"Well, this isn't much of a surprise," Kakashi said with a smirk, lowering his Icha Icha novel minutely and gazing over it as the summoning smoke subsided. "Took you longer than I'd anticipated, honestly."

Shikamaru scoffed, wiping dirt off his vest and pants – he'd not expected the man to appear when he opened the two scrolls and hadn't even tried to make himself look presentable. "The first group didn't have the right scroll, I had to go find another – it was annoying," he said defensively, scowling when he took stock of what few supplies he had left – he'd gone through all of his kunai, most of his traps and wire, and even a significant chunk of his food. "How many finished already?"

"Two teams," Kakashi answered shortly, pointing to the door behind him. "A Suna team and Yūhi Kurenai's group already went on – they were remarkably quick, I admit. I'll take you to the others in a few minutes – we'll probably have enough time to get you tidied up before the rest arrive. Unless you got rid of a lot of contenders, we'll be looking at a preliminary round for the final exam, which means you'll have to get your hands dirty."

Shikamaru sighed deeply. "So, why are you hanging out here and not helping out with war stuff? Can't imagine the actual exams are as important as the imminent destruction of the entire village, you know…"

"Ah, Shikamaru-kun, you didn't think we'd leave you all by your lonesome, did you?" Kakashi snickered. "Sensei and Shizune-san will be here to cheer you on too, you know. Contrary to popular opinion, Konoha can actually manage to run itself without all of us present. Indeed, you'll find quite a few of us are here just because you are."

The Nara groaned as he imagined his three teammates loudly proclaiming that he'd beat anyone from the top row, Minato staring at him with that sharp look that told him he had better try his very best while Kakashi feigned disinterest and fought with Shizune over his book. Come to mention it, the book appeared different than he remembered it – far newer and cleaner – a new edition?

"Shikamaru!"

He twisted around in surprise, smiling as he noticed who had called; a group of four dirty and bedraggled teens strolled in, Sai leaning slightly on Chōji's shoulder, dragging his foot. Sasuke walked in front of them, his eyes narrowed at Shikamaru - Ino waved cheerily as Chōji gave a thumbs up.

"You made it before we did?" Ino asked as she approached. "You must've been the first!"

"Actually, I'm the third to arrive," Shikamaru pointed out, smiling at his two ex-teammates. "You did quite well yourself! Did you run into anyone nasty out there?"

"Just a whole bunch of vengeful bastards and a thief," Chōji noted with a shrug. "It was annoying but at least we got through it. I wish there weren't so many stealthy freaks out there, though…"

"Do I have to remind you of a shinobi's job description?" Kakashi asked rhetorically, winking at Shikamaru knowingly. "Stealth and theft are integral to many tasks that Shinobi teams need to do – quite a few of the other teams in the competition are specialized in that field – there's a reason why there's no rule against it. There's no such thing as cheating when it comes to getting your job done, in Exams or real life."

Chōji nodded uncomfortably glancing at Sasuke, who still looked pissed off, his hand still cradling the wound near his neck that Ino had only been able to close slightly. "I suppose we should be lucky we all got through intact – Sai needs to replace all his stuff, I think."

Sai looked on dispassionately, ignoring Chōji's comment; the ruined remains of his art supplies looked like they'd seen a war. It didn't seem like any of the paper could be re-used and the brushes didn't appear to be in much better condition; considering their fragility, most of the latter was likely spread across the forest. Shikamaru's claw trap had been quite effective; clear marks were visible on his leg where the sharp tooth had penetrated clothing and skin effortlessly.

"So, what now…?" Ino wondered aloud.

"We might get to fight a little in the preliminaries," Shikamaru answered, nodding at Kakashi. "Seems like they're probably going to happen considering how many people are in the Exams, so I'd suggest getting some food and replacing what you can before those begin."

Kakashi hummed in agreement. "Well, I'll take my charge here to Kaeru-san – you use your scrolls to call your own representative." He waved lamely, tugging Shikamaru along with him until they both vanished out of sight, leaving the others to fumble with their scrolls; Chōji looked after them with narrowed eyes, small smile appearing.

"What's with the sudden hasty exit?" Shikamaru asked as they turned the corner.

