Yosh! I got another one up...and man is my creativity and mental workings spent! Fear not for when I get my hands on a new CD it always comes back with a vengence! Thank the gods I got my car fixed...anyway hope you enjoy and thanks for the reviews!

"Speech"

'Thought'

"Kyuubi"

(Standard Disclaimer)

Chapter 33: Burn Out

Itami had no idea why she initiated the hug but...for some reason or another she felt this was needed, if not for comfort then for old times. She remembered how in the past he would give her comfort every time she had almost drunk herself into oblivion. How she would go off and nearly drain her Tokkuri of its warm nectar until Zaiaku would appear and offer her stay which, in her drunken state, she would readily agree.

She would cry her sorrows and all he did was sit and listen. He never complained about how he was alone in this medium sized apartment or that his childhood was just as messed up as her own. Whenever she woke up the next morning she would always find he was already awake in the kitchen cooking their breakfast while she sat around and tried her best to get rid of her hangover.

Once or twice members of the city council appeared on his doorstep and demand compensation for some village property Itami had broken in her drunken rage. Every time he would pay without a second thought no matter what the amount and the council would go away. She had told him several times to stop doing that but he merely smirked and said he could afford it. She always forgot the thank him...

Zaiaku sighed and wrapped his arms around his friend. Even if they had those days when they got on each others nerves beyond compare they would always rely on each other in their times of need. So was their friendship ever since they met. As they grew up together he rarely broke, she was the one who needed more support then him.

That didn't mean he wasn't human enough to break in the privacy and security of his own home. He may have been a sin but he was still a human born sin. One day Itami had dropped by and he had completely forgot to lock his doors. Needless to say she caught him in one of his lower points of his life which resulted in some harsh and soft words...and some bloody towels. She swore she would not leave until he was in his normal frame of mind and that ended in her staying the night. He never forgot that day...and how he never got to say thanks...

Itami sighed and pulled herself from Zaiaku's embrace. "Time to go..." Zaiaku released his friend who backed up and took a deep drink of her Tokkuri for good luck. Taking a running start she leapt for the railing but...she sort of miscalculated. As she leapt over the railing the very toe of her sandal caught the railing and she tripped falling quite a distance from the stands to the ground in the center ring.

Shouts of laughter rung though the entire arena while Katsu stared and thought, 'she defeated Pon?' Itami sat up with a drunken grin and said, "I'm good! I just tripped is all!" Maybe that drink she had before she leapt over the railing was the one that broke the camels back. Regardless itami got up and glared at Katsu like she had all her other opponents. She showed no fear in her emerald eyes, all that shone was the heavy desire to win. The desire to prove her worth to two people in the audience...well maybe three.

The Judge held his arm in the air ready to begin the match but he paused. He saw the two stare each other down with such ferocity he almost lost it but he calmed and brought his hands down with the shout of, "begin!" Without a word Katsu rushed forward his gloved palms open and ready to strike. Itami smirked and formed a few hand seals quickly, lucky for her this guy wasn't that much of a speed demon.

Bringing her fingers to her mouth she said, "Yo Honoo Baku Yaku no Jutsu!" taking a deep breath she expelled it in a massive ball of flame that Katsu swiftly evaded but from this huge ball of fire came small bits of ember. When Itami's fireball receded Katsu took this opportunity to rush her only to have an explosion throw him to the side. He landed on his feet only to have yet another explosion send him flying.

Katsu turned his eyes to the ground seeing it covered with the embers the fire ball had caused. That was why the attack was named that way, the embers were miniature bombs! Katsu twisted like a cat in the air and landed with his feet in between embers and his gloved hands on the ground steadying his fall.

Itami began to sweat, god this guy could take a punishment and not only that but he moved like he didn't even have a skeleton. Itami then formed a few hand seals then aimed her sights to the ground setting off each and every ember leading to Katsu. Katsu leapt high in the air avoiding the explosions only to see a massive stream of fire aimed right at him.

His body twisted at inhuman angles in the air and just avoided the concentrated stream of fire. Itami's eyes snapped open, not everyone moved like that or dodged her Katon: Hiya no Jutsu. Itami growled and formed three hand seals then clapped her hands together only to have them burst in flames, "Gouka Kobushi!"

