Narumi stood respectfully at the head of her team. Just behind her was Saburo, with Sasuke behind him. To her left was Kira, standing confidently at the head of her team, and to her right was Nobuye Hyuuga, leader of Rock Lee's team. In the end, all nine rookies, the sand brothers, Lee's team, Kabuto's team, and the oto-nin had all passed the second exam.

All the teams were lined up at attention in front of the jounin sensei for each team, and the chuunin proctors, including Ikuye-sensei. Anko cleared her throat, and spoke roughly to them.

"First off, congratulations on passing the second exam."

Behind her Sasuke muttered, just loud enough to reach his teammates ears.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Anko interrupted the slight murmurings between teams, voice steady. "Normally, the third exam would be explained to you at this point. But things are a little different this year."

"An unusually large number of examinees have reached the third stage of the exams. Therefore, according to regulations, we will hold preliminary matches."

Narumi started, and Saburo cursed under his breath behind her. All the genin examinees were muttering in surprise and irritation, and she could smell their tension rising. The Oto-nin and Shika's team were both particular on edge, probably because they'd only just gotten in, and had had no time to rest.

A chuunin suddenly stepped forward, taking the center stage position in front of them. His hitae-ate was fixed to a headband that had been tied over limp brown hair, and his eyes were slightly sunken, dark bags of exhaustion clear and pronounced beneath them. He wore the standard issue chuunin uniform of Konohagakure, and a senbon dangled loosely from the corner of his mouth. The man cleared his throat, and coughed into his fist. Narumi wrinkled her nose, eyeing him carefully.

"Allow me to explain. I am Gekkou Hayate, the judge for the preliminary matches." He coughed again, and then continued. "Those of you who win your battle in the preliminaries will advance to the third exam. The rest will stop here."

Inori leaned forward, eyes narrowing indignantly. "What do you mean, preliminary matches?"

Kira joined him indignantly. "Yeah, why can't we just start the third exam now?"

The proctor sighed, looking particularly unenthusiastic and bored as he answered. "The first and second exam must have been too easy this year. I don't really know. But the point is, we have too many examinees left."

Hayate shrugged his shoulders carelessly. "There are a lot of guests who come to see the third exam, you know. We just can't afford to have all that many matches. Also there is a limited amount of time available. Really, if anyone wants to quit after hearing the explanation, it would make things go much more smoothly for us."

Narumi grinned fiercely as the other genin muttered around her. Then her smile faltered a bit, and she glanced sympathetically at Inori's team. This would be much harder going for them, since they hadn't had any rest.

Hayate rubbed the back of his head, speaking up again. "Oh, by the way. I forgot to mention this, but from here on out, the matches will be one on one. So even if you quit, it won't affect your teammates."

Behind her, Narumi heard a subdued grunt, and looked over her shoulder to see Sasuke clutching at his neck. Saburo was eyeing him in concern as well.

"Sasuke, you gonna be okay?" Sasuke's gaze hardened, and he nodded sharply. "I'll be fine."

Saburo looked back at Narumi, and she met his gaze firmly, nodding once. If Sasuke said he'd be fine, then she would believe him. Saburo sighed, and turned back around in line.

Just as he did, Kabuto raised his hand down the line. He smiled cheerfully up at proctors addressing them in a mild tone.

"I'll be quitting here then."

Hayate blinked, glancing down at the clipboard in his hand. "Let's see...Kabuto Yakushi of Konohagakure, right? You may leave then."

Kabuto nodded at the chuunin, and then turned and quietly left the room. Narumi watched him, wondering why the faint unease that had plagued her ever since they assembled didn't leave with him.

Hayate coughed into his fist again, the expression on his gaunt face unchanging. "Well then, I assume there are no more examinees wishing to retire?"

When no one answered him, he straightened a little. "Then let's start the preliminary matches, shall we? These will be one on one matches, and it will be live combat. No rules. You fight until one opponent dies, is rendered unconscious, or surrenders."

He coughed again, and then resumed speaking. "If you don't want to die, it's better to withdraw now. However, if I declare a match to be over, that's it. I may stop you to prevent unnecessary deaths."

Turning around, he pointed to the back wall. An enormous sculpture of two arms wearing mesh guards, with the hands brought together in a simple hand sign, was built into the wall. Above them was an enormous screen.

"This electric bulletin board will randomly select and display the names of the fighters for each match." Looking back at them, he leaned his head back a little. "We'll start now."

Narumi craned her head back, staring up at the board in unison with the other genin, her stomach alive with butterflies. The screen came alive, names flashing across its surface in bright yellow letters too fast to follow. When they stopped, Narumi's eyes widened. The names on the screens were both familiar ones.

Sasuke Uchiha vs. Dosu.

Worriedly, she looked back. Sasuke was smirking confidently up at the screen, and his fingers tightened on his neck. Dosu, on the other hand, was grimly apprehensive.

"Those whose names were displayed, step up."

Sasuke and Dosu both moved up in front of the man, facing each other. Dosu was stiff and determined, eyes hard. Sasuke regard the older man cooly, his stance confident and relaxed.

Dosu growled at him. "I'll be taking revenge for Zaku's arms, Uchiha." Sasuke shrugged carelessly. "If you can, you mean."

Hayate ignored them both, waving a careless hand at the other genin. "If the non-participants will clear the floor? You can watch from the viewing balconies." Without a word, the other genin broke formation, drifting apart as they all headed for the stairs leading up to the two separate balconies.

Narumi hesitated, wanting to say something to Sasuke. Then she shook her head, and followed Saburo up to the balcony on the right. They both climbed up the stairs quickly, keeping an eye on the other genin around them. Inori's team, Lee's team, and Kira's team had also joined them on this balcony. The Oto team, the Suna team, and Kabuto's two teammates had taken the other.

As the teams spread out, the jounin sensei headed across the floor towards the stairs, splitting up themselves as each headed to their team. Kakashi strolled over and stopped behind Sasuke, murmuring something to him. Sasuke smirked confidently over his shoulder at his sensei and made some sort of reply.

Narumi leaned over the railing, braid dangling over her shoulder as she stared at the two of them. Kakashi-sensei suddenly vanished with a quick swirl of smoke. Narumi jumped slightly, whipping her head around to look back at him as his scent suddenly reappeared behind her. The jounin lifted his hand in a casual wave, though his eye flicked over them both quickly. "Yo."

Narumi spun around and ran over to him, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet in agitation. "Kakashi-sensei!" Saburo stepped up beside her, his face worried, and his voice low. "Sensei, it's about Sasuke-" Kakashi held up a hand casually to stop them. "I know about the curse seal."

Narumi blinked up at him, surprised. His eye softened, and he laid a hand gently on both their heads, ruffling their hair. "Don't worry. Sasuke will be fine." Then he turned them both gently around, his voice lightly teasing. "Now, aren't you going to cheer for your teammate?"

Narumi shifted uncertainly, and then moved back to the railing, folding her arms over it and dropping her chin on her arms, eyes fixed on the Uchiha below her. Saburo stood beside her, fists resting lightly on the rail, his knuckles white with apprehension.

Hayate glanced back and forth between Sasuke and Dosu, and then lifted his hands slowly. "Begin." Dosu shifted, his gravelly voice relaxed and darkly pleased. "Let's go then, Uchiha-kun." Sasuke's brows snapped down, and he growled irately at the oto-nin, before charging across the space separating them.

Dosu hopped, monkey-like, out of the line of Sasuke's charge at the last minute. As the Oto-nin lifted his arm, Sasuke spun around, launching a volley of shuriken and kunai at the man. Dosu frowned slightly, bringing his arm around and using the metal amplifier to knock away the shuriken.

Sasuke smirked triumphantly as Dosu changed his block to catch the last kunai. Narumi frowned, wondering why he was so pleased about the enemy blocking an attack. And then the exploding tag wrapped around the kunai handle went off. Dosu let out a frustrated cry as the explosion enveloped him.

After a moment, Dosu stumbled backwards out of the dirty cloud of smoke. The amplifier on his arm was badly damaged, twisted and broken, and Dosu was holding a hand to one ear, glaring at Sasuke murderously.

Sasuke smirked at him, apparently more than pleased with himself. "If that amplifier is your most dangerous weapon, all I have to do is destroy it." Dosu spat angrily at the boy, dropping his bloody arm to his side and glaring at the younger genin. "Damn brat!"

Behind her Narumi heard Kakashi-sensei mutter. "Well done. Those Oto-nin are arrogant. They rely to heavily on their sound manipulation abilities. Once that is taken away, they're virtually helpless." Narumi lit up, punching the air and whooping triumphantly. "Kick his butt, Teme!"

Down in the arena, Sasuke was doing just that. Dosu was agile, but his speed, strength, and technique were under-developed. His style of movement specialized in dodging, and wide swinging attacks that would bring his arm in range for the use of his sound techniques. Without those, he could not hit Sasuke.

Sasuke spun around him, obviously superior despite Dosu's greater size, and the pain of the mark on Sasuke's shoulder. The Uchiha smirked at his opponent, slamming a solid back-fist into the side of the Oto-nins head, and knocking him sideways. Dosu grunted, turning the stumble into a hopping twist that brought him back around to face the boy.

Sasuke frowned, glaring at the Oto-nin, and hesitating, his body stiffening for a moment. Narumi was a bit confused, and glanced at Saburo questioningly. From the look on his face, he knew what was up. However she doubted that either boy would tell her.

Sasuke's hesitation lasted only a second. After that, he pulled himself together, and sprinted towards Dosu, engaging the man in a taijutsu battle of ever increasing speed. Dosu stumbled back, doing his best to block the attacks, and striking clumsily at Sasuke. The Uchiha spun lightly around his opponent, delivering punishing blows all across the older mans body, and easily dodging the wide swinging motions of his strikes.

Then Sasuke crouched suddenly as Dosu's fist shot over his head. Smirking up at the other man, he murmured softly to him. "You know, I've had just about enough of you." With those words, he launched himself up, driving a savage punch into Dosu's throat. Dosu choked, eyes widening, and there was a long silence as Sasuke darted back out of range.

Dosu appeared frozen, glaring in frustration at Sasuke. He choked again, and dark red spots began to spread across the bandages covering his mouth. Clutching at his throat, he stumbled to his knees. Sasuke smirked at him again. "Had enough yet, Oto?"