"Hmmm? Figured you wouldn't want them to figure out you stole their hard-earned property," Kakashi answered with a smirk. "You didn't think there were no ANBU in the forest, did you?"

"I didn't even notice them," Shikamaru admitted, blushing.

Kakashi chuckled. "Tenzō's out there – he's not quite back to his old form, but the forest is kind of his element – he informed me of all you'd done in the forest about fifteen minutes ago. Am I correct in concluding that you only used one ninja technique in the entire second task?"

Shikamaru nodded, scratching his head nervously. "It was sort of my backup plan – why?"

Kakashi didn't answer immediately, shaking his head mirthfully. "Nothing, you just remind me of… someone else. Ah, those were some interesting days; instead of multiple days the Exams were condensed into one gruelling night, and many didn't try to tackle them again for quite a while after failing." He smiled fondly. "You should be proud about getting this far on your first go, not to mention being fairly unruffled – that kind of efficiency is something that's almost impossible to train – people just take to it, or they don't."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Shouldn't we go?"

The silver-haired jōnin chuckled. "Ah, all that haste – how unyouthful!" He cringed after a moment, blinking in horror. "I didn't just say that, did I? Tell me I didn't just…"

"I'm afraid so."

The jōnin grabbed his head with a panicked expression. "Get out of my brain, Gai! My precious Icha Icha Wonder, save me!"

Hiruzen inhaled deeply from his pipe, staring worriedly at the great tower of paperwork stacked on his desk as he folded his hands together stiffly. For once, it wasn't the quantity of papers that was worrying – it was the fact that the majority consisted of reports of sightings along the border – unknown shinobi. A lot of them.

"Who are these people?" He asked his assistant, who was leafing through one of the reports with a grimace. "If it is Iwa's forces, Ōnoki's not using any method of travel we'd expected…"

"I don't know what this is, Hokage-sama – some of these reports…" Shikaku dropped the papers on the village leader's desk with a sigh, grabbing another one from the pile. "It seems that whoever is doing this is keeping themselves well away from observers that might identify them – a lot of reports mention mere momentary observations, no more than the fact that there was –someone- there. They know full well they can't really hide large movements, but they can certainly obfuscate numbers and identities."

"They're better than we anticipated, clearly, hoping we'll fall for this ruse to let our guard down," Hiruzen summarized with a frown. "What does Jiraiya report?"

"Little activity around the border, which was to be expected; Iwa's not going to be silly enough to just march in the direct way, especially if they're going low profile." Shikaku tapped on one of the thicker folders that lay open on the desk. "There have been some altercations along the border but fewer than usual – Ōnoki elected to pull his guards further from the border – likely to allow for infiltrators to meet with them without alerting us."

"It troubles me that we're seeing this kind of activity already – let's not forget that there's still two actively hostile jōnin somewhere near Konoha; the Mole and his surviving accomplice are likely keeping a close eye on our defences while they wait for their allies. We have already made the Chūnin Exams quicker to avoid keeping people here longer than necessary; what if they are ready, and we're playing into their hand?"

"We can't be overt about our preparations anyway." Shikaku grimaced, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "We're already at high alert – any increase in patrols now would inform the enemy that we're on to them, rather than just generally worried. It wouldn't matter one way or the other if the attack happened two weeks for now, or two months, I think."

Hiruzen nodded, standing up and moving over to the window with a worried frown. "Even with some of the most powerful ninja in the village's history close at hand, we're not going to cut off an actual assault easily – we might be able to take off the head of the beast, but it might not matter if its trashing ravages our people; we have to trust that this village's shinobi are up to the task. Even if Ōnoki of Both Scales were silenced – there would be others, and even without them war would lumber on. We'll need to be ready."

"If we warn the enemy of our knowledge, you know what they'll do," Shikaku reasoned, folding his arms together. "Once committed to something like this, they can't retreat – their forces are already in the Land of Fire as we speak. The only chance they'd have if they realized we had been tipped off would be an immediate assault – catch us before our defences are in place. They would attack like rabid dogs, and savage us, even if they'd ultimately lose. No, the only way to come out unambiguously victorious is to lure them into a false sense of security – then strike like a viper when they believe victory is a hand. Fitting, considering who we're up against." He sighed, dropping the rest of the reports he was holding on the desk in a big heap. "Do you truly believe that taking out the leaders will serve the purpose you hope for, in the end? I remain of the opinion that it would agitate their forces into revenge-filled wrath."

