I don't own Naruto. Before I started this chapter I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who are reading and reviewing this. I hope that you enjoy it and continue to do so. Please review. Thanks.
Chapter 11
The final stage of the Chunin exam had finally arrived and each member of team 7 was anticipating their match. Sasuke had the look of pure confidence on his face, the Uchiha had no doubt that he would defeat Temari and advance to the round after. Naruto had been confident but his fight was probably going to be different than the others, it was a vendetta after all. He'd been in fights like that before but he didn't particularly enjoy fearing for his life and fighting someone after blood. Sakura was terrified for her match with Gaara. It wasn't that the Senju felt inferior to Gaara in terms of skill but the amount of killing intent that the sand shinobi naturally released was more than Sakura was comfortable with and she couldn't help but feel that her fight with him might be her last.
Hundreds of people were still flocking into the arena to add to the thousands already there. The Chunin exam was a huge occasion as it wasn't often that you got to watch ninja combat if you were a civilian. Also ninja and civilian alike enjoyed seeing the young talent that their village possessed and who would lead the village into the next generation.
Furthermore team 7 had become the most famous genin team across the elemental nations and each member of this team was competing in the final round of the exam. The last Uchiha would be fighting and many wanted to see Sasuke's ability. Sakura was the last active Senju in the village and descendant of the second Hokage. Many wanted to see how she would fight as a Senju, both from the land of fire as well as other villagers. If she was a potential threat on the level of Hashirama and Tobirama then the hidden leaf villages' future to the other nations was truly terrifying. Finally there was the yondaime Hokages child, Naruto. The son of the greatest talent the shinobi world had seen in his generation would be fighting and many wished to know if he inherited any of his fathers' talent.
Iwagakure had also helped spread team sevens fame as they were placed in the hidden stones bingo book. This was practically unheard of for genin and the bounty on each of them was fairly high, considering they were rookies. Also news from the battle that took place in the forest of death had spread like wildfire across the nations and decorated the survivors as the next heroes of their era.
"Let's go," Sasuke stated confidently as he took the first step forward into the arena, Sakura and Naruto following suit.
As the participants made their way towards the arena where each person participating was to go Hinata sat with the other genin that had graduated with her. Hinata had seen Naruto's power and wasn't too worried, but his opponent was the girl from Iwa and the Hyuga had never seen a fight like the one that she expected to take place. Naruto's fight was the most anticipated out of all of them because it was another Iwa vs Konoha situation. Also both Genin were the descendant of their villages Kage.
"Kiba-kun, do you think Naruto will be okay," Hinata asked her teammate. She had felt more confident after her time spent with Naruto and practically lost her stutter.
"Probably, I mean I've never been hit as hard as Naruto hit me and I doubt he went full power. Naruto was the main target for Iwa and yet he came out alive, I'm sure he'll be fine," Kiba answered Hinata's question. The Inuzuka had no doubt that Naruto would be fine.
Kiba's words gave Hinata the confidence she needed and she thought back to the time that past month that she'd spent with the Namikaze, a smile gracing her face whilst doing so.
"Sasuke-kun will be okay right," Ino asked Shikamaru. Whilst Asuma had told their team of the potential oncoming danger to the village team 10 hadn't changed what they were doing drastically. Training was more serious but their progression remained steady. A result of this had them being the weakest team against team 7 and team 8.
"I don't know, I don't even know who he's fighting," Shikamaru lifted his head to answer before putting it back on his arms, trying to sleep.
"Don't be so lazy baka," Ino scolded him.
"Sasuke will be fine," Choji said as he crunched on a crisp. "He was the strongest in the academy and he won't have gotten weaker."
"Heh your right Choji of course Sasuke-kun will be fine. He was rookie of the year after all."
"Do you think Sakura-chan will be fine," Hinata asked her team mates although team 10 seemed to take notice of Hinata's question and basically joined the conversation.