Dosu growled, and uttered a few mangled noises, before surging back to his feet. Sasuke rolled his eyes and lifted his hands, voice cool. "Have it your way." Flashing through a familiar sequence of signs, he launched a Katon at Dosu.

The Oto-nin made a garbled noise in his throat, and then scrambled out of the way. As he did, Sasuke appeared behind him, holding the tip of a kunai to the weak point between his spine and skull. Narumi stared, eyes wide. Sasuke was serious about killing this guy.

Sasuke glared at the back of Dosu's head, and his arm tensed, as if he were about to do something. Before he could, Hayate called out sharply. "Match! Winner, Sasuke Uchiha."

There was a long moment of silence. Then Sasuke snorted and lowered his kunai, backing away from Dosu without taking his eyes off the Oto-nin. Iryou-nin came over to the Oto-nin, checking over his arm and throat worriedly, as Sasuke climbed the steps to join his teammates on the balcony.

As Sasuke started to climb the steps, Narumi blinked away her surprise, and whooped excitedly. "Alright, teme! Way to go!" Saburo shook himself, grinned, and cheered enthusiastically. As Sasuke reached them, he stumbled a bit, and started to fall.

Kakashi reached out a hand, and gripped his shoulder, subtly keeping him on his feet as he looked his student up and down. "Maa, you did okay." Sasuke straightened and smirked a bit. Kakashi looked him over a minute longer, frowning slightly. Then he guided him over to the wall. "Sit down a while and rest, Sasuke."

Sasuke gritted his teeth, and nodded once, sitting heavily against the wall. Narumi frowned slightly when the Uchiha unconsciously lifted a hand to grip the side of his neck where the odd mark lay. Kakashi eyed the movement, and spoke in a quiet voice that only the three of them could hear. "Give it a minute, and then we're going to go seal up that curse seal."

Sasuke started, jerking his head back to stare up at Kakashi. "Not yet! I want to see the preliminary matches!" Kakashi shook his head firmly. "No. You can stay for this next match, but after that we're leaving. That's an order." Narumi watched Sasuke grit his teeth in frustration, and shifted uncomfortably.

The tense atmosphere was broken when Kakashi-sensei turned back to the arena. "Well then. I wonder who'll be next." Narumi spun around, focused on the flashing screen, a wide grin splitting her face. "Me next, me next!"

Hayate coughed into his fist, and then lifted his dull eyes to the genin teams leaning on the railings above him. "Now, for the next match." There was a suspenseful moment as the yellow characters continued to flash across the screen. Then it came to a stop. Hayate eyed the result, before calling out.

"Inori Yamanaka, and Kin of Otogakure, please come down to the arena."

Narumi folded her arms and hissed in disappointment that her name hadn't been called. Down the balcony, Inori leaned back, rubbing at his shoulder and sighing. "Man. I don't want to get on a beautiful girls bad side..." Shika rolled her eyes and shoved Inori toward the stairs. "Get going already." Inori frowned over his shoulder at her as he headed for the stairs, dodging the other genin. "Shika-chaaan! You don't have to be so cruel!"

Inori glanced out at the arena, muttering under his breath as he drew even with Narumi and Saburo. "I wonder who 'Kin' is...?" Saburo turned to his friend and opened his mouth to speak. Right at that moment, Kin reached the floor, and sauntered up to stand in front of Hayate. Inori's eyes widened slightly. Then, ignoring the stairs, he stepped forward, braced a hand on the railing, and vaulted over it.

Narumi and Saburo stared after him, surprised by the sudden movement. Inori walked over to stand opposite the dark haired woman, arms crossed over his chest. "Hey, Kin wasn't it? Man, and I really didn't want to fight a girl." Kin cocked her head back, bracing a hand on her hip and smirking at him. "Well then, I'll just have to end the fight quickly, won't I?"

Hayate raised a hand, and sliced it sharply downwards. "Second match, Inori vs. Kin. Begin!" Inori surged forward, striking out at Kin with a solid right hook. Kin ducked beneath his arm, and launched herself forward and up, whipping her body around into a round house kick aimed at Inori's head. The blond boy dodged it, swaying back out of her range, and falling into a taijutsu stance as she used the momentum of the kick to turn entirely around to face him again.

Inori launched a quick punch at her midsection before she could attack again, and Kin caught it with a swift side block, striking at the side of his neck with a knife hand blow. Inori swayed to the side, avoiding her hand, and reaching up sharply to catch her wrist in an iron grip.

Quickly, he stepped in, launching to sharp jabs to Kin's stomach while she was unable to guard. Kin gritted her teeth, choking slightly, and then bent her knees, launching her fist straight up and throwing the power of the move against Inori's thumb, the weak point in the grip.

Inori swore quietly under his breath as Kin broke free of him and sprang back and away, somersaulting through the air. As she dodged sharply backwards, a smug smirk still on her face, Kin launched three senbon at Inori.

The blonde boy yelped and dropped into a crouch, allowing the three senbon to cut through the air above him where his throat had been a moment before. Then he stopped to peer over his shoulder at the bell be-decked senbon protruding from the wall behind him. He whistled, turning back to the smirking Kin.

"Dang, even your weapons are pretty." Kin lifted more senbon, and Narumi grimaced as her mind presented her with a memory of Haku going through the same movement. Shika suddenly cried out sharply. "Inori-kun! Don't trust the bells!" Narumi blinked. 'What the heck? What 'trust the bells'?' Kin launched the senbon, and Inori dodged them easily, swaying back and forth with a relaxed look on his face. "Whoa, gotta be careful."

The sound of jingling bells rang out from behind the boy, and Inori automatically turned, body tensed to dodge again. Instead of an attack, all he found where the bells attached to the senbon in the wall jingling slightly. Narumi's eyes widened as she spotted the light reflecting off a wire leading from Kin's hand to the bells. While Inori was distracted, she launched another two senbon.

Inori whipped back around, managing to turn his body enough that the senbon buried themselves in the side of his shoulder rather than his chest. Shika dropped her face into her hand with a deep sigh. "Maa! And I just told you too!"

Inori squinted one eye closed, and yanked the senbon out with a grunt. "Damn, that hurt Onee-chan. But I won't fall for it again." Kin smirked wider at him. "You don't need to." With a flick of her wrist, she set the bells to jingling again. Narumi frowned in confusion as Inori's eyes suddenly widened. He wavered for a moment, and then crashed to his knees.

"What the...?" Kin giggled at him, her voice sickeningly sweet and girlish. "All those who listen to the bells become like that. These are special bells you see. Their vibrations directly effect the eardrum, ear canal, and the brain. They show you illusions, and weaken your body."

Inori gritted his teeth and tried to cover his ears, his forelock falling over his face and shadowing his eyes. Kin cocked a hip, bracing a hand arrogantly against it as she smirked cooly down at her opponent. "That's useless. You can't shut out the sound of my bells."

Narumi growled, gripping the railing tightly and yelling down angrily. "Oi! That's not fair, you can't do that to Inori-baka!" Saburo gripped her shoulder tightly, locking his jaw and shaking his head at her.

Inori squinted up at Kin, eyes flickering to either side of her as he dropped his hands and muttered to himself. "Kuso...which is the real one?" Kin giggled again, voice cruel and playful at the same time. "You can't even move at all, can you? How do you think you're going to attack me like this?" Kin lifted a fist, with three gleaming senbon clamped between her fingers as her other hand continued to manipulate the wires controlling the bells. "Now, I'll just tenderize you slowly." With that, she flung the senbon at him.

Inori's voice was tight when he spoke. "Don't you think you're underestimating me just a bit too much?" Lifting one arm, he caught the three senbon in his arm. Flinching, he set his jaw against the pain, and then his hand went to his weapon holster. Pulling out a kunai, he slashed to either side of him. The cut wires went slack, and the constant ringing of the bells suddenly stopped.

Kin frowned at him, slightly put out, but not alarmed as Inori's eyes focused on her.

"Maa, what a bad boy. But it doesn't matter. Even if you've escaped my illusion, you still won't be able to move for a while yet. First I'll throw five senbon. Then seven. And I'll just keep going until you look like a pretty blonde hedgehog. That will be your punishment."

Inori lifted an eyebrow. "Look, no matter how much of a kinky chick you are, that is SO not my thing." Kin's smirk dropped, and she glared at him. "Huh, you sure talk big, but you can't do a damn thing." Inori smirked, and lifted his hands into a strange, circular hand sign. "True, I can't move. But that doesn't mean I can't attack you."

Kin narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Wha-?" She was already too late. Inori's eyes hardened, and he spoke in a cool voice. "Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Inori's body suddenly went limp, and he collapsed hard on his side, apparently unconscious. Narumi leaned forward, horrified. "Oi! Inori-baka!"

Kakashi-sensei's voice suddenly rang out from behind her. "It's alright, Narumi. Inori is perfectly fine. And he's just won this match." Saburo and Narumi both glanced at the silver haired jounin, stunned. Then they looked back to the arena.

Kin was standing, head dropped forward, shoulders slumped. Her fingers twitched, and she slowly lifted her head. There was something odd about her as she looked around, and shifted around, not looking at Inori at all.

Then she looked down at herself, smoothing her hands down her sides, and whistling. "Wow. This Kin girl's got a nice body!" Narumi's eyes about bugged out of her head. "I-Inori-baka?" Shika dropped her face into her hand, shoulders heaving in an exaggerated sigh. "Mou, you're so..."

Beside Narumi, Saburo was furrowing his brows in confusion. "Wait a...how did..." Kakashi lifted an eyebrow in surprise. "Excellent use of the mind transfer technique." Narumi twisted around to stare up at her sensei. "Mind transfer...?" Saburo's brows were furrowed. "So that means, right now, Inori..."

Kakashi turned to them, voice calm. "Yes. Right now, Inori has complete control of Kin's body. It's a Yamanaka clan jutsu." Narumi's eyes widened, and she turned back to the arena. Kin tilted her head back, Inori's relaxed smirk spreading across her face as she lifted one hand.

"Oi, proctor-san!" Hayate looked over at her. "I, Kin of Otogakure, admit defeat." There was a long silence. Zaku suddenly shouted angrily from his place in the viewing balcony. "Oi, Kin! What the hell?" Kin shrugged, eyeing Zaku with a distinctly unimpressed gaze. "Not very bright, are you, Oto?" While Zaku spluttered, Inori turned Kin's body towards Hayate. "So?"

