Disclaimer: I disclaim….

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Renegade Ch: 26

Anko was sitting alone in her apartment wishing dearly that she could down the entire bottle of sake that was sitting in front of her, mocking and laughing at her. As she did this, she thought of the recent events that had occurred. After Sakura's fight, the ones in charge decided to call it a day. After sleeping and finally calming down, almost everyone still alive cut their losses and quit. It was the smartest thing any of them could have done.

After witnessing the last half of it, Anko was scared. Naruto was coming along faster than she thought possible. He spoke one sentence, just one, and started wide spread panic that not even most of the jounin saw through. It was terrifying to see that a fourteen year old had that much potential and didn't even know it yet. Not even Orochimaru at that age could have done it. If she hadn't met Orochimaru in the forest, she would be getting wasted, but as it was, she couldn't afford to. Something was coming, something was going to happen very soon, and she needed to be prepared for it. But that also meant that there was a good chance that she was going to die too. That's just how war was, and she was sure that if Orochimaru was here, that's exactly what was coming.

With a sigh she thought about other things that were bothering her, things that were distracting her. Namely a certain silver haired elite Jonin that might as well be the father of the scariest genin she had ever heard of. For that matter, she had been avoiding him for various reasons. One of which was that she honestly had no idea what to say to him. What was she supposed to do? It's not like she asked for that or anything.

'Then again, what do I have to lose? It's either ignore him, or sit here and be alone,' Anko thought bitterly to herself. 'For now though, I think Kurenai can help come up with a good way kill time.'

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For the first time in his life, Kiba was not afraid to admit he was nervous. He had yet to fight, and all that were left were the ones that truly belonged here. Both of his teammates had fought, though only Hinata had actually killed anyone. Shino had simply blown up his opponents arms, effectively ending his career. Still, that was more than enough to warrant praise from Naruto and his team of psychopaths.

Kiba just sighed; it wasn't supposed to be this way. Things had calmed down, but that didn't mean that the atmosphere had made a drastic change. While many had calmed down a lot over the night, it almost got the same point it was at yesterday after Naruto walked back in the room. Everyone may have been somewhat under control, but the tension was still very, very high. And although more people were surviving, a lot of people were still dying.

A girl named Ten-Ten just finished her fight with a girl from the sand village, and it was by pure luck that she wasn't paralyzed, or dead.

Kiba was waiting for the names to stop spinning when his name came up. Kiba was actually slightly relieved. As nervous as he was, he was actually glad to just get it over with. Then, he heard Hinata and Kurenai gasp. Kiba looked up only to pale considerably, he was going to fight Naruto.

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Naruto looked at Kiba and scoffed. "Great, I get to fight runt boy and wonder dog," Naruto said in a sarcastic tone. Sasuke just gave him an annoyed look.

"Come on, he might not be stronger than you, but that doesn't mean that he is weak. If you don't take him seriously, he might actually kill you. I mean he sure as hell is going to take you seriously."

Naruto just gave Sasuke an annoyed look in return. "Really? He doesn't look all that tough."

Sakura sighed. "Right, and in some of the photos we've taken together you look tall, get your shit together Naruto," Sakura said in a slightly mocking tone. Naruto just gave her a withering glare while Sasuke laughed. With a sigh, Kakashi put his two cents in as well.

"Naruto, they're right. Kiba might not be quite as good as you, but he's still strong enough to kill you if you let your guard down." Kakashi hated to put a leaf genin in deliberate danger like this as he was more or less encouraging Naruto to kill Kiba. But Naruto was his student and his responsibility, Kiba wasn't. As much as it hurt, Naruto was like a son to him, and he would rather Kiba be killed and carry the guilt than Naruto die. It was a heavy price and burden, but he would pay it gladly.

After a moment Naruto just took a deep breath and focused. After that, he didn't hesitate and jumped into the arena. He was focused, driven, and deadly. Everyone could feel it, and for the most part were scared. They knew there was a lot more to him than they had seen so far, and right now he was looking at Kiba like the predator he was.

Kiba was just standing there shaking slightly. Suddenly some random person that he didn't see suddenly spoke out.

"He's fucked." After a moment of silence, someone else spoke out.

"Fifty bucks says that the Inuzuka is dead inside three minutes." After only a few seconds someone else responded.

"I'll take that bet." Then people started and the odds started being laid out. Not betting on whether or not Kiba would die, just on how long it was going to take. The whole thing was serving to piss Kiba off, and scare the shit out of him.

