Without further ado, let's get on with the story!

Chapter 7: The Final Exam

A month later:

All eight finalists had been waiting for this day. The month-long period for training was now over and today was the start of the third and final exam. Katara had been practicing on nature manipulation and was able to actually come up with her own attacks using the elements. She had also managed to find her own style of taijutsu and along with that, she managed in advancing her sharingan. Many of the other contestants, including her brother, also improved on their skills, and this final exam stage was one worth waiting for.

Mostly everyone in the village would be there, including most of the Uchiha clan, since their heirs would be in the fight. Many of the villagers were putting in bets to who would win and which would lose. So far, most people had more faith in both Uchiha twins. At the moment, Jounin were letting people into the stadium, including important guests like the feudal lords and the kages. Guests and villagers took their seats, knowing that the contestants would be arriving soon. People quickly began getting impatient and they started to complain about the waiting period. The Jounin did nothing about this, but instead, the 3rd Hokage stepped in and said, "Please, all of you calm down; the exams will begin shortly. If you were all able to wait for a month for this, then you will be able to wait for a few minutes. I'm sure our finalists will be here shortly."

Uchiha Katara was staring at herself in the mirror. From the expression she was making, you could tell that she was a bit nervous about this day. More than ever, she wanted to show everyone how much she had improved and was a bit excited at the same time. She was newly dressed in a navy-blue tank-top along with a black skirt, with gray under shorts. Along with her new appearance, she wore black fingerless gloves that covered up her dragon-shaped birthmark. She also adorned her leaf headband on her forehead along with her real, exact necklace of the first hokage around her neck; her kunai holster was strapped on the side of her right leg.

A knock on her door was heard, as Uchiha Haku came in. "Hey Kay, you ready? It's time to go before we're all late. Dad, mom, and everyone else are already there, including Sasuke and Itachi."

"Yeah, let's go." Replied the nervous 5 year-old. Her brother noticed her anxiety, and tried to comfort her, "Kay, come on, there's nothing to worry about, just give it your all, and I promise you, I'll be cheering you on!" With that being said, the Uchiha heiress put on a big smile, and took hold of his hand and began to run out of the mansion, toward the battle arena.

Both Uchihas were running toward their destination, and once there, they met inside with the same proctor that they had for the preliminaries. All the 8 finalists were kept in an average sized room, where the rules were explained to them. Each of the finalists' families/guardians were there alongside them, along with the hokage.

"All 8 of you are here, so now we can begin with the final stage of the exam. Now just like the preliminaries, the winner will be determined by one on one combat, sudden death, or until your opponent gives up, or if I step in." said Hayate.

"I want you all to keep in mind that there are many important guests out there watching you. I want you all to put your heart and soul in these matches; let us not forget that you are fighting with the pride of your village on you back, along with your dreams. Now without further ado, let us begin." Said the hokage.

All the 8 finalists were entering into the arena, standing proudly in front of the large audience. Cheers were heard from all 360 degrees of the circular stadium. Once the crowd was able to calm down, the proctor, stated, "The first match will be between Uchiha Haku versus Yamanoto Sorano; those of you who do not have a match at the moment, please make your leave to the upper levels of the arena to wait for your turn."

Both Haku and Sorano were the only two left standing at the bottom of the arena. Many people were cheering on both opponents, while the Uchiha clan was cheering the loudest for one of their prodigies. Both finalists stood looking at each other, waiting for Hayate's signal to continue. "Alright, you both know the rules, there is no time limit, on my signal, and you may begin. GO!" and he jumped out of the way. The crowd suddenly was overcome by silence; the wind blew across the arena in an eerie feel that sent shivers up most people's backs.

The Uchiha was considering with thought that Sorano would mainly use water-based jutsus, since she originates from the Hidden Rain Village. He also felt a huge murderous intent just from staring into her blood red eyes. From what he saw when she fought Shinichi, he didn't get a chance to see much, but he was expecting something big. The rain kunoichi suddenly got into a stance where she was concentrating on her chakra flow. Water began to rise up from out of nowhere and she could see the shocked face on her opponent's face. She quickly smiled and returned back to her technique. The whole bottom of the stadium was beginning to flood with water and soon the whole battlefield was full of up to 10 feet of water.

Both ninja had to use their chakra to be able to walk on water, so now both were standing on the water. Without any hesitation, Sorano got into a running motion, and charged directly at Haku; seeing this, he moved out of the way, but before he could analyze what had happened, he got severely punched in the gut for at least 7 times and each time he had tried to dodge. Having not turned on the sharingan, he decided to use it now; once again Sorano was coming in at an incredible fast speed; by using his sharingan to slow the pace a bit, he saw that she was able to control the water to make her go faster; it was as if she was ice skating on the liquid! The rain nin was going too fast, that the only thing that Haku could do at the moment, was try to block, which was turning out to have varying results. At most, he was having trouble because he ended up with some senbon and scratches on his body. Suddenly, the Uchiha felt a huge wave rush over to him and knocked him clearly 10 feet across the stadium. He ended up on the opposite side and he managed to crash into the opposing wall, causing a huge hole to be made from the crash.

Uchiha Haku managed to get out of the rubble and rubbed his head as he got up. He saw that Sorano was rushing towards him, while on top of a wave. Once again, that strong, murderous gage was seen in her eyes. He knew if he didn't think of something quick, he would be finished. He looked up into the audience and saw the look of his parents, but more importantly, he turned his head to the left and saw the worry look on his sister's face. Breath 'This is a lot harder than it looks, let's see, she summoned up the water to use to her advantage; I have to find a way to stop her speed and then counterattack.'

Sorano performed another set of seals and out of her mouth came spheres of water, headed directly at Haku; he quickly countered with his own fireball jutsu and once both attacks hit each other, his fireballs were so hot that when both elements mixed together, steam was the result. The fusion of both attacks caused Sorano to back up from the heat, giving Haku the chance to disappear. The rain nin noticed her opponent had disappeared, and was worriedly searching for him, until she felt his presence behind her. Her eyes widened in shock, and they got bigger as she noticed that she was kicked up into the air. The Uchiha quickly leaped up to the air as well and took hold of Sorano and began to spin at a rapid rate. Before the landing, since his opponent was dizzy beyond concern, he let go, took hold of her arms and threw her head first into the water, causing a gigantic splash that shook the whole stadium.

