The screen flashed and two names appeared on it. Rock Lee and Gaara of the Sand. So, everyone's attention shifted to them, both of them standing down, on the arena, facing each other. It all went down just like in the anime, the fight was beyond marvelous, Lee was a genius in his own right, to be able to have such speed was inhuman, then he jumped on the big hand statue. Watching the fight I realized that it was going to end just like in the anime...
Gaara would win. Just like I did in my match.
Gaara would severe Lee's leg. Just like I did in my match.
Gaara wouldn't feel remorse. Just like I... I trembled and my comrades around me turned to me, giving me a worried look. I shook my head, smiling slightly, indicating that I was alright, but in fact, I wasn't. Guilt began eating me from the inside, remembering what I did to Sakura. Why did I do it? She was already losing, I didn't have to be so brutal! I began pushing my guilt away, into a faraway corner in my mind, but it kept coming back and I felt myself suffocating between my friends.
"Alright, Lee! Take 'em off!" Gai-sensei ordered with thumbs up.
"But Gai-sensei." The boy saluted. "You said that was only a last resort when the lives of very important people were at stake." Gai told him that it was an exception and he could them off, Lee proceeded as told and took his weights off him.
"Alright. Now go!" Gai ordered and Lee took off.
I looked around, trying to find a way out, I couldn't stand around so many people. It was hard to breathe, I needed more space. I spotted Neji standing alone, not far from his sensei, he was watching the match with a calculating look, his arms crossed. Seeing that he was closer to the exit, I decided to stand next to him, maybe I'd feel better.
"Shikanai?" I got up and my brother looked at me.
"I'm alright, I just want to talk to Neji." I began walking slowly past Naruto and Kakashi, both of them looking at me, and stopping near Neji. "He's good. How long did it take for him to acquire that level of speed?" I asked, leaning against the railing, while Gai-sensei eyed me, but he kept talking to Team 7.
"He had trained since before we became a team," Neji told me and I nodded.
"He's going to lose though," I stated, mimicking Neji's pose, straightening, and hands.
I felt myself breathing more easily, which was a good sign, but I was feeling a little bit wobbly. I was watching the fight, but my mind was still caught up in the fact that I was so barbaric towards a comrade of mine. That was when Lee kicked Gaara in the head.
If I saw myself in Gaara, Lee would be Sakura. But Sakura didn't even touch me. She was too weak for that, the genjutsu was too good for her. But Sakura scarred me, my guilt was her weapon. While Lee attacked the outside, maybe Sakura attacked the inside. Or maybe I was just losing my mind and overthinking it.
"And why do you think that?" Gai-sensei turned to me and I had to take a moment to remember what we were talking about.
"A hunch." I shrugged, playing it off nonchalantly, Neji eyed me and nodded, but didn't comment. That was when Gai-sensei erupted with his youth speech. "So loud." I muttered.
"You don't know the half of it." Neji sighed, I pitied the guy.
Then Gaara got hit again and slowly he began getting up, bits of his face falling and turning into sand. I stepped closer to the railing, Neji came closer as well. Gaara was grinning, his scars fading, sand erasing them. If I was Gaara, then I would be a monster. Heh. Maybe I was a monster, after all, some were fearing me and calling me the Genin who killed a jonin. But seeing Gaara like that, both intrigued me and terrified me.
"Neji, I think we've got one to look out for," I said quietly and Neji nodded, using the Byakugan he looked at Gaara.
"He's got immense chakra reserves and his sand is fully enveloped in his chakra." He told me, Lee was getting bolder and faster with his moves, using his Primary Lotus. "His chakra is not normal…" Neji trailed off and I turned to him. "It feels strange." He stepped back surprised. "Just what is him." Looking down, Gaara began cracking like a vase and fading into sand bits.
I didn't comment, only keeping my eyes on Lee, feeling sorry for the guy. Gaara began chuckling darkly and sand began attacking Lee. That look in Gaara's eyes, it was familiar, it was the look of a pained soul living in madness. But why was it so familiar?
"It's over," I said and Gai-sensei, Naruto, and Kakashi-ni-san turned to me.
"Just what do you mean?" Naruto asked. Gai-sensei and Kakashi-ni-san began explaining how the Lotus is a double-edged sword, but I shook my head.
"No," I told them. "That look." I kept staring ahead, watching as Lee was basically crushed by the sand. "I know that look. That's a look of those who desire blood." That's the look I see on my face. Naruto gasped, but I kept my eyes locked on the battle. Lee was losing, so I sighed and stepped back.
Then Lee moved away from an attack with incredible speed, surprising all of us.
"He's still able to…" Neji began and I snorted, knowing very well what happened.
That was when Kakashi realized it too, he got angry at Gai, barely restraining his anger. Lee opened the first gate with his Lotus, he opened the second and the third gate. Then Kakashi and Gai began to have a dispute and I sighed. Lee began having immense power, his chakra showing around him. I gasped at the sight and at the feeling of the power. I quickly made my clan's jutsu, crouching down, touching the floor, hoping that whatever I could do in the Forest of Death would work in there as well. I could immediately feel everyone around me, then I felt Lee. His heartbeat is so fast... Interesting.
"Shikanai?" Neji asked and Lee opened another gate, I quickly retreated, hissing in pain.
"Fuck it, what's he doing," I asked aloud.
"So, what did you say, about him losing?" Gai smiled.
