'Pressure… pressure…' Naruto looked around at all of the people and bit her lip. All of the teams were watching her now, including the foreign ones. 'Gotta stay cool… sharp! Oh man, they're all looking at me!' Naruto's face lit up with a false, 'cool' smirk, the same that she had seen Sasuke wearing before.
She knew because she had practiced it in the mirror before.
"Oi, Chouji," Naruto called out with some bravado. "Are you sure you want to do this?" The genin standing before her looked at her warily in a way he never had before. "If you come at me with the intent to hurt me, I won't show you any mercy, regardless of our association in the past." The girl grinned in her mind. Throwing that big word in there had to be a bonus!
Meanwhile, in the stands, the rest of team seven was rightly astonished by her knowledge of the words 'association' and 'regardless' as well as their proper usage.
As it was, Chouji had started shaking, slightly. In his mind, Kabuto's words from six days prior kept repeating over and over.
"Completed an A Ranked Mission…"
"High level ninja…"
Images of Naruto, with a cold expression, being surrounded by adult enemy ninja before suddenly jumping about, dealing out death quickly and efficiently, or holding off all of the previous hokages at the same time, or using some kind of high powered instant kill jutsu, or single handedly fighting off a giant snake the size of Hokage tower (The fact that he'd actually heard that the last one was true did not help his confidence) flashed through his mind, and it frightened him.
Dearly.
"Don't listen to him," Ino called out from above. "He graduated at the bottom of the class, remember? C'mon Chouji, you're better than that!" Chouji blinked in surprise at the positive support from his team mate. "You'd better be!" And sighed.
'She's right though. I don't know what happened since Naruto became a genin, but he was the worst before!' With new resolve, Chouji Akimichi's expression hardened to one of determination.
But that resolve was partially crushed when Naruto grinned at his expression and took a real, bona-fide taijutsu stance in preparation for his attack.
Naruto did not know Taijutsu upon exiting the academy. At all. He was a joke in everything but his own jokes, ironically enough. The boy could pull a prank, Chouji gave him that much. But Naruto, upon graduating (Which Shikamaru had assured him was definitely a fluke, even though he didn't know what had happened), was not a ninja.
The Naruto that stood before him seemed more like a blonde Sasuke than anything else. And given that the boy was on the same team, and Sasuke probably wouldn't tolerate someone as horrible as Naruto perverting his image through association, it was possible.
"If both combatants are ready, you may begin." The proctor coughed a few times before stepping away.
"This'll be fun!" The blonde called out much to Chouji's dismay. "Let's go! Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" She formed the hand seal and through several puffs of smoke, was surrounded by four shadow clones. They all charged Chouji, who at the last minute hardened his own resolve.
"I give up!" the genin said in a steely voice. All of the Narutos stumbled over themselves and fell forward, rolling until they were at Chouji's feet. They all groaned and one of them quickly stood up, scowling.
"What?! What do you mean you give up!? I wanted to fight!" She yelled right in his face.
"The fight is over," Hayate said, before coughing once. "Uzumaki Naruto is the winner." Naruto's jaw dropped as the plump member of team 10 shrugged and walked away. Upstairs, Ino was shell-shocked.
"B-but… Naruto?! You lost to Naruto!? How could you just give up!?"
"Calm down… You don't need us to advance anymore," Shikamaru sighed. "It's one on one. If you really want to impress Sasuke so bad, make chuunin by yourself," The girl's eyes lit up at the reminder.
"I will!"
"Remember, it's a life and death battle," Shikamaru said, looking up at the black panel that was going to be showing the next combatants.
"Sorry," Chouji apologized as he finally made it back to the group.
"It's okay, you probably made the right decision," Shikamaru sighed.
Meanwhile, further along the line, Naruto was already back with her group.
"I can't believe he forfeited on me!" the girl moaned. "I wanted to try using a new attack I came up with!" Kakashi sighed at her display.
'And here I thought she was using psychological warfare… That whole spiel was unintentionally intimidating…'
-
Down below, Umino Iruka sighed in relief. Although it was unlikely, he didn't want Naruto to go beserk and end up killing Chouji. It sounded unreasonable the more he thought about it, but if it had happened twice before, then he didn't know what to think. He knew that Naruto was not to blame for the incidents – Naruto, was after all, an innocent little twelve year old girl, but if the Kyuubi could influence her then anything could happen. Kakashi had assured him that both incidents coincided with the theory that her life had to be in some kind of danger, but Iruka hadn't wanted to take any chances.
-
"Hokage-Sama," Iruka said in a grave voice. "What do you think Orochimaru could be planning?" The two were in the Hokage's personal office, with Sarutobi sitting behind his desk, his face grim from the bombshell that the chuunin had just dropped on him.
"It's obvious that he wants to sway young Sasuke to his side," the old man said. "His aim is to learn every Jutsu in the world. With the Sharingan, he could do so, if he managed to attain his goal of immortality."
"Are you saying that he wants Sasuke to learn every Jutsu and teach it to him?" The chuunin asked, confused. The old man chuckled and shook his head at that.
"He wants the Sharingan for himself." The younger ninja looked confused at that. "It would be much like Kakashi's case, although…" The old man seemed confused at something, while Iruka was shocked at the revelation that the Sannin wanted to butcher one of his students and harvest their eyes.
"We have to stop him!" The teacher declared. "We must stop the Chuunin exam and use this opportunity to-"
"Actually, the exam will continue," Sarutobi said, interrupting the chuunin before he could get too far. Iruka was stunned once more at that revelation.
"What?! Why?!"
"Think about it Iruka. Isn't something strange about the way Orochimaru handled that encounter?" Sarutobi asked. Iruka didn't reply for a while, his mind racing to come up with an answer. The man looked confused as he replied.
"If he wanted the Sharingan for himself, why didn't he just try to kidnap Sasuke?" The old man nodded.
"He has something riding on Sasuke's success. I'm not sure what it could be, and at the same time, if we stop the exam here, it would be disastrous. For now, we will just have to assume he needs Sasuke alive and well for the moment, and continue with things as they are, perhaps keep an eye on his actions." The chuunin nodded in agreement, distressed as he was. There was nothing they could do about the situation; calling off the exam might have been exactly what Orochimaru wanted anyway. The man was just bent on causing Konoha as much pain and strife as possible, it seemed.
"There's another thing," Iruka said. "It's about Naruto."
"Hmm? Yes?"
"Sasuke told me that she used the Kyuubi's Chakra." The Hokage looked at Iruka, amused.
"I am aware of that situation," he said simply. "Kakashi has kept me well informed on all three of his students' achievements."
"R-really?" Iruka fumbled for words in his confusion. "B-but… th-then why… why are you letting her participate in the exam? Doesn't this mean that you need to renew the seal?" The old man shook his head and smiled.
"Naruto only seems to have access to it when her life is in danger. Kakashi explained it to her as soon as he was able to."
"But… what if it's more than that? What if she releases its energy accidentally?"
"Rest assured, Iruka, that if such a thing is to happen, then I will do all in my power to save her and those around her. For now, we don't need to worry about it."
