Daichi Ryu v.s. Shikamaru Nara

"Alright, it's finally my turn to fight." Daichi stated with a smile as he made his way to the center of the arena.

"I suppose I have no choice, but to try. If I just gave up, then Ino would never let me hear the end of it. For that mater, Asuma would be a bit of a pain over it as well." Shikamaru thought as he to made his way to the center.

With Jiraiya and Kazamae

Jiraiya spotted the sky blue hair. "So you made his grandchild your student just like you did his child."

"I figured I owed it to the two of them to train him." Kazamae replied.

"You know, this actually brings up a good topic I was planning on asking you. You think Tsunade knows that Akuma's grandson is in the Leaf." Jiraiya asked.

"Probably not, but even if she did, it'd take more than that to convince her to return. Especially considering neither of us really stays in town for long." Kazamae replied.

With Ino and Sakura

Guy had left to find his own seat in the stands.

"Go Shikamaru! Take Daichi down!" Ino yelled.

Sakura was about to say something until another voice, that she recognized, spoke instead. "Daichi's changed a lot since I last saw him? It's not hard to see who's been training him."

Sakura turned to her right and saw Kakashi Sensei sitting next to her. "Kakashi Sensei, you're here!"

He turned to her, and with his usual demeanor, said,. "Hey Sakura. Sorry we've been gone, but Sasuke needed some training for his match."

"Does that mean Sasuke's here now?" Sakura questioned.

"He is. He's gon into the competitors area." Kakashi replied.

"At least then he won't miss his match." Sakura stated.

"Hey, is this seat taken?" Someone asked.

Sakura and Ino turned to see that the voice belonged to Choji. He was eating from one of the many bags of chips he brought.

Ino was confused. "I thought you were in the hospital? You're stomachs okay now?"

"It is." Choji took the seat seat. "I never thought Shikamaru would end up in the finals, and his opponent won't be an easy one, that's for sure."

"What do you mean? Shikamaru's going to cream that loser!" Ino stated determined.

"Well, I'm not saying it's impossible for him to win, but his chances are slim. If you haven't noticed, Daichi is pretty smart himself. He can come up with his own strategies, but I will admit that Shikamaru is better at them; however, Daichi makes up for this fact by having power. I should know. After all, he wiped the floor with me in the Preliminaries."

"No way! I still think Shikamaru will win!" Ino declared.

Arena Floor

"Begin!" Hayate exclaimed.

Shikamaru retreated into the shadows of the arena while Daichi wove hand signs. A group of 8 shadow clones appeared immediately leaving the arena.

Daichi then took up a defensive position. "I'm not going ti make a move until you make a move. Rushing in is just going to get me captured.

"He's obviously planing something with those clones, but I have no clue what that could be from what I currently know about the guy. What a drag." Shikamaru thought while searching for the clones within the arena. "I suppose I'll just have to make my move."

Shikamaru made his clans hand sign sending his shadow out in an attempt to capture Daichi. Daichi was able to dodge the shadows.

"57… 58… 59… 60." Daichi thought as he finally left Shikamaru's range.

"Lion's Will: 20%." Daichi declared becoming enveloped by orange Chakra.

He ran past the shadow and rammed into Shikamaru's side sending him flying. Shikamaru recovered and sent his shadows after Daichi who was already on the move and already dispelled his Lion's Will.

The Shadow's retreated once more when they reached the end of their range. Shikamaru then threw Kunai causing Daichi to dodge to the right.

"Let's see, I think just a few more moments ought to do it. Just have to avoid him a bit…" Daichi stopped his train of thought as he realized he was caught.

Everyone in the stands was surprised.

"It took awhile, but my Shadow Possession Jutsu finally worked." Shikamaru stated.

Daichi was calm and smiling. "How did you catch me?"

Shikamaru didn't like how calm Daichi was being. "Look behind you. I'll let you."

Shikamaru turned his head which made Daichi turn his. Then he saw the hole made by Naruto when he punched Neji.

"You got me with that one. I didn't think about the hole." Clouds began to roll in. "Though tell me one thing Shikamaru, what does your jutsu require to function?"

Shikamaru noticed that the sky was becoming darker, so he looked up. "What did you do?"

"It has to do with those shadow clones I made at the beginning of our match. During my training, I came across an interesting passage about a ninja who used a Great Fireball Jutsu to produce a thunder storm."

