew out another massive amount of Chakra from his sword's Chakra storage seal and once again used his Idaina Surasshu-fū.
The large blade of Wind then cut right through the Water Dragon, splitting it in two, causing the Water that made up the Water Dragon to fill up the arena. After which the Wind attack hit the wall, where like before it made a large slash mark on it. Fortunately though, it didn't reach as high at the catwalk, since this time Naruto was not in mid-air.
-With the Spectators-
"To actually be able to use a technique of that level in here…!" commented Kushina in surprise, for as much as she hated to admire her student's opponent; the girl had seriously impressed her."
"This is getting out of hand, we never expect Mai to have this much trouble with him…clearly the boy has been better trained than we thought" Kandachi thought with a frown.
"This new generation is certainly full of promise" thought Sandaime, for like Kushina. He had to admire Mai's skill, since she was just as remarkable as Naruto. As to be able to use a high level B rank Water technique like Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu. In a place like this, and to control so well at her age, was remarkable to say the least.
"Tsk, as much as I hate to admit it, Hanzo did a hell of a job in training that girl" commented Jiraiya, since given what he saw, even if Naruto was a full strength and didn't have to hold back, he would still find this girl difficult to fight.
"Both of them are troublesome…Ow!" muttered Shikamaru, before being slapped on the back of his head by Ino, for calling "her" Naruto-kun troublesome. After which the girl continued to cheer Naruto on.
"The two of them are seriously strong…and here I thought the Sand Gay was dangerous" stated Kiba, where his silent team-mate Shino nodded in agreement, as Naruto was proving much stronger than any of them ever expected.
"Yosh the flames of youth are truly burning brightly in them…wouldn't you agree Kakashi?" asked Gai.
At this Kakashi, just turned to Gai and said, "Huh?…did you say something Gai?"
After hearing this Gai once again became outraged, "Damn you Kakashi and your cool hip attitude…you've one this round but I will not lose again!"
As the green jumpsuit wearing man continued his usually little rant about how he wouldn't lose to Kakashi again. The copy-nin just turned back to watch the two young Genin face off against one another again.
As Kakashi watched them, he did silently agree with what Gai was saying about Mai and Naruto, (although not in so many words), both of them were impressive Shinobi.
"Looks like we've better start watching out Kushina-senpai or else before we know it, Naruto and his generation well pass us by" commented the silver haired man.
"Perhaps, but I like to think we still have a few tricks up our sleeves to teach them" replied the red haired woman
-With Naruto and Mai-
"Dammnit, I almost had him" thought Mai angrily, as she started to pant heavily, as using Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu along with her other techniques, had taken a lot out of her and was nearing her limit Chakra wise.
At the same time Naruto stared down at his Katana, as he knew that his Chakra storage seal on his Katana was nearing empty. Since there was a limit of how much Chakra he could store in the seal, and he had used a great deal of it when he used Idaina Surasshu-fū twice. At best he knew he had about a third of the Chakra that was originally in it.
Hoping to finish the fight quickly, Naruto charged straight at Mai with his Katana, but the young Hattori Kunoichi was no slouch, for as soon as she saw Naruto coming at her. She quickly took her fan out of her mouth and once again began to do one handed hand seals and inhaled deeply before thinking "Katon: Ryū no Hōkō (Fire Style: Dragon's Roar)! (D)" She then brought her free hand to her mouth and then exhaled a large stream of Fire which flew a Naruto at great speed.
-With the Spectators-
"Not only can she use Futon and Suiton Ninjutsu, but she can use Katon Ninjutsu as well!" thought Sasuke in surprise. Since he never expected Mai to be this powerful and being able to use a Fire technique he had never seen before.
"This girl is just like Naruto, as she is able to use multiple elemental Ninjutsu" thought Asuma in surprise, as given what he was seeing; the girl was already as strong as high level Chunin if not a Tokubetsu Jonin. At the same time he couldn't help wonder, what kind of training the girl's Grandfather put her trough to get her to be this strong.
-With Naruto and Mai-
Seeing the stream of fire coming at him, Naruto immediately jumped to the left. After narrowly avoiding the hot stream of fire, Naruto charged right at Mai's unguarded right.
Mai of course saw this and quickly deactivated her justu and brought her folded fan up to defend herself, when she saw Naruto about to swing his Katana in an upward diagonal slash.
But when Mai brought up her fan to block Naruto's slash, all that happened was Naruto's empty hand passing by her fan, revealing it to be a faint. The real attack instead came from Naruto's other hand, where he bypassed Mai's fan and slashed her across the chest with his Katana.
"You gotta love the Mizu no Atsuen (Rolling Water) technique" thought Naruto with smile, believing her had won. But that smile quickly disappeared when he saw Mai revert into Water, revealing that Mai had replaced herself with Mizu no Bunshin.
Seeing this Naruto silently cursed and quickly spun around, to see several Kunai flying towards him at high speeds. Brining up his Katana, Naruto skilfully deflected the incoming projectiles with his Katana and then started looking for Mai.
