Akimichi Chouji; 2 Years Later

Age 14

-His Predictions-

I was SO excited to watch the chuunin exam tournament. Not only did Shikamaru promise to watch it with me, but Ino was in the tournament! I knew she'd do well and become a chuunin.

I don't see much of either of them anymore. Shikamaru is a jounin now so he's always off on missions or working with the Hokage. The Hokage has sort of made him one of her personal slaves and makes him run a lot of errands for her. I make fun of Shikamaru a lot for it, but I'm secretly really jealous of him.

As for Ino, I never saw much of her because she tended to skip training sessions a lot. I thought maybe she was giving up on becoming a good ninja, but it turned out that she's been training on her own this entire time. She certainly did surprise me with all her new taijutsu training that was suddenly so much better than mine. She definitely dragged me through the exam leading up to the preliminaries to the point in which I was on my own. She easily fought her way through the preliminaries and rightfully deserved her spot in the tournament.

I was sitting in my seat, waiting for Shikamaru to arrive.

He was usually a little late for things, but he promised me that he'd meet me here almost an hour ago.

But I waited patiently anyway.

It wasn't that hard to wait anymore when all the fighters for the tournament came out. I recognized everyone except two people from other villages, but I felt sorry for whoever was up against Ino.

I think it was Hinata.

I looked around everywhere for Shikamaru, but he was nowhere to be found.

"I hope Shikamaru gets here soon…" I mumbled to myself. "He's going to miss the tournament…"

The predicted winners of the tournament were Lee and Sasuke. But I had a feeling that Ino was going to be in the finals too. People just didn't know her name very well.

I mean, she had only recently become such a good ninja. She didn't go on very many missions because she never showed up for training, but she was a lot better than most chuunins. Sure, it's not like I know that for a fact, but as my personal opinion.

She DID go on a B-rank mission with three chuunins, but I think it was just a learning experience for her. Besides, the mission wasn't all that hard, I heard. Someone had put it in the B-rank section because it was bordering on B and C, and they just wanted to be safe. Ino had been pretty disappointed when she got back, but I told her it was nothing to worry about. After all, they didn't normally isolate a single genin from the rest of her team to go on a mission so she should feel lucky enough for that to have happen.

I've never even seen the B-rank scroll.

"Hey Chouji," I heard a voice behind me. I turned around to see Shikamaru there.

"Shikamaru!" I said, moving over so he could sit down.

"Sorry I'm late." He said. "The Hokage wanted to talk to me about things. I have to leave after the first set of fights."

"Why?" I asked.

"The Hokage." Shikamaru answered, rolling his eyes.

He was always so vague with his answers, especially when it had something to do with the Hokage and something she wanted him to do for her. I guess learning how to answer an interrogating question was one of the first things someone had to learn as a jounin who was close to the Hokage.

Shikamaru was PRACTICALLY a special jounin, so I don't know why the Hokage didn't just make him one. Maybe it's because Shikamaru didn't want to have to deal with all that, but he pretty much dealing with it already. He was ALWAYS near the Hokage.

"Oh that's okay, Shikamaru." I said. "I don't mind."

I really did mind, but what was I supposed to say in opposition to the Hokage? I didn't want Shikamaru to get in trouble for not listening to the Hokage but I also didn't want to have to sit alone.

"Who's up first?" Shikamaru asked.

"Sasuke and that kid from the Mist village." I replied. "I don't think it'll be much competition for Sasuke, though."

"That's for sure." Shikamaru said. "It kinda makes me feel sorry for him. Then again, you have to feel sorry for anyone who's up against Sasuke."

"Shikamaru, Ino's going to have to fight Sasuke if she wins her fight." I said.

"If Ino gets beaten by someone, I'm sure she'd rather it be by Sasuke than someone else." Shikamaru said wisely.

He had a point there. I couldn't hear anything the examiner was saying from where I was, but Sasuke and the kid from the Mist Village came out to the fighting area to begin the tournament.

Shikamaru was right when he said there would be no competition. If I had blinked then I would have missed the fight because the Mist Village kid was defeated in a matter of moments. I knew Sasuke was thinking about how great he was, but I don't know how he could possibly feel satisfied after a match like that.

"Now it's Ino's fight!" I said as the medical ninjas carted the Mist kid's beaten body off the field.

