Ok, this one's kinda boring. I just wanted to rush through the prelimineries, but it took up a whole chapter. This is going to take longer than I thought. BTW wouldn't it be cool if masashi did more individual stories like kakashi gaiden? i'd like to see a more detailed look on how nagato & konan went from yahiko's death to become 2 of the most dangerous criminals alive.
Disclaimer: I ain't got nuthin on Masashi.
The remnants burnt away
The fight between Sasuke & Yoroi was interesting. Yoroi seemed to be a chakra absorbing shinobi, which was a problem seeing as the cursed seal was affecting Sasuke's chakra. It didn't appear likely for the Uchiha to succeed.
But then he did something unexpected.
He disappeared.
"What's he doing?" Gaara thought.
Sasuke reappeared directly in front of Yoroi. He delivered a kick which sent him soaring through the air.
"That's my…!" Lee exclaimed, grabbing on to the rail.
"I see." Gaara thought, smirking, "It's no surprise that he would copy another persons style. How unoriginal, Madara-sensei would be seething."
Sasuke jumped up behind Yoroi & placed a finger on the small of his opponents back. But he hesitated. The strange markings were moving over his body. Gaara watched closely & grinned.
"Sasuke-san." Gaara said, "He never needed that kind of power."
Sasuke glared at Gaara, he could tell Sasuke really hated him. But Sasuke closed his eyes & concentrated. The markings began to recede. When they were gone, Sasuke smirked & finished his attack, slamming Yoroi into the ground.
"The winner is… Uchiha Sasuke." Hayate announced.
Sasuke shakily got to his feet. He looked down at the body of Yoroi & smirked. He then lifted his head & pointed to Gaara.
"How's that?" he asked, self righteously.
Gaara gave Sasuke a bored look.
"Mundane." he answered.
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched in anger, but before he could respond, he began to collapse. He didn't hit the ground, however. His jounin sensei caught him & carried him off. Temari looked at Gaara.
"Is it really necessary to agitate him like that?" she asked.
Gaara nodded, "We need him to seek power. To do that we must make him think he is weak, unable to achieve his goals. When the time is right, we will need him to be strong."
The next fight was Aburame Shino against Abumi Zaku.
"Man, I'd hate to have to fight that Aburame kid." Kankuro said, uneasily, "He doesn't take any prisoners, does he?"
When Shino was declared the winner & Zaku was carted off on a stretcher, Kankuro's name appeared on the screen alongside a Misumi Tsurugu. Kankuro smirked.
"Well, I'm up!" he said, heading down the stairs.
"Kankuro." Gaara called out.
"Yeah?"
"Prove yourself."
Kankuro grinned & gave a mock salute, before heading down to the fighting area. He faced his opponent with full confidence.
"Begin." Hayate said.
Kankuro reached behind him & removed his disguised puppet, holding it by his side.
Tsurugu dashed in Kankuro's direction, looking just as confident as his opponent. Kankuro didn't move an inch as Tsurugu grabbed him & twisted his limbs impossibly, constricting Kankuro.
"I suggest you surrender if you don't want me to crush every bone in your body." Tsurugu advised.
Kankuro smirked.
"I'm not giving up." he said.
"Very well. Then allow me to be your doom!" Tsurugu cried, squeezing.
Kankuro cracked, literally. Parts of his face fell off & hit the ground.
"What's going on?!" Naruto demanded, leaning over the rail.
The bandaged heap on the floor began to move. From the folds appeared a hand, which began unravelling the bandages. Kankuro climbed out of the heap, smirking.
"What?!" Tsurugu cried, turning to see what was in his arms, only to find himself face to face with Karasu.
"Now it's my turn!" Karasu cried in an inhuman voice. It wrapped its limbs around Tsurugu, who was frozen in shock.
"I can make your bones even softer, if you like." Kankuro taunted.
"I- I give up!" Tsurugu cried.
Kankuro sighed & released him, "What a waste of my time." he complained, heading back up to the platforms.