The shadows began to wan as the clouds covered the sky. "I'm not at that level yet, but I figured I could at least create a shower which would in turn still get rid of the shadows."

The clouds completely covered the sun, Shikamaru's jutsu was rendered ineffective, and it began to rain. Shikamaru took a seat and made a hand sign to think.

With Ino, Sakura, Choji, and Kakashi

"Amazing! he really thought of that ahead of time?!." Ino commented forgetting for the moment that she hated Daichi.

The other three people next to her were equally impressed..

With Asuma and Kurenai

"What will he do now?" Kurenai questioned.

"I'll admit that it was stroke of genius to remove the sun, but Shikamaru is far from done in this fight. He'll think of something with that pose of his." Asuma stated.

Arena Floor

"Troublesome. I only have one option left since I have no teammates to back me up."

Shikamaru threw smoke pellets on the ground disappearing from everyone's sight. From the smoke 5 kunai, with paper bombs attached to them, landed near Daichi. Daichi jumped back avoiding the explosion.

Shikamaru ran from the smoke and continued throwing bombs to keep himself obscured until he was close enough to Daichi to attempt some Taijutsu. Daichi flipped backwards and landed on the wall of the arena.

He didn't get much time to recover as multiple shuriken were thrown at him. He lept off the wall and rolled along the ground.

He quickly jumped to his feet. "Time to end this. Lion's Will 10%."

The orange Chakra flared up around Daichi. He ran straight at Shikamaru dodging the shuriken and kunai that were thrown at him. He prepared to punch Shikamaru.

Shikamaru threw his right hand up. "I surrender."

Daichi was to close to Shikamaru to stop, so he began to shift to the right. Instead of punching Shikamaru, Daichi ran into him causing the both of them to fall to the ground. Daichi had already deactivated his Lion's Will.

Practically every single person in that arena was just as shocked as Daichi.

"What!?" could be heard all over the arena from everyone.

Daichi got to his knees and asked, "Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru. Who was still on his back, said, "The cloud are beginning to part." Daichi looked up and saw that he was telling the truth. "Though I used practically all my Chakra trying to chase you down. I ever used all my tool. I could continue fighting, but it's to troublesome to deal with an opponent like you."

Daichi got to his feet and helped Shikamaru to his before slinging his arm over Shikamaru's right shoulder. Gone was the confusion now replaced with a smile.

"It was great fight. You really pushed and tested me." Daichi laughed. "We'll have to fight again some day."

"Will you let me go. Are you forgetting that we have to leave the field for the next match." Shikamaru said exasperated by his fellow Genin's mood.

"That's right, Sasuke's match is next. Come on, let's head back to the competitors box." Daichi happily proclaimed while dragging his unwilling opponent to the stairs.

Competitors Box

Naruto was torn because it seemed that Daichi was happy with the results of the fight which made Naruto happy, but he was also angry that Shikamaru gave up. All of that was put to rest when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Daichi has grown stronger, but I don't think he's stronger than I am." Sasuke said causing both Lee and Naruto to turn around.

Gaara was already on the arena floor even though no one noticed him leave the box.

Sasuke was now wearing a black shirt and white shorts. He also had white wrappings on his arms and his hair was a little longer.

"I thought you wouldn't show because sooner or later you'd have to face me." Naruto stated cockily.

Just then Daichi, without Shikamaru because he walked back up into the stands, joined the small group. "Showing up at the last minute, huh? Any sooner and you may have been disqualified."

"I already saw that Daichi won his match, but what about you Naruto?" Sasuke asked

Naruto replied, "You know it."

Sasuke smiled slightly. "Don't go getting full of yourself Naruto. Compared to me Daichi is a loser and that goes double for you." Sasuke jumped over the railing. "I'm going to show you just how strong I've become."

With Sakura, Ino, Choji, and Kakashi

The whole crowd was cheering as the young Uchiha made his way over to meet his opponent.

Ino asked, "Sakura, what's it like being on such an an amazing team?"

Sakura asked "What do you mean?"

Ino replied, "You got Naruto, who surprises everyone by beating Neji Hyuga. Then there's Daichi, who easily beat Shikamaru. Lastly you have Sasuke, he's like a total super star. You're like the all star team."

