Children of Pain

by PrinceOfUchiha

There is a new issue which has arisen in the Akatsuki: Konan wants children. Nagato isn't one to bring children into the world when so many are already suffering as orphans. The solution: Adopting an orphaned Sasuke, Naruto, and Karin. Oh, and an abused Gaara, Neji, and Hinata. Warnings: Mild kidnapping, swearing, etc.

4. Chapter Four

As they all sat down for dinner, Neji found a question nagging in the back of his mind. It had only been two days now since they had been taken, but he also knew the Akatsuki couldn't just keep putting missions on hold in favor of a member or two staying home to watch them. He wasn't sure where they would end up going until it clicked with him he had been missing school.

Now, he knew most would be relieved to not be going to school, but for him, it made him bored. Talking with the others had been fun and all, but he would go crazy if he did that every day. He looked over at the other children when he realized he was the only one actually old enough that he had been in school before this all. His face remained neutral, but he truly did hope they got something more productive to do soon.

As they all were finally seated and food was placed in front of them, they all began to eat. Kisame had made them Tonkatsu, remembering to cut up the pork for the children. He also had a pile of cheese off to the side, so they could sprinkle in on the meat if they wanted. Or in Naruto and Tobi's case, so they could dump it all on the pork. They began eating, Pain starting between bites, "Mission reports."

Sasori started. "Successful. No one saw us. The income of 300000 yen. Clients seemed happy. The only damage done on any of us was to my puppets. Also, the building we fought in had to be destroyed because there were a lot of bodyguards trying to come after us."

Kakuzu nodded in confirmation, Hidan doing the same. "Tobi and Deidara did a good job! Tobi was a good boy and sent the reminder while Deidara made a big bird for us to fly away on so no one saw us! We got 10000 yen extra. Deidara bought Tobi some dango because neither of us got hurt, Deidara's very nice." The masked man spoke with a nod more to himself than to the others.

Deidara was quiet, his eyebrow twitching in annoyance with her partner's attitude, but nodding in confirmation. Zetsu's right side began his report. "Nothing out of the ordinary. No one came to the gates, though we saw a few search parties from the sand village going towards the Land of Fire and Land of Earth. They're looking for Gaara from what we were able to gather without straying too far. There were also two leaf ninja search groups going out to the Land of Earth and Land of Wind. I would guess they're looking for Naruto, Neji, Hinata, and Sasuke. They seem to assume the children have run away."

Sasori, who sat next to Gaara, seemed to notice the boys silent nervousness. Which made sense of course. The boy being the host of the tailed beast would mark him as someone to be watched. If he disappeared, it would make sense for the nations to be alarmed. Those who knew about Naruto also connected these dots, even if the boy didn't know it yet himself. They also knew however that eventually the villages would stop there search. After all, they couldn't use that many resources on missing children. Even if they were the heiress to a powerful clan or the last survivor of a clan.

Seeing Gaara quietly pull his teddy bear closer, Sasori spoke to the children as the other members spoke to each other about further details of there mission. "Don't worry. No one will suspect you're here. They'll be too busy pointing fingers at the other nations, but then let it go to avoid any fights. Then even if they do find out where you are, we'll keep you safe. We're some of the strongest ninjas in the world, after all." he smirked to ease their worries.

It seemed to work, as he got a few smiles from two or three of them. Their mini conversation was interrupted however as Konan addressed them. "So, kids, me and Nagato have been talking and we have a question for you. How many of you have had some sort of education? Whether it be the ninja academy or one on one teaching from a mentor?"

Neji raised his hand along with Hinata and Gaara. Seeing the look of prompting from the Uzumaki, Neji spoke in between bites. "Ninja Academy. I've been going for almost two years now. I've also trained under the Hyuuga clan leader, Hiashi-Sama, and his brother, Hizashi-San." he explained, forgetting he didn't need to bother with honorifics. He noticed looks of confusion over a few of the older members and understood why they would be confused.

After all, the age of ninja graduating or even joining the academy was getting later and later each year now. Not too long ago, ninja were expected to enter the academy by age five and graduate by age ten at the very latest. They had only changed this in more recent years.

"The rules have been changed for the five great nations. You have to be at least eleven to graduate plus pass the exams. You also can't enter until you're seven now." he explained. Kisame almost couldn't believe it. When he was seven, he was graduating and killing off other students to do so.

