"All right, then. We will now begin the preliminary round."

Everyone's focus was on Hayate Gekkō, the proctor, as he began to speak about the preliminary round of the final part of the exam. The pain in Akira's shoulder kept intensifying, but there was nothing she could do about it. Instead, she focused on her breathing, making sure that it was keeping steady despite the burning sensation going through her body. Akira hoped that she'd made the right decision in telling Sakura she could handle this.

"This round will consist in one-on-one individual combat, at full battle intensity. This is not an exercise. There are twenty-two of you remaining, so there will be exactly eleven battles. The surviving candidates from these eleven matches will advance to the third exam," Hayate said, surprisingly not coughing once. "As for the rules, there are none: you will fight until one dies, concedes, or if I say otherwise. Obviously, those who know that they aren't going to win are advised to concede promptly, to avoid as many deaths as possible."

Once again, the smell of blood filled Akira's nostrils. The feeling of piercing flesh came to her mind. Akira's stomach turned. There was no guarantee she'd avoid killing someone. In the heat of the battle, if she had to she would.

"Now, it's time to reveal what fate has chosen for you."

In the top left corner of the wall behind all the Jōnin and the Hokage, a panel slid away to reveal a blank, black screen.

"The names of each pair are chosen completely at random," Hayate said. "Before each match, these names will appear on the display behind me. As there is nothing more to say, let's begin. In a moment, the names of the first two opponents will appear."

The black screen flashed yellow a few times and then hundreds of letter combinations began flickering on the screen. After a few tense moments, the names of the candidates participating in the first battle appeared: Yoroi Akado vs Sasuke Uchiha. Akira cast a worried glance at her brother, but he was smiling, excited about getting the chance to fight again.

"Those whose names are displayed, come forward."

Sasuke and one of Kabuto's teammates walked up to Hayate, then stood to face each other.

"Are there any objections?" Hayate was met with silence. "Good. Everyone other than the first candidates please move up to the viewing area."

Akira turned towards the stairs and a flash of pain burned her shoulder and back. Her face contorted in pain and she rolled her shoulder, hoping that it would diffuse the burning sensation. After a few moments, the pain subsided, and Akira made it up the rest of the stairs without incident. She went to stand with Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi, and leaned over the railing to look down at Sasuke's battle.

"When it's your turn to fight, Akira, don't use your Sharingan," Kakashi whispered.

Akira took a deep breath.

"Why not?"
"Don't play dumb."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Akira whispered sharply.
"Akira, if that mark on your shoulder gets out of control your life could be in danger."
"Damn," the girl muttered under her breath.
"Yeah," Kakashi said sternly. "I'd had hope you'd come to me."
"You know that I wasn't going to. If I did you'd have pulled me out of the exams."
"Yes, and now if you go in and lose control I will stop the fight."

Akira turned to Kakashi, glaring.

"Don't you dare disqualify me, Kakashi."
"That's sensei, to you," he said sharply. "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."
"And neither do you!" Akira retorted. "And if you didn't believe I was at least capable of resisting whatever this thing is, you would have pulled me out when Hayate-sensei was asking for withdrawals."

Kakashi sighed. He looked angry, but Akira could tell that he'd reached a wall. He couldn't argue with her. She was right. If he had even the slightest doubt she couldn't handle it, he would have stopped her right there.

"If you lose control—"
"Then stop the fight," Akira said softly. "But I'll be fine. Trust me, Kakashi."

The anger in Kakashi's eyes slowly dissipated and his eyebrows furrowed. He nodded once and so did Akira, both of them agreeing to the terms they'd spoken. However, Akira wondered why Kakashi was so adamant she did not use her Sharingan during the fight. Out of curiosity, Akira concentrated a little bit of chakra in her hands and, almost immediately after, another more intense wave of pain surged through her shoulders. The second she'd dispelled the chakra, the pain went away. Akira let out a barely audible sigh. This mark, or whatever it was, was most likely linked to her chakra. Any amount used would cause serious pain, so she and Sasuke would have to fight their battles without chakra. That was easier said than done. Akira relied on chakra for most of her fighting style and her tachi lay somewhere in the Forest of Death still. Akira chuckled. Maybe she could laugh her opponent to death.