The next fight was between Sakura & Ino, although it wasn't much of a fight, they mostly trash talked & stared each other down. The fight ended in a tie as they knocked each other out.
"What the hell was that?!" both Temari & Tenten cried. They were both clearly angry about how pathetic the two were. It was fortunate then that both their names appeared on the screen.
"Hey, Temari!" Tenten called.
"Lets show them how real kunoichi fight!" Temari cried, jumping off the platform. Tenten followed suit & as they reached their positions, they faced each other confidently. Temari pulled out her fan.
"When all three stars are revealed, it's all over." Temari taunted.
Tenten rolled her eyes.
"There's no need for theatrics! Just stand there, look pretty & try not to lose too quickly, ok?" she replied.
Temari's face twitched in annoyance.
"Oh it's on!" she promised.
They both waited for a few seconds before turning to Hayate, brows raised.
"Oh, sorry!" Hayate said, embarrassedly, "Begin."
Tenten whipped out a scroll & summoned a large shuriken. She spun on the spot for a second before throwing it at Temari. The shuriken whistled through the air, but completely missed, embedding itself in the wall behind Temari, who hadn't moved an inch.
"When do I start trying?" Temari asked, smirking.
Tenten glared & decided to try something else. She began running around Temari, pulling out a summoning scroll & leaping high into the air. She unfurled the scroll & began spinning, the scroll spiralling around her. Weapons of all sorts appeared from nowhere, all thrown in Temari's direction. Kunai, scythes, flails, all sorts of weapons flew right at her, & every one of them missed. Now Temari was leaning her fan, one star revealed.
"You ready to give up yet?" she asked.
"Not even close!" Tenten replied, pulling out two scrolls with one hand.
"She's using 'that' already." her jounin sensei noted.
Temari laughed.
"No matter what you try, it's useless." she said, grinning.
Tenten placed the scrolls on the grounds & started forming hand signs.
"Soushouryu!" Tenten cried. Suddenly, smoke filled the arena, causing everyone watching to lose sight of the combatants. Two dragons of smoke burst into view, spiralling around each other. The smoke passed, showing the two dragons to, in fact, be the summoning scrolls.
Tenten leapt into the air & at an incredible speed, began summoning weapons & hurling them at Temari. Dozens of blades were flying at Temari, who chuckled.
"Even if you increase the numbers, it's the same." she said, giving a swing of her fan, "Second star!"
The blast of air was tremendous. All the projectiles were blown away, landing on the ground uselessly. Tenten landed on the ground, crouched.
"I'm not done!" she cried, leaping back into the air. With a flick of her wrists, all the weapons lifted into the air.
"What?!" Kankuro called out in shock, "She knows Kugutsu no Jutsu?!"
"No." Gaara said, eyes narrowing, "It's not the puppet technique. All her weapons have wires attached."
Kankuro blinked & looked closely.
"You're right." he breathed.
Tenten waved her hands & the weapons began flying again at Temari. Once more, Temari smirked & waved her fan, the gust not only scattering the weapons, but striking Tenten as well, who hit the ground, sliding.
Temari was now holding her fan behind her, looking serious. She smirked.
"Third star." she said.
She waved the fan in a circle in front of her, completely disappearing. Tenten looked around her warily, waiting for the upcoming attack.
"Where is she?" she wondered aloud.
"Here."
Tenten whipped her head around, Temari was kneeling on her fan as it soared through the air, eclipsing Tenten in its shadow. Temari leapt off her fan & caught it in one hand. She held it to her side, poised to attack.
"Ninpou Kamaitachi!" she cried, waving her fan straight at Tenten. A whirlwind flew straight at Tenten, who braced herself, only to be forced off her feet.
"Tenten!" Lee cried.
Tenten was frozen in the air, her screams not passing the roar of the wind as dozens of small cuts appeared on her skin. Slowly, she fell through the air, almost losing consciousness, only to be shocked back to full awareness as she landed on the tip of Temari's fan, her back bending at a dangerous angle. Tenten coughed up some blood, before passing out.
"How very boring." Temari noted.
