::Don't kill me please! I have a week and a half of classes left and three papers due next week, so Ayeka=busy. This story will get finished, but not right away. I'm very, very sorry. There, is that okay? ^_^'::
The stadium was filled with spectators. Hidden Snow Village didn't have that many exciting events, and everyone had shown up for this. Rumors were flying through the air like flies over rotten fruit. "Uzu's son is fighting…he's as tall as a mountain and only ten!" "They have a black-hared one fighting who wants to be Hokage and is only a teenager!" "I heard Kurai is going to promise to marry the winner." "Are you daft? They're all chuunin!"
Sasuke leaned against the wall of the underground entrance to the arena floor. His eyes were closed and every now and then his eyebrows would twitch. Naruto sat on the bench right next to where Sasuke was standing, looking out into the palely lit arena. The weather had apparently returned to normal after a few days of sunshine and the sky had huge clouds rolling by that allowed only indirect rays through. "Sasuke, what do you think of the village?" Naruto asked out of the blue. Sasuke's eyes opened and he looked at Naruto before studying the opposite wall and closing his eyes again.
"They're foolish." Naruto nodded. He didn't really understand how Sasuke thought the villagers were foolish, but accepted it as a possible explanation for what he had been feeling lately. There were no missions, no real trials to advance through the ranks, no kage position, and he had been asked what he wanted to do when he grew up—besides being Hokage.
The Snow chuunin (Sasuke and Naruto still thought of themselves as Leaf nins) were busily chattering and stretching and re-checking their weapons. Naruto had seen the last chuunin exam, and he wondered if this would be at all similar. He hoped so. A horn blast from the booth where the elders sat heralded the appearance of Uzu Suzaku in the arena. The crowd roared and he faced the participants' entrance. Naruto got to his feet and the other students shut up.
Finally… Sasuke thought. He wanted to fight. He wanted to know if he could get stronger here than in Konoha, otherwise he'd be back in that blizzard to leave. There was little chance of Sasuke finding Itachi in this hideaway. Uzu shouted, "Numbers one and two! Get out here!" Sasuke watched as a couple of boys walked out into the muted sunlight and the crowd went wild.
They nodded to the box where the elders sat and stood a few feet apart in front of their teacher. Uzu nodded to each of them and stepped back. "Begin!" They brought out their kunais and charged each other. After the first few strikes Sasuke felt his eyes drooping. This is almost painful… The only jutsus either chuunin had used were kawarimi and mud clones. The crowd seemed pleased, though. They were cheering for whichever boy they supported (for everyone knew most of the participants personally) and looked to be having a grand time. Naruto wondered if they would cheer for him like that.
The boy with a short ponytail won, knocking his opponent out with a kick to the chin. Sasuke looked at his face. "Don't bother measuring him up, I'm going to win," a voice said behind him. Sasuke knew it was Ichiro, number three, his first opponent. The medics took the unconscious boy away and the victorious ran over to get high-fives and congratulations from colleagues. Then a girl with black hair asked, "Think you made it yet, Rei?" The guy shrugged.
"Made it for what?" Naruto asked. The crowd quieted.
Rei sneered. "Strong chuunin get to lead teams of genin in storm excursions. Usually it's up to class performance and Uzu-sensei's judgement, but this time he selected all but the weakest students for a tournament so we can show him how good we really are."
Naruto and Sasuke traded looks. "Like the chuunin exam back home," Naruto said. Sasuke nodded and resumed his quiet meditation.
"Numbers three and four! On deck!" Sasuke walked out under the gaze of the villagers, ignoring their busy conversations. When a cheer went up he looked behind him. The golden boy Ichiro from earlier had come out and was waving like a hero on parade. Town of fools. Sasuke stood with his arms hanging at his sides, expression grim. Ichiro faced him and stopped waving, his smile still wide as ever.
"I'm not going to lose, you know," Sasuke said. Ichiro shrugged. Naruto's father eyed the boys and took a step back.
"Begin." Ichiro drew out a handful of shuriken and a kunai. Sasuke brought out his own kunai. Ichiro threw the shuriken from only a few feet away as he came in, meaning to limit Sasuke's ability to dodge the upcoming physical attack by sending flying shuriken to either side. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, calling upon his sharingan. Now he could clearly see the paths of the shuriken. He swung through them, avoiding all but one, which grazed his arm and only tore cloth. As he faced Ichiro once more he could see shock on the boy's face.
The stadium was silent. The villagers in the stands were shocked that the boy from outside had pulled off something like that. Naruto noticed the awe in the other competitors' faces and smirked. They didn't know about the sharingan.
