"As the final match of the Chūnin exam, the victor will be decided only by killing or incapacitating his opponent," the proctor informed the watching audience. "And in this battle, we have Uzumaki Naruto from Konohagakure and Fū from Takigakure!"
Waiting for the signal to start, Naruto took in his opponent. As she had done with the Suna genin, her figure also made an odd contrast to his own, with his black tracksuit, and his red hair and blue eyes. Noticing his gaze, Fū looked back at him and crossing her arms, smiled darkly.
His eyes narrowed; her stance screamed of confidence. Was she going to use her jinchūriki powers?
He thought it unlikely. If jinchūriki truly were taboo – as it seemed to be – then Fū would likely be under strict orders from her village to not reveal her jinchūriki status. As it was so far, she hadn't shown any signs of it, but that could simply have been because she had not been pushed enough. Whatever the case, one thing was clear – she was dangerous, and he knew next to nothing about her, making the situation doubly dangerous.
He stopped. Unconsciously, he'd begun analyzing her out of pure habit. But...
...did it really matter? As he'd told Kakashi-sensei, the outcome of this match meant nothing.
"Begin!"
Unlike with his match against Neji, Naruto made the first move. Gathering his lightning chakra to his feet, he drew a kunai and sprang at her. The proctor's words were still reverberating through the arena when Naruto appeared in a flash behind her. Without hesitating, he slashed downwards at her exposed neck.
But to his alarm, the blade did not pierce her as expected, but instead, bounced off.
"Hiden: Rinpungakure no Jutsu (Secret: Hiding in Scale Powder Technique)!" Fū shouted just as – despite his surprise – he flashed away; nevertheless, several particles ended up in his eyes, filling his vision with bright painful spots.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!" To buy time, Naruto blindly summoned several clones into the arena. Jumping backwards, he let them siege the Taki genin as he recovered and processed the newest addition to his mental profile of her. Her skin had felt oddly thick and stiff, almost like armor...or a shell. A simple blade obviously would not be enough.
Just as the last clone burst into smoke, his vision returned to functioning level. Fū had been driven back by his clones, but now, was quickly advancing on him headfirst. In a single fluid motion, Naruto drew his tantō from his back. Furrowing his brow in concentration, he ran two fingers down it's blade, running a current of wind chakra down its edge. Next, he ran back up, layering another current of chakra above it. He could sense the two opposing currents grounding against each other, finely sharpening the blade.
Eyeing his opponent, he stepped backwards, shaping and directing his chakra towards the heel of his foot as he ground it into the sand. Fū tensed and began to slow down; Naruto exploded towards her, holding the tantō with both hands. With no time for her to react, his blade struck her abdomen. Once again, he met the strange shell-like barrier on her skin – but this time, he felt something give way, and with a loud breaking sound, several cracks appeared on her skin.
Grimacing in pain, Fū jumped back; a thin line of red blood was trickling down her front. In another flash, Naruto was behind her again with his tantō, slamming the blade ruthlessly this time against her back. Even as it crushed through her shell, to his surprise, she reached out with a hand and grabbed the blade. Opening her mouth, she turned her head and silently screamed, unleashing a gale of scale powders at his face.
Forced to abandon his tantō, Naruto flashed away to the opposite side of the arena where he was just out of her reach. He watched as, with a hiss of pain, Fū wrenched the blade out from where it was wedged in between the cracks of her arm and threw it on the ground. Then, putting her hands together to make a sign, the top of the red tube on her back flew open and a black cloud of clicking insects emerged.
They were different from the termite-insects she had used previously; these looked more like beetles, but with a row of several wicked-looking pincers. As one, they headed straight for him, their hard shells gleaming brilliantly.
"Fūton: Kyōfu (Wind Release: Gale)!" He blew out a gale of strong wind, throwing most them off course as they flapped their scaly wings rapidly in a struggle to stay in the air. Meanwhile, following her beetles, Fū lunged towards him and making the signs rapidly, she began to exhale her signature scale powder at him.
Before they fully escaped her mouth, however, Naruto kicked out with his feet, hitting her in the side. She fell to the ground several feet away, her powder exuding uselessly by her side.
Using that time, Naruto ran to where Fū had flung down his tantō, and picked it back up. Running his wind chakra down its length, he flashed behind the dark-skinned genin, slashing at her once more. Leaving behind a dark long line of blood, he quickly flashed away before her beetles – which were regrouping around her – could catch him.
As she spat out a globule of blood and spit, Naruto dug his heel into the sandy ground in preparation for his next move – but stopped with a sudden yelp, as he felt numerous and tiny feet begin to crawl their way up his leg.
Looking down in alarm, Naruto realized belatedly that several columns of Fū's termite had burrowed out from below ground – without his noticing, they must have mixed with the swarm of beetles before disappearing underground. In his mind's eye, he recalled the eaten carcass of Kankurō's puppet. Already, he could feel them chewing through the leg of his tracksuit.
Sending another wave of lightning chakra down his leg, Naruto flashed away, slapping down at his leg as he did so. Turning his hand up, he saw the smeared bodies of the insects across his palm. Thankfully, the remaining insects had fallen off as he escaped.
However, this presented a new dilemma. Either Naruto would have to keep moving around to avoid them, or he would have to deal with them somehow – and with the beetles and Fū already chasing him around, that would make this even more difficult.
Making up his mind, he cut off the current of wind chakra he was sending down his tantō, and instead began channeling lightning chakra down it. With a crackle, the blade began to hum as the chakra ran along its length.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the swarm of beetles diving towards him once more. Fū remained in her position, seemingly concentrating on manipulating her insects all at once. The termites were nowhere to be seen, but were likely making a beeline towards him underground once more. Readying his tantō with both hands, Naruto took a step back, burrowing his heel into the ground. He felt a droplet of sweat begin to ease down the side of his face. The beetles were almost on top of him – something tiny was popping out of the ground's surface, and –
Thrusting the tantō down into the sandy earth, Naruto simultaneously flashed away. As the blade broke through the surface, crackles of bright blue electricity from its tip broke the ground into chunks around it, surging through the emerging termites. At the same time, a current of electricity surged up through the blade into the air directly above it, electrocuting the swarm of air-borne beetles.
As one, the twitching, blackened insect bodies all dropped down on the ground. A final current of electricity crackled across the ground, before everything was still.
Breathing heavily, Naruto fell on one knee to rest. Wearily, he looked in Fū's direction – and recoiled.
She glared at him balefully, her face contorted into anger at the sight of her insects' demise. The sudden dark intensity of it inadvertently made him want to take a step back. Naruto hesitated; his every nerve was urging him with growing intensity to escape. Even as he watched, something red and ominous began to emanate off of her in waves – somehow, her chakra had made itself visible.
The pupils of her orange eyes grew narrow and sharp. White fog was steaming off of the cracks in her skin, and before his very eyes, they faded away, leaving her skin behind as good as new. The malicious red chakra shivered around her, before suddenly seeping to her back and splitting into two long shapes.
Insect wings, Naruto realized, as they began fluttering behind her. His eyes wide, he regarded the girl that now took off into the air before him. Even at a distance, he could tell that she was somehow much faster and stronger now. Was she using the power of the tailed beast?