Chapter 4: Five Years Later
*Well, folks! It's time for the annual Chuunin Exams, Second Round!*
Hundreds of spectators screamed in delight, the Chuunin exams being a tournament that Genin participate in to obtain a higher shinobi rank, which hundreds, of not thousands, come ot witness. .
Currently, our story takes place at the second matches, which pit different shinobi against each other. In matches of skill and strategy. It pits two opponents against each other to fight until one gives up, or one cannot go any further.
Gaara looked at the other spectators, no emotions rolling through him at all. He searched the crowd, looking for the one kunoichi who broke his heart five years ago, when he was at the age of seven. In mere minutes, he spotted her, the pink-haired nin who had deserted him after saying she would be his friend. Gaara glared especially hard in her direction, before turning back to the fight, which was currently Nara Shikamaru against Sabaku no Temari.
Gaara scowled, seeing his sister losing. He knew what the outcome would be, so he decided to check out his surroundings a little more. He saw a blonde-haired boy next to Haruno Sakura, the girl who had broken him emotionally. He disregarded him immediately, but there was something about him that peaked his interest. Moving along the crowd, Gaara noticed nobody else of interest. Gaara felt two power levels just a half of a mile from where he was, so decided to check it out, it appealing to his curiosity.
Gaara used his sand to seemingly teleport him to a mountainous area he had seen not too far from Konoha, merely a ten minute walk. He stood there, before he heard voices. It was one of...a younger man, like himself, and an older man. He hid behind a rock, before using his Third Eye of Shukaku Jutsu to see who it was.
When the eye appeared over the rock, it showed a silver-haired nin with a mask covering his face and his headband pulled down over his eye. There was another, raven haired boy next to him. His eyes were red, with small Tomoe on the outer ring of his pupil. 'His hair looks like the rear of a chicken...' was Gaara's first thought about the boy.
Gaara just now realized they were all alone, which seemed to awaken Shukaku.
*Kill them. Take their blood, and sacrifice it to me.* The Shukaku said, which caused Gaara to shake his head.
Slowly, Gaara felt Shukaku trying to take over, his willpower exceeding Gaara's. Gaara started panting heavily, as the effort of Shukaku trying to take over was exhausting him.
"You can come on out. I can feel your bloodlust." he heard the silver-haired nin say, which shocked Gaara. Slowly he came out, his eyes wide. "No sneak attacks today. Now go." Kakashi said. Sasuke gave a nod of the head, indicating for Gaara to leave. Gaara glared, before grudgingly obliging.
Gaara walked back to his spot amongst the Sand Spectators, a few feet away from his father. He shot a glare at him, the only person he had hated, besides Sakura. He looked down just in time to hear the spectator call his name.
*And next, it's...Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabaku no Gaara!* The announcer yelled, which caused most of the crowd to go quiet. These were the ones that had seen Gaara's last match, and the outcome, which had left Rock Lee physically handicapped for possibly the rest of his life. Gaara smirked, seeing the picture of the raven-haired boy that Shukaku had wanted to kill. Gaara felt his body turning into sand, before it reformed down in the arena. Gaara crossed his arms, waiting for his opponent.
After five minutes, there were whispers of Sasuke not arriving. Gaara merely stared ahead, knowing he would be there. If not, Gaara felt he would have to track him down and kill him later on.
Growing impatient, Gaara started to turn away. It was then he heard,
"Yeah yeah, I'm here."
Everybody turned their heads, seeing a smirking Sasuke Uchiha standing, on the wall, pouring his chakra into his feet to keep himself sideways. He jumped down to the ground where Gaara was standing, backing up a few feet so that way they were the minimum distance away before a match could begin.
"I want a good, clean fight...or at least as clean as you can keep it, Gaara." One of the ANBU said, turning to each. Sasuke nodded, which appeared to be enough for the ANBU. He jumped back a few feet, before bringing the whistle to begin the match to his lips.
