The eight of them stood in the middle of the arena, which was surrounded by hundreds of benches with thousands of observers. Above them, the Hokage and the Kazekage.

Megumin clenched her fist. She looked down to the other side of the lineup at Gaara. Everyone else goes first - they fight last.

The ramble of the crowd above died when Hokage spoke. "Welcome to the chunin selection exam! Here soon, we will begin the final exam between the 8 candidates!"

The new Proctor turned to the lineup to make some last-second announcements to the examinees.

"The landscape is different but the rules are mostly the same!" He grinned at Megumin. "No explosion spells. Explosion ninjutsu is fine. We fight until defeat is admitted or I decide there's been a clear victor, and I will do so before death occurs. Got it? Now, the first match! Temari, Tenten, stay down here while everyone else goes to the waiting room."

In the waiting room, the six contestants stood by the railing that overlooked the battle area, though Gaara kept his distance from the leaf ninja.

Ino flashed a confident smile. "You're going down, Naruto!"

"Oh, yeah?!" Naruto's eyes caught on fire as he held a fist at her. "Let's see you say that later when you're eating dirt!"

Between them was Megumin, who shut her eyes and rubbed her face. "Will you two be quiet? I'm trying to at least look calm."

Ino smiled and leaned over the railing, coming to eye level with her. "I get why you're so worked up but you need to relax! It's not the end of your life if you don't win."

Megumin sideyed Gaara. She had talked to Hinata about what Gaara did in the exam - he's able to control a large mass of sand. Within the Forest of Death, Gaara used it to kill three people without moving a finger.

"I don't know about that, chief."

The match between Tenten and Temari started. Tenten came to the match with a chakra shield that blocked most of Temari's wind jutsus, but any attack she made, Temari merely deflected. That is until Tenten threw her shield and bonked Temari's head just when she released a huge wind blast that knocked Temari to the wall. In the end, they tied because neither got up. So whoever wins the next match will go on to the final round.

Sasuke and Neji stood in the arena, staring daggers at each other.

"What's with that stare?" Sasuke asked.

"Just wondering what everyone will say about the Uchiha clan after this match."

Sasuke scowled. "What did you say?"

Neji's shoes pushed dirt around as his knees bent and got into a defensive stance. "I'm not here to talk."

"Is that right?!" Sasuke said. He made hand seals and blew fire from his mouth, funneled through his hand. Although the fire surrounded Neji like a firestorm, the flames expanded like a balloon and scattered all around. Inside a small, newly made crater, he was left unscathed.

Sasuke jumbled his lip as he basically flashed, running as fast as Lee did without his weights. One moment he was several meters away, another he was right in front of the surprised Neji. After a small flinch, Neji struck with his gentle fist but attacked an afterimage. Sasuke ran around behind Neji. With a kunai, Sasuke went for his own attack, but Neji rapidly rotated around, making chakra implode from Neji and knocking Sasuke back.

Sasuke pounced at Neji but went in with direct attacks, but Neji flicked his hands away. Sasuke didn't let up his assault, combining his punches and kicks as he danced around Neji, striking for an opening.

When Neji used his gentle fist to strike back, Sasuke jumped backward and pulled on a thin string that began to wrap around Neji. Before it could tie Neji up, he used his hand to slice it and lunged at Sasuke. He pushed his fingers into his pouch and slung several shurikens at Neji, which he easily deflected with a kunai and poked Sasuke several times with his gentle fist. In a final attack, completely knocked Sasuke back.

Focused on the match, Megumin didn't realize how hard she was grabbing Naruto's jacket. "Come on, Sasuke!"

Sasuke gritted his teeth. Neji grinned. "I know someone must have told you. I can block chakra points, as I've done with your arm."

"It doesn't matter," Sasuke said with a glare. He held his neck as the black prints crawled across his skin. He performed hand seals and charged up chakra around his hand, forming visible chakra that resembled electricity.

He darted straight for Neji, striking with the Chidori. Neji did his rotation, again. Although the Chidori penetrated the imploding chakra, Sasuke himself was knocked back. He quickly rolled backward and charged up his Chidori again.

