The Unexpected

by DSecret

OC. One day, a three year old boy turned up in an alley way of Konoha with a laptop, something very foreign in the Naruto World. Who is this boy? How does he know so much about Naruto and the others?

21. Chapter 21

I really hate myself…

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

---

Chapter twenty-one

"The object that will control your destiny is," Hayate continued and Anko took this as the cue to give out the command for the curtain to be opened. A screened was revealed and the referee pointed towards it. "This electronic board, it will show the match-up for each battle." He coughed. "I know this is sudden but I will announce the two names for the first battle."

Everyone looked up and held their breaths in anticipation. It was taking so long that Naruto thought he was going to pass out from the lack of oxygen to his brain. Finally the screen blinked.

Hyuuga Neji vs. Tenten

A collective gasp rose, surprised that the very first battle was going to be between team mates and friends. Some thought it was cruel, believing that neither genin would fight to their fullest in fear of hurting each other.

Unfortunately, they were wrong.

Standing in the arena, the two Konoha ninjas waited to start. "Tenten, who would've thought," Neji muttered, a grin playing on his face. "Prepare to beg for mercy!"

The girl already had weapons in her hands. "I'm so gonna whip your arse!" Tenten smirked, answering the challenge.

'Get a room, you SM couple,' Hayate thought, his inner-self contrasting greatly with his sickly outward appearance. "Start!" he said weakly, backing away.

Having already forgotten about the referee, the two genin attacked each other without hesitation. Weapons ranging from shurinken to sickle to battle axe rained down upon the boy as Tenten unwound her summoning scroll.

Neji grinned and mouthed, "Kaiten…" and twisted his body. The soft glow of blue chakra engulfed him as a perfect dome deflected all the weapons, littering them around his feet. The watching audience, except those who knew his ability, gasped.

"So young!" they exclaimed. "Main house's technique too!"

"Tenten is in such a disadvantage," Naruto observed, knowing full well what his Hyuuga friend was capable of. "She's not going to win."

Overhearing this, Lee came to his team mate's defence. "That may not be the case," he said and elaborated when he received some confused faces, "Tenten-san was the one that had helped Neji perfected his Kaiten, so she probably knows as much about it as Neji-kun does. Also, in terms of body strength, I believe she may surprise you."

As if she heard him, the girl easily lifted up a large battle axe and swept it at Neji one-handed. When that was easily evaded – despite the speed and power of the swing that could effortlessly split a boulder in half – she breathed out deeply in a sigh. 'I knew this wasn't going to be easy,' she thought but was excited by it. She showed it but flipping the axe so that she was holding it by the deadly blade-end, and sent it spinning across the space between them. She quickly followed this attack with a couple more weapons that spread out in all directions.

Neji, knowing the usual fighting style of his team mate, merely dodged all the projectiles near him with minimal movements. He shook his head when Tenten proceeded to fling more weapons at him and this process repeated a couple more times, each ended with the boy unharmed and the girl puffing. When Neji was just about to yell out that this was getting repetitive, he chocked slightly when he saw the slight curve on Tenten's lips. He relaxed a little when all she did was summoning more weapons.

He should have never underestimated his team mate. As he was busy warding off the attacks, he failed to notice what the girl was up to until it was too late. 'Since when did Tenten learnt how to punch like that?' he wondered at the back of his mind as he knees buckled underneath him when he lost his balance on the crumbling floor.

Tenten, shadowing her own weapons, managed to sneak into Neji's personal space via underground tunnels. Her surprise attack and the fact that she had smashed her way up to Neji gave her the chance to give one hell of a punch.

She instantly followed up with another attack. But, despite her best effort, she was still no match for the fast recovered taijutsu specialist. As Neji offered a hand to help her up, she smiled and gracefully accepted it. "I will beat you one day," she promised.

Neji inclined his head slightly, a grin playing on his lips. "I shall wait," he said simply and ducked as his team mate still had the energy to shoot a kick at his face.

"Well, with that done, let's have a look at who's up next," Hayate said quietly and the screened flashed as if on cue.

Aburame Shino vs. Uchiha Sasuke

Several audiences gasped. "The Uchiha," they whispered, "the Uchiha!"

"One would think you're some kind of God," Naruto joked, elbowing the brunet in the side. "Ooh, the Uchiha-sama! Save me, Uchiha-sama! Save me!"

"Drop dead," Sasuke muttered, levelling a kunai in the boy's face.

Hayate looked up and called out, "You're fight is down here, Uchiha."

While Sasuke reluctantly left the perfect excuse to pummel his friend, Naruto snickered loudly until Sakura punched him in the face. That was how the blond managed to miss out the epic fight that brought the two great clans to work together in the near future.

'Aburame Shino…' Sasuke wondered slightly, lowering his body slightly to provide himself with a greater stability. 'I don't know much about him but his clan…' He couldn't stop it, it was rude but, but…

He shuddered. A blush instantly lit up his cheeks and with his pale complexity, it was easily seen. 'How dared I! He's part of an honourable clan whom I should be proud to have the chance to have a spar with! But…'

Unknown to anyone, not even his parents, the perfect, poster child Uchiha Sasuke actually had a small phobia of swarms of bugs. They were just… urgh! They crawled up your arms, got into places where they shouldn't be, bursting your ear drums as they scurried around in your ears on their little feet.

Gah!

A couple of straggly ones are okay, but not swarms. Yup, definitely not swarms.

No one actually noticed the blush, a fact that Sasuke was thankful of. Even the guy standing right in front of him did not see it. But Shino was wearing sunglasses so he could be forgiven.

"Uchiha Sasuke…" Shino suddenly said and the said boy tensed slightly, waiting. Several minutes went past and there was still no continuation of that sentence. Shino shifted and everyone held their breaths in anticipation. When the bug boy breathed out, he was slightly puzzled by the fact that the audience and his opponent faltered or fainted.

But, the fight started without any other hitches. The two fighters traded blows, each gauging others' abilities and strength but knowing it was useless as no one went fully ahead from the start. Just when Sasuke was going to slam a kunai into an opening on his opponent's back, the boy that was making his goose bumps simply dissolved into, goodness forbid it, a cloud of bugs.

With his Sharingan activated, he could tell where they would attack next and he was able to escape easily. His phobia had also helped him to move at a higher speed than normal which was a bonus. But that had also meant he had lost sight of Shino.

He had remembered, at the wrong place and the wrong time, that he could not predict the movements of those he could not see. He cursed himself for not realizing earlier as he spat out the blood that had pooled in his mouth from the force of the punch. "Not bad," he said and he had meant it.

Shino nodded slightly in appreciation of the praise. The silent boy flexed his hand in his pocket and was not surprise to feel blood trickling from his split knuckles. 'What the heck is that guy's head made out of?' he wondered slightly and decided that perhaps close contact was not a good idea.

Well, that was perhaps the biggest mistake he made during the whole exam. If he had known that Sasuke had entomophobia, he would have probably sent in a couple of his special bunshin and basically smother the other completely with bugs. Sucking and draining him of his chakra would be an added plus.

While tactical retreat (also known as running away) was not what Sasuke would usually do, he honestly had no say in the matter this time. He could not believe that he was using one of the jutsu that Kakashi had shown on their second day they became genin – hiding underground. It was not a real comfortable place to be in, dark and damp in this humidly hot day. And the occasion encounters with concrete blocks was not pleasant either.

Just as he was planning as to what he's next step would be, something flew by his face in the limited space he had created. Heart pumping, hands clammy and eyes wide, his Sharingan zoomed and focused upon the intruders.

Bugs, dun, dun, dun…

Diaphragm contracting, a rush of air flashed up the air way and transformed into a high-pitched scream as it passed the voice box. It was readied, a mature, girly scream that would obviously show the displeasure of it master. Pushing and shoving aside the block that was the tongue, it screeched in triumph as it reached its ultimate goal. Only to be chopped and grinded to dusts by slabs of calcium.

Obviously, the Uchiha was too prideful to scream. Definitely not girly scream either.

As he was found already – a thing that he had noticed with Shino was that the guy literally didn't have a blind spot – he reached up and grabbed the ankles that were above him. He wasn't expecting much so he was not surprised when this attack was easily evaded.

'This is too easy,' Shino thought and mind-mumbled for a bit. He could tell that his opponent had rarely fought with someone his eyes could not catch and with something so small and in mass. He soon had Sasuke cornered with his army of chakra-sucking insects. "This is the end," he said quietly and let loose his command. Through the flurry of movements and wings, he did not fail to see the little grin.

Hands flew into fluent hand seals, Sasuke blew a giant fire ball at the previously unnoticed black powder on the ground. A wall of flame instantly surrounded Sasuke and flared outwards, slamming into the tiny weapons of destruction. Due to the lack of rough fighting from the two opponents and that the bugs hovered way off the floor, the black explosive powders had managed to remain undisturbed.

With a large amount of his armies gone in such a surprising manner, Shino was temporary rocked into an unstable mind state. Sasuke easily used this chance and held a kunai to his throat. "… Why aren't you burnt?" Shino asked, noting the only slight singe of hair and clothes. Once again, Hayate's voice was forgotten.

Sasuke snorted lightly as if it was a stupid question to ask. "The Uchiha clan is famous for its fire jutsu, of course I am not burnt," he replied. With a grin, he released the fallen genin and held out a hand. "It was a good fight, either one of us could have come out as the winner."

Shino nodded and accepted the gesture of friendship. "We have what the other lack… mumble, mumble… We will be able to work well in the future…" he said softly and Sasuke agreed. The two Head-of-Clan-to-be smiled and shook hands until Shino accidently slipped and pulled the other down.

"Urgh… What happened…" Naruto groaned, sitting up. His eyes widened and jumped onto the hand rail. "What are you two doing! On the holy grounds of the arena too!" he yelled, bringing a blush to everyone that had any kind of association with the blond. The rest was left laughing silently.

Sasuke would never give up the chance to beat up his friend into a bloody mess.

"Moving on!" Hayate said and coughed into his hand lightly. "Well…" The screen flashed without warning. "Hey!"

