The fifth day came quicker than they had expected, and it brought some startling revelations. For one, the test had weeded out far more of the teams than had been expected given how many had remained. With forty five teams having made it to the second stage, it was expected that at least a third would pass, but really, only seven had. Four were the Konoha Thirteen, who had passed in record time.

The other three were another Konoha team, Team Forty-Two who included Kabuto, and had made it to the tower on the third day. The sixth team were a group from the newest village, the Village Hidden in the Sound, and had arrived early on the fourth. The final day had ended with Team Baki, the team with Gaara and his siblings coming in just before the sun went down, the red haired boy smelling of blood, and telling them no other teams would be coming.

This still left twenty two participants, far too many for the public tournament that was planned for the end of the month. When the Sand Trio had said they were fine, and a quick medic-nin examination had deemed them fit, every remaining genin was guided towards the tower's basement, where reinforced barriers seemed to line every wall, and the place had a feeling like a bunker designed to survive the end of the world itself. At the very bottom though, they found a most unexpected thing.

"Hmm, so these are the ones who passed," said a man standing in the center of a huge arena, a place obviously designed to withstand anything a ninja could throw at it. The statement he made was not a question, just a fact, and as he looked up at them, he actually smirked, making his sickly appearance even worse somehow, as the bags under his eyes looked like they were about to eat his eyes. He then coughed, a hacking, disgusting thing, before simply vanishing, causing the genin's eyes to dart around, finding him standing by a large board, with the Hokage and Kazekage behind him.

"My name, since none of you are going to know it, is Gekko Hayate. I'm one of the best examiners in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and it's typically my job to make sure jonin are up to snuff before they can take off the vest and don their personal garb. Today though, I've been asked to come down to your level, so I hope you'll put on a good show," he said this through another round of coughing, but every shake of his body seemed to take him somewhere else, appearing suddenly in front of each genin in turn, before finally appearing right under the big board.

"Now, I'm sure you're used to this, but I'll be brief. There's too many here to have a proper public tournament between you all. Too many by twice that amount, so we're going to have some private preliminaries now. I'll be judging you, and if you put on a good enough show even here, you might be allowed to wear the vest without making it to the public affair. Still, don't expect to meet my standards easily. I judge jonin, and you kids aren't going to impress me without some fancy stuff," as he spoke, the sickly man snapped his fingers, and suddenly the board above him lit up, a large display on it flipping through their names in alphabetical order, before settling on Hayate's own.

"How this is going to work is simple, I have a randomizer here that's going to select matchups, and you're going to fight. I don't want anyone holding back here though, so to make this more interesting, teams are dissolved now. That means you pass or fail on your own. No riding the coattails of your betters, and no dragging someone else down with you," this caused a gasp from some of the genin, who had expected their teams to remain united. Worse, as the names flashed again, in possible matchups, they noticed that team members would be allowed to fight each other.

"Of course, to go with this new direction of not holding back, I will expect this round to turn deadly, if anyone here wants to back out, now is the final chance to do so," looking up at the twenty two on the balcony above him, Gekko seemed to be waiting for someone to say the words, but when not a single voice or hand rose, he continued.

"Not that death is the preference here. If I deem you unable to fight, either because of injury or simple knock out, I will declare the match over. Anyone, and I do mean anyone, who tries to continue a match once it has been called, is disqualified. If you're a clan heir, a kage's child, or just some punk off the streets, you'll be declared out of the running for chuunin no matter how well you fought. Do you understand?" those last words seemed to echo around the room, but as he got only nods or hate filled stares from those above, he seemed to think his message got through, and with another cough, he appeared atop the large display.

"Alright, now that that is out of the way, let's move onto our first match," as he spoke, he kicked the display from above, the thing buzzing as the names spun on faster, some of the matchups even being between the same person, until at last, Aburame Shino and Abumi Zaku stood highlighted.

"You two, get to it," he said, in an annoyed voice, coughing again, and appearing on the floor again, just in front of the display. The two ninja made their way to the floor, Shino slowly, deliberately walking towards a flight of stairs, and then taking each step one a time. His opponent, Zaku, simply leapt down, and then smirked at the kikai-nin as he got down to his level.

"Aburame Shino, a member of Konoha's Team Fourteen, the only four man squad in the village. An expert at his family's techniques, most of which involve the kikai, ninja insects able drain chakra," said the young man, ruffling his hand through his spiky black hair, smiling in a way that spoke of multiple psychosis. His shirt didn't improve matters, the beige colored thing having the word death printed on it three times, as if once wasn't enough. The bands he wore on his arms spoke of whatever he was wearing beneath being something odd too, with holes in them where his actual skin should have been.

"You know much about me already, Abumi Zaku. Should I feel flattered?" responded Shino, looking around the room, seemingly disinterested in a match. His opponent smiled all the broader, and he even gave out a single barked lauh.

"Nah, not really. I just asked around about you after that silver haired moron during the tests blurted out he and his beat Zabuza. That guy's famous, and I figured anyone able to beat him is a real contender, someone I can make my own name off beating. Shame you're just a bunch of punk kids," as he spoke, he lifted his right arm, and slowly placed his left thumb under the armband he wore, getting it deep into the fabric, before pulling hard, grunting as the covering tore asunder, revealing his arm, and causing many looking to gasp.