Kiba was a very proud person; it came with the way he was raised and his very biology. Inuzuka were very much strait forward. As such, Kiba would rather die than back down. That is unless Naruto was a genuine 'Alpha' and was both stronger and dominant over Kiba. Kiba did not really know what to make of it. After a few encouraging words from both of his teammates and his sensei, he decided that there was nothing he could do about it and to just go ahead and fight with absolutely everything he had, even if it meant that he was going to die.

Kiba jumped down into what everybody had silently agreed to as the indoor gladiator arena and tried to calm himself down. He looked across and tried to hold eye contact with Naruto. He tried, tried and failed. Right now Naruto was in his element, doing what he was truly meant to do. Kiba was not going to win, he was going to die. He knew it, but wasn't going to accept it. His heart told him to fight and die with honor. His head told him to quit and survive. His mother and the clan would be disappointed, but he would survive.

Hinata was truly conflicted for the first time in a while. Naruto had given her strength that she didn't know she had. She knew Naruto was a monster, but that was ok. He was a good person even still; somehow he was, despite everything that said that should be impossible. She accepted and understood him to a degree, at least more than most people except perhaps Kakashi and the Sandaime. Hinata had spent enough time with him that she knew him just about as well as Sasuke and Sakura. While his kills weren't always really necessary, especially the brutality of it all. His reasons and the philosophy behind it was surprisingly firm and made sense.

Even with all that, with everything she knew and loved about him, Kiba was her teammate and friend. Even if he annoyed the hell out of her sometimes, he was still her friend, and she already owed her life to him. While they were on the same team, it only made sense for them to have saved each other's lives a few times, but it still held significance with them. So, she would ask Naruto a favor. Even if it made him a hypocrite to a certain degree, she didn't care and wouldn't think any less of him, but rather be grateful. While Naruto might not like Kiba, Kiba was still a leaf shinobi and a possible friend to him one day. The same rules did not apply with one's comrades. However, all of the 'rules' were not yet known to all of them. But Hinata was certain that the unnecessary deaths of comrades were among them.

"Naruto," Hinata called out in a tone that only asked for his attention. She got it. "Kiba is a friend, and a comrade to you. If you can, would you spare his life? Please, for me?" Naruto blinked, surprised. Then after a moment of thought, he gave her a soft real smile back. That told her all she needed to know.

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Kiba was in a little bit of shock, but that quickly turned to a bit of relief. While Hinata's reasons were far from what he would have liked, she gave him a chance at least. If he didn't die in the process of the fight, Naruto would spare his life. And that was a huge relief. After a moment though he pulled himself together. He couldn't afford to let his guard down, the fight was about to begin.

The moment that the proctor started the match, Naruto was charging Kiba already forming hand seals. Kiba didn't have enough time to give Akamaru a soldier pill so he charged Naruto with a kunai out in an attempt to stop him from forming his jutsu. Akamaru still with him waiting for his chance to attack. Right before they were about to meet Naruto jumped in the air strait up.

Kiba jumped up as well, trying to intercept Naruto in mid air. Naruto however was right above Kiba and was holding the jutsu back until just the right moment. Just as Kiba was about to reach him, Naruto let the jutsu go right in his face. It was a simple gust jutsu that Naruto had modified. Instead of just a strong gust of air, Naruto had managed to sharpen it at the same time. The result being that when someone was hit with the jutsu it would not only knock them back, but also give them some nasty gashes. Kiba was directly under Naruto when the jutsu hit. Blood sprayed out in a vicious mist while both Kiba and Akamaru were thrown into the ground with devastating force.

Before they could recover, Naruto made two clones and propelled them downwards. While Kiba and Akamaru were rebounding off of the ground, the clones hit both with hard spinning back kicks, sending both into the same wall. Luckily for Kiba, they were relatively close to each other. And while they were both already in bad shape, they didn't have time to worry about it, and so they forced themselves on their feet.

Before Naruto could finish him off, Kiba threw a smoke bomb. Seconds later two whirlwinds of howling fury came at Naruto. As fast as Naruto was, he wasn't fast enough. The two vortexes plowed through both clones and while Naruto was able to avoid one, the other hit him with a direct hit, shooting Naruto across the arena and into the opposite wall. Naruto lay still for a moment, everyone silent, many both daring, and hoping that he was either out of the exams, or better yet, dead. He was someone that no one there ever wanted to fight for any reason.