The whistle was blown, but Gaara stood there. Sasuke immediately started performing hand signs before yelling,
"Fire Style Jutsu!"
Sasuke inhaled a large breath of air, before exhaling fire, which he controlled using his hands. Gaara's sand rose to protect him, shrugging the fireball off easily. Sasuke started running at Gaara, and nearly made it, before Gaara made his sand raise, and fly full-force at Sasuke's chest, knocking him back.
Sasuke jumped back up from a prone position, before smirking. He sent a few kunai towards Gaara, which the sand easily blocked. It also blocked Gaara from seeing Sasuke run up the wall. He looked around, before spotting him. Sasuke crouched on the wall, putting one hand straight down, putting the other hand around his wrist. A blue ball of chakra formed in Sasuke's hands, chirping like a thousand birds.
"Chidori!" Sasuke yelled, before running at Gaara.
Gaara could see this was a highly destructive jutsu, so reverted to actually using his own custom jutsu.
"Wind Style, Sand Flytrap Jutsu!" Sasuke nearly hit Gaara with the jutsu, but Gaara's jutsu blocked it. As soon as Sasuke's hands were within feet of Gaara's torso, a massive cylinder of sand rose up, engulfing Gaara as a flytrap would snatch a fly out of the air. The outside was very hard, which caused Sasuke to only get a few inches into the sand, nearly hitting Gaara's chest. Gaara looked down, seeing Sasuke's hand protruding into the inner chambers. He snorted, before sending spikes out of the flytrap, which impaled Sasuke in the shoulder.
Sasuke yelled in pain, before he ripped his arm out of the sand. He performed a few handsigns, before he threw a demon-wind shuriken just as Gaara's sand flytrap lowered to the ground. Gaara moved his head inches to the right, before smirking. He heard another whistle, and looked behind him, seeing another Shuriken flying at him. Gaara's sand rose to block it, but by now, Sasuke has started forming another Chidori. Gaara looked to his sensei, who nodded. A large ball formed around Gaara, with Gaara inside uttering mantras and having his hands crossed in a peculiar way.
As Sasuke ran at Gaara, spikes flew out to prevent him from reaching Gaara. Sasuke dodged most of these, but made it to the cocoon. He shoved his wrist through, hitting Gaara in the shoulder. He paused for a moment, looking down to see six spikes protruding from the cocoon, hitting his shoulders, a knee cap, his right thigh, his left shin, and the last one slashed straight down his wrist, the one that was in the cocoon. He yelled, a maniacal and crazy sound,
"I am an Uchiha, and ELITE!"
Sasuke backed away, his arm coming out easily. He backed up, and ran, putting chakra in his feet so he could ran and jump farther and faster. Gaara destroyed his sphere, in a rage that Sasuke had gotten through his barrier. He chased after, his sand armor covering him. Kankuro followed, but in minutes found his way to his earlier opponent, with whom he couldn't finish the match.
"Useless." Gaara snarled, before continuing his chase.
Little did Gaara know, Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto were chasing after from a distance.
Well guys, there's the next chapter. I have to say I didn't like it very much, but it's more of a filler chapter anyway. That fighting scene sucked. The next one will be better, I assure you. I'm actually looking forward to the next. Also, yes, I DID mess with the Chuunin exams a little to make them suit my needs. Sasuke and Naruto fans, please don't hate me for what's coming up next.
But yeah, I had SO little confidence in this chapter, I actually went through and read it again, just to make sure it sounded okay. Which I normally don't.
Anyway, if you want to talk about the story in greater detail, go ahead and send a pm my way and I'll try to reply as quick as possible.
So R&R and I'll get back with another update.
Oh, and 11 reviews for the first three chapters isn't too shabby, but I'd like to see more. If I get more reviews, then I'll...give you all half of a invisible cookie.
Everybody's Truly,
Kilik Saiyaku-Captain Green