Chapter 3: The Chuunin Exam
Hellfire vs. Sandstorm
Three days have passed since their date. " We're officially together" Keiji thought while clutching his new treasured necklace. He lied on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, having flashbacks of their date.
He closed his eyes trying to fall asleep, but failed. All he could do was think about her, the pink haired angel. Keiji stared up at the ceiling and eventually fell asleep. He dreamt of the two of them laying side by side staring into the stars. Early the next morning, Keiji heard a knock at his door. He quicky dressed himself and rushed to answer it. He opened the door quick, hoping he wasn't too late. It was Sakura. " We're gonna be late Keiji-kun, we were supposed to meet at the arena ten minutes ago." " Sorry Sakura-chan, I over slept." " Its ok sleepy head" Sakura said while poking his stomach. They hurried for the arena, only to find a huge crowd gathered around the middle, they were all genin from the other teams.
They quickly joined up with their other teammates. Before either of them could ask what was going on, someone approached the center of the ring. It was the referee. He cleared his throat trying to quiet the crowd. At that moment, he began his speech about the rules. "The rules are the same as last time, the match ups will be displayed on that electronic screen on that wall. The only difference is, you will be fighting in teams. The matches remain one on one. Each match will contain only 4 fights. If your team wins, your team will progress to the next match, if your team loses however, you will remain genin until the next exam." the ref ended. " There's no way I'm gonna lose to these wannabe ninjas" Naruto preached. "Your such a loser Naruto." Sasuke added. Keiji looked around anxiously. "There's a lot of strong ones here. I hope Sakura-chan doesn't get hurt." Keiji thought. " We will begin the exam." the ref said pointing at the screen.
The screen lit up and began searching for names.
It lit up again, but this time it showed the names of the two teams. Saiyuki Keiji vs. Gaara and his team. The two fighters approached the center of the ring. " Are u both ready?" the ref asked. "Hai!" they replied. " You may begin" the ref said. Gaara released the sand out of his gourd. Keiji jumped back several feet from the sand. The sand began moving towards Keiji at an incredible speed. Keiji dove under the sand
And made his way for Gaara. When Gaara was in reach, Keiji attempted to punch him, but a wall of sand caught his fist. " Damn this sand is annoying!" Keiji thought. Gaara just stared. Keiji began throwing punches left and right trying to land a hit on Gaara, but failed due to the sands speed. " Keij you better beat that Baka!" Naruto shouted. " You can do it Keiji-kun!" Sakura cheered while waving while jumping up and down. Keiji looked and nodded. " I have to get past that damn sand…but how?" Keiji muttered.
Keiji performed a quick hand seal, sending flames to distract the sand. Fire and sand clashed causing a smokescreen around the two genin. When the smoke cleared, only Gaara was present. A moment later Keiji came crashing down, delivering a devastating heel drop on Gaara's head. Keiji smirked, as Gaara fell face first onto the ground. Keiji looked down at Gaara and noticed a crack on his head. " What is he!" Keiji said stepping back. Gaara slowly got to his feet and performed hand seals of his own. " Sabaku Kyuu!" Sand began covering Keiji's left arm and right leg. Gaara then closed his fist, crushing the bones in Keiji's arm and leg. Keiji collapsed screaming in pain. "KEIJI-KUN!" Sakura screamed. Blood covered his arm and leg. Keiji staggered to his feet, trying to stand up right. He looked at his arm and leg, both dripping with blood.
Ignoring the pain, Keiji performed another one of his hand seals, only this one was different. It took a little longer to complete this one. When Keiji finished, an enormous dragon made of fire flew around the ring and headed straight for Gaara. The sand defended Gaara from the dragon's assult. " Perfect! I'll burn him along with that annoying sand with "this" technique." While Gaara was distracted with the dragon, Keiji limped behind Gaara, while gathering chakra throughout his body. " I'm in range" Keiji said to himself. " Hellfire Jutsu!" A burst of flames swarmed Gaara engulfing him and his sand. The flames spiraled around Gaara like a twister pulling him into the air. Once Gaara was high enough in the air,
Flames from every direction rushed towards him and exploded. The explosion was in the shape of a cross. Gaara fell to the ground followed by his sand. Gaara was unconsncience. " WAY TO GO KEIJI-KUN" Sakura shouted. " Gaara is unable to continue, winner of this match, Saiyuki Keiji." The ref announced.
Keiji limped back towards his teammates, but collapsed halfway there. "KEIJI-KUN" Sakura screamed as she rushed to his aid. She helped him up and walked him back to the others. " Thank You Sakura-chan" Keiji said closing his eyes as she walked him back. " That was impressive." Keiji opened his eyes to find Kakashi looking down on him. " I'll take it from here Sakura" he said. Sakura nodded and gave Keiji to Kakashi. Kakashi carried Keiji to the infirmary where he would be takin care of by ANBU. It was time for the next match to begin. They looked at the screen waiting for the names of the next challenger's names to be displayed. The names of the two combatants flashed on the screen. Haruno Sakura vs. Kankuro. The ref
Signaled for them to approach the ring. " Are you both ready?" the ref asked. Sakura gulped " I'm ready"
" I'll make it quick and painful" Kankuro boasted. " May the second match begin" the ref announced. " There's no way I can beat this guy! He's from the sand village!" Sakura thought. " He relies on his puppets to fight for him, so he's weak in Taijutsu and Ninjutsu" she said to herself. Shortly after, Kankuro brought out his puppet expecting the match to be over quick. The puppet began is attack on Sakura by shooting needles at her. Sakura deflected them with ease. " The girl is stronger than I expected" Kankuro thought.
