((Alright, I'm finally finished with the worst semester I've had so far. There was entirely too much work to be done between physics, organic chem., and civ. Unfortunately, next semester is probably only going to be worse, seeing as I have physics 2, organic 2, and quantitative analytic chemistry. Sounds fun, huh? Did you catch the sarcasm? Good.

Anyway, I'm glad to be back to writing fanfic. I'll get a chapter out a week throughout my winter break (three weeks), I promise. That being said…

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Here's your holiday chapter!))

The Third Round Begins

The group of chuunin candidates stood in front of an enormous audience in a stadium built specifically for chuunin exams. The floor of the arena had a small patch of trees, a grouping of rocks, and the rest was completely open, along with a small pond off to one side. It had a little bit of everything that a ninja could need.

The contestants themselves stood in the middle of the clearing with the proctor, Uchiha Sasuke, in front of them. A couple of them seemed nervous, but the majority had a confident air about them. The crowd murmured as they waited for the tournament to start.

Sasuke approached the group. "Alright, genin." He reached into his jounin vest and pulled out a sheet of paper, unfolding it. "This is what the brackets look like." He allowed the candidates to gather around and look at the piece of paper curiously. He took special note of the elder Mist team, one of whom smirked when she saw the brackets.

Nara Rokudenashi vs. Kadai Sutamina

Rokotsu Katame vs. Hou Chiku

Kuwashii Hari vs. Uzumaki Hyuuga Hinashin

Kihou Sokudo vs. Hyuuga Nebin

Tsukino Hotaru vs. Souran of Suna

Onkyou Nami vs. Teisuu Uppun

When all of them stepped back, he pocketed the paper. "Would Nara Rokudenashi and Kadai Sutamina please stay here, while the rest of you proceed to the contestant's observation balcony."

As the others walked off toward the balcony, Hari waited until it was just him, the two combatants, and the proctor, motioning for Katame to go on ahead when she turned to look at him. He stepped up in front of Suta and waited for the boy to meet his eyes. When he finally did, Hari could see the sorrow in them.

"Look, Suta-kun," he began seriously, "I'm sorry about what I said the other day." Suta looked surprised to hear that. "But I'm not a toy to be played with. I control my own actions. I'm not going to let you, or Magusa-chan, or even Shino-sensei tell me what to do." The Cloud nin dropped his gaze sadly.

Hari put a hand on top of his head comfortingly. "I still like you, Suta-kun. Just don't force me to do things anymore." He paused as the boy looked up at him and smiled slightly. He held out a hand to him. "So, how about it? Still friends?" he asked.

He was surprised when the young Kumo genin ignored his hand and jumped onto him, hugging him. Hari was forced to take a step back to prevent the pair from falling on the ground. The Leaf nin chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes."

Suta pulled back slightly to look him in the eye. "I'm still kicking your ass in the semis," he stated firmly.

Hari laughed lightly. "We'll see about that, Suta-kun."

The proctor's irritated voice interrupted the pair. "If you are quite done, would you please go wait in the contestant's observation balcony?"

Hari turned slightly toward the irate Sasuke. "Hai. Gomen." He gave one last quick glance at the boy in front of him. "Good luck, Suta." The Cloud nin beamed up at him. Then, Hari started to jog toward the balcony.

Behind him, he heard the proctor ask if the two of them were ready. Just as he reached the stairs, he heard the announcement, followed immediately by loud applause. "Hajime!"

Taru sat in the crowd next to her team, Kizui, Tounyo, and Konohamaru-sensei. Tounyo was trying to get Kizui to sit still while their sensei just laughed at them.