-Enter Naruto OST 2 - Raikiri (Thunder Break) –
He quickly found her at the other end of the arena opposite him, standing directly in front of the large stone hands. After doing several one handed hand seals Mai inhaled deeply before thinking "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique)!" and expelling a massive ball of Fire.
She then quickly followed up the attack, by channelling her Wind Chakra into her folding fan and using her Futon: Kyōfuu to enhance her Fireball, making it even bigger and stronger.
-With the Spectators-
"She's able preform combination techniques!" said Kurenai in shock, upon seeing what Mai did.
"Such skill at so young an age" commented Koharu is surprise.
"The girl truly is the Granddaughter of Hanzo" stated Homura.
"A most impressive heir Hanzo" thought Danzo, before turning to look at Naruto and see what he would do.
-With Naruto and Mai-
At seeing the massive ball of flames hurtling towards him, Naruto realized he couldn't avoid the attack, as it was coming in to fast and was too big. Knowing of only one way to get of this situation, Naruto started to summon the Chakra from the storage seal on his Katana, and hoped he had enough Chakra to do the technique.
He flipped his Katana, so that he was holding it backwards and then started to spin around at high speed, while channelling his Chakra to draw the Water around him (the Water that was used to create Mai's Water Dragon) to create a giant Waterspout around him, protecting him from the massive fireball. (2)
When the two techniques clashed, a giant steam cloud appeared where the two techniques cancelled each other out, as the Water extinguished the fire and the fire evaporated most of the Water.
As the cloud of steam rose, everyone struggled to see what was happening, as the steam covered most.
"Look over there!" cried Hinata, who had her Byakugan activated to see into the cloud, where she then indicated to the edge of the steam cloud.
When everyone looked they saw Naruto emerged from, the steam cloud with his Katana thrust forward and covered in Water.
Seeing this, Mai knew she didn't have much time, where she waited until the very last second before she stepped aside to avoid the attack so that Naruto would crash into the wall behind her.
But before hitting the wall, Naruto pulled back his blade and then brought his right foot forward, where he then used the wall to propel himself back towards Mai at even greater speed.
Surprised by this, Mai was barely able to bring up her fan to block Naruto's attack, who once again tried to use his Mizu no Atsuen technique, where he switched his Katan from his right hand to his left in an instant. Sadly though, Mai was prepared for this, where she recognized the faint and stopped the real slash with the metal side of her folding fan.
"I'm not going to fall for the same trick twice" stated Mai, as she blocked Naruto slash.
"Well how about this then!" replied Naruto as he passed his Katana from one hand to another at high speed behind his back, allowing him to strike Mai in the side, on her unguarded left with the side of his Katana.
After being hit in her left side, Mai stumbled sideways and struggled to keep standing, as she had been caught completely off guard by Naruto's Nagareru Mizu (Following Water) technique (3).
Not wanting to lose his advantage, Naruto quickly moved forward with his Katana, where he then channelled the last of the Chakra from his storage seal. After which he then used his Hien (Flying Swallow) technique to increase the cutting power of his Katana, and sliced right through Mai's fan, when she raised it, in an attempt to defend herself. After which Naruto then followed up his slash, with a round house kick in Mai's stomach that sent her flying backwards and crashing into the wall several meters behind her.
-End Naruto OST 2 - Raikiri (Thunder Break) –
-With the Spectators-
"Pretty good, Naruto has improved a lot in his Kenjutsu, since we last saw him" commented Omoi, as he was quite impressed with Naruto's swordsmanship skills
"Hmph! I guess" muttered Karui "But what style is he using, I've never seen one like it?"
"It's called Arasuijin no Mai (Dance of the Raging Water Goddess), replied Samui, gaining her team-mates attention. "It's a unique Kenjutsu style, created by the Buraddi Shinku no Ikari (Bloody Crimson Fury) Uzumaki Kushina. The style involves the user using not only a sword, but also Water as a weapon, which is why the fighting style is so unusual and unique. Since normally when using weapons and elemental Chakra together, Wind, Fire, Lightning or pure Chakra is normally what is used and as you can guess, the style is best used when there is a large nearby Water source."
"Beat her ass ten times out of ten!" cheered Bee in his usual bad rapping.
-With Naruto and Mai-
"Give it up Mai, you can't win" spoke Naruto, as he watched the girl slowly pick herself up.
"Tsk! Like hell I will…you haven't won this fight yet Senju!" cried the girl, as she charged straight at Naruto, who in turn charged straight at her.
As the two neared each other, Naruto attempted a sword thrust at the Granddaughter of Hanzo, but she quickly avoided it and moved close so that Naruto couldn't use it. She then delivered a sharp knee kick to Naruto gut, causing the blonde to kneel over slightly. After which Mai then grabbed hold of Naruto's sword arm and kicked his feet from under him and flipped over her, while at the same time causing Naruto to drop his Katana.
After being flipped over by Mai, Naruto quickly recovered by, doing a mid-air flip, allowing him to land on his feet, where he then fell into a fighting stance and prepared to fight Mai, who had spun around to face Naruto.
