A/N: Alright folks, here's the big one! The first fight for Team Katsuragi and it's Asuka who's first! Will she win? Stay tuned and find out!

OH, before I begin I would like to make something crystal clear to ALL of you! I will NOT, repeat; will NOT incorporate anything regarding angels, AT fields, the Second Impact, or anything else in that matter into this story! This maybe a crossover, but that doesn't mean I'll include that stuff in this. I'm trying to make Tentougakure and its ninjas sound as canon to Naruto as Naruto himself is. In other words, no clones of Rei, no Evas, no angels, no more tailed beasts besides the canon ones…need I go on? So get that through your heads RIGHT NOW people!

As disappointing as that sounds, I will change a few things for Rei, Asuka, and Shinji to make this even better than Evangelion itself (even though that's impossible). I will give a couple of them Kekkei Genkai, but I won't say who or what. More will be explained in later chapters and that's all I'm going to say.

Disclaimer: See previous chapters.


Chapter 8

"Begin!"

The moment Hayate announced that, Asuka made her charge. She pulled out her kunai, as did Taro and the two collided with a loud "clang" and were now facing each other while trying to gain dominance with their blades. The two of them pushed away and skidded backwards on the floor of the arena. Asuka smirked while Taro gritted his teeth as the two stared each other down. Asuka then proceeded into throwing her kunai at the young man, who threw his in return; the two blades collided and bounced away from each other on the floor while Asuka charged again for a punch. Taro blocked her punch and tried to throw one of his own, but Asuka grabbed his fist and kicked Taro in the stomach, sending him flying back. Taro growled and went through a series of hand seals and ended with a ram seal.

"Doton: Iwa Tounyuu (1) no Jutsu!"

At that very instant, Taro slammed his foot down on the ground and after he did, the floor beneath his feet crumbled and the debris began flying towards Asuka. Now normally, an attack like this would use rocks the size of a person's whole body. But because of the fact that Taro was a Genin, he was only able to use rocks the size of a medium-sized ball. Asuka just smirked at this and performed her own set of hand seals and ended them in a snake hand seal.

"Katon: Boukaheki (2)!"

After she announced that she took a deep breath and then breathed out a wall of fire that actually deflected the rocks. When the fire dissipated, Asuka was gone! Puzzled, Taro looked around.

"W-where'd she go!?"

Up on the catwalk, all but Team Katsuragi looked stunned as they saw how fast Asuka was. Misato grinned with pride as she saw her student fight. She remembered when they first became a team; Asuka was very rambunctious and was always itching to get into a fight with other ninja to test her skills. She also knew how often Asuka trained and knew that Asuka's training made her go far in their missions.

"Wow, she's as fast as Sasuke!" Naruto said as he looked, wide-eyed, at the fight down below. Sakura merely nodded in agreement.

Kankurou of the Sand team looked at Gaara, who gripped his arms as they were folded. He could feel the killing intent emanating from him and nearly shook in his pants. He could tell that Gaara was enjoying the anticipation of fighting this girl. The two remaining Sound ninjas were equally impressed; but as far as they were concerned, the Heaven ninjas meant nothing.

It was at that precise moment, Kakashi appeared from a puff of smoke behind Naruto and Sakura. "Yo."

Sakura immediately asked about Sasuke and he told them that he was sleeping soundly in the infirmary. What he didn't tell them was that he was being guarded by an ANBU squad. He then looked down at the arena and noticed Taro looking around for Asuka.

"I see the third match has already started." Kakashi said as he observed.

"Yeah, that girl, Asuka's fighting that guy down there." Naruto said as he turned his gaze back to the fight.

Kakashi's visible eye turned towards Team Katsuragi. 'So, Misato, just how strong is your team?'

Taro just kept looking for her and was getting fed up. "Where are you!?"

"Hey boyo!" Everyone turned to see Asuka hanging upside down on the sculpture with a confident grin on her face. "Looking for me?"

"H-how did you…!?!" Taro stuttered as he saw her up there.

"Get up here?" Asuka finished his question before shrugging. "Easy, while you guys were all distracted by my Fire wall, I took the time to find a good spot where I could get a good shot at ya!"

"What do you mean?!" Taro shouted in anger.

