Chapter 19: Dead Last, Top Kunoichi

He's been itching for a fight for the last day, ever since Mister Shimura told him that Jiraiya was his godfather, and watching the fights that have taken place so far only made that itch worse. The genin that were around them, Team 7, spoke more and more as the fights progressed, loosening up as the tournament went on. Rock Lee started preaching of flames of youth, Dosu was doing his best to annoy Sasuke, and Kiba was all around grating. He and his team stayed quiet, with Naruto and Sasuke more predisposed to keeping to themselves in a crowd, Sakura followed their lead and they kept most of their words between themselves. However, their outward passiveness did nothing to calm the storm that was still raging about inside Naruto's mind.

Neji returned to the room in his own brand of stoic confidence after such a quick victory over the Sound Kunoichi, taking his place at Lee's side. None of the previous bouts' losers have returned to the participant's box, and the bodies in the room were steadily trickling down.

"If that's what to expect from a Hyuuga, maybe I'll have an exciting fight on my hands." Naruto turned to the Sand kunoichi that spoke in the direction of the two Hyuugas in the room, a smirk playing on her lips as she brought a hand to the top of the weapon mounted on her back. It was the first time Naruto heard her speak when it didn't involve some ominous warning about Gaara, the playfulness in her tone was almost jarring.

"I wouldn't assume that your opponent is anything like me, no matter how much she looks the part. Isn't that right, Lady Hinata?" Whatever the underlying meaning of Neji's words was, Naruto didn't know it, but he knew an insult when he heard one. Despite the older Hyuuga's comment, though, Hinata stayed as quiet as she always was. Naruto could probably count on one hand how many times he's heard her talk, always so official and proper, just as you'd expect from a Hyuuga heiress.

"I already told you to shut up, asshole." Kiba's voice was hard in his defense of his teammate, clearly understanding Neji's point more than Naruto did, and was backed up by the high-pitched barking of Akamaru at Kiba's feet.

"The fifth match is between Naruto Uzumaki and Kiba Inuzuka, both fighters make your way to the center of the arena!" Genma's voice echoed through the arena, calling for the end of the brief intermission given before the next fight. Naruto heard the tone shift of the crowd above them at the sound of his name, he felt the piercing looks that were directed at him from his right, and all of it served to motivate his need for a fight.

"Just sit tight, Hyuuga. I'll beat the dead last, then I'll come for your ass."

"Watch yourself, Inuzuka. I'm positive that this nobody is more than enough to beat someone like you, someone completely unknown to the strings of fate." Kiba expressed his anger immediately with him and his dog both launching themselves from the box and onto the arena field.

Naruto was not so outward in his anticipation to fight, with the murmurings that followed his name from those that have shown their distaste for him for many years, the watchful eye of Gaara drilling into the side of his head, and Neji's description of him, all Naruto wanted was a fight.

Nobody

All he wanted was to be someone to somebody, and yet he was still a nobody. Just some boy that was forgotten at an orphanage.

"Calm down, Naruto. Ignore it all, only focus on beating Kiba. That's it." Sasuke's words called from the other side of Sakura, and even though they weren't the most encouraging, they were enough to jerk Naruto from the stirrings inside his mind.

Just as he moved to leap over the ledge of the participants' box, Naruto saw Gaara doing something peculiar even for him. Two fingers covered his right eye as sand flowed from the large gourd on his back to an accumulating orb in front of the red-haired boy. Slowly, the orb faded from the light-brown sand and morphed into a whitened ball that, once sand stopped flowing to it, developed an iris and pupil, making a large eye staring at its creator.

Shaking his head, Naruto dropped to the ground far below the room he was just in. Chakra flowed into his legs, strengthening them, as well as his back, for his impact with the ground. His entrance to the arena field was met with loud murmurs from the crowd above, but Naruto didn't acknowledge them, he refused to. He's had too much practice, so it was an easy ask of him to focus squarely on his goal the whole way to the center of the field. His walk was leisurely, even as every fiber of his being called for a fight, choosing to listen to his teammate's advice and remain calm. Wind blew through the arena, making his hair dance atop his head, and the sun shone brightly down on his temporary battlefield, when he finally made it to the proctor and his opponent, Naruto focused squarely on the brown eyes of who he was about to fight.

