After torturing a lot of teams, I reluctantly put my pool noodle away, making my way back to my team. I hope that they dealt with them...

"Okay, go now Joe," Gloria hissed to her teammate quietly. Her accomplice nodded and went out into the opening.

"Nope, there's no one-" the enemy nin started, only to be cut off by Sasuke.

"Halt," Sasuke stated. "The keyword?"

"That's easy," the fake Naruto stated. "Hn (I am an idiot who doesn't know how to speak this language. Blah blah blah. Idiot is MEEEEE!)"

Sakura then burst out laughing and Sasuke smirked. They knew that this person, wasn't Naruto.

"Hey! What's so funny?" the imposter questioned, not knowing that he was caught red handed.

Sakura snorted and then regained her composure. "We caught you red handed, you obviously don't know the way of the 'hn.'"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the enemy sweated.

He reached back to make sure that the scroll was still in his possession, for reassurance, and was shocked when it wasn't there.

"When did you take my scroll?" He questioned, letting his henge fall.

"You mean this scroll," Naruko, now henged as Naruto, called. He held up an Earth scroll with one hand.

"Nice work, idiot," Sasuke complimented(?).

"Thanks, it's not hard to take a scroll when they're so focused on you guys talking about our keyword and planning to henge as me, believe it!" Naruto stated putting his hands behind his head. "Oh, and your teammate is a little tied up, chow."

Naruto hopped away with Sasuke and Sakura in pursuit.

Kurama said in a 'I-can't-believe-it- tone.

'I was in the heat of the moment.' Naruto thought back. 'I thought I sounded cool!'

"Really Naruto? Chow?" Sakura asked incredulously. Kurama laughed in amusement and Naruto hung his head.

"Did it really sound that lame?" Naruto anime cried, and undid the Genjutsu that formed around them- not that his teammates needed to know that.

"Yeah," Sasuke and Sakura said in unison.

Naruto let out a sigh in defeat as they went the rest of the way to the tower in silence. After getting there, Naruto pulled out his Earth scroll and Sasuke took out his Heaven.

"What do we do now," the pink-headed girl asked.

"I guess we open them," Naruto shrugged, already pulling his open. Sasuke grunted in annoyance, but soon followed.

Iruka popped out of the scrolls (weird, I know) with a smile on his face. "Congratulations, you are the second team to pass. I'm so proud of you Naruto!" Iruka exclaimed.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head for show. "It was nothing, believe it," he said sheepishly, with a small blush on his face.

Iruka smiled. 'Look how far he's come. From being a deadlast academy student who could barely pass, to being part of a team that came second in the second round.'

Naruto got a chill. 'Someone thought lowly of me again...'

(Author: There's enough irony to go around.)

After another 4 days of waiting (and being avoided by Gaara), the rest of the teams arrived.

"Since there are too many teams, we will have an elimination round," a man who had a serious coughing problem explained. He coughed in his hand and I swore I saw blood.

Should he even be a ninja? This dude is seriously sick! What if I catch it and die? Then I can never become a ninja because I'll be well... dead.

"I am your proctor, Hayate Gekko," the man said coughing once again. I took a step away. I am not getting near that dude. "This is an anything goes royale. The match will only end when someone forfeits, is deemed unable to battle, or dies," he said while coughing yet again. I swear that I can see his germs flying through the air. Where's my mask when I need it?

"You are allowed to leave now and your team will not be disqualified with you," Hayate continued.

Stupid Kabuto raised his hand. Lazy butt.

"Is that all? Then let's begin," he coughed. Oh gosh. Kurama, may my soul rest in peace. I am going to die because of that man.

The board above him began to flash names until it landed on Kiba's and mine.

"ALRIGHT, BELIEVE IT!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, hopping down into the arena. "I'M FIRST!"

"Ha, look at that Akamaru," Kiba laughed. "Looks like we lucked out on this one, we got the deadlast."

Kurama cheered. I take a peek into my mindscape and see him all decked out in a costume that looked strangely like me... weird.

"Don't judge a book by it's cover," I mumbled under my breath.

"What ya talking about?" Kiba questioned.

Shoot... I forgot about his super hearing.

"Nuthin, now let's get this thing started," I yelled.

The proctor coughed and I shivered. Germs. "If you are ready... begin!" I swear I saw blood coming after his next cough.

I ran towards Kiba, trying to see if close-combat will work or not. As I got closer the distance between us got smaller, putting me at a small "disadvantage."

"You think that will work on us loser?!" He shouted at me, not knowing what I had in mind.

"Watch it Inuzuka, you have no idea what I'm capable of!" I could feel Kurama starting to get upset inside of me, interfering with my own feelings.

Right before I got to him, I ran to the left, barely dodging Akamaru's bite. I did a hand sign, seeing a copy of myself appear next to me. Shadow Clone Jutsu.

My copy dug underground, seeing the two were only focused with myself. 'How will I pull this off without revealing myself?' I asked myself.

A cough drew my attention away from my thoughts, just for a moment, but Kiba saw it and used it to his advantage. Stupid Hayate and his Germs. I'm gonna die.

Kiba threw a punch at me, hitting my cheek. I went flying and landed a few feet away. 'Darn it...' I slowly got up and ran back to him, throwing a harder hit at him. He could've easily dodged it, but he didn't move quick enough.

I stood my ground and ran towards him again. He stood up as well, but I kicked him in the gut, making him double over. My clone popped up, dragging him down into the dirt while I gave him a crazed smirk. I brought out a kunai, ready to pierce him like I did to so many other people.

I saw the fear in his eyes, and I hurriedly put my "mask" backup, forgetting nobody knows about my secret.

I quickly made a shadow clone and did the Sexy Jutsu to cover it up. Kiba flew back with a nose bleed, as did many other men in the room.

Safe.

Little did I know, I had more than one pair of male curious eyes, wondering if there was more than meets the eye...

THANK YOU SO MUCH weirdly_lazy FOR ALL THE HELP!!!!! I give thee half cred to this chapter! Thank you so so much! This editor helped me a lot with the fight scene!

{August 20, 2018}