Asuka only grinned as she went through another series of hand seals; one that Naruto's team and a few other Jounin knew all too well.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

She then flipped off of the sculpture and brought her hand to her mouth and breathed out several small fireballs at Taro. Taro gritted his teeth and did a ram, then a snake hand seal.

"Doton: Deido Gaikaku! (3)"

After he said that clumps of dirt immediately covered Taro's body and the moment the fireballs connected, he was completely covered. Asuka, thinking she had won leapt down from her position and landed on her feet like a cat. She stood up and looked at her handy work, only to frown at the sight of the ball of dirt in front of her as it collapsed and Taro appeared without a burn on him.

"You're pretty good." Asuka commented with a smirk but then her smirk faded. "But I'm afraid it ends here, pal!" She then placed her hand in a single tiger hand seal. "Houka Bunshin no jutsu! (4)"

After she yelled that, she breathed out yet more fire from her mouth. But then the fire split itself to both of her sides and then began to take shape. Everyone in the arena watched as the two fire columns took the shape of her body and solidified into Asuka herself! They looked like Asuka in every detail; from her red hair right down to that confident smirk of hers.

'Hmm...very interesting, Misato.' Kakashi thought as he lifted his headband slightly to take a look at the clones.

Misato, on the other hand sighed and placed a hand over her eyes shaking her head. 'Why did she have to use that jutsu!? Ugh…what am I gonna do with her?'

"Fire clones?" Naruto blinked. "I've never seen those before."

'Interesting…using fire to make clones?' Neji Hyuuga thought as he activated his byakugan to take a look at these clones. 'She's actually turned fire into a very unique weapon.'

Taro merely scoffed. "Tch, so you've made clones. Big deal! I bet they're like any other clones!" He then charged at one of the clones and readied his fist. "You just hit 'em and they disappear!" With that, he threw his punch at the clone he charged at. But he soon regretted that decision when he felt heat coming from his hand. He screamed in pain as he pulled his hand back and cradled it. The shock was evident on the faces of many of the spectators. These clones weren't just any clones, they were actual fire!

"Sound thinking," Asuka mocked. "But dead wrong, baka!" She exclaimed with a grin. "These clones aren't called 'fire clones' for nothing! I simply molded my chakra with these flames to make them shape into my own good-looking self." She flicked her hair to emphasize the point. "But unlike most clones if you hit these ones, you only get burned!"

Sakura realized this. "So that means that if these things touch him, he'll still get burned!"

Asuka looked at Sakura. "Right on the button, Pinkie!"

"I WISH SHE'D STOP CALLING ME THAT!!! CHA!!!!" Inner Sakura shouted in Sakura's mind; Sakura herself looked pissed at being called that.

Asuka then turned her attention back at Taro. "So unless you want to become fried pork," The moment she said food, Chouji groaned when they were gonna eat. "I suggest you give up now."

"You wish!" Taro exclaimed as he charged at her.

Asuka sighed with a shake of her head, her clones did the same. "Why do they always wanna do it the hard way?" With that she charged with her clones towards Taro, who entered a few hand seals and slammed his foot down for another one of his Iwa Tounyuu.

This time, the rocks sped towards her clones to distract them; which it did. Taro then faced Asuka again, who sent a flying kick in his direction. Taro grabbed her foot and spun her to the floor. But Asuka landed on her hands and knees and kicked Taro down just as the clones began to head towards him. Taro was about to get up, but Asuka slammed her foot down on his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Taro looked up and saw that her clones were ready to punch him.

"Now, do you want to give up now or do you wanna end up barbecued?" Again Chouji groaned at the mention of food only to get smacked upside the head by his teammate, Ino.

With a shaky voice, Taro responded. "O-okay, I give up!"

Asuka smirked. "Good boy."

She deactivated her clones, who just puffed out of existence. Hayate then walked to the center and raised his hand. "Winner, Asuka Sohryu!"

Misato cheered for Asuka as she heard that. Asuka then walked back up the catwalk to her team, who congratulated her for the win. Around them, the other teams were beginning to get wary of what the other two members of Team Katsuragi were capable of. Some of them were even wondering if they were that good as her. The team from Sound, especially.

"What do you think?" The girl, Kin, asked her teammate, Dosu.