Without any warning, the rain nin sprouted out from the water, with a more furious look than ever. She was soaking wet with her own summoning and she charged directly at him. Haku was ready and once she was about two feet away from him, he transformed his own chakra into a lightning current that went throughout and around his body. The current was making its way through the water, and since water conducts electricity, Sorano was hit with full force. She was electrified to the max, and once Haku called it off, she was lying there unconscious, as her body began to sink into the water. Hayate came to check her pulse, but found that due to being exposed to too much of the Uchiha's attack, she was proclaimed dead. "The victor is Uchiha Haku!"

Everyone in the audience began to cheer for his victory, as he stood there with his hands supporting himself on his knees, taking deep, calming breaths. He exited the battle grounds, as the next match was called. "Will Kyoto Toshiro and Uchiha Katara, please come down….cough…"

Once both leaf ninja were on the battle grounds, which was currently still flooded with water, Hayate said, "Alright, now, without further ado, let's begin!" cough. The proctor again jumped out of the way and let the two leaf ninja fight it out.

From what Katara saw from Toshiro, he was one tough opponent. She remembered seeing him being a prodigy at taijutsu and his normal speed, or what was considered normal to him was a lot swifter than others. Even though he was known as a prankster, he was also well known for his movements.

Both ninja were standing atop the water, observing the other, waiting for the other to make a move. It was quiet once again, as the audience intensely gazed at the new finalists on the battle field; everyone was getting restless, wanting at least one person to make a move.

Kunai and shuriken were thrown from both directions, with each projectile colliding into each other with a clinking sound. Both shinobi each with a kunai in hand, jumped into action as they both met up in midair. Over and over again, both of them kept leaping up and falling down onto their feet, as they were both trying to overpower the other. Seeing that this would be useless, once Katara had landed upon her feet on top of the water, she got into an offensive position with her legs evenly spread out, with one hand forward and the other behind her head; both palms were facing her opponent. Toshiro saw the tactic that she was going to perform, so he too took an offensive position that would allow him to counter. Giving her a shot, he kindly gave her a slight hand wave to show that he was ready. The Uchiha quickly sprinted toward Toshiro with a chakra filled fist; when she was about to make contact, she saw that he was no longer there, so she ended up in making a huge splash on the water; it was as if he had disappeared in no time at all.

'WHAT THE?!' thought the heiress, realizing that Toshiro was gone from sight. Suddenly, a kick connected onto her side with such force, causing her to fly 8 feet to the right and to cough up blood. The Uchiha was currently, lying on her side, coughing up blood, and trying to get up to fight. 'That attack was full of such strength; there wasn't even any chakra added into that; if I can't keep up with his speed and attacks, then I'm going to need to come up with a plan to slow his pace down. Alright, so the only thing he can count on his taijutsu, but if I got rid of that factor, then I'll be able to move onto the next round……..GOT IT!'

Kyoto Toshiro was currently standing across the arena from Uchiha Katara, waiting for her to get up. The look on his face was one of sheer seriousness. Once the Uchiha was up on her feet, she began to put her plan into action. She ran straight forward with a closed fist, ready to come into contact with Toshiro, while he also did the same. Once close enough, both finalists threw their punches forward, and they connected with a loud crackle along with big splashes of water. But suddenly, a powerful kick was delivered to Katara's gut and she was blown back, grasping onto her hurt stomach. The crash from that strong kick was filled with such force, that it caused her to plummet into the side of the stadium, causing a huge crater.

"KATARA!" yelled Uchiha Haku, as he watched in terror as his sister slammed into the opposing wall.

The whole audience watched in awe at how much strength Toshiro had. From the crater, came out the Uchiha, all scratched up with her clothes in dirty shape. Both Katara and Toshiro were deeply breathing, since they put most of their strength into the last attack. The Uchiha had her hands on her knees, deeply taking intakes of air.

Uchiha Katara quickly got up and began to heal her knuckle that absorbed most of Toshiro's powerful punch; alongside that, she also used her chakra to heal her side, in which his kicked almost knocked the living daylights out of her.

From the other side of the arena, to the crowd, it seemed like Katara's opponent was injured because it seemed like he was having trouble getting up. The Uchiha heiress was holding onto her side as she dragged her body to move closer to her opponent. Toshiro was trying to move his body, but he realized that when he tried to move his feet, he was actually moving his thumb. 'What's going on? She must've done something to cause this…………..that's it! Thinking back to that punch, there was something strange about it. It was no ordinary punch; I thought I felt a tingling sensation, but I thought it was just my imagination, so Katara must have done something.'

Toshiro was still have a hard time figuring out what was happen, until he stopped his train of thought and noticed that the said Uchiha was in front of him. At the moment right now, he was vulnerable and the look on his face was one of fear. "What, what did you do?" questioned the Kyoto.

Breathing deeply while holding her side, the Uchiha replied, "By now, you should've figured out that that punch was not an ordinary one; that punch was filled with condensed chakra, which once it connected with your fist, I was able to convert it into electricity and it went throughout your whole body, disrupting your nervous system. The electrical impulses I sent through caused mixed signals to go throughout your body, which is why your body won't function properly."

"I see……..so that whole thing was basically a distraction from what you were intentionally trying to do, even though you got injured in the process." Said Toshiro.

"Yes, it was. Even if I did miss, I was still 5 steps ahead of you. During that time I was lying on my back, I was thinking through different scenarios. But my main objection was to slow you down, not to physically injure you." Katara told Toshiro. "Now time to end this." The heiress said as she pulled out a kunai and out it against her opponent's throat.

"Alright, you win….." said Toshiro in defeat, realizing that there would be no point in continuing seeing that he wouldn't be able to move. The kunai was quickly put away, as Katara had heard what he had said; after all, she wasn't a bloodthirsty murderer, so she saw no need to kill her opponent.

"I declare this match between Kyoto Toshiro and Uchiha Katara to be over. The winner is Uchiha Katara." Declared Hayate.

Once that was said, Katara kneeled down next to Toshiro and began to rid his body of unneeded electrical impulses. "Arigatou." Said Kyoto Toshiro as he got up and saw that things were back to normal.

"No problem." Replied the Uchiha. She suddenly came back to reality and realized that the whole crowd was cheering her on. She got onto her feet and looked around the whole stadium, hearing them all call out her name. The heiress was a bit flustered at all the attention, but she quickly got over it and just began to wave back to people as she began to exit out of the arena. Before reaching the stairs she saw her brother and gave him a thumbs up; in return she also got one along with a proud smile.