"I don't know," Kiba answered honestly.
"I can't believe she turned out to be from the Senju clan," Ino brought up Sakura's inheritance. "I bet those girls in the academy who bullied her feel like idiots now," Ino scoffed.
"I would've never guessed it though," Shikamaru spoke up. He'd found the whole topic with team 7 troublesome yet wherever he went they seemed to effect in one way or another. "She was the strongest Kunoichi in our class so she won't be week. Team 7's so troublesome anyway."
"Excuse me Shikamaru but do you think Sakura was stronger than me," Ino spoke up. Shikamaru gave her a dumb look, as if he was asking are you being serious.
"Sakura was stronger than you Ino, that's why she was Kunoichi of the year," Shikamaru said in a factual tone. "Troublesome," he grumbled before removing himself from the conversation by leaning back on his arms.
"When's it gonna start anyway I wanna see some action," Kiba blurted out.
At that moment the Hokage spoke up. "I want to say everyone who has travelled to watch the next generation of shinobi; it is an honour to host the Chunin exams-"
"Hey who do you think will win," Kiba asked the others whilst the Hokages speech carried on in the background.
"Obviously Sasuke-kun," Ino said with her bias.
"I put my money on Naruto," Kiba said. This got him a few looks from team 10.
"Honestly Kiba are you trying to be funny. It doesn't matter what someone's last name is Naruto was still dead last," Ino patronized Kiba for his choice.
"I agree with Kiba-kun," Hinata entered the conversation. "Naruto's gotten much stronger."
"If you look at what team 7 has done its obvious they've all become strong. Why is this? It's because they have the most experience and they survived the forest of death, two things that many others haven't done," Shino shared his opinion.
"I think Sakura," Choji gave his opinion before elaborating on why. "If she's a Senju she's sure to be strong right. The strongest ninja in known history was the first Hokage and he was a Senju right."
"I'm sure their all strong but the fights are about to start," Shikamaru intervened as he pointed out that the Hokage had finished his speech.
"The first fight will be between Rock Lee and Neji Hyuga."
Neji and Lee walked towards the middle and stood across from each other. "For Tenten," Lee offered.
"For Tenten," Neji agreed.
"Okay begin," the proctor said.
Immediately Lee rushed forwards and unleashed kicks and punched to Neji, the Hyuga managing to keep up and avoid or block his attacks. Lee was too fast to get caught and have his chakra points closed. They exchanged attacks for a while, the crowd being captivated by how fast both ninja were moving.
Lee found that he wasn't able to break down Neji, being forced to jump backwards onto the wall and so he shot a glance towards Gai who gave him thumbs up and a smile. The genius of hard work removed the weights on his legs. There were a few murmurs from the crowd about what that would actually accomplish. These all turned to cries of shock when Lee dropped them and they hit the ground, creating a huge cloud of sand from the weight that had been on Lee's legs.
"Let's see if you can keep up with this," Lee exclaimed excitedly as he raced towards Neji. The Hyuga had his Byakugan active and yet Lee was in front of him in a flash. He felt a kick to his stomach lift him off the ground, followed by a few more. The taijutsu user's speed was far too much for the Hyuga to handle on that short notice and after being kicked a few times into the air, Lee delivered a huge kick to the Hyuga's back. Neji went crashing into the floor, leaving a crater there from the impact he made with the ground.
Thinking quickly Neji created some distance between himself and his team mate. He barely had time to react to Lee's sudden attack as the distance between them was closed quicker than Neji could see. However the Hyuga had thought ahead and was using his rotation jutsu. Lee collided with it and as he was already moving at a furious pace he went crashing into the wall creating a sizable dent.
The Hyuga were visibly surprised that a branch member of their clan could use one of the main branches techniques.
"Father how is that possible," Hinata's little sister, Hanabi, asked her father Hiashi.
