Ura was surprised to see Kabuto drop out. She had heard it was his sixth time to enter the Chunin Exams, so why give up when he was so close to finishing? No matter, Ura was a bit pissed that the Hokage and the Prompter to make a Preliminary Round Exam to thin out the number for the third exam. She crossed her arms as she stood at the very back of her team. Though proved to Gaara that she was a good opponent, he still detested the fact that she was on their team. Her team and Baki went up to the stands to watch the first few fights. Ura was impressed with Temari and Kankurou's skills in battle and wanted to fight them later on if she had the chance to. She even smiled to herself when she watched Naruto's fight. Though Ura had remained silent, she was more than overjoyed at the fact that Naruto had beat Kiba, even if it was a fluke. When Sakura had to fight Ino, Ura felt nothing more than pity for both of them. Those who chose a guy over their friendship definitely didn't need to be friends to begin with, but it gave Sakura and Ino a one-up match. At least Sakura had a friend like Ino, even if they fought over the same guy.

Then, Gaara and the rumored Taijutsu specialist, Lee, were called to fight each other. Ura had heard of Lee and met him on rare occasions when training. She couldn't personally say she knew the shinobi, but had seen him maybe once or twice. What she had heard, however, was that he only knew taijutsu and incapable of performing ninjutsu or gentjutsu. Rare, to say the least, but Ura could see that Lee honed his skills in the art of taijutsu to make up for what he lacked. This fight was going to be quite interesting, especially since she knew Gaara had the least taijutsu fight inside of him. Ura braced herself, this was a fight she couldn't protect Gaara from. If he lost…well… She would probably be the last person he wanted to see so Ura started to plan her own escape in case he did lose. Just in case.

As the match started, Ura was impressed by Lee's speed and strength. He could kick Gaara's sand shield with ease and make it look like he was flying in the air. A smirk formed on Ura's face as she continued to watch the match, Gaara looked around whenever Lee kicked or punched his shield. When Gaara tried to land a sand wave on Lee, it missed and had Lee leap to the tallest statue of a handsign.

"What a coward, does he think Gaara can't reach him up there?" Temari asked with a sarcastic tone, "Seriously, Ura, how did you manage to get stronger here?"

"Kept to my own personal training," Ura answered as she placed a hand on her hip, "But you have to agree that Lee definitely has speed on his side. Gaara is going to have a fair fight this time."

"Keep it to yourself," Temari crossed her arms as she nudged Ura, "You know as well as I do that Gaara can't lose."

"I know he's not going to," Ura turned and stared lazily at Temari, "He's just going to have a hard time catching him."

They both turned their backs to the match. It was when Lee took off his weights that smashed into the floor that made Ura and Temari rethink their outcomes for the fight. If…if Lee could handle that many pounds of weight and still kept up his speed, then…how fast was he really? In an instant, he was flying all over Gaara. Kicking his shield at one point, punching in the opposite direction, and even managed to try and attack him from above. Ura felt some worry grow inside her as she watched Gaara struggle to keep up to where Lee's location was at. She gripped the railing, who did she want to win? Obviously Gaara so they could go to the exam together, but Lee… He was obviously more equipped and trained longer and harder than Gaara has ever trained. Even Ura knew she didn't train as long and as dedicated as Lee had.

Ura's heart nearly stopped. Lee had made an attack on Gaara's face, leaving a scratch on his porcelain skin. Anger rose in her, how dare he land a direct hit! Ura's rage began to boil as she watched Lee's satisfaction from making that damn hit, and the others cheering him on. She began to calm when confusion ran through her mind. Her confusion was from Gaara's sand dripping from his skin acting like an armor. Didn't his sand protect him enough? Ura turned to Temari and Baki to ask, but Baki answered before she asked, "You see, Gaara has two defensive techniques. The sand that naturally protects him and the armor he uses whenever someone is able to go through the natural sand barrier. Of course, this takes massive amounts of chakra even for him."

"Which means it takes a major toll on his chakra," Temari continued as her eyes widened, seeing the inner demon inside Gaara awaken, "If he keeps his armor on too long, he'll lose too much chakra."

She turned back to the match to watch Gaara. Her fear became more of a reality, Gaara's demon, Shukaku, was awakening inside of Gaara. The one demon she had tried to tell Gaara was in his control years ago… It tore her heart to know that this demon had more control over Gaara than he had over himself. It wasn't fair, watching from the stands and nothing she could do to help either of the shinobi fighting below. Lee didn't stand a chance at that point. It would take a matter of minutes before Gaara was done playing with him after Lee used his Primary Lotus and Gaara using a substitution jutsu at the last moment. The match was getting harder to watch with Gaara just toying with Lee, blasting his sand at Lee whenever he was down. Ura couldn't help but feel so sorry for Lee. This wasn't a fair fight anymore… Lee could possibly die at any moment because of the toll he put on his body and the massive strain from Gaara's sand attacks.

"Dammit, Lee, just run…" Ura cursed beneath her breath angrily.

"Ura…" Temari growled, but Ura didn't acknowledge the warning.