Hayate blinked, and cleared his throat. "Well then. Inori Yamanka is the winner." Kin whooped, and brought her hands together. "Kai." Her body suddenly blazed blue, and the energy surged out of her body, arching through the air to strike Inori squarely in the chest.

The blonde genin's body absorbed the energy, and Kin collapsed, panting and wide eyed, to the floor. Inori sat up slowly, rubbing the side of his head. "Sheesh, that hurt." Shoving himself to his feet, he tucked a hand in his pocket and nodded to the girl with a wicked smirk. "Later, wench."

With that, he strolled over to the stairs leading back up to the balcony where the rest of the Konoha genin stood, and made his way back up to the platform. Kin gritted her teeth, fists tight enough that her nails drew blood. Stiffly she stood, and stalked over to the far wall, bounding up to the viewing balcony without even bothering with the stairs. Her shoulders were tense with anger, and she continually shot glares over her shoulder at Inori.

When Inori passed them, he clapped Saburo on the shoulder as he went. "Oi, don't lose your fight, Idiot." Saburo snorted and turned deliberately away. Narumi looked back and forth between them in confusion as Inori headed back to his own team. Kakashi-sensei reached out and ruffled her hair with a smile. "Don't mind it, Narumi. Rivalry is a mysterious thing."

Narumi furrowed her brow for a minute, and then shrugged and turned back to the arena, eyes on the screen that was once again flashing with names. Excitedly, she started bouncing on her heels. "Me, me! Come on, pick me!" Just down the balcony, she could hear Lee repeating a similar chant.

Kakashi turned and gestured to Sasuke. "Come on. Let's get going." Narumi looked back over her shoulder, going quiet for a minute. Sasuke muttered under his breath at her as he stood. "What are you looking at, Dobe?" Instantly, she turned back around with a huff. "Get lost, Teme." Kakashi chuckled, shook his head, and then he and Sasuke disappeared with a puff of smoke.

She threw up her hands in frustration when the names came up. Lee's shoulders sagged with disappointment as well. Saburo rolled his eyes and nudged her arm with his elbow. "Don't look so upset. You'll get your turn to join the beat-down soon enough." Frowning, he glanced back at the space formerly occupied by their sensei and teammate. "You think Sasuke'll be alright?"

Narumi snorted, watching as Hayate stepped up to call the new fighters forward. "'Course. It's Sasuke-teme after all. He's too much of a bastard to die." With a final firm nod, she focused on the fight in front of her.

Hayate coughed, eyes lifting to the balconies. "Tenma of Konohagakure, and Kankuro of Sunagakure, please come forward." Tenma calmly walked down the stairs and headed out to stand in front of Hayate. Narumi looked across the room, and Saw Kankuro grin cockily before starting down the stairs.

Teruyoshi was watching him go with a serious face, eyes half closed in contemplation. When she glanced at him, he looked up and caught her gaze. Very slowly, the corner of his mouth quirked up, and he winked at her. Huffing, Narumi rolled her eyes, and focused on Kankuro and Tenma, who were facing each other down in the arena.

Kankuro grinned, shrugging off the large object on his back, and planting his hand firmly in it's hair to hold it upright beside him. With a cocky smirk at Tenma, he spoke. "I'll finish this quickly." Tenma's brown eyes narrowed, and the chinese boy eyed the foreign shinobi, a small, confident smile spreading across his face. "Like I'd let that happen."

Lee whooped excitedly, waving his arms wildly in the air. "You can do it, Tenma! Use the power of your youth!" Down below them, Hayate looked back and forth between the two genin, and lifted his hand. "Third match, start!"

Tenma leaped backward, creating space between them, eyes intent on the other boy. Kankuro chuckled. "Hey, hey. Don't be running away already. I haven't even done anything yet." Tenma's eyes narrowed. "Who's running?"

Tenma leaped high into the air, brow furrowing in concentration as he sent a wave of shuriken spinning through the air towards Kankuro. The weapons connected solidly, found burying themselves in vital areas in his chest, while another two drove into the space between his eyes. Kankuro's body jerked and twitched, a choked sound of pain issuing out of him.

Everyone stiffened, and Tenma landed lightly in a half crouch, frowning slightly at the figure of the suna-nin. "Did I get him?" There was a long silence, and then pieces of Kankuro's face began to crack around the weapons embedded in his forehead, flaking away.

Narumi's eyes widened, and she took a deep breath. All she could scent from him was weathered wood, sand, and ink. Then Kankuro's face jerked up, teeth chattering as his echoing voice issued from his too wide mouth. Where bits of the facade of his face had flaked away, dry wood was exposed. "Now it's my turn."

The facade of Kankuro suddenly shattered away from the strange wooden figure as it's free arm elongated and shot towards Tenma with the sound of clicking and rattling. Narumi leaned forward, eyes wide in shock and agitation.

Tenma narrowed his eyes, and leapt upwards, throwing two kunai, and pinning the things arm to the floor. As he somersaulted over the thing to land lightly behind it, a hand shot out of the bandage wrapped object the thing still held upright at it's side.

The hand gripped the bandages, and with a swift tug, they unraveled, revealing the real Kankuro. The disgruntled Suna-nin glared, turning to face the chinese boy. Strange blue threads of chakra appeared at his fingertips as he moved his hand oddly. The wooden figure beside him strained, and wrenched its arm free of the kunai, turning and moving forward to stand between him and Tenma.

"Slippery brat, aren't ya?" Kankuro's voice was mocking, still cocky. Tenma snorted, eyeing his opponent calmly.

"You're one to talk." Narumi frowned down at the two of them, confused.

"I don't get it. What is that thing?" Saburo gritted his teeth, eyes intent on the fight below them.

"It's a puppet. Kankuro must be a puppet master. He uses his chakra to manipulate the puppet to do the fighting for him."

Narumi glared indignantly down at the boy in black. "But that's not fair! It's two against one!" Saburo shrugged, face grim.

"Not really. The puppet is just a ninja tool. More sophisticated than a kunai, but same basic principle."

Narumi gritted her teeth and fumed. Meanwhile, Tenma was eyeing Kankuro carefully as he pulled out a scroll. Kankuro twitched his fingers and the puppet lifted a hand, extending it palm outward towards the chinese boy. The Suna-nin smirked.

"It's no use. Nothing you try is going to work." The hand suddenly launched towards Tenma, flipping around to reveal that a large blade had been hidden within the arm. Tenma's lips slowly curled into a smile, and he flicked the scroll open, touching a symbol gently.

A sickle appeared with a burst of smoke, and Tenma snatched it cooly as the blade hurtled towards him.

"Fool. If it's a battle of weapons you want, you'll find yourself sadly outclassed."

Swaying gently to the side, he avoided the blade, allowing it to sail past him, his hair moving gently in the wind of it's passing. Kankuro glared, shouting at Tenma as he moved his hand.

"Idiot. Don't think I can't control it just because it's detached from Crow." The blade suddenly swung around in midair, and came hurtling towards the back of Tenma's head. Narumi leaned so far over the rail in her agitation that Saburo had to catch the back of her coat to keep her balanced.

"Oi! Tenma, watch out!" At the last moment, Tenma stepped smoothly to the side. As he did, he lifted the sickle, extending it straight out from his side. As The blade passed him, he swept the sickle back in towards him, catching the puppets hand in the crook of his weapon, and pulling it sideways. With a quick twist and a circular swing of the sickle, he flung the hand to the ground, dropped to one knee above it, spun the sickle, and sank it's blade through the dead center of the wooden palm, burying the blade deep in the floor beneath it.

There was a short moment of stunned silence at the display of weapons skill as Tenma rose smoothly from the floor, eyes half hooded as he looked at Kankuro. The Suna-nin gritted his teeth, and motioned several times with his hand. The bladed puppet hand on the floor twitched and jerked, but remained firmly pinned by the gleaming sickle.

Kankuro growled, and flipped his hand around again. The puppet raised it's four arms, the three remaining hands pointing towards Tenma palm outward.

"I'll crush you, damned brat!" Tenma merely stood in a relaxed, ready pose lifting a single scroll in front of him with lazy confidence.

"Bring it on." Narumi pumped her fist into the air, cheering. Not far from her, Rock Lee was going ballistic with joy. Kankuro snarled, and launched all three hands, the wrist blades gleaming in the bright lights of the arena.

Tenma whipped his hand to the side, allowing the scroll to unroll a bit, it's tail circling and looping gracefully through the air around him as he launched himself into a smooth taijutsu dance. Leaning and turning, keeping his movements controlled and circular, he dodged and spun around the three puppet blades.

With one hand, he manipulated the scroll, that continued to twist around him, fluttering through the air. With the other, he would gently brush his fingers across a symbol, causing a weapon to appear. The first time, it was a long, heavy bladed kunai with a crosspiece near the hilt. He used that to pin one of the hands to the ground, ramming the blade so deeply through the palm and into the floor that the crosspiece was tightly pressed against the wooden surface of the twitching appendage.

The second time, it was a small mace that he used to completely demolish the other two blades. Though his swings seemed almost gentle, when they connected, the puppet body parts nearly exploded into splinters. The whole time, he kept up that easy dodging dance, his hair fluttering around him, eyes half closed with concentration and easy familiarity.

Narumi stared, mouth agape, at the chinese boy coming slowly to a careful halt as he slammed the mace down on the last fragments of a twitching finger from the last demolished hand. Releasing the handle, Tenma lifted his eyes to his opponent, and arched an eyebrow.

Kankuro practically howled in fury. With a rough jerk of his arm, the handless puppet beside him flew across the arena towards Tenma, jagged teeth chattering ominously. The Konoha genin narrowed his eyes, and sprang high into the air, scroll whipping around him as he used it to send a barrage of weapons at the puppet.

Kankuro smirked, though sweat was beginning to bead at his temples. His fingers twitched just a bit, and the puppet lifted it's arms. Four smoke bombs shot from the arms that were now little more than hollow, open ended tubes, and suddenly thick gray smoke exploded out from the puppet, flooding the entire arena with the roiling stuff. Tenma's eyes widened, and he flung up his arms in a cross guard in front of his face as he fell back towards the arena floor, plummeting into the smoke.

Narumi held a hand to her nose, eyes watering at the scent as she peered down into the arena. Hayate leapt up and back, landing lightly on the tips of the fingers of the giant hands on the back wall. Those on the viewing platform were able to see the contestants, but those in the smoke could not see each other.