Sasuke Uchiha v.s Gaara of the Desert

Sasuke was holding his own. He was able to mimic Lee's Taijutsu injuring Gaara. Gaara eventually sealed himself with a sphere of sand so that he could begin to transform into the monster trapped within himself.

Sasuke was unable to crack the shell normally leaving him with only one option. The new move he learned from Kakashi Sensei known as Chidori. This allowed him to pierce the sphere and stop him mid transformation.

Competitors Box

Daichi was impressed with Sasuke's level of skill. "His Taijutsu has shot through the roof and he's learned a very powerful, lightning based technique. I'll have to see if I can get Kakashi Sensei to teach it to me."

Daichi looked at Naruto who was gritting his teeth.

He smiled and threw his arm over Naruto's shoulder. "Come on man, there's no reason to be jealous of our teammate. You don't really know how you stack up to him until the two of you fight. If you ask me, I'd say you've made significant growth and could definitely hold his own against me or Sasuke."

Naruto sighed and smiled. "You're right. I won't know anything until I fight him."

"Just don't forget that I am your next opponent Naruto, and I will not just let you win." Lee stated.

Arena Floor

Gaara was shrieking like a monster which caused everyone to freeze as they watched the battle field.

Sasuke tried to remove his arm from the sphere. With some effort he succeeding while also drawing out a monstrous arm made of sand.

With Temari and Kankuro

"The demon's being released!" Temari said terrified.

"Looks like we'll have to be ready to move ahead of schedule." Kankuro stated equally as terrified as his sister.

Competitors Box

"Naruto, that energy that's emanating from Gaara. It's exactly like the energy of the fox." Daichi stated.

"That means he must be like me.,, Is he what I could have become?" Naruto stated both terrified of Gaara and seriously thinking about how his life could have turned out.

Arena Floor

The sphere collapsed revealing a mid transformation Gaara. Half his body, including the wound, was covered by sand. The arm was still monstrous.

With Sakura

The crowd was staring at Gaara until a Genjutsu, that Sakura noticed, began to overtake everyone including Ino and Choji.

"Release." Sakura said making the hand sign she'd learned from Kakashi Sensei. "Somethings definitely wrong."

Sakura began to search the crowd trying to find anything out of the ordinary.

With the Kage

Ao, Mei's body guard, noticed the crowd as they fell asleep. "Lady Mizukage, someone's cast a Genjutsu on the whole crowd. The only one from our village to stay awake is Akana (Sensei of Kanja's squad), and several Jonin and Genin of the Leaf."

The Hokage and Kazekage looked at each other.

"Now, shall we begin." The Kazekage asked.

His guards rushed forward deploying smoke grenades. This caused an explosion that was seen by all who were still awake.

"Lord Kazekage, what is the meaning of this?" Sarutobi asked.

The two ninja at the Kazekage's side sprang into action. One of them launched out of the smoke attempting to attack the Anbu that were coming to help while the remaining one killed The Jonin at the Hokage's side before dying at the hands of Ao.

The Kazekage then pulled a kunai on the Hokage and forced the two of them up onto the roof.

"Ao, the Kazekage has disrupted the Chunin Exams and is waging war with The Leaf. As such your orders are to help the Leaf Ninja and secure the safety of the citizens." Mei ordered.

Ao nodded his head and immediately jumped into the stands to help the Leaf Jonin. At the same time, some of the Anbu turned out to be Hidden Sound members who jumped onto the roof to make a barrier around two of the Kage.

Mei sprung into action jumping onto the middle of the roof just before the Sound ninja put up their barrier preventing anyone else from entering the soon to be battle field.

In the Stands with Sakura, Kakashi, and Guy

Kakashi and Guy both saw the barrier and attempted to make their way over to him only to be stopped by multiple, disguised ninja.

With Kazamae and Jiraiya

Jiraiya said, "Here I was hoping the old man was wrong about an impending attack. Kazamae, you know what we have to do."

Jiraiya jumped across the roofs soon followed by Kazamae. "This is going to be fun. It's been a while since I last fought.

With Baki

He was about to head down to the field to aid their weapon until Akana appeared in front of him.

"Here I thought you were supposed to be allies with The Leaf." A wires appeared behind him. "Regardless of your reasons, I can't very well let you pass. Not when my Kage has ordered us to fight you off." Akana said referring to the presence of his Kage's guard fighting against the invaders.