"But…" Iruka sighed. "Hokage-sama, Sasuke told me that… Because of the Kyuubi, Naruto killed someone. Isn't that… alarming?" The Hokage sighed.
"Kakashi told me that even though that boy is almost certainly dead, Naruto believes without a doubt that he is alive. It happened when she thought her enemy had killed both Sasuke and Sakura, when in truth they were merely incapacitated. Apparently, she knocked him off of a high bridge, but his body was not recovered. Kakashi believes he drowned, but does not tell Naruto this."
"So… Naruto is in denial, then," Iruka said, sadly. The hokage nodded gravely.
"It would be best if she was not told the reality of the situation. It would only hurt her at this point."
-
The teacher looked up over at the area where team seven were waiting around. The blonde girl looked to be a bit devastated over the fact that she wasn't going to fight, but otherwise normal.
'It's for the best,' The teacher sighed. 'Hokage-sama seems to think that a catastrophe is unlikely, but… that is the nature of an accident…'
Meanwhile, upstairs, Sakura blinked at the two names that had appeared on the electronic board.
'Ino, huh…' The pink haired girl jumped over the rail before anyone else even acknowledged the two names. Naruto blinked and then looked over at the board.
"Eh? All right, go Sakura-chan!" The blonde girl called out when she finally noticed the board. Sasuke remained uninterested in the affair, looking around the room at the foreign teams.
'Hmm…' The prodigy took in each of the other teams and smirked. 'Perhaps I'll be matched up with that Gaara person… I can't wait to see how these people fight. You can't be weak and have made it this far…' He finally looked down at the ground, where the next fight was going to take place and frowned. '…But this will hardly be a fight…I wonder how that other girl even got here…' The boy sighed and leaned on the railing. Down below, Sakura stood impatiently as Ino slowly walked over to her own starting position.
"Sakura?" Ino had a concerned expression on her face as she stopped in front of her ex-friend/rival. The pink haired girl had a neutral expression on her face as she looked over the other girl.
"Ino… fight me for real." The blonde blinked at the simple statement and frowned when the other girl took a Taijutsu stance.
'Something is wrong with her. What… what happened?' the blonde thought as she took her own stance.
"You may begin," Hayate said as he stood back. In a blur, Sakura was moving. The blonde was surprised as she found herself quickly on the defensive. Sakura pressed an attack that she had not been capable of during their time at the academy.
'She's gotten stronger,' the blonde girl thought as she jumped back. 'Has she been training with Sasuke-kun?' Her eyes glanced up at the black haired boy on the other girl's team, but only for a second. When she next saw her opponent, the other girl was rushing at her with a kunai in hand. Ino quickly pulled out her own and blocked the charge, locking their blades. When Sakura's other fist suddenly flew into her gut, the other girl recoiled a bit and jumped back. 'That… she's strong… and fast…' the girl's face was contorted in slight pain as her opponent stood there.
'Sakura..?'
"Ino…" The other girl started walking towards her, with the same neutral expression. "…You'll lose at this rate, won't you?"
'She's right,' The blonde thought as she scowled. "Hmph. You might have gotten better but it still won't be enough!" Deciding to take the initiative, Ino ran straight at her. To her surprise, Sakura jumped back to dodge and started forming hand seals.
"Suiton: Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" The pink haired girl smirked as her opponent ran after her. The blonde girl faltered as the air around her seemed to get colder.
'Suiton?! She knows a Suiton jutsu?' Ino narrowed her eyes as she kept running at her opponent. 'But a water condensing Jutsu won't do much on its own. I've got to stop her from doing whatever she has planned!' With a determined look, she picked up her speed. Sakura jumped to the side to dodge the other girl's punch, but Ino recovered quickly enough to spin with her momentum and kick her opponent in the chest, sending her sprawling away. Sakura recovered as she rolled and quickly formed the same handseals.
"Suiton: Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" the girl called out as she landed. Ino frowned and ran towards her again, reaching down into a pouch and retrieving several shuriken. Sakura started running away this time, forming handseals as she went.
"Oh no you don't!" the blonde haired girl cried as she threw the shuriken at her opponent. The other girl had to interrupt the jutsu to dodge them, and Ino smirked as she continued running at her opponent. Sakura smiled as she ran at her opponent interrupted the charge with her own attack. Ino, who had expected her to keep running and doing Suiton, was surprised long enough to allow a single, powerful uppercut to connect with her chin that lifted her friend off of her feet. The blonde's chin exploded with pain as she flew up and into the air. Her own momentum had added force to the attack.
"Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" the pink haired girl called out. Eyes wide, Ino landed flat on her back and slid a few feet before recovering.
'That hurt a lot,' she thought as she winced. The blonde girl rubbed her chin as she sat up. 'I've got to be more careful than this. She's trying to be unpredictable!' she groaned at the pain and stood up.
"Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" Ino turned her head to the source of the yell and stood up faster.
"It's getting humid in here," Ino muttered as she frowned. 'And cold…' Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening, and she instantly started running towards her opponent. 'If it gets too humid, she'll be able to do other water jutsus,' she hardened her expression and quickly formed handseals of her own. Not bothering to call out the name of her simple bunshin. Two mirror images of her appeared flanking her by the side, and each of the Inos drew out a Kunai.
'I'll show you a real Bunshin no Jutsu in a minute, Ino,' Sakura called out the name of her jutsu again. "Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" The girl smirked as the three clones converged on her and merely jumped up into the air. The two clones vanished, and the Ino that had approached her from the right was had to slow down to a stop. She turned and threw her Kunai in the air, but Sakura twisted her body and it sailed by harmlessly. The pink haired girl's hands raced through the handseals again. "Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" She called out as she reached her apex in the air. As she started falling, she smirked. 'Just one more should do it,' She thought as she landed. Ino had already turned and started running towards where she would land.
Upstairs, Naruto was staring at the fight in confusion.
"Hey hey, Kakashi-sensei, what's Sakura-chan doing?"
"She's making water out of air," Kakashi dumbed down the explanation for his subordinate.
"You can do that?" the blonde asked in awe as she turned around.
"It doesn't seem to be very effective," Sasuke commented as he watched. "She's done it five times already, and still hasn't used a different technique."
"It's a very low level Jutsu," Kakashi admitted. "She doesn't have the chakra necessary to do stronger ones and keep fighting comfortably." After watching the pink haired girl dodge the other one a few more times, Sasuke spoke up again.
"Hn…Maybe she'll win after all." Both Kakashi and Naruto looked over at the black haired boy.
"What, you doubted Sakura-chan?" The blonde demanded. Sasuke snorted.
"I figured they'd tie..."
"That might have been so if Sakura hadn't been training at all since you all graduated. Remember that she's been working just as hard as you two since that mission to wave country," Kakashi reminded him.
"Hn." The Uchiha prodigy smirked. "Let's see what she does."
