"Ya know, I really don't want to fight, and I don't care whether I become a chûnin or not, but I'm not going to lose to a girl!" Shikamaru-san declared, earning a smirk from his enemy.

She quickly spun her fan around, causing a large burst of thick smoke and dust to fill the area. Her eyes shot after Shikamaru-san's movements before settling on the trees the Nara was hiding behind.

"Oh my, it seems she's also quite intellectual. Shikamaru-san is definitely going to give up at the end of this fight, the lazy bastard," I joked as I looked down at the arena.

The girl brought her fan in front of her and looked over at the area of the shadows the boy was hiding in with the utmost seriousness.

Meanwhile, the boy with a loop earrings stared up at the sky with a bored expression. He probably just wanted to watch the clouds instead of fighting such a troublesome match. His black eyes drifted down to the hole the blonde idiot next to me made, and then he smirked. He had a plan in the making that would surely succeed, especially considering his genius IQ levels.

Temari suddenly waved her fan, causing her special three-star which were actually three circles wind attack.

The winds made by the fan managed to cut through the trees themselves, but they also made a rather large cloud of dust that helped Shikamaru-san pull off his next move easily.

The Nara had sent his shadow towards his opponent and caused Temari to quickly jump back several times. Unfortunately, Shikamaru-san could only send his shadow out so far, and stopped before it could reach her.

The Suna girl noticed that fact and made a line in the dirt with her fan whilst kneeling down. "Ah... I see. I've seen through your kagemane jutsu!"

The boy gave a huff as he leaned against the wall, cuts evident all over his body from the blonde's previous attack. He was huffing a bit as his hands began to slowly pull apart.

"Looks like there's a limit to how much you can stretch, shrink, and change the shape of your shadow, isn't there?" The blue-eyed girl asked with a smirk. "No matter how much you change and stretch the shape of your shadow, you still can't stretch it any further than the surface area of your normal shadow... Right?"

The black-haired boy gave a smirk and a small chuckle before agreeing. "That's right..."

The girl's face remained neutral as she began making the proper assumptions about Shikamaru-san's abilities, including his ability to use other shadows to lengthen the distance in which his shadow could spread. She then slammed her closed fan into the line she made and calculated the distance between herself and Shikamaru-san - 15 meters and 32 centimeters. That Suna girl sure was smart when it came to battle strategies.

The member of the Konoha rookies glanced up at the clouds in the sky before letting his gaze drift down to his opponent. He then closed his black eyes and made a hand sign - a circle with his thumbs at the top and the rest of his fingers on the bottom. Shikamaru-san was making a strategy that would allowing him victory... So long as he chose not to quit, at least.

"What's he doing?" Uzumaki-kun asked eagerly as he stared down at the lazy individual.

"That's for him to show," I replied with a smirk as I watched the boy's black eyes shoot open.

Shikamaru-san's left hand reached back into his shinobi pouch, displaying that he was finally ready to initiate his plan.

"Watch the shadows," I instructed the blonde as the Suna girl opened her fan.

"Looks like you're finally going to get serious!" Temari yelled before performing her powerful wind jutsu once again.

Shikamaru-san pulled a kunai from his back pouch before darting to his right where he could get coverage from the harsh, chakra-infused winds.

"There's no use hiding!" The sandy-blonde yelled at the Konoha shinobi. Once Shikamaru-san didn't come out, she demanded, "How long are you going to keep running away?! Give up already!" She blew another powerful gust of wind with her fan, creating yet another cloud of dust.

I gently nudged my teammate before my eyes flickered to the small jacket that was floating into the air with a kunai tied to it.

His blue eyes widened in surprise before he gave a small gasp. He looked over at me for confirmation, causing me to smirk and nod once in approval.

The Nara threw a kunai out of the cloud before performing his clan-famous jutsu once again.

Temari opened her fan up and deflected the kunai before she noticed the shadow coming after her. She originally didn't look afraid of it, but her eyes quickly widened once she saw the shadow cross her line. The blue-eyed girl hopped back once and managed to get out of the reach of the shadow.

"Very good. You saw through that," Shikamaru-san approved to get her attention off of his other plan.

"I see. You were whittling away the time, waiting for the sun to drop lower so the shadows of the wall and yourself would grow larger," Temari inferred, rather incorrectly. "The closer the sunset, the longer the shadows grow..."

"Hey, Haruno-kun, how can Shikamaru use his shadow when he's in the arena's shadow?" Uzumaki-kun asked with a small tilt of his head.

"As long as there's light, there will be a shadow even within a shadow. Besides, he can use the arena's shadow towards his advantage and use it to extend his own shadow. It's a technique commonly used by his clan to save energy and chakra since they're all lazy like Shikamaru-san," I explained as bluntly as possible for the team idiot to understand.

"That's so not cool," the blonde said with pursed lips.

"Cool or not, you really helped him out this time around," I said while patting the disgustingly-colored jumpsuit the kyūbi host always wore.

