23 The Finals Part 2

Jiraiya could not be more proud. All three of his students were in the semifinals. Nothing could make a sensei happier. His team had come so far and outclassed almost everyone else in the exams.

The next match was going to be a hard one for Fugaku. He had to come up with a way to counter Rasa's magnet release. He came up with an idea and decided that he would test it out. If it worked, he could have a chance at winning. If it failed, he would forfeit.

Fugaku and Rasa took the field. They stood opposite each other. As they stared each other down, Koharu said, "Ready, fight!"

Fugaku unsheathed a sword and charged at Rasa. Rasa didn't move as he raised a wall of gold dust that he then pushed forward towards the Uchiha. Rasa was shocked at what happened next. Fugaku swung his blade through the gold dust and as he did, it collapsed. Fugaku had coated his sword in lightning chakra and demagnetized the gold dust. He had successfully negated Rasa's ability.

The two genin's eyes met and suddenly, Rasa froze. Fugaku slowly walked up to Rasa and placed his blade against his neck before releasing the genjutsu. As he did, Rasa collapsed into a pile of gold dust. On the ground, gold dust gripped Fugaku's feet and began to cover his body. At the same time, Rasa emerged from the dust on the ground and raised Fugaku into the air.

Fugaku quickly called out saying, "I give up." A wise decision. He did not give Rasa a chance to hurt him like he did his previous opponent. The match was over. Rasa released Fugaku and then turned to return to the observation deck. Koharu then said, "The winner of the first semifinals match is Rasa. To determine who will face him in the finals, the next match will be between Nawaki and Minato!"

At this announcement, the crowd roared. Aside from the fact that both of them were Konoha ninja, both of them had put on a great show so far. Their jutsu were flashy and impressive. Everyone was excited to see what would happen.

On the observation deck, Nawaki and Minato looked to each other and smiled. They both took out a kunai and threw it down to the field. Simultaneously, they teleported to their respective kunai. Seeing this, the crowd cheered even louder. They did not even know that Nawaki could also use the teleportation technique. They would get to see not just one flash, but two.

The two flashes turned to each other and Nawaki said, "No hard feelings." Minato nodded. Koharu then said, "Ready, fight!" Each of them took out several kunai and threw them into the ground around each other. What happened next was amazing.

The two genin were moving so fast that no one could tell what was happening. As the two of them teleported around they continuously swung and parried kunai swings from the other. Occasionally one of them could be seen knocked to the ground but just as fast as they hit the ground, they would disappear again.

This went on for a few minutes and the crowd was mesmerized. Suddenly they both stopped teleporting and Minato collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. He then said, "I give up." Nawaki walked over and healed Minato before helping him up. Koharu then said, "The winner of the last semifinals match is Nawaki." The crowd cheered.

Their fight was truly amazing but Minato knew that Nawaki held back. He wasn't even in sage mode and didn't use his wood release either. Nonetheless, it was still a lot of fun. Minato was confident that no one else could come as close to his speed as Nawaki.

As Minato walked off the field, Rasa made his way down to the field. Using his gold sand, he floated down and landed gracefully. He made quite the entrance. As he landed, the two genin locked eyes. This was the moment they had both been waiting for. Their fight would be nothing short of spectacular.

Koharu then said, "It is time for the finals. In one corner, we have Rasa from Sunagakure. In the other corner, we have Senju Nawaki from Konohagakure. Keep your eyes peeled. This should be quite the show. Without further adieu, ready, fight!"

Rasa knew that if he didn't end this quickly, it would only get more challenging. With that, he sent a huge wage of gold dust crashing towards his opponent. Without thinking, Nawaki created a wood clone. The wood clone stepped forward and raised a wooden wall to block the gold dust. Nawaki stepped back and deployed a wood dome around him.

Rasa thought he knew what Nawaki was up to. He quickly created a foothold of gold dust and raised himself into the air. He had to stay on the move as Nawaki's clone continuously launched wooden projectiles at him.

Suddenly, the wooden dome exploded as Nawaki emerged in sage mode. Rasa knew that this fight just got a whole lot harder. Nawaki recalled the clone to boost his energy. He would need everything to pull this technique off. It was something he did not practice much but he managed to pull it off after a few attempts.

Nawaki blurred through a series of hand signs and slammed his hands into the ground as he said, "Mokuton: Mokujin no Jutsu" (Wood Golem). A towering golem rose from the ground. It stood at 20 feet tall and had a wood dragon wrapped around it's torso. Seeing this, Hiruzen saw Hashirama's image flash before his eyes. He was awestruck.

Immediately, Nawaki piloted the golem and dragon into his attack. He relentlessly bombarded Rasa with physical strikes. Rasa was overwhelmed. He was truly being outclassed. This kid was a monster and he knew it. But for some reason, he wasn't scared or nervous. Instead, he was thrilled. The rush of this battle was nothing like Rasa had ever felt before and he was high on it.

He ascended up into the air to escape the reach of the golem. He then used a huge wave of gold dust to lock the golem in place. The gold slowly creeped up the golem's body. He planned to capture Nawaki with this maneuver. The gold dust was almost at Nawaki's feet. Rasa could taste his victory.

Then suddenly, a huge wooden dragon exploded from the ground. It flew upwards towards Rasa at high speed. Rasa was unable to move his foothold due to the massive amount of effort he was putting into restraining the golem. Before he could react, the dragon grabbed Rasa and dragged him down to the ground. It slammed his body down and Rasa was out cold.