"Hmph! As you can see Senju, I'm not like the pitiful excuse of Kunoichi that you have in your village…" said Mai, causing several indigent yell from Tenten, Sakura and Ino. "…as I've been trained in some of the most gruelling training regimens you can image, for not only am I skilled in Ninjutsu and Weapons, but I' am equally skilled Taijutsu."
Upon hearing this Naruto eyes narrowed, as he had to admit he had underestimated Mai.
"I'll admit Mai, I've underestimated and you're indeed one of the strongest people I've ever fought, who were around my owe age."
After a minute or two of staring off at one another, the two Genin charged at one another and began to fight in fierce Taijutsu battle, where neither gave much ground to the other.
After ducking under a powerful jump kick from Mai, Naruto attempted to punch Mai in the side, which was left exposed after she missed him. But before he could hit her, Mai blocked the punch with her right hand, where in a feat of incredible acrobatics. She used Naruto's outstretched hand like a pedestal to spin around and deliver a one-eighty spin kick right to Naruto's face, sending the young Senju skidding back several meters away.
Mai then quickly chased after Naruto attempted to hit Naruto with a straight forward punch, which Naruto easily ducked under, and delivered a sharp rising knee kick, right to Mai's chin, sending her a few feet into the air. Upon which Naruto then fell backwards and used the ground to propel himself into the air and hit Mai in the gut, with a drop kick. Sending the young Kunoichi flying into the air, several meters back before crashing to the ground.
Naruto then attempted to end the battle, by chasing after Mia, where he then jumped into the air an attempted a falling axe kick. But before Naruto's kick could hit, Mai jumped onto her knees and caught the falling kick with her hands, where she then pushed Naruto back, causing the blonde to flip several meters back.
But when Naruto landed on the ground, Mai once again appeared in front of him a hit straight in the chest with a flying kick sending him the blonde flying backwards.
Mai then continued after Naruto where she appeared next to him and hit Naruto with a powerful rising, which sent Naruto up into the air, where the Ame Kunoichi jumped after him.
Once she was above him, Mai then delivered a powerful elbow to Naruto stomach that sent him hurtling to the ground and hit it with a loud thud, where he then skidded across the ground for several meters before stopping.
"God, damnit, I getting pretty sick of being her punching bag…I'm going to end this now!" thought Naruto as he spat out some blood as picked himself up.
Once Naruto was back on his feet, he did a single hand seal and released his Fūinjutsu: Shishi Omomizuke Shīru (Sealing Technique: Four Limbs Weighting Seal), causing his gloves and boots to glow blue.
-With the Spectators-
"About time the kid released them", commented Jiraiya, when he saw Naruto deactivating the Shishi Omomizuke Shīru.
"Excuse me Jiraiya-sama, but what is causing Naruto's boots and gloves to glow like that?" asked Sakura.
"The glow is being caused by Naruto deactivating special weighing seals that I placed on his boots and gloves, so to help improve his physical strength. Meaning with them being no longer active, Naruto will be much stronger and faster than he was before.
At this Sakura and the other Genin eyes widened in surprise, as Naruto was already pretty fast.
"Hmmmm, so he uses the same kind of method that Lee uses, but instead of regular weights he uses weight seals" thought Neji with interest, after hearing Jiraiya's explanation.
-With Naruto and Mai-
At the same time, when Naruto was deactivating his Fūinjutsu: Shishi Omomizuke Shīru. Mai (who had landed back on the ground), began to frown and wonder what Naruto was doing, "What sort of trick is he up to now."
But before she could think further on the matter, Naruto suddenly charged straight at her with a sudden massive burst of speed, where within the blink of an eye was right in front of her.
Mai had been so surprised by Naruto's new speed that she had been completely caught off guard by it, and couldn't block the sharp elbow strike to the side of her face from him, which was then followed by a rising knee kick to her chin, causing her to fall on her back.
Mai of course quickly recovered, where despite the pain she was feeling from her face, she spat out some blood that was in her mouth and flipped backward onto her feet. But as soon as she did, she was forced on the defensive, by a powerful roundhouse kick from Naruto, to the left side of her head, which she barely managed to block with her left arm, due to the strength and speed of the kick.
Seeing that his kick was blocked, Naruto then quickly used Mai's left arm to push his right leg away from her allowing him to spin himself around and deliver a powerful spinning back kick to the right side of Mai's head. That sent her flying sideways and nearly causing her to hit the wall.
Mai of course tried to steady herself as her head was still spinning from Naruto hits. But it just when the world had stop spinning for Mai that Naruto once again appeared in front of her. It was only because of the many years of intensive training that she went through, that her body was able to move out of the way of a strong forward punch from Naruto. Although when she tried a punch of her own, Naruto slapped her arm away and sent a strong elbow strike to her chest, right between her breasts. That knocked the Wind out of her, causing her to take a few steps back.
Naruto then quickly followed up with another forward kick, which Mai barely blocked with both her arms, although the kick was still strong enough to cause her arms to go slightly numb and make her skid back a small bit.
"What the hell is going on, where did this sudden new burst of speed and strength come from? Did he use some kind of jutsu to do this?" thought Mai, as she tried to understand what was happening.