Sasuke's battle had already commenced by the time Akira was truly paying attention. Yoroi through half a dozen shuriken at Sasuke which he blocked easily. However, even the smallest concentration of Sasuke's chakra sent a wave of pain through him and he fell to the ground. Within seconds, Yoroi was over him and swinging a punch, which Sasuke narrowly dodged. Yoroi's fist smashed the ground, sending shards of stone flying into the air. Sasuke plunged a kunai into the ground as he jumped away and used it as a pivot to smash Yoroi's leg. In a split second, Sasuke had his opponent in a headlock, but the fight wasn't over yet. All of a sudden, while still in a headlock, Yoroi grabbed Sasuke by the collar, his fist glowing bright blue.

"His chakra is visible..." Akira muttered. "What the hell is he doing?"

Moments later, Yoroi was free and Sasuke remained on the ground, barely moving. Akira's eyes narrowed. All of Sasuke's strength was gone, sapped up by whatever attack Yoroi had used. Then, Yoroi launched himself at Sasuke and slammed his palm onto Sasuke's forehead, hand still engulfed in blue chakra. In mere seconds, Sasuke went limp.

"Sasuke, you idiot! Get up!" Akira shouted. "This isn't the time to take a nap!"
"Get... Off me!" Sasuke yelled, kicking Yoroi in the stomach, which sent him flying.

Sasuke looked up at his sister, who nodded sternly, and he sat up just as Yoroi stood. He lunged at Sasuke again, and the boy rose shakily. He swung his chakra filled fist around at Sasuke, but he kept dodging every hit. It looked excessively tiring, but Akira was mad at Sasuke for not having more in him. Naruto seemed to agree.

"Come on, Sasuke! What was that!? And you call yourself an Uchiha? You're embarrassing your sister up here!" Naruto shouted. "You're gonna let this goon walk all over ya? Come on, stop messing around and get it in gear!"

Suddenly, Yoroi lunged once again but Sasuke kept dodging his punches. And then Sasuke disappeared, reappearing underneath Yoroi and kicking him upwards. Akira smirked. She recognized this technique—it was Lee's. Sasuke must have copied it with his Sharingan. Seconds later, he was flying underneath Yoroi, parallel to his body. However, Sasuke's body seized up and Akira noticed that the mark on his neck was glowing orange. A flame-like pattern began spreading to his body. Out of the corner of her eye, Akira noticed Kakashi step forward.

"Don't," Akira said, putting a hand on Kakashi's arm. "He can control this, I know he can."

Kakashi took a step back and Akira removed her hand. She stared intently at her brother, but mostly the flame-like pattern on his skin. A wave of pain seared through Akira's neck and she hissed in pain but managed to push through it. Just as the pain in her shoulder was subsiding, the markings on Sasuke's skin began to melt away and he followed through with his attack. He feigned a kick to Yoroi's left and spun around to his right to kick his opponent in the face. Then, with a flip, Sasuke kicked Yoroi down to the ground, knocking him out cold. Sasuke landed shakily, but he managed to stand up until Hayate declared him the winner.

"Told you he could do it."
"He's lucky to have you believe in him."

Kakashi ruffled Akira's hair and jumped down to the battleground. She watched them leave with the medical ninja and listened to Sakura and Naruto cheer. When they'd gone, Akira turned to look around at everyone. No one seemed surprised about the outcome and Lee even seemed pleased. When her eyes gazed across the battlefield, they fell on Gaara who was looking at her with the same intense stare he always seemed to have. For a moment, she stared too, and she smiled, hoping to get something out of him. But he just kept staring, so Akira looked away.

When Yoroi was carried off, the second pair of candidates were announced on the board. An uneasy feeling rose inside Akira. The sight of Zaku's arms made her look down at her own. The skin had started to peel, flaking off her arm every time it brushed against something, revealing a shiny pink layer of skin. All while the battle raged below, Akira wondered if the scars would remain or if they'd disappear. Her skin had a habit of being resistant to healing up scars.

Before Akira knew it, the battle was over and Shino had won with surprising ease. Curious, Akira stood and looked back over the railing. She winced seeing Zaku's arms—they were littered with holes, blood seeping out from each and every one of them. She knew that Shino was an insect tamer, but she had no idea that he was capable of being this merciless.