They let them continue on, however, not interrupting as Neji glanced at Hinata. The girl noticed the attention on her and spoke. "I-I've been training under Tousan." she murmured, adding "Neji-nii-san also teaches me lessons from the academy sometimes."

Hearing the girl speak of her sources of learning, they nodded and decided to move on. She seemed to always look nervous when too many eyes were on her, plus the fact many of the Akatsuki were intimidating looking probably didn't help her any. Gaara spoke now. "I never actually went to the academy but I was given the lesson scrolls to read over and practice when I wanted. I got to the third year scrolls."

The members understood why having by now heard from either Sasori or Kisame about him being the one-tails host. They assumed the school wouldn't want someone so powerful against other students. Even if it was hard to imagine the quiet little redhead who was currently holding his teddy close doing any harm.

Konan glanced at Sasuke and Naruto, asking "I know you two said you didn't have a teacher or go to any classes, but did you ever learn a few spare lessons from anyone over the years?" she asked, wanting to know about all of the children's level of education as of now.

Naruto shook his head back and forth, he had never had anyone take the time to teach him anything. Most didn't think someone like him should even be allowed into the ninja academy. Why he had no idea. Sasuke shrugged "Itachi and tou-santaught me some techniques. Besides that, not really."

Pain nodded in understanding and took a breath as they all finished eating. "Well, I know you all will find this odd, but here in the Land of Rain we do schooling a bit different. Since there aren't many children here, we have one single class. It has all the children in the village in it, ages varying from five to fourteen. You'll all be attending this school starting hopefully tomorrow."

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That night had been a lot easier for the kids than the night before. Pain had gone ahead and warned the other members of the fact they had laid traps in their room, figuring it wouldn't do any damage to let them feel safer. Sasuke still had his normal nightmares, but that was to be expected. Hinata slept with Neji, the two being much more relaxed. Pain had gone into Gaara's room before he slept, tucking him in and using his eyes to force the beast back for a few hours. Gaara slept better, though not much out of habit. Naruto was about to be put to bed, but rather than Konan, tonight it was Kisame.

The shark-man wasn't great with kids, but he had promised to tell the boy about his family, and he never broke his promises. He laid the boy down on the bed, the blonde looking up at Kisame. He felt a rough hand move to pat his head, and the man spoke. "Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. Those were your parent's names."

The little boy looked confused, recognizing the name of the fourth Hokage. "Your father was the Hokage and your mother held the nine tailed fox inside her," he added, looking at the little boy. "They died the night of your birth. The same night as the attack of the nine tailed fox. When Kushina died, Minato went out to seal it. It needed a new host. Placing it in a host was his last act."

Naruto felt the man move his hand down to rest his hand against his stomach. Naruto's stomach sucked in from the touch on reflex and looked down. Kisame had lifted his shirt a bit, revealing his seal. He had wondered what it was, but now it became all too clear. His eyes widened slightly in panic as it all sunk in.

The comments of him being a monster. The Hokage's refusal to explain who his parents were. His lack of parents. The nine-tails attack falling right on his birthday. His lack of friends besides Gaara, who he knew had a demon inside him. He felt his eyes well up in understanding, glancing up from his stomach to Kisame. His lip quivered a bit as he tried to hold his tears back. "I'm a monster?" he asked.

Kisame was never one to feel pity nor guilt for things that simply needed to be done. He knew the boy needed to know, and that mastering it from a younger age would improve his power greatly. Though, having said that, he didn't see the point in being unnecessarily cruel about it either. "No. You have a monster in you. You are protecting those around you from it, just like Gaara is protecting those around him by having the one-tails in him. You were never told because it was supposedly the Hokage's last request from the rumors I heard. He wanted you to be a hero instead of shunned. That's why the third made a rule of silence. No one who knew about it was to speak of it. Rules won't stop rumors though."

Naruto couldn't help it. He didn't want to cry, but it was a horrible thing to learn you were holding a monster in you. He lowered his head a bit, letting the muffled sobs leave his mouth. Kisame's rough hand on his back helped only slightly. Neither of them spoke. It wasn't something you could just get over. Naruto would need time to accept it.