Hiruzen smiled, taking off his hat and gazing at it with an expression Shikaku couldn't quite identify. "Oh, I believe they'll go if we take down the leadership – only a fool would stand in the path of our finest." He looked up sternly, though his eyes softened slightly at his assistant's worried frown. "Don't worry, Shikaku – all will soon be revealed – some secrets are the Hokage's alone to keep."

The Hokage's new assistant was no idiot, and nodded in recognition. "You speak of Kaeru."

"Kaeru and his team, yes." Hiruzen said with a confident nod, putting his fancy hat back on with a flourish – he'd been wearing it often of late even if he usually didn't care for it – the symbol meant a lot to shinobi and civilian alike, though, so he elected to sacrifice one for the team.

Shikaku looked pained for a moment, grimacing briefly, before he nodded with some certainty. "You believe they're ready for such a task? That Shikamaru is ready for this?"

"It's hardly my estimation that's important there; I trust Kaeru's opinion on the matter. Still, you can find out for yourself, can't you?" Hiruzen turned to the window with a knowing smile. "The second part of the Chūnin Selection Exams will soon finish – I have no doubt your son is among the contestants that were victorious in the Forest of Death. If my suspicions bear fruit, there will be several fights to confirm who will take part in the final exam – you will see his growth there. I believe you will be impressed."

Shikaku sighed. "Even if Shikamaru were to become a chūnin – that's hardly any better against the kinds of monsters that Iwa would send our way. He's only just become a genin!"

"Perhaps it is too much for him on his own – but he's not alone," Hiruzen pointed out. "You of all people should realize how important working together in a team can be, how very effective." The old man put down his pipe gently, shaking his head in amusement at his assistant – he'd not really gotten used to having the man around as much as he did, but given the international troubles they'd been meeting each other daily anyway. "In most cases, I'd have reprimanded people for unprofessional behaviour, you know. Worrying about your son, out in the real world – I have my own experiences with it and I can sympathize. This is why I have spared you the argument."

"Hokage-sama?"

"Find your son – see what he's learned. Perhaps it will enlighten you about the potential of this generation; you might begin to understand why I am not worried, even if I should not survive the oncoming storm." The Hokage sat down in his chair looking especially regal right then. "Go. I too will be there, of course."

The Nara couldn't do anything but bow and leave for the Forest of Death, uncertainty plainly visible on his face.

The Third looked after the man fondly, realizing that he, usually so very formal, had something of a soft side after all. Indeed, quite a few people turned out to be like that – it gave him some degree of hope. The old man put a hand in his Hokage's robe, pulling out a three-pronged kunai and just looked at it for a time, his gaze rising to the portraits set upon one of his bookcases with a thin smile. There, as there had been since as long as he could remember, stood four portraits for four Hokages. Shodai and Nidaime at the left, each stalwart and rigidly upright; his own flanked theirs, still showing his once brown hair and three confident youngsters before him – those who would become the Sannin. He'd never replaced the picture, content to keep that little nugget of history intact. Next to that photo stood another – his successor with his students, all smiling widely; Namikaze Minato with little Kakashi, Obito and Rin. Hiruzen had the gut feeling he'd be updating that picture at some point.

"The Will of Fire - it's already found new champions, it seems," he said to an empty room.

"We have confirmed 20 have passed the test. In accordance with the rules, for the first time in five years we will start preparations for a preliminary before the third test." A tall shinobi stated; Shikamaru recognized him as one of the shinobi that'd kept an eye out for cheaters during the first Exam.

It'd been a boring wait – Shikamaru had been distractedly trudging through the hallways for so long now he'd almost memorized the place, even with the welcome distraction of Kakashi.

Anko stepped forward, raising an arm. "For the second test – I congratulate you all on passing. There are 20 contestants left, now. I will speak to your sensei and Hokage-sama briefly, please excuse me."