"It was pretty impressive, but I don't want to rule them out as a threat just yet." Dosu replied as he stared at Team Katsuragi.

"Should we inform Orochimaru-sama about this?" Kin asked again.

"No," Dosu said, shaking his head. "We may not have to."

After Taro exited the arena with the paramedics to take a look at his burnt hand, Hayate stepped forward again. "Okay, we'll now start the forth match."

Once again, everyone's attention turned to the large screen on the wall near the sculpture. The names of all the competitors once again sped through the screen and many of the more impatient ones were hoping that their name was next. The screen then stopped on two names.

Misumi Tsurugi

Vs

Kankurou

Kankurou grinned. 'He he, finally it's my turn.'

Misato took extra care to keep an eye on this fight. She remembered her mission and after what her team had told her the day they arrived in Konoha. According to Rei, Kankurou was a chakra puppet user. Now it was a good time to see if it was true.

Indeed, Rei was correct. As soon as the fight started, Kankurou removed the bundle on his back while Misumi did something that even Team Katsuragi hadn't expected; he dislocated his joints, molded his chakra, and wrapped himself around Kankurou's body in an effort to crush him. Rei however, was not surprised when she noticed that the person Misumi was trying to crush was Kankurou's chakra puppet. Kankurou then turned the tables on Misumi and used the puppet to crush Misumi's body, who gave up before Kankurou could shatter his bones. All of this happened in less than two minutes!

'Okay,' Misato thought, 'that's one out of three of those Sand Genin.' Her eyes then drifted to the said team. 'Now we just have to find out the capabilities of the other two. If I'm correct in my assumption on that Gaara kid, then Konoha maybe in for some big trouble later.'

"Alright, we'll now begin the fifth match!" Hayate announced as the medics carried Misumi to the medical ward.

Everyone once again looked at the giant monitor and watched as more names whizzed by looking like a jumble of words. Asuka wasn't worried, considering she had just finished her fight. Shinji, on the other hand, was worried on who he might face later. His thoughts were shaken as the screen stopped on two names.

Sakura Haruno

Vs.

Ino Yamanaka

Asuka turned to see that the screen had stopped on the girl she aptly nicknamed 'Pinkie' and the blonde girl from before. She noted that the two of them were rather shocked at the results. When she saw that they looked hesitant to fight each other, she felt a sense of nostalgia.

Everyone watched as the two went down to the arena; the blonde girl then spoke. "I never thought I'd fight you." She said. "Or at least I didn't think it would happen this soon." She then added, with conviction. "But don't expect me to go easy on you."

Up in the catwalk, Ino's team was rather upset at this turn of event. They weren't expecting her to face Sakura. It was no secret that the two of them were, and still are (whether they'd like to admit it or not), best friends; so it was expected that the two of them would be reluctant to face each other.

"Of all people for Ino to face," Shikamaru grumbled slightly. "It had to be Sakura. What a mess."

"I know," Chouji nearly moaned. "I hope Ino will be alright."

Asuka, being the closest to Ino's team, overheard them. 'From the sounds of it, those two go way back.'

"Go Sakura!" A blatantly familiar voice yelled as Team Katsuragi turned to see Naruto cheering for his teammate.

Asuka shook her head at the sight. 'That kid is incorrigible.'

After a few more seconds of staring at each other, Hayate signaled them to begin the match. The moment he did, the two girls charged at each other at the same time and began to throw a few kicks and punches at each other. After dodging a kick from Ino, Sakura jumped back and threw a set of kunai at Ino. One of the blades missed but Ino caught the second one and threw it back at the third causing the two to collide and fall to the floor.

"I knew it…" Chouji moaned as he watched the fight.

"Sakura's totally tearing Ino apart!" Naruto said with admiration.

Shikamaru scowled at the blonde. "Idiot."

"What was that!?" Naruto yelled as he turned to the brown-haired genin.

Shikamaru then sneered at him. "You wanna make something of it? Go ahead, 'cause you'll lose." He challenged Naruto.

"Why I oughtta…" Naruto started, ready to pound Shikamaru, but he stopped as he heard someone else talk.

That someone was Neji Hyuuga. "That's it? That's as good as kunoichi can get in hand-to-hand combat?"