He was wound tight, fists balled at his side and his face slowly pinching into a snarl, all that he needed was the words from the proctor.

"Listen, boys, you look ready to get after it, remember to listen for when I call the fight." The words felt directed at him, but that could've been in his head. Naruto would be the first to admit he wasn't at his best. His blood was pumping faster, his jaw was clamped shut, and all he needed was the word. "Begin!"

Without pause, Kiba flashed through hand seals, not even waiting for the smoke of Genma's exit to fully dissipate before taking action.

"Ninja Art: Beast Mimicry Four Legs Jutsu!"

Naruto watched as chakra visibly swirled around the Inuzuka, the stature of the boy hunching, his hands stiffening into something resembling clawed paws, and animalistic growls started escaping his throat, not dissimilar to the noises the white dog at his side was making. He refused to rush forward. Too many savage blows from Tenzo made him more than skittish to charge forward, the countless words that flowed from Mister Shimura's mouth and into his head stayed his hand.

When Kiba charged, Naruto wasn't caught off guard, he wasn't surprised at the burst of speed, Sasuke was faster, Kakashi was faster, Tenzo was faster, and he was definitely faster. As Kiba came, he went, digging a foot into the ground and pushing himself backward out of Kiba's range, his eyes never leaving his opponent. Kiba's missed attack flowed seamlessly into the follow-through of several thrown purple smokeballs.

There was hesitation, Kiba didn't keep moving after throwing the smokeballs, and Naruto saw an early chance. As the smokeballs flew toward his feet, Naruto rushed forward in a burst of speed, quickly closing the gap and driving his knee into the body of Kiba. As the boy stumbled back from the blow, Naruto made sure to keep him within striking distance, following up with an overhand right to his opponent's face. Before he could truly start to open up on the Inuzuka, a sharp pain clamped down on his extended arm, Akamaru viciously biting into his flesh.

Naruto immediately tried to pry the dog off of his arm, his left hand pulling at the clenched jaw of the dog with little success. He felt the telltale sign of an elbow driving into his chest that threw Naruto back, the jaws connected to his arm releasing in his backward tumble. Finding his feet quickly, Naruto barely slipped under the clawed slash of Kiba and stepped back to let Akamaru fly past him only to weave another slash at his face. Not wanting to stay on his back foot, Naruto drove a punch into the body of the attacking Inuzuka, followed quickly by a sharp elbow to the face that sent him tumbling backward. Akamaru tried to launch at him again, Naruto, only just catching the dog before it could clamp onto him again, threw the dog in the direction of the reeling Kiba.

It felt too easy, too simple. Kiba was coming at him like they were sparring and it wasn't enough. Naruto wanted a fight and this wasn't that.

Kiba caught Akamaru, choosing to lightly set the dog down instead of charging into another attack, and wiped the blood that now flowed from his nose.

"Fine, you wanna make this difficult, Uzumaki? Then I got something for ya." Reaching into his pocket, Kiba pulled out two pills, ingesting one while tossing the other to Akamaru. After another set of hand seals, Kiba called out once again.

"Ninja Art: Man Beast Clone!"

Chakra kicked up again, this time encapsulating Akamaru as it did Kiba. Slowly, Akamaru grew, his fur darkening, and in no time at all, next to a feral-looking Kiba was an exact copy of him. Two snarling Kibas stood in front of Naruto, their chakra elevated by the pill they took, and Naruto once again waited for their attack. He wasn't the one who had a repertoire of clan techniques, running into whatever the Inuzuka had planned was a surefire way to get himself into trouble, but the wait was a short one.

"Fang Over Fang!"

The transformed Akamaru didn't say anything, only the real Kiba spoke the words, but they both synchronistically flew at him. In a grey storm of limbs and claws, Kiba and Akamaru arced toward Naruto, carving trenches into the ground as they drilled at him. He could see them spinning away in a flurry, his eyes weren't some special bloodline like Sasuke's, but Naruto had enough experience with the Body Flicker to keep up with their movements as they barrelled at them in controlled chaos.

Naruto leaped to his right as they collided into the spot we were standing and watched as the two forms of Kiba slammed into the ground with a delay to allow one of them to bounce off the other and redirect themself at Naruto. Naruto charged at the Kiba that stayed put, rushing under airborne Kiba, and met the boy with a sharp punch to the face, another to the body, and with a grip on the boy's grey jacket, Naruto delivered a savage headbutt into the nose of his opponent with his forehead protector.

