Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and not me.

A/N: IMPORTANT! Okay, I'm sorry about being a little late with this. But I DO have a good reason this time! Since I was asked about making a comic, I decided to give you a little bit of a surprise and I made a small page. It's only an example, so it won't be continuing, but I thought it'd be nice just to give you an idea on how the characters look and that. The page is on my deviantart account, so just follow the link at the bottom of my profile page to get there. There is also a few other pictures of Kita in there if you look around. I hope you'll read it.

Questions:

Q- If you could contain any Bijuu, which would it be and why?

A- Hm... that's a toughie... so many of the bijuu scare me, though the Nekomata scares me the most. I'd have to say Houkou, though I wouldn't let the thing go on any 'destroy the environment' sprees.

Questions for the characters!

Q- Kita: Are you nervous about your match? And do you hold any hidden feelings for Gaara?

Kita- I'm not nervous at all, I can't wait for it. Uh... Gaara? Um... well, I suppose there is something between us. I... wish I could make him feel like he doesn't have to be lonely anymore.

Q- Tenten: How exactly did Lee injure himself, again?

Tenten- This is embarrassing, but after he had found a scroll, he did one of his stupid victory poses. He was so caught up in his 'Springtime of Youth' that he lost his balance and fell out of the tree and didn't land very well. Tsunade-sama will fix him up though, she's so amazing!

Q- Sora: When Yanagi hit you on the head with her fan did Hana have to fix that too?

Sora- Love heals all wounds! I forgive Yanagi for it. She's so cute when she's mad.


Chapter 29: Match Point

"Kigaino Sora from Iwa, and Akaaka Shuuki from Kusa! Please stay behind for your match!" The examiner waved his arm for attention. "And would the other participants please clear the area to the seating arranged above!"

Sora had twitched slightly at those words, slight panic taking over. "Why couldn't I have gone last?"

"Sora-kun! Win it for me!" cheered Yume as everyone went up to the seating above. She waved down at him wildly.

I wish Yanagi was here to cheer me on... Sora sighed woefully, taking position on the field. He looked across to Shuuki, who seemed confident after taking a few deep breaths.

The chuunin examiner raised his hand. "Match One: Sora vs Shuuki... begin!"

Immediately, Shuuki pulled out a pair of kunai and threw them straight at Sora. The blue-haired boy threw a pair of shuriken in return, deflecting them away.

"Futon; Daitoppa!" Shuuki yelled whilst Sora was busy with the kunai. A blast of wind erupted out of nowhere and across the room. Sora's eyes widened as the gale picked him up and threw him towards the back wall.

Quickly, he positioned himself with his feet to the wall. Sora covered his feet in chakra, creating a cushion as his feet hit the wall, letting him stick against it.

Close one... Sora closed his eyes and wiped his forehead. Swiftly he let go of the wall as a line of shuriken came at him. The metal stars embedded themselves into the bricks, just where Sora had been milliseconds ago. Sora looked back at them and then back at Shuuki.

"Wha...?" exclaimed the sandy-haired boy, looking confused. "How'd you know they were coming when you weren't looking?"

"Let's just say I have a sixth sense about these sorts of things," Sora smirked, feeling more confident- a little lowering of the enemy's morale never hurt either.

"Stop joking and let's continue this!" Shuuki frowned, pulling a small golden ball out of his side-pouch. "Kafun Bakudan!" He lobbed it forwards at Sora, making the boy jump backwards.

It exploded on the floor, expelling... pollen? Sora tried to make out Shuuki's shape, but it had disappeared amongst the obscuring mist of pollen that made his nose itch.

Whoa... what is this?! Sora thought, wiping at his eyes. It feels like my senses are on fire! If I can't depend on my eyes or even my sense of smell, I'll have to use my bloodline. But I don't want everyone to know... guess I'll have to be sneakier about it. I hate this though, so many distractions makes it hard for me to use it.

Sora focussed his 'sixth sense' to lock onto Shuuki's mind. The boy was a few metres to his right, just in reach of Sora's bloodline and about to kick. Sora ducked and the boy's foot sailed overhead.

He sprung back, catching Shuuki on the chin with a well-timed punch. The blonde boy back flipped and landed on his feet awkwardly. He started a chain of hand seals quickly.

"Futon; Aori!"

Another gust of air picked up, aimed at the pollen cloud where Sora was lost in. The cloud was blown backwards towards the wall, Sora still inside. Shuuki grinned- he was sure Sora wouldn't have seen the wall coming this time.

The blonde boy paused suddenly; the cloud was coming back at him... It had hit the wall and washed back like a wave. The thick yellow pollen drifted towards him, losing him, as well as most of the crowd. Observers held hands over their mouths and noses as they were bombarded by the mix.

"Shuuki, get rid of this jutsu!" yelled Jouryoku from the stands, shaking a fist wildly though it was obscured in the pollen's mist.

"It's ruining our hair!" wailed the Grass Sisters together from somewhere in the obscured seating area.

"Shuukiiii!" Rindou cried out, looking out over the railing.

There were no replies, instead the sound of a scuffle, then a yell.

"Kanashibari no jutsu!"