"Still so many left… this sucks." Shikamaru sighed, glancing over at Chōji, who seemed miserable; he'd clearly not had his daily calories. "Are you holding up, there?"

"I'll be okay," Chōji assured him, his stomach rumbling in protest. "Heh… did you notice that all the rookies passed, Shikamaru? Even that freaky green man's team got through!"

"His name is Gai-sensei!" bright spandex-clad Lee shouted from a little ways away, waving cheerily. "Don't forget it!"

Chōji shook his head in exasperation, quickly shoving Shikamaru aside as Anko walked over to a large crowd across the room – jōnin-sensei and others were represented; at the back stood Shizune and Kaeru, the latter nervously gazing at Hyūga Hiashi who stood but a little further away, flanked by an Inuzuka. The heavy-set boy prodded Shikamaru in the side, jarring him from his observations. "Oy – it was you, wasn't it?"

"It was me?"

"In the forest – you got the drop on our team, on Sasuke, didn't you?" He smirked, drawing a kunai from his pocket. "I took this as a souvenir – I'd almost gotten skewered with it, so I thought it'd be cool to have a reminder of that – then I noticed something peculiarly familiar."

Shikamaru shivered, raising an eyebrow. Chōji was acting awfully like someone he knew – someone he already spent way too much time with on a daily basis.

"I noticed that there was an imprint at the bottom here…" He turned it to Shikamaru – on the bottom was a clearly imprinted image of a deer's antlers. "You took one of your dad's kunai sets, didn't you?"

Yes, it was for sure, Shikamaru realized with a severe shiver. The person that Chōji was so eerily similar to – was Shikamaru. The Nara nodded, glancing to the other genin with a frown – thankfully they were talking among themselves, waiting for Anko to continue. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it was brilliant!" Chōji gushed. "Sasuke and Sai were acting like stuck-up pricks all the way; well, they always do that, but it was almost worse than usual, now. Then they had to rely on the two 'dead weights' to bandage them up and get them to the tower? It was perfect!"

Shikamaru gestured for silence nervously; thankfully neither Sasuke nor Sai seemed remotely interested in where Chōji was at all. "Still – sorry. I didn't have many options."

The huge boy shrugged, pointing at Ino nonchalantly. "If those two had considered her, you'd have been caught immediately – those mind jutsu would be deadly if you had nothing to properly defend yourself with. Instead, my brilliant teammates just ran straight into trouble, as you probably expected. I suppose I should be glad that I'll be rid of at least one of them soon, eh?"

"Hmmm?"

"You didn't hear it from me!" Chōji squeaked nervously. "Just-"

"May I have your attention, please?" Anko announced loudly and Chōji rubbed the back of his head nervously as he backed away, nodding at Shikamaru and winking. "Hokage-sama will now explain the third test. Listen carefully!"

"Before I explain that…" The Hokage began, striding forward confidently, peering down on the group of genin from under his hat with a severe expression. "There is something I'd like to know. It concerns the true reason for this exam."

"True reason?" Chōji asked and Shikamaru shushed him, nodding at the old man.

"It's important, especially now."

"Why do we have all these allied countries taking the exam together?" The Hokage smiled at each team in turn, lingering on Shikamaru and the Suna team with Gaara somewhat longer. "To promote friendship among the countries, to raise the level of shinobi – this you will frequently hear. The true meaning of this exam… is as a replacement for war."

"What does he mean?" Tenten asked and Shikamaru sent her a withering look, though she didn't notice.

"If you go back in time, the current allies were once enemies who fought each other over who would rule. The origins of the Chūnin Exams find themselves in replacing war to prevent wasteful fighting. It is true that this Exam decides who will become Chūnin – but it has another side. Each contestant risks their life to protect their land's prestige."

Shikamaru wondered where the Hokage was going – however much of a replacement for war this was supposed to be, this time it'd actually be used to start one – would he tell people?