As the next pair of candidates appeared on screen, Kakashi returned without Sasuke. Another of Kabuto's teammates stepped down from the viewing area, as did Kankuro. Akira's eyes narrowed at him. She hoped that he lost just for being a jerk. However, he won with as much ease as Shino. The large thing he carried on his back was indeed a giant puppet, and Kankuro happened to be quite skilled with it. Despite disliking the boy, Akira had to admit he was a formidable shinobi.

Moments later, the next battle was announced and immediately, the two opponents began arguing. Ino and Sakura had been called to fight against each other.

"This is going to be interesting," Akira muttered.

Up until then, all the battles had been terminated in five minutes or less, however, when Ino and Sakura stepped into the arena and began fighting, neither of them were down or even injured after over ten minutes. Akira was starting to get annoyed. They might have been fighting, but neither of them was fighting with any intent to cause harm. They were fighting like kids, as if they were training at the Academy. Even though she wanted to see how Sakura was going to win, Akira couldn't take watching a battle so uninteresting. Akira sighed, bored, and went back to sit against the wall.

Through the bars of the railing, she observed Maru. He wasn't paying attention to the battle below, either. Instead, he was staring right back at Akira. She gave him an annoyed look and he smirked, which irked Akira even more. The thought of actually accepting his help was running through her mind a mile a minute and it was bothering her that she was actually considering it. After what seemed like a long staring contest, Akira sighed and swung her head backwards so that it was resting on the wall behind her. Maru seemed amused and Akira glared at him. He knew that she was considering his offer.

When Hayate announced the end of the battle, Akira immediately broke eye contact and stood to look over the railing. Both Sakura and Ino were out cold, having tired themselves out, and it made Akira smile. At least Sakura hadn't given up until the end.

Akira's gaze was drawn towards the screen once again as it showed the next pair of fighters: Temari vs Tenten. Akira didn't recognize those names, but she knew the faces. It was the Sand Ninja girl and the girl from Lee and Neji's team. Akira leaned against the railing, gaze fixed upon Temari, curious to see what she could do with a large paper fan. She looked over to Kai for a moment, wondering what he would be taking away from this fight.

When the battle started, Tenten leapt backwards to distance herself from Temari. Akira frowned a little. That was a bad move. With a large fan like that, Temari seemed to be a long-distance fighter. If anything, Tenten should be attacking her head-on. However, neither of them moved. Akira looked at them, exasperated. Even the proctor was confused. But then, Temari took a step forward, to which Tenten responded with a step back. It went on like this until they'd each moved a foot from their initial position. Then, Temari taunted her opponent by insisting she attack first.

"This match is already over," she whispered.
"You think?" Kai said, suddenly appearing beside Akira. Shikamaru and Kiba were there too.
"Akira's right," Shikamaru sighed. "Tenten is probably just keeping a safe distance, good for attacking or defending, but I'm pretty sure Temari has got her in the ideal position for her own attack. She looks the type to do that."
"The type?" Kiba said, confused.
"Like Shikamaru. A strategist," Akira commented.

All four heads turned back to the match, expecting Tenten to lose. Misinterpreting your opponent was probably the biggest mistake you could make, and Tenten was doing just that.

Tenten jumped high into the air and shot a handful of shuriken at Temari. But the sand ninja flickered and by the time the shuriken had reached her, Temari was a foot to the left and out of the way. Akira rose an eyebrow, mildly impressed—Temari was fast. Tenten jumped into the air again and pulled out a scroll with she dramatically spun around her in the air. A shower of weapons began to fall from the scroll towards Temari. Akira concentrated on the Sand ninja. Once again, all Akira saw was a flicker, but this time, when Temari was standing still again, her fan was open a little and she was leaning on it. On the open part of the fan, there was a purple circle.

"First moon," Temari said simply.

Akira's eyebrows furrowed. She examined the fan and deduced that there was at least enough room for three of these so-called moons. If her hunch was right, the battle would be over by the time the third moon was revealed.

Tenten was getting frazzled at this point. Akira understood. Temari was slowly wearing her down psychologically and that could sometimes do more damage than physical attacks. More than that, however, Akira was sure she knew what Temari's fighting style was. Like Kai, Temari was a wind-style user, and that fan was an extension of her own body. It was the same for Akira and her tachi.