He blinked once before his face scrunched up in confusion. "Eh?"

"Temari! From above!" Puppet Bitch suddenly shouted to his sister upon noticing Shikamaru-san's jacket parachute.

Temari looked up, and her eyes widened at the sight of the jacket being weighed down by the kunai. Her eyes then looked down at the shadow that was beginning to appear between her and Shikamaru-san's shadow. Her face displayed horror before she jumped back, the shadow extending out towards her by using the shadow of his jacket parachute. The sandy-blonde was chased towards the other side of the hole Uzumaki-kun dug earlier, not at all realizing she was falling a victim to the true plan of her opponent.

"You won't escape!" Shikamaru-san yelled to divert the girl's attention from the hole right behind her.

Temari fled back towards where her opponent wanted her to go before smirking. She had figured out that Shikamaru-san couldn't change the shape of the parachute's shadow. The girl from Suna finally stopped fleeing and instead stood up. She opened up her fan all the way with a confident smirk.

"To be able to dodge even that attack..." The boy with earrings muttered as he continued to draw his opponent's attention away from the obvious trap.

The blonde girl glanced up towards the sun before looking down at her enemy. She then slammed her fan down in front of herself and crouched down, allowing for Shikamaru-san to move his shadow without the fear of her finding out. She put her hands together in the sign of the snake, clearly ready to make a bunshin to divide the Konoha genin's attention. However, she was too late.

Shikamaru-san's shadow had made it through the tunnel Uzumaki-kun made and latched onto Temari's shadow.

I chuckled as Temari was forced to move her hands apart. "Success~."

"What happened?" Kankurō asked, causing me to snicker while looking over at Uzumaki-kun.

I pointed down towards the hole closer to Shikamaru-san and said, "I told you you helped him out."

"He's used my tunnel to make his shadow touch hers?!" Uzumaki-kun exclaimed in shock, causing the others to look closely at the arena floor.

I nodded in approval. "Exactly. He's been planning this from the beginning, waiting for the opportune moment to use that towards his advantage. He knew he couldn't catch Temari off guard with a frontal attack, no matter what he tried, so he caused her to retreat towards the hole that would lead to his victory." I gave another chuckle as I jumped up onto the railing and sat on it once again. "Checkmate."

"There's no way Shikamaru could give up now!" The blue-eyed boy next to me exclaimed as he stared down at the two opponents that were walking towards each other of Shikamaru-san's accord. "Yeah! Go for it!"

I turned my head away and snickered as the Nara raised his hand into the air.

He remained silent for a moment before opening his eyes. "That's it... I give up."

I burst out laughing and pointed at Uzumaki-kun. "I told you! Shikamaru-san's too lazy to continue! Haha! You see your face! Never doubt my betting skills, idiot!"

"Wh... What?!" Temari yelled at the boy standing about a meter in front of her.

"I give up," Shikamaru-san repeated before going into an explanation. "The continuous use of the kagemane no jutsu has used up all of my chakra. I can barely bind you for ten more seconds. I had thought up about 200 more moves, but... It looks like I'm out of time. I'm getting tired of this... One match is enough for me."

Genma-san gave a smirk before announcing, "Winner, Temari!"

Shikamaru-san released his jutsu and rubbed the left side of his neck with his right hand. "Man... I'm tired."

"Why did he give up?! Is he an idiot?!" My teammate yelled as he climbed over the railing before jumping down to the arena floor.

"Lectures are tricky things... If you don't want to anger the other party," Shino-san stated.

"Shikamaru-san can make my teammate forget all about that," I replied as I waved the Aburame off.

The blonde landed before pointing over at the Nara. "Idiot!"

"Shut up, you super idiot!" The black-haired future chunin demanded.

The boy with whisker-like marks on his cheeks wasn't having any of that and ran over. "Why did you give up?!"

"Forget about that already... Let's just enjoy the next match," Shikamaru-san compromised.

I gave a dark chuckle as I stood up on the railing. I looked over my shoulder at Dosu and asked darkly, "So... Are you ready for our rematch?"

The Otogakure bastard narrowed his single visible eye at me before clenching his left hand into a fist. Oh, he was definitely ready.

"Good. I'm fully stored up on chakra this time, and I didn't have to deal with your shitty boss before getting here, so this time..." I chuckled as my adrenaline began to pump all around my body. "I won't be fighting with five percent of my true strength." I then stepped off of the railing and began to fall quickly towards the ground. Just before I could break my legs, I teleported to the spot I had originally stood in before we were told to go up to the waiting room.

"Next match, Haruno Ren versus Dosu!" Genma-san yelled before looking up towards the waiting room. He saw that Dosu was on his way and nodded in approval.

I put on an emotionless expression as I began to internally mix my chakra together. I was going to finish my match in less than a minute, and there was nothing Dosu could possibly do to stop it.

