Disclaimers: I've said this a lot of times and I'll say it again: I don't own Naruto!

Author's notes: Sorry for my long delay of updation AGAIN! We have a lot of projects and other school stuff that we need to complete A.S.A.P! That's why I can't find enough time to update. Managing four fics at the same time is hard work, though I know that many other members experiences a lot more than that. Alright! Here are the replies to the reviews!

Magicians of the Yami: You're welcome! About your fic… as what I have said in my reviews for your fanfic, don't take the flames the wrong way because you will just fall down in the end. Take it the good way and learn from them. All people commit mistakes, and no one is a perfect writer. We all have flaws and that's why other members give you constructive criticisms and flames in order to help you improve. Don't worry! All people improve! You will, I will, and everyone will. Good luck! I'll be waiting!

sephynarutocloud: Thank you!

Abril: I'm sorry for this delay, but I'm updating now! Thank you!

xXxLiQuiD FaNtAsYxXx: I'm sorry if I didn't update that fast. I really have a busy schedule. Anyway, thank you! Peace!

izumi-17: I'm updating!

laZy hyuuGa: I know, laZy hyuuGa-san. But please repost it. Or just make another one entitled: "Go! Future Naruto! Continuation" or something. Please post another one starting from where you left off. A friend of mine gave me that idea for my deleted fic and now I'm working on it. About the aqua-character that you sent a long time back… I guess I'll just place her in the chuunin exams at my version two in another team. Well… thank you for your review!

stoictimer, Wormkaizer, Night-Owl123, Kirin Kage the Shadow Girl, Max Knight, and GreatMarta: Thank you for your reviews! I appreciate it all!

Author: There you go! Now let the chapter start!

Chapter 16:

"Yuro," Uesugi called. "Don't let us down."

Yuro snorted as he faced the two genins. "These are just a bunch of weak kids. I can take the first two out anytime. These two will be a piece of cake."

"Haruno-san, remember the plan." Ring whispered. Shinji nodded.

"BEGIN!"

Now = = = =

The two genins started off by splitting up. Gathering chakra on their feet, they sped up and started to surround the electricity-using ninja. Yuro snorted.

"No warm-ups for this match now." As Yuro said those words, he immediately started making swift hand seals. Ring became alarmed at the speed of his opponents hands and out of instinct, dashed towards him, hoping to strike.

Shinji squinted his eyes as he suddenly felt something wrong with the chakra flowing outside of their opponent's body. "Ring-san! Don't!" Shinji exclaimed as he soon found out what his opponent is planning.

However, it was too late, as soon as Ring touched the sound-nin's body, she suddenly screamed in pain. She sprawled down on the ground as she hugged herself with wide eyes.

"W-What was t-that…?" She stammered.

"He transformed his chakra into electricity and made it surround his body. Amazing…" Shinji whispered. Yuro smirked.

"So you found out soon, huh? Good one, boy. But now, how will the two of you attack when you can't even get near me?" He asked.

Shinji and Ring gritted their teeth. Ring stood up and got out her shurikens. Shinji's eyes were filled with confusion as he looked at his female partner. 'Ring-san, shurikens won't work on him. Drats. I guess I have to try.' Shinji thought as he quickly made a few hand seals and inhaled deeply.

"Lee-sensei, what do you think of this match?" Tai asked. Lee's eyes were filled with seriousness.

"Tai, this is an unfair match. That shinobi is too strong for Ring and Shinji." Lee replied. Tai's eyes widened in worry as he gazed back at his Haruno teammate whose eyes were still closed in concentration.

'Shinji… good luck my friend.'

'Haruno-san… what are you planning to do?' Ring thought to herself as she closed her eyes in concentration as well. 'Might as well make myself useful here.'

Orange and light green chakra started to form as the colors started to become visible. Yuro's eyebrows started twitching as he continued to observe the two genins.

'Whatever these genins are planning, I will attack first before they do.' Yuro then started to make swift hand seals he opened his eyes wide. "Dark Lighting no Jutsu!" He exclaimed.

The two genins screamed as pain started to consume them. They were almost finished but unfortunately, the lighting was so sudden that their concentration was cut off.

Gaara's eyes narrowed very slightly as he suddenly felt concern for his first and most likely his last student. The two genins were obviously hopeless since they haven't even landed a single attack on their opponent.

'Ring…'

The two genin stood up as hey panted hardly. Ring exhaled heavily as she stood up and hid her shurikens as another plan formed on her head. 'Ring, relax. Got to remind Haruno-san of the plan.' She thought as she stared at Shinji with determined eyes.

Shinji seemed to get what she was trying to say as he nodded, quickly performing hand seals as swiftly as he could as he started to concentrate his chakra on his eyes.

He opened them and stared directly at his opponent's eyes. "Blind!" He exclaimed as Yuro suddenly froze.