Just then, Tenten pulled out two other scrolls. She performed a number of hand signs and then crouched down, placing both scrolls on the ground standing up. The scrolls exploded and a large cloud of smoke filled the battlefield. Two smoke dragons rose from where the scrolls were and began spinning upwards in a helix. Tenten then jumped up inside the helix and began pulling out various weapons from the smoke dragons, throwing them at Temari. The Sand ninja smiled and unfolded her fan to the second moon, waving it in front of her to create a giant gust of wind that blew all of Tenten's weapons away. But then, invisible strings attached to Tenten's arms appeared. Akira followed the strings with her eyes and they appeared to be attached to every single weapon she'd thrown. Tenten pulled them up as she jumped in the air again, and sent the weapons flying towards Temari. However, the Sand ninja wasn't phased at all. She unfolded her fan to its third moon and, once again, blew all the weapons away. Tenten got caught in the gales of wind this time, and she flew backwards. To everyone's surprised, Temari swung her fan in front of her and vanished from view alongside her fan. Seconds later, Temari appeared behind Tenten, and with a strong swing, sent her flying upwards.

Temari folded up her fan and, when Tenten came back down, her back landed straight on top of the folded fan. Everyone heard the crunch of Tenten's spine as it nearly folded in half. Akira winced.

"That couldn't have felt good," she commented.
"Definitely not," Kiba said, looking slightly concerned.
"Oh, who's next?" Kai asked, looking expectantly up at the screen.
"Shikamaru, you're up," Akira announced.
"Against that Sound Village girl?" he sighed. "Great."
"Knock her out cold, Shika!" Kai cheered.
"Yeah, yeah."

Shikamaru lazily walked down to the arena and stood in front of the Sound ninja girl, Tsuchi Kin. Ino began cheering like a certified cheerleader, which was the first sign of life from either her or Sakura. As the battle began, Ino kept on going. Akira could see the annoyance in Shikamaru's face.

"Put a sock in it, would you!?" Akira shouted at Ino. "Let him think, dammit!"
"You put a sock in it, Uchiha!" Ino shot back.

With an irritated sigh, Akira pulled out a kunai and threw it at Ino's feet.

"Next one goes in your foot. Let him think."
"O-Okay..."

When Akira looked back at the fight, both Kin and Shikamaru were pointing kunai at each other. Shikamaru's shadow was extended towards her, trapping her in his family's signature jutsu. Akira attempted to analyse the scene, but she didn't get it. She never knew what the hell was going on in Shikamaru's brain. Then, Shikamaru made to throw the kunai and Kin mirrored his movements. As the kunai flew, both of them rapidly bent backwards to dodge. Akira nearly laughed. Contrary to Shikamaru, Kin had no room to bend backwards. When Shikamaru forced her to fall back, she violently hit her head on the concrete wall and knocked herself out.

"Now that's what I call using your head," Shikamaru said, standing back up.
"Did he just—" Akira sighed, smiling. "What an idiot."
"All right! Way to go Shikamaru!" Kai cheered, smiling brightly.
"Keep it down will you?" Shikamaru said, walking back to his friends. "You're almost as bad as Ino."
"Rude."
"Come over here, you," Akira said, beckoning Shikamaru over. "Let me get these senbon out."
"You don't hav—OW!"
"If you move, it'll hurt more."

Akira spent the next few seconds removing the senbon from Shikamaru's body and pulled out some bandages from one of her pouches to cover up any open wounds.

"Good as new," she said, looking content.
"Thanks. Can you fix your arms now?" Shikamaru asked, an eyebrow raised.
"No, that wouldn't be fair. Everyone went in with their fatigue and their injuries, I have to do the same."
"Quit being so noble—yeah, I'm up next!" Kiba shouted. Akamaru barked happily from atop his head. "Shame I'm up against Naruto and not you Kira. I would've loved to kick your ass."
"Keep dreaming kid," Akira chuckled.
"Eh, I'll just beat up the knucklehead."

Akira laughed, but it wasn't the laugh that her friends were so accustomed to. It sounded so innocent that it seemed sly, devious. The small mischievous smirk at the corner of her lips didn't help either.

"Don't underestimate your opponent, Kiba Inuzuka," she said, turning back to look at the battlefield. "That's the biggest mistake a shinobi can make."
"What's that supposed to mean!?"

Akira glanced at Kiba out of the corner of her eye.

"You'll see."