Total Chaos
Miyo
I didn't like having to wait ten minutes for Sasuke to turn up. I pulled out my doll copy of Sasuke and just looked at it. "Come on, Sasuke…if you don't hurry, you'll be disqualified!"
Then finally, Sasuke showed up in a flurry of leaves with Kakashi! To my eye, Sasuke's hair seemed…kind of thicker. Well, if he hadn't been doing anything except train for a whole month, of course his hair grew out of its original style, or added to it a little.
After he announced himself to the proctor, he turned and looked up at the wall somewhere. If I had to bet, he was making eye contact with Gaara. Men and their macho-defiant staring contests…
"So he made it after all!"
I looked up in surprise. Lee! He's okay!
Then Naruto and Shikamaru cleared the field, Gaara got down there and the match started.
Gaara...seemed extremely unstable mentally for a few seconds, talking to himself. Finally, he calmed down enough to start fighting, but he wasn't stable.
The first thing Gaara did was make a sand clone, and then the fight was on for real! Sasuke destroyed the clone, and then moved quickly around Gaara's sand to actually punch him! It was like watching Lee!
Sasuke was the one landing all the blows, complete with dodging under the sand to get to Gaara!
Gaara may have been against the ropes, but…this was Gaara we were talking about.
Then Gaara hid himself inside a sand sphere that could repel Sasuke's blows, complete with dangerous spikes coming out of it to point at him!
Then Naruto came running over with Shikamaru, asking Kakashi to stop the match!
As it turned out, he didn't have to stop the match: Sasuke pulled out a technique that Guy called Chidori and actually penetrated Gaara's defense!
I rubbed my cheek. It was tingling, and the tingle had only gotten stronger as the tournament went on. If I could just figure out why…
…Oh, no: this is the spot where…this isn't good.
Then the most inhuman scream came from the sand ball, and Sasuke had to power himself back out – with some thing gripping his arm!
The sand ball fell apart about a minute later, and there was Gaara…clutching a bleeding shoulder.
Around there, I started to feel drowsy. Almost automatically, seeing everyone else falling asleep, I set my hands together and repelled the genjutsu.
Then things got bad. Really bad. Smoek came from where the Third Hokage had been sitting! There was lots of battle sounds coming from up there, and then the Hokage was made prisoner behind a barrier!
Sound ninja came to block our way to keep us from trying to help Hokage! I'd half-stood, until they came.
I don't know what was happening down on the field. In the end, all of Team Gaara left, and the proctor started fighting with their teacher. Sasuke ran off after Gaara.
I didn't move again until suddenly Kakashi identified the guy with Hokage as being Orochimaru!
That's why my face has been tingling! I could tell that he was nearby!
Top ninja fought Sound ninja while I stayed huddled. Kakashi told Sakura to take Naruto and Shikamaru out after Sasuke.
I carefully sat up. "What do I do, sir?"
He studied me. "Iruka told me…that he graduated you."
It wasn't a question. "Um…yeah?"
"You…" Then he went silent. Somehow, I got the impression that he was stumped. "Four is the usual number for a team of ninja."
"Yes, sir."
Kakashi summoned a little dog to help Sakura track Sasuke.
"So…what am I doing?" I asked again as the four left. It was funny seeing Sakura drag Naruto and that little dog Pakkun drag Shikamaru!
I rounded the corner and nearly ran into Shino. He covered my mouth and took me with him in a teleportation jutsu!
We appeared in the forest. "Sorry for the abrupt change in location," Shino told me, "but I couldn't risk you alerting any Sound ninja to my position. We're going to track Sasuke."
Uh…and how are we going to find him?
I ran with him, tying my new headband around my neck, still under my sweatshirt.
Finally, we caught up with Sasuke and Kankuro.
"I've got dibs on him first, Sasuke," he declared.
Basically, Shino explained how he'd been able to track Sasuke, and told the killer squirrel to go on ahead so that the bug boy could fight Kankuro.
"Stay back, Miyo," Shino waved me back a tree. "If it looks like I actually need help, you can come out."
I nodded and sat back to watch.
Kankuro unfurled his ugly puppet, and Shino allowed his bugs to swarm on his arms and hands. The battle got going quickly after that.
Blades chased after Shino from the puppet, and he dodged.
I lost track of half the tricks they used, though I loved Shino's near-miss! The one that worried me was the poison smoke bomb of Kankuro's. Shino breathed in a little, while I covered my mouth and nose with my sleeve.
Shino kept using bug clones to avoid trouble, and then infested the puppet. The puppet had a flying head, though.
And Shino won! He'd sent his bugs to catch Kankuro – his near-miss had planted a girl bug on Kankuro's headband!
But then Shino collapsed, gasping for breath.
I leaped out. "Shino! Are you – I mean, how can I help?"
"Go…after…Sasuke!"
I hesitated. Then I shook my head. "No man left behind. I've got to help you."
A/N: Need to think up exactly what she does for Shino.
