Kinuta Dosu vs. Uchiha Sasuke

That's what the board said. All of the Leaf-nins eyes turned to Sasuke, who only huffed once and got into the ring, where he met his opponent.

The bandaged ninja already awaited the Uchiha. He had not forgotten their encounter in the Forest of Death. "I suppose I am lucky. Now, I can pay you back for what you did. And I will get my revenge for Zaku, too.", he called out to Sasuke before the match.

But the Uchiha just smiled. "Heh, try all you want.", Sasuke replied confidently. He still remembered how this guy had folded and ran in the forest. And that this would be repeated now was certain...

But Dosu seemed to smile as well, as much as one could tell from the movements of those bandages on his face. "This is different. In the forest, I had to take care of my teammate. Besides, I also had to get to this round. So, now I'm the one not holding back.", the ninja growled menacingly.

"The sixth match. Dosu Kinuta versus Uchiha Sasuke. Begin!", the proctor declared and the match was on.

Immediately, Sasuke rushed in and began to use his taijutsu on Dosu, who, though surprised by this move, held his own. The two traded blows, with Sasuke attacking more swiftly than the sound-nin and gained the upper hand in this match.

The other genin were also surprised. "Why isn't he using ninjutsu? I know Sasuke can pull off some Katon-jutsu, why use taijutsu?", Ino asked. Even though Sasuke had fallen from grace in her eyes already, he was still a fellow Leaf-nin.

Sasuke's teacher Kakashi chose to answer this, as he had put his book aside to watch the fight properly. "Sasuke is still weakened from what happened in the forest. He intends to end this quickly. The longer this fight drags on, the worse it gets for him.", he commented.

And it was true. Everyone could see that Sasuke's moves got more and more sluggish the longer he fought. At first, he had been able to drive Dosu back, but now the sound nin gained the advantage and began to throw some punches too instead of just defending.

Then came an especially vicious strike. Sasuke evaded the blow, but still, he tumbled backwards and collapsed onto his knees.

The Leaf Genin gasped. "What happened? Sasuke didn't get hit, so why?!", Shikamaru wondered aloud as he watched the apparent defeat on his teammate down below.

Dosu laughed and pushed back his sleeve to reveal a weird metallic appendage. "Now it's over! I disrupted your sense of balance just with a single tune from this sound amplifier. You've lost!", he exclaimed victoriously. He was certain that he now had all the time in the world to wail on Sasuke mercilessly.

But, as he approached the Uchiha, Sasuke suddenly stood up. His legs were wobbling, but he stood again and looked at Dosu. His eyes were a little unfocused, but he raised his fist to show he has not defeated yet. "What? He's still going to fight despite having no sense of balance anymore!?", Dosu growled. He could not believe this. Sasuke had to be bluffing. So, he ran towards him, intending to punch him out with one last strike.

But, as he threw the final punch, Sasuke dropped into a crouch before Dosu and then kicked him square into the chin, sending the sound-nin flying. Pursuing him into the air, he appeared right behind him. Sasuke then whirled around to ram his fist into Dosu side. However, Dosu was still able to block this one. "Not done yet!", Sasuke yelled before he landed a kick on Dosus face, sending the ninja plummeting towards the ground. Then, another punch to the face and, just before Dosu impacted on the ground, Sasuke exclaimed "Shishi Rendan!" and slammed his heel into the ninjas gut.

Like this, Dosu crashed onto the ground and laid motionlessly. Meanhwile, Sasuke also hit the floor rather ungracefully, just barely holding off from collapsing himself. The proctor stepped closer and noted the obvious inability of Dosu to continue fighting. "The clear winner of this match is Uchiha Sasuke!", he announced loudly.

Just as the words had been spoken, Sasuke too finally collapsed from exhaustion. Most people hadn't noticed, but he had to struggle hard to suppress his new, dark power. He was at the end of his strength...

Kakashi nodded, satisfied with the outcome. "Even though Sasuke was at a severe disadvantage, he managed to catch himself and even come up with a new jutsu. I suppose that's what you call 'a genius'.", he muttered.

"'A genius', huh?", Rock Lee muttered as he gripped the railing of the platform a bit harder.

Kakashi looked at the green-clad Genin and shrugged. "Yeah, but that's what makes it kind of boring to teach Sasuke. He learns everything quickly. Well, I guess I shouldn't complain too much...", he pondered but then jumped down towards Sasuke. Some medic-nin were already there, intending to pick both Dosu and Sasuke up, but Kakashi stopped them. Instead, he took Sasuke on his back and carried him out of the room himself. Why he did that, the others did not know...

But they trusted him and so did not pursue those thoughts longer, since once again, the remaining contestants names were flickering over the screen again.