Kankuro sent his puppet after Sakura, grabbing her from behind and began crushing her. Her bones began to snap and crack. Sakura screamed in agony as the puppet continued to crush her. Blood began running from her mouth, dripping to the ground. Before the puppet could finish her off, Sakura remembered the training Keiji gave her. Sakura grinned and formulated a plan. She began sending some of her own chakra inside Kankuro. Shortly after, flames began shooting out of Kankuro's body, causing him to collapse. Smoke came out of his mouth and the holes in his body. He lie there motionless, eyes wide open. "As if I had to check" the ref thought to himself. " Winner by death, Haruno Sakura." " WAY TO GO SAKURA-CHAN, THAT WAS A GREAT FINISHING MOVE! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU HAD A MOVE LIKE THAT!" Naruto yelled while leaping with joy. " Thank You Naruot-kun" she replied. " Kakashi-sensei." "What it is Sakura" "Is it alright if I stayed in the infirmary with Keiji-kun?" "Wouldn't you rather wacth the other matches?" he asked. Sakura shook her head no. Kakashi smiled " Very well Sakura, you may go." She went to the infirmary and sat at Keiji's bedside for the remainder of the matches. " Keiji-kun will be hungry when he wakes up, I should get him something" She found some apples sitting on the table across the room. She began peeling some and cut them into bite size pieces. " I hope he likes apples." She said while peeling one. 5 minutes later, the rest of their team came in with exciting news. " Did u finish the matches that fast?" Sakura asked with a puzzled look.
" That's what I'm about to say, they gave up after watching their two strongest fighters get beat so easily." Kakashi said grinning. " What losers" Sasuke said. " For once I agree with you Sasuke" Naruto replied. " It doesn't matter now, you won that's all that matters." Kakashi said coming into the room. " Still asleep I see, oh well, he deserves it. That reminds me Sakura, where did u learn a trick like that? I don't recall teaching any of you a move like that let alone seeing it." " Keiji-kun taught it to me, said he made it up." " I see" he said looking down on Keiji. " What a guy" he thought. Keiji lay there dreaming of his childhood or hell hood is what he sometimes called it. He was standing with his back to the wall crying, surrounded by angry villagers. Every time something went wrong in the village, the villagers would blame Keiji. They all feared him because of his fire elemental powers. The villagers feared that one day Keiji would turn on the village and kill them. During this time, Keiji couldn't fully control his powers. One day a villager was burning wood, little did he know the other logs caught fire. The villager was too busy staring and women that happened to walk pass. Coincidently as Keiji passed by, the flames began spreading throughtout the village. " YOU SON OF A BITCH!" yelled the villager. "THIS IS YOUR DOING!" The other villagers began gathering water to douse the roaring flames. After the fire was put out, the villagers yelled at Keiji. "You had no right to start that fire!" " It wasn't me" the young Keiji replied taking 3 steps back. The villagers began throwing rocks and other objects they could find at Keiji until he ran home crying. " It wasn't me! It wasn't me!" he yelled back to them.
When he returned home, his own father treated him no different than the villagers. He would find some reason to hurt Keiji. Only his mother excepted him. He went into his house and was greeted by his mother. " Happy Birthday Keiji-kun" she said putting an emerald necklace around his neck. It was his sixth birthda " Thank you mother." He replied. Shortly after, he headed back out to the hill top, where he often went when he wanted to be alone. " Why…Why do they hate me so much?" That question always ran through Keiji's young mind. He sat up at the hill top looking down on the village. A moment later, he noticed a crowd with pitchforks and torches moving towards his house. Keiji quickly rushed back to his house to find the villagers, led by his father attacking his mother. The villagers held onto Keiji, while his father dealt with his mother. She kept telling her son to look away, but the villagers kept his head from looking away. " Take a good look at your son." His father said to her. " He will be the last thing you'll ever see." "Keij…" her statement was cut off as she fell to the floor with a knife in the back of her head. " MOTHER!" Keiji cried out trying to break free from the villagers grasp. " You will die a slow and painful death." His father said jamming a knife into Keiji's right shoulder. " Why Father? Why did you do that to mother?" Keiji said as blood oozed from his shoulder. " Because you're an abomination! And anyone who could care about a thing like you deserves to die!" his father replied kicking his mother's corpse. Keiji went into shock and began crying. Flames began dancing around Keiji breaking him free from the villagers. Villagers began bursting into flames. All that was left was his father. " HEAR ME WELL KEIJI, I DON'T REGRET A SINGLE THING I'VE DONE!" his father said before he was engulfed in flames. Keiji immediately woke up from his slumber. He looked around the room. He found Sakura sleeping at his bedside. " It was just a dream" he said.