Naruto couldn't spin quickly enough out of the way of the wayward Inzuka that come barreling back into the fight, earning him a deep gash along his forearm from the clawed hand of the Kiba, pulling with it a chunk of his orange sleeve. Naruto evaded two more swipes from the Kiba before he heard another yell, "Fang Over Fang!"

Naruto was thrown from the impact that landed on the ribs behind his left arm, spiraling him off of his feet. He was, luckily, able to orient himself well enough in the air and fell into a roll back onto his feet, only to be forced to flicker away from a pair of grey spiraling Kibas. When Naruto finished his flicker his brain went into took little time to work through his next steps, swiping his right hand along his bloodied forearm, Naruto went through a series of seals before slamming a hand to the ground, clouding his spot in smoke.

"What ya want, Naruto?" The cheery voice of Gamakichi called through the smoke, but Naruto had to make it quick.

"When I call out, use the fire." Naruto couldn't risk letting Kiba and Akamaru attack him here so he quickly about-faced and rushed toward his opponents.

He looked to be just in time when he cleared the smoke his summoning created, seeing the identical duo in a sort of halted charge as he rushed forward. Naruto collapsed on the Kiba on the right, whoever it actually was, ducking the boy's swipe at him and raising up into a punch to the body only to spin out of the way of the other Kiba that lunged at his side. When Naruto faced forward again he was met with a punch to the face and another to his ribs, he ate both and sent an elbow to Kiba's nose. He was hit was another heavy force to his right side, but this time it was significantly lessened, driving him to the ground.

A small smile came to Naruto's face as he tumbled to the ground and the Kiba that barreled into him leaned over him.

"Just give up Uzumaki, it's over!" So it was the real Kiba that tackled him unless Akamaru could actually speak when he transformed.

"Now!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, making sure Gamakichi would hear it as he kicked a foot up into the face of Kiba, driving the ball of his foot into his already damaged nose, rolling backward after he did.

"Fire Style: Giant Flame Bullet!"

Naruto was glad that Gamakichi was generous with the size of the flame, it would've been worthless had he toned it down. Both Kibas turned around in surprise, the real one grasping at his bloodied nose, as Naruto explosively jumped into the air after regaining his footing. As he rose into the air, he saw the two forms of Kiba scramble out of the way of the large Jutsu that was directed at them, but neither could fully escape the flames that detonated near them.

Naruto landed in a crouch as he scanned the field, the Jutsu from Gamakichi kicked up a cloud of dirt that blocked his view of his opponents. Fortunately, he was aided by the frantic yelling of Kiba, who appeared from the dirt cloud as he peeled off his burning jacket with a string of curses. There was no hesitation in his movements, Naruto launched forward at immense speeds and drilled his shoulder into his opponent's stomach, bringing them both to the ground. Naruto mounted the boy and started raining down punches, the first few were blocked or were only glancing shots, but after the first solid strike landed the rest started landing through the now broken guard of Kiba, continuing to bleed the already battered face of the Inuzuka.

He finally felt it, the feeling he's been chasing since the day before, as he swung down on the slowly relaxing body of Kiba. The anger that he was holding was being massaged as each punch landed one after the other, something better than a stationary rock or a wooden pole, like he was actually doing something. A relief that he was thankful for.

As he pounded down onto Kiba's face, which was now more bruised than not, Naruto heard a ruckus from the settling cloud of dirt and immediately grasped the mesh undershirt the boy was left with before flickering them both from their positions. When they reappeared, Naruto saw Akamaru drilling past their previous spot with an attack meant to sweep Naruto right off of Kiba. Instead of continuing his pummeling of Kiba below him, Naruto yanked the dazed Inuzuka up with his left hand as he unholstered a kunai with his right. Naruto positioned Kiba between himself and Akamaru as he held a knife to Kiba's throat to prevent another charge.

"Yield." He didn't have to yell the words across to Akamaru, only to the ears of Kiba who was in his grasp, but all that came was a light gurgling noise from someone who wasn't totally conscious.