Haku vs. Abumi Zaku

Haku stared at the name next to his and, without another word, looked at his partner. Hitsuka nodded his head after a couple of seconds of silence and held his hand up. The brunet smiled and high-fived with the boy.

"What's taking you so long, pretty boy!?" Zaku yelled, stomping his foot impatiently. "Just say your last goodbyes to your boyfriend and get your sorry ass down here!" Haku coldly glanced down but walked into the arena never less.

Once the two stood face to face on the same ground, they waited for the referee to call for the start of the fight. Hayate glanced up from his dejected state and muttered, "Start…" before turning to face the wall and drew circles on the ground.

"Unlike Dosu, I don't have a weakness in my jutsu!" Zaku yelled arrogantly, but was still sore from his earlier defeat.

Haku made no reply, the anger from before still simmered underneath. Instead, he quietly and quickly froze the limbs of his opponent with his ice, effectively blocking the air holes of Zaku's weapon. It was such a cold and heartless move that most people were shocked. Hitsuka was able to remember in time that despite what Haku was now, he was an ex-Hunter-nin, a level way above a cocky genin.

"Forfeit," the boy said simply, allowing this small act of mercy.

"Never!" Zaku spat, desperately trying to force his jutsu out. Feeling the pressure building up in his arms, he quickly dispersed the chakra. If he didn't, his arms would definitely be blown off.

Actually happy with this response, Haku calmly walked up to his trapped victim and stuck a senbon into the base of Zaku's neck. It was new experience for the Oto-nin, losing all feelings from the neck down and he could no longer feel the stung from the ice. Being an expert at what he was doing before in his own village, of course the older brunet knew all about the pressure points in the human body. One of which was for paralyzing body parts while causing no pain.

Haku whispered softly into the Oto-nin's ear, not allowing anyone to hear what he had to say. "You know... I can cut your arms off and you won't feel a thing, unless…" he touched the senbon gently, "I pull this out."

Zaku shook his head slowly, the only movement he could manage. He was already freaked out from not able to feel anything, and now this!? "I give up! I give up!" he almost sobbed, squeezing his eyes shut in embarrassment. Walking away disappointed, Haku didn't even bothered releasing his jutsu, leaving the medic-nin to take care of the rest. By the time Hayate finished announcing the winner, the said boy was already back up stairs and by his friends.

"Thank you…"

The brunet turned around in surprise, but Hitsuka was already gone as he was up next.

Rock Lee vs. Yuki Hitsuka

Hitsuka calmly strode to the middle of the arena where his eager opponent was already waiting. Giving the boy a grin before he tilted his face towards the No. 1 man on his to kill list. Jiraiya gulped despite all the battles and experiences he had been through. The white-haired boy's eyes glinted eerily, relaying a message: "You. Are. So. Dead." Jiraiya quickly broke the eye contact which left Tsunade snorting and Sandaime chuckling.

Turning his head back towards his opponent, he sighed and thought maybe he should really start praying or, better yet, cursing his bad luck. After all, he was facing the young and bright taijutsu specialist named Rock Lee. He could not afford to underestimate his opponent, especially since he could not manipulate any of his chakra.

'Kind of like when Neji-nii-san sealed all my chakra points…'

"Go! Go! Hi-Tsu-Ka! Go! FIGHT-OH!" someone cheered loudly, accompanied by two pairs of eye-blinding pink pompoms. It was, unsurprisingly, Naruto and, shockingly, Gaara.

Hitsuka wasn't sure whether he should laugh or fix his dislocated jaw first. One thing that was for sure was that this image was burnt into his mind and that he cursed himself for not having his camera at that moment. Even Lee looked like he was blinded by the pinkness when he himself wore orange legwarmers.

"Lee-san," Hitsuka said, just before the referee started the fight, "let's have a satisfying fight."

Lee, now with a wider grin on his face, replied enthusiastically, "Yes!"

Hayate looked at the two, then nodded his head. "Begin!"

The taijutsu specialist immediately flew at the other boy, testing him with a series of simple punches and kicks. Blocking them all with ease, Hitsuka returned the attacks with the same intention, knowing that Lee wasn't giving everything.

With one last final crash, both boys landed out of each other's attacking range. Lee felt a shimmer of excitement running down his spine. Admittedly, he had been hoping to fight the genius Uchiha Sasuke, But this boy, he had blocked all of his initial attacks, which weren't to the best of his abilities but could still do some damage.

'His style is… weird,' he thought, somewhat embarrassed for using such impolite term for describing someone's taijutsu. But he was right. The young taijutsu specialist had fought with many opponents, friendly or not, and was constantly learning. And he always categorised their techniques into one of the two groups – hard or soft.

No doubt, Gai and his were under that 'hard' category, relying mainly on speed and brute strength. Taijutsu like that of the Hyuuga family was 'soft', flowing along the outlines of the enemy and aimed for the weak spots, using minimum energy.

Hitsuka-kun's was, well, weird – hard, yet soft at the same time. One moment the boy would punch straight and true, his sleeve cracking loudly through the air. Then, when his attack missed as Lee dodged, it would simply melt, changing its course and somehow, almost doing the impossibility, it managed to found its ultimate target somewhere on his body. It alternated between hard and soft with no fixed rhythm.

It was both exciting and annoying at the same time, and he was unable to get used to it… yet.

"Lee! Take them off!" Gai yelled, excited as well.

"But Gai-sensei! I thought you said-"

"Don't worry about what I said! You've got a formidable opponent so you should not disrespect him with half-hearted attacks!"

"Yes, sensei!"

Still keeping his eyes on the other, Lee crouched down and pulled down his legwarmers. "Hitsuka-kun," he pulled off the weights, "I will be serious from now on!" he warned. Standing straight up, he dropped the items in his hands. With two crashes, one after another, the fighting arena now had two new craters needed to be repaired. Hokage let out a resigned sigh.

Gai looked proudly at his student and glanced at Kakashi as if challenging him to some sort of contest. Kakashi rolled his eyes heavenward and called out lazily, "You should do it too, Hitsuka."

The white-haired boy nodded his head. "Yes, it'll be rude of me not to go all out either," he answered and slid his feet out from his zori sandals, placing them off to one side as he did not believe in unnecessary damages thus hiding the extent of their weight. He felt a sudden surge of mellow sadness when his hand, so used to the routine, touched his chest and found the spot empty. 'I still can't believe Sandaime-sama and the two idiotic senin burnt my training vest… That took me ages to make…'

A training vest – or any sort of clothing – was one that could change its weight according to the amount of chakra its user inserted into it. It had to be made purely by the user himself/herself as this kind of weight would need to be in synch with only user's chakra. Any contamination during the process of making would taint the materials and would need to start again, which was the main reason why not many people used this as it required a lot of patience. But another plus – besides not needing to buy new set of weights every time they were required – was that with a simple cancelling jutsu, the flow of chakra could be cut and the training weights would turned into normal clothing. One can also use it for chakra control exercise if so wished.

'It's gonna take me months to make another one,' Hitsuka moaned to himself and moped slightly. It was then that some kind of instinct told him to duck and, what the heck, who was he to disagree?

It was lucky he did.

Not deterred by the miss of his kick, Lee quickly followed that with more punches and kicks. If he thought Hitsuka was good before, now he was thoroughly impressed. As each attack met only air, the brunet got even more excited.

Sadly, the same thing could not be said for Hitsuka. He had to give everything in order not to get hit and if hadn't done so much training on just the basics, he would've been smashed and embedded in a wall by now. Or the floor.

"Go Lee! Go Hitsuka-kun!" Tenten cheered loudly. "Beat him to a pulp!"

No one was sure who she was telling that to.

"Umm… Tenten, not being mean or anything, but why are you supporting Hitsuka?" Neji asked the question that was on everybody's mind.

Tenten looked surprised. "Of course I should! Hitsuka-kun is one of the most loyal customers of my family's weapon store!" she said, her tone suggested that everyone present were rather slow.

"Eh!? I never knew that!" Naruto exclaimed, earning himself some weird looks. "What? Hitsuka always gets my weapons for me."

"Then…" Tenten stole a shuriken from Naruto with such speed that now came as no surprise when everyone had seen her fought. She flipped it and pointed at a small circle engraved near the centre. "That's my family's crest."

"Wow! I've never noticed that," the blond boy said with wonders in his eyes. He took another one out to examine it.

"Yeah, I can tell 'cause you don't really take care of your weapon's." Tenten wrinkled her nose at the blunt edges and chucked the small weapon back at its owner. "How can you two be so different? Some of Hitsuka-kun's kunai and shuriken are one fifth of their original size because of all the sharpening he did."

Naruto blushed heavily and vowed that, as soon as this preliminary had finished, he would sit down and sharpen all of his weapons. The rest of the genin took this as a warning and made the same decision as well.

Oblivious to what was happening upstairs, Hitsuka gradually found himself catching up with Lee. But never less, he felt a bit let down by himself as he had known for some time about his weakness in taijutsu but never try to do much about it.

'And now I can rely on my crappy taijutsu because I can't use my chakra,' he though with annoyance. 'I suppose I've got my bombs and other stuff, but I don't think they'll be fast enough to catch Lee-san.' Seeing through the feint, he managed to block both Lee's punch and kick and returned the favour. 'And, damn, that guy can pack one mean punch!'

Suddenly losing his balance when he slid on one particular smooth tile, causing him to leave an opening for his opponent to slip a couple punches to his upper torso. He spat out the blood in his mouth and wiped the cut that was on his cheek. 'It can't be helped; I'll have to use that even though it is still in experimental stage.' He leapt back and pulled out a summoning scroll. 'Too bad, have to give it try… Otherwise I am a dead man.'

'What is he going to summon?' Lee speculated, jumping back as well to put some distance between them, playing things safe.

'I sure hope as hell this will work…' Hitsuka rolled the scroll up with a snap of his wrist, a long black pole in his other hand. At the back of his mind, he reminded himself to draw up another summoning scroll once he had the time – having had used his blood instead of chakra thus making the thing useless now.

Grabbing the pole with both hands, he forced his body to loosen up and took a relaxed stance. Then, he blanked his mind.