Yuro's eyes went whiter than the hyuuga's eyes as he held his hands over his eyes. "What the heck?! I can't see a thing!" He exclaimed.

"Ring-san! Now!" Shinji exclaimed.

"Alright." Ring then took out her shurikens and let her chakra enhance her shurikens as he then threw the shurikens swiftly.

However, Yuro felt the shurikens flying towards him. He barely evaded the attack as the shurikens scraped his cheek.

'This girl got skills. She knew that even if she let her chakra make her shuriken make more damage, it still wouldn't be able to reach me for my electric chakra barrier would deflect it. Instead, she enhanced her shuriken so that it would be able to pass my barrier and hit me even with minimal damage. Drats. I still can't see a thing. I still don't know if the attack given to me by that boy was ninjutsu or genjutsu. If I used Cancel to deflect this genjutsu and it turned out to be a ninjutsu, I would just be wasting my chakra. Crap! Itachi-sama, I don't want to use this attack yet but it seems that I would need to use it now.'

Yuro regained his composure as he raised both of his hands as a huge electricity sphere started to form.

Yamaru's eyes widened. 'I've seen this before…' He thought. 'It's the same technique that our opponent, Maya, used. But this time, this is three times stronger.'

Ring and Shinji's eyes widened as they also remembered the attack that was used against Reika and Yamaru at the last match.

"Haruno-san! We can't let the same thing happen to us!" She exclaimed.

Shinji nodded. "You're right Haruno-san! We need to attack. Electric barrier or no barrier, we got to attack him right now!" He exclaimed back.

Ring got out her kunai and started running towards the shinobi. Shinji curled his fists and concentrated his chakra onto his fists. He then started running towards the electricity using sound-nin.

As soon as they touched their opponent, electric surges started to scatter in their bodies as they started to get electrocuted. However, they managed to stay as Ring plunged her kunai deeper into their opponent's shoulder.

Yuro winced in pain as he let the genins attack him. But by the time he finally finished forming the sphere, his eyes widened as a sick smile formed on his lips.

"What are you smiling at?!" Shinji demanded.

"I'm smiling because you're going to die now!" Yuro exclaimed as he released the electric sphere and threw it at them.

The two genins' eyes widened as the electric sphere was aimed at Ring. Shinji was alarmed and pushed Ring back as his right leg was hit by the jutsu. Ring gasped.

"Haruno-san!" She ran towards Shinji and gasped. "You're bleeding badly!" She exclaimed. Shinji smiled weakly. "I'm alright." He then winced.

"Haruno-san, your chakra is starting to get depleted. You need to release the genjutsu or else you might lose all your strength." Ring gasped as she realized what she just said. She turned around to see their opponent chuckling.

"So it's a genjutsu, right? Then all I need to do is cancel it to get my eyesight back." He said, his voice full of malice.

'This is not good. This is not good at all!' Naruto thought as he took a step forward. "Ring! Shinji! Forfeit now! You can't defeat him!" He exclaimed.

Ring and Shinji both glared at him.

"Naruto-san, the moment Haruno-san and I stepped onto this arena, we already expected this to happen. We are going to finish this, right Haruno-san?" She said as he turned to Shinji.

Shinji nodded. "She's right Naruto-san. We won't turn our backs in this fight."

Yuro started to laugh. "Still playing though, huh? Pathetic." He said as he cancelled the genjutsu. Shinji was then forced to release his genjutsu as he started panting heavily.

"Ahh… it's good to get your eyesight back. Now…" He then started cracking his knuckles. "How shall I finish you brats?" He asked himself. "Ahh… I know."

The two genins gulped as their opponent concentrated chakra on his fists as electricity started to form. "It's time you brats." Yuro said as he dashed towards the two genins.

"Haruno-san! Move!" Ring then pushed Shinji out of the way as she then herself jumped out of the way, but Yuro's fists grazed her left arm. She then hissed in pain as she felt herself getting electrocuted.

She held her arm in pain. "What the heck…?"

The electricity then was shown on Yuro's fists. She gasped. 'He transformed his chakra to electricity and concentrated it on his fists. He's really strong. I need to confuse him. But how? I can only do basic jutsus.' Her eyes widened as she finally figured what to do. She took a quick glance at Shinji before looking back at her opponent.

'Haruno-san, stay there for a bit and recover. I'll see what I can do.' She thought as she stared back at Yuro. 'And now…'

She then started running towards her opponent as she made a few hand seals as two replicas of her appeared beside her.

Yuro smirked. 'Bunshin no Jutsu? Hn. As if I'll fall for that.'

The three 'Rings' pulled out a kunai. 'Enhance chakra on the kunais and stay hidden.'

"Alright then girl. Bunshin no jutsu won't work on me. Thunder Spikes Underground!" He exclaimed as thunder spikes suddenly appeared on the ground, hitting all three 'Rings'.