"Let's move on; Ishikawa Ronin and Hyuuga Keiko come down to the arena." Declared the 3rd exam proctor. Both opponents came quickly down into the arena; but when Keiko was making her way down the stairs, she spotted Katara and as she passed by her teammate and friend, she heard a "good luck," whispered her way. The Hyuuga quickly smiled back at her friend and gave a thumbs up; she then quickly went down the stairs, as the Uchiha stood at the foot of the steps and hoped her teammate would be fine.

The Uchiha heiress was lost in her own train of thought as she made it onto the next level. Her brother and her other teammate quickly made their way to her to congratulate her for the victory, but Katara didn't notice them come at her as she was in a disillusioned state, staring at the menacing stare of Ronin. Her eyes widened as she remembered at how heartless he was as she saw him quickly kill Aoki Dai from the Hidden Sand Village. Visions of blood squirting from every angle came to mind, as the Uchiha heiress was shivering from fright. She fell down onto her knees as Ronin's intense bloodthirsty glare stared at her own eyes.

"Katara!" yelled Haku and Koji at the same time as they both came to kneel down next to her. "What's wrong?" asked her brother.

"I-it's nothing……it's just that, don't you remember when Ronin completely killed Dai without a sweat?" stated Katara.

"Yeah, I mean we were all there……" replied her teammate Koji.

"Well, I'm just worried; what if Keiko gets severely injured?" asked the heiress.

"Katara, you have to understand, Keiko is strong; she is one of the strongest people I've ever known. Just have faith in her." Stated Koji.

"Yeah, come on Kay, now let's go cheer her on" said her brother as he and Koji put their hands out to pull her up. A big smile was put onto her face as she stood up and watched the battle between Keiko and Ronin begin, but her instincts couldn't help but warn her about a dangerous premonition, coming her way.

"You both may begin!" the proctor said as he leaped out of the way. The sound nin couldn't hold in his bloodthirsty intent, as he smirked at his opponent. The Hyuuga quickly made the handsign to activate her kekkei genkai, the Byakugan. Her pure white eyes soon became more defined with her veins popping out and showing her opponent the true power of the Hyuuga clan. The sound nin still looked unphased; he wasn't in the least bit scared; he seemed more excited that he would fight a strong enemy.

"I hope you last longer than that pathetic sand ninja. Frankly, for your own sake, you might wish to last longer, so I'll tell you what, I'll allow you to have the first move." The deep, penetrating voice of the sound ninja said. Nothing was said from the Hyuuga and no movements were made, so Ronin assumed that she wasn't taking up his offer. All that Keiko was doing was getting into a defensive stance with her legs spread wide and her hands in flat palms.

"Trust me, you don't want me to make the first move, so take my offer and just go first; fine, if you're too stubborn, I'll go ahead and go first; but you're going to regret it!" Ronin loudly said. With that threat said, the demeaning sound ninja jumped straight into action and formed some unfamiliar seals. "Fists of Sound Waves!" yelled Ronin. Suddenly a strong impact of punches in the form of sound waves began to head straight at Keiko. The Hyuuga closed her eyes and focused on the accuracy of the waves and soon enough, swiftly opened her eyes as the attacks came at her. Getting into a counterattack stance, with her feet and hands at the ready, she got ready for the sound waves. Once they were in her range of sight, she began to use the specialized taijutsu that her clan was known for: the gentle fist. Her palms were quickly moving in such amazing speed as she blocked each sound wave. But she miscounted one sound wave punch and as it was nearing, her eyes widened, but she quickly remained calm and spun up into the air, along with summoning up enough chakra to create a sphere of chakra to surround her body, which also caused the surrounding water to move in a sphere direction as well. (also known as Eight Divination Palm of the Hands, Heavenly Spin).

Ishikawa Ronin was a bit shocked that this leaf ninja was able to evade his attack and he began charging straight at her. Hyuuga Keiko was standing on the opposing side, seeing that he was running straight for her, so now the Hyuuga felt that it was her turn to show him what she was made of. Keiko quickly got into a lower stance than she was at before. Putting her palms together, she concentrated her chakra in her palms and as soon as he was within her range, she quickly summoned up most of her chakra into her left palm, and she thrusted the palm at him, causing a thick stream of air and chakra to hit the sound nin. The attack, made by Keiko was known as Eight Divination, Elemental Thrust, sent her opponent to the opposing side of the stadium (as if there were not enough craters in the arena).

Everyone in the arena, especially her own clan, stared at this Hyuuga prodigy in surprise due to the fact that she came up with that own attack by herself. Suddenly, out from all that rubble, Ronin came out with a look of fury that showed through his dark green eyes. His red hair also seemed to flare up, and Keiko saw that he was no longer playing around, but he was serious. The Hyuuga was also not kidding around; she felt the words of the hokage flow through her; "fight with the pride of your village on your back along with your own dreams." 'I will….you can count on that.'

The crowd suddenly got silent as they also felt the extent of the sound ninja's ferocity. Strangely enough, it wasn't the fact that his stare looked weird, but it was the fact that his appearance had also changed into a more monster-like look. Black marks were spreading throughout his body and his skin turned into a grayish tint, while his red hair turned into a more crimson color; his eyes became black, out from his head came a huge horn, and his fingernails got longer and sharper.

Looking closely at Ronin's transformation, Keiko began to see with her Byakugan that his chakra storage levels were quickly rising. All the other finalists in the upper level felt the change in chakra levels and were clearly shocked.

'This is bad! Never in a million years could I have imagined that he would be able to do this! Keiko, be careful!' thought the Uchiha heiress.

The Hyuuga's eyes widened in shock and couldn't believe what she was seeing happening in her opponent's chakra network. It seemed that the marks on his body were spreading faster and faster; plus his chakra now felt different. 'Seems like the standards of this fight has been raised; I'm going to have to be extra careful…………and I'm going to need that luck from Katara. Alright, I need to focus; according to what I've gathered up so far, Ronin seems to have some sort of curse mark that gives him more power; but everything comes with a price, so obviously there must be some side effects. So I need to attack him, before he attacks me!' thought the Hyuuga.

