Ok the final exams have begun! I didn't go into much detail about the other battles but I think you'll survive. Sorry that this chapter's a little long ^_^' I guess I just don't know when to stop writing. . .

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Just Kari Uchiha and my other OCs.

"Where is he? It's not like him to be late for something important like this," you said.

"Calm down, Kari-chan. Naruto will be here soon," Shiori said.

"Yeah. Just chill, Kari-chan," Kozu added.

"Well everyone else besides Sasuke is already here," you muttered.

You were standing with your team and the other finalists in the center of the arena where the final stage of the Exams were to be held.

The battle area had a different terrain than the preliminary rounds area. Trees were growing next to the wall farthest from the stands, and little patches of grass were growing in the dry dirt. You looked up to the stands that were being filled with newcomers every minute. Near the top of the stands was a VIP box, where the Hokage and Kazekage would be viewing the tournament.

A Jonin appeared next to the proctor and whispered something in his ear.

"Hai," the proctor muttered. The Jonin turned to you.

"Kari Uchiha, could you come with me for a minute?"

"Huh? Oh, sure," you said. You followed him to the stairway that lead up to the top box.

"What's this about?" you asked.

"Lord Hokage has a question for you. It won't take too long," he replied.

"Oh."

You reached the top box and the guards approved the Jonin and you.

"Lord Hokage, I brought Kari Uchiha," the Jonin said, bowing respectfully.

"Thank you," the Hokage replied.

You stepped in front of the Hokage and bowed.

"Hello, Kari," he said.

"Hello, Lord Hokage," you replied.

"Have you seen your brother recently?" he asked.

"No. He's been out training a lot. I haven't seen him at home, either. I'm sorry," you answered.

The old man sighed and looked away from you.

"I see. Thank you," he said thoughtfully.

You bowed once again.

"Good luck, Kari," he added.

"Thanks," you said turning away.

You walked toward the doorway, but you moved to the side almost instantly. Two guards were escorting a figure in a white robe.

~The Kazekage . . .~

You moved out of the way even more to let the guards through, and you bowed your head respectfully as the Kazekage walked through the door.

You glanced up as he walked by, and you were surprised to see that he was staring at you. You looked back down quickly, and as soon as his second guard was through the door, you slipped through and ran down the stairs to the arena.

"Naruto. You made it," you said happily as you saw Naruto and Shikamaru standing next to each other.

"Yeah, barely. Where were you at?" he asked.

"Lord Hokage wanted to know where Sasuke was," you shrugged.

"Knock it off you guys. Stand up straight and present yourselves to the spectators," the proctor said.

You turned to the crowd. They were cheering loudly, clapping their hands, and standing up.

"You guys are the heroes of this final competition."

You followed Shiori and Kozu up the stairway to watch Naruto's match against Neji.

The match began quickly. Naruto started out with a frontal attack and was immediately blocked by Neji.

~Naruto, you idiot. You have to attack from a distance! ~

Naruto backed away from Neji and formed a hand sign.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

~There we go! ~

The Shadow Clones attacked, but Neji destroyed them one by one.

Naruto made even more Shadow Clones this time.

"Woah . . ." you muttered.

Over twenty Shadow Clones ran toward Neji and attacked.

~Neji's got a perfect defense . . . With that Byakugan . . .~

Neji ran toward one of the Narutos.

~That's the one that was standing out . . . Naruto, come on~

The other Shadow Clones disappeared in puffs of smoke, one at a time. The Naruto that Neji had attacked looked up and disappeared. Two Narutos jumped at Neji from behind.

"Nice move, Naruto," you said.

Before you could blink, Naruto and his clone were thrown away from Neji.

~Wait. What happened? ~

Neji now stood in a perfectly circular dent with Naruto on the ground a few feet away. Naruto got up and made more Shadow Clones surrounding attacked again, and this time, you saw Neji's move. He spun around sending chakra out of his body, forming a shield that not only blocked an attack, but also repelled it.

"Amazing," you murmured.