"Hah! Gotcha! Nani?!"

The three 'Rings' poofed. The two disappeared as the one in the middle changed into a log.

'Kawarimi no Jutsu, huh? Now where are you?'

"Looking for me?" A voice called. "I'm over here!" As Yuro turned around, Ring was behind him as she struck the kunai on his shoulder. Yuro hissed in pain as he kicked Ring away.

Ring poofed again and was replaced by another log.

'Again? Alright then. I'll make my Electric Barrier fiercer than before.' He thought as he concentrated his chakra more as he transformed it into electricity.

In the meantime, Ring was hidden on the floor with her camouflaging blanket. She took another glance at Shinji was still lying on the floor, wincing from time to time.

'Haruno-san, recover quickly.'

"Drats! If only we could help!" Ame exclaimed as she punched the wall beside her.

Mika gritted her teeth. "I don't want to say this outloud but Ring's my friend and I don't want to see her get hurt." She said.

Sasuke's sharingan was still blazing red as he glared at Itachi with hatred. However, everytime he gazes at the fight on the arena, he felt a slight tinge of concern.

Lan and Keiki were both clenching their fists with their sharingans in active. Both of them were obviously worried about the outcome of this fight.

"Ring-san… Haruno-san…" Hro whispered to herself as she slightly tightened her hold at the unconscious Reika's hand. "Be careful…"

Neji closed his eyes as he refused to look at the battle any longer.

Lee's eyes were obviously filled with worry, as his fists were turning white.

Gaara's eyes were starting to twitch as he and, surprisingly, even Shukaku, was starting to get angry at this situation.

Naruto was gritting his teeth as he took glances at Hinata from time to time, seeing that the girl was also very worried for the two kids. The Kyuubi was also starting to get pissed off. Naruto and the kyuubi wanted this to end now.

Yuro was searching frantically for Ring as his gaze landed on the other wincing boy. He smiled evilly. 'I've forgot this boy. Let's see what the girl would do now.' He thought as he started walking towards Shinji.

Ring's eyes widened. 'Haruno-san…'

Yuro suddenly held Shinji by the neck and squeezed, cutting off the boy's air supply. He started choking. "Ack…!!!"

Yuro's smiled widened as his eyes were filled with delight at what he was doing. "Hey girly-brat, if you want your friend to live, then come out now. You don't want him to die now, would you?"

Ring was starting to sweat hard. 'Haruno… Shinji-san…'

"R-Ring…" Shinji choked out. "I-if you can h-hear me… d-don't (choke) don't come h-here… (choke)… he'll kill us both…"

Yuro laughed cruelly. "You here that brat? He doesn't want you to die. Then maybe I should kill him now."

'No… I can't…'

Inner conscience: You'll allow him to die then?

'No…'

Inner conscience: Then go help him.

'I can't…'

Inner conscience: Then you'll just let him die.

'No.'

Inner conscience: The go help him.

'I can't.'

Inner conscience: Why?

'I'm scared.'

Inner conscience: What are you scared of?

'Death.'

Inner conscience: ………………

'I… I don't want to die. I'm scared. But… I can't leave him alone.'

Inner conscience: Then what are you waiting for?

'But…'

Inner conscience: Look at him. He's prepared to die just for you. Will you allow him to die like this?

'No… I don't want to.'

Inner conscience: Then go.

'B-but I'm – '

Inner conscience: Cut out the crap and go! Sometimes you're too kindhearted, you know that? You're always scared. But look at yourself a while back. Where did your courage go? You always said that you want Shinji to recover fast, that's why you're buying time.

'…………………'

Inner conscience: Go.

"What are you waiting for girly-brat?! On a count of three and you're still not here, I'll kill him for good."

'Nani?!'

"1…"

'No…'

"2…"

'I must…'

"Be ready."

'Shinji…'

"Thr…"

'SHINJI!!!'

Ring suddenly appeared and stabbed Yuro with six kunais on his back. Yuro hissed in pain as he let Shinji go. Ring kicked him away as she ran by Shinji's side.

"Haruno-san! Haruno-san!"

"Augh… Ring-san…"

"Are you alright?!"

Shinji smiled weakly. "I guess I recovered some of my chakra now. Thanks to you, Ring-chan." He said.

Ring blushed. "Maa… I just did that so that you can recover. Come on now! Stand up! We still have an opponent to finish." She said.

"I'm glad that you still remember me, brats." Yuro called as he threw senbon needles that were aimed for Shinji's side. At Shinji's state, Ring knew that he cannot dodge. He can't even move well at all.

She then figured out, that the only way was to block it. But Shinji can't even move his arms well. So she did what she thought was best.

Pluck!

"Ring!" Shinji gasped. Ring has covered him with her body as he took pain that the needles were suppose to give Shinji. Ring smiled weakly.