Down below, Sakura smirked, finished with the final handseal. "Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" She didn't bother to dodge Ino's powerful kick to the gut that sent her flying backwards, and instead ignored the pain as best as she could, recovering in the air and managing to right herself in the air enough to land on both feet. 'I'll just take the Chakra out of my weights and confuse her,' she thought as her friend charged her again with a determined look on her face.
Sakura ejected the chakra from her weights and stood up as Ino ran at her again.
'I've got to do more damage than I have been,' Ino thought as she leapt at Sakura with a burst of speed. "You won't win here!"
"Suiton: Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" Ino was not prepared to see another Sakura form out of the air. There was only one clone, but she wasn't immediately familiar with how Mizu Bunshin functioned. Both Sakuras smirked as they each jumped aside from the attack. Ino turned around and looked from side to side as the two Sakuras started running side by side. One of them suddenly jumped back, and the other one smirked as she charged towards the blonde. The one that had jumped back was forming handseals again.
"Suiton: Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" the one that had jumped back called out. Ino's eyes widened as the bunshin that charged her brought down her kunai to cut her. The blonde blocked it with her own kunai, and found that the one that had attacked her was solid.
'Mizu Bunshin are solid then,' she frowned as she found herself at a disadvantage. 'I can't let this one distract me, I've got to stop Sakura from making more,' She thought as the two locked blades pushed against each other. The Sakura before her was grinning at her. 'The clone seems to be faster too for some reason.'
"You won't win here," she said as she jumped away. Ino stumbled forward at the sudden disappearance of opposition, but smirked.
"Solid bunshin only have a fraction of the real one's strength," the blonde smirked. "I'll deal with you and go after the real you!" She drew out several shuriken and threw them at the girl in front of her. The pink haired girl was too fast, though, and dodged the attack easily. Ino followed up with a punch that the other girl managed to dodge by jumping back, and the blonde followed up with another attack. She frowned as the mizu bunshin kept dodging her attacks. 'I'll just have to ignore you then.' The blonde thought as she suddenly abandoned her attacks and immediately started after the real Sakura.
The mizu bunshin had other ideas, though, and Ino instinctively turned her head in time to see four shuriken flying at her. She mentally cursed and rolled forward, allowing them to pass overhead. When she saw that the bunshin was running after her, she scowled and drew another Kunai. Instead of pursuing her new target, she pulled a 180 and sprang towards the bunshin, slashing the kunai wildly in an attempt to disperse it with one hit. When a long red line appeared along the bunshin's arm, her eyes widened in surprise, while the girl before her smirked.
"Mizu Bunshin can do jutsu too," Sakura said as she punched her shocked rival in the nose. Ino was lifted off of her feet again from the force of the punch, landing flat on her back. 'That was for cutting me,' She winced. 'Damn, that hurts!' she looked at her forearm. It was bleeding more than she figured it would be. She winced, ignoring the immense pain, and formed handseals again. "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" She cried out. Another clone formed seemingly out of the air. It immediately sprang into action, imitating the one before it.
'Damn!' Ino scowled as she quickly stood up. 'I've got to do something fast, or they'll overwhelm me!' With two Mizu bunshin condensing air, it would decrease the time that it took to make them by half. 'If I can just kill one of them she'll be back where she started.' She rolled backwards and leapt straight up into the air, tossing several shuriken at Sakura as she did so. Sakura merely dodged them and smirked as she started forming her own handseals.
"Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" Ino's eyes widened again.
'If all three of them..!' She immediately took as many shuriken and Kunai as she could hold and threw them all at the nearest Sakura. They all hit, and the Mizu Bunshin promptly dispersed into a puddle of water. Ino formed handseals again, and three of her own normal bunshin appeared at her sides. The two pairs split up, one going after each Sakura. Sakura frowned while she ran over towards the puddle of water and finished making her own handseals.
"Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" she called out. Two more mizu bunshin appeared – one from the puddle, and one from the condensation in the air. 'I should be running low on Chakra. I'll have to finish it with the next move,' Sakura thought as all three of her started running towards the lone water clone. The two Inos that had attacked her vanished, and her eyes widened. 'Then the real Ino is over there!' She thought as she looked over at her water clone. The clone looked confused as it looked from Ino to Ino, as they had all assumed the real Ino would attack the real Sakura.
'She must know I'm low on Chakra then. But…' Sakura thought as she ran over towards the clone. One of the Inos vanished and the real blonde easily dragged her kunai through the bunshin, turning it into puddle of water. Ino turned on her and smirked. 'That's okay, my plan can still work,' She thought as her two still functioning water clones charged ahead of her at Ino. They double teamed her, and Ino had to block each of their attacks with a kunai in each hand. She was able to quickly counter by punching both of them in the gut, easily dispersing them.
"You're getting tired if your new Mizu Bunshin are that slow," Ino taunted as she ran at her foe.
"Maybe," the pink haired girl smiled back as she formed a few handseals. "Suirō no Jutsu!" she called up. All three of the puddles of water and the remaining condensation in the air all converged on the blonde girl charging at her, turning into a spherical water prison. Sakura put up a smirk full of false confidence as her hand shot into the water prison. 'I can't hold this for more than a minute or so, but that should be long enough to convince her to give up.'
Up in the stands, Kakashi continued watching with an indifferent look on his face, while in truth he was surprised at the choice in tactics.
'Sakura does not have access to that much of her Chakra. Something happened. It might be the seal…' He blinked his single eye, but maintained an unimpressed look. 'Did I do something wrong?' Down below, Sakura started talking.
"You know, you'll drown if you stay in there long enough," Sakura said with a smirk.
"Since when could you do something like this?!" Ino demanded. 'I can't move!'
"That's a secret," Sakura said with a wink.
"Damn it!" Ino scowled at the other girl. 'If I could just move my hands..!'
"You have two choices at this point. Either forfeit and lose, or drown and lose."
'I can't believe this!' Ino growled at the smug tone the other kunoichi was using. 'She's… she's won?! No… I have to try something… I know, I'll distract her!'
"Hey Sakura," the blonde started. "You have a hickey on your neck! Did Naruto give that to you?"
"What?" Sakura blinked at the other girl's words, then tried to look down at her neck. "Gross! No way!"
"You don't see it? It's right there!"
"I don't have a hickey!"
"Yes you do! It's big and red!"
"Do not!"
"I didn't know you and Naruto were that serious! That's pretty adult of you!"
"I do not have a hickey!" Sakura snapped. "And your plan won't work! I'm not gonna drop this thing!"
"Plan? What plan? I'm talking about that big nasty love bite on your neck that Naruto gave you," The blonde said.
"Oh please, like I'd ever let Naruto give me a hickey, or even close enough to do that." Sakura laughed. "Nice try, but it won't work!"
Up in the stands, the other members of team seven were watching with various reactions.
"Sakura-chan… you're so mean…"
"That ridiculous conversation aside, it looks like Sakura has won." Sasuke leaned over the railing with a slight smile on his face. Kakashi glanced over at him
'That's true, but she shouldn't have. She's held the water prison jutsu for almost two minutes now. She shouldn't have even been able to bring one up at all after those mizu bunshin.'
Down below, the two combatants were still standing still in their fight.