Katsu looked indifferent as he fell to earth only to gracefully land on his feet and rush at Itami. Even with her hands aflame Itami formed several seals and called out, "Kami Hi An Mittui Hontai!" The sacred trinity flashed below Katsu's running form and another below her. She opened her eyes to the speeding ninja and saw her lightly glowing targets. Showtime!

She rushed at Katsu, her fists blazing and her eyes focused on the three points of her liking. When they met it was trading glancing blows swiftly and powerfully. Itami managed to find and opening in his defense and attacked with her fist effectively hitting her target and burning his skin in the process. She reached back and was about to strike again but then it happened.

Katsu moved like rubber and grabbed her right shoulder. With a brief wave of chakra he had completely destroyed her shoulder and any hopes of her doing a quick jutsu. Itami clenched her teeth in pain and stopped her attack as her targets faded and her flames extinguished themselves. "It's over," Katsu said as he planted his foot into Itami's side and sent her flying.

Katsu jumped after her prone form and with another deft kick he heard a satisfying crack and Itami slammed to the ground in a crater. Katsu nodded his head and turned to leave, his match was done. The girl was finished and besides she wasn't his target.

Itami lay in the hole, her ribs hurting like hell while her shoulder screamed in a pain one thousand times worse. She clenched her teeth and bit her cheek, she refused to scream! Her mind flashed with images, images of her fathers dark glares of her mothers cold shoulders. Itami on sheer will power forced herself to stand and began to make hand seals with her arm hanging limply at her side.

"Kami hi San Mittui Seikou!" Itami growled while the sacred trinity flashed below her and Katsu. What happened was not what was intended though. From the trinity came three minuscule flames that twisted around Katsu harmlessly..well almost. One of the small streams of fire caught the very end of his hair and scorched it before it faded off into nothingness.

Katsu froze, that girl had just attacked him. Didn't she know when to back down and die! "You...drunk...bitch..." Katsu snarled in his growling voice as he turned and readied his gloves to make short work of her life. Itami saw what could possibly be the end of her life taking it's time in approaching her. This gave her some time to ponder what her life exactly was.

She saw the painful memories play like a movie reel. It was the first day she began her ninja training at the academy. She asked her parents to help her with a few simple chakra exercises. Her father glared her into a grave while her mother refused to even look at her. "You're weak, you can't be a shinobi," was what her father had drilled into her head ever since she could talk and understand words.

"If you didn't crawl out of my womb I wouldn't believe you were my daughter," her mother would comment nonchalantly as if it was an every day thing. She remembered those comments her entire life. She was reminded of them each and every day and all she ever tried to do was get them to stop! To hear a simple, "our beautiful and powerful daughter, and without Suiken too!" Those words would make her life...then again so would four words from a certain golden eyed ninja.

That got her thinking about the golden eyed boy. What did he think of this...how did he feel seeing her on the edge of demise, the death gods nipping at her heals. Itami turned her eyes to the stands and found Naruto, a snarl on his face while he screamed at the judge to stop the match. Next to him stood Zaiaku, his face contorted in the most powerful vision of hate the world could imagine.

She saw him staring directly at Katsu who was slowly making his way to her. Zaiaku growled audibly over the entire audience then turned to Itami, his eyes pleading as he yelled, "ITAMI MOVE!" Itami smiled to him, maybe it was a good thing she hugged him earlier. It was probably going to be the last contact she would have with him ever...

Itami turned her attention back to Katsu, an aura of killer intent surrounding him like an ominous miasma. 'Damned if you do damned if you don't,' Itami thought with a smirk. Right now she didn't care what her parents thought. If she made it out of this she would move out as soon as possible...maybe ask Zaiaku if he had a spare bed.

Itami's hands began to forms seals viciously as she poured whatever remaining chakra she had into this. "Damned if you do damned if you don't," Itami muttered as she finished her hand seals. "Got to hell! KAMI HI SAN MITTUI SEIKOU!" she yelled as her chakra poured out and her jutsu began.

With those words a large trinity appeared below Katsu who stopped in his spot one foot away from Itami. What the hell was happening? As if to answer his words from the three corners of the trinity three huge fountains of chakra made fire erupted from the ground. Slowly the three fountains began to twist into spirals and in no time Katsu was trapped in Itami's towering soul fire tornado. The flames roared and the pure force and heat from the jutsu made any low level ninja in the arena come close to fainting.