After the attacks were finished, Akamaru collapsed, unable to continue. Kiba was just surprised that Akamaru had been able to perform the gatsuga at all; he could tell that the very first attack should have knocked him out.

As it was Kiba wasn't all that much better. He was barely standing. His face and body were cut up badly, and he was worried about his left eye, he couldn't see out of it at all. As it was, his body was cold, but certain parts of it were warm.

'Probably blood,' He thought wearily to himself. Just standing there, Kiba stared at Naruto's limp form, daring to believe that somehow he had won. In what seemed like minutes, though it had only been a few seconds, Naruto stirred and slowly got up. He shook his head once to clear it, and then focused on Kiba, ready to keep going.

There wasn't anyone there that wasn't surprised that Naruto was in as good shape as he was, though he hadn't gotten out of it unscathed. There was a pretty nasty gash on his left arm, blood was flowing down it and slowly pooling on the ground below, though it was only about half the amount that Kiba was letting out. After a few moment of staring, Kiba smiled.

"You have got to be shitting me," Kiba said weakly. Kiba's eyes rolled into the back of his head and then he collapsed. Naruto started forward, but then stopped remembering the silent promise he made to Hinata.

The proctor called the match before Naruto decided to change his mind. He saw everything that had gone on between Naruto and Hinata, but that's not to say that he trusted Naruto by any means. He took no chances when he called it off, he then signaled the medics.

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"Shit," Kurenai said quietly to herself. Hinata's name just came up, and she had to fight her cousin Neji. Hinata might be strong, but Neji was better and he truly hated her. If something wasn't done, Hinata was going to die.

Kurenai took a look at Hinata and saw the fear in her eyes, it wasn't hard to miss. That only made things worse, a lack of confidence and a lack of drive would get her killed for sure. If Hinata was going to fight, she needed every advantage she could get.

Kurenai was thinking quickly, she needed to boost Hinata's confidence and do it now. Then, she saw Naruto looking at Hinata strangely. Then it hit her, and with that, she caught Kakashi's eye and gave him a meaningful look. After a moment, Kakashi nodded and leaned down to whisper something to Naruto. At first Naruto only looked confused, but then he shrugged and started walking over to them.

Hinata was starting to panic; she knew she stood no chance against Neji. She was good, better than she thought she ever could be, but she wasn't in his league. But she couldn't just quit either. Her father may have lightened up recently, and actually started to seem almost nice and kind towards her, but that wouldn't matter if she quit. That would disgrace the clan if she did, and as a clan heiress that was inexcusable. Just as panic was beginning to set in, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Naruto's calm face.

"Hinata, slow down, you're not helping yourself. You can't go down there scared, or he will kill you. You need to remember that he is trying to take everything away from you, trying to kill your dreams as well, kill everything that's important to you. Get mean, and direct your fury towards him. Don't focus on the problem, but on the solution," Naruto said, never breaking eye contact.

Hinata didn't say a thing, but slowly, she relaxed. She closed her eyes and everything that Naruto said made sense. She saw Naruto's smiling face; she saw her teammates and Kurenai smiling at her. She saw the smallest nods from her father, giving her that tiny amount of approval that she had sought her whole life. She saw her sister's face, and all the time they had had together. Then, she saw an older Naruto holding her with a look of love on his face, and everything set into place. She would not die here; she had too much to live for. She didn't want to kill Neji, but if he was trying to take all of those things away from her, than he had to die.

Hinata opened her eyes and looked back at Naruto with eyes that were full of cold fury. Naruto nodded.

"That's more like it. Now go down there and tear his fucking head off," Naruto said with steel in his voice. Hinata nodded and jumped into the arena where everyone was already waiting and ready.

As soon as Hinata was in her fighting stance, the proctor started the match. Neji started first, not even bothering to get into any sort of stance, he just stood there and started talking.

"Hinata, what are you doing? You loo…" that was all Neji was able to get out before Hinata was on him, forcing him on to the defensive, at least for the moment. Hinata knew that she wouldn't be able to be on the offensive for too long, and once Neji took the offensive, she wouldn't be able to last long. Her only chance was to wait for Neji to take advantage of an opening, and counter attack. She left an opening open on purpose. Neji had such a lack of faith in her abilities, that he didn't even question whether or not it was real.