Narumi's eyes widened as she spotted Kankuro guiding his puppet to circle around behind Tenma, who was standing stock still. The chinese boy was squinting blindly into the smoke around him, unaware of the impending danger. With a muttered curse, he suddenly pulled out a scroll, and flung weapons in all directions.

The kunai cut through the smoke, two of them burying themselves in the puppets chest, while Kankuro ducked to avoid the rest. The suna-nin chuckled, his voice shifting oddly in the smoke.

"Attacking blind? Are you really that pathetic, brat?" Tenma made no answer. The puppet moved a bit closer, and opened its mouth, allowing two senbon to issue forth. Tenma heard the movement, and spun, only to catch the long needles in his left shoulder.

The Konoha genin grunted in pain, taking a step back, and reaching up to yank the things out. Kankuro chuckled, and sent the puppet hurtling towards Tenma through the smoke.

"You're finished, brat."

Tenma gritted his teeth, pulling out a new scroll from his weapon pouch. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he unfurled it, and brought out a new weapon. This time, what appeared in his hand was a long staff. He turned his head in the direction of the oncoming puppet, and a small fierce smile spread across his face.

"Don't count on it."

WIth a sharp movement, he gripped the staff in both hands, and whipped it to the side, using the end to strike out at the puppet, sending it crashing to the side.

"And while we're at it...we're the same age, fool."

Kankuro fell silent, glaring through the slowly clearing smoke, and maneuvering his puppet back to its feet. Tenma didn't wait. Swinging the staff around so that he was holding it diagonally across his back with one hand, he brought the other around to hover in a knife hand in front of his face, and sprinted through the smoke towards the puppet.

When he reached it, he jumped into the air, spinning around and kicking out at it with his foot. Kankuro swore, and the puppet turned it's head, its arms extending and wrapping around Tenma's leg.

Narumi yelped as the things ribcage cracked open, and it attempted to drag the airborne shinobi into the cavity. Tenma however, remained calm, whipping the staff around, and striking two handed at a joint in the elongated arms. The staff crushed the joints, and separated the puppet from those two arms, causing the wood to go slack.

Continuing the circular motion of the staff, Tenma brought it all the way around his head with a deft spin, planted the end on the puppets shoulder, and used it to swing his body over the thing and past the danger of the open ribcage.

Landing lightly behind the puppet, he spun around flung a kunai at the puppet. The kunai sank into the back wall of the cavity, just before the opening snapped closed, and Tenma was forced to leap back to avoid a large blade that had sprung from the elbow joint of one of the two arms he hadn't destroyed.

Once he was out of range, Tenma lifted one hand into a simple concentration seal in front of him. The moment he did, the puppet's ribcage exploded, fragments scattering in all directions. Kankuro swore, crying out from his place hidden in the smoke.

"Kuso! What did you do?" Tenma shrugged, eyes hooded and stance easy, staff still held at the ready behind him.

"Attaching an exploding tag with a remote detonation seal to a kunai is a simple matter."

Kankuro growled irately at the other boy, slowly backing up and moving to the side, taking up a new position.

"Bet you think you've got me now. But I've still got some surprises for you."

Suddenly, the puppets head flew up into the air from where it had fallen to the floor, its teeth chattering as vigorously as ever. Opening its mouth, it revealed an enormous senbon jutting forth from between it's teeth, and sailed directly at Tenma.

Tenma spun his staff over his head, and just as the puppets head came within range, dropped into a sideways combat crouch, one leg extended towards it, and brought his staff down on it with a resounding crack. The staff smashed the chattering head to the floor, crushing it badly.

Before Kankuro could react, Tenma sprang forward, dashing through the smoke. Kankuro had already backed out of the dissipating smoke, and was in a clear space when Tenma leapt out of the cloud, smoke trailing from his hair and staff as he shot towards Kankuro. Kankuro's eyes widened, and Tenma grinned up at him predatorily.

Then, he whipped the staff around in a lightning fast spin, and planted the tip of the weapon in Kankuro's chest, using the force of his leap to shove the other shinobi to sprawl across the floor on his back. Tenma landed astride Kankuro in a combat crouch, leaning over him with the pole held in a two handed grip, its base resting gently on Kankuro's throat.

Hayate coughed, voice as flat as ever. "Winner, Tenma."

Narumi whooped excitedly. Lee went ballistic, bolting down the balcony to snatch Narumi's hands and whirl her around excitedly. The two of them spun excitedly, before turning back to the arena and pumping their fists, cheering in excitement.

"That was awesome!"

"A most youthful victory, Tenma!"

Tenma grinned, pleased with himself, and backed away from his opponent, re-storing his staff in his scroll, and tucking the scroll back into his weapon pouch. With a nod to the proctor, he walked calmly back to the stairs.

Kankuro lay still on the floor for a while, and then smashed his fist down beside him angrily. Then he slowly climbed to his feet, and walked wearily over to the remains of his puppet as the last of the thinning smoke cleared away. Hayate coughed into his fist, and then addressed the angry genin.

"Please return to the balcony. We will collect what is left of the puppet, and return it to you after the preliminary matches have come to an end."

Kankuro snorted, and glared at the man. He looked about to object, but then his youngest brother, Gaara, called out to him in a dangerous voice.

"Kankuro. Leave it. Get back up here, and stop embarrassing us."

Kankuro didn't look any happier, but he nodded once, and stalked angrily back towards the stairs that led up to the balcony where his brothers and sensei waited.

Narumi snorted and turned the other way, excitedly bouncing as Tenma rejoined his team. Lee and Gai were both spouting about the youthfulness of the fight, and Nobuye was leaning against the wall, apparently ignoring the whole spectacle. Saburo was eyeing Tenma in surprise.

"Huh. He's a lot stronger than he looks..." Narumi shrugged, still quite pleased with the outcome of the fight.

"I think everyone on Lee's team is strong." Saburo hummed quietly, green eyes thoughtful. Narumi squinted up at him, frowning slightly.

"Oi, oi! Why are you making a face like that?" Saburo shifted his attention to her, and then shook his head in exasperation.

"Never mind. Come on, they'll be declaring the next match soon." The rosette moved back to the railing, looking up at the flashing screen as the last remnants of Kankuro's puppet were cleared away. Narumi followed him with an indignant huff. She was about to say something to him, when she saw his shoulders stiffen.

She followed his gaze up to the screen, and caught sight of what had frozen him. Down below, Hayate took a long look at the screen, and then coughed into his fist, turning back to the balconies.

"Saburo Haruno, and Misumi of Konohagakure, please step up."

Narumi and Saburo glanced at each other. She frowned over at the other balcony, where one of Kabuto's teammates was making his way to the arena floor. She punched Saburo lightly in the shoulder, and grinned at him.

"Beat him up, Saburo-kun!"

Saburo squared his shoulders, and flashed her a small smile. Then he headed down to the arena.

Misumi met him in front of Hayate, his eyes narrowed and his voice cruelly amused.

"I'm afraid this is as far as you go, boy."

Saburo tightened his jaw, green eyes snapping fire at the other Konoha-nin.

"Not a chance, old man."

Hayate coughed again, and then slashed through the air and stepped back.

"Begin!"

Misumi shot towards Saburo with a loud cry, lashing out with a strong backhand that Saburo barely managed to block.

"Victory goes to the swiftest!"

Saburo snorted and disengaged swiftly, bringing his free arm up and throwing a haymaker at Misumi's jaw. The older genin ducked, and struck out again, this time with a left hook. When Saburo blocked, Misumi's body suddenly changed, becoming snake-like, and flowing forward to twist around Saburo's body.

Saburo yelped in shock as he found himself locked in position, unable to move as he struggled against the iron grip of the strange shinobi. Narumi smelled his scent spike with adrenaline and alarm, and realized that the situation must be reminding him of the battle against Orochimaru.

Misumi's torso as wrapped around Saburo's, one arm snaked around his shoulders while the other was wound around his dominant arm. Saburo had grabbed a coil of Misumi's body to hold it away from his throat as the other shinobis head hovered just behind his shoulder.

Cursing, Narumi tightened her grip on the railing until her knuckles whitened, and she glared venomously at her teammates dark opponent. Wildly, she wondered what was taking Kakashi-sensei so long. He should be here. Her own alarm grew as pain entered Saburo's scent, and she saw Misumi's grip tightening on the rosettes still healing torso.

"Saburo-kun!"

Misumi chuckled, and hissed at Saburo triumphantly.

"I'm capable of dislocating my joints and softening my body, controlling its movements with chakra. You can't escape me now!"

Saburo's eyes widened, sweat beading at his temples as his muscles bulged and strained with the effort of struggling against his opponent. Misumi seemed cruelly amused by the boys continuing efforts, and his tone darkened.

"It's no use. Like this, I can strangle you, or squeeze you until all your bones are crushed. And that's exactly what I'll do if you don't surrender right now." Saburo's lips quirked up into a strained smirk, and his green eyes flashed over his shoulder at the older genin.

"Never."

Narumi felt pride in her teammate swell her chest, and she leaned precariously forward against the railing. Kira had wandered up behind her, and was eyeing the fight below with a serious expression.

"Pinkie might as well give up now. Trying to look cool like that isn't gonna help him at this point."

Narumi whipped her head around, eyes narrowed, and growled dangerously at Kira. Her instincts flared as the two of them locked gazes. Sometimes, their more animalistic instincts came to the surface, resulting in a quick struggle for dominance. Narumi had never lost one of these small battles yet, and this time was no different. Kira dropped her head slightly in apology as Narumi gritted her teeth. Both of them looked back to the arena as Misumi's frustrated voice echoed Kira's earlier sentiment.

"Brat! Do you want to die?"

Saburo snorted and looked pointedly ahead, ignoring the threat. Misumi's eyes became angry, and he tightened his grip on the younger genin, following through on his promise to crush him. Saburo's face whitened, and he locked his jaw tightly as the still delicate ribs he had fractured in the forest of death gave under the pressure with sickening cracking sounds.

Narumi tightened her grip on the railing again, noting out of the corner of her eye that Kira, Shika, Hirohito, and a few other genin looked a bit green at the sound. A trickle of blood dripped from the corner of Saburo's mouth across his chin, its scent sharp and coppery, and Narumi realized that Saburo must have bitten his cheek.