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The next morning went by quickly. Pain handed out missions, they ate, and Konan got them ready for class. She started with Neji and Hinata. She woke them up around 6:30 am, figuring she would give them some time. She went over to their bed, gently nudging Neji who quickly woke. The boy sat up, waking Hinata as well. He asked tiredly "School?"

Seeing a nod, he got up and went over to the outfit Konan had got for him to wear to school. It was a simple short-sleeved black kimono with black shorts. It had a band to wrap around the waist so the fabric was pulled back to give the wearer easy combat access. Konan had picked this for all the boys, as it was the school's male uniform. Neji took it to the bathroom, closing the door and quickly getting ready.

Konan pulled Hinata's hair into a short ponytail before getting her ready. The outfit she had for her consisted of a kimono as well, though instead of shorts she had leggings and long sleeves. As she was helping with getting her ready, Konan noticed the girl looked very happy. Konan smiled at her with a nod as the little girl asked "I look pretty like Konan?"

She finished by sliding on the girl's shoes before she sent the happy little girl off to breakfast. Neji soon went after her. Next was Gaara. The redhead had woken up the moment she opened his door. She smiled thinly to him, "Morning. Here are your clothes for the day. Do you need help?" seeing the shake of the head she expected, she handed them over. "Alright. Well, when you're done go get some breakfast."

Gaara nodded to her, waiting until she left to change into the clothing. She woke Sasuke next, who sent her a light glare at being woken up. It was almost cute, really. He groggily sat up and took the clothing, though it was obvious he would rather remain sleeping. He yawned, before standing and getting dressed while she went to wake Naruto up.

It was odd, unlike the night prior, Naruto seemed less excited. The night before at dinner, he had practically been bubbling with excitement, but now he was much quieter as he got himself dressed without a work. She supposed Kisame had gone into detail the night prior as to how his parents died and what was in him. She still wasn't sure letting Kisame do it was the best idea, after all, he wasn't exactly gentle. But then again neither were any of them. She shook her head at her thoughts. All they could do now was hope he was able to cope with it. From what she had seen so far, she believed he could.

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As Konan led the children towards the school, she noticed quite a few looks of interest. Which made sense, of course, no one in the village had actually seen the kids yet besides the Akatsuki. She ignored this, knowing they would get used to it. She stopped in front of a man with long fluffy blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a green scarf around his neck and a green headband just under his bangs. He wore an orange kimono, the underside white with a black obi. He smiled at them, waving them over slightly. "Konan-Chan! It's nice to see you again. These must be the ninja you were telling me about." he greeted, looking down at them.

His eyes traced over the children as he swiftly did an analysis of them. The redhead looked like he would be a quite but dangerous one. The blonde looked like he had a lot of energy but was in a soured mood today. The ravenette looked prideful but for good reason. The little girl looked shy, hiding behind Konan's Akatsuki robes. Then there was the little Hyuuga boy, who looked him straight in the eye while standing just as proud as the raven-haired boy.

Konan nodded, pointing to each of them as she spoke. "Gaara, Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, and Neji." before turning her attention to the children. "This will be your teacher, Seikatsu. You will call him Sensei. He is in charge while you are under his watch. I'll be back to get you all in a few hours."

She bowed and left the children with the man. Hinata shifted so she hid more behind Neji now as they headed inside. Once they got inside, they glanced around. The room was open, with no desks as Neji was used to. Instead, the students all sat lined up against the wall. Once their sensei entered, they bowed before straightening up again. There was a large combat mat on the floor, a weapons rack against the left and right wall. In front of the room, there was a board with chalk. "Class, we have five new students today." Seikatsu addressed them.

The students all gave bows to their new classmates in greeting. The new students bowed back in turn. Seikatsu wrote on the board as he spoke "We will do as we do with each new class member. After introductions are over we will begin the matchups." glancing at the new students. "In this class we have rankings. You all will square off against each other and the other students to see who is strongest and tell me what I need to know of your abilities so they can improve. Class, introduce yourself."

A male stood up, who looked to be the oldest in the class. "My name is Tsuyoi, though you can call me Yoi. I am fourteen and I specialize in bukijutsu as well as electric based ninjutsu. I am ranked number one in the class." he spoke. He wore the school uniform just like everyone else, his blue eyes firmly watching them as he spoke. His short hair was a dark blue, matching his eyes. He was decently tall as well.

