=Chapter 24-Round One Part 2: Revelations and Reconciliations=

Kankuro looked up as Kabuto announced the next match, "Whoops, Gaara's up. Better get up there." He jumped up and hurriedly ran for the door, surprised to see Sokushi right behind him. He got there just in time to see some kind of explosion as Lee seemed to teleport and kick Gaara halfway across the arena. Before Gaara could pick himself up, Lee dropkicked him in the face, jumped back, grabbed him by the armor straps, slung him across the arena and seemed to teleport again, dropping a tremendous axe kick into Gaara's head mid air. Gaara slammed into the ground face first and rolled about twenty feet.

His sand, which had been trying its best to catch him and Lee collapsed, completely inert as Gaara lost consciousness. Everyone who had ever seen Gaara fight stared as Lee poked Gaara to make sure he was unconscious. Lee stood up and raised his hands over his head, "I win!" Gekko nudged Gaara with a toe, "Yep, he's out." He raised a hand to indicate Lee, "the winner is Rock Lee!" Then Temari and Kankuro exchanged a glance and leapt down into the ring, "GAARA WAKE-" BOOM

The ground erupted as Shukaku ripped it up to form a body, howling like a sandstorm. He wasn't amused as his back end spilled out of the arena and nearly dragged him off the cliff side. Temari and Kankuro stared in horror as the living embodiment of a sandstorm tried to drag itself back up into the ring. "Damn it Gaara," Kankuro breathed as many of the spectators hurried to clear out and many of the braver shinobi leapt up to do battle with Shukaku as his roaring did a fair imitation of a cyclone and shook the arena. Temari sighed as she reached around for her fan, "Do you want to get him or should I?"

Kankuro shrugged as he settled into a wrestling stance, "I guess I'll get him. Gotta redeem myself after that fight with Naruto." A massive golden tail suddenly smacked Shukaku between the eyes like a striking snake, "Or not," Kankuro said in surprise. Shukaku almost lost his grip and then the tail of the Celestial Dragon wrapped around him. Everyone stared in awe as the dragon, over twice as long as Shukaku's whole body, including the tail, lowered itself down to look Shukaku in the eye, "SLEEP."

Shukaku's massive eyes closed and he dissolved into a mountain of sand, which drained away to reveal Gaara wrapped in the dragon's tail. The dragon leaned in closer, "Hmm, now what all are you made of..." The dragons eyes glowed particularly bright, "Hmm...base is Shiroihebi and Akasuna, with implanted Senju, double Uchiha, and Tailed Beast. Skull appears to be seventy percent demolished, not mending, must not be on speaking terms with Shukaku. Guess I'll save Lady Tsunade the trouble, HEAL." Golden light flared around Gaara's head and a few moments later the immense dragon dissipated.

Standing on the sand was a young man in dark gold clothes, the traditional garb of a shinobi Temari was surprised to see, looking at Gaara sprawled and quietly snoozing on the ground. Koga reached up to flip his hood back up over his bronze hair as he looked over at Temari and Kankuro, but he paused for just an instant as his eyes met Temari's. Temari's heart skipped several beats as she felt like he was seeing right through to her soul. Then Koga flipped his hood up with a grin and leapt all the way back to the VIP box in a single bound.

Rin and Naruto sat down in relief, their Tailed Beast Cloaks quickly dissipating. Gekko and Lee sat up out of the sand covering the arena floor and up in the VIP box the Kage level shinobi in attendance calmed down and congratulated Koga on his swift dealing with Shukaku in slight awe of the Celestial Dragon's power. Koga nodded his thanks for their congratulations and then as he went to climb into his palanquin he looked at Orochimaru, "By the way Lord Kazekage, why exactly do your children have Sharingans that look to have been implanted after birth?" Every eye in the VIP box turned to look at Orochimaru and Madara's eyes were particularly narrow as his Sharingan went active.

Orochimaru felt himself start to sweat profusely as he began to babble, "Well you see the night of the attack on the Uchiha I killed the man who orchestrated it and upon examining his body I found he had been stealing Sharingans for some time already and implanted them in his arm. They were still viable and I had always wanted a Sharingan, but I had just received one from my dying student Shisui" he flipped up his eye patch to reveal Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan, "but my children didn't have Sharingans and I wanted to protect them as best I could and make sure they'd be safe even when I wasn't there to protect them and I thought what better to give them than the legendary Sharingan, so I gave them all Sharingans... please don't kill me," he finished in a very small voice as Madara loomed over him.