Hinata was able to stay on the offensive for almost a minute before Neji finally got serious. Hinata was unrelenting in her attack, but she was surprised that she lasted even that long. Neji took the opening, hate burning and byakugan flaring.

Hinata took a hit to her left shoulder, at the same time she quick drew a kunai and slashed at his throat. Hinata was fast, Neji was faster though. Neji moved his head back at the last second, avoiding getting his neck wet. However, the kunai did cut deeply through his lips in a diagonal fasion, splitting his lips open in what would surly turn into an ugly scar.

Neji moved around Hinata and was able to hit her a few times in her abdomen before jumping back a distance and putting a hand to his bleeding face. Hinata couldn't attack yet, it was all she could do to stay standing.

Neji pulled his hand back to look at the amount of blood that was pooling out. As he looked at his hand he also saw pieces of one of his lips come off as well. Neji's eyes widened, and then narrowed, glaring at Hinata with venom.

"MY FACE, MY FUCKING FACE! YOU BITCH!" Neji screamed at Hinata with venom in his voice. Hinata couldn't help but smirk a little, even though a little blood was coming out of her mouth. Hyuga were not supposed to show any emotion, and drawing out such a reaction from Neji was a form of humiliation.

Neji didn't waste any time in charging forward, killing intent radiating off of him. Hinata tried to defend herself, but Neji wasn't holding back anymore. The first thing Neji did was hit the chakra points in Hinata's hands and forearms, effectively disabling her arms, in turn her arms fell uselessly to her sides.

Neji then hit her a few more times in her abdomen, then moving behind her and striking very specific points on her back. Then, moving back in front of her, Neji hit her a few more times on her torso. Neji jumped back a distance, viewing the damage he had caused with sadistic glee.

When Neji hit her back, her entire back contracted and froze up. Hinata was not able to move, apparently paralyzed and standing in place. Hinata was only conscious for a few seconds before her head went slack and blood flowed out of her mouth. Neji wasn't satisfied. Suddenly, the proctor seeing that Hinata was unconscious, and most likely dying, called out. "Match!" Neji scowled and charged Hinata again anyway.

Neji was only about ten feet from Hinata when Naruto appeared a few feet in front of him, red slitted eyes practically glowing with a sinister glare. Neji was dropped to his hands and knees; the wind was knocked out of him by the pure killing intent radiating from Naruto. Killing intent that was laced with two auras that he had never felt before. Killing intent that was threatening to give him a heart attack by it being directed at him. Neji looked at Naruto in terror. Naruto narrowed his eyes, and Neji passed out.

Every jounin drew their weapons, jumped into the arena and prepared to kill Naruto. Suddenly, Sasuke and Sakura appeared on either side of Naruto, Sasuke with his sword drawn, and sharingan blazing and spinning wildly. Kakashi also behind Naruto, sharingan also exposed, and in a defensive stance. For a moment, nobody moved, everyone either too shocked at Naruto's team's reaction, or scared shitless by Naruto.

Then the killing intent disappeared and Naruto rushed to Hinata, lowering her to the ground.

"HELP HER!" Naruto yelled out in the medics' direction. With nowhere near as much killing intent being put out, the medics leaped into action. They might be very afraid of Naruto, but that wouldn't stop them from doing their jobs.

After he woke up, Neji just stayed where he was, finally free of the suffocating aura that had been directed at him. Naruto didn't even glance at him before he left following Hinata out of there.

Shikamaru was standing still, completely in shock. On one hand, Naruto had just done something that could have easily gotten him kicked out of the exam, he did it to protect someone else, he just showed a chakra level that should not be possible for someone their age, and, he just did something that felt utterly demonic.

While everyone was starting to get settled again, and the rest of team seven was back to where they were standing before, Shikamaru sighed and made a bee line towards them with the thought, 'might as well get this over with.'

While they were being discreet, most of the people left in the room were watching him. Almost none of them wanted anything to do with team seven, especially now. When Shikamaru got close enough that it was obvious he was going to ask something, everyone was now watching him, honestly curious as to what was going to happen.

"Yes?" Kakashi asked in a curious tone, also confused as to what he wanted. Shikamaru sighed.

"Just about everything Naruto just did pretty much blew everything out of the water of what I thought he was like. With everything I saw, none of it adds up. So, while I realize I should be asking him, even though it may be a bit dangerous, he is currently indisposed. So, what exactly is he?"