Akamaru stopped the moment he turned to see Kiba in Naruto's grasp and in a puff, the replica of Kiba was once again the white dog, now boasting scuff marks across his usually pristine pelt. A hand covered the forearm that held the kunai to Kiba's throat, keeping it in place as the voice of the exam proctor called throughout the arena.

"The winner is Naruto Uzumaki!" Genma's voice projected to the stands that looked down on them, but this time there was no mass of cheering that followed the announcement like all the previous bouts before this one. A few miscellaneous voices could be heard over the unusually quiet crowd, likely from those who either didn't know of Naruto's status as visitors or simply didn't care enough to let it dampen their spirits.

Genma let go of Naruto just as he let go of Kiba, letting the boy fall gracelessly to the ground as Akamaru trotted to his companion, and the blonde stood up with an air of defiance. The fight may have been stopped, but his heart was still racing and his mind was still focused on fighting, quickly turning its target from the Inuzuka upward. It wasn't the crowd he was chose to focus his snarl at, his eyes trailed to a lower target, namely the floating eye that surrounded itself with sand particles.

The eye born from whatever technique that Gaara performed revolved in a slow circle, its light green iris drilling itself into Naruto's cerulean ones. His heart only raced faster, a deafening wash of noise flooded his head as giant wafts of air sounded throughout him, stamping and growling coming at an aggressive rhythm, and the sound of metal being banged on echoed, all of it radiating from his stomach. Naruto could almost perfectly imagine the ruckus the Nine-Tails was making at Gaara's watching eye, and he couldn't even find it in him to fight the aggression that emanated through him. Gaara wanted to kill him to help justify his own way of life, his own existence, then he was going to have to fucking work for it.

When the floating eye finally dissipated into sand and floated back to its creator, Naruto finally made his leave of the arena. As he walked to the arena wall where the participants' box was located, he heard someone come to retrieve Kiba, but he didn't look back at who it was or what they did. Now that his head was starting to clear, he realized he did too much, went too far, in a fight with a fellow Leaf shinobi. He knew he could've pressed the knife to Kiba's throat instead of punching him…however many times he punched him. It was done now, though, and he wouldn't act as if he was sorry. Kiba was always an ass to him.

When Naruto made it to the arena wall, instead of climbing it, he bent his knees and in an explosion of chakra, he launched himself vertically, landing in a crouch on the ledge of the short wall of the participants' box. His eyes naturally trailed to the light-green eyes that he was previously being watched by, and continued the stare down with less heat than before, less noise from the prisoner in his stomach flooding into his mind. Gaara stared back with a face that gave away little, almost nothing entirely aside from the smallest of curls on his lip.

"You really are a monster, aren't you?" The voice came from the Sound team, the one that wasn't Dosu. Whatever his name was didn't matter, and neither did his words, it was nothing Naruto hadn't heard. Gaara, though, seemed more than ecstatic at the Sound-nin's words as his eyes widened slightly and his smile became more visible.

Naruto stepped fully into the room and dropped to the ground with his back to the wall as he turned his attention from the Sand Jinchuuriki and focused on his bloodied left arm that sported a sizeable gash from Kiba's lengthened claws.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" The words, or the tone, weren't what was alien to Naruto, but from whom the voice came caught him wholly off guard. His eyebrows shot up as he looked up to Hinata, who was now only a few steps in front of him and had her face twisted into all kinds of frustration. A complete 180 from the traditionally quiet and proper Hyuuga heiress. "Kiba is your comrade, a ninja of the Leaf, you didn't have to beat him like some kind of beast."

Her pale eyes showed nothing but anger, fists shaking slightly from their tight grip, and her mouth was twisted into a snarl. It was natural to be so defensive of a teammate, he was sure he'd feel the same way, and he knew she was right. Did he not tell himself the same things moments before? But he wasn't sorry. Through the corner of his eyes, he could see Sakura had fully turned to face Hinata from his right and took a step, looking to come to his defense in a physical sense.

"He was well within the rules of the fight, Naruto did nothing wrong." Sasuke's words were stiff and concise, so much so that it made Naruto want to laugh at him. Stiff and concise didn't do well to calm someone down when they were upset, but at least he was trying.

"He's right, Lady Hinata. Perhaps the fool shouldn't have run his mouth so much." Neji's voice, as opposed to Sasuke's, was filled fully with condescension and had little intention to calm the heiress. Even though Neji always addressed Hinata properly, he never seemed to say anything with equal respect to his titles.