'I wonder why Hitsuka-kun isn't using any ninjutsu?' the brunet wondered. 'Is he going easy on me just because I can't use jutsu!?'

"I am not going easy on you, Lee-san," Hitsuka said softly, seeing the distaste on the boy's face. "I just can't use my chakra for now but that doesn't mean I won't fight my best!"

Lee, finally understood the situation, smiled. "In that case…" He moved with every intention of over-whelming the other with his speed and power. A black circle suddenly appeared and sailed towards his face, causing him to crisscross his eyes. "What the-!" He jerked and arched his back but still caught a glancing blow to his head that seemed to pack far more power than a simple jab.

Expecting his attack to go wasted, Hitsuka followed up his attack with a kick. He never really did expect the kick to land, though. The whole male population in the building winced as Lee quietly sobbed into the cool tiled floor and willed his precious to piece back together.

"I am so, so sorry," a white-faced Hitsuka whispered, knowing he had put full force behind his kick.

Lee wobbly stood up, ignoring the calls of concern from his teacher. "So you are serious," he choked out and forced himself into his starting position.

Unable to bring himself to look at the tear-stained face, Hitsuka swung his weapon while twisting it at high speed, using his wrist as the pivot point. Lee, of course, easily dodged it, but soon cringed because of the intense pain from the southern region. With the built up of momentum behind his swing, the white-haired boy took this chance and cracked the pole on Lee's head.

Lee jerked his head to one side to avoid getting it split open. But his left shoulder was not so lucky. It was purely coincidental that the angle and force of the hit was enough to cause his left arm to pop right out of its socket. Neither boy had planned for this to happen, and while it was painful as hell it was not enough for him to give up.

"What's up with Hitsuka today?" Naruto asked, his voice trembling slightly. "He's hurting his opponent more than usual!"

Noting the shocked look on the white-haired boy, Kakashi shook his head. "I don't think he's doing it purposely…"

"That just made this situation even scarier," Sasuke muttered. No one tried to deny it.

Hitsuka was, though he loathed to admit it, almost in tears. 'This is why this thing is not ready yet,' he thought in panic. 'I don't have absolute control over it when I attack! I knew it! I knew I shouldn't use this weapon just yet!'

He eep-ed when the air around his opponent changed dramatically. "Umm… Lee-san?" he tried and shrank back when the floor around Lee cracked under a bust of chakra. 'Holy! Crap!' At the back of his mind he thought he could hear Kakashi-sensei yelling something at Gai but he was not so sure as most of his attention remained transfixed on the crazy looking boy in front of him. He did, however, managed to stick a particular finger in the general direction of the thick-eyebrows teacher.

Taken back by this, Gai turned to look at Kakashi for an explanation. The scarecrow scratched his nose and assumed out loud, "I guess he knows about the Hachimon and who was one that taught it. Without his chakra, Hitsuka really hates your guts right now, Gai." (1)

"Five bloody gates," he muttered, his hands working on his pole. "Five bloody gates!!!" he cried, almost hysterical.

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "How the heck did he knew that when we only just heard about it?" he asked. The blond boy merely shrugged, not so surprised anymore.

'This is gonna hurt,' the white-haired boy thought with real tears in his eyes. He pushed one end of the pole into the ground with one hand and the black stick seemed to split into numerous thinner ones from the core. He quickly clambered inside while Lee was still taking his time opening the gates – which was not all that comforting as that meant more damages could be done.

'I know I have probably said this a thousand times today already but– I seriously hope this is gonna work!' he prayed before slamming his bloody palm on the previously written seals on the insides of the sphere created by the remains of his pole.

He could not manipulate any of his chakra as if his chakra holes were all sealed. But they were not, only the effect was similar. He wasn't sure about all the details but he had hoped that, while he could not release any chakra, something could perhaps suck it out.

With a small "whoosh" a layer of blue screen covered the entire skeleton of sphere and he breathed a small sign of relief. 'I am so unbelievably glad I had decided to put this in,' he thought before his world was turned upside-down.

Ever tried to imagine what the tiny ball in the pinball game felts like as it was slammed from behind and went whizzing though the maze of pins? Well, that would be exactly what Hitsuka felt like with Lee being the pins.

'Still one advantage though…' Hitsuka managed to think through the scrambling of his brain. 'Lee still has one busted arm.' When something tugged his little ball of protection in the opposite direction of its original path, he knew instantly what was coming. "Oh what the hell…" he muttered before a hand and foot crashed right through his last line of defence and into him.

Everyone nervously tried to peer into the screen of smoke, each hoping to see the person in their mind to stand victorious. Slowly, it cleared enough to see, revealing Lee half crouching, half lying on the ground. And Hitsuka… He was embedded in the far wall where his crumbled bottom half of his shield had bounce him to, his previous fears becoming true.

Lee wearily clambered to his feet, feeling the pain of his destroyed muscles and wondered if he had won. Hayate was unsure as well; uncertain if Hitsuka had fainted as his face was the side that was buried. With a quiet, soft gasp from the watching crowd, the white-haired boy slowly peeled himself off the wall, one limb at a time.

Lee's team mates, while still supporting Hitsuka, nervously looked at taijutsu specialist, wondering why he was not taking the advantage. It soon became clear that Lee, in fact, could not really move at all. With one last pull, Hitsuka was free and landed uneasily. Glancing around before walking towards the other boy who was beginning to have a hard time just standing up.

'Two… No, three broken ribs, bruised internal organs and one cracked scapula,' he analysed, investigating with his finger tips. Such non-emotional analysis was just a way to take his mind of the pain that each movement he made, each breath he took was creating almost unbearable agony.

The two boys now stood face to face, neither in better shape than the other. Weakly bringing his okay arm up, Lee rose proudly into his stance. Hitsuka stood loosely, his mind working hard. He knew, if nothing happened soon, Hayate may just announce this fight a draw which would be devastating news to both fighters. Biting his lips to hold back the pain that he knew was coming, he disappeared from Lee's view.

Sudden panic seized the brunet but his eyes soon caught a glimpse of his opponent and he swung his arm to block the fist that was coming. Yet when his fist met nothing but space, he knew it was over. A line of coolness felt by the skin on his neck only served to prove his point. "I forfeit," he said loudly but with a smile on his face. It was a good fight and he did not regret his decision.

"Winner! Yuki Hitsuka!"

Sinking down to sit on the floor, the two boys grinned at each other. "Congratulations, Hitsuka-kun," Lee said sincerely, reaching out with his left hand to shake.

"Thank you." Hitsuka shook the offered hand and then grabbed the other one. "Allow me," he said before he popped the busted arm back in, causing only minor pain.

Flexing his arm and moved it around in circles. "That's great! Thanks!" he said and was bodily lifted up by an older and bigger version of himself.

"Lee! Great fight! You fought great!" Gai exclaimed, swinging the boy around. "Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!!!"

Hitsuka buried his face in his hands. 'Just when I thought I was bonding well with Lee-san…'

"Don't come near me, Kakashi-sensei," he said with a warning tone in his voice.

Kakashi shrank back slightly, arms dropping limply to his side, his thoughts of a prank foiled. He settled with a hand on the short boy's shoulder. You did well," he praised.

Soon the medic-nin came to cart the injured away, saving the white-haired boy from the madness that was around him. "Will I be able to stay to watch the rest of the fight?" he enquired politely as Lee was quickly taken away with Gai's cries of concerns drowning out his protest.

The woman that was tending him gave him a stern gaze. "We will see," she said sternly. Stuffing the struggling boy on to a stretcher, she continued, "You are now under my care. You do what I say. You understand?"

"But I am fine!" Hitsuka argued, resisting her and succeeding in rolling over the soft canvas. His face scrunched momentarily when he landed on his feet but quickly cleared, still hopeful.

"You just fought with someone who can open the five gates without using any chakra, of course you are not fine!" the medic-nin snapped but was not annoyed. After all, she was a pro and used to it.

"But… the fight?" the small boy tried, his eyes twinkling with pleading tears. It almost worked; he could see the woman mentally staggered and just one more push he would win. That was, until a large hand clapped down on his head.

"Please just do some quick, emergency healing on him then I will take care of the rest," Kakashi said, his eye smiling. Hitsuka swore lightly as he could tell from the love hearts that were the medic-nin's eyes, he had lost. The one-eyed man looked down at his trapped student. "I have so much I need to ask you," he warned though his tone was light.

Hitsuka slumped, his shoulders dropping. "Yes, sir…"

Naruto watched sadly as his brother was marched away. "Don't worry, I'm sure he will be back in time for your fight," Haku promised, reading the boy easily and slung his arm across the sad boy's shoulder.

"Yeah! Or I can go and drag him back too!" Sasuke encouraged, mirroring the snow boy's action on the other side.

"You guys…"

Sakura wasn't sure if she should be all warm and fuzzy by the boys' lovely friendship or be sick by the figurative sweetness. With a shake of her head, she decided that there was a very fine line between the two.

Since the next fight was between Shikamaru and Kin – boring, really – the storyline decided that it would be the best to follow the interaction between Kakashi and Hitsuka. So, moving itself quickly out of the gates that the others had gone through, it first noticed that the responsible medic-nin had already done her job and parted with the wanted duo. Realizing that, it turned down another corridor and soon stumbled upon them, hidden behind a pillar. It would've screamed if it had a mouth after what it had witnessed. Instead, it just had to be content with peeping.

'Can't people just ask me nicely to show them the Curse?' Hitsuka thought in annoyance, having had the front of his kimono pulled open and his sensei ogling at his chest. 'Okay… that 'ogling' part came out wrong…'

"So… What do we have here?" Kakashi asked, his eye lacking any of its usual laziness.

"Umm… You being a paedophile?" Glare. "Okay, okay! Sheesh… Well… there was a snake… He bit me…" he finally admitted, grudgingly.

Kakashi lightly traced the double rings of the Seal, recognising the lingering chakra. "Jiraiya-sama did this…" he said, not really surprised. "Why wasn't I told about this?"