Naruto then turned to face Neji. "WHAT!?!

Tenten, the third member of their team stopped them before a fight broke out. "It's not because they're girls you know, Neji." She then turned towards the two combatants. "It's just that those two are using kid gloves. It doesn't matter if you're a man or woman in battle."

Naruto looked a little puzzled at what she meant. Asuka, hearing the conversation, decided to clear it up for him. "What she means, Naruto…" She then turned towards him as she caught his attention. "Is that they're holding back."

"Holding back?" Naruto echoed, almost confused as to why they would.

Asuka then turned to watch the two girls fighting. "Right now those two are just throwing their weak attacks; they're not even fighting at full-strength." She then narrowed her eyes. "Although, I get the feeling that the kid-gloves are going to be coming off pretty soon."

The two girls took a short moment to catch their breath before charging at one another again. After throwing a few more failed punches and kicks, Ino managed to land a blow in Sakura's stomach causing the pink-haired kunoichi to falter a bit. Ino saw her chance to throw a punch at Sakura's cheek. But she then did something unexpected...a resounding 'smack' echoed throughout the arena as both the combatants and spectators watch Sakura's head snap back in shock. Ino hadn't landed a punch, she slapped Sakura!

There was a long pause as Ino stared at her hand, also stunned at what she had just done. The brief second she was going to land a punch to Sakura's head, she saw an image of Sakura when she was a kid; it reminded her of the days when they were younger and very close friends. She wasn't the only one thinking of the past, Sakura was too.

When they had first met, Sakura had always been picked on because of how big her forehead was. It had prevented her from ever getting any friends until Ino came along. Ino had defended Sakura from a few girls who were picking on her while she was sitting with her. Since then the two of them became close friends; but it didn't last long. Like Ino and many other girls, Sakura had admitted that she had fallen for the young Sasuke Uchiha and had become one of the many fan girls. That was where they became rivals for Sasuke's attention.

Back in the Forrest of Death, while Sakura was looking over her fallen teammates, she had been attacked by the three Sound ninjas and had to try to fight them off herself. Ino and her team came along and tried to fight them but even they were no match for them. In the end though, Sasuke was the one who scared the three Oto-nin off; but it showed Sakura that Ino still honored their friendship, despite their fallout to try and earn Sasuke's love.

At that moment, Sakura snapped out of her stupor and clenched her fist. "Listen Ino, I'm not going to fight you over Sasuke!"

"What did you say?!" Ino shouted angrily.

"I'm not the weak, needy girl I used to be!" Sakura yelled back. "You're not even on my radar and you're not Sasuke's type, Ino-pig!"

"Just watch it, do you have any idea who you're mouthing off to, Forehead-girl!" Ino shouted back with her own insult.

"Are those two going to argue or fight?" Asuka grumbled as she laid her head on her fist on the railing.

"Uh…isn't that out of line, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto said, turning to his white-haired sensei.

"Hmm…maybe; but there's more to it than that." Kakashi replied, puzzling the young blonde. "Sakura isn't the type of person who would misuse her own abilities, like callously hurt others. But she also doesn't like how Ino takes pity on her and pulls her own punches."

Hearing this, Asuka turned to regard Kakashi before looking at the two kunoichi in question. 'Just like me and Hikari.'

The person she was thinking of was her friend Hikari Horaki; another kunoichi from their graduating class. Hikari was a by-the-book type of kunoichi; always did what she was asked, always followed the rules, and always tried to correct others in their mistakes. The two of them had met in Tentougakure's ninja academy and had helped each other through their time there. When they were close to graduation, Hikari asked something to Asuka that she would never forget.

-------------

"Asuka, can I ask you a favor?" Hikari said as she stood in front of Asuka, her back turned to her.

"Sure, Hikari, name it." Asuka said happily as she placed her hands on her hips.

Hikari didn't turn to face her. "If we ever enter the Chuunin Exams and we end up having to fight each other…" She then turned to look at Asuka, revealing her young features. "I don't want you holding back."

Her brown eyes showed determination, which was outlined with her look of pleading and desperation. Asuka even noted a hint of regret in her eyes. Hikari was not one who would make such a request without a reason.