"She's only up against Hinata." Shikamaru said. "She should be fine."

"I don't know, Shikamaru!" I said. "Hinata's the one who beat ME to get into the tournament after all!"

"Yeah, but didn't Ino beat that guy from the Sound Village?" Shikamaru pointed out. "She'll be fine."

The field was so far away that it was difficult to see the fights, but I could get the gist of what was going on. And, as I watched Ino and Hinata make their way onto the field, I actually almost mistook Ino for someone else after my initial glance.

"Oh…Ino cut her hair again." I noticed as she and Hinata took their fighter's stances.

She didn't really look like a she anymore. I bet a lot of people thought she was a boy since she really did look like one.

"She looks like a boy." Shikamaru sighed.

"Ino's really focused on becoming a ninja." I said. "I mean, if she's willing to cut all her hair off for it, you know she's serious."

"I guess so." Shikamaru agreed.

Ino had certainly toughened up a lot. Ino two years ago probably wouldn't have been able to fight Hinata with the intensity that I saw. Even Shikamaru looked a little surprised.

"Ino's gotten better than I thought." He said.

"I bet she could beat YOU, Shikamaru!" I said in an entirely joking manner.

But he didn't laugh.

"You know," he began. "She might actually give Sasuke a run for his money."

"I think she might be able to beat Sasuke." I said truthfully.

"This might be a little mean, but I'd love to see that just so Sasuke could be devastated." Shikamaru said.

I laughed. Shikamaru was so funny!

But the more I thought about it, the more I considered… if Ino had been in possible winning position over Sasuke, would she really defeat him? After all, she's looking to win his affection but if she beat him, she and I both knew that that would have some serious consequences on their relationship. However, I don't think there's much of a relationship to gamble with that this point.

Minutes later, Ino had won.

The crowd cheered for her.

I don't think anyone except Shikamaru and I really expected such a performance from her. I think Hinata was the popular expected winner of that fight.

This meant that Ino really DID have to fight Sasuke.

"Who do you think will be in the finals in the other bracket?" I asked, pulling out the program.

"Why don't we just take one fight at a time?" Shikamaru suggested.

"It'll probably be Lee…" I said, looking over the names. "Or Naruto… maybe…"

"Keep in mind we don't know what to expect from that girl from the Sand." Shikamaru reminded me.

"That's right!" I said. "For all we know, she could win the whole thing!"

"I wouldn't go that far." Shikamaru said.

"Yatara from the Sand Village…" I read. "She's fighting against Kiba."

Almost as soon as I had said that, both the girl from the Sand and Kiba came out to begin their fight.

I had never been a particular fan of Kiba's style of fighting but obviously it worked. After all, he was in the tournament and I wasn't, which definitely said something.

I wasn't impressed with anything the Sand girl did. But Kiba certainly seemed to be having an off day because he wasn't working with his dog well and wasn't really completing any of the seals.

"Neither of these two will become chuunins." Shikamaru said.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "How do you know?"

"They need more training." He answered.

Yatara from the Sand did end up winning, but she was unable to fight. It was pretty close to a double knockout, but I had to agree with Shikamaru. Neither fighter had done anything spectacular that would potentially impress the Hokage or the people in charge of promotions.

"I think people have been anticipating this next fight the most." Shikamaru said. "They all remember Naruto beating Neji two tournaments ago. And Lee did incredible work last time."

"How come Lee didn't become a chuunin last time anyway?" I asked.

"It's that ninjutsu genjutsu thing." He replied. "It's hard to overcome something like that."

"Well, Lee is a good fighter." I said. I saw Naruto and Lee come out into the opening where the fighting was to take place. Shikamaru was right about the crowd wanting to see this fight the most. They were all immediately silenced.

"Lee will win." Shikamaru predicted. As of right now, all of Shikamaru's predictions had been right so I got the feeling that Lee would win.

I didn't really care either way since I didn't have any sort of an attachment to Lee or Naruto. But whoever won this fight would be fighting against Ino or Sasuke in the final rounds so I knew they were both fighting hard. That was probably their main incentive to win.

The fight was pretty intense, but it was a lot of the same thing over and over. At first, I thought it could go either way.

Lee must have been thinking the same thing too because once there was a short break from the fight, he removed the weights on his legs. The damage created after he threw them suggested to me that they were even heavier than two years ago when I had first seen him take them off.