'I… I can't take it anymore,' Ino winced as her lungs started to burn. "I- I give up!" She yelled out. The water prison almost instantly collapsed, and the blonde dropped to the floor. Sakura smiled and held her hand down, which Ino gracefully accepted. "You've gotten a lot better, forehead." Two medic-nins walked onto the field towards each of the two kunoichi.
"I've been constantly training for a little while," Sakura explained. Ino frowned; constantly training? Even though Sakura had only barely won, if she kept up at her pace then there would eventually be a clear difference between the two.
The medic-nin gave Sakura's arm a once over and then held up a glowing blue hand. The long gash from Ino's attack with the kunai closed up in a matter of seconds.
'I guess it's lucky I didn't get too deep with that one,' Ino thought as the medic finished tending the wound. Ino's medic merely looked at her and left her alone after deciding she didn't need any medical attention. 'If I want to be able to compare to her, then I'm going to have to step up my own training! Stupid Asuma-sensei has been holding us back this whole time!' The girl glared up at her own teacher from the ground as she and Sakura started walking towards the stairs. She was livid with her mentor by the time she made it up the stairs.
"Woo! Great job, Sakura-chan!" Naruto cheered loud enough for everyone in the large area to hear them. Some of the other ninjas laughed at the display, and Gaara spared team seven a glance as he made his way down the stairs. "The next fighters are Gaara and some loser named Misami," Naruto said, turning her attention to the fight.
"I can't wait to see how he fights," Sasuke smirked and his eyes glinted. "Gaara should prove to be an interesting fighter, at least." He folded his arms and leaned over the railing. Naruto was paying as much attention as her broody black haired team mate. Kakashi walked over to Sakura just as Ino walked over to Asuma and started yelling at him.
"Ugh," Sakura moaned just as Kakashi stopped beside her. "Why do I feel so exhausted all of a sudden?"
"Let me see your curse seal," Kakashi asked without any preamble. The girl blinked at that and looked up at him with a tired expression.
"But I didn't feel anything," She said.
"I have a feeling though," He insisted, to which she shrugged and turned to face away from him. He pulled her shirt back far enough to reveal the sealed curse mark. Or what should have been the three black marks and seal. In its place was perfectly unmarred skin. Kakashi nearly reeled back with surprise at the disappearance of the symbol.
'It… it can't be… gone?' He narrowed his eye in thought as he looked down at the girl. "Sakura, are you aware how much chakra you had to use to pull off what you did?"
"Yes," She nodded. "I've been building up my chakra since I woke up in the tower. I noticed that the weights have been working twice over, because whenever the weight in them increases the amount of Chakra I have to put into my feet to stay afloat. That and also making as many Mizu Bunshin as I can allows me to exert myself without straining," She stepped away and leaned back against the wall. "But I've been exhausted from training so hard so suddenly. These past few weeks have been… painful," she admitted.
"Sasuke has lived like that for most of his life. Naruto's pranks were a good source of exercise too," Kakashi explained. 'The seal is gone and her chakra reserves have nearly doubled at the very least. Re-sealing it would be useless because there is nothing to seal. I'll have to think about this… Maybe when she's rested, get her to mold some chakra and see if it resurfaces. For now, there's nothing I can do.'
'Even still, her chakra reserves went up unusually fast. Water clones and the water prison together seem to be the upper limit, though. She'll have to train a lot more before she's at the same level as Sasuke and Naruto.' He regarded her with his one eye for a few more moments as she slowly sank down to the ground. She was clearly not interested in the fight that was unfolding down below.
"That guy's using sand as a weapon," Sasuke muttered.
Kakashi turned his attention down to the fight and was surprised to notice that the red haired ninja from suna was simply standing around as the ninja from Kabuto's team relentlessly attacked him with a savage fervor that showed he was used to using his limbs in battle.
'Now that's a weird Jutsu... both of them.'
The man's strikes were all being blocked by a wall of sand, so he changed his strategy. The man's limbs started to stretch and contort as he attempted attacks and combos that should have been impossible. Only after a few minutes of this failing to achieve anything did he finally relent, panting heavily.
"Is that it?" The sand that had been valiantly protecting Gaara hovered low to the ground. More sand escaped from the huge gourd on his back and swirled around him aimlessly, mixing with the other sand. The ninja from suna sighed and the sand shot forth as one. The enemy ninja had only a moment of surprise before he was completely overtaken by the sand.
It quickly enveloped one of his legs and took on an amorphous tendril-like shape, then the sand tentacle lifted the man up into the air before it slammed him into the ground with great force. The appendage didn't stop and instead proceeded to rise again before slamming him into the wall. The process was repeated several times before the tendril lazily tossed the Konoha ninja away, only to have him land, unmoving, right at the feet of the proctor.
The sand quickly flew back into its container, and Gaara started walking away before his victory was even pronounced.
"Winner: Sabaku no Gaara." Naruto whistled as the red haired genin vanished in a swirl of sand to reappear on the upper level across from them.
"Wow. Hey Kakashi-sensei, think you could teach me something like that?" Kakashi looked down at the blonde genin.
"Sure. It's not too hard. Just shunshin no jutsu. I'll show all of you later."
"See! Look at that!" The sudden commotion surprised team seven. They and various other ninja in the room turned to face the source of the noise. Ino was glaring at her jounin sensei with her arms crossed, and Asuma had a sheepish expression on his face. "Naruto just asked once for his sensei to teach them something, and they all get to learn it! You're useless!" Shikamaru groaned, but Chouji just ignored the outburst.
"Che… Ino, you're making a scene…" Though he did agree that Asuma was useless in that regard, the man wasn't all that bad and they got to do whatever they wanted around him. Most of the other ninja had already started paying attention to the next fight.
"I don't care!" Asuma sighed at that.
"Fine. I'll teach you guys something when we're done here…" Naruto grinned and turned to look up at her own sensei.
"Hey-hey, Kakashi-sensei. Aren't you glad you decided to stop being lazy?" Kakashi ignored the blonde and conveniently pointed out who was going to be fighting.
"It's that kid from Gai's team. The expert Taijutsu user." Sasuke blinked and turned his own attention to the fighters.
"Rock Lee." The boy grinned. "So he's the 'near Jounin level' taijutsu user you were talking about? Somehow, I'm not surprised."
"He's fighting dog breath," Naruto noticed. "That's too bad, I'd hoped to see Kiba in the third event."
"It's unfortunate for mutt face," Sasuke agreed. "But that's the purpose of this whole thing. Weeding out the unfit."
"I HEARD YOU IDIOTS!" Kiba shouted, turning to face them from his position on the ground below.
"Heh, that's right. He's got those doggy senses," Naruto stuck out her tongue. "Go get 'em, boy!" Sasuke shook his head and sighed.
"It should be an informative fight, anyway."
"You gonna be watching thick brows?"
"Of course. You would do well to do so too." Down below, Lee was facing an annoyed and disgruntled Kiba.
"I hope we can have a productive and enjoyable fight."
