Chapter 53: Preliminary Round Begins

Nadare's P.O.V.

"Really!?" I exclaimed as I looked at my name on the screen. "I have to fight Shino right off the bat?" I could hear Samehada laughing in the back of my mind, I didn't care though, it just sucks that either I have to eliminate Shino, one of my favorite people from our old class, or let him knock me out.

The other competitors left the arena, some mistaking my outburst as a form of resignation or fear. Those who knew me however, knew it was just that I didn't want to fight Shino, and that I was surprised to be in the first fight. Shino and I took our places on either side of the arena floor and Gekko, the sickly proctor for this stage of the exam, called to us to ready ourselves.

"The match will go until one of you forfeits or is no longer able to continue. I will stop the match, by force if necessary, if I believe the outcome has been decided." He coughed lightly. "Begin!" He leapt back and Shino began the match by sending a swarm of his parasitic beetles surging forward.

"Apologies for this, but I know that my only chance is to go all out from the beginning." Shino stated calmly, I laughed.

"Yeah, I get it, no worries." I jumped back and slammed my hands into the ground, raising an earth wall to hide behind. Then as soon as all eyes were off of me I dived underground, sealing the hole behind me as I did. I emerged from the ground right in front of Shino, a kunai in hand, pointed at his throat. Directly in front of him was the only place not covered in beetles, so I had to emerge there. "Looks like I win Shino." I smirked.

"Not quite." Shino stated simply as his bug clone dissolved and I was coated with parasitic beetles. Only for my own earth clone to crumble. "It seems I underestimated your sensory abilities, Nadare." Shino said as we were both revealed in the corner of the arena, me behind Shino with a kunai pointed at his back. "I concede."

"Winner of the first round, Nadare Mitarashi!" Gekko called out to the room. The screen then flashed to life to reveal the second match, I couldn't help the grin that formed when it was shown.

"Really?" I laughed.

"Sasuke Uchiha, versus Sakura Haruno! Both combatants please enter the arena." I jumped up onto the railing in front of Sakura.

"Sakura." I began quietly. "I heard you try to convince him to drop out, and clearly he didn't listen. This is your chance to make him drop out." I said encouragingly.

"But he'll hate me if I beat him." She whined.

"Maybe for a while. But I believe that after having the entire village roll over and beg for him, he will find your standing up to him, refreshing and attractive. After all, he likes strong women." The last part was a lie, but it worked, she was determined to give this fight her all. Sakura leapt down into the arena and I took her place on the balcony. "This will be interesting." I commented at normal volume as Gekko started the match.

"You really want to see Sakura get beaten up by The Jerk?" Naruto questioned. I could tell we had the attention of the rest of our class as well.

"Naruto, remember in wave how Anko had me train you three in tree climbing, water walking, and taijutsu?" Naruto nodded. "The reason she did that was not only because I knew how to perform and explain the exercises but also because I am extremely gifted at taijutsu. Of the three of you, Sakura is the only one who kept up her training. I know this because she often tracked me down for assistance and, even if she didn't, you can tell by how she carries herself and the subtle muscle tone in her legs and arms." I explained, the others began looking at the fight more closely. Sasuke was launching a fierce taijutsu offensive, but had failed to connect with anything so far.

"But there's no way she can match Sasuke. I want her to win as much as you do, but beating Sasuke is just not possible for her…" I cut him off by yelling down to Sakura.

"That's enough dancing, you should already know his movements! Now it's your turn!"

Everyone gasped audibly as Sakura delivered a powerful flurry of punches followed up by a standing roundhouse that sent Sasuke flying back onto the floor. I grinned as I sensed their surprise, I knew Sakura couldn't win yet under normal circumstances, but Sasuke was handicapped right now. If he tried to use chakra the curse seal would act up. Sakura would either beat him before he lost his patience and used the cursed seal, or he would use it and be taken down by the jounin in the room. I could tell the Hokage was watching very closely, and I could tell he meant to end Sasuke's match at the first sign of him using the seal.

"Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke screamed as he launched the fireball after Sakura's latest show of force. Sakura had managed to dodge it but stopped dead when she saw the black markings of the cursed seal covering half of Sasuke's face, and the maniacal grin on his face. "I don't know how you got so strong Sakura, but you won't beat me!" His Sharingan flared to life as Sasuke rushed straight at Sakura. Sakura held her own for longer than I expected but soon she was getting broken in almost every way possible. Having seen enough I jumped down between them, catching Sasuke's kick, with help from Lee and Naruto.

"The way you aimed this kick, did you intend to kill her?" I asked as I realized the kick would have ended with his heel getting slammed down on Sakura's temple.

