No one was pleased. The entire crowd was complaining about Shikamaru's actions. Akira could hear Naruto yell at Shikamaru for quitting when he had the match won, but she could also hear him complain that she wasn't annoyed enough about the situation. Akira didn't care. Shikamaru clearly had the battle won, but he removed himself from the match of his own free will and that lead to her victory of the match. In the end, it was because of him that she could proceed to the next round, so why would she be angry about it? Besides, it wasn't like she wanted to fight Shikamaru, Akira really wanted to fight Temari.

"All right, Shikamaru. Get yourself up to the viewing area so I can fight the one I really wanted to fight."

"You just want to put her money with her mouth is, don't you?" Shikamaru chuckled.

"Yes, but she's also an enemy who thinks a lot like you. So it'll be like fighting you, but with her trying to analyze me a lot more," Akira said, then smiled wryly. "It'll be her downfall."

"Remember, Akira... Keep a clear head."

Akira nodded to her friend and he left the battlefield for the viewing area. Seconds later, Temari floated down on her large fighting fan and landed gracefully in front of Akira. She glared at the Uchiha.

"Think I'm going to be easy to beat, do you?" she challenged.

"No. I simply said I knew how you were going to lose," Akira said nicely.

Temari shouted loudly and rushed at Akira without the proctor announcing the start of the match. Akira smiled and gently closed her eyes and exhaled, getting into a comfortable yet solid stance, and took out a kunai from one of her pouches. Temari threw a dozen kunai at her, but Akira gracefully avoided every single one, knocking the last one going straight for her out of the way with the kunai she was holding. The sound of the blades whooshing past her ears was loud, and the clink of both blades together rang in her ears. Akira exhaled again and loosened her body, retaking her stance. She opened her midnight blue eyes and stared directly at Temari, her teal kimono swaying in the wind.

"Why aren't you moving!?" Temari shouted.

"Because I don't need to," Akira replied simply.

Temari growled again and picked up her large fan. Akira's eyes narrowed. A large gust of wind was suddenly rushing towards her at great speed. Akira undid the belt of her kimono and sent Chakra to her feet, allowing her to jump out of the way without much effort. Akira's kimono landed on the ground before she did. It floated downwards and onto the ground. Temari frowned. Akira was nowhere in sight. Suddenly, a large flash of blue shone from behind her and Temari went flying fowards, skidding face first on the ground. When she got up and turned around, it was like Akira had never moved. She was still peaceful-looking and in a solid tai chi position, only this time she wasn't wearing her kimono. Instead, she was standing right beside it and she was wearing her usual training outfit.

"What the hell is your deal!?" Temari growled again, getting angrier by the second.

"I have no deal. I'm only reacting to your attacks," Akira said with a small smile.

"Stop smiling!"

Temari yelled again and sent a flurry of wind blasts towards Akira, all in different directions so that it was harder to avoid. Akira blinked, looked at each of them and readjusted her position then closed her eyes, bending backwards so that all the gusts of wind passed just above her. As she was falling back, Akira performed a few hand signs and took out two handfuls of kunai, and threw them at Temari through the gusts of wind. The second Akira's back touched the ground, she completed her jutsu and the kunai were propelled faster towards her opponent in a bright flash of lightning. It was only when Akira heard a yell and a grunt that she calmly rose up from the ground. Temari was pinned to the tree Shikamaru was hiding behind earlier, a few kunai in her shirt, one in her shoulder and one in her leg. Her fan lay many feet away.

"How did those get through my attack!?"

"Simple," Akira said, then opened her eyes.

Temari gasped, and the people in the crowd who could see her eyes did as well. Akira's midnight blue eyes were blood red, the Sharingan awakened with three tomoe in each eye. Not only had she been training to better control her manipulation of water or the control over her cursed mark, which hadn't pained her in days, Maru-sama had also insisted on making her Sharingan evolve to its last stage, a task she'd completed a while back.

"It's fully developped... You have a fully developped Sharingan..." Temari breathed.

"Yes, I do," Akira smiled. "That's why it was so easy to throw my kunai in the places where the gusts of wind were less strong."

"H-How?"

"Practise. Training. You can't go anywhere without putting in a little blood, sweat and tears."