Hitsuka took his time as he shook his crumpled cloth out, straightening and rearranging it. "Well… As you may have noticed, I was out for the last two days," he eventually muttered out, averting his eyes away. He wasn't readied to tell the man the truth yet – not sure if he ever would be. "So, really, I couldn't tell you anything…"

The silver-haired man gave the boy in front of him a long, hard look. "Hitsuka, why was I not informed of your situation. I am still your teacher," he finally said, carefully keeping his disappointment out of his voice.

"Don't blame him, Kakashi. We told him not to," a new voice said, saving the fidgeting child.

"Jiraiya-sama! Tsunade-sama!" the man said, surprised. "What are you doing here!? What about-"

Tsunade raised a hand to silence him. "Don't worry; we've left our Bunshin behind. If anything happens, we will be there in no time," she explained, tugging her young friend away from Kakashi. "We believed this conversation is more important."

"Yes, Kakashi…" Jiraiya made sure he had the other man's eyes on him and off Hitsuka before he continued, "You do not need to know."

Kakashi took a sharp breath. 'This is a need-to-know case!?' he thought, slightly angry as he was obviously not trusted enough by those he admired. He had been extremely worried when his team and Haku came to him with news of Hitsuka missing. After he had heard about what had happened in the Forbidden Forest, he immediately understood what was going on with the white-haired boy, having had some contact with the Curse Seal in the past.

The fact that the Sandaime and the two senin had refused to seen him only confirmed his suspicions.

"Come on Hitsuka, let's get Tsunade-hime have a look at you first – I am sure you would want see the fights," Jiraiya said, steering the boy towards the woman.

Hitsuka turned to look at his sensei who seemed so tired. "Kakashi-sensei…" he started softly and paused, so many things he wanted to say were on the tip of his tongue but he was too afraid to come clean. Opening and closing his mouth, an "I am sorry…" was all that he could manage in the end and he knew how pathetic it sounded.

Kakashi gave the boy a stiff nod, understanding that it was not his fault – though his mind nagged at him, telling him that it indeed was the boy's fault. He quickly abandoned that thought, not wanting to blame his student anything. His eye softened when Hitsuka gave him a small, relieved smile, which prompted him to wave along with his usual one-eyed smile.

Well, he had come to look for answers. Instead he was left with more questions that even his curiosity could not handle. He really needed to look for something to destroy – preferably with his Raikiri.

Letting out a pent up breathe, he decided to follow the others, dragging his feet dejectedly as he went.

Hitsuka returned just in time to cheer for the victory of Hinata who had won against Kankurou. He was slightly surprised when he had heard the news from the excited team mates of the girl, and immediately felt guilty for the feeling.

The story of the fight was quickly told, though the urgency was not really required. Apparently, while Kankurou did not underestimate his opponent, the natures of their jutsu were so polar that the Hyuuga heiress had an extreme advantage.

With her eyes, she was able to tell immediately the trap the other had set for her and had gone straight to the mummy. Sensing hostility, Kankurou tore out of the bandages. However, his speed in doing so did not help him this time.

Whenever the male fighter threw out chakra strings to attach to his Karasu, Hinata was able to cut right through them with her control over her own chakra.

As a Hyuuga, this type of chakra manipulation was easy.

And that was not the only thing she was capable of. Easily swinging into Kankurou's personal space, she gently placed her palm on his chest. The poor boy didn't even have the time to blush before his world was upside down and of pain.

"Ouch…" Naruto summarized and Hitsuka understood perfectly, having been on the receiving end multiple times.

While Hinata fretted over her opponent about the damages she had done, the love-struck face that was Kankurou's told another story and it was not about pain. Neji frowned and, appearing by the young heiress, he steered her away while whispering words of praise and reassurance. The cheer from the crowd had successfully drowned out any whimpering protest from the injured Suna genin as he was taken away by the medic-nin.

Hitsuka just thought it was funny.

By the way, Shikamaru came out as the victor in his fight with Kin.

Once the stage was cleared, Hayate turned back to his adoring crowd and coughed yet again. "Now coming up," he said dramatically, hands swishing towards the board for the moment of truth.

Blank…

Hayate glared at the machine that dared to defy him. "I said, coming up…!" he repeated, emphasising his first two words.

It remained stubbornly defiant.

The jounin nudged the sleeping Anko. "Anko-san," he whispered, trying to remain inconspicuous but was failing. Now everyone knew that the woman had been controlling the board and that she had been doing a lousy job of it. With a startled jolt, Anko quickly whispered into the headphone while trying to suck in the drool on her lips.

The guy on the receiving end of that message swore she said something highly inappropriate for the current situation.

Inuzuka Kiba vs. Temari

"Oh man, I don't wanna fight a girl!" Kiba immediately whined and Akamaru keened at his master's tone. "I rather fight the dead-last Naruto!"

"Hey! Watch who you are calling dead-last!" the said boy yelled, his annoyance obvious. The boy in the arena poked his tongue out in a childish response.

Temari sighed. "Sexist," she muttered quietly which, to the dog-boy's enhanced hearing, sounded like she had said it into his ear.

He suddenly shuddered as if in extreme fear. "I am anything but," he mumbled.

Kankurou, who had wrestled his way back into the audience area and was sitting suspiciously closed to one female Hyuuga, understood instantly. "Brother!" he cried out, tears flowing as he had found a comrade that shared one pain – older female family members.

The two boys seemed to be conversing with a series of hand gestures and grunts that were learnt upon entering the Abused-by-Female-Family-Members Club. This ensured sharing private messages in open without the fear of being killed by the female population.

"How come you don't understand?" Sasuke asked a red-faced Gaara.

"I am the baby of the family," he replied in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Kankurou is gonna meet up with Kiba after the exam for a drink," Hitsuka translated. When he received some wide-eyed stares, he shrugged and replied, "You don't want to know."

Well, how could he say that he was fluent with this language thanked to his older female cousins when he obviously had none here. Apparently it was not only universal, it was also dimensional. His face darkened at the wave of memories and was glad for the shouts from the audience as it would mean his painful wince from phantom pain induced by his memory-cousins went unnoticed.

Temari snapped her fan open to the first dot, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Are you coming or not!?" she snared, causing Kankurou and Kiba taking a step back in fright and Akamaru buried his head into the jacket.

Hayate nodded his agreement, having already called for the start awhile ago. 'This is the first time that the fight has taken so long to begin! Goodness…' he mind grumbled like an old, dry granny.

Anyway, Kiba and Akamaru – who had been inside his master's jacket – both shifted their focus on their opponent, baring their teeth and growling.

Temari just smiled. It was not one of those, 'I like you but I have to beat you to a pulp'. More like a, 'I hate you and I will beat you to a bloody pulp'.

"So…" Hayate lifted up his hand, readied to start the fight which had took far too long for his liking. The two fighters plus one dog rushed head on at each other. "HEY! I didn't say start!"

Obviously, no one really took him serious.

Kiba quickly made a hand seal and vanished from Temari's sight, surprising her. 'So he does have a brain,' she thought as she was slammed in the stomach and flew backwards, not having reacted in time to put up her protection. But she did notice the second attack and was able to slam her closed fan on top of Akamaru.

The dog, although took some damage, nimbly twisted his way out of the unique weapon before he took full damage and stood next to his master, his hackle raised and teeth baring.

'Guess have to go serious now, Akamaru's limping slightly,' Kiba thought worryingly, his hand easily found the pill with the hidden pouch up his sleeve. Without the need to command, the dog swallowed the medicine without any doubt.

It was an impressive display of change. It was not every day that one could see a dog turning red like a drunk. "That's why he's Akamaru," Kiba explained with a smirk, popping a pill in his mouth too. "Let's go, Akamaru!"

Temari watched with interest as the dog leaped upon the crouching form of his master, barking and howling along with Kiba's cry of: "Juujin Bunshin!!" And now, standing in front of her, were the Kiba twins plus fangs and claws.

'That's just slightly disturbing,' Temari thought idly, shaking her fan fully open with a snap. "You know what? I just realised I hate dogs…" she said, frowning at the dripping spittle and smell. Dodging agilely despite the increase in opponents, she watched and calculated before swinging her fan into an empty space.

Then into a Kiba.

"Ouch!" he cried, feeling as if his sisters and her dogs slammed right into him after he had sold articles of their clothing in an auction. But he quickly bounced back, having been used to this kind of abuse, and he noticed an opening. "Gatsuga!"

"Oh crap!" the girl yelled, twisting her body and pulling her weapon up as a shield against the twin hurricane that was coming towards her. The heavy fan withstood the onslaught of half of the attack and Temari bore the other admirably with only a soft grunt of pain. The Kiba that came into contact with the fan landed with a hand on his side, hurt from his own assault.

"That's one hell of an attack," Temari said, her brows drawing together into a deep frown. Then, her face brightened so fast that the human Kiba actually took a step back. "But the same trick won't on me twice!"

"We'll see about that!" The Kiba twins twisted their bodies and flashed their claws, performing their special taijutsu of Gatsuga again.

Temari allowed the smile to play on her lips, standing there and watched as the deadly whirlwinds came closer. "Dai Kamaitachi no Jutsu (Cyclone Blade no Jutsu)…" she whispered, swinging the fan easily.

The air in between the two opponents coiled and lashed out violently, forming into the cyclones the jutsu's name had suggested. They collided right into the double cyclones coming from the opposite, flinging the two beings within away and into the wall. "How…" Kiba choked out while Akamaru turned back into his dog form. "Our strengths should've been strong enough to break through your jutsu!"

Temari laughed. "Ever noticed how you guys always turn in the same direction? I just need to send a twister at you in the opposite direction to diffuse your momentum and another one to destroy you," she explained happily, knowing her plan would protect her from any other assaults of similar kind.

Kiba narrowed his eyes, and the master and the dog growled simultaneously.

"This has taken long enough," Temari continued, spreading her feet apart to gain some balance. "It's time to end this!"

Several blasts of Dai Kamaitachi no Jutsu later, the medic-nin had to scrap a human and a dog off the ceiling where the cyclones had drilled them into. Kiba and Akamaru had of course fought against the fate of losing, bringing out their claws and sharp teeth. But those were useless against the girl's jutsu which was both offensive and defensive.