A loud thump resounded from the ground level, like something falling over.

Suddenly the jutsu fell away from the stands as the pollen began to settle on the ground. Three pollen-covered figures stood on the floor below. The examiner patted the mess off of himself, then rubbed his arm- something had hit him during the storm. He looked over to where the two other figures were, unrecognisable from the amount of filth on them. One of them was on the ground with the other with his arms on his knees, panting. The one standing shook the pollen off, revealing blue hair. Sora's orange eyes looked bloodshot, but victorious.

"Winner, Kigaino Sora!" yelled the examiner, pausing to shake more pollen off. "Kankuro and Hyuuga Neji, please come down for your match! And could we get some people to quickly clean this mess up?"

Sora pumped his hand up into the air. He pulled his hitae-off and sneezed, making more pollen shake loose from his body. Nobody clapped, instead looking mostly angered by the out-of-control jutsu. Sora felt his victory pride float away and settle on the ground like the pollen.

Solemnly he made his way back to the stands. Behind him, a group of chuunin swiftly swept the floors clear of pollen. Kita's right ear flickered irritably as Sora approached, shaking some pollen from her fur. Sora scratched the back of his neck.

"That could have gone better... Though I was pretty lucky too..."

"You hit the examiner?" asked Kita, glancing down at the examiner who gave his arm another rub after announcing the beginning of the next match. Kankuro pulled out a scroll as the Hyuuga boy, Neji, took a fighter's stance.

"Uh... I forgot to check before I punched..." Sora gave a nervous smile.

"Sora-kun! I'm so glad you won!" Yume squealed and attached herself to his arm once more.

Sora winced. "Ow... I'm sore there, be careful! That guy sure gave me a bit of a hassle before I was able to get an opening with my paralysis jutsu." He sat down and Jieichou passed him a water bottle. Sora took it questioningly.

"For your eyes," the grey-haired boy explained, shrugging casually. "They look like someone took a piece of sandpaper to them."

"Heh, well it sure feels like it..." Sora used his free arm to spill the water into his eyes. "That's better. Thanks, man." He passed it back.

"Ooh, look at that!" exclaimed Yume, jerking Sora off his chair as she stood up to see what was going on below. "Puppets!"

"Ow..." Sora groaned, then crawled up to glance over the railing as well. "Hey, she's right. Cool."

Kita observed the fight below; the Hyuuga looked reluctant towards fighting the puppets; however Kankuro seemed just the same about letting his puppets get close. Kita wondered why...

Kankuro twitched his fingers, sending his first puppet that Kita recognised as Karasu, rushing towards Neji. The other boy leapt to the side as the puppet went past.

"Coming at me so brashly... it's because you know my fighting style won't work against puppets." Neji's white eyes seemed to flash as the veins on his temples pumped harder to supply blood to them. "But I know your style as well."

"There's no point in trying to hide it then, is there?" asked Kankuro, pulling the white mass of bandages from his back. The bandages fell away and the real Kankuro stood up. His fingers twitched again and the sand giving his duplicate its appearance slid off, revealing another puppet- Kuroari. "Let's test whose style is stronger then."

Kankuro pulled his hand back and quickly jabbed forward. Kuroari was sent into the air like a missile at Neji.

"Kaiten!" yelled Neji, spiralling around on the balls of his feet. Blue chakra erupted from his skin, creating a dome. Kuroari struck it, bouncing off harmlessly. Kankuro pulled his puppet back to his side.

They're both so evenly matched... thought Kita, her mind going over what she knew of the two.

Kankuro, a puppet master from Suna; typically a long-range fighter who relies on his puppets to do his work and without them there is little he can do. Neji, from the Hyuuga bloodline in Konoha; seems to be a close-range fighter. His bloodline allows him to see more than other people. He also seems to be able to release chakra from his body to create a kind of dome barrier...

"Kaiten!" Blue chakra swept across the ground again just as Kankuro sent both Karasu and Kuroari towards Neji again. As they hit, the puppets broke apart into segments, arms going one way and bodies the other. Neji came out of his spin and smirked. "Seems like I have the advantage now."

"Hm, yeah, seems..." Kankuro replied smiling, waving his hands and creating a surge in his chakra threads. The pieces of the puppets jumped up and connected themselves together again. Neji's brow twitched angrily.

This may take a while... Kita leaned back.


In town with Yanagi, Hana and Benkeino...

"How long do these things usually go for?" asked Yanagi. "If we're going to the stadium, does that mean they expect the preliminaries to end quickly?"

"Jouryoku-san is the type to just get things over and done with," Benkeino replied. "He's an eager man, that one. Sure you don't want an ice cream, Yanagi?" he asked, pointing to the cold buckets of ice cream behind the glass. "Come on, my treat."

Hana wiped some banana ice cream off of her nose and giggled. "Come on, Yanagi! They have boysenberry! And the ice cream is so good too!"

"Uh... boysenberry?" Yanagi took a quick peep at the open buckets. "Oh, alright... just this once."

"Wonderful," Benkeino smiled and turned to the shop keeper. "And one boysenberry thanks." He handed the finished product to Yanagi.