Madara abruptly went back to his seat, "Well you were only looking out for your clan, and since you killed the man who attacked mine I guess you may keep what he stole from us," then he was looming again, a finger of authority pointing at Orochimaru, "But you must all four go through the Uchiha's rites and rituals because you are now honorary Uchiha members because you've got Sharingans!" Orochimaru timidly gave a small thumbs up, and in a small voice, "Okay..." Madara sat back down with a smug grin, "Good." Then he tilted back his head and called to the sky, "Hear that Hashirama?! I got a Sannin too!" He proceeded to howl with laughter as many of those who hadn't met him yet traded looks wondering if he was entirely sane. Those who had met him could've answered with a firm, "No, no he is not."

Before long the arena had been cleared of sand and the outer wall repaired, Kabuto came on over the speaker system again, "Okay we're back! Our next fight is Temari Shiroihebi vs Shikamaru Nara! I have checked with the instructors, neither one of these next two will turn into a giant monster if the other knocks them out. So go all out you two let's have a match epic enough to make up for the interruption!" Shikamaru rolled his eyes as the crowd cheered, "Way to lay the pressure on Kabuto, what a drag." He sighed as he settled into a stance ideal for running away, "Let's get this over with."

Temari held up a hand as Gekko started to declare the start of the match, "Wait." Gekko stopped and looked at her as she cast an evil grin at Shikamaru, "You know that if I don't get a good fight out of you I'll get a lot of blood right?" Shikamaru got very pale and he nodded. Temari grinned as she settled into her stance, "Good." Gekko raised an eyebrow at her, "Can we start now?" "Whenever you're ready," Temari replied with a bloodthirsty grin. Gekko wondered if maybe he should just go ahead and declare her the winner, but he raised his hand, "Begin!"

Temari snapped forward out of a puff of smoke, not even drawing her fan as she drove a flat handed strike into Shikamaru's chest. Shikamaru had actually jumped ever so slightly as Gekko called for them to begin, so the impact didn't hurt nearly as much, and it sent him flying that much further. He folded his hands midair, "Foreshadowed Approach! Thousand Armed Murder!" Suddenly a storm of fists made of solid shadows erupted out of the ground at Temari.

Just as Hatsumei Fukusei was about to cheer in the stands, Yumiko shushed him, her Byakugan seeing what his eyes couldn't: Temari effortlessly dancing among the dark fists, none of them even grazing her as she gracefully wove through them with the smooth elegance and speed of a serpent. Hatsumei sat down, half heartedly pouting that he wasn't getting to cheer about his jutsu being used. Then Temari leapt out of the forest of shadows next to Shikamaru, "Nice try!" She called tauntingly as she caught him by the lapels and slung him across the field.

Hatsumei's face lit with realization as Yumiko shot him a look, "Ah, thanks." Yumiko smiled and leaned against him, "Why don't you just wait to cheer until I do Hats?" She kissed him on the cheek and he turned pink with a big smile, "Ok." Shikamaru rolled to a landing and folded his hands again with a sigh, "Shadow Brambles." Temari leapt over the wall of solid shadow thorns that suddenly erupted in her way and a kunai grazed her cheek as Shikamaru sighed, knowing before it even hit that he had missed. She grinned as she landed and wiped the blood from her cheek. She licked her fingers, "Ooh, this might be fun after all."

She jumped and attempted to dropkick Shikamaru, who was still lying on the ground right where he had landed. As she connected Shikamaru exploded into a puff of smoke. Temari grinned as her eyes turned red and she looked around with her Sharingan, "Now where did you gotcha." She drew her fan and dropped it open as her gaze fell on the trees at the edge of the arena. Shikamaru ducked behind one in preparation for the Wind Scythe Jutsu he was expecting, but instead the tree suddenly reached out and grabbed him. Shikamaru managed to execute his shadow bind and pull the branches binding him apart before they could bind him too tightly. He dropped to the ground and ran out of the trees, She's got Wood Release too?!

He rolled out of the tree line and folded his hands into a sign, Shadow Shuriken Barrage! A storm of shuriken made of solid shadows erupted out of the tree line and shot right at Temari. Once again she effortlessly dodged all of them, this time though, Shikamaru saw her Sharingan go active and knew he was doomed. Unless...

Temari noticed the thin lines of shadow trailing behind the shuriken just an instant too late as Shikamaru folded his hands into a new sign, "Shadow Bind!" The shadow wires suddenly cocooned Temari, leaving her wrapped quite snugly in a black sack of shadows. Shikamaru frowned, why wasn't she struggling? And why was she smiling like, uh oh...