But before Mai could dwell any further on the matter, Naruto came at her again; where when she tried to punch him with her right fist. He caught it and then hit several pressure points on her arm with the tips of his fingers causing it to go numb.
Seeing this Mai then tried to punch him with her other fist, but Naruto avoid the fist and did the same thing to her other arm.
With both her arms gone numb, Mai then attempted to kick Naruto, but before she could hit him. The Senju heir ducked underneath the kick and spun to her side, where he then did a leg swipe and kicked her remaining foot off the ground. After which Naruto then hit a pressure point on her back and the kicked her up into the air.
Once Mai was airborne, Naruto then jumped after her, where once he was above her, he raised his leg up and cried out "Gekikyaku (Hammer Kick)!" where he delivered a powerful blow onto Mai's stomach sending her crashing to the ground.
Once Mai hit the ground, the match referee Hayate appeared next to Mai (since he had been keeping out of the way of the two Genin). Remarkably, when he kneeled down to her, Mai was still conscious, although was groaning in pain from Naruto last move, but even still it was obvious the girl could no longer fight.
It was at this point that he saw Naruto landed a few feet away from them and slowly walk towards him. The boy look fairly tried and had several bruises, cuts and other injuries on him, not to mention his outfit was fairly torn up. But all of this just proved how fierce the fight between the heir of the Slug Princess and the heir of the Salamander was.
Soon enough, Hayate stood up and spoke, "Hattori Mai is unable to continue the fight…the winner is Senju Naruto."
-With the Spectators-
"Yataaaa…! Naruto-kun won, I knew he would" cheered Ino.
"Yosh" stated Tsunade with a smirk, as she knew her son would win.
"That move!" thought Gai in surprise, as he thought about Naruto's last move, although it was very different, there were still strong similarities between his and Lee's moves to Naruto's. It of course did not take long for him to realize that Naruto must have copied Lee's moves slightly and changed it to fit his own style. This of course greatly impressed the elder man, as it took a great deal of skill and physical ability to perform the moves that Naruto did, especially since he had only seen it once when Sasuke fought Lee.
"Naruto-kun fought well" commented Haku, as she turned to her master.
At this Zabuza just nodded "The kid did good, it was a pretty close match, as the girl was no weakling."
"Naruto-kun" muttered Hinata quietly as she smiled at the blonde boy winning his match
"Nice going Naruto" thought Omoi with smile.
"As expected" thought Yugito with a slight smile.
"Awwww yeeeeeeah…! He pulled it off like a wisdom tooth!" stated Bee with a smile.
"I don't believe it! Mai loss" thought Kandachi with utterly disbelief, who was joined by the rest of his team, as Mai was the strongest amongst them.
"Hmph! I have to admit he's pretty good…I didn't think he would win" thought Temari.
-With Naruto and Mai-
Once Hayate had announce that the match was over and that Naruto had won, the young blonde let out a sigh of relief, as he was pretty sore after that fight. Not to mention fairly tired, as he didn't have much time to rest from finishing the forest of death to his match with Mai.
As Naruto was about to walk up to the Catwalk and join his family and friends, he suddenly heard her Mai cough harshly, when he turned to Mai he saw the she had spat out some blood and was struggling to breath.
Seeing this Naruto quickly walked over to her and kneeled down next to her and started to take out some things from his pouch.
When Hayate asked what he was doing, Naruto explained he was going to help her treat her injuries.
Hayate of course told Naruto that they had medics here to help her and told him that he didn't have to. But Naruto stated he could handle it himself, where the sickly Shinobi just nodded and backed away so to allow Naruto to examine and treat Mai.
When Mai turned and saw Naruto sitting next to her, the young Kunoichi glared at the blonde, "Come to gloat Senju?...Cough, Cough."
"Hardly" replied Naruto, where she stared to gently touch Mai's sides.
"W-What the hell do you think you're doing?" cried the outrage girl, with a hit a blush, which Naruto found funny. Given the outfit she was wearing, he didn't think Mai would be so embarrassed of a boy touching her.
"I'm treating you" explained Naruto, where before the girl could respond, she hissed in pain as Naruto touched her tender sides.
"As I expected, you've a few cracked ribs, probably caused by my last hit…Although I'm amazed that's all you got" stated Naruto before he went and took out a small pill bottle and took out some pills and brought them to Mai mouth.
"What are they?" Mai asked.
"They're pain killer pills, to help numb the pain from your ribs" Naruto explained. But as soon as he said this, Mai turned her head away stubbornly.
"I refuse"
"Huh, But why?"
"I' am a Shinobi of the Hattori Clan, where to accept help from an enemy, is a sign of weakness and I will not insult my pride by letting you help me" stated the girl stubbornly.
"Well that's about the stupidest thing, I've ever heard", Naruto commented.
"What?"
"You heard me, why let yourself go through all this pain over a silly thing like that?"
"Tsk, you wouldn't understand" replied Mai angrily.
"Maybe not, but whether you like it or not, I'm going to treat you. Now you've two choices, you can make things easy for yourself and do what I tell you, or you can make things hard, where I force you to take these pills."