Saburo raised his free arm, and smashed his fist down on a section of Misumi's strange body that was wrapped around his lower ribs with a grunt of effort. Misumi's face twisted oddly, and he cried out in pain, the coils of his body around the younger boys torso going limp and hanging loosely off the rosettes frame.

Saburo sucked in a deep, grateful breath, flinched, and then raised his fist again, bringing it crashing down on a coil wrapped around his thigh. The coils wrapped around one of his legs went limp, and Misumi screamed.

Quickly, the other genin released his captive, and slithered off across the floor, before his body returned to normal. He laid back on the floor, propped up on his elbows with a pained expression on his face as he peered down at himself. One leg flopped useless against the floor, and he was obviously using purely arm and shoulder muscles to hold himself up, his core muscles completely flaccid.

"What...what have you done to me?"

Saburo hissed, pressing his shoulders back, and wincing as he wrapped an arm around his torso, his face still drained of color despite his triumphant smirk at the other genin.

"Attacked your muscles and chakra coils. Not sure how actually, but it seems to be working."

Misumi tried to shove himself up, but was unable to rise or get his good leg properly beneath him, as he was unable to hold up his torso on his own. With a frustrated grunt, he began flashing through hand signs. Saburo moved towards him, fist cocked back as he attacked. Misumi completed the jutsu just as Saburo reached him.

"Suihachi!"

A powerful stream of water rocketed from the palm of Mismumi's outstretched hand, and struck Saburo hard in the chest, blasting him off his feet, across the room, and slamming him hard into the wall behind him. Saburo cried out in pain, a spatter of blood flying from his lips, before sliding heavily to the ground as the water trickled away.

Misumi was propping himself up on one elbow, running a hand down his chest and obviously trying to think of a way to fight when he couldn't move his torso. After a moment, he narrowed his eyes, and returned to his more serpentine state, sliding eerily across the floor towards Saburo, dragging the limp sections of his body.

Saburo appeared to be dazed, and didn't seem to notice the enemy oncoming. Narumi and Inori were both hanging over the railing, roaring at the rosette at the top of their lungs.

"Saburo-kun! Get up! Don't let him get you!"

"Idiot! Are you gonna sleep through your battle?"

However the cries seemed to have no effect, and Misumi chortled as he neared his prey, reaching for the apparently defenseless boy. Saburo's head snapped up, and he grinned ferociously at his opponent. Bracing one hand on the floor, he shot his right leg out, smashing his foot hard into Misumi's face.

Misumi grunted in surprise, his nose breaking with a spray of blood as his body snapped back to normal, and somersaulted awkwardly backwards before coming to a limp stop. Saburo was breathing hard, but looked grimly triumphant. After a moment,

Hayate came over to check on Misumi. He crouched beside the older genin for a moment, and then stood and coughed.

"Winner, Haruno Saburo."

Narumi whooped and launched herself over the railing, streaking across the arena to her downed teammate. Once she reached him, she clutched his shoulders to help him stay up right and grinned wildly at him.

"Way to go, Saburo-kun! That was awesome!"

Inori was right behind her, speaking in a lazy drawl despite the excitement and concern she could smell in his scent.

"What took you so long, moron?"

Saburo snorted and ignored his best friend, instead giving Narumi a slight smile as the iryou-nin squad advanced across the arena towards them. She ran her eyes over the way he was careful not to jar his ribs, the paleness of his face, and the stark red of the drying blood on his chin. Anxiety flooded her as she realized that he was hurt badly.

The iryou-nin squad had split in half, with two of them examining Musumi, and carrying him out on a stretcher. The other two came to look over Saburo, pushing Narumi and Inori both out of the way. Both blondes hovered anxiously around the little group as the iryou-nin murmured quietly to Saburo, running their hands over his ribs. After a minute, they helped him lie down on a stretcher. One of them rose and looked around at the two genin behind him.

"Where is the boy's jounin-sensei?"

Narumi frowned uncertainly, wondering what they wanted Kakashi-sensei for. Stepping forward, she braced her hands on her hips and squinted suspiciously up at the iryou-nin.

"Kakashi-sensei's with our other teammate right now. He's not here."

The iryou-nin glanced back at Saburo, and then looked down at her. After a half a second of hesitation, he drew her away a bit, and spoke quietly to her.

"We're going to have to take Haruno-san to the hospital. I don't know who will be available to answer questions if and when your sensei is free to come, so I'd like you to pass him a message about Haruno-san's condition."

Narumi swallowed hard, and nodded firmly, worried now that both her teammates were going to end up in trouble.

"It looks like Haruno-sans ribs were fractured very recently, and healed up just before the preliminary matches...?"

Narumi nodded, her throat dry as she recalled and repeated what they had been told by the iryou-nin who had checked them out after they'd arrived at the tower.

"Yeah, he did, during the second exam. He got healed up a couple days ago though, when we first came in."

The iryou-nin nodded and sighed, his voice low as he gave her the message.

"I thought so. The problem is, that Haruno-sans ribs were not completely returned to normal. They were still fragile. He re-cracked them in an almost identical placement and pattern to the first series of breaks during this fight. The damage was compounded and made more extensive by the suiton jutsu he took to the chest, and we can't re-heal the bones again as was done before without putting a lot of strain on his body. He won't be able to fight in the third exam. I'm sorry."

Narumi stared up at the man, eyes wide. She wanted to tell him that wasn't fair, but he had already turned away and was helping his comrade carry Saburo off. Saburo lifted his head and grinned back at her with a small wave.

"Win, Narumi-chan!"

Then he was gone, and Inori was tugging her back up towards the balcony, and out of the way of the next fight. Narumi shook her head, clearing it of her distracting thoughts. She would worry about this later. For now she had to concentrate. She didn't want to be the only one on the squad to not at least qualify for the third test in the exams. Standing quietly between Inori and Shika, she watched the flashing screen and muttered under her breath.

"Come back soon, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi sighed, rubbing the back of his neck wearily as he climbed the steps leading to the balcony where he'd left Saburo and Narumi. He hoped he hadn't missed their matches, but there was nothing to be done if he had. Sealing Sasuke's curse mark had taken precedence. Anko had warned him, repeatedly and emphatically, of the dangers posed by the mark. It had been all he could do to keep Sasuke from being pulled from the exams entirely.

And on top of everything else, Orochimaru had appeared himself while Kakashi and Sasuke were alone after the sealing. A chill settled in the pit of the jounin's stomach, and he remembered the desperate wave of aggression and determination to protect his student. He'd been sure that the snake sannin had intended to steal the boy away then and there, and he'd been perfectly prepared to give up his life to prevent that. In the end, Orochimaru had withdrawn after stating that Sasuke would come to him of his own free will for the sake of power.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed, and he snarled silently beneath his mask as he ascended the last few steps. 'Not if I can help it, bastard! My students are better than that!'

As he reached the balcony, he lifted his eyes and scanned the groups of genin for his other two students, shoving thoughts of the now hospitalized Sasuke, and the traitorous snake sannin from his mind. His brow furrowed slightly when he caught sight of Narumi's golden head, but couldn't find Saburo. He'd expected to find the protective rosette glued to his more reckless teammates side when he returned.

Suddenly uneasy, he strode down the balcony, nodding to Gai as he passed. His rival nodded, eyes flickering once to Narumi before returning to his own team. Kakashi's shoulders relaxed slightly as he passed the green beast, reminding himself that Gai would never have allowed harm to come to either of his students while he was absent.

Narumi looked up suddenly as he approached, and her face broke into a relieved grin.

"Kakashi-sensei! How's Sasuke-teme?"

Kakashi nodded to her lazily, reaching out to ruffle her hair affectionately as he stopped beside her. It wouldn't do to let her see how strained his nerves were, or how tense he was. He was her jounin-sensei after all, it would only put her at a disadvantage in her battle if she was worrying about how worried he was. Minato-sensei had given him a better example of what a sensei should be than that, and he intended to live up to it.

"He's fine, Narumi. Just resting. What about Saburo? Where's he gone off to?"

Narumi's shoulder tightened, and she glanced around before lowering her voice so that they couldn't be heard by anyone else.

"He had his match while you were gone. He won, but the other guy busted up his ribs again. The medic said to tell you that..."

Her face screwed up, and he could practically see the gears in her head spinning furiously as she worked to remember exactly what the iryou-nin had said.

"...that since he'd already broken his ribs once...and since he broke them again so soon...that it would be hard on his body to heal them again. So he can't...they won't let him into the the third exam, even though he won. It's not fair, Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi felt guilt roil in his stomach, and forced it down. Turning his attention to his distraught student, he sighed and shoved one hand into a pocket.

"I know. But we're shinobi. Our lives are rarely fair. We'll go see Saburo after this, and I'll talk to the iryou-nin."

Narumi brightened, apparently confident that he would be able to fix things with Saburo, and Kakashi looked down to the arena uncomfortably. Seeing such blatant trust in him from one of his students warmed him, but at the same time, it felt wrong. Like he was deceiving the girl. She should not have had to worry about this. He should have been here for Saburo's battle, and it should have been him who heard this directly from the iryou-nin.

Between Sasuke becoming a direct target of Orochimaru, and this new development with Saburo, Kakashi was finding himself more and more on edge. He wondered for a moment if perhaps he should have held his team back for a year, as Gai had done. Then he shoved those thoughts down vigorously. He knew his team, and they were strong. The fact that they'd survived the exams so far proved that.

Turning his thoughts firmly to another path, he realized that the fight that had been going on when he came in had ended. Hayate had just declared Shika Nara the winner, and she was lazily ambling after an infuriated Inuzuka girl, who was slamming frustratedly up the stairs with a thunderous expression. Curiously, he addressed his student.

"So what have I missed?"

Narumi's eyes were intent on the relaxed form of the Nara girl who was climbing up to the balcony with the same deliberation she showed everything, and easily rejoined her team, hands resting on her hips after sliding down the sides of her legs fruitlessly in search of pockets.

"After you and Sasuke left, Tenma went up against Kankuro, one of the brothers from Suna. Tenma won, smashed the other guys doll to bits."

Kakashi cocked his head and arched his lone visible eyebrow at his student.

"Doll?"

She nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, his puppet thing. Saburo-kun knows more about it than I do, but it was really sneaky. Like I said though, Tenma won. Then Saburo-kun was called up to fight a guy called Misumi. He could make his body all creepy and snaky like. Said he was controlling it with his chakra."