"Fifth winner: Temari." Hayate announced. Temari smirked & tossed Tenten into the heap of weapons on the ground. At the last second, Lee appeared & caught her, placing her gently on the ground. Temari was grinning cruelly at Lee.
"Nice catch." she said. Lee looked furious.
"Why would you do that?!" he demanded, "Is that something you should do to someone who fought her hardest?!"
"Shut up." Temari replied, "Take that piece of trash & leave."
Lee growled & ran straight at her.
"Lee, stop!" Neji ordered, but was ignored.
"Konoha-" Lee cried, but his kick was blocked by Temari's fan.
"You're just how you look; you're stupid." Temari goaded.
"What did you say?" Lee asked angrily. His sensei appeared behind him.
"Stop, Lee." he ordered.
"Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed.
"Temari." Gaara said, "Get back up here. You won."
Gaara folded his arms.
"Stop dealing with the ugly guy & his guardian."
"What?" Lee growled, glaring at Gaara. His sensei put his hand on Lee's shoulder.
"Just let it go, Lee." he said, before smiling to himself, "Gentlemen from Suna, if I may warn you about one thing?"
He locked eyes with Gaara & Kankuro.
"He's strong. You better be prepared for it." with that, they returned to their places. Temari rejoined her brothers as well.
"Hey, did you have to beat her up so much?" Kankuro asked, "She's not gonna want to come near me anymore."
"Boo-freaking-hoo." Temari said, annoyed, "She wasn't even worth my time."
"It's not your time I care about!" Kankuro retorted.
"Shut up you two, the next fight was about to start." Gaara said, watching the screen.
Shikamaru & Tsuchi Kin were next. Gaara & Kankuro found the match pretty boring, but Temari was watching closely with interest.
Shikamaru looked uneasy. Judging from his face, Kin was using the bells on the senbon she had thrown, to cast a genjutsu on him. He fell to his knees & looked up at Kin. Temari tutted.
"Beat already?" she said, looking at Gaara, "I thought you said this guy was a genius?"
"He is." Gaara replied, "He's just taking his time. There's no way he's putting effort into a move if he isn't certain it's going to work."
Kin smirked.
"This is the end." she said, holding three senbon. She froze.
"What?" she breathed, "My body…"
Gaara glanced at Temari, grinning, "Like I said."
Shikamaru had used his shadow imitation jutsu. He had hidden it in the path of one of the senbon wires & moved from there to control Kin. Temari grinned.
"Not bad…" she replied.
As Shikamaru explained the effects of his technique, he reached into his shuriken pouch. As he did this, Kin was forced to move the same way, drawing a shuriken as well. Simultaneously, they threw their shuriken at each other, but at the last second, Shikamaru dodged backwards, the shuriken flying over him. However, when Kin dodged as well, her head struck the wall behind her, the shuriken just missing her head. She was unconscious.
"Ha-ha, one down!" he called, doing an uncharacteristic back flip, "Shinobi should always be aware of their surroundings."
"Winner… Nara Shikamaru." Hayate announced, as Shikamaru wandered back up to the platform.
Temari grinned maliciously, "I like this guy." she said.
"You're not his type; he likes quiet girls." Gaara replied, to which Temari scoffed.
"Not like that. I want to defeat him, see who's smarter." she said.
Gaara smirked, "He finished the first exam three seconds before you did."
"WHAT?!" Temari yelled, "That's it, he's going down!"
The screen lit up as the next combatants were announced.
"Inuzuka Kiba, Uzumaki Naruto, please step forward."
Their fight was a far more destructive than the rest, there were already several craters in the floor & walls.
"These guys lack subtlety," Gaara noted, "but they're making me look forward to my fight."
Kankuro chuckled.
"Heh, you'll show them real power, right?" he asked.
Gaara nodded. As he watched the fight go on, he noticed the remaining combatants kept glancing at him.
"It looks like they're afraid." he thought, "That Aburame's team saw what I did to those grass ninja, they must have told the others about it."
Kankuro laughed as Naruto defeated Kiba & Akamaru.