Around them were members of the other Leaf teams. Hitayio and Rei sat on their right, watching the arena below them with interest. Kiba, their sensei, sat behind them talking animatedly to Shino, who never did respond. Beside the trench coat wearing man sat the only student he had who didn't make it to the finals, Taka. She was glancing around them, observing everyone that was nearby. Taru caught how her gaze slowed on Tounyo, saddening, before she moved on. On their left sat the older Leaf teams, along with the Suna team. Koukatsu Uchiha sat silently beside his sensei, who was loudly cheering on her student. Beside them was Hato, accompanied by his overzealous teammate, Shan, and sensei, Rock Lee, both of whom were shouting their support. Behind them sat Jiheki, Ichijin, and Temari, who were silently watching.

Taru turned her attention back to the arena below them, biting her lip. Rokuden was taking part in the first fight. She really hoped he came out of it alright. They still hadn't gotten to spend any time watching the clouds together. His sensei had forced him to train the entire month, so they hadn't been able to. Maybe when this was over, they could, assuming he didn't get stuck in the hospital for an extended stay.

Taru looked at his opponent and shivered. That was a distinct possibility. This little boy had put a Mist kunoichi in the hospital for nearly three weeks. She was astounded that such a child could be so ruthless in battle.

She really hoped nothing would happen to Rokuden. She really hoped he would win.

"Hajime!"

Rokuden dodged to the side as his opponent pulled out some of his sunflower seeds and turned them into shuriken, tossing them at him. Rokuden's eyes narrowed. He knew not to underestimate this kid. His last fight had shown that. It had also shown him one of his supposedly more powerful jutsu and how to avoid it. Surely he would be smart enough not to try the same trick twice.

Yet, like last time, he spent the start of the fight simply pulling out sunflower seed shuriken and throwing them, almost haphazardly. Rokuden merely bided his time. If the boy wanted to use the same strategy, then so be it. It would only turn out to the Nara's advantage. After he dodged the quickly growing vines with a substitution or something similar, it would be all the easier to catch him in his Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession Jutsu) with all the shadows around.

Slowly, the ground around the edge of the arena clearing gathered a small layer of sunflower seeds. At that point, the Nara was thankful for his sensei forcing him to work on his endurance, or he would be exhausted by now.

Rokuden caught a sudden fierceness in Sutamina's eyes as he pulled out three more shuriken with one hand and tossed them with an accuracy unseen in his previous throws, his other hand following the first, channeling chakra in a way that caused the projectiles to correct their aim slightly into the path of his dodge. The pineapple haired genin was forced to quicken his reaction, dodging twice, and even then had his cheek and arm cut slightly by two of the weapons.

He winced as he landed, but continued dodging as he sensed more of the unique shuriken coming at him. The throws seemed to return to the lazy ones from before as it became easy to stay ahead of them once more. Yet, somehow, the Leaf nin knew something was wrong.

He found out what when he felt a sharp stinging in his side. He looked down and was shocked to find a tiny plant growing slowly out of his flesh. He looked up and found Suta with one hand throwing more shuriken while the other was in a one-handed seal. When the boy saw that he had been caught, he smirked, bringing both his hands up to make a hand sign.

The next thing Rokuden felt was intense pain.

Suta grinned. He had this fight in the bag. When he had thrown those three shuriken with more accuracy, he had done so in a way that would cause them to curve towards where he had calculated his opponent would dodge. He followed up with a nearly un-seeable seed, thrown in the act of shifting the motion of his shuriken so that the Nara wouldn't see the seed.

It had worked, slightly cutting the pineapple haired boy, but more importantly drawing his attention away from the true threat. He had returned to throwing basic shuriken for a short time before activating the seed with a one-handed seal. It would only cause it to grow slowly, but it would give him more time to let it sink into the boy's skin.

By the time his opponent noticed it, he was already too late. Suta accelerated the growth exponentially by bringing his second hand up to complete the seal. Rokuden curled in on himself in pain as the roots dug into him. The Leaf nin would have to give up within the next minute or so, before the pain overwhelmed him and he fell unconscious.

Ten seconds passed.

Twenty seconds, and he still hadn't given up.