If anything, Ura listened to what Lee's sensei had to say though it was hard to hear from such a distance. Lee… He had a passion for being a ninja, to be something of an asset to his village. Ura couldn't help but respect Lee on a higher level. The fact that he would never give up or quit, the fact that he trained so long to become the best at taijutsu, and the fact that he disregarded what everyone had to say made him more of a ninja than many that stood in that stadium. Ura didn't feel an even match between her and Lee, he was a better shinobi compared to her natural born jutsu. Even to that, Ura did not want to fight Lee, but learn more about him and learn to take on the type of training he does.

It seemed as if Lee gained some of his strength back as he easily began to dodge Gaara's attacks. He had managed to open his chakra gates to gain more fluidity in his movements and become stronger. It wouldn't be enough though, Ura tried to catch Lee's quick movements towards Gaara, he won't win no matter what. Then, Ura's eyes twitched in fear, Lee opened his Hidden Lotus. Fear ran through her for Lee more so than for Gaara. The pressure he was putting his body under was a massive weight that tore through his muscles. If Lee survived... Well, he may not be a shinobi much longer. Ura felt her grip on the rail tighten as she watched Gaara get beaten to a pulp, his armor cracking as he was punched, kicked, and thrown to the ground.

She angrily punched the railing as she glared down at the two shinobi beneath her. Why wasn't Gaara doing anything? He was stronger than Lee! He had to be! Maybe not as fast as Lee, but Gaara was at least able to pack a punch! Ura was about to scream something until Baki pulled her back from the railing, "Watch what you say here."

"But he's not doing anything! Lee isn't going to win!" Ura growled as she glared at Baki.

"Exactly," Baki released her to watch the match.

Ura wanted to run down to Gaara when the sand caught his fall on the arena. What if he was hurt? Then she noticed Lee...he was in rough shape. The Hidden Lotus had torn some of his muscles and he couldn't even crawl away as Gaara sent his sand over to Lee. Her eyes widened, what was Gaara doing? It was obvious he had Lee beat by not being ready to pass out!

"Gaara..no.." Ura murmured as she watched the sand cover Lee's left arm and leg, then crushing them with ease, "NO, LEE!"

All went silent, even Gaara had glanced over to Ura as did most of the other shinobi in the stadium when Ura screamed. Temari took a step away from Ura, "You got yourself into some trouble."

Ura couldn't allow Lee to be totally consumed with the sand. She watched as Lee's sensei, Gai, stopped Gaara's sand from consuming Lee as Ura leaped down in front of Gaara. Gai eyed Ura as she stood in a defensive stance in front of Gaara, it was clear to him that she had thought they were going to harm Gaara more than Lee had done. When Ura saw it clear that no one was doing so, she turned to Gaara to see him staggering up, "Gaara, are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"Leave me alone," Gaara stated as he walked passed her.

Maybe he was just a little mad at her for yelling for Lee... Or he didn't care? Ura was just satisfied that Gaara wasn't too hurt from Lee's beating. She looked over her shoulder at Lee, he was in real bad shape.

"Ura, quit stalling and lets go."

She turned to see Gaara with his arms crossed. Well, he knew her name, right? Ura took in a deep breath as she leaped back up to the stands. Temari approached Gaara with a proud smirk, "Good to have you back, Gaara."

Gaara was more ruthless than she had anticipated. Yeah, he had tried killing her what now...twice? But Ura didn't expect him to kick an opponent when he was down... It gave her some more insight, she glanced over at Gaara as he gazed down as the medic-nins took Lee away. Her love was the same, but she was worried about Shukaku inside of him.

The match between Dosu and Choji was fairly quick. Choji didn't stand a chance against Dosu even with his large, boulder body trying to crush Dosu. Then, it was Ura's turn. She had been waiting for a chance to fight to show off to Gaara again. Who could she fight? With Kabuto gone, there was an uneven number of combatents willing to take another fight. The Prompter, who noticed Ura's dilemna, looked around and announced, "To those who have won their battle are able to fight one last round with Ura of the Sand. Win or lose, you will continue to the next exam."

Ura leaped down and looked up in the stands. No one had come down yet to fight her... Her irritation grew as she looked up at Naruto who stared down at her. He would not fight her. Not in a million years would he even try to. Ura then looked up at Neji Hyuuga, a smug smile on his face. She slowly took out both her umbrellas and slammed the tops into the floor as she glared up at all to those who won, "All of you are damn cowards!"

To her satisfaction, her statement caused some people to stir angrily at her. Even more so to her satisfaction, a Genin appeared before her with their arms crossed. Neji eyed her as he looked over at the Prompter, "This will be quick."

"Whatever," the prompter coughed as he took a step back, "Neji Hyuuga verses Ura of the Sand."

Ura's eyes narrowed onto the Hyuuga boy who had damaged Hinata badly. She would have no mercy against him as she rested each open umbrella against her shoulders, "So, you think you're tough enough to fight me... You're pretty gutsy."

"Fate has her eyes on me in this battle," Neji usedh is Byakugan on her, looking at her kekkei-genkai chakra fused with her blood, "You, i'm afraid, will not be able to blind me with your little blood jutsu. I'm not afraid of a little blood on me."

"Good, then you won't be traumatized when i'm done with you," Ura smirked as her umbrellas twirled rapidly in her grip.