Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, its plot or characters. I own any OC, my plot, and anything else you don't recognize unless otherwise stated.
There is way too much to write if I were to do Naruto and Neji's match. I know that it's very eventful and everything but I have to skip it. I do not have the energy to do every fight. There are no scripts, I'm doing episode parts by ear. (Which is only cool cause I get to watch the show again but not cause I have to pause every two seconds.)
Thank you guys so much for over 100 reviews!
Obviously song part is for Shikamaru. I changed the song in the last chapter because I didn't realize I had already used it for chapter 18. The new one works better with the last chapter anyways.
Today I don't feel like doing anything
I just wanna lay in my bed
Don't feel like picking up my phone
So leave a message at the tone
'Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything
-Bruno Mars – The Lazy Song
Temari and Kankurō were inside, Temari was cleaning her fan and Kankurō was working on Crow. Gaara and Rin were outside, sitting up on the roof.
"The moon's so big." Rin said with a small smile.
"Tomorrow is a full moon." Gaara said quietly.
"Really? It looks pretty big already." Rin said as she tilted her head to the side.
"Trust me."
"Are you nervous about tomorrow?" Rin asked. Gaara turned his head to look at her. "Well I guess you wouldn't be nervous." Rin said with a smile. "More like… excited? I hope no one gets too hurt." Her smile faded. "I wonder if there will be time to say hi to your father tomorrow." Gaara frowned.
"Why would you want to do that?"
"It's only polite; we haven't seen him in a month."
"So?" Gaara asked. Rin shrugged. The two were silent for a few minutes before Gaara turned to Rin. "You should get to bed."
"Aw, but I wanna stay up here with you." Rin whined.
"Why would I stay up here without you?" Gaara asked before smiling slightly. Rin smiled and stood.
"Yeah, besides, I can't sleep without my- whoa!" Rin's eyes widened as her foot slipped. Gaara shot up and grabbed her. He sighed and shook his head.
"How you became a ninja is beyond me." he said. Rin smiled up at him sheepishly.
"I'm just a bit clumsy cause I'm tired." She said. Gaara sighed and picked her up which made her giggle as he jumped down. They entered the room and Gaara put her down. They got into bed and Rin put her head on his chest as he put an arm around her which had become routine. "I've really enjoyed this month." Rin said quietly. "It was like one giant sleep over." Gaara frowned as he suddenly remembered that once they got back to Suna he wouldn't be able to hold her every night. "When we get home we should have a sleep over at my house. I'm sure my parents miss you too." Gaara smiled.
"Okay."
"Good luck you guys." Rin said to the sand sibs before they were supposed to enter the arena.
"Thanks, squirt." Kankurō said before he ruffled her hair. The two older siblings turned to enter while Gaara stayed with Rin.
"I'm sure you won't need luck." Rin said with a smile. Gaara frowned slightly.
"Aren't you going to-" Rin cut him off by kissing his cheek.
"Mhm." She hummed making him smile slightly. "Good luck."
"Stay with Baki."
"Huh?" Rin blinked.
"Just… stay with Baki, okay?" Rin tilted her head but nodded.
"Okay, if you say so." She smiled up at him and he smiled back slightly. "I'll see you after you win!" Gaara nodded.
"Um, hi, could I sit next to you guys?" Rin asked. Sakura and Ino looked up at her.
"Sure." Ino said. Rin smiled.
"Thanks! I couldn't find anyone else I know." She said before she moved in and sat beside Sakura. Ai jumped up onto her lap.
"Awe." Sakura and Ino cooed.
"Could I pet him?" Sakura asked.
"Mhm." Rin nodded. Sakura reached over and pet the cat who then decided to move to her lap.
"I'm surprised he hasn't found Akamaru yet." Ino said.
"I don't think Kiba's here yet, cause otherwise yeah." Rin said. she glanced to the left and back. Baki sat a few rows up and over nearby. The other genin were all waiting in a line in the arena waiting for the ninja who were running late. Rin already knew Dosu wouldn't be showing up but she didn't know what happened to Naruto or Sasuke. Suddenly Naruto shot through the entrance and slid on the ground towards the others.
"Naruto." Sakura said.
"Yeah but he's totally late, of course." Ino said. Rin giggled from a few seats over.
"He sure is silly." She said.
"That's a word for it." Ino muttered. The third hokage started to speak.
"Welcome all, and our deepest thanks for coming here to the village hidden in the leaves for this year's chunin selection. We have come to the final competition between the eight candidates who made it through the preliminaries. We ask that no one leaves until all the matches have been completed. Now everyone enjoy." The jounin down with the candidates took out a paper and showed them.
"Hey wait, what happened to Dosu?" Ino asked with a frown.
"He must have dropped out." Sakura said. Rin swallowed and looked down at the candidates. Baki looked over at Rin.