"Watching this third exam will be influential people and leaders of countries – if the strength of a country is clear, they will receive more clients – and conversely, if they come off as weak, they will lose clients. It will send a political message to outsiders, warning them of how strong a nation is." The Hokage looked meaningfully at Shikamaru, briefly catching his eyes. "The strength of the country is the strength of the village – the strength of the village is the strength of its shinobi. That strength is only bred in true battle."

"Why all the crap about friendship, then?" Kiba muttered, but the Hokage heard.

"I don't want to confuse you about the purpose of this – losing life and establishing balance; that is the shape friendship takes in a world of shinobi." The old man glanced over his shoulder briefly, catching Minato's gaze. "This isn't just a test – it's a true battle with your life in the balance; your dreams and your country's prestige are on the line. Without such challenges, any true war would be over very quickly and decisively."

"I don't care. Just hurry up and tell us what this test entails," Gaara burst out, growling. The Hokage stared at him for a moment, frowning. Finally, he turned away from the crowd, gesturing to a spindly-looking man beside him.

"Please tell them the specifics."

"I'll do that, um, if that's okay?" A frail-looking man stepped forward, his eyes ringed from some illness or long lack of sleep; he looked decidedly wobbly on his feet. "I'm Hayate Gekkō – referee for the third part of the Chūnin Selection Exams. We will be having, eh, a preliminary to decide who will go on to the main event."

"Why aren't we all allowed?" Chōji wondered worriedly, gazing over the teams from other villages that looked particularly mincing – Suna and Kiri were both pretty powerful.

"The first and second tests have been too easy this year – we have too many people remaining," Hayate said, smiling eerily. "There's only so much time when all the guests are here, after all… If anyone wishes to stop now, do so – we'll be starting immediately."

Nobody moved and Hayate nodded happily. "I forgot to mention – you'll be doing individual battles from here on out. Since we have exactly 20 participants, we'll be having ten battles – the winners will advance to the final test. There are basically no rules – if you don't want to die, give up when you still can. We don't want too many corpses, after all…"

He turned to a large tarp-covered object and quickly unveiled it – an electric scoring board.

"The first match will be…" The device began flickering, Uchiha Sasuke's name appearing first, quickly followed by –

"Uchiha Sasuke of Konoha against Izumi of Kiri. Come forward – you will commence immediately."

Shikamaru sighed as he headed to the upper level of the room which consisted of some poor excuses for benches and a long railing. Sasuke remained behind opposite a nimble-looking woman wielding a rather long katana – one of the three representatives from Kiri. It was odd to begin with that the nation was even participating in the Exams – if the rumours were true, they had their own rather bloodier way of determining who should advance – the fact that they all seemed rather older than most genin was even more peculiar, if they were indeed prodigies. He leaned over the edge to get a good look at the other two Kiri Nin, the only ones he'd never actually seen before aside from glances. One tight-lipped girl that looked positively murderous as she impatiently tapped her foot and a nerdy-looking dark-skinned guy with kunai positively everywhere – his entire vest was covered in the things. Out of the three, the one Sasuke fought was probably the most normal-looking.

"I hope I won't have to fight one of those…"

"Are you ready?" Hayate asked – Sasuke nodded stiffly, as did the girl. "Everyone who's not in the match – move to the upper level, please."

Several stragglers quickly went up and Sasuke's gaze wandered up to find Nara Shikamaru looking down with feigned disinterest – no, probably genuine disinterest. The Uchiha grit his teeth, staring at his enemy; he'd have to beat this one quickly and decisively, set an example.

"Begin."

Sasuke was off like a flash – three shuriken were flying before Izumi had even raised her katana into a defensive position, two kunai following suit; she dodged the projectiles with little difficulty, sneering in disgust.

"What can you hope to accomplish, little Konoha nin?" She chided, only now bringing her sword forward in a quick slash that barely missed Sasuke's shoulder as he jerked it away, his eyes narrowed in concentration. "Is this all that remains of the once great Uchiha clan?"

"Shut up," Sasuke merely said, suddenly smirking; his eyes turned blood red with the Sharingan; after a split second two tomoe spun into being around the pupils; the second stage of their power. "I see your weaknesses…" His punch was incredibly fast, catching Izumi on the collar bones and knocking her back – a second followed moments later, crashing into her upper arm which cracked satisfyingly, even if it didn't outright break.