"You wouldn't da-AHHH!" spoke Mai before she cried out in pain, when Naruto touched one of her cracked rips, where he then poured the pills into her mouth causing her to swallow them.
"Well that wasn't too bad, now was it?" asked Naruto with an all too sweet smile, one that was all too familiar to many people. As they had seen the exact same smile on his mother face all too many times.
"Damn you…" growled Mai angrily, "…if could just move, I woul-" spoke Mai but was interrupted by Naruto before she could finish her threat.
"Well you can't so deal with it…but if you behave, I'll free you from the effect of the pressure points."
At this, Mai just grunted and allowed Naruto to finish treating her.
-With the Spectators-
"Heh! Looks like the brat also inherited your bedside manner" joked Jiraiya, as he glanced over at Tsunade.
"Ha…ha…laugh it up pervert, next time you come to me to treat your injuries after one of your research missions. I won't be half as nice to you" replied Tsunade, which caused to toad sage to worry slightly.
"Why is Naruto even helping that chick? She tried to kill him!" stated Kiba, who had awaked from his unexpected nap not long after Naruto's match began.
"The brat is weird that way; he did the same kind of thing for me and Haku" commented Zabuza.
"What do you mean?" asked Shino.
"During our battle in Nami no Kuni (Wave Country), Kakashi had me and was about to deliver the final blow. Haku of course tried to protect me by shielding me with her body, but before Kakashi's attack could hit, the brat stopped him."
"Why on earth would Naruto do that?" asked Ino.
"Well the kid simply stated that he didn't believe either Haku or I deserved to die" replied Zabuza with a slight snort. Since given the things he did in his past, many would think that he did deserve to die.
"That was a very reckless thing to do" stated Kurenai with a slight frown.
"Yeah well, that's what happened, he even somehow convince Kakashi and the others to bring us back to where they were staying and let him treat us, despite the fact that we tried to kill him and the others. Even now I still do fully understand why he did" said the Demon of the Mist.
"It's because Naruto-kun is a very kind person" answered Haku with a found smile, where at this Tsunade, who was listening to conversation could only nod in agreement. Since Naruto had always been a kind boy, too kind at times.
-With Naruto and Mai-
For the next few minutes Naruto continued to treat Mai's injuries, where he soon took out and opened a small jar of cream and explained to Mai that it was healing cream that would help reduce the swelling that would come later.
When Naruto added the cream, the girl hissed in pain, as the cream was cold and her sides were very tender. Soon after though, the pain lessened as Naruto continued to gently rub the medical cream on Mai's sides.
As Naruto continued to do this, the girl couldn't help but notice, as Naruto rub the cream on her sides, that he had very gentle hands. The thought of course made the girl blush slightly, which thankfully Naruto didn't notice.
Soon after though the Ame Kunoichi decided to ask Naruto a question, "Why are you even helping me? I was your enemy."
"The match is over, so we aren't enemies anymore" stated Naruto.
"But I tried to kill you!"
"Well that was then and this is now and besides you're not the first one to try and you certainly won't be the last one to. Also, what happened then is now in the past and it doesn't mean we can't become friends now" replied the Senju heir.
"Friends?" repeated Mai where she looked at Naruto like he was insane.
"Yeah, I have two other friends now, up there watching us, who I met on a mission a while back and like you they were my enemies for a while. But once the battle was over, we became friends."
At hearing this Mai just shook her head in slight disbelief, "Tsk, you're a weird guy Senju Naruto"
Naruto just smirked at this and said "So I've been told."
After a few minutes though, Naruto finished spreading the cream on Mai's sides and took out some bandages and slowly rapped them around her waist. Once the bandages were tightly around Mai's waist, Naruto took out another small pill bottle from his pouch and took out a large round pill the size of a gumdrop.
"What's that?"
"A medical pill my Kaa-chan developed, it temporally floods your body with Chakra and accelerate your own natural healing, although it doesn't heal you completely. It should heal you just enough so that you can move around without trouble, but later you should go to a medic to be fully treated", explained Naruto.
"And if I were to refuse that pill?" asked Mai.
"Well…you know what happened last time" answered Naruto with a smirk, which annoyed Mai, but agreed and opened her mouth to take the pill.
Within a minute or two after taking the pill, it took effect, where Mai could feel the Chakra surge throughout her body and could see her injuries starting to slowly heal.
Once the pill did its job, Naruto then tapped the pressure points in her arm joints to allow her to move her arms again. He then hit another pressure point just above her breast, to allow her to move the rest of her body.
"I can move again!" declared Mai, as she moved arms about, although her body was still sore and ached a little, she was a lot better than she was before.
"Told you I would but don't move too much, as you're not a hundred percent yet and won't be for a while." said Naruto, where Mai just nodded.
"You're a strong Kunoichi Mai, I mean that…and I really hope that we can be friends. Maybe we can have a friendly fight later on once the exam is done with", spoke Naruto as he held out his hand in friendship, as well as to help her up.
But instead of taking Naruto's offered hand, Mai grabbed his green zip-up top and pulled him down to her and kissed him.