Kakashi's paranoia sky-rocketed, and for a wild moment, he wondered if Orochimaru could have taken yet another form to attack Saburo as well. He forced himself to relax, reminding himself that at the time, Orochimaru had most likely been threatening Kakashi and Sasuke, and that Saburo had won. There was no way a mere genin could win against Orochimaru, so that meant that this opponent must have just had some odd ability. Though it was quite strange that anyone else should have an ability that could be called snake-like in a chuunin exam that Orochimaru was known to have infiltrated. Actually, it was quite suspicious. Mentally, he made a note to inform the Hokage, and then turned his attention back to his student.

"Saburo-kun beat him by doing something funny with his chakra, but I'm not sure what. Oh, and he broke his nose."

Pride in her teammate warmed her voice, and her blue eyes were burning with satisfaction. Kakashi snorted slightly, and he allowed himself a moment of amused fondness at the girls warlike response to that particular action. She really was an unusual kunoichi. But then, from what he'd heard, all the kunoichi from her year were unusual, so perhaps it was something unique to this particular academy class.

"Anyway, after that, they called up Hirohito and Nobuye."

Kakashi blinked, startled and intrigued. "The Hyuuga cousins?"

Narumi nodded, and Kakashi whistled slightly, impressed.

"Sorry I missed it."

Narumi shook her head, looking disgruntled.

"Nah, it wasn't all that exciting. It was some kind of boring, chakra taijutsu. Anyway, it was weird, 'cause Hirohito was so nervous and timid he should have been knocked out right away. But Nobuye was holding back, I guess. She wouldn't hit him seriously. When he noticed, he got upset, and started attacking harder. He got in a few good hits on her, and then he got really upset, and started asking why she wouldn't fight properly. So she started going on about fate, and how she was destined to be a branch family member, and had to serve the main family, and blah blah blah."

Narumi made a face at Kakashi, wrinkling her nose and narrowing her eyes. "Point is, she was going easy on him because he was 'destined to rise in the ranks as the heir of the main family'. I got mad, and yelled at her to grow a spine and act like a proper kunoichi. And I guess she really must have been holding back, 'cause she got all startled, and blasted Hirohito across the arena."

Here Narumi shrugged, and Kakashi got the distinct sense that there had been a lot more to the mental aspect of that particular fight than she was letting on. Of course, that was to be expected in a fight between a branch family member, and a member of the main house. He sighed inwardly. Honestly, the Hyuuga's were more than a little unsettling in the way they divided and ranked their clan like that. As far as he knew, even the Uchiha's had never taken the clan hierarchy to such a severe extreme.

"Anyway, after that, Hirohito said something to her, and she got mad. After that, they were both goin' at it like nobodies business. Next thing I know, they've both collapsed. The proctor declared it a draw, because neither of them could move anymore, and they got taken away to the hospital."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows in surprise. That was unusual, and it explained why Gai had seemed distracted when he first came back. He wondered how Hiashi would handle the whole thing. Counting up silently in his head, he realized that that made a total of five examinees so badly injured in their fights that they'd had to be hospitalized. Shooting a glance at the harassed looking iryou squad hovering off to the side in the doorway leading to the arena, he shifted curiously. And to think, these were only the preliminary fights. This batch of genin was really something. Narumi kept speaking, and Kakashi turned his attention back to her.

"After that, Shinako went up against Choji. Ne, Sensei! She can use bugs! Kira says they're inside her body, and they can suck chakra! She used them on Choji, and he collapsed right off. They took him to the hospital too, for chakra exhaustion, though he looks alright to me."

Kakashi shook his head absently at her, and reminded himself that chakra exhaustion was not something Narumi would likely ever have to worry about, with the incredible reserves of chakra granted to her through her Uzumaki heritage augmented by the demonic chakra sealed within her. It was only natural she was less than impressed by the iryou squads assessment of the Akimichi's condition. Narumi continued her recount of the events that had taken place while he had been gone, and he was startled to realize that he had missed the greater part of the preliminary matches. He hadn't thought he'd been gone all that long. But then, a potentially life-threatening confrontation with a bloodthirsty traitor did strange things to your perception of time.

"Shika just finished fighting Kira. Shika outsmarted her, and knocked Akamaru out when they tried to use fang over fang. Even managed to catch Kira with her shadow." Here Narumi chortled. "Kira was really upset. She didn't think Shika could beat her. Shika told her just to be glad that she didn't have her paint Akamaru pink."

Kakashi chuckled under his breath. Genin would be genin. The chuunin on duty had just finished clearing the floor from the last battle, and the screen began flashing through names. Kakashi and Narumi both turned their attention to it, and Kakashi narrowed his eyes. His squad had had quite enough excitement, and he mentally growled a warning at the board about pairing his last remaining student up with anyone too dangerous. Narumi apparently had no such compunctions. She and Rock Lee were both bouncing on their heels chanting excitedly.

"Pick me, Pick me!"

The flashing names came to a stop, and Kakashi tensed slightly. Hayate turned away from the board and called out in his deceptively flat, sickly voice.

"Narumi Uzumaki, and Yoroi of Konohagakure, step up."

Narumi cheered, thrusting her fists triumphantly into the air. "Yes! Finally, my turn!"

Kakashi put a hand on Narumi's small shoulder, and leaned over her for a moment. He wished that he knew more about this Yoroi character so he could give her some advice, but as it was, all he could do was generalize. Still, even if it was a poor excuse for his best, he'd offer it. After all, it wouldn't do to send her into the battle without something.

"Don't let him provoke you. Try and keep a cool head, and play to your strengths." He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "Go get him."

Narumi tossed a grin at him, and Kakashi's eyes softened before he released her shoulder. He really had grown fond of his kids, and he was confident that Narumi was strong enough to make it through this. 'Show me how much you've grown, Narumi.'

Narumi vaulted over the railing, and sailed to the arena floor, dashing over to stand in front of Hayate. Yoroi, a suspicious looking man with a mask and strange sunglasses, walked more slowly and sedately down the stairs from his balcony, before facing her. Kakashi shoved his hands into his pockets, making sure his posture was relaxed as always. The Nara girl, as well as the Inuzuka, had both drifted closer together in front of him to watch the match. He eyed them briefly, and remembered hearing from the Hokage that these two, along with Choji Akimichi, were known to be the only children in the village who would play with Narumi when she was younger. He supposed those friendships were strong enough to continue into their ninja careers, if their attentive postures were anything to go by.

Yoroi stared down at Narumi, his voice arrogant and condescending. "If I were you, I'd quit now little girl. Else you might get hurt." Kakashi bristled at both the threat, and the dismissal. Narumi apparently didn't care for them either, because she glared up at Yoroi, fists tightly clenched. "You're the one who's gonna get hurt, old man."

Hayate slid his eyes back and forth between the small tomboyish blonde, and the tall, menacing adult genin. "Eighth match, begin!"

Yoroi launched towards Narumi with a laugh. Narumi charged him, refusing to back down. The two of them met halfway, and Narumi threw herself into a spinning block, catching Yoroi's blow on her arm, and rolling with it's momentum, allowing herself to whip around and throw a strong kick to the opponents ribs. Yoroi grunted with surprise as she struck, and Kakashi's eyes widened. The bastard was sucking out Narumi's chakra every time they came into contact. A grim, vindictive smile curled across the silver haired jounins face beneath his mask. Yoroi was in for a big surprise. Narumi's reserves were far too large for him to drain, even at this young age. She hadn't even noticed his attempts at it.

The two continued to exchange blows, with Narumi throwing haymakers and vicious kicks in between blocks, and Yoroi doing his best to get a grip on her. But Narumi was not your normal kunoichi. Whenever he managed to grab her wrist, she'd power right through it, yank her arm free, and use the temporary hole in his defense to land a painful blow. Yoroi suddenly dropped to the ground, and used his leg to sweep the girls legs out from under her. Narumi slammed into the floor, grunting as her back struck the unyielding stone surface.

In an instant, Yoroi was on her, one hand wrapped around her throat, and the other tangled in her bangs as he did his best to suck out her chakra. Narumi cursed and struggled, and Yoroi tightened his grip on her throat. Kakashi clenched his fists inside his pockets, and distantly reminded himself that attacking the fool would only result in Narumi's disqualification. But the prospect was a tempting one. While Kakashi was restraining his more violently protective tendencies, Narumi brought her hands up in the cross shaped hand sign that was fast becoming her signature move, and snarled up at the larger and increasingly more bewildered genin.

"Kage Bunshin!"

Another Narumi poofed into being beside the struggling duo on the flop, and slapped a foot into Yoroi's side in a wicked sidekick, causing the older man to fly off the original, a handful of golden strands still caught in his fingers. Narumi rolled to her feet, and sprang up beside her clone. Both figures charged, and then began the most embarrassing beat-down that Kakashi could have wished for.

Gai drifted over to stand next to him, the two of them watching as Narumi landed an impressive haymaker on the confused Yoroi's chin. Gai's clone, Rock Lee, was jumping up and down and cheering enthusiastically for Narumi, going on about the flames of youth and beautiful justice. Distantly, Kakashi wondered how such a perfect copy of Gai had ever been created. After a moment, the green beast spoke to him.

"While her style is rough, the taijutsu is most powerful and impressive, particularly for a kunoichi. Your student is most youthful and hip, my eternal rival!"

Kakashi allowed his visible eye to curve up with his satisfied smile, though he kept his eyes on the whirling orange, gold, and blue ball that was thoroughly trashing the very confused and angry Yoroi.

"That's my girl."

Down in the arena, Yoroi staggered to his feet after being thrown into a wall, and roared.

"What the hell? How are you still standing?"

Narumi blinked, cocked her head, and knocked the infuriated man out with one well-placed blow to his temple by the clone that had been sneaking up on him from behind.

"I don't know what your problem is, but you haven't even landed a decent punch! It'd be weirder if I weren't standing."

Kakashi shook his head in amusement as Hayate declared his student the winner. The girl bounced triumphantly up the stairs, leaving Yoroi sprawled where he'd fallen. She was greeted enthusiastically by Shika, Kira, Lee, and Inori. Kira was shouting and waving her arms enthusiastically, and Shika, while more controlled, was obviously pleased, high-fiving the blonde in congratulations for making it to the third exam with her. Lee was bubbling exuberantly about the brilliant flames of her youth, and Inori was wrapped around her shoulders, nuzzling her hair and bemoaning the fact that Yoroi had dared touch it.

