For those of you who have reviewed, thank you! Even though this website is making things difficult I deeply appreciate each review that I get. I was finally able to read all of them! I'm glad that so many of you are enjoying this story. The poll will be down tomorrow and judging by the results I might use the amount of people who voted for Kakashi to eventually write another fic. It might end up being a cross over or something weird. There's no telling with me to be honest.

21

"Proctor, I give up!" Kankuro said as the next match was called.

Shikamaru made a face at that and tried to ignore the need to hit his head against the railing. He didn't want to go out a fight, his mind was already racing at ways to conserve as much chakra as possible. That's why he had noticed the way that Ino and Yuzuki were fighting, they were fighting with moves that used little to no chakra. He hadn't been expecting the taller girl to pull out genjutsu like she had.

"I never placed you as a genjutsu type," He huffed, and she raised a brow at him before sticking a senbon between her lips.

"I'm full of surprises," she chuckled.

"Woah, what happened to your teeth?" He asked as he finally noticed the missing canines.

"I lost my remaining baby teeth, lay off," She grumbled, and he huffed.

"What's with Sasuke-kun being so late?" Ino muttered in annoyance, "He might get disqualified."

"Ne, Yuzuki-chan," Said girl looked over at Naruto, "Why'd the villagers call you half-breed?"

"Because some believe that clans shouldn't intermingle," She answered, "I'm half Hyuuga and half Yamanaka, which caused some bad blood within the Hyuuga clan and it spilled out into the civilian population."

"The Hyuuga clan isn't as mighty as they think they are," He grumbled as he rested against the railing, "You and Hinata are worth more than all of them."

He missed the smiles sent his way by the two girls next to him. He had just scored points with Ino and didn't even realize it. He squinted at the arena as Haru scratched the back of his head in annoyance. The crowd was turning against him due to the fact that Kankuro had given up before even fighting.

The action had put Hayate and Genma on alert as the presence of more shinobi was made noticeable. It seemed as though the ANBU operatives that the hokage had placed within the arena were getting ready for an attack. The fact that the Suna nin had simply given up, was a complete red flag to all the higher-level shinobi in the area.

"She's in there with him," Genma hissed, a slight sound caused them to look up to see that the pinkette was still standing near them.

"Might as well sit with us," Hayate sighed as he motioned towards the empty seat on his right, "We'll give you a rundown of what's going on."

Sakura sat down and gave them a slight frown. Genma was quick in explaining what was going on and she paled. She looked down towards the waiting area and noticed the way the rookie genin were acting. It was like they were at the academy and having a good time, it was to ignore the fact that they were going to be brought into a battle. She felt her hands trembling and Genma sighed before reaching over and patting her head, ever the mother hen.

"Relax," He told her, "Don't think about it, if you do you'll just bring attention to yourself."

"How can you be so calm about it?" She questioned as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Because the job requires us to be," he answered and Hayate gave a curt nod at that, "You learn how to be calm in such situations, it becomes second nature."

Sakura gave a look of understanding at that as she turned her attention towards the jonin who was waiting to announce the next match when Temari jumped down. She remembered the way the blonde had decimated Tenten, the other girl didn't even stand a chance.

"Shikamaru, get down here!" The Proctor yelled up towards the Nara.

"Oh man," Shikamaru quietly whined as he clenched at the railing, "Why'd it have to be my turn already?"

"Thems the breaks Shikamaru," Yuzuki sighed as she sent him a raised brow.

"You can do it, Shikamaru!" Ino informed him with a grin.

"Go for it!" Naruto went to give him a pat on the back, but sent him flying over the railing.

He let out a slight cry that ended with a loud crash as he hit the ground. Shikamaru stared up at the faces of the two girls who were wincing in sympathy and an apologetic Naruto. The blonde hadn't meant to send the other boy down that way, but noting how angry the crowd was he felt it was probably for the best. Shikamaru simply let out a sigh and turned his head to look at the sky before looking at Temari. He'd rather spend his day cloud watching instead of constant battling.

