The dozens of shinobi of all different ranks and ages looked on at the two combatants in the middle of the room as they seemed to have a bit of a stand-off.

"Make the first move." Dosu challenged, "It's likely to be the last one you make."

The canine enthusiast responded with a mean smirk, "Hah, we'll see about that! You ready, Akamaru?" Kiba asked the puppy in his hood. The small dog yipped enthusiastically in response, hopping out onto the floor of the arena. Kiba then got onto all fours, surging his chakra to perform his clan's renowned ninjutsu, "Shikyaku no Jutsu!"

Kiba's fangs and canines grew in length and became as sharp as blades, transforming him to become more beast-like. Then, with a feral snarl, the beast boy charged at his opponent, aiming his claws right at his face.

Dosu shook his head and blocked his attack with his large iron gauntlet. The resulting clash made the object emit a high-pitched whine that caused a few shinobi and kunoichi in the area to flinch. Kiba and Akamaru, on the other hand growled and howled in pain once the sound waves met their ear canals, causing them to hunch over and cover their ears in a feeble attempt to alleviate the pain. Kiba screamed in agony once he felt blood pouring out of his ears, twisting and rolling on the floor.

Hayate monitored the poor genin and closed his eyes, raising his hand.

"It's been decided. Kiba Inuzuka is no longer in any condition to fight, therefor, Dosu Kinuta is the victor of the first match."

Kurenai Yuuhi, Kiba's sensei, frowned to see that her student had been defeated so easily.

"It's not your fault, Kiba." Thought Kurenai with a sigh, "You only lost because you got paired up with the worst opponent for you."

As Dosu returned to the stands to join the rest of the team, Kiba and Akamaru was escorted to receive medical attention.

Naruto watched as his village-mate got hauled away crossed his arms, "And to think that he used to make fun of me. I would have at least lasted longer than he did."

"Don't be so quick to assume, Naruto." Kakashi began to lecture, "Kiba had an opponent that capitalized on his weakness. Had you went against Kiba, I'm sure he'd have given you a run for your money."

"Yeah right..." Naruto said stubbornly, crossing his arms with a grumpy pout. Once the fighters from the last match were out of the arena, Hayate struggled with another coughing fit and began to announce the combatants for the next round.

"Alright, the next match will commence now. The next combatants will be..."

The screen on the wall began to flip through the names of the remaining shinobi until it stopped and displayed the next two genin fighting in the second round:

Karui

vs.

Choji Akimichi

Yugito's teammate perked up as she saw her name displayed on the monitor, "Looks like it's my turn. I'm glad I didn't have to wait too long." Karui said with a stretch of her arms. Yugito watched as Karui jumped from the balcony to stand in front of Hayate, her arms crossed as she waited for her opponent.

Choji walked over to the battle zone with a bag of chips in his hands, nervously munching on them as he approached his opponent, "H-Hey, nice to meet you..."

Karui's sharp leer eyed Choji up and down before scoffing, "My opponent is someone who can't let go of a bag of chips for a fight? Please."

"They're barbecue flavored!" Choji defended, "I gotta eat to keep my strength up!"

Karui rolled her eyes, "Sure you do, fat boy."

Choji's ear twitched.

Naruto, who was next to Yugito a few feet away, widened his eyes at what he heard from Karui's mouth, "Hey, your teammate better watch it..."

Yugito looked over at Naruto with a puzzled expression, "You think I should be worried about Karui? I think your chubby friend is the one who should quit while he's ahead."

"You don't understand." Naruto mumbled, watching as Choji's expression darkened, "What she just called Choji is taboo..."

Yugito was about to respond until she saw Choji drop his bag of chips.

"What did you just call me...?" Choji demanded with a low but hardened tone.

"I called you fat." Karui repeated, crossing her arms, "What, are you fat and deaf?"

The Akimichi clan member's fists clenched tightly. He began to breathe harder and harder until...

"YOU BETTER WATCH YOUR DAMN MOUTH, YA HEAR ME?! I AM NOT FAT! I AM JUST BIG BOOONNNEEEED!"

Everyone in the area was silent. Karui stood completely in place and looked around with her eyes awkwardly, not expecting such a dramatic outburst from him.

Hayate blinked. He eyed the now furious genin with a small amount of concern before bringing his arm down in between them "Uh... on that note, if neither combatant wants to back out, the match can begin."

"YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" Choji declared before suddenly expanding his gut ten times its size. His limbs retracted into his clothing, including his head, and his body began to spin and accelerate at an alarming rate.

Hayate had managed to back away just in time, while Karui immediately grabbed the hilt of her sword. She looked at the large boulder known as Choji Akimichi alarmingly and cursed once his spinning form gained traction and began to come straight for her.

"Shit!" Karui cursed, jumping out of the way just in time to prevent from getting crushed. Just as she landed, she was forced to repeat this action, as Choji's human boulder form boomeranged and targeted her again.

Upon the stands, Naruto shook his head, while Yugito watched the scenes down below with utmost shock, "I told ya. This might have been an easy win for your teammate if she didn't call him fat."

"But he is kinda fat, though..." Yugito mumbled.

"Yeah, but that's not something he likes to hear."

The redhead from Kumo was forced to spend a good portion of her time on the defensive dodging Choji's attacks. Every time she'd attempt to find room for a counterattack, he'd be right on her tail, ready to crush her if she didn't move out of the way. Debris and parts of the arena flew through the air do to Choji's impact on the ground, and there were even times where she had to dodge the pieces of the arena as well.

"Damn... who would have thought someone so big would move so fast..." Karui thought before smirking, "Looks like I have to step it up a notch."

