What is Worth Protecting? -Naruto

#38 Finals START

The sun was high, footsteps echoed as seats were being filled in the large stadium. Shikamaru stared intensely at the door, he had surprisingly made it first, wondering where the rest were... He had then seen the sand siblings walk through the door and stood next to him, which made him tense... there was something wrong about the way they had gone about the exams... he had seen the way Ryouichi had tensed up... and out of all the people that he had scouted during the exams, that red head seemed to be alot more than he expected... and the way Naruto was like... he could tell he was stronger, probably as strong as Ryou...

His thoughts were interrupted as more of the contestants crept through the door, Shino and Neji stood next to him, looking up he saw more and more civilians come into the crowded seats. Some Ninja walked around and Shikamaru swore he saw shadows flying by, most likely Anbu. That's when he heard some more footsteps. "Ryou-kun! Wait for us!" Running through the gate, he saw Ryouichi, his hair had gotten messier than it had been before, almost as wild as Naruto's, though there was a key difference that Shikamaru noticed, was the large bandage wrapped on his left arm.

"Sorry Naruto-kun, Haku-san." Turning, his eyes landed on the blond who had his red jacket firmly around him, a fox was perched onto his shoulder staring at the red head sand ninja... Haku had been silently giving Ryou an annoyed look. "You honestly think he'd be more patient." Haku said with a sigh. The blond only chuckled sheepishly as Ryouichi threw his hands up, "Hey! Don't go ganging up on me!" He pointed with an angry flush. "Well, he's got a point, Ryou-kun." Naruto walked forward and gave a knowing smile. The red head seemed to have calmed down at that and wrapped his arm around the blonds shoulder.

"I have my moments." Naruto's laughter rang out as he stood next to Shikamaru and he gave a bright smile at him. Looking around, Naruto frowned. "Where's Sasuke?" Shikamaru could only shrug, while Ryouichi tightened his hold slightly. "Who cares, he needs to be knocked down a peg or two." Naruto gave a small frown at that but nodded nevertheless. "We are talking about Sasuke here, when is he not like that?" Shikamaru stated making the redhead snort.

Up in the top of the stadium, the Hokage stood in front of all of the contestants that had shown up and hummed, knowing where Sasuke would be... "Good afternoon! We will now begin our final matches of the Chunin exams! The final ten who have made it through the preliminaries stand before you now!" Ryouichi and Naruto looked up towards Hiruzen who stood staring down at both of them, giving a nod to them both he turned towards his seat and towards the Kazekage that set next to him. "Good afternoon, Hokage-dono..." Looking towards the Kazekage who had his robe over his face made it increasingly distressing to the elder. 

"Afternoon, Kazekage-dono, I hope the trip here was uneventful?" The other Kage nodded his head, "Even if it was, I am glad I am here... to see this chunin exams happen." Hiruzen stared at his eyes for a moment, before staring ahead, closing his eyes he felt his student just a few steps to his right. "I hope this doesn't come to this..." 

Genma turned towards the nine genin and pushed a paper in front of them for all to see. "There has been a small change, Dosu has dropped out of the running." Ryouichi tensed, his arm signalling Naruto. "This is concerning." Haku tilted his head. "Why is that?" Genma could only shrug his shoulders, as if he had no answer for the boy. "Double check your opponent, I will not show this again." Some leaned in forward, a few changes happened as Naruto stared at the name of his opponent. "Neji huh... The bastard that hurt Hinata-san..." He had remembered it quite vividly and knew that he had to deal with him...

Looking up, He saw that Genma was staring at him for a moment. "Huh? Is there something on my face?" He placed his hand next to his cheek, and Genma only smiled and shook his head. "Right, let's begin the first match. Neji Hyuuga, and Naruto Uzumaki!" Ryouichi leaned close to his ear and whispered. "Good luck," with a small kiss engraving his cheek. Giving a small smile, the rest of the Genin walked towards the section above the arena. "So, friend, huh?" Shikamaru questioned as Ryou gave a small sheepish chuckle. "Something like that."