Narumi eventually pulled herself free of her friends, and bounced up to Kakashi, her wide blue eyes sparkling up at him with the same vivacious nature her mother had possessed.

"Ne, ne! Did you see me Kakashi-sensei? I won!"

Kakashi chuckled fondly as he looked down at the flushed, beaming girl.

"Yes yes, well done."

The girls grin widened, and her eyes scrunched shut, the whisker marks on her cheeks making her look like a pleased cub that had just brought back it's first successful kill to its parent. Kakashi ruffled her hair, pride blooming in his chest as he realized that all three of his students had made it to the final exam on their first try. Even if they didn't make chuunin this time, to come so far was an impressive accomplishment, especially for rookies.

He glanced over her head, and realized that the board was flashing names again. Gently, he turned her around to face it.

"There's only a couple more matches left. You'd better pay attention, because anyone who wins could end up as your opponent in the final exam."

Narumi stilled, and nodded, stepping forward to the railing and staring hard at the screen. The names that appeared on the screen were both foreign shinobi. Teruyoshi of Suna, and Zaku of Oto. Kakashi lifted an eyebrow when Narumi sucked in a breath, hands tightening on the rail. He had read the sparse files that had been made available to the jounin on all the visiting foreign shinobi, but he had only the most basic information about the two boys. Teruyoshi was the son of the Kazekage, and Zaku was from the village that had only recently sprung up, a village no one was sure how to deal with.

Narumi, however, seemed to have much stronger feelings about the two genin. Of course, she had just been through the greater part of the chuunin exams with them, so he supposed that she was bound to have developed opinions on them. The two boys were both on the other balcony. One, Teruyoshi of Suna, vaulted over the railing and landed easily in the arena, his movements confident and relaxed. Deep green eyes flashed from beneath dirty blonde hair as he strolled up to take his place in front of Hayate. The other, Zaku of Oto, had come down the stairs, and had a distinctly arrogant look, despite the fact that both his arms were wrapped in slings.

The two of them faced one another in front of Hayate, and for a moment there was silence. Then Zaku smirked.

"So you're the weakling they're pitting me against."

Teruyoshi lifted an eyebrow, and rolled his shoulders, causing the sword on his back to shift with the movement.

"I think you're the weakling here. Coming to a fight with your arms both in slings...pathetic. What, did you run into a door?"

Zaku glared at him, voice hot even as his eyes flickered over Teruyoshi's shoulder to glance briefly at Narumi.

"Shut up!"

Kakashi's eyes narrowed, and he shifted a little, spreading his legs into a subtly firmer stance. The day before yesterday, Ikuye Umino, one of the chuunin sensei from the academy, had shown up at his door. She'd been the one to meet his kids at the tower, and had come by to inform him of their injuries. While Saburo's had been most severe, it was Narumi whose injuries had obviously bothered her. She said it looked like the girl had been badly beaten, probably at least partially after she had been rendered incapable of fighting, judging by the defensive wounds. Judging by the way Zaku had looked at her, he probably had something to do with that.

Kakashi's eyes grew vague for a moment as he remembered his conversation shortly before with he'd sealed the curse mark.

"Have there been any effects? Have you blacked out at any point since this appeared?"

Sasuke looked away, obviously unwilling to answer as his fingers tightened their grip on his shoulder. Kakashi sighed, and his voice hardened, reverting to that of a superior officer addressing his subordinate.

"Answer me, Uchiha."

Sasuke's head snapped up, and his shoulders stiffened at the use of his clan name.

"I have not blacked out. But when I first woke up I felt...odd."

Kakashi cocked his head, eyes cool and patient as he waited for the boy to continue. Sasuke looked away again, looking caught between guilt and anger.

"When I first came to after...afterwards. I broke a guys arms."

Kakashi furrowed his brow, staring at his student.

"In battle?"

Sasuke shook his head uneasily, then hesitated.

"Well...sort of. When I came to, he was beating up Narumi...so I went after him. I was just so angry! So I grabbed him and...well, I'd already immobilized him but..." Sasuke shrugged.

Kakashi pondered how to respond. It wasn't exactly a horrible crime for Sasuke to break the arms of an enemy, even if they had been immobilized. In fact, given the circumstances, and the fact that he had been technically protecting a teammate, it could even be seen as a positive thing.

"Is that all?"

Sasuke shook his head impatiently, though he wouldn't meet Kakashi's eyes. When he next spoke, his voice was hesitating and soft.

"It's not just that I broke his arms! I...Sensei, I enjoyed it..."

Kakashi shook the memory from his head, warily eyeing the Oto-nin. This then, would be the boy Sasuke had spoken of. The one who had had his arms broken for laying hands on Sasuke's teammates. All this took a mere second to flit through Kakashi's mind, and it appeared that he was not the only one to have caught the Oto-genin's glance. Teruyoshi's shoulders stiffened, and his posture, though still outwardly relaxed, became markedly more predatory. Kakashi's eyebrows slid up. Now that was unexpected. He wondered if the boy knew about the Oto teams interactions with team seven. Even if he did, why should he care? They were competition in the exams, and not even from the same village...

His eyes alighted on Narumi's back, and a light went off in his head. Ah. Narumi must have befriended the boy. She was very outgoing and likable, and Suna was technically an allied village, no matter how shaky the alliance had been in recent years. It was very possible she had at least attempted to approach the Suna team, especially since both teams had been shut up together in the tower for the last two days of the second Exam.

Down in the Arena, Teruyoshi suddenly shifted into a wider stance, holding his arms slightly away from his body and though Kakashi couldn't see his face, the boys voice had a slight edge beneath the relaxed tone.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this."

Zaku scowled right back, pulling one arm from it's sling, and extending it towards the Suna genin.

"One arm's all I need for you!"

Hayate coughed, and called out. "Begin!"

Zaku sprang towards Teruyoshi, and slammed his arm out in a wide, ridge hand strike, using his arm almost like a club as he swung it towards the side of the younger boys head. With a smooth movement, Teruyoshi reached back, and pulled his still sheathed sword from the strap that cross his chest and held it to his back. He brought the weapon smoothly around, tip pointing straight upward, and his free hand held crossways behind it, bracing the back of the blade as he used it to catch Zaku's arm. Slowly, he smirked around the sheathed blade at Zaku even as the two of them strained against each other.

"Please. Trash like you couldn't beat me even if you had ten arms, let alone two."

Zaku yelled, face twisted in anger, and turned his palm to face Teruyoshi, releasing a blast of air. Teruyoshi flipped up and back through the air, allowing the sheath to fly from his sword and clatter hard against the wall. As he dropped to the ground, Zaku launched another attack at him. Teruyoshi spun into a sideways stance and sliced sharply and strongly upwards, free palm resting against the top of the hilt of the sword. Kakashi raised his eyebrows, impressed, as twin furrows plowed through the floor on either side of the boy, but left him with unharmed, his hair and clothing rustling in the passing breeze. 'He cut the sound blast...impressive.'

Teruyoshi turned a feral grin on his opponent, showing all his teeth, and when he spoke his voice was rough and low.

"Alright, it's my turn now."

With that, he spun his sword around his hands, turned, and swept it up in a dramatic cut. For a moment, Kakashi thought he was overemphasizing, attempting to impress as some of the greener and more foolish genin did. Then he felt the spike in chakra, and a blade of wind bursting into being, flying away from the blade of the sword and heading straight for Zaku. The Oto-nin scrambled to dodge, flinching as he was pelted by debris thrown up from the deep, clean edged furrow dug into the floor where he had been a moment before.

Teruyoshi didn't let up, launching attack after attack. Zaku snarled, and brought up his good arm, attempting to contract one of the blasts with a sound wave. When the two attacks met, there was a blast, and Kakashi had to slit his eyes half closed against it. The genin on the balconies, including Narumi, threw up their arms, hair and clothing rippling in the shockwave, tiny bits of debris pelting them. When the blast subsided, Zaku was left, tattered but standing, looking wildly around.

"Did I get him?"

Teruyoshi appeared right behind him with shushin, sword held at the ready and a grim smirk on his face.

"Not quite, no."

Zaku started to turn, eyes wide, but he was already too late. Teruyoshi slashed diagonally upwards at the air between them, the blade of his sword pulsing a fiercely icy blue with chakra, and suddenly Zaku was spinning up through the air in the center of a whirlwind filled with slicing blades of air. Kakashi narrowed his eyes, intrigued. That was a powerful technique, and he doubted Zaku would be able to escape it.

The Oto-nin screamed in pain as lacerations opened on his arms, chest, back, and legs, the blades of wind tearing mercilessly through him, sending spraying droplets of blood high into the air. Teruyoshi ignored his cries, eyes cold as he walked casually over to pick up the sheath of his sword, sliding it back through its proper holder on his back. Then he turned and walked back towards the whirlwind, which was slowly fading. As the winds dissipated, Zaku crashed back to the arena floor, barely conscious. Teruyoshi walked up to the fallen form of the opponent, eyeing him as he lay face down on the floor, heaving for breath.

Teruyoshi's eyes narrowed, and he planted a foot squarely on Zaku's back. The older genin groaned, but otherwise made no protest. Teruyoshi gave the other genin an assessing look, and slid his blade back into its sheath, replacing it across his back. Hayate eyed Zaku for a minute and then raised a hand, his voice echoing in the oddly silent room.

"Winner of the ninth match, Teruyoshi of Suna."

Teruyoshi stepped back from Zaku, and Kakashi's brows rose contemplatively as the foreign shinobi fixed a quiet look on Narumi for a moment, before heading back to his balcony. Narumi was grumbling under her breath, brows drawn down slightly as she watched the boy turn to head for the stairs. Kakashi sighed and shook his head slightly. He'd have to look into this odd friendship Narumi seemed to have with Teruyoshi. Or rather, the friendship that the boy seemed to have with her, as it had looked rather one sided just now. In fact, Narumi had seemed suspicious and even a little aggressive. That meant something, Kakashi was sure of it, but at the moment he couldn't think what it was.

Zaku had struggled to his hands and knees, breathing hard, and Kakashi was alarmed to note that he was glaring almost maniacally up at Narumi, who appeared not to have noticed the hostile attention.