Thirty seconds, Suta refusing to let up on his jutsu until the match was called.

Forty-five seconds.

That was when Suta suddenly felt his hands pulling out of the hand seal, against his will. Suta struggled to put them back together but found he couldn't. He wouldn't be able to continue to grow the plant in his foe if he couldn't perform the seal! Slowly, he, too, bent over to mimic the form of his opponent, his eyes widening.

He had been caught in the Nara's jutsu!

But how? He had been watching Rokuden's shadow with one eye to make sure it never started in his direction.

Gradually, he stood back up, favoring his side as if he had the plant stuck in him as well. He glared at the Leaf nin angrily, looking for how he had been caught unaware. His eyes fell on the shadow behind his adversary, which was reaching even further back and going underneath the small layer of sunflower seed shuriken that had accumulated. His eyes travelled along the shadow as far as he could. Apparently, Rokuden saw where his eyes were because he began turning to give the Kumo shinobi a better view. The shadow went all the way around in a half circle, all the while gathering more darkness, until it came out directly behind him and connected to his own shadow.

Suta automatically started copying the curse words he had heard Uppun use. He was forced to turn back around to look at the Nara's lazy smirk. The smaller boy's eyes narrowed dangerously.

Together, they took a step toward each other, though Rokuden winced slightly, apparently still feeling the effects of the pain even though the plant wasn't burrowing further into him anymore. "That was a sneaky trick you pulled back there," he complimented, walking closer together. "Unfortunately for you, I still caught you with my shadow. Clearly, I have come out the victor here."

Suta actually chuckled at that, causing a concerned look to appear on his opponent's face. "I must admit, that you almost had me there. It looks like I'm going to have to show my trump card a lot earlier than I thought."

Rokuden frowned thoughtfully. "But how can you do anything when the only way you move is if I do?" he asked with a mixture of confusion and genuine curiosity.

Suta grinned. He knew this was going to hurt like hell, but he couldn't lose this early in the tournament. May as well let loose. "Like this!" he shouted.

He began to channel large amounts of chakra towards his stomach and felt the pain wash over him.

Ino chuckled, punching her husband on the arm lightly. Rokuden had just captured his opponent in his Kagemane. "He's a genius, just like his father," she claimed proudly.

Chouji was there with the happily married couple, glad to be able to spend some time with his old team. Neji was with them, watching the events silently unfold before him. They sat only a couple rows behind the new group of rookies, meaning that Tenten, Lee, Shino, and Kiba weren't far off. There were a couple of other ninja around them, but none that they conversed with regularly.

"That was rather impressive," stated Chouji, pausing just long enough in chewing his bag of chips to get the statement out.

"Now all he has to do is forfeit and it'll be the spitting image of his father's first chuunin exam," interjected Neji with an oddly playful tone.

Shikamaru couldn't help a lazy smirk. "I'll have you recall that I was promoted during that exam."

Ino waved a hand dismissively at the both of them. "Ah, he wouldn't have to resort to that." She grinned confidently. "You forget, he's got my clan jutsu as well."

"Looks like he's going to use it, too," stated Chouji, bringing their attention back to the arena floor. They watched as the two combatants approached each other, Rokuden's intent to use the Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Jutsu) clear to any that knew about it.

Suddenly, a howl of pain ripped through the arena, causing all noise in the crowd to go quiet.

What followed was a scene that left all four of the shinobi completely stunned.

Only Shikamaru managed to find his voice.

"Mendokusei."

Sakkaku stared at the fight below them. "No way" she thought in surprise, "He's been caught!" Sutamina, who she had never seen lose to anyone below special jounin rank, had been trapped in his opponent's jutsu. Sure, the boy looked like a child, but in battle, he was anything but. Nothing like this had ever happened before!

"Don't do it, Suta…" she heard her sensei murmur beside her. Her eyes widened as she realized what the man was talking about. If he used that, it would practically guarantee that he wouldn't be promoted.