Fuck it, Lee was going to lose, either way. Then Lee moved and the floor exploded around him, Gaara was hit. Lee kept hitting Gaara, Gaara's armor crumbling. Neji used his Byakugan, but he could only stare in amazement. So that was the Hidden Lotus. That was both incredible, mesmerizing me with it, but also so dumb. Then Gaara got hit badly, so that when he landed, the ground broke around him, the explosion sending even us back. But Gaara was still able to fight.
"LEE! MOVE!" I shouted.
"GET AWAY!" Hinata shouted. I quickly moved to try to jump over the railing, but Kakashi grabbed my wrist.
"If you go there, you'll be eliminated."
I fucking didn't care. But then I heard it.
"Sand Coffin." Gaara's voice and Lee screaming in pain, Kakashi let my hand and I couldn't move, only watch, frozen in place as Gaara wanted to kill Lee with his sand, but then Gai-sensei appeared next to Lee, and the sand dissipated. I stepped back, bumping into Neji.
"Shikanai, calm down." he put a hand on my shoulder and that was when I realized I was shaking. Lee got wrecked. Badly. I couldn't watch it anymore, I turned and put my head on Neji's left shoulder, still shaking. The boy tensed for a moment, but then he slowly put his left hand around me, keeping me in place.
"I quit." I heard Gaara's voice.
"Huh? What does that mean then, Kakashi-sensei?" I heard Naruto and then Kakashi explaining how it was too late for Lee.
Then Neji gasped, turning back I saw Lee standing. Not able to watch all that was going on, I stepped away from Neji, exchanging looks, I slouched and began walking away, but when I reached Naruto I stopped.
"When we fight. I want you to be at least as challenging as Lee was in this match." I spoke lowly Naruto turned to me with wide eyes. "You'd still lose, I'm too much like Gaara, but it'll be memorable." he nodded with a serious look, and I moved away.
I walked to my team, and my brother's team, none of them turning to me, all of them watching what was going on in the arena. I sighed, knowing the verdict the doctor would give Gai-sensei, none of us heard what was said, except Naruto, who was standing there, next to Gai-sensei's shaking form, watching as Lee was taken away.
"Easy for you to say it's over! But what about Bushy-brow? What's he supposed to do now?" Naruto began shouting. "Failure! I thought you said we could win! I thought you were gonna show how a failure can… It was all a lie, wasn't it?" Naruto's voice wavered and Kakashi appeared, and silenced the boy, putting a hand on the boy's mouth, his other hand on the boy's chest.
"Well, that was troublesome," Shikamaru muttered. "That guy, Gaara, is somebody to look out for." I nodded, watching the red-haired boy.
The next fight was Ino vs Neji. Neji got Ino easily, after all, Ino wasn't trained any technique outside her clan technique and Neji was a genius. But he didn't go hard on her, so when Ino realized how weak she was compared to the older boy, she forfeited.
"Now then, the last competitors, please come down," Hayate said and Naruto and Misumi jumped down.
It wasn't a long fight, I barely watched it, my thoughts turning to Gaara. That maybe I'd be the one ending up fighting the boy. That would turn out interestingly. Naruto used his clones and Misumi lost track of the real Naruto, Naruto punched him and the fight was over. What a terrible match.
"And with that match, the Third Exam Preliminaries are now finished," Hayate announced.
The Hokage, Ibiki, and Anko used shunshin to appear down, in the arena, and we, the ones that made it through the preliminaries walked down. We stood, head held high, back straight, Team Gaara, Team 8, the only from Team Gai, Neji, the only from Team 10, Shikamaru, and Naruto, from Team 7, Sasuke missing, but he passed as well. The others, the ones that weren't in the infirmary and the sensei were standing on the balcony, watching us.
Then Hayate and the Hokage congratulated us and then we took our numbers. We finally knew who will fight in the finals.
"First match, Hyuga Neji vs Uzumaki Naruto." Hayate began. "Second match, Temari of the Sand vs Nara Shikamaru. Third match, Nara Shikanai vs Uchiha Sasuke. The fourth match, Kankuro of the Sand vs Gaara of the Sand. Fifth match, Aburame Shino vs Hyuga Hinata."
Wait fifth? Looking at the diagram I saw that Kankuro, Gaara, Hinata, and Shino would have another round and whoever would come out victorious from there would face whoever would come out victorious from my match. Interesting, but at the same time that meant that Shino or Hinata would face off against Gaara for sure. That thought wasn't so calming.
So… Caged Bird vs Jinchuriki, future wife vs future husband, bloodthirsty vs revenge seeker, sibling vs sibling, and teammate vs teammate.
Was this planned or something?!
Kakashi-ni-san = big brother Kakashi
Shunshin = shunshin no jutsu = body flicker technique
As promised I'm back with another chapter this week, and my exams are finally over. But, suddenly my laptop's display began to randomly become black... There is a chance I won't post the next week, I'll have to tinker with it, but I don't know if I'll be able to solve the problem so rapidly. Plus, it also needs a new operating system and other stuff, so, yeah, it'll take time, so there is a chance there will be another two-week until I post the following chapter.
I still don't own Naruto.
So, we're finally over the preliminaries, maybe it's time to reintroduce some characters in the following chapters, hmm?
Have a nice read!
yochan123: I can't guarantee that she'll be making good changes, who knows? And I bet Shikanai would agree with you on the fangirl topic XD Anyway, your reviews made me smile, I was studying hard and feeling stressed for the upcoming exam, then I got the mails that somebody reviewed my story and when I looked it up, I ended up smiling at your enthusiastic reviews, so thank you!