Temari grinned at him, "Well, that was pretty good." The shadows cocooning her suddenly dissipated as she effortlessly blasted them apart with her own chakra. "I guess I won't beat you too hard," she added with a grin. Shikamaru slumped back against the tree as she stalked over to him, "Can I quit now?" Temari cracked her knuckles with a smile, "Nope." Shikamaru sighed, "I was afraid of that."

Then Temari froze as she started to pull back for a punch that would probably break Shikamaru's jaw. She blinked in confusion, then grinned, "You sneaky little..." Shikamaru folded his hands into a sign quickly, now that Temari was being held still by his Shadow Paralysis, she was wide open for "Shadow Stitching!" Dozens of shadow javelins erupted up from the ground, slamming through Temari's arms legs and torso. She screamed in agony as Shikamaru rose and patted her on the shoulder, "Sorry gorgeous, this is gonna hurt you a lot more than it will me."

He proceeded to run away as fast as he could, and just as his jutsu was loosening Temari turned her head to the hissing at her shoulder and saw the low grade paper bomb Shikamaru had stuck to her when he patted her shoulder. BOOOOM. Temari cried out in pain and Kankuro was about to leap into the ring to beat Shikamaru senseless when Naruto and Hinata caught him, "Wait Kankuro!" Naruto growled as he strained to hold him back. "Temari's alright!" Hinata yelled as Kankuro almost broke her grip. Kankuro didn't quite hear her through the haze of red and furious buzzing in his ears, but Shikamaru did. He turned just in time to catch Temari's wicked left hook right in the jaw.

He spun all the way around three times as he flew through the air and landed on his face. Temari panted as she clutched her badly burned right shoulder and the side of her neck, "What is it, with people, stabbin me, and stickin bombs to me?" She looked at Gekko, eyes narrow with pain, "Call it ref, he's not gettin back up." Gekko nodded, "The winner is Temari Shiroihebi!"

When Temari and Shikamaru got down to the infirmary, Sakura was talking to Sasuke, trying to keep him calm. Her voice was a little bit hoarse, but her skin had largely cleared up except for a little puffiness. Teibo was sitting nearby keeping an eye on her and Sokushi was gently tickling Gaara's nose with her prehensile hair and a smile while he slept. The minute they walked in, Tsunade was barking at the medics who had brought them in for not having Temari on a stretcher. She promptly picked up a protesting Temari like a baby and set her on an examination table. She yanked a curtain closed and ordered Temari to strip.

Temari tried to take off what was left of her top, but her shoulder wasn't cooperating. Tsunade snarled something about reckless hooligans and had Temari's burned top off in approximately sixty seconds. Temari was very surprised by the rough and tumble treatment, and then Tsunade laid her hands firmly on Temari's shoulder and cheek to begin healing them. The instant their chakra's touched, they knew something had been kept from them. They held each others' stunned gaze for what seemed like an eternity, then Tsunade staggered back, a hand covering her mouth as tears sprang to her eyes, "Shizune!" she called, her voice cracking as she staggered back against the table behind her. Shizune leapt to Tsunade's side immediately worried, she had never seen Tsunade like this.

Tsunade laid a trembling hand on her shoulder, her eyes still riveted on Temari as she told Shizune, "Tend to her." Then she disappeared as her shadow clone form returned to the original. In the VIP box, Tsunade's jaw dropped. Then tears sprang to her eyes, "Orochimaru..." Orochimaru Lord Third and Jiraiya all knew immediately that her tone meant Orochimaru was very likely about to die, and the way Tsunade's hands were crushing the armrests of her chair like cheese only confirmed it as she hissed, "EXPLAIN."

Orochimaru immediately felt an inch high, "Um well you remember the night before we sealed Lust? You and Jiraiya had that um, little scare?" Jiraiya's spine stiffened as he realized what Orochimaru had done to make Tsunade so furious, and he turned to Orochimaru with absolute murder in his eyes, "You didn't." Orochimaru had to use every ounce of self control he had to keep from hiding behind his chair, "It was the only way to preserve the child! I was saving her for you!" He felt less than an inch high as Jiraiya and Tsunade loomed over him, "I didn't want you to lose your first born!"

Tsunade caught him by the front of the robe, "So why is she here as your daughter Orochimaru?" "Stasis tube failure?" Orochimaru answered timidly. "NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" Tsunade bellowed as she pulled back to drive her fist through his skull. Suddenly a figure with blonde hair tackled her, "MOM DON'T!" All the strength went out of Tsunade instantly as Temari tried to restrain her, "Please," Temari begged, "Don't! He may not be my father but he's still my dad!"