Next, a green-haired teen spoke. His hair was long enough that it was pulled into a ponytail, his left eye hidden under his side swept bangs. His eyes also matched his hair, a dark green color which swept across the new students. He smiled, tall but not as intimidating as Yoi. "My name is Shurui, though I go by Shu. I'm fourteen too. I specialize in kenjutsu with a bit of genjutsu. I rank second in the class as of now. It's nice to meet you."

The pure white-haired boy beside him began. His eyes were a crystal blue, his pale face gentle as he spoke, though his voice was strong. "I'm Amai. I'm thirteen. I specialize in summoning jutsu and a bit of medical ninjutsu. I rank third in the class. It will be a pleaser to learn with you all." he smiled.

There was a slight silence before the next student spoke. He had yellow eyes which looked almost cat-like. Under his eyes were a pair of matching red marks which came down to just above his cheek. His blue hair was much lighter than Yoi's, though still somewhat dark. His voice was quiet but firm. "I am Totsu, I'm fourteen. I use Tonjutsu and some medical ninjutsu. I rank fourth in the class."

A girl with bright crimson hair smiled to Totsu in comfort before beginning. "My name is Kichona, but you can call me Kicho if you want. I'm twelve years old. I specialize in my kekki genkai, swift release. I also use genjutsu. I rank the fifth strongest in the class." she greeted, purple eyes warm.

Finally, it was the boy with the light brown hair's turn. He looked up at them with bright blue eyes, his posture serious. "My name is Hira. I'm ten years old and focus on medical ninjutsu. I rank sixth in the class." a hint of an embarrassed look on his face at the fact he was the lowest ranking.

As Neji guessed, they were all older than them. He decided to start their introductions. "I am Neji Hyuuga. I am eight. I focus on the Byakugan and taijutsu." he greeted them, the older students not too surprised to see he was a Hyuuga as they had quickly noticed the eyes.

Sasuke went next since he figured he was the second strongest out of them. Or at least he thought he was in his mind. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I'm six. I focus on my Sharingan and fire release."

Yoi mentally sighed. Why did the new students have to be so young? They knew their sensei had repeatedly told them not to judge a shinobi's ability based on age, but he didn't think he could guiltlessly shoot a six year old full of lightning. Gaara was next, his voice quiet and a bit scratchy as usual. "I'm Gaara. I'm six as well. I focus on my magnet release and sand manipulation."

They all noticed the redhead's sash was a bit different. While their sash had a place for weapons, he had an area to store sand. Next, the blonde spoke. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I'm six too." sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah, I have absolutely zero ninja training so I don't specialize in anything."

Their sensei sighed quietly. So he would be starting from scratch with that one it looked like. Finally, it was the girl's turn and she spoke, doing her best not to stutter. "I-I'm Hinata Hyuuga. I'm five. I focus on the Byakugan and taijutsu."

The sensei let out a breath as everyone finished, looking up at the board. He had made a quick tournament so they could get the ranks set up. He hoped these poor children could keep up, but also hoped his older students wouldn't lower their guard too much. You never knew with ninja, after all.

Soon enough all the children sat beside the older students on the floor. They sat a few inches away, the teens noticed. Most likely nervous to be around kids so much older than them. Seikatsu pointed to the quick matchups he had made on the board. "Alright, since Naruto doesn't have any real ninja training there isn't much point in him participating. So he automatically ranks number eleven. Here are the matchups for the rest of you." he moved to the side to show them.

They all glanced at the board, their sensei motioning to the brackets. "You'll fight tournament style, then out of the first five to lose, I'll rank you based on a skill during your fights. The new students will fight in a section, then the older students in another. Best of the new and best of the old will fight. Then the winner of those fight the winner of Tsuyoi and Shuriu, since you two since you're two of the best in class so far."

They all nodded in understanding. Seikatsu looked up at the board. "First up is Gaara and Neji. Fifteen minutes. You two go on the mat and start. No death blows, but don't hold back more than necessary. Hira is an excellent medical ninja and if he can't heal you then I definitely can." he assured the boys.

Both got up and headed over to the mat, Seikatsu motioning them to start. Neji's eyes activated in a split second, which the older students to note of. None had ever really seen a bloodline limit besides Kichona's swift release. It didn't take long before they were observing Gaara's sand which rose to linger threateningly in the air.