Sasuke put the kunai in his mouth as he started to run. Ichiro also started moving, his mind spinning. What did he do to his eyes? How could he dodge the shuriken? And what's he doing now? Ichiro tried to interrupt Sasuke's run with a couple kunai and cut across to attack. It was the same strategy as before, and it wouldn't work on Sasuke so easily. Sasuke leapt above the kunai's path and started performing hand seals to an oldie but a goldie. "Fireball no justsu!" He exhaled a giant ball of fire into Ichiro's path.
The boy jumped out of the way, but his backside got a little scorched…along with the arena floor and part of the wall. The spectators closest to the wall began to look for other seats. This outsider boy meant business! Sasuke didn't pay any mind to the shifting of seats, he was gearing up for another attack. Ichiro was going to stop sometime…
Ichiro performed a few easy seals and two clones tried to come up on either side of Sasuke as Ichiro himself came down the middle. Don't have time for this… Sasuke just wanted this round over with, and he created his own clones to dispatch Ichiro's. The boys headed for each other, and Ichiro reached out as they got closer, attempting to land a hit across Sasuke's face. Sasuke easily ducked to the side and brought his own fist up into Ichiro's gut. The air whooshed from Ichiro's lungs and he slumped forward. Sasuke's clones joined him and then disappeared. The sharingan faded.
If he was the best this village has to offer, this tournament has meaning only as long as I win. He looked up into the stands, directly at his sensei Kakashi and Naruto's sister, Kurai. I win, I fight her. He turned and left the arena without even waiting for Naruto's father to announce his victory.
The following matches don't interest us much, and the cheers from the crowd seemed muted in comparison to that second fight. Then came the event most of the spectators had been the most eager to see. Uzu Naruto came out and the crowd cheered. Sakura blinked. "Th-they're all cheering for…Naruto…" she said to herself. Sasuke hadn't gotten this kind of reception. It was a reversal in roles she hadn't foreseen. Sasuke was always the star, the one everyone looked to for a show of strength and skill.
Naruto grinned and waved at the stands, getting louder applause. Kurai grinned from her seat beside Kakashi. They had gotten a few stares when they sat down, but the crowd's attention had quickly been snatched by the chuunin duking it out below. Now Kurai reached out and grabbed Kakashi's hand, anxious. The lazy-eyed jounin cast a quick glance down at their joined hands then up at Kurai's face. She was glowing. Naruto was also glowing, but his was from sheer energy and excitement. He turned to face his opponent.
And lost half of his smile. The girl who stood before him had dark hair, unlike most of the villagers, and a nervous smile. She coughed, her shoulders hunched, and nervously shifted back and forth. This is my first opponent? She's barely upright! Naruto felt gypped.
His father grinned a not-so-friendly grin. "Ready? Begin!"
Naruto performed his favorite technique, creating a couple clones who ran off into the shadows and hid. The girl stayed still. She coughed once and then attacked. Her movements were fast, with no excess motion. Naruto ducked and weaved, trying to keep up.
Kakashi frowned. "Is that girl a taijutsu specialist?" he asked.
Kurai chuckled. "That's Nina. She's had this cough since she was little, a kind of genetic defect I believe. Her parents held back from enrolling her in the Academy because they didn't think she could survive it. Once she started…" Kurai trailed off and continued to watch, wincing as Nina took a firm kick in the stomach from Naruto. "Once she started she began to feel healthier. She isn't cured by any means, but through intense physical and mental discipline she seems to have been able to get control.
"She's the strongest student in the village."
Naruto panted and brushed away the drip of blood that had formed at the corner of his mouth. This girl is tough! I don't even have a chance to use any jutsu—He attacked so she wouldn't catch on that he'd figured out how to beat her. The two clones stood and performed a couple hand seals. Naruto grinned and started to try attacking more, force her back a few steps. She gave up only a little ground before managing to take the upper hand again. The clones came forward and Naruto jumped away. The girl looked to either side, smirked, and brought her arms in close so she could knock the clones away.
When they hit, there was an explosion. The people in the stands rose from their seats, shock on their faces. The elders in their box gasped. What had the boy done?! Naruto grinned and crossed his arms, waiting. The smoke cleared, and revealed Nina still standing. A sigh of relief went through the audience. Nina was okay, it had just been a bit of flash.
Nina fell to her knees, then collapsed completely. The crowd hushed as Uzu Suzaku came forward and checked for a pulse. He nodded to Naruto and waved the medical crew in. An aging couple rose from their seats and hurried to the exit. Nina's parents. "Winner, Uzu Naruto!" There was a cheer. Not as loud as when Naruto first went on, but enough so the boy left smiling.
To make a short story shorter, we all know that once Sasuke and Naruto had beaten those two best in the Snow Village Academy that the other matches they fought were boring, fast, and only fun if you were there to see it. Now…for the finals…
::You will have to wait. I am out of time! I have two other stories to update besides this one… and I can already see the flames burning higher…*gulp::