"I'm unsure," Hiashi pondered, trying to figure out how Neji had managed to use the rotation technique. "Neji has inherited the strongest Byakugan that I have ever seen though."
Hanabi simply nodded her head in understanding as she watched Lee and Neji continue to fight. The fight had continued with both ninja taking damage, it was a battle of attrition. The one landing more attacks was Lee but every time Neji hit him one of Lee's chakra points was closed and this was having an obvious effect as the taijutsu user was slowing down ever so slightly.
"Lee you've fought well but you're in range of my eight trigrams and you can't move fast enough anymore to avoid it."
Neji then made his move and began raining his strikes down on Lee. "Two palms, four palms, eight palms, sixteen palms, thirty two palms, sixty four palms!"
Lee took the full brunt of Neji's attack and couldn't move. He was laid out on the floor and all of his chakra points had been shut.
"You thought well Lee, and have surpassed what I thought was destiny. I know now that destiny is meaningless; we have the power to do with it what we choose. I may be part of the branch family of the Hyuga clan but I will surpass them all. That isn't the destiny laid out for me, but the one that I've chosen to follow. I'll make sure that no one experiences what my father did ever again. Lee, even without the ability to mould chakra you've become a strong ninja and a worthy rival for me. I acknowledge your strength. Proctor this match has finished."
"Okay the winner of this match is Neji Hy-"
"Wait, I'm not done," Lee shouted out as he slowly rose to his feet. "Neji I am going to show you how far I've come with my training and that I've surpassed you. "The gate of opening open," Lee started.
Neji still had his eyes activated and whilst he knew that Lee had used some unknown power and destroyed the Iwa forces after Tenten had died he hadn't seen what Lee had done. Looking at Lee he couldn't believe the power that he'd just gotten by opening the gate of opening.
"The gate of Healing open. The gate of Life open. The gate of Pain open. The gate of Limit open."
As Lee finished opening five of the eight gates unbelievable power released. All of the chakra points that Neji had been able to close were briefly opened. Neji audibly gasped at the power that he could see.
The crowd were going into frenzy over the power they were witnessing.
"What's going on," Ino asked. The Yamanaka didn't understand what was happening and yet she could see green energy surround the strange looking boy.
"I don't know but that looks really powerful," Kiba stated in awe.
"You taught him how to open the inner gates," Kakashi asked Gai in surprise.
"Lee has trained harder than anyone I know to do this. I'm proud of my student."
"Surely that's too reckless," Asuma asked. He hadn't even considered teaching his teams overly dangerous techniques let alone the inner gates.
"Not for what they were encountering in the forest of death," was Gais mellow reply. He hadn't been able to understand how Tenten could have died; the Green beast of Konoha wasn't prepared for the news that arrived.
Kakashi nodded grimly to this, and he hadn't even lost a student in the forest of death. Still, Kakashi had been unable to sleep the night that the battle took place. To add to this each of his students had received a curse mark from Orochimaru. The panic that Kakashi had felt for his team when they all lay in hospital had nearly caused the Hatake to hyperventilate, he knew from Anko that one in ten supposedly survived from Orochimaru's jutsu and that meant that Kakashi would almost definitely loose two students at least.
After talking to the members of team 7 individually after they had all woken up it turned out that it was thanks to the bonds his team had forged with each other that they hadn't allowed the curse mark to take over and inevitably kills them.
Looking back towards the fight both members of team Gai stared each other down. Tears were slowly leaking from Lee's face as he stared forwards.
"For Tenten," the green clad ninja whispered just loud enough for Neji to hear before rushing forwards. Lee began punching Neji three ways to oblivion, the Hyuga taking a lot of punishment. Lee was moving so fast that he was kicking off the walls of the arena to hit Neji, it left dents.
Even with his sharingan active Sasuke couldn't see a thing, Lee was simply too fast. Lee uppercut Neji, knocking the Hyuga spark out. With a thud Neji hit the floor as Lee allowed the gates he opened to close peacefully. His body was in extreme pain but he was able to stand up long enough to accept his victory.