"I hope you understand that I am only following orders. As such, I must kill anyone who gets in the way of the mission." Baki stated while closing his eyes.

"You seem honorable, so how about we leave the crowded stands before we have our fight?" Akana asked retracting his wire to his side.

"Very well then." Baki said following Akana as he lept out of the stands.

With Sasuke

Sasuke had jumped back from Gaara to get a clear read on the situation. "My opponent has similar energy to Naruto from that one time. If we let lose now, then many people, including my teammates, are going to be in danger…"

He was interrupted in his thought process as Sound Ninja appeared in the arena behind him.

Before they could speak, Hayate stepped in between them and Sasuke. "Sasuke Uchiha, the Chunin Exams are officially on hold. Having said this, the Leaf Village needs you. You have to take down Gaara, but get him out of the village first."

"I understand." Sasuke looked at Gaara and smirked. "Hey, you want to continue our match, then you better stay on my tail."

Sasuke took off running as fast as he could until he jumped over the wall of the arena.

"He made me bleed, so I must take his blood!" Gaara exclaimed before following after Sasuke.

With Temari and Kankuro

Temari was concerned for her brother as he ran off. "Come on Kankuro, we have to go after Gaara!"

Kankuro nodded in agreement. "I'm right behind you."

Before either of them could act, two people appeared.

"If you want to go after you comrade, then you'll have to go through me." Kenjo stated with his Tonfa out.

Kiba appeared on the roof at the same time as Kenjo. "Hold on there. I'm not just going to stand by and let you protect my village. Me and Akamaru want to pitch in as well."

Akamaru, on Kiba's head, barked in agreement.

"Then let us work together to beat them." Kenjo stated nodding towards the Inuzuka.

Competitors Box

Naruto, Daichi, and Lee all saw Sasuke and Gaara leap over the wall.

"We have to follow them. Sasuke's going to need our help Daichi!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You're right Naruto. Gaara's no regular opponent." He turned to Lee. "Lee, we're going to have to push through those Sound Shinobi. Mind lending us a hand?"

"Yes my eternal rival. I shall assist you and your teammates in this battle." Lee said giving both Daichi and Naruto his and his Sensei's signature salute.

"Remember, our goal is to help Sasuke. Push past the Sound ninja and stick together. Cover each others back." Daichi stated.

Lee and Naruto nodded in agreement and the three of them lept over the railing.

With Kage

The Kazekage looked at Mei. "I should really have gotten better men since it seems they couldn't keep an extra member from joining us." He then addressed the Hokage. "You know, we had planned on capturing Sasuke in all the commotion, but it seems not everything can go as planned."

"You certainly pulled a good cover, but I've actually met the Kazekage a few times. He was very handsome. You are clearly not him, so why don't you drop the act?" Mei stated never taker her eyes off the fake Kazekage.

"I must agree with Lord Mizukage. Do drop the act." Sarutobi calmly stated.

The Kage ripped off his mask revealing his true face. The face of Orochimaru.

"I always knew this day would come; however, you will not defeat me that easily." Sautobi stated determined.

With Sakura, Guy, and Kakashi

"Kakashi, look there. Inside the barrier." Guy said.

Kakashi and Sakura both looked in the direction of the barrier.

"Orochimaru!" Sakura exclaimed worriedly.

At that moment, a ninja made a move to attack her. Kakashi was about to save his student until he noticed that she made a peculiar hand sign. He revealed his Sharingan which aloud him to see through her Genjutsu.

It was actually rather simple as the opponent struck at Sakura causing her to explode into a shower of flower blossoms. Kakashi took the moment of surprise and knocked the ninja out. Sakura was safely at his side.

Kakashi turned to his student. "Sakura, your teammates have all taken off in pursuit of Gaara." She turned to look at the field and at least noticed that Gaara and Sasuke were gone, and Naruto, Lee, and Daichi were currently engaged in combat.

"Normally, I would want you to join them, but I have a different mission I need you to do. Wake Ino and Choji, then together start waking civilian and ninja's so they can evacuate."

"Right Sensei." Sakura stated before turning to the two members of team 10. "Release."

Choji and Ino came to.

"What happened?" Choji asked as he woke up.

"What is going on?!" Ino exclaimed.

"I'll explain things on the way. For now just follow and cover me." Sakura proclaimed before taking off.

The two Genin followed after her looking for answers.