Neji panted, trying to catch his breath. "Again? Already?"

Sasuke kept low to the ground, destroying the ground with his Chidori as he sprinted for Neji, once more. "Take this!"

Neji forced himself to do another rotation and knocked Sasuke away, but it was weaker and exhausted him. However, it was enough. Sasuke was out for the count, unconscious on the ground.

"Neji wins," the proctor said.

Neji stared at Sasuke as he tried to calm down his rapid breathing.

"Winner," the proctor said, after being so quiet and still as the match progressed. "Neji Hyuga."

Although the crowd cheered and clapped, saying it was a great fight, Megumin slammed her fist on the railing before she squeezed Naruto's jacket. "He almost had it! You better win your round, Naruto!"

"Yeah, right," Ino said with a smug grin. "I worked my ass off on a new jutsu! You have no chance."

"Oh, yeah?! Don't care how many new jutsus you learn! You're going to get laid out flat!" Naruto shouted.

As the two were about to head down, Megumin realized she would be alone in the room with Gaara.

"Uhh, I'm going to go check on Sasuke. I'll be rooting for you, though!"

"You're not going to watch?"

"Of course, I am! Just a real quick check-up."

By the time paramedics had come to assist Sasuke, he had opened his eyes. They took him to a narrow room with single hospital beds parallel to each other, each divided by a nightstand and a window with a view of the battle arena. Sasuke stared at the ceiling. It was just the two of them in there.

Megumin walked into the room and stood by his bed. "Come on. You're missing Naruto's match."

He glanced at her before he rolled to face away.

She tilted her head, huffed, and rolled her eyes. "Sure, just mope around, that'll do you a lot of good."

He glared over his shoulder. "What do you know?" His glare turned to a scowl. "You don't know anything at all about me!"

Megumin kept still as she watched his eyes vibrate and his hand grabbed the white bed sheets under them.

"So, you lost. It's not the end."

Sasuke stared down. "I need to get stronger…"

Megumin looked out the window. The match was about to start. "You could take a page or two from Naruto's Ninja Handbook."

Sasuke squinted his face. "What? Don't you mean his Loser's Handbook?"

"That loser has more potential than either of us. Haven't you seen how far he's progressed since the academy?"

Megumin popped her eyes at the sudden silence. No retort?

"You're right." He sat up at the bedside. "He's grown more than anyone else, so what the hell have I been doing these past six months?"

Megumin sat next to him on the bed. "Just what is it that drives you to want to be stronger?"

Sasuke kept his stare to the floor, though he wasn't looking at anything in particular. "My brother."

She bent forward to look at his face, hidden by his long, black hair. "You have a brother?"

"Yeah."

"What about your brother?"

"It-" His hand squeezed his shorts. "It was him. My clan, they were murdered by his hand."

Her eyes widened. "That was your brother?"

Sasuke rubbed his face before he grasped it. "I can't ever forget that night - time and time again, I had to look at the eyeless corpses. It was like a nightmare - was a nightmare, unable to get away no matter how fast I ran."

Megumin rubbed his arm. "You don't have to get stronger alone. I know we're not your clan, but Naruto and I, we're your teammates. Naruto didn't get stronger all alone, y'know?"

He made a slight smile. "Yeah… you're probably right."

The crowd gasped before they cheered. "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" The proctor said.

Megumin stood up and slapped her face. "I missed the entire fight?!"

Sasuke smiled. "You better get out there. I'll be watching from the stands."

She ran to the battle arena. Gaara stood in the middle, waiting for her. The crowd cheered, eager to watch the battle between the monstrous Gaara and the girl who destroyed the Hokage Rock.

The proctor raised his arm and lowered it down. Like a mist, sand escaped Gaara's gorge and floated around him. Hinata's information was correct, but he may have more tricks up his sleeve. She'll keep her guard up.

Megumin threw her arms up in a fighting stance. Gaara threw his arm out, directing his sand to fiercely attack Megumin. However, she didn't retreat. She blasted herself forward, propelling herself to punch him right in the face. There were several gasps in the crowd.