With all the chatter, Naruto still had a gash that hasn't been tended to, so instead of joining, Naruto jerked at the ripped sleeve of his jacket and removed what ended up being at least half of it and used the removed fabric to wipe up the blood that coated his arm. Two parallel gashes arced from just above the inside of his wrist and arced into the inside of his elbow, nothing too deep, but not something he wanted to let be.

Naruto looked up to Sakura, who was still subtly standing guard next to him, "Do you have any bandages on you?" She looked down at him with brief surprise before a small smile showed on her lips. She didn't say anything, only tossing him a roll of bandages from her pouch before turning her attention back to the bickering genin around them.

Slowly, their chattering died back down to a tense silence, at some point Hinata backed away from him, and Naruto was able to wrap the bandages around his arm in relative peace. Luckily, the bleeding stopped on its own and he didn't have to deal with having to change the bandages anytime soon. By the time his forearm was fully wrapped and he stood back on his feet, Genma was already calling down the fighters for the next match.

"Sakura Haruno and Zaku Abumi come down for the sixth match!" The crowd was back to its usual cheer when Genma made his announcement, cheers echoed throughout the arena with a renewed vigor.

Sakura didn't move instantly, not matching Zaku's energy as he immediately left the room with hast. Naruto turned to his teammate, recognizing her nervousness as she gnawed at her bottom lip, but didn't know exactly what to say. He knew of her apprehension, that she didn't feel like she was ready for this, but he also knew that going out to fight thinking you're going to lose won't help anything.

"Kick his ass, Sakura." That's all he had and she knew it, her dry chuckle proved as much.

"And if you're going to lose, make him work for it." He supposed Sasuke was never an optimist, yet the dry chuckle turned into a full laugh.

"Thanks, guys. I'll do my best." Apprehension was still clear in Sakura's voice, but she didn't linger any longer. In a quick jump, Sakura entered the arena and took her place across her opponent with Genma standing in between them.

He had to give Sakura credit, even though she was nervous, Sasuke and Naruto seeing how nervous she was as the days led up to today, she still stood up straight in front of Zaku. She was as nervous as could be, but Sakura still showed only strength when she was out there.

The smirk on his face was absolutely grating on her nerves. It wasn't the same smirk that Naruto had when he beat Sasuke in a spar, it wasn't the same smirk Sasuke had when he outsmarted the both of them, and it wasn't the same smirk that Kakashi probably had when he said something to annoy all three of them. Zaku carried the smirk of someone who thought he was going to walk all over her, and after a month of hell from Anko Mitarashi, she couldn't let that happen.

Sakura held her hands in fists to keep them from shaking, she stared directly at Zaku to not acknowledge the giant crowd screaming above them, and she kept her mouth shut to stop any possible self-induced hyperventilation.

"Fight!"

Even though it shouldn't have, the abrupt announcement caught her off guard. She was too focused on not freaking out that she lost her awareness of everything else, but she was still able to dodge the initial charge of her opponent by leaping to her left and dancing backward a few paces. Space was everything to her, even though she was no longer useless in hand-to-hand combat she still didn't prefer it.

Zaku chased after her following his whiffed punch and they fell into a game of cat and mouse. Sakura was more comfortable on her back foot than her teammates, actually preferring it to taking an aggressive offense. Zaku was quick, though, and never let her gain too much space or set up any plans, when she dodged he followed with his fists flying.

They danced in circles, neither making a move outside of the basics. He would charge forward, she would dodge or weave the strike before retreating more, and he would try and cut her off to strike again. She noticed he never made to change his plan of attack, only focusing on taijutsu, but was steadily getting closer to her in their exchanges, or lack thereof. Strikes were clearing her body and head by less and less, he was getting closer to her and giving Sakura less room to breathe, and she knew that she would have to change something soon.

After ducking a swing, Sakura was more emphatic in her retreat, kicking off the ground with some intensity. Zaku wasn't tiring at all, and she knew it would be risky to hope that her conditioning was superior, so she fell into her go-to strategy. With the extra energy in her kickoff, Sakura gained some height and distance from Zaku and allowed herself the space to reach into her tool pouch and pull several senbon from it before performing a pair of hand seals. She wasn't as comfortable throwing senbon as she was throwing shuriken and kunai, but it was serviceable.