The crowd went wild. The match was so close. Either of them could have won. The ending was so flashy and amazing that everyone was left stunned. Nawaki jumped off of the golem as it returned to the earth. He ran over and started to heal Rasa. As he was tending to Rasa's wounds, Rasa woke up and asked, "Why are you healing me?"

Nawaki smiled and said, "Isn't that something friends would do for each other?" Rasa scoffed and said, "How could we be friends? We are from different villages." Nawaki then replied, "Are we at war? No, we are not. That means we don't have to be enemies. During our fight, I felt like we really connected. I was able to feel what you were feeling. I once heard someone say that the strongest ninja can tell what each other are thinking when they exchange blows. I felt the same excitement and enjoyment that you felt. Plus, it couldn't hurt if two future elites from different villages were friends. I think it would be beneficial."

Rasa didn't know what to say. He had never thought about it in this way. He felt his energy returning to him and as his injuries faded. He looked up to Nawaki and said, "Friends it is then." They both smiled and then laughed. Yet again, Nawaki would be changing the course of history with his impact on others.

*Title Acquired: Diplomat*

Koharu jumped down and announced, "I now present to you your winner, Nawaki of Konohagakure!" The crowd cheered as Nawaki helped Rasa to his feet. In the VIP box, the Kazekage turned to Hiruzen and said, "That is some boy you have there. His way of thinking is… peculiar." Hiruzen smiled and said back, "I believe that boy has what it takes to bring peace to this world someday. I just hope I get to see it in my lifetime."

With that, the chunin exams came to a close. A few days after the decision on who would be promoted to chunin was made. From other villages, all of Mei's and Rasa's teams were promoted. From Konoha, Minato, Nawaki, Fugaku, Shikaku, and Hiashi were promoted. They were summoned to the Hokage's office and all received their flak jackets as well as a lengthy speech from Hiruzen on what it means to be a chunin. Team Jiraiya celebrated their promotion with an expensive dinner at Yakiniku Q.

In the blink of an eye, two years passed. At the end of a group training exercise, Jiraiya informed his team that they were being assigned a mission and should meet outside the Hokage's mansion the next morning.

That night Nawaki was laying in bed and said, "Hey Kensho, show me my status." Kensho then popped up and said, "Coming right up."

Age: 8 years, 5 months

Height: 4' 10"

Weight: 61 lbs

Chakra Levels: A

Chakra Control: S

Elemental Affinities: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind

Bloodlines: Wood Release (Kekkei Genkai), Uzumaki

Titles: Sage, Will of Fire, Diplomat

Seeing this, Nawaki smiled and said, "Damn, I'm looking good! Pull up the perks list."

Unique Perk: Insomniac

Perk: Sage Mode (Mastery) - Able to enter sage mode at will and maintain it for a long period.

Unique Perk: Sensor Boost

Nawaki sighed. He has spent more than eight years in this world and has only found two sage tokens. He wondered when he would find another one. He had a feeling he would find one soon. He then said, "Alright, next is the skills list."

Skill: Cooking (Mastery) - Allows the user to prepare foods to perfection.

Skill: Stealth (Mastery) - Use of chakra control to hide one's presence. Will falter against those with high sensing capabilities.

Skill: Active Camouflage (Beginner) - Basic skill acquired from stealth mastery. Uses chakra to bend light and make the user effectively invisible.

Skill: Maintenance (Advanced) - Allows the user to clean and maintain weapons.

Skill: Passive Sensing (Mastery) - Allows the user to sense chakra signatures in small ranges.

Skill: Active Sensing (Mastery) - Allows the user to sense chakra signatures in a larger range via chakra expenditure.

Skill: Chakra Precision (Mastery) - Boosts the growth of chakra control to help reduce the amount of wasted chakra

Skill: Fuinjutsu (Advanced) - Allows the user to quickly write kanji to form powerful seals. Also allows for the interpretation of other seals to learn how they work.

Skill: Tracking (Advanced) - Allows the user to track a target over large distances.

Skill: Japanese (Mastery) - User is completely proficient with the native language.

Nawaki smiled and said, "I guess this is where I stand after two years. I'd say I've made some pretty good progress. What do you think Kensho?" Kensho replied, "Pretty good is an understatement. I don't understand how you could be so humble." Nawaki laughed and said, "It is just who I am. I've always been like this. Anyways, goodnight." Kensho replied, "Goodnight Nawaki."

The next morning, Team Jiraiya met outside the Hokage's mansion. Jiraiya led the squad inside. When they went to the reception desk, they were informed that Hiruzen was waiting for them. They made their way up to his office and knocked. Hiruzen called out saying, "Come in."

Hiruzen looked stressed. There was something on his mind. Something big. He turned to the team in front of him and said, "I have an extremely important and potentially dangerous mission that I want to send you guys on. It is at least A rank but could possibly be S rank depending on what happens. Can you handle it?"

Jiraiya smiled and said, "Whatever it is, we can handle it. What does the mission entail?" Hiruzen sighed.

He then said, "What I am about to tell you guys is an S rank secret. No one can find out about it. I have come across some intelligence suggesting that the other four great nations are plotting the destruction of Uzushiogakure. I need your team to deliver this intelligence to the Uzukage and get a response."