By now, it was deathly quiet. Everyone was wondering exactly the same thing. Kakashi just turned to Sasuke, as Sasuke was Naruto's best friend and knew Naruto the best other than him and the Hokage, and was really the one to be answering the question.

Sasuke was a little unsure of exactly how to answer that. For one, he decided that he wasn't going to tell them about the Kyuubi. While he doubted that Naruto would care, it still was not his secret to tell. On the other hand, just saying that Naruto was a born killer didn't seem to do him justice. So, giving a half answer, Sasuke replied in an honest tone.

"There isn't a name for what he is. At least not yet. Go and ask him if you want to figure that out, it won't be dangerous unless you annoy him, and there will be plenty of warning signs before you're in trouble." Sasuke finished with a shrug. That was all he was going to say, and they were just going to have to deal with it.

While everyone was processing this, something happened that would haunt the dreams of everyone in the room as much as the events of the tournament itself.

"YOSH! WHILE HIS METHODS MAY BE BRUTAL, IT IS CLEAR THAT HIS FLAMES OF YOUTH ARE LIKE A MINI SUN! THE YOUTHFUL COMPASSION TOWARDS HIS COMRADES IS TRULY AMAZING!" Maito Gai boomed, shocking everyone in the room bad enough to get them to jump.

"I AGREE SENSEI! HIS YOUTHFULNESS SEEMS TO KNOW NO BOUNDARIES! GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

Then, to the utter horror of everyone, they cried, hugged, and somehow formed a sunset indoors. Everyone was frozen in place, horror clear on their faces. Suddenly, something happened to make them jump again.

"MY SHARINGAN!" Sasuke screamed as he fell to his knees, palms in his eyes. Sasuke had yet to deactivate them.

"THE IMAGE! IT BURNS!" Sasuke wailed as he clawed at his face. Sakura had to move quickly to subdue Sasuke before he righteously blinded himself.

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Sakura was shocked to say the least; she had to fight her old best friend. They hadn't spoke for months, but she no longer held any animosity towards Ino. Ino had once been Sakura's best friend, and given the way things were going, Sakura might have to kill her.

Sakura didn't know what to do, or rather, didn't know what to feel. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned expecting to find Kakashi trying to comfort her, but was instead surprised to find it was Sasuke.

"Just don't think about it. Go down there and do what you have to do. If you don't want to finish her, you don't have to, but don't go easy on her either. I know it sucks, but this is what we do," Sasuke said in a strange tone that was somewhere in between being firm, and comforting. Sakura wasn't the only one that was surprised, though only Naruto and Kakashi were close enough to hear him.

Sakura nodded and jumped down into the pit. Naruto then turned to Sasuke.

"Where did that come from, and what's the problem?" Naruto asked, honestly confused. Sasuke just shrugged.

"They used to be really good friends, and she doesn't really want to kill her. As for why I said that…I really don't know," Sasuke said with an equally confused look on his face. Naruto just blinked, and then shrugged. They could talk later, now wasn't the time.

Down in the arena, things were tense. Sakura looked a little sad and even a little resigned, while Ino just looked nervous, and confused. Neither moved, waiting for the proctor to start the match. Sakura started first.

"Ino, withdraw. We were friends once, really good friends; I don't want to end it like this." Sakura said a little sadly. Ino just sneered at her.

"And what makes you think that you can beat me billboard brow?" Ino said in a mocking tone, though you could tell it was strained. To her surprise, Sakura just looked at her with a sad smile.

"I miss talking to you, I miss being your friend. But if we fight, either way, there is a good chance that this will be it." Sakura said, her tone hardening slightly. Ino just looked nervous again, suddenly remembering how Sakura ended her last match, how Sasuke finished his last match, and Naruto. The thought of him made Ino shudder most of all.

After a little bit of thought, Ino just settled into a slightly shaky fighting stance. She hadn't fought yet, so she hadn't killed anyone, but she knew this might just be the first time she ever did, but she didn't have a choice. Sakura might have just been another fan girl once, but not anymore. Whoever she was, she would kill her if it came down to it. Ino was not going to give her that chance.

Sakura just looked at her sadly one last time, before nodding sadly, "Okay, Ino, for what it's worth, I really enjoyed the good times." Ino was about to respond when she looked into Sakura's eyes. They were hard, cold, and unforgiving. It was the same look that Sakura had given the other girl before they fought.