While it was a sad ending for the beast boy, it was fortunate that no one was badly injured and could remain to watch the remaining matches. Both the Konoha and Suna genin swarmed up to the two fighters to congratulate them for the good round. Naruto heartedly pounded on Kiba's back and said loudly, "Man! That's was so cool! Grow you fangs again! Grow your fangs again!"

Kiba's mood immediately swung from that of sadness to explosive anger and annoyance. "You wanna see some fangs!? I'll show you some fangs!" he screamed, going at the boy along with Akamaru.

"Ow! I was praising you! Ow! Get off me, you mutts! Quit biting!"

Hitsuka laughed along with everyone else. 'It's just like you to make someone happy at the expense of yourself,' he thought. 'You're too kind, Naruto.'

Hayate suddenly realised the fight was already over and that he hadn't called out who the winner was and no one had noticed. Quickly standing up so he was not losing anymore spotlight time, he was prepared to call for the next match's participants. But he promptly sat down as the sudden lack of blood to his brain caused significant dizziness, resulting in him being carted off the scene to be treated.

"Well, will Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino begin the match," the Third said in the stead of the foolish jounin, a sweat drop secretly ran down the back of his head.

Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino

"I never thought I will be fighting you during this exam," Sakura told the other girl. "Well, at least not so soon."

"Humph," Ino tossed her hair back, "I won't lose to you! And I'll show Sasuke-kun who is the best!"

"Ino…" The pinked-haired girl sighed but was smiling, uncertain even herself if it was at the immaturity of her friend or at the thoughts of her old self. She took her forehead-protector off and stared at it for a moment, marvelling at just how far she had walked away from the shallow, Sasuke-the-God-crazed Haruno Sakura. She finally placed it where it was designed to be and looked over at the other girl. "Come on, Ino. Let this fight be one that's between rivals!"

Slightly taken back, the blonde girl never less mirrored the other girl's action as she, too, remembered the promise they had made after they became kunoichi. "You are going down! Forehead-girl!" Ino shouted across the arena with a grin, pumped by the previous fights and this whole new attitude her friend had adopted. 'But, I will definitely win against her! She had never beaten me before – granted, that was when we were still in the Ninja Academy, but nothing has changed!' she thought confidently and arrogantly.

Sadly, even though Sakura had tried to distinguish the difference between now and then, the proud arrogance of the other had prevented that. Apparently, even Sakura's recent makeover of practicality did not count as a change.

Fallen silent with a concentrated frown, Sakura calmly evaluated the blonde girl with critical eyes as her hands deftly tied her now shorter hair into a low ponytail. Her time with Team 7 had matured her and it worked hand in hand with her intelligence.

Slightly annoyed by her silence in the face of her taunting, Ino fumed quietly, waiting for the starting signal.

"Begin!"

The pink-haired girl immediately flung a couple of kunai in a wide arc, catching Ino off guard by her speed. Never less, the blonde girl flipped over the attack easily as it was simple. She smirked to herself in triumph, believed in an easy win as she was sure her rival was weak. She never saw the kick that flashed out from behind her.

Crashing into the ground, Ino managed to roll back up into a stand. But Sakura was not finished, pushing on and left no intervals for a moment of rest.

"Sakura's doing very well!" Naruto cheered with Lee echoing him, a wide grin on both of their faces.

Kakashi agreed quietly. 'She had really pulled her act together during the last couple of months,' he thought, silently congratulating the girl.

"Ino," Sakura said to the panting girl who had fallen to the ground, "you'll never be able to win against me if you don't get serious soon."

Ino's heated face flushed a deeper red with embarrassment and anger, her tiredness and fatigue temporarily forgotten. "Who do you think you are talking to!?" she yelled heatedly, her voice loud and harsh. "Don't get ahead of yourself!"

"Don't listen to her!" Shikamaru yelled, knowing full well how quick his team mate's temper was. "She's just bluffing!"

Sakura leapt towards her opponent, right hand already in a fist. Ino clumsily jumped away as the pinked-haired punched where she was just sitting a split-second ago. A hole, not a huge one but one never less, appeared with a crash and flying rocks and chips. "Do I look like I'm bluffing?" she asked coolly and the smart, lazy boy on the balcony shut his trap after a grumble of: "Women, how troublesome…"

'Since when does Forehead girl has such strength!?' Ino wondered wildly, the first thread of panic started to wind around her heart, tightly. 'I know neither Sasuke-kun nor Naruto-baka have this kind of power, even though Sasuke-kun definitely doesn't need it!' Shaking her head quickly to get her mind back into the game, she quickly came to one conclusion, 'So… it must have been him!'

Hitsuka was a bit confused when the blonde girl turned to face him with a glare and the one finger salute.

"What have you done to that girl?" Haku whispered, fighting off his laugh.

"Ha, ha. Put a cap on it!" the white-haired boy snarled, annoyed by the implication the other was dropping. "Idiot…" he muttered under his breath which only made the snow boy's shoulder shook harder in silent laughter.

While Ino was mentally screaming rubbish at the ignorant boy upstairs, Sakura took this instant of distraction to attack again. "Holy crap!" The blond only just managed to dodge all the attacks and not get pummelled, that was, until her long ponytail flew into her face. A punch landed on her and she was flung back from the force of it, gasping for air while spitting hair out from her mouth. As these two actions could not be done simultaneously, she almost choked on her own hair. Not exactly the best reason to be wheeled into ER for.

'Ino… I am always thankful for all the encouragement you had given ever since we were little kids. Your words were what had helped me to become who I am now,' Sakura thought, her eyes softened slightly. 'This is why I must win against you, in order for me to leave you once and for all.'

Ino's face was twisted with anger in response to what she saw on her rival's face. "There's no way you could be even with me!" she yelled, hating the confident look on the other.

Sakura frowned. "Ino… if you still cannot think of me other than the little girl that always run behind you then, yes, I could be and be better than you!" She indicated at herself. "Look at me; do I look like the child that cares about her looks more than being a damn good kunoichi? Grow up, Ino, this fight should never be about a guy!"

Haku nudged Sasuke who merely turned his face away in embarrassment. Kakashi nodded proudly. 'I take back what I thought of you on our first day, Sakura,' he thought with a grin on his face.

Ino's body shook and the knuckles of her right hand that was wrapped around a kunai had gone white. "You- You of all people… You should better stop disrespecting me!" she finally cried out after the initial stuttering, her emotions high and jittery.

"Dammit! How could you let that her trash talk get you!" Shikamaru muttered irately, his body language spoke fear and worry.

"I don't like this Ino…" Chouji whimpered,

In front of everyone, the blonde girl suddenly grabbed her high ponytail and slid the kunai easily through it. Everyone, including Hitsuka, was shocked at this turn of event. 'Wow… I thought with everything different this would not happen,' the white-haired boy thought, wondering if some things are just fated to be.

'Oh Gods! She's completely lost it!' Shikamaru mind screamed, his face and palms sweaty at the thought of spending his future on a team with a crazy and troublesome woman.

"Garghhhh! I don't need this!" Ino threw her hair in front of her and it spectacularly fluttered down into a mass on the floor.

Sakura growled, "This was not what I meant!" She herself had been heartbroken when she had to cut her hair off in order to escape the hold Kin had on her. Despite the annoyance in taking care of her hair and it constantly being caught on branches, she had loved this part of herself with a girlish pride. And now her rival, who was also her friend despite everything else, had just thrown away something important to her over some nonexistent, childish competition.

Ino's hands came together into a seal. "I'm going to end this right now! I will make "I forfeit" come out of your mouth!" she promised and threw her hands forward and away from her.

Sakura immediately recognised this pose, having had seen it enough times in the past as the other had practiced. "The Shintenshin…"

The whole Team 10 groaned, not believing how Ino could make such a bad decision just because she was mad. Well, when they really thought about it, yeah… she could.

"Ino, I know the weaknesses of your jutsu. You can't honestly believe you can catch me!" Sakura warned, crouching down slightly to jump in any direction if needed. "I know I can catch you in your 'doll' state."

'That's true,' Asuma thought and hope that the girl's kind warning could snap Ino out of her anger. 'Shintenshin is originally a spying jutsu and not one for battles… For her to be using it now is just asking to lose.'

"So what!? We won't know until I try!" Ino yelled back defiantly, still going for it.

Sakura sighed. "It you miss, this fight will be over," she said, a tint of regret in her voice. "You understand that, right?" At that moment, she noticed how the other girl's fingers twitched and she instantly ran sideways, keeping her body low. She knew that as soon as Ino's finger slid together into that final seal, she would have completed her jutsu.

In a moment of confusion, when both girls' body slumped forward, no one, not even Hitsuka, knew who was still conscious. Then, Sakura muttered, her voice sad, "Too bad… Ino…"

"It's over!" Shikamaru said, defeated.

"It didn't work…" Chouji looked disappointed and sad for his team-mate.

It was when the pink-haired girl noticed the restricted movement did she realised it was in fact her that fell into a trap. 'Oh no!'

"I finally caught you!" Ino said cheerfully, her hands were conducting a line of chakra using her cut hair as the medium to tie Sakura's foot in place. "It was all just an act to get your guards down to fall into my trap!"

Sakura hacked at the rope with a kunai but it was well protected with its layer of blue chakra. 'I don't believe this! It was me who had been over-confident!' she berated herself, angry for underestimating her opponent while telling the other not to. 'I should listen to what I say!'

"This time, there's a one hundred percent success rate for my jutsu!" Ino said confidently, her hands forming the hand seals once again.

"That was all just an act?" the lazy boy upstairs wondered. "Man! Women are scary…"

"So… Shintenshin no Jutsu!"

It was, without a doubt that, when the bodies slumped forward this time, Ino had succeeded. "Too bad…" Sakura said again, eerily echoing herself. "Sa-ku-ra!"

"Sakura's not going to lose, is she!?" Naruto asked Kakashi worryingly, flicking his eyes between his female team-mate and teacher, hoping for a negative answer.

Kakashi shook his head slowly. "With Shintenshin… it's over," he answered sadly, showing the weight behind his words.

"So Sakura-san is…" Lee started, too afraid to finish his words.

This time, it was Sasuke who answered, "Yeah… Sakura's mind had been completely taken over by Ino."