He stumbled backward, shocked that the girl had come so close to him. She wasn't done with him, yet. Although the sand shifted fast, she sidestepped, locked her arm around his, and used her explosion release to propel herself to circle around him, creating momentum to throw him with all her might.

The sand followed, but with the gorge on his back, he didn't go far and fell to the ground, tripping over one of the holes Neji made with his rotation. He shot a glare as he got to his feet before he flinched and held his eye. "Mother wants blood… It's been a long time since she's tasted a girl's," he said with a creepy smile.

Megumin cringed. "Could you not talk like that? I'm already on edge just fighting you."

A large mass of sand rushed at her. She used her explosion release jutsu to disperse the incoming sand, but it formed and came at her, again. This time, she had no choice but to jump backward, away from the shifting sand.

After a few more blasts, the sand didn't seem affected much. The sand she blasted would disperse and would form again, providing only a small window of time. She observed it. It never strayed too far from Gaara, only when he directly controlled it himself.

She thought there must be something special about the sand in his gorge. Maybe attuned with his chakra? She eyed the ground leveled by Neji's rotation in the previous match. Ideas raced through her head.

"Are you just going to stand there?" He asked, arms folded.

She tilted her head and gave an indifferent look. "Isn't that what you're doing?"

He raised his arm toward her and snatched an invisible fly, the sand rushed at her. She blasted to the side, sidestepping it, but it grabbed her ankle and made her fall to the ground. In reaction, she concentrated a high-powered explosion at the sand that grabbed her ankle. It made the sand around her ankle fall, letting her escape. She could feel it about to penetrate into her skin. If it had been able to keep going, she would have likely sustained a life long injury.

She looked at the ground. Not all the sand was shifting back to protect him. All around were traces of leftover sand, in places where she had blasted it with her jutsu.

"I'm growing impatient," he said. He threw his hand out, shooting out shards of sand.

She blasted the sand shards and jumped toward him, blasting through the shifting sand. However, the sand near his feet was ready for her and grabbed her. He motioned his arm to raise her up and squeezed it tight. Although she squirmed, she couldn't get out of the sand that covered her entirely.

From the outside, it appeared as if the sand swallowed her. She was gone. When the sand thinned out, the paper bombs that she left exploded. Gaara looked around for her. When he looked down, an explosion erupted right under him, sending the sand away from him and throwing him up. Megumin jumped up at him and whipped an entire string of paper bombs onto Gaara.

The sand couldn't expel from the gorge fast enough to stop her before she could land a few more hits. Although he tried to defend himself, her hand to hand was better, even if by slightly. She saw cracks forming on his forehead, like some kind of armor.

Instead of another punch, she grabbed his arm and poured chakra into it. The armor on his arm exploded and threw him backward, just in time for the sand to save him. He made a soft growl as he stood up, showing how damaged his armor was, shown by the patches of sand around his body before it started to crack and break off, with sand falling between the cracks.

"That's it," he said, using his unharmed arm to grasp the air between them. Huge streams of sand rushed at Megumin, grabbing her legs. She tried to blow the sand away, but more and more of it kept coming until it suddenly collapsed.

"Red…?" Gaara asked as he looked at his arm. After the sand armor broke off, it was bare with gushing red blood over it. His eyes shook before he let out a scream. "It's… blood… my blood!" He began to make a rapid scream.

Megumin panted, she exhausted the rest of her chakra trying to get out of the sand.

From above, there was a sudden combustion sound. She jerked her head to where the Hokage and Kazekage sat and watched the tournament, gaping her mouth at the smoke cloud that imploded from where they sat. Not an explosion, just smoke. It was then she noticed everyone in the stands were asleep, aside from a select few like Kakashi and Might Guy.

Anbu black ops began to rush toward the Hokage, right when ninjas from sand and sound appeared. Inside a purple block barrier, the Hokage was held hostage by the Kazekage, with a kunai at the neck.

Gaara's teammates came to the battlefield, Temari and Kankuro. However, it wasn't to gang up on Megumin.

"Forget her, we gotta get on with the operation!" Kankuro said.

Gaara, not hearing him, stumbled toward Megumin. However, their squad captain came to stop him. Gaara then began to hold his head as he groaned, as if someone was trying to break out of his noggin.