The chakra she sent for her technique reached Zaku just as she threw half a dozen needles at him, the half dozen he saw at the very least. Her genjutsu allowed another half dozen to go unnoticed in the shadows of the six she sent, so even if he evaded one set, the others would land true.

"Air Cutter!"

As the senbon closed in on Zaku, the Sound-nin merely lifted his arms up. From the palms of his hands, two giant waves of air exploded from them and dashed all the needles from their trajectories. Sakura's eyes widened in shock by the odd technique as she landed, a cruel smile crawling onto her opponent's face.

"Kin is way better at throwing senbon and genjutsu. If this is all you got then you might as well give up." Sakura didn't know what Zaku could do, all they had on the Sound team was Naruto's vague remembrance of the ambush from the Forest of Death. Naruto's memory was anything but airtight.

Zaku's counter was followed by a massive boost, the Sound-nin turning his hands behind him to speed up his charge with a triumphant grin on his face. Her mind worked quickly, acknowledging that she wouldn't be able to outpace him going backward like this, almost absentmindedly snagging something out of her rear pouch, slapping it on the ground, and instead of retreating backward, she ran forward at an angle away from Zaku's charge.

She narrowly escaped the attack, another scream of air hissing out behind her where she previously was after skating past Zaku's right. Her opponent's air technique was, however, joined by another noise. A delicate hiss made itself known from the "present" she left on the ground, turning around Sakura tried to find Zaku in the kicked-up dirt that he must've caused from his attack. Unfortunately, the Sound-nin wasn't ignorant of the sound himself and he was seen rocketing from the left side of the dirt cloud before a stiff explosion shook the arena grounds.

Sakura couldn't waste any time bracing herself from the explosion, she needed to take advantage of Zaku's distraction first and foremost. As chunks of dirt and rocks dusted her body and face, Sakura reached for as many shuriken as she could properly hold and looked to Zaku who was taking the time to cover himself with his arms from the flying debris. With dirt accumulating in her eyes, Sakura sent her shuriken at her target. They weren't the most well-placed shuriken, watery and scratchy eyes were not the optimal scenario for throwing, but they were close enough. Seven star-shaped projectiles arced at Zaku, the first cutting a forearm that was crossed in front of him, the others dancing around him with Sakura unclear on whether or not they landed true, and one distinct clang sounded out.

After her throw, Sakura was forced to rub at her eyes, no longer tolerating the stinging, dancing backward as she tried to regain her vision. When she was able to look back at Zaku she could only brace herself for the closed fist that was aimed at her stomach. It wasn't the hardest punch she's taken, not by far, but it was still a stiff hit. Throwing up a guard with her arms, she partially blocked a punch that was aimed at her face and was able to establish herself a little better. When she got a clear look at Zaku, she noticed the scratch mark that now lined the piece of metal on the right side of his face, evidence of her shuriken almost ending the fight off of a whim.

She was able to fully block or dodge the follow-up strikes, ducking a wild hook and blocking a high-kick albeit with some teeth-gritting, and threw a punch that hooked into her opponent's liver, or hoped it would, and a straight left that landed right on the Sound-nin's throat. She didn't bother with trying to hit the nose, ribs, or really any other more common spot that would be a waste of time. Like Anko told her, she didn't have the brute strength or endurance to break down her enemy, so she had to go for more precise and damaging spots.

Zaku stumbled back a few steps, gargling noises sounding from the well-placed punch to his throat and Sakura unholstered her kunai to try and stop the fight as quick as she could. When Sakura entered striking distance, her right-hand intent on stabbing into his torso with the knife it held, Zaku reached forward with his right hand, his left still grasping his throat, looking to stop her advancing arm. His desperate grasp missed, or so she thought. His reaching hand fell under her own but opened up as it found a home over her ribs as a piercing hiss of air filled her ears and she became fully airborne.

Sakura already couldn't breathe while she was in the air, all of her breath was lost in the force of her opponent's attack, but when she landed, Sakura was convinced she was dying. Not even Anko's crazy ass training made her feel this miserable. Still, she knew that laying on the ground wouldn't make her feel any better. Sakura tried to lift herself up with her right hand and find a way to her knees as her ribs screamed at every movement. The pain she felt was dulled, but she knew it was there. Her nerves exploded all down her body, but it was all numbed, something akin to barely hearing someone when your ears were covered.