"Che. You ain't much," The dog user spat on the ground and Akamaru barked at their opponent.
"We will see," Lee assumed his trademark stance with a smile.
"If the combatants are ready, you may begin," Hayate announced.
-
A few minutes into the fight, Akamaru had to take on the form of his master. The two yelled out the name of a technique and launched at Lee in twin cyclones, only for the green clothed genin to meet their attack with his own in the form of a combo that involved him jumping and spinning around to kick them. The cyclones were both interrupted, and each attacker was sent flying away from the force of the kicks.
"Yup, looks like dog-face got the short end of the stick," Naruto yawned. "I can't see him winning here."
"It's only been going for a minute or two," Sasuke said, frowning at his team mate. "No one asked for your commentary." Naruto clammed up at that.
"S-shut up, stupid Sasuke!"
Down below, Kiba was in a state of shock. 'H-he stopped our Gatsuuga?' The genin sat up and rubbed his head, where he'd been hit. 'Damn it! How can he be so strong?'
"I would advise you to give up. Your attacks are ineffective," Lee said. 'I had hoped for a more interesting fight. I hope I can spur him on with this. He doesn't seem like the type to give up.' Kiba growled at that and quickly stood up.
"Give up! No way!" The genin growled. "I'm definitely gonna kick your ass now!" Lee smiled at that. Kiba snarled as he retrieved a soldier pill from somewhere on his person and ran over to his transformed dog, giving both himself and the dog the strength booster. "I'm gonna beat you into the ground! Akamaru! Let's go!"
Upstairs, Naruto watched with only partial interest as the two continued their battle. Kiba and Akamaru flew at Lee with enhanced speed, but the older genin barely seemed to notice.
"Even with the beast transformation, he can't match the other guy's speed," Naruto said with a whistle. "This Lee guy gets better and better!" Down in the arena, Kiba snarled and glared at Naruto.
"Shut up!" Kiba he yelled up at the stands.
"You should keep your mind on the fight," Lee said. Kiba didn't even have a second to turn his head and respond before the bobbed headed genin's fists crashed to his and Akamaru's faces with a dissatisfied look on his own. Kiba and Akamaru slid back a bit, then turned and snarled at Lee.
"You shut up too!" Kiba and Akamaru lunged at Lee faster than they had been able to before. "Gatsuuga!" The two immediately started rotating at a high speed, and Lee finally smiled as his attackers neared him.
"I see you are finally giving your best. I will respond in kind!" Lee suddenly blurred off to the side, leaving his would-be attackers to crash into the ground. The two were able to avoid crashing by rebounding off the ground and changing directions. The twin cyclones immediately flew at Lee again, who had only moved a short distance away.
'I'm glad I got to see you at your best,' Lee smirked. 'But it's time to end this.' He jumped at the twin cyclones, lifting up a leg, then bringing it down on one of them in a powerful axe kick. The Tsuuga was abruptly interrupted as Lee's kick spiked his opponent down to the ground even faster than they had been moving for their attack.
The Kiba lying on the ground dispersed in a puff of smoke, leaving an unmoving Akamaru in his place.
"Akamaru!" Kiba canceled his attack and landed before quickly running over to his dog. The injured dog didn't make any sounds other than heavy breathing. "What... how did he do that?!"
"I've always wondered what a kicked puppy looked like." Naruto said up in the stands. Kiba glared at her for a moment before turning over to face Lee, who had assumed his trademark stance.
"Damn it!" Kiba reached into his pouch and retrieved a few spheres, then threw them down on the ground. The smoke bombs quickly exploded, sending out a thick and heavy smoky haze over half of the arena. Lee simply jumped out of the range of the smoke and waited.
'What could he be planning?' Lee watched the smoke closely while he waited. In the smoke, the dog user would have an advantage of smell over sight. It wouldn't be enough to win, but it would draw out the match. Just standing there wasn't helping either, though.
Suddenly, a lone kunai flew out of the smoke at Lee. The green clothed genin frowned at the simple attack and raised an arm to block it. As the Kunai flew at him, he noticed something attached to it at the last moment, and instead jumped back just as the paper tag exploded. Several more Kunai landed all around Lee and he jumped up into the air just as they all exploded as well.
"Got you!" Lee turned to the side just in time to see Kiba preparing to punch him in the face. With his vastly superior speed, he easily caught the punch.
"If you had remained silent, you might have," Lee admonished the slightly younger male, who scowled. He squeezed Kiba's fist, then the scowl turned into a cringe.
"OW! That hurts you bastard!" Lee chuckled and punched his opponent in the chin once as they both landed on the ground, then let go of his fist. The dog user slumped over, unmoving.
"Clean knockout." Sasuke said. "Lee had total control of that match from the beginning."
"No one asked for your commentary," Naruto said in a childish, mocking voice.
"So?" Sasuke smirked at her, causing the blonde to growl at him.
"I hope you lose so much,"
"You won't get off that easy, dobe," Sasuke said, looking back at the two fighters below. "Who's up next?" Sasuke and Naruto both looked over at the black board as it quickly cycled through the various names, before stopping with Kankuro and Kinuta Dosu. Both of the guys were from foreign teams, so she had no idea of either of their capabilities.
"It'd be a good idea to pay close attention to this fight," Kakashi said as the two foreign-nin walked down the stairs to the battlefield. "Since they're both foreign, they likely have jutsu that you haven't seen before. It'd also help inform us of what Otogakure is capable of, since the ones here are supposed to be their top genin."
"Of course," Sasuke said.
"And I would refrain from using the Sharingan too much since you still have your own fight to worry about."
"Duly noted,"
"And I would stop trying to sound like a stuck-up know it all." Naruto suggested.
"Hm?" Sasuke looked over at Naruto. "Did you say something?" Naruto blinked at that, but repeated herself anyway.
"I said, 'I would stop trying to sound like a know it all'!" Sasuke almost rolled his eyes at the girl's reaction, but remained neutral.
"Okay," he said with a shrug.
"What?" Naruto blinked. "Just like that?"
"I don't have to try to sound like I know everything," Sasuke shrugged again.
"You!"
"Quiet, the fight's starting." Naruto scowled at him but decided to watch the fight below anyway. Kankuro took the huge thing on his back off and set it on the ground. It started when the bandaged up guy threw a punch at his opponent that was easily dodged and countered. The two squared off for a moment, but they quickly rejoined the fight. "Hmm, they're not so bad. But I figured they'd both have some special trick to them or something," the blonde said with a frown.
"They both do, you just haven't noticed it yet." The two boys of team seven looked at their sensei, who was reading his little orange book again.
"You're not even watching the fight." Sasuke said with a frown. Kakashi didn't say anything to that, and both genin went back to looking at the fight below, carefully watching for anything out of the ordinary. The bandaged up one jumped jumped away from his opponent and the two watched each other for a moment, before the bandaged up one finally ran at his opponent, holding up his hands. Sasuke blinked as Dosu stood there with a surprised look on his face for a moment. "What's he doing?"
"I think I heard a weird noise... but other than that..."
