Although nine Genins had passed the preliminary exam, the only ninja from the Mist to make it through disappeared under mysterious circumstances before the main matches, so only eight contenders were left. The first match was Naruto vs Neji. It was an exhausting battle, but Naruto surprised everyone yet again, and won the match. Next was Sasuke vs Gaara, the most highly anticipated match of the tournament.
Everyone expected great things of Sasuke, because he was a nephew of one of the great Sannins. Sasuke was beaten, despite having mastered Chidori during his secret training with Kakashi. The Jounins had to step in to stop Gaara from killing him. It was quite a shock for the audience.
Then, Shino defeated Kankurou. He had to be hospitalized afterwards because he'd been poisoned. Next, Shikamaru cornered Temari, but forfeited before he could defeat her, because he ran out of chakra. The contestants who'd won were given until the next day to recover, because the daimyos and guests wanted to see them fight at their peak performance levels.
The next day, Naruto and Gaara tied in an explosive battle which would have destroyed the stadium used the previous day, which was why the Hokage, one of the few who knew that they were both Jinchuuriki, wisely chose to hold the match in a far bigger stadium at the edge of the village. Several audience members screamed, ran out, fainted, or did a combination of the three, when Shuukaku was fully formed, and again when Naruto transformed Gamabunta into a Kyuubi.
Even the Third was shocked to see it. The battle was Jounin level. In comparison, Shino's battle with Temari looked like two children in their first year of the ninja academy messing about. Shino lost in the end, because there was no way for his bugs to disable Temari's fan. Technically, Temari won the tournament. The next day a ceremony was held for those being made Chuunins. In the end, only Shikamaru and Temari were selected.
A few days later Naruto was released from hospital. After her fight with Gaara she'd passed out, so now everyone knew that she was a girl. That had been the biggest shock of the tournament. Nobody could believe how much stronger she was compared to the other female Genins. Even Hinata couldn't compare, and she had a Bloodline Limit, but she was weaker than Neji, and Naruto had defeated Neji in the exam.
At any rate, since her secret had been revealed, there was no point in making herself look like a boy in public anymore, so she was able to be herself when Lee took her to Ichiraku on that date. Naruto impressed Lee with how many bowls of Ramen she was able to eat. He tried to keep up, but even he started feeling a little ill after his third bowl.
He gave Naruto flowers he'd bought at Ino's family's store, and learnt something new about Naruto. She preferred wild flowers, hand-picked by the person giving them to her, and given for no reason at all, not just on special occasions. Lee wrote down what she told him as enthusiastically and seriously as he always wrote Gai's advice.
Life With Lee has gone on a temporary hiatus due to a combination of November University Exams, and a minor case of writer's block. However, the summer holidays are almost here for me, which should do a phenomenal job of inspiring me as usual, so Life With Lee should be back on track by February. In the mean time, I suggest you read my Harry Potter fanfic instead. It's even better written than Life With Lee, and will be back on schedule as of today, now that exams are over, and I just found out the last of my results, and I have no Supplementary Exams. Yay! Thank you for your patience and understanding.