The new body of Ronin's was finally complete, and from the looks of it, it was more demonic and grotesque than necessary. Hyuuga Keiko was ready to move in and stop her opponent; since her attacks were mainly based on close range distance, she would have to be able to get close enough. The sound nin was currently staring menacingly at his opponent, watching her every movements. Keiko began to circle around Ronin, as he in turn began to stare at her. In a blink of an eye, Keiko was in her own fighting range and began to use Eight-Divination Signs, 128 palms of the hand; each of her palms struck so fiercely and precise, that it was quickly affecting the sound nin's chakra and some of his internal organs. Once after reaching 128 palms, the Hyuuga swiftly stopped her attack and stood before her opponent. Keiko's byakugan was still on and was fiercely staring back at her opponent, checking the impact of her attacks on his body; his head was limp, as if it was hanging there like a doll left alone on an empty shelf. A loud crack was heard as the sound nin's head was lifted up, looking more evil and scary as he stared directly at Keiko. An evil grimace was seen on his monster-like features; this was a look no one, especially his opponent would have liked to see; his stare was haunting and mystifying that the Hyuuga seemed frozen in place.

Suddenly, a huge energy blast of dark red chakra managed to directly hit Keiko without her realization. Her eyes widened in fright as the blast hit her square on her body; the attack caused the Hyuuga to be caught off guard as she was thrown back to another opposing wall of the stadium. The crash was like an earthquake that rumbled the whole stadium. Out from the rubble and smoke from the crash came Hyuuga Keiko, looking more beat up than ever. The Hyuuga was struggling to stand up as she was holding onto part of the stadium for dear life. She was coughing up a storm of blood, trying to stop herself; her teammates and Haku were staring at how she got seriously injured so quickly; to them, it was unbelievable that such power came from the sound nin.

Still coughing, Keiko got out of her stumbling position and was getting ready to put up a fight again. Her byakugan was turned on again, (as it was turned off when she crashed), and her palms were held up high. She still continued to cough out blood and her face and clothes were all dirtied and scratched up.

KEIKO'S POV:

My heart was beating quickly as I saw what had become of Ronin. Never have I imagined that his chakra would increase by such many levels. At that time, I felt that my best bet was to use the Eight Divination Signs, 128 palms for the hand, in order to stop his rising chakra network.

As I began to circle around Ronin, his menacing glare kept piercing through me, as if he saw right into my soul. At that moment, I felt a strong shiver of fear, but ignored it as I saw an opening and went in with my attack. As I came in with the 128 palms of the hand, I made sure to hit vital organs along with blocking up tenketsu points in his body. Once my attack was over, I quickly stepped back and checked my own work. Suddenly, I felt a stronger rise in chakra as Ronin's head lifted up and stared directly into my Byakugan; right then and there, I felt like I was frozen with fear and that my body wouldn't move or respond to me. My own eyes suddenly widened as I envisioned my own demise; I saw him slowly coming up behind me and ripping me to shreds, as I was watching in fear; once I came back to reality, I felt a strong blast of chakra coming from my opponent. I was too caught up in the vision of my own demise that I was not able to get away or block his attack. I felt my body being thrown backwards to the other side of the arena. I felt my back quickly slam into the wall, creating a huge crater as I felt the whole wall crack. That attack of his was took a great amount out of me. As I came out from the rumble, I could feel the affect of his blast on my body; I was trying to cover up my injuries, but I couldn't help but feel a bit wobbly as I tried to stand up with the help of the arena. I also felt a strange coppery taste come from my mouth, as I realized that I was coughing up blood from my impact from the wall; I couldn't contain it in anymore as I fell down to my knees and started to lose more of my blood. I felt the stares of everyone as they saw what kind of state I was in; I knew that my teammates would be worried about me, so I didn't dare to look at them; all I heard was Koji, Haku, and Katara screaming out my name and telling me to get up and fight. Obviously, my body began to respond on its own, as it seemed that I wouldn't give up with battle without a fight.

Back to normal pov:

After several minutes of coughing nonstop, Keiko soon made her body get up without its consent; she felt pain everywhere on her body, but she kept pushing herself to get up and fight back. The sound ninja was waiting for his opponent on the other side, as he was smirking at her struggle to get up and walk back to fight him.

Both of her teammates saw how much pressure Keiko was putting on herself and on her own body; and they both knew that this was going to be too much for her. Koji was looking sternly at the Hyuuga, while Katara couldn't help but feel worried on the outside; somehow, she knew this would end badly. 'This is bad! She's putting too much strain and at the condition she's in, there's no way her body can withstand it. I know I should put my faith in her, but at this point in time, he's going to destroy her if she doesn't surrender.' Thought the Uchiha heiress.

The sound nin's opponent was slowly making her way toward him, and he couldn't help but smile on the inside seeing her struggle. He seemed content with the way things were going and decided to play with her some more. After a few more minutes of waiting, Keiko finally made it close enough to Ronin and was in front of his demonic form. She was still holding onto her side as she tried her hardest to stand up straight as her body fought back the pain as she kept on pushing herself.

"Had enough already.." calmly stated the sound ninja.

"I-i-i-ii-i-I'm , n-n-not done yet! You can do whatever u want with me, but I'm not going to give up this fight!" screamed Keiko; after saying this, the Hyuuga no longer held onto her side and just let all the pain inside her body be ignored. She looked more determined than ever, which shocked the sound ninja; "Fine then, I was going to let you live, but it seems you just got your death sentence, right here and now!' replied the demonic being.

'It doesn't matter anymore….whether if I die or live through this; all that matters to me is to show them how much I've grown!' though Keiko as she steadily got into a defensive position before her opponent. She no longer was shakingly trying to put herself together, but now she was more determined than ever to give it her all; Ronin was surprised at the changed expression on her face and he was even more excited to make her suffer.

The sound ninja quickly got down on all fours and ran directly at her as she got her palms out and held them towards the water. As he got close enough, she thrusted both palms into the water, causing a huge, powerful splash, that not only stopped her opponent, but also caused a huge hole in the ground, in which the water drained through it. Now all the water that once flooded the arena, was now gone as both finalists now stood on solid ground.

Both of the finalists glared deeply into each other as they were ready to fight back even more. Ronin quickly charged at Keiko and ran around her in the form of a circle. Seeing that the sound ninja was trying to confuse her, Keiko slowly closed her eyes and opened up her senses; as soon as she was able to think more clearly, she noticed his movements and by summoning enough chakra into her foot, she swiped it along the floor, in which a defining line of chakra came out and hit, and tripped her opponent. While Ronin was falling down, she managed to catch him off guard and she used the gentle fist to hit her opponent in the heart.