Itami smirked as Katsu was trapped in her massive spinningtower of flames that was just inches from her face. That was it, she had beat the hell out of that Snow wanna be! Itami began to laugh but was cut short as she finally felt the pure impact of her injures. Just like that Itami passed out from her injuries and chakra usage. Unfortunately for her that was not the case for Katsu.

As the tower of flames died down all that remained was Katsu with his clothes torched severely. His sleeves that used to reach the ground had now become nothing revealing that Katsu's blackgloves came up all the way to his shoulder and all along his arms were those deadly beads. His face was still covered with that odd scarf which must have been fire proof. His pants had large holes burnt into them revealing the burnt skin beneath. Those things however did not register with Zaiaku and Naruto.

All they saw was Itami hanging be her neck in Katsu's gloved hand. "You little bitch..." Katsu growled as he tightened his grip on Itami's neck. "You injure my team mate then attempt to make a mockery of me. I'll kill you!" Katsu snarled as he prepared his chakra to completely destroy Itami's neck.

"ITAMI!" Zaiaku yelled as he got ready to jump up and over the railing while Naruto began to do the same. Suddenly the entire arena floor was covered in a thick mist that hid everything from view. Zaiaku growled, what the hell was going on now! Suddenly Zaiaku heard a loud earth quaking snap that caused him along with the rest of the stadium to cover their ears in pain.

As the mist cleared Katsu was on the ground several yards away apparently being the focus of that snapping sound. In the place where Katsu had been close to killing Itami stood Taishou, Itami slung over his shoulder. "This match is not to kill. Disable and the match is done," Taishou said with a deadly serious glare on his face.

"YOU IDIOT!" came a scream from the other end of the arena. Everyone turned to see Anko, her face red hot from with anger. "You busted every single one of my 52 cameras in this place!" Anko seethed as Taishou looked to her in confusion. "Oh...sorry," Taishou said with a wide smile and nervous scratch of his head.

(Random)

Somewhere far away in the land of Sound, sitting at a fuzzy monitor with his glasses shining bright Kabuto stared into the static with a sigh. "I can't count how many glasses I lost when that idiot was around..."

(Random end)

"Itami!" came the call of two Genin as they rushed of to Taishou. Taishou laid Itami on the ground and checked her pulse. "Anko can you get a medic team here?" he asked completely serious. "On their way," Anko said as she crossed her arms and left in a puff of smoke. She wasn't exactly a medical specialist so she made her exit and returned to the control room to keep the place monitored with the equipment not destroyed.

"Move," came a sudden loud and commanding voice from behind the two genin and their instructor. They moved and allowed passage for the legendary healer that went by the name of Tsunade the Hokage of Konoha. The legendary Sannin knelt next to the body of the fallen Genin and ran her body once over with a scanning jutsu. Her shoulder was powder...her ribs were broken..some internal bleeding...her inner ear was screwed up with vibrations...really low chakra...other then that she was peachy.

"She'll live she just needs to get to the hospital," Tsunade said just as medic ninjas arrived to collect the injured. As they left with Itami Tsunade turned to face Naruto and said, "Naruto when this tournament is over we are going to have a LONG talk about THAT!" She swiftly pointed to the upper stands where, sitting between the two Kages seats was a massive throne which held the one and only Kyuubi. Naruto could only sweat drop as the Hokage left for her seat to listen to the fox that was worse a pervert then Jiraiya and more carnage twisted then Orochimaru.

Naruto turned and faced Zaiaku who's face was twisted in rage while his hands shook. Naruto looked for that sick minded Snow Genin but found he had already returned to the stands. That jack ass was waiting for the next match to be decided, Uzumaki Naruto versus Onigiri Zaiaku...

End Chapter

Well that is that! Well I say it's time for some Q and A!

Q: (again) What did Kyuubi tell Gaara and Tsunade?

A: I still have christmas cookies so you'll have to wait! sorry!

Q: Cliff hangers galore?

A: Yes...I particularly love cliff hangers since it's so easy to stop at them! Sorry!

Well that's that! Sorry por vu but I have no preview, I just got caught up on this then exhausted my thought tanks. Well thanks for reading, later all!