Tsunade staggered back slightly under Temari's weight and saw that she was still quite injured as Shizune and Kankuro rushed up the stairs. Jiraiya snuffed out the Rasengan in his hand as he stared at Temari, the resemblance to himself and Tsunade painfully obvious now that he was made aware of it. Tsunade hugged Temari, "Okay, okay, I won't. Here, sit down, you shouldn't be out of the infirmary yet."

Kankuro walked over scratching his head, "Um, I feel like I missed something. What about dad not being dad?" Jiraiya leaned back against the rail, staring at the love of his life and the daughter he'd never known he had, a faint smile quirked across his face, "Two daughters, boy does karma have a sense of humor." Kankuro looked at him, "What?" Orochimaru stood and patted him on the shoulder, "Son, there's a lot we all need to talk about."

"Long story short," Koga drawled from his palanquin, "Temari's the daughter of all three Sannin, not just Orochimaru." He slid out and sat down next to her, not looking because she had run off without her top in her hurry to catch Tsunade before she killed Orochimaru, "You just get more and more interesting Lady Temari. Wood Release, Sharingan, the blood of not one but two Sannin and the knowledge of the third, it seems as though all the best Hidden Leaf has to offer has culminated in you." Orochimaru coughed into his hand, "Sand too. I did my thing and gave her Karura's Dust Release too, plus the best instructors Hidden Sand could provide." Koga looked at him, "Hmm, Sand too apparently. Someone run word of this down to Temari's friends among the competitors and let Kabuto know there's something more to announce."

Kita raised her hand quickly, "I'll tell the others!" Konan watched her go and then smiled, "I'll go tell Kabuto." Koga nodded and off she went. She caught Kita halfway down the hall, "Kita!" Kita stopped and bowed her head, "Yes?" Konan walked up, "I'm sorry," she whispered as she hugged Kita, "I'm so sorry..." Kita's eyes filled with tears as she clenched her fists, "I saw what he did to Dad. I had to fight my father's corpse because you didn't kill that bastard sooner." Konan's tears flowed freely as Kita broke out of the hug and spun to face her, "Kita you don't understand, Nagato he has-" "The Rinnegan," Kita snapped, "Yes I know exactly what he is capable of! That's why I'm so mad! He's nothing!"

Konan blinked, her surprise actually blotting out her despair for an instant, "What?" "HE'S NOTHING!" Kita nearly shrieked, "I blew away two of his bodies like bubbles! The two ring and the four! Those were the strongest ones! You expect me to believe you couldn't take him?!" Konan stared, then a smile spread across her face and she wiped a tear, "You're that strong?" "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT STRONG?! HATTORI AND LORD HANZO AND DAI ARE ALL TEN TIMES STRONGER THAN I AM AND A THOUSAND TIMES TOUGHER THAN HE WAS!" Kita yelled. Konan chuckled and then she laughed. Kita was bright red as she demanded to know what was so funny.

Konan managed to stop laughing and smiled at her, "You're so strong that you think the most powerful criminal in the Empire is weak. Yahiko would have been so proud of you." She laughed a little as Kita deflated slightly, "You think I could fight him because you're my daughter, but you've surpassed me by so much," She shook her head with a smile, "I can't even fathom how powerful you must be."

She couldn't bring her eyes to meet Kita's, "I'm sorry I'm not as strong as you expected." The tears started welling again, "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you all these years. I'm sorry I couldn't stop Nagato, and I'm sorry for what he did to Yahiko." Her voice broke as a sob racked her frame, "I'm sorry I've been such a terrible mother, I just wanted to protect you! If Nagato had known about you there's no telling what he would have done out of jealousy! If I hadn't taken Hanzo's deal he might've killed you! I, I couldn't, I couldn't see any way out for us Kita! I know I've failed you as a mother and I understand if you can't forgive me, but I tried!" she cried. Then she turned and dissolved into a flurry of paper, whirling away down the hall.

She made it almost fifteen feet before she smacked into a white wall and was startled into reforming. "Wait," Kita said quietly as she pulled the paper wall back into the form of her little finger. Konan looked over her shoulder and Kita crossed her arms, looking at the floor embarrassed, "I, I'm sorry. I know Lord Hanzo and Hattori are a high standard, I just never thought about the possibility of you..." she didn't finish and Konan smiled slightly, "Kita, the original Akatsuki never stood a chance in the fight against Hanzo. He could have massacred us all by himself. When he finally decided to come after us himself he caught me and killed everyone but Nagato in less than a week. It only took him that long because Yahiko was good at hiding people. I, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're so strong. You've been training with him your whole life, he must have taught you a lot."