Ronin was pushed a bit back and began to cough due to the cause of the hit. By the expression on his face, Keiko could tell that his ferocity was increased as he looked at her with a death glare. As quickly as he had recovered, so did he come from behind and managed to land a kick on Keiko's back side. A crack was indicating to the both of them that her rib cage just broke; Keiko was yelping in pain and clutching onto her side as she was kicked up into the air; once in mid air, she turned around and saw Ronin himself, there behind her. With his devil smirk, he was happy to oblige and kicked her right down, into the ground. The loudest slam was heard as Keiko's body made contact with the ground. The Hyuuga was lying face down, as she saw her opponent come next to her, ready to make is final move on her.

Chuckle… "Ready to die, trash?" Ronin asked as he came closer to her with a fist clearly full of condensed red chakra. No reply was made as Keiko couldn't move; she felt that no matter what she did, she wouldn't have been able to avoid such a blow, and plus her broken rib cage wouldn't let her do anything and the lost of blood was making her become unconscious, so there was nothing left, except for her to just take the hit. As she was imagining the worst outcome and waiting for the hit, it never came to her. All she saw was a certain teammate in front of her, blocking the attack, as Keiko was about to fall unconscious; she swore she heard people talking and she swore she felt two more people behind her, and as she closed her eyes, she thought about what she just saw and heard.

Keiko's POV:

By the time my body hit the ground, I knew I was done for; the impact was so great that I was sure that I was going to die here. My body was in too much pain that I couldn't even stand up or move an inch, even if I wanted to. I felt my opponent approaching me, and right then and there, I knew it was the end for me. Waiting for the pain to just end…………I realized it never came.

I opened me eyes; I never knew that I closed them, and right in front of me, I saw, Uchiha Katara; I didn't know how she appeared so quickly, or how she was able to absorb all the force from his punch, but at that moment, that all didn't matter; what did matter was she took a blow for me, like a true friend always did. Katara was holding Ronin's fist with one hand, and pushed him back about 10 feet, from what I could tell from lying on the ground.

"Don't you dare, don't you dare, HURT HER!" yelled Katara with her piercing sharingan eyes activated, full of rage. Suddenly, I saw two more people stand beside Katara, and from what I could see, since I felt that dizziness was overcoming me, they were Haku and Koji.

"Hmm………….you're just lucky you made it in time, or else your little friend there would've been dead." Replied Ronin as he went back to his normal self.

Uchiha Katara knelt down on one knee and wiped her knuckles on Keiko's blood on the ground; then she pointed directly at the sound nin and said, "I promise you, when I get my chance to fight you, I'll win!"

And with that, I gave a smile as the darkness overcame me.

Normal POV:

"Hn…don't make me laugh; but I appreciate the guts and we'll see who wins when I fight against you." The sound nin said as he walked passed the three genin.

While Hayate announced Ronin as the winner, Katara, Haku, and Koji knelt down to see how Keiko was doing. Immediately after the battle was over, medics were called over to check her condition.

All Katara did right there was hear what the medics had to say; all she heard were bits of whispers, like "broken ribs," "blood loss," and much more. This whole atrophic event made her reminisce, back when she was trained by Tsunade herself to be a medic.

Flashback:

"Sorry I'm late Tsunade-sama, I was training with my brother and father, and I guess I lost track of time." Replied Katara as she was scratching the back of her head, afraid what her teacher would say; after all, the heiress had heard about Tsunade's tempers and hoped she wasn't on her bad side.

"I'll let it slide for now, but don't let t happen again. Today, I'll be teaching you the basics, but before you start, I must tell you something." Said Tsunade with a serious tone.

"What is it sensei?" asked the heiress.

"I'm going to tell you what it takes to be a full-pledged medic; as you may know, being a medic takes serious skill and time. Only ninjas that are the best at chakra control can be medics; out on the battlefield, comrades will depend on your skills to help them and by having at least one medic on a squad, it will raise the success rate by a minimum of 20 percent. Not many medics are used to fight out in battle, but there are some instances where medics can fight. It is a medic's job to be ready for anything and you need to work well under pressure. During this training, your skills will be put to the test, and I want you to always remember, that people's lives lay in your own hands. Are you willing to risk that, Katara?"

"Yeah, I'm ready…"confidently replied Katara.

"Very well; then there's one final thing I'm going to tell you; I want you to live by this one rule as a medic: It is our job to help people who need it; no matter if they are good or bad; a fully-pledged medic is willing to help anyone."

End of flashback

'Strange how I remember that……I can't believe I surpassed her in 6 months.' Thought Katara

"Hello, earth to Katara!" yelled her brother as he was waving his hand in front of her face, trying to get her to snap out of it.

"Hmm………..what do you want Haku-nii-san?" asked his sister.

'Geez, I swear I wonder how we're related…' "Kay, we have a 20 minute break before Koji's battle begins, so come on!" he said as he grabbed his sister's hand and dragged her up the stairs.

While in the previous room the finalists were in before:

"Wait, how's Keiko doing, is she going to be fine?" asked the Uchiha heiress.

"The medics said she just suffered from a few broken bones, and blood loss, but they said she'll make a full recovery in a few days." Answered Koji.

"That's good!" loudly said Katara. All the remaining finalists were in the room and suddenly the door opened and popped in some familiar faces.

"Congratulations, both of you!" said the Uchiha twins' grandfather, Uchiha Taji.

"Yes, we're all so proud of you!" said their mother as their father gave them a proud smile.

All three of them gave each twin a hug and they also wished them good luck.

"Oh and Koji, good luck to you as well!" said Taji.

"Arigatou, Uchiha-sama!" Koji said as he bowed down low to show his appreciation.

"Alright, now will the finalists come back up!" said Hayate.

"Sasaki Haru and Takahashi Koji, please come down to the arena."

Both finalists came down to the battlefield as fast as possible; in mere seconds, they both were standing at opposite ends of each other. The proctor gave the signal to begin and both finalists jumped into gear; Sasaki Haru, a ninja from the sand village, was known throughout his village as a genius with any type of sword. Sasaki Haru has short light brown hair and tan skin; wears long-sleeved shirt (dark green) and has dark forest green eyes along with wearing brown pants and black ninja sandals. He had grown up around weapons since his father was a blacksmith, and at an early age, Haru was fascinated at how graceful a sword can be in battle and through the training from his dad, he managed to master the sword. Now at the age of 16, he stood before Takahashi Koji, age 9, of the leaf, known to be the genius of the Takahashi clan, so this battle was a genius of the sand versus a genius if the leaf, winner take all.