"Man, I wish it was my turn to fight again!" he said, "Nothing like watching a couple of hot-heads deck it out to get your blood pumping!"
Gaara had to agree; he was getting impatient. He looked up at the scoreboard, awaiting it's decision.
"Damn it." he thought.
"Hyuuga Neji & Hyuuga Hinata." Hayate called.
All the leaf genin were looking at the two, clearly worried for them.
"Both of them are Hyuuga?" Temari thought out loud, "They're family?"
Neji calmly took his place, appearing to not care about who his opponent was. But Gaara saw through his façade.
"How strange." Gaara said, "He doesn't want to fight her, but at the same time, he does."
"He does, but doesn't?" Temari repeated, "You mean, he's got some kind of a grudge against her?"
Hinata nervously took her place as well.
"He knows she doesn't want to fight." Gaara said, studying the two, "He would rather face an opponent who will fight at full strength. However, there is some part of him that wishes to defeat her. Why?"
Gaara folded his arms.
"She is clearly lacking confidence in her abilities, so she must be weaker than him, so it can't be to prove his strength."
"Then what is it?" Kankuro asked.
"Misdirected anger. She probably represents someone else to him, he is trying to send a message to that someone by defeating her."
Gaara leant on the rail.
"I also see the loneliness in his eyes. That feeling is particularly strong right now. Whoever it is that he is angry at has caused him to lose someone close to him. By the looks of things, he intends to return the favour."
Temari was gaping at him.
"You got all that from one look?" she asked, before turning back to the pair, "I gotta say, Gaara, that's pretty impressive."
The two Hyuuga's stood silently for a moment. Even after the proctor told them to begin, they didn't move.
"H-hello b-brother." Hinata mumbled.
Temari gasped.
"He's her brother?!" she repeated, looking at Neji in horror, "Gaara, are you sure about what you said?"
"About what? Having the capacity to kill someone?" Gaara asked, "Besides, from what Shikamaru-san told me, they're more like cousins."
"Ah- right."
"Hello Hinata-sama. I didn't expect to be fighting you." Neji said.
Neji took an unusual fighting stance.
"Before we fight, let me warn you about one thing, Hinata-sama." he gave her a hard look, "Give up. You're not suited to become a ninja. You are too kind. You seek harmony & avoid trouble. And you just go along & follow someone else's idea."
Hinata looked away, shyly.
"And…"
Neji spoke a little louder, to make sure she heard.
"You have no self-confidence. You always feel inferior."
Kankuro grunted.
"Is this gonna be like Sakura-san's match?" he asked, "Are they just gonna talk?"
Gaara looked around at the spectators. As Neji criticised Hinata, he noticed Naruto grow steadily angrier.
"In other words, you know already…" Neji said, in his calmly aggressive way, "that you cannot change-"
"YOU CAN!" Naruto yelled, unable to control his temper any further.
Neji slowly looked up at Naruto, Hinata did so too, shakily.
"Don't label people just like that, you idiot!" Naruto clenched his fist, "Beat him up Hinata!"
Hinata's shaking slowed a little as she heard Naruto's encouragement.
"Hinata! Why don't you say something back?! It's making the people watching get angry!"
Hinata looked at the ground, breathing slowly. All of a sudden, she locked eyes with Neji, filled with new confidence.
"Not bad…" Temari said, "He's pretty good at rallying people, isn't he?"
"So you're not going to give up?" Neji asked, "Don't blame me later on."
They took on the same fighting stance, & charged. Kankuro furrowed his brow at what he saw.
"They're… poking each other?" he asked, looking surprised.
Temari turned to her younger brother.
"Gaara, you've fought a Hyuuga before, what are they doing?" she asked.
Gaara paused for a few seconds before answering simply.
"They're trying to block each others chakra points." he said.
Temari's eyebrows raised as she turned back to the fight. Sure enough, both of them appeared to be growing tired surprisingly quick. From what Gaara could see, Hinata was attacking & Neji was defending. Neji then grabbed Hinata's wrist.
