They were all gathered in the hall. Eight teams had made it. They were informed by the moderator that they would be holding a preliminary round as there were too many who made it through. It would be a one on one fight tournament style round. They were given a chance to leave if they wished, to which Kabuto obliged. She looked over to see Sasuke holding onto his shoulder in pain. He didn't look too good. Once the hokage had explained all the rules, they were ready to begin. A huge screen appeared and the first names were drawn.

Sasuke Uchiha vs Saori.

"Of course it would have to be you, wouldn't it?" She said with a half smile. In truth she would have been happy to fight Sasuke, Naruto or even Gaara.

"I'll make this quick."

"That's my line." She looked at him with menacing eyes. They had the same confident smirk. The match began and Sasuke made the first move, charging at her which she easily dodged by diving underneath him. She spun around and used the back of her ankle to kick and sweep his legs from under him. He stopped his fall with his hands and flipped backwards. He came at her faster. As she flipped backwards, her necklace was revealed.

"That necklace... I knew you already knew those sand ninja, but why do you have a necklace with their symbol on it?!" Sasuke shouted, it got the crowd murmuring.

"It was a gift. In fact... it's the only gift anyone has ever given to me."

"How do you know them?"

"It's... a long story."

"I'm sure we won't mind hearing it." The crowd nodded in agreement.

"First you'll have to beat me!" She moved forward but was stopped by Sharuka.

"Hey, what are you doing."

"Uh, this is such a pain..." She said. Then the hokage stepped forward.

"We've been informed that you've just been requested for an S rank mission, you will no longer be able to compete in this chunin exam."

"What's the mission?" She asked.

"There's a war about to break out between two clans, I don't know the details, but one of the clans has hired you and your team as medical ninja for them."

"Pfft, I'm not doing that."

"This isn't a negotiation."

"So yet again we can't complete the chunin exam because of a mission." She was frustrated.

"Im sorry, Saori."

"Whatever. I won't lie, I wasn't going to be able to use my full potential anyway. We'll have our fight one day." She turned back to the hokage. "I have one condition. Allow us to stay and watch The rest of the matches. Then we will leave."

"As long as you can make up for that lost time, very well."

They removed Team S's names from the tournament. Sasuke needed a new opponent. The board lit up and where her name was, a new one was being put in. Sasuke Uchiha and some guy called Yoroi Akadō. She knew Sasuke would win, despite the pain. Evidently it was only because of Rock Lee's move that he was able to get the upper hand and win. The fights went on; Zaku Abumj vs Shino Aburame, Misumi Tsurugi vs Kankurō, Sakura Haruno vs Ino Yamanaka, Tenten vs Temari, Shikamaru Nara vs Kin Tsuchi, Naruto Uzamaki vs Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyūga vs Neji Hyūga. Finally the moment she had been waiting for. Gaara vs Rock Lee. She went and stood by Kankurō and Naruto.

"Well, we already know how this one will turn out."

"Yeah, this guy with the dumb haircut doesn't stand a chance." Kankurō laughed.

"Wrong!" Naruto shouted. "Lee is stronger than you think." The match began and Lee went straight in with his leaf hurricane tai jutsu, however he was blocked by the sand. He had to dodge the incoming sand that was pouring out of Gaara's gourd. Lee went in again, this time throwing punches all round and fighting back the sand. He narrowly escaped. Kankurō had to explain to Naruto that the sand acts on its own accord. Lee got thrown around by the sand, yet he kept coming at Gaara with his tai justsu. Once again Lee was forced back by the sand.

"Alright Lee, take them off!" After Guys words, Lee got excited. He removed his leg weights, the weight of which stunned everyone as they crashed to the ground. Lee's speed had increased drastically, his kicks were nearly landing, throwing Gaara off. There was a slight look of panic on Gaara's face. The sand was barely keeping up with Lee's barrage of attacks. Finally a kick landed.

"No way!" Saori was in shock. She's never seen anyone manage to hit Gaara. A few more kicks landed. The sand was stirring.

"Uh-oh" Kankurō was now worried. The sand shell coating his body started to fall off piece by piece. Kankurō and Temari saw how unstable Gaara was becoming. His inner demon was excited by having such a different opponent.

Lee began running circles around Gaara and then one after another he landed a series of kicks. He wrapped Gaara in this bandages and used his Primary Lotus. When the dust had cleared it seemed as though Gaara was down for the count.

"No... Gaara..." Saori was worried he was hurt. Just then the hard shell of sand cracked and crumbled. Gaara had avoided the attack. "Thank goodness." She was so relieved. Gaara appeared from the sand. He was laughing. Sand flew at Lee, and he stumbled to get up, his legs damaged by the effects of using the primary lotus technique. Gaara bombarded him with attacks. Lee managed to dodge the next barrage, but Saori could see he was in such bad shape.

"To be honest, I'm amazed he's lasted this long. He doesn't quit, does he?" She turned to Guy.

"Never. Lee doesn't know how to quit." He replied.

Even in his state, Lee was able to dodge again. Finally Lee opened the third gate, and his chakra was flowing powerfully. He went and opened the fourth gate straight away and moved faster than ever. He kicked Gaara upwards and sent him flying. Lee had disappeared. The sand wasn't able to move fast enough to protect him, and the sand armour was cracking again. Lee then tried to open the fifth gate. Another punch and Gaara was in trouble. He landed another punch but this time instead of letting Gaara land, he grabbed hold of his bandage and pulled Gaara towards him. Kakashi had noticed that Lee's muscles were tearing themselves apart. Just before Gaara landed, his gourd turned into sand and cushioned his fall. Gaara had never had a fight like this, but he wasn't quite finished. Lee saw Gaara preparing an attack and began to crawl away. The sand was creeping towards Lee, who was unable to get away. The sand wrapped around his left leg and Gaara used his sand coffin technique. Lee screamed in pain, yet he was not ready to give up. Just as Gaara was about to deliver a fatal blow Guy stepped in to save Lee who was now unconscious. Gaara questioned Guy as to why he would save someone who failed. He explained that it's because Lee is precious to him. Something Gaara couldn't understand. Gaara was walking away when the unbelievable happened. Gaara stopped in his tracks. Lee was stood up, blood dripping from his left arm. Guy went to stop Lee when he realised that he wasn't even conscious. Gaara was announced the winner.

The way Guy and Lee were... it made Gaara angry to see. Finally the match was over. Naruto jumped down to see Lee and Gaara walked away. He stopped when he realised the cloth he kept tied around his hoard was gone. He looked around for it and saw it on the floor as it had come off when his gourd turned to sand. As he reached to pick it up, Naruto grabbed it.

"Give that to me." Gaara said sternly and held out his hand.

"Why, what's so important about a raggy piece of cloth?"

"Give it to him now, idiot. It's not worth losing your life over, is it?" Kankurō shouted.

"Fine." Naruto looked closely at it, he noticed a familiar symbol on the blue cloth. He knew he'd seen it somewhere but it just wasn't clicking. Lee had to be rushed off by the medical team. One of the medical ninja informed Guy that Lee will never fight again due to his injuries.

"I've never seen you have to put so much effort into a fight, Gaara." She smiled. "Still, I knew you would win. It was honestly, one of the most exciting fights I've ever seen."

"Hm." Gaara closed his eyes and walked away. It was his way of saying thank you to her.