Kana hopped from foot to foot, teeming with excitement at the idea of fighting someone from a well-known and respected clan. Kakazu educated her on how their jutsus work, and so she was already planning ahead in her head, aware that the Nara boy could be thinking even farther ahead then she was.

"So you're Shikamaru Nara, right?" Kana asked, stretching her legs more misdirection.

"Yep." He lazily replied, hands in his pockets and his back hunched.

"With the pre-battle banter out of the way, are the combatants ready?" Hayate coughed out with a bored look.

"Ready!" Kana chirped, one hand behind her to reach for one of her kodachi as she lowered herself into a low stance.

"I'm ready..." Shikamaru sighed.

"Then begin."

When Shikamaru made no move to even twitch a finger, Kana took the chance for an opening move. Charging some chakra into her legs, she took a runners stance at him, drawing her kodachi and making a swipe at his legs, his hands formed a sign, and right before her eyes, his shadow began stretching at her. Her hands blurred and she sank into the floor, disappearing underground, where his shadow couldn't reach her. She reappeared on the surface, taking note of how far the shadow stretched.

Kana smirked.

"While your clan's techniques are impressive, they do have limits and weaknesses," She grinned, dusting the dirt off her shoulders. "For example; as long as there is no way for your shadow to reach underground, you can't catch me."

"So even Ame's genin know about my clan," Shikamaru hummed. "At least you're not stupid."

"Oh, I'm not, but believe me, some genin in Ame are stupid as hell." She chuckled, twirling the short blade in her hands.

While she made conversation with him, her mind was trying to think of all the different long-range techniques she could use. Although she really wanted to fight close range, that was a bad idea with Nara's. Deciding that a technique to knock him out would be her best bet, her mind sifted through all the earth and water techniques she knew. Lightning would be perfect right now, however, she had only started to learn the lightning bullet technique, so there was no guarantee that it would work again.

Weighing options in her head was getting to be a tiring task. She debated if she should use a second affinity as a shock factor, catch him off guard then strike, but there was a chance that it wouldn't work.

Something in the back of her mind giggled.

"Why not wow him?" Shin whispered. "I love the look of surprise on people's faces."

Kana hummed in though. 'He knows I use kodachi and earth style, so surprising him with chakra strings and water style could be a good idea.

Sheathing her short blades, her hand blurred together, making a few jonin's eyes widen. 

"Water style: water bullet!"

Shikamaru's eyes widened as he barely dodged a condensed ball of water, then weaving out of the way of two shurikens that was thrown at him. His eyes widened again when she tugged her hands back. He glanced behind him just in time to see the shuriken coming back at him. He dodged one, but the second one sliced past his right leg, making him wince and shift his weight to his other leg. 

Kana's hands blurred again and her cheeks swelled, but before she could release the jutsu, he spoke up.

"I surrender."

She stopped, spitting out a small glob of chakra infused water which had been building in her cheek.

"Dammit!" She roared, pointing an accusing finger at him. "I wanted a fucking fight!"

"Sorry, but I know where that was going and I don't enjoy getting my ass kicked, especially not by a girl." He huffed.

"Why you little shi-"

"Kana of Amegakure wins." Hayate cut in, making Kana glare at him.

She stomped back to her team with a huff, her mood becoming more cheerfull when Haku and Azumi congratulated her.

The Nara returned to his team, eyes narrowed in Kana's direction. Childishly, she stuck her tongue out at him, being petty.

"Kana, it's Naruto's turn." Haku said, tapping her shoulder to alert her.

Kana quickly scampered over to Naruto, giving him a pat on the back, since he still seemed down.

"Good luck Naruto." She cheered.

Naruto smiled, his eye closing and the other eye still wrapped up in bandages as it had been badly damaged in the forest. Naruto made his way to the floor, giving off an air of false bravado as he waited for his opponent. A chilling cackle swept through the air, making everyone shiver as Naruto's opponent was selected.

'Kabuto Yakushi.'

The older genin with gray hair and round, black glasses stepped into the arena, facing Naruto with a chilling smirk. He whispered to himself, but a few people with heightened sense heard him.

"Time to test the success of his experiment." He muttered, making Naruto vibrate with anger, knowing that comment was directed at him.

"Are you both ready?" Hayate asked, backing away slowly.

"Yes." Naruto growled.

"I'm ready." Kabuto smirked.

"The begin."

Kabuto didn't waste a second, he sped forward with his weapon of choice in hand. Not a kunai, not a shuriken, not even a sword or a scroll. He held a small blade; a scalpel.

Naruto stumbled, not ready for the attack. But when the blade should've made contact with his raised arms and cut through his hand, nothing happened. The scalped made a soft 'clink' against his skin, bouncing off as if it were completely harmless.

Naruto lowered his arms, staring at them in shock.

"I felt that," He mumbled. "But... It didn't even break skin."

"I can assure you that this is very sharp," Kabuto grinned, pressing the blade to hid palm until it drew blood at the slightest touch. "So that means it was your skin, not my scalpel."

"What kind of technique is that?" Sakura asked. "When did he learn earth style?"

"He didn't," Kana replied with a sigh. "That is simply what happens when you become like this."

Kana gestured to herself.

Anyone who didn't know Naruto, brushed it off as a defensive earth style move, however, they did not know how wrong they were. A few people who knew Naruto were much more suspicious, having no idea where he could've picked up a technique like that.

"Impressive, Naruto," Kabuto grinned, healing the small cut in his palm. "You've passed the first test."

"I'm not some test subject!" Naruto roared. "I'm a person! Just like you!"

"Oh, how wrong you are..." He chuckled, sunlight glinting off his glasses and scalpel. "Now shall we continue the tests, monster?"

Kana flinched, staring at Naruto with an emotion in her eyes that she hadn't felt in a long time, maybe even ever. Pity.

"I'm so sorry Naruto..." She whispered. "But now that you're like this, you may be hearing that a lot."

What Kana didn't know is that Naruto was already used to being called a monster, his whole life, just like her. To him, this was nothing new.

A/N

Sorry about disappearing guys... I've been quite busy and there's a lot going on currently. Some of you may remember me saying that my mom had surgery about six or seven months ago and had a stroke. Well, we all thought she was out of the woods, however, it would seem she is not. In a week or two, she'll be going in for another surgery, one with more risks than before to hopefully fix the problem forever.

On a lighter note, I have also been preparing to go to Animethon in Edmonton Alberta on August 11th! I'll have more information on that later though, especially if any of you guys are also going, maybe I'll see you there!

Thank you for your patience and for reading my books!