Finding her way to her knees, Sakura was able to look at her surroundings once again, outside of the dirt that lay in front of her. She was only met with panic as Zaku was once again charging at her, and only out of instinct was she able to substitute herself from a nearby stone that took the next explosion of air intended for her. Sakura was crouched as she watched the Sound-nin looking for her from her spot in the vegetation near the arena wall, not being able to fully inhale due to the damage to her ribs and her body in full protest of any movements.

She couldn't give up, though, not yet.

"Where the hell are you hiding?!" His voice was scratchier before, and Sakura hoped it was still from her strike on his throat.

She needed to do something, anything to weaken him, if not to win then to help Naruto by weakening him for the next round of the tournament.

Striking up an idea, her left hand dug into her rear pouch, the right arm fruitlessly covering up her aching ribs, and pulled a vial that held a dark liquid in it. While Zaku was still calling out in the field in front of her, Sakura focused on sliding senbon into the corked seal of the vial, thinly coating the needles in the liquid. It was nothing drastically strong, and nothing that required some exotic antidote, but it was good enough for what she wanted.

Sakura, in the immense pain she was in, accepted that she probably wasn't going to win the tournament, but she never expected to. All she wanted to do right now was help make her teammate's path a little easier.

With almost a dozen senbon bundled in her hand, Sakura took as deep of a breath as she could handle and braced herself for her next movements. As fast as she could muster, Sakura stood and ran out of her cover to her left, looking only at Zaku. She only needed one to land, so she immediately started sending her tainted senbon at Zaku who quickly relocated her. He dodged the first, using his air technique to deflect the next few before starting to advance on her.

After half of her senbon missed their target, Sakura held back on throwing them. She needed to choose her spots carefully now that her surprise attack didn't work. She paused momentarily, allowing Zaku to close the distance as she did her best to not double over from the pain in her abdomen.

"A little closer"

She sincerely hoped that enough time passed to distract him from her tactic. When half of the distance between them was eaten up by Zaku's sprinting, Sakura made her pair of hand seals as discreetly as she could before she started running at him as well. Her chakra slid into his system easily, and when only a few yards separated them, Sakura launched all her senbon at once, hoping that the pair covered stayed that way. The needles spread out as they flew and covered the distance quickly enough that Zaku couldn't bring his hands up to disperse them fast enough, forcing the boy to dig his foot into the ground and leap to the side.

A wash of pride and relief filled her as she watched a needle, one that was covered by her hasty genjutsu, caught the inside of the bicep of an arm that was extended in Zaku's hasty evasion of her senbon. She was so relieved that she lost focus of herself, her ailing run not precise enough to prevent her foot from catching the uneven ground nor was she stable enough to stop her falling.

She was robbed of air once again, making it impossible to yell out when she hit the ground again as pain rocked her once again. This time it wasn't dulled. She felt the whole experience of agony radiating from her ribs and could only curl up in response and clamp her eyes shut. She heard Zaku say something above her but wasn't listening close enough to the world around her to know what he said. All she knew was that soon after Zaku spoke, someone slide their arms under her and picked her up at the expense of more pain.

"Sorry, there isn't a graceful way to do this, you're just going to have to work with me here." She knew the voice of her sensei all too well and it brought her some solace. The fight was over. "You did well, there's nothing to be disappointed about. Good work on landing that last needle."

The world around her stayed dark, she never bothered to open her eyes, but she was still filled with a sense of warmth, pride, at both her sensei's words and at the confirmation of her plan working. With the poison she put on the needle, Zaku will be feeling more than a little fatigued in time for his next fight with Naruto, and that means she achieved her goal. She helped.

Sakura may not have progressed as much as Naruto did, she wasn't as brilliant as Sasuke was while fighting, but she was still able to help. Anko did her job, made her stronger enough to not be totally useless in a fight, and showed her how to plan, be crafty, and be a little grittier. Sakura may not be as strong as her other teammates, but being able to help was an improvement.

She was happy with improvement.

We're chugging along here, I will say that as the tournament gets deeper, the fights do become longer and more detailed. The fight I'm writing now in the second round seems like it'll be taking the whole chapter. Exciting, exciting.