"A weird noise?" Sasuke glanced over at the girl then returned his focus to the fight below. 'I don't understand. What's going on down there?' Kankuro attacked Dosu again, this time with a Kunai, and the sound genin blocked with the odd bracers on his arms. The two bounced away from each other for a moment, before re-engaging. This time, when Kankuro neared Dosu, he jumped to the side instead of attacking. The sound genin stumbled long enough for Kankuro to shove his kunai in the other genin's side.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Naruto shouted. "He stabbed that guy!"
"Shut up. This is a life or death battle." Sasuke reminded her. "Stabbing is allowed."
"Oh yeah..."
"Dumbass," Sasuke turned away from the blonde and looked down at the fight.
"Hey!" She glared at him.
"Sasuke… It would help if you explained why Naruto was being a dumbass."
"Hey!" Naruto glared at her sensei this time.
"That's your job," Sasuke snorted.
"You took it when you called her a dumbass. Tell or I'm pulling you from the exam."
"What?" Sasuke looked over at his teacher. "You can't be serious."
"Tell." Sasuke sighed and looked over at Naruto.
"There is no being 'cheap' with Ninja, idiot. A ninja will do whatever they can to complete their mission. A little cut like that should be nothing to a Ninja anyway. If that other guy can't keep going, it's because of his own incompetence." Naruto frowned at his words, but they all looked down at the fight again. "It looks like its over anyway." Dosu was lying slumped on the ground, unconscious and bleeding from his side as Kankuro stood over him.
"But I thought this was to promote peace or something..." Naruto muttered.
"The winner is Kankuro." The sand ninja laughed to himself as he grabbed his bandaged up bundle and strapped it up to his back, then walked back up the stairs.
"I missed the end," Sasuke said with a frown.
"Serves you right," Naruto huffed and turned away from him. Sasuke ignored her and looked over at the electric blackboard. On it were two more names.
"Yakushi Kabuto Vs. Temari." Sasuke frowned. "His teammate was pathetic, especially for an older genin. If he's as bad as his teammate, I can see why he's been opting out for the past few years."
"I wouldn't bet on that," Kakashi said. "You and Naruto are on very different skill levels yourselves. He could easily be ten times better than his teammate." Sasuke grunted an acknowledgement.
"Hey! Damn it, I'm right here!" Naruto stomped her foot once. "Stop talking about me like I'm somewhere else!"
"Okay," Sasuke looked over at Naruto. "Naruto, since I'm ten times better than you, it's possible that Kabuto is t-"
"Shut up, Shut up! You're not better than me!"
"Sure I am," Sasuke said with a grin.
"Oh yeah!? You wanna fight?!"
"We'll get our fight in the third exam," Sasuke said with a smirk. "If you make it to the finals, that is." Naruto huffed again.
"You haven't even gotten through the preliminaries yet," Naruto said with a smirk. "And I had Chouji shaking in his boots!"
"That's not saying much," Sasuke said as he turned to look at the fight below. It was already underway. Kabuto had some how managed to get Temari on the defensive of a relentless assault; each of his blows missed a vital organ, instead tagging whatever she managed to block with. The girl jumped back to put some space between them and opened up the huge fan.
"Hm… Wait a minute, I know him." Sasuke didn't dare look at his sensei lest he miss the rest of the fight, while Naruto turned around to look up at the older man.
"You know Kabuto-nii-san Kakashi-sensei?"
"He was the one who stopped you two before," Kakashi said, "but I knew about him before then, yes. He's the son of a medic-nin."
"That Kunoichi seems to have stopped," Sasuke said. Both Kakashi and Naruto looked down at the fighters below. The kunoichi had dropped her giant fan and her arms were hanging limp by her sides as she slumped over.
"What happened?!" Naruto demanded.
"He must have disabled her arms when she kept blocking him." Sasuke muttered.
"I think it's more than that," Kakashi said as the blonde girl down in the arena fell forward, landing on her weapon. "She's done."
"What?! How'd it happen so fast?!" Naruto stared at the girl, shock clear on her face. "Is Kabuto-nii-san really that good?"
"Looks like it," Kakashi said. "His father being a medic-nin has paid off then."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, looking at her sensei.
"He used pressure points to knock her out while she thought she was blocking and dodging his real attacks." Kakashi explained as the proctor announced Kabuto to be the winner after surveying Temari's prone body. "She didn't even get a chance to fight back. He's definitely Chuunin material. It's a shame his lack of confidence has held him back so long," The silver haired ninja went back to reading his little orange book again. 'It's strange… That boy was supposed to be one of the worst ninja the leaf has had in a while, but I guess he has some real confidence issues.'
"Oh… wow, that's great! Awesome, Kabuto-nii-san!" Kabuto gave a smile and wave in return to the girl's cheering.
"The next fight is Aburame Shino against Tenten," Hayate called out amidst his distinct coughing, "If the two mentioned would please come down, we may begin the next match."
"Hmm, that's that girl that was on thick-brows' team," Naruto noticed.
"And Shino from our class," Sasuke said.
"Ah…" Both turned around and noticed that Sakura was standing up and stretching. "That's better."
"You feel rested up already?" Kakashi asked, looking at her.
"Not really, but I don't feel like sleeping anymore." She said, walking over to the rail. "What did I miss?"
"Kabuto-nii-san just won his fight, Kiba lost to thick brows, those other two sand guys won their fights, and Shino is about to fight thick-brows' girlfriend," Naruto said with a shrug. "It's just about halfway over."
"They're starting," Sasuke announced, and the blonde quickly turned to look down at the
"Oh," Sakura looked around as she counted the remaining fighters. 'Hmm… I don't think Sasuke-kun will lose to any of them…' She looked down at the fight below with a bored expression as she waited for it to finish.
--
Nearly fifteen minutes later, and after Tenten and Hyuuga Neji had won their fights against Aburame Shino and Akado Yoroi, the names Hyuuga Hinata and Abumi Zaku appeared on the electric board.
"I guess that means I'm last," Sasuke said with a grunt. He looked at the other two fighters in the arena; the only other ones who hadn't fought yet were Shikamaru and the last sound ninja. He smirked at Shikamaru, who frowned back at him.
"That Neji guy won pretty fast," Naruto said with a frown. "He's related to Hinata-chan, right?"
"Yeah," Sakura nodded.
"Hinata-chan huh," Naruto mused, remembering the first day she'd arrived at the tower. After that first encounter, Hinata had been friendly with her for the rest of their stay in the tower. "All right! You can do it, Hinata-chan!" Hinata looked over at her with a small smile on her face that turned to a look of determination as she walked down the steps.
"That girl's a Hyuuga too…" Kakashi noted. "I wonder if she can stand up to the other one's, though."
"You mean the guy who just fought, right?" Sasuke asked. "I'd never seen the Hyuuga style in a real combat situation before. I wonder how our classmate will handle it though." Sasuke muttered the last bit to himself. 'She seems too shy to be a real Ninja. Her lack of self confidence will hold her back.'