"Heh, still, I suppose breaking a few bugs is at least a start," he said this while showing off his arm, a thing that looked normal enough, till you noticed the holes. Deep gouges bored into his flesh, yet seemingly not wounds in the normal sense. No, they looked more like holes one would find in a flute, and as he moved his hand, some of them closed, while others opened, and one could already hear the dull whistling noise coming from the arm as he moved it around.

"Yeah, that should be just the right frequency," and so saying, Zaku spun his arm in the air rapidly, causing a shrill, piercing tone to echo over the arena, one accompanied by several cracking noises, as the Aburame leapt backwards, his coat wiggling a little.

"Yep, just right. I figure guys like you depend on your bugs so much, that without them, you're pretty much done, so I captured a few specimens while we were in town," he said with a cocky grin on his face, as he dropped into a one handed fighting stance, his left arm at the ready, while his right hung at his side, visibly shaking with vibrations as the tone continued to resound around the arena.

"You believe you can fight me with a single arm?" asked Shino, seeming to be curious, rather than insulted by his opponent's confidence.

"Oh, I know I can, want to know why?" he asked with a smirk, and then shot his arm out. Suddenly the band covering it was torn to tatters, which flew in every direction, as an almost visible wave in the air moved out from it. Like a powerful explosion, the floor of the arena was shattered as the blast of sound passed over it, creating an impression in the stone and tile, even as Shino dove to the side, rolling out of the way just in time for the blast to smash into the wall behind him, sending a shower of dust and debris into the air.

"That's why. You can't get close to me, and without your bugs, you've got nothing to use at range," gloated Zaku, before firing another pulse, chakra briefly visible flowing from the holes in his arm, and once again, Shino was forced to dodge, this time leaping forward as he did so. Closing ground quickly, he tried to strike hard, only for Zaku's arm to come into a blocking position, a crescent shaped wave of sound pouring out of his arm, and picking up Shino, tossing him away, but without doing too much damage.

"Fascinating," said Shino, and before he even hit the ground, his arms whipped out, a shower of kunai emerging from his sleeves. Zaku just kept smirking, using his free arm to batter the wild rain aside, even shaping the sound wave so that the majority of the blade wound up turning and fly straight at Shino, who had to dodge again, this time leaping through his own weapons, and a followup blast of sound that he only barely got out of the way of.

Still, neither combatant looked fatigued in the slightest, despite Shino bouncing, and the drain the sound techniques should have been on Zaku. The arena, meanwhile, looked far worse for wear, with several of the spectators having taken steps back from the cracked walls beneath them, and even a few leaping up beside Heero, who was standing on the ceiling looking down at the pair.

"You might as well just give up now. No way are you ever getting near me, and even if you could, I can just blow you away with a wave of my hand," he mocked, doing just that, creating a small breeze that blew over Shino who stared at him impassively. Behind his glasses, one might notice his eyes, going over every nearby surface, until he finally spotted what he wanted, and leapt upwards suddenly. His angle wasn't towards Zaku though, who took a step back, arm at the ready. Instead, Shino would land several yards to the side, even as he went through a set of handsigns in rapid succession.

"Slick Liquid No Jutsu!" he called out, his palm slapping the stone beneath him, and instantly causing an expanding puddle of goo to come from where he touched it. Zaku, seeing the puddle, tried to step back again, but his feet weren't fast enough, the puddle reaching him in seemingly no time at all, and the moment it was on him, his feet slipped from beneath his body, sending him sprawling to the ground with a splash, a grunt of surprise more than pain escaping his lips.

"What cheap trick is this?!" he demanded, trying to get up, only to find the puddle covered everything around him, which meant his hands and feet couldn't find any traction at all. Not that he had long to try, and Shino leapt upwards again, and this time he seemed ready to fall right on top of the sound-nin, a kunai finding its way into his hand as he fell.

"You really think it's that easy?!" shouted Zaku, and waved his left arm, creating another wave of sound, but he underestimated his opponent, who actually chuckled as he was blown away by the sound, while on the ground, Zaku found himself sliding across the floor like a missile, slamming hard into the wall of the arena. The crack of skull meeting stone was audible for several seconds, and when everything was at last silent, the sound-nin was still, his head at a painful looking angle as he lay there.

Hayate, leaping forward, held his hand up to keep everyone quiet, as he knelt beside the genin, his fingers to his neck, and then just shook his head. Rising, he coughed once, and then appeared atop the display, kicking it with a foot, and causing the name Abumi Zaku to fade, while Aburame Shino's name glowed brightly. Snapping his fingers, a door seemed to appear from nowhere on the wall, out of which stormed to medic-nin, who placed the body of Zaku on a stretcher, and then carried it out of the arena.

"First fight winner, Shino by knockout. Hopefully, the medics can keep Zaku from developing a concussion, but otherwise, he'll be fine," he said, and Shino nodded, climbing the stairs to stand by his teammates again a minute later, while Hayate, once Shino was clear, snapped his fingers again. The arena appeared to melt as the sound passed over it, and a moment later, it was whole once more, as Hayate kicked at the display again, the list of remaining combatants spinning around inside it, as it picked the next fighters.