-Enter Naruto OST 1 Sexiness-
Now this wasn't your ordinary everyday kiss on the cheek or a quick and simple kiss on the lips. This was an open-your-mouth-so-our-tongues-can-play kind of a kiss.
Naruto of course had been so shocked by what had happened, that he didn't know what to do and by the time he realized what was going on, his brain went on shut down mode because of Mai's kiss.
-With the Spectators-
Naruto wasn't the only one who was caught off guard by Mai's kiss, as everyone else who had been watching the fight was caught completely off guard, where their reactions varied from one another.
Upon seeing this, both Kiba and Kankuro were launched into the air by massive nosebleeds, where they once again crashed into the walls behind them.
Many of the boys and girls like Lee, Karui, Choji, Hinata, Chōjūrō, Sakura and Omoi turned bright read at the sight.
At seeing Mai kissing Naruto, Jiraiya immediately started cheering for Naruto, yelling out "Way a go Kid!" and "That a boy!" At the same time, he began writing everything down on his notepad, thinking it would make a great scene for his next book.
Tsunade although didn't take the sight as well as Jiraiya did, for as soon as she saw it, she went postal. Both the Sandaime and Shizune quickly grabbed hold of the woman and prevented her from jumping down into the arena and killing Mai. But that didn't stop her from screaming out "Let him go you little wench!" and "I'll Kill her!" as she struggled to get out of her sensei and student's grips, who were now assisted by Anko and Ibiki.
Tsunade was of course not the only one who took what Mai did badly. When Ino saw Mai lip lock with Naruto, she immediately cried "Bitch!" She was so angry, that her Sensei Asuma had to hold her back from jumping into the arena and trying to tear Mai a new one.
Even Haku, seemed "irked" by the sight, as when she saw Mai pull Naruto into the kiss, a dark aura formed around her and an evil looking glint appeared in her eyes, which caused her team-mates to slowly step away from her in fear.
"Zabuza-sama, I believe I have finally found someone I wish to kill" spoke the female ice user dangerously, where she took out a set of Senbon needles from her pouch.
"Don't tell me Haku likes the kid and is jealous!" thought Zabuza, when he turned to his student and raised his non-existing eyebrows in surprise and was slightly worried that Haku might actually try and kill Mai.
"Well they certainly didn't have this, back when I did the Chunin exam" commented Kakashi.
"This is going be troublesome" muttered Shikamaru, seeing Tsunade, Ino and Haku's reaction to the scene.
"Damn Naruto" thought Omoi in surprise and some admiration for his blonde friend.
"Good Stuff man!" cheered Bee, although both Samui and Yugito were slightly annoyed by what Mai was doing, although neither of them knew why they were bothered by it.
"Well...I certainly didn't see that coming" commented Kushina.
As Mai continued to play with Naruto's tongue, Jiraiya started to cry anime tears.
"Why couldn't something like that happen to me when I did the exam?…GAH!" cried Jiraiya, before Tsunade backhanded him right in the face, slamming his head right into the wall, where it got stuck.
-End Naruto OST 1 Sexiness-
-With Naruto and Mai-
Eventually though Mai released Naruto from her lip lock, although still held onto his zip-up top.
When Mai let go of him, Naruto was left red faced and in a complete daze, as that had been his first real kiss, and what a kiss it was. (4)
"Marry me Naruto-kun" spoke Mai suddenly, which immediately woke Naruto from his daze.
"M-M-Marry you!" repeated the wide-eyed and red face Naruto in shock.
"Yes, you are the only person other than my Grandfather to have defeated me in battle, together you and I would be unstoppable. You're the only one worthy of being my husband and bear children with", spoke Mai.
"C-C-Children!" repeated Naruto, where his eyes widened even further.
"Yes, as when our two bloodlines (5) combine and with us as their parents our children would be unstoppable. So how about in Naruto-kun?" asked Mai seductively, where she had a predatory look in her eyes, which made Naruto very nervous.
"LIKE HELL YOU WILL!" roared Tsunade, who had broken free of the Sandaime's and the others grip and jumped down to the arena and grabbed the back of Naruto's collar and pulled him away from Mai.
After Tsunade pulled Naruto away from Mai, the Granddaughter of Hanzo, quickly got onto her feet and glared at the female Sannin.
"You can't stop us!" stated Mai.
"The fuck I can't, I'm his mother!" yelled the furious Tsunade.
"Could've fooled me, since your old enough to be his Grandmother" retorted Mai.
"Oh dear" muttered the worried Sandaime, when he and the others heard Mai's retort.
"What did you, just say you little hussy!" hissed Tsunade angrily, where her eyes went ablaze in fury and gave Mai a look that would've made most Shinobi cower in fear, which was only highlighted when she started to crack her knuckles. But then again Mai wasn't like most Shinobi.
"You heard me, or is your hearing going in your old age" sneered Mai.
"Oh shit!" cried Jiraiya, (who got his head free from the wall) as he knew what was to come next.
"WWWHHHHAAAATTTT!" roared the Tsunade as flames a fury erupted around the female Sannin.