Temari tried to wiggle out of her predicament, but the kunai in her shoulder and her leg had pierced deeply, and her sleeves were pinned to the tree behind her. She looked at Akira, who seemed fearfully calm, with panic in her eyes. Akira slowly pulled out one of the short knives in the holsters on her arms and flicked her wrist, allowing the Katana to fully extend. She put the blade in her mouth and performed a hand sign then grasped her weapon again. It instantly flashed with yellow lightning as she pointed it at Temari. Within seconds, the lightning from the blade had reached Temari and a shriek burst from her mouth. Once her head lolled, Akira stopped the jutsu and put her blade away. Although she was still conscious, Temari was in no shape to continue.

"Since Temari is unable to battle any longer, the winner of this match is Akira Uchiha!" the proctor said.

The crowd cheered the loudest Akira had heard it cheer so far. Suddenly, a feeling of relief washed over her. The stress of high expectations was gone. There was nothing she could do now but wait. Akira blinked and her Sharingan disappeared, then bowed to the crowd before heading back up to the waiting area as medical-nin carried Temari away for a few moments to wake her up properly. Upon arriving in the waiting area, Naruto talked her with a hug that knocked her to the ground. Shikamaru helped her back up.

"All right, that was amazing, Akira!" Naruto shouted, grinning from ear to ear.

"Yeah, not bad," Shikamaru agreed.

"I do try on occasion," Akira chuckled.

"Next up is Shino Aburame and Kankuro. Please step down," the proctor called.

"It's all right!" Kankuro called back. "Proctor, I withdraw!"

"What!?" everyone in the waiting room called, save Gaara.

"I withdraw, so please advance to the next match."

It was in this moment that Akira remembered that Sasuke had been late, and realized that he still hadn't shown up. It was the last match and he still hadn't arrived? Akira looked to the entrance to the battlefield in the hopes that Sasuke would arrive any second, but a few minutes passed and there was still no sign of him. The girl began to worry. If he didn't show up soon, the proctor would be forced to announce that Sasuke forfeited his match to Gaara. Though it seemed, for the time being, that Naruto yelling at the proctor was delaying that outcome. Seconds later, another ninja jumped down beside the proctor and whispered to him before disappearing again. Naruto jumped back up to the viewing area.

"There waiting another ten minutes for him and then they're calling it," he said. "I swear, if he doesn't show up the crowd will tear him apart, and if they don't, I will."

"I'm sure the little punk is just trying to make an entrance," Shikamaru said.

Akira couldn't disagree. Sasuke was known for being dramatic at times, especially in the moments it was the least welcome. Akira looked at Naruto's watch every so often, anxiously checking to see how long Sasuke had before they disqualified him. When there was only thirty seconds left, Akira's eyes didn't leave the watch. She was counting down. 25... 24... 23... Akira's eyes flashed to the entrance. No Sasuke. 11... 10... 9... Suddenly, there was a large gust of wind with leaves spiraling everywhere. From that spiral, Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei appeared, looking calm and collected as usual. Akira's hearbeat accelerated for a moment, relieved, yet also annoyed. Kakashi-sensei smiled beneath his mask and Akira strained to hear his words.

"Sorry we're late," he said in his usual apathetic tone of voice. "You wouldn't believe the traffic."

"And you are?" the proctor asked Sasuke, annoyed.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha," the boy replied, glaring at the man.

The crowd erupted into cheers again, people chanting 'Uchiha' just like they had did with Akira. Akira couldn't help but be annoyed. He'd shown up late, of course, making everyone wait like he was emperor of the universe. The girl sighed. At least he decided to show up.

"Huh, so you finally decided to show up after all," Naruto called to him. "I figured you wouldn't show 'cause sooner or later you'd have to face me!"

"Naruto, he's late because he's a drama queen," Akira said, glaring at her brother.

"So, what about you two? Did you win?" Sasuke asked.

"Only 'cause Shikamaru is a lazy piece of work. Although I did kick Temari's ass after that," Akira admitted.

"You know it!" Naruto said proudly.

"Huh. Well, don't get too full of yourself. You're still a loser, Naruto."

"What about me?" Akira asked, teasing.

"You're still my annoying overachieving sister."

"Good to know." Akira looked at Gaara then back at Sasuke. "Make sure you don't lose to him."

Sasuke nodded and Gaara went down, the same look in his eye that Akira had seen before. Only this time, she didn't have the time or will to calm him down. This was his and Sasuke's battle, there was no way she was going to tamper with it. She'd never hear the end of it. Akira looked across the room. Temari had come back and was standing beside Kankuro. Both looked quite worried. Akira frowned; what were they so worried about?

"Okay," the proctor said as Gaara arrived in front of Sasuke, "we're finally here."