"Not yet! I won't go down like this!"

Lifting his hand, Zaku shot a blast of sound straight at Narumi. Kakashi swore viciously, and dragged his hands free of his pockets, moving forward towards his student. Teruyoshi had spun, and headed back towards Zaku. The other jounin-sensei on the balcony, comrades that Kakashi had known since his academy days, were racing towards him, though to him it seemed like they were moving in slow motion. He reached Narumi just before the blast hit, snatching her up tightly, and trying to shield her small body as he realized that he couldn't quite avoid all of the blast. Desperately, he dodged to the side, but the blast caught his shoulder, and Narumi's head, spinning him roughly around, and knocking her unconscious.

In an instant, time returned to normal, and Kakashi found a half concerned, half enraged Gai at his shoulder, one hand clamped bracingly on his unharmed shoulder as he asked after his blonde student. A screaming Zaku was flanked by Kurenai and Asuma, who both held drawn Kunai on him. At this point, however, Kakashi really doubted either would be needed. Teruyoshi had sliced clean through Zaku's arm, leaving a bloody stump behind that Zaku was clutching at it in agony.

Teruyoshi eyed Zaku with hard eyes as the iryou-nin rushed out to attend to him. Hayate coughed, and though his voice was even, Kakashi could see that his eyes were hard.

"Zaku of Oto, after you have received care, you will return to your team. For attacking a current non-combatant, you are dishonorably disqualified from the chuunin exams of Konoha. Teruyoshi of Suna, if you will please return to the viewing balcony?"

The Suna genin nodded curtly, understanding an order when he heard one, however politely phrased. Leaning down, Teruyoshi very deliberately wiped his blade on a clean section of Zaku's shirt, before re-sheathing it across his back, his movements pointedly contemptuous. Kakashi watched with a certain vindictive pleasure, before turning his attention to the worried genin gathered around him and Gai. The Inuzuka was bristling with anger, teeth bared as she snarled down at the bleeding shinobi in the arena.

"That's it? He was already out of the exams when sword-boy beat him!"

Gai's voice was reassuringly even, and Kakashi was more than happy to leave the talking to him as he once again had to restrain an impulse to viciously maim or kill the former examinee.

"It's not that simple. Such a disqualification means that he can never retake the chuunin exams within Konoha again. It is a great dishonor, both for him and his village, and will reflect badly upon them in the eyes of other hidden villages."

Rock Lee ignored this conversation, focused on the limp kunoichi in Kakashi's arms.

"Will Narumi-san be alright?"

Kakashi nodded, forcibly shoving back his current volatile responses and desires, and reminding himself sharply that he had to behave like a proper jounin sensei in front of the genin. Even if his own genin were either not present, or rendered unconscious.

"She'll be fine. I don't think she was actually hurt, just knocked out by the sound blast. Just in case, I'll be taking her to be checked out at the hospital."

Nodding his thanks to Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai, he used shunshin to leave training area forty four, and began to head to the hospital, wryly noting that this meant all three of his students would be passing through those white, sterile halls for the very first time in their careers as shinobi all within hours of each other. He couldn't say he was really pleased about that, but he couldn't voice that displeasure either. After all, they were shinobi. Their lives were neither safe, nor peaceful, and he couldn't get upset every time something happened to his students.

He sighed, a sudden surge of sympathy and longing racing through him as he remembered Minato-sensei, and his quiet confidence in Kakashi's own team, as well as his aura of concern when they were injured or overdid it. Silently, he wondered how his sensei had felt when they'd gone off to participate in the third great shinobi war, and wished heartily that the wise teacher he had so looked up to was here to advise him now. Shaking his head, he forced those thoughts back, and focused on not jarring his student too much as he ran. Once he had a medic assuring him she was fine, he would find someplace to bed her down, and let her sleep it off. And then he intended to spend the rest of the night exhausting his anger, and soothing his desire to kill something by imagining painful fates for both Orochimaru, and the Oto-shinobi. Who knew? He might come up with something really creative, and just have to go out to try it on the training grounds. Just on training poles or trees, of course. For stress relief.

A/N: Hey y'all.

First, many apologies for the extended lateness of this chapter. I have been very busy lately, and will continue to be so for the next couple weeks, so I've been writing in bits and pieces at odd hours of the day between assignments and classes. As a result, I'm not entirely sure how this chapter came out. I hope it isn't a disappointment to you guys, but I don't really have time to read back through the whole thing and check it, unless I put off posting it for another couple of days, and I really don't want to do that to you guys. If you catch any crippling or annoying errors, let me know, and I'll go back and fix it.

Second, as always, a thousand thanks to those who reviewed for me. These past couple weeks, it's been a special relief and pleasure to hear from you guys. Honestly, it's also probably the only thing that reminded me to write somedays, because I really did have to fight for writing time.
To Zandamh, thank you for a very uplifting review. I was quite tickled to hear I was able to brighten your day a bit. Reviews do encourage me to try and write faster and more thoroughly, so do know that both for the last chapter, and this one, your reviews did reliably spur me on. I hope I haven't butchered your favorite episode too badly, because as I've said, I'm still not entirely sure about how it turned out. Writing so many different fight scenes in quick succession was much more difficult than I had thought it would be (^/^').
To Ceralyn, I'm glad you like the story so far. As per your suggestion, I've tried to break things up a bit more in this chapter. I'm not entirely sure how it will turn out, or if it will help, so please let me know if this is closer to what you had in mind. I would hate for the format or structure to get in the way of someone enjoying the story itself.
Finally, to Bored and Sleepy with Waffles (by the way, I love your username), Gotta say, I blushed a bit when I read this particular review. I'm very happy you enjoy the story so much. Also, I am setting up for eventual character pairings later on...and honestly I'd originally intended a different pairing for Narumi. But what can I say, the girl has a mind of her own, and she appears to be gravitating in a different direction than the original plan, so at this point, I'm just going with it. I hope I can continue to meet your expectations!

Alright, on to the explanations! Since this chapter is mostly fight scene, there's not so much that I think needs to be gone into, but there are a couple of things. First off, Inori is pretty eager to get down to his fight with Kin because she's part of the team that beat up Saburo so badly. And whatever he says, Saburo is still his best friend, so it was his way of avenging him. Also, Inori is a very loyal Konoha shinobi in his heart, so even though he's got the whole thing about Kunoichi, he's much laxer about his 'rules of honor' when it comes to foreign kunoichi. He also doesn't hit on them nearly as much, because he feels it's disloyal to the kunoichi of his home village, who are, in his mind, obviously superior in every way. He's a bit biased that way, but I think it's a sweet trait.
Second, the Hyuuga fight. I tried multiple times to write this, but it never came out well enough that I was willing to put it ought, so ultimately I added in the viewpoint change and had Narumi convey the basics of the fight to Kakashi. Basically, since Nobuye was a girl, and the Hyuuga family was very traditional, she had the whole fate thing drilled into her from a much earlier age, even before her father died. As a result, even though she does have a defiant, determined streak in her, she's much less openly bitter and aggressive than Neji. Instead, she's more submissive and accepting as a genin, and when she is paired with Hirohito, she believes it is her duty to allow him to win, even though she is stronger. Hirohito looks up to her, and when he realizes what she's doing, it upsets him. Consequently, it was Nobuye that Narumi chided and cheered on, which startled her. She still looks down on Narumi's abilities, but she does respect her courage after observing her in the forest of death. So she is surprised that someone like that would react to her decision the way she did. Ultimately, Nobuye ends up going all out against Hirohito, and wins the match resoundingly, though without the whole 'nearly killed my cousin' thing. However, she still has the whole 'it is my fate to serve' thing going at the moment. I expect it'll take a bit more effort to break her of that.
I decided not to have Kira fight Narumi, 'cause as far as I can tell, that whole thing in cannon was sort of to establish the 'top dog' position between Kiba and Naruto. But in this story, that was already established ages ago, because Narumi's instincts are more animalistic than Naruto's. So I changed it up a bit there.
Finally, the fight between Teruyoshi and Zaku. Teruyoshi does not know for sure what happened with Zaku's arms, as team seven basically told him to shove off when he asked what happened to Narumi's face. But he pretty much figures it out when the guy acts so nervous/hostile towards Narumi (yeah, he knows where she was standing, even though she's behind him. No, he's not stalking her. Just happened to notice her from the other railing, as they are standing almost opposite each other.) Teruyoshi, much like Inori and Saburo, has a code of conduct that he adheres to rigorously. One of the big rules in that code is that women and children are strictly off limits. If a woman puts herself out as a Kunoichi, sure you fight her with everything you've got, and if she ends up dead, she knew what she was getting into when she became a kunoichi. But if a kunoichi is subdued, that's it. You don't torture or unnecessarily beat or maim her. He considers it cowardly and just plain wrong. Also, he genuinely likes Narumi. Thinks she's got spunk. So he rather enjoyed getting to handle her attacker. Also, that is the reason he cut off Zaku's arm when he attacked her, and showed so much contempt for him afterwards.
Lastly, Kakashi. The reason he wasn't quite able to get himself and Narumi clear of the blast, even though he's an elite jounin is actually quite simple. What Zaku did was hugely stupid. No proper village shinobi would do it, because to break the unspoken code of conduct during the chuunin exams, especially in a foreign village, brings a huge dishonor and loss of face on your own village. Which is just not done. It's beyond unthinkable to knowingly do such a thing. So everyone was a bit slow to react. Also, Kakashi's protective instincts, as previously stated, are actually quite strong and violent, owing to what happened to Rin, Obito, and Minato. Which means what he really wants to do now, is mess Zaku up. Badly. However, that would also break the unspoken rules of the chuunin exams, and Kakashi is not a fool. So instead, he is going to think creative thoughts, and do unspeakably hideous things to a poor innocent training ground somewhere in the near future. I leave the rest to your imaginations.

P.S. If Kakashi seems a little dense about Teruyoshi's reactions to Narumi...well he kinda is. He's a man, and a man who's been spending the majority of his time embroiled in battles and missions. While he adheres rigorously to the example set by his sensei, he's taking a while to readjust to interacting with the younger generation (remember, he was in anbu until the third basically kicked him out to take on this team). So yeah, he might need some time and help to pick up on certain things. Cut him some slack, he's a bachelor soldier. (^_^)

Please to read and review!