Hey guys, here I am with a new chapter in record time(for me)! As a warning, this is the shortest chapter on record, but a chapter is still a chapter.

Onwards!

Kiba pointed at Sasuke, "I'll tell you right now! This won't go like it did back in the academy!"

Sasuke smirked, "Go on, tell me why you think that."

"You might beat me in a pure taijutsu fight, but here I can use everything at my disposal. Right Akamaru?" The little white dog at Kiba's side barked.

Sasuke cracked his knuckles, "The same goes for me, don't you think?"

Sakura leaned forward on the railing, "This is my chance to see what I need to match."

"Hm? What's my cute little genin mumbling about?" Kakashi didn't take his half-lidded gaze off of Sasuke.

Sakura flinched, "Uh, well." Then she took a deep breath, "I know I'm dead weight on this team," her grip tightened on the railing, "But I won't let things stay that way. I'll get better no matter what, and the first step is to find the benchmark that I have to break through."

Kakashi's eye widened slightly, "Looks like you have your work cut out for you." Then he eye-smiled, "I guess you'll need extra training after this."

Sakura smiled widely, "Yeah!"

Ryuto glanced at Sakura, but didn't say anything.

From a respectable distance, Lee was crying tears of happiness, "Sakura, you are truly a paragon of youth!"

Back on the fighting stage, Kiba was struggling to come up with a comeback.

"Grr, I'll show you the difference between us!" Sasuke met Kiba's glare with a cool stare of his own.

"If you're done posturing, then let's get on with this."

The proctor looked between the two genin with a cough, "If you're both ready, then begin!" He chopped the air.

Kiba made a hand sign, and Sasuke threw a kunai at him. Kiba ducked the knife and called out, "Ninja Art: Beast Mimicry!" Then he went on all fours and came at Sasuke with a furious assault, leaping and punching alongside Akamaru's bites and lunges. It was a whirlwind of attacks, and Sasuke was in the middle of it, but was holding his own in spite of the attacks from both sides.

Sasuke would catch Kiba's elbow and spin to fend off the little white dog, while throwing Kiba off balance and even landing a kick. When Kiba and Akamaru synced up for a pincer attack, Sasuke would move and force them to chase him. Sasuke danced between the attacks and around the room as Kiba tried to corner him with Akamaru.

Kiba snarled, "Akamaru! Let's rev it up!" Then he threw the dog a pellet and crunched on one of his own. Sasuke raised an eyebrow as Akamaru's fur darkened into a deep red that suited his name.

When the little dog jumped onto Kiba's shoulders as he did a hand sign, Sasuke threw a kunai.

Kiba yelled out as he dodged the knife, "Hey, stop throwing those at me!"

Sasuke threw another kunai, "You didn't expect me to let you do whatever it is you're trying to do, did you?"

Kiba growled as a kunai punctured his arm, "Man Beast Clone!" In a puff of smoke, suddenly Kiba was standing on top of Kiba!

Sasuke smirked, "Come at me."

Both of the Kibas charged at Sasuke, "Fang over fang!" Then they started spinning like drills.

Sasuke leapt onto a wall to avoid the first drill, but his smirk disappeared when the other one came at him. Sasuke launched himself off of the wall to avoid being hit, but the quick dodge left him dangling in the open air.

Kiba shouted as he and Akamaru aimed to drill into Sasuke from both sides, "What a rookie mistake, jumping as high as you can! With moves like that you deserve to get recked!" In the air as he was, Sasuke couldn't dodge this last attack.

Just before Kiba's attack landed, Sasuke held up a kunai in his hand and bounced mid air.

"Wha-!? Akamaru get out of the-!" The two drills smashed into each other head first, and one of the Kibas transformed back into Akamaru.

From where he was dangling Sasuke twirled one of his hands and pulled on the ninja wire he was holding. When Kiba and Akamaru fell to the ground, they were bound to each other and just slammed on the ground.

The proctor raised his hand, "Winner, Sasuke Uchiha!"

Ryuto crossed his arms, "His wire work ain't bad, I'll give him that."

Ino looked over at Ryuto, "You're pretty strong, Ryuto, but that doesn't give you the right to talk like you're better than Sasuke!"

Ryuto smirked at Ino, "Only pretty strong, huh? Then what does that make you?"

Ino's response was a mixture of sputtering sounds and excuses that didn't stop until Asuma put a hand on her shoulder.

Ryuto leaned back and saluted around Ino, "Hey Dusty, nice work!"

Sasuke ignored Ryuto and went back to his place at the end of the balcony.

"Hey, Ryuto?"

Ryuto focused back on Ino, "What's up?"

"Why do you call Sasuke Dusty?" When Ino said that, the whole room became a little bit quieter.

"That's easy." Ryuto grinned, "It's because his personality crawled in a hole and died."

Ino dead panned, "...Really?"

Ryuto nodded, and the silence lasted a full two seconds before someone chuckled, "Heh."

"Hey! Who laughed!? I'll tear out your tongue for laughing at Sasuke!"

Ino might've flipped out like that if Asuma hadn't directed her attention, "Look, It's time for the next match."

"Huh?"

Ino looked at the names displayed on the electronic screen for a moment, then she said, "Oh, it's your turn, Sakura! Good luck!"

Next time on A Living Lie! Sakura vs Tenten!

What do you think? I know the chapter is short but fights just don't really last that long. Until the preliminaries are done, the chapters are going to be around this length for each one, depending on who's fighting.

Also, I wanted to say that I appreciate your input, and, while I've already decided on who's fighting who for the preliminaries, I may use your ideas for the fights in the finals.

Omake - Just one More Prank

Gaara normally didn't leave his room for anything, unless he was going to eat, or kill. The only exception to that rule was to relieve himself, and Gaara really needed to go this time. He was in such a hurry he wasn't even walking. Gaara was riding on his sand at high speed down the halls in search of a bathroom.

In his search, Gaara was able to find a bathroom door at the end of a hall. He used a small tendril of sand to pull on the handle. It held for a moment, but was ripped out of the wall. Gaara glared at the door handle for a moment, then his sand reared and tore through the door and the surrounding wall to reveal a nice view of the Forest of Death.

"..." Gaara stared through the hole, then he turned and sped down the hall on his sand.

The End