Flashback
From a distance Baki could see them on the roof. Dosu's blood covered the tiles as Gaara was hunched over, breathing heavy. His head shot up and he turned to see her. When he took a step towards her, Baki expected her to scream or run but, she just stood there. Gaara reached out to her and shook her. Her knees finally gave out but he caught her before holding her against him. Her arms hung by her side for a moment until they slowly wrapped around him. From where he stood, Baki couldn't hear them but he saw her kiss Gaara's temple and stroke his hair. The two finally stood, their hands locked, and she smiled up at him before pulling him into a hug.
Flashback end
He couldn't wrap his head around it. She'd just seen him brutally murder someone and she hugs him. He knew they grew up together and were close but he didn't think Gaara would be able to calm down so quickly. If it had been anyone else that had walked up to him in that moment….
"Maybe he didn't leave, maybe somebody took him." Sakura said quietly.
"Huh? Took who?" Rin asked.
"Huh?" Sakura looked at her. "Oh. I was talking about Sasuke…"
"Oh yeah, he's late too." Rin finally noticed. She looked down to see everyone but Naruto and Neji leaving the arena.
"Hey Sakura?" Ino asked.
"Mhm?"
"I know that you're worried about Sasuke but come on, don't be such a lump; aren't you going to at least cheer Naruto on?" Sakura lifted her head and smiled.
"You're right!"
"That's more like it. Not that the hopeless little runt has a chance of winning."
"He's not that bad."
"Are you kidding? 'Not that bad' is that the best you can do?" Ino laughed.
"Hey, I think he's a pretty good fighter." Rin said. "He beat Kiba, didn't he?"
"Well yeah but-"
"He's strong enough. I believe in him." Rin said.
"Whatever…" Ino muttered. They look down into the arena to see Neji and Naruto facing each other. Naruto extended his arm like he had during the preliminaries. Neji got into a stance.
"Wish we could hear what they were saying…" Rin said with a small frown.
"Yeah, you'd think Naruto would be loud enough." Sakura said with a smile.
"That was amazing…" Rin said with her mouth hanging open as Naruto left and Neju was taken out by stretcher. The two girls nodded.
"I wonder what's going on. The next match, Sasuke should be here by now." Ino said.
"I wonder how long we'll wait until he gets here." Rin said. A jounin appeared beside the proctor and they spoke for a moment before the Jonin returned to the Hokage.
"Listen everyone, one of the competitors for the next battle has not arrived yet, so we're going to postpone this match briefly and jump ahead to the battle that would've followed this one."
"So cool," Ino said. "That means Sasuke is still in this."
"Then onto the next battle. So, Shino and Kankurō, come down."
"Oh we get to see Kankurō fight." Rin said with a smile.
"Proctor!" Kankurō called from the waiting area.
"Huh?" Rin blinked.
"I withdraw! I withdraw so please, advance to the next match!"
"Due to Kankurō's withdrawal, Shino Aburame wins by default." The proctor announced. The crowd was upset.
"I wonder why he withdrew…" Rin muttered to herself. Temari took out her fan and rode it down into the arena.
"Ey! You up there, come down!" The proctor called to Shikamaru. "Shikamaru Nara, come on!"
"Alright! Go on Shikamaru you can do it!" Naruto shouted as he slapped Shikamaru on the back, which cause the boy to fall over the railing and down to the arena on his back. Shikamaru glared up at Naruto as trash was thrown at him. Naruto shouted at him before Temari ran at Shikamaru before the proctor started the match. She swung her fan down and when the dust cleared it was revealed that she hit the ground while Shikamaru was standing on two kunai stuck in the wall. Temari looked up at him before swinging her open fan. The dust cleared and Shikamaru was gone, he was up in a tree.
"Go for it Shikamaru! Use that ultimate super technique on her, and take her down!" Ino cheered.
"Oh yeah, I forgot he's part of your team." Rin said.
"Yo is this seat taken?" Ino looked over to see Chouji eating a bag of chips.
"Huh? I thought you were in the hospital. Your stomach's okay now?"
"Mhm." He put a bag of snacks beside Ino before sitting down. "What's up? I thought Sasuke's match was supposed to be next." Ino flinched.
"Shhhh!"
"Huh?" the two looked over at Sakura who was sulking.
"Oh, I'm sure Sasuke's fine; he'll be here any minute now." Ino told her. Chouji noticed Rin sitting beside Sakura.
"Oh hey, Cupcake girl!"
"Hey Chouji." Rin greeted with a smile and a small wave.
"Thanks again for the cupcake." He said. "Hm. Never expected to see Shikamaru in the final." Chouji said. "Weird."
"What do you mean? Come on, Shikamaru may not have as much fighting spirit as some other people and okay his technique is pretty lousy but he's strong at strategy. So strong in fact, that without him we might not have gotten through the preliminary round."