As the battle began, the silence from the crowd overcame any movement and the wind blew with such force for the upcoming battle at hand. The sun was now at the midpoint of the day and its heat was radiating onto the competitors' foreheads; as time passed, the crowd was becoming impatient as one man cried out "Start fighting already!" At the moment both sand and leaf ninja were observing each other carefully and as Koji saw Haru's small movement of taking out a katana from his back, the Takahashi got ready with a kunai knife that was twirling in his hand. Both green and blue orbs met in contact and both ninja saw that the battle was about to begin. With katana and kunai in hand, both shinobi charged at each other with their weapons held out; as metal and metal clashed, the loud clink of repetitive attacks were heard throughout the stadium. Both ninja were at a standstill after each of their attacks were countered by the other; both their weapons were holding the other one in place as they stood before each other, pushing each other's strength; one would gain more strength and push back while the other would also pull through with the same strength, so they both stood with equal power for awhile.

After a few moments, both shinobi pushed apart from each other and stood across from another, with sweat falling down their foreheads. Both were panting from their efforts of trying to find an opening for an attack and they were catching their breath as they got ready for another go at it. Once going at it again both jumped at the other and began to unleash more chakra to their feet, allowing them to go further and further up in the air as they both pushed up from the sides of the walls and met up with their weapons in midair. Clink after clink was heard and one of them managed to find a way to inflict damage onto the other; Haru, the sand ninja, saw Koji's misstep in footing from his leap from the wall and managed to cut a deep wound on the leaf nin's right side. After getting cut in so deeply, Koji stopped and landed onto the floor, clutching onto his side as the blood oozed out from his injury. With little knowledge he knew about medical ninjutsu, he quickly took out some bandages and tightly wound them around it. Sasaki Haru was watching his opponent carefully as he took care of his wound and he wasn't going to give Koji a break; while the Takahashi was busy stopping the bleeding, the sand ninja began to make some seals. As Koji finished up with his work, Haru finished with making his seals.

KOJI'S POV:

As I finished up with what little knowledge in the medical field that I knew of, I began to feel a huge amount of accumulated chakra from the other side of the stadium. I knew I should've anticipated something like this would happen, and as I turned my head, I realized that my opponent finished with his seal. I heard an attack known as Wind Style: Tornado of a Thousand Years, come from the sand nin's mouth and I began to embrace myself for his jutsu. I began to hear wind come together and it seemed to form a huge tornado that was going after me. Turning on my Amaragusan, my eyes began to adjust to the chakra wind being controlled by Haru. I began to analyze his chakra network and saw how it was flowing in different directions and by comparison, I saw how those changing directions were influencing the tornado's direction. As I finished with my observation, I saw that the tornado was directly 3 feet away from me as I felt it begin to suck me in.

I felt the power of his attack as it took me in and began to rotate me around and around at such a speed that I was sure I had to find a way out from his attack. Never taking my eyes off from my opponent, I took out some chakra absorbing wire along with a kunai and transported some of my chakra into the wire and attached it to my weapon. Once completed, I took the kunai and concentrated chakra into my arm to throw into the wall of the arena. I managed to hook it onto a crack in the wall and with as much force as I could force out, I used all my strength to pull myself out of the tornado, but the power of these winds were so strong that my impact did not become as nice as I had intended it to be. I felt my body come in contact with the ground as I lost my grip on the wire and as I collided, I noticed the tornado was coming to an end and also for the fact that my right arm was broken due to the fall. 'So he can't completely control his jutsu.' I thought.

The pain from my injury was unbearable and I knew that I needed to finish this off quickly; after all, a ninja is more limited when they can only use one arm while their other is immobilized.

Once Haru's tornado was gone, he started on another jutsu; from where I was laying on the ground, it looked like another wind attack was coming my way. At that moment, I saw sharp waves of wind coming my way (Wind Element: Muse of Air Currents); they were coming from his weapon and its speed was too quick for me to handle that once all of the several waves hit me, I had to register what had happened as I was push straight back to the opposing wall. With my right arm heading for it first and for once, for all the medical knowledge I had, I knew that my right arm was definitely severely broken.

Normal POV:

"That did not sound too well." Stated Haku as he just saw Koji's body heavily slam into the ground.

"He's only going to be able to take a little bit more of this, but I'm sure he'll make it through." Replied Katara. "Hopefully, that broken arm won't cause a problem."

Back in the battlefield, Koji was still trying to come up with a fast way to end this fight; 'Based on what I've seen, he could only use wind attacks, but…..what else could there be, that I've overlooked?.......Wait! His sword! All of his attacks came from his weapon, so I'm going to have to find a way to get rid of that thing!'

Once formulating his plan, he slowly, but steadily got up onto his feet. The sand ninja was cautiously watching his competitor, while holding his sword tightly in front of him; he saw how Koji was slowly creeping towards him and the sand ninja began a steady running pace towards the leaf shinobi. As he was about to encounter said shinobi, Koji managed to push a good amount of chakra into his feet to increase his speed and he was able to run at a faster pace as he jumped onto the walls and started running around the whole stadium. He also managed to form some seals for some shadow clones, even though he was only using one hand. Each of his clones began to circle around Haru and continued at the running pace; while his clones were distracting Haru, Koji took out some more wire and began to unwind it with his teeth and left hand. While spinning out the wire, his clones were able to send him what they saw from their bloodline was that based on Haru's chakra network, they saw what he would do next; turns out he was starting to gather more chakra and create more seals for a powerful wind technique. Seeing as Koji had little time left, he frantically began unwinding more wire as if his life depended on it and began to attach shuriken and kunai to his wires, and began to throw them as quickly as possible towards Haru's sword. Koji's clones were gone at this point and he was currently watching his handiwork; it turned out his plan worked; the sand ninja's sword was tangled in with the wires, which were currently holding the weapon across the battlefield.

Sasaki Haru's face was in total shock; 'so, that whole clones technique was just a rouse to get me distracted for the real thing……..' then a crackling beneath him was heard as his eyes widened and saw what was coming at him. 'What the..?! …I-imposible!' Haru thought as he the real Koji was underground and quickly delivered a chakra enhanced uppercut at his opponent. '…I got to thank Katara for teaching me that move.' Thought the leaf ninja.