The otonin took a few long moments to finally get to his spot on the proctor's left. It was as if he really didn't want to do the match, but didn't want to lose at the same time. His conflictions would definitely be the key to my victory.

"Are you both ready?" Genma-san questioned as he looked between us.

"Yes sir," I answered with a dead tone.

Does simply nodded in reply, causing me to internally smirk.

The brunette nodded in approval before yelling, "Start!"

I immediately dropped down to one knee as I made several handsigns within a second. I remained emotionless as Dosu lunged for me while pulling back his right sleeve. My eyes, however, displayed nothing but sadistic joy as several rectangular prisms of wood came sprouting from the ground and quickly headed for Dosu.

"That's impossible!" The otonin shouted as he quickly backtracked.

"You lose," I stated as a large net-like structure appeared from the ground behind Dosu and began to trap him in a cage.

The prisms that were originally going for the boy quickly wrapped around his arms. The two that were wrapping around his right arm quickly shrunk themselves down and got between the device and his skin. They then grew in size while turning into spikes, breaking the device to pieces in less than a second's time. The single prism that wrapped around his left arm also shrunk itself down before extending his left arm out, sticking it out of the holes in the cage that were getting smaller by the second. It then spread his fingers out so he couldn't make any handsigns. The ones on his right arm did the same, making it do he couldn't use any jutsus at all, even if he could make one-handed signs.

The cage finally stopped shrinking down once Dosu was forced into a ball of defeat. The wood remained sturdy as I pulled my hands apart and stood up.

Dosu's single black eye stared up at me and shook slightly from my ability to beat him in such a calculated manner so quickly. "How...?"

"No matter how much you trained, you're still a shinobi from Otogakure. You would have trained with that device, making it the thing that I knew I had to destroy in order to secure victory. Besides that, you could focus chakra and move sound waves around as you pleased from that thing, as displayed in the second exam, meaning I had to prevent you from making a handsign. I also knew that you would have moved back if I went for a front on approach, as is instinctual of all humans. Using that knowledge, I made a cage that would gladly trap you from behind while you were too stunned with my kekkei genkai to notice." I chuckled darkly as I stared down emotionlessly at the boy who had caused mental harm to the people I cared about. "And to put the cherry on top, you had already committed a grave sin in my book."

"Sin?" He repeated questioningly.

"You and your team harmed my sister and hurt my precious senpai," I replied as I glared down, my chakra unleashing to form into a demon automatically. "And the Demon Hidden in the Leaves does not appreciate others trying to break what belongs to him."

Dosu clearly would have moved away from me in he had the ability to, but he just settles on flinching a bit. His black eye displayed his soul clearly as well as the realization that he had fucked up big time.

Genma-san gave a small chuckle before lifting his hand up in my direction. "Winner, Haruno Ren!"

With a single blink, my chakra stopped manifesting itself, and I had become emotionless yet again. I placed my hand onto the cage that had bound the boy and infused it with my earth chakra, causing it to break down into tiny little pieces of dirt. "Tell your boss that he's not going to like it if we ever meet again. I'll shove these prisms right up his fucking ass if he ever comes back."

The idiot narrowed his eye and allowed his lips to twitch up behind those bandages. His eye displayed how he fell into my verbal ruse, causing me to internally pat myself on the back.

q

I then looked up at Gaara with narrowed eyes, slightly conveying that he was next.

The ginger bitch narrowed his own eyes down at me, ready for a fight.

In all actuality, we were both ready for that fight the previous day...

~

I sat besides Lee-senpai, who was sleeping away without a care in the world. I felt sorrow fill up my veins even more as he shifted in his sleep, only to make a pained expression. I should have learned medical ninjutsu...

The black-haired boy settled back down in his sleep, allowing for his face to ease up once more. He seemed dead to the world, though that was to be expected considering he had tried to exercise with his injuries as bad as they were.

I gave a small sigh before standing up. "I need to walk around for a minute. I'll be right back," I explained softly to the sleeping boy before taking my leave. I walked around the halls of the hospital slowly, just wandering aimlessly.

However, a certain chakra entered the range of Lee-senpai. That chakra belonged to a certain someone that was most definitely not allowed anywhere near my senpai, not after what he did.

I teleported to Lee-senpai and drew my tantō without hesitation. I was about to stab the ginger when his sand moved up to block the blade. I was a bit disappointed, but I did manage to put myself between my senpai and that Suna freak.

He looked at me in shock, his sea-foam green eyes displaying his bafflement at me interfering.

"I don't know who the fuck you think you are, but you're not getting any closer," I growled as I began to put more pressure into my blade. "If you dare to touch so much as a hair on him, I won't hold anything back."

Gaara flinched a bit and held his head with his hands as if in pain. He took a step back, but bloodlust quickly became evident in his eyes. "I don't like you..."

"Well, you can jump up your own ass and die," I snarled as I got ready for a bloody battle.

His eyes drifted up and met my amber ones. He no longer seemed in pain as he straightened his body up, the sand coming towards me at a slow pace. He was ready for a fight at well.