Neji started by trying to send his fist in quickly to strike Gaara's chakra points. Unfortunately, just as he had predicted, the sand blocks him and Gaara didn't even flinch. The sand quickly shot to Neji's body, trying to attack the older boy. This failed however as Neji dodged out of the way.

This continued on, Gaara's sand swinging at Neji effortlessly while the Hyuuga dodged and defended best he could. He spun, activating the Eight Trigrams Palms of Revolving Heaven jutsu. The sand shot off him, making it shoot back in other directions. A bit hit off to the side, snapping against the other's faces.

Realizing this would get him nowhere, he tried to at least exhaust the younger boy. He had yet to move an inch, standing in place while his sand assaulted Neji and protected his own body. As Neji attempted to use his gentle fist, the sand blocked each one and Gaara didn't break a sweat. It was frustrating, and Neji quickly knew he needed to figure a way around this for future training sessions.

His ninjutsu was also ineffective, the boy's absolute defense rendering the prodigy helpless. Once he was too tired to do anything more, Gaara moved his sand to trap Neji's legs, then covering his entire body until he was trapped in a cocoon. He was careful not to squeeze, only restrict. His sensei noticed that and nodded lightly. He had seen all needed for now.

Neji was plenty capable of using his taijutsu effectively and did pretty good with ninjutsu. Though, the boy never once attempted genjutsu. He used a few weapons, but quit once he noticed it was only wasting them. The boy also deactivated his eyes once he realized it wasn't helping any to save chakra. He was resourceful. Good.

On the other hand, Gaara allowed Neji to tire himself out. He didn't move, instead of controlling his sand. He had been made aware of Gaara's demon, though he wasn't sure if this was why the sand defended him or if Gaara was controlling him. If it was the demon, it was dangerous how little concern the six-year-old had. As if he thought he was invisible. Once he had let Neji tire him out he simply locked the Hyuuga up. He didn't move to hurt him, though it looked like the gears in his head were turning.

He noticed to look in Gaara's eye, as though he was trying to fight off something inside of him. Something which was probably telling him to squeeze Neji to death or at least bruise him up. Seikatsu raised a hand, ending the fight just at the fourteen-minute mark.

He didn't want any unnecessary harm coming to Neji physically or Gaara emotionally. "Good job, both of you. Both have things to work on but that will be discussed later after everything else is worked out. Gaara wins this time. Neji, let Hira heal up those scratch marks from the sand then both you sit down. Sasuke and Hinata, you're next."

The older students didn't miss the slight grimace Hinata gave as she stood up with Sasuke and they both headed over. Neji sat beside Hira, thanking him quietly as the older boy healed him swiftly. Sasuke stood across from Hinata, both going into fighting positions before their sensei spoke. "You may start."

Sasuke turned on his Sharingan, while Hinata turned on her Byakugan. Sasuke made the first move, jumping back defensively. He lifted his arms, quickly creating the hand signals for the Clone jutsu. One clone appeared, behind Hinata. Sasuke's clone moved attack her from behind, though it couldn't really do any damage, being a simple illusion. It was enough to distract her at least while Sasuke charged up to land a kick on her side. It hit, but her body jerked hard enough it startled Sasuke.

He hadn't meant to hit her so hard, but luckily he didn't have to worry about it as Hinata did a roll and kicked her foot out to hit Sasuke. He moved back as she stood up quickly, darting over to her. She pushed her fingers lightly over his side, the older boy doubling over in shock of the sudden pain in his side. He felt another pair of hands go towards his back, pressing between his shoulder blades.

He hunched over further and narrowed his eyes with a cough. So she wanted to play it hard then. He did his own roll, his back still hunched as his muscles ached. Gentle Fist. He positioned himself and moved his clone behind her, inhaling deeply. He put his hands up to his mouth before letting the chakra from his stomach rise to his throat. The young Uchiha quickly ran circles around her, not allowing her time to keep up. It was mostly her nerves that were her undoing, the girl unable to calm her breathing enough to focus.

Small bursts of fire came from his throat and an illusionary one from his clone, Hinata panicking and covering her face. Sasuke did his best to create a weak genjutsu, one he wasn't the best at due to his age. Most didn't learn genjutsu until they were at least ten, excluding the Uchiha clan of course. With eyes like theirs which could detail every point of an illusion, who wouldn't use it to their advantage?