With as much force as that, Haru was forcefully hit into the air with Koji following in suit; Koji then landed more punches onto his opponent until he made a stronger hit and forced Haru into the opposing ground. The crash rumbled the whole place and as the dust from the ground cleared up, the only one left standing was Koji; while Haru was knocked unconscious due to his crash and lack of chakra left in his body. With that being seen, Hayate claimed that Takahashi Koji would move onto the next round.

'Hn……I see; by using his clones as a distraction, he managed to switch himself and a clone when Haru was too busy with his clones. By going into that hole that Keiko had created in the previous battle, he was able to get an entrance underground to wait for his opponent to be phased by the fact that his sword was gone from his possession. He knew his opponent would think that his clones were the real distraction, but it was really the fact that since he was too astonished that his sword was gone from his grasp, was what the real distraction was…Well, played Koji.' Thought Uchiha Haku.

"Alright! That's how you show them Koji!" his hyper-active teammate said as she pumped her fist up in the air for his victory.

"Kay, I get it how you're so enthusiastic, but the hokage is about to speak." Said Uchiha Haku.

"Oh, hehe……my bad." Replied Katara as she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Alright, seeing as we only have four competitors left, we will now see who will be fighting who in the next round. This round will be the semifinals, so the two people who win their match today, will move onto the finals, which will be held on for the next day. After all, our shinobi do need to rest up after a long day."

"And without further ado, let's find out who will be fighting against whom."

On the upcoming screen it showed the following match-ups:

Uchiha Katara (Leaf) vs. Ishikawa Ronin (Sound)

Takahashi Koji (Leaf) vs. Uchiha Haku (Leaf)

"We will begin shortly in half an hour to give them a break, so don't become impatient." Said the Hokage as he returned back to his seat.

Back at the finalists room, the final four were resting up for the upcoming round of the semifinals. Koji at the moment was currently getting checked up due to his arm injury while the Uchiha heiress was nervously awaiting for this battle because she would be up first facing against the sound nin.

Flashback:

"I promise you, when I get my chance to fight you, I'll win!"

"Hn…don't make me laugh; but I appreciate the guts and we'll see who wins when I fight against you." The sound nin said.

End of flashback.

'Hn……I wonder if I can keep my promise to Keiko; no I have to because I will never go back on my word no matter what…..even if I do fail at this, I'll know that I didn't try hard enough.'

After having a half hour break, the finalists went back to their usual waiting area while the other two that were going to fight were already down there, ready to partake in their fight. The glaring death stare that Katara got from Ronin's onyx eyes were scary enough to other people, but the heiress felt ready for this battle. She was nervous at first, but all she had to do was to focus on this battle and think of it as if it were a dance; to make each motion become fluid after the other.

After much careful thinking, Katara heard the proctor exclaim, "Begin!" and that's when all hell broke loose; the sound ninja began to charge forcefully at the Uchiha and before she could react to it, and he took the wind right out of her as his body rammed into hers, causing her to collide into the opposing wall. The look in his eyes was even more bloodthirsty and the people in the audience could tell that he was in here for a kill. They knew he wasn't messing around and some even felt as though that he might be able to win this.

Out from all the rubble around her, came the little Uchiha as she was regaining her breath from his attack. She was not expecting something like that and she knew she was foolish enough to not anticipate it. 'So I can expect he's one of those people who are unpredictable……..well this doesn't work out so well; most shinobi have a pattern to their attacks, in which you can figure it out…..too bad I don't have Koji's Amaragusan to help me here. I guess I'll have to find another way out.'

As she managed to get her breath back, she had a calm composure as if she never even received this attack. "Hn………you've got some guts kiddo, but you haven't seen anything yet." Said her opponent as he began to form more complicated seals that didn't even compare to the attacks he had tried out on Keiko. At any rate, Katara quickly activated her Sharingan and began to see what seals he was making. Not only were they complicated, but they seemed foreign, but she was able to recognize one that stood for wind, meaning that a wind elemental technique was going to come her way. To prepare herself, she got into a defensive stance where she was calmly standing in the arena with her hands palms together with her eyes closed; to get ready for this, she was summoning up a lot of chakra just in case a fatal blow comes by to hit her directly.

"Wind Element: Taiyou's (sun's) Fury!" bellowed Ronin as he unleashed his attack onto his opponent. Soon enough, waves of fire combined with his wind control caused a blur of flames to come towards the Uchiha as she opened her eyes and saw the flames. Being careful, she managed to dodge each one gracefully, with flips, leaps, and cartwheels, as if each move were a fluid motion. But she miscalculated one flame which seemed to be the biggest one, so she stood her ground. With both palms held out in front of her, Katara summoned some chakra that pushed through her tenketsu points and she was able to manipulate the chakra into thin slices of wind, which completely canceled her opponent's flame.

The crowd was amazed at how the Uchiha was able to stop an attack like that with such control over nature manipulation; even the hokage was impressed at how she was able to learn something like that in just one month.

It seemed that the sound ninja was enraged by the fact that his attack was canceled out by a little girl. Katara could feel his fury radiate off him and she was waiting for his next move. Seeing as he was just too furious to make one, she decided to take it under her obligation to make her move. The Uchiha heiress began running on the sides of the arena and she inconspicuously took out wire and attached them to her weapons. This wire was specialized because it had special properties that allowed it to be invisible to the human eye. As she got about five shuriken and five kunai connected to her wire, she began to throw them at her opponent; Ronin was able to dodge each weapon she threw at him as the weapons were stuck to different points of the stadium.

"Hn. Is that the best you got? I was expecting a lot more from an Uchiha. I guess I should learn not to have high hopes for anyone." Said Ronin, but with a smirk he said, "But you know what, I'm going to make this slow and painful."