"The winner is Rock Lee," the proctor spoke. The audience clapped and screamed wildly at the display they had just seen and Lee had truly managed to prove that his hard work could beat Neji's genius. He bowed to each stand of the audience to show his thanks for their applause before limping off.
"I've NEVER seen power like that," Kiba spoke in awe. He couldn't believe the fight he had just witnessed; surely both the ninja there were beyond Chunin level. Otherwise Kiba was still miles away.
"That is truly a troublesome power no doubt," Shikamaru said. The lazy Genin was wide awake after watching that, he couldn't believe how strong they were. And team 7 survived alongside those two. Does that mean that they possess power on an equal level to that?
"Hokage-san I believe that the green ninja should make chunin," the Kazekage stated.
"Unbelievable," the Tsuchikage, Onoki, began. "A genin being able to access the power of the eight gates," he thought aloud.
"Yes I believe that both the Hyuga as well as Lee would make good chunin," the Hokage spoke.
"I never knew your genin possessed so much power," Onoki said pointedly to Hiruzen.
"They are truly the top grade of Genin our village possess," said Hiruzen proudly.
"Who is fighting next," Onoki asked.
"It's my daughter and the last Uchiha," answered the Kazekage.
"I look forward to it," Hiruzen chuckled. The tension was relatively uneasy, although it always was when Kage met with each other. What happened in the chunin exam hadn't even been mention although it made Hiruzen feel a little easier at the fact that his Genin had defeated Iwa.
Making their way into the arena was Sasuke and Temari, both prepared for their fight. They stared each other down, neither backing down. Standing across from each other both ninja waited for the proctor to start the match.
"Okay begin," the proctor stated.
There were no words before the match; Sasuke had nothing to say to Temari and vice versa. Without wasting a second Sasuke charged forward and through a kick to Temari's head, which the sand ninja blocked with her fan before opening it and throwing Sasuke backwards.
"Sasuke-kun will win right," asked Ino.
"I don't know; why don't you just watch it," Shikamaru answered.
Sasuke began going through hand signs. "Fire style: great fireball jutsu."
A huge fireball went flying towards Temari who manage to use her fan to break the ground and cause it to land upright, providing her with a shield.
"That was quite powerful Uchiha-san. But can you handle this," Temari state before swinging her fan towards Sasuke and a great big gale of wind followed. It hit Sasuke dead on, forcing the Uchiha back into the wall. Except Sasuke dispersed, showing that it was a shadow clone. The real Sasuke was behind Temari all of a sudden and began engaging her in some taijutsu.
The Uchihas was far stronger than Temari's however and in short time Sasuke managed to take the fan off of the Kunoichi. Without it Temari didn't have much to rely on and so she didn't have much of a choice.
"Proctor I forfeit."
Sasuke tossed Temari her fan and turned around without another word. He hadn't expected the fight to go much further than that but was still disappointed at how easily he bested Temari.
"The winner is Sasuke Uchiha."
"I knew it, Sasuke-kun is the strongest," Ino cheered.
"It would've been more interesting seeing Sasuke fight either of the first two," said Shikamaru.
"Sasuke-kun obviously would've beaten them," Ino said as if it were a fact.
"I mean we'll probably find out in the next round although I don't know if they'll be able to do so, that green ninja looked in bad shape after his match with the Hyuga."
"It's Na… Naruto-kun's match next right," Hinata spoke up. She was anxious for Naruto's match.
"Yeah it is, I wonder how strong he's got," Ino though out loud.
"The Uchiha handled that match rather well," Onoki voiced his opinion.
"Yes, ending the match quickly without taking damage is certainly qualities applying to a chunin. I would like to see Sasuke-kun fight again if possible," Hiruzen gave his own thoughts on the matter.
"Agreed although I had thought my daughter may have performed better than that," the Kazekage added.