"I want to know how good of a kunoichi I can be if I ever want to surpass the expectations of our village." Hikari continued looking down before looking at Asuka again. "Promise me, Asuka! I don't want you to hold back on me just because we're friends!"

It took Asuka a while to process this request but she reluctantly nodded and said, "I promise, Hikari."

------------

'These two, despite their little façade of their rivalry, are friends who don't want to hold back on each other. They may not want to admit it to anyone else or each other, but they still honor that friendship they had.' Asuka thought as she watched the two of them just stare at each other. 'They don't want to hold back on each other just because they're friends. So after this, they won't be holding back anymore.'

At that moment, Sakura reached up to her hitai-ate, slipped it off of her head, and stared at Ino. This action didn't seem to startle Ino a bit, because she understood what Sakura was trying to say; as did Asuka, Misato, Rei, and many other spectators. The only person who didn't understand was, of course, Naruto.

"I don't get it, Kakashi-sensei, why are those two just getting so worked up about by just staring at each other?" The said Genin asked.

Kakashi looked to regard his student. 'He doesn't realize that he's the same way, when it comes to him and Sasuke.' He thought before looking back at the two kunoichi in the arena. "Well Naruto, rivalry is tricky business; not that I would know." Unconsciously, Kakashi turned to look at Maito Gai.

Misato turned to regard Kakashi herself. 'That's for sure, Kakashi.' She then turned to look at Asuka and Rei. 'Sometimes I even wonder why Asuka considers Rei and Shinji, her own teammates no less, as her rivals. But then again, I've only known one rival in my life, who also happens to be my best friend.'

Back with the two kunoichi in the arena, Ino smirked as she also removed her hitai-ate from her waist and said, "I understand."

Almost at the same time, the two girls took their hitai-ate and tied them around their foreheads. The two stared at each other for a few more seconds with serious looks on their face. It sent an unconscious message to each other and the spectators; they won't be holding back anymore!

At that very moment, they charged again, this time with more ferocity than before as they both punched at each other only to have their own fists collide, sending the two skidding backwards. They then charged again, this time Sakura performed the seals needed to perform the Bunshin no jutsu; Ino then commented that it wasn't a graduation exam and was going to insult her further when Sakura sent chakra to her feet and increased her speed. After she did, her two bunshins cancelled out and she landed a punch to Ino's face sending her flying across the arena floor.

Sakura straightened up. "I'm not a weakling anymore! It's like that redhead up there," She regarded Asuka. "If you play with fire, you're gonna get burned!" She then looked at Ino with conviction. "Give me your best shot, Ino!"

"I don't know whether to take that as an insult or not." Asuka said after hearing Sakura's statement.

"She was merely stating a metaphor, Asuka-san." Rei said, turning to her.

"Who asked you, Wonder-girl?!" Asuka snapped.

Ino wiped some blood off of her lips before getting up. "Oh I'll give you my best, but you're not gonna like it!"

"That was awesome Sakura!" Naruto cheered with a grin.

"Using chakra powered attacks, impressive; for a rookie." Kakashi said as he stared at his kunoichi student and her rival. "I've never seen Sakura this good."

Naruto turned to his sensei with a worried look. "You're not saying that…she's better than me…are you?"

"Oh no, Naruto, you're the greatest." Kakashi said with a sarcastic tone causing the said genin to slump his head down glumly causing Misato, who was in earshot, to laugh. Kakashi then turned to the combatants again. "Using chakra to power her feet and use a well-timed jutsu? I don't think even Sasuke could've performed better. Then again, at the beginning of her training, Sakura was pretty good at chakra control; so this really isn't a surprise."

The two kunoichi charged again, this time they both blocked each other's punches with the opposite hand and were straining against each other. They then pushed away from each other and threw a single shuriken at the same time causing the two said weapons to collide. For a while, the two continued to trade blow after blow at one another in almost the same fashion. It was clear to everyone watching that this would be a no-holds-bar fight and the two of them were evenly matched.

After one final punch that landed on their cheeks, both kunoichi were sent flying and skidding across the floor of the arena. Some of the spectators were impressed that they were still fighting; some were even thinking that it could go on forever. Misato regarded this herself.