"Would you get up all ready? How long were you planning to lie there?" Temari barked at him a frown on her face as she put a hand on her hip, "Are you going to give up too?"

"Ugh," He muttered as he tried to think about how he kept being forced to fight women.

Seriously, who did he made mad upstairs to have this happen twice in a row? He wasn't usually a bad guy, though he did say things that could be construed as sexist. He didn't even react when Temari ran towards him with her fan held out to the side. He called chakra to his feet and easily pulled himself into a standing position when she hit where he had been.

"Well, as a guy I can't really lose to a girl," He grumbled.

She seemed annoyed at that and waved her fan at him. He quickly substituted himself to avoid the sharp wind. He hid within the shadows of the few trees that remained on the field. He thought to what he could do, he wasn't a genjutsu type like Yuzuki so he couldn't confuse his opponent and take them out with taijutsu and he wasn't really a frontal assault like Naruto. Him and Ino were long distance fighters that had been matched against those that were mid to close range fighters. Yuzuki may claim to be long distance, but she had different types of taijutsu to call upon not to mention the swords on her back.

"Why couldn't I just stare at the clouds?" He sighed before scratching his cheek.

"He really is so lazy," Hayate sighed as the boy stayed hiding in the shadows.

"Did we miss Yuzu-chans fight?" A voice said and he looked to Eiji and Daichi walking towards them.

The two boys had a shy girl with white hair walking next to them, she was covered in bandages and it was his best bet that this had been their injured teammate. She looked up before gaining a light pink blush to her face and hiding behind her two teammates.

"Yes," Genma confirmed, "She won hers with genjutsu and taijutsu."

"Oh geez, I thought she had been scary using genjutsu in the forest," Eiji muttered, "I wouldn't have wanted to face that."

"So, she really did use genjutsu on other teams," Genma muttered in amusement.

Daichi and Eiji gave them smiles before heading to find a place to sit and watch Shikamaru's match against Temari. The two were performing strategy instead of straight out battling. It was interesting to watch. It didn't help that Shikamaru was watching clouds with a strange expression on his face, it almost looked like he was jealous of them.

"Leave it to Shikamaru to be jealous of clouds," Ino muttered in amusement.

That amusement changed when a gust of wind blew through the arena and kicked dust into everyone's eyes. Yuzuki winced as some of the sharp wind was close enough to cause rips and tears on her bandages, she noted some small red spots appearing on the white cloth. She brought a hand down and rubbed at the spots that were stinging slightly.

"Even from there," Yuzuki muttered as Naruto complained about the dust in his eyes, "She could attack up here."

Temari had a sharp mind, she had gathered that much with their short friendship, but she was stronger than the dirty blonde expected. She saw Shikamaru's shadow extend and her eyes widened when she saw something in his hand. Ah, so he had found the kunai she had tossed into the trees when she began her taijutsu attack on Ino. She wondered what he was going to do with it. He simply tossed it closer to the stands and she felt relieved. He knew it was her's, he may not know why she left it there but figured it was important.

"Ah, he's attacking with his shadow," Ino commented.

"But will it be enough?" Yuzuki questioned as the blonde girl below jumped to avoid the attack.

"Looks like there's a limit to how much you can use your shadow," Temari commented as she drew a line in the dirt, "No matter how you change and stretch it, you can't stretch it any further than the surface of your normal shadow, right?"

Yuzuki couldn't help but think that she wasn't looking at the entire field. Because it was filled with holes from Naruto and Neji's fight. She didn't realize that Shikamaru was right next to the main one and that he was bating her towards the exit. They stayed in that position for a while, until Temari attacked with another wind jutsu.

Shikamaru came out of hiding and a few people realized that he wasn't even wearing his coat anymore. He was just in his mesh shirt. Ino looked around for it in confusion before following Yuzuki's sight to see it drifting in the sky. Temari seemed a bit confident that she was going to win.

"Temari! From above!" Kankuro warned.