Neji took a different stance. Then he charged at Naruto, attacking his chakra points, cutting off his chakra and rendering him helpless. Naruto flew backwards once more.

~Naruto . . .~

"What the-"

Naruto was standing.

"Yes!"

You smiled. Naruto's determination now brought back your memory of when you first met him.

'I'll be Hokage! Believe it!' a little boy was yelling at a large group of kids.

'Whatever, Naruto. You're such a loser!'

'Yeah! Just go away!'

The boy's head dropped as the others walked off, laughing.

When he looked up, there was a girl his size standing in front of him. Her dark, ebony hair was in a ponytail. She was staring at him with large black eyes that held curiosity in their depths. Her black dress fluttered at her knees as she took a step forward.

'Hi. My name's Kari. You're Naruto, right?' she asked holding out a hand.

Naruto stared at the hand, and tentatively shook it with his own.

'Yeah, that's me,' he said slowly.

'Wanna be friends?' she asked cheerfully.

Naruto's eyes widened at the boldness of this girl.

He smiled and raised his hands behind his head.

'Yeah! We'll be best friends!' Naruto said.

Kari laughed.

'I like you, Naruto,' she said.

'I like you, too, Kari-chan,' Naruto said.

You were brought back into reality quickly. Neji had charged at Naruto again. Naruto was thrown back once again.

"Proctor! Its over!" Neji said.

He started to walk away.

"Don't walk away from me," Naruto said as he struggled to get up.

"I don't quit and I don't go back on my word. That's my nindo, my ninja way," Naruto said.

~Let's go, Naruto! ~

You saw Naruto close his eyes and concentrate.

~What is he doing? ~

Neji tried once more to convince the proctor to stop the match. Naruto made a hand sign.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," he shouted.

Your eyes opened wide in shock as red chakra swirled around Naruto.

~The Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra?!~

"Yeah! Kick his butt, Naruto!" you shouted.

Naruto disappeared in a flash. He was suddenly up in the air behind Neji with shuriken in hand. He threw the shuriken and the attack was blocked by Neji's Rotation. Neji counterattacked with more shuriken.

"Woah . . ."

Naruto jumped off the wall and dodged the attack.

~He's . . . He's fast! ~

Naruto appeared right beside Neji, who barely dodged Naruto's punch. They both jumped back and threw kunai at the other. The kunai collided and flew into the opposite direction. Neji and Naruto jumped into the air after their kunai knives and landed where the other had been seconds ago.

Naruto charged once again, his chakra tearing up the ground beneath him. Neji used Rotation once more, and the two collided, ending in an explosion. When the smoke cleared away, you saw two large holes in the ground.

"What just happened?" Kozu asked.

"I . . . I don't know," you muttered.

After a few seconds, Neji burst out of his hole.

"Oh no . . ." you whispered.

He stumbled over to the hole that Naruto was laying in. You heard a strange sound and saw the ground in front of Neji start to crack. A fist shot through the air and connected with Neji's chin. Naruto landed and watched Neji fly backwards and crash to the ground.

~How did he . . .~

You turned your gaze to the hole where another Naruto lay. It disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing a tunnel that obviously led to the place where Neji had been standing.

~He's brilliant! ~

Naruto walked over to Neji.

"The winner is Naruto Uzumaki!" the proctor said.

The crowd was on its feet, cheering for Naruto.

~That's right, Uzumaki . . . They are cheering for you . . . You and only you~

You smiled as you watched Naruto run around cheering and blowing kisses to the audience.

~Naruto-kun . . . You are such a knucklehead! ~

"Where is Sasuke, anyway?" asked Kozu.

"If I knew, I would tell you," you muttered.

The crowd was getting on your nerves. They were shouting out to start the next match and other various complaints.

~Why would Sasuke miss this? I know he's been training like crazy because I haven't seen him at all . . . Unless . . .~

You remembered the words Orochimaru had said to you and Sakura after he had bitten Sasuke.

`Sasuke will come to me, desiring my power`

You shook your head.