Kakashi hadn't been too worried about Sasuke but now that it was Naruto's turn he was starting to feel a little nervous. He knew that the Namikaze was a better ninja than Kurotsuchi but they would both likely be out for the other's blood and when that happened and a mistake could prove fatal, where it didn't in Sasuke's match.
The leader of team 7 thought about Naruto's first encounter with Kurotsuchi. If he hadn't tapped into the power of the nine tails I'm not sure what would have happened. Furthermore the Kunoichi managed to survive the forest of death when all of the others died. That shows that she possesses strength. These were the thoughts that were plaguing Kakashi's mind as he watched the two rivals walk towards the centre of the arena.
Both ninja were glaring at the other, hate in each of their eyes. They had fought twice before, Naruto winning the first and in the second fight they somehow hadn't crossed paths in the chaos of war.
"I will kill you today," Kurotsuchi stated, as though the outcome of the match was definite. "You killed my team mate."
"And you killed Tenten, for that you will die," Naruto said back calmly. It was a stand-off, who would lose their cool first.
In the stands all of the new genin from Naruto's class were in shock. They had obviously heard about Naruto actually being the son of the yondaime and Kiba had felt first-hand how much stronger the blonde genin had become. Yet looking at him, it appeared as if Naruto was a completely different person, at least on the outside.
He had his dark trousers and blue jacket on, which was so different from the orange that he used to wear that it had them stunned, minus Hinata who had been spending a lot of time with Naruto the previous month. Even more surprising was the expression on his face. Naruto's face was the epitome of silent fury just waiting to be released.
"Ha-have you ever seen Naruto like this," Ino spluttered out in shock. Never before had she thought that the prankster and dead last of their class would turn out like this. It seemed impossible, for someone possessing that smile to be so serious and ready for a fight.
"Troublesome," Shikamaru said although he was wide eyed. Just what had happened to make Naruto turn like that?
Hinata had a slight smile on her face when she noticed the expressions of everyone else. There had always been more to Naruto then he let on and Hinata felt that she was the only one who had been able to see it. "Naruto-kun," Hinata murmured quietly, too quiet for anyone else to hear.
However the Hyuga's smile soon left her face as she looked towards Naruto's opponent. Kurotsuchi, the granddaughter of the Tsuchikages and Naruto's unspoken arch enemy. It was the descendant of the Tsuchikage against a descendant of the Hokage. That's what this fight had been unofficially sold as and it was one of the reasons that many people had travelled to watch it.
How strong is she? Hinata thought about the rasengan and how much of a powerful technique it was that Naruto possessed. Even with my Byakugan which can see the chakra when Naruto uses the rasengan I wasn't able to do it. He'll be fine.
"Are you both ready," the proctor asked, sweat visible on his forehead.
Looking towards both ninja they both nodded slowly, neither breaking eye contact from the other.
"Then begin"
Immediately Naruto and Kurotsuchi rushed forward and began trading attacks, kicks and punched being blocked on the whole by both of them. They were moving extremely quickly, much faster than genin should be able to. With one of her punches Kurotsuchi over extended and Naruto was able to counter with a punch to her head, staggering her. Despite this, Naruto's punch had left his midriff exposed and the Iwa genin threw a kick that sent Naruto sliding backwards a little.
With a little distance between them they both took one glance at each other before unloading kunai and shuriken at each other. They collided in a great clash, most of the audience being unable to follow the amazing speed and precision that they were thrown with. Both Naruto and Kurotsuchi got kicked a few times but the ones that would have been fatal all collided with each other. As they both ran out of weapons Naruto had one kunai left.
Throwing it up before catching it and launching it towards Kurotsuchi in a way that meant it already had momentum, Naruto started going through hand signs.
"Wind style: gale palm," the blonde called out and the narrow gale that was released picked up the kunai and increased its speed ten-fold towards Kurotsuchi. She started going through hand signs of her own.