'From the looks of it, these two seem evenly matched.' She thought. 'They're matching each other's attacks and defenses; if this keeps up, this fight could go on all day or at least until they're both exhausted. But it's clear that they're not holding back anymore.'

Rei was thinking something of the same lines. 'Haruno-san and Yamanaka-san are no longer holding back their own skills; however, we have yet to see what they're both fully capable of.'

Asuka, however, was getting impatient and she wasn't the only one. 'Man, can't these two hurry up?! I'm getting bored just watching them attack and defend against one another.'

The two got up and tried to catch their breath again, but not before Ino snarled and yelled out, "This isn't how this was supposed to turn out! How can you be evenly matched with me!?"

"Huh, I guess you were right Ino, you're too worried about your good looks that they can't be surpassed. I've been too busy training to worry about that stuff." Sakura fought back with a smug look on her face.

Ino growled as she pulled out a kunai from her pouch. "You're gonna pay for that! I've had enough of you making fun of me!"

'From the sounds of it, Sakura's toying with Ino.' Shinji thought as he observed. 'She's trying to get Ino so mad that she'll make a mistake and it'll be all over.'

Then Ino did something unexpected, she took her kunai up to her ponytail…and sliced it off! The action stunned everyone watching as the two traded insults again before Ino tossed the lock of hair in front of her spreading every strand of her blonde hair about the floor of the arena. She then brought her hands together in a ram hand seal.

"I'm ending this right now!" Ino shouted. "Get ready to tell everyone that you lost to me, Forehead-girl!"

"Oh man, don't tell me she's going to use that!" Shikamaru exclaimed in shock.

The rest of Ino's team had the same look in their eyes that Shikamaru had. Almost everyone else on their side of the arena was just confused as to what Ino was going to do. Some of them weren't confused at all; they know of what Ino was capable of and what her clan was known for.

Everyone watched as Ino brought her hands out in front of her with her middle and index fingers almost crossing one another and her thumbs touching at the tips. Immediately, Sakura, Ino's team, and quite a few other people watching the spectacle knew what was going to happen; she was going to use a jutsu known as the Shintenjin or mind transfer technique, a jutsu exclusive to the Yamanaka clan.

Sakura however, didn't seem worried. "Oh c'mon, I know what you're going to do. The Shintenjin no jutsu, it allows the user to transfer their own spiritual energy into their opponent's body and take control over it for a few minutes." She began before having a smug look on her face. "But like all jutsus, this one has its flaws too. The spiritual energy can only go in a straight line and moves at a slow rate. Not only that, but it has a ten meter limit and if the user misses their intended target the spiritual energy can't return to their body for several minutes, making them unable to move like a lifeless doll and vulnerable to attack."

'That jutsu is mainly used for espionage and not battle. To use it in combat would be a big mistake.' Asuma thought to himself as he remembered everything on what Ino was capable of.

'It's powerful, but as long as Sakura can dodge it, it's not a big threat. Plus if she manages to avoid it, Ino will be vulnerable and Hayate will be forced to end the match there.' Kakashi thought as he too remembered the ups and downs to the jutsu Ino was about to perform.

Rei also observed this. 'Yamanaka-san is pulling a big gamble if she is going to use that jutsu. Perhaps this is the mistake Haruno-san was waiting for…' She then narrowed her eyes. '…Unless Yamanaka-san has found a way to keep Haruno-san from escaping.'

"So what, Forehead-girl! I won't know unless I try!" Ino shouted back as she kept her arms where they were.

"You do realize that if you miss, it's all over." Sakura taunted as she got ready to move.

Ino didn't respond but then Sakura began to run and Ino kept her eyes trained on her. "Ninpou…"

'No Ino!' Shikamaru shouted in his head.

"SHINTENJIN NO JUTSU!!!" Ino finished with a shout.

At that moment, the two stopped as Ino's arms fell limp at her sides. Then Ino slumped to the floor of the arena on her knees and her hands touching the strands from her ponytail. Sakura's head was down so no one could tell if the transfer worked. That was indeed the question on everyone's mind: had it worked? Their answer came when they heard a slight laugh coming from Sakura.

"How unfortunate…" She then raised her head revealing the smirk on her lips. "Ino."