I lunged towards him as I my emotions overtook my logical thinking. My right leg got caught up in the sand, but that didn't stop me from stabbing my blade forwards. I grit my teeth in rage as the sand managed to stop my blade. Said sand began to encase my body as Gaara's hand began to clench into a fist.

He stopped however about halfway through the motion. He looked shocked before a blur of yellow interfered, punching the ginger across the face.

Nearby, a yelp of pain echoed out.

"What are you doing here, you bastard?!" Uzumaki-kun yelled at Gaara.

"Hey... Naruto... While I'm using the kagemane jutsu, I move the same as him," Shikamaru-san explained.

"Sorry, Shikamaru," the blonde apologized as he moved to the black-haired boy's side. He glared at Gaara as the Suna bastard's sand armor began to crack and fall. "You... What are you up to?"

"One would think it's fairly obvious," I growled out as I still attempted to move. I just wanted to kill the freak and get this over with.

The sand mainly retreated to Gaara's gourd, but refused to let my tantō or the hand holding said tantō go. It was smart for an inanimate object.

"Hey! What were you trying to do to Thick-Brows and Haruno-kun?!" The blue-eyed idiot demanded to know.

"He was trying to kill him," I spat out furiously.

"And you, since you interfered," Gaara added in while glancing over at me. He was completely calm, so that was a tiny bit unnerving.

It surprised the two boys by the door, causing them to jolt away.

"What...?!" Uzumaki-kun exclaimed in surprise.

"Why is there a need to do that? You won the fight. Do you hold some personal grudge against him?" Shikamaru-san inquired with a serious expression. He clearly couldn't tell that Gaara was off his damn rocker.

"I do not," the ginger answered as he looked back at the two. "I'm going to kill him just because I want to kill him."

"The fuck you are!" I bellowed before the sand tightened around my grasp. I grit my teeth as my fury only seemed to spike up even more. I was going to chop that freak into tiny little bits and feed them to the fish!

"What the hell are you talking about, bastard?!" The blue-eyed boy yelled while pointing at the eyebrowless Suna bastard.

"You must have had a messed-up childhood. How self-centered can you be?" The member of the Nara clan questioned pensively. He was clearly thinking about how he could get out of the situation alive.

"If you get in my way... I'll kill you too," the green-eyed boy from across the desert threatened.

"What?! Go ahead and try!" Uzumaki-kun challenged while extending out a fist.

"Hey, Naruto, stop!" The black-eyed boy exclaimed worriedly before turning his focus back to the ginger. "We know from your fight with him that you're strong. But... We're not too bad ourselves either. And we didn't show our "special moves" in the prelims! Plus, it's 3 on 1. You're at the disadvantage. If you listen to what we say... We'll let you leave quietly."

I snickered at that, my eyes narrowing. "You, maybe, but not me."

"I'll say it again..." Gaara muttered. "Get in my way, and I'll kill you."

"I won't be killed by the likes of you!" The idiot yelled angrily.

"I told you to stop it! His strength is like a monster! Don't you understand that?!" Shikamaru-san yelled while holding the blonde back.

The boy with whisker-like marks of his cheeks grinned. "I have a real monster in me... I won't lose to the likes of him!"

So he knows about the kyūbi? If he can use its power, we definitely have the upper hand, I thought while glancing over at my teammate.

"A monster, eh...?" The shinobi from Suna questioned with closed eyes. "Then... It's the same for me." He opened his eyes, though his calm and collected nature seemed to have departed. "As you said, I had a messed-up childhood. I was born into this world by taking the life of the woman I would have called my mother to become the ultimate shinobi... With my father attaching the incarnation of the sand upon me through ninjutsu, I was born a monster."

Uzumaki-kun jolted in shock, but Shikamaru-san seemed to have better control of his body in terms of emotions.

"Called Shukaku, it was sealed within a kettle. It's the living spirit of an old Suna priest," Gaara explained, causing my brows to furrow.

No, that can't be right. A priest doesn't display that sort of bloodlust. Something else - something like the kyūbi - was sealed inside of you. However, if such things come through, the seal used to keep it inside of you is frail at best. It needs to be redone soon, or else you'll completely release it and its powers. I lowered my shoulders as I made plans to tell Hokage-sama of my intuition as soon at the freak was dealt with accordingly.

"A possession jutsu that allows one to be possessed before birth... To go that far... That's crazy," the Nara muttered with a nervous grin before regaining his confidence. "Heh... That's something a parent does? What a strange expression of love."

"Love?" The host of "Shukaku" questioned, clearly insulted. "...Don't judge me with your measuring stick... Family... You wanna know what kind of connection that is to me? It's simply pieces of meat connected to me with murderous intent and hatred."

My eyes narrowed even more before pity began to raise inside of me. If that's what you see your family as, you must not be able to read them at all. The Suna female, Temari, clearly wants you to rely on her more. Puppet Bitch is afraid of you, yes, but he still wants to be your big brother. Your judgement is so clouded you can't tell things like that. It'll come back to bite you in the ass someday, I can guarantee that much.