Hitsuka noticed the boy's grips on the handrail seemed hard enough to break the thing so he laid his hand over them. "Don't worry," he said with that knowing smile again on his lips. "Why don't we wait until the end before we started judging?"

Kakashi glanced at the boy, his eye questioning at his confidence but found no answers. 'Could he actually…'

When Sakura started raising her hand to gain the referee's attention, a collective breathes was taken by the occupants of the room. But, the suspense crashed horribly when the limb merely stayed in the air as the girl tried to choke out the words that would make Ino the winner.

'You know… it's not over yet…' Ino heard Sakura whispering softly in her ears, wrapping around her conscious.

"Oh my God!" Sakura screamed, causing everyone to jump at the sudden loudness. "How is… this… possible…!" she groaned, clutching her head as the pressure built up within.

"Go Sakura! You can't lose here!" the girl's friends encouraged and cheered, which only made Ino feel physically worse.

"Did you want to forfeit?" Hayate asked as it was getting worryingly at the girl's decreasing state of mind.

"Like hell I'll forfeit!" Sakura yelled as a glimmer of her Inner-self started to surface, thus successfully shoving Ino out of main control.

'How is this possible!' Ino thought in confusion again, her grips of control losing rapidly.

'Ino…' Sakura thought, appearing in front of the spirit-form of the said girl. She smiled ever so sweetly, reminding the other of a particular boy. 'If you don't get out of my mind now, I will do so many things to you, you would wish I never pick up that 'Torture 101' book in the library.'

While Ino would never admit it, it was perhaps the fasted release of her jutsu she had ever done. Both girls were now panting for breaths as they planned for their next moves.

Kakashi could only stare at Hitsuka, not believing what he had just witnessed. 'How could he have known!?'

"Two minds… What exactly are you?" Ino asked, unable to believe her jutsu had failed.

"Didn't you know?" Sakura replied weakly, her body and mind exhausted from fighting for control, "women have to be tough to survive…"

"Will… your other mind is more of a woman than you are," the blonde girl said with a smirk though her body shivered at the memory of the coldness in that voice. Sakura merely shrugged, not finding the anger in her anymore.

'So… this is the end,' Ino thought as she rushed forward from her crouching position at the other.

'This is the end,' Sakura agreed, her right arm pulled back for a simple punch.

The clash rung loud and clear in the still stadium with everyone praying for their friend to become the victor. When a body fell in a dead faint, the other managed to catch her in time, staggering slightly under the weight. "This is the end," Sakura muttered under breath, out loud this time as her forehead protector slid off her face and joined the one that was already on the floor, thus signalling the end of the fight between the rivals, returning them back to friends.

"Haruno Sakura is the winner!" Hayate called out and the cheers drowned out any other words he spoke. While slightly boring, this match had ended spectacularly, showing how far the two kunoichi had came with Sakura perhaps a bit further ahead. It was, after all, her trainings that had allowed her to withstand the punch and get in a good one herself.

Both Kakashi and Asuma had come down to help, both men giving each other a tired grin. After passing Ino to her teacher, Sakura had allowed her own to support her back up where she was immediately flooded by the other genin. That was until Hitsuka and Hinata had beaten them off and away from the two tired fighters, allowing them to rest in peace. Once making sure her friend was fine after a reassurance from Asuma, the winner of the match had fallen asleep.

"This was surprising…" the bearded teacher said, looking at the two sleeping girls.

"Yeah…" Kakashi agreed.

"I could understand Sasuke or Naruto. But even Sakura had grown this much!" Asuma complimented, though his face was unreadable.

"Many things have happened, but from the bottom of my heart, I'm glad I entered them in this Chuunin Exam," Kakashi said, his eye turned into his crescent smile of his. The members of his team grinned.

"Now!" Hayate yelled, drawing the scattered attentions back onto himself after he had snuck his way out of the infirmary. "Gaara no Suna vs. Dosu! Would you come forward…"

"Hah… You're finally awake," Ino said to the girl next to her when she groaned and started shifting.

"Ino… I…"

"I really want to cry," Ino cut in, holding her head high, "for losing to the likes of you."

"But…"

"But nothing! I will come back!" The blonde girl smiled fiercely, promising her future victories. "Here…" She held out Sakura's forehead protector. "You have bloom into a beautiful flower!"

"Ino…"

'Thank you…'

Gaara no Suna vs. Kinuta Dosu

'Crap, I'm the last one from Oto,' Dosu fumed. 'Those two imbeciles! I'll beat this guy no matter what and prove to Orochimaru-sama that I am the best!'

Unfortunately for the little ambitious, evil Oto-nin, his opponent was not someone that could be taken down so easily. Especially when he was angry. Oh, yes, Gaara had heard about what happened in the Forest of Death from Team 7 and the one day absence of the white-haired boy had only increased his anxiety.

'Screw everything!' he thought, uncorking his weapon, 'he's going to die!'

"Gaara! Go get him!" both Naruto and Sasuke yelled enthusiastically. "Kick his ass!"

Hitsuka face-palmed. He had already felt the blood lust from his Suna friend, and the two idiots next to him were not helping.

"Begin!" Hayate yelled, feeling and thriving in the small rush of power and control after the previous lost of them. Except no one was paying any attention to him. Most of the genin were either cheering for the person they were supporting – namely Gaara – or comatose from the previous fight – like the Oto-nin. Others were too interested in the silent eye-conversation between Gaara and Hitsuka.

'No, you may not maim or disfigure your opponent,' Hitsuka sent, his eyes hard.

'Oh, come on! I already promised I won't kill him!' Gaara's eyes whined, widening into those of the kicked puppy. 'Just one arm? Please? Or an eyeball?'

'No,' Hitsuka chid gently. 'He's an asshole, I will give you that, but you must not bring yourself-'

"Stop ignoring me!" Dosu yelled angrily, pointing his weapons at his opponent. "Die!!!"

The Suna-genin's shield acted automatically upon detecting the bloodlust aiming at its master. The grains of sand effectively diffused the sound attack as they had merely vibrated against each other and creating heat – not even enough to melt them into glass. Following on his usually routine, Gaara waved his hand carelessly and flooded the Oto-nin with his sand as he continued to argue with the stubborn white-head.

'Please? Can I just break his arms then?' he relented, his goal of gore and blood decreasing by the minute.

Hitsuka shook his head again. 'Like I was saying, you should not reduce yourself to his level.'

"Gaara of Suna is the winner!" Hayate announced suddenly, breaking the argument between the two boys. He then gave a pointed look at the winner, indicating he should release the captive.

"What?" Gaara cried and various calls of similar context rose from the crowd.

"My work here is done." Hitsuka said with a smirk and Haku swivelled around to ogle at him with wide eyes.

"You did not… No way… I mean, you didn't just…" he stuttered, unable to finish any of the sentences he started.

"Release the captive," Hayate demanded superiorly but only earned himself an annoyed glare from the red-head.

Disappointed, Gaara released his jutsu and an almost suffocated Dosu tumbled out, sand flowing out from his nose and mouth as he had to breathe when he completely ran out of air. He twitched and started convulsing at an attempt to rid himself of the grains, but he soon fell unconscious.

"Damn… he's still alive," the red-haired boy muttered sadly.

Hayate quickly waved the medic-nin to come over to help the fallen boy, standing back to give them room to do their work. "Urgh! What's with all the sand?" one of them cried, unable to clear an air passage to the lungs. "This boy will die!"

Hitsuka sighed. "Gaara…"

"No."

He tried again. "Come on… We went over this already."

"No! It's not like I am directly killing him!"

"… I'll give you cookies."

There was a pause, and then the answer came out slow and hesitant, "No… I'll have Temari-nee-san's."

"Then… it would be okay for me to tell everyone about the time you accidently kissed-"

The sand flew out of Dosu's internal system so fast that the boy's head snapped back. Fortunately, he lived and the medic-nin quickly worked to resuscitate him, pounding his chest with chakra covered fist until he was coughing and breathing once more. "Take him to the infirmary!" the leader ordered and Dosu was quickly carried out on a stretcher. While he had not suffered any external injuries, it was uncertain the extent of the internal damages.

"Sometimes… I really hate you, Hitsuka," Gaara muttered, glaring at the boy.

Hitsuka looked far too innocent. "Well… I did take part in looking after you when we were younger," he replied with his familiar smile – though perhaps slightly evil. "I call it a perk, still have several too…"

"Anyway!" Hayate said quickly, hoping to disperse the bloodlust rising from the red-head. "Last but not least! Uzumaki Naruto and Akimichi Chouji!"

Several people had noticed his coughs and pale face had all but disappeared. Probably, like everyone else, he was looking forward to finishing the day and a hot bath.

Uzumaki Naruto vs. Akimichi Chouji

The blond boy sobbed into the shoulder of his white-haired friend. "The last!" he wailed. "Why do I have to be the last one!? Why!"

"Turn off your water work and get in there," Kakashi said, bonking the boy on the head with his book.

"Gah! Don't taint my mind with that perverted stuff!"

Finally had enough of this meaningless bickering, Sasuke grabbed and pushed Naruto over the rail. He was surprised to find Sakura on the other side of the falling body. They gave each other a wide grin and chorus at the same time, "Great minds think alike!"

Naruto fumed slightly at how rough he was treated but bounced right back, eager for his long awaited fight.

Chouji, on the other hand, just wanted the barbeque Asuma had promised him.

Thankful his job was almost over, Hayate quickly started the last round. "Begin!"

Naruto immediately dropped down to his starting position, deciding that he would wait to see what his opponent's abilities were. "Go fatso!" he heard Ino yelled and was fascinated by the rapid colour change on Chouji face.

"Don't… Call… Me… FATSO!" the plump boy screamed and the ground rumbled beneath everyone's feet. "I am just big boned!

Naruto quickly jumped out of the way of the large, rolling meatball which soon crashed into the wall behind him. There was a moment of silence as dust settled lightly. Then…

"Dammit!" Chouji cursed, his massive body refused to budge.

Naruto repositioned his jaw and shook himself out of the stupor he was in. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Five more Naruto came into existence. "Let's go guys!"