"That's it?" The Kiri woman sneered, sword held steadily in front of her. Izumi's retaliation was worse – the viciously long katana was quicker than anyone could follow with their naked eye, gouging deep cuts into Sasuke's clothes and skin, leaving blood dripping slowly from many wounds along his legs and arms. The last blow was aimed for his jugular, approaching its target with astonishing quickness.

"Not today." Sasuke stated unemotionally as he slapped the sharp metal object away with his bare hand – a thin layer of chakra was visible around it briefly before it vanished. One of his newest techniques, perfectly executed; a smirk crept on his face as Izumi looked on incredulously, confused at her blade's failure.

Another flurry of quick strikes was equally fruitless – the few blows that reached a target were only annoyances, the ones that would've done genuine damage blocked seemingly without effort as Sasuke dodged and darted away from the sharp weapon using the enhanced vision of his Sharingan to predict its position.

"Stay still!" Izumi snarled.

Sasuke scoffed in response, covering his hand in shimmering chakra; it crackled and popped slightly, somewhere on the edge of becoming elemental, though he hadn't trained that yet. Right now it was his raw chakra empowering his physical attacks; one of the easier ways to abuse the Hyūga family techniques without actually going into the detailed mechanics of them; one of the few things Neji had been willing to divulge thus far; judging from Hyūga Hiashi's harsh expression, he was probably going to be reprimanded for it – ah well. Annoyingly, the Kiri kunoichi appeared unbothered by her repeated failures with the sword; she was slowly draining Sasuke's chakra supply with every blow, as the blocking move cost quite a lot of power.

"The might of the Sharingan will defeat you, Izumi of Kiri," Sasuke stated pompously to rile his opponent, feigning another punch Instead of following through Sasuke swiped his foot forward, crashing it into Izumi's knee with his full weight behind it when she sent her sword forward – the snap and scream resounded loudly in the hall as she crumpled to her feet. Sasuke winced in pain as he followed the sword's trajectory from her hand to his side – a four-inch gash had opened and was bleeding heavily over his clothes, but he'd live. He spun as fast as he could – the blade slid free effortlessly – his foot caught Izumi square on the jaw, sending her crashing to the ground like a lead weight, her sword falling from her limp hands.

"She's knocked out," Sasuke announced, holding on to his side with a wince, trying to stop the bleeding – it'd been a risky move to take out a knee that harshly – it'd probably need to be set – but it had turned out effective; his own wound was far less grievous.

He gazed up to the upper level to see a proud Asuma looking at him with thumbs up; Chōji and Ino flanked him, chatting excitedly; Sai was his usual disinterested self, drawing in his recently acquired replacement for lost art supplies, his brushes actually higher quality than before, at least in appearance. Shikamaru was scowling; he couldn't quite make it out, but Sasuke could've sworn the boy muttered something about him being unoriginal.

"Winner: Uchiha Sasuke," Hayate announced, checking up on Izumi's unconscious form carefully. Sasuke had a grudging respect for the Kiri kunoichi - she's been good with a sword – fast and strong; if not for her forgetting to consider even nominally foolish moves against her, she might've actually be victorious here. He was glad it'd been decided before Ninjutsu came into play – this way he could keep his best moves for the Third Exam. Sasuke mused on his enemy's choice of sword fighting - considering her homeland, it made sense to favour that; likely the girl intended to become one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist in time, even if their reputation was tarnished of late and few of the swords were actually in use when he last checked the Bingo book.

"Well done, Sasuke-kun!" Ino cheered as Sasuke made his way to the upper level, shooing off medical personnel; the only one that wouldn't take that as an answer was an unfamiliar woman in a bluish-black kimono with white trimmings, her onyx eyes fixing him in place as she reached out with a hand covered in green chakra.

"Can't you save that for me, Shizune?" Shikamaru commented with a smirk, hanging lazily over the railing and raising an eyebrow.

"For your sake, I hope you won't need it," She muttered, frowning. "You know, when you pulled off this kind of trick, it actually took a night to heal – at least Uchiha-san knows how to take a hit!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, eyes wondering around the room. "Where's – Kaeru-sensei?"