Hinata panicked, yipping and trying to wave the fire off as her eyes reactivated out of lack of chakra control. Neji sweatdropped, trying not to facepalm. Had his cousin forgotten her eyes let her see past most genjutsu? Sasuke relaxed, trying to straighten his back to ease the chakra flow which Hinata had blocked off. Their sensei had seen enough and raised an arm. "You two are done. Good job, both of you. Sasuke wins this time around. Hira, heal those two up, please. Careful with Sasuke, it looks like the gentle fist technique. Neji, undo Hinata's work if you would."

Sasuke stopped his genjutsu and Hinata relaxed. They went over to get healed by Hira, Neji easily moving to fix Sasuke's back. Amai crooked his head, lifting his hand as he spoke. "Sensei, what is a gentle fist technique?" he questioned curiously as he had never heard of the technique.

Seikatsu smiled lightly at his curious students. "One of the great techniques of the Hyuuga clan. They touch their opponent's skin, pressing special points on their opponent's body to deactivate organs or chakra points. Anything as simple as a tap on the chest can end a person in the beat of a heart. Literally. A very impressive move. Just like that fire jutsu you used Sasuke. Was that the great fireball jutsu? It looked a bit different than your clan's normal ones."

Sasuke glanced up at him as his chakra points were restored. "I just used less chakra so I didn't burn her too bad," he admitted. He knew he wasn't supposed to hold back much, but he rather not burn Hinata's skin off her bones.

His teacher seemed to understand this as he nodded with a slight smile. "Yes, you only needed to get a small fire burning to send her into a panic so your genjutsu went easier. Smart move." before turning his attention back to the others now that they were healed. "Now, next is Kichona and Amai. You two go ahead and get started."

Amai stood up with Kichona, standing against her until Seikatsu spoke. "Begin." he allowed. Amai took a step back, quickly slicing his palm with his sharp nails. He created three clones to rotate and hide with as he summoned his creature.

Just like that, a decently sized white tiger appeared. It obviously wasn't the king of it's kind, but it also took a decent amount of skill. Kichona had created two clones of her own, each jumping off in a different direction. She moved fast, faster than the children had ever seen. Well, with the exception of Sasuke who had know Shisui of the body flicker. After all, the older Uchiha had been like a second older brother to him.

Sasuke had naturally begun to see quick movements faster after being allowed to sit in with Itachi while he and the older boy trained. Now with his Sharingan, his eyes worked fast. Just barely fast enough to see what she was doing. She was running in circles, sending senbon out to strike Amai. Amai did get struck multiple times, not fast enough to dodge.

He lifted a hand and quickly made the hand signals for a water jutsu. He sent water out in all directions with extreme force, knocking Kichona back from her spot and destroying the clones. His tiger lunged for her but stopped as it stood over her. He had won, indisputably. Seikatsu nodded "Well done. Amai wins this time. Both of you come and let me heal your wounds. Hira and Totsu, you go ahead."

The two stood, making their way over to the mat. Once they got the signal to, they began. Hira darted forward, meeting Totsu in the middle as the younger moved to kick the escape ninja. Totsu moved down, easily avoiding it. He lowered, then rebounded up to press his fingers to the other's throat. Hira gagged a bit, moving to shield his throat reflexively. Totsu used this to his advantage as he kicked the medic in the side.

Hira growled as he was kicked, slamming against the wall. He laid there for a moment as Totsu approached until he was in arms reach. He dragged the older boy down, pinning him. Hira pushed against Totsu's neck, using his medical knowledge to find one of his pressure points. As he was about to move his finger to paralyze him, the older ninja was gone and in his place a piece of chalk. Substitution jutsu.

Totsu put a kunai to his friend's neck from behind, silently winning. Hira sighed in frustration. He lost again. Seikatsu nodded at them. "Good, good. Totsu wins this time. Come and I'll heal you both up. Now for Tsuyoi and Shurui."

Amai watched as the two stood up. He glanced at the younger classmates, "I would be ready to move out of the way or shield your faces if I were you. These two can get pretty caught up in their fighting." he warned lightly. They nodded, shifting slightly and watching the two teens get into battle position before it was called to begin.

