Chapter 7:The Preliminaries Part 1-Ino Vs Sakura

Chunin Exams Battle Arena.

The last days of the second part of the chunin exams had come and gone. The teams of 7, 8, 9, Gaara's own team and a mix of others from all corners of the elemental nations could now be seen standing in the middle of a massive battle arena. Danzo could be seen wearing his Hokage robes minus the hat. Beside him stood Naruto's father Minato, his mother Kushina, and an unknown ANBU ninja wearing a crow mask. Why the Hokage felt the need to display such strength escaped him but for now, he would focus on the speech being given by the Hokage.

"Each of you has displayed your skills thus far both as a team and as an individual, however, seeing as we have far too many to be practical for the last phase of the exams we will first need to lower the number with a round of preliminary matches". Danzo said. This, in turn, forced a fair few of the genin teams to let loose their protests with all of them being promptly ignored.

"As I was saying we'll have a few matches to dropped down to around 12 participants. If, however, you feel you're unable to proceed say so now otherwise you will take part". Danzo said finishing his speech and handing it over to the proctor.

"Thank you, Lord Hokage. My name is Hayate Gekkō and from now on my word is the law". Hayate waited for only a second before gesturing towards the big screens on the wall behind him. "Your names will show up on that screen. Should your name appear you're to walk down the stairs and enter the center of the arena. You may even end up fighting your own teammates. Killing is allowed but not encouraged. Do you all understand"? Hayate asked. Seeing none of the genin had any questions he gave the signal to begin.

The first set of names was a mist ninja and a girl with a massive fan strap to her back. The fight itself was more or less one-sided with it ending in less than two whole minutes by way of death. The audible crack of a spine upon the massive fan was proof of that fact.

"Holy log that was intense". Naruto overheard an unknown leaf genin say. He would have to wholeheartedly agree with that statement. Her display of raw ability had turned him on. He would need a minute to deal with this. As to not miss anything he silently made a clone and made a quick exit. Ino for her part eyed the girl with jealousy and hate. She wouldn't allow this desert rat to turn Naruto's eyes away from her.

"Ino...INo...INO"! Ino was brought back to reality by her teammate Choji slapping her across the face. Quite hard in fact.

"What the hell Choji why you do that for"! Ino yelled only for the boy to gesture towards the massive screen on the far wall.

Ino Yamanaka vs Sakura Haruno.

Both walked down the stairs side by side. Both eyeing the other looking for any kind of weakness. Ino knew first hand that Sakura could hit. Sakura knew Ino's mind jutsu's could easily kill her should they land.

But soon enough both were ready to go and with but a simple wave of a hand they began. Sakura fired off a handful of kunai knives and ninja stars at Ino forcing the ponytail haired girl to jump back. Ino being much more a support type ninja wasn't at all used to prolonged battles. Relying primarily on her two male teammates to do most of the fighting. This at the very least had opened her eyes to how poorly developed she was as a ninja. Something she planned on quickly remedying soon after.

Her only real hope was to take over Sakura's body and force the pink haired girl to forfeit the match. However, her skill with the jutsu in question was if one wanted to be kind, quite limited to say the least. She would need to close the gap between the two.

Sakura, however, wasn't about to let the girl near her without a fight and it wasn't long before the arena floor was covered in various types of ninja tools. Ino meanwhile eyed her pray from the relative safety of one of the many trees on the arena floor.

"Come out Ino and fight me"! Sakura yelled out looking for even the slightest of movements and just as she was about to enter Ino's range Ino felt the unmistakable pinprick of a ninja dart hitting her neck. Losing any and all feeling in her body she quickly landed face-first onto the hard, dirt arena floor. Thus Sakura had won and would move onto the next phase of the exams. Naruto having since returned only eyed the girl with pity but before he could do anything more his name had been called. Looking to see who he was facing he couldn't help the girn that soon found it's way to his face.

Naruto Uzumaki vs Gaara.