"Naruto you bastard! Taking advantage when someone is down!" Ino screamed, raining the arena with abuses. She soon shut up, surprised by what was going on. Naruto and his clones did not attack the poor boy in the wall with their weapons; instead, they were heaving and prying him out.

"Urgh…!"

With one last tug, the boy was at last free from his temporary prison. Not expecting this sudden lost of resistance, the multiple Naruto scattered quickly. But one was not fast enough and ended up running on the rolling ball of flesh.

Naruto pumped his legs, knowing that if he lost speed, he would be mercilessly rolled over by Chouji. With the skills he developed from his pranks, he managed to switch direction just before they slammed into the already battered wall. The Naruto clones attempted to stop the rolling mass but true to the destructive powers of the Akimichi family, Chouji just destroyed them one by one.

So, ever wonder about why Chouji was constantly eating and snacking? Think about it, they boy and his family's main jutsu required their numerous tissue cells, blood vessels, bones, skin and so on to buff up so that the whole body was twice the size or greater. So the energy and chakra required were enormous for such expansion. Thus one could conclude that Chouji could lose weight at such speed that most girls would die for.

And back to the fight. Or the lack of.

Naruto had won after fifteen minutes of the circus act. He brawled as he tried to shake the unconscious boy awake. Chouji, defeated, remained motionless. He had fainted due to the rapid lose of glucose thus suddenly and temporarily starved his brain of any energy. He had collapsed and returned to his normal size, albeit a bit smaller, causing Naruto to fell on top of him.

"Okay… Why didn't Chouji just stop his jutsu?" Ino asked, watching the medic-nin having problems lifting her team mate up.

Shikamaru sighed. "Probably with Naruto's help, he had gone faster than usual and became out of control and dizzy," he answered with a frown, hiding his concerns for his friend. Leaping over the hand rail before Ino replied, the lazy boy started as the white hair of Hitsuka appeared inside his view. The boy gave him a brief smile before they both gave a hand to the struggling medic-nin and Naruto.

When the big boy was safely tucked away, snoring lightly with a smile – Asuma-sensei had whispered promises of BBQ into his ears – Naruto once again latched on Hitsuka, crying about the unfairness of everything. The white-haired boy just vaguely patted the head that was in his face and tuned out the blabbering. 'Finally… It's finished…' he thought, his mind starting to go blank with fatigue.

"Well, with this, the preliminary trials for the Round 3 test have been completed!" Hayate shouted, his voice relieved and a brief bout of cheers rose at his words as all the genin who had won came down to stand in the arena. "Congratulations to all of you who won the right to compete in the Third Round Test in the Chuunin Exam!" He then turned towards the Hokage who had arrived with his escorts flanking him. "Well then, Hokage-sama, if you would please…"

"Yes… Well, I'd like to start explaining the main test," the old muttered around his pipe and adjusted his Hokage hat.

'At last!' was the thought that went through everyone's head, both excited and relieved.

Then the speech began. "As I told you before, in the main event, your matches will be seen by everybody. Each of you will fight to represent the strengths of your countries. I'd like you to show off all your powers with no reserves. Which is why the finals will be held one month from now," the Sandaime paused and waited for any questions.

"So this is a break?" Naruto asked, his hand raised as if in a class. 'But I wanna get this thing over and done with!' he whined to himself.

The Hokage nodded and explained, "Well, you can use this time as you see fit. For the others, it's a time for us to prepare the stage for you. We will need to inform the various Country Lords and ninja leader of the information and allow them the time to gather here for the last Round."

Then Hitsuka tuned him out, unable to concentrate anymore on things such as 'knowing your enemies' and 'what your weaknesses are'. He looked up and allowed his eyes to wandered, slightly savouring his victory. Until his eyes landed upon another pair that were slit like his and he narrowed his own. 'Orochimaru…' he growled, itching to point and yell but knew he would put everyone in danger if he did that. 'Wait! Where's Kabuto! In another time, he was ordered to kidnap Sasuke… but would he do that now? When I am the one with the Curse Seal? Crap… this is too confusing…'

The man responded to the glare with a creepy smile before teleporting away. Hitsuka tried to follow the lingering chakra but was limited by his current state.

'Curses!'

"So, before I dismiss you all, there is something that has to be done for the finals," The final tone of the Hokage pulled Hitsuka back into reality and he knew they were about to be let free. Anko step forwards with a box in her hands. "There are pieces of paper inside the box Anko is holding and each of you shall take one."

"I'll come around so wait for you turn!" Anko said and held it out for Hinata. The girl looked slightly confused at the paper before a face cleared, understanding what it stood for.

Once the round was finished, Ibiki asked for the number from each people starting from the left. And it went like this:

Hinata: 8

Sasuke: 3

Neji: 6

Hitsuka: 1

Naruto: 5

Haku: 2

Temari: 4

Shikamaru: 10

Sakura: 9

Gaara: 7

"So, now I will tell you who you are up again in the Final Tournament!" the Hokage announced.

"What! That's what we drew the numbers for!?" Shikamaru shouted along with the others.

Ibiki showed the crowd the list he had been drawing up for the first round of the Final Tournament, his face bored.

1. Yuki Hitsuka vs. Haku

2. Uchiha Sasuke vs. Temari

3. Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji

4. Gaara of the Suna vs. Hyuuga Hinata

5. Haruno Sakura vs. Nara Shikamaru

Hitsuka looked at list, surprised. He knew it would be different as the participants were not the same, but still. 'I am up against Haku!?' He turned to look at the boy who gave him a delighted grin which he returned in earnest. The two boys never had the chance to fight all out against each other and this was a great chance!

Temari groaned. 'The Final is just a regular tournament against each other? Man…'

'Oh crap… I've got an extra match! It's not like I want to avenge Chouji or anything…' Shikamaru thought with a small pout on his lips.

'Hmm… Hyuuga… Hinata…' Gaara thought slowly. 'Who's that?'

Both Neji and Naruto griped their fists and pumped them. 'Yes! Against him!' they thought.

"So any other questions?" the Sandaime enquired politely, readied to dismiss the lot of them.

Shikamaru raised his hand. "Since it's a tournament, it would mean that there's only one winner, right?" he asked and everyone perked up. "Which would mean that only one person can become a chuunin, doesn't it?"

The Hokage smiled and replied, "No, that's not quite right. There will be several judges including myself, the Kazekage, the Lords of various countries and other ninja leaders. These judges will be evaluating your abilities, judging if you have the necessary qualities of a chuunin. One can become a chuunin even if he loses his first match."

"Does that mean it is a possibility that everyone here will become a chuunin?" Sakura asked.

"Yes." But the Third's face was grim. "But there's also the possibility that no one will become a chuunin! To advance in the tournament means that you will have more chances to appeal to the judges," he said. "Now, you're all dismissed until a month from now!"

Later that day

"I really need to take a shower soon!" Naruto shouted. He took a sniff of himself, grimaced and warned, "You don't wanna be near me when raise my arms!"

"I need one just as much as you do," Haku growled, his hand stopping on several knots in his hair.

Hitsuka sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Ever since they came back an hour ago, all of the occupants of the one bathroom apartment had been arguing who had the right to go first. Even Zabuza was taking part in the argument as he had just come back from a mission and was cover in other people's blood. "You know what? Screw this, I am going to the bathhouse," he finally muttered, heading towards the bathroom to gather his stuffs. "I need a good dip anyway…"

"I'm coming too!" the blond boy suddenly yelled, bouncing up to follow him.

"That's actually a good idea," Haku agreed, wondering why he didn't think of it. "I've heard that the water at this new bathhouse is very relaxing and nice. Are you coming, Zabuza-san?"

The huge man shrugged. "May as well. Then I don't need to scrub the blood off the tiles myself."

Hitsuka body trembled slightly and his knuckles turned white as he gripped the door frame harder and harder. 'We wasted an hour arguing and now no one is going to use the bathroom!? If it weren't for the fact I've got the idea in my head now I would really…'

"Hitsuka! Hitsuka! You're breaking the wall!"

At the bathhouse

Naruto stared, his mind unable to comprehend the scene in front of him. "Wha-What are you doing here!" he yelled, causing those around him to wince. Except Hitsuka, he was used to it and had already stuffed his fingers in his ears. "You've got a freakin' indoor pool for a bathroom!"

The Hyuuga boy sniffed. "Hiashi-sama and otousan were trying out this new taijutsu and the blast of it eliminated the bathroom," he explained with a resigned look. "And after that… err… 'incident' involving someone's hair at the Hyuuga mansion, no one there dared to let me use their shower and I am not really allowed in the Main House."

Naruto frowned at the prejudice but shrugged it away. "Let's go in!" He ran through the open sliding door while shouting, "Number one! I'm so getting the No.1 locker!"

"Pay first!" the old man that own the place yelled out from his place high up in the counter. "Naruto! I am keeping four eyes on you today! So no swimming!" he joked, pointing at the glasses on his nose then at the mischievous boy while squinting. Naruto returned the gesture in good humour.

"Sorry about that, Teruya-san," Hitsuka apologised, placing the money on the counter. "I'll watch him too," he promised but no sooner had he said that, a loud wail was heard, causing him to sigh.

"Nooooo!"

"Ha! I have the No. 1 locker!" a familiar voice taunted and it was straight away recognised as one Uchiha Sasuke. While he danced around a dejected Naruto, the other filed in to undress and put their things away.

"Man… How troublesome… Even Naruto is here," Shikamaru drawled, already naked and in a towel with Chouji by his side, stuffing the last bag of chips into his mouth. "Why's everyone here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," the white-haired boy replied, wishing now that he had stayed at home instead.

"Apparently a main pipe on our side of the town had burst so we are out of water until tonight," the lazy boy explained, waiting for his giant friend to finish before going into the bathing area. "Even though it's still early in the day, mum threw me out 'cause she thinks I stinks and dirty."

"Same for me, I live on that part of the town, too," Sasuke chipped in, having had enough fun tormenting the blond. "Hey, it's Gaara!"

"Hitsuka!" the red-head greeted, walking in with an older male behind him. "We've decided to try out the onsen in Konoha that we've heard so much about."