The sound ninja was about to keep his promise as he got ready for another round of seal making. While he was making his seals, Katara was charging into his range and quickly concentrated enough chakra into her fist and slammed her fist down into the ground near him. This caused him to lose some balance and with that chance, Katara used her fast agility to come near her opponent to deliver a strong kick upwards, causing him to come up in midair. Immediately after that was done, she leaped up into the air and began to punch and kick him with all she had. With her fast speed, she went from right and left, hitting him multiple times while he hopelessly tried to dodge. After one final punch, she went back down on the ground and added more chakra to her feet to allow her to reach a higher altitude. She was about 10 feet above her opponent, and the Uchiha heiress began to go down head first while at the same time spinning her body like a top (Grand Kamikaze Whirlwind)to gain more speed. She even added chakra to this attack and the audience could see her chakra consume her spinning top form and as she made contact with Ronin; it was as if a drill was piercing through him. In less than 10 seconds, Ronin reached the ground with an earth-breaking sound and most members if the crowd had to turn away from the blast from the crash. The crash created the largest crater out of all the battles fought here today and it was definitely a sight to see when the dust cleared and people saw what had become of Ronin. He was extremely in bad shape; his face was half covered in blood and he definitely was scratched up and bruised from the kunoichi's taijutsu attack. The worst of his injuries was his stomach where you could see that it received the most damage from her top-like attack. His stomach was bleeding profoundingly and for some reason the sound ninja was chuckling.

"Haha…….you know, you could've really killed me with that attack, but thanks to this curse mark, I managed to summon enough chakra to come to the point where I knew you would likely strike. Therefore, I didn't get as damaged as you would've liked, but I got to hand it to you, no one has ever inflicted this much damage on me." The sound nin's curse mark was showing itself once more as he was going through with his transformation. His wounds were healing itself up; especially the one on his stomach and it appeared that Katara's attack never even got him. He looked unharmed and very demonic: Black marks engulfed his body and his skin turned into a grayish tint, while his red hair turned into a crimson color and his eyes became black and out from his head came a huge horn, while his fingernails got longer and sharper.

Katara knew he had completed his metamorphosis and she felt his chakra levels increase to its maximum. As she saw that he was charging towards her with a claw-like fist coming after her, she quickly jumped onto the sides of the stadium and used her chakra to stay in her position. When ready, she summoned up as much chakra, and activated her wires. The audience saw the affect of the Uchiha's wires and Ronin managed to feel the affect of them. They were actually chakra draining wires and they were currently getting rid of Ronin's excess and remaining chakra he got from his curse mark. Slowly, Katara felt his chakra levels dropping steadily, until she saw with her Sharingan that he was no longer able to move, since his chakra network was empty. Ishikawa Ronin was standing still, in the middle of the arena and was widening his eyes as he saw his opponent leap above him with a chakra enhanced fist; as it connected with his face, his body was forced down into the ground, as another huge crater erupted from the Uchiha's attack. As the dust cleared from Katara's attack, she turned her back towards her opponent, turned her head towards him, still with her Sharingan glaring at him, and said, "And that was for Keiko."

With that final punch, the fight was considered over, and the proctor proclaimed Uchiha Katara as a finalist in the final round. A huge applause was heard as she walked out of the arena with a confident smile.

As the Uchiha made her way up to where her brother and teammate were standing, she was thinking about how their battle was going to be like. She hoped none of them would seriously get hurt, while at the same time, she didn't know who to root for. As she made it to her destination, she saw that they both were already down and ready to fight. Katara saw that her twin brother was in good shape and only had a few scratches on him, but on the other hand, Koji had his right arm in a sling and seemed he was having a hard time standing in a steady manner. The heiress was worried about her friend's condition and hoped he wouldn't get furtherly injured, but she knew that he would give it his all before he would figure out his limitations and surrender.

The battle began with the word 'begin' and both leaf shinobi of different clans took action; both of them took out kunai knives and battled it out with a clink and clink after the other. Koji was doing fairly well, even though he was using his fairly weaker arm to hold the kunai. When they reached a standstill, Koji himself, along with Haku, noticed that Koji could only withstand a certain amount of force from his body until his right arm would feel the pain. He knew his arm would be a problem at the moment when he went to the infirmary to get it checked.

Flashback:

Takahashi, Koji was currently getting his former injuries he just suffered through during his match against the sand ninja. The medics checked his deep cut on his side, but told him that it wouldn't scar and they managed to heal it for the most part. But the most troublesome injury would have to be his arm; as they were looking it over, they saw that there were multiple fractures of bones along his entire arm and they could only do so much at what little time they had before he had to come back up and fight again.

Koji already knew what they were going to say, but he hoped he was wrong. As he looked at them in the eyes, one medic came forward and gave him his prognosis: "Takahashi, Koji, your previous battle left you scratched up and bruised, but the most severe injury would be your arm. We managed to heal it a bit, but your entire arm's bones are fractured in many places and concerning with your upcoming battle, you have to take precautions. And I warn you, if you push yourself too hard, the results will be dangerous, so be careful."

End of flashback.

Koji and Haku were still in the kunai stage of their battle and everyone could tell that the Takahashi was pushing himself too hard. They once again reached a standstill, and it seemed that the same thing would happen each time this occurred; that after a few seconds, Koji would be unable to hold onto it and he would have to pull back, and then both of them would continue to attack each other. But this time, the pain became unbearable for him, and Koji let his kunai slip, surprising everybody.

Haku was staring at Koji as if he had let go on purpose; the Uchiha was currently confused by the situation and stared in shock as he heard the upcoming words come from his opponent's mouth: "I give up."

"Wait, what?! Koji, you can't just give up! I mean, you're not that type of person." Replied Haku.

"I know that………but I know my limits and right now, I've reached it; my right arm can't handle anymore pain, and sometimes, you just know that you've pushed yourself too far and that at times, you have to learn to give up….I'm sorry, but I forfeit this match to Uchiha Haku."

"Are you sure?" questioned the proctor.

"Hai." Replied the injured leaf shinobi.

Clearing his throat, Hayate declared, "Very well, due to his opponent's forfeit, Uchiha Haku will move onto the finals."

'Wait, that means I'll be fighting my own brother in the finals?!' thought Katara.

While at the same time, Haku was thinking that too: 'I'm going to be fighting Kay in the finals?!'

"Very well then; the final match will be tomorrow, here in this stadium. It will be a winner take all match and I hope you are all eager to see our best students compete tomorrow. Now, they must rest for their upcoming match and I'll see you all tomorrow. Once the match is over, the leading kages of each land and the feudal lords will discuss if any one of these shinobi we've seen are worthy enough to become chuunin. Best of luck to you all." Said the Hokage.

Both Uchihas were at the estate right now, going over the different events that led up to them having to fight each other. On the way back to their home, they both received congrats for how far they've come from everyone they knew, including Sasuke and his family. The Uchiha clan could not have been any more proud and their parents were definitely glad both of them had made it in the finals.

Alrighty, make sure to review! And hopefully, I'll update soon!