She looked up to see the jacket drifting in the sky and that increased the amount that Shikamaru could stretch his shadow. She quickly backed up all the way until the hole. She made the coat fly away and Yuzuki sighed at that and gave a low chuckle. Everyone looked at her in confusion before noticing that Temari couldn't move.

"He moved her all the way to the hole left behind by you, Naruto," Yuzuki informed the boy, "It was a clever bit of strategy seeing as she was too concerned with her opponent and didn't seem to contemplate her surroundings."

"He thinks so many steps ahead that it's insane," Ino added, "If you thought Yuzuki was able to plan well, then Shikamaru is a hundred times worse."

"That's it, I give up." Shikamaru said as he raised his hand.

Haru looked at him for a few minutes, and everyone ignored the cackle that came from the waiting area, which was quite impressive that it raveled as far as it did. He couldn't believe the kid in front of him. Here he was seconds from victory, and he gave up. He didn't understand this round of genin. They were so strange. One was an absolute psychopath that seemed to derive some form of joy from psychological torture, another was hyperactive and didn't know when to call it quits, and this one was completely lazy.

"I'm pretty tired of this match, so the winner is Temari!" Haru announced.

"It makes sense that Yuzuki has some basis within strategy," Genma commented at the announcement, "She's never once beat him though."

"She gets bored in shogi, it doesn't hold her attention very well," Hayate added, "Put her on the battlefield and her true strategies appear."

"Put her in the kitchen and they appear there as well," Genma chuckled, "She treats the kitchen like a battlefield."

Sakura tilted her head at that and quietly listened in to the conversations around her. So far, she heard Ino and Yuzuki's name being thrown around as possible chuunins. Shikamaru was put into that consideration and she couldn't believe how far ahead those three were. Not even a month ago Ino had been just like her, but for a whole month she could be seen practicing with her team and learning more jutsu's from her father. Even her rival in love had surpassed her, and she had stayed the same.

She couldn't help but find Naruto annoying when he ran up to Shikamaru complaining how the other boy had lost. She held her hands together as her mind informed her that it was now Sasuke's and Gaara's match. She barely reacted to the crowd as they grew restless due to the lack of her teammate. She clenched her hands tighter and frowned.

"Yuzuki," Ino softly said upon noticing the look on her cousin's face.

"Yeah," She replied, "she turned towards Shino, "Shino."

He simply gave a nod and she watched as two bugs dropped from the sleeve of his coat and flew towards Kankuro, and then Temari as she rejoined them. She had a feeling he was putting bugs on them that he would be able to track. She turned her attention towards the stands and noted where all the ANBU operatives were. She found them with ease and noted that they were also ready for the incoming attack.

"Do you think he'll show?" Kankuro questioned Gaara.

"He'll come, definitely." Gaara confirmed.

"Why do I feel the need to hit someone?" Yuzuki quietly said as leaves appeared in the arena.

"Stop showboating," Haru sighed at the appearance of Kakashi and Sasuke, "We have a tournament to continue."

Well, she was glad she wasn't the only one unamused at the late entrance. It seemed as though Kakashi was still doing the most annoying things when it came to his other male student. She looked towards Naruto and noticed the grin on his face, though there was slight disappointment there. She clenched at the railing and wondered how she started to crush on the silver haired man. She closed her eyes and realized that it had been such a flighty thing.

"Ah, you look ready to hit both of them," Ino pointed out.

"A shinobi doesn't showboat like this," She answered, "They show what they can do through skill, not flashy moves of entrances. Kakashi is ridiculous."

"I hope Genma goes off on him." Ino commented.

"You just met him," She pointed out.

"Yeah, but he seems to put you in your place, he'd do the same."

"That's valid."

She paused at that as Sasuke insulted Naruto and realized that she did say that a lot. No wonder Genma picked it up. She scratched the back of her head and tried to stop the unamused expression from appearing on her face. She watched as Kakashi was given the news that Sasuke was almost disqualified, and felt the need to throw a shoe at him for acting so nonchalant about it.

"I hate him," Genma stated as he chewed on his senbon.

"He's ridiculous," Hayate agreed, "You want to yell at him or should I?"