"She'll do just fine! You watch! She'll win in less than five minutes!" Hinata blushed at the attention Naruto's words got her as she made her way down the stairs. When she was at the center of the arena, she looked up at the other ninja and almost cringed.
"Feh. You won't even last five minutes just looking at me," he sneered.
'I can do this. My friends believe in me…' Hinata repeated the words in her mind like a mantra as the proctor took stock of them both.
'Oh boy, I hope she's really ready for this.' He coughed a few times and waited a little while longer. "Well then, if both contestants are ready, you may begin," He took a few slow steps back.
"Heh." Zaku sneered at the girl again. "Just give up, kid. You're not ready for this."
"N-no. I c-can do this."
"Kid," the sound ninja started, "You're shaking! There's no way in hell you're ready for this!"
"I can do this!"
"Yeah! You can do it, Hinata-chan!" Hinata blushed in embarrassment and Zaku laughed out loud.
"Hahaha! Okay! Fine." Zaku raised his hands. "I already gave you a chance to give up. I'm not going to wait any longer! Zankuuha!" He pointed both of his palms at Hinata and there was a burst of air from his hands that knocked her clear off her feet. She back from the force of the intense winds, landing on her back. When the attack was over, Zaku sneered again. "Are you done already?" The dark haired girl started to stand very slowly when Zaku started walking towards her. "Like I said, kid. You ain't ready for this."
Hinata said nothing as she struggled to stand up, with her head hanging low.
"Heh heh heh..." Zaku held out his arms again, and it was then that Hinata suddenly lunged at him. The girl was surprisingly swift, and he already barely had time to move, but when she raised her head and looked him in the face, he froze. "What the hell!?" The veins around the Hyuuga Heiress' eyes were bulging, and it gave her a disturbing appearance.
Hinata moved quickly, using her family's style to close the tenketsu in his arms. He jumped away from her, kicking her in the face at the same time. Zaku landed roughly and Hinata fell back from the force of the kick.
"You bitch!" Zaku scowled at the white-eyed girl as she stood up, rubbing her mouth. Her lip was bleeding, to which he allowed a small smile, but she still had that insane look on her face. 'I can't believe I fell for something like that!' He growled at her and held his arms up. "Zankuuha!"
The Air cutting blast never came, and Zaku was almost immediately able to realize why as the Hyuuga girl ran at him again. 'My arms... I can't use any chakra in my arms!' He scowled at the girl again when she was finally close enough to attack.
He blocked her initial strikes to the chest and tried to punch her in the face. Hinata dodged his fist and struck him in the chest a few times, but had to pull away when he tried to attack her again. She stood there silently watching him.
'What the hell is she doing to me...' Zaku clutched his chest with one hand as he warily watched the insane looking genin.
"Please give up. I...I don't w-want to hurt you anymore."
Zaku scowled at her.
"Yeah right," He spat to the side and looked down at the girl. 'She's fast... but she hasn't been directly hitting me at all. What the hell is this girl's trick?' He frowned as he thought over the previous match. 'It was the same with that older kid. They have the same family name, too, and those creepy eyes. Is it some family trick?'
"If you won't give up, I'll force you to," she said with some determination. Zaku quickly stepped back in time to dodge her next, vicious combo attack and carefully watched what she did as he did so.
'Some kind of weird martial arts. She's not trying to hit me full on, so it must be doing something else... That's it! The chakra in my arms and this weird attack!' Zaku jumped up and over the girl, swinging his foot down as he flipped forward. Hinata knelt on the ground and he missed completely. He completed his flip and landed, pulling shuriken from his holster and launching them at her. The girl twisted her body to avoid all of them, simultaneously turning her body around to face him.
Zaku looked at her in shock.
'How did she dodge those?!' He was given no time to think about it, as Hinata sprang at him once more, attacking with the strange martial arts style that didn't have any obvious effect. Zaku felt a sudden surge of pain in his chest, followed by a palm thrust to the solar plexus that knocked him clear off his feet.
Hinata stared down at the sound genin who lay on the ground, eyes unfocused and clutching his heart with his left hand. He made a gurgling noise and coughed, blood freely pouring from his mouth. Hinata looked down at the genin in worry.
'Oh no! I did too much!' She watched in horror as the sound genin started choking on his own blood. "He... He needs help! Medic!" She ran over to her opponent's side and Hayate blinked. Zaku made no move to fight back as she tried to administer some first aid, so he did the only thing he could.
"Hyuuga Hinata is the winner of this fight." He said with a cough. Three medics ran into the arena before he finished his announcement and the sound genin was carried off by a stretcher. 'That girl's the next clan head of the Hyuuga? I don't believe it.' He chuckled, but it turned into a coughing fit. 'Should make for some interesting times.'
Up in the stands, Naruto was reigning in her cheers with a nervous look.
"Er, well, I guess she won, but she don't look too happy," the blonde said.
"She's too nice to be a ninja," Sasuke said with a frown. "That relative of hers was a better example of what a Ninja should be. He seemed much better with their style, too."
"Hinata-chan, too nice to be a Ninja? Hmph. That's just her way of the Ninja. She doesn't have to be ruthless, or bloodthirsty,"
"Administering first-aid to an enemy is stupid," Sasuke snorted. "If she were to do that in a real battle, she'd get a kunai in her heart as thanks,"
"Tch." Naruto crossed her arms and looked away. "I don't think so."
"Think so or not, that's how it'd work," Sasuke said, turning to look at the black board. He smirked at the names written on it. "So, it's finally my turn, huh?" Naruto whipped her head over to face the names on the board.
"Uchiha Sasuke versus Tsuchi Kin," She read. Her expression turned into a grin. "That sound girl, then. Hmph, I feel sorry for her, since both her teammates already lost,"
"And now so will she," Sasuke said as he walked away from the other members of his team.
"You'd better win," Naruto said, crossing her arms. "Or I'll lose all respect for you!"
'You can do it, Sasuke-kun,' Sakura said, watching her teammate walk down the stairs.
'Let's see what you do now, Sasuke,' Kakashi said, looking up from his book.
The two fighters made their way to the arena, and Sasuke looked up at Kin with a smirk on his face, his Sharingan already activated.
"So you're the Uchiha, huh," the girl smirked at him. "This should be fun."
"Hn," Sasuke's smirk wasn't affected in the slightest.
"If the two of you are ready, you may begin," Hayate announced, stepping back.
The oto-nin immediately snapped into action, launching a pair of senbon at Sasuke. Sasuke stood there with a bored look on his face as the senbon neared him.
At the last second, he raised his hand and caught the two needles between his fingers.
"Senbon, huh..." He looked down at them as if inspecting them for something. 'That other guy's senbon flew much faster and accurate than that- wait. Bells?' He frowned. 'And a string...' He blinked as the string was pulled, and the bells' ringing noise echoed throughout his head. He winced and nearly fell to his knees from the sudden pain. 'That sound…'
"Heh… everyone who hears the sound of those bells ends up like that," The sound kunoichi said. Sasuke frowned at the smug tone and looked at her.