"By sacrificing my mother's life, I was created as the village's greatest masterpiece as the Kazekage's son. My father taught me shinobi secrets. I was spoiled and allowed to do as I pleased..." He closed his eyes for a second. "I thought that was love... Until that incident occurred."

I stared silently before jolting in surprise. "You hurt them..."

His green eyes turned and locked onto my face that surely displayed my realization.

I chuckled darkly as my face began to twist into a mixture of horror and excitement. "Now I know why I hate you so much. You remind me of myself back all those years ago - a sick little boy that allows their rage to get the better of them. I bet you hurt them- no- killed them, huh?"

His eyes narrowed sharply before the sand began to start trying to crush my hand.

I laughed darkly, realizing I hit the nail on the head. "You poor, poor child! What a pathetic little bug you are! When did it start, huh?! I'm sure I started earlier than you!" I gave another few chuckles as my chakra began to fluxuate outside of my body like it had several weeks ago.

His own murderous grin as he kept eye-contact with me. "For the last 6 years, from when I was six years old, my own father has tried countless times to assassinate me!"

"Huh?" Uzumaki-kun asked with wide blue eyes.

"Ha? But you just said your father spoiled you... What do you mean?" Shikamaru-san asked, not able to put all the pieces together like I had.

"A being too strong can become an existence of fear. It seems that by the time I was 6, it was determined that I was too dangerous. As the village's dangerous tool, I was only being used with care. To them, I am simply an object from the past that they wished would disappear," Gaara explained while calming himself down a bit, his gaze redirected back towards the two standing in between him and the doorway. "Then why do I exist? Why am I alive? When I thought about this, I could find no answer." His brow furrowed, causing his eyes to narrow as pain was barely detectable in them. "But as you live, you need a reason. Otherwise, it's the same as being dead."

"What's he... talking about?" Shikamaru-san questioned.

"When you seclude yourself, you can't rely on others to guide you along. You must do so yourself. In order for many people to walk along the path of life alone, they need a reason to live - a sort of validation of their mere existence," I explained while glancing over at the Nara who always had a family and friends to help him along.

"But that's..." He trailed off before his black eyes looked at Gaara worriedly.

Said red-head had his eyes closed. "I then came to this conclusion: "I exist to kill every human besides myself." I finally found relief within the fear of death, of never knowing when someone would try to assassinate me." He opened his eyes and smiled while looking towards the ground. "By continually killing the assassins, I understood the reason to continue living." He looked up at the two seriously, his smile dropping away as if it never existed. "Fighting for only yourself, living whole, loving only yourself. If you think that everyone else simply exists to allow you to experience that feeling, nothing is better than that world. As long as there are people in this world for me to kill and continue to feel that joy of living... My existence will not vanish."

I snickered at the Suna shinobi, gaining his attention. "So basically, poor little Gaara was alone without any kind of acknowledgement. Surrounded by solitude, he decided to live only for himself and gain strength that way." My grin dropped as I teleported backwards, my hand and tantō freeing themselves from the sand that had started to cause my hand to bleed. I slashed my blade to the side, getting rid of any small grains of sand that lingered. I gave the boy a disgusted look as I stared down at him. "How pathetic."

He grit his teeth as bloodlust became evident once again in his eyes.

"You honestly think that strength could beat out mine?" I asked as I sheathed my weapon. "Please, don't make me laugh. You're so worthless, I could beat you with nothing but a single, simple jutsu." I chuckled as I stared down at my opponent. "Hard work can beat out natural genius, but when you combine the two together..." I lifted both of my hands up, their palms facing towards the ceiling. "The results will be devistating for the opponent. And right now, you're the opponent."

His sand came dripping out of his gourd and began to raise up.

I grinned as I got ready to go all-out of that ginger bitch.

Gaara was clearly sharing my enthusiasm as he he glared at me. "Now... Let me feel it-"

"That's enough!"

I flinched a bit and looked in the direction of the man at the doorway. My fingers twitched, but I refrained from doing anything regarding my impulses.

"The finals are tomorrow. Don't get so antsy. Or do you want to stay here starting today?" Gai-sensei questioned, his gaze harsher than usual.

That Suna freak flinched and clutched his head whilst making a pained noise. His sand retreated into his gourd as he walked towards the doorway Gai-sensei had just entered. He stopped just before leaving, glaring over his shoulder as he did so. "I'll definitely kill you guys... Just wait..." And so, he finally left.

I shuttered from the anticipation, my eyes not leaving him until Gai-sensei stepped in my line of sight.

"Ren..." He said as a shadow covered his eyes.

"Wha-"

"You idiot!" He yelled while punching me across the face, sending me crashing into the ground.

I immediately sat up and held my cheek, not knowing what exactly I did wrong.