"Can I have the honors?" Genma asked, "As much as I'd like to send the kid into yell at him, it might be a bit cathartic."

"Are you going to yell at Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked the two with a frown.

"No, your sensei," Hayate answered, "He's instilling bad habits in his students and it's time someone let him know."

"Why would Yuzuki yell at him?" She questioned with a strange expression on her face.

"It's not that she memorized the shinobi rule book, it's that she knows better," Genma answered, "Allowing such traits to continue will lead to that boy leaving the village, she's seen it happen before or at least read about it from the other villages that had shinobi leave."

"What's wrong with my behavior?" She asked them much to their surprise.

"You don't take the job seriously," Genma said with a slight frown, "You chase after a boy who really isn't worth your time, your clothes scream target, and you need to stop dieting. If you don't you'll die, if you don't want to take this job seriously then quit."

"That's just as harsh as Yuzuki," Hayate informed him with a slight sigh.

"It was actually nicer," She told him, "And less terrifying."

"Just what the hell did she do?" Hayate questioned with raised brows.

"She yelled at first and then cracked the wall with a light slap," She answered, "I haven't been able to recreate that yet."

Hayate looked at her before realizing that, though Yuzuki had taken it too far, she had ended up inspiring Sakura to do better. He had to wonder if she reigned with fear back when she led her own squads. If so, then she had to be one hell of a leader to inspire someone like that. He remembered back to the tall woman with dark hair and blue eyes that she had been, she didn't seem fear inspiring. He sighed at that as Genma got up to his feet.

"Wish me luck," Genma said.

"I don't have to, you're going to have fun," Hayate muttered.

"What rank does a person have to be to join torture and interrogation?" Sakura asked him out of the blue.

"Chuunin, that's why Yuzuki is trying so hard to advance," He answered as he crossed his arms over his chest, "You'd also need to learn all the points in the body and the way the human mind works, it's more work than one can do in the time it takes for the next chuunin exams."

Sakura made a sound of understanding and wondered just how long it took the Yamanaka to learn all that information. She had been constantly reading during their academy days, had she been learning all the way back then? It didn't change much of how she saw the other girl, but it did give her some kind of respect for what she could do. Her personality was shit though, but she wouldn't say that to the man next to her. He didn't seem as though he'd agree.

"Yo, Hatake," Genma called to the white-haired jonin as Gaara went down to the arena to begin the fight.

"Shiranui," Kakashi greeted back, "What's wrong?"

"I'm saying this before the kid can sink her claws into you," He informed him, "You need to actually stop some of your students behaviors, Sasuke will leave the village if you allow his feelings of superiority to continue, Sakura will end up getting killed if you don't stamp out her fangirl tendencies, and Naruto is capable but needs something to keep his mind preoccupied while training."

"How would she put it?" Kakashi was curious.

"Get your ass in gear and actually train your students," He replied, "Either stamp out those behaviors and keep your kids alive, or give them to a different jonin to train them."

Kakashi looked surprised at that, it did sound like something that Yuzuki would say. She would be just as calm; he couldn't help but see her standing next to Genma. Her pale eyes would be glaring him down and the veins slightly protruding as she barely kept a hold on her carefully constructed calm. He almost felt chastised by such words.

"She has a way with words," Kakashi huffed.

"She scared Sakura into trying to change," He replied, "She almost made the other girl give up being a shinobi until she felt the need to prove her wrong."

"Did she use to inspire people with fear?" Kakashi asked.

"I thought that as well, but I think it's just how she talks," He answered, "She preys on the mind with words that people have already thought, I don't think she realizes it."

"ANBU is here, the attacks happening for sure then," Kakashi muttered.

"Yeah, the konoha genin in the waiting area were informed by Yuzuki," He said, "Naruto and Sasuke are the only ones who don't know, simply because they can't keep their mouths shut."

Kakashi held his hands up in defense at the tone the other man was using. He was going to do better; he was able to keep his expression neutral upon realizing that he'd have to be on time to train his students. Key word being train. He put his hands into his pockets and went to stand next to his "rival" and his student. The match between Sasuke and Gaara was going to be a turning point during the chuunin exams. He listened to the whispers around him.