"Mm, boysenberry... so good." The black-haired girl sighed happily as she licked away.

"Father, would they put the stadium matches on suspension if the preliminaries went for too long? Or would they proceed anyway?" Hana's dark brown eyes looked worried.

Benkeino took his own ice cream- two scoops of double chocolate fudge with marshmallows and peanuts- from the shop keeper and paid him. He paused before taking a bite. "I imagine they would make the entrants continue on with the fights. They're not stopping for anything this year it seems."

"Oh dear, I hope nobody gets hurt..." Hana clasped her other hand around her ice cream cone concernedly.

"The Grass are very skilled in medicines and healing, so it should be alright," he assured his daughter before taking a bite out of his ice cream. He stared down at the cold object in his hand. Those kids will be fighting from dawn to dusk, no doubt about that. I wouldn't be surprised if people did get hurt... maybe even killed. One night's sleep can't undo all the stress they've been put under for the past few days.


At the preliminaries...

Neji and Kankuro were panting heavily; the battle had been going for much longer than most people had anticipated. Sweat dripped from their faces, but neither were willing to take a chance and wipe it away in case the other decided to attack.

"You... tired... yet?" Neji held his fighting stance, ready to move, though his limbs felt like lead and his eyes like poached eggs. This was like a repeat of that fight he had with that spider-using guy all over again... without the life-threatening injuries however.

"Not... at all," grunted Kankuro, tightening the chakra strings as they became a little lax. He'd been managing to hold Neji off so far... he was lucky to be using two puppets; Neji had tried to break the chakra strings on one already to create an opening, but with the other puppet ready to support its partner, Neji didn't get very far.

"I'll finish you off in this last attack!" Neji collected what energy he had left and ran at Kankuro, his feet about to launch him into a jump.

"Over my dead body!" retorted Kankuro, flinging his puppets towards him.

"TIME!" yelled the chuunin examiner, appearing in the middle of the clash and grabbing Neji's leg and kicking the two puppets away.

The Hyuuga landed on his free leg and pulled his other out of the examiner's grip. Kankuro pulled Karasu and Kuroari back to him, letting his already-failing chakra strings dissolve.

"Twenty minutes have elapsed, and according to the rules, a tie is the result!" announced the examiner.

"A tie?" asked Kankuro. "But what does that mean then? We both lose?"

The chuunin opened his mouth to confirm.

"Examiner, I overrule the decision to disqualify both of these genin," interrupted Jouryoku, standing up.

Neji frowned, suspicious. "Why are you doing that?"

"And here I thought you would be thanking me, not questioning me..." Jouryoku responded indignantly. "Both of you are excellent genin, and it would be a shame not to see you advance to the next round. Thus am I allowing you both to proceed to the semi-finals- it would be a shame to see you come so far and not go further. Examiner, please make the ruling final."

The chuunin nodded. "Hyuuga Neji and Kankuro will both advance to the semi-finals under Jouryoku-sama's decision!"

The two genin finally wiped the sweat from their faces- their fight had not been in vain.

Jouryoku sat back down and smirked. They may be strong fighters, but with the semi-finals in the same day, there is no way they will recover in time. Both will be easily picked off by my genin. The defeat of such strongly regarded genin will be quite a victory for the Grass...


Neji took a relieved sigh and sat down with the rest of his team mates.

"Um... Neji-nii-chan," Hinata said timidly, just barely catching her cousin's attention with her soft voice. The boy's white eyes glanced over at her.

"Yes, Hinata-sama?"

"Oh, here!" The lavender-eyed girl held out a small jar of salve. "For your injuries, that was a very hard battle."

"Thank you, Hinata-sama." Neji accepted it and gave a small smile at her. His younger cousin had been quick to forgive him and offer him her support. Neji was sure that she would be the one who would change the Hyuuga completely, if Naruto wasn't able to by that time.


Jieichou stood up and tightened his fists. On the other side of the stands, an older boy wearing a large jacket stood up.

"Arabume Shino from Konoha and Jieichou from Iwa to the field please!" announced the examiner. The screen on the wall flashed their names up.

"Good luck, Jieichou!" Yume offered as her team mate leapt down to the floor. His opponent chose to use the stairs instead, seeming very calm.

"Match three; Shino versus Jieichou, begin!" The examiner raised his arm.


A/N: Okay, well I'm going on holidays for a week, so the next chapter will take a little longer probably. Anyway, I hope you read what the A/N at the top said and I hope you enjoy that sample comic on my dA account.

Jutsu used:

Futon; Aori (Wind release; Gust)(Ninjutsu) (Wind element) (D rank) Causes a short, but powerful gust of wind to appear.

Kafun Bakudan (Pollen Bomb)(Weapon) (Defensive) A type of smokebomb that releases pollen over an area. Used for both as a screen and as a distraction.

Quite a common weapon in the Grass, many families in Kusagakure have different pollen combinations. One family may harvest pollens that target the sinuses, and another may focus on ones that cause itching. Shuuki's family are one of the leading creators, and they have managed to create some pollen bombs that cause an opponent to fall asleep. However, harvesting the pollens for that particular one takes a long time, making the bombs quite valuable.

Please leave a review! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!