"I know you're upset about what happened to Lee, but this is not that way to go about it!" The man scolded as he stood with his hands on his hips.

I grit my teeth before standing up fully. "Upset? Do you really think that's how I feel? I'm just upset that my senpai had his dream ripped away in one of the worst ways possible? I'm just upset that that ginger freak is allowed to walk around without guilt for what he did?" I looked his dead in the eyes as my rage seemed to peak. "I'm beyond upset, and if you don't feel the same way, you have no right to be here."

The man that Lee-senpai looked up to took in a deep breath through his nose before pointing at the doorway. "Ren, leave now and get your hand healed. Don't make me make you, or else Hokage-sama will be hearing of this."

My hands twitched twice before dropping to my sides. "Right," I muttered as I began to walk out of the room, "I need to tell him that. It needs to be added. I can't let that big of a slip-up occur."

"H-Haruno-kun..." Uzumaki-kun stuttered out as he followed me into the hall.

I stopped and looked over my shoulder at him blankly. "Uzumaki Naruto, I need a favor."

He blinked his blue eyes in surprise, probably from me using his full name.

"Tomorrow, I need you to protect Sakura for me. Can you do that?" I questioned seriously.

The blonde looked confused, but nevertheless agreed. "Of course! But why?"

I turned away and began to walk once more. "I won't be able to protect her tomorrow. I trust you the most to protect her."

"Haruno-kun-"

I used the hiraishin jutsu to teleport to the window outside of Hokage-sama's office. I knocked on the glass and earned the old man's approval. I opened the window with ease and jumped in. "We have a problem with the plan- a big problem."

Hokage-sama sat up in his chair as I firmly closed the window. "What is that?"

I looked him dead in the eyes before stating, "Suna no Gaara is most definitely a jinchūriki."

~

I gave a soft sigh before using the hiraishin jutsu to relocate myself to the door just outside of the betting room. I entered and stated without a care in the world, "Your king has returned to collect his winnings before shit goes down."

"You can't collect anything until the exams are over," Mozuku-san objected as he stood in the middle of the sorting area.

"We both know that's not an actual rule, but a thing squares say so they won't lose their money," I replied with a roll of my eyes as I strolled over. "Besides, I want my shit accounted for before everything gets fucked up, and I lose my money to rubble."

"He is right about it not being an actual rule," Tobitake-san agreed, earning an annoyed expression from the man with glasses.

"Money," I demanded as I extended my hand out towards the TI member.

"Don't you have more important things to worry about?" Hijiri-san questioned.

"I have about ten or so minutes to burn. Let me collect my money so I can focus on my later work," I said, not bothering to spare a glance towards the man who always had a shadow over his eyes.

"Fine, but only because you're the Betting King," Mozuku-san finally relented before going over to a small pile of money. He grabbed it and came back before dumping it down in front of me.

"Why give me the trouble if you already had it sorted out for me?" I asked rhetorically as I pulled out my sealing scroll. I quickly sealed that money away along with my wallet to keep my precious supplies of betting fuel safe.

"It's chûnin exam betting pot policy," the man replied while pushing up his glasses.

I gave a sarcastic hum as I put my scroll into my back pouch. I didn't wait for a reply and instead teleported to my teammate. "Any sign of Duckass yet?"

"No!" Uzumaki-kun yelled angrily.

I gave a deep sigh before resting my hand over my eyes. "Yep. That's our sensei..." I shook my head with slight annoyance before my eyes turned over to the place reserved for my special senpai. "Ah, he's here after all!"

"Who-"

I quickly teleported over to Lee-senpai and smiled kindly before realizing that he had probably seen my match. Sorrow filled me to my core, so I bowed down at the waist. "I-I'm so sorry!"

"Eh?" The boy that had casts on half of his limbs questioned.

I stood up and began to fidget around with my hands nervously. "W-well, about my match, I really am sorry..."

"Y-you lost?" The black-eyed boy asked.

Gai-sensei looked both confused and mortified by the mere prospect.

"What? No, of course not," I replied before realizing that the two had probably missed my match. I internally groaned before just fessing up. "I didn't really know until a month ago- I mean- I knew, but not the full extent. I probably should have known before hand, but I-"

"Slow down. What are you talking about?" Gai-sensei asked while motioning for me not to explode into a sobbing mess.

"My kekkei genkai..." I mumbled as my head fell, my hands going into the snake handsign so I could make a baby sappling grow from my my right forearm. "I'm so sorry..." I was prepared for Lee-senpai to spew out words of hate and the like, but I instead got a punch to the face via Gai-sensei's fist.

"Idiot!" The man scolded as I rocketed up to the ceiling.

I managed to flip myself around and land on my feet. Of course, since I had been punched up to the ceiling, I had to quickly jump off so I wouldn't land on some poor civilian. I pushed myself from the concrete and back to the two that had remarkable similarities.