~Sasuke would never do that . . . Right? ~

"Listen, everyone," the proctor said to the crowd. "One of the competitors for the next battle has not arrived yet. So we are going to postpone it and continue with the next match."

Shiori sighed.

"I guess I'm up," he said.

"Ok. Next up are Shiori and Kankuro. Come on down here," the proctor called.

"Proctor! I withdraw!" shouted out Kankuro.

"Huh?" you asked.

"I withdraw. Please continue to the next match," he shouted.

~What the-~

You looked at Shiori who shrugged and turned back to the arena.

~Why would he withdraw? ~

The crowd was shouting protests and jeering at the puppet master. They wanted to see a fight.

"Due to Kankuro's withdrawal, Shiori Mekikei wins by default," the proctor said.

"Hey, Kari. Its just you and me, now," Kozu said as he pointed his thumb at his chest with a smirk on his face.

"Don't think that I'm gonna go easy on you just because you're on my team, Kozu-kun," you said.

"Ok, Kari Uchiha and Kozu Sentou. Please come down," the proctor called.

You transported to your spot in front of the proctor while Kozu jumped over the edge of the balcony. He walked over to you and stuck out his hand.

"Good luck," he said.

You smiled and shook his hand.

"Thanks, but keep it. You're gonna need all the luck you can get," you teased.

Kozu dropped his hand and took a few steps back. You copied the movement and waited for the proctor's go-ahead.

"Let the match between Kari and Kozu begin!"

Kozu formed hand signs at once.

"Earth Style: Mud Wall Jutsu!"

A large wall of earth rose from the ground beneath Kozu. On your side of the wall, you saw rocks start falling down toward you.

~He's trying that trick, huh? ~

You jumped up, using the boulders as stepping-stones for you to reach your opponent. As you got closer, you drew your fan. You were suddenly in front of a surprised Kozu and you were swinging your fan like a club.

It hit Kozu in the side, and he flew off of the wall. He flipped in the air and his feet landed on the wall. Using that momentum, he shot himself back at you. You ducked and dodged as Kozu landed on the wall next to you and attempted to dropkick you.

"Come on, Kozu! You haven't even touched me!" you called to him.

Kozu growled and sent a barrage of punches and kicks in your direction, which you dodged. You jumped high into the air, pulling out your fan and waving it across your body, yelling, "Fire Style: Flaming Fan Jutsu!"

Kozu dodged by pressing his hands against his earth shield, pushing it back into the ground. You flipped in the air and pushed yourself to the wall, focusing your chakra at your feet to run down the wall at top speed. When you neared the ground, you jumped off of the wall landing a few meters away from Kozu.

He made hand signs and shouted out, "Earth Clone Jutsu!"

Eight clones appeared and surrounded you, preparing to attack. You looked around the circle then closed your eyes. You jumped high into the air, using your momentum to turn upside down and continually rotate, while you pulled out eight kunai knives, four for each hand.

You crossed your arms so that your hands were close to your face.

Your eyes opened and you released the kunai in your right hand one by one and then released all but two in your left hand. You switched a kunai over to your right hand behind your back, and then threw those as well before landing in a crouched position to watch the kunai fly to their targets.

The two kunai you had thrown last knocked another two toward their targets as well, resulting in every kunai shooting at the targets. You weren't too surprised that all of Kozu's clones caught the kunai knife that was flying toward them. You raised your right hand with your index and middle finger pointing upward, with the others curled under your thumb, and shouted,"Katsu!" The exploding tags wrapped around the handles of the kunai knives exploded, causing smoke to fill the arena.

The crowd stared in awe at the thick, almost-black smoke that had started to clear away. They saw you standing in the middle of the arena.

"Fire Style: Dance of Bakuhatsu!" you said with a smirk on your face.

Your gaze shifted around the battlegrounds, looking for Kozu.

"Found you!" you muttered as you formed more hand signs. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

A great mass of fire hurtled toward a group of trees. They burned in the intense heat, and when you released the jutsu, Kozu was nowhere to be found.

"Where on earth is he?" you murmured to yourself.

You felt something beneath your feet, and you jumped away in time to escape Kozu's hand coming out of the ground.

"Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!" Kozu yelled as the rest of him popped out of the earth as well.

You both stopped, standing just meters away from each other, breathing heavily.

~I'm almost out of chakra . . . I know that Kozu is . . . His Mud Wall takes up a ton of chakra . . . I need to trap him to win . . . But how? ~

You and Kozu stared at each other, still breathing heavily. He still hadn't even scratched you. He was burned slightly on his arms and his sleeveless hoodie was singed as well.

~I got it! ~

You quickly back flipped as you had done in the preliminaries, hiding your hand signs from Kozu.

"Oh no you don't!" Kozu yelled when you landed.

He turned and attacked you sneaking up on him from behind. You disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"A Shadow Clone!?"

You threw a handful of kunai around him. The wires connecting the kunai pulled together and hit the wall. Kozu was trapped in a makeshift net of wires. He tried to reach his pouch, but he was unsuccessful.

"Gotcha," you said walking up to him.

You stopped a foot away and heard him sigh and look you in the face.

"How?" he asked.

"I knew you would remember that trick from the preliminaries, so I pulled it again, only this time I switched it. The real me landed from the back flip while the shadow clone attacked from behind," you said shrugging your shoulders. "Not my best trap, but I didn't have a whole lot of time. I managed to triple the wire, though, that way, its not just one thin strand holding you down."

Kozu sighed and turned to the proctor.

"I'm not gonna get out of this, so I give up, too," he said.

The proctor nodded his head and turned to the crowd.

"The winner of the match is Kari Uchiha!"

As the crowd cheered and made noise, you pulled out the kunai from the wall, letting Kozu stand. You stuffed the kunai back in your pouch and turned to Kozu.

"You did great, Kozu," you said with a smile on your face.

"Thanks, Kari. You were too bad either," he teased.

You laughed and waved to the cheering crowd, walking with Kozu back to the competitor's box.

You watched Shikamaru practically beat Temari, and then at the last second, give up.

You sighed.

~He always was pretty lazy . . .~

You watched Naruto jump down and start yelling at Shikamaru for giving up.

"So, where is Sasuke, Kari?" asked Shiori.

"I have no idea. He has never been this late for anything before," you replied.

Your thoughts from before started to drift back into your head again. You shook your head.

~Sasuke would never do that . . . Not even to kill Itachi . . .~

You looked up to the sky and frowned.

~ . . . But . . . Maybe I don't know Sasuke that well . . .~

You vaguely heard the crowd shouting out for Sasuke.

~They're getting restless again . . .~

Ten minutes later, the proctor looked up.

"Ok, time's up. The time limit has expired. So I'm officially calling this match-"

"He's here," you said.

Kozu and Shiori looked to you and then back to the arena. In a whirlwind of leaves, two figures appeared on the battlegrounds back to back. Sasuke Uchiha had arrived.

~What happened to his hair? It's so long! ~

Sasuke's bangs had grown. His shirt was now black and he wore bandages around his legs with black straps around them. He wore a different kind of arm warmer than before, it was now short, covering only his elbow, and brown.

The crowd was on its feet, cheering for Sasuke. Sasuke turned his gaze to the competitor's box. You locked eyes with him. You smiled and nodded.

~Yeah, I won. I'm an Uchiha after all~

He smirked, his unasked question answered with your nod. Your eyes narrowed. He turned his gaze away, not wanting to see the rebuke in your eyes for his lateness. You sighed.

~Of course, Sasuke's here, so Naruto and Shikamaru are already yesterday's news . . . Just like me, I bet . . . Its always been like that . . .~

You watched Gaara turn around and walk downstairs.

"Well . . . Here we go," you murmured.

Bakuhatsu- Japanese for explosion, detonation, or eruption

Katsu- same word that Deidara uses in the manga to set off his explosives

Woot! Kari kicked Kozu's BUTT! I didn't go into much detail about the battles and I'm sorry but I figured if you watch the TV show then you know what happened and I don't need to tell you again. Rate and Review!

~Kiri-chan