"Hm, maybe." Chouji said into a back of chips.
"What's more, you should have seen how he threw himself into the arena." Ino said. Chouji popped the bag.
"I don't think that's what happened." Rin muttered.
"I'm telling you Chouji, he seems unusually aggressive. I think he's gunna show us his passionate side today. Yeah! Go Shikamaru!" Ino cheered.
"Go Temari!" Rin cheered. Ino shot her a glare which made Rin jump.
"Get your butt in gear! Let's go Shikamaru!" Naruto shouted. Shikamaru stood under the wall's shadow. Temari used one of her wind jutsus as she swung her fan out. The wind was so strong it cut into the trees and cut off branches. A shadow shot out from the dust and Temari back flipped to get away from it until it couldn't reach her. She drew a line on the ground with her fan.
"Temari's got this in the bag." Rin said with a grin. Shikamaru put his fingertips together. After a moment he took one hand away and reached behind his back. Tenmari opened her fan before swinging it. Shikamaru ducked behind a tree.
"Look at that, he can't get anywhere near her." Ino said. "Go Shikamaru! Do something!"
"Don't waste your breath." Chouji said with his mouth full. "He'll give up soon. This is way too much work for him."
"What are you talking about? No way he's gunna give up. Least, I don't think he's gunna give up." She said.
…
The wind died down for the fifth time and Temari looked around before she swung again. A kunai came out and landed just behind the line. Temari moved out of the way before blocking one with her fan. A shadow shot out at her but was able to cross the line. She jumped back out of the way. The shadow of the wall had gotten longer.
"Rats! He almost got her!" Ino said.
"Why did he take his shirt off?" Rin asked with her head tilted.
"How's Shikamaru gunna use his shadow anyway?" Chouji asked. "I mean, what's he gunna do? He's in the shadow of the arena already."
"Unbelievable you really don't know anything about what Shikamaru's capable of, do you? He can do anything, he can even make shadows within shadows."
"Shadows within shadows?"
"Temari! Over your head!" Kankurō shouted. Temari looked up as a shadow appeared on the ground and grew as Shikamaru's jacket attached to a kunai overhead grew closer. She jumped out of the way but the added shadow gave the original more range. Temari dodged the shadow until the jacket hit the ground. Temari looked up at the sun before putting her fan into the ground in front of her. She made a few hand signs but then stopped as she couldn't move.
"Oh no…" Rin whined. Shikamaru turned his head so Temari could see behind her at the shadow coming out of the hole in the ground from where Naruto had popped out in his match. The hole in front of Temari was where he had gone in. Shikamaru walked forward making Temari walk towards him.
"You got her! Way to go!" Ino cheered. Shikamaru made then raise their arms.
"Okay that's it, I give up." He said.
"He what?!"
"You gotta be kidding me!"
"See, I told you he'd give up." Chouji said. "Looks like I know Shikamaru a little bit better than you do, huh."
"The winner is Temari!" The proctor announced. The shadow disconnected.
"Yeah!" Rin cheered as she jumped up.
"Uggh! What a waste!" Ino shouted before she started shaking Chouji. "Why?! What does he think?! Doesn't he wanna be a chunin?!"
"What can you say, it's Shikamaru." Chouji said. Naruto started shouting before he jumped down into the arena. He ran up to Shikamaru who was stretching.
"So up next is Gaara's match, right?" Rin asked. Sakura nodded sadly. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen and the crowd was getting upset again. The jounin from before jumped down behind the proctor, said something, then left again. The proctor took out a pocket watch.
…
"Alright, the time limit has expired so I'm officially calling this match-" The proctor was cut off by a whirlwind of leaves. There, back to back, stood Sasuke and Kakashi. Sasuke was wearing black clothes instead of his blue ones.
"Sasuke!" Sakura gasped.
"So he made it in time."
"(Rock) Lee!" Sakura and Rin said. Ino was cheering loudly for Sasuke as was the rest of the crowd.
"Sakura, what's it like to be on such an amazing team?" Ino asked her
"What do you mean?"
"You know! First Naruto surprises everyone by beating Neji Hyuga! Oh and then you've got Sasuke who's like a super star! Everyone wants to see his match. You're like the all star team!"
"Lee, would you like to sit down?" Rin asked.
"I am alright." He said as he gave her a smile. Ai hopped off of Sakura's lap and rubbed against Lee's leg. "Hello, Ai." Lee smiled down at the cat. Ai stood, putting his paws against Lee's left leg and meowed at his bleeding hand. Lee reached down with his other hand and pet him. Ai rubbed against Lee's hand before sitting by his feet.
Ending it here cause it's getting long. Next one is also a long one.
Recently finished Saints Row 4 and I keep forgetting the guy who voices Sasuke voices Matt Miller.