Tsuyoi was the first to move, bouncing backward and sending ten or so shuriken out towards Shurui, who lifted his sword to block each of them easily. Tsuyoi darted forwards, meeting Shurui's sword with a kunai block. They rebounded, and Tsuyoi brought a bit of lighting to his hands. It was only a bit, as the lighting was one of the more difficult elements to create. He came from behind, however, pressing his hand to Shurui's back.

The green-haired man hissed, turning on his heel and swinging his sword to slice against Tsuyoi. It hit right on his side, leaving a large slice across his ribs. The blue-haired boy grimaced, but only retreated back. Shurui used his momentary shock from being sliced to rush forward and strike him over the shoulder. He succeeded, but Tsuyoi grabbed his blade which lodged into his shoulder.

Ignoring the blood on his hands which came from holding the blade side of the edge, Tsuyou pulled it away from his opponent. He used his other foot to kick out the green-haired man's knees, using his own sword against him. He put it up to the other's neck, earning him a win.

Seikatsu sighed, having had to protect himself from a few stray kunai as had the others. "You both did fine, but as I have repeatedly told you, stop being too messy with your shots when others are near. Tsuyoi wins again. Both of you come to get healed. Gaara and Sasuke are next. Go ahead."

Sasuke stood to do as he said, Gaara following. The redhead and ravenette started as soon as they were motioned to. Sasuke's Sharingan was activated, looking for any weak points in his sand. He didn't see any, so he would have to make one. His eyes flashed, and he began his genjutsu while lifting his hands to make a shield of fire.

Gaara's eyes flickered over to Hinata as she seemed to have gone into a coughing fit, blood coming from her mouth. Despite knowing it was a genjutsu, Gaara felt his nerves pick up. He couldn't move his eyes away until he forced them shut. He reached up to cover his eyes, knowing his sand would keep him safe if Sasuke tried to strike him while he was doing so.

All the spectators could see however was Sasuke staring at Gaara with his Sharingan while the redhead doubled over slightly in apparent mental pain. Sasuke finally moved, running up to slice his kunai to Gaara. Unfortunately, even without his focus, the sand completely protected him. So that answered Seikatsu's question at least.

Sasuke continued trying to break through, doing anything from creating large fireballs that would have burned the class if not for his carefulness to just trying to break through the sand with blunt force. Nothing worked, not speed nor skill. Finally, time ran out and Sasuke was forced to let go of his genjutsu. "Gaara wins. Both of you did well. Since neither of you are hurt you can sit down. Amai and Totsu, go ahead."

The older students moved to fight as the pair of six-year-olds sat down. Amai began similarly to the last one, the white-haired man summoning his same tiger to fight with him. Amai sent his tiger out on Totsu, though the man evaded each and every time as the beast launched on him.

They worked for a few moments like this until Totsu created the hand signs for a water jutsu. The teen used this water to protect himself while throwing senbon towards Amai from behind the wall of water. Amai dodged this, darting forwards and lodging the weapon into Totsu's thigh. The older teen grimaced, falling down in pain as it had hit a tender spot. He dropped down, the tiger moving to set a paw on his head in a kill shot manner, though not delivering the blow of course.

Seikatsu nodded at them. "Good work. Both of you go get healed up by Hira. Then Amai, you'll be going against Gaara." he instructed. Both did as they were told, Gaara and Amai heading over to the mat as Amai finished healing. Gaara wasn't terribly nervous about his sand shield breaking, though he was weary. After all, this boy had won against two others already.

Amai, on the other hand, was weary, not sure about the sand shield. As well as not sure he felt comfortable launching a full-grown tiger onto a six-year-old boy. He shoved this down however as they began, keeping his guard up. He summoned his tiger back quickly, sending him against the boy if not for harm than to test the sand. It was like he had a bubble, protecting him from ever being touched. Amai had to ask how he did it once this was all over.

As expected the sand protected Gaara, but unexpectedly, the redhead finally moved. Amai frowned, so he could move during battle. He just hadn't needed to against the others. Gaara lifted a hand, his sand forming his Sand Binding Coffin around first the tiger and then him. Once the tiger poofed away, Gaara focused solely on him. His body was now encased in sand, and he found he couldn't move. Seikatsu raised a brow at him "So you just going to sit or are you going to escape?" he asked.