"Why me?" asked Naruto to himself, as he stood between his mother and Mai.
"Even Buddha could only forgive you once!" cried Tsunade as she raised her fist in rage, after being insulted once again by Mai.
Fortunately though, before things could get further out of hand, Jiraiya and Shizune suddenly appeared behind Tsunade and grabbed hold of her, preventing her from splattering Mai on the wall.
"Let me go Jiraiya...Shizune...I am going to kill her!" yelled Tsunade as she struggled to free herself from Jiraiya and Shizune's grips, who were barely holding the furious woman back.
"Just try it you old hag" goaded Mai, which added fuel to the woman's fury, where Tsunade was on the verge of a meltdown and about ready to bring the whole tower down.
"Please Tsunade just calm down, this is all just a grave misunderstanding" spoke the Sandaime as he bravely stood between Mai and Tsunade, to prevent Tsunade from killing Mai and starting an international incident.
"There is no mistake about it; Naruto-kun is my Fiancé" declared Mai.
"And what the hell gives you that idea" rounded Tsunade, as she was still being held back by Jiraiya and Shizune
"Clan tradition and law" answered Mai.
"Huh!" said Naruto with a confuse look.
"Excuse me?" asked Sarutobi, not fully understanding what the young girl was saying.
At this Mai just smiled, "There is a long standing tradition among the Kunoichi of my Clan. Since we hold the responsibility of bearing the next generations of our Clan, we are obligated to make sure that those children are strong, so that our Clan remains strong. Because of this, the women of our Clan are trained to be as strong as the men are, so that we can fight against any enemies alongside them, as well as bear many strong children. It's also because of this tradition, that the women of my Clan only accept strong men to be our husbands and fathers of our children. Hence if a Kunoichi of my Clan is defeated by a much stronger male Shinobi and if said Kunoichi finds him acceptable, then he must marry her", explained Mai.
"That's ridiculous! You're making this stuff up!" exclaimed Tsunade.
"Actually Tsunade, she isn't…" stated Sarutobi, gaining the groups attention, "…as I've heard of the Hattori Clan having such a tradition."
"Well even if there is, there's no way I will allow it to happen, as I forbid it" declared Tsunade.
"You have no say in this hag" responded Mai.
"He's only twelve and I'm his mother, so I do have a say" rounded Tsunade angrily at Mai calling her a hag again.
"That may be true, if he was just a civilian, but once he became a Shinobi he is regarded by law as an adult", retorted Mai, which caught Tsunade by surprise. Since technically Mai was correct, as by law, when Naruto became a Shinobi of Konoha, he was recognized as an adult.
"That may be true Mai-san, but even so, there is an age limit to marriage, where Naruto cannot get married until he is eighteen years old. Even then arrange marriages similar to the likes that you're suggesting or any other like them can only be accepted by his Mother. Since she is not only his mother, but also the head of the Senju Clan, since he is her heir. Not to mention that this is not Amegakure and your clan is not part of our village, hence your clan's traditions and laws are not acknowledged here" explained the Sandaime.
Upon hearing this Tsunade, smirked believing that her sensei had put the girl in her place. But her smirk soon died down, when Mai didn't look the least bit angry or upset.
"Mere technicalities Hokage-sama and they can be overcome given enough time, as for Naruto-kun not being legal age for marriage. I believe I can wait a few years" answered the girl, where she turned and started to head for the catwalk, where her team was located. But before she walked off she turned to Naruto and gave him a seductive wink, which made the blonde blush red, due to the kiss still being fresh on his mind. Not to mention the fact that he could still taste Mai's lips on his own.
"I'll be seeing you soon...Naruto-kun", said Mai before walking away
At seeing Naruto blush, Tsunade growled angrily, and struggled slightly with Shizune and Jiraiya, muttering "let me at her", but eventually stopped.
Naruto and the Sandaime of course just sighed, as both of them had slight headaches caused by the past few minute's events, which would only grow later on.
It was almost at the same time, that both Naruto and his surrogate Grandfather Sarutobi sighed inwardly and thought the exact same thing at the exact same time "Women!"
-With the Spectators-
"Damn and I thought our family was screwed up" commented Kankuro, who had regained consciousness.
Temari of course just nodded at this, although she then smacked the back of her brother's head when she saw him staring at Mai's chest and rear, when she walked by them to go to her team.
"KuKuKuKu…Very impressive Naruto-kun, very impressive indeed" thought the Snake Sannin, with a small smile.
Once the excitement of the match and the aftermath of the match ended, the Sandaime decided that they had delayed the next match long enough, and told Hayate to begin the next selection. He also told Tsunade and the others that they should go up to the catwalk, where Tsunade could treat Naruto injuries.
Tsunade of course insisted that they go now and seal away the curse mark, but the Sandaime said they couldn't, at least not yet. Since everyone needed to stay here until the preliminaries were done, since one of the Genin would have to fight twice.
Tsunade, Sarutobi and Jiraiya, along with Naruto quickly Shunshin'd (Body-flickered) up to the catwalk, while Shizune stayed behind to get Naruto's Katana before joining them up.