Not that his chances were that good right now, anyway…

The scream that followed signaled the use of his technique.

The Hensei Puranto no Jutsu (Plant Metamorphosis no Jutsu).

Rokuden felt the snap of his Kagemane being broken and knew that something was wrong again. Then, Sutamina let out a howl of pain the likes of which he had never heard before.

And he soon understood why.

The head of a sunflower plant abruptly began growing out of his mouth. He threw back his head as it shot high into the air, growing significantly as it did so. Then, from the palms of his hands burst forth more vines of the plant, budding into enormous leaves. When all was said and done, the boy's small body was miniscule at the bottom of an almost twelve foot sunflower plant.

"Mendokusei," muttered Rokuden in annoyance.

He was only mildly shocked when the plant-creature swung one of its leave in a wide arch, forcing him to jump back out of range. Surprisingly, it stopped once he was out of its reach, standing oddly still. Taking the chance to calm down, he immediately began searching out a way to defeat this thing.

Clearly, his Kagemane wouldn't work on it, seeing as how it had broken out of it quite easily. He could try the Shintenshin on it, but he doubted that would work, seeing as how the beast didn't even seem to have a brain at the moment, only instincts. The only other jutsu he knew were the basics and a few elemental ones, none of which would be useful at the moment.

Sighing, he decidedly to test its physical abilities to see if that would give him any inspiration. He pulled out a kunai and cautiously stepped forward, taking note of how the proctor seemed ready to pull him back at any moment.

As soon as he was within its reach, the leaf whipped around with startling speed. He barely managed to step out of the way, bringing his kunai up to slice through the course plant material. To his astonishment, his arm was jerked by the leaf, even though only the kunai had hit the thing. He took a few steps back to observe his handiwork and noted the small slice on the one leaf. Unfortunately, it wasn't significant enough to cause any actual damage.

He sighed in irritation. He didn't have any blades larger than a kunai. And judging by the width of the stalk coming out of Sutamina's mouth, he would have to cut the thing three or four times before the head finally fell off, if he could even manage that with how fast the creature was. He had just one last idea…

He pulled out a kunai with an explosive note on it and backed up a few steps. Taking a deep breath, he got a short running start and darted towards the sunflower. As soon as he was close enough, the plant was swinging its leaf at him again. He got as far as he could, not even bothering to try to dodge since he knew he couldn't and lobbed his explosive kunai, bracing himself for the blow.

He was knocked a good distance away, skidding to a halt near the other side of the arena. With a quick spike of chakra, he caused the explosive note to go off. He groaned when he saw that the explosion took place in the forested area, away from the sunflower beast. The creature must have sensed the motion and batted it away with its other leaf.

Rokuden slowly got to his feet, moaning when the palm-sized plant attached to his side throbbed painfully. He checked himself and, finding nothing broken, hobbled over to where the proctor stood.

"I surrender," he told the Uchiha seriously.

Sasuke didn't even have to ask if he was sure, only nodded. There was no way the kid could beat a creature like this. By then, the conversation in the crowd had picked up again. "Winner: Kadai Sutamina!" he announced, stunning the audience into silence once more.

Not a moment later, Sasuke pulled out an ANBU kodachi from its sheath and was gone in a flash of speed. There was a swift cutting sound, followed by the proctor reappearing beside the young Nara. Rokuden glanced up to see the giant sunflower's head fall to the ground, landing with a loud thud on the arena floor. This was swiftly accompanied by the boy's body falling on its back, unmoving.

The crowd around them burst into cheers as medics rushed the field, trying to gather up the unconscious Kumo genin.

"You should probably have them check on that side of yours, too." The Leaf nin glanced up to find the Uchiha motioning toward the plant in his side. He nodded agreeably and followed sedately after the medics as they took the plant-boy hybrid into the infirmary.

Rokuden certainly wouldn't be forgetting this fight any time soon.