"She is weak, it's better than she deserves to die to someone as powerful as I am." He stated as fact. I was nauseated as the words hit my ears, it distracted the three of us who had blocked him enough that he freed his foot and lashed out, knocking the three of us away. He pulled a kunai and went to drive it straight through Sakura's heart. A cloud of dust erupted, when it cleared it was revealed that the Hokage himself had caught the blow, with Kakashi guarding Sakura. A second later the Anbu had appeared and grabbed Sasuke, removing him from the building. Hiruzen addressed the room.

"Sasuke Uchiha has been disqualified. The winner is Sakura Haruno!" He then turned to Kakashi and nodded as Kakashi took Sakura to the infirmary. The Hokage then addressed the three of us who had first interfered. "I am proud to see that the three of you care enough about your comrade to jump in like that. The fact that you did so before any of the adults in the room gives me hope for the future of our village and the world. Now we should leave the arena so the matches can continue." Nodding dumbly the three of us glanced at the screen to see who was fighting next.

"Rock Lee versus Yoroi!" Gekko called out. Naruto and I wished Lee good luck and went back to the viewing area as Yoroi came down. I saw Ethan's disappointed expression when I approached and knew it was because he had wanted to help Sasuke against Itachi, though now it seemed that Sasuke was just as crazed. I turned to watch the fight only to see it was already over. Yoroi relied on his ability to leach chakra from his opponents, and Lee was in no mood for wasting his time with a weakling. Lee had used the Primary Lotus as soon as the call to begin had been given, as joyful as Lee normally was, when he was pissed he was terrifying. The screen flashed again and the next round was selected. "Shikamaru Nara versus Naruto Uzumaki!"

'This should be fun.' I think to myself as Naruto and Shikamaru get to the arena floor, Naruto by jumping and Shikamaru by falling after an enthusiastic shove from Ino. The signal to start was given and Naruto began by making several shadow clones. Shikamaru countered by using the shadow possession to snare one of them and used it and his own taijutsu to dispose of the rest. The original Naruto jumped at Shikamaru from behind and found himself caught in Shikamaru's shadow before he even landed. Shikamaru was about to turn around and walk so Naruto would be close to a wall so he could knock him out easily, but a second Naruto stopped him by slugging him in the jaw. Shikamaru, and the original Naruto, were sent skidding by the force of the punch and the shadow possession was broken. Naruto, though complaining about the punch hurting him, took the chance to double team Shikamaru with a wild combination of punches and kicks form him and his clone. Shikamaru however was able to dodge the flurry in a way that made Naruto and his clone hit each other in the face, dispelling the clone and allowing Naruto to once again get caught in the shadow possession. Shikamaru then did a backflip which caused Naruto to jump backwards as well, however Shikamaru had cancelled the Shadow Possession at the last second just as Naruto's skull collided full force with the wall behind him. Naruto was unconscious and Shikamaru had won.

"Winner by knock out, Shikamaru Nara!" Gekko called after checking on Naruto. The screen flashed to life as the next round was revealed. "Kiba Inuzuka versus Dosu! Both fighters to the arena please." Dosu and Kiba jumped down to the arena floor, Kiba confident he would move on, and Dosu eager to get past the weakling standing in the way of reaching his goal. Kiba started barking out boasts as soon as the match was started but Dosu just stood there ignoring him. Kiba didn't take his opponents inaction at his boasts very well and used the Art of Beast Mimicry and the Man Beast Clone right off, which caused Dosu to smirk. Dosu had researched the clans of Konoha and knew that the Inuzuka could take on the traits of their canine companions, while that would be more of an advantage if he used scents to battle, a dogs higher range of hearing would still prove useful. Dosu pulled out a kunai and scraped it against his gauntlet, manipulating the sound to incapacitate one of the two Kiba's now standing before him. He clicked his tongue in annoyance when it was revealed that he had hit the dog and not the actual Kiba but still continued his attack. How could he not after all, when his opponent was so wonderfully distraught over the mutt? Slamming powerful sound based blows straight to his opponents eardrums Dosu claimed victory quickly and all without needing to take a single step. The screen flashed to the next fight as Kiba and Akamaru were carted to the infirmary and Dosu walked smugly back to the balcony. "The Next match is between Zaku and Tenten! Will both of you enter the arena now?" Gekko called before the two jumped down. Ever since Sakura's match, the Leaf genin had become eager to finish this so they could make sure their ally was going to recover. Kakashi had still not returned so even the other jounin were growing impatient.

The call to begin was given and Tenten unleashed a hail of sharpened metal. Unfortunately Zaku was a mismatch for her as he basically had air cannons in his arms. Zaku was able to counter her weapons easily and knock her out at the same time. He had broken his one good arm in the process, but he had done it. Zaku was announced the winner and the next fight was announced.

~A/N~

I own nothing.

Hey everyone! It has been a while, and I apologize for the delay. I won't make excuses because I don't have any. please take this chapter as apology!

Feedback is appreciated, the next chapter should be out much sooner than this one was.