"It's over." he said, smirking. He used his other arm to roll back Hinata's sleeve, revealing lots of small bruises all across her arm.
"Amazing." Temari breathed, "It looked like he was blocking, but he was actually taking advantage of her position."
Neji the pulled his arm back and struck Hinata at her heart. She gasped as she was pushed back several meters. Blood started to dribble down her chin. Neji resumed his stance & charged at Hinata.
But before he could reach her, all the Konoha jounin appeared, blocking his way.
"What is this?" Neji demanded, "The main household getting preferential treatment?"
"The match is over." the silver haired jounin told him, "There's no need to continue fighting."
Neji glared at the man, before standing down. Hinata was taken away on a stretcher. Suddenly, Naruto appeared on the floor, his eyes hidden from view.
"Hey you." he growled, "What makes you think you can attack someone like that, when they're already defeated?"
Neji met Naruto's glare, "And who exactly are you?"
Naruto held up his fist. He had been clenching it so hard, blood was dripping through his fingers.
"I am Uzumaki Naruto. And I swear, for Hinata-chan, I'll defeat you!" he vowed, anger seeping off him. His eyes even seemed to flash red for a second.
"Naruto-kun, return to the platform." his sensei ordered.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
"Now."
Naruto shot one last glare at Neji before heading back to the platform. Neji made his way back up as well.
Kankuro looked around the remaining challengers.
"Not a lot to pick from, huh?" he said, distastefully, "There's that fat kid, the sound wimp & the green dude. Which one you want? Gaara?"
Kankuro looked to his little brother, who wasn't there. Sasayaki was lying against the railing.
"Huh?" Kankuro said, looking up at the scoreboard & grinning.
"Rock Lee & Gaara." he read, "Looks like he was even more pumped than I thought!"
Gaara stood at his place as Lee jumped down in front of him.
"Yes! It is my turn!" Lee yelled, "Gai-sensei, watch me!"
"I'm watching, Lee." Gai replied, giving a thumbs up.
Lee turned round to stare hard at Gaara, who looked blood thirsty.
"Match… begin!" Hayate announced.
Without hesitation, Lee ran at Gaara at an incredible speed. Gaara ran too, grinning sadistically. Gaara swiped the air with his arm, the sand copying his moves & flying straight at Lee, who dodged it & slashed with a kunai, causing the sand to disperse.
"You know what I love about hot heads like you?" Gaara asked.
"What is it?" Lee asked, dodging waves of sand.
"I love how you keep on fighting, even after I rip you arms off!" Gaara yelled, bringing both hands together, the sand flying at Lee from either side. Lee leapt up into the air, descending on Gaara. He spun vertically through the air, aiming a kick at Gaara's head, who made no attempt to dodge it as the sand shielded him.
"Such fire!" Gaara exclaimed, "I can feel it burning!"
Lee leapt off the sand shield & landed a distance from Gaara.
"Is that all you are capable of?" Gaara demanded, "Is your sensei a fool?"
Lee snapped.
"You can say what you like to me. But don't you ever insult Gai-sensei to my face!" Lee shouted.
"Lee!" Gai called, "Remove them!"
Lee gasped, "Are you sure, Gai-sensei?"
Gai responded with a grin & a thumbs up. Lee looked elated. He reached down to his leg warmers & removed them.
"It will be a relief to move without these!" he said, holding up a pair of weights. Gaara caught a gleam in Lee's eyes as he threw the weights into the air.
"Konoha Senpū!" Lee cried, kicking the weights at Gaara. Gaara looked unimpressed as he grabbed the weights with the sand.
"Sabaku Kyū!" he called, clenching his fist. As the sand dispersed, nothing was left of the weights but dust. Gaara wanted to see Lee's reaction, but he was gone.
Gaara whipped his head round as he heard the sand shield move behind him, but nothing was there. Again the sand moved behind him.
"His speed is far greater than I imagined." Gaara thought, "It looks like I'll need to use that."
Gaara formed a few hand signs before slamming his palms onto the ground.
Sand poured from the cracks in the floor. In a matter of seconds, the entire ground was covered in sand. Lee paused as the ground shook.