To Sakura's team's relief and Ino's team's despair, Sakura had managed to avoid the attack. Sakura was then about to charge at Ino to finish the fight, but she didn't get far as she felt a snag to her legs. Looking down, she and everyone else saw several strands of Ino's hair wrapped around Sakura's ankles with a blue string of chakra! They then heard a laugh from Ino and everyone watched as she raised her head with a grin as they saw the chakra coming from her hands.

"Gotcha!" Ino exclaimed.

"No way!" Sakura exclaimed in shock as she and everyone else saw that Ino had not used the technique at all.

'Very clever,' Misato thought as she watched the move. 'Ino knew that Sakura would be anticipating the attack, so she feigned it to give Sakura a false sense of security; then when she made it look like the transfer had failed, she used her chakra to turn the strands from her ponytail into a rope to hold Sakura in place so that she can use it for real when she caught her. Ino used Sakura's own smarts against her; that's gotta be a big blow to her ego.'

As Ino explained the same thing to Sakura she held her foot on the primitive chakra string that held her in place while running through the necessary hand seals again. "Now that you're not going anywhere, I can really use this and make you say that you give up. Now there's no way I can miss."

"Get outta there Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted as he watched Sakura struggle to free herself.

"Now…" Ino said as she readied her chakra. "Ninpou: Shintenjin no Jutsu!"

Another pause, again Ino's arms slumped to her sides and her head slumped to her chest. The chakra in the hair dissipated and Sakura's feet came together as she looked the same as she did when Ino faked the attack. They again heard a laugh coming from Sakura as she lifted her head.

"Now that was very unfortunate." She said with an arrogant tone.

"She missed." Chouji said disbelievingly.

"No, wait…" Shikamaru said narrowing his eyes.

"Good one Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled with his fox-like grin.

"Not quite." Sakura said as she looked at Ino's body.

For a few seconds, Sakura didn't move and Naruto was getting worried. "Umm…what's going on? Why are they both acting so weird?"

He tried to yell to Sakura to attack, but Kakashi stopped him. "The mind transfer worked."

Lee and Naruto looked at Kakashi with disbelief evident on their faces. "D-does that mean that Sakura-chan is…" Lee began but Kakashi cut him off.

"That's right," He nodded. "Sakura's spirit is now being controlled by Ino; her spirit is inside Sakura right now."

Naruto turned to the arena in shock while Asuka grinned as she regarded this. 'Oh well, I have to admit though, Sakura put up a good fight. Ino, however, was just cleverer than her.'

Just then, Sakura's right arm began to move and everyone knew what that meant; Ino was going to make her give up. Once her hand was all the way up, Ino spoke through Sakura's voice.

"Now, I, Sakura Haruno wish to wit-…" She began, but she was cut off by a shout from Naruto.

"NO!" Everyone turned to look at the orange-clad boy.

Asuka simply snorted as she did. 'Doesn't this kid know when to shut up!?'

"You worked so hard to get here, don't disgrace yourself now by losing to Ino!" He shouted as he put his palms to the sides of his mouth.

Just as Sakura/Ino was going to say something in retort, she then stopped and slowly began to reach for her head almost in pain. Everyone watching was confused as to what was happening, even Team Katsuragi. The said team turned to look at Naruto as they began to evaluate the situation.

'I don't get it, how can this kid just yell something and manage to get someone to keep fighting?'

'It is not possible to resist the mind transfer technique; how can Naruto-san be able to help someone resist it by merely yelling?'

'I don't know what it is about this kid, but he definitely knows how to make someone keep going; just like he did with Shinji.'

'Could Sakura be resisting the technique through Naruto's words? Or is it something more?'

Little did anyone realize, that inside Sakura was indeed a battle over dominance of her will; and Ino seemed to be losing that battle. Hayate queried if she was withdrawing from the match. Sakura responded with an almost animalistic yell that she wasn't and was now beginning to regain control over her body. After a while, of struggling Sakura's hands came together and an aura of chakra erupted from her body and went straight into Ino. She then slumped to the floor in the same fashion as Ino and they both began to pant.

'She was able to regain control over herself after Naruto yelled those words of encouragement.' Misato thought to herself as she looked at both Naruto and the kunoichi. 'What is it about this kid that he's able to get someone to keep going even when the situation looks hopeless?'