Frustrated, Amai kept his annoyance in check as he spoke. "My chakra isn't working. I can't move." he tried to wriggle out of his prison, and Gaara did, in fact, loosen it a bit. He frowned, realizing if he kept moving he would kill himself with the force of the sand gently squeezing him.

After watching for a few moments as Gaara let Amai struggle in a sand cacoon, Seikatsu sighed. "That's enough. Gaara, you win. You'll spar with Tsuyoi now. Amai, do you have any wounds?" his answer was given as the sand sunk off of him and they could all see the yellow bruising beginning over his body. What crept the older students out however was when they looked at Gaara, he didn't seem to regret the fact Amai practically wobbled over to their sensei to be healed. He even seemed a bit, dare they say, proud of himself?

Though they would be right, he was proud. Just not for the reasons they thought. He had successfully used an attack without killing his opponent. For him, this was rare. He could see the looks of weariness from the older students but paid them no mind as he noticed both Sasuke and Naruto's encouraging looks. Tsuyoi joined him soon, and by now Gaara had returned to his stoic self and hidden his thin prideful smile.

He noticed how tall the other was. It wasn't just the fact he was older, he was tall as well. His shoulders were back in a formal and serious way, his eyes sharp. He was well-muscled, but skinny as well. He was the picture of intimidating. On the other hand, to Tsuyoi, it was odd. The little redhead in front of him was tiny, almost sickly looking. He was scrawny, had bags under his eyes, and he was short even for his age. He just had to remember the child was a threat, especially with how he had so easily beat Amai, who had ranked third in their class.

As they were motioned to begin, Tsuyoi moved to send a kunai at Gaara as forcefully as he could. He didn't try to hide he was throwing it, instead of testing the strength in his barriers. Seeing it easily rebound, the blue-haired male reached up to kick the barrier. Still nothing. He prodded and poked at it, but never got past it. Finally, he tried something new. Instead of throwing weapons, he took his kunai and held it tight.

He hit it against the sand, trying to break through. What kind of sand was this!? He continued on until he noticed the extra sand start hovering a bit. Sand began violently coming at him, almost swooshing like a whip. He had to focus on evading, the boy sending snaps after him quickly. Tsuyoi tried to summon lighting, but the sand wrapped around his wrist to pull them together.

He struggled, but the more he struggled the more it hurt. He continued on, trying to pull his hands away. Finally, he heard his smaller opponent speak. "If you keep struggling, you'll break your wrists." he quietly spoke. Tsuyoi frowned and noticed the yellow swelling on his wrists. He decided to try genjutsu, much like the little Uchiha boy had done earlier to help him.

Tsuyoi manipulated the boy using genjutsu, making it appear as though blood was sleeping from the sand cuffs. He made a point of falling onto his knees and coughing up blood as he still wasn't let go. In the genjutsu he fell to the ground, screaming out in agony before seemingly dying. When he noticed Gaara's sand didn't even lose, he glanced up. The boy hadn't even flinched. He let go of his genjutsu, returning them both to the physical world where they both stood silently watching each other. His hands now had begun to bleed, so he bowed his head lightly with a sigh of shame. He had lost.

Seikatsu shook his head back and forth, speaking finally. "Alright, a good job both of you. Gaara wins. Tsuyoi, go get healed up by Hira please." he commented. The teen did as asked, noticing once the sand was off that his wrists were puffy and bruised. Gaara sat down beside Sasuke on the floor, who nodded to him in greeting and congratulations.

Tsuyoi wasn't a sore loser, though it was odd to be defeated by someone besides Shurui. These new classmates of theirs were interesting, that was for sure. There were mixed feelings about the different students, all but one. One thing they all had in common was weariness for Gaara. Not because of his strength or power, but because of his lack of remorse. It made them uncomfortable, though they tried not to jump to conclusions without formally meeting him.

Their attention was snapped to the board as their sensei spoke. "Alright, here are the new class rankings in order from highest to lowest. Gaara, Tsuyoi, Shurui, Amai, Sasuke, Totsu, Kichona, Neji, Hinata, Hira, then Naruto. Tomorrow we'll be going over the battles. I want you all to go home tonight and think about not only your fights but your classmates' fights too. Think of how you could have done things differently or more effectively. I'll be sending you each home with a packet as well, for the fresh students it will be more basic writing and math skills while you older students will continue what we've been going over. Dismissed."