After jumping high in the air to avoid another boulder-like attack, Karui unsheathed her sword and gripped it tightly with both hands. The metal blade began to glow a light shade of blue and crackle with lightning. Karui swung the blade at the spinning mass known as Choji, sending a large bolt of lightning straight at him. The swordswoman hit her target, and the electricity enveloped around Choji's round body, slowing down his spinning form to a halt. As Karui landed on her feet, Choji's head and limbs returned to its previous state, and Choji's face was dazed.

Karui approached Choji, pointing the tip of her blade at his forehead, "Give up. I still have a lot of fight in me."

With Choji's semi-paralyzed state, he found that he didn't have many other alternatives, "O-Okay, I surrender..."

Hayate heard this and lifted his hand, "Karui is declared the winner of the second match."

"WHAT?!" A shrill voice was heard from the stands, "C'mon Choji, you're gonna let that bimbo beat you?!"

A sharp glare from a pair of hazel eyes was all Ino needed to immediately make her bite her tongue.

"Hey..." Choji called to the victor of the match. Karui turned to look at him, only to see him smiling weakly, "You're... actually very pretty."

As much as Karui wanted to display her disinterest, she couldn't help but chuckle.

"Thanks, big boy. Did getting your ass kicked make you realize that?" She asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"No, I was always aware... I was just scared of you." He then began laughing, "Maybe someday we'll get married and have a kid."

The redhead from Kumo shook her head with a smirk, "Maybe in some other universe. But not this one."

With that, Karui walked off to join back up with her team, while Choji was hauled away for medical attention, though many were sure his wounds were not too severe.

Yugito high-fived her teammate, "Nice job, Karui. Part of me was worried for you for a second."

"Please." Karui scoffed, "These Konoha-nin are a lot weaker than I thought. These exams are gonna be a breeze."

Naruto overheard their conversation and pointed a finger at Karui, offended at her words, "You better watch it! You better hope I don't give you a chance to show you just how wrong you are!"

Karui eyed the loud-mouthed blonde with a look full of judgement, "You talk as though you don't know what a good ass-kicking feels like."

"I'm sure he already does." Yugito chided in with a smirk. Naruto growled and was about to retort with a comeback of his own, but was cut off when Hayate announced the fighters of the next round.

Temari

vs.

Ino Yamanaka

The two blonde female kunoichi met in the center of the arena. Ino seemed to be hesitant to fight, while Temari herself looked very disinterested. The Yamanaka heiress thought about withdrawing, but refused to seem cowardly in front of her pink-haired rival watching over the stands.

Once the match began, it was over in a matter of minutes. The Suna kunoichi ultimately decided to give Ino a chance, and let her make the first move. The Yamanaka did not appreciate this, but was the first to attack regardless, throwing shuriken at her. The weapons were deflected easily, and after asking if that was all Ino had, Temari decided not to waste anymore time and used her over-sized fan to encase Ino in a whirlwind of razor sharp winds that sliced through Ino's skin, before being dropped on the Suna kunoichi's closed fan on her back. Ino was knocked out cold, declaring Temari as the winner.

Shikamaru, seeing both of his teammates get eliminated from the exams three rounds into the prelims, sighed and thought about simply withdrawing to save himself the trouble of fighting. If his sensei Asuma Sarutobi wasn't right behind him, he'd have probably went through with that notion.

"That's three Konoha genin knocked out by genin of other villages in the first three rounds." Omoi speculated, leaning over the balcony with a palm under his chin, "Maybe you're right, Karui. These Konoha-nin ain't shit."

Samui, their large-bossomed squad leader, shook her head, "Konoha hasn't really had any promising shinobi come about since the Fourth Hokage passed."

Despite being caught up in the latest edition of Icha Icha Paradise, Kakashi could not help but overhear, "Let's not get carried away here." He stated without moving his eyes off of his book, "Konoha is home to many capable and promising shinobi, both before and after the Fourth's passing. I just so happen to have three of them on my squad right now."

"Yeah, that's right!" Exclaimed Naruto, "I'm gonna be Hokage someday, just you wait!"

Ignoring Naruto's outburst, Samui squinted her eyes at the cyclops Jounin, "Hm, Kakashi Hatake. Son of The White Fang. Usually I'd discredit such a bold claim, but your name pops up a lot throughout the shinobi nations."

Kakashi cooly shrugged his shoulders, "Well, I guess I should be glad my reputation proceeds me. And for the record, underestimating the strength of Konoha shinobi could be one of the most foolish things you and your students can do."

Samui eyed Kakashi up and down, her eyes still squinted at him analytically.

"Hm." Was her nonverbal response as she returned her attention back to the screen that displayed the names of the next two fighters:

Sakura Haruno

vs.

Hinata Hyuuga

Coincidentally, Sakura and Hinata were standing right beside each other. Hinata's eyes widened due to her surprise and met the gaze of her next opponent, who was looking at her with quite a bit of shock as well.

"Looks like we're up next, Hinata." Sakura told her with a small smile that calmed Hinata's growing anxieties slightly.

"Hai, it seems that way." Replied the Hyuuga princess with a smile of her own. They then began walking down to the middle of the arena together, and stopped once they were standing on either side of Hayate. Hinata closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She did her best to pretend as if she were in the academy, sparring with a classmate like she used to before receiving the rank of a genin.

"Alright Sakura-chan, you got this!" Naruto cheered on his teammate from the stands, loudly as usual.

Hinata's eyes shot open.

"Okay Hinata, let's have a good clean fight!" Encouraged Sakura, getting into position, "Don't hold back, because I won't!"

Hinata readied herself into position as well, shifting her stance into her family's renowned Taijutsu style.

"Hai." Was all that was said from the violet-haired Hyuuga.

"If neither fighter wishes to withdraw, then you may begin." Hayate declared, bringing his hand down between Naruto's crush/teammate, and Naruto's secret admirer.