'Kaeru-sensei?' Sasuke wondered idly, taking in the fact that this woman – a trained medical-nin, apparently – was actually a teammate of Shikamaru's. She looked like she might be thirty – Shikamaru was by far the youngest person in that group, then. A spike of anger surged through him as he thought of his own useless teammates; only Sai was a moderate challenge, and he was more machine than man.

It was the same as last time, Hayate mused as he paid only moderate attention to each of the fights; after Uchiha Sasuke's effective victory over Izumi, the following matches had been quick and decisive; Aburame Shino had quickly used his insect to take down fellow leaf-nin Akado Yoroi, followed immediately by Suna-nin Kankurō smacking down Tsurugi Misumi, effectively disabling two third of that genin team in one go; only their third member, Yakushi Kabuto, remained in the race.

"This is going rather quicker than I'd anticipated," he commented lightly, though there was nobody around to actually hear him. He'd figured that the two Konoha-nin from Kabuto's team would put up more of a fight – they'd both been genin for a long time after all and should've picked up many tricks.

Yamanaka Ino's battle was – peculiar; she'd been pitting against her own teammate, Sai; that genin merely stood impassively as she tried to use her mind-techniques, quite ineffectively - she paled and backed away with a terrified expression as the boy gave a fake wide smile, moments before he shot forward and smashed her aside in one blow; she skidded to a halt with a fearful expression as Sai hadn't even pulled out his art techniques yet; he approached with fist raised, expression turning smooth and decidedly terrifying.

"I give up! You win!" She chattered, backing off – Hayate called the match, shaking his head; that girl clearly needed more training. After watching her opponent for a moment, he revised his opinion; that boy definitely needed a psychologist.

Hayate's gaze wandered to the upper level as the next round started; Kasumi, the second girl from the Kiri team, against Temari of Suna. It was strange, really, that Kiri would send a team consisting of two girls and one boy – kunoichi weren't as common as their male counterparts and it was odd to see the traditional team dynamic altered – on the other hand there were also a four-man team and a loner competing, so it was rather messed up altogether. He sighed and shook his head.

"Give up?" Temari said confidently and Hayate pulled his attention back to the match; he'd almost forgotten he was supposed to be refereeing.

"Think again." Kasumi answered; whatever she did, it worked; Temari suddenly shuddered, her fan dropping from her hands and her mouth opening in a confused and fearful expression before her eyes rolled up and she collapsed soundlessly.

"You forgot Genjutsu," Kasumi stated dryly, stretching her arms and waving to him. "Oy, I won!"

"Right – right – Winner: Kasumi!"

Temari was carried off on a stretcher as Hayate went back to his machine once more – hopefully there'd be an interesting match now – a matchup that might prove a little more interesting than a straight run of easy victories.

"We'll be starting the next round… the sixth round, to be precise. He hit a button and two new names appeared. "Ah – it'll be –"

"Hyūga Neji of Konoha vs. Nara Shikamaru of Konoha."

"Well… the best rookie of last year against what probably should've been the best of this year." Minato smirked. "This will certainly be interesting."

"Let's just hope they don't kill each other," Kakashi noted worriedly. It hadn't escaped his notice that Neji stared with narrowed eyes at Shikamaru who lazily trudged down the steps.

"We'll see…"

Author's Note : Well, there we go - Shikamaru's about to up against Neji; a Taijutsu expert against a longer-range fighter like Shikamaru? Well, he's got a few tricks up his sleeve, like Sasuke...

Here's the matches, incidentally:

Round 1 - Uchiha Sasuke vs. Izumi
Round 2 - Akado Yoroi vs. Aburame Shino
Round 3 - Kankurō vs. Misumi Tsurugi
Round 4 – Sai vs. Yamanaka Ino
Round 5 - Temari vs. Kasumi
Round 6 - Nara Shikamaru vs. Hyūga Neji
Round 7 - Inuzuka Kiba vs. Rokuro
Round 8 - Tenten vs. Hyūga Hinata
Round 9 - Rock Lee vs. Gaara
Round 10 - Akimichi Chōji vs. Yakushi Kabuto