"What are you talking about…"
"It's simple, the vibration from those bells works specifically on your eardrum and has an effect on your brain. The effect comes out as a genjutsu…" The kunoichi sneered as her voice echoed and a number of mirror images appeared all around her. "You can't even move, can you? And with a bloodline like yours, you could say that I'm the worst possible choice for an opponent for you."
"So, because it's a genjutsu based on sound rather than sight, it would be impossible for me to 'see' through it with the Sharingan," Sasuke looked over all of the illusions.
"That's right," the girl sneered.
"I see." Sasuke grinned at the girl, which threw her off. "Well then, let me show you something." Sasuke slowly grabbed the wires attached to the two bells and bit down on them.
"He can still move at all?" She frowned at him. When he made his first handseal, she scowled. 'I can't let him do whatever he's got planned!' She quickly retrieved three more senbon and tossed them all at Sasuke. The boy grunted and moved as best he could to dodge them, but they all managed to hit him. 'Damn it!' He ignored them and called out the name of his Jutsu just as she pulled out five more senbon.
"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" As he called out the name of his attack, fire blazed out from his mouth across the wire, straight towards the real Kin.
"What?!" The girl looked at the quickly approaching fire in shock, but her entire body was overcome by flames before she could react. Sasuke chuckled and dropped the two senbon from his mouth.
"You know, with a strategy like yours, one could say that I'm the worst possible choice for an opponent for you." The girl fell over as the flames died away and Sasuke smirked as her illusions all vanished. He tossed all of the senbon back at her and started walking away. Hayate glanced at him before looking over at Kin. After a few moments, it was clear that she was down for the count.
"Winner: Uchiha Sasuke."
"Woo! Go Sasuke!"
"Yeah! Sasuke-kun's the best!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes at the cheering that came from above. Even the dobe was cheering for him, in her obscenely loud voice. When he made it back to his team, Naruto spoke up.
"Who's up next?"
"No one," Sakura said. "Shikamaru is the only fighter left, so it would be unfair for him to fight anyone who has already fought."
"Maybe, but it would account for the unpredictable nature of missions," Kakashi said. "You guys of all people should know that." Naruto and Sakura looked at him with worried expressions, while Sasuke merely stood watching the proctors below.
"Does that mean that one of the previous winners will be randomly selected to fight him?" Sakura asked.
"Hmph. I'm ready for it," Sasuke said with a smirk.
"Go volunteer or something then," Naruto snorted. Sasuke glared at her, but did not speak. "Yeah, thought so."
"Dobe-"
"Okay, you two," Kakashi said. "That's enough. Save the couple's spat for later." Sakura giggled while both Naruto and Sasuke glared at him. Just then, Hayate made his announcement.
"Because there is only one contestant left, the preliminary fighting will end here!" Team Seven looked down at the ninja.
"See? What did I tell you?" Sakura stuck her tongue out and Kakashi rolled his eyes.
"Let's just go down there," Sasuke said.
-
The eleven genin stood before the Hokage and a group of Chuunin below
"To all of you who earned the right to contend in the third round, congratulations." Hayate coughed. "Well then, Hokage-sama, if you would please…"
"Of course." Sarutobi looked over all the genin that were standing before him. 'Two whole leaf teams along with three other leaf genin and two sand genin. It seems we had some talented rookies this year…' Sarutobi smiled at the genin. "Well then, I would like to begin the explanation for the real third exams. The main event is going to be seen by everybody, so all of you will be representing your countries' various abilities. It is because of this that each of you is to fight with nothing held back, and also the reason that the finals will be held one month from now."
"We're not going to do it now?" Naruto asked.
"No. This month long break is to inform the various daimyo and ninja leaders of this event, as well as allow you genin to prepare for the upcoming fights."
"What the hell do you mean by that?" Kankuro demanded.
"Hmm… Basically, this is the time for you all to get to know your enemy and yourself. You will have time to analyze the data you accumulated during the trial periods, and train yourselves so that you have a better chance of winning against your opponents. This is because there were those of you who have shown everything that they can do, and there are those who have been injured in a fight against stronger opponents. The month long wait is to make everything fair."
'Fair?' Sasuke frowned. 'It sounds more like you're setting us up to be a spectacle for all those daimyo.'
"With that said, there's something we have to do before you guys can go off right now." The genin all looked over at Anko, who was holding a box with paper in it. "Each one of you take one of the slips of paper in here," She announced. "I'll come around, so wait your turn." She started at one end of the line and walked by each genin, stopping only long enough for them to reach into the box and take a slip of paper.
Naruto pulled hers out and looked at it. 'Six…' Not a minute later, Anko finished making her way around the genin and returned to her spot. Naruto looked up at her and blinked at the absence of the big box from before.
"Now, call out your numbers." Sarutobi listened as each of the genin said their numbers and the scarred chuunin beside him started writing something down on a notepad. "All right then. Ibiki, show them the line up for the finals tournament." Several of the genin looked surprised at the announcement of a tournament.
"You mean there's gonna be more one on one fighting?" Shikamaru groaned. "Damn it…" Ibiki ignored him as he held up the notepad he'd been working on for everyone to see. Naruto looked the chart over and blinked.
(1) Uchiha Sasuke
(2) Haruno Sakura
(3) Nara Shikamaru
(4) Tenten
(5) Hyuuga Hinata
(6) Uzumaki Naruto
(7) Hyuuga Neji
(8) Rock Lee
(9) Gaara
(10) Kankuro
(11) Kabuto
'Sasuke and Sakura-chan are gonna be fighting right away? That's…' Naruto was speechless at the chart.
"There's still a lot of contestants," Ibiki said. "It would have been ideal if we could have taken away three more. But this will work too."
Kankuro winced at the match up.
"Uh, is there any way that the matches can be changed?"
"No." Ibiki smiled at him, and Kankuro looked over at his younger brother. Gaara ignored him in favor of a bored expression directed at the chart.
'Oh boy… I wonder if I should just forfeit right now,' The sand genin thought. 'All that work getting here, down the drain…'
Neji Hyuuga stared up at the list with a frown.
'Hmm… I can hardly believe that these pairings are random.' He looked over the gathered Chuunin.
"Hey, wait a minute." All of the ninja gathered there turned to look at Shikamaru. "Since this is a tournament, does that mean that only one of us will make Chuunin? It doesn't make sense."
"Oh no, not at all," Sarutobi said. "There are going to be judges, including myself, Kazekage-dono, the Daimyo of various countries that make mission requests, and other Ninja leaders, all watching the final test. Throughout the tournament, those judges will be evaluating your abilities. Those judged to have the abilities required of a Chuunin will be able to become a Chuunin even if they lose their first match." Naruto looked up at him, tilting her head to the side.
"Does that mean that everyone can become a Chuunin?"
"Yes. But it also means that no one may become a Chuunin. But to advance in the tournament, this means that you will have more chances to appeal to the judges. Do you understand, Shikamaru-kun?" Shikamaru just stood there with his usual frown in place. "Well then, thanks for all the effort you exerted in these trials! You're all dismissed until a month from now!"