"Ren, just because you have a kekkei genkai doesn't mean we're going to like you any less," Gai-sensei said as he held his forehead. By the tone he had used, he clearly felt as though he was talking to a child that had some very idiotic logic.

"Yeah, exactly. Besides, why would I dislike you for having a kekkei genkai?" Lee-senpai inquired.

"Hard work is supposed to beat things like kekkei genkais, right?" I asked while keeping my gaze directed towards the ground.

"Idiot!" My senpai criticized while karate chopping my head. "You're still working hard, right? It still counts as beating natural genius."

I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. "R-really?"

"Of course!" Fire burst out of his black eyes as he clenched his one good hand into a fist. "And now that you can control your kekkei genkai, you can make yourself a literal springtime of youth!"

I released a gasp and staggered back a step at the revelation. My right hand gripped my chest as my left held my forehead. My body shook as I began to hunch over. I then quickly snapped my body up as my hands curled into fists that held themselves in front of my body. My springtime of youth had been given the ultimate fuel, and I was really to take on the entire fucking world if I had to. My springtime of youth was in full-throttle!

"There's the Ren we know!" Gai-sensei cheered as he looked at me with a large grin, Lee-senpai doing the same.

"Thank you very much for the support!" I gave a wide grin and brought my right thumb up so I could perform Gai's "good-guy" pose. Light reflected off of one of my teeth and made a bright shine. "I won't let you down."

Both Gai-sensei and Lee-senpai were moved to tears and decided to tackle me in a hug, earning a small string of curses as I flailed my arms about at the sudden human contact.

"You've grown up so much over the past year! I'm so proud of you!" Gai-sensei gushed, causing me to turn a blindingly embarrassed pink.

"Me too!" The miniature Gai-sensei added in, causing my blush to turn a tomato red.

I knew the only way to make them get off was to hug them back, so I did that quickly. Once they got off, I managed to calm myself down enough to look like a semi-normal human being. "Okay, so I'm going to find my idiotic sensei and get him here with my teammate."

Gai-sensei gave a serious nod of approval. "That would be best. He's lucky nothing has happened yet."

"Well..." I cracked my knuckles as I looked down at the arena. "His luck just ran out." I then teleported to where Duckass was and saw that he was in the middle of taking a fucking break. I gave a deep sigh of annoyance before asking, "Where's the dickhead?"

Uchiha glanced over at me before giving a half-assed shrug. "He said he needed to get something."

I scoffed loudly. "He's going to get my foot up his ass if he doesn't hurry up. You missed everyone else's match."

"Hn..." His obsidian eyes stared down at the ground in front of him before he looked up at me. "Who did Naruto face?"

"Hyūga Neji, the prodigy of the Hyūga clan," I answered, making his eyes narrow slightly.

"So he lost?" The almighty Uchiha Duckass inferred, making me roll my eyes.

"Of course not. He made a promise to beat Neji's ass, and that's what he did," I explained, earning another grunt. "Kankurō forfeited his match against Aburame Shino before Temari won the match against Nara Shikamaru. Fucking Shikamaru-san gave up right after leaving Temari with no chance of winning, the lazy bastard."

"What about your match?" The black-haired boy questioned sharply.

"I won in under a minute against Dosu," I replied nonchalantly before staring down at him with the utmost seriousness. "Has Kakashi-sensei told you yet about the plan?"

His brow furrowed as confusion shone in his black eyes. "Plan?"

I gave a sigh as I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Of course he didn't. I have to do everything for him."

"What plan are you talking about?" Uchiha asked as he finally began to stand up.

"The plan to-"

Kakashi-sensei cleared his throat as he finally returned. "He already knows his part."

I stared silently at the jônin before relenting. "Very well. All the other matches are done, so I suggest giving him a soldier pill to get his energy rejuvenated faster."

"How much more time can you give us?" The silverenette requested to know.

I glanced up at the sky before my eyes flicked back down to Kakashi-sensei. "Five minutes."

"That's all the time I'll need," the man who had 85% of his face covered stated.

I gave a sarcastic hum with my hands on my hips. "Sure you do. You said you only needed a few minutes the last time, and it's been forty-five minutes. They can only wait so long before they have to disqualify Duckass."

"Yes, I understand. Thank you for buying my this much time as it is," he patted my head once before motioning for me to take my leave.

I did so and rubbed my hands down my face as I appeared next to Uzumaki-kun. "Five more minutes."

"Actual five minutes, or Kakashi-sensei five minutes?" The blonde questioned.

"Actual five minutes," I answered as I rested my arms on the railing. I then put my head on my arms and groaned. "The fucking moron couldn't be punctual even if his life depended on it, and now Duckass is also going to be a late piece of shit from now on. This is ri-goddamn-diculous."

"What are they even doing?" The blue-eyed boy inquired.

"Fucking lounging about like goddamn assholes," I replied bitterly.

"I can understand that coming from Kakashi-sensei, but Sasuke?!" Uzumaki-kun exclaimed with great annoyance.

