Ino took the floor with confidence and looked for her opponent. This Sumio was sure taking his sweet time. Eventually one of the large Taki nin made a move toward the stage with a proud stride. Now, with him standing in front of her, Ino looked over the hulking genin. He looked strong but slow, which was perfect. What the overconfident Sumio probably thought of her was that she was a weak little kunoichi ready to be crushed. She readied herself to fight.

They were told to begin and immediately Sumio launched into action. He was darting around Ino, disorienting her. This was bad seeing as this guy was as fast as Lee with his leg weights on. He took a swing at her head and she dropped to the floor just barely avoiding it. She turned to face him to find he was at the other side of the arena already. She grabbed some Kunai and hurled them toward him only to have them miss as he launched toward the kunoichi again. She ducked but this time he followed up with a strong punch to her gut. She flew backwards and her body skidded across the concrete. She propped herself up and wiped her mouth.

"What do you think she is going to do?" Gaara asked Sakura.

"She has a plan, believe me!" Sakura said with confidence about her friend/rival.

"But Ino cannot even hit him, let alone use her clan's ablities!" Lee responded dramatically.

"Listen to what I said! She has a plan," Sakura replied, looking seriously at Lee.

Ino had gotten up and carefully waited for the next attack. From the left. Ino dodged and bolted to the left, causing her opponent to turn around. She threw some shuriken at him and continued running around the stage. He chased her and came up from the right this time. She made for the left but his attack grazed her arm. Ino jumped back towards a more isolated square of the battleground.

She began to form hand seals, staring intensely at the genin across from her. He bolted forward, his fist heading toward Ino's head, when suddenly he froze inches away from her face. She looked up to him and smirked.

"What happened?" Kiba asked frantically "He had a perfect shot and just stopped!"

"Look at the ground Kiba," he did as Sakura told him and noticed something glinting in the light.

"No way!" He said looking at the Kunoichi at center stage.

"The whole time, Ino was feeding chakra infused wire strings across the field. She used them as a restraining net, similar to what she did with her hair to stop me last time." Sakura said, smirking at the fact that she seemed to be the only one that had noticed and figured out what was truly going on. "Wire strings are nearly invisible, especially against the dark concrete. So naturally while her opponent was so focused on attacking her, he didn't notice it feeding out of her bag as she ran. She used the first kunai that she threw as an anchor and just let the pre-infused string unravel as she ran around."

"That was clever of her," Gaara commented observing Yamanaka as she prepared for her next move. She readied her mind transfer. "Mind transfer jutsu!" Ino's body fell limp and all eyes turned to the Taki nin known as Sumio. He looked up towards the proctor. He let out a small laugh, characteristic of Ino and raised his hand. Albeit it was Ino raising his hand, but ninja like him needed a little help sometimes. "I Sumio, withdraw from this match." The proctor nodded, confirming that the contestant had renounced his standing in the chunin exams. Ino released the jutsu and returned to her own body.

She was pronounced the winner and she returned to the stands, "beat that Sakura," she said looking to her friend/rival.

"That was quite clever of you Ino, but I think you will be surprised at what I have in store, just you see!" Sakura retorted.

All the while the jounin looked to their subordinates proudly. "It seems Ino's timing and planning has improved. Has she taken a page out of Shikamaru's book?" Kakashi commented.

"Nah, Shikamaru is more of the 'use what is already around you' type. I'm slightly shocked that Ino came up with such a clever trap." Asuma replied. "Choji has also gained some more confidence which I find reassuring. He seems like he has more of a future as a shinobi now."

"Yeah. It's almost scary watching them grow up so suddenly like this," Kakashi mused, wondering what his remaining student had up her sleeve.

The next names were pulled from the board. "Kiba Inuzuka vs Neji Hyuga".


Author's note: Yeah, I need to stop making promises. I also need to think of words other than 'clever'.