"Hey dude, who's your friend?" Naruto asked, bouncing up to the boy after giving one last shove at his clothes into the locker.

"My friend?"

Hitsuka was giggling at crestfallen face of the said friend. "That's the before face of Kankurou-san," he clarified as the Suna boy was indeed without makeup.

Naruto and Sasuke's eyes widened. "You wear makeup!?" they chortled and had to run because an embarrassed and angry foreign genin was chasing after them. They were safe after they sought sanctuary inside the bathing area while Kankurou was still fully clothed and could not enter.

Seeking revenge, the boy shed his clothes in record time and was impatiently calling out, "You guys ready yet?"

"Yeah, finally," Hitsuka said, placing Naruto's nicely folded clothes into a locker with a small sigh. "Even Zabuza-san and Haku-san had already gone in!"

While everyone was washing up, the aforementioned duo was already done and was soaking in the large pool of water, enjoying the warmth. They were surprised to find Kakashi in it before them and soon found out that the broken pipe had affected quite a huge chunk of Konoha. Though they were still mystified by the fact the man was still wearing his mask despite the humidity and heat.

"I'm bored…" Zabuza suddenly complained and his words were uncharacteristic.

"Zabuza-san…?" It was as if Haku was hallucinating because there was no way the fearful, ex-Kiri-nin was pouting. Nah… must be the mist and the heat.

But Zabuza's lips were slightly raised, an unconscious act that had developed during his time in Konoha. Well, he had been left alone in the apartment by his three younger companions for quite a while and there were only so many things that he could do by himself. He found himself wishing for something fun and interesting to do now.

"Why not a prank?" Kakashi suggested, his eyes twinkling from underneath his flopping wet hair. "Ice the floor and we'll have a free show!"

This idea was met with enthusiastic response and regardless of the high temperature, Haku was successful in spreading his chakra-made ice across the floor in front of the water. To help, Zabuza used a smaller version of his own jutsu and increased the density of the mist so no one could be alerted to the evilness at play. Now, they waited for their first victim.

Having had finished washing, Shikamaru stood up carefully on the wet floor and walked towards the stone-surrounded onsen while finger-brushing his hair back. He was slightly annoyed when his feet came in contact with something cold but that emotion soon escalated to hyperventilation as he found himself doing cartwheels across the room. He was doing flips and rolls that he never took the trouble to find out if he could and was thankful at the back of his mind that his towel did not fly off. He was doing fine until…

… He landed right into the hottest pool there was.

He was very proud of himself for not screaming though his butt was going to look like that of a monkey's for quite a while.

Next came Kankurou who was looking forward to submerge himself in the water – living in a desert had its faults as water was precious and was rarely used recreationally. He really did not expect his feet to slide forward, causing him to lean to regain his balance, only to be tripped by the stones before plunging face first into the onsen. He wondered briefly at the back of his mind if this was some kind of initiation or ritual that everyone had to go through before entering the water. At the hooting laughter surrounding him, he guessed it was not. But before he could get his revenge a gigantic sword at his neck held by one of the prankster had quelled the thought and he had to be content with only graphic imagination.

While Chouji had entered the bathhouse at the same time as Shikamaru, he was slower due to the larger surface area he needed to wash. "Shikamaru, where are you?" he called out, stomping forward while searching for his missing friend. "Shikamaru!"

Crash! Crash! The three pranksters sweat-dropped, watching as the giant boy pulled his feet out of the holes he had made in the ice, completely unaffected by its slipperiness.

"Chouji, over here," Shikamaru weakly called out, his butt sitting on the cool pool. Chouji looked confused but decided not to think about it. He was not the brainy one from the two, so if Shikamaru was freezing his behind off, then there must be a reason for it. He joined the four people in the onsen and was careful not to create huge waves. He was puzzled by the disappointed looks but his simple mind shrugged and focused on being warm.

Naruto rushed through the process of cleaning, aiming to beat Sasuke into the onsen. But before he could rush off, Hitsuka had snagged and dragged him back before forcing him to sit down. "I'm done!" the blond child yelled, squirming away.

Hitsuka knocked him on the head. "You still have suds in your hair," he said with a huff, easily silenced the loud boy with a towel and another was used to tie him in place. Then he proceeded to wash Naruto's hair, again. "When will you ever grow?"

"See you later!" Sasuke said with a laugh, fluttering his fingers mockingly and all Naruto could do was glare. The brunet strolled casually – further infuriating the blond – and headed for the hot water. He frowned when his feet encountered coldness, instantly gripping to the ground with his chakra before he took another step. "What the…" he wondered out loud, seeing the flickering light that reflected off the long stretch of ice.

"Done!" a voice behind him cheered and he heard the thump, thump of running feet.

"Naruto, wait-!" Before Sasuke could even finish the short sentence, a body barrelled into him and tore his feet off the ground. The two boys flew spectacularly into the air with their limbs everywhere. One managed to land on the surface of the water perfectly, while the other decided he should just go along with it and became a canon ball.

"Naruto…" Kakashi said tiredly, averting his eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Please put your thing away."

Naruto humph-ed but lowered himself into the water before wadding away to look for his missing towel.

Gaara was readied next, taking some time to direct all the sand off himself, revealing skin that all girls envy and would kill for. The sand not only protected him from the tanning UV rays, it also exfoliated the dead skin cells off, leaving his skin white and smooth.

Anyway, he was perhaps the most boring reaction for everyone that was now in the game. Upon noticing the frozen floor, he simply stepped onto his sand that was his constant companion and floated to his destination. He even made steps for himself to go into the water. "What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Naruto gave him a dead look. "You suck…" he replied before splashing the boy with water. After the shock and confusion had worn off, an all out water fight had broken out. It only stopped when the water froze in midair into interesting shapes and crashed upon Kankurou who was not fast enough.

Twisting his hair up and held there with a large clip, Neji prepared himself for a nice, relaxing dip after a long day. Only to crack his head on the ground as he somehow and very suddenly fell backwards. Lying there on the ground, the lower half of his body going numb with cold, he wondered what he did or who he pissed off to deserve this.

"Oh crap…" Haku muttered, signally Gaara to drag the boy to the onsen with his sand before he fixed him up with a healing jutsu.

"Naruto, Sasuke, get rid of the blood," Zabuza ordered and neither boy dared to complain. Though they did grumble something under their breaths as they clambered out that was either about the eyebrow-less man and an ass or a mafia and a banana.

At last, it was the boy that they had been waiting for – Hitsuka. It was quickly passed around that neither the Prankster Trio or the Naruto-Sasuke combo were able to prank the boy ever since the beginning. Could Haku and Zabuza achieve the unachievable? Could they reach a new height?

Hitsuka suspected nothing, having had not seen or felt those that fallen before him. This whole chakra-less thing was really screwing his senses up and over. Finally done with cleaning as he had been distracted by Naruto and had the need to take care of his hair, he started off in the direction of the onsen.

Everyone, now all sitting in the pool, waited with their breaths held in their lungs.

Five more steps…

Four more…

Three…

Two…

And…!

"Hitsuka, sensei, Tsunade-hime and I want to speak with you," Jiraiya said, squatting on the bamboo fence and had spoken through the ventilation hole. "Come on, chop, chop!"

The boy gave the man an exasperated look. "Can't it wait?" he replied in a pleading voice. "I am really tired and I want to relax in the onsen!"

Jiraiya was already shaking his head even before he finished. "As I would love to stay for an 'information' gathering session, sensei had made it clear this is important."

Heaving out a sigh, Hitsuka retraced his steps but stopped when he heard loud groans from behind him. "Just a dip!" Naruto wailed.

"Come on!" Sasuke yelled.

"Why only me…" those with physical pain moaned at the unfairness.

Jiraiya quickly caught on, having had the advantage of higher ground and thus was able to see more. "It's okay, Hitsuka, let the old man wait for once. Go on!" he encouraged, waving at the boy.

Taken back by this sudden change of heart, Hitsuka faltered slightly and frowned. He was beginning to feel very uncomfortable when he felt everyone's eyes upon him – especially since all he had was a towel for modesty. "Right…" His need for relaxation was so overwhelming he decided to just go for it.

Once again, the countdown began. This time, even Jiraiya was holding his breath.

But just as Hitsuka's foot was about to come in contact with the slippery surface, it turned off at a tangent and everybody's head turned as the boy walked towards the pool where Shikamaru was in before. They winced when he sank right down up to his neck, sighing in content. "Gotta love the heat…" he muttered happily.

"You are cooking yourself in that!" Naruto all but screeched, unable to imagine anyone would actually go in there for leisure.

Hitsuka pouted. "It's good for your joints," he argued and stretched.

Jiraiya shook his head in disappointment. "Okay, time's up. Let's go…"

The white-haired boy shrugged. "What's up with everyone…? So uptight and everything," he questioned out loud and walked out.

"That was ridiculous!" Zabuza complained. "Nobody is that lucky!"

Shikamaru mopped his face. "What are the chances that he already knew?" he suggested.

Everyone shared a look. "Nah… There's no way anyone could have seen through that smog," Sasuke scoffed.

"Besides, Hitsuka can't use any of his chakra at the moment," Neji reminded everyone.

"So… What happened?"

That was what everyone wanted to know.

None of them knew that the boy of their topic was currently hunkering down on the other side of the door and was eavesdropping on every word. He started cackling evilly. "So naïve," he laughed and flexed his fingers, his grin growing with satisfaction as he saw the blue light dancing on his skin. "Oh well, it's not like I actually need my chakra to sense my surroundings. Though they may have gone too far with Neji-nii-san…"

Despite the chaotic ending for the day, it had been a rather satisfying and interesting day. Though Hitsuka now really hated the Hokage and the senin for dragging him out of his free time. Perhaps a plot of revenge was in order – after all, he still needed to pay a particular someone back for that beauty pageant.

---

(1) Hachimon, the Eight Inner Gates that, right now, only those with helmet bowl cut hair, thick eyebrows, green body suit and orange leg warmers can open.

Yeah… I am not worthy to ask you for reviews. So I will beg instead. Please? I will go and see a shrink about my lack of updating and everything.