"What else do you expect?" I asked rhetorically. "They've spent the past month together in the middle of bumfuck nowhere with no other people around. They were bound to rub off on each other, but apparently Kakashi-sensei won out in the end." I gave a huge sigh. "That man is going to kill someone with his tardiness one day."

The kyūbi host solemnly nodded besides me, agreeing with that last statement.

I lifted my head up a bit as I dropped my arms down. I then began to bang my head against the railing while muttered incoherently about getting my revenge one day via Plan Fuckface Mizuki.

Just as Shikamaru-san was going to comment on how troublesome I was being, a swirl of leaves appeared in the middle arena.

Uzumaki-kun's eyes widened, Shikamaru-san gave a look of slight surprise mixed with confusion, and Genma-san gave a small smirk.

The leaves slowly began to fall down to the ground, revealing the two who were standing back to back. They made a cool entrance, which would have been cooler if they weren't over an hour late or wearing a romper.

Kakashi-sensei gave a closed-eye smile and said, "Sorry we're late."

"Bullshit," I muttered with a fierce glare.

"Your name?" Genma-san asked as his smirk widened, his eyes directed down towards Duckass.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Duckass replied with a serious expression.

I teleported down and looked up at Kakashi-sensei with my hands on my hips. "You took six minutes and thirty-seven seconds, not five. You're lucky you didn't get Sasuke disqualified." I narrowed my eyes before asking, "How irresponsible can you get?"

The man waved me off and muttered, "Yes, yes Okaa-san."

Did this bitch just...? I gave a sickly-sweet smile before my hand snapped up. I grabbed the man's left ear and said, "If you want me to act like a mother, I will, delinquent." I then proceeded to turn heel and drag him behind.

"O-ow! You're going to pull my ear off! Please! Ren! Stop!" Kakashi-sensei complained as he quickly walked next to me while crouching down to keep his ear and the tissue connected from feeling more pain.

"Maybe you should learn the meaning of punctual then," I scolded as I continued walking towards the door that would lead to the viewing stands. "You should realize at your age that your bad actions result in consequences! You can't be late if you drag others down with you! Just because you want lounge around and read porn all day, doesn't mean you can! You have real-world responsibilities to take care of first!"

"It's not porn!" He exclaimed as the heat basically radiated off of his face in a firey embarrassment.

"Icha Icha Paradise is a fucking porn novel written by Jiraiya-sama, and everyone fucking knows it." I then jerked on his ears and hissed, "And don't you dare back-talk me again, delinquent."

"I-"

"Silence! You're in the dog-house!" I yelled at the man while shooting him a glare that made him shut up in record timing.

~

Kotetsu and Izumo (who were totally on a date while watching the finals for the chunin exams) burst out laughing upon seeing Ren drag Kakashi along by the older man's ear.

"He totally pissed Ren off!" Kotetsu exclaimed while holding his gut and pointing down at the two.

"I can't believe Kakashi was stupid enough to get Ren's mother-mode activated!" Izumo continued as he slammed his hand down on his thigh.

"Right?! What a moron!" Kotetsu agreed as he heard Ren verbally abuse Kakashi in front of thousands of people.

Up where the Kages sat, Raidō was facepalming repeatedly, but quietly as to not draw much attention.

Hiruzen had put his hands up to his eyes and looked away from his student who had disguised himself as the Kazekage. "At a time like this, he still can't stop his temper..."

Orochimaru couldn't help but snicker at the scene that had just played out. "He certainly seems to be an interesting one."

The Hokage's eyes narrowed as they looked over at the so-called Kazekage, but his hand blocked that movement from the view of the enemy. He decided to not comment on it and just let his hand drop back down.

Meanwhile, Sakura was looking away from the scene with slight embarrassment. "In front of all of these people... That idiot is making a scene."

"Well, you should know better than anyone what kind of mood he gets into when someone really pushes his buttons," Ino pointed out while grinning at the mother-like actions of one of her frenemies.

"That's right. Ren has always been a sucker for punctuality, so this was bound to happen," Gai stated as he and Lee made it down to the row where Sakura, Ino, and Choji sat side-by-side.

"I'm surprised Ren-kun lasted this long. He typically goes into his mother-mode within a week of any repetitive bad behavior," Lee said with a small tilt of his head.

"He probably only lasted this long because Kakashi-sensei keeps calling him a delinquent," Sakura muttered as she looked away with a twitching smile.

"Delinquent?" Chōji repeated questioningly.

"Ren's done a lot of... questionable things in the past," Ino answered as she too looked away.

Gai and Lee nodded in approval, especially since they saw a few of those questionable actions in person.

The pink-haired girl gave a deep sigh. "In any case, Kakashi-sensei is about to learn why no one is late when is comes to Ren..."

"Not even Kakashi could escape Ren's mother-mode unscathed," Gai said with his arms crossed, a serious expression on his face.

They could only pray for Kakashi's safety and/or sanity at that point.