I can't say I was emotional either way when Lee won. I knew Naruto really wanted to be the Hokage someday, but I also knew Lee wanted to prove to everyone that he was a great ninja even though he couldn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu. So I guess I would have been happy for the winner and sad for the loser either way.

"Naruto won't become a chuunin." Shikamaru said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Not enough." He answered.

Interesting. I thought Naruto had performed well. But Shikamaru used his Jounin eyes to see that wasn't so.

"Ino and Sasuke's fight is next." I said.

"Hm…" Shikamaru said out loud.

No prediction? I was amazed to see Shikamaru had no prediction for this round.

I watched as Sasuke and Ino came onto the fighting grounds. I was almost at the edge of my seat in anticipation. A lot of the crowd was interested in watching too because they all wanted to see the famous Uchiha fight… but I just wanted to watch Ino.

"GO INO!!!" I cheered.

"Chouji, she can't hear you from all the way up here." Shikamaru said.

"Maybe she can!" I said.

Shikamaru didn't respond to that.

Sasuke attacked first but Ino countered well.

From where I was sitting, I couldn't make out which hand seals they were doing, but once the field was engulfed with flames, I figured that Sasuke had used one of his fire moves that tend not to work.

Ino countered that as well with her OWN attack. Actually, it was her father's, but she had mastered it at only the age of fourteen.

Then they proceeded to throw shuriken back and forth at each other, attempting to attack while the other was distracted by catching the shuriken but both were too quick and on their guard.

"Do you think Sasuke is going easy on her?" I asked Shikamaru, trying to see over the head of the person in front of me who had decided that he needed to stand up right then and there.

"He looks like he is." Shikamaru replied. "But that could just be because Ino's gotten good."

"Do you think she can win?" I said finally.

Shikamaru watched the fight for a few moments without responding. I went back to watching the fight as well.

Suddenly, "No." he said.

She was too careless. Sasuke was famous for using your own attack against you to finish you off, and that's pretty much what he did.

The crowd erupted with cheers as the medical ninjas came trotting onto the field.

"Oh Shikamaru…do you think Ino will become a chuunin?" I said with a sigh as I looked over to where Shikamaru was only to find that he wasn't there. Then I remembered that he was supposed to go and see the Hokage at the beginning of this round. I hope I hadn't gotten him in trouble.

Ino had done really well, and spoke to Sasuke for a minute before finally going with the medical ninjas. I never thought that Sasuke really deserved her, but I was glad she seemed to be making a good impression with him.

The final match between Sasuke and Lee was scheduled to occur in just ten minute's time.

I overheard two ninjas speaking behind me.

"That was a cool fight." Said one.

"Yeah, but I was kinda hoping the blond guy would win."

"Why? That kid's the Uchiha."

"I know. But the blond guy was a better fighter."

Blond 'guy' they said.

But I was glad that the rest of the ninja world was acknowledging Ino's skill as a good ninja. I don't know if I would say she was better than Sasuke, but I don't think anyone in that crowd that day would be able to say that Ino didn't give it her all and perform to the best of her ability.

I thought maybe I'd go and visit Ino in the medical area. After all, I didn't really mind at this point whether Sasuke or Lee won so missing the final battle wouldn't affect me. After all, I didn't like sitting there all by myself.

So I got up and went off to the medical area and entered.

Plenty of people were there, but no one really took any notice to me as I went over to Ino who was being tended to by a medical ninja.

"Hi Ino!" I said.

"Oh, hey Chouji!" she said with a smile.

"You fought really well!" I complimented her. "I heard a few guys talking about how you were more impressive than Sasuke!" I chose to leave out the fact that they had referred to her as a guy.

Ino laughed a little bit, but she looked slightly sad. "I don't know about that." She said.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "You did great!"

"I was hoping to win." She said. "If I had won, no one… not even Sasuke would be able to deny that I am a good ninja. And maybe, if I had won, Sasuke would have realized that I'm doing this all for him so that I'll grow up to be the woman he'll marry!"

"Ino, you should do it for yourself, not Sasuke!" I said.

"Chouji, you'll understand once you find a woman you love." She said.

"I guess I will." I said with a shrug as I heard the crowd cheer, which signified the beginning of the final round.