"Earth style: mud wall"
A wall emerged from the ground, blocking the kunai that Naruto had thrown. Before the Iwa ninja could even realise it Naruto was around the side of the wall, blue sphere of chakra in hand.
"RASENGAN"
Naruto managed to hit her square on the head. He figured he had won but then he heard a poof.
It had been a shadow clone
From underneath the smoke where the shadow clone had dispersed from a spear from the ground impaled Naruto through his chest.
Poof
Naruto had also been a shadow clone. Naruto hadn't left the other side of the wall and neither had Kurotsuchi.
"Wind style: great breakthrough," Naruto called and shot a huge volume of wind chakra towards the wall, causing it to break into pieces. However all this did was reveal that there was no one behind the wall.
All of a sudden the ground in front of Naruto broke and a fist was punched towards Naruto, enclosed in rock.
SMASH
Naruto was sent flying back into the wall, taking the full brunt of the attack. It was easily one of the heaviest hits that Naruto had ever taken.
Knowing that it was dangerous to stay down for too long Naruto quickly got to his feet and created some distance, as a way to recuperate and re-evaluate the situation. He wasn't given too much time as Kurotsuchi was onto him almost immediately but he had enough to set his plan into action.
They began fighting with Taijutsu again, only Kurotsuchi was punching harder and her blocks were slightly more painful to Naruto's hands. However the Namikaze was also wearing the stone down so the fight remained equal.
Naruto created shadow clones suddenly to engage Kurotsuchi. She was amazed at how many he could make as 50 or so clones charged at her.
"Earth style barrier: earth dome prison," Kurotsuchi said as she surrounded herself in stone. This protected her from the Naruto's that were outside the barrier. "Earth style: rising earth spear!"
Sudden spears all around her came from the ground and dispelled a great many clones that Naruto had been using.
"Hey Shika, what's Naruto doing," asked Ino. Whilst his shadow clones had attacked Kurotsuchi Naruto began writing immensely quickly and precisely on a blank scroll.
"Honestly I don't know," Shikamaru frowned. "We'll see in a minute anyway. Honestly. There are so many troublesome blondes."
Naruto was drawing the seal for the increase in gravity; it would surely turn the tide of the fight in his favour.
Kurotsuchi had finished defeating Naruto's shadow clones at the same time that Naruto completed writing his seal.
"It's just you now Namikaze," Kurotsuchi sneered as she got ready to pummel the blonde ninja.
Suddenly Naruto slammed the seal onto the ground and put in a large amount of chakra which in turn increased the area that the seal covered. Once Naruto removed his hand the gravity in the seals area increased and as Kurotsuchi had extra weight on her because of her stone fists she was moving much more slowly.
Taking advantage of this, Naruto rushed forward and landed a barrage of strikes on the Kunoichi. He landed a lot of them and Kurotsuchi knew that she could only take the onslaught of attacks for so long.
Punch followed punches which followed kicks which followed punches. Kurotsuchi's face was bloodied and she felt herself bruised all over. Despite this she had managed to create a bit of distance between herself and her opponent by dropping the stone gauntlets and jumping back, her body getting use to the increased amount of gravity.
Managing to get out of the area of the seal, Kurotsuchi made a hand sign. "Earth release: bottomless swamp."
The floor around Naruto began to sink and the Uzumaki thought quickly and jumped out of the range of the swamp. As soon as the jutsu ended Naruto realised that as it had messed up the calligraphy it meant that the seal was now ineffective. As Naruto landed it was Kurotsuchi's turn to attack.
Both of them exchanged in a heated exchange of strikes as they were each reaching their limit. On one of their exchanges they hit each other at exactly the same time and both were sent flying backwards.
Slowly getting to his feet Naruto created a shadow clone and a rasengan began to form in his hand. Mirroring him, Kurotsuchi remade a stone gauntlet as they each prepared for their final attacks.