"Get him out of here so he can recover, we can't do this without him! He needs to play his part."

Temari and Kankuro helped Gaara up before they left the stadium. When the captain looked at Megumin and pulled out a kunai, the proctor stepped in front of Megumin.

"Orochimaru, is he the one behind this attack?" The proctor asked the enemy captain.

The sand captain grinned. "Not sure, but let's get started."

"Megumin…" the proctor said, balancing the haystack within his mouth. "The chunin exams end here. Right now, follow them, but don't pursue too far, because this is the real thing."

"So… my explosion spell is on the table, again?"

"Hey, don't do anything stupid, girl! You might not get any backup!"

"Understood…" Megumin said, already going after the squad. Gaara was in a bad state, but just the moment before he stopped the sand to scream about the blood, she almost lost her legs. If he had done that just a few seconds later, who knows what would have happened.

Like the sand she blasted within the arena, there was a trail of it leading from inside the arena and into the forest. She's seen Temari fight before, and knew what to expect. Kankuro was a mystery.

She sighed before she consumed a food pill. They ran far. She must've chased for a full mile before she caught up to them. Gaara hung over Kankuro's shoulder. She wrapped a paper bomb around the hilt of a kunai and threw it, blowing up the ground under them and knocking them in different directions.

Gaara laid on the ground. Temari immediately swung her giant fan, causing a wind storm in Megumin's direction. She hid behind a tree and let it pass before she ran around, dashing to another tree to dodge another wind jutsu.

"Kankuro, go ahead and get Gaara out of here!" Temari said.

Kankuro grunted as he picked Gaara back up

"Leaf Hurricane!" Lee shouted, coming out of seemingly nowhere and kicking Kankuro to a tree. He gave Lee a death stare as he held his gut.

"You're going to pay for that," Kankuro grunted, holding his gut.

"Forget him, Kankuro!"

"No!" Kankuro took hold of a bandage attached to the mummy on his back. "This guy has no idea who he is messing with. If we just kill them both right now, we can escape faster."

Like a string, he pulled the bandage, unwrapping the humanoid behind him. He clapped his hands together, twitching his fingers around. As he did, the puppet began to move. A puppet master, he used chakra strings to control a puppet that fights for him. However, he kept the puppet on his back.

Megumin peeked around the tree, spotting Temari high above on a tree branch. Right when she saw her, Temari threw another wind blast. Megumin side-blasted to another tree. As soon as the jutsu ceased, Megumin rushed around the tree and blasted straight for Temari. She came faster than Temari could react, letting Megumin destroy the flaps of the fan.

"Do you think I'm so useless without my fan?!" Temari used hand seals to make a wind blast from her hand, knocking Megumin to the base of the tree. Even though the flaps of the fans were destroyed, Temari still used the metal of the fan to make a direct hit on Megumin.

When Megumin tried to use her explosion jutsu to make Temari back off, she countered it with a wind blast, making the explosion go backward and onto Megumin.

Not too far away, Rock Lee couldn't get a hit in. The puppet on Kankuro's back helped defend and block, while also being on the offensive with knives, shurikens, and poison. Until Lee finally went in for a direct attack, pushing Kankuro to a tree. Lee continued his pursuit, punching Kankuro to the tree.

Kankuro made a soft growl before the head of the puppet suddenly shot out with a blade within its mouth, cutting Lee's arm just slightly. Lee was about to come back at him but fell to the branch.

Temari held her giant fan up again to bring down Megumin, but she focused on an explosion blast and knocked Temari far away.

Kankuro was about to intervene but directed his attention to Gaara, who began to groan loudly upon awakening. "Gaara, let's hurry up and get out of here. Your arm still looks pretty bad."

"Get. Away. From me," Gaara said, his voice hoarser with each word. "I will kill her. It is my purpose."

"That's not the mission!"

Gaara, with a strength unparalleled to his small figure, swung his bloody arm at Kankuro and knocked him to the tree. Crow dismantled at the impact.

"Gaara!" Temari said, getting to her feet.

"Shut up!" Gaara yelled. He began to shake and yelled as sand poured out from the scratches of his skin and blood, turning one side of his body into a disfigured mess. His arm was bigger than his entire body, using it to lunge himself fast for her. "MEGUMIN!"

Megumin gulped before she placed both of her hands together to force the last of her chakra into one giant explosion. However, the monstrous Gaara used his giant arm to protect himself, going through the explosion unharmed.

She got rammed hard and thrown to the ground. Relentless, Gaara held her against the tree. "My purpose is to kill, to kill is to make me feel alive, and killing someone who can cause me such pain will make me feel more alive than ever!"

As his giant hand began to crush Megumin at the ribs, Naruto kicked Gaara away. She held her ribs as she fell to the ground, seeing Naruto standing between her and Gaara. By her side, one of Kakashi's summon dogs.

"Naruto," she said between her breaths and wincing in pain.

He gave her a serious look before he looked back at Gaara. "Is that…?"

She nodded. "That's Gaara… you need to get Lee out of here."

"Lee's here?" Naruto said, placing his hand over his eyes to see better. "Why's he down like that?!"

"I think Kankuro poisoned him."

Naruto nodded at Pakkun, who soon disappeared into some foliage to get Rock Lee away.

"You," Gaara rasped. The sand slowly shifted across his skin, slowly changing the other side to match the monster within. "Do you want to die, too?"

In horror, Naruto cringed. "This guy, just what the heck is he?"

"What am I…?" Gaara repeated. "Before I was born, my father sealed the sand spirit within me. Most only think of me as the monster that resides in me." He made a soft growl. "Why even come to fight me, unless you want me to kill you because there is no way you came to kill me!"

Behind Gaara, Pakkun carried Rock Lee away. In a rush, Naruto tried to pick Megumin up to run away, but Gaara slammed his giant arm to knock them back.

Megumin struggled as she pulled on a branch to stand up. "Naruto, you need to leave. He wants me."

"Will you shut up?! There's no way I'm leaving you behind!"

Gaara held his head. "I don't understand," he said in a weak voice. "What could be more important than your own survival? Your friends? Fighting for others? Forget it, fight for yourself! Trivial things like family and loyalty? Those things don't make you strong, only when you fight for yourself, for your survival! That is what it means to be a ninja! What it means to feel alive!"

"Oh, shut up, already! It's only through my friends that I managed to get this far!" Naruto bit his thumb for blood, performed hand seals, and planted his chakra downward.

Megumin grinned but gawked at the size of the toad. No bigger than Naruto's big head.

"Horrible time to summon me, just what do you want?" The red frog with a small, adorable cape said.

Naruto crouched down. "Where is the chief toad?! Where is he?!"

"What, I'm not good enough for you?"

Gaara laughed loudly. "Is that how far you've gone with your so-called friends?!" He lunged at Naruto and the toad. Before Naruto could help Megumin out of the way, he pushed Naruto away and took hold of Megumin's arms with his giant monstrous arm, crushing them. As he smiled, her scream echoed between the trees.

"Get away from her!" Naruto yelled as he rushed at Gaara. He knocked him back but Megumin was still locked in his monstrous hand. However, instead of killing her outright, both sides of Gaara smiled wide and gazed at Naruto. The sand had almost completely turned him into a monster.

"I'll show you how weak your loyalty is," Gaara said, detaching the sand arm from the massive sand hand. It stuck trapped Megumin to the tree. "Each minute, the sand will grow tighter, eventually crushing her to death. The only way to break it is to kill me!"

The sand around Megumin tightened around her. She cried at the immense pain her arms were in.

"Megumin!" Naruto jumped to the sand, but Gaara knocked him away.

"Naruto…" Megumin said in a weak, defeated voice. Her vision blurred. "I can't… move my arms."

"Megumin! I promise! I will get you out! I will save you!"

Her eyes shut.

Sorry, life has been a little crazy lately. I'm isolated at home because I currently have Covid. This chapter has been done for a while but I hate writing chapters focused mainly on fighting. If you don't agree with how the matchups went, I understand but it won't play a big role in the story. Things are gonna get crazy. Please review! It makes me smile.