After a couple of seconds of talking, the two kunoichi slowly got back onto their feet. However, it seemed clear to everyone that the next move would decide the outcome of the match. No one saw the slight smiles on their faces as they looked at each other as they both tried to catch their breaths. Then, as if by some unseen signal, the two kunoichi charged at one another to deliver a final punch at the other. The fists connected and the two kunoichi were sent sprawling to the floor as both their hitai-ate headbands flew off their heads and they fell. They both tried to get up, but they were too weak and exhausted and merely collapsed at the same time. The match…was a draw.

"Since both are unable to continue, this match is over and neither move on to the next round."

Their teammates expressed unbelieving comments, while their instructors went down and picked the two of them off from the arena floor and back up to the catwalk. Team Katsuragi watched as all of this happened and was having their own thoughts on the fight. Each of them having their own observation of the whole fight and why it ended up this way.

'It seemed like Ino was going to win, but thanks to her sheer will, Sakura was able to make a comeback and finish the fight. Makes me kinda wish I was up against the two of them instead of that baka I nearly fried.'

'The two were on equal grounds even in terms of will power; but they had both exhausted themselves to the point where this match would end up in the same result.'

'Now that two more of the applicants are out, that leaves only sixteen more combatants, including Shinji and Rei.'

'It was an amazing fight, even to the very end.'

Their teams, plus Rock Lee gathered around the two of them, but it was clear that there was no need for the two of them to go to the infirmary for treatment. They only needed a little rest and they would wake up to watch the rest of the match-ups of the preliminaries. Asuka smiled as she saw the two sitting next to each other; she then closed her eyes to remember the promise she made to Hikari.

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"I promise, Hikari." She nodded as she looked at her friend with the same conviction.

"But also promise me…" Hikari said as she looked down. "That no matter what happens…we'll always be friends."

Her words made Asuka's eyes widen, but she grinned and nodded. "That, I will definitely promise."

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"We'll now begin the next match." Hayate announced as he caught everyone's attention.

Once again, everyone was staring at the big screen as it came on and began flashing through the names of the combatants. Misato looked down at Shinji and Rei as everyone else watched the screen. She knew that eventually those two would have to fight; but she hoped they wouldn't have to face each other. Turning back to the screen, she saw that it had stopped yet again; and smiled.

Masaya Saotome

Vs.

Rei Ayanami

Asuka grinned as she turned to her blue-haired teammate. "You're up Wonder-girl!" She then scowled at her. "And you had better not lose, because you're only going to lose to me got it!?"

Rei calmly turned and walked. "I do not intend to lose."

"Good luck Rei-chan!" Shinji called out stopping her long enough so she could regard him.

"Arigatou, Shinji-kun." She then continued her calm stride from the catwalk to the arena.

TBC...


A/N: Well, that's it for this chapter! I know I made Sakura's fight longer than Asuka's, but I wanted to be more detailed than just skip most of the fights. I did intentionally skip Kankurou's fight but the next fight will show off some of Rei's moves. Speaking of which, I'll discuss the new jutsus I introduced in this chapter.

1.) Earth Release-Rock throw technique: This is a jutsu I came up with from scratch. The user basically sends some chakra to their foot to increase its strength and send it to a piece of rock in the ground before sending the said rock to their opponent.

2.) Fire Release-Firewall: Now this, I credit to Kitsune no Rai. Since they sent this idea to me, I decided to use it in this chapter. Its name suggests what it can do.

3.) Earth Release-Mud Shell technique: This is also credit to Kitsune no Rai, who came up with this jutsu for this.

4.) Fire Clone Technique: Now this I sort of borrowed from another author, who allowed me to use their stories for reference. I can't quite remember who it was, but it was one of their stories that actually featured this jutsu.

Now I apologize for not posting this chapter sooner, but writer's block reared its ugly head to me once again. But now, thanks in part to that "Naruto Hundo" on Cartoon Network; I was able to get some inspiration to finish this chapter. I know I should've put more action in Asuka's fight, but she'll get her chance in the spotlight.

Now in the next chapter, its Rei's turn to fight; but I need ideas as to what kind of jutsus her opponent should use or if they should have a kekkei genkai or not. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. Now in the words of Tigger, "TTFN, Tata for now!"