"This is where you do Namikaze," Kurotsuchi spoke out much calmer than she had been before.
Naruto didn't say anything in response but began to charge towards his opponent. Kurotsuchi ran towards him and the two met in a giant clash in the middle.
Time seemed to slow down for the both of them when their jutsu clashed and Kurotsuchi and Naruto's eyes locked.
"Hey Namikaze I'm going to let you in on something," Kurotsuchi said as they both struggled against the other. Naruto still didn't respond to her but he was listening.
"This chunin exam is about more than just you, it always has been. Today we are going to destroy the hidden leaf village."
"Well you're out of luck then, our allies are here," Naruto replied. Time had completely stilled around them and Naruto wondered for a moment if this was one of those moments high level ninja talked about having when they could understand each other through fighting. On the other hand Naruto also wondered if this was even happening at all.
"Well that's the beauty of the plan you see. The sand village are our newest allies. Together we will crush you and this will be the day you die."
Naruto felt his eyes widen in shock as her words truly sunk in. The sand was going to betray them. But that means that everything I know will be destroyed. I have to warn everyone whilst there was still time to act.
However in his shock his control over the rasengan had wavered and the jutsu got out of control. This lead to Kurotsuchi landing a punch on him; right on his jaw.
Naruto was sent flying backwards into the wall, making a big dent in it on the way. The girl was in hot pursuit, kunai raised and she went to deliver the final attack when the proctor intervened and announced that the fight was over.
"You've won, now can someone get a stretcher out here," the proctor called and medics ran onto the field as they picked Naruto up and carried him inside.
"NARUTO" Hinata uncharacteristically cried in shock as she saw him being sent back. It doesn't make sense; the rasengan was definitely the stronger jutsu. Did Naruto lose control of it? How could he though, I've seen him do it so many times perfectly.
Around her the other Genin seemed shocked. It was the most bloodthirsty fight that they had ever seen and to top it off Naruto had lost.
Around the stadium others were worrying as well. Kakashi had left the other Jonin sensei's and headed off to the medical ward as quickly as he could where he knew Naruto would be treated.
Thank god for Genma Kakashi thought as if the proctor hadn't intervened then Naruto would likely have been killed. Still, what happened? I know for a fact the rasengan is the stronger Jutsu so Naruto must have lost control of it. I didn't expect that though, I'm sure that Naruto has more or less mastered it. These were the thought racing through Kakashi's mind as he rushed to where Naruto would be.
"Sasuke come on," Sakura panicked as she grabbed the arm of the Uchiha who was nearby her. "We need to check on Naruto," she urged.
"Wait Sakura, you can't," Sasuke mentioned. "Your match with Gaara is next."
Sakura felt her body tighten as she was reminded of the match that she had with the creepy boy she had only met once.
"Hey Sakura I'll check up on him," Sasuke offered. "Try not to worry about him, you have your own problems to think about right now," Sasuke said as he motioned towards Gaara. "You'll be fine if you're focussed."
Sakura pondered on this for a moment. She was incredibly concerned for Naruto but at the same time it wouldn't change anything if she went after him and she would be disqualified. Sighing in recognition the girl slowly nodded at Sasuke.
"He better be okay Sasuke!"
"He will be, now go beat Gaara and he'll be there to congratulate you after you've won."
With that said Sasuke ran off in the direction of where he assumed that Naruto would be, making haste. Whilst Sasuke went to check on Naruto Sakura slowly walked to the arena. She had played her strategies out multiple times in her head and she was sure that she would be able to defeat Gaara. All she needed to do was concentrate, which was made monumentally harder by the fact that she had no knowledge on whether Naruto was okay or not.
Thanks for reading and if I'm being honest this chapter has taken me over a month and I'm still unhappy with it. I've not really gone back and changed it though because after the chunin exam things will change much more. Please review to tell me what you thought and I apologise if this chapter isn't as good as the others.
Thank you again.