Ino had been trained for a long time in reading people. In fact, next to the Hyuga, the Yamanaka's were the most perceptive clan in Konoha. The reason for this is because they're experts at interrogation. So from a young age all clan members were taught how to read and interpret body language. They weren't as good at it as the Hyuga, but the only reasons being was because of the byakugan, and that they didn't practice twenty-four seven. However, Ino didn't need the byakugan to read Sakura right now. She could see the fury right beneath the surface. The same fury that would literally tear her limb from limb. For the first time, it truly sunk in that she was in real trouble.

Ino adopted a shocked and scared visage as she looked into Sakura's unforgiving and cold eyes. Then, the proctor started the fight, and Sakura was on her.

Sakura charged with a kunai, taking advantage of Ino's shocked state. If Ino hadn't shaken herself out of it, she may very well have had her throat slit. As it was, she did get a moderate cut right under her chin. Ino did a back hand spring, kicking Sakura in the face in the process. Back when they used to spar, that would have ended it. Now though, it barely fazed Sakura at all. Sakura rushed forward again and tried to stab Ino, but Ino pulled her own kunai and blocked it. Sakura was insanely strong though and would have easily overpowered her, but Ino tilted the kunai so it slid off to the side harmlessly. Sakura though still didn't let this get to her and used her other hand to punch Ino right in the solar plexus.

Ino had the wind knocked out of her as she was launched backwards and into the wall. Ino's head was knocked backwards as she hit the wall, she saw white for a moment. Then as her vision cleared, she saw a few kunai headed straight at her. Ino did the only thing she could; she brought her arm up and turned to the side a bit to defend herself, the kunai impaling her arm and the left side of her torso in the process.

Ino knew that she was in trouble, but there wasn't all that much that she could do about it at the moment. At the last minute Ino came up with a plan, and she only had one chance to get it right. She pretended to be disoriented, not that much of a challenge seeing as she had never been in this much pain in her life, however, she was starting to get cold, which meant that she was losing a lot of blood.

Sakura used the quick sand jutsu and trapped her in place; Sakura then solidified the sand and charged Ino, a kunai in hand. Ino waited, and at the last second brought up her hands settling into her clan's signature jutsu. Sakura's eyes were wide as she realized what was happening, but it was too late. Ino hit her point blank.

They both went still, though Sakura collapsed to her knees. Inside Sakura's head there was a struggle that couldn't be seen. Unfortunately, Ino was not prepared for Sakura's inner persona. After all, the practice Sakura had been doing, and the newfound mental fortitude she had gained by the things she had done and seen, it was not difficult to kick Ino out of her mind. However, it took a lot out of her and a lot of chakra to do it. The process wasn't difficult, just the amount of chakra needed.

As Sakura was pulling herself together, Ino registered that this was her one chance to do something before Sakura killed her. As Sakura shakily got to her feet, Ino acted. Still trapped in place, Ino took out a kunai and stabbed, and then passed out.

Sakura was abruptly shocked out of her stupor by a sharp stabbing pain in her ribs. She looked down and saw a kunai sticking out of her ribs on the left side. It wasn't very deep, but it was deep enough to nick her lung. She also noticed that out of reflex she had drew another kunai and stabbed Ino back, getting her deeply in the gut. Sakura briefly registered this as she coughed up a little bit of blood and collapsed.

Before she could hit the ground though, Sasuke caught her and as carefully as he could set her down and moved back.

The medic nins were on them almost instantly. Usually they waited till the proctor called the match before acting, it was actually policy. But this was different. This whole exam was like nothing they had seen, and with the way things were going during it, every second mattered. If they had to break a rule or two to give someone a slight chance at survival, they would.

Was actually planning on getting all of the fights out of the way, but it was taking too long so I just decided to go ahead and put this out there. I actually have real excuses for this one being so late, but I'm not going to bother going into them. Sorry for the lack of plot here, but it couldn't really be avoided. The next chapter things will get put back on track.

Beta Comments: And another nice chapter. I'm certainly glad you give me the rough draft beforehand so I can help on the spelling and whatnot. I'd thought about some situations when it came to Naruto's speech, but then I realized that he grew up on the streets, there is very little chance that he would have actually used the kind of speech that I'd thought of using. That being said I did reword a few things. Look and see if you can find the differences. That's it for me at the moment, so Good Riddance and Peace Off.

- Anime Insaniac

A most sincere thank you to my Beta, without him, I would have embarrassed myself many more times than I do on a daily basis.