Hanzo cleared his throat as he came down the stairwell, his voice as always somewhat muffled by his mask, "Actually Konan, Kita taught herself quite a lot. Her strength has always been her innate talent and will to succeed. If you are not as strong as she is, then know that I had always assumed you lost to me as quickly as you did because you were on the verge of going into labor when we fought. I was quite embarrassed about that actually." "You should've seen the look on Dad's face when he brought her in," Hattori grinned to Kita as he appeared next to her, "He looked like me with my hand in the cookie jar!" Then he poked her in the shoulder, "and I've told you a million times you don't give yourself enough credit. You're a little powerhouse! You came within an inch of beating Temari just playing cat and mouse with her, and look who she turned out to be!"

Konan raised an eyebrow, "She nearly beat Temari?" Hattori waved her surprise away, "Pfft, if I hadn't ordered everyone to exert the absolute bare minimum amount of effort in the one on one fights to avoid damaging our ongoing negotiations with Leaf and Sand, Kita's team would've swept the preliminaries and this tournament like a broom. Which reminds me, I gotta go tell Sokushi it's okay to go all out now, I haven't had a chance to tell her that we got the treaty signed this afternoon!" "Oh she's gonna love that," Kita grinned as she imagined the look on her best friend's face.

==A Few Minutes Later==

When Hattori and Kita made it down to the infirmary, Shino was laid out on a cot with everyone else staring as Dosu headed for the door. He stood aside as Hattori and Kita walked in and then headed on out. Hattori raised an eyebrow and pointed to Shino, "What happened to him?" The medic examining Shino shook his head, "We're not sure, he just suddenly collapsed when the match started. Not a mark on him, he just suddenly keeled over." Kiba came stumbling down the stairs, "Shino!"

He fell and Kita caught him, setting him back up right with an unimpressed look, "Sorry, sorry," Kiba apologized loudly, "That was a sonic attack Dosu hit Shino with. It was huge! Shot the balance of everyone up in the stands with animal senses. My whole clan's wobbly on their feet and can't none of us hear nothing!" He stumbled over to Shino and caught the medic, "Check his bugs! That's gotta be what was hit or Shino wouldn't be out like this!" The medic raised his hands to Kiba's ears and his hands glowed for a second, "Quit yelling, this is an infirmary," the medic ordered him calmly. Gaara raised a hand from his cot, "Excuse me, you two were just up in the Kage's box right? What happened up there?"

Kita smiled, "Oh yeah, almost forgot. Hey Sokushi, come here." She gestured Sokushi over and when Sokushi got there Kita wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "You know you'll always be like a sister to me right?" Sokushi nodded in confusion, "Yeah, why?" "Because it turns out you have a half sister who actually is your sister," Kita said bluntly, "That's what Lady Tsunade and Temari were flipping out about." It was hard to tell who was having a harder time understanding what Kita had said, Sokushi or Gaara.

Hattori patted Sokushi on the shoulder with a wry grin, "And luckily you've got a half hour intermission before the next round starts to go up to the Kage's box with Gaara and get your family issues straightened out. You're up first against that Hyuga girl. We got the treaty signed this afternoon, you don't have to hold back anymore." Sokushi's head snapped around as her eyes widened, "I can go all out?" "All the way out," Hattori grinned with a vicious delight dancing in his eyes, "Make up for all that you were holding back in the preliminaries." Sokushi's face split in an evil grin as a delighted "Ooh..." escaped her.

Then she ran across the room, grabbed Gaara and with a cheerful, "Come on!" bolted for the Kage's box, Gaara flying along behind her like a kite, his brain still in total lockdown trying to figure out what was going on. Hattori grinned at those in the infirmary, "Great show everybody!" then he turned and strode out. Those in the infirmary who had been in the preliminaries stared, "They were holding back?" Sasuke asked in shock.

"Of course we were!" Teibo laughed from where he was seated next to Sakura, "You think I really fight like that? That was my slapstick routine! They were holding back?" he mimicked and then nearly fell off his stool laughing as everyone stared in horror. Sakura caught Sasuke's arm, "Go. Warn. Hinata."

AN: Ok, so it turns out my internet situation is even more dire than I had expected. I now have to go to McDonald's for free wifi in order to upload, so from now on uploads will be mass uploads across several stories as I get opportunities. Sorry y'all, life happens. Look on the bright side, more new material per upload.