Once everyone was up on the catwalk, Tsunade told Naruto to sit down against the wall so that she could examine him and treat his injuries. This was of course not an order Naruto had problems following, since he was pretty sore and tried.
As Tsunade began to heal Naruto's injuries, Haku, Hinata and Ino all came over to see how Naruto was and if they could help her treat Naruto's injuries.
"Sumimasen (6) T-T-Tsunade-sama, but will Naruto-kun be alright?" asked Hinata nervously.
Tsunade of course did not miss the Kun suffix that Hinata used, but decided to leave the matter for another time.
"Yes he should be fine…I've trained him hard enough, so that injuries like these would be nothing to him" answered Tsunade.
"That's the understatement of the decade", muttered Naruto, since his fight with Mai was nothing compared to the hellish training that his mother put him through when he was younger.
"What was that Naru-chan?" asked Tsunade with an all too sweet tone and smile.
"Nothing!" Naruto replied quickly, since his mother was not in the best of moods after her argument with Mai. Hence she was just looking for an outlet for her frustration and that was something he had no intention of being.
"Good" stated Tsunade, where she then continued to treat Naruto.
"If I may Tsunade-dono, I can help" offered Haku.
"So can I" stated Ino.
"I-I–h-have s-s-some healing cream, that-c-c-could help" stuttered Hinata.
"Well, Well, Well looks like you've been busy brat" thought Jiraiya with a cheesy smirk, when he saw the three girls all offering to help Naruto.
Seeing this, Tsunade frowned at the girls willingness to help Naruto, and began to wonder what their relationship with her son was.
"Thank you, but I can manage" answered Tsunade, where the girls just nodded.
Soon enough though Tsunade had treated most of her son injuries, where as she was finishing up, she glances back over a Haku.
"You're Haku correct?" asked Tsunade, where the female Ice user just nodded. "Then I guess I owe you my thanks, Naruto told me that it was you and your team that found and cared for him and protecting him from that hussy."
At hearing Tsunade thanking her, Haku simply told her she was welcome, and that she was happy to do so.
Once Tsunade had finished healing Naruto, Jiraiya decided it was time to have a little fun at his godson's expense, after all the pranks he did to him over the years.
"So brat, how are you feeling?"
"Still a little bit sore, but a lot better"
"Ah well, if you're not feeling any better later on, I am sure that these three girls here, would be more than happy to help you. Since they were so eager to heal you" said Jiraiya, while emphasizing the word heal to indicate more to the meaning.
At hearing Jiraiya's comment and catching the meaning, Ino blush a bit, while Hinata turned cherry red. Haku on the other hand remained perfectly expressionless. But if one were to look closely enough, they would've seen a hint of pink on her cheeks.
"It's nothing like that!" retorted Naruto, with a slight glare at his Godfather, "We're friends that's all!"
"Well you sure do have a lot of pretty female friends' brat, something I sure as hell wouldn't mind having" responded Jiraiya, with a perverted grin, causing Naruto to glare at the man more.
"Oh please, those three are nothing compared to the horde of fan girls that are aft-oops!" spoke Kushina before she realized that she said that out loud.
"A HORDE OF FAN GIRLS!" cried an outraged Tsunade, where she glared angrily at her son, who was wishing right now that the wall behind him would just swallow him up whole.
At the same time he glared murderously at his female Sensei, who blushed embarrassingly, since Kushina the blabbermouth had done it again.
"It's not what you think Kaa-chan, I swear, they just won't leave me alone, hell I don't even know half of them" explained Naruto quickly. Although it did little to lessen his mother's anger, in fact it actually increased it, where she then turned to Jiraiya and grabbed him by the collar and began to shake him like a rag doll.
"This is all your fault…!" cried Tsunade angrily, as she rang her former team-mate's neck, "…I should've known that your perverted behaviour was contagious and would infect my son!"
"B-B-But I didn't do anything, I swear" cried Jiraiya as Tsunade continued to shake him.
"I would go easy on Ero-sennin if I were you Tsunade, as I don't think this is his fault, as if he really was influencing Naruto, then Naruto would be having the opposite effect with girls", spoke Kushina.
"Damnit brat, now you got her calling me by that name!" cried the annoyed Jiraiya, after Tsunade let him go.
"Huh, when the shoe fits" Naruto replied simply.
"And what the hell do you mean by having the opposite effect with girls, the ladies love me, they flock from all over and can't get enough of me" declared Jiraiya, when he turned to Kushina.
"Really and what world would that be in?" asked Kushina with a smirk, when she saw the outraged look on Jiraiya, while seeing everyone else smirk and snicker.
"I think I know who Naruto is really taking after", stated Kushina with a knowing look to Tsunade, which caused Tsunade to frown slightly, knowing that Kushina somehow knew about Naruto's father.
"Well regardless, when the preliminaries are all over, and the sealing is done, you and I are going to have a long talk about this Naruto", stated Tsunade as she stared intently at her son, who was not looking forward to that conversation.
"Ahhhhh mmmaaaan, I should've just let Mai kill me" thought Naruto.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone