Sasuke fell onto his posterior, as the use of his Curse Mark gave him a feeling of overexertion. Sakura was right there behind him, ready to help him at a moment's notice.
Dosu breathed a sigh of relief, while Kin grit her teeth, "He's weakened! We should kill them n-!"
"Shut it, Kin." Dosu hushed her before reaching into his pocket and extending an earth scroll to them, "As reparation for your troubles, please take our scroll and spare us, Sasuke. You are indeed a powerful shinobi."
Everyone was shocked by Dosu's action's, including his teammate, "Dosu, what are you doing?!"
"Surviving." Dosu replied, "Don't you see the situation we're in? Just because the effects of the Curse Mark on Sasuke have receded for now doesn't mean it can't come back. Not only that, but we're clearly outnumbered; five against three. Well, two and a half." He said, looking at the grunting Zaku before sending her a hardened glare, "Now I suggest you think about what I'm saying and zip it before you get us killed. Stick to the plan."
Kin grit her teeth, but knew that Dosu was right and nodded.
Dosu looked at Sasuke tossed the scroll to him, which Sasuke caught. Dosu picked up their groaning teammate with disabled arms and nodded at Kin for them to start taking their leave.
"We'll be leaving now. You may have the upper hand now, but we'll see how things go in the next part of the exams. Until then."
And with that, the three Sound-nin were gone.
This left the area occupied by three Kumo-nin and two Konoha-nin, who were awkwardly silent for a bit once the opposers left.
"Well, that was interesting." Karui was the first one to speak up, "I'm not quite sure what just happened."
"Me neither." Omoi agreed, before squinting his eyes slightly, "All I know is that these Konoha-nin now have one of each scroll. We still need a heaven scroll."
Sakura and Sasuke both tensed up once Karui and Omoi both laid eyes on them, placing their hands on the hilts of their swords.
Yugito saw the rising conflict and made a quick decision.
"Never mind them, guys. We can get a scroll from another squad." She said. Karui looked at Yugito as if she had three heads atop of her shoulders.
"You do know that we're supposed to be taking their scroll, right? In order to become Chuunin?" Asked the redhead, "Please explain to me why you think it's a good idea to stop us from doing so."
Yugito looked back at Sasuke and Sakura, who were both not feeling at the top of their game. Yugito shook her head and looked back at her two teammates.
"Well, for one, I'm sure you felt that Sasuke guy's chakra. We may be able to take them, but I have a feeling it won't be without a price." The Jinchuuriki stated, "There's that, and the fact that there are two other Konoha squads in the area watching us right now, and I'm sure if we were to attack them, we'd have six other people to worry about. We're better off finding a different squad."
Sasuke and Sakura both looked at each other, confused.
"And you're sure about that?" Omoi asked for confirmation. Yugito nodded, which made her teammates let go of their weapons.
"Fine." Scoffed Karui, "Let's hurry up and go then. The faster we get a heaven scroll, the better."
With one final look thrown at the two members of Team Seven, both Karui and Omoi both propelled themselves onto tree branches, exiting the area. Yugito was about to follow suit, until...
"Hey!" Sakura called to the blonde, making her turn around, "Thank you, Yugito." She said, looking her right in the eyes. Yugito didn't reply instantly, but grinned after a thought or two passed her mind.
"Don't thank me just yet." She replied, "We're still technically enemies."
With that, Yugito left.
"Who... were those guys?" Sasuke asked, struggling to get on his feet.
Sakura didn't give Sasuke a response. She wasn't even sure how to answer that question. All she could do was wonder why Yugito helped them as much as she did. She wasn't going to question it too much, however, as she was just glad things had turned out the way that it had, and not the way it could have turned out.
Suddenly, both Squads Nine and Ten had jumped down from their respective tree branches, greeting Team Seven.
"Sakura-chan, are you alright?!" Shouted Lee, rushing over to his precious Cherry Blossom. Though shaken up, Sakura assured the green jumpsuit-wearing Taijutsu master that she was just fine.
Shikamaru and Chouji had walked over to Naruto, poking and kicking the unconscious boy in feeble attempts to wake him up. Ino had rushed over to where Sakura and Sasuke were, obviously concerned about Sasuke more than anyone. Tenten had followed behind, simply to potentially stop Lee from being too... 'Lee-like'.
Lastly, Neji stood a good distance away from all of them, his eyes set solely on the Uchiha that displayed such an immense amount of power not ten minutes ago.
"So... let's get something straight." The male shinobi from Team Samui started, looking at Yugito with a very unentertained look, "You can detect when six other shinobi are hidden around us within a twenty-yard radius, but you can't detect a giant snake creeping up on you?"
"I was peeing!" Yugito defended, "Geez, cut me some slack."
"You've done enough slacking for the three of us." Karui said with a roll of her eyes, "And what exactly were you doing fighting alongside Konoha-nin? You do know that they're not only our enemies when it comes to the Chuunin Exams, but they're also not exactly Kumo's allies, right?"
Yugito sighed internally. She knew that her teammates would interrogate her on her actions at their first opportunity.
"Trust me when I say that it wasn't something I wanted to do." Yugito said, deciding to be vague, "I was caught in a tough situation and had to make some quick decisions until you guys finally found me."
Karui nodded, but still felt a bit skeptical about the situation. She decided to leave the matter alone, however, seeing as it wasn't particularly relevant to their current situation anymore. Omoi had very similar feelings, but he simply thought it'd be best to mind his business. It was usually his most preferred way of handling situations when things didn't address him directly.
"Well, just be careful." Karui told her, "Just because you have the Two-Tails doesn't mean that it can always get you out of trouble."
"Yeah, that's what teammates are for!" She said with a big cheesy smile. Both of her teammates simply rolled their eyes and shook their heads.
*Thirty-Six Hours Later*
Twenty-four genin across various villages stood proudly as they were still in the running to becoming Chuunin. The room they were in was large in size, and had two high balconies with railings on either side. In front of the room was a statue of two hands forming the basic shinobi hand seal, standing up at about seventy feet tall. In front of the genin teams were all of their Jounin team leaders, as well as a few Chuunin and even the Third Hokage himself. Many of the genin were either roughed up or had signs of exhaustion, seeing as three days in a deadly forest would wear out anyone of their caliber. The only team that was not in that condition, however, was a Sunagakure squad that included a boy with red hair, a symbol that said "love" on his forehead, and a giant gourd on his back.
Team Seven had continued their adventures in The Forest of Death without too much trouble. In their journey, the trio had run into Kabuto, who had helped them along their path for whatever strange reason. The team allowed this, seeing as he didn't seem to be a threat to them, and was grateful for all of his help getting to this point. Oddly enough, though, when they were told that there would be preliminaries being held due to a large number of applicants still in the running, he forfeited, claiming that he was not in good enough shape to continue. Kabuto's teammates had even followed, having lasting wounds that nearly incapacitated them from their tangle with a certain Kumogakure squad. They managed to find replacing scrolls to get there, however, if preliminaries were being held, they figure its best to cut their losses. Orochimaru allowed this, seeing as he could find a use for that team later.
Next to Naruto's team was none other than Team Samui, as they managed to take a heaven scroll from an unsuspecting team of 'Konoha' shinobi after departing from the fight that Yugito engaged in with Sakura. The exams didn't seem to be too difficult for the Kumo trio, and Yugito herself was glad that Naruto's team had succeeded as well.
After Kabuto and his team had walked away, Sakura looked at Sasuke who was clutching at the mark Orochimaru placed on his collar area. She pleaded for Sasuke to forfeit too, considering how much pain he was in. Sasuke insisted that she keep her mouth shut, and not worry about him. He explained how these exams meant much more to him than a promotion, and that he's in it to test his strength against the best in the room they were in, making sure to mention to Naruto that he was included in that list of people.
The Jounin instructors picked up on Sasuke's condition, and while Anko insisted that he be pulled from the exams, she was overruled by Kakashi and the Hokage. Anko herself had just finished tangling with Orochimaru, almost succeeding in killing him before he managed to pull a fast one on her. She was ready to kill herself if it meant that he'd be going with her, and the fact that he's still out there somewhere made her very uneasy.
Little did she know, he was a lot closer to her than she thought. A sound Jounin squad leader smirked as they overheard their conversation, excited at the events that were about to unfold. The unknown 'shinobi' sent a look towards Team Dosu, instilling it in them to keep things according to plan.
A female Jounin, one with a blonde bob cut, looked on at the small number of Jounin whispering with the Hokage and squinted her eyes. Samui, the leader of the one remaining Kumogakure squad known as Team Samui, wondered what was going on with the Uchiha genin, and why the other Konoha-nin seemed to be concerned about him. She crossed her arms and continued waiting for things to get started, making a mental note to keep an eye out for that kid.
The shinobi that served as the referee for the next part of the one-on-one preliminaries coughed and began to explain how there will be nine rounds, considering how there was now an odd number of twenty-one shinobi left.
"Now... *cough* this will be a no-holds-barred form of combat, and that the combatants will be instructed to fight until one of them gives up, falls unconscious, or dies." Hayate Gekko informed them, "If you feel yourself becoming overpowered and are walking the path of defeat, it's best to surrender if you value your lives. Since we don't particularly want a bloodbath *cough* on our hands, the spectating Jounin and I will be instructed to intervene if we feel that there is an undisputed winner. Don't *cough* count on that, though. There's still a chance you can die if you're too stubborn."
Naruto Uzumaki looked over at Team Samui, interested upon seeing that Yugito made it. Naruto had swapped himself with a shadow clone at just the right time after they tangled in The Forest of Death, and went to go help out his teammates prior to the shadow clone leading her to them. Naruto had almost decided to lead her astray, but his plan in reversing Yugito's hostage attempt spoke louder, despite how things did not go according to his plan regardless.
Yugito noticed Naruto staring at her, and sent a challenging grin his way. Naruto responded in kind, eager to see if he'd be up against Yugito in the preliminaries, or at any point in the future. The possibility of death was something that made Naruto a bit anxious, but his sense of self-assurance overrode that quickly.
Everyone's attention was then brought to an opening panel on the wall that revealed a large electric scoreboard.
"Your names will be randomly selected on this screen to decide who the two combatants will be each round." Hayate stated, taking another puff of his cigarette, "Since there are twenty-one of you, there will be ten matches, and one of you lucky genin will be able to skip the prelims and move on to the next stage after the ten matches are up if your name has not been selected. Other than that, that's pretty much all I have to say. The first two opponents will be selected *cough* now."
Everyone's attention was paid to the screen as it began to quickly flip through the names of all twenty-one genin. Almost everyone in the area was either nervous, excited, or anxious, though a handful seemed passive and uninterested. A majority of the young shinobi had one or a few people in their mind that they'd like to go up against, and quite a few of them had others that they wanted to avoid. A lot of these shinobi were tired, beaten down, and in need of a break, but they refused to let that stop them from ranking up. This was their opportunity to put their skills to the test, and prove to everyone around that they deserve the title of Chuunin.
A few agonizing seconds later, the names of the shinobi fighting for the first round were displayed:
Kiba Inuzuka
vs.
Dosu Kinuta
"Alright!" Kiba barked, pumping his fist into the air, "Looks like I get to be the opening act!"
Dosu looked on at the loud-mouthed dog boy he'd be up against and shook his head, "This will be easy. I almost wish that I'd get more of a challenge."
Hayate stepped forward, "Alright, everyone but the named combatants will have to exit the area and spectate along the balconies on either side of the room. The two named individuals, please *cough* step forward."
Every Genin, Chuunin, and Jounin, except for Kiba and Dosu, left the area and went to their instructed locations. Team Seven, Team Eight, Team Samui, and Team Ten, with their respected Jounin leaders, went over to the eastern balcony. Team Nine, Team Dosu, and The Three Sand Siblings went over to the western balcony. The proctor, Dosu, Kiba, and his fighting companion Akamaru were the remaining individuals left in the middle of the room, and Kiba had readied himself into a fighting stance.
On the balcony, Shino looked on and shook his head, "Kiba won't be becoming Chuunin this year." He said stoically.
Hinata looked at her teammate, "Wh-What? What makes you say that, Shino?"
The bug master adjusted his glasses, "Do you remember what Dosu did to that Kabuto kid with the silver hair? His moves are sound-based. With Kiba having traits comparable to a canine, and considering he has Akamaru as a requirement for a lot of his techniques, he doesn't stand a chance. Canines are extremely sensitive to sound, especially sounds that can harm a human's eardrum."
Hinata wanted to protest, but found Shino's logic to be sound. She looked on at her wild teammate as the proctor rose his hand up to prepare the signal to begin, hoping that Kiba would prove Shino wrong somehow.
"Alright..." The smoking Jounin grunted, "This is your last chance to back out. Do either of you have any objections?"
"Nope!" Was Kiba's antsy answer.
"Not at all." Dosu responded, readying the mechanism on his arm.
Hayata nodded, bringing his hand down in between them to signal them to commence the first fight.
"Then begin."