"Sabaku Uzumaki!" Gaara cried.
"Me?" Naruto repeated dumbly.
The sand started rotating, forming a whirlpool. Lee found his feet stuck in the sand as he was pulled towards the centre.
"What is this?" he cried, as he was spun around the sand.
Gaara stood in the centre of the whirlpool, a sadistic smile on his face. He lifted his arm, aiming at Lee, & clenched his hand into a fist. About six feet from Lee, the sand exploded. Gaara saw Lee's panicked expression & grinned further, clenching his fist again. The sand burst a little closer to Lee now.
"Is he trying to kill him?" Naruto asked Kakashi., who's eye was fixed on Gaara.
"It would appear to be the case." he replied.
"Lee! Use those!" Gai yelled.
"But Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed, "You said I should only use those to protect one's own 'way of the ninja'!"
"I know what I said, now do it!" Gai ordered.
"Hai, Gai-sensei!"
Suddenly the sand stopped. Lee looked surprised as he turned to face Gaara, who's grin had completely disappeared.
"Does that mean we're done with this game?" he asked, "Shall I start trying?"
Lee glared at Gaara.
"Your first mistake was insulting Gai-sensei." Lee said, slowly unwrapping the bandages around his arms, "Your second mistake was not apologizing afterwards! But your fatal mistake was underestimating the power of my taijutsu!"
Lee crossed his arms and began a battle cry.
"AaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhhhAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!" he screamed, his skin darkening to a reddish colour and chakra enveloping his body.
"SEIMON!" he cried., before vanishing into the air.
"What?!" Gaara thought, as Lee appeared before him & delivered a kick so fast, the sand couldn't protect him in time. Gaara was thrown into the air, slightly dazed as he sensed Lee appear behind him. He was kicked again through the air, only to meet the same end as he flew again.
This went on for several seconds, although it felt like longer. Lee ended the move by binding Gaara with his bandages & performing a pile driver he called…
"URA RENGE!"
Together, they crashed into the ground. Dust & sand billowed everywhere, completely obscuring the hall. When the dust settled, Lee lay in the crater, sand latched onto him. Gaara was standing several feet away, unscathed. Under Lee was the remnants of a sand clone.
"I apologise, Lee-san." Gaara said, "But there is no way to finish this match without ending it like this."
He furrowed his brow.
"Sabaku Kyū!" he cried.
The sand around Lee's legs caved in. Lee screamed in pain, as the bones in his legs were shattered. Gaara removed the sand & turned to make his way back to the platform. But he sensed something. Turning back, he realized Lee was standing shakily, the pain going unnoticed. But something wasn't right. Lee was unconscious.
"Proctor, Lee-san is unconscious. Surely this fight cannot continue?" Gaara asked.
Hayate coughed, "As long as the combatant is able to fight, the match goes on."
Gaara growled. He turned back to face Lee, who had resumed his combat stance.
"Then I have no choice." he said, sending all his sand to strike Lee. But his attack never connected. Gai blocked it.
"This match is over." Gai said to the proctor, but glaring at Gaara, who nodded, before returning to the platform to Temari & Kankuro.
"Lets go." he said, "There's no longer any need for us to be here."
Temari glanced at Baki, who nodded.
"That's fine." he said, "I will give you the details later."
Gaara nodded, picked up Sasayaki & the three of them left.
"Wow, you know, for a second there I really believed you were enjoying that!" Kankuro said, hands behind his head.
"Yeah, did you really have to be that scary?" Temari asked.
"It would appear I still had a bit of sadism left in me. Luckily, that fight seems to have finished it. I should be clear headed from now on."
Kankuro nodded, "So now what?"
"You two prepare for the third stage of the exam, I'll make sure Sasuke-san isn't slacking." Gaara answered.
* * * * *
Orochimaru stood on the rooftop of the tower, watching Gaara & his siblings as they left. He smirked.
"Well done, Gaara-kun." he said, "I look forward to your next match."
He chuckled to himself as he sunk through the roof.
"Until then."