So, Naruto passed his round. He'd be facing Yuzuki if suna and oto didn't attack during Sasuke's match. He'd lose, Naruto never noticed genjutsu and would meet his match with the preteen. Both were stubborn, but she'd focus on the mission and conserve her chakra for the upcoming fight.

Haru began the match and wisely got out of the way. Sand immediately poured out of the gourd on Gaara's back and Sasuke looked at him with a frown. Gaara was mumbling about his mother wanting blood and he didn't even want to know what he meant by that. He tried shuriken but the sand rose and blocked the small throwing stars. The sand turned into a clone and he took off from his spot with a speed that he hadn't had the month before.

"How'd he get so fast?" Ino questioned.

"He copied it from Lee," Yuzuki answered, "That's the true nature of the Sharingan, it copies what people work hard for."

"Can it copy clan jutsus?" Ino asked.

"I think so, but any Uchiha who does so leaves themselves wide open to clan politics," She answered, "No one would be able to argue with a clan if he did steal a technique and then used it, his chakra would be blocked and he'd no longer be able to use his sharingan…it happened once and then never again."

Ino was a bit unnerved at that and looked down at the boy who was using taijutsu that he hadn't previously known. He was moving so quick, and without the weights that Lee had, and breaking through the sand to hit his opponent. He seemed to get a hit, but the sand stopped him and held him in place. He brought a palm back and used a move that was similar to Yuzuki's style of juken mixed with regular taijutsu. Ino paused as well and her eyes grew wide.

"That's a juken move!" Naruto yelled out.

"When the hell did he copy it?" She murmured, "He wasn't around for my round or Neji's."

Sasuke landed a hit and Gaara flew back a little. The red head was giving the boy a dirty look as he slowly got up. He had been reminded of the boy he fought, and then the girl who had decimated the pink haired genin. Sasuke was using a skillset that was different than he expected. His eyes widened when the dark-haired boy appeared behind him and kicked him towards the wall. His sand was having trouble keeping up with him, and his sand armor couldn't stay together. He was breathing heavily before he decided to stop playing around. He brought his hands together and called his sand to surround him in a sphere.

"What the hell is he doing?" Ino questioned.

"Which one?" Yuzuki asked, "Sasuke ran towards it like an idiot, Gaara's ultimate weapon is his sand to run towards it without a thought…"

Sasuke got injured by running headfirst at the sphere of sand. He tried to attack it with taijutsu before jumping back and holding a hand up. Yuzuki watched as he gathered visible chakra to his hand and a sudden chirping sound filled the air. He wouldn't…would he? She watched as a familiar jutsu took form. Kakashi had taught that boy his Chidori, that was such a stupid move!

"That idiot," Yuzuki hissed before turning towards the quietly bickering suna siblings.

She grimaced as Sasuke cut through the sand as if it didn't exist. It was quiet for a few seconds before a bloodcurdling scream came from the sand sphere. Everyone stared at it, the hokage was taken aback by such a sound. It would mean that Gaara had never seen of felt his own blood before. It could be bad.

Sasuke freed his arm with a pained cry. Blood hit the ground as he held onto the heavily scratched up appendix. Something came towards him from the sphere and he quickly dodged it. It was when the sand fell did they see that Gaara was indeed injured. Feathers began to fly in the air and Yuzuki quickly dispelled the genjutsu before it could take a hold of her.

"Now?" Ino muttered as she did the same.

"Act as if we fell for it," Yuzuki hissed at her, "We don't want an alteration in the waiting room."

Ino and Yuzuki quietly fell to the ground and Shino followed suit. It wasn't long till the suna siblings left the room and the three quickly got to their feet. It seemed as though whatever operation oto and suna had planned was starting. They jumped over the railing and headed towards the wall. They needed to regroup with a superior and get their orders.

Hayate and Genma deactivated the genjutsu and looked around with frowns, it was showtime.