"What are you smiling a - " Yuro said but was then cut off as he suddenly felt something tingling inside of his body. Little by little, the tingling feeling turned into pain. He hissed.

"W-what the..."

Ring smirked. "Hn. The effect is taking its toll on you." She said. Yuro's eyes widened.

"What are you saying?"

"Don't you know that the body is composed of 80% water?" She asked... well... more like stated.

The shinobi's eyes widened as he realized what she meant. "No... so you planned this all along..."

Ring nodded. "Yes. Since you continued to use electricity type of jutsus, I fugured out, that if you continued to use your electric barrier, then it would easily take its side effect on you. Remember that water is a good conductor of electricity. Electricity easily scatters on water." She explained.

Yuro's eyes were wide with shock. "No way..."

"Onto the plan Haruno-san! Do it while the opponent is in the state of shock!" She exclaimed.

Shinji nodded as he swiftly performed the genjutsu that he was suppose to use a while back. "Darkness of Despair no Jutsu!"

Just then, Yuro started screaming as the horrors of his past started to play on his head. Whatever it was, it seems that they will never find out.

For the final strike, Ring weakly got out her last senbon needles and threw them at Yuro with all her might as she hit him on the critical areas. Yuro's eyes widened as he then fell down on the ground, unconscious.

Ring herself fell down on the ground with a thud. Shinji quickly wrapped his arm around her waist and placed her arm around his neck. "Are you alright?" He asked.

Ring smiled weakly. "I think so."

With that, the two went down the arena back to their group.

Itachi sighed and snapped his fingers. A sound-nin appeared on the arena and picked up the fallen shinobi back to the group in where Itachi looked down at him emotionlessly. "Take him away."

"Yes Itachi-sama."

With that, the sound-nin and the other fallen shinobi disappeared. Itachi's eyes slightly narrowed. 'It seems like the genins are stronger than I thought. Hn. The real game will start soon.'

At the other side of the arena, the rescue team went towards the two. It seems that they were all worried about the two. Well… who wouldn't be anyway?

"Ring!" Ame and Mika exclaimed at the same time. Shinji handed her to the other two sand-nins. Mika placed Ring's left arm around her shoulders while Ame took the right. The two then walked towards Gaara and placed Ring down.

"G-Gaara-sen…sei…" She started weakly. Gaara shook his head and did two of the impossible things. He hugged his genin and smiled.

"To tell you the truth, Ring, I was worried. Good job." He said.

Ring was shocked at what her sensei was doing. Gaara was hugging her… and… praising her? If she knew better, all of the other shonobis there all have their jaws onto the floor.

"Gaara, is that you?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

Gaara pulled away and regained his normal expression. "Hn."

"But you were… smiling… and hugging…" Naruto stammered.

(A/N: Oh my… is the world coming to an end?)

"Forget that happened Uzumaki." Gaara said coldly.

"Hah. Whatever." Naruto then turned back and stared at Lee and Shinji.

"Shinji, you alright?" Lee asked. Shinji smiled weakly.

"I'm alright, Lee-sensei." He replied. Lee patted his head.

"That was one of the best matches that you ever had, huh Shinji." He said. Shinji nodded as he sat down on the floor and leaned on the wall to get comfortable.

"Yeah…"

"Alright guys. Lan, Keiki, you're next." Sasuke said as he gazed sternly at his two sons. The two nodded with serious eyes.

"Let's go, Keiki."

"Right."

"Lan, Keiki." Naruto called. The two turned towards him.

"Good luck."

The two nodded and smiled slighty. "Arigato, Naruto-sensei."

The two then stepped up on the arena and waited for their opponent to arrive.

"Ah! My turn at last." Joan (Magicians of the Yami's character), said as she jumped towards the arena and stared at the two genins.

"Sasuke-san's children, huh? Itachi-san, your nephews, ne?" She said.

Itachi closed his eyes. Joan sighed. "I'll take your silence as a yes then. Don't worry. I won't hurt them that much, but I won't go easy on them." She said.

"Then don't go easy on us, old lady! We can beat you!" Keiki exclaimed. Joan smirked.

"Oh really then we'll see."

'This is the third match. Our group has two wins and zero loses while the sound-nins have zero wins and two loses. We need to win this round so that we can finally win this game. Kids, even though I haven't really taught you anything, I know that your father has. I have faith in you kids. Don't lose.' Naruto thought as he gazed at Hinata who was watching the battle with worried eyes.

'Win.'

Author's notes: Wah!!! I'm done! So what do you think? I hope that you like it. What pairings (among the kids) would you like? I've made a survey among my classmates and the first pair is LanxReika. Who else would you like to become a pair? Send in your votes please! Alright! I'm in a hurry! We'll be leaving within twenty minutes and I haven't even changed clothes! What do you think of this chapter then? Please review!